that's how i celebrate it

kak sally~!

happy 25th birthday.

t hee. best x surprise malam semlm? XD

no cake. buat, a dozen of big apple donuts. yummy~!

with 3 pink candles and we sang.

we - me. mama. kema.

and we ate all the donuts + bee hun sup. dang~

yes~ we're turning ourself into... donuts~ haha.

2 months left b4 my 20th birthday.

my 17th birthday. was a blast. yeah. it means a lot. thank u my dearest D12~! i love u guys so much. and, it was back to my hostel life. to that, erm, old classic small town of kuala lipis. fasting month, and, exam week. grrr~ boleh plak sakit perut pagi2 tuh. 1st time sy kuar hall wkt exam sbb x tahan sgt sakit perut. uhuu... then sy demam jgk~ blk bilik, tidur. but, all my D12 members, doing their own things. and and, even some of them, were fighting. adehhh... tensi gue. sampai nangis sruh mereka berbaik cuz it was my birthday. be happy~ huhu. then then. malam nye... jeng jeng jeng. dgn mata bengkak, sy teman sherry ke BA. BA = bangunan akademik. all the class, office, Ko-op, n so on.

then. went back 2 hostel. and, weirdo~ where's all my babes? ade yg dkt BA. ade yg disappear dr ptg. and finally, there's syidaa. ok. di sini dia berlakon dgn baik & muka x blh blaaa.

"qilaaa. tlg aku... ade tikus dlm bilik tu... aku nak study."

sambil tgn pegang ridsect & tunjuk ke arah bilik kosong.

haaa? tikus? mane ade tikus dlm asrama ni.

"eh tak...lipas. lipas. tlg la weyh. aku takot"

pun masuklah dalam bilik tu. skali bukak je pintu, semua d12 ade, and and, mereka nyanyi happy brithday, and siap baling kertas warna - warni. full with balloons, foods, and there were 2 cakes. lalalala~ happy sgt. they were laughing when they told me the truth bout all the drama. sabar je la kan... sampai nangis2 tgk die org gadow siang tu. geram je~ haha. tp happy gle. seriously guys. thanks. jarang org buatkan surprise party... =]

18th birthday. nothing at all. it was 3rd day of hari raya. and, this time, we decided nak raya dkt srwk. beraya, sampai ptg. balik rumah, and mama & abah bz siap2 utk ke BBQ. mereka ada jamuan. so, sy tinggal di rumah. tepat jam 12am lepas tuh, tamat sudah birthday sy.

19th birthday. no cake and no celebration. just like the year b4. it was monday. and i've got lot of class, till night. it was malaysian studies on that night. and, tap~! tamat dah my birthday. that's all.

this year? i expect nothing.

since it's gonna b on tuesday.

and, nobody cares.

but guys, thanks 4 all the wishes.

and babe. u always make me feel special =]

i try my best 2 wish 'happy birthday' to those i care bout. yup. and i try my best 2 get a present too. i'll give it sooner or later. and if cant afford one, still i wanted them 2 feel appreciated. as for me, birthday is only once in a year. it's a day when u were born. and it also means, u're getting older and closer to death. i guess, we deserved to b happy on that day. to be blessed. hurmmm... happy birthday every1. happy belated n becoming birthday. may god blessed us. =]

Miss you, Dad

I come by my food addiction honestly. At age 83, my mom cooks incessantly. I'm not kidding. She is always making food for someone who is ill or malnourished or something. I think she just looks for people who are in need so she can cook. Oh yeah, and she entertains constantly. She's always throwing cocktail parties for her q-tip friends. They drink a lot of wine, too. Go Mom.

But the heart and soul of my food addiction comes from my Dad. Next week marks the 11th anniversary of his passing. I still miss him. But I rejoice in my wonderful memories. My dad never forgot a meal. You could ask him what he ate on September 18, 1968 and he could probably tell you. He loved to cook, too. He developed his own recipe for Beef Bourguignon which is kind of interesting, given the revival of that dish today thanks to Julie and Julia. Of course, his called for a can of golden mushroom soup which embarrasses me to even tell you, but whatever.

He once went to Galatoire's in New Orleans and had a dish involving eggplant and crabmeat. He loved it and immediately recreated his own version. Several months later, Bon Apetit (yeah, he was an avid reader back in the day) published the restaurant's recipe. He tried it but decided that his own version was much, much better. He called it "Stuffed Eggplant a la Edwin."

