We Are Fishies!!

What does a aquaphobia mother gets?? Two kids who think they are fish!

Yes, I have a phobia of water, specifically in the pool, ocean, whatsoever. Even when I take a shower, I am usually very careful not to get my face directly facing the shower for more than 5 seconds. I even get nervous when I'm trying to "relax" in a bubble bath! It's not like my parents didn't send me to swimming lessons. They did! But I don't think I ever felt comfortable with the water, and obviously the instructor didn't make me feel that way too - and I don't blame them, cos' it takes a lot to help a person overcome a phobia. I think I'd probably need a psychiatrist too! :P

So because of all the above... when Yesmin was born, one of the things I told my husband was that I want to sign her up for swim lessons the moment she reaches the age to attend a class, and that HE has to go in the pool with her (it's a baby and me class), NOT me. I didn't want to pass my fear to them, as I know that I will start getting nervous when the class has to move around towards the middle of the big pool ( I can only stay by the wall, at most 4-5 feet away from the wall, AND only at where I can touch the bottom of the pool, i.e. no more than 4.5 feet deep - cos' I also get nervous if the water is at my chest level). That was the only activity I made him promise to stick through for them. Until they are about 3-4 years old, where they can move on to level 1, no parent participation required.

Yesmin, from the get go, thinks she's a mermaid. She likes Arial the mermaid too! :) Once she felt comfortable with the instructor (it helps that we live within the Tualatin Hills Parks and Recreation District), she just kept on bopping in and out of the water, trying to hold her breath as long as possible. There were so many times, when she didn't know how to swim yet, she had let go of the wall (it's a safety rule for all kids under certain level to be holding on to the wall while the instructor attends to each kid one at the time). She got busted by "teacher Connie" and got time outs. I am SO THANKFUL for having her, cos' after the 3rd time out, Yesmin has learned her lesson. She stills bopped herself in and out of the water, or submerge herself all the way under water, but at least, she was hanging on the wall. As for me, I am always sitting at the edge of the bench, watching with horror, peeling my nails (I don't bite them, I prefer to 'peel'), ready to shout for the lifeguard....sometimes, I feel so tensed and stressed out, I feel like just not going for the class...but soon, she's able to swim well. And now, she can even swim in the 12 ft deep end, no problem. I am so proud of her.

Lucas on the other hand, has started the lesson more carefully. He's the more cautious type. Doesn't like putting his face in the water... for awhile, I though, "oh no, is he gonna be like me??!" But at least, he's willing to get into the pool. Once in a while, there will be a kid who, no matter what the parents do, or what the instructor say, he/she just would not get in there. I am so thankful that both my kids aren't.

Anyway,Lucas' progress is definitely slower, but that's ok. I just didn't want him to ever be afraid like me. Over the past couple of months, he has improved a little. He is willing to stick his face in the water and blow bubbles. He would even "practice" blowing bubbles when he takes his shower :) He will also bop in and out of the water now and then.

For the past couple of lessons, I realized Lucas has gotten braver. He'd actually stay under the water for a few seconds, hands still on the wall. However, today, I forgot to remind him of the safety rule...he bopped up and down into the water, and let go of the wall while he was IN the water!!! Arrghhhhhh.... there was even one instance he was like 1-2 ft away from the wall!!!! I could see him struggling (the instructor was there, but because Lucas was at the end, and he was giving instruction, he didn't see this happened)....I screamed for his instructor, just as I did that, Lucas managed to get hold on the wall by himself. AAAHHHHH!!!! I felt like I was going to get a heart attack! And he didn't get busted! Dang. Like that wasn't enough, he continues to bopped up and down INTO the water, while letting go of the wall! After a couple of times, I've had enough. I walked over to the lifeguard and gave her a heads up on Mr. LUCAS! His instructor heard me, and had a TALK with him! Ha- Ha! Don't get me wrong, I am proud that he's NOT afraid to go into the water, but it's for his safety and my health! I WOULD GET a heart attack if he keeps going on like that! All I want him to do is, at least HANG ON THE WALL- it's for his safety anyway. I am also especially proud of him today cos' for the 1st time, he actually tried to swim by himself for like 2-3 feet! Man, that was a big step for him! :D

Anyway, I wonder how many more years do I have to endure this... Nonetheless, I am glad we have these great facilities and instructors, and affordable swim lessons. I might have to take some private class in the future to catch up with my kids! :D

My New Gadget For Many Yummy "Kuih" To Come!

