Today's Lunch is....

** first and foremost, please allow me to say my blessing **

 I thank you, Oh Allah
For all the things we have today;
for our families and friends we love so much
for home, for food, for work and play,
I thank you,Oh Allah.


Ya Allah, syukur alhamdulillah di atas segala rezeki dan kurnia yang Engkau limpahkan kepada kami, ya Allah.  Segala rahmat, kasih sayang, ketenangan adalah di dalam kekuasaan-MU, hamba -MU ini bermohon berikan kami segala rahmat kasih sayang-MU, segala ketenangan zahir dan batin untuk hamba-MU ini.   Rahmatilah kami dengan lindungan kasih sayang-MU. 

Jadikanlah aku orang yang sentiasa bersyukur, ya Allah.  Amin. Amin. Amin.


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My 'Today's Lunch' series will commence.... today.. :)))

And lauks for lunch today are ..... ta daaaaa......

From front, clockwise : sambal telur (spicy hard boiled eggs), kari ayam (chicken curry), goreng tempe + ikan bilis (fried fermented soy beans  - betul ke ni?- and anchovies) and sayur campur (mixed stir fried vegetables).

Selamat menjamu selera, anak-anakku :))))

p/s : we don't usually cook this much for lunch on weekdays and that sambal telur is not supposed to be on the menu. .. but bibix blended way too much cili kering just now and our cili boh container can't hold all the blended cili .. so kenalah improvise sikit.. maka lahirlah sambal telur rebus tuuu.....

the borderless world... hello, my visitors!

One amazing and interesting thing I discover about blogging is that my blog (and other people's as well I'm sure) is read by people from all corners of the world.  People whom I don't know.  But of course most of my readers are people I know. (Thank you, dear friends and newfound blogger friends....)

I always like to check who read my blogs.   And it's always interesting to see where the non-friend visitors come from.  I've had visitors from Canada and some parts of America which I'm pretty sure I don't have any friends there.  A visitor from Mountain View, California who quite frequently visits my blog.. (hi there!)

And today, I have 2 visitors from places I've never heard before.  Kena check dengan Mr Google dulu. hehe.. One from Kosice, Slovakia (hi! :)) and another one from Harghita, Hungary (hello :)).

And one yet-to-know visitor from Nottingham.  

My Dutch friend, Djoemila regularly visits me too.. Thanks, Dj.. :)  ... cousin laili from washington..and Taha from Melbourne... and wawahebat dari india... hain dari warwick... and teman2 dari seberang .. dari Indonesia... angah dari minnesota... and others....

And of course all my friends cum visitors. Thank you for visiting my blog.  

And yet again, I wonder at the thing we call the Internet. It really is a marvelous tool - bringing people together and creating a borderless world.  But then, it all depends on how we want to use it ... untuk kebaikan atau kejelekan....  semuanya terpulang pada diri sendiri...  nak elok, jadilah elok and sebaliknya... in other words, WE make the rules, whether to use it for good or to destroy.  

Anyway, thanks again, guys for visiting my ... errr... sometimes-without-substance bloggie.... :)))

Nak order kek?

Bukan dari saya (I'm a total failure as far as baking cakes is concerned.. huhu... but I love cakes... ) tapi dari kawan saya yang pakar buat kek ni.  Her name is Ida and her chocolate moist is so delicious.  I love it .. it has just the right amount of moistness and the texture is just perfect for me.  

Check out the richness of the hot fudge.

It's rich without that cloying and over-the-top sugary tastes.

Senang cerita, perfectlah!! (pinjam bahasa budak2 jap) 
Okay, you guys can stop drooling now... hihi...

 

Totally delicious!

I've made a lot of friends and relatives happy and 

 10 kgs heavier (YES!!) with these choc moist cakes!!

 Another hot fave of mine is the 'sandwich' cake.  The Queen people calls it Victoria Sandwich.  Selalu order ini, besides the choc moist cake of course.

My fave sandwich cake is the one with strawberry jam (on the left).
The one on the right is chocolate.

 Yang ini pun saya selalu sangat order. Muffins.

Ada chocolate, strawberry, vanilla.

Bagus sangat untuk jadik buah tangan.

Besides her out-of-this-world choc moist cake, Ida also makes plenty of other equally tasty cakes.  Here are some of them.

