The Haul

Fresh mangoes from India, bought from the trusty old fruit shop in Subang (SS15), whole-wheat Gardenia "Breakthrough" bread and black pepper sausage rolls from the airport (succumbing to peer pressure, everyone was buying bread at the airport like there was no tomorrow for their flights back to East Malaysia). What else? Chocolate fudge Pop-tarts (treating oneself, spotted these at Jaya Grocer's in Empire Subang - love the place. Oh, and kaya puffs from a SS19 coffeeshop, Hershey's from Candylicious, and a jar of supremely addictive sambal courtesy of AK's parents. Not to mentione a big bottle of my homemade cookies still waiting to be savoured. Just what I need to get over another quick weekend back West.

What gets me through

Work has been bordering on the insane lately. It is shaping up to be a bad year for my department in particular, and we seem to spend every day firefighting as they call it, unable to plan or to improve - only to react. It has gotten to a point where sleep has become somewhat difficult to fall into. I have taken the opportunity to imbibe a little, just enough to help me fall asleep, and so far my little nightcaps have been quite effective. More on that later (am not turning alchoholic anytime soon :)). Other than that, here are a couple of things that have been brightening my dreary work days:

1) Cheerful new loafers that I have been searching for, like, forever. I finally found a pair I liked, that fit me well, at Pedro's.

2) Gunmetal grey nails, just to shake things up a little and make me feel ever so slightly rebellious.

3) My trusty toy in its rugged, no-nonsense cover. No Kate Spade or Kath Kidston for me, please.

4) These crystal bracelets. Every Christmas, My 80 year old grand-aunt gifts me one shiny strand. I wear these and I remember her, and subsequently my extended family. My grand-aunt sometimes has difficulty figuring out whose house she's sitting in, but somehow never fails to remember gifting me with these. Suffice to say, they are precious.

Foodblog confessions, and ultimate chocolate chip cookies



I am a person who is very easily influenced/inspired by other blogs. I have this habit where I will read about something someone did, then obsess about attempting it myself.

Well, there have been some successes in attempts to reach the heights scaled by others, as well as decisions that I am not too proud of. And I confess, it was quite fun doing a little recap:

- My little kaya making experience, stolen pandan leaves and all, inspired by Chubby Hubby's post on Singapore's national brekkie.

- A successful attempt at potstickers (skin and all!!), inspired by Kuidaore's post on gyoza. I bought the book, Fuschia Dunlop's Sichuan Cookery, and absolutely love it.  

- A backbreaking adventure this was - making Penang Hokkien Mee. This post got me trying it. Not gonna do it again anytime soon, though - and newfound respect for Penang hawkers! Amazing.

- Making much humbler versions of pizza than these ones.

- The Chiang Mai coffee ice cream I made, inspired by Cafe Fernando's Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream post, was merely OK, but I learned that I do not like condensed milk in my desserts.

- And these posts on jam (peach, pear, "raspberry apply") inspired me to get Christine Ferber's Mes Confitures. Seriously, what was I thinking? I am no jam maker. I am not even a jam eater. I love my fruit fresh, I don't even like fruit pies and let's face it, I never have enough to ever need to preserve anyway. Stew 20 apples for a few jars of jam? I can't afford it. So that was a little silliness on my part, I have to say.

Well, this time, my inspiration was this post on one of my favourite blogs, which led me to this, and then this.

I had to make a few adaptations, as I often do, as I didn't want to go out to buy bread and cake flour, so I used all-purpose instead. And I halved the recipe. You can get the original recipes (and all the tips and tricks and sharing of experiences, plus way better photos) from the links above.

Ultimate chocolate chip cookies

8 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoons coarse salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter
5 ounces light brown sugar
4 ounces granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate disks chunks (I chopped up some bars)
Sea salt for sprinkling over

1) Whisk the flour and baking powder in a bowl, then sift into another bowl. Set aside.
2) Using a hand mixer, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add the egg, mixing well after the addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.
4) When ready to bake, preheat oven to 170 deg C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.
5) Scoop teaspoonfuls of of dough onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 13 - 15 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day.

