My home will cost me half a million dollars

Why? May I know why I have to pay half a million dollars to live in 94sqm of borrowed space? At least $1500 of my and my HTB's pay will go to this per month for the next forever. I'm scared. What if he loses his job, what if I can't do mine. Tawakkal (faith) and istiqama (continuously working towards one's goal) is the only answer. We need all the help we can get.

That said. I'm quite excited. hehehe. For my home more than my wedding.

Book Suggestion 4

Blood Red Road by Moira Young

When I first read the book, I was flabbergasted at the horrible spelling. Upon reading it, I understood why. This futuristic book is more suitable for older teens - a little violent, but still very exciting. It touches on the themes of friendship, family and hope which I think they will unwittingly enjoy.

Cinnamon Sugar Muffins

So I saw DNA made these. Of course my love for cinnamon made it compulsory for me to make them too. I don't have a sweet tooth so mine's a little different from the original recipe. My mum liked it, the kiddos liked it, but Mr R didn't though. Bleah. BORING!

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup flour (sifted)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup oil
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup milk

Topping:
Icing sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
3 tbsp sugar

Makes approx 20 1-inch muffins

Warning: I made 3 batches of these in 1 go coz they were running out FAST.

Directions:
In one bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together and put it aside. In another bowl, mix all the wet ingredients until well incorporated. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Remember not to over mix. Spoon into your tray. Bake for about 15min at 170C.

To make the topping, create a glaze by mixing the lemon juice and icing sugar. It should be thin and runny. Next, mix the sugar and cinnamon together in a separate bowl. Once muffins are baked, dip the top into the glaze while it is still warm before dipping it into the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Leave it to cool - cool enough to eat that is. Then you're ready to go. Trust me, it tastes heavenly when warm. Mmmmmm.

PS: It works just as well without the topping :)

Of Blondes and Brunettes Part 2

So here's the blondie recipe I was talking about. It's a fudgy one. If you want it slightly less so, bake it for a little longer.

Ingredients:
115g butter melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla essence
pinch of salt
1 cup flour (sifted)
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (butterscotch chips would be awesome though)
1/2 cup toasted nuts (I used a mix of almond and hazlenuts)

Directions:

Whisk the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla essence till it comes together. Then, add in the rest of the stuff and mix. Bake in a 9x9" pan (make sure it's greased and floured first) at 160C for 20-25 min.

Original recipe here.

This one is a bigger hit at my house as compared to the brownies as it isn't as rich.

Of Blondes and Brunettes Part 1

Ok not really. I made brownies and blondies yesterday. Alhamdulillah my mum liked it, so did Mr R.

Brownie recipe as follows:

180g melted butter
1 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup oil (separate about 3 tbsp for greasing)
5 medium sized eggs
3 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup cocoa (dutch process or not)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups flour (sifted)
1 cup mini chocolate chips (optional)
1/2 cup toasted nuts - I used walnuts (optional)

Makes about 60 1 inch mini muffins

Directions:

Whisk the butter, sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla. Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Spoon into the Bake at 160C for 15min

Original recipe here.

They are really good. And easy.

Lemony lavender shortbread

It seems that I'm on a roll today. Cleaning and cooking and baking..

So there's a LOT of lavender at home and I'm trying to figure out what to do with it. Stumbled on this recipe and decided to give it a go. The original cookies had mint in them which I decided to forgo. I added more lemon too. I was too excited with the lemon at first hahah... that really affected the taste of the cookies. In the end, the cookies are lightly perfumed. I also dipped some of them in vanilla sugar that I got from my exciting baking class at Kalavira. All in all, a light and exciting cookie. If I had used a butter alternative, I'd give them to N. I'm sure she'd appreciate it.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2/3 cups white sugar
1/4 cups icing sugar
1 tbsp dried lavender (finely milled)
1 tsp lemon zest
1tbsp lemon juice
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup corn flour
1/4 tsp salt
vanilla sugar (optional)

Directions:
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy before adding the lavender and lemon. Then, add the flour and salt. Store it in the fridge for about an hour. You can roll it out and make them into nice shapes of if you're lazy like me, roll them up into balls, dip them in vanilla sugar (optional) and squash it with the base of a glass. Bake them at 145C for 15 min. They shouldn't brown though. :)

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Baked Lemon Butter Fish

 

I baked some fish today. It wasn't perfect but it was really nice. Even my mum gave her stamp of approval. I paired it with herbed garlic butter rice and greens.

I got inspired after watching "Cooking for Real" on AFC. The original recipe is as follows http://www.foodnetworkasia.com/recipes/baked-lemon-sole-with-sauteed-swiss-chard-6716.html

I would think that any flaky fish fillet would work. I also cheated and used panko instead of white bread. Do watch the amount of lemon butter you pour in. Too much and the breaded layer would be soggy. The lemon zest was what won my mum over. I'd add some paprika to the breading next time.

