Thursday, July 2, 2009

taman negara endau rompin

ok, sy ade pergi ke taman negara endau rompin utk group final presentation SCP hari tuh. it was on 29th & 30th may 2009. it was a great new experienced eventhough it was extremely hot. i mean like, really3 hot~!!! grrr~~~ ok. hundred of pixca, here's a few. what can i say about taman negara? ahah... it's hot, the foods are expensive, lot of mosquitoes, river as a water source, but digi, maxis, celcom = full coverage~! i like... the forest was cool and nice, but slippery as well since it's raining the next day. lot of sweets memories here... setiap kali nak blk da habis shooting, excited nak naek bot... sbb berangin~! n blh main air even, panas sgt3... ahah. =]

** gerak 4am - arrived 9am. NOBODY was sleeping. not at all. since, sempit + jalan mcm naik kuda. haha...seronok~! imagine 10 ppl in a small vannette van~

** we almost there & we stuck 4 a while = pokok tumbang~

** THIS FINAL PROJECT cost = RM 2000++

** the 2nd day, it was raining, and it was super duper slippery. but we decided to stick to the plan, and gerak la masuk hutan... guess what? bnykkk sgt pokok tumbang~! so, menambahkan lg kepayahan perjalanan.

** since terlampaw licin jalan dlm hutan tuh, bobo + amad + mangsa2 lain jatuh berapa kali tah. i know it hurts a lot since mereka jatuh terduduk. bobo siap terjatuh duduk atas dahan lg... ouchhhh~!!!

** bobo kene sengat dengan penyengat + mira kene gigit dgn pacat

** it's not easy utk naik boat yg super duper kecik, dgn air terpecik sane sini, nak bawak all the facilities such as a LOT of camera, [video shoot + photography], heavy monitor, and battery so on.

** imagine kami merdah hutan yg licin dgn curam tuh dgn tgn penuh kanan kiri bwk semua FRAGILE things nih.

** bkn senang nak gune tripod dlm hutan~!!!

** gua telinga tuh sgt kecik, so, nak shoot dlm tuh amat ssh. but we did it~!

** mula2 d kmpng org asli, kami x blh nak shoot. ade sbb tertentu. it's not a technical prob. and terpakse gune video cam yg biase~!!!


hurm... a lot to tell. we did snap a lot of cool, precious shot but, hurm. biarlah kami je yg taw~ anyway. here's the pixca~!


camni la sg die...warne teh susu + hijau lumut.
bot die ade yg beratap, ade yg tak.

dlm bot.

the producer with the girls. it's early in the morning...
so semua muka x selebet pon lg~

ahah... us with kak farah [tutor]

dtglah kalau nak tgk pacat besar gajah bnyk2~! =]

i love this one. ni dkt jabatan perhilitan.

ok, we begin from here.

ulat bulu ni la tibe2 ade dkt atas tgn sy~!!!

tmpt rehat pas da msk hutan... dkt sini.
kte org dpt tgk burung belatok tgh ketok pokok~!!!
and burung enggang [kenyalang @ hornbill] tuh terbang dpn mate~~~

abg amin with yien~ abg amin, our driver.
ahah...he's nice. ramai org ske~ sy tak termsk. haha.
that's thing, it's the monitor.

director, cameraman, producer~!

nice rite?

ahah... crazy ppl. bobo, kak farah + sofia.

da sampai kawasan kmpg org asli~!

haha...usher~ pemandu pelancong kte org.

alatan muzik tradisional mereka~

that boy is sooooo cute~!!!

some of them... hee. =]

hidupkan api dr rotan...

da start berasap~

see~!!! da ade api!!!!

gua telinga yg sempit amat~

muka semua x blh blah dah~

this tree is superrrrr big

bobo ckp ni bunga kantan hutan~!!! tpuuu!!!

pokok tumbang. blh bygkan bertapa besar x?
sbb yg gumpalan tanah nih, akar die je~!!!
siap bwh tuh ade lubang. grrr~~~

nak sampai tganu da... ahah. balik~!!!

naik bot camni lah. dgn sume brg2 tuh...tp best~!
tp dlm otak, jgnla terbalik. kenyang buaya2 nnt. ahah

yeay~!!! balik daaaaaaa~~~

** singgah d genting sempah utk dinner. jmpe cik ade sukma~!!! yeayyyyyyy~!!!
[lecturer sem 2 kot yg plg handsome. LOL]

** selamat sampai KL 11:15 malam =]



nutmeg and mace

July 2

This is a picture of a fresh nutmeg. That thin partial layer of reddish stuff around it is the spice mace. I guess physiologically it is to nutmeg what the paper-like layer around a peanut is to the peanut.
That’s all you get from me today, but tomorrow the story of my trip to O‘ahu and my passive-aggressive relationship with the GPS will continue.

