Happenings

This week all of us went to Viccudha restorant in Damansara Utama. It's a Thai restaurant which is very popular  .All of us were there except Yati, Sadd, Mal and their families. It's to celebrate those whose birthdays are in December . Mine included too he he he.

I have been thinking of making the Ile Flottante or Floating Island recipe. It's a classic French recipe. I'm seriously considering to make it. It's not that  I will make it some day.  The first time I saw this snow white beauty with the custard sauce or Creme Anglaise was in Martha Stewart show at NTV7. I like to watch the show in my room around 11pm or 12 pm . The recipe calls for 18 egg whites, so now I have been collecting recipes via the net .

You can poach it in milk too , I saw that in a recipe from AFC . The  Asian food channel,  there is one from You  tube too . Now I have to find the cream of tartar. Maryam my niece also made some ice cream with a kid's ice cream maker . It does make ice cream . Her birthday is coming soon. Now she is into cats.

Last Friday  and Saturday the ladies  went to  One Utama to shop for clothes.  . Nas is here about two weeks.  My brother Zahid works in a tuna company. The tuna is very tasty .  However the tuna is not sold here in Malaysia .

There's a new all white male cat which appears in the house chasing Jingga . Jingga is very scared. It has been quarelling with Awang who came back after two days of dissapearance. 

Colmar Tropicale

The Black swans

On Sunday , our family went to Colmar Tropicale to celebrate my father's 73rd birthday. My brother Zahid  and family came back for their  vacation from Seychelles. My sister Nas and children , my two brothers, GG and Mal ,my parents and I .  Colmar Tropicale is situated on  Bukit Tinggi ,Pahang  . It is a french themed resort Alsace to be exact  . Very romantic. It is one of Berjaya group's  many properties.  I have not been there before so this is a very nice trip for me also.

In the morning my mother prepared Nasi Lemak.  With fried chicken, sambal , 'kangkung' and of course the nasi lemak which she had cooked  last night. We are off around 12.00 noon. I had left  a bowl of  dry cat food for Jingga and the other cats.  The trip was not long from Kuala Lumpur to Berjaya Hills. It was cool when we reached there . The buildings are nice , we took a lot of pictures.There were many visitors.

The white swans

  
We went to the rooms at 5.00 pm The suite was   large with two rooms with white poster beds overlooking the square. After wolfing down  the nasi lemak I was back to la la land. My mother also plonked besides me. Before we got to our rooms, we went up to the Japanese gardens. The trip up the gardens was fun as it was a winding road on an open air van.  My nephews and niece rented the kimonos . Maryam looked nice in the red kimono so did Zahin and Hamzah.

It was beautiful at night with the  the lights. We had dinner at the La Flamme restaurant. We had lasagne , alfredo spaghetti, carbonara and bolognaise and pizzas. Some of us did not go to the bowling alley and tried archery. My mother also did not want to watch the international dance  at the square at 9.30 pm.  I was very tired and retired early.

                                                             

The next morning after breakfast we went to see the white swans and  the black swans. The pair of white swans  swam to  us . So we bought some food for them. My mother said to give the swans  the food on the palm  of  our hands but I was scared. The black    swans are beautiful . It wanted to go to the other side. of the pond. . Then we went back. I would definitely go back to Colmar with my husband one day.

My nephew wanted to see the rabbit but too bad the rabbits were not around anymore . So we went to horse trail.  The guy at the stables told us that the horses can bite so to be careful.  Then my two nephews and my brother Zahid took a ride.

 

After that we went back and had lunch at D'templer , a chinese Muslim restaurant at Gombak.  The dishes are tasty.  We had some dimsum  and of course rice. He he he.

Steamed asparagus , poached eggs and hollandaise sauce

 It was Aidhil Adha last week. Nas had cooked bryani rice and the tomato lamb .  It was tasty .