These cookies were rich, and I don't know if it could be better with the bread and cake flour combination, but I loved the crisp on the outside, slightly chewy on the inside texture of these cookies. And - dare I say it? I think they could do with a little less chocolate chunks. Cos the cookie itself is totally fabulous - caramelly and rich and sweetly scented with vanilla. And the salt, baby, the salt. I have said this before and I will say it again - it just makes the chocolate taste better. Don't skip it, that's all I can say.

My Lutong local lime Pie

..........made in the spirit of key lime pie.

I have a sort-of love-hate relationship with sour desserts. Love them as I do, I can't eat as much of them as I would chocolate or peanut desserts, due to an on-off gastritis issue. Oh well, all things in moderation, and this is as good a way to learn as any, I guess.

Doesn't stop me from attempting to make them, though. This recipe gets most of its elements (as well as a resize) from the Florida Pie recipe in  Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours. I did away with the coconut in the filling and topping, as I wanted to taste what a real lime tart, not mix it up with coconut (though that does sound absolutely delicious). The lime custard filling is super easy to whip up- just condensed milk, eggs and lime juice, baked in a graham cracker (digestive biscuits actually) crust. A meringue topping adds a touch of sweet to counter the filling, which I expected to taste lingeringly of condensed milk. The lime juice, though, did its job. No trace of that sickly sweetness I despise about condensed milk in desserts - just a really nice tang and a rich smoothness in the texture.

Local Lime Pie
Crust:
1 cup digestive biscuits, crushed
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
pinch salt
2 tbsp melted butter, cooled

Preheat the oven to 160 deg C. Butter a 9-inch springform fluted tart pan. Process the biscuits, sugar, butter and salt in a food processor. Press the mixture into the tart pan, covering the bottom of the pan and up the sides as evenly as you can muster. Bake for 15 minutes. Set aside to cool. Leave the oven on.

For the filling:-
2 large eggs, separated
200 mls condensed milk
1/2 cup lime juice
1/8 cup fine sugar

For the lime custard, beat the egg yolks and condensed milk with a hand mixer in a large bowl until the mixture is smooth and silky. No lumps. Beat in the lime juice. Pour this mixture into the crust and bake at the same 160 deg C for 15 - 20 minutes.

For the meringue, put the egg whites and sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-low heat, whisking all the while, until the whites are hot to the touch. Take the saucepan off the heat, beat the whites at high speed until they reach room temperature and hold stiff peaks.

Spread the meringue over the top of the pie, and broil the pie until the top of the meringue is golden brown. Return the pie to the freezer for another 20 minutes or up to 3 hours before serving.

Ours, soon

We finally settled on a place. Now we're in the not-so-fun phase - going through the motions compulsory when buying property (lawyers, bankers, a lot of signing), forking out the initial outlay, squabbling about how we want to do up the place.

I have fallen in love with this place - I love the big open concept (the living, dining and open kitchen are all essentially one big open space - so good for airflow and the place looks huge and modern. It also comes with a little patch of green in front of the living room, and I am thankful for that (so many of the other houses we saw had the green tiled up to make way for additional parking).

Dining and dry kitchen, as seen from the living room

The front door, little foyer and staircase

Living spaces as seem from the dry kitchen

Wet kitchen

Living room

Peanut biscotti

Bet you thought I was done with peanuts by now. Not so.

I have been skimping on breakfasts this past week - up to the point where gastritis would kick in neatly at around 11 am. So this week I adapted an almond version from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook, and made these relatively low fat cookies - biscotti, subbing some peanut butter for the butter and peanuts for the almonds, for a nice (cheap) dose of protein and fibre. I plan to pack these to work, for dunking in my morning coffees to come.

Downtime

A weekend of catching up on sleep, housework and cooking. We haven't gone on a proper vacation this year, what with AK's new assignment, my impending move, buying a place of our own (and all the stress and expenses that come with it). I have been going over our old vacation photos, and realise how much I miss those relaxing days in Phuket, Chiangmai and Bali. Anyway, here are a few little things that helped me unwind:
1) Burning my British India citronella candle while reading under my night light, tucked into freshly laundered sheets
2) Tea for one - a slice of home made key lime pie (made with ordinary local limes, recipe soon), a piece of homemade peanut biscotti, coffee. Reading Harumi Murakami's Norwegian Wood, while the rain patters outside.
3) Cuddle time with Boo Boo (whether he likes it or not)

4) Trading design ideas with AK for our new place (rendering by him, I mostly send him photos of stuff I like)