ayonecan-cook

First of all I wish all my friends from blog land and the real world and my dear blog visitors who celebrate Christmas a Merry Christmas .  This cake was made for N's birthday today and as always most times I end up making a chocolate cake. This is a steamed chocolate cake that I got from  San's Blessed Moments. Chocolate has always been a favourite in this house with everyone and also because ~  " Every time I hear that dirty word exercise I wash my mouth out with chocolate."  Unknown This was a moist and chocolatey cake with the perfect amount of sweetness ...meaning not too sweet at all. I covered it with fresh whipped cream because ... I had taken out the butter from the fridge, looked at it then put it back in. Since we had only cut the cake this evening I could not take a photo of a sliced piece. I hope to take a picture tomorrow. Do take note of the word "hope" though.  The recipe... 200 gm sugar 200 ml evaporated milk 180 gm butter 2 eggs 100 gm plai...

I'm not much of a drink person. I'm more of an eat person. So spoonfuls of Nestle's Everyday Milk Powder, cod liver oil, Wood's Peppermint Cough Syrup and Milo from the tin/bottle were weird combinations of snacks for my mid-afternoon-after-school indulgences before I resumed frolicking aka wrestling aka as punching matches with my brother or careering down the tarred, bumpy and sandy road on our nailed together four wheeled sled/plank. Those were the muted turquoise, mint and tangerine vintage-coloured years of my childhood. I want it back. NOW. Back to the future........comes Milo Dinosaur. I first heard of this concoction when N the man returned home from Singapore and gushed about it several years ago. I gave a glazed smile and the Milo dinosaur slipped into a small fissure of my brain. Then yesterday H and I found ourselves wandering into a food court like lost and aimless souls. I sashayed over to the drinks counter and my eyes fell upon the printed out price of ...

  Forgive me for the long silence. Things have been a little hectic. But I'm back and there is no better way to start off a-blogging than with these moist, scrummy and fudgy brownies. These are the most delicious brownies ever! They're chocolatey, fudgy, slightly chewy, with that shiny crackly skin on the top. They are addictive. You can't stop at one. Swear to god. They are even better cold straight from the fridge and I've even had them half frozen from the freezer. I had kept them in the freezer so we would not gorge on them in one sitting but apparently frozen brownies were even more engaging to eat. I don't think these brownies would ever get dry. They were born from a small home business run by a young man who is an engineer by day and brownie baker by night. How more intriguing could that get? And they have crossed the seas to Singapore, Sri Lanka and Brunei. They are baked in a 10 inch by 10 inch tray. Yum!

S eeing that I have only one one rack in my oven a Dobos Torte was not something I was keen to attempt. But I did it. In 4 hours. The sponge layers took only 5 minutes to bake but must be watched and baking those thin layers should never be paired with accidental naps in between. The chocolate frosting made me falter and I almost went for another recipe because 3 raw egg yolks could mean salmonella attacks, hospitalization and doctor's bills en masse. I decided to be brave and went ahead. We are all well, alive and hungering for more Dobos Torte. Thanks be to God. I had cut the last piece of sponge layer into 8 wedges and seperated them a little before pouring the amber caramel over. One thing I learnt was that you only need to cut through the caramel when the caramel has hardened. With a very sharp knife. It is much easier than having sticky caramel globbing up your knife and gooey caramel threads stretching between your fingers endlessly. A Dobos Torte looks much harder to make t...

I blog in spurts. I keep telling myself that I will never blog in spurts again. It's bad. As bad as gorging on chocolate cream filled chocolatey biscuits when you're trying to be healthy. Or trying to walk in a straight line. Sorry for the an unplanned absence. I have been uninspired and distracted. For many reasons. The heat, mega sales, the heat, friends, the heat and family. And mainly mega sales. And the heat. Nevertheless, these English chocolate cream filled chocolate biscuits are reminiscent of the chocolate bourbons from Marks and Spencer that I gorged on thirty years ago. So busy was I that I got yelled at by a man with a heavy load on his shoulders. I almost walked into him. I jumped out of his way in the nick of time. I'm sure he would have hit me on my head if he could. Thank god Mary Berry had a recipe for it. Thank god I bought her Fast Cakes recipe book thirty years ago. And thank god they taste just like my memory of it. The biscuits I mean. These a...

