Ice Cream

This weekend, Malim and Wahdi have decided to work on a new assignment, which is taking pictures of ice cream. I was thrilled when they invited me to join in the challenge. In fact, this is a double challenge as we not only need to take pictures of ice cream, but to also MAKE the ice cream. Hence, the kitchen was busy again during the weekend. Since I do not have an ice cream maker, I've decided to improvise and made gelato instead. The initial plan was to create a strawberry cheese cake gelato , but I needed the cheese for something else. So, I've decided to go classic and conservative. I made chocolate gelato instead. It was a really simple recipe which I improvised to suit our climate condition. The gelato turned out great. How I wish I can say the same about the pictures. Still learning and LOTS to learn. Sigh...

My New Toy

Yep... I finally joined the band wagon. I went to collect my new toy this evening after my meeting with a client. Made that extra effort even though it meant skipping lunch and braving the traffic into downtown KL. So here to the new baby...






Lots to learn... so, let the lesson begin! Err... after I've finished charging the battery first lah.

You're sick izzit??? Anyway since we are on the line...

That's the exact words my clients used yesterday when I was down with the sniffles and heavy on mind altering drugs. I strongly feels that these people will still disturb me even my death bed. *Choy!!!!!!! Anyway, rest I did not get, that was for sure. I would not call the 30 second snooze between phone calls rest. So, sebab tensyen pon dah sampai tahap cipan, kepala I start ler bergeliga cannot stop. Sempat lagi buat dinner baked fish with garlic and herb sauce with saute mushrooms. Still, it wasn't good enough to make me stop thinking of those inconsiderate assh*les.

Lepas tuh... tangan I gatal lah need to vent out the frustration sebab tak dapat rehat kan... so, inilah akibatnya...


I "terbuat" tiramisu...:-P


Enough to last me a week. *Matilaa gemuk lepas nih.


Dangerous.... I need to find a healthier way to vent.

On strike

My mind and body is going on strike again! My mind's not working right today (then again, when has it ever work right, right?) and the body is just....bleaaahhh!!!! It's probably due to my nose acting up again. Sinus problems are such a pain in the ass!!! So, no pics or recipes today unless you guys are interested in looking at a picture of a dripping nose or a recipe for a cold. Cheerios and keep warm! I need to go back to bed.

Kitchen

Ok...ok... the oven is switched off! Otherwise the house will be on fire. Hehehehe...

Malim, wahdi, kasih and I were chatting online one day (*matilaa confirm malas tak keja) and one of the topics we discussed were kitchen designs.

To me the most important part of a house is firstly, the kitchen and second, the bathroom. But we'll talk about bathrooms another day. A well designed kitchen has to be firstly, user friendly, practical and suited to the user's need. There is really no need to overcrowd the kitchen with the most expensive equipment if you are not going to be doing much cooking. What is important is to make sure that the kitchen is airy, bright and have adequate storage space.

As for color and design, I guess most of them favored a white sleek, minimalist kitchen. While I'd love to have a white kitchen, but in terms of practicality, my cooking style and most certainly our weather condition, I decided to go for a darker tone instead. So, here is my kitchen which was design to my needs.


The cabinets are dark walnut laminates and the accent wall units are birch laminates. I chose Indesit appliances for the hood, hob and built-in oven.


The other end of the cabinets with a tall pantry at the end.

Since the design of the kitchen is long and narrow, the fridge has to be placed across from the cabinets as a stand alone unit.

670 liters occay!!! Kiasu kan????

Firing up the oven

Hi ya'll! Got back from Ipoh after the funeral and arrived back in KL somewhere late evening. I dropped mom and dad off at their house after a very early dinner and decided to go back home to freshen up.

One thing that I used to do when a lot is in my head was to fire up the oven and start baking something. It can be anything... home made pizza, bread, cupcakes...etc. I find it therapeutic and able to focus on the problem solving while my hands are working up a storm in the kitchen. Anyway, I needed this therapy today and this is what I made for tomorrow's breakfast.


What's in the oven?? Let's look closer....


English Buttermilk Scones!!! An extended (and kinda desperate) reminiscence of the not too long ago Cameron Highlands trip.


Taa daa!!! They're done!!!! 20 minutes tops.


I've decided to whip some cream to go with it and the strawberry jam bought from CH.

I can't wait to savor these baby's for breakfast tomorrow. Hehehehe...

Busy and emergency

Hi boys and girls! Sorry for the hiatus... there has been some out of this world crazy issue I had to settle for this client. So, paham paham sajork la yer? Hopefully boleh settle as soon as possible. Tambahan plak, mom just called and said that we need to go to Ipoh soonest possible today because there's a funeral to attend plak. No worries, an uncle who has been ill for a while has passed on. God rest his soul. At least he is not suffering anymore. Therefore, korang layan gambar cactus nih dulu yer? I update entry yang selanjutnya lepas I balik Sunday nih.