Her marble cake pun sodappp!!

Kek untuk hantaran boleh kot ni...

A cute Barbie Doll cake for the girls...

 

 Cartoons inspired cakes for the kiddies.

Sure budak-budak suka ni...

 

 Another cute cake.

Shocking pink for the pink-crazy gals.
Ida suka kaler pink gamaknya ni.. :)))

 

 

Pure white cake for the errr... virgin bride? :D

Kek double-storey pun ada ni...

 

 That's Ida busy decorating her cake.

Always with a smile, Ida with one of her nine children.

Besides a 'cake boss', she's also a supermom!!

Kalau nak order, kat atas ni ada list kek2nya dengan harga sekali.

Ida's contact numbers are also on the list.

the making of crab curry

Personally I prefer masak lemak crab with nenas.. but hubby and kids prefer crab curry.  So, it looks like majority wins.  It's been ages since I cook masak lemak crab.  It's always crab curry nowadays... but I don't really mind coz I've not eaten crab for years because of health reason ~~ allergic to crabby maa... :)

So, it's crab curry again at home...



Cooking crab curry is just like cooking any other curries.. but I prefer my crab curry to be a little bit thick and drier than fish or chicken curry. 

The ingredients :onions, garlic, a few sprigs of curry leaves, 

cinnamon stick and some star anise.

 

My rather pathetic-looking karipuley tree.

Karipuley? Is that the correct spelling?

Anyway, that's a curry leaf tree. 

Crabs - I use ketam bunga or ketam renjung.

Santan or coconut milk - my santan is a little bit watery.

Curry powder. As far as curry powder goes, anything is okay for me.

I use the same type for my fish, chicken, beef, seafoods. 

Hentam saja maaa..... 

Add some water to the curry powder..

 

Blend the onions and garlics.

Some people just slice them up. Either way pun ok kot. 

 

Sautee the curry leaves, cinnamon and star anise.

Then add in the blended onion and garlic.

When the blended stuff is cooked, add in the curry paste

and cook it until 'pecah minyak'. Whatever that means... :)

I think it literally means till the oil come up to the surface 

and that shows the curry paste is properly cooked.

Then add in the crabby.

Sometimes I add in the coconut milk first.

Let it simmers for a few minutes - 3 or 4 minutes.

Then add in the coconut milk and let it simmers for another 5 minutes. 

Add salt to taste.

Dah siap!! Crabby curry ala simple.. :))))

Ingredientsnya :

* 4 ekor ketam bunga/renjung (cleaned and halved)

* 1 big onions (or 6-7 shallots)

*  2 sprigs of curry leaves 

* 4 tablespoons of curry powder (my fave is Baba's)

*  3 garlics

*  2 cinnamon sticks

* 2 star anise

* 1 cup of coconut milk (santan)

*  salt to taste

Methodnya :

* blend garlic and onions

* add some water to the curry powder, jadi curry paste

* tumis the cinnamon sticks and star anise

* then add in the blended garlic and onions and sautee till golden

* add in the curry paste and masak for a few minutes till it becomes aromatic or  orang melayu kata sampai naik minyak... ke pecah minyak? anyway...

*  add in the crabs and cook it for about 2 or 3 minutes or so...

* add in the santan and let it simmer for another 5 minutes

* add garam to taste

Easy eh? :))))

Marche - gerai makan ala Swiss

I think Marche the restaurant is the first of its kind in Malaysia.  Marche means 'market' in French but please take note 'market marche' is spelled with 'e tanda'.... tapi keyboard saya ni tak de 'e tanda'... Marche with 'e biasa' is actually a name of a place in France (now dah tak ada tempat tu..).

Anyway, the Marche we're talking about here is it the Swiss-based resto located in The Curve, Damansara.  I love the place coz it's so quaint and cosy.  (let's not talk about the price ya... scary topic tu..).

 A cute sign... but please take note it's not a girly place, okay. 

Everyone is welcomed here.. no discrimination.. :))

I guess everyone knows the drill here. But for the sake of those who haven't been here, here's how.  As you enter the resto, each of us will be given a 'passport' cam kat atas ni.  So, bila kita pergi pilih makanan kita, the price(s) will be stamped on the passport. When you're done with your dining, just present your passport to the cashier and pay for your own foods. 

