Foodelicious!

Hahahaha... today is Boxing Day and I have posted something about Summer??? The story is that effective yesterday, the weather has changed drastically. Oh yes, just within one day, the weather has gone from rainy, cool and cloudy to bright sun, windy, hot and dry.... Ohh.. yes, a sure sign of Chinese New Year is fast approaching. Such weather always reminds me of that and Summer... Not my favorite weather though...

Anyway, yesterday, I visited this new hip supermarket and saw some beautiful apricots and instantly I was reminded of this TV commercial I saw when I was in London... Everytime I miss London badly, I will watch these commercials and smile.. hahahaha.. some people sure know how to make good commericals! So, without hesitation, even with sky high price for apricots, I bought them and made myself some apricot tarts.. Oooo.. they are soooo sooo sooo soo good!!

The pastry is crispy and buttery.. delicious with the frangipane filling that is rich with ground almonds, soft and moist paired up with those delicious apricots.. ummm... with some of it's edges crusted and almond flakes is definitely a summer treat! A treat for someone who will need to go back to work tomorrow.. hehehe...

I would say that this is a delicious afternoon tea snack or great with parties...If I am to sell this, it will be RM85... A steal for something soo sooo sooo good!!

A delicious cheesecake nicely flavored with raspberries and topped with lots of berries.. blueberries and strawberries. The delicious aroma from the 3 berries is simply enticing and one will not stop at 1 slice...

Another successful cheesecake creation sold at RM120...

A repeat of last year's creation... why not? since it was a sell out and this year, it was a request from the customers! Hahahahaha... These made perfect gift for all and what can you ask for for the price of RM25?? Good cheers, great flavor shortbread and most all, pretty looking thing to give!

Oh this is another item requested by my customers!! Well, even if they dont request, I will make this as I love this.. with the cool and rainy weather, it's so good to munch on this. The heat from the fresh ginger I used discreetly warms you up as you munch on this crispy and aromatic cookie.. Santa would be very happy with this! Hehehehe..

This was sold for RM25 each... and just like the shortbread above, it was a sold out! Again, I am blessed..

Christmas is the best time of the year!! For one, the weather is cool with lots of rain, my favorite, everything else is slowing down in anticipation of a new year.. what better time to bake and spread the spirit of giving? Hehehehe..

This year, I have decided to streamline my cakes.. Besides the fruitcakes, layer cakes and sugee cakes, I have added on a very warm and toasty Ginger cake with is so good with a good cup of tea and this year's creation, Cranberry pumpkin cake. The response to these 2 cakes were overwhelming!! As I type this, I am still getting enquiries about them! Hahaha.. thanks to my customers who bought them and gave them out as gifts! Yay!!

Oh yes.. those tied up with red ribbons are warm and toasty Ginger cake.. and those in burgandy ribbons are Cranberry pumpkin cake.... They are sold for RM35 each and dont say I didnt warn you.. they are addictive!!

And this.. is 3Kings for 2011. Hahahahaa.. same content.. a portion of sugee cake, fruitcake and layer cake all nicely packed up in a silver box with burgandy ribbons decorated with pretty Christmas decorations. Hehehe.. I have decided to go all silver this year..

This combo was sold for RM150 and it was a sold out!! Sold out... everything. even my extras were gone... I am truly blessed!

You better watch out.. you better not cry... you better not pout cos I am telling you why... lalallaa.... I had that song playing in my head as I made these lemon curd twister cuppies... hehehe.. Christmas always give me a sense of hope and happiness..

These twister cuppies were sold at RM6 each with a minimum order of 16.. all 40 boxes of them were wiped out!! Hoorahhh....

and a warm bowl of tong yuen, nicely sweetened and spiced up to end it all..... Yes!! I survived yet another year and am glad the worst is over. Hehehe! With that, I celebrated Kor Tung or what is known as Winter Solstice Festival with hope for a great year ahead loaded with plenty of great things and laughter.

