Crème Caramel

This isn't the crème caramel made from egg custard and then cooked using bain marie technique. The pudding itself contains carrageenan and agar as gelling agent. So it's just like your usual instant milk pudding (with the addition of egg yolks and vanilla).

But the fun part was making the caramel. Heating sugar until it browned and reached the hard ball stage was quite..something! :D I almost never caramelised sugar since after that internship in candy factory (I was curious and tried to make my own candy at home).

The idea of crème caramel was the opposite of crème brûlée, which is egg custard with hard caramel layer on top. So in crème caramel, we pour the caramel into the base of the mold. It will set quickly into hard caramel. Then pour the hot milk mixture into the mould. It will look like this..


After the pudding has set, take it off the mould. The caramel will be soft and liquid as in the first picture. The taste? YUM!! I know instantly this is one of the things that I'll keep making.. :)

posted from Bloggeroid

Purple Lasagna

Purple and orange made an interesting combination in this dish! :)

I made the pasta from wheat flour, egg, water and purple sweet potato flour (for the purple color of anthocyanin). The other stuffs were the usual bolognese sauce (though I did put a generous amount of shredded carrot) and bechamel (white) sauce. The toppings were breadcrumbs and shredded mozzarella cheese (crunchy AND gooey!)

Yum! Definitely better than K-m**l's! ;)

posted from Bloggeroid

Ratatouille ala Kerotia

Ratatouille is a traditional French dish. Made of vegetable, it is cheap and easy to make. Therefore, it is often called peasant food.

The ingredients of ratatouille are tomato, zucchini, eggplant, bell pepper, carrot, onion, garlic, mixed herbs, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. In my recipe, I add mushroom and tomato paste, and omit the bell pepper (due to unavailability at the moment).

First, slice the vegetables thinly. Then cook them separately (because each vegetable cooked at different length of time) until tender. Meanwhile, chop garlic and onion. Peel, de-seed, and chop the tomato as well. Saute the chopped garlic and onion with olive oil in a large pot. Add the tomato, and cook until you have a thick tomato sauce. Add tomato paste, salt, pepper, mixed herbs, and the vegetables into the tomato sauce, mix thoroughly. Serve with rice, pasta, or bread. Et voila! Bon appetit!!

***
Ratatouille became so popular after an animated movie with the same name in 2007. In that movie, Remy, the rat-chef, made and popularized Confit byaldi, a version of ratatouille.

Confit byaldi basically uses the same ingredients as ratatouille. But instead of tossing all ingredients in one pot, the ingredients are arranged in layered fashion and then baked slowly, covered in parchment paper.

***
Anyway, I introduced this dish to my family years ago. And last year, when my Mom and Dad went for Umrah, they were served ratatouille on flight. Mom tasted the food and later wrote in her journal, "I had ratatouille for lunch on the plane. It tasted just like my daughter T used to make. I miss my kids. Ya Allah, please keep them safe while we're away."

*sobs* I love you, mom..

Kiss from Heaven

God will show you His love in the most surprising way.

When I was in college, I was so bored with school. Everything seemed to go wrong and I lost my motivation. Then on one fateful day, I went to my mother’s Daycare and Pre-school to get some documents from the teacher for my mother (she was one of the founders). Unintentionally, I went to the toddlers’ room to play with the kids. There was this really cute boy with big eyes and long hair (I thought he was a girl) who was crying out loud. I sat on the floor, and this crying boy immediately got up and came to me. Of all the adults in the room, he hugged me –a stranger! I sang him a lullaby, and he stopped crying! Waaah… I was astounded.

After that incident, I started to come to the school more often. I played with the kids, read them stories, and sang them children’s songs (I happen to know quite a number). After a while, one of the senior teachers asked me to be a regular. I said yes, and that was how I become a part time tutor since 2003 to 2006.

***

And last night, during Tarawih prayer in the mosque while the Imam was preaching, a beautiful little girl came up to my sister, Chacha. The little girl held Chacha’s unfamiliar hands and kissed her! Ain’t that sweet?

Cha, I think it was a very good sign.. ;) Semangaaatt!!!

Bedrest Crafting

Ahem..
So here I am, been neglecting this blog for almost 1 whole year. Any excuses? Nope! I just didn’t feel like updating this blog, that’s all.. :p

So tomorrow, we will begin the fasting month. So for all muslims in the world, Happy Ramadhan!! ^^

There’s no baking session to greet this holy month. (Ironically, my last posting was about pre-Ramadhan baking session.. haha..) Not because I was too busy, nor too lazy. I have been sick since last Sunday. Typhoid fever, how sad is that? I’m better now, and hopefully strong enough to fast tomorrow.
I had to stay in bed for days, and it was BORING! My source of happiness and entertainment was the television (since I don’t have cable TV, I only watched Spongebob and Doong, the other programs just amplified my headache) and my cellphone (twitter and PapaBear’s text messages. Especially the text messages!! Unfortunately, PapaBear was in the middle of a very hectic agenda..hiks..). I was too sick to read or work on my notebook. So I tried to SEW.. :D

Background story..
A few months ago, me and PapaBear went out for dinner. Just several minutes riding away from home, I felt like a tug on my skirt (I was wearing this long, green skirt). Turned out, my skirt got stuck into the machine (wheel? chain? whatever..) of his motorbike. PapaBear stopped the motorbike immediately, and I disentangle my skirt from the machine. The skirt was intact, but there was black grease stain all over it. (No, I did not freak out! Nothing is irreparable! Summons SuperKoala!!)
I tried to remove the stain, but no matter how hard I scrub, the stain was still visible (although not so obvious). Here’s the pic:

So I bought this black lace from a craft shop (they only had 1 model). I started to cut according the pattern a few months ago, but due to various things, was unable to finish it. UNTIL NOW!! Hehe…
Look at my skirt now! I love it more than ever!!

Moral of the story: Always look for the silver lining in every dark clouds.. ^^
Oh, and one more thing: Sometimes, something bad happens just to make things even better for the future.. ^^

Happy Ramadhan!!! (oh, I already said this. Nevermind.. ;p )