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It is good sharing old favourites with our young ones. I got the opportunity to do this when I held a "Baking Class" during this December holidays. My favourite apple pie recipe has been with me for a long time; since my university days when my American friend, Sue, gave me the recipe when I was 20 and eager to cook something that tasted good and comforting so far away from home. The apple pie is a great comfort food and I understand why Nigella, on the Asian Food Channel focusses so much on these types of food. They make a great getaway alibi in times of stress and they also become a reason for the gatherings of family and good friends. The two most important things about pies are the crust and the filling. I use the same crust for all my pies; be it fruit pies or savory pies. A good crust is firm enough to hold the filling, but soft enough to melt in your mouth along with the sweet or savory filling... kinda like some people need to eat rice with some sort of grav

One of the best 'nasi lemak' which I have tasted is at the corner stall (the 1st one), on the right, as you go into the gate into the Bandar Baru Bangi wet market. It's call "Gerai ZNI" and the owner is a handsome and polite young man wearing a 'songkok'. You don't just get plain old 'nasi lemak' with just the 'sambal', cucumbers and the rice, but you can choose many other side dishes to add; from 'sambal kerang' (cockles), 'sotong' (squid), 'rendang', even fried chicken which is crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside and much, much more. I usually just can't resist adding more than two side dishes, often having 'sambal kerang' along with the fried chicken. It's not just 'nasi lemak' that they have that tastes great with the choices of side dishes. I can have the side dishes with other main dishes, such as fried beehoon, or mee. Not only that, the lontong is also a favour

This tastes so good and comforting on rainy days. I sautee the garlic, big pieces of onions, sea salt and pepper, and some ground chili before adding the carrots, for sweetness, and then adding the meat and the celery, covering them up to simmer for about ten minutes to absorb all the flavors and seal in the juices. After that I put them in a slow cooker, add hot boiling water and leave them overnight to wake up to the wonderful aroma of comfort on a wet morning, making a whole pot of goodness to last for the entire day. Eat it with toasted bread for a wholesome and satisfying meal anytime of the day. For that extra hotness and 'kick', I like to cut up fresh tomatoes, mix them with ground 'chili padi' and chopped parsley and garnish the top of the soup before serving. It's an easy meal to prepare and you get a great meal without spending a lot of time cooking. Try it.

Here's a variation of the Fiesta Cake. I baked it to celebrate some of my students' birthdays as well as a Raya come back treat for the first day of class coming back from the long school cum Raya holidays cum post Trial exams. Add a touch of strawberry flavor in the pink marble inside, then decorate with the same butter frosting around the edges and sliced strawberries in the middle, topped with strawberry jam syrup and it becomes a delicious dessert for a special occasion. Serve with hot sugarless black coffee (my choice) or tea. I immediately got an order for it for next week.

You get tired of eating rice day in, day out during Ramadan. It goes for me when it is not Ramadan. But the thought of making homemade pizza was appealing. Using a simple recipe for the base and the toppings... whatever my heart, and taste buds desired at the moment I came out with this version. And what would go better with homemade pizza, is non other than a cup of hot coffee. Here's the recipe: Pizza Base : 2 1/2 cups plain flour 1/4 cup olive oil 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoon dry powdered yeast 2/3 cup lukewarm water Place flour, salt and olive oil in a bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over the lukewarm water to dissolve, then add to the flour mixture. Knead ingredients together in the bowl, then turn out onto a floured work surface and knead vigorously for about 5 minutes. Roll out dough to fit a greased baking tray. Place on tray, cover and leave to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. Toppings : Spread the pizza base with tomato sauce. I use "Preg

At last we are ready for The Student Center's Open Day this 11th and 12th of April, 2009. Not only do we have a Lifestyle Design office, we also have a place to display my teatime treats the way I want them to be displayed; the actual cake/pie with servings cut from the cake itself. I have decided to serve Apple Pie with Crumble and Wholemeal Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting along with tea or coffee. Delicious and wholesome, made with the best ingredients; fresh fruit and vegetables, real butter and a lot of love. Not only will The Student Center provide much needed academic and life skills for personal development of youths, it is a facility that will cater and provide an environment for intellectual growth and independent learning. The Lifestyle Cafe will provide the refreshments for its members and walk-in patrons to take a break and have good homemade cakes made from scratch. Come visit us at No. 20-2-1, Jalan Medan PB 4A, Pusat Bandar, 4

It's a new restaurant located at the row of shops behind the infamous, Old Town White Coffee. To get there, all you have to do is, follow the white balloon. This is a great place to get down to earth, good and delicious, home cooking dishes to eat with rice; white rice, nasi kerabu rice, pulut rice, nasi dagang rice, you name it rice. With a selection of almost 20 dishes ranging from boiled vegetables, raw 'ulam' vegetables to fish, chicken, beef, seafood, and more, there is no limit to the choices. My stepdaughter who came to visit actually said these words, "rasa nak makan semua" or "I feel like I want to taste all of them", refering to the wide variety of dishes from ala 'goreng', curry, 'lemak', 'asam' and some I don't even know what to call them, being unfamiliar with 'kampung' cuisine. Ulam galore! with different kinds of sambal to go with it... So many selections to choose from, real, authentic