After living here in Beaverton for about 7 years, we have finally discover that there are a lot of Malaysians/Singaporeans living in the area too!! We have been invited to the Singaporeans/Malaysian potluck, which held about twice a year. This is the time when we all get to savor the many delicious food that we all miss so much. Everyone do their best to bring along a dish or two of the common food that most of us crave for --- like rendang, laksa, hokkian mee, nasi lemak etc. etc. etc.

As someone who likes to make desserts, I usually try to bring a dish AND a dessert. However, there aren't many so called dessert in our cuisine. We have what it's called "Kuih". They are the equivalent of the western pastries and cakes. But, it is not necessary eaten after a meal, instead, we sometimes eat them during breakfast, or more commonly, we eat it during tea time, or as a snack. And back home in Malaysia, we are able to get kuih just about anywhere. But it's not easy to fine those really good- traditional- fine kuihs these days.

So, when my mother-in-law bought me this book called "Nonya Flavors: A Complete Guide to Penang Straits Chinese Cuisine" I was salivating all over the place, while flipping through the book!! I was determine to learn to make some traditional Nonya food. After all, there is some Nonya gene in my family, and I would like for my kids to learn to eat our traditional food.

During one of the Singaporean/Malaysian potluck, I decided to make Kuih Dadar. This is a coconut flavored crepe, essence with pandan leaf, wrap with freshly grated coconut cooked in gula melaka syrup.

The tricky part of making this kuih is the grated coconut. Over here in America, we can only get the desiccated coconut (dried grated coconut), most of the time, already sweetened. Back home, I remember walking to the kedai runcit (a grocery store, usually the mom and pop style - where everyone knows everyone there) to get freshly grated coconut for my mom. All they need was 1-2 minutes to grate the fresh coconut. You see, back home, every grocery store HAS a coconut grated machine (coconut is a common ingredient in the Southeast Asia cuisine). Crack the coconut in half, and flip the switch. Hold on the shell and make sure your fingers don't get too close to the spinning blades...and ta-da!!! You'll get freshly grated coconut!

For many years, I have tried to find a coconut grating tool...and I did. I found this hand held tool in a Vietnamese grocery store here in Beaverton.


When I decided to make kuih dadar for the potluck, I bought 3 whole coconuts. It took me 20 minutes each to crack open the coconuts with my Chinese cleaver --- coconut shell bits flew everywhere. Then it took me about 3 hours to grate the 3 whole coconuts with this tiny tool! By the time I was done...I feel like it wasn't worth the torture to make this kuih! You see, we're so used to buying from the food stalls back home, it's so convenient. The only kuih I don't buy from the food stall is Kuih Talam, cos' I have a aunt who spoils us with her homemade ones :)

However, how can I go through all this and NOT make them? So of course, I did. And man, it tasted SO GOOD, if I have to say so myself! :P Everyone loved it! ~ they better do, cos' my hands were shaking after grating those coconuts!

After a couple of weeks/months, hubby and friends asked for it again. I told them, NO WAY, unless THEY are going to grate the coconut. Then, it sparks me to go search for a more efficient grater. I googled found this clip on Youtube.



So, I was determined to find THAT coconut grater!!! And guess what?! I found 2 places selling them here in U.S.!!! Wooohhooo.... Culinary Exotica in Olympia, Washington, and Niwasa at Simi Valley in California. Gosh, I was SO happy I was dancing with joy! My first find was Culinary Exotica. However, during that time, they were out of stock. I send them an e-mail asking when will they have in stock, I was told the Homeland Security was holding them. 2 months later, they were still held by Homeland Security - whatever the reason is! Gosh! I couldn't wait any longer...so I went out searching again. It was then I found Niwasa. Few days after that, I received my very own hand cranking coconut grated! Phew! The blades is the same as the ones we have back home, except those, you just need to flip the switch! ;P


