Midnight Bottle

I came accross this song when mon coeur and i went to MPH to buy some books and we were both on the floor and was engrossed with our own book and this song "midnight bottle" was playing and i found myself ditching the book i was reading and trying hard to make up the lyrics in my head and finally when i understood the lyrics it kinda reminded me of our my first day @ maple when we had our romantic dinner for two and it made me smile and i was telling mon coeur that i like this song very much and with his smilling face, he said i'm sure you do and smiled but before too long i did find out who sang the song and the title of the song and here is the lyrics to it and also some pictures to illustrate what i was thinking about when i heard the song ...

Sole Meunière , some salsa and finally brocolli and pumpkin soup :)

The delicious white wine mon coeur brought from Paris :)

Some pressies for both of us :) from both of us :D

and not too long after some nice wine drinking...my eyes became blurry (hahaha) kidding :P

mon coeur..... emmuahhh! the wine was a fantastic choice indeed...looking forward to have more of this dinner for two evenings together :)

so here is the song i was talking about...

Song Name: Midnight Bottle
Artist: Colbie Caillat

Midnight bottle take me,
Come with few of my memories
And everything, well, come back to me
Midnight bottle make it real what feels like make believe
So, I can see a little more clearly

Like every single movement you make
Kissing me so carefully
On the corners of my dreaming eyes

I’ve got a midnight bottle,
Gonna drink it down
A one way ticket takes me to the times we had before
When everything felt so right
If only for tonight

A midnight bottle,
Gonna ease my pain
From all these feelings driving me insane
I think of you and every thing’s all right
If only for tonight

Got a midnight bottle,
Drifting off into the candlelight
Where I can find you in your time
A midnight bottle,
I forgot how good it felt to be in a dream
Just like you had me

‘Cuz lately, I'm stumbling
Feels like I’m recovering
But I think it’s only for tonight

I’ve got a midnight bottle,
Gonna drink it down
A one way ticket takes me to the times we had before
When everything felt so right
If only for tonight

Midnight bottle,
Take the time away...
From where we are

Dinner for two....

C&R

Clarity!

The longest of break....

I was so looking forward to this break that i have bene silent for the few days that i was to leave and go to KL and somehow, suddenly i became so very busy and couldnt come to my blog even just to say or wish anything to my friends on here..but anyhowi have a few interesting things that i did when i was in KL and one of it was spending some wuality time with mon coeur and also to my dearest aunt and family :) On this post will be showing some pics of my splashing time at the pool and some squaking time at the park with them ducks at the sentul Park with my lil cousin Hannie :)

So we have arranged to have lunch at the condo and so i was busy bee that morning preparing some food that i would think Hannie would love to have so i did again some calzones and honey roast chicken and some rice as i know my aunt Alice will be bringing some Ginger yummie chicken with her for the lunch meet :)

so here are the pics ;)

Food for lunch

The Maze park @ maple

The meditation park & Lap Pool

splashing time ;)

cooling off at the pool with hannie :)

Hannie's favourite part...feeding the resident Maple Ducks :)

nexttime we will visit the Koi and arts centre on my next trip to KL ;) But all in all, enjoyed the lunch with alice and co. its a wonderful get together and hopefully soon we get to do that lots :) soon...very soon :)

Lots of smiles,

Clarity!

My 1st Photography seminar :)

It was a great opportunity to be able to attend a photography seminar , as chances like this dont come much especially when it is FREE! Yes this seminar was free and we get to have wonderful food selection for the afternoon brunch which is another plus for something like this but other then that its also an opportunity for us gals to practise what we might have learned during the seminar and put to use SAP! so here are the recollection of pictures depicting the activities we were in during the seminar ;)

The Opening

The ceiling...boring moment of the seminar.....

The presenter..one and only Louis Pang

The "Gingamaru Gals" see how our eyes all kinda look alomond like here ...hahaha

My bossom buddy (hahaha)

This my bossom buddy also :)

This is "tiny tots gingamaru gal" :)

smileys.......
n'est ce pas!

Leave nothing but footsteps but in this case just show off ur feeties wil do hehehe ;)

to the right side....

To the left

all in all it was a wonderful time spent with the girls and most of all we had fun , not sure what we have learnt but im sure we will use it whenever , whenever ..right ms danne? ;)

A plus tard!

Clarity!