What did you people do for Winter Solstice Festival?? I noticed many Chinese people are slowly forgoing their tradition and for some, it is a sigh of relief of not having to do so much and get all excited over nothing.. but for some, like me, it's a shame. What are we as human if we dont have traditions and heritage? I was made aware of the significance when my monster was a little girl and went around telling everyone that she is an English girl!! Her rationale at the age of 3 was that, she dont speak Chinese, dont eat much Chinese food, dont know anything about Chinese tradition because her parents dont practise any of them and therefore, is not Chinese. I was so ashamed.. and from that day onwards, I make it a point, no matter how small the gesture might be, to practise the tradition and heritage.

Practising tradition and heritage doesnt mean one is all about worshiping a different God or idolism. Practising tradition and heritage is about keeping the essence of one's race alive in a fun way. We dont burn jossticks or candles and worship idols.. we just skip that part.. but we make it a point to emphasize the importance of family bonding, trust in each other and at some point entertain the monster with tales and stories from those bygone era. The act of telling stories handed down from one generation to another is part of the tradition! Hopefully, when it's her turn, she would do the same.

So, coming back to this Winter Solstice Festival, what is the significance of this festival to you? Many people are not aware of the story behind this festival.. some say it is the beginning of winter, some say it is new year. some say it's a time to feast and eat tong yuen.. I say, from what my grandma tells me years ago, Winter Solstice festival is to celebrate the passing of the harshest part of winter. In olden days, life is a constant struggle and when winter comes, not many will make it thru as people were poor and winter can be very harsh. And in any season, there will always be a peak for that season.. the worse day.. the harshest where temperature drops drastically.. and if you survive thru that, you made it! The worst is over and one can look forward to better weather and soon, a new year. As usual, to celebrate, people then make little balls out of glutinous rice flour and flavor it with sugar. That's thanksgiving for them.

Yes, thanksgiving is part of our culture too... I have plenty to be thankful for.. good health, good kid aka monster, good family, good friends.. good business.. and for that, as I roll and drop each tong yuen into the broth, I say a word of thanks...

Hehehe.. this has been my little hobby for the longest time. I love to plant vegetables and see them grow. It gives me a sense of accomplishment when they grow... green, healthy and looking scrumptious! Hehehe..

So far, I have planted zucchinis, choy sum, long beans, french beans.. on top of all the usual herbs like lemongrass, tumeric, curry leaves, rosemary, sage, basil, thai basil, lemon basil kaffir lime, mint, sawtooth basil, torch flower (bunga kantan).. At the moment, I have cabbages, yau mak, capsicum, siew pak choy, choy sum, malabar spinach, yam and passionfruit. Oh yes, the banana trees are still around and I have just cut down a 7 combs bunch of bananas! Woo Hoo... it's gonna be a Nanalicious Christmas!

Oh yes.. Christmas! That's why I have been so quiet in here lately.. I have been extremely busy with my usual Christmas orders. After 4 years, my customers are familiar with what I have to offer and have placed their orders.. woo hoo.. so, on top of taking care of my vegetable garden, going to work, running a household and bringing up a teenager, I am also running my business! Hahahahahaha.. quite a bit for an old hag like me.

So.. be patient.. Christmas goodies will be shown very soon.. in the meantime, think of all the vegetables that I will be having.. fresh, crunchy, sweet, tender vegetables that are free from all sorts of chemicals. Ohhh yess.. I dont even use fertilizers as I enrich my soil by recycling all my kitchen waste, ground coffee beans, tea leaves. So, nothing can be more organic than this!

Shan Li wanted to have a fairy cake for her birthday but she wasnt sure how it should be... so, I told her that fairies should be in their land.. hehehe.. and I will make it magical for her. When she asked to see how it will be, I told her it will be a surprise! Hahahahaha..

So, I set out to make it magical.. there is a wishing pond, a wish granting well, 2 guardian fairies, 3 pretty fairies with many toadstool, mushrooms, snails, ladybirds, butterflies, flowers and leaves.. hehehe..

This vanilla butter cake weigh in at 3.5kg and was sold for RM380... and when Shan Li's mom came to pick up the cake, she was dumbstruck! She was sure Shan Li would be so thrilled and happy.... hahahahhaa....

Making this is a lot of effort.. hence, you dont find this dish nowadays. Even if you do, it's not as good as it should be... This dish is judge base on the cook's ability to balance all the fragrant leaves, rempah and taste, savory, sour, bitter and sweet and her skill of cutting! Oh.. this is all about the cutting!! Daun kadok, daun kunyit, daun kesum, bunga kantan, serai and lots more have to finely cut. Something that it rather impossible for me to do if there is no aunty! Hehehe..