So, last Friday, I invited 2 of my friends A and M over. It was my 1st trial on this "baby." Oh, by the way, this time around, it took me less time to crack open the coconuts. I must be getting GOOD at it, huh?! haha. I was kinda nervous when I tried the coconut grater...after all, there are a lot of very very very sharp blades there. I told Lucas to stay far away from it. Took me a few turns to get the hang of it. But I tell ya...once you have the feel, it took me about 5-7 minutes to grate one half of the coconut...which means, it took me at most 45 minutes to grate all 3 whole coconuts! Can you believe how much time and energy I saved???!! Boy, I HIGHLY recommend this to anyone who uses fresh coconut in their cooking/baking! The taste of the desiccated coconuts is nothing compared to freshly grated coconut in this case....ahhhhh....


Kuih Dadar/Tayap from Nonya Flavours: A complete guide to Penang Straits Chinese Cuisine

Pandan juice
5 pandan leaves, chopped
3-4 Tbs water

1. Combine the pandan leaves and water in an electric blender.Blend till the leaves are pretty chopped up.
   
2. Wrap the pulverised pandan in a muslin cloth and squeeze to extract the juice, or strain through a fine sieve. Set aside.

Crepe batter
120g all purpose flour
1 large egg
300 ml coconut milk (from 1/2 grated coconut --- I used canned light coconut milk) mixed with
1/4tsp salt
3Tbs pandan juice (I added pandan paste which you can get at most Asian grocery stores, for more flavor and color)

1. Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl. Mix in the egg, and the salted coconut milk and pandan juice.
   
2. Leave the batter to rest while cooking the filling.

Filling
90g palm sugar (gula Melaka)
1Tbs sugar
1 pandan leaf, knotted
50 ml water
1/2 coconut, grated, white part only
1 tsp cornflour

1. To cook the filling, break up the palm sugar (I roughly chopped them up first), and combine with the sugar, pandan leaf and water in a pot.
   
2. Cook over medium flame until sugar dissolved. Strain the syrup and return it to the pot.
   
3. Combine the cornflour with the coconut, then add them into the syrup and continue to cook for a few more minutes. Dish out and let cool.

Assemble the crepe

1. Heat up a shallow frying pan or crepe pan over low flame and grease lightly with oil. Pour 2 Tbs of the batter in the center and swirl the pan to coat it to form a thin crepe of about 13cm diameter.
2. When the crepe is cooked, turn out onto a board (coarse surface facing down).
3. Place 2 heaped tsp. of filling on the crepe and roll up spring roll-style.

Coconut sauce (I did not make this )
150ml coconut milk (from 1/2 grated coconut)
50g sugar
2tsp cornflour

Combine all the sauce ingredients in a small pot and mix well. Cook over a slow fire until mixture thickens and boils. Serve with the kuih

Note: I did not follow the recipe to the T. I used all of the ingredient for the filling and crepe, and just made the crepe like I would a western style crepe. I did not serve mine with the coconut sauce.


I am SO HAPPY! =)

DISASTER WITH THE FRENCH KISSES!!!

????

It's reveal day for the Daring Bakers. Our challenge for this month is the French Macarons...not the macarons that many of us in America come to know of -- clumps of coconut flakes... this is the ones that's kinda like the meringue kisses without the pointy tips and are usually sandwiched with a filling. And guess what?! I did not start my challenge till this morning. Ya, ya, I know...you're not surprised. In fact, for the next 2 months, I will, without a doubt, be the same! Besides being a procrastinator, the last 3 months of the year, is the craziest time. I'm not just talking about holiday seasons...that's just a little part of it. The biggest issue here is BIRTHDAYS! There are AT LEAST 10 birth dates I can remember off hand in October alone. Lucas' is one of them.

Anyhow, I should continue with THIS issue in my later post (if I will ever be able to get to it). I am here to talk about the DISASTER.

