Saturday Cooking And The Perks

#nowplaying Sugar Ray - Every Morning ~~

It's absolutely been a long, adventurous ride since I last written on this blog. So many things happened and are going on right now, including my one semester experience in Amsterdam. I am now enrolled as an exchange student in Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, continuing my studies in Management. Up until now, so far everything has been really good to me, including this new city I'm now living in. I am currently writing in my compact little flat in Amstelveen -- an area south of Amsterdam. So many dishes cooked, and many more dishes learned -- especially since I have to cook more to save up in this expensive little city. 

I've been crazy about going back to my roots and going through Asian flavor profiles lately, and so far I've been loving how (surprisingly) easy it is to cook Asian. Over the years I've been avoiding learning Asian, mostly because the idea of how hard it is to cook Indonesian food and Asian food has been so long instilled in my mind that I just decided to walk away even before I start. I really need to give my boyfriend a special thank you (although I'm pretty sure he's not aware he's subtly doing this) for giving me a slap in the face..... Well not literally.. on the fact that as an Indonesian, I should be able to cook great cuisines of my roots. 

However today, I felt a little bit of Western cooking. But I decided to punch in a little bit of Asian to this dish. Here it is: Wholewheat pasta, cinnamon cumin infused tomato sauce, and cheesy meatballs. 

Ingredients:

Meatballs
Minced beef, about 250g
Salt pepper
Shredded goat's mozzarella, about 5 tbsp
Few heaps tablespoon of flour

Pasta
Wholewheat pasta, as much as you like
Salt to boil

Sauce
Celery, 2 large sticks, cut in small cubes
Red onion, 1 and a half medium ones, cut into cubes
Carrots, 4 small ones, cut into small chunks
Half of a big red chili
1 garlic, crushed then chopped
Tomatoes, 1 and half, chopped into squares
Tomato paste, 1 tsp
Dried basil, 1 tbsp
1 cinnamon stick
Cumin seeds, 1 tsp
Olive oil
Plain flour, 2 tbsp
Water, about a whole glass
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
For the meatballs, simply mix one tbsp of plain flour with the rest of the ingredients until they are all incorporated. Make meatballs using the palm of your hands. Then coat the balls again with a light layer of plain flour. This will make your meatballs crunchy and stays in shape. Let be.

Meanwhile, boil your pasta... You know the drill.

The sauce will be a little tricky. First, heat in your olive oil in a big saucepan. When the oil is hot, put in your red onions, celery, chili, garlic and carrot. After 3 minutes when these veg are translucent and fragrant, put in your cumin seeds. Then season with salt and pepper. Stir in constantly for 3-4 mintues.

Put in a tbsp of plain flour, this will suck in all the excess olive oil in the pan. Put your cinnamon stick in and stir constantly for about 1-2 minutes.

Put in tomato paste, fresh tomatoes, and the dried basil. Pour in cold water as well. Put in the lid of the pan for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, don't forget your meatballs. Fry them on a low layer of oil until crunchy. Then leave it on kitchen paper to keep them crunchy and not oily.

After 5 minutes, you will notice that the sauce has thickened as well. This is time for you to put in another tablespoon of plain flour. Add salt and pepper to taste as well. Be a bit generous with the salt, as you have put in big flavors to the sauce. Salt helps to bring out the flavors as well.

Leave the pan for another 5-7 minutes until the sauce is thick. When done, blitz the sauce with a hand blender for a while -- just roughly, as I like to keep some of the vegetables whole as well.

When done, serve your pasta with sauce and meatballs on the side. Happy eating!

Butternut Squash, Spinach Apple Salad and Almond Crumble

It came to a surprise when my house received a surprise package of farm goodies from a good friend of my mom's. We received butternut squash, plump aubergines, and sweet potatoes. I was really happy and excited to receive them, I couldn't wait to cook with these local produce (and turns out they're from Subang!).

The butternut squash was the ingredient that I experimented with last. I have cooked the aubergines into a juicy tomatoey ricotta and aubergine involtini, and I simply steamed the sweet potatoes already for my midnight snack -- perfect while I have my Game of Thrones marathon. The rest of the ingredients were more familiar to me, and so I put the squash idle till I finally had the time to research on what to do with it. I never tasted it, let alone cook it. So when we received the squash, I had to research on the ingredients that go with it, and how to cook it right.

