ayonecan-cook

I thought I could s'nail' this since arts and crafts has always been my forte but these flower or snail buns were quite a challenge. And chignons I have never made. Unlike Terri. So perhaps that explains why I was struggling. I almost didn't post these. Some of them looked ridiculously laughable. These were the best of the worst. N looked at me with a question mark on her face. But I think they taste good. I'll know by sunset. I will have to re-heat them though. These are best eaten warm. I have always loved Chinese steamed buns but especially buns with a spicy curry meat filling. Yes.... you cannot take the Malay out of me but there's always room for Chinese. And chocolate. And ice cream. These would be good soaking up a curry I made last night. Oh. My. Yum.  Terri was spot on with the recipe. I used exactly 200 ml of water and  I didn't need to add a drop more. I kneaded the pau dough in the machine until it didn't stick. I had no sticky problems. The ...

I love my Malay cakes even if they are plain toads ( kodok ). These are authentic. There is no grated coconut meat in it, no baking powder is used and no egg at all....all of which would give these bites airiness, lightness, puffiness and turn them into dainty, too perfectly round, bland, made-over versions of the original toad bites. Purists, however,  would swear by the original kampung (village) version which is crisp and chewy on the outside and soft, mushy and banana-ey on the inside. And quite toad-like in looks.....irregularly shaped, flat, heavy, ugly and greasy but absolutely to die for. I love my Toad Bites or Kuih Kodok. Rice flour is added to the batter for a crisp and chewy skin, plain flour to hold the batter together and of course the mashed banana gives the inside the mushy and banana-ey goodness that we die for. I don't see why anyone would not love these.  Anything greasy has to be good.  Kiddies especially love these.....imagine chubby little fingers...

I think this would make a lovely Mother's Day "gift"! A jelly presented with things inside. Namely fruit. It's sweet, it's pretty, it's a "gift". It's healthier than cake. It puts less calories on the hips and what nots. Jelled orange juice packed with lychees and a few ruby red strawberries for accent. A golden glob of sunshine gift-wrapped.    Here's Happy Mother's Day to all mothers. :) Trials and tribulations. Love and laughter. Gratefulness and gratification. What a life. A Mother's Day....it's full of surprises! And then some ~ I used Sarah-Jane's unique silicone moulds from siliconemoulds.com. I have made HAPPY chocolate cake, carrot CAKE cake, Easter egg madeleines, plum financiers , brioche and some milk jellies using Sarah's moulds and each had turned out perfectly moulded every time. But 'gift' moulds are the first I've ever come across.  The mould comes in a set of two in one. But if you w...

You could say I started the new year off with a big slump. Not in a bad way. Just a lazy way. Too many New Years too fast makes me wonder whether I'm coming or going. New Years  seem to be standing around every corner and jumping out at you these days. And before you've had time to be done with the old one you find yourself standing and talking to a new one. And wonder where the old one went. Nevertheless, I made some of Jamie's pizza dough yesterday, rolled them out in discs, half baked them and stacked them in the freezer in plastic bags so that FMs could make their own pizzas when they're hungry. But this morning I made a sweet pizza. A quick apple pie pizza. Apple slices cooked in a skillet with a knob of butter and some brown sugar, topped the pizza discs with them and gave them a quick basking in the oven.  In what has seemed a long time I had a quick, guilt free, crusty apple pie for breakfast. It wasn't bad at all. The recipe ~ Pizza crust reci...

There is something about a crimson coloured drink that makes it desirable and irresistible.  I knew I had to make this when I saw it on The Hungry Caterpillar. The Roselle cordial is made from th e sepals of the Roselle flower . A species of the hibiscus which is a plant native to the Old World tropics. It is of a deep plum colour, fleshy and crisp in texture, bizarre, kinky, alien-like, seemingly ready to scamper, creep, plunge, squeak, squeal and rule the world through my poor little chocolate addicted body. H thought they looked weird, and winced when I offered him the cordial. I looked at him as adamantly as I was allowed to and, to my surprise, he relented and took a sip. Then he waved the half full glass of roselle out of my reach. I smacked his arm with my paw. As hard as I was allowed to. We grappled. We drank. We were in ecstasy and in joyful worship. Of Rosella. (Dionysus... move over) Obviously it passed the test. So now it's bottled. Like a Genie. It has a l...

