SOMETHING BLACK FOR HALLOWEEN

28/10/2016

Charcoal Swiss roll with orange cream cheese filling.- baked 22/10/2016

October has slipped past so fast ending with Halloween festival.  I think this is a "pretty"  swiss roll you could bake for your Halloween party. 

Saw this recipe from the blog of Bake for Happy Kids and since I had a bottle of charcoal powder in the fridge decided to use it. 

The recipe is easy and simple to follow through and after baking 15 mins, took this lovely swiss roll from the over. Set aside to cool before adding the filling.  The recipe use whipping cream and sugar.

However I decided to use cream cheese as I had some leftover in the fridge.  So beat the cream cheese and butter together till fluffy and add some orange zest.  

Spread the filling and roll up. Keep the swiss roll in the fridge to firm up before serving.

The Swiss Roll is really fluffy and the cream cheese with orange zest is delicious except cannot really taste the charcoal...its odourless after baking..  

Also tried making these Melon Pan buns - recipe from Just One Cookbook.  I like to eat these warm with  with a slice of cold butter inbetween...mmmm

October also bring along lots of pumpkins in the market.  Saw this recipe on TV programme and decide to try my own version.

Result of slicing soft white taufu, thick and not very even.  Well the chef said it will take years to cut them finely and thinly.  So I have soaked some glass noddles, drain and place them on bottom of plate.   

Gently place the taufu on top of the glass noddles and steam for just 3-5 minutes, depending how firm or soft you like the taufu. Drain off excess water. Meanwhile, I  marinate some pork mince with bit of  soya sauce, sugar, pepper, sesame oil and a bit of cornflour. Then stir-fry the pork mince  (omit this if vegetarian version) with minced garlic till fragrant. Dish up onto of the taufu.  

I had earlier steamed some pumpkin till very soft and mashed them. Bring back to a boil with some chicken stock  and adjust seasoning to taste and pour over the taufu.  Simple dinner with some stir-fry baby beans, pickled sichuan vegetables and fried beancurd.  

During the second half year till the quarter of the next year, my house would get the direct sun  and the living room can be unbearably hot and stuffy in the afternoon, especially with the hot weather normally encounter during the Chinese New Year.  So finally I decided to have an awning put up and clear this space in front of the sliding door.  Now the doggies can have extra roaming space and we human get a cooler room to relax and a wider space for my morning yoga exercise!

Thanks to Sarah for helping me to arrange the plants and she took this photo just after we finished arranging the plants.  We are so happy with this arbour of sweet smelling Jasmine plants entwining each other.  

Before ending, wishing everyone a Blessed Deepavali and  happy holidays.... 

the myriads of bright and colourful traditional Indian sweets and cookies.

"kacang putih" 

art of stacking... 

Doesn't it look amazing! 

IT'S A HARD DAY WORK @SENTUL TIMUR

8/10/2016
Saturday

Some of the beautiful doodling arts along the walls of the LRT station.

This was the weekend that my collegue said "Never work so hard in my life (working) before". But it was good to be out of  the office and working as well.   

artwork along the tunnel at Masjid Jamek station. 

Saw this cow along the roadside during our lunchtime. Later I saw 2 dogs guarding him, no they were barking at the birds that came to steal its food. 

We met again at the LRT Station this time when going home... 

Grilled Tandoori Chicken with Figs Chutney. 

Normally I would buy chicken breast for soups. Nowadays, I removed the chicken fillets or tenders from the breast and reserve them for something else as I felt these tender parts are best for cooking rather than for soup. So when  the reserve grew, its time to cook them.   I marinated these fillets with some pre-mix  the tandoori spices overnight.  I cooked them  just 2-3 minutes each side on the grill pan and they are ready to be served.   Sarah's friend gave us a bottle of figs chutney which tasted amazing and its delicious with the juicy chicken fillets.

Enjoy 

 

Hanoi Trip# Last Day - "GROTTE DES SUPRISES"-

3/9/2016
Saturday

This is the captain of our cruise... 

