Speakercl♥ud

Death

2011-08-21T16:37:00.000+08:00

"Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it."
— Haruki Murakami (Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman: 24 Stories)

I don't really think of it deeply but death scares me. I constantly remind myself of it and I accept it as a part of life but the actual act of dying scares me. The thought of not being able to see the people you love, the fear of not being able to make amends or taubat, the 'could have-s' and 'would have-s'. I simply cannot comprehend how those who know exactly when and how they're going to die can cope with the fact that will in fact cease to exist and not experience what others will continue to. Won't everything seem depressing? Or is it that I'm just overly emotional?

I befriended someone online right about last month. We started out by sending each other messages through Tumblr and we eventually moved on to Skype. She lives in the UK though so our conversations were muted, late night calls in the spare room. She told me she was terminally ill in her messages. I didn't think too much of it then since I thought it was impolite for a random stranger to grill her on the depressing details of her disease. She might not want to talk about it since you know, it is something that will eventually kill her.

I can't remember how the conversation progressed but during the second Skype call with her, I finally asked what's wrong with her. She said her lungs are dying and she most probably have 3 years left before her lungs fail completely. It's frightening how calm and casual her answer was. She explained that it has gotten bad recently that she can't even go outside in fear of an infection. She goes on the webcam to attend her classes (she's 18 so she's in college). Right now, she's in the hospital with an oxygen mask on, still cheerful as ever. She told me too that she wants to at least finish her degree before her lungs finally give out. She has 3 years to live and she still wants to receive a degree which she will never get to use in the end. She's plagued by the ugliness of death and all she sees is the beauty of life.

I do have another friend who shares the same fate except that he's more unpredictable. He has been receiving treatment for brain tumour I think for the last 3 or 4 years and he's prepared that any operation he goes through might be his last. Still, the little piece of work is as positive as a goddamn cation.

These people continue to amaze and inspire me at the same time. Don't waste away something as beautiful as life. We live a blessed and privileged life and when it does let you down, always remember that there is nothing Allah tests us with that we cannot handle. Praise Allah the Almighty.

It's probably not entirely appropriate but I would like to quote a line from one of my favourite movies, Hawking:

We are very very small. But we are profoundly capable of very very big things.

-- Stephen Hawking (Hawking, 2004 - played by Benedict Cumberbatch)

Salam Ramadhan

2011-08-09T16:00:00.000+08:00

I just feel like using felt-tip pens really.

A week has passed but better late than never eh? Ramadhan wishes to all :) Let us celebrate the coming days with lots and lots of ibadah and sedekah, and may we all be blessed with good health to do so by Allah S.W.T, amin.

Prayers to Malaysians and everyone affected by the riots in London since the past weekend. It seems that the world is forever in a state of unrest as of late. So many stories of famine and suffering in the news, whether it's in East Africa, the Middle East or Europe. Can we still have faith in humanity, I wonder.

Recipe: Spiced Roasted Chicken

2011-07-21T16:35:00.000+08:00

I'm experimenting a lot with chicken lately. My mum has this habit of having me cook chicken as I like when she doesn't know what to cook. So far, I've tried 2 styles of grilled chicken, 3 styles of roasted chicken and a chicken pilaf, not including variations. I've made sandwiches, quesadillas, chicken salad, wraps and whatnot with the cooked chicken. You can tell chicken is a favourite in this household. I've taken a liking for chicken breasts lately, I usually go for the legs. Never too late to start eating a tad more healthily, I suppose.

This is a little tweak from a previous recipe I've used. A month ago (-ish?), I roasted a chicken using a Chicken Kofta spice mix, followed the recipe on the box and everything. Boy, was it hot. Should have expected it from a Pakistani spice mix bought in Pakistan (my dad travelled a lot a couple of years back). The spices were too strong for me and it gave an ominous dark colour to the chicken. It's more to an evil colour than an uninviting colour.

While making this experimental recipe, I tried to replicate the same flavour profile in my head. Or rather in my tastebuds. It was slightly milder and it gave a rather pleasing dark brown tinge to the bird. I'm rather pleased with it but I'll continue improving the recipe anyway. It desperately needs a better name too.

Spiced Roasted Chicken
Serves: 4-6

1 whole chicken, cut into quarters or spatchcocked

Marinade:
2 tsp ground cumin (jintan putih)
2 tsp ground coriander (ketumbar)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (kulit kayu manis)
2-3 tsp chilli flakes
2 tsp dried parsley
3 large garlic cloves, grated or chopped
1 inch ginger, grated or chopped
2-3 tbsp honey
A dash of balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp yoghurt
1 cup olive oil
1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp salt

Clean the chicken thoroughly. Trim excess fat but leave most of the skin on. Cut slits into the meatiest part of the breasts and leg to ensure faster cooking. Let the chicken air-dry in a colander before marinating.
Mix all the ingredients for the marinade in a bowl until it comes to a pourable consistency. Add a bit more oil if the marinade turns out too thick.
Combine the marinade with the chicken. Massage it slightly and leave to marinate in the fridge for an hour minimum.
Pan in the chicken in a baking tray. Bake in a 200-220°C oven for 45-50 minutes. Serve with pilaf rice and fresh lettuce.