My visit to Taman Teluk Putatan :)

Well yesterday i had a small suprise to one of my childhood best buddy who happens to live in "Taman Teluk Putatan" when i gave her family and herself a suprise visit to their home. I wasn't actually prepared for the visit BUT since i was in the neighbourhood i just thought i would drop by and visit her and her beloved family :) So I went ...and ....it was a wonderful impromptu get-together that we had coz sometimes or most of the times, good things happens when we least plan for it to happen and this visit of mine is certainly wasn't planned at all. So i played with her kiddies :) She's got three wonderful, wonderful kids. "My beloved Darling" (azizah) the eldest, the chatter box is my darling of them all and she use to be go out with me and Datul all the time when we go out together and she never forgotten any of our outings :) Then there's "My sugar-pop-Honey-Bunch" little man (Iqqy) :) he is really really cute and have the most profound eyes and lips a boy could ever have all thanks to the combination of Ula (the dad) and Datul (the mom) of course hehehe...and finally the baby of the three "My Sweet Heart" very baby indeed (Alia) and finally the cousin of te three which is (Sha Sha) who wanted me to call her by some nice sweet name also so i named her "My Sweetness" hehehe because she is really sweet :)

Had a ball going out at her garden with the kiddies taking pics and cathing up on some juicy goss hahaha :P anyways. Datul cook some good food and i couldnt thank her enough for having me for dinner with her family that night . was so un suspected but anyhow was a wonderful suprise for both sides coz moments like these at this age and time is hard to come by really. We can say, yes we will see each other again soon enough ...but soon enough is usually so far away and no time stamps on it...so we are both glad for the time we spent together reminicing about all times and catching up on good times ahead. To Datul & Ula you guys are the greates!! and your kids are my babies just like always!!! emmuahhhhhh! thank you for being the best friend in the world for me and appreciated it very much! and hope to do this again soon enough ;)

ok here are the pics :)

From L-R : Iqqy, azizah, shasha,Datul and Alia

" My sugar-pop-Honey-Bunch and My darling "

Datul & Co.

"The Diabolic Duo" yeah right! :P

Just like old times indeed ...Muahhh!

here is me and my darling and sugar pop honey bunch!

The mat-rempits wanna be hahaah! i love this shot indeed!

sometimes in the present,

Clarity!

I wanna be healthy :)

Going Vegetarian are we?

I have been toying with the idea of being a vegetarian for years now as I’ve become increasingly avoiding the desire to eat meat, particularly red meat. Besides its easier to choose to not eat meat coz actually we only eat meat when we are outside of our own home as mom dont cook meat and whatever meat dishes we do have we usually get them at restaurants or stalls where it is “already prepared food” Its almost a rare occasion for us to have beef at home so I guess I wont miss it in the long run. But fish and poultry is still the main food intake at home so I guess I just have to go on a semi- vegetarian Diet for now :)

“Properly planned vegetarian diets have been found to satisfy the nutritional needs for all stages of life, and large-scale studies have shown vegetarianism to increase longevity, improve health, and significantly lower risks of cancer and other diseases”

That's the base of why I'm going towards being a semi-vegetarian dieter. I found this terms at wikipedia explaining semi-vegetarian state.

Semi-vegetarian diets
Semi-vegetarian diets are diets that primarily consist of vegetarian foods, but make exceptions for some non-vegetarian foods. These diets may be followed by those who choose to reduce the amount of animal flesh consumed, or sometimes as a way of transitioning to a vegetarian diet. Semi -Vegetarianism— a diet in which the only animal flesh consumed is seafood and/or poultry , in limited amounts.

Large-scale studies have shown vegetarianism to increase longevity, improve health, and significantly lower risks of cancer and other fatal diseases. Necessary nutrients, proteins, and amino acids for the body's sustenance can be found in green leafy vegetables, grains, nuts, and fortified juices or soymilk.

Vegetarian diets can aid in keeping body weight under control and substantially reduce risks of heart disease. Non-lean red meat, in particular, has been found to be a direct cause of cancers of the lung, esophagus, liver, and colon, among others. (So plenty more reason to avoid them red meaty stuffs)

I love my vegetables, I love my fruits, I love my soya bean drinks and anything that has to do with soya beans , and I like my fish very much and maybe some tiny bits of lean chicken bits and most of all I love my nuts (have been fan of eating nuts since I was a kid ) so I think the best way for me to live life healthily is to follow through this type of dietry and I do think its suitable for me and a big thank you to my mom for being a wonderful supporter of my prefference to eat what is good for me and supported me all this while with my choices in terms of getting the best healthy diet for me. For years now, after the big scare I had in early 2001, my mom has been the core person to get me well and healthy for I have introduced to her a place in Centre Point where they sell this “vegetarian Food” which is superbly yummiest and we both have been eating there every now and then and whenever she bought “Tapau” for me she would know where to get me food ....thats a sure thing!