To view all the blog entries about my trip to O‘ahu, click here.

Cheese Whore


For as much as I love cheese, I’ve written very little about it here. Maybe that’s because I love cheese most in its purest untouched form. I love a creamy brie on crackers, goat cheese tossed onto salad, a slice of manchego with some prosciutto. When cooked into a lasagna it's hardly worth mentioning. But it’s often an ingredient in a recipe I want to try, so that around my apartment you'll find a magazine open to a page with feta chile dip or a cookbook bookmarked at a recipe for asiago cheese bread. In my fridge right now I have 8 types of cheese: cream, asiago, parmigiano reggiano, it’s weaker second cousin parmesan, boursin, feta, cottage and monterey pepper jack. This stock won’t stop me from wandering around Whole Foods' impressive cheese counter picking up and contemplating every kind of triple cream brie. That's the kind of woman I am. I'm a cheese whore.

I mean, just look at those jalapeno poppers, stuffed with cream cheese and scallions and topped with pepper jack, broiled to elicit a golden brown crispy cover. I'm salivating just looking at the picture, remembering the heat of the pepper tempered by the silken cream cheese that gushed out when I bit into it. I won't lie. I pulled crusted cheese off the foil and ate it. That crispy caramelized cheese is the best part.

In fact, this crispy cheese makes the perfect snack by itself.

To make these Cheese Crisps, take a hard cheese like Asiago or Parm and shred a couple ounces of it. Sprinkle with some black pepper or cayenne for a little kick. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and heap little mounds of the shredded cheese on it. Make sure to leave space between them because they will spread out when they melt. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and bake for about 7 minutes. When you pull them out they will still be soft for a few seconds. If you want to shape them into little cups, you may be able to do so but mine hardened up almost immediately. Ideally you would have time to drape them over a shot glass so they form cups which can be filled with something like a tomato cucumber salad or a chicken salad with grapes. And then you could serve them as a cute hors d'oeuvre at your next cocktail party.

I ate my cheese crisps unaccompanied, enjoying them in their purest form. But maybe they'd be good dipped in something, like the aforementioned feta chile dip. Cheese on cheese? Why not? That's the kind of woman I am.

What Should I Have for Dinner Tonight?...Not Chicken Again, Surely?

What do you like most about chicken? I have no doubt that many people - even some who love chicken very much - may have to think about their answer to this question. For me, there is no need to do so: I love chicken most of all for its quite incredible versatility. There are so many ways in which we can cook and prepare chicken that entire cookbooks have been produced on this one foodstuff.

In this post, I am going to begin the process of exploring just how much value we can get out of one chicken, in terms of the number of meals or dishes it can provide for us, even over the course of two days or more. I hope to look at some original ideas over the course of the next few posts to this blog for ways of serving the chicken.

In this instance, I am poaching the chicken but it could of course be such as roasted (as elsewhere on this blog.) I know that many people think poaching a chicken either makes the meat very dry or does not create the best flavour but if it is poached correctly, it can be quite delicious.

I always buy free range and if possible, organic chicken. Yes, it is more expensive, but I truly believe that the difference in quality justifies the additional expense. When buying a chicken for poaching, also ensure that you do not buy one which will not fit in to your biggest pot!

I begin by placing the chicken in to the pot and then adding one chopped onion, one chopped carrot and three or four cloves of roughly chopped garlic. I then add boiling water up to about an inch below the rim of the pot, ensuring that the whole chicken is covered. I then bring the water back to the boil and let it simmer gently for an hour to an hour and a quarter, depending on the size of the chicken. As always, ensure that the chicken is fully cooked by checking that the juices run clear when you remove it from the pot.

