Happy Halloween

This Halloween, I was inspired into making my kids costume. I don't dress up for the occasion myself but there's something about seeing kids in their cute costumes -- not the scary kind -- that fancies me.

One Saturday, I decided to drive to Joann with the kids while the Mister is out. Bought a bunch of stuff and twirled my magic wand.

"Bibbity, Bobbitty, Boo"



McTjung French Fries    

Nate loves french fries when we allow him a treat. You can imagine how excited he was when I turned him into a big bag of fries~! And I had to match my other little one something with the big bro as well :)
                                     

"What's fries without ketchup?"



After many hours sitting in front of the sewing machine.. I am done!

"Poof"

Their smiles made all the work worthwhile :)

Happy Halloween~!

Nasi Lemak Night~!

Nasi Lemak is a traditional meal in Malaysia, served usually for breakfast but can be eaten any time of the day. My husband, an Indonesian, calls it Nasi Uduk. This platter consists of fragrant jasmine rice cooked in coconut milk and screwpine leaves paired up so wonderfully with chicken or beef curry, sliced hard boiled eggs, sliced fresh cucumbers or pickled vegetables, fried anchovies and peanuts, and with onion, cuttlefish or shrimp sambal.

If you are not drooling already, feast your eyes on this~!

Nasi Lemak

Coconut rice, curry chicken, tiger prawn sambal and crispy anchovies

Sambal Udang (Tiger Prawn Sambal)

Kid's meal

Coconut rice, scrambled eggs with ham and vegetables, and strawberries

Recipe: Nasi Lemak (Coconut-flavored rice)

Ingredients:
8 cups jasmine grain, washed and drained
450ml coconut milk
3/4" thick ginger root, sliced
1 tsp salt
water

Directions:
1. Mix coconut milk, ginger root, and salt with uncooked grain.
2. Top with remainder level of water to cook the grain in rice cooker.

I cooked only anchovies because my husband does not like peanuts. My aunt in Singapore taught me a really neat trick that saves time and dirty dishes, as well as containing the "lovely" smell of cooking anchovies --cooking them in the microwave! Really easy and saves me from the otherwise "scrubbing-an-oily-kitchen" aftermath.

Recipe: Crispy Anchovies
Ingredients:
3.5oz anchovies, washed and drain dry with kitchen towel/napkin (moisture causes it to pop and splatter when cooked in oil)
2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Directions:
1. Mix the anchovies with oil in a microwavable bowl. Unlike deep frying, microwave uses less oil which is healthier for consumption.
2. Microwave for 2 minutes on high.
3. Stir the anchovies in bowl. Microwave until desired crisp in 1 minute intervals, repeating step 3.
4. Lastly, spinkle with sesame seeds. When cooled, store in air tight container.

Aloha Pineapple Cake

This is my first two-tier cake~! I call it the Aloha Pineapple Cake. Happy First Birthday, Maddie-dear ^_^ Hers is the first one-year old birthday I've attended, other than my own son's. So excited. It's a different feeling, attending vs throwing a party. I feel more relaxed and serene when you attend a party. At least for me, it was like I ran cross-country and back -- though I can hardly run a 3 mile lake -- when I threw Nate a party. (Sorry, son). I was more anxious and 'What else is missing here?!' 'Where is this thing now?!' kinda wreck-look fashion.

Maddie's parents gave her a Hawaiian theme party at Kona Kitchen. Deluxe buffet. I went for two rounds of the Katsu Chicken, macaroni, beef stew, fried rice... Normally, I don't go for macaroni salad but theirs is 'finger-licking good' (or should I say 'spoon-licking good'? ) Gosh, some other guys went three rounds and weren't done~! My little boy has a healthy appetite and when there's no more at the buffet table, he decided that he's generous enough to share mommy's portion, and then daddy's. You know, it's a good habit to form -- sharing.

This Aloha Pineapple cake is white cake with crushed pineapple filling, topped with icing and marshmallow fondant. Unlike the cardboard tasting fondant. I really like the taste of this marshmallow fondant. With leftovers, you can let your kid use as edible playdough (if you don't mind sugar high, of course)

Aloha Pineapple Cake

Strawberry Dream Cake

This is cute little Naomi's 1st birthday cake. It's a two tiered Strawberry Dream Cake, serving 40+ people. Her parents threw her a fancy Italian party with Hello Kitty theme at the Buca De Beppo. Spaghetti with marinara sauce, meatballs as big as my fist, pasta with white sauce, bread and salad... what a feast~!  They had lots of balloons, cute See's lollipop, presents and Hello Kitty wrapped center pieces for the guests. Naomi's mom and grandma are really creative. But all in all, will Naomi remember? No. But the wonderful photos will help her when she's much much older =) Happy Birthday Naomi, again~!