I had three choices. To eat this mousse selfishly with the Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao in one hand, in morning light, in my cotton jammies, to serve it at a playful children's party or to serve it as a dessert after a dinner........ in a more elegant fashion. But we all know that the party and the elegant dinner was just a figment of my imagination, so yes, I dived into it while in my jammies with Oscar Wao's brief life just within reach. T he morning was blessed to be bright and sparkling. So I did the photo shoot based on the three different settings that were mingling in my head. (just to prove to myself that mousse can be breakfast food is versatile).                                     No friends, that isn't a fly. That's an over-roasted chip off a pistachio nut. Who would have thought chocolate mousse could be made w...

Sometimes, like a Mr. Bingley, I can be 'an unmitigated and comprehensive ass'.  I should not have been put off by Nigella's recipes and think poorly of them simply because I had read a few bad reviews. I should have tried and given at least one of her recipes a chance. Well finally I did. Because when I saw the beautiful Nigella throwing one of her sensually composed smiles over this on tv I didn't think there could be anything remotely wrong about whizzed malt chocolate, expresso, ice cold milk and frozen banana chunks in a tumbler.  This is the first Nigella recipe I have ever tried. Poured into an elegant, statuesque, glass tumbler it makes me feel like lifting it high in sacredness, pacing my steps cautiously, falling onto one knee and paying homage to Nigella, The Domestic Goddess. With the hope of being domestically knighted of course. Divinity in a Daiso tumbler. A domestic goddess indeedee. The recipe ~ wholly adapted from Nigella Lawson 1 peeled banana, cut in...

First, let me assault you. There. There was a lot of strategizing in order to make these. I had to be alone. No compromises.  Chocolate hazelnut wafers that sat in the fridge for about a week or more resulted in interrogations, exclamations and demands. Hazelnuts were roasted while everyone were knocked down and out in their rooms. And 2 bars of dark chocolate I had camouflaged and slipped into the chiller compartment of the refrigerator. Then perfect timing was crucial in the execution of these chocolate gems. So that I wouldn't be defending myself against outstretched fingers and hands, salivating creatures or hair raising grunts and growls throughout the process or while doing the photo shoot. It is hard to believe that this is a houseful of fully formed and developed human beings It cost me about $60 ringgit to make 60 balls of 'Ferrero Rochers'. Never again shall I be adamant at the price of a box of Ferrero Rochers. But forever I shall be grateful to Ellie ...

I thought it would be wonderful if I could get my grandson to do a guest post while I get busy somewhere else. Lucky for me he was more than willing. And it's a good thing he can bake and cook ~ even at the tender age of ten. And he isn't the only one. S can too while N is the creative writer and artist and Z is simply the baby.  This is a little bit of art by them...mostly by N, the creative writer and artist ~  And I've only just realized that H, N and S have this great funny blog called Poptropical Adventures :D Here is a video that I just have to share with you because I think it's quite brilliant....It's an ad for a special edition of  their comic strip series, Zo and Boe Spytime. The creator is N and the special effects are by H ~ Did I say they are creative? My very lovely daughter, a super multi- tasker , not only home schools her children but she has, amazingly, taught them to cook and bake as well. Amoung a gazillion other things of course.  My su...

There comes a time in your life when age doesn't matter anymore.  I really don't care how old I am... 'honest';) So there is no need to ask for my age.... because it matters not. You see...and I'm sure you will agree with me...that at my or our or your age.....it is not how old I or we or you am or are that bothers me or us or you but how old I or we or you appear to be that matters. Agree ? Yes? No? I assume that is what they mean when they say "Age is just a number". But when you reach a certain age...where once you took a year to age a year you now take a day to equal that. Unless you were born just 'yesterday'. Think about it....at what age would you start to check the mirror for a new line on your face? At what age would you start to check the firmness of your assets?  At what age would you start to measure the size of your pores? Or to count the strands of hair that gravitate to the ground? Everyday. At what age.... I ask you....at what age...