New Lunch Menu

Last Saturday afternoon, I had the privilege of being invited to taste the new menu at Isthmus, that swanky restaurant in Northpoint that I've been raving about. Of course, one man's food might be another man's poison, but generally, most of my friends also enjoy the food here.

Saturday afternoon, with good friends, good food and wine, .....ah, this is the life.

The cold starter of a vegetable terrine, held together with a tomato coulis. It was wonderfully tangy, and refreshing starter. Although it was served with toasted baguette, I reckon it's good enough to eat on its own. Layers of zuchinni and egg plant and pumpkin. Very nice.


This is what happens when Dewi Sukarno married Sukarno. Japanese and Indonesian. An interesting combination of vegetables, crunchy golden needle mushroom (or was it enoki) wrapped in nori, with a hint of mayo and wasabi, complemented with a gado gado sauce. Rather interesting, though some didn't care for the mayo. King of England, who was with us, of course doesn't mind all things western, so mayo was fine. I wouldn't have minded a tad more wasabi.


This is inspired the the Terengganu version of otak otak, except it uses crab instead of mackerel. Satan? Santa? Something like that. Not Satan as in Lucifer, but Sah Tan....also an interesting starter, very tasty, and quite distinctly local. King of England was saying he prefers his food defined, either western or asian. I think FDI, me and Mrs King of England are okay with the fusiony (though that word is quite taboo these days) mixes.


The salad, which has the components of the penang rojak, was okay. I didn't particularly like the dressing. It was an interesting combination, nevertheless.

Now, this is worth going to Northpoint just for lunch. Some evolution of our usual chicken rice, but using the most fragrant Bario rice, and the chicken, yummy, stewed to perfection. I am salivating just thinking about this dish. It has hints of our usual hainanese chicken rice, for the rice, but it is gorgeously fluffy, and not oily. The chicken, is really good.


I went to the toilet before this was served, so I didn't hear what this dish is called, but it's some contemporary form of Lam Mee. It may look rather ordinary, but the best thing about this was the stock. Good to the last drop. I didn't care for the chicken breast pieces, I am a leg person, (I think Nigella Lawson is too, for I was watching her mughlay curry and she said "use only thighs") but again, the stock, made from Village Cock, (kampung chicken), was sublime.


I've seen recipes for poached pears in many recipe books, but I can't say I recall actually eating it. This was black sesame ice cream on poached nashi pear, which was fantastic. So much so, King of England placed an order for an industrial size tub of the black sesame ice cream, without asking the cost. He can afford it lah. The poached pear was yummy, still crunchy, infused with all the lovely flavours of the poaching liquid, I suspect red wine may have been involved. We unashamedly asked for a second helping of this dessert. Aiyo, very bad, I shouldn't be blogging about this before lunch.



Anyway, Isthmus is located on the ground floor of the newly completed Northpoint Condos in Mid Valley. You can either park in MVM and walk across the steel walkway to Northpoint, or park in Northpoint itself, which can be a bit costly if you intend to stay on and yarn the afternoon away. Telephone : 03-22828112 for reservations.

Changing topic, does ANYONE know where I can find these tart rings?

There are three different sizes in the picture above. From the top, we have one about 7 inches across and maybe 1/2 to 3/4" high. The middle ones are like cake tins, 7 inches wide, probably 2½ inches high. The ones at the bottom, come in two sizes, one like Wonder Woman's bracelet, (see pic below), probably 2½ " across, (diameter), and 2 inches high, and like the one above, probably slightly larger, 3" across, and 2" high.

Can anyone tell me where I can get these things without paying an arm and a leg?

Boutique Desserts Class Part 2, and Here Comes The Bride

Previously, on Fatboybakes Fantasy, [in the same tone as those astro voice overs, when announcing, Previously, On Boston Public, or something like that, referring to a previous episode ending with "To be continued...."]

Day 1 basically saw the individual parts of the fancy cakes/entremets coming together. Below, we have the printed joconde, which forms the border (as in, it lines the circumference of the cake) for one of the tarts. Looks like cloth hor. Seems like a lot of work though, so don't be expecting any of my desserts to be dressed in cake clothes any time in the near future.


At least 4 cakes were completed without make up by the end of day 1, and shoved in the freezer to chill. Lunch on day one was a duck confit thingie in puff pastry, a lovely salad, and divine bread. (with president butter, except it was unsalted, and I hate eating unsalted butter). They sell these duck confit and lamb shank prepacked in their cafe in Alliance Francais in Lrg Gurney.

