Saturday, June 28, 2008

Just another weekend project




The last 2 weekends, I had enough fun experimenting with things that I put in a 'to-do-but-never-get-a-chance' list. I made yogurt. And I baked cake: Pandan Kaya Layer Cake.

My yogurt experiment went quite well. The yogurt was too runny for my liking. On the second attempt, I managed to get the texture that I want, at the expense of the fat and calories. Well, life is full of trade-offs. You can't get your creamy yogurt and not get fat!
Note: A friend who watched Oprah's Dr. Oz told me that calcium actually helped to bind the fat. So, if yogurt is full of calcium, so I don't have to worry about consuming too much of the full cream milk yogurt, do I? Again, I did not watch Oprah, so I don't know how true is the statement.

If people ask me on what can define the south-east asian food, my answer will be: Pandan. In the funny english terminology, it is also called screw pine. While green-tea is now such a hit, I still favour my old fragrant friend, Pandan. Although my son thinks that it's smelly, I still think that this is an exotic herb from south east Asia. Something that define Indonesian, Malaysian, Singaporean, Thai, and all the other Asian countries. The soft fragrance that the leaves ooze, that is so comforting.

People in Singapore and Malaysia are more than familiar with Pandan Kaya Layer Cake. I think this is a modern twist on traditional cake. The so-called pandan kaya fudge is supposed to be the kaya layer of the cake, made of coconut milk, pandan (screw pine) and green pea flour. It reminded me of the custard layer in kue sarlat. The same tastiness of the coconut milk. And don't forget the Pandan smell. The cake is either sponge or chiffon cake. I chose chiffon cake. Chiffon cake is not something that I have mastered, so I figured, it's good to have a chance to practice. For some reason, my chiffon cake always shrank after I took it out from oven. I figured it has something to do with the temperature management.
This time, I baked my chiffon cake in 160 C. The cake did not shrink at all, to my delight.

The fudge turned out easier than I thought it would be. It's not too runny. In fact I enjoyed making the fudge so much, I was thinking of making this cake every week.
One problem, though. My other half does not like Pandan. So, he sacrificed himself when he ate this cake for his breakfast.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

To my little boy on his 5th birthday




My dearest little boy,

Has it been 5 years since we have you in our life?

Somehow, we just can't imagine our life without you.


Looking at you now, it's just hard to imagine that you were actually the same baby that we saw in the 3D ultrasound long time ago! The baby that we saw in the screen were only 6 cm long. But you were such an active baby even then. I remember looking at the alien on the screen, boxing and cycling non stop, and wondering if the doctor were actually just lying. Maybe you're not really our baby. Maybe your father and I were just looking at some video on someone else's baby. So hard to believe that the little thing we saw in the screen turned out to be you. The perfect you.


You and your cheerful smile. You and your mischievous laugh. You and your sunny nature. You and your kind heart.


And, it is even harder to believe that the little baby with twinkles in his eyes, can already praise me, "mama, why are you so good in baking cakes?"
You really made me blush when you said that.


Your mama learns baking so that you and your little sister will have a home-made birthday cakes year after year.


Happy birthday, my little boy!