Mission accomplished!

Ok!, rasanya dah selamat dah untuk menge'post' gambar2 kekcawan hari jadi yang ditempah oleh dua wanita yang berani mengambil risiko.

Thank you Lel and Girl for trusting me.
I'm honoured.


Happy Birthday Tasya,may Allah bless you with the best.


Happy Birthday Syira, and good luck on your SPM


Pictures below hanya sebagai penyeri entry ini.















oooopss!!!...i got carried away ;)

Diva moment

The word “diva” is officially, but loosely defined as a distinguished woman, or respectable. However, people like Whitney Houston and J Lo have changed the definition for everybody. Now, whenever you hear the word “diva” associated with a woman, you immediately picture a woman that is so full of herself that she doesn’t even care about who the people around her are.

I personally never looked at myself as a “diva”, per se. I’m not saying I’ve never had my moments; I am in fact, a hot-blooded woman, :)). There are days that come once in a blue moon where I want things to be done my way (i.e My birthday - not really actually ). But on other occasions, I’m just your typical, run of the mill Malaysian lady, poised to the bone and delicate to the touch (cough*cough).

But I must share, by far, the biggest diva moment I have ever had.

It was a beautiful, crisp Wednesday evening, and a very good friend of mine and I had made our way to a friend’s watch showcase . I myself don’t incline towards indulging myself with functions like these (apart from not being a diva, I too am not a social climber, thus deem functions like these to be a tad redundant), but it since the show was to celebrate a friend’s brand; I figured I’d make the rare exception and go.

So there I was, sipping lychee drinks in martini glasses (non-alcoholic, of course), sinking my teeth into scrumptious hors d’ oeuvres and basically just enjoying the watches and the company I was with.

Towards the end of the event, as my friend and I were making our way out, we stopped to congratulate and bid adieu to my friend. There, stood this man, dressed to kill with his fashionable shades and blue jacket just standing there talking to her. I interrupted their conversation for just a quick minute to hug my friend goodbye, whilst holding a camera. I’m assuming at this point of time, the guy mentioned was probably thinking I was about to ask for a picture with him. WRONG. In fact, it went the other way around. After being introduced to one another, I shamelessly gave my camera to the man and asked him to take a picture of my friends and me. Stunned, and probably appalled, he immediately stated how surprised and disappointed he was by my actions for he thought I wanted a picture with him. “How dare you!” said the man, jokingly. But don’t worry; things didn’t stay awkward for long. We ended up getting some random guest to take a picture of all of us. But can you really blame me? How was I supposed to know he was a celebrity? (cringe)

P.S/ It’s been a few days and my friend still cannot get over my “diva” moment and has been telling her friends about the incident. It warms the heart to know that your story makes others laugh.
...and to Frank, sorry for the 'mishap' - my bad!

"Yes....I did it !!!

"Where there's a will, there's always a way" ; a saying I live by myself and one I make sure I instill into my fellow friends. I believe in the impossible, and at the same time believe that nothing is impossible.

When I was approached the other day to make cupcakes for a hantaran, I was surprised and touched at the same time. Despite it being my first big project- well,at least it's BIG for me, I remained optimistic and believed that this was my beast to tame. Like the saying goes, grab the bull by the horns. After many nights of googling images, for some inspiration, I realized something that helped push me to finish this project- if these people could do it, why can't I? Why can't I do better?


I must admit, and I'd be lying to all of you if I said "Ah, this is nothing! I'm cool, I'm relaxed". But quite the opposite, I'm afraid. I was panicked and I did doubt myself for awhile. But hey, I'm only human. But Alhamdulillah, I persevered and motivated myself to treat this project as a challenge. And one I intend on winning--

So days went by, and hours were spent in the kitchen, like Santa's little elf, so to speak, and it was finally done. After days of making sure everything was perfect and leaning so close to the cupcakes that I only left about 3cm between my nose and the frosting, I finally breathed a sigh of relief and took a step back. "I did it! I knew I could do it"....and and my so called "client" was so happy to see the cuppies,that's all i need and thanks Nurul for trusting me...Phewwww!!!!

