My summer's breakfast.

Today, my Summer time breakfast would be... *drum roll please*

Oatmeal with warm milk. And some golden syrup with cherries. Cherry-o-licious!

It's cherry season in Hong Kong, btw. Bought them HK$48 for a bunch of them like in a medium size plastic bag. Which back in KL you've got to pay RM48 for half of them bunch. Heee.. Sadly, blueberry seasons is out and I think I missed raspberry season. Oh well. Strawberries are still around. :)

But, make sure to buy them at the morning markets. Its way cheaper there. And fresh too. We both occasionally go to the market, as we don't like to encounter the piggies on the hooks. If you know what I mean. It's quite terrifying for us to see one just hanging around, doing their thang. Heheheheh.. So, occasionally. Thank god there's a market near our place. But, not to worry, you can simply find any market along the way in HK. They are like mushrooms. Evey corner or alley or lorong, there's always a stall selling fruits/meat/veges and so on.

We buy or halal meat or chicken at Wan Chai. I forgot the name of the market, but the butcher shop is called Pak Mahmod Halal Meat (I think) located way, way, away from the piggy alley. hehehehe. Like, its not facing each other. So we have no doubt of its cleanliness or pig-splattered-free. Though we have to pass through the piggies hanging around, but it just for a few seconds. I will get more detail on the butcher's location. Oh, he sells fresh chicken too. But mind you, HK's breed chicken ain't big as Malaysia's.

Enjoy..!

Add ons

Oooo, Tiramisu with drizzled cherry sauce and cherry pulps.. Yummmsss...

Hehehehehe!

Mascarpone..

I made Tiramisu today. heh heh heh. Will post photos and update this post. At the mean time, I'm a happy kid. Loving the smooth, fluffy and creamy look of the cheese, with soggy, soggy, soggy coffee dipped ladyfinger biscuits. Ohhh, cant wait to get my hands on them babies, once its all cool up in the fridge.

In the mean time, taking a rest as today's agenda was, woke up early, early, early and had a bit of mood swing, when to the club house with Suami and did our gym workout. He did 90 sits ups, while I managed to do 40. Blah!

After working out, we both went to the market and bought some fishes, squids and prawn. Suami wanted to go to Sai Kung for lunch, but I wasn't up for it. So, I decided to do some Sai Kung style cooking. Heh heh heh. Deep fried fish (I think the fish we bought was Snapper) with dark soya sauce, buttered deep fried prawn with egg floss, though the eggs wasn't flossy enough. And my kangkung goreng belacan (Fried spinach cooked with fermented prawn paste.) Suami had 3 helpings and of course I packed for him for his dinner.


Ok, not feeling well now. I think I'm having a little bit of headache. Maybe due to stress level at home. I think, now I know how my mom feels every time she sees the clothes not folded, clothes not washed, house not clean, bed not made, and yada, yada, so on, so on.

Update soon. With the Tiramisu recipe too. Ooo, I can't wait! :)

As promised Tiramisu recipe :

• 250 g of Mascarpone Cheese (Get the expensive ones. It's about quality baybeh, not quantity).
• 100 g granulated sugar.
• 3 eggs (separate the egg whites and yolks).
• 400 g whipped cream.
• A dash of Vanilla extract.
• A packet of ladyfinger biscuits (Can usually find them at an international food store or Italian).
• Espresso powder or I use instant coffee mix.
• Double boiler.

What you need to do:

1. Whipped cream to its peak and store in the fridge.
2. Add hot water to coffee and let it cool to room temperature.
3. Separate eggs white and yolks.
4. Beat egg yolks with some of the sugar till fluffy.
5. Slowly & patiently stir egg yolks & sugar in the double boiler till eggs look custard like (basically looks cooked).
6. Once eggs is custard like, let it rest.
7. In a bowl, put Mascarpone cheese & vanilla. Whisk or mixed or what ever you want to do so that it blends well.
8. Add in custard like eggs. Let it aside.
9. In another bowl, whisk egg whites till it's fluffy like whipped cream and slowly add in the left sugar (after the egg whites looks fluffy and whipped cream like)
10. Fold egg whites in the cheese mixture.
11. Take out chilled beat whipped cream and fold whipped cream in the cheese mixture.