Still going with the local produce theme, I decided to pair the squash with local spinach for salad. I still can't get over the fact that the spinach and apples really go well with the lemon balsamic dressing. There's this balance of sweet, acidic and a bit of bitterness from the spinach that just go really well together. I think I've found a new favorite salad combo.

I also love the combination of the squash and the light lemony ricotta. I think the starchy and sweet squash is such a pleasure to eat, and I just love eating it on its own without much addition of any herbs or spices. Plus, the squash family is proven to have great nutritional value, and are low in calories. Think I've found my new favorite carb!

Recipe for two

Ingredients:

Spinach leaves, rinsed

1 red delicious apple, diced into cubes

Yellow onions to your liking, sliced

Quarter of a lemon

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

Dried basil

Butternut squash, 

3 cloves of garlic

1 shallot, grated

1 tomato, diced

2 tbsp ricotta

A handful of whole almonds or silvered almonds

Garlic powder

Granulated (powdered) ginger

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Instructions:

Cut about 3 inches of your butternut squash from the larger side. Scrape out the seeds and drizzle your butternut squash with olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake your butternut squash at 180C for about 30 minutes until fully cooked.

Mix your spinach, diced apples, and onion and put it aside. While they sit, mix three tablespoons of olive oil, half of the quarter lemon juice, and balsamic vinegar. Also add in your grated shallot and 1 grated garlic. Mix the mixture until all are incorporated, and add in salt pepper to your liking. This will be your salad dressing. Don't dress your salad until the moment you want to serve, or your leaves would wilt. Although, you can always drizzle your salad with a tiny bit of lemon so that your apples won't turn brown. 

In a small bowl, mix in ricotta, lemon zest, juice of the rest of the lemon, and bit of dried basil. Mix well and set aside.

Cut your whole almonds into small crumbles, or if you're using silvered almonds you don't need to do any slicing. In a pan of medium heat, toast the almonds with a teaspoon of garlic powder and half a teaspoon of powdered ginger. Cut the heat and set them aside when they're nice, golden and crisp. 

In the same pan, heat a bit of olive oil and then put in the rest of your sliced garlic. Then, put in your tomaotes and cook them until soft and fragrant. 

Time to assemble! First, mix your salad with your dressing and put them on a plate to serve as the bed for the squash. Then, put in your tomatoes. Cut your squash in half and put each squash for each plate in the middle of the salad bed. Spoon in your ricotta mixture on top of the squash. Then for the final touch, sprinkle your dish with your garlic-y almond crumble goodness!

Eid: The Day of Victory

The Muslim New Year or Eid Mubarak is a day where we as Indonesian muslims commemorate the end of Ramadhan by indulging in a lot of ketupat, lontong sayur, rendang and opor ayam. For some, it's a long awaited day for they receive a lot of bonus cash from their elders -- or bosses (like the angpao in Chinese New Year). However, my mother always tells my brothers and I that the true meaning of Eid Mubarak does not lie in the food or the money; Eid Mubarak signifies the day of victory. 

I never really understood the meaning of it until this year's Ramadhan. To be fair, I think it's also partly because I never took my previous Ramadhans seriously. I've always treated Ramadhans as the time to finally reunite with my old friends and relatives in break-fasting gatherings (acara buka bersama) -- which basically is just dinner out -- thus occupying my schedule to spend time with lots of friends and relatives instead of devoting my time for ibadah. 

Of course, meeting old friends and relatives is never a bad thing! In fact, it's something my religion and culture recommend as part of silaturrahmi. However, only if I perceived my previous Ramadhans differently, I know I'd dedicate my time wisely to spend more time with my family. But most importantly, time would be well spent for ibadah -- the essence of Ramadhan. 

So what really is the 'better' perception of Ramadhan that I missed out all these years? I guess it's pretty fundamental, but most of us forgot that the holy month is the month of forgiveness, and is the only time of the year where the count of good deeds have a multiplier effect. I believe that when you go to the mosque to take your prayers, even your every footstep to the mosque is counted as a good deed. When you wake your brother up to eat sahoor, or when you wake your mom up to practice itikaf -- every single action you make to wake them up is considered as a good deed. Bearing in mind all the generosity God gives in the holy month, won't it be such a waste to spend most of our time for other agenda other than spending it to do our religious duties? 

