DIY - Cheese Raisin Scone

It's scone time.... specially for my breakfast kaki tomorrow, let's have scone. Hehe! I was introduced to this 'English' type bread/cookie by a friend, a friend who admires kuai-lou a lot! Anyway, that's beside the topic. My chef-at-home would like to try out this new recipe. As a first timer, I would not sure what will the taste be like.

Here's the look... my best creation is the heart shaped mold. Don't ask me why it's heart shape ??!! It's the one and only we have at home. Anyway, the result was heart-shaped turned to be out-of-shaped!!! Hehehe.... Take a look here.

Ingredients
250g Self Raising Flour
1tsp Baking Power
35g castor Sugar
Pinch of salt
60g Cheese (Parmesan)
90g unsalted butter
1 egg
120ml milk

Method
1. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and cheese together with hand
2. Rub butter with the ingredients
3. Then put egg and milk and rub till dough
4. Roll the dough into 2cm thick
5. Cut the dough into shape u prefer
6. Apply some cheese/ butter on top
7. Bake the dough at 180 C degree for 20mins

Happy baking~!

Magical Grounded Coffee Waste

What's this? It's grounded coffee waste...

I wanted to blog this long time ago.... but since I wasn't the waste-collector for these grounded coffee waste. I don't have a coffee maker at home, only place with the grounded coffee maker will be office or restaurant. Yeah, my collection of coffee waste is from the office (previously was not my office, hehe) and other friends who work in a restaurant.

Most people has been treating recycling seriously these days. If one able to make use of wasteful stuffs, aren't we able to save the garbage we throw everyday, save the planet eventually? Well,... as quoted by this site, million of pots of coffee are brewed everyday across the world, million has been thrown into the trash... what a wasteful action.

Coffee by-products can be used in the garden and farm as follows:

• - Sprinkle used grounds around plants before rain or watering, for a slow-release nitrogen.
• - Add to compost piles to increase nitrogen balance. Coffee filters and tea bags break down rapidly during composing.
• - Dilute with water for a gentle, fast-acting liquid fertilizer. Use about a half-pound can of wet grounds in a five-gallon bucket of water; let sit outdoors to achieve ambient temperature.
• - Mix into soil for houseplants or new vegetable beds.
• - Encircle the base of the plant with a coffee and eggshell barrier to repel pests.
• - If you are into vermi-posting, feed a little bit to your worms

Other Chinese sites like this even have much better idea on how grounded coffee waste could do.

泡完咖啡后剩下的咖啡渣除了可以放在烟灰缸里，方便熄烟并除
臭外，其实咖啡渣放在柜子里或是水槽中，还有去除怪味及油腻的
功效，另外，咖啡渣还可以作为植物的养料喔。

1. 咖啡渣强力去污 (Remove odor)
煮完咖啡后咖啡渣可以干嘛呢？用来洗手想不到吧，
咖啡渣混合洗手乳洗手的原理，其实是藉由这个咖啡渣里头含有活性碳
可以吸附很多微小的污垢，再利用洗手乳的清洁，去污效果自然比一般更好。

2. 咖啡渣放在烟灰缸中，可以去除烟臭味，也容易熄灭烟蒂。
(Remove smoker's smell)

3. 将咖啡渣放在冰箱中可以减少冰箱的怪味道。
(Remove odor in the fridge)

4. 咖啡渣置於鞋柜中，亦可消除臭味。
(Remove odor of smelly shoes)

5. 锅子用久了，多少都有油味，把湿的咖啡渣（或茶叶渣）
放在锅中炒乾，就可以去掉锅中异味。 (Remove smell at wok)

6. 对於喜欢种菜的人来说，防虫一向是最让人头痛的事情。
如果将咖啡渣铺在泥土上，便可防虫。但要注意，不要铺在根部。
(Remove pesticide from farm, avoid the root)

7. 咖啡渣里有适当的油分，将晒乾后的咖啡渣用布包起来做的针包，
可以使 针不易生锈，而且缝起衣服来更顺手。(Avoid rustiness
on needle)

8. 咖啡渣是很好的天然肥料。拌入泥土后可以帮助花草长得更好。
(Organic fertilizer)

9. 我们可以把咖啡渣、茶渣先在阳台晒乾之后，等到我们要处理垃圾的时候，
就把乾燥的咖啡渣、茶渣和垃圾混合，就可以消除垃圾的异味。
(Remove smelly odor from the waste bin)

