It's the time of the year...

Many happy people today and tomorrow...why??? This is why...

Some of us could not focus on our work today....what are on their minds?

One might have this one...

or...probably this color much nicer...

Some are thinking about this....

Some drooling for this...

Some can't wait for this...

Whatever it is...it's your money baby! Spend it because you deserve it!

Income Tax Month

30th April is the last day of the employee 'makan gaji' like us to submit our YA2011 Income Tax Form, be it via post, by hand or through e-hasil website. Mine was submitted 30 March, online and I have also received the refund on the overpaid tax. Thanks LHDN!

Filling up and submitting the tax form is a lot easier nowadays with the online system. I still remember when I first filled up my tax form somewhere in the 90s... The tax form was posted to our mailing address and once I got the form, I will fill it up using pencil first. After note comparison with other young and lost people like me, I will fill it up using pen..... again..at the same time, still asking those senior staff whether it was correct or not and keep checking the EA form from time to time.

Now, the EA form was directly provided by the company to LHDN, so after we logged in into the system, we can see that all the salaries and other benefits have already been keyed in into the system. What is left now is to fill up the deduction that we are entitled to. Once completed, just submit and print the acknowledgment receipt. Settled!

TM's Unifi has just turned 2 last month...

I have been reading some of my FB friends status who just had their home installed with Unifi. Being one of the earliest batch of unifi users back in mid 2010 and unsubscribe Astro a couple of months after that, I am so very happy as well with my friends' new found happiness...hehe...and some of them are thinking to unsubscribe Astro as well.

The transition from watching Astro to HyppTv was quite an easy one for my family...I am not a TV person but yes, I am a TV series person. I have been copying TV series and movies for quite sometime before having Unifi. It was just because I do not have much time..or probably didn't make time to watch TV so I rather copying the tv series like csi, ncis, criminal minds and stuff and watch them when I'm free. And now, I am downloading them myself..so I'm good.

As for the kids, Naim likes TopGear and all the Food Sciene stuff like Heston's Feast or Marcel Ultimate Kitchen and other science experiments  from BBC Knowledge and NatGeo..so he's also ok. The girls...well, just one or two cartoon channels are enough for them. Well, the thing is that they can also watch them online on Naim's Imac or Sarah's lappy...so the kids are also ok with it.

Those days people keep on telling me that HyppTv does not provide as many channels as Astro and they were asking how does the Unifi provider could ever compete with Astro...well my answer was simple, Unifi is not in competition with Astro, it is like apple and orange. Astro is a Broadcaster whilst Unifi is in the Telecommunication services where it provides high speed broadband and HyppTV is just a value added services given to the subscribers.  Anybody can choose which one they wanted or they can also have both...who cares, it is good for the economy, I guessed and it is also contributing to ICT literacy  growth among the Malaysian.

For the record, the reason why we unsubscribed from Astro was...WE CAN...that's all.

The April 16th Girl

Last week on Monday 16th April...my young lady turned 10! Oh yes! 10 years ago after 27 long hours in the labor room..she finally decided to come out and see the world via a Ceasarian section. A very chubby girl with a long curly hair as she growing up...now a young lady, semoga menjadi anak yang solehah...

One-not-so-fine-day...

Today, my mind was wandering...can't focus. My soft choc chip cookies that I made a thousand times ended up like a cake. To the dustbin it goes...sayonara!

How can a man who had spent like 20 odd years together with his wife and has almost half a football team offspring...fallen for another woman...divorced the first one...marry his new found love...and what I heard today was the ex-wife has been asking for financial aid from her friends and family since she can't support her children. The neighbours also sent some food for the children too to ease the burden.  Was the ex husband didn't provide nafkah for the children? She was once the woman he loved for 20 years and a mother of his X children for godsake!... I can't imagine....can U?