I think this system is very good if you're eating with friends and you don't want to pay for them.. ahaks!! You know how cunning some friends are, right? They want to eat but they expect other people to pay for them. So, the next time you eat with such people, bring them to Marche!!

 

One section of the restaurant

 

My fave counter -  the spud counter.

They serve rosti and other spud stuff.. yum! 

This is one of their dessert counter...

Various types of bread with butter and preserves.

 

On the left are bread pudding and ice-cream.

On the right are pizza and rabbit foods...

 

The drink stations.

Plenty of nice and fresh fruit juices here.

 

Hot drinks pun ada.

RM3.50 for a cup of teh tarik... errr... 

Another favorite. The mushroom station.

Their sauteed mushroom sedap giler.

Love it much. Pernah sekali makan few bowls sampai mabuk.

So remember manna-mania, MODERATION is the name of the game ya... ! 

 

And their mushroom soup pun sedap.

It's so thick and tasty. Nothing like the one you get from the can.

Besides the foods shown above, they have many other stuff. chicken, fish, steak, lamb, veges, pasta and almost anything under the sun.  Tapi roti canai tak ada lah kat sini ya....  :))))

The restaurant's whereabout and number is : 

	The Curve, Mutiara Damansara, 47800 Petaling Jaya
	03 7728 9200

the making of cencaru sumbat ...

Ikan sumbat (fish stuffed with spices) is one of my family's favorite dishes.  And me thinks, the best fish for ikan sumbat is definitely ikan cencaru (the Internet says in English it's called Hardtail Scad and the Malaysians sometime call it ikan jacket because of its thick and hard skin... we sure are a creative lot...). 

Rasanya ada jugak orang buat ikan sumbat guna ikan kembung, but my ikan sumbat will always be ikan cencaru.

Okay, now here's how I make my ikan sumbat.

Ikan cencaru yang dah siap disiang.

I always remove the skin.

Make two incisions along the back of the fish.

One on each side of its tulang.

 Make sure you don't cut it all the way nanti kang terbarai pulak isi sumbatnya...

 

 The ingredients for the sumbat (stuffing) 

are fresh chillies, red onions and some lime.

 

And some grated coconut.

Blend them up.

 

Add in lime juice. This is optional actually.

You can do without the lime juice tapi it tastes much better with.

 

Then stuff the stuffing into the incisions.

 

My two cencarus are all nicely stuffed.

One of the fishes have been mutilated somewhat.

Ekor dah ilang kena potong sebab panjang sangat. :D

Okay... if the stuffing comes out while frying,

you can sort of 'bendung' the fish with daun pandan.

(tie or wrap up the fish with screwpine leaves so that the stuffing

 doesn't fall off while frying - which can happen at times).

 Fry the fish. Notice how the fish fits nicely in my oil?

That's the reason the tail has been unceremoniously cut.. huhu...

 

Okay, it's all done.

One last thing to do is smother the fish with kicap (dark soy sauce).

It makes the fish tastes 10000 times nicer.. to me lahhh... :)))

Best eaten immediately after it's fried.. YUMMY!!

 Okay, ni resipinya ya...

Bahan2 : 

*  2 ekor cencaru (2 hardtail scads) - I always cook 2 fishes, so this recipe is for two fishes lah.  If you wish to cook more, then please adjust the ingredients accordingly. Tq :)

*  one red onion (medium size). You can use shallots too - around 5-6 pieces

*  two fresh red chillies

* two limes

* a cup of grated coconut

* salt to taste

* dark soy sauce (kicap manis pekat - I love kicap Kipas Udang)

The method :

*  clean the fish and make the incisions along the back

* blend the onions, chillies and grated coconut

* squeeze in some lime juice (optional - leave this out in case you have serious case of gastric)

* stuff in the stuffing into the incisions .. careful now.  Make sure the stuffing stays inside the fish ya..

* if the stuffing keeps falling out, you may want to wrap the fish with daun pandan (screwpine leaves).  Besides keeping the stuffing intact, it also gives a nice aroma to the fish.

* fry the fish in hot oil for about 4-5 minutes each side.

* when done, remove fish from the oil.

* then smother some sweet dark soy sauce over the fish.

* EAT IMMEDIATELY! ;))))

Selamat mencuba, teman2 ....