The day I won RM5k

I suddenly remembered the day I won my first ever (and last since) radio contest. I have never been the lucky kinda people who call on the first try and win movie tickets CDs and whatnots. After a while I stopped trying haha. Anyway, I was on my way to work one morning in July 2010, and the contest "RM1k in 1 minute" came on air on Red FM. But that week, the prize money was upped to RM5k. Only for that week. I have been following the contest, and so I thought, without even one dash of hope, oh well, I'll just text in. It's only 50 cents anyway.

The DJs would call the lucky 99th SMSer through for a shot at winning the 5 grand. Guess who the lucky 99th SMSer was? Haha I was SO sure it wouldn't be me, when the DJ called, it didn't even register in my mind that it was Red FM. Heck I even forgot I texted in. :p

When I finally realised who it was, and the things that I would have to do, ON AIR!, I freaked! I was so nervous I drove soo slow in case I got a heart attack or something.

Anyway, some of the questions that I remembered:
1) A box is in a shape of a ..?
2) In maths, what is the power of 3 term called?
3) What do you call the molten rocks that volcanoes spew?
4) What do you call a male dolphin?
5) What does LHDN stand for?
6) What do you call someone who studies fossil?

I answered all the questions fine, but I got stuck at question 5! Can you believe it?? I wasn't sure whether it was Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri or Negara. Gosh. Bimbotic much. *slaps self*

But I finally said Negeri, and it won me 5 grand. Hehe. That was something I would always remember and smile about, because it was totally unexpected, especially as I wasn't even trying to win anything. 

I guess the reason I'm writing this, is to remind myself that sometimes, good things come when you least expect them, and although you can't put too much hope on something, you must never give up trying. :)

Hot Fudge Cake

Have I mentioned I am a perfectionist? No, actually I think I have OCD. I can't stand anything out of place. I would rearrange the whole office if I could.

My friend ordered chocolate cake the week before raya. I wanted something rich and decadent, so I went with a triple layer chocolate cake, lathered in chocolate ganache.

Assembling my triple layer cake

And to make it look rich and decadent, I decided to go with spiderweb on top and chocolate shavings on the sides.In my head I imagined beautiful spirals of white chocolate topping the cake, looking eat-me-now delicious.

.......

T_____T

Did I mention I also suck at drawing? My spiderweb, no matter how many times I practised (sedihnya, practise drawing a spiderweb T__T) always turned out crooky here crooky there. Sighhh..I need more practice..or a spiderweb-drawing cake machine.

I hope the cake tasted better than the presentation.

Raya Baking

Happy Eid Mubarak! Had an awesome raya in KB. Now am back and adjusting to life in mundane KL. Blergh..

I baked a LOT, and I mean A LOT, of cookies for raya this year. Gone are the sleepless nights now, phew. First up, pineapple tarts!

This is a batch of 35 tarts, out of the 1250 I made. Yes, 1250 tarts. The part I hated most was the egg yolk wash on top. By the 1000th tart, I was seeing yellow spots everywhere I went.

The next raya cookie was more fun. Fun to make, fun to look at, fun to eat. It consists of this..

..to become this!

Strawberry meringue drops

I regretted making only 200 of these. Brought back to KB, and they were gone by Raya Eve!

Third cookie, and my favourite; Biskut Arab! I loveeeeloveee biskut arab. And decided to attempt making it this year. I only made 500 cookies, and brought back kampung 200. Everyone loved them, even my aunts, whom I considered skillful cooks n bakers. It was such an awesome feeling to watch my little cousins, aunts and uncles, keep taking off the container lid to help themselves to some more biskut arab. That, to me, is the biggest compliment =D

It seriously melts in your mouth

Well, that part of Raya is done and over with. In the end, the sleepless nights, the blood, sweat and tears were all worth it.

Okay tipu lahh blood sweat tears. What did I do, went to the war?! -____-

But yeah, the sleepless nights, the annoying hours brushing egg yolk on those pineapple morsels, the time-consuming rolling little pink, green and yellow balls into slightly bigger balls, were all worth it. Hehe

Peanut Butter Oreo Cheesecake

I'll share with you some weird facts about myself.

1. I can't stand the smell of perfume. My mum, like every other normal woman on earth, would never leave the house without perfume, so when I was a teenager, I tried to con myself into thinking I like perfumes by buying the ones in pretty bottles. 10 years on, most of the perfumes still sit on my dressing table, perhaps 1/4 used.

(But don't worry, I don't, like, stink or anything. =p)

2. I eat bread by eating the outer part first and saving the middle part for last, 'cause that's where all the fillings are the most. Save the best for last =D

3. How many of you liked to ratah milo when you were small?? *raises hand quickly* But I don't like the soft powdery milo.So I would take a bowl full of milo, and let it sit out for 2-3 days. By then, it would have masuk angin and hardened, and there you go, your own milo rock candy! Beats the milo chocolate bar hands down.

4. I don't like grapes, would never eat mangosteen, and hate Coke. I've never met anyone in my life who doesn't like mangosteen. (._.)

5. I eat peanut butter by the spoonful, straight out of the jar. I would watch tv with a jar of smooth peanut butter (no chunky for me, I hate peanuts. HAHA the irony) and finish half a jar in an hour. I read online one tablespoon of peanut butter contains 100 calories, and saturated fat. *looks at clogged arteries* T__T

But I couldn't resist making some peanut butter treat this weekend! *ignores clogged arteries*

Peanut butter Oreo cheesecake. Damn, just writing that makes me drool. I'll write that again. Peanut. Butter. Oreo. Cheese. Cake. Which part of the sentence doesn't scream yummy? I set out very early in the morning, after Subuh, to make the cake. By 8.45am, it was looking like this, fresh out of the oven. =D

In the fridge you go!

I loved how smooth and creamy it looked. I was tempted to just leave it at that. But it didn't look very Oreo-y to me. So I added crushed Oreos on top.

And it looked like this:

Doesn't that look like a giant Oreo cookie?? =D

Onde-onde Cake

It is the fasting month again. We're nearing the halfway mark, Alhamdulillah.. 

I have been on a baking hiatus this Ramadhan. Time simply does not permit leisurely baking, and so all the flours, sugars, and butters sit untouched in the kitchen, perhaps enjoying the undisturbed peace. :p

This week, I had some free time to sneak in a visit to bazaar ramadhan. I don't go to the lauk2 stalls, my mum does that. I prefer my kuih2 stalls hehe. And I saw my staple during puasa month; Onde-onde!!

Ironically, the sight didn't make me feel like buying the onde-onde. It instead gave me an inspiration. Why don't I make onde-onde cake in honour of my favourite bazaar kuih?? *ting!*

Pandan, check. Gula melaka, check. Coconut, check. Excitement to experiment, check.

I present to you..onde-onde, in cake form.

All covered with coconut 

Look at how green it is!

My mini onde-onde cake

I lovelove it! The pandan sponge cake is super fluffy and soft, it's like you're eating pandan cotton candy. And the frosting tastes exactly like gula melaka. Heavenly. :D It is my favourite frosting recipe, just subbed gula melaka for the sugar. If there's one tiny fault that I would find in this cake, it's that the colour of the frosting isn't dark enough to show its gula melaka-ness. I didn't wanna add more gula to it, the taste was already perfect. Maybe next time I should put brown colouring?

Or maybe I'm just being fussy. Gah. Why fix something that ain't broken? Or in this case, something that's this yummy. Haha.