Wonderful World of Bread

I bought my breadmaker about a month ago and I think I've done at least 20+ loaves already. Some of them are repeats, some are trial and error. They all looked pretty much the same except when I used the express bake (bakes in 59mins...ok....1 hr!). My husband, odd as he is, likes the "express bake" breads. The breads are denser and smaller and pretty moist. They are also not as "pretty" as the "normal bake" breads. So far the favs are Honey-Oat Bread, Banana-Walnut Bread and Raisin-Cinnamon Bread. The one that I would not be baking again any sooner would most definitely be the Double Chocolate Bread....long story...let's say that there was a lot of vacuuming and screaming after bread was "distributed"...*sigh*....

Verdict: I love the breadmaker and would be trying out its other features(like dough and butter) soon. Meanwhile I'll try out some of the bread recipes that I've been creating in my mind....hehehe... Rosemary Bread???

Spring

Been crazy all this while...first my internet cable connection went berserk so had to call the company to make an appointment so that they could come in (whenever IT'S convenient for THEM even though we are the PAYING CUSTOMER!!). And when he did come, he took 3.5hrs to fix it while cursing under his breath...erm.....I still could hear... Errmmm...he said he couldn't figure out what was going on with the connection (he couldn't get it to connect). Oh well...whatever. So to make a long story short, I'm back.

During the "blackout", I made quite a number of loaves with my spanking new breadmaker. It's been great!! Further post on that. On another topic, we are going back to Sin & Thailand next month...hmm...I know I know...in the midst of every epidemic; HFM disease, Bird Flu, Sars (ok...old story already) and what nots. I guess we just need to be more careful and cautious.



So this is my lil' guy at 22 mths. He's now picking up EVERYTHING he sees to give it to mommy...he's just too funny! He's also pick up a new job. He's the official family welcome wagon! Each time he sees someone, he says "Hiiiiii", quickly follows by a "buh bye".....LOL He's also taken a passion in saying bye bye to everything; his current fav are "bye bye car" and "bye bye ball".....hehehehe...he's one silly boy!! Can't wait to get back home to celebrate his 2nd year B-day!!!

Nasi Lemak

Made one of Ed's favorite all-time food, Nasi Lemak. He loves it and besides I've ran out of ideas of what to cook! ;) Nasie Lemak is fairly easy; make the fragrant rice, slice some cucumbers, get the ikan bilis sambal ready and pretty much the rest are whatever your tastebuds are up to. And in this case, Sambal Prawns. Also pretty easy to make once you have your "base" sambal paste all ready-made. And yes, I used coconut milk for the rice, again, I'm using it to get the authentic taste and the fragrance of it.

Sambal paste recipe
Ingredients
shallots, 10
garlic, 1 whole clove
dried chilli, 10-15 deseeded and soaked till soft (I used the microwave to soften)
belacan, half a thumb size

Method
Blend everything into a paste with a food processor, adding water if needed to get a paste like consistency.
Then heat some oil, add the paste and stir occasionally at medium heat till oil is seen floating on top of mixture.
At this point, add sugar, salt and water( if needed).
Stir some more till fragrant or rather pungent..:D


Nasi Lemak recipe
Ingredients
Rice
Pandan leaves, rinsed, shredded in the middle and knotted
Coconut milk( I use the can version)
Water
Salt

Method
Rinse rice as you would for cooking "regular" rice, minus the water.
Then reduce the amount of water that you would use for cooking the rice by 1/3 and subsitute the remaining 2/3 with coconut milk.
Add the knotted pandan leaves and salt and let it steam in the rice cooker.


Sambal Ikan Billis
Ingredients
Ikan Billis or small anchovies, rinsed
Sugar
Sambal Paste

Method
Fried anchovies till crispy, add sambal paste then sugar and salt to taste


Sambal Prawns
Ingredients
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
Prawns, cleaned
Sambal Paste

Method
Heat oil, add onions, fried till silghtly transparent.
Add prawns and stir fried till prawns are 90% done.
Then add in some sambal paste, stir.
Add Sugar and salt to taste. Serve


Note: Once the Sambal Paste is done, the rest is simply quite easy to assemble. Also note that all the amount varies according to own's preferences. Other sides with the nasi lemak could be fried fish, omelette, fried chicken wings..whatever rocks your boat..:D

Sinful Choco Cupcakes

Recently I bought some fantastic organic chocolate drops. I've never heard of the brand but I trusted the store that I went since it usually sells quality goods. I went back home and tried it, and wow, it's got a really good chocolately taste and somehow, a hint of coffee to it. It was great but I wasn't gonna inhale the whole bag of it (not that I can't...erm...just didn't want to be a pig!!). And I didn't want to "waste" it on making cookies (since I don't really enjoy cookies) but I don't want to spend my whole day on making a cake. Sooo the finally solution, (other than eating the whole bag of it myself...let's share some of the calories with others!!:D) CUPCAKES! Not really a standard cake and definitely not a cookie!!



