Tuesday, December 21, 2010

I Love Batik! And hype it!

tolong doa ye? terima kasih.

assalamualaikum. harap semua sihat je. yg tak sihat, jgn pandang remeh. sila ke klinik atau farmasi asap, makan ubat. hargailah sikit kesihatan yang tuhan kasi tuh. jgn jadi bodoh sombong.

maaflah kalau susah utk dihubungi. HP semua boleh kata silent. tak ber-charge. most of the time makan, tidur. CEHHH. tak sihat pun makan tak ingat. :P selagi boleh makan, baik makan. dalam bulan 1 nanti, proses permakanan tu akan terganggu kejap T_______T

sebab tu tak update blog sgt, tak update FB sgt. jarang sgt online. i might look normal from the outside, totally normal. Only god, me, the Dr knows inside. fineeeee. ta de cancer, leukemia or what, but still it is something related to the biggest everyday-process-in-life. so jadilah cepat penat, sakit dada, demam on-off, mata berair.

bile camtuh, mimpi pun tak best. syaitan lagi suke. kejap ko terjage. malam tadi terjage sharp at 12am. seriously sharp, terus cari mane abah? sbb tidur dgn mama. cari abah 1 rumah. abah tak de. sekali abah baru otw balik, dr reunion dgn kawan-kawan. cuak owhhh!!! T___T

erm... tak tenat pun. jgn risau. sy cuma nak minta, minta sgt tlg doakan utk semua ahli keluarga sy. i don't know somehow it seems like everyone pun nak sakit. sakit yg, teruk. bukan setakat pergi mkn panadol, then okay.

Di Kuantan...
ayie, aisyah, abg ayum (suami kak ngah) semua dkt hospital. ayie & aisyah denggi. abg ayum asma... ayie makin teruk. aisyah makin pulih, abg ayum pun makin teruk.

Di KL...
kak lin & abg zul demam sakit tekak, selsema semua. tapi dah seminggu. Su pun masuk hospital, demam virus. more than a week. semalam, mama abah pun tak boleh tidur. tiba-tiba mama selsema teruk, abah sakit tekak & demam. abah kalau demam teruk :(


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Just... tolong doakan semuanya okay ye? thank you sgt-sgt. take care semua.



BREAD PAKORAS




Ingredients:
Gram flour ........ 1 cup
Baking soda ....... a pinch
Salt to taste
Oil to fry
Bread slices ........ cut into cubes
Tomato ketchup
Mint chutney (see chutneys & dips)

Method:
1. Make a smooth batter with gram flour, salt and baking soda, adding water.


2. Cut the bread slices into cubes.

3. Spread the chutney on one piece, place the second one on top of it and spread tomato ketchup.Place the third piece on top.

4. Now dip the entire thing in the batter and deep fry.
5. Cut into two pieces lengthwise.
Serve hot.

Supergirl, humble, smart, and fashionable.

I think, i dont need tell alot why i adore this super talented and impressive girl. I really inspired by her. Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson. She think that education is really important. And also still humble and cares for the environment. She is always fashionable and artistic. I heart Emma Watson! <3 style="text-align: center;">

She looked like a doll





I love this one!





gorgeous one!















And here is her new style!









I hope i can be like her. Well i need to work hard to be like her. Hype Emma!

Remember, Charity Agencies Are The Government's Competition

... hence this editorial from Richard Thaler of the University of Chicago.
NOW that Congress has actually managed to enact tax legislation, it may be time to consider some bigger issues. I hope that broad-based tax reform will be high on the list of both major parties.

Any meaningful reform will face intense lobbying from those who stand to lose. The tax deduction for charitable giving is a case in point. Although changes will be fought both by the givers and the receivers of tax-deductible donations, there is good reason to disregard their pleas.
You bet there is, Ricky. If we allow private individuals to engage in charity and it turns out to be more effective than the government, who knows what could happen? Haven't we learned anything from the past 40 years of government intervention? Just look at the successes we've had! Poverty is higher and we're $13T in the hole.

Err, maybe we shouldn't look at the results of handing social work over to the government ...

Christmas Mince Pies


Too much going on. Difficult to concentrate. Wondering whether son is going to be able to fly out of Heathrow on Thursday or not. So many people’s journeys disrupted. And if he doesn’t manage it, shall we postpone Christmas?
But before anything further develops, I do want to quickly share my mince pies with you. They’re easy to make and quite delicious. Well, we think so. In my experience, Turks aren’t as mad on them as we are but we carry on regardless.