I usually cover the chicken and allow it to cool for half an hour to an hour before attempting to carve it and chop it up. This makes the process much easier! I then cut off the legs and thighs and the wings, before very carefully slicing the two entire breast fillets off. These six portions, I use in different ways. Don't forget also to pull the remaining bits of flesh off the chicken, which can also be incorporated very effectively in many dishes. Remember to refrigerate the chicken not used on day one and use it the following day.

The chicken stock should be sieved to remove the pieces of vegetable and then allowed to cool before being refrigerated for use the next day, or even put in the deep freeze for later use.

In my next posts, I will begin looking at the manys ways in which we can go on to use the chicken pieces we now have prepared.

Below are details of two fantastic Chicken Cookbooks, available to buy as always at the best prices on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

When it all goes wrong...

[Details of competition after the fold]

My last piece (the one about lamb breast) was my 250th. By means of celebration here is one about when things go wrong. More fun than any self-congratulatory nonsense.

One of the great things about being a food writer is that you can maintain an air of smugness buoyed by the impression given off through writing.

You can bask constantly in the warm glow of success, or at least give the impression that you bask in the warm glow of success as you eat meal after meal of perfectly focussed, well-lit, delicious food.

Whether it is a plate of faultless and delicate macaroons or the glorious, greasy simplicity of a full English breakfast, readers can be left with the impression that each and every mouthful is one that skirts close to that idealised standard we call ‘perfection.’

If only that were the case.

The reality is very different. Oh, the joys of selective writing.

Witness exhibit (a): dried peach crisps:



Barely recognisable as peach, they were certainly dried. And crisp? They looked as if they’d been through a Hindu funerary rite of passage.

This is by no means a unique occurrence. One of my best tricks is leaving things in the oven overnight to cool, coming down bleary eyed in the morning and immediately turning on the grill. A man needs toast.

Only the faintly acrid smell of burning is enough to jolt me into action and extract whatever it was that now has a swiftly blackening crust.


There have been others.

Barely a month ago I managed to block our entire drainage system whilst experimenting with spherification. On cool quiet nights I can still hear my girlfriend’s faintly indignant (tinged with faint humour) tone ringing in my ears with the words ‘You’ve blocked our drains with molecular gastronomy!’

Only two days ago did I read the words ‘Caution: dispose the sodium alginate preparation in the bin, and not in the sink.’ Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

But my culinary bĂȘte noire remains Christmas cake – still the subject of more cooking related disasters than I would care to remember.

Last Christmas I sliced off an entire nail chopping dried fruit. On eventually completing the cake it was cooked too long and emerged from the oven dried and blackened. Only generous sousing with booze and careful removal of the outer layer rendered it edible.

Until a hungry mouse decided to gorge itself whilst we were away for three days.

The year before I snapped a wooden spoon whilst stirring the thick cake mixture, a painful splinter piercing my hand. And on lifting the cake into the oven the tin slipped from my hands and splurged its thick contents all over the floor.

As a final ‘up yours’ that cake, too, ended up burnt after my father decided it wasn’t cooking quickly enough at the designated temperature.

There are more, but here is where I hand over to you. What have been your biggest and most comical culinary failures, faults and fuck ups?

The best will be immortalised in a personalised short story. Typed out (on a typewriter, no less) by me and then published right here.

Comment below, email or tweet me your tales.

my blood = AB



2day was a...pathetic, frustating, sad day 4 me. obviously yes.



it's the final project presentation dearie~ and it was baddd.



no one to be blame or eveyone should be blame?



story bout it later. but 4 sure... i'm sooo not ok with that.





-abis presentation trus blah dr class, minum coke + nescafe. great~



[owhhh...sy hanya minum anything yg related to coffee ble sy x ok]



- habis class, masuk class just ambik barang. hurm... mmg rase nak nangis dkt dpn tuh.



- sampai umah je, setelah perut kosong dlm 12 jam, makan bnyk gile.



bkn sbb lapar. tp tah? haih~ sampai da nak muntah. elok la tuh.



nasi 1 pinggan + bubur caca 1 mangkuk + 2 choc m&m.







ok. anyway. lot of things to be told, later.



did a few quiz dkt fb. nih, 1 of them. =]





Your blood type is AB and it explain that you are ...



