Happy Belated Birthday!!!

Kembali bersiaran....

Hari ni genaplah 47 hari *ko baru lepas pantang bersalin kah??  iol tak menulis apa2 kat blog nih. Jangan ditanya kenapa and oven pun tak ber ON...iol banyak makan hati ehhh...makan luar sajork :-)

Tapi rasanya belum terlewat untuk iol berkongsi dengan peminat-peminat di luar sana *matilaarrr dah mulaaa...tentang birthday celebration yang baru sahaja berlalu walaupun ceritanya mungkin pada sesetengah orang dah tahu...tapi peminat dari benua Eropah, Amerika Utara, Amerika Selatan, Papua New Guinea dan Planet Uranus mesti nak tahu jugak apa yang iol santap atau masak during my birthday celebration. I must say  this year birthday was one of the best I' ve ever had and perhaps the BEST sebab iol dikelilingi mereka yang masih lagi menyayangi diri ini yang tak seberapa *bergenang air mata..ayoohhh drama sgtkan ko!! Many thanks for your kindness, generosity and thought and also for making my birthday this year so emotional. You know who you are!

Let's see what I had this year...buuurrrpppppp

Wow!..the pictures above were the cakes I had eaten during my celebrations. Now you know why iol punyer body sama dah dengan my Kitchen Goddess, Nigella Lawson!. The first one with the candles is Durian Cake. Inspired by Classic Victoria Sponge Cake *tetapkannn, my dear friend, Duchess of Ipoh baked this cake not just for me, but also for 3 other friends who celebrated their birthday in the same month. The cake were sandwich with fresh durian frosting which I thought was a brilliant idea to substitute butter cream frosting. iol actually not very fond of durian but after iol tasted this cake, I gave an exceptional to this one. Thank you, love!

The second cake was bought from the very famous chain cake stores in Malaysia. It is called Chocolate and Walnut Cake. The cake packed with layers of chocolate sponge and chocolate cream with generous amount of chopped walnut scattered around the layers..yum yum yum. I celebrated with another adek-beradek and almost every adek-beradek was there, having exquisite middle eastern food together, recently. Yallaa yallaa.

The third cake was also bought from the same store but of course from different branch laa *kesian branch lain pun nak carik makan jugekkk....two piece of cakes. One is Chocolate and Walnut Cake and the other one is Pecan Butterscotch Cake...complete with a cup of Earl Grey tea..very nice!!!

And the last one...tak yah laa iol kenal kan. (riak nih hehehe)..kalu anda peminat setia blog harus tahu kann *nah kau soalan quiz! ...I baked for myself but ended up giving to my family. They loved it!!!

I also went out for meals with some of the great friends. The top picture is Friday's Sundae from TGI Jumaat. This dessert served in a tall glass with vanilla ice cream topped with hot fudge, caramel sauce, nuts and whipped cream. Even 4 orang makan pun tak habis *well 2 orang tuh jaga badan. Takott lemak katernyerr hihihi..

Next is high tea at one of the cosy cafe in Bangsar with soulmate and Duchess of Ipoh. We had variety of snacks to binge with a pot of tea and coffees. This place is not only has gorgeous food but also a nice place to have small gathering with the love ones.

The third picture is Japanese BBQ buffet style with sebahagian adek-beradek. Boleh order ala carte kalau uols bukan jenis melantak tak hengat! This restaurant is voted as the best YAKINIKU in town! katernyelahhh.

Last one is Yee Sang at Quality Hotel with fantastic friends while having dim sum sampai perot pecah hehehehe. It was a great experience because that was the first time I had Yee Sang and mixed the ingredients using chopsticks!

Oh gosh..the eating continues....iol melonjak kegirangan apabila masa kat satu restaurant nih iol nampak they serve my favorite spanish food, Paella de Marisco aka Seafood Paella! Chef yang sediakan tuh sangatlaa generous sebab dia bagi banyak sangat sampai penoh pinggan! Taste kat iol kottt *perasannn!!

Next, iol pergi sendirian ke satu English cafe style di Subang bagi merasakan suasana meraikan birthday di negara Union Jack *matilaarrr kene kecam... kali ni iol pegi sendirian sebab bagi mengimbas memori indah yang penoh luka di sana...opssss no meroy story please!..sorry peeps :) Dapat makan Hummingbird Cake...awesome!!!

