ZARAA FIRST BIRTHDAY

Today is Zaraa's first birthday..also coincide with our weekly family dining together..little Zaraa had not been well for a while now but today she is super energetic...and she can walk 2-3 steps on her own.. a big step for mankind.. hehehe

We wanted to do a birthday party for Zaraa but sis, Sarah, was not too pleased that her birthday is later so her mummy says we hold all celebrations till sis Sarah's birthday in June..celebrating again with Sarah then.

This Saturday we had roast lamb shoulders with boiled sweet potatoes, pasta salad, green peas, mushroom soup and garlic breads....burrrpppp...

Lastly, it has been a while since I bake a cake because of many reasons..one of which is procrastination and the lazy bug has caught me .I have been wanting to make this rainbow cake for a while now. Alas, I have a reason to make one..when I was making it , I was unsure whether it would be a success  but alhamdulillah I am happy with the result.., the cake was soft and nice. The cake is a 10 x 10 cake with Italian buttercream and is 3 kg in weight.  The icing was also not as sweet  as the usual buttercream and compliments the cake.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZARAA..:)

Passion Fruit Cheesecake

Cheesecakes and passion fruits are some of my favorite food...hehehe "food"..I love all kind of cheesecakes and searching for more and more exciting ones..I love my passion fruit on top of my pavlovas. Made some mini pavlovas but never got round to eating them so my passion fruit is beginning to shrivel and I got lots of cream cheese to which I am suppose to experiment ..so here is the recipe which I made up myself for this particular cheesecake.lovely texture. It is a tinge sour ..my kind of taste but kids are kids..they are not too fond of the tinge of sourness of the passion fruit .

For the base:

200 gm of digestive biscuit
100 gm of unsalted butter

Put the biscuit and butter into the food processor and blend together. Once done, put it into a 9 inch spring form baking pan. Level and refrigerate whilst we continue to make the filling.for at least 10 minutes.

For the filling:

750 gm cream cheese
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp lemon rind
1 cup sugar
1 cup passion fruit pulp

Preheat oven at 160 C for 15 minutes.
Cream the cheese till smooth. Add egg one by one and mix till smooth. Add sugar, vanilla essence, lemon rind till well mixed then add the passion fruit pulp into the cream mixture.

Take the base out of the fridge and put the filling into the pan. Bake for 1 hour and let cool in the oven. Refrigerate over night.

Topping:

1 tub of sour cream ( abt 200 gm)
4 passion fruit

Put the whole tub on top of the cheesecake and smooth over the top. Cut into halve and pour the pulps of the passion fruit on top of the cheesecake. Ready to serve or can chill further till ready to eat.

Please give it a try...goo onnn..I soo enjoy eating them.. :)

MOTHER'S DAY CELEBRATION

At night with the kids having dinner at Murni SS2..mixed grill and all the " I Love U"s.., mee raja, dinosaur pizzas, chicken chops, nasi lemak chicken chop? ( pon adaaaa...) nasi goreng chicken chop..hehehe..for a change ..amidst the hundeds of people eating at the restaurant and still queuing for tables..chaotic but amazingly the food came very fast...and friendly..it was an experience.. :)

This was in the afternoon.at Quality Hotel Shah Alam with my aunties, uncles and cousins and their kids..when it comes to us, the ladies makes the most chatters, we presented flowers to our aunties, I have lost my mum about two years ago.Al -Fatihah...but I still have lovely aunties to share ..and exchange gifts amongst ourselves.. the holabala..hehehe was pretty chaotic but fun fun fun.. of course time flies by very fast when we are having fun..I almost got left behind by my brother ...these are some of the pictures that I took during the celeb..

MOTHER'S DAY WISHES

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY
 TO ALL THE MAKs, MAMAs, IBUs, UMIs..MUMmies..
MAY GOD BLESS U ALWAYS..and AL-FATIHAH to those who are no longer with us..

Nasi Carrot Day..with its accompaniment

 It has been a while since last masak Nasi Carrot ni..memang sedap sesangat..my citarasa lah... I ambik resepi dari Ayu, Curlybabes Satisfaction blog..resepi sini..

 Acar timun ..compliments this nasi..easy peasy recipe..I might say.

 Ini pulak ayam Ala Kassim which is a family favorite..sedapand spicy..Resepi nya d sini

Lastly, my vegetable dalca ..the final condiment set for Nasi Carrot.

Give it a try whenever u can..I simply love this combi..

Banoffee Pie

My kids love this Banoffee Pie which I have not done for a while. Used to do individual ones but I got lazy and did the whole pie instead.They are easy to make and the taste is superlicious..