This year, I made time to reflect.  I'm grateful that I have also committed and devoted my time to perform better religiously in Ramadhan as a result. This Ramadhan, I'm actually glad that I went to less acara buka bersama, spending more time with my family -- and God. I guess after a whole month of fasting, sleep deprivation, and even messed up sleeping hours... I can finally understand and appreciate the day of victory. 

...And above all, thanks mum. For all the religious lessons you shared. 

Selamat Hari Kemenangan, Iedul Fitri 1437 H.

Dan selamat naik berat badan!

-Syadz

Kembali Bernafas

Ada alasan mengapa ia selalu gagal tidur cepat: ia amat menikmati damainya sunyi. Baginya, hidup dimulai saat malam berganti pagi, saat ketiga jarum jam bersetubuh di angka 12. Ada unsur adiktif yang selalu membuatnya rindu akan sendu, walau ia tahu bahayanya bertahan dalam kebiasaan buruknya untuk bergadang tiap malam. "Tapi apa boleh buat?", ujarnya dalam benak. Hanya pada waktu itu di dalam hari yang mampu membuat batinnya tenang, dan yang paling penting -- kembali bernafas. 


25Mar2016;

03:26;

selamat jum'at agung.

Welcoming Back

Dalam rangka menghidupkan kembali bombealaska yang sudah usang dan tidak terurus, hari ini saya ingin memasak dan berbagi sesuatu yang mengingatkan saya ke rumah. Post ini saya dedikasikan untuk roommate saya, Marchelita Dewi, yang senantiasa rela dijadikan korban eksperimen masakan saya tiap malam. 

I have just recently moved to a newer (and better) apartment unit with my roommate. It's a one-bedroom apartment, with a living room and a bath room. Although it's just been three days of life here, I can already feel the sense of attachment to the apartment. May be you'd ask, how could -- it's only three days! The answer is simple: I now have a kitchen in my apartment! 

It's just really heartwarming to finally have a kitchen in my own apartment now, as this means I can keep doing the one activity I cherish the most -- cooking! Since cooking becomes convenient now, and that I have full control of the ingredients I wish to buy -- not like at home where mom has full authority -- I can be more adventurous with my ingredients and food! I can and I will share what I cook (dan supaya tidak lupa haha) to this blog. I am glad that I can finally relive this blog -- with food content :)

Today, I cooked something that reminds me of what I usually cook at home. I told my roommate that I wanted to cook mushroom and spinach pasta, and it just happened that she wanted something similar for dinner. We then headed to the groceries to buy the required ingredients, and continued with the cooking as soon as we arrived home. 

Herby pasta with mushroom, smoked beef, and spinach 

Ingredients:

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

half an onion, finely chopped

2 large champagne mushrooms, chopped

2 strips of smoked beef, diced - 1cm cubes

handful of spinach

olive oil

milk - full cream, about a cup

dried oregano

dried basil

mozarella cheese

150g wholewheat spaghetti

Instructions:

1. Get your ingredients ready -- chop everything, measure everything.

2. Boil your spaghetti until al dente.

3. Heat olive oil in a pan. When the oil is hot, put in your garlic and onion. Sauteé until they are translucent and fragrant. Then, put in your smoked beef and cook for 4-5 minutes. At this point, you can add olive oil if the pan gets a bit dry. Add in your mushrooms and cook until they lost their colour.

4. Pour in your milk to the pan, and cook for 3 minutes until they change their colour a bit. Add your herbs, and be generous! It won't hurt! Season the sauce with salt and pepper. Grate your mozarella cheese to taste for flavour and to thicken the sauce. Cook for 3-4 more minutes. 

5. Put in your pasta and spinach to the pan. Mix well. Cook for 1-2 minutes until everything incorporates.

6. Serve your pasta. Then enjoy! 

I have come to understand that my definition of being happy is to simply cook for my own and for my loved ones every single day. I am delighted to say that, for (already) three days in a row, I have done just that. 

A Book Review: What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20

Over the years, my go-to book would never be far off from fiction... However, this book really transformed my perspective!