This December consternation  reigned in Istanbul at least amongst all of us as our source of homemade mincemeat had dried up. Our Corona group usually makes a wonderful selection of Christmas goodies including cakes , puddings, and the aforesaid mincemeat but for a variety of reasons, this year Corona  collapsed. Of course one could make these things oneself but it was always part of the IWI Christmas Bazaar experience to fight your way through to the Corona tables and then retire triumphant with your booty. In the past my mother used to fly to Istanbul with her homemade Christmas cake on her lap while I would concentrate on the pudding and mince pies.
But I was all right. I discovered a huge jar of Corona mincemeat left over from last year. The stuff seems to be indestructible.
Now, this is the only time of the year that I deviate from my basic pastry recipe . Instead I go Cordon Bleu as this particular recipe really is melt-in-your-mouth. Here it is:
Ingredients for rich shortcrust pastry
Makes about 18 pies (using about 1 ½ lb/675g mincemeat)
8oz /225g plain flour
Pinch of salt
6oz/175g butter
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
2-3 tbsp cold water
Method
§  Sift the flour with the pinch of salt into a mixing bowl. Cut the butter into small pieces and add to the bowl. Rub the pieces into the flour until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar, mix egg yolk with water, and tip into the flour mixture. Mix quickly to a firm dough.
§  Turn onto a floured surface and knead lightly till smooth. If possible,chill in fridge (wrapped in clingfilm or foil) for 30 mins before use.
§  Set oven to 400F/200C/Gas 6. On a lightly floured surface, roll out half the pastry fairly thinly, and stamp into rounds the size of your patty tins with a cutter.


§  Place your rounds in the tin and fill each with a good spoonful of mincemeat.  Roll out the rest of the pastry and cut into star shapes for the tops. Place gently on top of each mince pie and press down.

§  Brush lightly with cold water, dust with granulated/caster sugar.
§  Cook for 15 – 20 mins till nicely brown. Cool slightly before removing from tins.  Some people like to sift additional icing sugar over them for effect.
Tips
1.    The original recipe from  Party Cooking, one volume in the 5-volume Cordon Bleu set dating back to 1970 and the foundation of my cookery library, included 1oz/75g ‘shortening or lard’. I have no idea what lard is but shortening is butter so I have simply increased the given amount from 5 to 6oz or 175g. I have done this every Christmas for the last 25 odd years so don’t worry, it is just fine.
2.    Ever since I saw a picture in a magazine of mince pies with stars on top instead of the simple round, I have been doing it this way. Prettier I think, and less pastry.
3.    If by any chance your mincemeat is a bit dry , the remedy is easy: add 1- 2 tbsp brandy, rum, or sherry! This often happens if, like mine, it is from a previous year.

Merry Christmas from me in Istanbul!

Review: Transend Email Migrator

Short version: It is the greatest thing ever created by human hands.

Longer version: I'm reluctantly migrating from Eudora to Outlook 2010. I figured Outlook would be able to vacuum up all my email fragments into a single system, fragments created by more than a decade of hard drive recoveries and email upgrades. I was wrong. This is what I got from running the email import wizard in Outlook 2010:

Dear Microsoft: You suck.

I then did a Google search on email conversion and found Transend. Having nothing to lose, I bought it for $49 and it converted my email perfectly, importing it into my existing PST file, thoughtfully placing these new folders in a subfolder which was clearly labeled so I could move the folders around afterwards as required.

Transend rocks. It does exactly what I needed done. It's going to solve a long-standing problem that has been driving me crazy. I hope that each member of the Transend team gets one of these for Christmas.

HOMESTYLE CHICKEN CURRY

Once in a while I love to make something totally unpretentious, simple and earthy, in other words "homestyle", easy and full of wonderful flavours this delicious curry had every one asking for seconds, serve piping hot...it will definitely be more than welcome in this biting cold.
Ingredients- 
  • Chicken- 1 (cut into 12 pcs)cleaned and washed
  • Ground onions- 3 medium sized
  • Tomatoes pureed-3 medium sized
  • Bay leaves-2
  • Cloves-4
  • Cinnamon- 1 pc
  • Cardamom-2 crushed
  • Clarified butter(desi ghee)-2-3 tbsp
  • Whipped thick curd-1/2 cup
  • Ginger garlic paste-1 tbsp
  • Cumin seeds-1/2 tsp
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Coriander and green chillies to garnish
Method-
  1. Heat ghee, add all the whole spices and fry till fragrant.
  2. Add the ground onions and fry till brown stirring all the time
  3. Now add the tomatoes and ginger garlic till masala leaves side of the pan.
  4. Lastly add yogurt and the chicken, cover and cook till chicken is done, no need to add more water as chicken will leave water.
  5. Check if Chicken is done then season with salt and pepper , garnish with slit green chillies and coriander.Enjoy with hot paranthas, butter naans or rice!