Cream is done.
Now to make it look like a Tiramisu, what you need to do is :

1. Dipped in ladyfinger biscuits into coffee and lay it on your desired pan, Tupperware, glass or anything that holds.
2. Once filled, pour cream on it and level the cream.
3. Add in ladyfinger biscuits with coffee.
4. Filled the left over cream on top.
5. Basically, dipped ladyfinger, then cream, then ladyfinger, then cream.

I didn't have any cocoa powder to give it a Midas touch to it. But heck, it still taste the same. Instead, I have got some cherries in my fridge and made my own sauce.

1. Diced cherries or just cut into 2 (make sure seeds taken out)
2. A spoonful of sugar
3. Lemon juice (I didn't have any, so I used apple juice)
4. Tupperware container

What you need to do:

1. Put in cherries, a dash of apple/lemon juice and 2 spoonful of less sugar (depending on how much sweetness you want) in the container and close the lid.
2. Shake well and leave it alone in the fridge to let them sweat its own juice. heh heh heh..

Enjoy!

Rachael Ray's Raspberry Tiramisu

I saw this SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE recipe for Tiramisu. Not a typical Tiramisu, but a funky raspberry ones. And I'm making one. Will blog it once it is a success. Since now I know where to find my Mascarpone Cheese from! Wohoooo!

Raspberry Tiramisu Recipe - Every Day with Rachael Ray

Buddy Valastro - Every Day with Rachael Ray

I was just scrolling down, reading my Twitters Home page, and came along this twit post by Buddy Valastro from the Cake Boss, that I LOVE to watch.

Click below for the link.

Read on. Enjoy! :)

Buddy Valastro - Rachael Ray Celebrity Interviews - Every Day with Rachael Ray

Beautiful Lunch Date

Salam.

I'm so blessed by today's lunch. Suami made some arrangement with his ex-colleagues to bring me and have our, once-in-a-while "fancy" lunch or dinner in some "fancy" restaurant, looking all "fancy" and fine. Hehehehe. Love being "fancy". Anyways, just an insight of what we had for lunch today.

Suami's brought me to 8 1/2 Otto E Mezzo Restaurant at Alexandra House, Central. It was another beautiful place to have a lovely "fancy" meal. The last fancy meal we had was at Cepage, and it was a French Cuisine, but this time, it's Italian, baybeh! Magnifico & deliziosa! , & prelibato!

The ambiance was rich, masculine and of course, classy. When we entered the restaurant which first thing you will encounter is the bar/lounge, I did feel a bit intimidated, as it looks pretty dark & dimmed lights. Everyone was rich and famous like. All in coats, formal, snob-like, and so on. Heh. And here are two Muslims, Malay, middle class, couple came in.

Felt a bit out of place, as I rather head down and eat in our favorite Halal cafe. Plus we had to wait as reservation was suppose to be at 1:30pm, but then, when we came, it was still not available. So we had to wait till 2:00pm. From there on, I was giving all this moody, bad and judgmental comments that it wasn't a great idea. But mind you, it's o myself. Not to my Suami. He planned all this, so I could've not say it out loud. Damn you, PMS!

Anyhow, I try to over look at it, and read some papers while waiting, amused by the news written, where there was a guy who got stopped at the railway station for bringing his dead baby in a box (which must've been a coffin), where his intention was, he wanted to bring the dead body back to his homeland to bury. The police must've jumped into conclusion. Sigh. Even read the Zodiac sign section and it says about Leo, that I'm heating up, so go ahead, take the plunge. Bla bla bla... Well, my own Leo says, I'm just plain lazy to do so and want to enjoy the moment of laziness. Hah!

Then, came a voice. "Hello, How are you today. Sorry to keep you both vaiting. I've goz good newz vor you two. Your tablez are set and vaiting..." and brought us to our table. And that, totally changed my mind when we entered a short hall where suddenly, just SUDDENLY, the room was lighted up, bright as ever, where the windows were big and wide. i LOVE big frame less window. No obstruction.


