Tuesday, October 16, 2007

The Best Ever Banana Cake



we always have over ripe banana at home, coz caveman is a banana maniac and so is bubbles..me..im so so...i have my moods. Usually i make cokodok with the banana, but today i decided that ill make banana cake. i havent had a banana cake for a long time..mama use to make them and they use to be gone in a split seconds..:D.

so i google for a recipe this morning and i came across this recipe..its suppose to b the best ever banana cake..and it is..its a little bit different then what my mum use to make but its yum...with the frosty topping...even yummier..


The Best Ever Banana Cake
*courtesy Recipezaar*

3/4 cup butter
2 1/8 cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk ( i used normal milk )
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas ( 2 big bananas )

Frosting
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
chopped walnuts


1. Preheat oven to 200 degC
2. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 pan.
3. In a small bowl, mix mashed banana with the lemon juice; set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
5. In a large bowl, cream 3/4 cup butter and 2 1/8 cups sugar until light and fluffy.
6. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in 2 tsp vanilla.
7. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk.
8. Stir in banana mixture.
9. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for one hour or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean.
10. Remove from oven and place directly into the freezer for 45 minutes.
11. This will make the cake very moist.
12. For the frosting, cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth.
13. Beat in 1 tsp vanilla.
14. Add icing sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high speed until frosting is smooth.
15. Spread on cooled cake.
16. Sprinkle chopped walnuts over top of the frosting, if desired.

Its raining in cairo!!!

I don't believe it....its actually raining!!! I've been here for almost 4 months and I've never seen a drop of rain til today....how exciting! the temp now its 28 degC...beginning to feel like home now..:D

Mama dearest Kuah Kacang & Lontong

What would i do without my mama..i would be pretty helpless. I called her up raya eve to ask for these recipe...i cant be home so i was determine to bring home here.:D

who knows i might still need it for next year...uwaaaaaa i hope not!!!

i was salving myself in the kitchen to make these well at least the kuah kacang..but it was worth ed!

Kuah Kacang ( Peanut Sauce )

1 kg peanuts - fried with no oil unti brown, skin removed and crushed to small peices (you could also put i the FP and pulse it til its crushed but not grounded)

A.
25 peice of cili kering (more if ulike it spicy)
3in ginger
6 cloves garlic
6 shallots or 2 big red onions

Blend all this ingredients together.

B.
4 tsp oil
5 stalk of serai/lemon grass, bruised
3/4 cup of asam jawa (tamarind juice)
4 cups of water
Salt to taste
8 teaspoon of Sugar (add this bit by bit until u got the taste u want)

Fry Mix.A until naik bau and garing
Once u see the oil starting to float, add the air assam jawa and water and serai.
Let it boiled for about 5 mins and add the crushed kacang/peanuts in with salt and sugar to taste.



Lontong (Sayur Lodeh)


2 terung (cut in small peices)
a bunch of long bean or green beans (slice thinly)
3 medium carrot (sliced)
2 packet of tempe (slight fried)
2 packet of tofu (slight fried)
6 clove garlic
2 big red onions
2 inch of kunyit hidup or powder if u dont have any
4 cups of water
2 tsp of oil
1 can of thick coconut milk
salt and sugar to taste
1 maggi vegie cube (optional)

1. Blend the garlic,onion,kunyit together with 1 cup of water. Then tumis/fried til naik bau.
2. Then masukkan air, garam and gula
3. Once boiling add, carrots, terung,beans,tempe and tofu
4. Let it boil for about 5 mins and add n the coconut milk and vegie cube(optional)and boil until for another 10 to 15 mins.

And thats done!

A windy day....winter is comin!

i open the window just now and there was a gush of cold wind blowing to my face...and it actually chilly outside...even blew all the papers on the table. This is quite interesting actually...winter in cairo. bring out the boots gals!!! i wander where are all my winter clothes..hmmmmm...anyway..its been 5 yrs since i bought a proper coat maybe ill get a new one in KL..

its been a good week so far...im still tired from the excitement before hari raya..and now its pay back time! my lontong and kuah kacang was a success woohoo...who would have thot i can make it...i didnt! i still hav two containers of kuah kacang i hope they last til fridy..we invited some frens over for makan on friday and im still figuring out whats the menu gonna be.

so far this is what i have in mind:-

1.Dessert - carrot cake, choc cake and maybe a trifle
2.Foodies - rendang,ketupat,kauh kacang, nasi tomato and ayam pedas..maybe a pasta dish.

thats all i have so far..1st of all kene learn how to make ketupat! todays mission..haha

Sunday, October 14, 2007

World Cup FINALE!