On Saturday I made some steamed asparagus. First I made the hollaindaise sauce using a recipe for a blender hollandaise sauce from Allrecipe. It works well and quick.The  recipe is quick and easy. Just blend the egg yolk , lemon juice and mustard, then pour the hot butter slowly while blending the egg yolk mixutre in the same blender . I steamed the asparagus  with some salt while doing so. I think I have steamed the asparagus too long  . It became limp and soggy.  Then came the poached eggs. My mother wanted to help too. We don't eat poached eggs in the house. Later I learnt how to poach eggs from  Video Jug using egg rings. I saw some sold at Tesco . The next time my husband goes there I will buy maybe two of those . It is said that you can make really nice pancakes using the egg rings, and make an egg banjo.

This recipe is one of  the dream recipe . The recipe  I love to look at and always come back . So the next time, I will try to poach the eggs first. I will steam the asparagus for lesser time. After that we put the dish in three separate plates. The verdict is  eveyone ate it. My mother, my sister and my brother. I kept the recipe  of the this dish  years ago and kept it in mind .  It looks good.  Yummy.The thicker asparagus cost RM 5.00  per bunch.

Penang and Nasi Lemuni

Last Friday I went to Penang with my parents and my brothers. Left at home were  my husband and Jingga the kitten. I have bought enough food for the kitten and also for Awang. I received a cookbook from GG , and a food steamer  from Yati and Nas. Doctor Doctor.  I was thinking of making the poached eggs and steamed asparagus with or without shaved parmesan. Parmesan cheese cost RM 20 , perhaps I will try the hollandaise sauce instead. There is a recipe for  orange sauce somewhere in the tube. It was quite a long trip , I slept  all the way. Nas's  new house is in Changkat xxx somewhere in Penang.  It's about 2 1/2 storeys.Nice with Bofi kitchen . He he he .

  That night we went to have dinner at  the restaurants  downstairs  . I had lamb khabsa and  so did Mal.  GG had a potato dish.Everyone else had  Thai food.  The lamb khabsa is like a lamb soup spicy , with large portions. It was served with  rice , salad and the chili.It was food conversation all the way to Penang.  In the morning my father wanted to try the Nasi Kandar  at  Kg Melayu. It was situated in one of the flats. I forgot where. There were people waiting in line  . It must be good. I had a fried  chicken Maryland . So did GG and my father. My mother took the fish. The next thing my parents were buying crab . For the crab curry, I still do not know how to make the curry.  The next morning we went to Sardon area ,at the  food stall. I did not catch the name. It's famous for breakfast . My mother and I had nasi Lamuni . . Nasi Lamuni is an anti aging rice ,made with the Lemuni  leaves. Did you know ? I did not .It was tasty.

The next day we went back to KL without my mother . My mother will stay there until today . We stopped at  Tapah rest area.  There was a stall which caught our area . It sells coffee. How can I forget the name.  We went to the other stalls but we came back there  . I had iced mocha , Mal had cocoa , my father had coffee and GG had iced coffee.  When I came back home I was greeted by Jingga which meowed , it was hungry.

44

I am 44 years old yesterday. I thought I was 45 so I am younger . My husband treated me at a nice restaurant.  It was Persian food or Iranian food. Jingga  the kitten sneezes most of the time at home . He is up and about  . So I am 45 years old. I feel old . I am not even 50 . Perhaps I have to take more supplements  or  broaden my horizon .

 My mother  found a new product called Stevico. She bought the  Broccoli  and Spinach one for her cattracts.  It tasted like orange.She had refused to go for  her eye surgery . She is afraid she said.  I like the one with  the  wild  Brazil tomato extract .It is for the anti aging and can  reduce pigmentation if used for 90 days. Each box cost RM 200. Perhaps I will try one day.

I received a cook book from my brother GG.  I also liked one of the breakfast ideas from a website. Though it looks nice , I have not found the time to make it. It is poached egges  with yoghurt . A Turkish recipe . It looks simple and could be nice The website is . http://almostturkish.blogspot.com/2007/03/turkish-poached-eggs-with-yogurt-lbr.html . I think I will try it at my husband's  stall. He has  the paprika and I will buy some youghurt.

The spicy buffalo chicken wing I tried  is very nice. Not too spicy  .I made for my husband with drumsticks and other parts of the chicken. Maybe the  next time I will marinate the chicken in  the mixture for  a longer period of time so that  it will be more tasty  and I will try  to marinate  a whole chicken in the mixture My husband likes it . He is a picky eater so I don't try any new dish with him. I just go for the simple  recipes.