Obviously, there's not a lot of people who have balsamic vinegar in their pantry so you may substitute that with lemon juice. I use fresh yoghurt but you may use those yoghurt tubs from Nestle. If you don't want to buy dried parsley, you may not include it all together. I'll try using fresh parsley next time, see how that works. There will be leftover marinade so add some water and a dash of evaporated milk before heating it up on the hob to make a sauce or kuah. A tip I learned from culinary school: use 2 to 3 teaspoons of salt to 1 whole chicken. That will ensure even the thickest part of the breasts will receive enough seasoning.

I'm dumping a how to spatchcock a chicken video here for good measure. I really love spatchcock chicken, they don't dry out as easily as quartered parts and they're easier to cook than a whole bird.

Leftovers from this recipe can be used to make sandwiches and lettuce wraps. Either shred, slice or cut the chicken into cubes and eat them with minted yoghurt and cucumber.

I need more fish recipes. I really like boneless fish fillets and I have some smoked salmon left from my last stint of making yet another pasta dish. God, what I'd give to have ikan bakar dipped in air asam right now.

Lethargy

2011-07-19T01:31:00.000+08:00

I'm oddly tired today. Slept the afternoon off. I'm not feeling too well to be honest, my nose is constantly asleep and my feet still hurt from yesterday's reception. I'm confused and annoyed at how tired I am today.

Yes, my brother got married.

Well, he's been legally married for more than a week, we're just celebrating it yesterday. 11 years of courtship. Wowza. I can't even maintain a friendship for that long. Then again, I'm not particularly known to be persistent in anything.

I would describe yesterday's kenduri as quite-- lavish. But what the heck, it's his wedding and he can do whatever he damn pleases. I quite like his little montage. Awesome videography. Sort of in an indie film-ish style. The content however is laughable. Well, me and my sisters thought it was funny and gross at the same time but hey, that's what siblings do. We laugh at sappy video montages and photobomb our brother's wedding photos. As difficult it is to admit, the reason we sneered and jeered at it is because my brother actually has the balls to show everyone how in love he is with my sister-in-law. I nearly gagged typing that up but yes, we are really just bitter people who scoff at the blissfully in love and the hopeless romantics. In my case, I'm a wolf in sheep's clothing, since I have been told I'm a hopeless romantic myself.

Anyway, the reception went well. The food's great, a lot of relatives came and we snapped a lot of photos. There was at least 3 or 4 professional photographers, my brother's friends I reckon. The ones I took had nothing to do with the wedding. We just got bored and my sisters and I started to make a fool out of ourselves by posing all lala and shit. Sarah even had the colour contact lenses on for extra effect HAH. I need to get around putting captions on those pictures. People might not know we were being ironic. The horror!

I didn't take the picture. I had a laughing fit.

I'm watching Deathly Hallows Part 2 tomorrow. The amount of spoilers in Tumblr is unbearable. I cannot go through my dashboard for Cumberbatch goodness in peace. It's been 2 days, I am terribly Cumberbatch-deprived!

Hunger

2011-07-05T00:19:00.000+08:00

I confess, Michael Fassbender put me up to it but it is honestly a pretty good movie. It's about the 1981 Irish hunger strike. It won a Bafta and a Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. I'm at part 6 still, watching a 90 minute movie in YouTube can be a bit... challenging.

Now, I realize this movie is not for everyone. I just have very queer tastes in movies and music. According to my sister, the movie is very quiet. Very minimal dialogue going on. There's also the occasional nudity, male nudity nonetheless. I made my sister close her eyes whenever those come on haha. She couldn't stand watching it after a while anyway due to the lack of dialogue. I for one, appreciate these things. I think that's why I can't stand loud ~~people~~ places and crowds.

I'm replacing the fasting days I've missed during last year's Ramadhan. It's easier said in Malay really; saya tengah ganti puasa. I've missed 10 days but I've replaced 6 already. I'm gonna fast again tomorrow. It's a really good way to stop me from eating too much at home.

Source: bigapplenosh

I am craving hot dogs. Darn, I need to get some soon. Maybe a Coney Dog from A&W. Or a Chicago Beef from 1901. This is not helping, my mouth waters from the mere mention of these dogs.

Recipe: Baked Pasta

2011-07-02T18:27:00.002+08:00

This recipe has gone through a lot of tweaking and adjustments. The original recipe had sour cream, chucked that out. We used to add chilli paste when making the tomato sauce, replaced that with chilli flakes. We alternate between ground beef and chicken chunks, depending on what thaws faster haha. We throw in whatever vegetables available in the fridge if we want vege in it. More or less, it's like a seasonal dish. This recipe is simply a guide with some suggestions thrown in for the domestically challenged. Just have fun with it.

An early warning though-- I suck at measurements.

Baked Pasta with Meat Sauce & Cream Cheese
Yield: 2 casserole dishes/3 loaf tins

A
Dried pasta (eg. penne, macaroni, conchiglie, farfalle, spirals- any short cut pasta)
Boiling water
1-2 heaped teaspoon salt

Boil pasta according to the packet. Cook until al dente (cooked through but slightly chewy).
Drain in a colander. Mix in a little bit of oil to the pasta to ensure they don't stick. Leave to cool.

My method of figuring out how much pasta I need is pretty odd. Take your casserole dish/loaf tin and pour in the dried pasta to about 1/4 of the height of it. That amount will double after it's cooked.