We were introduced to him only on the day of departure... all this while he was handling the cruise in his little cabin in front of the boat, unnoticed by all of us... a big round of applause for a job well done to bring us safely back to the mainland. 

Woke up early as I tried to catch the sunrise...

this was all the sunrise that I managed to catch on photos..everything still quiet and peaceful 

The chef preparing breakfast for us... 

After breakfast, we were taken by speed boat to the island of the Surprise cave..

Sorry my photos did not do credit to the beauty of the cave..too dark!

Sung sot Cave is one of the largest and most spectacular caves in Halong Bay located on the Bo Hon Island. The cave has 2 chambers. As you enter the outer chamber you will be awe by the high ceiling and wide space and thousands of stalactites and stalagamites and these rock formations really stretches your imagination as the guide pointed them out. 

the inner chamber is so huge that it is said to be able to hold thousands of people at a time. 

 
the rock formation of a turtle  in the foreground...

natural light flowing in from the mouth of the grotto

Looking down from the entrance of the cave at 25m above sea level... that's where all the boats converge and the journey to the cave begin.  It was a really good morning excursion.

We were taken back to the cruise for our lunch prior to departure. 

While waiting for lunch, the chef gave us a lesson on vegetable carving.  

No problem guessing which were done by the chef and us... hahaha.

After a light lunch including fresh spring rolls (sorry, photos were missing), it was time to bid adieu to the crew and captain and our BEST guide for the cruise.

We checked back into the same hotel for the night. The holidays was in full celebration and the whole city area were closed for traffic and there was a huge night market going on.  After our dinner, we wandered along the night market, had Vietnamese beer at the famous Beer Street, was too full to join the Vietnamese for their hot-pot/BBQ stalls but we managed to get these..... 

Vietnamese coffee...

The next morning the driver took us to the airport for our flight back to KL. 

Bun Cha- noddles with grilled pork in dipping sauce @ the airport..

BANH MI- ELAINE'S STYLE

4/10/2016

Tuesday

No knead baguette

Over the long weekend I had planned to do my style of banh mi after my Hanoi trip. Unfortunately I was not feeling well after eating a plate of fried kway teow with cockles. I had the same problem years ago and since then have been rather cautious of not eating this as much as possible.   

Anyway I have been inspired by my Hanoi trip recently to try to make this banh mi.  First to make the pate.  I had goggle a few recipes and some of them use minced pork as well as chicken liver.  In the end, I decided to make a small portion with chicken liver and use my favourite recipe from Flavours magazine. 

Only 5 chicken liver, cleaned and remove all veins etc.  Soak them overnight with 1 cup of milk which is supposed to increase the creamy texture of the pate.  

Next day, drain, rinse and diced them. Saute onions, minced garlic, mixed herbs, add the diced chicken liver.  Splash some white wine and let it simmer till liver is cooked.  Let cool and then blend them with some butter (around 8 tablespoon)  and season to taste. 

sealed the top with some melted butter and freeze them if not using immediately. This was done on Saturday.

I prepared the No-knead baguette in the evening and left the dough overnight in the fridge for not more than 16 hours. Divide the dough into 3 buns and baked them on Sunday morning.  I was indeed satisfied with the buns. 

I had also prepared some pickled cucumbers, carrot and daikon with rice vinegar and sugar to stand by.

Next, I marinated 3 square cubes of pork belly (which I had in the fridge) with blended mixture of  ground cumin, spring onions, garlic, salt, pepper and fish sauce overnight.

I used the Happy Call pan to grill the pork belly on Sunday.   After cooling, slice them into thin slices and again use the grill pan to light cook them before serving.  It is advisable to use pork belly without the skin  as it was rather chewy after cooking.   

Ready to plate. 

Split bun in half, spread with mayonnaise and chicken pate. 

Top with the pickled cucumbers, carrot and daikon.

Next you can add some  fresh herbs and sliced lettuce on top (which I do not have) and also some nuoc cham sauce.  

Finally the slices of grilled pork belly

Verdict:  I can taste the creaminess of pate and the pickled veggies was good with the grilled meat.