Craft : Felt Poppy Flowers

So I've not been one into arts and crafts, in fact when I'm asked to do craft, I get really tensed and stressed up. My cousins and close friends can attest to that. So what motivated me to do this? 

Well, there's a baby shower coming up for a very precious little girl and I got the inspiration from C who made it for another baby. Hers turned out so pretty and I decided to give it a try.

She shared the tutorial with me and I studied it for days and did not have the confidence to do it on my own. Asked a few peeps to help me out but somehow our timings never jived. 

So yesterday, I decided I'd just go get the material and give it a go. 

Voila!

Turned out quite pretty didn't they? I must say I'm quite proud of myself. I actually bought this really rich purple felt but for some reason it turned out blue-ish in the picture. 

The one on the left was my first try which took me just slightly over an hour. I felt that it was too big so made a smaller one for the precious baby, isn't it cute? Once I got the hang of it, the 2nd one took me only about half hour to make. 

I had some issues making the bud in the beginning because one of the pictures in the tutorial kinda confused me. But mum saved the day, as usual!. Thank God for creative mums!

Sewed on the smaller poppy to some stretchable lace.. and there you go - a pretty hairband. 

Since they turned out quite decent, I'm thinking of making a few more other colors. Not sure what I'm going to do with them yet though, either stick on a hair clip, decorate my room with it, arrange it into a spray... 

For those interested in learning how to make these, you can get the tutorial from here.

Jewel's gone...

Remember Jewel? 

Well, she's gone. Sadly!

I went out that afternoon after work to get her a cage and some food (dry bird food & live worms - YES I was driving around with worms in the car). When I reached home, I washed the cage, put her in and filled it up with water. She was so frightened that we decided to just leave her alone for a bit.

Put the cage near the sliding door so she could get some fresh air and sunlight.

Walked to the kitchen and back to her and SHE'S GONE!!

This smartypants had seen how I opened the cage door and when I was gone used it's really strong beak to open the door and fly off.

I spent some time walking out side my house looking for it, because it didn't seem so well and didn't want to fly much. Just hoping that it's ok now and flying high and not sitting on the ground as an easy bait, which is how we found her in the first place.

All in all, I'm thankful for that few hours with Jewel. I absolutely adore kingfisher and it was súch an awesome thing to have one for a few hours, and what more a colorful beauty such as she. 

Recipe : Simple Chocolate Ice-Cream (without egg)

I've made this recipe twice and both times it vanished from the freezer in just a couple of days.

A simple ice-cream which takes only 15 minutes to prepare. A must-try for everyone who loves to bake and loves it easy and fast.

Ingredients:
1 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
*I used Hershey brand
2/3 cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed Brown Sugar
1 1/2 cups whole Milk
3 1/4 cups Heavy Cream
*I used Anchor Whipping Cream
1 tbsp Pure Vanilla Extract

Method:
1. Place the cocoa and sugars in a medium bowl, stir to combine.

2. Add the whole milk and use a hand mixer on low speed or whisk with a balloon whisk to combine until the cocoa and sugars are dissolved, about 1-2 minutes.

3. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla.

4. If not freezing immediately, cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

5. Pour mixture into an ice-cream maker and let it mix till thickened. The ice cream will have a soft, creamy texture. If you would like a firmer consistency, place them into a container and in the freezer for 2 hours.

6. If you don't have an ice-cream maker, after point 4 - Pour mixture into a freezer container and freeze until set, about 3 hours. Remove from the container and chop roughly into 3 inch pieces. Place in a bowl of a food processor and process till smooth. Return to the freezer container, and freeze again until firm. Repeat the freezing-chopping process 2 or 3 times until a smooth consistency is reached, then freeze until it is to be served.

Use good cocoa powder and heavy cream for a better taste.

This recipe makes about fourteen 1/2 cup servings.

Vanilla Pods

Source

These are certainly God's creation. The aroma is gives is just heavenly.

I bought my first ever 2 pods for RM25.90. They were from Madagascar. But today I walked into Chang Tung and they were selling 3 pods for only RM7.60. However the ones from Chang Tung are from Indonesia but I'm sure they give just about the same flavour and aroma.

I'm planning to make more desserts with vanilla pods and was super psyched when I saw that I could get them much cheaper. I mean, RM13 per pod is just too expensive!! But now it's only RM2.50.