ENGLISH ROSE VS SPRINGBOK!







last weekend was good match!
I was at glee when the rose won...im not a fan of england but the fact that the french beat All Black just pisses me off and i just want some else to beat them...mean?? i know but they didnt even play that well in the semis anyway...so england deserve to win...i sort of expected the springboks to win anyway...but the PUMAs played equally good but they wasn't soo lucky...it was good match on sunday it was rugby..not ping pong like on saturday!

Lets see hows it goes on the final...ENGLAND or RSA???

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Aidilfitri Di Perantauan.....Cairo 2007

now i know how tired mama gets every time raya comes..its not easy to prepare for it..the cleaning the cooking..etc..i fell asleep on the couch til 6am pagi raya and the 1st thing came to my mind was..Sh*Ts..my kuah kacang i forgot to put them in the fridge!!! luckily they are still good..alhamdullilah..i was slaving myself to make the kuah kacang the whole day!

we did the duty calls back home...everyone else is already berhari raya...:(. sedeh but i managed to control my pearly drops. hahaha..1st time! the thing is that if i start weeping..then mama will starts too and it will be too emotional..so its better this way! adek..being in the UK dah raya on friday...so when we called him he was getting ready to go to London for hari raya.

woke bubbles up.and got her ready..she was excited!..I'm sure she doesn't know what is raya, but i think she was surprise that we are going out for walk walk so early in the morning :D and she was excited to put on her new shoes we got her...:D

the venue was Dewan Malaysia Abbasiah Cairo...its like Malaysian hall la kire nyer...we miraciously got there on time...8.00am on the dot. 1st time in cairo had i seen soo many malaysian.in baju kurung and speaking melayu..it was very exciting..after sembahyang raya...the place was pack with Malaysian..and the food was very Malaysian too..satay, ayam masak merah, nasik...karipap..and seri muka..the green and white kuih.overall it was a good raya, of course nothing can beat hari raya in malaysia but this is good enough...

P/S- got invited to some open house...woohooo more foodies!!

Friday, October 12, 2007

Esok Hari Raya!!!!

TO ALL MY BELOVED FAMILIES AND FAV PEEPS...all of us here in cairo would like to wish all of you SELAMAT HARI RAYA MAAF ZAHIR & BATIN..

we wish that we could be with all of you in malaysia truly asia....but unfortunately that did not happen...so we are trying to make the best out of berhari raya in cairo.

Insyallah we will see u all on the 24th Oct 2007.

Im not a plastic bag..i've won the bidding!





this bag has cause a stir this year,being probably...no it is the cheapest designer bag being sold ever! i think the idea was initially very good..irs for the environment..but crazy bag ladies had made it into a fashion frenzy and now i think this bag goes everywhere not just the super market!

i wanted one..but i just couldn't be asked to queue or book it..as a result i didnt get one..and since then i totally forgotten about until...jeng je jeng....i saw it again on Allure..a few days back.. and the itching started....

i google it..a found it on ebay, actually theres a lot on ebay...but i dont know if they are the real thing...so me being a virgin to ebay somehow put a bid on 2 bags and bought one bag...of different colors...please do not ask me why i did what i did..i was buying out of frustration! besides..it is for a good cause hicks :*D

so last nite, i got and email saying i won both bag at Rm89.90 not too bad aye ..woohoooo....keke...so i have 3 now...blue,pink and brown..how cool although i promise one to kechik..coz she was kind enuff to pay for me in advance...

i emailed them ad they told me not to worry that they the original bag.not the fakeo's...& they better not be,hopefully they all waiting for me when i get home...:D i discovered some cool bag from AH too..and now im starting to itch again..i hate this.but i can help it... i love 'em! will drag tall bestie with me to the store when i get home...hahaha...lis..please save me!!!

take a look .. aren't they cute??...