Day 2, ...its amazing how everyone is so punctual, despite having to combat the daily crawl of traffic into town. I had kinda developed a routine by day 2, ie, arrive at 8.45, grab a quickie roti canai at the mamak downstairs, in the lane behind, and appear at class by 8.58.

Twas very funny, when the chef showed us how to line the tart ring with the almond shortcrust pastry. It looked easy enough, but when us mortals tried it, harumph.....

When the lady from BKK tried her hand at it, she botched up so many times, the pastry was getting warm. Meanwhile, I was sms-ing my friend bemoaning the incompetence of my fellow classmates.....but pride comes before a fall. When I tried MY hand at it, I realised it wasn't so easy. Unlike with our usual tart/pie tins which have a base, this one was a ring, without a base. So, that required lifting the entire piece of pastry, slowly lowering it onto the ring, and at the same time, ensuring you could still move it onto a baking tray. The base kept sticking to the marble slab. Also, I was rolling the pastry too hard. I finally got one done, but one of the chefs decided it wasnt good enough, so disassembled mine, and proceeded to make another one. IT was GREAT consolation to me, that even he had to have at least 4 attempts before finally getting it right. Snigger. You can see the baked tart shells in the pic below, in the picture next to the tub of Pate a Glacer Noire.




Lunch on Day two was a lamb shank pasta, with salad, bread and the dessert shown above. It was a lemon/ passion fruit mousse, with an almond tuille. Rather good.

Anyway, fast forwarding, the bride finally got dressed and made up, and look at the finished products at the bottom. And believe me, they tasted AS GOOD AS THEY LOOKED. You know how some cakes are Indah khabar dari rupa. These looked great, and tasted great too. With these kind of ingredients, it's hardly surprising. I loved the ones with the creme brulee layers, and also the jasmine tea infused chocolate entremet. Actually, I loved them all.





Epilogue:

This was the gift voucher I received.

And look, we even made it to the press!!!! Featured in some un-named newspaper......

Boutique Desserts By French Master Pastry Chef

I am having serious withdrawal symptoms, as I've spent the last two days amidst the wafting aromas of freshly baked dacquoise, cuiller, genes, ......

Finally, I enrolled myself in one of those fancy smancy courses offered by the French Culinary School, aka HTC, (with retail outlet known as gourmandines) under the tutelage of

JEAN-FRANCOIS ARNAUD,
Un des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France - M.O.F.

Actually this was made possible because of a gift voucher, given to me by my dear friend (aka the WOMAN I AM SCARED OF), for my 40th, which was to attend any one day course conducted by Monsieur Arnaud. As this was a 2 day course, I was allowed to pay the difference to attend. Trying to get into the golden triangle, by 9am, wasn't exactly my cup of tea, and wondered how the minions who do work in that area can take the congestion day after day. And I couldn't fathom why they would want to start at 9am, and have to contend with all that rush hour traffic. Then I knew, coz this course is actually "work", as most of the attendees were professional chefs, hailing from KL hilton, Genting, KL convention centre, etc etc. One of the ladies even came all the way from Bangkok!!!

First, we were given an introduction, by Bruno, one of the chefs in HTC, (I love the French accent, and when they speak English), and very systematically, Jean Francois explained (translated by Bruno) what we would do for each offering, each layer, etc etc. Very fascinating. We were told that we would only see the finished product at the end of the 2 days, which really made the build up even more exciting.

Well, as I do not have my camera or memory card with me here, today, the complete post with photos will have to wait. The repertoire was as follows:

Chocolate Jasmine Flower Entremet
Blackcurrant Chiboust
Dacquoise Walnut And Coffee
Opera
Lemon Praline With Lemon Macaroons
Strawberry Pistachio Tart
Lemon Strawberry Entremet With Printed Joconde
Passion Fruit Apricot Mousse

Of course, being the jakun that I was, very shyly raised my hand and said, "excuse me, what is ANTREMAT" ....French chef replies, "oh, ontromay, it means, ze cake, sort of like a gateaux". Haiya, say so lah, Cake. Actually, I bet none of the tai tais present there knew what an entremet was either.