10. 用咖啡渣按摩皮肤，具有「紧肤」和光滑皮肤的效用，
特别是容易囤积 脂肪的大腿、腹部、臂膀、臀围，都可以用
咖啡渣按摩消脂，一边洗澡淋浴一边按摩去脂，也可以达到紧肤
减肥的效用. (Body massage)

11. 刚煮完的咖啡渣都会残留许多咖啡油，如家中有铜制品
外表不经任何处理，如上漆、电镀….），可用布包著咖啡渣，
利用渗出的咖啡 油来擦拭保养铜器。 (Bronze protector)

12. 作为地板打蜡剂把咖啡渣晒乾，装入丝袜中，用来打磨地板，
可达到打蜡的效果，地板变得很光亮。(Floor polisher)

DIY - Mixed Fruit Sago dessert (杂果西米露）

This has been a pending post for a while.... what had I done lately, till feeling tired with my lil netbook and tiny words in there.. blame it on age or blame it on FB's farm!! Hehe...

Introducing a very simple dessert, can be prepared instantly. I prepared this last minutes before a Lantern Festival's BBQ gathering couple of weeks ago, all because someone's coconut pudding had failed!!... why failed? Blame it on the bad coconut.

Anyway, thank god this 1st timer dessert didn't failed on me. I was so worry if most could not accept the taste, as I didn't have the time to taste it properly before serving. Thanks to a friend who introduced me this dessert from Marco Polo Restaurant.

Very simple ingredient: Canned mixed fruit, Sago, Soya Milk, Vanilla Icecream, Ice

Preparing method:

1. 1. Boil sago in hot water, till it gets transparent, sieve and rinse it with cold water
2. 2. Pour soya milk (less sugar) into a huge bowl
3. 3. Sieve mixed fruit from its sweetener liquid
4. 4. Place both sago and mixed fruits into soya milk bowl
5. 5. Add ice cubes
6. 6. Mix vanilla ice-cream into the mixed soya milk bowl, let it melt

End result:

It's pretty hard to describe the taste from its look. The picture might not look tasty.. but you could use your imagination of less sugar soya milk in addition of chilling vanilla ice-cream... what would that taste. The reason I wasn't very comfortable with the taste, was because I find it difficult to adjust the amount of ice-cream I supposed to melt into the soya milk. The smaller bowl I made had more ice-cream and I felt it too creamy. :P

You may try if interested...

October 09's Perak Trip - Part 3

Sigh... this had taken me a while to continue the food section of my last Ipoh trip. Here are the food we indulged on the way from Kuala Kangsar.

First... Laksa Khomsa @ Sultan Abdul Aziz Park, its at the Golf Club area, near Ipoh International School. There are couple of laksa van stalls along the road daily between 1-5pm. Heard this particular stall was advertised in the Chinese Newpaper lately. They even have the paper cutting hung in the laksa van. Selling at a standard price ofRM2/bowl.

GPS Coordinate : N4 35.706 E101 06.698

Next, we headed to Pasir Pinji. Another food heaven! Since stomach was still full... probably some snacks will be perfect. Going with GPS POI, there is a famous Mua Chee around. Searched for + Hong Kee Mah Chee. The stall is located along Jalan Queen, outside a residential house, a village bangalow. Besides mua chee, auntie sells Peanut dessert (花生糊）too. Each selling at RM1.50.

GPS Coordinate : N4 34.380 E101 05.219

Well.. that was all for the day. Following another trip I made downtown Ipoh's Kong Heng Kopitiam Popiah, Satay Babi & Egg Pudding (炖蛋).

GPS Coordinate : N4 35.787 E101 04.675

Mmmm... it was all so yummy!

October 09's Perak Trip - Part 2

Guess I can't hold this post any longer... I have been very tired on every weekday, but a day before a holiday is always an exception. Yeah! I will be off tomorrow, thought its just a Friday and Deepavali is another more day.

OK, let's continue the story! On the same day after we had lunch, we dropped my parents back home and we headed to the north east of Perak. Here's the route... click to enlarge and followon. Generally, its Ipoh -> (North South Expressway North bound) Changkat Jering exit -> Bukit Gantang -> Taiping -> Kuala Kangsar -> Sg Siput (federal road) -> Chemor -> Ipoh. Phew! The journey back was double the route we took on the expressway, imagine that.