Fluffy Pancake cum Crispy Waffle

Pagi ni masuk dapur....hmmm...apa nak buat breakfast ek? Roti dah habis....nak makan cereal? boring la. Should have made roti canai dough or soak some glutinous rice last nite...too bad. Well, let's make pancake jer la... This pancake recipe was actually my waffle recipe, it can be use either on waffle maker or just pour it into your pan for a fluffy and soft pancake.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup or 2oz unsalted butter, melted
1 cup cake flour or all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp caster sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup buttermilk

Method:
1. Put the butter into a small microwavable bowl and melt it in the microwave, put aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar and whisk until well mixed.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, lightly whisk the egg, buttermilk and milk. Then, pour them into the flour mixture.
4. Whisk all the ingredients until no flour patches left and you will have a smooth batter, fold in the melted butter and mix well.
5. Heat and lightly grease your skillet.
6. Scoop about quarter cup of the batter and pour it into the pan (depending on the size you want for your pancake). Cook for a minute or until the base becomes slightly golden brown  before turning it over. Let it cook on the other side for about a minute and it is ready to be served with butter and maple syrup or jam.

Basic Ingredient - Buttermilk and such...

1 cup (240ml) Buttermilk equals to:

a) 1 cup sour cream or,

b) 1 cup plain or low fat yogurt or,

c) 1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar plus enough milk to make a cup and let stand for 5-10 mins

The above substitution is interchangeably used in baking if one recipe calls for buttermilk or sour cream as one of the ingredients. These subs are supposedly making your cake more tender, moist and fluffy. 

I have tried all of the above and I have settled for one only... BUTTERMILK.

Buttermilk do wonders to baking produce...it is by far the best ingredients to make a nice and fluffy baked products. Put it in chocolate cake...yummy!, put it in waffle or pancake...it comes out very very fluffy like the Despicable Me's Agnes' unicorn and  I'm gonna die too!!!! :)

This is my most trusted Buttermilk brand, Paul's...an Aussie halal product. I also regularly use its thickened cream in my baking.

Honey Oats Energy Bar

I actually have posted this recipe in my FB's notes, but just wanted to store it here as well...This one is a hit in the family...and friends, Sarah also brought to school and sell them all.

Honey Oats Energy Bar

Heat oven 175Cel, spray baking tray

A.) Melt 125gm(1/2cup) butter, 1/2cup honey + 1/4 cup brown sugar - can melt atas api or microwave
B.) In a big mixing bowl combine the following:
      - 2cups rolled oat
      - 1cup rice krispies
      - 1cup crushed cornflakes (not ground!)
      - 1/2cup sunflower seeds
      - 1/2cup pumpkin/melon seed
      - 1/2cup chocolate chips
      - 1/4cup sesame seed
      - 1/4cup dessicated coconut
C.) Pour A into B - stir until combine
D.) Fold into baking tray and press it evenly as possible, bake 15 mins, cool and refrigerate about 1 hr before cut and ngap!
Selamat mencoba!

Note:  Please feel free to improvise to taste ye. The total of a 1-1/2 cups of seeds & chips can be changed to a combination of seeds, nuts and raisins too ye...

Source: Multiple recipe websites

Croissant

 I wrote and posted the croissants that I made last month and here is the recipe and the taxing process if you guys dare to endure...

Bahan2/Ingredients:
230ml milk/susu
1 egg/telur
25 butter - softened/lembutkan
500 gm bread flour/tepung roti
4 tsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt/garam
1 1/2 tsp dry active yeast
250gm unsalted butter - cold

Cara-cara/Method:
Kenwood 1kg Bread Machine
1. Campurkan kesemua bahan-bahan ke dalam bekas BM mengikut turutan resepi di atas

Mix all the above ingredients accordingly into the BM pan i.e. wet ingredients followed by dry ingredients, yeast would be the last ingredient.