Halal Eats: Laksania

 

So we ventured to NEX today and visited a place I've been missing: Laksania. Simple food, ok pricing, I'll definitely come again.

Ups:
- Singapore Laksa was good. I loved the tau pok and prawns.
- The satay, although only 3 pcs, were extremely worth it. It was nicely spiced and tasty. It was a little dry but I can live with it. The sauce tastes like my mum's pecel (spiced coconut gravy) without the heat. So I don't really get it. But otherwise, it was good.
- I love lemongrass tea and theirs was nicely fragrant.

Downs:
- I didn't really like my sarawak laksa. It smells like ubat periuk but it tastes better than that. Still. Not liking it
- Chicken wings. I expected more. Firstly it's weeny. Secondly its spiced with salt and pepper only. Maybe if I don't cook I'll like it. So I expected more.

All in all it was a nice meal, somewhere I'll bring Mr A. to just so we can try the nasi gorengs they offer.

PS: They do have vegetarian dishes in their menu. I'm not sure if there are any vegan ones though.

Book Suggestion 3

Another book I suggested the kids read is this magical book. It's cover isn't the most exciting in the world and I think for my kids, it's one of the most crucial thing that would attract their attention. But if I can get them to read it, I'm sure they'll love it.

Lissa Evans' Small Change for Stuart.

Book Suggestion 2

In my search for suitable books for the kids, I've uncovered a lovely book by Neil Gaiman. Actually, I saw a few but this one, I took a picture of. I mean I always knew he wrote fantasy books for children but I didn't know there were books for this age group.

Neil Gaiman's Blueberry Girl:
A wonderful book to read to your little girl

Call me cheesy or whatever but I think it's a really sweet book that you can read to your young daughters. As I've said before, instilling a love of books and reading IS essential. And one of the ways to do that is to read to your children.

Baba Ghanoush

Top L& R: Baba Ghanoush, Spread on my kebab
Bottom L & R: Fresh corn salad, Chicken kebab

I love my dips. I think I've got my baba ghanoush recipe down. This just means I'm confident of making it by eyeballing the measurements haha. I can't remember whose recipe(s) I based mine on but here's mine:

Ingredients:
1 medium sized aubergine/eggplant, roasted & skin removed
1 Capsicum/red pepper, seeded & roasted
1 tbsp tahini
2 cloves of garlic
Juice from 1/2 a lemon
Approx 1/2 cup of Olive oil
Roasted red pepper powder, salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
I roast the aubergine by slicing it in half lengthwise, rub some olive oil, salt and herbs on it and roasting it in my roasting pan. For the red pepper, I cut them into quarters and put them alongside the aubergines. They take about 20 mins to roast.

Once you're done, put them ALL into a blender, approximating the amount of olive oil you want, and blend. Taste as you go along.

That's it! Eat it on its own, use it as a dip, spread it out on your pizza, pita or kebab before loading on the rest of the ingredients. The possibilities are endless!

This is just one of the many many different ways of making this super simple dish. Some people prefer to put more or less of the lemon juice/tahini and others make it with or without naturally set yogurt or red pepper. It's entirely up to you. Enjoy :)

Basic Sugar Cookies

So J needed help baking cookies last weekend and I stumbled on this beautiful recipe on Anne's Eats. They really tasted wonderful and were extremely addictive even though J though baking soda and powder are interchangeable heheh.

Recipe:
http://annies-eats.com/2011/07/18/soft-frosted-sugar-cookies/

After thee marathon baking session, I was inspired to bake for the studying duo. I tried baking butterscotch cookies today. Tried being the operative word.
Mistakes I made:
1. Didn't melt the butter
2. Assumed the toffee bits are the same as butterscotch baking chips. Note to self: They aren't.

But, it was a good recipe. Let's hope I am less careless the next time.

Book Suggestion 1

If you asked an adult for authors suitable for children, the first name two names that will crop up are Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl. But seriously, that can't be all can it? So this is a book I would suggest for the young and old alike. A sad, haunting, well-told tale by Patrick Ness, 'A monster calls'

How much do we read?

Just today my cousin mentioned about how kids today don't find as much pleasure in books as we used to. I recalled our outings during the weekends to the library, willingly finding and reading. Not something that we see a lot of today. Since I can remember, my mum used to make us borrow books. It was always: 3 English and 1 Malay book, and we had to finish them all within 2 weeks before the next library visit. When all you had was time (no TV for my siblings and I after 7pm back then), reading was the thing you really looked forward to after hours of revision.

So if you are a parent, knows someone who is or will be a parent, please encourage them to read to their child and then bring them to the library. It'll do great things, instilling this love for reading, from a very young age.

It's the first

It's not that I'm flighty but I think life's too short to love only one thing, to put everything you have into just one pursuit. So I have many loves and even more wants. So here I share bits of me in hopes I remember where I was and what I had wanted to be, before things got complicated.