And then there is the crab story. Being from Baltimore, he loved nothing better than steamed crabs. So one day we went to the local farmer's market and bought several big boxes of live crabs. We took them home and then Mom and I decided to go shopping, leaving Dad to deal with all of those clawing, energetic crustaceans.

You can guess what happened next. As he was transferring the boxes of crabs to the back yard (headed for the big pot of boiling water waiting on the grill), the bottom dropped out. Can you say "Jail Break?" The things went everywhere! Even by the time we got home, my dad was still trying to coax them out from underneath the shrubbery. I'll bet some of them are still rejoicing today that they were spared from our feast that night.

His last name was Cromwell. Guess it's only fitting that, some years ago, Henry and I traveled to London and stood gazing upon the statue of Oliver Cromwell just outside Parliament. I knew immediately that I was a direct descendant. Two words: THUNDER THIGHS!

Here is his recipe for barbecue sauce. It's the best. Make it, marinate your chicken in it for as much time as you can, then throw it on the grill. Use medium heat, as it will caramelize quickly.

Here's to you, Dad!

Ed Cromwell's Barbecue Sauce

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
1/3 cup water

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon dried mustard

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Heat oil in a saucepan. Add onion and saute for 3 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 20 minutes over low heat. Cool, then use to marinate chicken.

(Note: because I am Jewish and so I always cook way too much in terms of quantity, I always double or quadruple this recipe. But hey -- that's just me).

P.S. the book in the picture was his favorite barbecue book. It is stuffed with his recipe clippings also. It makes me happy to look at it from time to time.......

Taste Test #1

So a lot of my coworkers are trying to eat healthier, and as the dietitian, I want to help them do so. So...I sent out a mass email to the clinic inviting any willing participants to contribute $1 for a bi-monthly taste testing at working during the lunch hour. I've committed to making a new, healthy, and easy recipe every 2 weeks for them to taste test and try at home. This week was taste test #1: Chinese Coleslaw. I had 9 participants and they were all impressed with the recipe. It is delicious and a perfect addition to any cook-out!

I typed up and printed out the recipes for employees to take with them. For week #1 I will say I was really pleased with the feedback.

Up next: Chicken Tamale Casserole!


Chinese Coleslaw

Mix:
2 pkgs Ramen (oriental or beef), cooked and drained
4 scallions, chopped
1/2 c. almonds, sliced
2/3 c. sunflower seeds
1 lb coleslaw

Mix separately:
1/2 c. canola oil
1/3 c. vinegar
1/2 c. Splenda-sugar blend
2 Ramen seasoning packets

Mix everything together and enjoy! Best if refrigerated for several hours before serving.

Any great, crowd-pleasing recipes anyone would like to share? Thanks in advance!

Just Peachy

Note: this post is from a few weeks ago and is photo-less...I wouldn't normally point this out but some circumstantial events have prevented me from posting for a few weeks and I just wanted you all to know that I realize the arrival of peach season isn't exactly "new" news.

So. It's peach season. Finally. Last summer was my first living in Toronto with easy access to the St. Lawrence Market. For some reason, I didn't realize it was peach season (or that I liked peaches? I'm not really sure what happened here) until it was practically over. So I spent the last couple weeks of August buying baskets of those gorgeous, juicy peaches and baking a couple of cobblers here and there, but mostly just using them obsessively for smoothies. I really didn't get the chance to use the glorious little suckers in the way that they deserved. And I've been waiting patiently for peaches to arrive in Ontario since the beginning of summer.

Well, last weekend I finally went to the market and saw baskets of peaches for sale. YES! They were still a few days from being fully ripe so I left them in the paper bag and planned out my first baking experiment.

The obvious choice was pie, and I'd seen a few fantastic looking recipes on the net in the last couple of weeks. But I was alone at the apartment for a few days, so I thought I would bake something that would be a little easier to take into work the next day for my co-workers to enjoy. I'd been re-reading some of the Anne of Green Gables series lately (I know, I'm a huge dork) and those PEI folk sure talk a lot about plum cake. I've never HAD plum cake before, but it seemed tasty enough and something that couuld be easily substituted with peaches, so that seemed like a good way to go.

The recipe I used is a plum cake recipe from Patent and the Pantry, which got the recipe from Dinner with Julie. I love butter, and browned butter always seems SO good but I've never actually tried or used it in a recipe before. Perfect! Plus, the pictures were so pretty and basically made me start drooling.