Perut Ikan means fish stomach.. people those days eat every part of anything.. nothing is gone to waste or thrown away.. Everytime, a fish is cleaned, if its stomach is big enough, it will be preserved. The process of preserving the fish stomach is tedious and long to ensure it does not get contaminated or rot... so, again, it's all about skill.... There is no measurement for people then... they perfect their skills by observing.. It is an art!!

To cook this, a lot of work... and it will take a few ladies sitting around the kitchen to make it happen.. hahahhaa.. some will be peeling and pounding, some will be slicing, some will be washing and frying... ooo.. you cannot imagine the work.. but the end result is always a big pot of treasure!! Lovely treasure that will get better as the days goes by..

This is not something I will sell.. no amount of money is worth the effort and patience. But I am lucky to have learnt and watched how this dish is made... long time ago by my aunt's mom and now my aunt... and hopefully one day I will make it and someone will learn... passing on the skill, knowledge and art of making something so great....

Hehehehe.. yes I am!! Blessed to have a fantastic daughter who has always been a gem.. no matter how rough the road may be for both of us.. Blessed to have fantastic friends who has stuck by me, irrespective of how mad I can be! Hahahahaha.. Life is great.. bumpy and rough at times but nevertheless, exciting, colorful, enchanting and full of adventure. I couldnt have asked for more...so,

To another great year for me..... it's going to be an awesome year....

Nat has gotta be the most creative and cheeky 5 years old I have ever known.. wel, beside me of course! Hahahaa.. Nat is the same owner of my pink convertable car cake last year and yes, it was Nat that told me she wanted a convertable car that is pink! Hahahaha... So, this year, she told me she wanted a mushroom house with smurfs and smurfette in it... wahhh!!!

The challenge about this cake is the mushroom top.. it was a tricky work.. but nevertheless, after 7 hours of cutting, shaving, shaping, I got it right! Hahahahaha.. well, right to Nat's standard. The other challenge was half way working on this cake, it poured!! poured big drops of rain with strong wind... OOooo.... it this trouble or what??

Thank God I finished the cake relatively fast as the rain poured the whole night thru... Praise the Lord!! the cake stood majestic and proud and not too much of melt down from the humidity...

This orange butter cake weigh in at 4.2kg and was sold for RM550.. There were plenty of wastage from shaving, cutting and shaping the mushroom house.. ..

The newspapers said that Angry Birds are the IN thing now and hence, the whole weekend was spent creating and shaping these birds. I am seeing birds now! Hahahahaha... These birds are not easy to shape as there are many small details that gives them character and omitting them simply wont do justice. Hence, the tedious work of putting in all these small details.

This vanilla butter cake weigh in at 2.8kg and was sold at RM300 and the 43 kids that it was suppose to feed had a great time... as per Ivan's aunt's feedback. Hehehehe..

Another Angry one.. hahahaha!! I decided to be funky and make the cake in 2 colors.. one, which is the blue is the sky, where else, the green is the meadows.. and after all those done, I thought it would be pretty to have some rocks and flowers.. and next thing you know, got clouds too! Hahahaha...

This is a marbled butter cake weighing in 2.4kg and was sold for RM260... yup.. a lot of work here..

All together now.. La la la la la.. la la la la.. Smurf was something I had when I was growing up... it wasnt that great then but today, it's more than great!

Nat-Nat the owner of my last year's pink car creation told her mama that she wanted smurf this year.. so, what else would please the girl better than a batch of Smurf and Smufette cupcakes? Hehehe..

These were sold at RM3.50 each with a minimum of 50 mini cuppies.

Hehehehe... this was a fairly easy cake to make... once all the flowers are done. Anyway, this was a last minute order and since I have some flowers leftover from the last project, I decided to take on and came up with this!

This cake is a vanilla buttercake weighing in at 3.6kg for a grand lady who will be celebrating her 66th birthday on Eleven of Eleven of year Eleven!! Hehehe.. this was sold for RM420.