I know....... summer in some parts of foodie world is over. But in my world ~  summer is forever.  So there is nothing like an ice cold headache-inducing water melon granita to keep those heat waves at bay. This was just so refreshing that when my daughter and I mouthed the first few scoops of ice cold crystallized melon juice aka as granita while watching tv the heat outside just seemed to dissipate into a mirage-y blur and I felt transported to several degrees below 100.  It was a continuous effort between cooling down and an ice cold headache. At times it was like my brain was being flashed frozen and the next minute relieved of it. It was a foodie's fight against nature. As hard as that may sound I would do granita again and again if the heat keeps up. Rain? Come again? Pretty please? Of course granita turned to pleasant slush afterwards and I wished I had one of those big fat drain pipe straws then. Slurpy slurp. I used red and yellow seedless water melon for these ...

 What would we do without passion? I suppose we would exist simply because we do. What kind of persons would we become? Without passion, without desire, without wants that rise above needs and necessities? What kind of persons would we become if we denied ourselves some space and self interest? What kind of persons would we be if we exist wholly for the service and for the pleasure of others or of something? What kind of persons would we be if everything we feel, think and do becomes a duty? Becomes controlled? We would be persons without passion. We would be mechanical. We would be essentially in human. We would live a life devoid of desire, a life lacking of love, an existence empty of empathy and most of all we would be creatures without quirks and impulses, without intuition, without sensibilities, without meaning and without life. Therefore I quirk. Therefore I make no excuses for impulses that make me do or say or write nonsensical things at nonsensical moments with nonsensic...

Nothing fancy here. It's just a garlic ginger chillie hot sauce. A chicken rice hot sauce. All you need is a blender and a swoosh and it's done. Ju made this exact sauce a couple of days ago as well. I'm not surprised if we had made and photographed it on the very same day. We share the same vibes. I believe that this is the third time we've made similar food and posted it within a whisker's post of each other's. It's one of those strange but true occurrences.  This hot sauce is great with steam boats, chicken rice, stir fried noodles, rice, soups, as a dipping for fritters. Anything and everything I suppose. Whatever makes you happy and whenever your palate needs a bit of a kick. Its kind of sour and spicy with a very subtle tinge of sweetness to it. Very very very appetizing. The recipe ~ 10 chillies plus some/many bird's eye chillies if you like 6-7 pips garlic, peeled 1 inch ginger, peeled 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar 1 T sugar salt to taste Wash and...

If only maids were made in heaven I would have been a rested and happy woman in a newly cleaned and sparkling home. But no. I had to have two of the most incompetent and obnoxious maids delivered to my door yesterday. I was bluffed into believing that they were well trained and experienced. Silly me. At the end of each explicitly explained task they stood and wavered looking extremely disgusted. I don't blame them. That is why I hire maids. Duh. They grumbled and probably swore their way through the housework for almost three hours while I attempted to curb and guide them into some form of what I thought were logical and common sensed tasks. I think my eyes glowed. After three hours when the job was 'done' and the house somewhat less than sparkling one of them just flopped like a sack of rice and spread herself on the floor at the front door while waiting to be picked up by the Big Bluffer. Upset as I was I almost burst out laughing. Out of pity I made conversation with he...

  Afternoon tea is history. It went out of fashion some 30 odd years ago. What a pity because that is, to me, the most fun meal. It is a dessert meal or a snack meal. It was a sit down meal. It was either cakes, fritters or simple fried noodles. Nowadays it's packaged biscuits ~ Khong Guan cream crackers, Marie Biscuits ~ all dunked in hot milk tea or Milo or commercial buns from the nearest bakery eaten 'on the go'.. No one has the time to sit down as a family to enjoy afternoon tea anymore. No family is smiling and conversing at 4 o'clock anymore. I doubt my children have any idea that afternoon tea was an actual sit down family meal. Yes I'm guilty of it's extinction too. But I'm not alone. Tuition got in the way. Traffic got in the way. Malls got in the way. Businesses got in the way. TV got in the way. Why, afternoon tea got in the way of the British too. Life had to go on. And so it did. It's no wonder that our tea time kuih(s) have become an all...