So, from town to town, let's see what we discover.

Bukit Gantang - A small lil town about 15min drive away from Taiping. What attracted us there was because there are couple of Homestay place introduced from the website. To our disappointment, we didn't spot a good one, and neither stop by for a look.

Instead, we went straight to Taiping town. Somewhat a heritage town in Perak. I happened to do the 'study' of the places only after the drive-trip. Following a blog, which described Taiping first 40... if you are interested of those heritage buildings and places within Taiping, do pay a quick visit here (part 1) & here (part 2).

I spotted a few.. which I think the best...

The Clock tower, which is also the Tourist Information (i) center for Taiping.

The district Land office.

The market hawker center - this may be not heritage, but their wet market is. The hawker center has many stalls, also 2 that sell Nyonya kuih-muih (local cakes).

Oh ya, we are just in time to visit a newly launched hotel, located just within the perimeter of Taiping most beautiful lake garden. It's call Flemingo Hotel. The setup looks nice and decent, very modern look, where some had blogged with good pictures here. Sorry to say, it does not look any special to me, guess why? Aren't it special and classy look? Hehe.. well.... those who used to visit China might have the same feeling... coz the setup feels just exactly like some budget hotel in China... anyway, don't quote me wrong, as this is just my personal opinion. As its still new, I think its worth a try...

Next, we continued our journey to Kuala Kangsar, the Sultanate town of Perak (Bandar diRaja). What's special there? Of course gonna be their castle.. unfortunately, we didn't make it to their Gallery and tour more on the majestic scene. There's this Galeri Sultan Azlan Shah, which worth paying visit if you have the time to spare, looks nice from outside, locates near the Perak river. Sultan Azlan Shah, who's also my University Chancellor... whom I received my Bachelor honored from him :)

Galeri Sultan Azlan Shah and its visiting hour (click for enlarge view)

Clock tower, looks like its trapped by spider webs, hehe...

They seriously need to renovate the train station! But this has a very 'classical' look...

We then headed through the federal road, passing through Sg. Siput town then Chemor to Ipoh. On the way, here's a view of a special hill.. what does it look like?

Some scenic view of pre-war shop houses and building, really captured my olden young days when I used to visit my grandparents back at their shop houses.... it was really classic!

Next... moving on to food post, stay tuned for Part 3.

Related Posts:
October 09's Perak Trip - Part 1

October 09's Perak Trip - Part 1

Wonder why would I associate the post with the month? It's because I will be visiting the mining-rich state again very soon in the next month of November and December!! Yoohoo... it might just be another trip back home, but it has been kind of interesting, with the purpose of me blogging this out as soon as I could. Else, I might not capture every unusual track again. With this, I have couple of posts to delay... stay tuned.

As I was leave-clearing couple of days back, I took an opportunity to be back Ipoh once again. There was no special arrangement this time, but with one motive... further explore up north the state for the upcoming December annual trip. I will be hitting west for the month of November :P

The 1 day exploration started all the way from Silibin -> Buntong Wet Market (place could name as Guntong) -> Hawker stall @ First Garden (Taman Pertama in BM) -> Kacang Putih near Merdeka Garden. See map route below, click for larger view.

Buntong is a place I have been only to their wet market, where I got my roasted pork in my old post, upon checking some food blog, apparently there are many famous food stalls around. Even the Ipoh famous Taugeh Chicken is originated from here. Believe they would have authentic taste. Unfortunately, most stalls only open at nite.

I have nothing much to do, but accompanying my mom doing her marketing work. While waiting.. I saw these poor creatures around... 2 kittens, one laying on another (not sure if another one still alive!) and a poor lil doggie which follows most passer-by's legs. Pitiful.

Next, we drove to First Garden area for food. It was not my first time in this hawker stall shop, but it has been my first time trying out this pork porridge（猪杂粥） and fish head noodle（鱼头米). It was nice... Of course, we can't miss Ipoh White Coffee!

Further on, my Kacang Putih lover mom kept recommend us to get this snack from a wholeseller, it's a kind of yesteryears snacks. It wasn't easy to find the place, as my parents only went there once a while. It is located nearby Merdeka Garden. This particular shop apparently does produce varieties of snacks, of course with the specialty in Kacang Putih. They even have got certification hang on the wall, mentioning "Kursus Kacang Putih", means attended a course of Kacang Putih.