The key to good, al dente pasta every time is always make sure the water is rapidly boiling before adding the salt. Although, I've read articles saying you can boil pasta in cold water but I've never tried it myself. The inner culinary student in me shudders at the thought of going against the golden rule of boiling pasta. Salt-wise, the Italians say put in enough salt so the water tastes like sea water. I say, 2 heaped teaspoons of salt to 2 liters of water is good enough. I never saw the point of putting in oil into the pasta while boiling since it won't stick anyway, so add drops of oil after draining it. Ideally, let the pasta cool first before adding oil but it's fine either way.

B (Meat sauce)
1 large onion, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 tbsp chilli flakes
1 tsp dried herbs (oregano/basil/thyme)
1/2 tsp ground cumin (serbuk jintan putih)
1/2 tsp ground coriander (serbuk ketumbar)
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon (serbuk kayu manis)

1 tray ground beef or 2 pieces boneless chicken breast, cut into small dices
2 tins chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
Salt, pepper, sugar to taste

Additional ingredients:
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg (serbuk buah pala)
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 red/green/yellow capsicum, cut into medium dices

1 large carrot, cut into medium dices

A handful of sliced mushrooms (white button, swiss brown, oysters etc.)

6 large fresh tomatoes, chopped - in place of tinned tomatoes

A handful of fresh basil, roughly chopped

Heat up a fairly large pot. Add some olive oil and on medium heat, sauté the onions until soft and translucent. Add garlic, chilli flakes, herbs and spices. Stir constantly to avoid the spices from being burnt.
Add in the ground beef or chicken chunks. Crank up the heat to high. This is to allow the meat to brown. Control the heat at this point, we want to sear the meat but we don't want the aromatics to burn either.
Turn the heat to medium and stir in the tomatoes and tomato paste. Add around 600ml of water or stock. Simmer gently until the sauce is slightly reduced. If it's too watery, continue to simmer until it reaches desired consistency.
Season liberally with salt, pepper and sugar.

This is a hearty, robust meat sauce, thanks to the spices. I usually make this for lasagna or pasta bolognese. Alternatively, if you prefer a lighter, fresher-tasting sauce, opt for a simple tomato sauce. Follow the above recipe, omitting the spices and replace the chilli flakes with 1-2 red chillies, chopped finely. You may or may not use the additional ingredients; the point of this whole dish is to use whatever that's available at the time. You don't have to go out of your way to buy a carrot at Tesco.

A note worth pointing out, I grind the meat at home with a food processor. The texture is chunkier and I know what cut of meat I'm putting in. My mum buys topside, which is a pretty lean cut. If you're unsure of these things, just buy pre-minced meat from Carrefour, Tesco, Giant or Mydin. Don't go for the tubed Ramli minced meat though, those are rubbish.

1 box of Kraft's Philadelphia Cream Cheese

Whole milk

Using a blender, mix the cream cheese and milk together. Blend until it comes to a pourable consistency.

What, cream cheese is too expensive? You may make yourself a bechamel sauce or just use cream. Too lazy either way? Don't put any creamy element at all then, it's fine. Mozzarella may be substituted with mild Cheddar or any stringy cheese. I doubt that anyone would go for Gruyère over Mozzarella anyway.

Right, we have the pasta of baked pasta down. Now, the baked part. Layer a casserole dish with cooked pasta, until it reaches about half of its height. Pour in the sauce and cream cheese. Top with mozzarella cheese. Bake in a 200°C oven until the cheese is melted and slightly browned.

There you have it; a delicious, steaming hot pasta bake to replace boring old spaghetti with Prego tomato sauce. The lack of pictures is regrettable but fear not, I shall take a few the next time I get around making it.

Music of my life

2011-06-28T22:41:00.001+08:00

I associate events and people to music. A certain song might be playing at a given time or it might be a song I was replaying over and over again in Windows Media Player (used to use this when I was in school) or iTunes (current player). I don't know if I'm the only one who does it but I've come to hate certain songs because of this habit. I don't hate the song itself, I just hate the subject I connected it with. So, every time this song comes on, I'll skip. I don't delete them, I just skip. Maybe deep down, I'm waiting for the unpleasant memory to disappear over time. An example of such songs is Kotak - Masih Cinta. Someone I kind of hate used to have it as a caller ringtone so I can't really listen to it without the person popping up into my head. Skipped until further notice.

Of course, there are songs that bring back awesome memories. The Killers' Mr. Brightside reminds me of the first time I went to Japan. I was 14 and I didn't have an MP3 player back then so I made a mix CD to play on my CD player during my 2 week stay. I just realized how old it makes me to have made a mix CD haha. Not as old as people who had mixtapes but still, old. Anyway, the CD had Mr. Brightside, a bunch of old Orange Range stuff and a bit of other things. I think I still have it somewhere. The trip was so memorable, I still remember what I did daily with my foster family during my stay with them and it was 6 years ago.

Mr. Brightside also reminded me of a boy I had a crush on. Silly old secondary school crushes. They're horrible moments of your teenage life but a hilarious recollection when reminisced. So there you go, Mr. Brightside is a song that comes with a montage of Japan and a boy I used to secretly look at whenever he passes by my class.

I recently discovered this song but I will forever associate this song to David Tennant HAHAHAHA. I'm watching too much Nevermind the Buzzcocks.