So to my mom ....Thank you so much for the support and continued support and I hope we will always stay healthy always.


Healthy, happy and wise :)
Clarity!

Japanese-style Curry

Curry is one of the most popular dishes in Japan. Japanese-style curry is usually thicker than curry found in other cuisines. I got interested to cook Japanese-style Curry when i read about Chicky egg's post on Japanese curry roux that i decided to make my own mixture of this so called "Curry Roux". I've got all the important ingredients to make curry roux but i dont know if its my 1/4 of indian blood or what..but i kept veering myself to make it taste like an indian curry...erghhhhhh! So...what i do is i combined a little bit of both so what i got is actually called "Japchidian" Curry :) hahaha....what a mixture :P

So the ingredients got close to the Japanese_styled Curry with all the ingredients particularly the vegetables. Typical Japanese curry includes vegetables, such as onion, carrots, and potatoes, and meat. But i didnt use meat for this one as i used Fish fillet instead. You guys must be wondering ....my cooking thesedays seemed to include a lot of vegetables and FISH or Chicken. Well thats because im preparing myself to be a Vegetarian. Well, a semi vegetarian at least for now for i still and wil only take Fish and white meat like chicken meat and veetables only now. So hopefully i will live healthily with eating good and nutritious food only :) Its one of my wish to better myself this year and thats healthier living :)

Ok here is the recipe i got from heltier living on how to make the basic curry roux from scratch.

INGREDIENTS:
1 tbsp curry powder
2 onion
2 tbsps flour
3 cups water
2 cubes soup bouillon
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 tsp grated garlic
1/2 tsp garam masala
2 tbsps butter

PREPARATION:
Heat water in a pan and add soup bouillon to make soup. Slice onion thinly. Heat butter in a pan and saute onion slices slowly until they are brown for 15-20 minutes. Add garlic and ginger in the pan and saute well.

Add flour and curry powder and saute over low heat. Pour soup in the pan little by little, stirring quickly. Simmer the curry roux until thickened, and add garam masala at last.

Ok done with that and now to prepare our vegetables and fish fillet :)

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 Tbsp. plus 1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 large potatoes, peeled and cut intobite-size pieces (1 cup)

2 small green capsicum, cored and cut into bite-size pieces (1 cup)

2 small tomatoes cut into bite-size pieces (1 cup)

1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces (1 cup)

2 pieces of fish fillet cut into bite-size pieces (1 cup)
Salt and pepper to season
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small onion, sliced (1 cup)
4 cups water
Japanese curry roux mixture ( 1 cup)

PREPARATION:
Heat 1 1/2 Tbsp. of olive oil in medium skillet over medium heat. Saute potatoes, carrots and bell pepper for a few minutes, or until tender. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and set aside. Heat 1 Tbsp. of olive oil in large and deep pot over medium heat.

Saute garlic and onion until onion is tender, about a few minutes. Add fish fillet and stir-fry with onion for a minute. Add water, stir well, and simmer on low heat for about 15 minutes, or until carrot is tender. Add the Japanese curry roux mxture in the soup and stir lightly and add tomatoes let sit for 5 minutes. Serve curry with steamed rice.

All done and here are the finished product :)

The Pot

yummy :)

Vegetarian wannabe

Clarity!

Trade your Soul for Sole?

I was told that the most simple tasting French food is always the most difficult to prepare..well, before i made this attempt to cook the ever so popular dish in restaurants in France, i thought i'd do a research over its background of how it became a reknown dish and why is it expensive, even sometimes higher than filet mignon and always wads of euros more than salmon happens to be just a mere whole fish cooked in brown butter with a squeeze of lemon and some chopped parsley thrown in!

So I found out that....

1. why is it expensive...Just trying to skin sole fish will tell you why it's so darned expensive!

2. The ART of cooking the sole fish it self

3. And the story behind the dish itself, on how it took the soul of one of France's most revered cooks, Chef Vatel

let's chat a little about the no3 discovery why the sole fish is an expensive dish :)

"Taken from a literature article on the net regarding this particular story"

Before the Roi de Soleil's extravagant palace of Versailles was constructed in 1682, the King traveled around the country with his aristocracy. Wherever he went they were required to go too. In this way he kept an eye on his scheming court and also kept them in dept paying for their travel expenses and hosting lavish parties in his honor.

In 1671, the king traveled to Chantilly to meet with his commander, Prince Condé before waging war on Holland. A great feast was planned hosted by the Prince for the King and his court with the aid of his "Master of Cooks", François Vatel.

