Langkawi Trip in October

Langkawi is a wonderful family destination. The two monster were so excited, especially Small M as he got to ride on airplane.

We reached at the Langkawi airport around 5pm and rent a Nissan Sentra at RM80.00 per day. We stayed at AB Motel, Pantai Cenang.

AB Motel was devided into to side; beach and across the road. We stayed in Family Room at beach side. Cost RM120.00 per night with two queen size bed. Basic hotel but clean and nicely situated.

AB Motel reception area.


The chalet to the left was where we stayed


Activities in Langkawi during our three nights four days trip:

Day 2 - Island hopping.
Cost around RM20.00 per person to two island and eagle feeding. Children if not mistaken cost RM15.00per person. Lesson learned: Luckily we choosed two island only because it was really a hassle and quite dangerous for young children boarding and unboarding from boat/jetty.

Tasik Dayang Bunting






Eagle Feeding




Forgot to take picture of another island that we went and I also forgot the the name of the island!

Later in the afternoon, we went to Underwater World. The entrance fee is RM28.00 for adults and RM18.00 for children. THere was no charges for Small M (Below 3 years old)




Grrrr...


Wah! A fish bigger than me...


Day 3 - Oriental Village

It was dizzling and the cable car services was halt because of strong winds. Too bad... The two Monsters still enjoy themselves though...

What is this? A rubber band pistol?


Cool eh..




Fish Fish Fish


Day 4

Time to go home...

Waiting for rides home. Sigh... delay again




See Ya...

Big M and Small M Birthday

Mummy monster forgotten to post the birthday of the two monsters. Their birthdays celebration was on 30 October 2010. Pai seh.... :) Forgotten hehehe...

I bought two cakes from Tong Kee (if I remember correctly), Blackforest and Fortune basket. Averall the cakes were fresh and wonderful, although Fortune Basket was a tag too sweet for my liking.





Haha! The two monster waited whole year for this. Now they would have to start counting down again...

Steam Milo Cake

This recipe is from http://kvt27.blogspot.com/2010/09/steam-milo-cake.html

The cake taste more like kuih to me. It is unique in its own way, full of milo flavour and not too sweet. Simple to make and can satisfy your craving for sweet dessert




Steam Milo Cake

65g all purpose flour
50g icing sugar
35g milo powder / cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 egg
60g or 60ml sunflower oil
100ml milk


1. Oil the bundt tray or lined a 7" cake mould
2. In a bowl, add all the dry ingredients together. (flour, sugar, cocoa
powder, baking powder and baking soda)
3. Sift them into the mixing bowl. (this is to avoid 'clumps' of flour or sugar
in the cake)
4. Heat up the steamer. Place rack over water.
5. Add the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly until it forms a nice runny
batter. (steamer should be already warm enough)
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and place into the steamer on the
rack. Cover the top of the pan loosely with a piece of aluminum foil. Cover
with wok lid.
7. Steam over medium heat for 30 minutes. (Check water level occasionally to
ensure the wok doesn't dry up)
8. Check for doneness by inserting a skewer into the cake. If it comes out
clean, it's done. If not, steam for a further 5 minutes. (I didn't have
problems with this)
9. Leave it out to cool before taking it out from the mould.
10. Option to coat the cake with honey for 'extra' taste

Extra Light and Fluffy Blueberry Pancake

Recipe from http://www.preparedpantry.com/Light-Fluffy-Pancakes-Recipe.htm

Now is a blueberry season as you can find blueberry at most supermarket. I used the berries to make pancakes. This pancakes recipe is marvelous. The pancakes were actually EXTRA LIGHT and FLUFFY. It has the melt-in-your-mouth feeling. TO make the pancakes even more wonderful,I make it crispy!

The trick to making crispy pancakes is using more oil/butter to cook the pancakes. The oil need to be hot before dropping the batter on the pan. Therefore the edges of the pancakes would be crispy. Now I know how certain pancakes restuarants make their pancakes!



Ingredient

1 cup sifted all-purpose, pastry, or cake flour (I use cake flour)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
2 egg yolks
3/4 cups milk, more or less
4 tablespoons butter, melted
2 egg whites
1 tablespoon sugar

Note: I added a handfull of blueberry


Directions

1. Sift the dry ingredients together.
2. In another bowl, mix the yolks, most of the milk, and the melted butter together until smooth.
3. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the mixed wet ingredients all at once. Stir until just combined. (Over-mixing will make for a tough pancake.)
4. Beat the egg whites until light and fluffy and soft peaks appear as for meringue. Add the sugar toward the end of the beating. Fold the egg whites gently into the batter with a spatula. Add milk as necessary to get the right consistency.
5. Cook as you would other pancakes.