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macaroon from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

Macarons have been popping out everywhere lately. Probably another "trend" like the cupcakes?? Before this challenge, I have made it once - I did not like it. I probably didn't do it well too, that time. So, I was hoping that this time, with the guidance from the other Daring Bakers members, maybe I'll do better??? Nah...not me...not when I am making 'em on the day of posting! I logged on to check all the Q & A every now and then...but did not "complied" them, and make use of all the good advice you can't get in a book. However, I will link some of them for your sake :) ... Audax Artifex, Tartelette, David Lebovitz

Anyway, I manage to make two flavors ~ Greentea (macha) with chocolate ganache and pumpkin pie. Sounds good doesn't it? NOPE! My disaster started with my homemade almond flour. I toasted my almonds, let it cool, and grind them with powdered sugar. I don't think I put enough powdered sugar in it, so some of them clump together. Same goes with the toasted pecan I used for the pumpkin pie macarons. And you're supposed to sieve the almond/pecan flour...I was thinking --- how am I supposed to sieve them, if they aren't fine to begin with? So, being a stubborn person that I am, I DID NOT sieve the almond flour for the greentea macarons...guess what happens?? You get clumpy meringue like THIS --->

So, when I made my pumpkin pie macarons, I decided to behave...I sieve the almond/pecan flour...it wasn't easy like sieving the regular flours... I kinda have to "smashed" them through with the back of a spoon.

See the difference??!!! The nut flour is still coarse, but much better...at least, NOT clumpy :)

Next, I used fresh eggs, at room temperature, for the macha macarons. Many have advised to "aged" the egg whites - meaning separate the eggs, cover the egg whites with cling wrap, and place it in the fridge for 3 - 5 days. You want to have as little moisture as possible in the meringue. I did aged the other set of egg whites for just one day, and here, in the picture below, you can see how much moisture has accumulated on the cling wrap!


Another problem??? "Drying" time. Some recipes calls for drying the pipped macarons on the counter for 30 minutes to an hour before baking. The recipe we used requires us to bake them in a low temperature for 5 minutes, remove, pump up the temperature, and bake for another 7-8 minutes....which wasn't quite enough for my case. I don't know if the rainy weather did not help...but 7-8 minutes later, mine was still moist and soft. So I kept them in for another 10 minutes, at a lower temperature. This drying time is supposed to ensure your macarons has the trade mark "feet" on the bottom... I like to call it the "tutu" like a ballerina's costume :) My macarons have no feet, nor hands, tutus, what so ever! Looks more like the surface of the moon, BUMPY, don't you agree??!! *sigh*

None the less...it was still a good challenge. I learn a lot taking part as a Daring Baker. I am not sure I'd wanna try making macarons again in the future...maybe I should taste some of the true French macarons before I'd put on a tutu and dance around with egg whites and almond flour. (hint, hint: any other Daring Bakers wanna ship some of your beautiful and delicious macarons?? Drop me a note, and I'll contact you with my address!!! hahhahaa.... :P) Thanks Ami for this challenge! :D

If you're interested to try making these macarons, click here for the recipe. And you can visit other Daring Bakers' version of the Macarons here.

Have fun! :)
xoxoxo

Macha (green tea powder) macaron with chocolate ganache

Spiced pecan macaron with pumpkin buttercream

My Baby is 5 Today!!!

Happy Birthday Lucas! :)

My 100th Post!!!

I can believe I've actually posted 100 blahs on this blog! Ha! Anyway, to celebrate my 100th post, I'd like to share with you some the YUMMY food we had this past summer in Malaysia! I say SOME because, we were too busy gobbling up the others! :P

So here they are....please bring a bucket before you scroll down...especially any fellow Malaysians who are living far far away, like us,...don't drool all over your pc! ;) And for those who have not been to Malaysia, I hope someday you'll have the opportunity to visit this lovely country and try some of the best and unique cuisine.

Jalan Imbi's "Chu Yok Yun Fun" - flat rice noodle toss in dark soy sauce (with some special ingredient, that I can't figure out) topped with ground pork and serve with a side of soup and pork meat balls.

Jalan Imbi's famous Egg Tarts. You have to get there early, cos' they close at 2pm. And each tray that comes out from the hot oven, disappears quickly!

This is the famous Seremban siew pau ~ crispy BBQ pork buns.

My friend, Esther's Woo Tau Kou (steamed Taro cake)

This was some bun we ate at "Eu Yan Sang" restaurant in Mid Valley Mega Mall

Murtabak
Unfortunately this wasn't as good as the ones I used to eat during buka puasa month in front of Giant Supermarket in Kelana Jaya.

crabby~ have forgotten what my mom cooked in it

My favorite Chiew Chow style steam angle fish...YUM!