2. Masukkan bekas BM ke dalam BM dan tekan program 10. ( 1jam 30 minit)

Secure the bread pan into the BM and press program 10 (1 hour and 30 min program) 

3.Sementara itu, siapkan blok butter untuk dimasukkan ke dalam doh croissant. Masukkan butter ke dalam ziplock bag, ketuk-ketukkan butter itu menggunakan rolling pin supaya dia menjadi leper. kemudian masukkan ke dalam freezer.
While waiting for the dough to be ready, put the butter block into a zip lock bag. Using your rolling pin, roll and knock down the butter to flatten it. Once it has flatten, put it back into the freezer.

4.  Setelah siap, keluarkan doh dari BM dan canaikan di atas rolling mat yang diselaputi dengan sedikit tepung.
Remove dough from BM pan,invert and roll it onto a lightly floured surface.

5. Canaikan ia untuk membentuk satu segiempat tepat(rectangle). Keluarkan butter yang sudah dileperkan itu dan letakkan ia di tengah2 doh tersebut. Lipatkan ia seperti melipat surat dan canaikan, pusingkan ia 90 darjah ke kanan, lipatkan sekali lagi dan canaikan.

Roll it into a one big rectangular shape. Take out the flatten butter and put in in the middle of the dough. Fold it to envelope the butter and roll it again. Turn it by 90 degree to your right, fold it again and roll it.

6. Balutkan doh tersebut dengan cling wrap dan masukkan ke dalam peti sejuk selama 30 minit.
Wrap the dough with a cling wrap and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

7. Selepas 30 minit, keluarkan doh dan canaikan lagi doh tersebut menggunakan teknik lipat, canai dan pusing sebanyak 2 kali lagi. Memandangkan cuaca negara kita yang sangat panas, butter akan mudah cair dan akan melembutkan doh. Taburkan tepung untuk menampal bahagian yang cair itu. Selepas itu balut semula dengan cling wrap dan biarkan dalam peti sejuk selama 30 min lagi. Selepas ini, ulang proses ini sekali lagi atau dua kali lagi sebelum biarkan ia di dalam peri sejuk semalaman.
After 30 min, take the dough out and roll, fold, turn and roll it for twice more. Wrap it and let it rest again in the fridge for 30 min. Repeat this process once or twice more and let it rest in the fridge overnight

8. Selepas semalaman doh anda akan kelihatan seperti di bawah bila dipotong
Your dough will look like this when you cut it in the morning.

9. Selepas semalaman doh anda akan kelihatan seperti di bawah bila dipotong, boleh bayangkan betapa rapuh croissant anda?
Your dough will look like this when you cut it into 2 in the morning. Can imagine how flaky and crispy your croissant will be? 
 

10. Canaikan 1 bahagian doh sehingga membentuk segiempat tepat yang besar, potong dan bentukkan seperti di bawah. Proses yang sama juga dilakukan untuk 1 bahagian doh lagi.
Roll 1 part of the dough into one big rectangular shape and cut it and roll it into a croissant shape as shown below. Do the same process for the other part of dough.

11. Letakkan croissant yang telah siap di atas dulang pembakar yang di alas dengan silpat atau kertas minyak. Tutup dengan plastik bergris selama 30 minit .
Put the croissant onto a baking sheet. Cover the croissants with oiled cling wrap and let them rest for 30 mins

12. Panaskan oven 200 Celsius

 Heat the oven at 200 degree celsius

13. Berus roti dengan kuning telur yang dipukul bersama sedikit susu. Masukkan roti ke dalam oven dan bakar 15-20 minit
Lightly brush your bread with egg yolk and milk. Put the bread into the center rack of the oven and bake until lightly brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on a rack

14. Tido...Sleep

 

My Hall of Fame (I)

How did I end up love baking?

My first love

Don't have much time to spare after
a day in the office?

The 30mins home cooked meal guide

A Guide to a simple baking,
the one that I used to teach Naim

We know something,
We do not know everything, we never will...
learning is a daily process...

The Baking Guru

And also thanks to Disney for bringing this guy and reminding us all that.....