And the celebration completed with the show at Dewan Filharmonik Petronas on the night of my birthday dengan alunan romantik music scores dari filem-filem Hollywood. After the show, I had Churros...bukan cik cur yaaa.. a spanish doughnut or gypsy waffles, a fried-dough pastry dip into hot chocolate sauce ..OMG, heaven!!!

iol jugak dapat birthday presents! To me, all the presents I got are my precious possessions and ironically, semua hadiah tuh adalah related to cooking...thanks kerana memahami isi hati ini :))). By the way, all these prezzies photos were snapped by Ajay Lee Frangoulis Khan, Nigel Barker in the making :p..the background very the English cottage :)

Kitchen Scale ini pemberian housemate. katernyerr tak sampai hati 
 tengok kitchen scale kat dapur macam timbang ikan kembong kat pasar.
heyyy that kitchen scale is Typhoon okay! But I love it..very practical!

Set kek stand with the cutter, siap dengan dulang dan serve board dari Akak AP..
warna PINK lagi...suker sangats dan iol pun memang tak der cake stand nih :)

Oven dish ikhlas dari Bonda Ratu...menambah lagi pelbagai
koleksi yang sedia ada dari pelbagai warna. Muahsss!

Cake tin from somebody who loves me *gituhh...
sangat menarik  dari  Typhoon, match dengan kitchen scale yang kat dapur tuh.
lepas nih boleh laa bergaya ke rumah orang bawak cake dengan cake tin nih 
*matilaa riak

OMG...saffronnnnn...dari Queen of Siam..nama pun  queen.
 hadiah nyer mestila rempah yg paling mahal di dunia :)

Most of all...* nak nanges bila dapat benda nih..tetappp :) 

kitchen set with Union Jack apron, glove and pot cover 

pemberian dari Mummy Rina dan Ratu Victoria  

*kesat airmata dengan tisu Watson

Sebagai mana yang iol ada post di laman sosial...

"Thank you for your wonderful birthday wishes, birthday treats and your unforgettable smiles.You made my birthday this year more happier and special than before. Thank you for the lovely and irreplaceable gifts. It's perfect gifts which I will surely use! No matter how old we get, we’ll always need the support of our family and friends. Thank you once again, for being with me on my birthday."♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

"Babe, this cake is especially for you on your birthday.
It's your favorite flag and I assume you are 21 forever.
Happy Birthday and love you and your blog!"

"Thank you, Love!!!" 
*terasa naik stage tak turun-turun sangatss

Ciao Bella!!!

Cottage Pie or Shepherd's Pie?

Alloooo mate, 

Lately, iol macam malas nak masuk dapur masak. Sangat tak teruja nak memasak walaupun keinginan nak masak itu ini meluap-luap *bunyi nafsu serakah sangat khennn... iol guess it is because iol started to get busy with my actual job routine. Tuh yang kepenatan sangat bila fikir nak masak. But, iol cannot demotivate my lovely readers. The reason iol created this blog was to encourage people to cook in tender loving care for their love ones. So, kalau iol bermalas-malasan untuk ke dapur, nanti peminat-peminat fanatik blog nih *dah ramai sangat kerrr peminat???... kecam iol tak beri semangat untuk diorang. 

"We are fans of mrhotmuffins' blog! We love you!"

Cupcakes for Princess Kate Middleton

Oooh La laaa..

Sedih iol dengar bila my beloved, Duchess of Cambridge, Catherine Elizabeth Middleton aka Kate Middleton terpaksa menyambut Valentine's Day sorang-sorang tanpa Kanda William di sisi kerana tugasan berjuang (bukan berperang yerrr) melawat di Falklands...ala-ala perwira gitewwww. Tapi Kate tak sunyi, kerana beliau membuat kerja amal dengan melawat dan men-support pertubuhan amal seperti di Alder Hey Children's Hospital di Liverpool. Sangat berhati mulia, uolsss*matilaarrr tetiba jadik jurucakap Buckingham Palace.

"Kanda tak der tak aper, baca blog mrhotmuffins untuk
hilang kesunyian. Blog tuh best Dinda!!"

So, iol mulalah selingsing lengan ke dapur untuk mem-baking dengan penuh kasih sayang, sempena V-Day bagi meraikan cinta agung William and Kate. 

"To my Kate, this is for you, love." 

- mrhotmuffins aka Royal Chef at St. James Palace.

Kate's Romantic Vanilla Cupcakes with 

White Chocolate and Butter Cream Frosting

The Ingredients.
 "Baking for Royal kene guna Royal baking powder jugekk."

