Jumat, 24 Agustus 2012

Old Cucumber Soup

Old Cucumber Soup
This soup is one of our favourite soups.
I boiled this soup for our today dinner.  
We came back yesterday late night from our Beijing holiday.
Beijing soups are very bland which we do not like except for my daughter.
This soup is good for our body since the weather is so hot.


This is one of the foods that MAS Business Class served.
Smoked Duck Breast With Raisin Mango Relish And Fresh Lettuce.
Normally I hate airline food but this one is good.
We were on Business Class and they served us non stop
with foods and beverages until we did not realize that we have 
already sat 6 hours for our trip.  
I drank three glasses of Champagne and nearly got drunk. 
:)


Heard that this road and buildings are re-constructed for the 
Olympics 2008.


Zhengyangmen Gate. (Forgotten, I hope it is correct)


Inside Forbidden City.


Taken from Summer Palace.


Hutongs of Beijing. 
(Oldest area in Beijing)


Great Wall of China.

Temple of Heaven.
My daughter commented that we don't smile much.
How to have good wide smile when the sun is so hot, humid
and shining at our eyes?  Anyway, it is a good and relaxing
trip for our family.  We had good food, great service, 
happy shopping, non stop walking and climbing, good laugh and 
lastly great relaxing from our flight, hotel and tour.
Watch out for my other blog where all the pictures will be.
  Coming Soon!


460g Pork Ribs (wash and drain).
800g Chicken Carcass (wash and drain).
700g Old Cucumber (Low Wong Kuah).

Note : It is alright if the weight of your ingredients does not tally 
exactly with mine.


Before cutting, wash and drain the old cucumber.
Cut into half and with a spoon, scoop out the seeds.


Peel slight the skin.  Do not peel all because once your
soup is boiled, your old cucumber won't be intact.


Get ready your pots with boiling water.
Left pot is to boil my soup.  Water depends on your pot.
Right pot is to par boil the meats.
If you are lazy to do this way, you can straight away
dump all the meats with the old cucumber into the
pot and start boiling the stoup.  I prefer par boil the meat 
because I wanted to scoop away those scum floating 
on top of the water.


Once your pork ribs par boiled, transfer the port ribs
to another pot.


See those scum floating (that is what I was highlighting).
Once your chicken carcass par boiled, transfer to another pot.


Par boiled Pork Ribs and  Chicken Carcasses in another pot.


Put in the Old Cucumber and start boiling for 1 hour with
high fire and then lower down to medium fire and boil another
one hour.


Look like this.


Nourishing Soup.
All of us finished this soup without any drop left cause
we missed our Malaysian home cooked soup. 

Rabu, 08 Agustus 2012

Almond Cupcake

Almond Cupcake
This is the best cupcake ever.  Even though you said you are on a diet,
you won't stop after the first bite or until your stomach is satisfied.


Last week, I came back from my trip to Bandung, Indonesia with 
my wonderful colleagues (from left to right), 
Irene Lee, Elly Chong, Me and Stephanie Chua.
The picture above taken at Kawah Putih, it is not an ocean, it is an inactive
volcano.  The water is so beautiful but you cannot swim in it because it
is full of sulphur.  The scenery is very beautiful.


This is another inactive volcano that we went to, called
Gunung Tangkuban Parahu.  We walked 300 meters from
the top.  I can't believe that we all did it.  By the time
we reached here, we are breathless, especially me! Hahaha but
it is worth it.   I enjoyed my travelling with them, shhhh.....
don't tell my husband (sure he will jealous).
Ok, enough of my story telling, back to my recipe.


100g of Almond.  (You can put more)


Diced it.


Toast it for cooked. 
I toasted it for 15 minutes at 180 Degree Celsius.
On and off, you have to stir it.  Once done, leave it at one side to cool it.


170g Butter (room temperature).
100g Caster Sugar.
3 Eggs (room temperature).
170g Self Raising Flour.
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Essence.


Once done, look like this.
Get ready your muffin baking tray lined with paper cups.


Scoop the batter by using ice cream scoop which is way easier.
Bake at 180 Degree Celsius.  (Make sure your oven is pre-heated
before you start baking your cupcakes)  for 30 minutes or 
until done.


Look delicious?  Of course, hahaha, my face so thick skinned!
Let it cool for 10 minutes and then take it out and place
in a serving plate to cool it down further.


This wonderful cupcakes are for my birthday which is today.
Ummmh, I am older by another year and wishing myself
 good health, longevity, great with happiness and joy,
and prosperity. :)