Life Is Too Short

Indonesian Layered Cake

2008-12-03T18:52:00.013+08:00

Having problems logging into my Xanga for the past few days. Believe they might be updating some stuff. So anyways, i've decided to blog here instead until they've fixed it.

I've always liked kueh lapis but they're so expensive. Therefore, i've decided long ago that i'll try to make them one day. And not be put off by how everyone tells me it's very hard work and it's easier to just buy from the stalls rather than sweat through it all.

Undeterred, I managed to find two recipes that i'd like to try; one by Amy Beh and another from The Queen of Kitchen Disasters's blog. I opted to use the latter. It was pleasantly a breeze to do and i was satisified with the outcome.

However, the recipe called for 20 egg yolks but only 6 egg whites. Not wanting to waste all of the egg whites, i halved the recipe and improvised on some ingredients. Why not give it a try? :)

Kueh Lapis Recipe

Ingredients
500g butter
220g castor sugar
4 tablespoon condense milk
1 tablespoon cake spice
20 egg yolks
150g plain flour
6 egg whites with 90g castor sugar

Method
1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius.
2. Line the base of a 23cm x 23 cm cake tin with grease proof paper.
3. Butter the base before laying the paper, and butter again on top of the paper.
4. Cream butter, sugar, condensed milk and cake spice till fluffy and pale in colour.
5. Add egg yolks one by one. Beat on high speed when adding the egg yolk to prevent curdling. Set aside.
6. Whisk egg whites till soft peaks form. Add sugar slowly while whisking on high speed till stiff peaks form.
7. Fold egg white into the butter mixture, followed by the flour.
8. Spoon one ladle or 4 tablespoons of batter onto the base of the tin and spread evenly.
9. Bake at 170 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes or till surface is brown.
10. Remove cake tin from oven. Switch oven to grill mode.
11. Spread another layer of batter on top of the first layer and grill top for 2 minutes or till brown.
12. Remove from oven. Press the cake with a cake presser to remove any air bubbles.
13. Spread another layer of batter on top of the cake and grill. Repeat till all batter used up.
14. The last layer should be slightly thicker than the rest.
15. Grill the last layer till brown, remove cake tin from oven.
16. Switch oven back to baking mode and lower the temperature to 160 degree Celsius.
17. Cover the top of the cake tin with aluminium foil. Return cake tin to the oven and bake for 10 - 20 minutes.
18. Allow the cake to cool completely in the tin upright.
19. After completely cooled, turn out and invert the cake.
20. Keep in a box and stand for one or two days before eating.

I'll definitely bake this again in the future. Hehe. The photos i took below were after my family's eaten half of it. Forgot to take them earlier. :P

Also, would like to wish my cousin Andrew and his wife, Janet, a very hearty congratulations on the birth of their third child, Jacob. X'mas came early for them. ;)

4Play Mag - Live on 8TV Quickie!!!

2008-11-12T10:54:00.005+08:00

Apologies for the window size displayed here. For the full view, click here. The 8TV Ultimate Prom Nite contest in the mag was highlighted during the show.

4Play mag features cool contests and games for everyone. And the sweetest thing is that it's free. Get a copy from any Starbucks, Burger King, Juiceworks, colleges and universities in Klang Valley. For more info on 4Play, visit the website here.

Shin Chan Ramen, Solaris Mont Kiara

2008-10-29T09:03:00.007+08:00

Was craving for Jap food last weekend. I wonder why. Probably influenced by AkeUs's blog entries on satisfying his Jap food cravings. Hehe. Anyways, KW had been itching to bring me to this Jap restaurant near his office, now that his workplace has been shifted to Solaris in Mont Kiara. We went on a Sunday evening and it was empty. Could be due to its location or that everyone's disappeared for a long weekend.

As we walked in, we don't get transported to a Japanese garden or village ambience. It was more of a modern minimalist (Zen) look and feel. Huge ceiling to waist high length mirrors, paper lantern lights hanging from the ceiling, wooden tables and chairs, mini feng shui waterfall at the entrance as well as Japanese piped in music and comics to entertain. It was clean and pleasantly peaceful. :P

My unagi don (with a half hard boiled egg)

My unagi don served with miso soup

KW's oyako don

KW's oyako don served with miso soup

Deep fried pork chop with salad

Pork chop served with a sweet sauce

Food was yummy. Definitely satisfied my craving. Price was reasonable for a Japanese restaurant in the location (not as expensive as Umai-ya) and for the quality of the food. I'm sure KW would return to the place now that he works nearby. I might follow him as well whenever i get my Jap food craving. :D

Claypot Station, Dataran Sunway

2008-10-28T16:48:00.007+08:00

Actually tried this place a long time back with KW as i thought it interesting that there were so many claypot dishes to try. So went over for dinner one weekend and it was rather quiet with only a couple of tables occupied by families mostly. The interior looked alright with wooden tables and chairs which added some charm to the place. However, our wooden table was a little sticky as it didn't have a smooth layer that makes removing dirt easier.