Step 1

In a jug, macam jug pirex iol nih *jug kedai 2 hengget pun bole gak, mix the sour cream, eggs and vanilla pod/extract. Mix them well.

Step 2

Put the dry ingredients (castor sugar, ground almond, self rising flour and baking power) into a large bowl and make a well in the middle.Whisk to mix the ingredients well. 

Step 3

Meanwhile, melt butter in a saucepan and let it cool down for a while. Then, add the melted butter into a sour creamy mix and stir them well. Nanti uolss akan dapat mixture macam buat telor dadar.

Step 4

Pour in the wet mixture into dry ingredients and quickly fold in with a spatula. Make sure you do not overwork it. *jangan lak mengacau macam nak mengacau dodol!

Step 5

Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases. Spoon the mixture into the cases and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown, risen and springy to touch. The oven must be pre-heated to 190C/gas5.

Step 6

To make the white chocolate and butter frosting, melt the white chocolate in the microwave on high for 1 1/2 minutes, stirring halfway. Leave to cool. Beat the butter and icing sugar in a large bowl until creamy.

Step 7

Then, pour in the melted chocolate into creamy butter mixture and beat it for 30 seconds.

Step 8

When the cakes are cooked, cool for a few minutes, then lift the cakes onto a wire rack to cool completely.*Gebunyerr..gebu dan curvy macam mrhotmuffins oppssss.

Step 9

Spread the creamy frosting over the cakes. You can decorate the cakes in your own way. iol tak pandai nak decorate nih. Ini je lah hasilnya. In the end, masuk dalam mulot jugak khennn.

Here is the cupcakes for my lovely Princess Kate, Duchess of Cambridge on Valentine's Day :-).

"Thanks uolsss for the lovely, tasty and devine cupcakes uolss untuk iols.
 Princess Beatrice of York jeling je kat  iols lepas dinner malam tadi
bila dapat bungkusan special.Dengki khenn. muahhhs to uolllss."

Ciao Bella!!!

Asian Food Feast

Sawatdee Khrab!

Tulen kahhhh???

Merasa tetiba cakap bahasa Thai. Sesekali ubah dasar pandang ke Asia Tenggara apa salahnyerr. Walaupun iol kerap di cela sebagai penjajah, atau kerap kompang pasal negara Union Jack, iol tetap tak lupa masakan dan makanan dari negara uolsss di Asia *matilaaa nanti dikecam tak sedar diri...yang full of wonderful mix flavors.

To be honest, iol not good at cooking Asian food especially Malay food. Not that iol hebat masak western food, but at least, when iol read western recipe, it is so much easy to follow, prepare and cook. Dapur tak rasa kotor and tak risau pasal rempah naik bau ke tak, bila nak masuk santan or pecah minyak ke tak. However, Malay food has an exquisite taste that often never failed to impress the eater. In Malay cuisine, fresh aromatic herbs and roots are always used. The spices or rempah are always be the key ingredient in Malay cooking that brings up the flavor to the maximum *ayoooo dah macam host rancangan memasak..who knows in the future kann..mode verangan ON!.. Sebab tu kalau mat saleh makan masakan Melayu, macam iol selalu bawak my international affairs..ehh?? to Malay Restaurant, they always love and enjoy the food although some of the food might be spicy to them. 

iol was watching one of the programme on Astro's Asian Food Channel (AFC) called Best Wan!..iol very sure uolss know who the chef is in the programme.Tak yah laa nak glamerkan dia lagi kannn. One thing I was very impressed to say, the programme is really up to an international cooking programme standard and more important, it made me wanted to try the recipes!!! So, iol googled the website and found the recipes. I called some of my "a friend in need is a friend indeed" friends (ye lahhh, takkan nak panggil musuh pulak khenn) to try my cooking and had night in together. I chose two recipes from the programme as a backbone of the dinner. Let's see how they look like.

Grilled Calamari and Young Green Mango Salad with 

Fresh Lime Juice and Palm Sugar Dressing 

Technically, this is not a Malay food but originally from Thai. The famous Thai salad that always serve perfectly on the table with Tomyum when you crave for Thai food. Dalam bahasa senang, kalu tergeliat lidah nak sebut, kerabu sotong dan mangga. Sangat mudah untuk disediakan. However, the hardest part would be to peel the mangoes and cut in julianne manner. iol sure that you already knew the taste but this one is more tasty than one iol had in restaurants because the calamari was grilled instead of blanching it. Tak caya, try!!!

