Haze 2013

I wonder when do we learn from previous incidents?  It is happening again right now.  Our country is surrounded by haze from the open burnings in Indonesia and its not nice.

As if we are choked by smoke and fumes.  Its getting so bad now in Brunei and same thing happens in Singapore and Malaysia as well.  In fact its far worst in those countries as mentioned in this news.  Some schools in Malaysia's most affected states are closed and some major events in Singapore are also cancelled or postponed because of this.  Its really is serious.

In Brunei, it hasnt been raining for a while at the moment and its making it worst.  The weather is dry, humid, hot and smokey.  I hope it will rain soon so the rain could help to clear the smoke.

Below is the picture taken from my office.  See all those smoke on the horizon?

Pavlova is so yummy..!!

I've been baking a number of cakes for a few weeks now and I am loving it!!!

This weekend I tried my hands on pavlova.  I've read that it is so easy to make and the ingredients are simple and easy to find, easily available at home.

So I googled the recipe and found so many of them in the internet!  So popular I must say lol...

I gave it a try and it really was so easy and fast to make.  And it was so yummy too... I made it not so sweet especially on the meringue and the topping so it easy on the tongue as well.  So heavenly.  Like you are eating a cloud... lol.

And since I am into cupcakes these days, I made the pavlova in a cupcake style.  I could do it in a big chunk but prefer to have it in a separate mini cups so me and the family could savour it one by one and not to spoil the design and taste.  I freeze them in the refrigerator but I didnt put the topping and fruits on top until serving so as to preserve the freshness and the crispiness of the meringue.  Cant wait to savour it again later!

Serves 6-8, makes approx 16 cupcakes or 1 large pavlova

 

Ingredients:

 

6 free range egg whites

1 ½ cups of castor sugar (I only use not even a cup and it really was enough and not too sweet).

Squeeze lemon juice

1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp of vanilla extract

1 tbs corn flour

1 tbs vinegar

The topping:

500ml thickened cream (I didnt put sugar on it)

1 punnet strawberries

Other fruits that can be used - bananas, kiwi fruit, peaches, etc.  Use sour fruits to counter attack the sweetness.

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 110°C
• Line 2 cupcake trays with papers or lay a sheet of baking paper on a tray.
• In an electric mixer whip the egg whites on high until frothy.
• Keep beating on high and slowly add the sugar.
• Keep beating on high until the meringue reaches stiff peak (when you lift the beater the peaks hold their shape and don’t fold). This will take about 5 min.
• Add a squeeze of lemon juice and the vanilla and beat again quickly to mix it through.
• Use an ice cream scoop (those ones with the squeeze handles) to scoop the mixture into the cupcake papers or use a spatula to spread the mixture onto the pan in the shape of a circle.
• Bake on a low temp until light brown and crispy. Approx 45 min for cupcakes or approx 1.5 hrs for a large one.
• Turn off the oven and let it cool slowly with the oven slightly ajar.
• Whip the cream (do not add sugar!). This can be done in advance, while it is in the oven or just before serving.

 Just before serving cover with cream, chop fruit and decorate.

 

 And these are the work I've done:

 

Whipping the white egg until frothy.  It took maybe 5 minutes

Tadaa...

Ready to go in the oven

Ready to eat!!!

Look at that! So yummmyyy...

My new driver!

The best thing about having a grown up daughter is that I have someone to drive me if I am too lazy to drive!  For the past few days my daughter has offered to drive me to work and I am so grateful for the opportunity of not having to drive in the traffic jam.

I know she is such a good daughter, I didnt ask her but she insisted, and I am very happy with that! LOL

Carrot Cupcakes

Ok, I must admit, I am so addicted of making cupcakes right now.  However, this is going to be my last post about cupcakes and I am not gonna do more recipes for a little while hehehe.

I found this cupcake recipe which was so easy to follow.   I think the recipe is for bigger cupcakes but I prefer mini cupcakes.  I dont like my cupcakes to be too big, I prefer smaller ones :)  Apart from looking really cute, you got to spread the mix into more cups which is always a good thing. 

Basically you can do it with your eyes closed.  Yes I am serious.  It IS that easy!  And it taste sssoooo good too.

Try it you wont regret it, I promised... lol

And here is the recipe.....