A 3 going to be 4 years old girl sat on my lap and whispered to me that she wanted a magical carriage, just like Cinderella's. Hahahaha... this girl knows what she wants! So, I made the above for her. Her mama told me that this year will not be a big celebration like the years before as her birthday will be on a weekday, hence, it will just be a family celebration and this cake will be just right.

This is the little girl's favorite vanilla buttercake and it weighs about 2.3kg and was sold for RM220.

Woooo.... I have always wanted to make halloween a big thing and this year, I did it! Hehehe.. gather a few friends, made some simple food, carve 2 pumpkins, bought some Halloween deco and celebrate we did!!

I made simple grilled Peri Peri chicken, whip up some coleslaw and roasted some very sweet pumpkin and spice it up with some salt and nutmeg.. yummms...delish! Oh! and I had my pumpkin tong sui for dessert too. Hehehe.. something western, something eastern! I suppose it's not about the food.. but the company. My monster had her friends over and they switch off all the lights and watch spooky movies.. all huddled together staring at the TV screen with such concentration! Hahahahahhaa... the things young people do..

Oh.. yes, my carved pumpkin.. oh.. I got the inspiration from my friend, craftyady.blogspot.com but of course, I am not so talented like her.. hence, mine is so much more simple. And even that, it took me a long time. Hahahaha.. the pumpkins here have very very hard skin and the flesh is really thick.. so, I had a tough time cutting thru them.. but nevertheless, I made it! Hehehe... and I like the effect once the candle is lighted.. it gives a very warm glow and festive feel! woo hooo... I wish I had more time and talent to come up with lots of spiders, witches, bats or what have you.. hmm... maybe next year eh.

Oh.. with halloween here, it reminds me that the year is fast drawing to a close. Another has zoom past so fast.. and for the last 10 months, I had fantastic time traveling, creating new yummilicious food, faced and conquered quite a few challenges, love and lost.. The year is now left with my 2 most favorite months.. hehehe... and soon, Xmas range will appear.. I am now experimenting them, once they are perfect, I will roll them out. Hehehehe.. I do hope, by December comes, I will have all the lose ends tied and ready for a new year! It will be a great year rolling in! Yay!

Happy Halloween everyone! It's not about western values or eastern thinking.. it's about appreciating the significance of each festive and enjoying it with the people that matters most to you.

I have been having a macaroon week.. creating and coming up with new flavors and selling them. It has been exciting and yet very frustrating. Exciting because the creations are different from what can be found outside and around. Frustrating because sometimes, the macaroons fail flat on my face!! I am not sure.. it could be weather, with the rain pouring like horses from sky, the macaroons were not able to create "skin" before baking.. Sigh.. after awhile, I just put off making macaroons until the weather is sunny..

Yes, it cost quite a bit to fail as the almonds are extremely expensive lately. So, after many failures, I have been improved! Hehehehee... Happy Macaroons everyone!!

I have always wanted to create something local for macaroons.... and since I have bushes of pandan in my garden and they have been singing out to me to use them, I took up this challenge. It was not easy to create pandan macaroons with real pandan juice. Macaroons are delicate thing.. everything has to be measured accurately and adding pandan juice will affect the balance and everything has to be re-created.. after many many tries.. many many thrown aways.. I got it!!

Hehehehe.. yes, I could always use those ever readily available pandan paste but that wouldnt be nice. Pandan is something you need to use the original.. the paste or essence dont do justice and for some, it's rather horrible. As such, my pandan macaroons dont have the dark green color.. As for the filling.. hehehe.. this is my best creation.. gula melaka butter cream is not hard to make but I decided to create a bit of difference.. salted gula melaka! The balance of saltiness with sweetness was tricky but after a few tries, I got it! Hehehehehe..

Pairing these two, I created something awesome! Hehehehe.. I tested this on non-macaroons eater and after much persuasion, I got them to try and they love it!! They even took more than 2.. so... Yay!! yay!! yay!!..

To try this, it is a RM4 per pop! with a minimum of 20 pops... It will pop you!

oh... this has been a carribean year! First taste of this coconut and lime combo in London has excite me to create another yummy variant.. I had the calypso jelly mooncakes for the mid autumn festival and now, a coconut & lime variant macaroons. This is a wooo hoooo ... coconut is a rather rich flavor ingredient.. and in macaroons, it add on to the aroma... making it addictive. However, one cannot have many.. it gets too rich..hence, a filling that will compliment yet contrast the coconut macaroons is needed. What can it be besides lime.. hehehehe..

