Gawai Preparation Part 2 : Steamed Chocolate Cake

I was on leave since Wednesday 27th - the plan was to relax and spent time with my nephews ...but as always, things doesn't go according to plan in our house. Spent most of my leave running errands for various people - going to the bank to open an account for Airell, then shopping for both of them, then shopping for cakes stuff and other gawai thingy....then travelling to Betong to send them back to their other grandmother ...all in all a hectic few days!

But before going to Betong, my sister-in-law and I tried a chocolate cake recipe - given to me by a friend of mine. I had that recipe for ages actually but haven't had the urge to try it. Found that it is so easy to bake and very delicious as well - we ended up baking another one - so that my sister-in-law can bring one back to her family in Betong. Yummy!!

Simple recipe:

(1) mix 250 gramme butter, 1 cup cocoa powder, 1 cup castor sugar, 1 cup evaporated milk, 1 tablespoon nescafe, and half a cup of concentrated milk - in a pan over a low heat - till all is melted. Leave to cool.

(2) Beat 3 eggs with a teaspoon of vanilla essence - then add the chocolate mixture.

(3) Then add: 1 and 1/4 cup of flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda.

Mix well, and steam in a greased pan for an hour.....or so....walla it's done!

Al was the first person to eat the cake!

Lunch at SCR

I had a surprise visit from a friend earlier today. Wan just showed up at the office ... luckily for him, I just got in. And haslina was just back from her meeting ...it has been a while since we saw him (i think the last time was in March this year in KL) ...we definitely have a lot of gossips to catch up with!

Went to SCR Shop in Jalan Song for lunch. As usual, we always ordered more than we can eat ...let the pictures tell the story ...hehehehe


I had chicken and mushroom noodles ....



Haslina had barbequed chicken noodles ... and wheatgrass drink (to match her outfit???)


wan had laksa Sarawak ...


we also ordered;


fries and chicken rolls ....


But the funny thing happened when we went back. When we were passing through the doorway, i heard a really loud bang...and then saw Wan in the process of up-righting a table ...the object that caused the loud bang ...i thought Wan was the one who accidentally pushed the table in his haste to get to the car ..little did it know it WAS ME! heheheh I only found out when they told me that the table fell when I pushed the blinds in front of the shop ...opssss sorry!

Despite that, we had a great time catching up with each other. Before he moved back to KL, we were quite close as a group ...he can play a lot of roles - Haslina's house-sitter when she is not in Kuching, her gardener...our RA, our friend...

and he is one camera-shy dude!

Field Trip: Kampung Merian Bedup

I finally remembered to download photos of the trip to Bedup from Haslina. I left my camera in KL at the time and has to rely on my mobile phone. I know this event was done earlier this month, but i was so busy and couldn't update the blog, plus i didn't have the photos :-))

Anyway, the trip was part of the SIA course that we attended. It was the "hands-on" practical part (or latih amal) of the course where we were supposed to apply our interview and observation techniques. The trip was a roaring success - I have never been to this part of Serian before...the people are very welcoming and super-friendly. Very humble and helpful...this is evident by the way they welcomed us, and how they treated us...some of them even gave gifts to some of us ...showed us around the are and so on....

But the highlight for me was the "socialization" ...hehehehe we were treated to impromptu singing and dancing session - poco poco dance to be exact! I have never join in this poco-poco dance before, but because the locals were so keen and eager to invite us to join in, i decided to give it a try...it was fun! From just one try ..i ended up dancing 3 rounds of poco poco ...hehehehe not an expert, but boleh lah ...

Here's are some of the pictures - courtesy of Haslina and Don (check out Don's blog at http://munua-munua.blogspot.com/ coz he did a posting on this trip as well).

Verdict: It was a fun course - I never expect that i would enjoy the corse but I did! And i get the chance to see my former lecturer (my NCUK's lecturer) danced as well - priceless!

New routine ...

Since we got the stroller for Airell, we got a new routine. If i get back from work at the normal time (and not my usual 7 or 7.30pm), i would take him out for a stroll round our housing area...just to get out from the house, to get fresh air ...and mum would accompany us!

and weewyn also accompany us one day ....