Thursday, October 11, 2007

cookies for raya






samira and i decided that we should not mengelat even more by buying cookies for raya..so today we had our cookies project!. we managed to make 2,choc chip cookies and biscuit arab ( i have declared that biscuit arab is the easiest biscuit in the world !!)..the choc chip were very popular with the hubby..they kept asking for more!...and thanks to my super FP, i didn't have to slave my man power to uli the dough! :D.

remember once upon a time...sometime last year there was an email on famous amos choc cookies???....i junked mine..but samira kept it hahaha so we tried it and its almost as good!! although i must say it a very expensive cookie..kalau nak menjual memang byk pakai modal..no wonder famous amos cookies are expensive! anyway..for those who did junk that email...this is your 2nd chance to copy it and try....

Famous Amos Choc Chip Cookies

2 cups of butter
4 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups brown sugar
5 cups blended oatmeal ( measure it and then grind it in a blender til fine)
50g choc chips
1tsp salt
400g cadbury choc bar ( grated )
4 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
3 cups chopped nuts ( your choice )
2 tsp vanilla extract

Cream butter and both sugar
Add eggs and vanilla
Mix together with flour,oatmeal,salt,baking powder and soda.
Add choc chips, grated choc and nuts.
Roll into small balls and place then two inches apart
Bake for 10 mins at 375degC

this recipe makes around 110 pieces. :)

Biscuit Arab

2 cups flour
1/4 sugar ( measure and blend to powder)
Ghee ( add bit by bit until u can make a soft dough )
1/4 castor sugar ( milled to super soft powder ) - for coating


Mix the flour, blended sugar and ghee to a soft dough
Roll them up to small balls
Place them on a ungrease tray and bake for 150degC for 15 mins.
Once done, cool them a little and coat them with the castor sugar


the flat smells soo good now....:D

2 days to hari raya.....

2 days to go....and we are geared up!!!..

had an interesting day today...1st we went to pick up our raya food..the ketupats and rendang...yummsss i still havent tasted it though, saving it for D day! then sherli took us downtown to attaba sq to get some fabric. The street is filled with fabric..i see some very nice cottons for baju kurung...next raya i know where im buying my baju raya...winks!...i got some really groovy fabric for my big pillows for 14 L.E per meter..that would be like Rm9 per meter...murah giler cant wait to see how they turned out.

it was fun..but when i got home i was knackered....fell asleep on the couch and when i woke up it was 5pm!! SH*Ts...i was suppose to go over to samira to help her cook for the sudanese visitors and now its 30 mins to buka puase..but we managed to pull it thru like always and the everything was gone...well done samira!


P/S :still feeling horrible about not going back..:(

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

5 day to Hari Raya!!


it was really hard to put and listen to my this week addiction...sedey giler....uwaaaaaa i want my mama....

since we will be spending raya here...there soo much to do! this will be a challenge...my mind and body wasn't prepared for this...it was prepare for raya in KL with mama's food!!!.. i guess now there will be changes....i will have to prepare for raya now.

so far..I've come up with a Hari Raya Menu..rendang daging..lontong...and kuah kacang. I cheated abit on the rendang and nasik impit...i got someone to do it for me :D...i will not screw up our raya with a bad rendang! hopefully the rendang i ordered will do the job!

called mama today and got the recipe for lontong and kuah kacang...doesn't seems too hard i think we can pull it off and also i found the recipe for biscuit arab..requested by the pregnant woman..samira :D. I will probably try to make choc chip cookies and sarang semut if i can get hold of the recipe..

i think i will start tomorrow..kalau rajin..been feeling really lazy theses days!

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Lazy Day

today was my lazy day...not productive at all..until now..at least im updating my blog! i should been on that plane tonite going back home..i think that y ive been really lazy today...i really should been thinking about it anymore..it done...the plane has left!

at least my brownies tasted even better today :D...imagine if i had some weed in it..it will be even better hahahaha...dont midn me..im just not myself today.

watched eps of greys anatomy S04 today...for those who havent...naaanananaaaaa :P. its crazy.. somehow i think the pll changed too..like i use to think that torres was hot...but this season..she not soo hot anymore...i think its the hair...and of course theres no more Berg...:(. I miss berg..oh yeah..alex has a goatie...hehe.

and geoge and izzie..the never ending story....

