I'll Have Some Toast With That, Thank You...

Made kaya for the first time ever, despite having intentions for years. It was simpler than I thought, and I finally found a use for the gula melaka that has been sitting in my pantry forever...

Recipe taken from here, although it came out a tad sweet for my taste. I shall probably reduce the amount of gula melake to 2 tbsp rather than 3.

Ingredients:

- 4 egg yolks at room temp, well-beaten 

- 45g palm sugar/gula melaka, or 3 rounded tablespoons

- 45g white sugar, or 3 rounded tablespoons

- 200ml undiluted coconut milk, fresh or canned 

- 4 fresh pandan leaves (I used a few drops of pandan essence instead)

Directions:

Beat 4 egg yolks thoroughly with a handwhisk 

Add the palm sugar, white sugar, coconut milk and pandan leaves in a pot over medium heat. 

Stir constantly with a spatula or wooden spoon until the mixture begins to simmer. Turn off the heat. Slowly pour 1/2 of the coconut milk into the egg yolks, stirring at the same time.

Pour the combined mixture back into the remaining coconut milk in the pot, turn on the heat back to medium-low / medium. Keep stirring for the next 10-15 minutes. 

The kaya will thicken gradually over the next 10-15 min. Remove the pandan leaves and transfer the thickened kaya into a clean sterilized glass jar, leave the jar lid open to cool down completely.

When it is completely cooled, close the jar and keep in the fridge.

 

 Meet my harshest critic...
She has developed quite a taste for kaya and butter toast from our recent trip back home to Malaysia

   

It met her standards. 

Phew

Cake + Cloth Napkins = Impromptu Tea Time!

I finally went grocery shopping after trying to bleed out my fridge/freezer/pantry.
I have butter, oil and eggs again.

Yay!

I can finally make a chocolate cake

Which prompted me to finally sew cloth napkins that have been on my to-sew list for years now.

YEARS, I tell you, to sew up two squares together

The fabric was even all cut up and ready to go...

Sometimes, I don't understand myself.

Napkin tutorial: Purl Bee's Spring Napkins (mine turned out more fiesta-ish than spring, which needs to be rectified)

Cake recipe: Ooey Gooey Chocolate Cake (note from the wise -- if using a springform/cheesecake pan, cover the outside of the pan with aluminum foil to prevent the water from seeping in while baking - else you'll end up like me, with a soggy cake that needs to be dried out  --- it was fine after microwaving slices for about 30 seconds prior to eating, but still...soggy cake is gross)

Mmmmm.....

I'm going to put on my Ms I-Hua hat for awhile and talk about food.

It's been a long draught for me in terms of local Malaysian/SEA fruits. For the durian, it's been 5 years (or more)

A different take on the king of fruits: A Chocolate Durian cake!! Very highly recommended by my friends, so I gotta try it.

Look at all the yummy, gooey durian!!!

The smell that wafted up when we cut into it....yum!!!!

Although someone wasn't quite a fan of it...

Pinch Me...

I think I've died and gone to curry heaven. (ok, ew, that sounds gross...or at least, will smell gross after 2 hours)

And the best part is that it really only took 5 minutes of actual "work", thanks to this:

Image from teans.com.au

And the glutinous rice wrapped in pandan leaves came frozen from the Chinese grocery store

I am so going to try their curry laksa paste next.

And So, We Meet Again...

Last year, I found out too late about the scrumptious factor of Cadbury's Caramel Creme Eggs...This year, I am ready for them...

Hello, my lovelies!

On a slightly different note, I think my mother lives in fear that I don't eat (because I'm too lazy to cook) and therefore, will significantly malnourish my kid, and I think my grandmother probably thinks that we survive on hamburgers and fries. 

I have to be honest here, if it weren't for my daughter, both will probably be right. But again, I'm hellbent on ensuring that she grows up to be more than a "meat and potatoes" girl. So I have to say that I've been quite ambitious (for me) when I do make it over to the Chinese grocery store.

Never in a million years would I have thought that I would have bothered making Char Chai Tau Kueh. I'm not sure that I was even that much of a fan of it. However, years away from the mamak stalls and the pasar malam have made me appreciate ALL types of hawker-style food. 

Although, again, if I'm honest, Ms Lily, and probably my mother and my grandmother, would shake their heads if they were aware of my substitutions and omissions of the recipe. Hey, I gotta work with what I got! 

Breakfast, Malaysian Style

I want Isabel to have a connection and knowledge of all the things I did as a kid growing up in Malaysia. And what better way to start than with the food?!

I remember going to the Sunday market and lined across the sidewalk in front of the "corner shop" were vendors selling different types of appams...this one was the 20 cent "thing"

Mine obviously turned out different looking than what it's suppose to be as I didn't have a small wok...but work with what 'ya have

It tasted pretty similar though

Little piggy here hogged a whole piece

And of course, when there's food, there's Buddy

But leave it to my husband to ask: "So...what goes with it?"
 He was probably hoping I'll say "ice-cream" since he thinks it tastes like a waffle cone.