Apricot, dates, banana, almond and pistachio cake

The kitchen is my mom's territory and I seldom venture into this area. Not that mom doesn't let me. She would be delighted if I learn some cooking skill from her. But usually, the 'boss' won't like it if you mess up her territory, right? ;p Just kidding... 

Last Saturday, mom suggested that I bake a cake to bring to the potluck. She has already cooked some beef stew. But since there are quite a number of us going, it's better we bring more food. So, my first attempt to bake a supposed to be prune & pistachio cake, turned out to be a "Apricot, dates, banana, almond and pistachio cake". Reason is that we have a lot of dates (buah Kurma) and banana. These dates are seen selling at most stores during the Muslim fasting month. 

The cake was super delicious and nothing was left at the potluck. Thanks mom for guiding beside me. ;) 

Ingredients :-

• 210g plain flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 6 eggs
• 200g of sugar (I've already cut down sugar because the dates are extremely sweet)
• 100ml melted butter (Corn oil can be used here, but I prefer butter)
• ~ 130g chopped dried apricots and dates 
• 2 bananas
• ~100g grounded pistachio and almond

Method:-

1. Sieve flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda in a mixing bowl. 
2. Melt the butter and measure 100ml.
3. Mix sugar into butter. Add bananas and eggs into the melted butter and mix well.
4. Stir into flour mixture together with apricots, dates, pistachio and almond until well blended.
5. Spoon mixture into a cake tin with grease paper. Bake in preheated oven at 175C for 35-40minutes. Stand for 10minutes and turn on wire rack to cool.

2nd attempt was on banana chocolate cake. But I just helped slightly.. mom did the rest. Mom said i whipped the mixture too long and it turned out a bit too wet at the bottom layer. Not sure about that though.. Will try again when I have the chance lah!

Chinese Painting Exhibition

Dad & I went to a chinese painting exhibition held at Ipoh City Hall last weekend. 

We were lucky to witness some artists in action. This artist was writing a gigantic "神" (means God). Even his signature stamp was huge to match the extra large word. 

This artist is very talented in painting animals. The stroke is fine and you can feel the 'fluffiness' of the panda's fur! ;P

Creations from the above artist. The tigers are so beautiful !

Many different kinds of Chinese calligraphy. 

Some artists are specialised in painting butterflies and some in chinese women with scenery background. The butterflies were very real.. love the color combination. 

The paintings are not for sale. But there was an agent at the exhibition hall who told us that if we are interested, we could contact him for further discussion. Haha...of course. 

Pray for our country

It was a sermon full of fire on Sunday. Maybe it's just me.. i felt a fire ignited in me. The speaker encouraged us to pray for our country, for wise leaders... Not only can Christians pray, he encouraged us to invite our friends and colleagues of different religions to pray and cry out to our God. God will intervene when we ask in unity. 

On Monday, I told my colleagues about this. I'm not sure if they will do it but message has been passed and I do hope that each and everyone of us will spend a short time praying for our country everyday. There have been so many unsolved issues. If you are a Malaysian, you will understand and know what is happening. 

So, let us pray in unity as Malaysians for our government and for our leaders. 

Juniel

Fell in love with a Korean song the first time I heard of it on the radio the other day. The voice sounded familiar..and i checked on google. True enough, it was what I thought..CN Blue's Jung Yonghwa's voice! ;D But the other female vocal, who is she, I wonder... who's having the privilege to sing a duet with Jung Yonghwa..? 

And it came out to be from a rookie soloist named Juniel. They were singing Stupid, a song which Jung Yonghwa produced for Juniel's debut in Korea.

Listen to the song here 

Unsure of who she is, I had a search and found out that she started her career just like CN Blue. She writes her own songs and can sing really well. She performed on the street in Japan too! Listened to a few of her songs...and they do sound really nice! Good that her senior is looking out for her. ;) I'm positive she has a really bright future with her many talents!

My cousin's wedding

23/6 was my cousin's wedding and we had a big family reunion. :DDD

Almost everyone was back for the big event. I took 4 days leave, just to hang out with family and relatives. Hehehe..

We had manicure and pedicure at home on 21/6. A relaxing day, chatting while choosing the nail polish.  

Bride had French manicure. Beautiful fingers.. :D

The night before the wedding, as usual, we had a pre-celebration with friends and family. Celebrating the bride last night of singlehood. ;p 


Two roast pig were served (sorry pigs..), as well as Rojak, Chendol, Laksa and Fried Hor Fun. All freshly prepared. Not the usual buffet style, but with different stalls serving different food. 

And of course, never to forget to do "Yuuuuummmmm Siiinnnnngggg!" with each other. :D

The wedding was held at St John Anglican Church. The church was awesome. Look at the architecture! After the church reception, dinner was held at Tropicana Ballroom, Ipoh. 

Durian Musang King (in chinese - 猫山王)

I usually don't eat durians.. I don't really like the after taste and its smell. I don't fancy the texture of most durians. But today, I tried the most famous, most talked about and most expensive durian of the lot. And I love it! 

It has a nice flavour and although strong smell, I find that I don't hate it. :D Weird.. haha!

I did a search on google and found that it's sold at about RM20-35/kg. Compared to the normal durians, D24, which is selling at RM8/kg, it is extremely expensive. The price I got was from a 2011 post. I guess it is now more expensive? Demand for it is high as some said its quality is consistent. With a bright yellow flesh, small seed.. and creamy texture, it's hailed the king of durians. Compared to the durian on the right, it looks much more attractive to eat, right? The flesh is creamy but not too wet. It just melts in your mouth!