Currently, there are about 630 songs in my iTunes. These are the songs I like or have liked all my life. No joke. I tried adding every single song I had in my old playlists from over 10 years ago into this laptop. Obviously, not everything made it into the cut; there are some songs I don't bother to re-download or re-rip but a huge portion of the songs I listened to back then is still in my current playlist. Yeah, I know 630 songs isn't much considering the thousands people have in their iPods nowadays but hey, I rather have quality songs over a shitload of crappy songs.

I need more Beatles in my playlist. Disappointingly lacking in that area.

Obsessed? God no.

2011-06-23T01:04:00.001+08:00

The montage makes a man.

I watched X-Men again today. I wish I wasn't this obsessed but I am. You know what, I feel like watching it again. And again. And again til I shoot Fassbender and McAvoy from every crevice of my body. Yeah, that didn't make sense. God, why do I have so much Fassbender and McAvoy in my laptop.

First things first, why the hell isn't there a 3D version of it? I cannot fathom the logic behind the non-existence of a 3D screening of X-Men: First Class. Don't make me buy a Blu-Ray version of it when I don't even have a BR player. Can you imagine how much money you can squeeze out with a 3D screening? MILLIONS I TELL YOU, MILLIONS. I People would pay good money to watch Fassbender speak French/Spanish/German/cute accented English. ~~What do you mean that's not what X-Men's about, he's MF-ing Magneto, he can just lie down butt naked in a meadow and be nominated for a MF-ing Oscar and win it LIKE A BOSS.~~

The movie scores major points in bromance. McAvoy needs to make movies with only Fassbender from now on. Anything else would be redundant.

The good news is, it takes my mind off of waiting for Sherlock and wanting to continue with Doctor Who S06. Not sure if it's the best news though.

I regret NOTHING.

Accents & dialects

2011-06-15T23:41:00.002+08:00

I have a pet peeve. Well, I have lots of them but the others don't bother me as much. I might be a tad elitist because of this but I'm forever annoyed at people who hold their chef knives or knives bigger than a paring knife like... how Cumberbatch holds it in this video:

I can't find Alton Brown's example of The Accuser technique so there you are.

My mum does this, my sister does this, Nigella Lawson does this-- SERIOUSLY PEOPLE. You don't need to be trained in a culinary school. Grip the bloody knife at the base. It is irritating that people waste time cutting because they're holding their knives wrong.

This is how you hold a knife.

Proper knife holding techniques are important. Trés importante. If you wonder how chefs can slice through mounds and mounds of onions without breaking a sweat, this is why. Just by a simple grip, you can save time and energy. Do yourself (and me) a favour and start holding your knives properly. Be a man. Do the right thing.

I just suddenly thought of this when I was watching the Cumberbatch video. Twitter can do so much for me but it has this 140-words limit so yeah. The perils of micro-blogging, I know.

I want to talk about accents and dialects.

In linguistics, an accent is a manner of pronunciation peculiar to a particular individual, location, or nation.

-- Accent, Wikipedia

Dialect refers to differences in accent, grammar and vocabulary among different versions of a language.

-- Accent and Dialect, dailywritingtips.com

So basically, accents refers to how certain words are pronounced of the same language in different areas. And let me tell you, I love men with accents. Love them to bits. British accent, Irish accent, Scottish, Australian-- heck, I even find a mild Southern accent kind of charming at times. Of course, this is not limited to English speakers. The Japanese have Kansai-ben, super adorable. The Koreans have the Gyeongsang dialect though it is much frowned upon, thus why a lot of the celebs from Busan tend to suppress their accent. The Malays have the Kedah, Kelantanese and Terangganese dialect. And no, I did not just make Terangganese up, it's from Wikipedia.

My response to men with accents. Marshall is too cute in this.

While the rest of the world think people with certain accents are from some savage backwater town with low IQ ~~though I might be wrong~~, I find them all horribly and strangely, attractive. They fascinate me. It's like, here I am speaking standard Malay and English and lo behold, you speak queer but amazing Malay and English! By the way, I do mean queer in the most pleasant ways. But you know what's more amazing; when they can switch accents! Awesome!

Unfortunately, even though I studied in Terengganu for 2 years (minus 2 semesters of industrial training), I didn't manage to learn the dialect completely. The accent comes out once in a while but it only seem to when I'm with friends from the east coast. Somehow.

You know what would be awesome, a guy who knows all the major Malay dialects AND fluent in the Queen's English. Perfection jacked up to a million, he is. Or not harhar. Note to self: Find someone with a British accent. Not necessarily from Britain, just someone who speaks posh English.

Tonight at 2 a.m, there's going to be a full moon eclipse. I don't think I can see it from the balcony slash open storage room at the back of my room. I wish I could though.

Dull

2011-06-12T00:50:00.002+08:00

Watson: People don't have arch-enemies.

Sherlock: I'm sorry?

Watson: In real life. There are no arch-enemies in real life. It doesn't happen.

Sherlock: Doesn't it? Sounds a bit dull.

Watson: So do real people.

Sherlock: What do real people have, then, in their real lives?

Watson: Friends. People they know, people they like, people they don't like. Girlfriends, boyfriends.

Sherlock: Like I was saying, dull.