The whole room from where we were waiting, was a total transformation. It lifted my mood back again. Interior concept was a flow from the bar area we were waiting at. Same atmosphere which was, masculine, rich and classy. But more visible to the naked eyes. I guess, they wanted to have that effect to customers. And of course, having the bar area outside, near the entrance is an easy target attraction to customers or passer by. Like a pulling curiosity method. Bar means alcohol. And maybe I didn't take a glimpse when we arrive at the restaurant. I'm sure the bright lights from the sun was squeezing through the short hallway where the bar/entrance space is at, cause the lights that were in the room, was bright enough to let me see ever detail in it. Just amazing. I can write so many things about when I see an interior. I want to get into details, but that will definitely bore you. So I let the photos say the thousand words that's playing in my mind.

I think we were the last customer to come in for lunch as everyone who came was heading back to the office. So we had the most full service attention. Heee.. Suami's friend came out once in a while to check us out and he made some special arrangement too for our meal. Though we have already order our starter, appetizers & main course, thanks to our waiter (not sure if I should call him a waiter or a host?) where I mentioned that we were Muslim, so no wine, alcohol, meat or of course no pork. And he explained to us which one is suitable for us. And, may I say, that, most of their meal do not use alcohol. Usually it will be written. Had a few options in it that we can choose from. So we had these for starter and appetizer...
And special request from Suami's friend, the Pastry Chef Ali, along came these. Though pasta was slightly not cooked. But tuna was chunky and meaty and sauce was yummy...


Then our main course came. And look at them squisito presentation!


And to top up the lovely evening, Pastry Chef Ali made us these.


Oh, I'm in love. He gave us 2 different types of desserts and as usual a Petit Four (which we take away) as stomach was full. Meals look small. But eating small amount of food and waiting for the next course at a certain length of time can actually help a person eat less and fill up the tummy.

To total up, the place was beautiful. Food was delicious. Staff was moderate friendly, but not the guy who lead us to our table, and the guy who served us our desserts. But the rest was pretty much sour face. I would recommend you to come eat here. The pastry chef is a Muslim, by the way. So, he will whip up some Halal dessert for you. Maybe you should mention Suami's name to him. Say we recommended you to him. Via blog. :)

There goes our day. Had a lovely evening. We came at 1:30pm and left the restaurant at 4-ish pm. So, that's how long we were there. Go ahead. Be "fancy" once in a while with your other half. It's fun. I sure did. I end up the evening and wracked my Suami's wallet and bought for us some bodywash and bubble bath bombs from LUSH. It was on the way to the MTR! I can't help it!

Like how the Italian say, Grazie molto! Arriverderci! (Thank you very much & Goodbye.)

Still keep counting..

I know, I know. This is cheesy. But, hey, I like counting/remembering/updating days, dates, memorable moments in life which I specifically thinks is special. As which I am posting up a shout out to commemorate (just to make it sound dead serious) this date.

It's 18th May 2011. Back in 2006, my 'boy'-friend cum Suami (husband) officially asked me, Isteri, to be his girlfriend. Now, I'll be damned. hehehehehehe. Well, its a long story & loads of drama. Loads. But, I guess, it was the biggest test that God have given me, to see where I stand. And God totally opened up a new world for me. Changes everything. Shows everything. Given everything. And this is where we are today.

It took him about a month, exactly a month before this date to popped the question. * I'm blushing just thinking about it back again. Oh gosh!* Remembering that, he said "I love you" first before he asked me to be his girl. *Cheeeeesy!!* Well, it all happened. It gelled well, clicked well, and everything falls into places (though took us years to actually fall the right way - the way we are now).

I can't thank Allah enough for whatever He have done & given to me & us. It's just incredible. Really am thankful.

So, today, right now, as I'm typing this, I want to tell the whole world, its our 5th year anniversary. Yeah, it maybe a small 'big deal, who cares' moment, but it matters to us for the path that we both had to go through, to keep our relationship and life to where we are now.