I used Chockylit's Devil's Food Cupcake with Chocolate Buttercream and it's truly utterly SINFUL! Plus I added (to another batch) peanut butter chips!!! Yup, I was googoo gaga over cupcakes that day! My cupcakes didnt' turn out as darkish brown as Chockylit's but it tasted GOOD!! I saved 6 for us (Ed, Ethan and I) and the rest were given to Ed's colleagues. I was labelled the diet breaker...hehehehhe....What the hell, you only live once...

I went online and check their other products; I WANT ALL THEIR CHOCOLATE!!!! Ok ok... the chocolate that I used was Dagoba Chocodrops 73% ( I like the bittersweets, less of other added stuff). And tomorrow I'll be hitting the grocery store again, this time I'll be stocking up on my Dagoba, they are also a little cheaper than Valrhona and Scharffen Bergen which I used pretty often... :) A really big plus!! Go to their website, they have other chocolate products and they even list the origins of the cocoa beans, how cool!

For Pins and Chair

One thing I like about Ikea is that they have this spacious kid's area filled with a bunch of kids' toys and furniture (obviously their products), we usually let Ethan "loose" there, he loves it!!! Of course, getting him to move on is tough, he usually puts up a fight. Sooooo to make things easier, we usually get him a toy from Ikea (noooo....we are not spoiling him, we already have the intention of getting him one before we "set him loose" and it's USUALLY, not ALL THE TIME!). This time it's a hammer and pins thingy. We don't know the exact name for it but one thing is for sure, ETHAN LOVES IT!!!! He can play with that the whole day!! It's amazing!!! He would knock them in, turn it over and start all over again..take a break, start the whole thing again...it's crazy just watching him do it!! hehehe...he's got so much focus (when he wants too)!

So I decided to capture moments of him with his CURRENT fav toy. The pics didn't do him justice, well, I guess there's so much still photos can do...hehehe.. He would be sitting in his little red chair, resting or banging away on the pins!! LOL He's such a sweet little boy when he's with his toy!! Two cheers for Ikea! Ingenious toy!! :D After 2 months, Ethan's still playing with it, but now he's takng the pins out and trying to put them back....funny lil' boy

Chicken Curry and Rice

I love Chicken Curry on occassions when I'm too lazy to cook. This dish espeically brings back fond memories of home and family. Every special occasions and get-togethers called for chicken curry and with that you always need fried beehoon. For some reason, those two dishes always go so well together.

Before I digress any further, I'd experimented with the Chicken Curry recipe many a times and finally tweak it to my liking. Everytime I needed a quick fix of something spicy, Chicken Curry is always on my mind, besides, it's so versatile, who can argue...:)

Chicken Curry recipe(4 servings)

Ingredients
Curry Powder, 3 heaping tablespoons
Curry Leaves (optional), a handful; washed and rinsed
Lemongrass, crushed at the ends
1.5 can coconut milk
Chicken pieces, cut bite-size (I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs)
Potatoes, 3 mediums and cut to bite-size(I usually use Yukon Gold)
Carrots, 4 medium and cut to bite-size

Method
1. Add enough water to curry powder to make into a paste.
2. Heat oil in pot (medium heat) and add the crushed lemongrass, stir a little, then add the curry paste with the curry leaves, stir fry that on medium heat. Add a little of coconut milk if the mixture begins to stick to the pot and continue with the frying.
3. Once oil starts to appear on the mixture, add chicken pieces, potatoes and carrots and mix.
4. Then add the coconut milk into the pot plus the same amount of water.
5. Bring it to a boil, then turn the heat down to simmer. Simmer till the gravy has reduced and thickened.
6. Ready to serve with rice, bread, or noodles.

Note: All the ingredients are portioned to one's liking, it's not exact science so you can pretty much change the amount needed to suit your taste. I used coconut milk coz I like the flavour as such, you can use regular milk as well but the fragrance would be lost. Add extra chilli powder in when mixing the curry powder if you like it spicy, alternatively, you can always add fresh chillis into the curry while simmering.