Spicy Grilled Chicken with Thick Coconut Sauce

Another recipe iol took from the programme and never tried it before is Spicy Grilled Chicken aka Ayam Percik. Pada uolss mungkin biasa and selalu makan dan nampak orang bakar ayam percik ni kat pasar malam atau lebih famous waktu bulan Ramadhan. Masa tu berebut-rebut orang beratur nak beli macam esok nak Tsunami ..oppsss nauzubillah. iol was very fascinated by they way this chicken was prepared and the herbs that  were used to marinate the chicken. Of course, it will be more authentic if the chicken was grilled on a charcoal grill but if you do not have one, like iols, just grilled the chicken in the oven. *merasa lepas tuh jenuh nak menyental, cuci the oven...the best part is the thickened sauce for the chicken is from the remaining  marinated mixture for the chicken. Just splash the mixture before you grill the chicken, and cook the remaining mixture in a pan to make a sauce and serve together with the chicken. Smashing!!!!

Baked Barramundi with Lemon and Fresh Aromatic Herbs

This fish dish was not from the programme. iol wants to share this dish with you because iols love seabass. iols cooked seabass a lot when iols lived abroad *tetap tak lupa nak mention hihihi..because it is juicy and easy to cook. What iol normally do was to put the seabass in an aluminium foil, squeeze some lemon juice, drizzle some olive oil, season with salt and paper and wrap the foil, make like a bag and bake in the oven for 12 minutes. When it is cooked, just eat it straight away. Love it!!! 

For this recipe, iol guna barramundi, an asian seabass that is easily found in any major supermarket. Nak guna ikan siakap pun boleh. With the same method above, but i put the fish in the oven dish and tip in some aromatic herbs like lemongrass, ginger, garlic and onion as well as carrots and tomatoes. Then wrap the top of the oven dish with a foil.

Steamed Pak Choy with Garlic and Oyster Sauce

Kalau makan tanpa sayur tak bestkann. So instead of frying or cooking vegetables in coconut milk, iol steamed the pak choy, then drizzle with oyster sauce mixed with chopped garlic. Senang kann! All of these dishes are incomplete without steamed rice ya. So, jangan lupa :-).

Macam serve kat hotel tak???

So, who says *tetiba lagu Selena Gomez terngiang-ngiang..ehh.. iol cannot cook Malay food hihihih. I enjoy cooking these dishes and will do it again. Walaupun penat laa jugak menyediakan bahan2 tuh especially to marinate and grilled the chicken, my friends enjoyed it and impressed with my Malay culinary skills. More important, no matter how good your food is, food that has been prepared with tender loving care, always tastes better. That's what I believe in!

"Babe, nanti uolss masakkan untuk iol rendang macam rendang daging Mak uolss
dengan lemang skali yer. iol suka rendang  tuh." *matilaarrr raya tahun ni!

Ciao Bella!!!

Mulberry Hazelnut and Chocolate Cake

Hola, 

Semakin hari semakin ramai yang membaca blog nih *ayooooo PERASAN sgtss...lihat sajer the number of people visited this blog has increased dramatically since it was first launched. Thank you all for reading my blog. Follower pun makin ramai bertambah. This shows that what I shared here has inspired people to start cooking or baking (I very much hope so yehhh) or maybe pembaca blog nih kaki langot and suka jer buang masa kat tempat kerja jadi pembaca blog yang setia hihihihih...ok jer kann dari tengok benda yang tak berfaedah :-)

"Iol follow blog uolss tapi tak nak mengaku, voleh??
 Takut peminat iol tahu nanti diorg tak follow twitter iol tapi follow your blog."

Ok..cukuplaa iol memuji diri sendiri khennn...jijik pulak orang membacanya hihihihi. For this entry, I wanted to share with you one of my favorite cake that I baked almost every month since I came back dari negara Union Jack terchenta ..*matilaaa pembaca iol menyampah statement nih..masa Raya pun mesti kene buat cake nih..tapi sejak dua-menjak, dah lama tak buat sebab banyak recipe cake lain yang iol kene cuba. So, let's scroll down.

Mulberry Hazelnut and Chocolate Cake 

The Ingredients

Step 1

Beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Kalu tak der Kitchen Aid, beat pakai tangan dengan spatula kayu pun boleh tapi jangan beat sampai jadi kuih bahulu lak.