One tai tai (or more likely, see lai) asked the chef, "oh, do you use dairy or non dairy whipping cream".... I looked at her aghast, and whispered, "eugh, no one eats non dairy whipping cream, its revolting"....she looked a bit miffed, but later on I found out, looking at the pictures of her cakes, proudly displayed in her digital camera, she uses that fake stuff on all her cakes. One look at that shocking white finish is enough to make me gag. Now now let's not be bitchy. But SERIOUSLY, fake whipping cream, IMHO IS inedible. If you need the cake to be decorated nicely, and not melt, and want to make it look like cream.....I think I'd rather go for buttercream. (not the Wilton variety which uses shortening....ugh) Even the French chef looked a bit puzzled at the question about fake whipping cream. Hallo, do you use fake chocolate in your cakes lady?!!! or fake rice in your rice?

Anyway, just to give yall a teaser, here are few pics of the first cake....unfinished, of course. It's amazing what make up can do. This is why you can never recognise a bride on her wedding day. Quite tragic right, when your children grow up, and look at your wedding pictures, and ask "mommy, who's that woman next to daddy".

To be continued. ...

When The Acolyte Meets The Masters

It was with much trepidation that I made my way to Jalan Alor on Friday night. Firstly, I would have to reveal my total ignorance, as I've not been to eat there at nights since 1988, then, I would have to reveal mySELF.....in the presence of the food blogging luminaries. I was latest, ...the rest of the food bloggers (floggers) were surprisingly punctual. Apart from Mr Rasa Malaysia, the rest were all roses, and I was the only male flogger.

The domain of photography is no longer that of the male species, as was made obvious during the hawker food crawl. Oh, briefly, a floggers get together and hawker food crawl was organised by the legendary Masak Masak in honor of Rasa Malaysia, from Irvine, OC, who was in town for CNY. Yeah, back to the lovely ladies who carry canggih manggih cameras that can double up as a weapon in case they get accosted in the alley lanes of Jalan Alor.

Now, if the food dishes had been a celebrity, the first name that comes to mind would be Princess Diana. The moment the dish arrived, out came the cameras, snap snap snap....but all without flash, testimony to the seriousness of these people's photography skills. The paparazzi of the food world. So much so, I am disinclined to put up any pics of my own. It's like putting up our SRP (PMR for you younger folks) art paper on display next to Michaelangelo's work.

Our first stop, in the debacherous eating orgy, was Wong Ah Wah, famed for its chicken wings. To complement the wings, we had a plate of very well fried chinese brussel sprouts, (choy tham?), lala steamed in rice wine, I think, and balitong, that very intriguing snail-cum shell like thing that requires lots of suction power.

The famed chicken wings. For pictures (and reviews) of the other foods, do check out my venerable gurus sites, namely, WMW, Lyrical Lemongrass, Rasa Malaysia. Legendary Masak Masak decided to be on "holiday" and watch the minions do the photography instead.....;)

We then, after much discussion, adjourned further up the road, (assuming Jalan Alor is a river flowing downstream, we went upstream), to eat ikan bakar. Now, this photo is put up for its brilliance, but more to show you the food bloggers that were present. Yup, those people walking in the middle of the road comprised of our gang.



While the ikan bakar, char kueh teow and hor chien were good, this dish of sotong was truly outstanding. Yummy to the last bit of onion.



What we have above is a slice of the ikan pari, with some kinda lendir (slime) dripping from it, much like snot from a runny nose. Maybe that was the nose of the fish, and it hadnt finished it's course of antibiotics before it ended up wrapped in a banana leaf.

After that, believe it or not, ( I, who usually loath driving, nearly gagged at the idea at first), we adjourned to eat charcol charred hokkien mee in most insalubrious surroundings, in an alley next to Lai Foong. It was damn good!!!!! The pork soup, deeeevine, and the dark sinful oil slick that we Malaysians call FOOKIN CHAO, was most delectable. Nothing like biting into a crispy piece of pork lard. Twas with a heavy heart, (clogged by cholestrol), and heavy tummy, that we bade farewell and went our separate ways. Mr & Mrs Rasa Malaysia were staying at the Heritage Hotel, at the old Stesen Keretapi. I'll leave it to them to pan the place, with first hand knowledge. Thanks Masak Masak for organising this.