So look out for more desserts using this heavenly ingredient. 

Recipe : Classic Vanilla Ice-Cream

Nothing beats the creamy simplicity of true vanilla ice-cream. Vanilla pods are expensive, I paid about RM25.90 for 2 pods, but well worth buying for the superb flavour they impart.

This recipe serves 4.

Ingredients:
1 Vanilla Pod
300ml / 1/2 pint / 1 1/4 cup Milk
*the original recipe states to use semi-skimmed (low-fat) milk but I just used regular full cream milk
4 Egg Yolks
75gm / 3oz / 6 tbsp Caster Sugar (superfine)
5ml / 1 tsp Cornflour
300ml / 1/2 pint / 1 1/4 cup Double (heavy) cream
*I used Anchor whipping cream

Method:
1. Using a small knife, slit the vanilla pod lengthways. Pour the milk into a heavy pan, add the vanilla pod and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and leave for 15 minutes to allow the flavours to infuse.

2. Lift the vanilla pod and scrape the black seeds out of the pod with a small knife and add them back into the pan of milk. Bring the milk back to a boil.

3. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour in a bowl until the mixture is thick and foamy. You may either use a balloon whisk or an electric mixer (I used a balloon whisk and it took less than 5 minutes to whip it up). Gradually pour in the hot milk, whisking constantly.

4. Return the mixture to the pan and cook over gentle heat, stirring constantly.

5. When the custard is thick and smooth, pour it back into the bowl. Be careful not to overcook the custard as it burns easily in the pan.

6. Leave to cool, then chill in the fridge.

7. Whip the cream until it has thickened but still falls from a spoon. Fold it into the custard and pour into a freezer container. Freeze for 6 hours or until firm enough to scoop, beating twice with a fork or in a food processor.

8. Alternatively if you have an ice-cream maker, you can skip step 7. Stir the cream into the custard and churn the mixture in an ice-cream mixer until thick. If the consistency is not as desired, freeze for a couple more hours.

9. Serve scooped into bowls or cones.

Meet Jewel

Aint she a beauty?'

This morning my dad woke me up at 715am to tell me that there's a beautiful bird in the house and my mum was currently carrying it. Took me awhile to register what he was saying, but as soon as he did, I dashed down.

And lo and behold it was this beauty!

A friend looked it up and said that it might be an Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher. We can't let it go at this point because it doesn't seem to want to fly much and just stays on the ground which would make it a sitting bait for cats and dogs around my area.

Surprisingly though, Bubba didn't go near it this morning. I'm not sure if he was being nice to not wanna disturb it or just too blur to event notice it on the porch.

Heading out to buy Jewel a cage and some food to possibly get her strong enough to fly again soon. 

Places to Visit : Dunn's River Falls, Jamaica

White Chocolate Truffles

I made this for the first time last December for my parents' 29th anniversary. It's the easiest dessert to make, and it doesn't require any baking!

Inspired by Ina Garten aka Barefoot Contessa.

Ingredients

2 tbsps Heavy Cream or Whipping Cream
7 ounces Good White Chocolate - chopped
*you can get 1kg of Selbourne chocolate for under RM15*
2 tbsps Baileys
1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence
1/2 cup Chopped Hazelnuts - lighty roasted
6 ounces Bittersweet or Dark Chocolate

Method

1. Place the cream in a heat-proof bowl, and set the bowl over a pan of simmering water. This is also otherwise known as double boiling.
2. Cook until heated through. Using a wire whisk, slowly stir the white chocolate into the warm cream until completely melted. 
3. Whisk in the liqueur and vanilla. Cover and chill for 1 hour or until pliable but firm enough to scoop.
4. With 2 teaspoons or a melon scoop, make dollops of the chocolate mixture and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
5. Refrigerate for about 15 minutes, until firm enough to roll into rough spheres.
6. Melt the bittersweet chocolate in a heat-proof bowl, set over a pan of simmering water.
7. Drizzle the melted bittersweet chocolate over 10 of the truffles. Roll the remaining truffles in the chopped nuts. 
8. Chill until ready to serve.

This makes about 20 truffles. 

You could also roll the truffles in hazelnut and top it with drizzle bittersweet chocolate.

Best served with a cup of good coffee. Try this the next time you want to whip up an easy dessert without much effort. You surely will not be disappointed. 