Red corderoy


These are not cabbages!!! ;-P


Yellow corderoy


Macam batu kan?


Kalu terpeleot jatuh atas garden nih kan, rasa sakit tak???

L'escape Petit Duex

We started the hike up at around 11 am from the carpark and the walk was initially pretty easy and flat. We even joked about how easy this was going to be and laughed at those "dainty" ones who took the easy way by driving up and kinda got caught when one car is coming down and the other going up. Jalan dia sempit betul!



We took a short rest at the half way mark and I went camera happy. There's actually people staying up here, by the way.


Cute and colorful Boh quarters at the halfway mark.

The view!!!! OMG, I didn't want to leave!!! Don't you just want to burst out in song? "The hills are alive......with the sound of music!!!!!!!....Laaaa...lalalalala...." LOL!!!!!



Ada kambing yer... curry anyone?


The trek became more difficult and arduous once we resume from the halfway mark. Thank God for the spectacular view that has distracted us from our labored panting and wheezing. *Matilaa sooooo unfit!!!!


This was another scenery that was taken while we took another short rest.


We saw this house cum gudang (warehouse) at the 3 km mark. I thought it was so pretty, so I took a picture of it in color and another in amber (sepia) setting for an aged look.




It's secondary jungle from here onwards...




And the scenery changes drastically....so did the temperature...


Some wild flowers and mushroom along the way...




Finally... we see the end of the road... the observatory tower and the micro station.


The sign (badly defaced) Huhuhuhu...


We decided to climb the tower...




And this is the view from the top. The clouds started closing in. So, the picture was really cloudy.


It took us a total of 4 hours to go up and down. It was tiring as hell, but heck... We made it!!!! We celebrated by chomping down copious amount of strawberries bought from the pasar malam. They were really cheap. RM10 for 1.5 kilos!!! Must be in season. :-)

L'escape Petit

It's been a week since I've updated this shrine of mine. Last week was filled with activities that I'd wish I can have the convenience of a drag and pull into the trash. How I wish!!! Bloody clients are so fickle and now I've to change the entire plans because now the place has an additional floor. Like, "what the f**k?" Don't you guys finalize how the house look like before you built it??? The haze's annual visit to the Klang Valley was also not helping the sinuses either. So, just as when things were about to look like dooms day, SP called and requested that we get away before we choke ourselves to death with the haze. So, at a spur of the moment, I gassed up the baby elephant and packed a quick bag. Off we took the baby elephant to Cameron Highlands!


What a great place to get away from the stifling heat and haze!!!! Cameron Highlands has always been dear to me.

Who wouldn't love the old world charm of colorful flowers...









fresh, crisp vegetables...





highland tea and strawberries!!!




I'd wanted to stay at Bala's Holiday Chalet again but this time round, his wife picked up the phone and spoke like she hasn't been getting it for a year. So, in return for her attitude, we stayed here instead!


Sorry Bala, you may have the most fabulous gardens in CH, but your wife's got a BAADDDDD attitude! *Merasakan ko, bisnes ko mesti lingkup nye!




The lobby and chandelier. *Matilaa chandelier fetish nih.

Actually, we didn't really care much about the hotel. There were two reasons for this trip. One, to compensate on the pictures that I didn't take last year because I left it at home.




Ada periuk kera for sale yer.

And secondly, to pay homage to the most beautiful place on earth, the Sungai Palas Boh Plantation.



This is how narrow the access road into the plantation is. BTW, this is a two way road, occay!!! Imagine having to maneuver my baby elephant on this. On to the right of the photo is a 90 deg. angle drop filled with tea bushes.

But the view is to die for.


We parked at the Visitor Centre's car park and began our hike from there.


Apakah ini di car park itteww??? Hehehehehehe...

The hanging Boh Tea house.

Camera Cap Ayam nih cepat confuse bila kabus masuk. Itulah gambar nih standard masuk longkangnya type.

This time, we have decided to hike all the way up Gunung Brinchang, which is the highest point in Cameron Highlands which is within the plantation. The entire hike is actually only 10 km to the top, but since certain areas are really steep, it will take about 2-3 hours to reach it, depending on stamina. Actually, you can drive all the way up and it will take only 30 mins but that kinda defeats the purpose of mendaki gunung lah, kan??!! Besides, it will be suicidal to take the baby elephant up this steep and extremely narrow road. In fact, this is the highest point in Peninsula Malaysia that you can drive up.



So, here we go... Dapatkah kami mendaki gunung yang tinggi itteww??? Stay tuned...