This book offers a fresh, interesting perspective on pathways towards success. You can tell when you're reading this book that the author, besides her outstanding educational background, is a very smart, driven and creative person. Although 75% of the content discusses the experiences of the people she knows, the book serves way beyond that. This book in a way shares experiences on basic entrepreneurial skills in an exciting manner with details people do not really pay attention to before, such as "the essence of failure in success", or "getting out of traditional routines and rules to be fabulous" and many more! To me, this book offers valuable life lessons in a very approachable, relatable manner.

Definitely worth the read!

Recently

Recently my school schedule has loosen a bit due to the A Levels, which led to myself being nocturnal and productive at the same time. By being productive in here means to prepare myself for my upcoming tests. One of my habit during studying is to have music to company me, which helps me to concentrate better. Yesterday I've found some tracks I'm in love with (and companied me to study), and I just can't help not to share it. 

Five-minute cheesecake

Ingredients

Digestive biscuits or ginger biscuits (2 biscuits per person)

A packet of berries of your choice 

A packet of mascarpone 

A spoonful of white sugar

A bar of chocolate

 

Method

1.    Crush 4 biscuits. An easy way to do this is to place the biscuits in a clean piece of cloth and wrap them into a bundle. Whack it on the bench until the biscuits have been well crumbled.

2.    Put the mascarpone cheese in a bowl and mix it well with sugar. You may add more sugar if you like.

3.    Divide the biscuit crumbles evenly into glasses. This will be the base of the cheesecake.

4.    Do the same with the mascarpone and pour it over the biscuit.

5.    Add three or so berries and pour more mascarpone over it.

6.    Make sure your chocolate is still cold and hard. Turn the chocolate so that it is showing the smooth side. With the back of a knife scrape the chocolate towards you to make chocolate rolls. Carefully sprinkle those chocolate rolls on top of the glass.

7.    If you like you can put your cheesecake in the fridge for several hours or you may just enjoy your cheesecake right away!

 

 

 

 

My First Attempt

Yes I admit I haven't taken good care of my blog. Ever since high school I could not manage to write very often and the fact that I don't really capture much images of my food makes this blog even more deserted. I haven't really make much use of my dslr camera recently simply because I find it more convenient to capture moments with my iPad instead. Not to mention the handy photography applications that follow. Although I cannot really depend on the quality of the pictures from my iPad, I love it more than my Nonac (a nick name I gave to my Canon dslr when I first purchased it :p)

Last Sunday I managed to visit the Jakarta Culinary Festival with my favourite man in my life -- my papa. I invited my brothers to come along but they could not make it due to the upcoming test week. I  was hoping to meet George Calombaris and Andrian Ishak but no they weren't there :( What made the visit exciting was trying the turkish icecream which costs 25k but really delish!!! And I watched a chocolatier's masterclass who tried to invent a pumpkin chocolate (forgot his name) I did not try the chocolate as my dad needed to return home tad earlier than what we planned.

Before I went home though I visited the merchandise corner. As I walked along the corner, my eyes were immediately struck to the Jamie Oliver book which sat idle on the "sale" rack of the Times Books stand just right opposite to the merch. I ran to the book and my eyes were shimmering as hell as I saw the price (was just fuckin 99k!!!) where else can you find a JO book with a $10 price? I was really happy and bought the book immediately.

I flipped through the pages of the book and found a recipe that I'd love to try first. It's actually a pasta salad but I made extra Bruschetta to compliment it aand I also substituted some of the ingredients of the recipe. This is my first attempt making a pasta salad and turned out to be surprisingly good.

A Tshirt I bought from the JCF merch section

pasta salad and bruschetta

moi  99k JO book *proud*

Simple Pasta Salad with Tomato, Prawns and Edam Bruschetta

Ingredients for the pasta salad

1 cup of small shelled pasta

ripe red cherry tomatoes - as much as you like

a good handful of basil - finely chopped

half of a cucumber or one small one

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp any vegetable oil of your choice

seasonings to taste

a clove of garlic - grated

Ingredients for the bruschetta

a loaf of baguette

2 prawns for each bruschetta

large leaves of basil

edam cheese

2 tbsp of lemon juice

one clove of garlic

about 4 tbsp of olive oil

i.