The first night of feasting, a light supper was provided of turtle soup, creamed chicken fried trout (whatever that is), and roast pheasant. Seventy-five extra guests attended the party. Vatel was horrified that some of the tables at his super did not receive enough pheasant roast. Although his staff assured him that he wasn't to blame for the shortage of food and unknown quantity of royal guests, he was humiliated by this blunder.

At four o'clock in the morning after what he considered to be a failed first diner, Vatel was still hard at work desperately trying to secure enough food for the next day's gala event, an even more extravagant and opulent menu of anchovies sevigne, melon with Parma ham, lobster quenelles with shrimp sauce, and filet of sole.

He met with a fish monger in the early hours of morning who arrived with an inadequate amount of fish. He asked the purveyor, "Is this all"? and the man replied back to him, "Yes sir" not knowing that Vatel had also ordered more from several seaport towns in France. Vatel waited hoping that more would arrive. Nothing came.

Exhausted from twelve sleepless nights of preparing for Prince Condé's feasts and unable to see a way out of total disgrace, he went to his room and fixed his sword to his door. He ran into it several times. The first two times only wounding himself, the third thrust he pierced his heart. Some say he ran upon it another five times.

Fifteen minutes after his suicide fish poured in to the royal household and assistants came running to find Vatel so that he could distribute it. Too late, Vatel lay dead in a pool of blood.The dinner went on as planned minus the filet of sole course, and all agreed – the Roi de Soleil included – that his death, although tragic, only proved Vatel's code of honor. Vatel traded his soul for sole.

All the drama and all you need not trade your soul for the damn recipe hehehhe here is my version of the famous soul trader = Sole Meunière

Ingredients

2 (8 ounces) sole fillets
Salt and black pepper
8 Tablespoons butter
1 cup flour
4 tablespoons finely chopped Italian parsley
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 clove garlic
Lemon slices, for garnish

Instructions

1. Season fillets with salt and pepper.
2. Heat butter in a large sauté pans on medium high until butter is nut brown. Make sure your pans distribute heat evenly (very important).
3. Dredge fillets in flour, shaking off any excess flour. Do this step right before placing fillets in pans. This ensures a crisp crust.
4. Place fillets in hot saute pans and cook for 2 to 3 minutes per side, until golden brown and crispy.

5. Remove fillets from pans and transfer onto a platter.
6. Dump out butter from the saute pan. Don't rinse it! Add remaining butter and heat on medium high until golden brown. Take off the heat and add lemon juice and a big three finger pinch of chopped parsley.
7. Place fish on plates and spoon over nut butter lemon sauce.
8. Garnish with lemon slices

so here it is....

my version of the ever so expensive...

Sole Meunière

Soul for Sole?

hmnnn.....i dont think so :P

And this dish is best serve with a salsa salad which i've prepared in just a few mins...like my aunt Alys likes to say.."easy-peasy" ;)

my salsa toss out salad

the combo that ignites fire that brings your soul to search for sole :) fish that is...hahaha

and oh yes.....this is the famous "Master of Cooks", François Vatel

Bon appétit!

Clarity!

Bongawan's famous "Lamban"

Well...every now and then our neighbour which is aunty Marina who also happens to be mom's ex workmate when she was still working ans she hails from Bongawan and therefore she is an expert in making this glutoneous sticky rice called "Lamban" and to eat with the satay sauce (Peanut sauce) Anyhow...i was so delighted when we were given a tray of this "Lamban" as im a "Lamban" junkie eversince i was a little girl. Back then i use to eat it just like that without the sauce coz it was a bit spicey. BUT NOW...the peanut/satay sauce is a MUST! and its sooo scrumptiously glutaneously yummiest! heheheh

Well i just let the pictures tell the story coz i dont know how to make them realy..i only expertly know how to eat them :) yummy yumm indeed :)

The deadly duo!

The finger licking yummiest Lamban over Satay Sauce

yummmmm..

Clarity!

The blunder of the day :(

I was so excited to go to the polling side today as this will be my third time doing the "voting" thingy. So everytime we do it it seemed to be a few improvements here and there like for instance...when you get to the part where you hand in your ID card and polling number (or something) they get to read your name and ID number ALOUD! and REALLY LOUD! I was so stunned by that...hehehe feels like im a prisoner about to be assigned to my cell number and location...hahaha..quite annoying indeed. But thats noting compared to the blunder that happened to me through out my whole poling experience as well as going to the office coz thats how long my blunder stays on me...hahahaha