MJ's BEN

The song from the year that I was born..luv it so much

Ben, the two of us need look no more

We both found what we were looking for

With my friend to call my own I'll never be alone

And you my friend will see, you've got a friend in me

Ben, you're always running here and there

You feel you're not wanted anywhere

If you ever look behind and don't like what you find

There's something you should know, you've got a place to go

I used to say, "I", And "Me"

Now it's "Us", Now it's "We"

Ben, most people would turn you away

I don't listen to a word they say

They don't see you as I do I wish they would try to

I'm sure they'd think again if they had a friend like Ben

Like Ben, like Ben

Well...we miss MJ...

Basic Ingredient: Yeast, sugar and salt

Ok...the title feels like a bit of academic, don't you think? Yes and no...
Yes, because I need to share a thing or two theories from what I learned during my many experiments.
No, because this is actually a thing that I encountered this afternoon when I was talking to a fellow colleague. She was saying, hey your bread looks really nice and fluffy but mine was hard and I also having a hard time with the yeast because I always kills it, probably water is too hot.

Here is the facts:
1. Yeast + sugar = ALIVE
2. Yeast + salt = DEAD!

Yeast eats SUGAR and produces carbon dioxide and alcohol as it grows and multiplies. You know what?...the alcohol produced by the yeast is actually the element that gives the bread flavour. Yummy!!!

Normally and of course to my convenience, I am using rapid rise or dry active yeast. This type of yeast, we do not have to dissolve it into warm water and it save yourselves from mass murdering them!!! :P
Just whisk it with the flour and sugar before adding liquid into it.

Just a note, if you really wanted to test whether your yeast is active or not....dissolve one teaspoon of yeast and 1/4 tsp sugar with 3 tbsp of LUKEWARM water ok...not hot water...orang kata suam2 kuku like your own body temperature. It is active when it bubbles after 5 mins, if it does not...you probably killed them already.

SALT....from most of the books that I read and some notes given by my son Naim after watching too many cooking shows and food science programs, yeast will die when it comes into direct contact with salt. So it best to add it after you mix yeast with the flour and sugar.

Jem Strawberi/Strawberry Jam

Resepi ini orang amik dari Nigella Lawson punya Domestic Goddess....memang best!

Bahan-bahan:
3 cawan/cups strawberry approximately 750gm gitu
2 cawan/cups gula/ caster sugar
2 sudu besar/tbsp jus leman/lemon juice
1 sudu teh/tsp cuka/vinegar
1 sudu besar/tbsp butter-optional just for shiny effect only

Cara-cara:
1. Basuh buah strawberi dan belah dua
2. Campurkan kesemua bahan2 ke dalam periuk
3. Kacau sehingga pekat (dalam 45min ke satu jam)
4. Cara nak uji samada kepekatan jam itu sesuai adalah: sebelum start masak tu, masukkan piring putih ke dalam freezer. Apabila anda nak menguji kepekatan jam tu, keluarkan piring dari freezer dan titiskan sedikit jam ke atas piring itu, biarkan sekejap supaya jam itu menjadi seju. Kemudian, lalukan jari anda ditengah2 jam itu. Kalau jam tu wrinkle atau berkedut, maknanya boleh tutup api
5. Saya lebih suka jam saya jernih tanpa ada cebisan buah jadi selalunya saya akan tapis dahulu jam tersebut semasa dia masih panas lagi. Bila dah tapis, saya biarkan ia sejuk sebelum masukkan ia ke dalam botol kedap udara.

Method:
1. Wash and halve your strawberries
2. Mix all the ingredients into a pot
3. Stir until it reach a very nice thick consistency (45mins to an hour)
4. To test the consistency: before you start cooking, place a white saucer into your freezer. When u wanted to test the jam, take the saucer out and put a droplet of the jam onto it and let it cool for awhile. And then run your finger across the jam and if it wrinkles, it is done
5. I prefer my jam to be clear and free of any fruit bits hence I normally strain it while it is still hot. After that you can let it cool before store it in an air tight container.