Ingredients


• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut, plus more for garnish
• 8 ounces bar cream cheese, room temperature
• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil a standard 12-cup muffin tin or line with paper liners. In a bowl, combine sugar, vegetable oil, orange juice, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, and eggs.

2. Stir in baking powder, baking soda, allspice, and salt. Add flour; mix. Stir in carrots, walnuts, and coconut.

3. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean, 25 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.

4. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth.

5. Frost cupcakes, and garnish with shredded coconut.

The ingredient mixed together

Ready to go into the oven

Done and baked

My home made carrot cupcakes

Isnt it beautiful?

Chocolate Cupcakes

My urge or instinct to bake continues this weekend :)  Now my creation is Chocolate Cupcakes which proved to be as yummy as the red velvet.  I got the recipe from the internet and it turned out so well on my first try!

The Ingredients:

1/2 cup (50 grams) cocoa powder

1 cup (240 ml) boiling hot water
1 1/3 cups (175 grams) all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract


Chocolate Fudge Frosting:

4 ounces (120 grams) unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
2/3 cup (150 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/3 cups (160 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract


Chocolate Frosting:

1. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

2. In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute).

3. Add the sugar and beat until it is light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the chocolate and beat on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until frosting is smooth and glossy (about 2 -3 minutes).


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees. Lightly butter, or line 16 muffin cups with paper liners.

2. In a small bowl stir until smooth the boiling hot water and the cocoa powder. Let cool to room temperature.

3. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

4. Then in the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat only until incorporated. Then add the cooled cocoa mixture and stir until smooth.

5. Fill each muffin cup about two-thirds full with batter and bake for about 16 - 20 minutes or until risen, springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. (Do not over bake or the cupcakes will be dry.) Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with icing. You can either spread the frosting on the cupcakes with a small spatula or if piping, use a large Wilton 1M open star tip to make lovely swirls. These cupcakes are best the day they are made, but can be covered and stored for a few days.

On to some pictures of my baking!

The hot water mixed with the cocoa powder

The mixture of butter, flour and eggs

After the chocolate mixture pour into the flour mixture

The cake almost done

The finished product!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Out of the blue and since I had such a free weekend, I decided to bake some red velvet cupcakes!

I always love baking or cooking but I dont usually do it as often (esp baking)   But once in a while, I do bake and it always been a lovely feeling.  So I think I am gonna do it more often.  Or make a business out of it even.

Anyway, that special moment came and there... my red velvet cupcakes.  Yummy..

Let me share the recipe ok!

Cupcake recipe


Ingredient A

2 ½ cup Flour
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 tea spoon baking powder
1 tea spoon bicarbonate soda


Ingredient B

2 cup Castor Sugar
2 eggs
1 tea spoon vanilla essence
1 tea spoon vinegar
1 table spoon red colouring
1 cup yogurt
2 ½ cup Corn Oil


Directions

Mix ingredient A and ayak 3 times
Beat sugar and egg then vanilla essence and beat again
Mix Ingredient B one by one
Then pour Ingredient A to the mixture
No need to blend the mixture, with spoon will do.
Pour the mixture into cups.
Bake for 15-20 minutes with temp of 180 degrees.
2 table spoon whip cream (its up to you on how smooth you want the cream, add more if you want)
1 tsp lemon juice


Whats a cupcake without cream cheese right?  Its a must! :)
Cream cheese frosting

Ingredient:

250g cream cheese (I usually use Philadelphia cream cheese)
60g butter
1-2 cups of icing sugar

Directions:

Mix cream cheese and butter
Then mix everything else.


I assure you this cupcakes are not too sweet at all.  I gave the cupcakes to a few families and friends and everybody said so!

The mixture

Before baking

Just baked

The finished product

Yummy and so lovely...

Flooded Airport?

This has gone viral in the social media.  Brunei Airport was flooded last night because of the heavy rain for a few hours!  (And this news worth my time blogging about it lol..)

I found this so amusing.  At the same time kind of embarassing.  Have you ever heard a flooded airport?

Poor, poor Brunei.  I heard there was a late night flight arrival.  Imagine what those people thought when they encountered with ankle deep water.  At the airport!  I bet some of them had their cameras and took a few pictures!  And these pictures will end up at their home country!

How is that for a good Brunei reputation?

I hope this wont happen again.  And relevant authorities will do something about it.  Prompto!

Below picture was taken from someone's whatsapp. 

She is now 19...

