Anna-ther Session With Anna Olson

Most people would've considered themselves fortunate to have been able to attend ONE Anna Olson demo. Me, well, ahem, I was able to attend TWO, and not just ANY two, but the First and the Last of her demos in Malaysia of her inaugural south east asian tour. When I mentioned that to her (yes, there was actually CONVERSATION involved, albeit brief), she mentioned something about "that's good, the starter and the dessert". Something to that effect.

Anyway, round two was at the Electrolux Showroom in Kota Damansara. Thanks to Saw Leng of Electrolux for the invite. Large canopies were set up along the road, so it was hard to miss, much like a wedding "kenduri" (a wedding banquet). Also present were Alilfatmonkey, and Cumi&Ciki.

There is a brief intro by the Electrolux people, and lo and behold, Ms Anna Olson. Now, I often wonder if celebrities are forced to say good things about their host country, and if so, how much of it is genuine. But Anna somehow exudes such warmth, and genuine-ness, there is no cause to doubt her when says how wonderful we Malaysians are, (hmm, did she say that), or more specifically, how wonderful our fruits are. She raves about gula melaka, is ambivalent about durian, though she did mention she would love to try it in a dessert, AND, in the same breath, mentioned that she was told that the CHOCOLATE DURIAN CAKE by Just Heavenly is a must try. Wow, to have been mentioned by Anna Olson. Of course, a series of tweets and facebook updates appeared, as we all tried to "tumpang glamor" by knowing Just Heavenly.





Our MC for the night, and also kitchen assistant, Xandria Ooi. So many celebrities in one room. Speaking of which, Rohani Jelani made a grand entrance, after Anna herself had already started. And of course, being a celebrity herself, Rohani was ushered to the front row seats.


I have to say that she is such a delightfully pleasant person, someone you can imagine being the livewire in any occasion or party, but despite her celebrity status, she seems remarkably down to earth.


I simply LOVE gula melaka, Anna proclaims.


And I will spank you with this spoon if you disagree with me.


Kudos to Xandria for being able to super multi task. Talk, converse with Anna, hold the mike in one hand, while caramelizing the bananas in another. Very impressive.


Oh, before I forget, she was demonstrating the Caramel Banana Cheesecake. You can get the recipe here at Masak Masak's Blog. She attended the atas event, with champagne and all.


With each step, there is already a prepared "ready for TV" product, eg, when she does the biscuit base, there's a ready made one that comes out of the fridge within 10 seconds of her putting the freshly made one in. Likewise, with the actual cake, tah dah, the wonders of television, pour the batter into tin, and TAH DAH, the cheescake is ready!!!!! I need to get me one of those.





Likewise, with the caramel, which went from piping hot to "ready to use" in seconds. Oh, Anna uses a term called Smellavision, referring to the fact that with all the technological advances, we've yet to achieve being able to smell through the tv. I can see that might be a real double edged sword though.


She pours the gorgeous caramel onto the cake.


Unlocks the springform....to reveal a gorgeous looking cheesecake, that drew oohs and aaahs from the audience...



And the finished product.

We actually got to sample the cake, (not this one but some premade ones), together with a lovely dinner put together by Electrolux.

The cake was lovely, velvety, surprisingly not cloyingly sweet, nor artery chokingly rich, ALTHOUGH it contains nearly 1kg of cream cheese.

At the press conference, Alex of Fried Chillies interviewed Anna briefly. Even I managed to ask her a question. Ooh, my question was, would you get the same result if you use a food processor. Since my other buxom idol, the domestic goddess, swears by it.

Anna says yes, you will get the same result, but when incorporating the eggs, to just pulse it in.

Meanwhile, I am awaiting my pics with her. The one taken at the first round, at LeMeridien, by The Nomad Gourmand, apparently could not be retrieved. Looks like I might have to resort to photoshopping myself next to her as PROOF that I actually met the dear lady.

Thanks again to Electrolux and SL for the invite.

ANNA, come back, we want to see you again!!!!!!!