I tried really hard not to adapt this recipe too much - pretty much all I changed was the fruit (obviously) and added vanilla, because vanilla is SO good with everything. And I left out the nutmeg because I didn't have any.

Anyway...the only real problem I had here was that it was more of a cobbler-cake, as I used probably too many peaches. But that wasn't really a problem unless you're concerned about making a bit of a mess while you eat it. And it shouldn't be, because this was GOOD. Not too sweet, but delicious from all the fresh fruit and a bit nutty from the browned butter. I'm sad that I don't have photo documentation but if you go to the source blogs their photos are much prettier than mine anyway. But if you have some extra peaches lying around, try this recipe. Please!

Brown Butter Peach Cake
adapted from various sources, noted above

6 peaches
1/2 lemon
3/4 cups + 3 tbsp sugar, divided
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup butter
2 large eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit - butter a pie plate or cake pan

1. Peel peaches - bring a medium sized pot of water to a boil. Remove from heat and add peaches. Let sit for 45 seconds, then remove with a slotted spoon and immediately immerse in a water bath. The skins should just slip right off - it's like magic! I know this is probably a pretty basic concept but I've never peel peaches like this before so I was pretty amazed.

2. Cut peaches into large slices and toss with a squeeze of lemon juice, 2 tbsp sugar and cinnamon. You can do this directly in the cake pan/pie plate. Set aside.

3. Brown butter - in a small saucepan (make sure it's doesn't have a black bottom so that you can tell when the butter is brown!) melt butter and cook for about 5 minutes until it's a golden brown colour. Immedidately take the pan off hte stove and if you can, dip the bottom in a bowl of water (I just used the same bowl I had the peaches in, to save a bowl). I don't think you NEED to do this step but apparently the butter keeps cooking a bit after you take it off the heat, so be careful if you don't. I actually have a feeling that I didn't let my butter brown enough, but again this was a first try at this so I was super paranoid about burning it.

4. Pour butter into a medium sized bowl. Add 3/4 cup of sugar, eggs, vanilla and flour and stir to combine. Pour over fruit and sprinkle with remaining sugar (I didn't use a whole tablespoon here...probably more like a teaspoon).

5. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until top is golden brown and juices are bubbling up the sides.

Emeril to jump on the burger bandwagon

My colleague Elissa Elan reports in Nation’s Restaurant News that Emeril Lagasse plans to open a burger joint at the Sands Casino Resort in Bethlehem, Pa., where he also has a steakhouse, called Emeril’s Chophouse.
For more details, you should obviously click on the link.

BABY CORN FRITTERS

Ingredients:

Baby Corn ..... 8-10

White flour .... 2 tbsps.

Corn flour ...... 1 tbsp.

Besan .............. 1 tbsp.

Baking powder .... a pinch

Salt .................. to taste.

Ginger/garlic paste.... 1 tbsp.

Chilli powder ............. 1/4 tsp.

Garam masala .... 1/4 tsp.

Method:

1. Boil water, add salt and immerse the baby corn for 5 mins.

2. Drain it well and marinate with ginger garlic paste, chilli powder, salt and garam masala.

3. Make a smooth batter with white flour, corn flour, besan, salt to taste and a pinch of baking powder.

4. Dip the baby corns and fry till crisp. Serve hot.

Asparagus to the rescue!

The amino acids and minerals found in asparagus extract may alleviate the symptoms of an alcohol hangover and also protect the liver cells against toxins according to a new study performed by the Institute of Food Technologists and published in the Journal of Food Science [1].

Asparagus has been used throughout history as an herbal medicine known for it's anticancer, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory effects, as well as it's diuretic properties. It should be noted, however, that the amino acid and mineral concentrations were highest in the leaves of asparagus, and not the shoots [1].

Oxidative stress caused from chronic alcohol use can stress the lover and create unpleasant side effects such as a "hangover". It was found that asparagus leaves did, however, alleviate cellular toxicities and thus decrease the physical ill-effects of excess alcohol consumption. This is not only important for hangover relief, but also in the protection of liver cells in the body [1].

While asparagus isn't what most hungover individuals gravitate to in the morning, it's interesting none-the-less. Now, where can I find some asparagus leaves? Kidding, kidding. This thing called a job keeps my love of wine in check!

[1]. Fight the Dreaded Hangover: Asparagus Extracts May Protect the Liver. Medical News Today. August 16, 2009.