Sherlock (BBC) S01E01- A Study in Pink

Dull, dull, dull; it's been so dull and boring lately. Sarah's phone beeps more than mine does and she's still in school with friends living the farthest at Puchong at most. Not that I want people texting me, just saying I'm not doing any attempt to socialize either. As if that will bring excitement-- doesn't matter anyway.

I need something to be happy about. Not the usual short bursts of delirium, I want it to be consistent. The kind of happy that makes me want to smile in the morning. I want to be ridiculously optimistic and happy, my face becomes an open invitation for suckerpunches. I've had people telling me I should get a boyfriend. The thing is, I'm rubbish at it and that was just in the process of forging a relationship, not being in a relationship. It's just not my thing yet I suppose. I wish it was my thing though, it'd be easier to figure out what gets me off. I really miss my school days. I was happy for the simplest things in life. Now, I'm just indifferent. I don't hate my life, nor am I extremely happy with it. I'm thankful for it at least.

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-06-10T16:26:00.002+08:00

Doctor Who, James McAvoy, Cumberbatch. I blame these for my laziness. Now that Tumblr is 100x more sexy, it is only fitting my bookmark tab is full of Tumblr links. By the way, this entry will be pun-tastic. Watch out for my horrible attempts at being funny by altering song names and lyrics.

I've had this recipe probably since I was 15. It just works and-- well, back then we didn't have a decent oven for me to try out other recipes so, I just stuck with this one. It has salty undertones, a bit like Famous Amos cookies but obviously not as good. If you pan teaspoonfuls worth of dough batter (around 10g), you'll get crisp chocolate chip cookies. If you prefer crisp and chewy cookies, you're better off using the tablespoon (around 15g) to portion out the dough batter. I used a measuring spoon to this, it's easier in my opinion but you may use whatever you see fit. These cookies are super awesome with a glass (or 2) of ice cold milk. Never ate one without in fact.

I want to eat you, pretty yummy thing.

Yield: 55 x 15g cookies

A
150 g castor sugar
165 g brown sugar
225 g butter (preferably unsalted), softened
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs

B
310 g all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt*
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
335 g chocolate chips/dark chocolate, chopped**

*If you're using salted butter, reduce to 1/2 tsp.
**You may use chopped dark/milk/white/semi-sweet chocolate in place of chips.

Reheat the oven to 180°C. Combine butter, castor sugar and brown sugar in a large bowl. Cream until light and fluffy.

This is how light and fluffy looks like.

Add vanilla and continue beating. Reduce mixer speed to 1 and add in the eggs one at a time, making sure each egg is well incorporated before adding the next.

I cannot stress this enough. PLEASE mix the eggs WELL. It makes a difference.

In a different bowl, mix together ingredients B (except chocolate chips). Fold in the flour mixture gradually into the batter until just combined.

Fold and fold and fold and fold and fold..

Lastly, stir in the chocolate chips, again careful to not overmix the dough. Refrain from eating too much cookie dough so that you actually have some left to bake.

I used Hershey's 'cause Hershey's is awesome. Awesomely expensive.

Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Pan out tablespoons of dough onto the tray, making sure there's enough space for the dough to spread during baking.

Insufficient space = Siamese twins cookies. Enuff said.

Bake for 10-15 minutes in the oven...

Smells like Awesome.

.... and voila, COOKIES!--OMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOM.

Totally abusing my Retro Camera app.

Let's have variations shall we? If you're a psychotic chocolate lover, you may add in cocoa powder (replace 15 g flour with 15 g cocoa powder), milk chocolate chips and chopped dark chocolate. I've once added milk chocolate chips and 2 kinds of dark chocolate (70% and 90% cocoa). If you think that's not chocolatey enough, please seek medical help. Nuts are okay too-- pecans, walnuts, almond nibs, hazelnuts, macadamia; anything that's available around the house or your local grocers, just crush or coarse chop them and chuck 'em in with the chocolate chips. Unsure about cashews and peanuts though. You may experiment with dried fruits too. Dried apples might be nice, dried strawberries too.

I need to use my dad's camera next time I'm documenting recipes. Phone cameras suuuuuuuck.

Damn it!

2011-06-03T01:56:00.002+08:00

For the record, Daleks are BLOODY annoying. No wonder the Doctor hates them.

This.... is an evil logo.

Oh woe, oh woe, I am watching the longest running sci-fi television show in the world. And as of now, I not only watch it, I goddamn google it too. Damn you Moffat and Gatiss. Damn you lot to hell! ~~but not really since I need Sherlock S2 from you two. And poor you, you're not even the ones who created the series.~~

It's no use telling what it is about because I don't know what it is about. Sure, the Doctor is a nameless, shape-shifting (? appearance shifting?) alien slash time traveller who uses a police box to travel through time and has a screwdriver.. weapon thing with a bulb on the other end but the episodes are all so random. Moffat and Gatiss might as well have chosen what to write about based on a couple of flash cards picked from a hat. I still reckon they did do that.

I just finished with the 3rd episode of season 5 (the 11th Doctor-- yes, there has been 11 of them). It's too soon to be sure but I think I might like this series.

Is it my never-ending fascination for all things British? Is it my inclination to watch shows from the UK so to relive memories of spending my holidays there? Or is it that I'm just passing time to wait for dear old Cumberbatch to return in Sherlock S2? I may never know. Although, I do miss Cumberbatch; and I just watched Hawking yesterday.