Naturally, we ordered a claypot dish (Fa Tiu Chicken - chicken cooked in Chinese wine and black sauce), a stir-fried cabbage in oyster sauce and signature fried tofu. Dishes were served with steamed white fragrant rice. And we tried a herbal drink made from watercress veggie. Felt like drinking watercress veggie soup but it was pleasant nonetheless although a little weird with ice. :P

Our herbal drinks

Stir-fried cabbage with oyster sauce

The signature fried tofu

Claypot fa tiu chicken

Served with steamed white rice

KW looking at what else there is to eat

Overall, the food was tasty and good in a home-cooked sorta way. The claypot fa tiu chicken was alright. Nothing to spectacular. Same goes for the cabbage. But the signature tofu was really good. Crispy fried on the outside and ultra smooth inside. Topped with a delicious sauce. It's a definite must try. All were good, however, some dishes were abit too salty and oily for my taste. Also, the price was alright too.

Leo's Cafe, SS2 Petaling Jaya

2008-10-27T23:31:00.022+08:00

Most of my friends and ex-colleagues who read my blog at Xanga would be familiar with my passion for food and travel. Have decided to move to Blogspot as a change. Do drop by from time to time to check out my latest discoveries and explorations. :)

A few months back, a new cafe opened up in SS2 behind Old Taste Ipoh White Coffee. Looked like another Hongkie cafe and have decided to give it a try one night as they were having a buy 1 free 1 promo for their chicken char siew rice. As i wasn't starvingly hungry, i thought even if the portions came out small, it was still alright. :P

Let's have a look at the menu. Who's that on the cover? Amber Chia - ambassador of Leo's Cafe. Right... *rolls eyes*

Legend key on bottom right says "Amber's favourite"

Leo's concept all in one page

After flipping through the menu and seeing all of Amber's favourites, we decided to order the chicken char siew rice promo and drinks. And yeah, the portions that came were rather small. Definitely not enough for a growing boy like KW. So we ordered a dessert.

The chicken char siew rice on promo

The chicken char siew rice we got

The Top Ten Award drink

The Top Ten Award drink i got and KW's ice lemon tea

Our meal :)

Toast bread with gelato ice cream

The dessert we got

Other interesting items on the menu...

The mini wok choices

A lighter meal option

Gelato creations - healthier alternative :P

Iced coffee with mint...tempting...

The main dish on promo were of rather small portions but it was very tasty. We wolfed them down in no time. My drink, the top ten award, was too sweet for my liking. But it was colorful with lots of jelly cubes and nata de coco. KW's ice lemon tea came with a small serving of syrup for him to add to taste (it says alot about the service being good, in my opinion). The dessert was alright with the toast being abit too hard and dry for my liking (but KW likes it) and the Strawberry gelato ice cream was a little too sour for KW's taste buds (but i liked it). :P

Would probably go back there again to try something else from the menu but only if i wasn't expecting to eat much for my main course. I look forward to trying more of their interesting beverage concoctions and desserts. Seemed like a nice place to relax and have a snack or dessert. :)

Ten Interesting Facts About Humans

2008-10-25T21:20:00.018+08:00

1. If you are right handed, you will tend to chew your food on your right side and vice versa. (Eh?)

2. If you stop getting thirsty, you need to drink more water because when a human body is dehydrated, its thirst mechanism shuts off.

3. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.

4. Every time you sneeze, some of your brain cells die. (I get dumber after every time i sneeze?)

5. When you blush, the lining of your stomach turns red also. (The red on my face is more than obvious enough...)

6. It takes about 20 seconds for a red blood cell to circle the whole body.

7. Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair. (Even if they have dyed copper color hair?)

8. The only part of the body that has no blood supply is the cornea in the eye, which takes in oxygen directly from the air.

9. Women blink nearly twice as much as men. *flutters eyelashes* ;)

10. The human heart creates enough pressure while pumping to squirt blood 30 feet.

Source: www.hemmy.net