For half of those there, it was but the beginning of a weekend of eating with fellow floggers, for on Saturday night, they congregated at MAKANSUTRA, (the eating equivalent of the Kamasutra, no doubt), a thai place in Plaza Damas. I dropped by for awhile, and managed to meet the mysterious Tonixe of Team BSC, Audrey of Audrey Cooks, (who spearheaded the whole thing), .... err who else did I meet? Teckie, I think. Missed out on meeting Unkaleong, and Babe_KL. Drat, and double drat.


Footnote: I think it's much easier for a lady to take photos at an eating place, as they are perceived to be less of a threat. Also, Male Chefs probably get some kick out of it.....can imagine, if guys were to be snapping away, probably get lambasted with, "weiiii, yeng mutt yer ah?!!!, niaaaama"....

Sarawak Laksa Overdose

Was in Kuching over the weekend for a friend's wedding. Without much inkling as to where exactly to go for the famed Sarawak Laksa, we just walked around the vicinity of our hotel, and stopped at the first coffee shop that offered it. It was 1.30pm, but I think Kuchingers eat very early....everything was nearly sold out, and I think we got what must have been the last two bowls. In retrospect, that one was the best, but I didn't have my camera on me then. Anyway, they all look more or less the same, and actually, all the ones we had were pretty decent.

Another Kuching dish is mee kolok. It refers to an afro kind of noodle, much like wantan mee, except wavy, and is cooked more or less the same way as wantan mee, sans the black sauce. Again, I didn't have my camera on me, except later on when I had the fried mee kolok. It's actually quite tasty.


On our quest to find the single swallow brand of Sarawak Laksa paste, which Boolicious had to track down for me through a series of sms-es, (it's very handy to know the culinary queen and have her phone number), in Chinatown, I even bumped into Mr Ho of Mr Ho's fine foods. He knows me by name, so it was quite amusing to see his surprised look, and mine. We also found this quaint little coffee place, called Bings. I had to have the mars bar cheese cake, after all that hawker fare three consecutive meals, and a nice cup of tea. The mars bar cheesecake was not bad. A bit sweet.


Meanwhile, finding the single swallow brand laksa paste was proving harder than expected. Most places carry the Barretts brand (apparently son of the single swallow fella), Double Swallow, and Eagle. Finally, I managed to find one non descript sundry shop that stocked it, in 600gm packages. To confuse matters, it doesn't say SINGLE SWALLOW.... it actually says layang layang. Further frantic sms-es to boolicious to confirm if the man's name was Tan Yong Him...

Anyway, it turns out it was the correct brand. Apparently the fler's dead oridi, so who's making it? His son sells it under the name Barretts.

Kuching is quite a nice quaint little city. It's quite sprawling, as in the residential areas are quite far apart. We walked from the hotel, down the river esplanade to the Indian Street, and Chinese Street, after the wet market. I'm sure these places exist in KL, but since I'm never on holiday here in KL, I never explore.



I forgot what these fruits are called, above. They loook like some kind of olive. And I've always prided myself on knowing most malaysian produce.



I love these large containers of spice, and beans etc. They remind me of a carefree, long gone era. Somehow scooping it from the plastic containers at Carrefour isn't quite the same. Now, the picture below is a sight to behold. Eugh. Margarine, by the sack load.

So it's true, that urban legend about how you can leave margarine exposed, and no fly worth its salt will come near it, coz of all the fake ingredients. Nor does it melt.

I didn't include in this list, things I'm not sure are vegetables or what.
1. Mushrooms....I love all mushrooms, except the poisonous ones.
2. Beans ...french beans, long beans, angled beans, edamame...love all the green ones. dont like kidney beans, especially the ones from a tin that they put in these new fancy fandangled ice kacangs.
3. Roots ...is potato a vegetable? corn? carrot? radish? yam? like most of them.
4. Forgot about okra and bitter gourd, until snowdrop mentioned it. Actually I like them both.

So yeah, conclusively, cauliflower is about the only vegetable I dislike. (upon further searching my heart, I realise yeah, I don't hate cauliflower.... its too strong an emotion)

The middle category, where the sawi, kailan etc are, are the indifferent category. Forgot to label that.

I'm not sure if aragula/rocket is a vegetable or a herb.