Insanity

So yesterday I decided to join 2 buds for their Insanity workout. It was unplanned and a decision made last minute as my original dinner plan got cancelled.

With no shoes or proper attire, I courageously said YES to them.

I did Insanity probably 3 times max about 1-2 years ago. But I never made it past the warm-up session. Yes, lousy I know! Yesterday I was really proud though because despite being so tired, I pushed through. I must admit that I took much longer breaks than the boys or than I was supposed to, but it's much more than I've ever done before.

It was tough, no doubt! But I think having friends to push and motivate you along really does help, plus it is more fun when you're not doing it alone.

Here's how crappy we looked after the workout :)

Recipe : Apple Cream Tart

Been watching Laura Calder lots on AFC and last week I decided to try her recipe on Apple Cream Tart. It didn't turn out the way I expected it to be so tweaked the recipe a little using mum's Tart Shell recipe as well as amended the filling slightly. 

This tart is slightly different from apple pie you're used to eating, but it is just as comforting. 

Goes great with whipped cream or ice cream. 

Ingredients

Tart Shell
200 grams Plain Flour - sifted
50 grams Icing Sugar - sifted
Pinch of Salt
100 grams Butter
Little ice water to bind to a dough

Cream Filling
1 Egg
1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence
8 ounces Softened Cream Cheese
1/4 cup Sugar

Topping
2 Large or 3 Medium Red Apples - peeled and thinly sliced
1/4 cup Sugar
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 cup Sliced Almonds or Chopped Walnuts

Method

Tart Shell
1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celcius.
2. Put flour, icing sugar and salt in a bowl. Rub in the butter till it resembles bread crumbs.
3. Bind to a soft dough with the cold water.
4. Roll out pastry between two plastic sheets and cover a greased 8" pie tin with the pastry.
5. Prick all over with a fork and bake 'blind' for 10 mins at 175 degrees Celcius. Baking 'blind' means baking  it without filing. You may also use beans or rice to prevent it from puffing up.
6. Remove from the oven.

Cream Filling
1. Beat the cream cheese and sugar together till creamy. Add in the egg and the vanilla essence until smooth. Don't overbeat.
2. Make the topping in a separate bowl by tossing the apple slices with the cinnamon, sugar and nuts.
3. Remove the tart shell from the oven. Spread over the cream mixture.

Topping
1. Arrange the apple slices on top, then scatter over the nuts.
2. Bake until apples are tender and golden for about 40 minutes.

Worst Boat Ride

Photo taken from here

I experienced my WORST boat ride ever last Thursday night from Mersing Jetty to Dayang Island. The boat ride was supposed to be 4 hours but we were hit with a massive storm and it took roughly 4.5 to 5 hours.

IT WAS TORTURE!

I sat on the top deck to get fresh air at the early stages of the boat ride because it was too stuffy downstairs. Eventually we realised that it was going to be too long a boat ride to just sit around and we needed our rest for the upcoming dives. So we got out our sleeping bag, spread it on the floor and tried to get some rest. 

About an hour or two later it starts raining and the sleeping bags and us included were drenched.

So the logical move was to move downstairs for some cover.. WORST DECISION MADE!

The moment we went down we were hit by the fumes from the engine. That coupled with the manic rocking of the boat were just the perfect formula to throw up!

The rain subsided slightly and we decided we would go back upstairs because downstairs was just making us feel worse.

It still continued to pour and got really cold about 3 hours into the ride. I decided to bunk in in the Skipper’s cabin along with 2 others from our group.

Sprawled out on the floor, I just tried to get a spot on the floor where I could force myself to sleep.

So many on the boat were taking their turns at throwing up in the toilet or out the side of the boat.

The moment we hit the island, it was such a relief. But the float-y and pukey feeling stayed with me the whole of the next day which unfortunately only allowed me to do 2 dives instead of 4 dives.

Thank God I felt much better the following day and managed to do all the 4 dives I wanted to.

I’ve been on many boat rides before, but this undoubtedly was the worst ever for me. I met some guys on the trip that said this ride was mild compared to others that they have been in. Whoa, I don’t think I can handle any worse a boat ride than this. 

Dayang Island - September 2012

This is where I spent last weekend. Waking up to the sounds of crashing waves and this view is just therapeutic. Sadly it was a really short trip, before we really got into the notion of a holiday, it was time to leave.

Although I wished it was slightly longer, I’d do short trips like this anytime just for this view!