GPS Location of this shop : N4 36.766 E101 04.290

Stay tune for Part 2 of the trip... :)

Herbaline Beauty Salon, Subang Jaya

Here's a recommendation to my friends who stay not too near to Kota Kemuning, mainly surrounding PJ, Subang or Puchong. The beauty saloon which I usually visits, its HQ which locates within my door step. They have new openings within the destiny of Subang Jaya and Sunway lately. For details, you might wish to visit their official website - http://herbaline.com.my/

I walked into this newly open, heard is a distributor company that carries the same beauty products and services. In case you are interested, you may drop by their premises or make an early appointment. It ;s located very near to the Kesas-Jalan Kewajipan junction, near Subang Summit.

De Paradise Beauty & Spa Sdn Bhd
65, Jaloan SS14/2,
47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor
Tel : +603-5621 8499 / 8599

(Click to enlarge)

Oh, and by the way.. if you are a first trial customer, you will get a RM28 trial herbal facial treatment... it's worth it. I will get mine very soon too :-)

As I mentioned, there is another shop at Sunway Mentari too.. I happened to pass by today but didn't manage to get their contact and the detail map.

StarSpecial - Go Green, Live Green

I was inspired by this site within TheStar Online lately, where they have a collection corners on Green stuffs, recycling, mother nature, energy savings, etc... There are lots of interesting write ups in there, for some of you who knows me, I like DIY stuffs, especially handicrafts. If I am able to venture into producing self sustained daily products from a recycleable item easily, I would wish to. Unfortunately, most reuse will require some kind of special machinery or chemical products to handle, i.e. recycle of plastic bottle and so.

One of the article in here which captured my attention was the ECO Home DIY. I was impressed by an architect, who converted his intermediate linked house somewhere in Klang Valley into a simple modern house, with the extra lighting of sunshines and air well into the house, which saved a lot on electricity for lighting and airconditioning, especially when its not necessary. He even built a grassed land at the rooftop, and save up rain water to water the plants.... Indeed a very brilliant idea, of course... this needs his expertise and knowledge as an architect, to ensure what has build is safe!

Click picture below to enlarge, taken from the article of TheStar Online.

Other than this above, I found other interesting articles on saving our mother green earth. This expand my knowledge much wider and its always interesting to see how human being today became more environment friendly.

We should salute to those taking up more outdoor activities, i.e. mountain climbing, hiking, marathon, clean the sea Project AWARE, etc... probably its due to the economy downturn lately, making us human gets closer to the mother nature... it seems to be a positive sign of change.

DIY - Blueberry Cheese Tarts

Well baked on the 29th Sept 2009, it was a Tuesday afternoon, after work... If you were to ask if I bake this alone, well... politically I would say "ermmm... not really". Those who know me will know what I meant. I then distributed the tarts in the office well on the next morning, one of my colleagues wanted the recipe as her kids used to buy these tarts from the bakery for RM3.20!! Well, I told her this does not even cost RM1 per piece.

So, here's the recipe to share. It has been amended from Alex Goh's ingredient measurement, because my friends and I are not the 'sweet' type of person, our taste bud are not sweetened at all... left behind, I may saw I am not a 'sweet young thing', hehe...

To start with, here're some pictures to share.

Then here comes the recipe. Referencing the original recipe from Alex Goh.

PASTRY
Ingredients:

160g butter
50g icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
a pinch of salt
1 egg
250g flour
( approximate 12-15 tart base)

Method:

1. Beat butter and castor sugar till well combined. Add in egg, vanilla and salt.
2. Add in flour and mix till soft dough is formed.
3. Keep in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
4. Press into the tart shells moulds and prick some holes onto the pastry.
5. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown in a preheated oven at 180 C

FILLING
Ingredients:

250g Philadelphia Cream Cheese
50g castor sugar
20g butter
1 egg

Method:

1. Cream the above ingredients. Place in the piping bag(optional).
2. Pipe the filling onto the tart shells.
3. Place a bit of blueberry pie filling on top and using a toothpick, make a pattern on top.
4. Return to the oven and bake for another 10 minutes, using the bottom heat only.

Enjoying baking, if you happen to try this. :-)