Chicken wings

Today I went out with my husband after a long time. We went to our favourite  restaurant. Al Rawsha at Jalan Damai. As usual we have the lamb mandy. Mandy is actually  rice . It is said to be from Dubai, that is what I found out when googling for Al Rawsha. It  rained heavily in Kuala Lumpur  this evening.

I was also browsing for something to try out . A recipe of chicken wings came to mind. My sister  Nas has gone back. Nas had made  tomato rice. She also made her salad  with tomato , cucumber , salad leaves and lemon juice. It is tasty . I will try that.  When my sister Sadd came for a day , we had crab curry.  Blue crabs that is .

I was thinking of the many ways of making chicken wings. At first I wanted to do Buffalo  Chicken Wings recipe but then I have to buy  some other  ingredients . So after  a long time browsing I settled for a recipe by an Indonesian lady who lives in Australia. I have all the ingredients at home , so I have made some now . It is in the oven and will be ready to eaten in about 20 minutes . My mother and I will try  it  soon . There are other interesting recipes by foodwishes with sweet mustard sauce and another from Itkman who also does simple dishes.
So for those who are interested here are some of the links , the honey and barbeque sauce.
.http://www.zumurphy.com/2009/06/honey-bbq-chicken.html

the spicy bufalo chicken  wings :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDdQXzz5XQ0
and the one from Foodwishes :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxaN0nTmxD8
and another from Itkman :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48BLmqqMZos&feature=fvw

Cabbage Soup diet and Vegetable Fritatta

A couple days ago I started on a Cabbage soup diet. However I did not finish the seven days diet.  I made the soup in a huge pot. On the first day , I felt very hungry having only soup and fruits to eat . On the second day  I ate something else . I felt very tired perhaps because  I have not been on a diet before  .  Perhaps my body could not take it . However the good news is ,  that before I started eating the bean salad for dinner and embarking on the cabbage soup diet  for about two days, my weight is 78 kg. On the second day of the the cabbage soup diet I weigh 75 kg. I lost 3 kg  ... It means that going for the  soup diet  does work  but  I felt very hungry and there are some who wanted to sabotage my diet . He he he.

For those who are interested  in the cabbage soup here are some links :http://www.soupsong.com/rdiet.html  and  a local one http://www.boredworkers.com/2009/09/13/cabbage-soup-diet-day-1-soup-fruits/  . The cost of the vegetable is roughly RM 20 and I bought some pears which cost RM 10 , RM 2.50 each. You have to prepare it twice because   by the third day , the soup is nearly finished since every one in the house felt that it tasted delicious . I thought of continuing the soup diet with  some " Sawi  "  or musrtard greens and a little bit of chicken but I still have to eat in the morning   though.

One of the mornings I finally made a Spanish omelette based on a mini cook book I bought years ago.  I made it  with some boiled potatoes  and  some Italian parsley .Roughly chop   half  an  onion and a few cloves of garlic. Heat  the oil and cook  the onion and garlic until translucent . Then add the boiled potatoes which has been cubed  , for a few minutes since I used  half of a large potato. And then put the onion mixture into  a bowl. Lightly beat 3 eggs  and then add to the mixture. Heat some oil in the same  pan add the egg  mixture. Wait until it begin to harden , transfer  the pan into the oven .      Bake it  for about 20 minutes at 150 C. Ooh do not forget the salt and pepper of course  .  My husband said it is nice. My  mother liked this omelette which is also called  a Fritatta .  It seems that one  also can make it in  a muffin tray. People have been making this for a long time.

Today when my sister Nas and her chidren  is here , I tried to make a Fritta using steamed broccolli  and grated cheddar cheese. I think I have added too much salt. Tomorrow I will try to make another Fritatta  for my husband  using the broccoli , boiled potato and grated Kraft cheese.

Here are some links about Fritatta and some mini Frittata which could enlighten :

http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/vegetable-frittata-recipe.htm

This is an Iranian Spinach Frittata

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdZ4Jh6L_f0

This is from you tube about Mini Frittata which I plan to do in a not distant future

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXUZ12yxqcM

Another one about mini Fritatta

http://www.sugarlaws.com/mini-spinach-frittatas