I've got four more recipes to share in this month's issue of Wanita Magazine. Check them out... Fallen Chocolate Cake... It may look like you made a mistake and the cake fell, but don't worry it's on purpose and this cake tastes moist and delicious. Drizzle some chocolate sauce or strawberry sauce on it and serve with vanilla ice-cream and fresh fruit; like strawberries, peaches or blueberries, for that very special occasion. As seen also on the cover of the recipes section, garnish this Cheesecake with a drizzle of Strawberry Sauce to add that extra flavor to this oh, so favourite recipe. On the top is what I call the Strawberry Layered Surprise. The surprise is the cake inside. You can use any cake, but my favourite is the Whipped Cream Cake. See the recipe in this blog for the cake in the Strawberry Cream Cake recipe. On the bottom of the page are Sweet Almond Cakes -- little cakes loaded with ground almonds that make them moist. Garnish with i

Teatime treats for my Daddy's birthday on the 22nd of February 2009 with my parents, my brother and his family and my husband. Since I began to make treats, it has become a joy to rather than buy cakes, to make them myself. Today is an occasion of which I did so, for my dad's birthday. I must say that the satisfaction of watching family members enjoying it is one thing. Another is the fact that every last bit of the cake was eaten up! Unlike when you buy a cake for a family member's birthday, it always takes a few days to finish because everyone can only manage to eat a piece. Unlike a homemade cake, not only the taste, but the quality is different and a cake made from a good recipe will get good response on a happy occasion like this. I know that my cakes may not be perfect in terms of its decoration, since I am without any formal training on cake decorating or frosting skills. No matter, I believe it is the imperfection of homemade, which shows the effort and

I thought 'tis was the season for heart shaped cookies and made some yesterday as gifts for the family for the get together this weekend attending a relative's wedding. They are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside and when decorated with colored sugar and such, they taste even better. Perfect as gifts and I always make sure to have them in my see through cookie jars during festive seasons to tempt anyone who drops by. Make them in other shapes too! Always a treat. Here's the recipe.. Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups flour 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup butter 1/2 cup sugar 1 egg yolk 1 teaspoon vanilla 3 tablespoon milk Method: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Stir the dry ingredients together; flour, baking powder, salt. In a bowl, cream butter and sugar until creamy. Add egg yolk and vanilla and mix well. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk. Chill dough thoroughly for about 1 hour. Roll

Right out there in the middle of nowhere is this little watering hole. It is located under a tree right in the middle of a FELDA kampung. There are even reviews about this delicious item in various blogs and sites. Just google it and you will see. Well, I am lucky because I happen to be married to the guy whose kampung is the infamous FELDA Hutan Percha. So even when there are many outsiders who come from near and far to savor this famous and tasty grilled chicken in its special gravy cooked over open heat, the proprietor of the place is a neighbour and the community knows him well. It is a pride that Pak Hassan, but locally we know him as Pak Itam, has managed to put our humble neighbourhood on the map. Way to go Pak Hassan! It's open only on Fridays and Sundays, and I gotta tell you to be there by 4pm 'coz by 6:30pm they're all sold out. Also because it's so well known, be prepared to wait for a table, or for any take away orders. But, I assure you the wait is wo

The day before yesterday, I was at my favorite eating place having breakfast at 9am in the morning. As I was having my occasional 'nasi lemak', I saw 2 mothers walk in with a child each. They were friends who got together to have breakfast at the restaurant. Children being children, the two kids; one boy around 3 or 4 years of age and the girl, around 2 years old, immediately headed for the ice-cream freezer in the restaurant and they 'oohed' at the ice cream inside. The mother of the boy said "no" and went to sit down at a table with her son. The little boy looked up at her with tears in his eyes and with the most woeful look he could muster, ask his mother why he couldn't have any ice-cream. I respected the mother who kepted to her decision and gave her son an explanation as to why he couldn't have ice-cream. The mother of the little girl however, sat her daughter into the child seat at the table and proceeded to get an ice-cream cone from t

I was in the mood for something rich and chocolaty, yet different and discovered this wonderful cake. I added some orange zest from half an orange and got a tangy taste along with the chocolate that surprisingly goes very well indeed. It was worth making for a gift to some special people as well as for the commercial cakes I put up on consignment at the cafes. Here's the cake, which I made for some very special people this February, and I would like to say, "thank you and I most appreciate your support".... Doesn't the cake look so 'wanna eat'... I couldn't wait. For consignment, I made them into three layers with the chocolate frosting sandwiched in between the layers..... mmm heaven.. Here's the recipe:- The Cake 100 gms semisweet chocolate 50 gms dark chocolate 1/2 cup butter, softened 1 cup sugar pinch of salt 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon grated peel of 1 orange 6 eggs, separated 1 cup