Two-Tier Hello Kitty Strawberry Dream Cake

Recipe: Strawberry Dream Cake

Ingredients:
1 package french vanilla cake mix
1 1/2 cups frozen strawberries, pureed
8oz cream cheese, softened
3 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4oz vanilla flavored gelatin mix

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 13x9 rectangular baking pan.
2. Pureed the frozen strawberries and set aside. I don't want my cake to be too sweet for my taste so I used  3/4 cup sweetened frozen strawberries and the other 3/4 cup of unsweetened. Use the strawberry puree as substitute for the water called out by the cake mix.
3. Make cake per directions, adding in the strawberry puree, cream cheese and gelatin. Beat well and pour mixture into prepared pan.

See-Food

Argh... I was planning my trip to Malaysia and missed a great deal of RM24 (USD$7) from the capital, Kuala Lumpur to Penang island via Air Asia. So sad... Penang is well-known for its seafood, laksa and hokkien mee, as well as the beautiful beaches and architecture. Do you know the movie Anna and the King? It's one of the movie venue. Anyways... today, I saw another deal from Penang island to Langkawi island -- another great tourist attraction for RM9 (USD$3) only~!! Can you believe it? Now I really wished I got those tix to Penang. Sigh... for those who can make it, go to airasia.com before April 11 with my blessings..

As for my family and I, we will settle for fresh Sea Salt Baked Tillapia from Seattle instead. I am feeling a little salty from the air fare and missing out the wonderful seafood that I could otherwise get from Penanggggg...

Sea Salt Baked Tillapia

Recipe: Sea Salt Baked Tillapia

Ingredients:

2lbs fresh Tillapia fish (cleaned and scaled)

5 cloves garlic

1/2 onion

3 dried chili

1 stalk green onion

1 Tbsp chopped cilantro

2.5 lbs coarse sea salt

1 egg white

4 Tbsp water

Directions:

1. Line baking pan with aluminium foil. Preheat oven to 400F.

2. Clean and scale the fish, pat dry.

3. Lightly crush the garlic cloves and dried chili, and set aside. Julienne the onion and green onion. Toast them on a pan over medium heat until fragrant.

4. Stuff the fish evenly with garlic, chili, onion and green onion.

5. Lightly sprinkle with olive oil inside the fish.

6. Mix the egg, water and salt until blend. Set aside.

7. Spread 1/3 salt mixture on the prepared pan. Place fish on top of the bed of salt. Cover the fish completely with the remainder of salt mixture.

8. Bake fish at 400F on middle rack of oven for 20 minutes. You will not be able to test the doneness of the fish, so trust me in this.

9. When it is done baking, take the fish out of the oven and let rest for about ten minutes before serving.

Crack up that salt crust on dinner table to get the ohhs and ahhs from family and guests. Serve with a wedge of lemon if you like. Enjoy :)

     And while I am in the mood, I added the famous Penang Char Kueh Teow. It is flat rice noodles with shrimp, geen onions, garlic, bean sprouts, minced sweet and salty radish fried over high heat.

Penang Char Kueh Teow 

(Penang Fried Rice Noodle)

Recipe: Penang Char Kueh Teow

Ingredients:
2lbs Flat Rice Noodle
4oz bean sprouts
1/2 onion, julienne
3 stalks green onion, sliced about 1" long
3 cloves minced garlic
1/2lb unshelled shrimps
1/2 tsp salty radish, minced
1/2 tsp sweet radish, minced
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)
1 Tbsp black soy sauce

Directions:
1. Heat oil in wok at high.
2. Add garlic, onion, sweet and salty radish to wok and stir fry until fragrant.
3. Cook shirmps and stir fry until pink
4. Add noodle, soy sauces, green onion and bean sprouts, and stir fry quickly until the noodles are cooked and well coated with sauce.
5. Serve with a smile...

Footnotes:
Add oysters, hot sauce (sambal) and scramble an egg when the dish is almost done if you like.

Strawberry Cake

     Flowers are sooo very pretty. Every time I go the florists, they are so fragrant and lively. I love walking or driving by beautiful and neat gardens that people tend to with such love and care. While I was home with my newborn last year, I would watch a retired couple across from my house watering and weeding their garden every other day! Finally, I bought 3 bags of compost soil, wildflower seeds and pansies to give it a go at gardening. Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer -- all came around to prove that... I have no green thumbs. But, I still want my flowers... I will have pink, yellow, purple fingers instead~! How to make carnations from icing

Carnation means "flower of love". Pink means "gratitude".

Strawberry Cake topped with Chocolate Ganache with Strawberry Filling

Recipe: Strawberry cake

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

3 large egg

1 1/2 white sugar

3/4 cup butter

1 tsp of salt

1 1/2 cups pureed strawberries

1/3 vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 (3 oz) package instant vanilla pudding mix

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325F (165 C). Grease 2 pans 9" round pans.

2. In medium bowl, sift flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, and pudding mix together.

3. In large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add in oil, eggs, vanilla extract.

4. Fold in ingredients in medium bowl and pureed strawberries into large bowl. Mix well.

5. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until center comes out clean.

Yummy Dinner~!

Stir-fry Snap Peas with Jumbo Shrimp

Pan-fried Eggs with Scallion and Green Onions topped with Okonomiyaki sauce

Tofu and Chicken Thai Yellow Curry with assorted vegetables