"Suami, Happy 5th Anniversary, my love. Thank you for everything.
Semak for Life...."

May Allah bless your kind soul and heart, forgive your sins, give you good health and wealth and keep us both strong together to strive what He asked us to do in life before the day comes to and end.

Insy'Allah.

Yours,
Isteri.

Happy Birthday.

Oh, I almost forgot, it's 15th May 2011!

Its my Papa's birth date. So am wishing him a very blessed birthday. May Allah protect him, shelter him, gives him wealth, health and happiness in his life. And may Allah forgive his wrong doings and adds his well doings as Papa turns 60. Insy'Allah.

Happy 60th Birthday , Pa. Glad that we get to celebrate with you in Australia last few weeks. Here's the cake! :)

Small, but tasty.

Salam.

Suami brought us (my parents & me) for dinner (last dinner before parents fly back home to Malaysia) at Maharani Restaurant. Yes, another Indian cuisine. But, it's Halal.

When Suami told me about this place, thinking it will be a fancy restaurant, as it's located at the heart of Central's Lan Kwai Fong. I think it's few shops away from Eberneezer, adjacent to this restaurant/pub place Suami & I like to hang out for some live kicking music band, called Insomnia. And plus, I don't want to give a bad impression of the place we are going since we are bringing our parents. I don't think my mom and papa likes to pass through or even go anywhere near to streets where the music is blasting so loudly, people drinking, neon lights and well, basically, you guys can imagine how. Party! Wohooo!

But because we are Muslim, we got to do what we've got to do. Not only, did my Suami brought us to a different entrance - dodgy staircase, dim lights, cracking door sound and scary atmosphere, (mom can't stop saying, "Quickly, before we see any cockroaches come out..") we managed to find the restaurant. Its above a pub, by the way.


Next when we entered, Golly Miss Molly!
Isteri : "Honey, are you sure you brought us to the right place?"
Suami: "Yes lah. Why..?"
Isteri : "Why? You serious..? Why you ask me?"
Suami : "I've eaten here before lah. It's sedap."
Isteri gave a look.

The place was so small, again dodgy, dimmed, and well, just small! It's like you can only fit in less than 30, but mind ya, crammed ok. I think mom had a bad feeling 'bout the place. And papa was I guess, trying to accept whatever it is. As long as it's Halal. But, thank God, the best turning point, no - DISTRACTION, was when mom said "Assalamualaikum.." to this Muslim family sitting next to our table. How we know they are Muslim, the Hijab of course! :) So mom & papa didn't gave much thought to the restaurants interior or space, and even the menu. Because they were into their conversation to the family next to us, who were Malaysia too. Thank God!

So Suami & I ordered and we we're the last customer. We were kinda late. It was around 8 plus close to 9pm. Shop closes at 9:30pm I think. And had some ladyfingers, chicken & cauliflower. Papa kept saying, "Masala..? Takde masalah lah.." lol. And rice, of course. Had the usual drinks - Mango Lassi, that was made just right behind us on a shelf where the drinking cups and glasses was. Sangat space saving.

I may be complaining about the place and where they made their drinks, and EVEN HAVE A BAR that sells alcohols, but food was good. Halal and good. The chicken was soft and tender, cauliflower tasted like vegetable, duh, and the ladyfingers was cooked with some Indian spices deliciously. It all tasted the same, but, we were hungry. Plus, the rice sedap. So bedal lah. But mango lassi was bad, maybe cause it was done right behind us. Mom didn't like it. Tasted like orange mixed mango.

And oh - the kitchen is like next to us, just next to us like 1ft from us. And there were 2-3 guys in there cooking, which I think, the head chef/owner must be the oldest uncle in there. And the kitchen is so small it looked like they were in a store room. Adoi. But then again, when one wants to survive, anything whttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifill do. And as long as they are serving Halal food - minus the alcohol, please, we Muslim will support it.

Don't be surprise ok, that most of the Lebanese, Middle Eastern & Indian restaurants serve alcohol. So, they're not 100% Halal in terms of business, but they serve Halal food - FOOD. They have their Halal certifications from Islamic Union of Hong Kong.