Anyhow, last night, when we got back from the Giant store i went to get something that's got a sticker on it tht says ... 3 Packs for 1 or something like that its as big as when you connect your thumb and pointing fingger to form a big " O " thats how big the sticker is. Then i was putting my new stuffs that i bought in my closet drawers and took off them stickers and i remembers i stick it on the nearest clothing that was near me just then and that was my "denim jeans skirt" that was hanging around there. So the next day i went to the polling station i was wearing my Bolivia pink top and my denim skirt....was walking around the polling area and i noticed most people were looking me up and down..but i couldnt care less...then finish @ the polling thingy and went to work and meet with some office mates then finally they ask me hey, are you selling 3packs for 1? i said excuse me, what am i selling? then pretty kismet was pointing to the sticker thats been on my skirt all the time all the way from the polling station and to work!!! gosh!! im a walking price tagg!! hahahaha...how embarrassing was that :P

Ah well...thats the funny bit....i guess when one is too excited to do something ...something funny is bound to happen...and so thats my polling blunder for the day :)

Ok..enough already...dont laught too much afterwards you'll get lock jaw like someone i know...hahahhha!

clarity blund! :)

Cooking & Baking Day :)

Well just as i said last weekend i was gonna do some slavering around my mom's kitchen and do my worst in there and let my mom enjoy the day and just watch me cook :) Usually my mom would be fussing about in her kitchen whenever myself and "Mapsey" having one of our cookie baking atacks...so this time around she just stayed away from the kitchen totally and let me help dirty up her ever so spotless kitchen :) Last weekend i list down this menu that i wish to cook/bake as a treat for my mom;

"Next Weekend food to bake and cook for my mom :)

1. Lamb shanks with baby carrot & prunes

2. Wholemeal bread

3.Calzones ( Inspired by my cousin Envy's blog post)

4.fruit salad "

Then i ended up doing 2 out of the four things i listed up there but i did managed to substitute the other two on other things. so basically the menu went about like this....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Breakfast & Lunch

1. Wholemeal Bread
2.Calzones
3. Spaghetti
4. Bruschetta

Dinner
1. Fish Fillet with Asparagus + capsicum+ Broccoli


Dessert
Honey dew sumi jelly

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


I was actually pretty much wanting everything to be as healthy as possible so i use mostly organic stuffs like organic raw sugar cane, organic unbleached flour, organic unbleached wholemeal flour, Dry Baker's Yeast , vegetables and some minced meat, olive oil , Buttercup Butter (lite version) and finally lite version on the cheese as well.


I was thinking how am i gonna satisfy everyone in the house for everybody have different taste in everything so i decided to make the basic pasta sauce for most of my cooking for the day and just add other ingredients as i move to other dishes.

so first on the list is actually the wholemeal bread and also the calzones bread crust as it takes time for both to prepare as i need to wait for the yeast to act on the dough to get it to raise the dough to at least double the size, so i made the breads first and while waiting for the rising process to happen, i prepared the stuffings/toppings for the calzones as well as the Bruschettas and spaghetti and also all the chopping and dicing of veges and onions other stuffs.

so here are the pics :)

1. Wholemeal Bread

The organic ingredients

1. mixing the dry ingredients 2. making the dough 3. the dough 4. ready for the active yeast to works it magic and make the loaf twice its size :)

here is the finished product :)


Next...the calzones!

2. Calzones

1. same method like the bread 2. the dough 3. flatten the dough to make the crust 4. All ready for the filling.


The ingredients for the filling and the finished filling + cheese (lite)

After the baking period and the calzones turned golden and brown ..its all done ;)


Here is my calzones :)



Next......


3. Spaghetti & 4. Bruschetta


since both are using the same topping i guess its pretty easy so i just prepare the spaghetti sticks and the wholemeal bread that i made and walla!

shafiq's favourite spaghetti

and my very own favourite...Brushetta


And just as you guys thought ah..she's finally over with her cooking ...well..i did promised my mom that i'll do breakfast, lunch and dinner so for dinner i just made my old time favourite a fish dish which is my favourite as i loveeeeee fish :) so here is the final dish for the long day in the kitchen :)


1. Fish Fillet with Asparagus + capsicum+ Broccoli + carrots + Mushrooms

The ingredients and the cooking bit


Finally the finish product :)

all i can say is that it was really tiring BUT its for my mom :) and also ..its not always i get this cooking attack syndrome so enjoy it while it last hehehe :)
My next assignment for my cooking/baking escapades would be a challenge from my sister who wants me to bake her a Walnut cake.....hmn....she said make one and charge it on me...wow!...tempting indeed... ok will do it! BUT will have to see when i have the free time to do it next ...@ the meantime....have a wonderful week ahead everyone!


Cinta is Love & Love is Cinta
Clarity!