I don't know what's the name of this dish. But according to my mom, she thinks that, back in the days, people didn't wanna put any food (or any part of anything edible) to waste. So someone came up with this idea of using the dried mushroom (often used in Chinese cooking) stems - which often get toss away, to cook this dish. The stems are soak for hours to soften, then it's stir fry with diced carrots, green beans, salted radish, taosted peanuts and dried shrimp. Also one of my favorite dish.

Nasi Ulam, a Nyonya dish, which is serve with raw vegetables over rice, kinda like a "salad with rice". It is SOOOO good...I might have to improvise this with some other greens that I otherwise cannot get it here in US.

This is Dragon Fruit, also called Pitaya. They come in red and yellow skinned, white and red flesh. The red flesh Dragon fruit is ESPECIALLY sweet. The fruit is VERY juicy. It has now become one of my favorite fruits. Unfortunately, we can't get it here. So while we were back home, we ate it (and golden Kiwi from NZ) after EVERY meal.

See the red flesh in there, the black dots are the seeds, which are edible - just like kiwi. If you ever see one in your travels, DO try it!

My favorite Malaysian dessert - cendol - usually consist of shaved ice, with strands of noodle like thingy that we often tell the kids that they are worms or caterpillars ( made out of green pea flour flavored with pandan essence), sweet corn, red beans and top with gula melaka syrup, and coconut milk ~ YUM!

Bamboo razor clams

Baked crab ~ this guy was HUGE - not the guy holding the crab, I'm talking about THE CRAB! ;)

Chow Kueh Kak or Char Chai Tau Kueh (Radish/daikon). Check here for a recipe.

Bang Jian Kueh

Apum Balik

This is the economical fried meehoon mee. We eat this for breakfast, and as afternoon snack. It contains only the noodles and bean sprout, nothing else. YET, it is so delicious! *sigh.... looking at all these food now, makes me homesick*

Seafood (and beef) tom yam

Nasi paprik - this is a malay dish with a Thai influence. One of the dishes I have come to love when my husband, then my boyfriend, first introduce it to me. I have been trying to make it at home. So someday when I succeed, I'll definitely share it here.

Thab Tim Krob (Red rubies)

Mango sticky rice

Otak-otak

Thai style squid salad - very spicy, but very tasty!

And now, I AM HUNGRY!!!! arrgghh! ;P

What? 75 Degrees OFF???!!!!

If you had stopped by my September DB challenge, you will understand that I was facing some problems with my oven temperature. So, yesterday I went and pick up a oven thermometer in the store. I was making granola bars, adapted from Donna Hay's Kids' Magazine.

The recipe calls for 320F preheated oven. I preheated to 325F. However, I forgot to stick the thermometer in the oven, so half way through, I place it in. The needle moved slowly. I waited for a while to check on it. and by the time the timer for the bars went off, which was a good 20-30 minutes later, the needle on the thermometer was at 250F!!! I couldn't believe that the temperature was SO off! I thought it was maybe off by 10-20 degrees! No wonder I had so much problem with my banana chocolate bread and my puff pastry challenge! Hmmm...I am hoping that this would lead to a new oven/stove some time soon?! :) Don't think my husband would be please with the news! :P

Anyway, the granola bar still turned out fine. I really like the homemade ones. For one, it doesn't have corn syrup in it. Secondly, I like my granola bars like how I like my fried rice, loaded with ingredients, in this case - dried fruits (I know for sure some of them do not have corn syrup in. I wanted to have dried cherries, but they contained cs, so I went for dried cranberries). They aren't too sweet at all. Here's the recipe:

Homemade Fruity Granola Bars

4-1/2 C rolled oats (I half regular rolled oats and red oats)
3/4 C unbleached all purpose flour, sifted
3 Tbs. brown sugar (loosely packed)
2 1/2 C dried fruits, chopped into 1/4" pieces (I used dried mangoes, apricots, apples and cranberries)
1 C slivered or sliced almond, optional (or any nuts of your choice)
1/3 C wheat germ
1/2 C sunflower seeds, optional
2/3 C combination of honey and maple syrup (I suggest that you lightly spray your cup with cooking oil for easy pouring)
2/3 C canola oil