Just want to remember today.  This is a very very special day.  The day when when my daughter turns 19.

This date 19 years ago, I gave birth to this wonderful and special little girl. The light of my life.  The reason for me to smile everyday.  

So thank you my sweetie.  You are the best thing that ever happened to me (And I think I've said that every year! :) Simply because its just so true!

 

So thank you for being a wonderful daughter. For giving me so many reasons to smile.  Thank you for our on-the-go fun times together.  And our talks and giggles together.

May Allah bless you with good health, abundance of happiness and joy.  Forever and ever.

Lots of love always.

From Your Mom

Movie - Warm Bodies

Sunday afternoon was movie day for my daughter and I.  Well she saw the movie last week with her friends and insisted I should see it as well lol.  Besides she mentioned that I havent been to Time Square cinema which according to her was really pretty with nice ambience.  Ok then.. here we went!

But I must say first hand that I just hate! hate! crowds.  Time Square was buzzing and finding a parking space was torture.  After a few rounds we moved away from the main building and looked further away and we found a tiny spot just nice enough for my daughter's tiny car lol.

Back to the movie.  Well.. first of all, its a Zombie movie! I didnt mind when my daughter mentioned that.  Sometimes I do enjoy horror movie with lots of twists and turns.  A grey and gloomy surrounding, depressing in certain areas but this movie was ok.  The actors were cute and they formed a cute couple.  My daughter liked the actress alot (2nd time for her to watch!) since she looks very much like Kristen Stewart (her fav actress...) but with blond hair... I liked the movie even better when most songs played in the movie were from my era hahaha.  The oldies were the best!!!

First the snyposis I stole from the internet :) -

After a zombie epidemic, R (a highly unusual zombie) encounters Julie (a human survivor), and rescues her from a zombie attack. Julie sees that R is different from the other zombies, and as the two form a special relationship in their struggle for survival, R becomes increasingly more human - setting off an exciting, romantic, and often comical chain of events that begins to transform the other zombies and maybe even the whole lifeless world.

Well.. I think I liked it :)  A bit unusual and different from any zombie movies that I've seen.  A good balance of violent, humour and romance so its a good watch. Although I guess not everyone like the same movie but I would recommend watching it.

Shall I give my rating?  lol... I give it 8/10. 

Singapore Food Festival

There was so many adverts and fuss about this food festival and we couldnt help but to give it a go. 

Its held at Dynasty Restaurant in Centrepoint and the offer was for lunch it cost B$19.90 per person and for dinner it was B$29.90 (adult price, I didnt remember how much it cost for children).  We opted for lunch because its more convenient for us, and it cost less (less dollar and less choices of food which is ok lol)

But on my personal preference and opinion, I am not going to give it a 10.  Firstly, they all talked about how nice the chilli crab is.  But to us, its rather sweet, in fact very sweet.  I thought Spore food is spicy and hot!  Thats what we wanted to try, authentic Singaporean food, not something that was modified to suit Bruneian taste.  Or I am wrong?  Is that how Spore chilli crabs actually taste?  I dont know.

I tasted a better Chicken rice and Rojak as well.  So not a 10 in this.  But I love the dessert.  I know RBC usually serves good and yummy dessert and I was not dissapointed in that.

The restaurant was packed though so I guess the response is still good, they even extended the promotion for another week!

Entrance to Dynasty Restaurant

Condiments that came with the chicken rice

Chicken is my favourite and I didnt mind having lots of this although I tasted better

The "oh-so-popular but not to us" chilli crab, lol

We just enjoyed each other company

Sri Lembayung Restaurant

Did I mention that we went to Jakarta last month?  I must have forgotten but I did blog about it here.  It was a fun break and didnt mind going again.

We sampled a few Indonesian food, which was not that bad.  And when we returned, I still felt fond of Jakarta so we took the whole family to have dinner at one of the Indonesian restaurants in town lol.  Its called Sri Lembayung Restaurant.  Our first time here though.   First impression the restaurant look cozy and nice.  Staff are all Indonesian but not so many patrons.  Infact we were the only family there with one lady occupying another time which we guessed turned out to be the owner of the restaurant!  So many good restaurants around the area I guess.