P/S:- My cuz Elin had just delivered her 3rd baby today...Ahmad Jadir...alhamdullilah...Congratulations !!! another addition to the family!

we are not going home for raya..:(

its Monday and there is still no news....we had no choice but to change the dates on the tix before its too late...and the sad thing is that the next available flight it on the 24th!...2 weeks lepas raya...:(. The hardest part was to let the gran parents know the bad news..esp the gran mama's but its out of our hand..I'm hate this!!...to make myself feel better...i keep telling myself that there's a hikmah behind this...at least now we are all going back together insyallah.

looks like i will miss bestie's engagement on the 20th..:(. i would tell her to postponed it but it wouldn't be fair...soo I'm just gonna shut my gob this time...although im sure she will be reading this hahaha and she will know! so last nite..soo to make me feel better about not going home...i've decided to make myself some brownies...and amazingly it was a success!! i took the recipe from Nigella Feast..and it was delicious i kid u not!!!...its all soft and gooey unlike those hard brownies u get in famous amos or Starbucks....this is the brownie!!! that made me happy...we ate it till we could eat no more i still have some more for tomorrow..:D

Gooey brownies (make 25 brownies bites)

375g butter
375g dark choc
6 eggs
350g castor sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
225g plain flour
1 tbsp salt
250g white choc buttons ( i didnt have any..so i chopped up some white choc into chunks...it didnt really melt, so make sure u chop the choc really small )
50g choc chips ( optional )

Pre Heat oven to 180 degC

1. Melt the butter and choc in pan over low heat.
2. In a bowl, beat the eggs together with the castor sugar and vanilla extract
3. Let the melted choc to cool a little, and then add in the the egg& sugar mixture and beat well.
4. Fold in the flour and salt, then stir in the white choc and choc chips
5. Pour in the mixture into a balin tin that has been line with foil.
6. Bake for 30 to 40 mins depending on how good your oven is. Once the top is dry and had turn a lighter brown color turn the oven off and just let it sit in the oven for another 10 min before taking in out.
7. Cut the brownies while still warm.


P/S: it tasted even better the next day!

Sunday, October 7, 2007

World Cup weekend!

we had a great weekend last week...

On Friday caveman when to Alexandria for a rugby match...we almost went but it will be too tiring for bubbles...anyway Cairo Rugby lost by one try..not too bad aye! me and bubbles when to for iftar ( buka puase ) in Mbak mira house the food was excellent ader satay!!!...meet another fellow malaysian..Rages..i knew her since i was in Kemaman but i havent met her her til Friday..it was nice to meet another Malaysian and also i meet another noreena...how bizarre!

Saturday...the world cup Quarter finals!!!!:D....and yes the unexpected happen!..1st the anglo's beat the wallabies, then the french dude's beat the kiwi's...it was soo nerve wrecking even bubbles was watching intensely!..i had my money on the kiwi..they almost had it and then they lost it to the french...sad huh..but i must say that the french played well...and they deserve to win..the kiwi was just unlucky, it was soo close 2 point!!!!...on Sunday, i wanted the fiji's to win, they played well but the boks were to strong for them but i must say that pull some pretty good run and made pretty good tries, unfortunately the semi's ticket went to the springbok's and of course the PUMA is going to the semi's too....i must say the semi's will be an interesting one!! dah la mase hari raya...haha...i will be another nerve wrecking weekn in front of the telly!

also...i have given up looking for a fanush ( Ramadan lantern ) ,although i still think that its crazy... one in almost every house but i still dont see them being sold in town...how can this be!!. Maybe i missed the boat...maybe they were all sold out before Ramadan.....sigh i will make it apoint to buy my early next Ramadan.

Sunday..came the horrid news!!!! visa issues...bubbles visa and passport is still not dne..and were leaving on Tuesday!! pening pening...we have one more day to push before it too late to change the tix!...doesn't look good....i wanna go homeeee...

Thursday, October 4, 2007

auch!!

tomorrow my face will be spotted red from frying begedel today..sigh!!...i have colgate spot all over my face..i never knew oil could be evil!!!...today,im trying to make soto ayam with noodles...cant be asked to make nasik himpit! ( will import some adabi one when i go home ), i got this paste from one of the indonesian engineer here..the last time she came over she made it but i tak sempat rase dah habis...:(. so today i made a bundle...enuff for all of us insyallah...got the recipe from my dearest sista kak pa...and its very the yumss...so im gonna post it here soo that i dont forget :D.