Boil the pasta in salted water according to the packet instructions. While the pasta is boiling, mix well the balsamic vinegar, oil and garlic in a large bowl. Cut the tomatoes in halves and chop the cucumbers until they have the same shape as the tomatoes. Drain the pasta when it is ready. Leave some of the pasta water to keep the moisture of the pasta. Mix the pasta with the chopped veggies, basil and the dressing. Your pasta is ready to serve.

ii.

Pour the lemon juice in a bowl and season the juice with salt and pepper. Marinate the prawns in the lemon juice mixture and leave. Cut the loaf of baguette slantways. In a saucepan pour 2 tbsp olive oil and wait until the oil is hot. Fry the baguette until golden brown and crispy. Leave the baguette on kitchen paper. In the same saucepan pour 2 tbsp of the oil and then fry the prawns until they changed color. Then put the prawns on the golden brown baguette along with large leaves of basil and shaved edam cheese. 

I can't care less about how annoying it is to know the fact that I haven't posted anything in my sacred blog for almost three months now! Besides my busy school days, I decided not to post anything I have cooked for the last few months because of my poor presentation *hehehe* AND I didn't find it legitimate to post only recipes. So yeah.

Well I guess I have reached the emergency point to write another silly post. And I want to share something with you readers. Nope, not food. But something related to food. Guess what? I am planning to make a mini restaurant in my room!

Haha it sounds stupid I know.. But when this project finishes, I swear it will be a winner. I have a huge space in my room, and I just hate seeing it worthless and lifeless. So I decided to make a super tiny restaurant, just for about 6 persons or so. For now, I am only inviting my close friends over because I need victims to taste my experiments (don't tell them!)

The plan is, to make a restaurant with fusion dishes. And I have decided to name my little baby Locavore. Locavore basically means people who likes eating local food. My food is just simple Western - Indonesian mix, combined with harmony :)

I'll share the picture of my old room and my restaurant-y room in my next post.
Bye!

An Epiphany

Reading two realistic posts made by my auntie and her friend gives me a sudden insight of the condition of this damaged world. If you have been following the news in recent years, most of the headlines are in the criminal boundary; corruption, bombs, assassinations, sexual harassments, even between father to daughter have gradually started to become usual to this world. What is ironic about this is that after having the knowledge of how terrible this world has transformed into, most of us would not respond like we care.

Being one of the young generations living, I honestly have little empathy to the world. What I observe is that people will only care, or get interested to what they want in life; happiness, money or whatever, without even having a damn to any of the poor conditions happening. People drink, laugh, eat, or do any of their other routines like nothing is barely wrong to this world.

Sometimes I wonder why do Indonesians have to learn Pancasila by hard if the words mean nothing. Is it really necessary to practice the words every Monday for the ceremony if we have minor morals? Hearing the word "Indonesia", and what immediately comes to our mind is never far from "corruption."
They always say my country needs the young to smash the reality, transform it 180 degrees and build a brand new, developed, very well-organised, and corruption-free country. But is it that easy?

We have to believe in the fact that only little of the young in this era are open minded, and have great concern to the world. The rest, believe it or not, are not far from pathetic puppy love stories, stuck at school works, or could be, frienemy problems. Yes, I too believe it is normal. But sometimes what we need to do is look outside our comfort zones, look beyond what we have not looked before. Our mini help and our tiny concern, would mean a significant result to our momma earth.

I Love What You Did To Me

Never have I thought that a really short introduction conversation can be a very special moment. Yes, it was undoubtedly a stiff and an awkward one, but that was what made it special. I could never think that someone like you would ever start a conversation with a peculiar looking person like me, and what's even bigger is that this type of conversation did not happen only once.

I hate the fact that I tried to become somebody else whenever you were around. You know, that trying-to-impress attitude always showed every time we interact. Your attractive look, that soft tone when you reply to my conversations, and your sweet and warm behavior -- altogether made that image of a perfect figure in my mind. Every bit of you automatically made me transform to be someone more of you just to attract you.

It is amazing how you have greatly influenced me from our talks. Your smart choice of words, the way you narrate me about your interesting perspective of life, your cheesy jokes...won't ever fail to light up my day. And oh I love what you did to me, how you bring positive impact and successfully encouraged me to become a better being.