One has to take a bite to experience the magic of Carribean Queen.. I wont try to describe this.. you gotta bite into it this to experience the Queen... RM4 each with a minimum order of 20pcs.

Hahahahaa!!! I have been making this set of cuppies for the many hen nights orders. Hahahahaha.. today's version is clean shaven theme. giggles.. giggles.. giggles...

These are twister cuppies with lemon curd filling sold for RM6.50 each with a minimum 16 cuppies.

I personally am not a big fan of salmon... but I am a big fan of salsa! Hahahahhaa.. On hot days, I like my salsa to be tangy. On rainy days, I like it spicy. Today, as I am not well, I have decided to pan fry a piece of salmon and ladden it with very tangy mango salsa. This shall be my monster's lunch today.

On a hot pan, as the salmon sits sizzling, I chopped up tomatoes, onions, pineapples and mangoes into small cubes, spice them up with bunch of thyme with lime, salt, honey and a dash of balsamic vinegar. Once the salmon was dished up, it was generously ladden with tangy Mango Salsa.. The aroma is simply very very enticing and with a plate of hot rice, my monster polished off all in a jiffy.

With the extra salsa, my monster and I had a whale of time watching TV and eating corn chips dipped in these salsa. A very addictive passtime..

You will not be able to find this dish being sold anywhere nowadays and quite frankly, most people dont even know there is such a dish! Hehehe... This is a bygone era dish. This dish is very popular with the Penang Peranakan clans. During those times, people are very frugal and I must say very creative to come up with dishes that does not require expensive ingredients but yet is extremely appetizing, flavourful and most importantly, filling to the stomach. You dont need a lot of this to eat plenty bowls of rice..With this dish, one will polish off at least 2 bowls of rice.. 2 big bowls!! This is plainly because the sauce or kuah from this dish is so seducing.. once it is mixed with hot rice, one cannot stop eating it.. spoon after spoon after spoons of rice.. and I always tell myself.. "ok! this is the last spoon.." but some how, it is never to be... Hehehehe...

To prepare this dish, one must have the patience of a nyonya.. hehehe.. I can just imagine girls born into and brought up by in a Peranakan family. These girls are required to have good cooking skills.. Everything has to be nicely done... there was no blender then and you just have to slave away using the mortar and pastel!! Peranakan girls are also required to cut everything finely, something which I will fail face down! Hahahahaha.. any fine cutting or chopping or slicing are always done by my aunt.. I dont have such patience... not even for food.. Heh! heh! heh!.. So, you can guess who did most of the work for this dish.

To start making this dish, one has to get lime, wash them, grate off the green part nicely and make slit around the fruit. Boil a pot of water and drop these "processed" lime and scoop up. Leave them aside to dry. Slice garlic, onions, chilies finely. When I say finely, I mean finely.. like hair! Sun dry them together with red and green chili padis for a few days.. while those are taking a nice sun tan, one can start with getting the sauce ready.. tumeric, vinegar, sugar and lots of oil.. fry them and when everything is nicely blended, leave it to cool. Once this sauce is ready, just dump in all the nicely tanned and finely sliced ingredients.. mix and throw in the limes. Let them soak for days.. (if the whole thing bubbles up, you can kiss all your hard work goodbye and start again!) After a week or so, it should be ready.. and that's when you fry some fishes and drop them into the acar. The fried fish will soak up the flavour of the acar and together, the taste is extremely appetizing and exciting! It's savory, it's tangy, it's sweetish, it's spicy, it's aromatic, all your five tastebuds will be alive! Woo hooo...

And yes, on a draggy Thursday, I really need something like this to make my day. Hehehe.. yes, I am waiting, not very patiently though, for Friday to come....

Dont you think these are super cute? Hehehee.. I think they are! The best part is that they are not hard to make.. Easy to shape and mould. Much much easier that Angry birds! For me, I find Angry birds the hardest design to make... very tedious and a lot of details. Humph!

Anyway, this set of lemon cuppies are sold for RM5.50 each with a minimum order of 16 cuppies