1. Preheat the oven to 325F. Grease and line a 17"x12" rimmed baking sheet (or a 12"x 8" pan) with parchment paper. ( The baking sheet will give you a flatter bar, while the 12"x 8" will give you a thicker bar)
2. Place all of the dry ingredient in a big bowl. Mix well to combine.
3. Place the honey and maple syrup in small saucepan over medium heat, and cook until it is very runny, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the canola oil. Carefully pour it into the dry oats mixture and mix until well combined.
4. Spoon onto the baking sheet/pan. Use the back of your spoon the press it down and flatten with the back of your spoon. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until golden in color. Cool on a rack, and cut into your desire size.

If you haven't tried making your own granola bar, I urge you to do so. The combination of the ingredient is really up to you. If you don' t fancy dried fruit, replace them with nuts, and or chocolate chips, or add unsweetened coconut flakes for a tropical twist. It's all up to your personal palette, and the best thing about making homemade granola bars, it's EZ!!! --- Especially if you don't have an oven where the temperature is WAY OFF! :)

Almond Raisin Bread and Ham and Cheese Buns

Almond Raisin Bread

Ever since I've exchanged my Cuisinart bread machine for a Zojirushi bread machine, I've been a little crazy about making homemade bread. When I was back in Malaysia, we had a lot of buns/bread from Bread Story, especially during our trip to Langkawi.

Anyway, whenever I go back home, I'd look for local recipe books to purchase. I saw this book in a cake decorating supply store in USJ 1 area, called Magic Bread by Alex Goh. There are some really good recipes in there. Here are the two that I have tried so far - almond and raisin bread and the ham and cheese buns. They both start with the same basic sweet bread dough.

Basic Sweet Bread Dough

A - 100g bread flour
70ml boiling water

B - 300 g bread flour
100g all purpose flour
80g sugar
6g salt
20g milk powder
9g instant yeast

C - 175ml cold water
60g cold eggs

D- 60g butter

1. Add the boiling water from A into flour, mix until combined to form dough. Cover and set aside to cool. Keep it in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, with the hook attachment, mix B until well-blended. Add in C and knead to form a rough dough. Add in A and knead until well-blended.
   
3. Add in D and knead to form elastic dough. Let it proof for 40 minutes.
4. Divide the dough into required weight and mold it round. Let it rest for 10 minutes and read to be use. Makes about 2lbs of dough.

If you're using a bread machine, just dump everything in there. You can use the dough program, or set your own if you have a "home made setting". I have set mine as below:

Preheat - off
Knead- 25 minutes
Rise 1- 45 minutes
Rise 2- 30 mintues
Rise 3- 30 minutes

Almond Raisin Bread
Prepare 400g of sweet bread dough. (I used all of it and used two 9" pans instead)

Almond Fillings

50g butter
50g sugar
60g eggs
1/4 tsp. cinnamon powder
100g finely ground almonds
100g raisins

Adequate almond flakes/silvers for topping.

Method:

1. Mold the dough round.
2. Let it rest for 10 minutes. Roll it thin into 14"x 9" rectangular shape.
3. Spread on almond fillings and sprinkle raisins on top. Roll it up like Swiss roll.
4. Cut the dough into 10 pieces. Place it onto a 9" pan, greased and lined the bottom with parchment paper. Let it proof for 45 minutes.
5. Egg wash and sprinkle almond flakes/silvers on top.
   
6. Bake at 350F (175C) at the lower shelve of the oven for 25-30 minutes.

Ham and Cheese Buns

Prepare sweet bread dough as above.

Fillings
Ham slices
grated cheddar cheese
Sliced green onions
Mayonnaise

Method:

1. Divide the dough into 60g each and mold it round
2. Let it rest for 10 minutes, then flatten it. Place a slice of ham on top.
3. Roll it up and fold it into half. Cut the center and open it up.
4. Place it onto a greased baking sheet. Let them proof for 45 minutes or until double its size.
5. Egg wash the surface. Place some grated cheese and green onions on top. Pipe some mayo (I opt out the mayo) onto it.

Bake at 375F (190C) in the middle shelve of the oven for 12-15 minutes.

Ham and Cheese Bread