I hope everyone enjoyed the cupcakes I made. And may this post be an inspiration that once you set your mind on something, go all out, you'll bound to expect some fruitful rewards.

As promised, pictures :)
I don't know about you guys....but frankly,i'm happy with the result.

Sure there's always room for improvements ,but as for now i'm happy with the way things turned out.. :)..ALHAMDULILAH!!.

"out of this world" project

Arghhhh.......bestnya hujan pagi,...sambung golek2 lepas solat subuh..

Woken up by a long distant call from a friend...that was the most expensive alarm by far...thank you Nita,kalau tak masih tido lagi kot?..
In the conversation we talked about our blogs ( dah penuh sawang )...ni yang terus nak post something,just to let you guys know that I'm still alive and kicking..but a bit bz..
InsyaALLAH ada project baru di Troika .. - as usual the concept is modern classic,.. *my fav actually.

Ni sebenarnya ada cerita sikit..cerita kelakar..
Ada lah seorang hamba ALLAH asked me to make hantaran for her sedara punya engagement..
Seram sejuk gwe dibuatnya - bukan lah the whole 7 or 9 dulang...ish ish ish..
Just 2 dulang of cupcakes - 1 for the girl's side and the other is for the guy's side..
color scheme dah ditentukan...blue for the girl and lilac and pink for the guy..

Untuk tidak menghampakan perempuan yang dah menaruh harapan besar terhadap saya,..saya akan menyahut cabaran itu dengan hati yang dup dap dup dap...
InsyaALLAH saya tidak akan menghampakan mereka dan keluarga mereka..

Tunggu my next entry kalau nak tengok project "out of this world" tu nanti ek?,,hehehe



A sneak peek of what's to come.
Bear in mind that this is my 1st project making cupcakes for an engagement..

macadamian caramel cheesecake

I am so proud of myself!I baked my first rather complicated Cheese cake and it tasted unbelievably delicious,..i first tasted this cake at Janine's launching of christian lacroix furniture..
As usual i will ask for the recipe,and Karina was kind enough to give me the recipe...
"I think you should buy the book- there's plenty of good and yummy recipe in it",said Karina..

I brought the cake to a friend's house and they were blown away at the sight of my cake, and even more later, when we actually ate it. I brooded quite a while over the choice of the perfect cake and at last I opted for the caramel and macadamia cheesecake from the Ottolenghi cookbook. (I love this book. Every recipe I have tried so far was outstanding)...i recommend it to you guys!!..

The cheesecake recipe was a bit intimidating, with two kinds of caramel, macadamia brittle and caramel sauce for the topping, but it turned out to be surprisingly easy.

Ingredients:

For the Batter:

600 gm cream cheese at room temperature

60 ml sour cream

120 gm caster sugar (I used 100 g)

1/2 vanilla pod or vanilla extract.

4 eggs, lightly beaten

icing sugar for dusting

Base

160 gm biscuits ( digestives)

40gm butter, melted

For Nut brittle

150 gm macadamia nuts

90 gm caster sugar

For Caramel sauce:

65 gm butter

160 gm caster sugar

100 ml whipping cream

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 140°C (285°F), grease a 20 cm loose base cake tin (springform)

2. Whiz the biscuits in a food processor (or put in a plastic bag and bash with a rolling pin or whatever heavy thing you have at hand). Add the melted butter and mix to a wet, sandy consistency. Put the mixture in the tin and flatten with a spoon.

3. Put sugar and cream cheese in a big bowl and whisk (by hand or with an electric mixer). Split the vanilla pod, scrape the seeds out and add to the sugar-cream cheese mixture or just add vanilla extract. Add the eggs one by one, mix until smooth and creamy. Pour the batter over the biscuit base and place in the oven for about 60-70 minutes (my cake needed 70 min. until the wooden skewer came out clean) Chill for a couple of hours on the baking tin base. You can remove the cake more easily when it is completely cool and set.