Step 2

Then, add the eggs, one at a time, beating well followed by vanilla pod. If you do not have vanilla pod, you can substitute with vanilla extract or essence. Vanilla pod tuh mahal. Kat kedai bakery satu aje dah RM9. But if you go to Indonesia, you can buy a handful of vanilla pod sebab tersangat laa murahnye. Tak bubuh vanilla pun tak per tapi tak de laa jiran sebelah dapat bau yang uolss tengah baking cake yang sedap *matilaaa riak

Step 3

Mix the flour and ground hazelnut. Tip in the mixture into the bowl. Whisk slowly until all the ingredients combine well. Kalu nak guna ground almond pun boleh. Tapi kacang tanah is a no no yehh.

Step 4

Pour the cake mixture into greased and lined baking paper cake tin. Spread the mixture evenly with spatula.

Step 5

Scatter the almond blanched over the top of the cake mixture. Put it in the pre-heated 160C/300F oven and bake for 45minutes.

Step 6

When the cake is cooked, let the cake cool down for 15minutes. Take out the cake from the tin and serve on the plate.

Step 7

Melt the milk chocolate in the microwave for 2 minutes and drizzle the melted chocolate on the top of the cake.

Okay tak???

Ciao Bella!!!

AJL26 - Parti Kisah Hati

Tiap-tiap tahun, Anugerah Juara Lagu adalah paling dinantikan. Mostly, kebanyakan orang akan cancel segala appointment termasuk PS..opppsss semata-mata nak mengadap depan TV and nak tengok artis mana pakai lawa, persembahan mana yang meletop dan lagu mana yang akan menang. Tak terkecuali nak tengok, suara siapa yang terkucil masa nyanyi. Yang lebih meriah, mereka-reka ini akan menjadi Ketua Juri mengalahkan Ooi Eow Jin (hidup lagikah??) yang pernah jadi ketua juri selama lebih 10 tahun *tak nak lepas takhta sangat ko kannn.. mengomen itu ini sejurus artis tuh habis buat persembahan...overkann?? :-).

Well, apa yang iol nak citer kat sini is not about AJL, but the party that we had at Mulberry Cottage..sekali lagi iol punyer cottage dipilih sebagai venue party (dah jadi macam dewan FELDA Merak Kayangan), for watching AJL this year. Alhamdulillah, iol punyer soulmate bermurah hati untuk mensponsor party ini sepenuhnya semuanya kerana LOVE dengan kengkawan tercinta and iol pun seperti selalu akan memasak dengan penuh kasih sayang...Thank you so much, soulmate!!! May Allah Bless You Always.Amin.

Apa yang dihidang pada malam AJL tuh?? Let's take a look!

Chicken Sausage in a Golden Blanket

This is very easy to make. You just buy ready made chicken sausage, roll with white bread and then you soak in the egg. Then, you deep-fry. I like to tip fresh basil, paprika and a pinch of salt in the egg to give a little extra taste to the sausage.

Potato Croquettes

Another party-munchy-bingy food. You can prepare them in advance, freeze and when it is ready to serve, bake in the oven for 20 minutes.It is breaded mashed potato that is fun to make. Nice to dip it with homemade mayo or just chili sauce. Yummmmm.

Crab and Tuna Stuffed Yorkshire Pudding with 

Mozarella and Fresh Basil 

Yorkshire Pudding, again??? Yes, it is season favorite food. This idea only came up 2 hours before iol started cooking. I thought about making classic British food, Toad in a Hole. Tapi, sebab dah ada sausage kat atas, so I decided to stuff the Yorkshire Pudding. Crunchy and tasty with chewy mozarella. Macam makan pizza lak rasa :).

Homemade Meatballs with Rich Tomato Sauce

A request from the guests after they read this lovely meal in my previous entry. So, I made it again and they loved it a lot!. Tak yah laa nak explain bebanyak. nak tahu, bacalah entry sebelum ni. :)

Sticky Dates Pudding

This gorgeous pudding made by my loveable cottagemate. I asked him to make something for the dessert and he baked this. The cake is very nice and moist. It is baked to perfection.

It was just a simple party meal yet elegant and delicious. More important, the night was about connecting with one another over meals, sharing lots of LOVE, CARE and JOY, hopefully.

This is what we called L.O.V.E.. well keep veranganssssssssss, yehh!

Ciao Bella!!!