This is a simple tart, but with an ensemble of fresh strawberries and blueberries, it is a welcome change to the desserts we normally get in this tropical country of ours. For the creative, other fruits can be used instead, for example, peaches. Great served with tea and a slice topped with whipped cream. Tart Base 1 cup plain flour ¼ cup butter, softened 2 tablespoon granulated sugar 2 egg yolks Sift flour onto a work surface. Make a well in the centre and put in all the other ingredients. Use your fingertips and work the ingredients together, then slowly bring in the flour from the edge until you get a dough paste. Wrap in cling wrap and chill for 30 minutes. Roll out dough on a floured surface and line the base and sides of a tart pan. Chill for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to Gas Mark 5. Line pastry case with parchment paper and fill with rice to weigh down the parchment. Bake about 12 minutes until lightly browned. Remove paper and bake a further 5 minutes u

This is the recipe for the Strawberry Cream Cake which came out in the February issue of Wanita. Because the cake is made from whipped cream, it makes a delicious base for this ensemble, and a grand entrance to be served on special occasions or for that special someone. For orders, I freeze it as soon as I make it, and right before delivery, or else the Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting will melt. This is a cake to be eaten fresh, cold and as a luxurious, rich dessert, ...so only for those who deserve a reward and have been keeping healthy. ;) For this cake, prepare the following and assemble as follows:- Whipped Cream Cake, see recipe below Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting, see recipe below 250 gms fresh strawberries, cleaned and sliced Spread the first layer of the Whipped Cream Cake with the frosting and top with sliced strawberries. Place the remaining layer on top and spread a thin layer of frosting on the sides. Put the remaining frosting in a piping bag with a large open sta

It was the moment I had been waiting for... at last the magazine was out in stands. I would like to thank Pine38 Restaurant, Bistro and Cafe, Bandar Baru Bangi for their recommendation to the editor of this monthly magazine to consider me for their feature. It was then up to me to impress them with my creations. After toiling in the kitchen, sleeping in the wee hours of the morning, and keeping my husband and son awake along with me for moral support as well as "muscle" power, I came up with and was satisfied with six recipes that I wanted to share. The journalist, Ms Ruhaya, told me that the recipes had to cater for a romantic theme and it would be for this month of February, and that I should include strawberries into the recipes. I must say I am impressed with the photos done by their photographer, Mr Zakaria Idris, as I have never seen the cakes so tempting and delicious even on paper. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity to share and learn. I now have new res

It's been a long time since I had a girls' get together with my two best friends. N recommended this new cafe at Jalan Tun Razak. It sounded familiar and when given the website, saw that the reason why, was that I would usually pass by it whenever I went to Bangsar Village. First impression, oh another restaurant that offers fusion food, but when N forwarded me the link that mentioned afternoon tea, that got my attention and I got her to make reservations and we decided to invite our best friend M and have a much needed girls' get together that weekend, or just now, this weekend that is. Priced on the website as RM49.90, when actually RM59.90 on the menu, it consist of three tiers of platters. The first one with finger sandwices - a couple of cucumber sandwiches and a couple of (I believe smoked) salmon sandwiches, two round shaped egg sandwiches garnished with a dash of caviar, and a small serving of duck confit. The second platter with scones served with foamy cream and

An old place with a new name. I went there just recently to visit relatives and decided to go there at 10pm after driving around looking for a decent place to eat dinner, except of course the local mamak, which we already went for lunch. We were hungry and before the kitchen closed at 11pm, we were very fortunate to be able to have an enjoyable meal there. The new name, "Serrano Grill House" was recently changed to suggest more Mexican types of offerings in terms of grilled dishes, so don't expect things like tacos or hot tamales, although the interior has a western bar look to it -- without the alcohol, and lots of paraphanelia of the famous 'tabasco' hot sauce, including a huge inflatable bottle of tabasco sauce near the entrance. It is a great place to bring the family; old and young, as the dishes consist of a variety of grilled cuisine to please any palate. The soups range from RM5.50 for the Creamy Mushroom Soup, the Crabmeat Soup to RM8.90 for the Ma

I had the urge for muffins, made from, not cake batter, but a gooey mixture of rich and fruit laden ingredients that would rise to the top, almost overflowing its paper receptacle with hot, molten goodness. I came upon a several recipes and came up with this delicious recipe that has a mixture of dry ingredients as a base, to be combined with a mixture of rich fruity flavor and spices, topped with more fruit flavor and crunchy texture that provides and caters to what I wanted in every bite; a soft, moist cake, yet biting into fruit, the crunchiness of nuts and the sweetness of caramelised brown sugar on the golden tops of each muffin. #1 The base: Mix all these dry ingredients together. 2 2/3 cups all purpose flour 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar 3 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt #2 The gooey flavor: Mix these ingredients to get a soft gooey paste. 2/3 cup butter, melted for 1 minute in the microwave 4 eggs 1/4 cup milk, more or less depending on gooey consi