Hipster!Cumberbatch is quite becoming.

This blog is turning into an ode to everything Cumberbatch. A recipe shall be posted tomorrow to make all of this disappear.

Smitten and oh-so productive

2011-05-31T01:45:00.000+08:00

I have a folder called Cumberbatched in My Documents. Am I smitten, head over heels in love? HELL YES I AM ♥ ~~though not in a way I would like it to be 'cause this is like high school years all over again.~~

I'm still jobless. Menanam anggur, NEET, whatever whatchamacallit, I'm as useless as a chindogu. My day starts at 10 am, thanks to my inability to go to sleep before 2 am. After that, I'll proceed with the following:

Help with lunch,
Eat lunch,
Nap or read a book,
Watch TV,
Help with tea,
Have tea,
Help with dinner,
Eat dinner,
More TV,
Turn on laptop/Fiddle with phone
Look for Cumberbatch/FB/Tweet/Blog-- in short, various online activities,
Possibly sleep before 2 am,
Repeat the next day.

On odd days, I'll go out for lunch or shop. This is of course, my preferred style of living if money grows on trees or has the ability to reproduce asexually in my purse. Don't get me wrong, I'll moan and complain not having a job but in no way do I want to work part time in a hotel. The hours are terrible, the pay is terrible, stress level would be off the charts, I won't get weekends off most of the time; you name it. The only consolation you will get from working there are that the work environment is awesome and you can eat yum-tastic food for free.

Why am I suddenly so reluctant to work? Maybe it's because I lost the only reason why I want to go back there.

Or not HAH. Lazing around at home is just too much fun.

No Sherlock tonight

2011-05-28T01:40:00.000+08:00

OR ANYTIME SOON FOR THAT MATTER.

I miss you already Cumberbatch :'(

A Matter of Tastes

2011-05-26T02:46:00.000+08:00

Source: fyeahsherlock

I am officially....

Source: fyeahsherlock

I have very odd and varied tastes in men.

Out of sight

2011-05-26T01:24:00.001+08:00

Out with the laydeeeeeeessss today. Said laydees: Nanas & Qis. Yes, I will refer you as Qis here if you are reading this post by chance.

We went to the Curve-Ikano-Cineleisure. We might be the only people I know who actually prefers the Curve over O-U, Mid Valley and other superbly crowded malls. It has a sufficient amount of deadness (Cineleisure at least). It's empty but not creepy empty like Summit. It was supposed to be a lunch-and-movie thing but it ended up being a just-lunch thing. Qis wanted to watch Thor but ~~unfortunately it was not THOR'S DAY~~ the earliest show is at 6.30pm. Well, the only show as a matter of fact. I haven't watched it myself but I'm not too eager and so was Qis. Nanas watched it so whatever. Onward to lunch.

@ The Curve, above T.G.I

I swore the last time I saw Vivo, it was near Bubba Gump. I stand corrected. I need Lasik sooner than I thought it seems. We had pizza and some calamari & onion rings. Sorry, nada pictures of the food. I was SUPER hungry and when the food came, I gobbled them down as fast as I can, hot and all. Starter and pizza (Italian Deluxe) were so-so. The pie had shiitake mushrooms instead of the usual buttons. As much as I like shiitakes in my sizzling black pepper chicken rice, they were a bit too overpowering for me on the pizza. And to think they just added slivers of mushroom on it. The prawn pizza looked nice though, might give that a go sometime in the future.

Did I tell you we like to go to the C-I-C trinity? Yes? You wanna know why? Because it has DAISO. What is Daiso? Only the most awesome shop with crap you don't need (like a zig-zag banana cutter) but end up buying anyway just for the sake of buying something (...since you know, I might want to eat my bananas cut in a zig-zag fashion...). Fine, it has other places like Borders and the 2nd hand magazine shop but Cineleisure, some restaurants, Ikea and Daiso are the main attractions to us.

Well, before we headed to Daiso, we had Shimino crepes first at Ikano (renamed to IPC).

Excuse the quality. The freaking stall had LED lights for a signage.

I can't seem to order anything else when we do go to Shimino. I had my usual banana, chocolate and vanilla ice cream crepe. Qis got the strawberry crepe (I think) and Nanas had the one with chocolate cake in it. Crepes ranges from RM6.90-RM9.90. Add-ons from RM0.50-RM1.00.

I think it was the strawberry crepe lol. I can't tell from the picture.

Human may seem more normal than she really is. The crepe, however is as delishus as pictured.

More money spent on food, it's time to spend it on crap I don't need woooooo (money going in < money going out = OTL). I was tempted to buy a 'chignon tool' (that little piece of bendy plastic for hairbuns) but refrained from doing so. I don't think I'm keeping my hair long.. for long. Borders was next. I've bought my fair share of books lately so I didn't buy anything there either. Heck, I'm only 40% into the Valhalla Exchange and I have the full HP series and Grimm Brothers' to read soon. A few more stops at the Body Shop, Watson's, Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks (I wanted to try the XXL Crispy Chicken. Note to self: don't go for spicy) and the 2nd hand magazine shop, we headed home. I told my mum I won't take long when I left the house at 1 pm. I arrived home at 6 harhar.

I'm bored to death when I don't go out but when I do, I spend a ton of money on food. The only way to not spend money and eat a lot is to work. Do I... want to work? Do I really want to wake up at 6 am to go to work? Do I really want to spend my weekends in the kitchen? Do I really want to have only one day off each week? Do I, do I?