This is so much better than coming back to an empty house ....am always looking forward to go for a walk etc after work, instead of doing more work at home!

Gawai's preparation - what shall I bake???

Gawai is just round the corner (1st June) and my mum has been saying that I should bake at least one cake this year. She wants home made cake like what we normally have during Gawai/ christmases - when i was still in secondary school and loved to try out new cake recipes! It has been a long time since i bake a cake! Anyway, dad insisted on his favourite steamed fruit cake, but mum wants a Kek Lapis (either Kek Lapis Prune or Kek Lapis Masam Manis), and I would prefer to bake something very simple and straightforward! In other words, baking that involves minimal ingredients and the one that doesn't require me to do layering (which is a tedious and time-consuming job!) So, I would prefer to make Kek Nakhoda instead...the type that i "dump" into the baking tray after mixing, steam for 4 hours ...and "waaallllaaaaa it's done" type of cake. The decision is not final - and since I haven't decided on which one to bake, I haven't bought any ingredients yet!

But one thing for sure, I will not wait till the 11th hour to bake the cake or to buy the ingredients. Last Gawai, I decided to bake the cake the night before Gawai - and went to shop for ingredients after dinner on Gawai Eve! And the shops in 10th Miles were closing when I arrived...plus most shops that i went into ran out of horlicks - the main ingredients for my cake recipe at the time! It should teach me not to buy things last minute hehehehe ....

Today, I bought this! Only RM18 for 120 of these cute biscuits ...tastes good as well (I know coz me and my friends already tasted a few!). Bought it at the KEMAS stalls here at the uni ...the KEMAS people are organising "Hari Tadika" for the whole of Sarawak and chose this uni as their venue ...so, that's one biscuits that i'll be serving this Gawai ...hehehehe ...

Former students - Lompat Tikam Party!

Today I found my former students' blog, with my pictures in it! ....I remember these students very well coz they were the very first group of students whom I taught here back in 2007 (i think). All of them have graduated ...but what i remembered most is the fact that they (Azura, Juria and Haslina Hamad - not moi Lina!) are willing to cook lompat tikam especially on my request before they graduated. If i am not mistaken, it was sometimes last year - round may/june time I think....


So we had a fun afternoon cooking, and "partying" at Moi's place. There was a funny story behind it all: On the day of the cook-out, Lina sms me the ingredients (she got the sms from one of our cook): colour hijau & merah, santan ori, tepung beras pulut, beras pulut, kapur makan, gula melaka ….I have to admit, i am really hopeless in identifying these ingredients. I actually went to BDC - both Everise and H&L Supermarket - looking for gula melaka. The gula melaka that I know is the one yang berketul2 macam yang dijual di semenanjung. I couldn’t find any! I ended up texting Lina to say i got all the ingredients except kapur makan and gula melaka. She then replied saying she’ll take care of it. I was dead impressed. Later that afternoon, I found out that gula melaka and gula apong is the same thing! No wonder Lina said she can get the item in Muara Tuang!

Back to lompat tikam, those girls really impressed me with their tenacity and skills. Thank you girls, for the lompat tikam…so impressed! Oh ya, the ingredients mentioned above mengandungi kesilapan teknikal…it is supposed to be tepung beras …and NOT tepung beras pulut…and kapur tu, can be substituted with kapur for blackboard (NOT)!

Azura & Haslina really concentrated on task at hand!

And the verdict ....

Thank you girls for the lompat tikam ...since then, I haven't taste any more lompat tikam - i cannot find it here! I hope all ofyou are successful in your careers and I'll always remember you guys & girls - my very first batch of students ... Haslina Hamad, Afidah, Azura, Musa, Juria, Rofidah, Rosnidah, Cynthia, Mimi, Marcus and Anchih. Did i miss any names from the party???

And while browsing for pictures of the party - i also found this! Planning Dinner in 2007!

Gearbox oil???? Never heard of it ....

Earlier this week, my dad noticed that there was some oil leaking from my car ...i never noticed it coz i just reversed my car in the morning, and then drove straight into the same spot when i got back from work - so, that should explain my ignorance on that leaking oil issue.