Note: The consistency should be like honey

I placed some fresh berries on the pancakes and drizzle it with some homemake condensed milk. The result...so rich and yummy, with a hint of very berry flavour.

STEAMED MARBLE BUTTER CAKE

I got this recipe from http://happykitchen-janice.blogspot.com/2010/04/steam-marble-butter-cake.html

The texture does seems like baked butter cake, fluffier and lighter when compared to steam horlicks or cream cracker cake. Of course it wasn't as aromatic as horlicks cake, but if you want a break from densed cake, this is it. One thing I might change in this recipe is I would probably reduce the flour a bit. Maybe by 30g or so as the cake seems quite crumbly.




Ingredient:

A
280g butter
200g sugar ( reduced )

B
4 eggs

C
300g flour
2 1/2 tsps double action baking powder

D
1/2 tbsp chocolate paste (** I used 1 tbsp chocolate powder + 3 tbsps hot water**)

Method :

1. Lightly grease & line 20cm round or square mould.
2. Beat A until light & fluffy. Add in B slowly, cream until smooth & light.
3. Add in sieved C, mix until well-blended.
4. Take 1/4 portion of the batter, mix with D until well-blended.
5. Pour plain batter into greased mould. Use a teaspoon to spoon the chocolate batter over the plain batter & swirl it to make marble effects.
6. Steam at high heat for 10 minutes, switch the heat to low & steam for another 60 minutes.
7. Leave the cake aside for 5 minutes before moving out from the mould.

Chocolate Fondue

Coming home to tonnes of strawberry, I make chocolate fondue for the 2 monster to dip with. I used one bar of Cadbury Milk Chocolate (I think around 170g) and melted it over quater cup of evaporated milk (or you can use whipped cream or UHT milk). Slowly add more milk to mixture until your prefered consistency.

And the result...





Posted here were pictures of fondue using imported strawberry a couple of month ago:

Trip to Cameran Highland

A recent trip to Cameron Highland using Simpang Pulai route. Seems like it was slightly farther than using Tapah way, but the road was less winding. Now, I know Big M is like Old M; no motion sickness, and Small M is like Mommy M who dreaded going to Cameron since young as Mommy M would vomit all the way up.

This trip was actually Kong Kong's Old Boys 50 year anniversary gathering. So it was actually a whole merry family fun time!

It was raining everyday. Luckily it was periodical rain and we managed to visit places inbetween.

Activities during three days two nights trip:

Time Tunnel








Going down memory lane...






Boh Plantation







Strawberry Fondue




At Grape Farm






Picking Tomato




It has been a wonderful family moments in Cameron Highland.

Horlicks Steam Cake

I got this recipe from someone's blog but I couldn't remember which one. So whoever out there, i didn't mean to steal your recipe.

This is a very aromatic cake. The batter is quite thick, therefore the cake is prety dense, but the cake tasted wonderful. Very rich cake, buttery and milky. And it is not too sweet.

Steam Horlicks Cake

250g butter, room temperature
120g caster sugar
5 eggs (medium)

Mix together:
120g condensed milk (I use homemade condensed milk)
50g Strawberry jam or kaya

70g Horlicks
130g plain flour sieved with 1 tsp baking powder


Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy
Add one egg at a time till well blended
Add straberry jam follow by condensed milk and blend well in slow speed
Fold in Horlicks and flour, stir with spatula till well blended
Spoon the batter into pan cake and cover the top losely with a piece of aluminium foil
Steam medium high for 50-60 minutes

What I did was spooned the batter into cupcake cups and steam for 15 minutes


It actually rised higher than this but settled down after I took it out from steamer. Maybe I over steammed it?

Primary School

Time flies when you have kids. They grow up so fast. Big M would be attending Primary One next year. However, the school has guidance class for 2011 primary one pupil for two weeks after the year end holiday started.

First time in primary school uniform


Waiting for his teacher to arrange seat for him since he missed the first day at school.



Yup! Time flies...

Big M Concert Costume

Big M costume for his kindergarten concert


Small M insisted to wear it too


Actual day make up on 14 November 2010


Graduation



Small M giving moral support