Cookies...Cookies...

Ahhhh....is the season to make some cookies! I have a tea party on Dec. 17th (today) which gave me an excuse to make some cookies, or play with the dough. :P I actually had a few patterns that I wanted to try out, but it didn't turn out so well as I was using the melting moment recipe (added more flour to make it crunchy). The dough was still too soft to shape! Thus got to make do with my last minute patterns, whichever works!



From left clockwise,
Peppermint & Vanilla Cookies, Peppermint Cookies, Strawberry & Vanilla Cookies, Peanuts Cookies, Orange-Cranberries with Brandy Cookies


Individually packed to prevent flavor mixed up.


Then into the gift bags ready to be given away. This is my "Thank You" gift for coming to the tea party. :o) Hope they like it.

Nasi Lemak

Nasi lemak is one of the Malaysia National Food. So simple and yet so good. The translation for nasi lemak is oily rice. The rice is oily because it is cooked with coconut milk. Rice cooks in coconut milk is fairly common in Malaysia. Coconut milk is one of the staple in Malaysian cooking and it is widely used in Malay cooking.



This is my version. I like it simple and original. If it is wrapped in banana leaf, I would be in heaven. Fresh banana leaf is hard to come by here, basically non-existence. Only the frozen one is available in some of the oriental stores here. When I was back in Malaysia, the only nasi lemak I wanted to eat were those wrapped in banana leaf that cost about $1 (used to be 50 cents). I just love the fragrant that the banana leaf gave to the rice. Smell so good.

Who Would Know

Look at what my 20 months old is doing now? She is addicted to pbskids.org and has to be on there a few times a day. Hahaha... Oh yeah, she would climb on top of the chair, sit herself nicely and says, "Mama...mama...PB....". Of course I will get her to pbs kids and from there, she would surf it on her own, find her favorite games and play. If she go to a page that has song, she would dance to the song. She knows how to paint and play some simple games. Look at how concentrated she is in the picture below!



Oh yeah, hope that this early use of computer will make her smarter and interested in the computer. Well, she's definitely interested in it now. I told my hubby, we will have to get her her own computer set when we move into our new house, so that she would leave ours alone. Hahaha...



She is painting one of the boohbahs on the picture above. Boohbah is one of the kid shows feature in PBS T.V. channel here. Boohbah and Teletubbies are suitable for her age to play, and she knows how to go and find it to play.

Vietnamese Honeycomb Cake

Thanks tt for this wonderful recipe. :) I first saw him posting this recipe at Jo's Deli a couple months back. The picture and simple recipe just attracted me to it. Got to copy it and put in on my to-do list.

I have a tea party next Sat. and thus have to think of something to bring. And I saw this recipe again while surfing through tt's blog. So, why not this!



This is my trial & test version because I have not make it before and I just don't want a last minute disaster and plan B kinda thing going on next Sat. Glad to say that it turned out great. I just have to grease and flour my bundt pan the next time I make it. (If you just grease it alone, it will stick to the pan)



This is a close up picture of the cake. This cake tasted like a kuih, chewy with a hint of pandan and the sweetness is just nice. It is called a honeycomb cake because it has holes all over inside of the cake and looks like a beehive.

Note 1: Use 1 tsp. of Pandan paste for more pandan flavor. I only used 1/2 tsp. and my hubby complaint not enough flavor. He wanted it sweeter too.


Note 2: Made my second batch yesterday using a 8" square pan. Added 1 tsp. pandan paste and 1/4 cup more sugar. This definitely more to my liking as the flavor and sweetness go. (added 12/17)

The recipe is posted here:
tt's blog

Coconut Shrimps

After I tried a coconut shrimp in a seafood restaurant here, I have been thinking of how to make it myself. It's very popular here, normally served as an appertizer or your choice of main side dish.

This is my version of it, shouldn't be too far off from the real thing and very easy to make. It's crunchy with a hint of coconut, even my hubby said it's good.

Homemade Chicken Floss

This is my first time making chicken floss, all the while I have been making pork floss. Why the trouble of making my own floss right? I just have no idea how long the floss here have been sitting on the selves because the one sold here are just not fresh like the one we buy in M'sia. And since it's a meat product, I just couldn't bring myself to buy it. My life would be easier if I can take the leap isn't it? Haha...

Anyway, the method is the same as my pork floss just that it only takes an hour or less to simmer. I added some curry powder and no dark soy sauce in this. Since chicken meat is fairly tender, it's very easy to shred and I got the flossy texture that I want in a floss.



However, I have encountered a few problems on the way that I have no idea what went wrong. I got the flossy texture but the floss turned out to be hard and chewy!! Thinking that my heat must be too high, I added some water and turned the heat to low and stir-fried it some more. To cut the story short, I did that twice in order to save it but still ended out with chewy floss, the one that's hard to swallow.

Think...think...think....finally my last attempt of saving my chicken floss, I placed it on a baking sheet and baked it at very low temperature (200'F) for 30 minutes. Now I have crispy chicken floss. Still not the fluffy one that Lily and I wanted but better than hard & chewy anytime. A failure chicken floss! :(

Questions:
1. Not sure why it takes longer for me to stir-fry the chicken floss compared to pork floss? I thought it should be shorter.

2. Why the flossy texture didn't produce a fluffy taste? *scratching head*

I think it will be a while before I attempting to make any meat floss again. Hahaha....