Bergedel Kak Pa - this makes 25 biji

3 large potatoes - sliced and fried til just brown
bawang goreng - fry some bawang kecik and bawang putih til brown
250grm mince meat - frying til brown
spring onions - chopped
salt and pepper to taste
nut meg ( optional )
1 egg - whisk
oil for frying

Mix and mashed fried potatoes, fried onions, fried mince meat,chopped spring onions, salt and pepper together until ure able to form a ball shape with the mixture.

dip your bergedel ball in the egg and then to the frying pan.

fry them til they all brown and ready.

easy peasy!

P/S- Beware of the hot oil!!!

another engagement!!!!



i know this is abit overdue...but CONGRATULATIONS teh!!!!!...woohooo..another bestie is tying the knot...another one bites the dust!!!!...we all very happy here...its gonna be a long engagement..but im sure u guys can handle it!!...hehehehe..and i will not be the poison! :D

GombaK possie!! kekekkeke...

Grey's Anatomy Season 4

its back!!!...i was soo hapy when we finally found a way to download pirated stuff with the MAC...and the 1st thing i looked for was Grey's anatomy...and i was bitting my nails waiting for it to be downloaded!

i dont know if u all have seen it yet....i could blow it all by telling u the whole story but that will just be mean!!....so im just gonna zip it!!!...all i will say is that...it still rocks...at least for the 1 eps..and im sure the rest will be as good as the previous season...everyone is stil the same but the new interns are boring!!! exp from the girl from the bar....hahaha...the other grey! sure drama nie...

my Mcsteamy is still there...*winks*

anxiously waiting for eps2!!!

where have i been????




yuuuhooo....hiya peeps hows it going???...yes khemy, im still around & no, i havent been abducted by any pak arabs yet....thought i thot that was hillarious..hehehe..i didnt realise that i havent posted anything for more then aweek...it did feel that long..hmm...this ramadham seems to fly super fast...and next week i will back home in KL.....weeeee!!!!!

last week was a real busy one for me...in fact it started with my dearest being sick, apparently he was misdiagnosd & all this time he was taking the wrong meds and after a week of not getting better,we finally went to a dr recommended by AMR our ex driver ( he was a good one) and the dr diagnose him without even looking at him...he had the shingles...or kayap org melayu panggil..kesian....the rashes got soo bad that to a stage that i dont even know what to do...org melayu cakap kalau kayap kene satu bad that person could die...alhamdulilah after taken the meds from the dr, he was feeling better and the rashes started to go away and he was home for 1 week and now i know how hard and worrying it was for my mum when we got sick when we were little..after a week of resting my dearest is back at work...again..and he's still at work and it almost midnite!!! word of advice..beware of shingles...and Doctors here should what Greys Anatomy!!!

for those who doesnt know what is shingles...heres the some info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herpes_zoster

then....lepas daddy dah sihat...bubbles pulak had the fever..poor baby, she was pretty helpless just lay in my arm most of the time..sometimes she get soo hot that i had to put her in the tub and cool her down...kesian bubbles..the dr said it was her throat, it was infected and it caused the fever and flu.We took turns and stayed up for 2 nites, coz her temp was going up and down, 1 mins it will be 37 and the next will be 39 degC...scary! its been 3 days now and she is feeling more like herself again, alhamdulilah..but still abit cranky i think her throat is probbably still sore.

thats pretty much what ive been doing...nursing my loved ones....i think i need some nursing now..:D. besides that....what else have i been doing???? hmmmm.....oh yeah..i took some new photos of bubbles with her toys...i think the lighting in her room is excellent! and i also took some photos of the things in our crib....tried to make ikan and ayam percik....it works!!! will post the recipe soon ad u have gotta try it!..

the good news is that, bubbles and i will be on the jet plane back to KL on the 9th OCT!!!..insyallah if everything goes well...i wish my dearest was coming with us..unfortunately he will have to stay back and will joining us a week later. Im feeling really anxious about the flight though with just me and bubbles...it will not be easy, at the rate she is going rite now...she is one tuff cookie...lari sini..lari sana...

i have uploaded bubbles latest photos my flickr....i must say my baby girl has grown!!