Finally, Bak Kut Teh, and 5 Things About Me

This group of friends, from the ELR group, have been talking and planning this trip to Klang for Bak Kut Teh for nearly 1½ years. You'd think it was located on the moon, the logistic planning involved in getting there. Finally, it materialised!!! I recall it's the same one that masak masak blogged about around last Chinese New Year. I remember, coz she mentioned the passing of an uncle, and I also had a grand uncle who passed away during that time. Didn't know her yet at the time though, but did wonder if it was the same uncle.

Teluk Pulai is hog heaven. There are many bak kut teh and an absolutely orgasmic char siew place as well. Above pic is one of them, but not the one we went to.



Ah, this is the one we went to, I believe the same one blogged about by Boolicious. By the time I parked, the claypots had almost arrived. To my delight one pot had offal, and spare parts. I lurve spare parts.

This is really bad photography, I know. What to do, blame the camera lah. In any case, I wasn't gonna "pretend" to be artistic, as amongst our midst was a professional photographer, who actually captured the first pictures of the 2004 tsumani in phuket. (or was it 2005) It would be like trying to bake for Nigella Lawson. Anyway, complemented by the yummy char siew (actually I am very thin skinned....dont dare snap away prolificly like other food bloggers, coz lazy to explain why I'm taking pics) it was a fantastic brunch.

Meanwhile, what did I do with the cake that was meant for Jackson Kah? I used it up and turned it into a coffee walnut cream cake for my cell group. So, I've still got lots of mascarporne cheese lying around at home.


Strange right, without any reference, there's no perspective to the size of the cake. It's only 5" diameter, but looks big here.

Also, apparently I've been tagged by Rasa malaysia. I'm not really familiar with this blog talk, but according to RM, it's like a chain letter, minus the curses that come along with it if you don't forward it to 10 others.

5 things about me.

1. I hate cauliflower. There's not much I don't eat, but for some reason, I hate cauliflower. I'd eat it if absolutely no choice, but it ranks on the bottommost rung of my least favourite vegetables.

2. Beneath this chubby exterior, is a person who's known pain and hardship. I did a 3 year stint in the Malaysian Army, paying back my scholarship. (bond was 10 years, but paid back the rest). This of course, was 40 pounds ago. I also spent two years, forms 4 & 5 in Royal Military College....more hardship.

3. After I left the army, I became a male model for a local brand of underwear.....

3. Heh heh, kidding... I've got hypertension. Started on meds last year.

4. I am exceedinly short fused, and have a bad temper. I hate eating places that don't serve water, and force you to buy imported mineral water. I am likely to kick up a bigggg scene.

5. I started toying around in the kitchen after I finished my part time MBA in UM...suddenly having a lot of time on my hands. (when you attend classes 2-3 times a week, at night, the sudden liberation can be quite a withdrawal symptom thing). Stupidly ambitious, I think one of my first experiments was apple pie. Friends were polite.

So, that's me. Am I supposed to pass this on?

But everyone's been covered oridi on Rasa Malaysia's blog, at least everyone who reads this.

okay, I tag:
1. That fler in Bangkok, who is counting the days to return to his sweetheart here.
2. The other fler in Klang... who is too busy to eat tiramisu.
3. The lady in Hong Kong who got me into this whole blogging thing in the first place.
4. That mysterious Lady In Red, at the Isthmus Martell Dinner.
5. Well, ideally, it'll be Nigella Lawson. Can someone pass the message to her.

Now, Rasa Malaysia, what do I do?

Book Valley Visit

Sigh, being the "good friend" that I am, despite being fong fei kei-ed at the last minute, upon his insistence, I still made my way to klang for a quick breakfast at his newly opened bookshop and cafe.

This is the famous nasi lemak klang that was featured in his blog.

The nasi lemak was very tasty, but it the rice was a bit too wet, (I like mine dry and fluffy), and the condiments a bit oily. Then again, I guess it IS nasi lemak, so it's like eating ice cream and expecting the benefits of a salad, to expect anything else.

70% of the time that I was there, our intrepid entrepreneur was in this pose:


This fruit tea is apparently their specialty, coz I was gonna order ginseng coffee, when he vetoed my order.

Anyway, shortly after finishing my nasi lemak, I was more or less shoo-ed out, to make way for his next batch of guests... and was relegated to browsing around the bookshop. I have to say, it is chinese book heaven....not much good for an illiterate like me. They also stock an impressive variety of imported IQ enhancing games for children, which are way beyong my budget. Apparently Klang people are very generous when it comes to kid's education and welfare. (odd, I always thought they were in same league as Penangites in terms of wallet tightness).