Well, money going in > money going out does sound good....

Put your paws up

2011-05-25T00:27:00.000+08:00

I just wanna be myself,
And I want you to love me for who I am,
I just wanna be myself,
And I want you to know, I am my hair.

-- Hair, Lady Gaga

Review: Capricciosa, Sunway Pyramid

2011-05-24T18:09:00.000+08:00

I don't know why but there seems to be an influx of Japanese restaurants serving... well, not-Japanese food, vaguely-Japanese food and supposedly-Japanese-because-it-has-Japanese-in-the-description food. Some are mehh (Gomei Express-- ok fine, it's Japanese fast food), some are overpriced (Pasta de Gohan, Pasta Zanmai) and some are kinda good like Capricciosa. Dare I say it, Capricciosa might be better than Italiannies. Seeing that the latter is more Italian than the former, it is quite an accomplishment for a Japanese Italian restaurant or as the name goes, Ristorante Italiano. Insert wiggling eyebrows here. Anyway, I went there with Ana (sister) for lunch just now.

Ristorante Italiano Capricciosa Pasta & Pizza. Say that 10 times as fast.

They made a good first impression. The hostess was okay-ish, not as friendly as T.G.I's or Bubba Gump's but we could live with it. At the table, the waiter suggested the specialties, showed us what's popular, explained some of the dishes to us. Good effort. Not a lot of restaurants do that anymore so it was nice to have a knowledgeable and friendly server. I say good effort since I'm a culinary student and I'm cocky like that harhar (~~Abang, ragu sauce tu meat sauce laa).~~

Hello delishus pasta, meet my mouth.

I ordered Fettucine with Clams and Mussels-- fresh Fettucine mind you. Ana ordered Spaghetti with Mushrooms ~~DRENCHED~~ in Tomato Cream sauce.

More like Tomato Cream sauce with spaghetti. Ease up on the sauce, will ya?

We split a Rice Croquette Sicilian style (a.k.a Arancini), not pictured here. For an appetizer, it was pretty fulfilling. Not surprising since it's a deep fried, softball-sized rice croquette stuffed with oozy mozzarella on meat sauce. I'm hungry just after typing that up.

I'm super satisfied on the pasta selections. There's the basics (Carbonara, Bolognaise or meat sauce, Alfredo, Aglio Olio) and there's the odd ones like squid ink sauce, pesto sauce. They've got risotto, gratin, lasagnas and pizzas. I would probably try the pizza and risotto in the future. They have bottomless drinks which is a major A++ in my book. Bottomless as they are, they come super-sized.

Super-sized ILT.

Capricciosa is affordable. I will not say cheap or expensive. Expensive for me is Italiannies and cheap for me is homemade. I might be biased when it comes to the price because I'm the type who'd rather spulrge a bit more on meals than clothes. Pasta and fresh pasta ranges from RM11.90-RM26.90. Big portions, though this may vary on how much you eat regularly. I'd say decently-portioned. Appetizers from RM8.90-RM13.90 I think. They have an a la carte menu which I don't really know the difference between the regular pasta menu. The desserts selection is mehh. If I wanted sweets, I'd go to other places.

Overall, it was okay. I'd go there if I wanted to eat weird-ish pasta which I'm too lazy to make my own. Service is excellent, atmosphere is tolerable (the music's too loud says my sister), food is good and it's not overly crowded at lunch time (yet). I heard they give out discounts to Sunway U students so that's another A+. Now if they would be smart enough to give out general student discounts.....

Until next time, PEACE OUT!

The Revival

2011-05-24T00:48:00.000+08:00

Yes, I'm updating this place. Solely because I want to post this:

Source: 2pmalways

..... whoever you are, Mr Art Director of Arena Homme, I give you my ♥ and probably my first born for this. You are the mothertrucking Picasso of the magazine. More please :D

Ok ok, this is supposed to be a blog about food ~~although Nichkhun IS a fine piece of delicious man-meat~~ so it shall be.

I might start writing up some recipes too. I'll try to consistently update this thing since I'm a NEET for now.

Biscotti

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ugh, as much as I love making these, I suck at cut-out cookies.

Red Velvet Cuppacakes beeeeeeetches. With Mascarpone cream.

I think this was Vichyssoise (Vi-chi-swaz)

Thai Seafood Stew? For the life of me, I can't recall any of dishes we made in class last year.

'Til next time.

Kucing hitaaaammm~

2009-04-29T19:15:00.004+08:00

Ini adalah kisah tentang seekor kocheng yang bernama Bulu...

Everyone, meet Bulu the Cat. A.K.A the reigning permaisuri of bilik KP006.

Sorry I've not been updating. Semester 2's ending and now finals are ongoing. Will be back home on the 10th-- well, 11th precisely since my ticket home is at 10.45 on the 10th. As of now, I've been busy 'melayan' this cat up here. Dah mengada-ngada dah die ni, dulu dok diam je, skang dah pandai dok atas laptop org. Not only will she sit on it but she'll trample on the keyboard as well.