They served buffet which cost B$9.90 per person so we tried this.  The food was ok, I didnt say great but ok.  Service was good, the waiters and waitresses were friendly.  But one thing we didnt fancy was when one of the dishes ran out, they didnt serve any refill.  When hubby queried about it they apologized then only the refill was done.  How could that be possible when they said they didnt have any food left one minute then refill the food the minute after.

Anyway, the rest of the night was uneventful but I dont think we will be back though :)

At the entrance of the restaurant

Some of the food being served as buffet

The array of food and counter

Some of the clans

Me and hubby

Time to dig in

The one particular dish ran out and they didnt do any refill

They were quiet helpful which was nice

I am in pain!

I've been having this serious pain in my arms.  Its very painful when I lift my right arm, kind of like someone is poking me with a knife from inside.  Its been going on for a few months.  At first I didnt really worry about it, try to carry on and ignore it.  Until such time that it really was bothering me very much.  I went to massage centres a few times, to relieve the tiredness I was feeling but the pain still lingering and bothering me.

I decided to take it one step further by going to the doctor.  So I went to JPMC and see what they had to say.  After some discussions and diagnosis, they concluded that I had a tendonitis and I need a physiotheraphist to look at my problem.

Tendonitis is an arm pain which is experienced upon lifting them, could be due to tendonitis. A tendon is a fibrous tissue which is the link between the bones and the muscles. Any kind of swelling or inflammation in the tendons due to a number of causes such as trauma, injury or due to their excess usage, can cause tendonitis. Tendonitis in the upper arm area, besides causing pain, presents itself with symptoms such as swelling in the joints and warmth in the affected area.

Just to share some illustrations that I found about the problem.  I tell you its really is painful and has hindered me from doing my everyday chores.  So inconvenient.

My pain is from my supraspinatus muscle tendon

The theraphist gave me so many tips and advice.  One thing for sure was my right arm was so overworked!  Hehehe... that sounds so funny but of course its true.  I've spent 8 hours on the computer everyday at work.  Then I drive to work.  At home I continue to use my right arm at home to do my house chores.  I lift so many things and I do alot of chopping as well, especially the chicken!  Which requires strength and energy.  And they told me my supraspinatus,wow.. what a fancy name for a tendon :) is swollen and needs rest.

My trip to the physiotheraphy department

Inside the physiotheraphy department, a few are doing their physiotheraphy when I was there.  That was my daughter accompanying me.

  

Inside the treatment room

I was also given treatment called  Therupatic Ultrasound theraphy which helps to reduce the swelling, increase blood flow to the area and to rebuild more new cells.  I hope it works!

So these are the things I cannot do:

• No heavy lifting
• No hanging of my right hand when typing on my computer
• No sleeping on my right side
• No heavy chopping

And I need to do a bit of exercise and put some ice into my arms 3 times a day.

Phew.. I didnt realise its going to be this hard.  Its nearly impossible not to use my right arm when I at home and in the office!

Another appointment was arranged next week, I hope I will be getting better soon since it really was getting annoying with this pain.


 

Sotong Goreng Telur Masin, yumm..

Hubby and I tried a new recipe again a few days ago, wanted to try something new at home.  Something I havent tried cooking but tried eating and it was really yummy.

 

Hubby liked it alot when we ate them at Tamu selera recently and we decided to try cooking it at home.

 

I think the Tamu Selera one is much nicer but it will do huhu..

 

A word of caution though, the dish is rather oily and cholesterol laden so not to be eaten most time.  But for special treat, why not??? :)

I dont have a proper recipe, we just ate the dish, think about what the ingredients, then the next few days we bought the ingredients and just cook them hehehe

So these are the ingredients we used:

• Fresh sotong (squids)
• Salted eggs (the egg yolk only)
• Butter
• Ideal Milk
• Kentucky Flour
• White egg
• Corn Flour
• Daun kari (not sure whats that called in English)
• Salt

Firstly, I cleaned the squids and cut it to small pieces.  Mix the squids with white egg, then mix it with the Kentucky flour and corn flour.  Deep fried the squids.  Put the squids aside.

Once the squids are cooked, heat butter and and pour the ideal milk.  Then mix the salted egg and stir.  Once heated and boiled, I put in the daun kari and mix the fried squids.  Add some salt to taste.

And they are done, yummmmmmmm...........

 

 

The salted egg, the egg york only

 

The fresh squids

 

The squids mix with the kentucky flour and corn flour

 

Fried them

 

The fried squid - put aside

 

The end product