I bought a couple of mandarin vocabulary books, for the kids, (it looks like we all hope our children will grow up and do business in China), some stationery for myself, and was on my way. Thanks Mr Kah for gracing me with your precious precious time, all of 10 minutes.

Good Intentions

Actually, today I had intended to visit fellow flogger's new bookshop and cafe, in Tmn Eng Ann, Klang. The plan was to meet at 12pm for lunch. Now, this fellow is notoriously busy, and is likely to cancel at the last minute. However, as a buah tangan and "shop" warming present, I was gonna bring him a mini tiramisu, made by me, of course. Call me cheap if you must. BUT AS expected, I get an sms saying he has to bail cos he's got a meeting.


As you can see, I am not just talking. There lies the 5" cake, placed in a larger 8" dia pan for you to get a sense of scale, and the tub of mascarporne, which now lies in the fridge awaiting its fate. The cake is the base cake (coffee chiffon) for the tiramisu torte.




Meanwhile, as I was itching to try out something new, and wanted to use up my cream cheese (once opened, best to use ASAP) so I simply whack this baked coffee cheese cake. Didn't follow any recipe, but just by trial and error, using the basic cheesecake recipes...

Base : Coffee sponge/ chiffon...but we all agreed biscuit base would be better. Also, wanted to use up my extra chiffon.

Qty for 2 cakes:

800gms cream cheese
1 cup sugar .... depending on taste....

Cream the above 2 ingredients first

2 tablespoons coffee in 200ml water
1 cup cornflour

Add into above ingredients

6 eggs beaten, mixed into above concoction

Fold in 300ml semi beaten whipped cream, and a tub of sour cream.

In retrospect, I would omit the sour cream, makes it heavier than Pavarotti. Replace with another 300ml whipped cream, so 600ml in total.

Bear in mind these are for TWO cakes, so dont forget to halve it, or you will have one gianormous cake.

Then the usual, bake in water bath, dont forget to seal your cake tin with alum foil, and bake at 160C for 1 hour, turn off oven, take out from water bath, leave in oven for another hour, then chuck in fridge.

Share Share La.

Hi [FBB]...***** here...just log into yr blog ...looks like u don't post yr recipes online anymore...hahahhahaha...trade secret...anyway don't keep it from me pls...yr fruit cake looks very good...need yr recipe for that as well as yr godma's butter and that banana walnut....can u email me at *******@pacific.net.sg

I got the above message on msn today, by a friend.

Actually, just yesterday, some friends were saying that they were surprised that I do put up recipes at all, if I was doing this commercially. But hey, I am of the opinion, it's better to share than not to. Afterall, you can literally get recipes ANYWHERE anyway, and people who order cakes from you don't do so because they can't find recipes, but it's because they either can't be bothered to bake, or are intimidated to do so. If they want to bake, they are gonna bake regardless....all it takes is one google search and you'll have enough recipes for a lifetime.

I guess one reason why I DO want to put up recipes, apart from my ahem, gregarious sharing nature, is so that people can see what good stuff goes in. So really, tis more blessed to give than to receive, as the biblical quote goes.

I'll put up the fruitcake recipe soon enough. I'm still on the quest for Mrs Shan's recipe though, our ex neighbour who makes the most sublime fruitcake. As she is Catholic, I was hoping that the fruitcake in RC cookbook was similar, but it wasn't. And no point putting up the butter cake recipe until it was been perfected.

Meanwhile, I had the most wonderful homecooked peranakan food on Saturday night, at ELR's abode. Company was great, food was divine. Imbibed copious amounts of Moet with fresh strawberries, for starters. Princess D's vodka jelly was VERY potent...We started with a tantalisingly refreshing and tangy salad, with raisins that complemented the sour dressing exceedingly well. When the Newlywed Young Lawyer and Wife arrived, we had already started on the mains, which was Babi Assam, absolutely superb, ...a mix of pork with tamarind, lemongrass and other stuff that made it really appetising, curry Chicken, with drumsticks the size of turkey legs, made from special curry powder all the way from Malacca. There was a lovely beef rendang, which was in itself delicious, but eclipsed by the other two dishes, and a lovely aubergine dish. Problem with this kinda food, you really load up on the rice. Yummmmmmmmy.....!!!