On top of that, I've been reading this:

A birthday gift from dear Coco hehe. Upon finishing 3/4 of it, I'm pretty convinced that ordinary people (read as: org x amik culinary or is not interested in food) would never pick this up. Even I find the terms used quite confusing and a lot of the articles featured are from the 12th, 14th, 18th century- even B.C times. There are hilarious topics like rants against the garlic press, there's whole chapters on the British, the Americans and the Germans.

Guh, I feel like a nerd, getting giddy on a book pfff--

Looking forward to balik rumah. Dah x tahan makan kat dining hall, it's always chicken, chicken, chicken as far as the eye can see. Ironic, when my campus is beside the sea.

Birthday wishes

2009-04-08T11:36:00.001+08:00

Hope you have a happy 23rd birthday at Colorado, Abang and a very happy 19th birthday to Thusha at UiTM Shah Alam.

Haha, dah tua dah korg.

Dumping pictures

2009-04-02T20:17:00.000+08:00

Sorry for the delay. Been quite busy this week with camping trip last weekend and assignment due dates and presentations and GAHH, apesal aku busy sgt nih?!

As promised, hot desserts and cake deco pics and this week's cold + fruit desserts pics. We made chocolate mousse, strawberry Bavarois (Bavarian cream), creme caramel, fruit salad, fruit platter and poached pear. Fruit desserts was boring so no pics on that.

Blueberry cake, Black Forest and Chocolate Moist.

I gotta make this for my finals. Can I get a 'I'M SO SCREWED' from the audience?

What makes it moist is the chocolate ganache, though the lecturer kept saying it's the cake.

Our blueberry cake is obese. The lecturer was telling me how it's too tall and how it will not fit in the cake box when IT DID.

Creme caramel > creme brulee. The sugar was caramelized juuuuuust right hee.

Strawberry Bavarois! To be honest, I had 2 people in mind while making this :D (Strawberries can only mean these 2 people HAHA)

Will load other pics later~

Saya berasa sgt penat

2009-03-24T16:25:00.001+08:00

To Coco: For my services, I accept cash, credit card or your future Paypal account to buy prawn. The actual meaning of said prawn should not be spoken of in here since blogspot is SFW.

Hari ni saya buat kek. Ada 3 jenis kek; Blueberry Cake, Black Forest & Chocolate Moist Cake. Tapi saya berasa sgt penat sbb lecturer slalu men'condemn' cara saya pegang piping bag dan cara saya meng'spread'kan frosting. Dgn itu, saya akan post gambar2 kek tersebut mlm ni. Sori BM saya agak 'skima', time SPM dpt B4 je.

.... I'm just oh-so tired.

Western: Ala carte

2009-03-16T23:58:00.000+08:00

Lasagna Al Forno

Caesar Salad with Tataki Tuna Loin

Spinach and Cheese-Stuffed Chicken Breast with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Sauteed Vege

Basic Culinary/Western products! Tomorrow for pastry, we're making bread butter pudding, creme brulee and apple strudels.

Site under construction

2009-03-10T15:46:00.000+08:00

"FAIL Eclairs -- choux pastry + vanilla custard cream + melted choco + a dash of fail."

My lecturer said the small ones looked like oversized peanuts.

"Obese cream puffs -- choux pastry + vanilla custard cream + icing sugar + inability to use the piping bag."

FAVOURITEST THINGS IN THE WORLD. They're so good, they affect my English.

Class was cancelled today, poo. Our lecturer gave birth last Friday so she'd be on maternity leave for the rest of the semester. Cake deco is postponed, replacement lecturer wants to do hot desserts first. I can't remember what we're doing for hot desserts.

Note to self: Tweaking HTML which I know very little of after walking under the hot sun is not good. I repeat, not good.

Blog still looks stupid, shall try to tweak more of the HTML later.

Practical exam 1 - Cream puffs, soft rolls, apple pie

2009-03-09T01:51:00.000+08:00

"Soft/Dinner rolls -- flour + milk + butter + salt + sugar + water + yeast."

"Apple pie -- mealy pie base + flaky top + cooked apples."

"Cream puffs -- choux pastry + vanilla custard cream + icing sugar."

Making bread is always a joy. I prefer, hands down, rounding small pieces of dough over piping sticky choux paste on the baking tray. Okay fine, so I'm utter poo with the piping bag but the smell of fresh bread > the world damnit. Lecturer said our products were fine, we just gotta work on our work organization and the whole 'Clean as you go' thing.

Next post would be... last 2 week's topic: choux paste. Lotsa eclairs and cream puffs again.

Translation: Waiter, 1 teh tarik, please

2009-03-09T01:14:00.000+08:00

Don't I have the coolest blog title? Answer: NO.

Not to sure what gender teh tarik is. It sounds rather masculine though.

Opening up a blogspot for food pics so that people won't get weirded out by my LJ. Not that you will get the chance of reading said LJ to see how much you will get weirded out by it.

Since I'm an art student too, I shall post pictures of my version of art. Quality vary from bad to WTFOMGBBQ bad. Bite me, it's not like I'm allowed to bring a DSLR into the kitchen. Not that I own one in the first place. You'd probably see more of cakes, pastries and such. Not a big fan of my Art of Garde Manger class and my Pastry class is more relaxed to take pics in between the food preparation.

On top of the food pics, I might post some UiTM related pics too. Basically, I'm just using blogspot to dump pictures of my misery or of butchered food items. This week is cake deco, should be able to post some interesting stuff soon.