Above all, thank you very much for what you've done, well what you've literally done. 

<3

Supermarkets and Red Onion

My ultimate favorite place to be after my kitchen is the supermarket. As a matter of fact I have visited three different supermarkets in different days this week! I love to be somewhere filled with variations of fresh, aromatic and colorful vegetables and fruits, somehow refreshes my mind after a dull day. My mother luckily loves to accompany me to shop for organic ingredients, and therefore I do not need to spend even a cent for my groceries.

After my gazillionth time visiting supermarkets, this week happened to be my first time buying red onions. I always got fascinated by the vibrant red-purpley colour of the onion and was always curious about the taste. The only onion I ever used for cooking was the yellow onion, and I've always wondered if both of the onions have similar flavors. I bought three enormous red onions which cost quite a lot, (but it does not really matter as it was my mom who paid :P) and thought of making a simple dish with the red onion as the base.

And so one afternoon I got really hungry and craved for pasta. I decided to make linguini with tomato sauce and prawns.

Linguini with prawns, tomato sauce and basil

Ingredients

Dried linguini

3 tsp olive oil

for the sauce:

½ red onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 tomatoes, quartered

1 tbsp pasta sauce

150ml chicken stock

1 tsp dried oregano

a small handful of fresh basil, chopped

for the prawns:

2 tbsp olive oil

½ red onion, finely chopped

7 - 8 prawns of your choice (you can always remove the head/shell if you want to)

2 tbsp butter

salt and white pepper

a small handful of fresh basil, chopped

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a sauté pan and sauté the red onion and garlic until translucent (in low heat). Don't brown them. Increase the heat and put in the pasta sauce, tomatoes and oregano. Stir well. Add the chicken stock. Crush the tomatoes until the juices come out and combine with the stock mixture. Put the lid on and let the mixture reduce for about 17 minutes. After the mixture has been reduced, add the fresh basil. Turn the heat off. The sauce is ready.

2. In another pan heat the oil and fry the onion until caramelized for about 5 minutes in low heat. Add in the prawns and toss the prawns so that the oil and onion is distributed evenly. Season with salt and white pepper. Let the prawns fry for about 3 minutes. Add the butter to give creaminess. At the end of the cooking time, stir in the chopped basil. 

3. In a saucepan pour in water and let it boil. Season the water with salt. Pour in the dried linguini. Boil the pasta for about 9 minutes until al dente. Drain the pasta and add olive oil to the pasta so that the pasta do not stick. 

4. Serve the pasta with the sauce and prawns. Scatter around fresh basil for garnish.

Hi.

You know how I've always hated people who got extinct right after they had published only several posts in their blogs? It annoys me at some point. And somehow that reflects me. And that annoys me. How I badly abandon my blog.... 

I just wanna spill my heart out;

Have you ever felt like you don't know what the heck you're doing and no one can ever bring you back to the right path? Or people just seem so stupid to understand the way you're feeling? Everything I've done, and what I'm trying to do, just feels wrong. That feeling when you're heart is empty and you don't know where to go, or what to do. You know when you're just so desperate, you just want to restart everything from zero and be happy for what you have?

I just can't lie to myself.

China

I apologize for not posting for a very long time. Due to high school, school works have made me busy and hence I have no time to even update my blog. Below are some of the photos I took in China for this Eid Mubarak holiday.

I believe I'm strong. But I believe I am not I'm strong enough. 

Now I need you here. Say it, straight to my eyes, that I am strong enough. I need you, your support, and that you believe in me. 

Carrot Cake with Mascarpone and Rum Frosting

Who would have thought, that I could turn this: 

into this:

and eventually this:

There were so many ideas running through my head when I think of this blog. I planned to make cookies, cupcakes, pasta, and many other stuffs but ended up in posting this gluten free and dairy free carrot cake. I found this recipe somewhere in the net, and I thought, "why not?" I tried a carrot cake when I was little, and what I remember was this sweet, rich, heavy but mouth-watering cake. This carrot cake which I made has different textures in comparison to what I tried a few years ago, but they both had the same rich and heavy properties.