Oh, on Friday night, we were at Isthmus for the KLUE Martell dinner. Met legendary food blogger Boolicious aka Masak Masak there, as well as prolific blogger Meiyen. For full account of the night, read in other blog, here.

Christmas Catholic Fruit Cake

First, let me state that I am in no way Roman Catholic. I am Protestant as they come. However, I did stumble across a recipe for fruitcake that looked rather good in my RC mother's RC Cookbook. Hence the name I gave it, the Catholic Fruitcake. It is not referring to anyone in particular.

Anyway, my fruits have been macerating in half a bottle of Remy Martin VSOP Cognac since early December, in anticipation of Christmas. That came and went like Katrina, and up to the frist week of January, the raisins were still getting plumper by the day, enjoying their brandy spa. Any longer and they'd have turned back into grapes.

So, since last last week was quiet, viz a viz cake orders, I decided to end the raisin's holiday, and get them in the oven. I had picked up a tip while bantering with other tai tais (or see lais, not sure which were they) in Bake With Yen, to use brown paper to line the baking tray. Fruit cakes need thick paper lining, and rather than using layers of baking paper, apparently this was a better and cheaper alternative. Of course the innermost layer has to be baking paper.

As fruit cakes take forever to bake, I could put it in the oven, go 1 utama jalan jalan, come home to take it out just in time. Of all cakes, I think fruit cakes are the most painful to make. Takes forever to bake, cant be eaten immediately, needs constant follow up, by feeding it with brandy.... I honestly dont think its worth my while to offer these for sale. Half a bottle of brandy, already cost like RM50. What, am I to charge RM100 for a 4" x 4" block? Who'll buy???

Verdict : Well, after "maturing" (it's probably still a toddler by fruitcake standards) fro 1½ weeks, I couldn't wait any longer, and proceeded to cut a slice to sample. It was okay then. Yesterday, I proceeded to the second row, ie, no side crusts. I have to say that it was rather good. Easy to cut too, which is a good sign, ie, moist enough.

Oh well, whoever wants a sample, email me. I'll pass you a morsel. (size of those slices of wedding cake they give out at hotels).

Sweet Is Subjective

As I was kinda handicapped over the weekend, as finger was in bandage, wife had to come to the rescue for High Tea we were supposed to go for, and bring scones. As scones require kneading, I obviously could not partake in the festivities, and even had to turn down a profiterole order, as I didn't want to risk botching up the job. I also discovered that those disposable gloves that butchers and deli fellas wear, are actually quite convenient, and quite cheap too.

This is a 2.5kg oreo cake, my first attempt at a 10" diameter oreo cake. It's really strange, coz I also made another normal sized one, and the reviews I got, respectively were:

8" diameter eater: ...just nice, not too sweet.
10" diameter eater: ...nice, a bit sweet.

Actually, for the oreo cake, there is no added sugar at all. The sweetness comes from the sponge mix, the oreos, and the chocolate. So I can't even reduce the sweetness, short of using bitter chocolate, which in this case, would mean price is inversely proportional to sweetness. ie, the less sweet, the more expensive. (since the only bitter chocolates are either hershey, lindt or valrhona).

These are the stuff that we brought to the tea party, hosted by KTT. Mini chicken pies, which I made, but wife had to seal the pastry together. Chicken pies are easy to make, and always quite popular. Just blitz a bit, one roughly shredded roast chicken, (I usually buy from TMC), add frozen veggies, (pea, carrot and corn combo), shred some cheddar cheese in, a cup of cream, a packet of powdered mushroom soup, (dissolved in a bit of hot water)...supposedly no MSG, the campbells one....toss all together, and put into store bought puff pastry....you know, I can imagine doing a tv show ala nigella lawson, giving this running commentary.....except, unlike nigella, no one will watch.


Scones made by the bini. I measured out all the ingredients, all she had to do was knead. They were rather good, if I may say so myself. Pat on my head for the wonderful measuring job.




He finds solace with his mixing bowl....

Golden Churn, Golden Fern

Further to anonymous' comment that golden churn is the way to go, when baking, and further confirmation by others, I seeked out this giorgio armani brand of the butter world. It cost in TMC, RM8.99 per tin, and the label was in red, implying it was on offer. Gasp, how much would it cost NORMALLY then. One tin of golden churn is 340gm. I think it's unsalted. Actually, if you eat it like that, I finally understand what the chinese describe as "sou". Very strong, bovine smell, not in a bad way.