Dad thought the leaking was somewhat related to the recent m-oil change done to my car about a week ago. But he was wrong. The mechanics said it was not the m-oil that was leaking but actually my gearbox oil....when they said that, the first question in my mind was "what the heck is that???" coz i only know a car only has petrol/diesel and the m-oil...

To cut the story short, the guys fixed the problem ...but it's just a temporary measure. They glued back the thingy that was leaking and i was told to check, every now and the, to see if it is still leaking or whether it is getting worse ...they actually went into a very detailed explanation but my mind was switching off the moment i heard that they are only charging me RM10 today ...coz i have RM300 ready in my purse! hehehehe that's a saving of RM290 ....

My dad inspected the leaking himself hehehehe ...coz he really thought it was the m-oil!

Satisfied with the explanation, my dad took his seat hehehehe

and me getting bored waiting ...

and i left my dad with the guy who was explaning about the leaky oil....

Learning to walk

My little nephew, Airell is now 7 months old. He is growing up and now learning to walk! This week he started to use his walker ...and it's so cute! I came back from work one evening, both hands full of groceries, my work bags, files etc ...it was quite late, i was cranky and tired...but my mum and dad said they have a surprise inside the house ...and waalaaa when i opened the door, my Airell was greeting me with his toothless smiles from his walker! All the crankiness and tiredness suddenly disappeared ...hehehehe ...he is trying to reach me but instead of coming towards me, he paddled backward! hahahaha ...so cute

He is such a great boy...very mellow at times, a bit serious looking ... but he is such a joy! He is getting to be quite a handful now...but I am happy that he's growing up, and always cheer me up regardless of how tired or stressful I am at times ...

Busy Bee

It has been a while since i updated this blog. The reason is simple. I am so busy right now that there were times that I didn't even switch on my laptop at home, let alone updating this blog. I was away on a 3-day course at Harbour view earlier this month (will do a posting on this later - when I am free from marking), then I was in KL for 2 nights and the whole of this week i have to attend a postgraduate diploma course in teaching and learning. It has a very tight schedule - with lectures, assignments, discussion and this monday we will be sittinng for a 3-hour exam...and in the meantime i am still marking my students' final exam scripts during night time ....

So, i will update the blog when I am free of this class, the exam and the marking ....

till then...
xxx

Salad Day...rabbit food..whatever

Today is a salad day for me...had salad for lunch that is. I woke up later than intended, and coz I need to do a lot of marking today I didn't want to go out. Coz knowing me, going out for a few items from a supermaket could mean a trip along every aisle, a full trolley of unnecessary items and more food than i intended to buy.

and i dont feel like cooking as well...and salad fit perfectly into the plan ... who couldn't do it, right? wash, toss, chop and serve with thousand islands straight from the bottle ...easy peasy, done in less than 10 minutes. The good thing is that i can eat a huge bowl of this without feeling guilty about overeating.

Now that lunchtime is over - it's back to marking!

Angelina Jolie as Kay Scarpetta????

Just saw it in E-buzz...apparently there are talks to make a few movies based on Patricia Cornwell's book - the Kay Scarpetta series. If you scrolled down to my previous posting, you'll note that Patricia Cornwell is one of my favourite authors.

I don't know how well the movie will be coz from previous experience, the movies can be a complete let-down. I mean, i was completely enthralled by the books - the page-turners that kept me awake and made me ignore anything else until i finished my reading types of book - but the movie was disappointing. One example is the Da Vinci Code (by Dan Brown) - the book was captivating, the movie was ok-ish (lacklustre performance) ...another example, Along Came the Spider (by James Patterson) is a great novel but the movie was ok - not as exciting as the book! but i kinda like Morgan Freeman as Dectective Alex Cross though ...and Ashley Judd as Kate!

Anyway, back to the subject on hand - apparently Angelina Jolie was rumoured to be the leading lady in the movie as well as involved in producing the movie. I am guessing that she'll be Dr Kay Scarpetta - the medical examiner who is the heroin. Don't think she'll be Lucy coz that character is way too young (Scarpetta's lesbian neice who then join the FBI). emmmm am wondering who is going to play Morino's character in the movie....a police detective who is a bit overweight but good...in the subsequent books, this Morino character seem to fall for Kay (turns out is is just one-sided)...

Watch this space....