This cake has a significant amount of rum in it, and it is actually my first time cooking with rum. I had to cook the rum with sultanas, and I freaked out because there was literally fire on the saucepan. But as the blue flames vanished, I realize it was a pretty awesome moment. The rum was also there in the frosting with the mascarpone, and I never knew it worked so good together with the cake. The rum just makes it.

This is Nigella Lawson's Venice Inspired Carrot Cake. Click for the recipe 

To Love Or Not To Love

I could never comprehend your way of thinking, from the very start till the present. Every action you take kept me thinking, "Is this a sign, or just some unimportant gesture?" When I'm alone and I think about you, I think of us, together, being happy. On the other hand, I am afraid that I have made my dreams too high, too over confident about your feelings towards me. At other times, I am afraid that I could possibly fall too hard, not achieving every little part, and breaking myself apart. So the question is, to love or not to love?

It's an absolute statement that I love being around you. Your quirkiness, your wittiness, and your rude behavior -- shines my day every time we interact. People say the best way to make someone to love you is to make him or her laugh. It's funny how it's the only strategy I have to make you close to me, and that it was an enormous achievement to have successfully made you laugh.

Beyond annoying to know the fact that I am the one that only puts the effort: by being curious about you, by having the urge to know more and more about you, and that you have little (or may be no) interest towards me. Pathetic to know, to be honest. But what can I say?

Love, even this little puppy love, takes time. And if somewhere right in the middle, signs show that we are not meant to be created, then I by perforce have to let you leave, let the spark leave, and seek for someone better, and the cycle repeats. The cycle which goes, happy in the beginning, unsure in the middle, and heart broken in the end, or the cycle which goes, happy in the beginning, happy in the middle and happy in the end. My choice.

19th June

It was never my annual activity to celebrate events like Father's Day, let alone to cook its dishes. Not because I don't love my father, but I never could understand the value of those events. Although I still remain not celebrating Father's Day, this year I decided to make my own choice of Father's Day dessert, Pavlova. In the end, the only person who enjoyed the desert was not my father, but my cousin instead.

Pavlova is basically a meringue based dessert with fruit toppings. The crunch on the surface and the marshmallowy texture inside makes me crave for more. Not to mention the different flavors of the toppings.. Pavlova is not a doubt my absolute fave.

Pavlova

Ingredients:

6 egg whites (room temperature)

1 cup superfine sugar

2 tsp corn flour

pinch of baking powder

2 tsp vanilla essence

1 tsp white vinegar

200 ml whipping cream

pinch of salt

a selection of tropical fruits

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 170ºC. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Draw a 18cm circle on the paper.

2. Whisk the eggs using your mixer  on medium speed until soft peaks are formed. Gradually add the sugar on high speed until the egg whites turn into stiff peaks. 

3. Sprinkle over corn flour, baking powder, vinegar, salt and vanilla essence. Beat until all the sugar is dissolved. To tell if the sugar is dissolved, rub the foam with your fingers. If it feels gritty, then beat again for a few minutes. 

4. Mould the mixture within the circle. Place it in the oven for about 45 minutes.

5. Turn off the oven, leave the pavlova to cool. 

6. Add the cream on the surface. Decorate the pavlova with the selection of fruits.

Berries!

I have never loved eating berries until my Canadian interchange partner asked me to pick (and eat) blackberries from her grandparents' garden. Since then, I could never resist not buying packets, even very little packets of any berries, particularly blackberries from a fruit grocery.

This morning I craved for berries and went to a fruit grocery to buy 4 packets of different berries -- strawberries, cherries, blueberries and blackberries. Since I hate cooking using the oven, what immediately comes to my mind was making a summer pudding.

Summer Fruit Pudding

Ingredients

150g strawberries

150g blackberries

150g cherries

150g blueberries

4 - 5 medium sliced white bread from a large loaf

1/3 cup honey

2 soufflé molds (or any other small molds)

Directions

1. Reserve a few of each berries on a paper towel. Place remaining berries and honey in a saucepan, heat for about 5 minutes.

2. Strain the berries from the juice and set aside. 

3. Trim the bread to fit the mold, dip into the syrup thoroughly and then place into the mold.

4. Fill the bread lined mold with the berries. Place another piece of bread on top.

5. Weigh down in the fridge for about an hour.

6. Turn over and unmold the pudding, serve with fresh berries and the berry syrup.