Foodelicious!

The other day while I was window shopping, I saw this fruit bread being sold at some exotic cafe and instantly I was transformed back to my childhood... My aunt used to make such loaf and we kids will always have a great time eating them.. so much so, my aunt had to ration how much we can eat. hehehehehe.. so that we have space for proper meals.

So, eagerly I bought a portion of the bread hoping it will taste like my childhood... but sadly, it didnt.. there was something missing. I couldnt figure it out until I asked my aunt to try and she told me the secret ingredient.. aaaahhh..

So, eagerly again, I set out to make my crown of fruits.. hehehehehehe... but since I am not someone who like it sweet, I cut down the amount of dried fruits.. oh.. and I didnt forget my secret ingredient.. hehehehe.. and was I waiting gleefully for my bread to come out.. hehehe.. hence, I didnt wait to take picture using natural light the next morning.. I had to have a slice. hahahahaha..

The bread is simply tender and soft.. even without any bread improver or conditioner.. it was still reasonably soft after two days and I must say, it taste better as the days goes by and toasted. The fruits were plump and juicy inspite being baked.. Hmmm... must be the secret ingredient. Hehehehe...

This is Nat's other cake. Yes, Nat is a very lucky girl... hehehhee.. she usually have 2 cakes for her birthday, one for her school celebration which is this cake and another for her party at home. This marbled buttercake was fashioned like a gift box with Nat's favorite soft toy.. bluee the bunny. Hehehehe..

I was told that all her classmates were very thrilled by this cake and all wanted to have a piece of the bunny and stars! Hahahahaha... This 2kg cake was polished off by little 6 years old in a jiffy!

If there is any occasion where I have to bring something to a party and didnt have time, I will make this. I like it because for one, it's easy to make... and it's always impressive. For another, jelly always sells in a party due to our hot and humid, well, not so hot but still very humid weather these days. And if you have kids in the party, this is what they will go for.

The other reason why I love this is that I can split up the whole making process to suit my timing. I dont necessarily have to do everything at one go. I can split it up.. making the mosaic pieces first and when I have a window time of half hour, I can do the jelly to keep the mosaic in place. Terrific!

Oh yes, this jelly is open for ordering and a whole block can serve quite a few people during a party. Call to enquire!

One of my favorite food in this world. Hahahahahaha.. yes, I am a rice person and I must have my rice no matter where I am. Anyway, recently was craving for a home cooked chicken rice for the longest time. The last time I had a home cooked chicken rice was yonks ago and it was made by a hainanese woman and it was awesome.

Anyway, since my cravings was getting really bad and coincidentally, was having a dear friend over for dinner, I decided to make my hainanese chicken rice. Kampung chicken nicely steamed instead of boiled. I  like to give the chicken a bit of treatment of sesame oil and salt scrub before steaming. Hehehe..and of course, a must have, pestle and mortar pounded chili sauce and ginger sauce and added on a peanut and lotus root soup with a blanched kai lan. Oh yes! the rice, I cooked the rice like how the Hainanese woman did yonks ago.. with a slice or two of ginger, a dollop of butter, lots of good quality chicken stock and a small piece of pandan leave. Hehehehe.. the rice smell so good when it was cooking and that made me so hungry.

So, my dear friend came and we sat down to have our Hainanese chicken rice dinner which she enjoyed tremendously.. and without shame asked if she could take home some! Hahahahhaa.. with great pleasure! I always like the idea of my guests requesting to take home the food I cook.

A 9 years old boy's ambition is to be a Paleontologist and his request for a dinosaur birthday cake cannot be denied. This marbled butter cake weigh in at 2.5kg and Paleontologist was a happy boy.. Heh! heh! heh!

Nigel's favorite!! Every year no matter how much persuasion or distraction his mama tries to distract him away from Thomas The Train, Nigel will stay faithful and dutifully call me and tell that he would like to have a Thomas The Train cake. I admire his faithfulness!! Hahahahaha...

Anyway, this year, Nigel is 6 years old and he has grown.. he is able to tell me what he really ones. He said that he wanted each cupcake to have a Thomas The Train and he said.."not flat on the cake but a real one on top" There.. has Nigel grown up or what??

Each of this 49 cupcakes have a Thomas The Train just like how Nigel wanted them to be.. there is Percy and other TTT characters and when Nigel came to pick up his cake, he squeal with so much happiness that it's infectious! Hahahahahaha.. the happiness of a child never fail to shake me up to realise that life is beautiful. And the next day, Nigel had a great time in school celebrating his birthday and his mama said the other mamas were ooooo-ing and aaahhh-ing at the the toppers! HEH! HEH! HEH!

These were sold for RM7.50 each as there are a lot of work involved in shaping each TTT in 3D. A minimum order of 16 is required.

It has been raining nearly everyday for the past month and such weather are expected during end of the year. This is one of the best times for me.. hehehehe.. as I love the rain. Without the rain, the weather here is simply.. HORRIBLE! always hot and humid with terrible blazing sun. But with the rain.. aaaaaaahhh... it's just so lovely.. and always, during such weather, I crave for warm comfort food and one of them is chicken porridge with century eggs.

I have a few versions of chicken porridge. Hehehehe.. I have the simple and quick one that you can see here or the complicated one. For today, I made the simple and quick version plainly because, I was greedy and hungry! Hahahahahahaha. The simple and quick version requires very little work.. just dump the rice and water to boil, leave it to boil stirring occasionally to keep it from sticky to the base of the pot.. and once the porridge is nearly done, add in the cooked shredded chicken. Season it with the usual salt, pepper, sesame oil and garnish it with spring onion, julienne ginger with slices of century eggs. It's one of the easiest comfort food that one can make when one is terribly busy.

Where else, the complicated version requires steamed chicken that has been seasoned with lots of chinese wine and salt. The method of cooking is the same but the extra work comes from preparing the chicken way ahead, steaming it, rubbing every part of the chicken with chinese wine, salt and a bit of pepper and leaving it to marinate for a few days. This complicated version is super delicious and I learnt this from my grandma yonks ago. Didnt I say we never waste food?? Hehehe...

Anyway, back to this simple and quick chicken porridge.. this is best as it is or if you like, you can have this with chinese fried curlers (yau char kwai) which I dont fancy. Life is always beautiful with simple things and Praise the LORD that I am blessed with such simplicity.

Another last minute order that came thru my email and I was so thrilled to make this cake. Hehehehe... since it was a Halloween cum Birthday Party, this customer was keen to have a scary cake for the kids to oooo and aahh about. However due to time constraint, I came up with an easy cake... Heh! heh! heh!

This vanilla butter cake weighing in at 3.5kg and yes, the kids did ooo and aaah and Pete was a very happy man! Hehehehehe..