Basic behavior :

  • Romantic and sentimental
  • Extremely practical
  • Excellent in analyses
  • Give fair criticisms




Tolerance :

  • Try to be hard-working
  • Tend to be impatient

p/s ; mmg perangai buruk ni obvious~~~ agagagaga~~~







How do you see your future and past ?

  • Sentimental about the past [gileee setuju~!!!]
  • More concern about the immediate problems than anything else





How do you express your emotions ?

  • Usually stable and calm Sentimental
  • Usually cool and steady,

  • but can get upset with an immediate, unsolved problem
  • Can get moody easily











Something New

Happy Canada Day! I realize this is delayed, but as I spent the day out and about (and definitely not cooking a thing) there wasn't much time to write something down.

So I've been thinking for awhile that I should try and set some cooking-related "goals" for myself with a deadline, as I have a tendency to get lazy and be all "Oh I'll cook that sometime..." and then never get around to it. Case in point: I've been talking about pies for probably three weeks now. I keep saying that I'm going to make pie "this" weekend and then something comes up. Though seriously...I swear I AM going to make pie this weekend! Anyway, with the beginning of a new month, it seems like the perfect time to make a to-cook list.

Note: Although I was originally planning on keeping this list limited to things that I've never made before, there are dishes that I don't make often enough (like pie) or have only made a few times but are SO good (like baked beans) that I'm also going to include.

To-Cook List for July
Pie!
Baked Beans
Hamburgers
Homemade Pasta (not really sure what kind yet...I wanted to try gnocchi but as I've never tried making pasta before it might not be the best place to start)
Doughnuts

That's all I have for now. I am realizing as I read this back that this is a really carb-heavy list. Unfortunately, this will probably be a pattern as I don't tend to think "now I REALLY want to try that amazing looking salad recipe I saw awhile back". Also as it's summer and have been re-reading a lot of the Little House series lately, I seem to be gravitating towards comfort-style picnic food. I'll cross these off as I go and we'll see how far I get by the end of the month. I'm going to try and do this on a monthly basis. Also if you have any suggestions on things to try please let me know in the comments :)

Gaga knows what's up...

..."just dance!"

This is my first week back to work full-time while balancing motherhood (of a puppy) and the chores of being a wife and home-owner. In the past 3 days I've only managed a run on one of those days. I'm just exhausted. And, I'm full of excuses.

It's too hot (which it is)
The dog needs me (which she does)
No one will be there to make dinner (we may survive)
I would rather watch TV/read (duh)
It's my birthday (which it is...today, not every day)
I'm sore (cry me a river)
Etc, etc, etc.

Coming up with reasons not to exercise is exhausting in and of itself...as there's never a shortage on excuses. We all know how it goes..."tomorrow...tomorrow I'll have time for the gym." Thing is, there's a difference between an excuse and a reason. So do some soul-searching and recognize that your reasons are probably just bad excuses. I did.

We've all heard the benefits of exercise and for people like myself who actually enjoy exercise, find it scary to 1) fall into the "exercise excuse mode" and 2) take so long to realize exercise is missed and to do something about it. This morning, on my birthday, I commit to a workout tonight because I can and will guilt my husband into puppy duty while I do what I want...cause I'm the birthday girl.

What will I do to get in my exercise? I'm just not sure yet...but like all of you, I have options, and I'll choose to do what I feel like doing. Finding something you enjoy is essential to exercise becoming not only
enjoyable, but habitual. Plus, I rather like the idea of not having to knock out my workout in one period of time, but the option of breaking it into small, manageable stints.

Just take notes from my 86-year-old Grannie. At our wedding in May, she tore up the dance floor, out-shined the bride, and got in a workout...all night. Ain't no thang.


Her response to "Grannie, you sure were dancing!" was something along the lines of, "Well, Nikki...I wanted to dance, so I did. Good workout, too...even with my old lady walker." Completely nonchalant, I-do-this-every-weekend attitude. That's my Grannie. I proudly inherited her "sass" gene, but she's absolutely right. Do it.



And here she is teaching me a few things. I have a lot to learn, especially in walker dancing.


Just dance. ....Or run. Or walk. Or bike. Or swim.