Base:

100g (3½oz) butter, melted

250g (9oz) digestive biscuits

Filling:

100g (3½oz) butter

100g (3½oz) dark brown soft sugar

397g can Carnation Condensed Milk ( I used F & N Condensed Milk)

Topping:

4 small bananas ( I add 3 more bananas and used Pisang Emas for best result)

300ml carton double cream, lightly whipped

grated chocolate

You will also need:

20cm (8”) loose-bottomed cake tin, greased

Method

To make the base, process the biscuits until crushed. Stir in the melted butter. Press the mixture into the base and 4cm (1½") up the sides of the tin. Chill the base while you make the filling.

To make the filling: place the butter and sugar into a non-stick saucepan over a low heat, stirring until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. Add the condensed milk and bring gently to the boil, stirring continuously. When the caramel has started to boil, remove from the heat and pour over the biscuit base. Cool, and then leave to chill for about 1 hour, until firm.

To serve, remove the pie from the tin and place on a serving plate. Slice the bananas, fold half of them into the softly whipped cream and spoon over the caramel base. Decorate with the remaining bananas and finish with the grated chocolate.

Family Dinner 5.5.2012

We find every excuse to make Saturday night a lovely one..most importantly everyone is around the table..it bring much joy for me and hubby that everyone is sitting round the table..uhmmm soon not many more family dinners as everyone is already that age of not wanting to stay home when they get the chance..this time actually hubby is going away for a week..so it is a meal to last him till he comes back home again next week.

My 3.5kg Roast Beef..

Yorkshire puddings??

Caramelized carrot and Tomatoes

 

Garlic Bread

Greens with goat cheese

The spread ..table laden with food..food and more food

Oyster mushroom cream soup..

The  Filled Plate

The man at work - carving the roast..whew hard work eh??

After all that food, a fruit platter filled with dragon fruit and mangoes are most welcomed.. :)

Banana Chocolate Cake

Hahaha...the other day I was telling Mamafami ..I am in my lazy state of mind..every day is a day of procrastination..uhmmm..I got off my lazy bum one afternoon and made this. Actually craving for anything banana..below is the original recipe to which I have done some tweeking.. 

Banana - Pecan Cupcakes  (I made a cake not cupcakes hehe)

as usual I forgot whose blog I took the recipe from..I think I should make it a habit and type it next to the recipe so that I do not forget..

Makes 28 

 3 cups sifted cake flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

4 very ripe large bananas , mashed ( about 2 cups )

3/4 cup buttermilk ( I used sour cream )

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup ( 1 1/2 sticks ) unsalted butter , room temp ( 180 grams salted)

1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar ( i used 3/4 cup ) 

3 large eggs , room temperature 

1 cups pecans ( about 4 oz ) coarsely chopped ( I used walnuts )

1/3 cup bittersweet chocolate chips  ( I cup of choc chips)

 * Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C  . Line standard muffin tins with paper liners .

* Whisk together cake flour , baking soda , baking powder , salt and cinnamon . In another bowl , whisk together bananas , buttermilk and vanilla.

* With an electric mixer on medium-high speed , cream the butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy . Add eggs , one at a time , beating until each is incorporated , scraping down sides as needed . Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in two batches , alternating with banana mixture and beating until just combined after each  . Stir in pecans by hand .

* Divide batter evenly among cups , filling each about three-quarters full . Bake for about 20 minutes .

I baked mine in a 9 1/2-inch cake pan for about 40 minutes . 

Mine ended up not as soft as I would like it to be..must do further CSI on this recipe..anyone who have tried this recipe please feedback on what is the outcome.

Steam Eggs

Simply awesome..easy peasy steam eggs..I forgot where I copied the recipe from but it is a keeper for my family, thanks to whoever it is that posted the recipe.

I was reluctant to try at first but my kids loves anything."egg" so I gave this a try and what a surprise..it was simply lovely..a healthy way to eat eggs than the normal sunny side up or omelete.

Beat 2 large eggs , (at room temperature) in a shallow bowl/dish

season with a pinch of salt. 

Pour 180 ml lukewarm water to the beaten eggs and mix thoroughly . (I add a little more water because first time I did it , it come out soft but not as soft as I would like them to be..so it is more of trial and error thingy)

Use a wire/plastic strainer to strain the mixture (for a smooth , velvety texture) .

Pour the mixture in a lightly oiled plate .

Cover with plastic wrap/foil or plate .

Steam for 10 to 15 minutes . Be sure to put a chopstick or a stick at the edge between the pan and the cover ( to let some of the steam escape thus preventing the top of the egg mixture to puff  up while the middle is still uncooked ) .

Sprinkle some diced spring onion at the top and a drizzle of light soy sauce . ( I drizzle more than a tablespoonful)
Serve hot .