Well, another venture for Halal discovery. Go to Maharani Restaurant. It may have a bad interior, but food is delicious. Ah, another Indian cuisine. Oh, fun. I miss having to eat Malaysian food. There are many here, but miss eating HALAL Malaysian food. Sigh..

ps: no website linked to Maharani Mess, but try Google it. Enjoy.

Love this!!

Ever since my baby sister bought this DIY calender from Kikki.K, I feel in love with it. And since we Suami & I went to Aussie last week, my sister brought us to see the shop. And BAM! It's tha' bomb place. I bought myself a DIY Perpetual Desk Calendar. The best thing is, its date/month/year is not written. Therefore we get to write/stick to our own likings. Well, basically according to what year I am in. Duh. Heh heh heh..

Its an interesting, creative and very much a wonderful gift shop. And also a 'I-Am-A-Freak-Organizer' place. Love it, love it, love it!! Hooojyeah! Check out their link attached below. Sadly, they only have their stores in Aussie & Singapore. Oh, come to Hong Kong please...!

Kikki.K Stationery & Gifts.

Enjoy your browsing. You will definitely love it. I sure do. :)

Good Morning HK.

Salam. Good morning. As I'm typing this, its 5:50am. I was woken up by my needs to pee. My goodness, Allah is great and powerful. What I meant was, you know how hard it is to wake up for Subuh prayers. When back in KL, my parents use to wake me up to do our Subuh prayers, but as now Im living on my own, I took the advantage of not being a very dedicated hamba to Allah. He always find ways to wake me up and remind me about it. And he does it smoothly. If I'm not mistaken, I snoozed every time the alarms on, and I said (like everyone in this world would say) "5 minutes more, another 5 minutes." and never woke up again. Syaitan, syaitan. Kau menutup wajah ku, badan ku dengan selimut kulit babi. Sedap saja rasanya untuk tidur balik. Masyallah. Subhanallah. Kuasa Allah.

But Alhamdullilah, I guess, I must have done 'something' or tinny tiny good deeds for he loves me and gave a lil' help. Thank you, Allah. And I feel good waking up suddenly. Very "semangat berkoba-koba". heh heh heh. Actually, it's good to wake up really really early, where the sun is not yet out and the air is still a virgin. Fresh and silent too. Like now. The best thing about waking up early is, I sure feel like I need to go to the poo poo land! Brb.. HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Left 5:59am.
Continue : 6:07am


I'm back. OK. Where was I. Ah, yes. Waking up early. Hong Kong's been raining since last 2 days. We are now entering Spring-Summer season, and April- early May was pretty hot. The temperature rises from 10'degrees to 30degrees Celsius. Then we had our long holiday to Australia at the end of April and Aussie was in their Winter season, therefore I didn't really felt the heat waves of Summer yet. And when we came back, thinking the heat will kill me, it's been raining. Alhamdullilah. Amin, amin.

Oh, no. Shiat. I just cleaned the window. And now its gonna have the droplet/splattered stain on it. I never seen my room window soooooo clean and crystal clear. Its like, cantik. hahahahah! But the rain water's gonna leave a mark again. Oh, well. I just have to clean it back. And, omg. I'm so loving the kitchen window too. It's CLEANED! And, it's so clear that you can see straight to the neighbors kitchen. Its like so clear, I saw my own reflection when the light beams, and when the lights are off, you feel like there is no window there. Its so clear. Before this, it was so oily, stained, even hog the view. Very misty like. Almost visible to the naked eyes. But now. Not anymore! With Amway's Window Cleaner & newspaper to wipe the dirt away, you can be happy like me! So happy! I love clean windows. (Psycho).
Am looking through the weather forecast now, its going to be a wet, wet, wet, wet week ahead. Alamak! Nak sidai baju susah lah pulak. Grrr.. Ok, not complaining. Well, I better make a move now. Man... this weather is really calling me to tuck under my blanket. So much of "semangat berkoba-koba" for the day! Lol!.