4. For the nut brittle scatter the macadamias over a baking sheet and put them to roast in the oven for about 15 minutes until golden brown. *Line a baking tray with baking parchment (this is to put the nut brittle in- to cool it down later) . Place the sugar in a large saucepan. The layer of sugar must not be more than 3 mm high in the pan. Heat gently until the sugar melts. It took me about a few minutes before anything happened in the pan. Do not stir!! Watch careful until the sugar browns. It should be golden brown but not too dark. Add the nut and carefully mix with a wooden spoon until most of the nuts are coated with the liquid sugar. Pour them onto *the baking tray and leave until the brittle hardened. Chop very roughly.



5. To make the sauce, put butter and sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and stir constantly over medium heat with a wooden spoon until it becomes a dark brown caramel. Be careful not to burn. Add the cream and stir vigorously. Leave to cool.

6. To finish the cake, dust it generously with icing sugar. Spoon the sauce in the middle of the cake, allow it to spill over. Scatter the nut brittle on top.

The cake will keep in the fridge for 3 days.

(Don´t be concerned. Your pans may look like a battlefield but they aren´t actually ruined. Just fill them with water and boil until the caramel has melted.)

Try this recipe- it's as easy as ABC..trust me!!!

Marvelous Marble Cake

I love marble cakes...kinda remind me of my childhood days..
So naturally, when I started experimenting with baking cakes from scratch (several years ago ) I began a quest for the perfect marble cake.I worked through a few recipes and of course, didn't have too much trouble finding people willing to eat my "experiments.".

But this perfectly delicious marble cake recipe is my favorite - given by a good friend, and i'd like to share it with you guys.



Here's the recipe:

Preheat oven to 150°C

Ingredient A:

2 block of SCS butter (500g )

6 whole AA size eggs

2 egg yolks

2 teaspoons vanilla essence

300g castor sugar

1 heap tablespoon ovallete

4 tablespoon F&N condensed milk


Ingredient B :

350g flour

1 heap teaspoon baking powder.

Ingredient C :(optional)

Van Houten cocoa powder

chocolate flavor essence

or

food color of your choice.


Method:

Put ingredients A in a mixer and mix well for 10 minutes

Add in ingredients B and mix for another 5 minutes or until fully incorporated.
(sieve the ingredients together before mixing )

grease and flour pan or line with baking paper.

Divide cake mix into 2 or 3 equal parts,
(kalau nak marble cake yg berwarna warni).



but i prefer just chocolate and the original cake mix (butter)
pic below.
then mix in ingredient C - cocoa powder and chocolate flavor essence (agak2 jer the amount)




pour or scoop batter into prepared pan (berselang seli)

Bake for 1 hour @ 150°C + 10 minutes. ( this part adalah 'petua' according to the original owner of the recipe )

VOILLA!!

Recipe Source- Recipe shared from a good friend (and one of the best cooks I know!)

" hmm..what should i name my boutique "

A friend is opening a boutique that will offer not high end but a little upscale - upscale casual to be exact,( not those bought from Vietnam or China clothing), local and SEA (South East Asia) designers clothing and accessories (think Anthropologie or Urban Outfitters). focus is 17-40 yr old women.
She will be selling her own designed clothing too (jeans / business casual / going outs) -- mainly for Muslimah. She may has the possibility of opening multiple locations in the future, so the name should not be "site/location specific".
Here are some names that are already in use, but will give you an idea of what she likes and looking for: Piperlime, Anthroplogie, Paperdoll. She wants something unique . Some names I have "toyed" around with are: Pepperberry, Anik or Anique,Simply Chic,anthrəpäləjē and tag lines of: "fashions for the body - head to toe" . She's open to any and all feedback/suggestions -- Please help her!!

Thanking you in advance .