Then yesterday, I got a call from Mrs McGregor, who told me Bake With Yen was selling them at RM6.50 for 454 gms. (That's the magic figure for 1 lb, ie, 1 pound, for those of you too young to remember the imperial system of weights). I couldn't believe my ears. I called them up, and the conversation went pretty much like this:

Me: Bake with Yen?
BY: Ya
ME: Do you sell Golden Churn butter? The one in the can
BY: Hah? Golden mutt yer??
Me: Golden Churn ah, neeehhhh, korti kum seck koon. (there, those in the golden tins)
BY: [shouting to the other lady] - eh, got golden churn ah?
BY: [lady shouting back] - no lah, got golden fern
Me : No no, golden CHURNNN
BY: Mmm hai churn la, golden FERRRRNNN
Me: How much ah?
BY: Sick Pifty.
Me: Okayla
BY: Lei kor lei tai la. (come over and see la).

So I troop over to bake with yen after work, and sure enough, it's Golden Fern. Now, I suspect Golden Fern and Golden Churn are one and the same, coz it's from the same Road in New Zealand, same area, ....except GF has that HALAL logo on it. And, its in 454 gm. Anyway, both say pure creamery butter.

Now, why am I suddenly going on about golden churn?


Well, golden churn supposedly is THE golden standard for butter cakes. Singaporean friend of mine was telling me this lady in singapore sells 30 butter cakes a day, at S$35. No more, no less. You do the math. It's rather tidy pickings. I don't intend to be a lady who sells 30 butter cakes a day, but I would rather like to add to my repertoire, a reputable butter cake. I reckon it's the basic basic skill, like vocabulary, upon which your entire credibility lies. Can you imagine, someone saying, WHATTT LA YOU, BUTTER CAKE OSO DONNO HOW TO MAKE?

Truth be told, it's harder than I thought. My first few attempts were botched. The attempt using Buttercup, that butter impersonator, was a mega disaster. I didn't even bother tasting the cake, it was used for my Wilton level 1 cake deco base...gave it to the maids to dunk in their coffee. (my view, not to be snobbish, but if you have to ingest calories, it should be WORTHWHILE calories).

Godma, my baking mentor, gave me her recipe and asked me to try. When she saw the product this morning, she said, VERY NICE....only, to have my bubble deflated a few minutes later, when the verdict came, "AIYA, your texture not nice la". Okay, it could be one of a few things. I think it might be the flour. Those designer butter cakes probably use designer flour, like Pillsbury. So, that's what I'm gonna do next.


You can see my latest botched attempt above. The taste was fine, actually. The texture, a bit coarse, and those dark patches are apparently uneven sugar distribution. Useless kenwood. (a bad workman blames his tools).

Anyway, I'll keep you posted once (or if) I've achieved the desired texture. Actually, I reckon it's quite subjective. Some people like fluffy, light cakes, some like dense, millstone around the neck kinda cakes that can be used as a ship's anchor.




Meanwhile, I have to say my handwriting has improved. Can actually read legibly hor. In case you're thinking the above birthday cake looks plain, it is deliberately so, cos its meant to be a healthy cake. It's a banana walnut raisin, previously appearing as loafs. (loaves? loafs sound better)

Weird Measurements

Of all the weird US measurements, I find their measurements of butter to be the strangest. They usually refer to it as cups or sticks, or worse, tablespoons. How do you measure a table spoon of butter, and WHY on earth WOULD you do that?!!!

Most butter wrappers come with weight graduations, or if not its easy enough to guesstimate the weight by dividing a block evenly.

Anyway, I found out this information:

1 stick of butter = 1/4 pound
1 stick of butter = 1/2 cup
1 stick of butter = 8 tablespoons
1 stick of butter = 4 ounces
1 stick of butter = 113 grams

So, by extension, 1 cup of butter = 227 grams (the almost standard size of one block these days...eg anchor butter, is 227gm instead of 250gm), and 1 cup butter = 16 tablespoons.

While we're at it, those of you who don't have a digital scale, might wonder how to measure 7g of yeast. Aside from going to the post office and asking them to weigh for you, ....hmmm, I found out that 7g of yeast is 2 teaspoons. Although recently I have been given a digital scale, I haven't bothered to verify.