We Are The Champions!!! Finally…

After a being 3-0 down to AC Milan… Liverpool made one of the greatest come backs in Champions League history!!!! The three goals from AC Milan were by Maldini and two by Crespo (on loan from Chelsea)… But in just 6 minutes Liverpool managed to score 3 goals to bring the scoreline back even… goals were scored by captain Gerrard, Smicer and Alonso… Then in extra time Dudek produced two great saves, denying Pirlo and Shevchenko to bring the match to penalties… with Liverpool winning 3-2!!!! Woohooo!!! The first Champions League trophy for Liverpool in 21 years!!!! Congratz Liverpool… I’m glad they did not let me down after so many years of me feeling so disappointed with all the nearlies that Liverpool have come to… But FINALLY we’ve got something!!! Well done boys!!! Hah, in your face everyone who doubted them!!!! ;P Cheers!!

Sepet

Calling out to all Malaysians… I think there is a need for all of you who have not watched it to go watch it… maybe you should just download it or buy the “ciplak” vcd… but okay the movie wasn’t like great or anything but it was the best I’ve seen for quite some time… they need to have some major light, colour and sound editing though…

If you haven’t watched it don’t continue reading… this entry may contain spoilers…

And for those of you who have… what do you reckon about the ending of the story?! Okay according to Vin Li… and some other people… the second time she called it went to the voicemail… and by some miracle he recorded the message to fit what she had to say… I call that “The Voicemail Theory”… hahaha ;P… or the second one was that he didn’t actually die… when they showed him lying in the pool of blood it was actually Orkid’s imagination… So does anyone else have an interpretation of the ending or an idea of what the ending is supposed to mean?! Tell me… Cheers…

The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy

I don’t know how many of you have heard of this show… I don’t think it’s very popular… But I’ve watched it and I have to say that it was pretty good… This movie was originally a book… which then became a radio show… you know one of those where people voice act on radios… yeah those… then it was made into a short TV series… but that was pretty long ago… 1970s I think… then now it’s made into a movie… the plot of the story is quite interesting really… it’s about this English guy, Arthur, whom was just living his life nicely until one day his house was to be demolished without his prior knowledge to made some kind of bypass… But more importantly… oblivious to all mankind, Earth was about to be blown up to make a bypass for the galaxy… But luckily… Arthur has this friend who was actually from another planet, who also knew that Earth was to be demolished, and so he saved Arthur by beaming the two of them on bored the demolishing spaceship… and hence making them hitchhikers… and soon they find themselves on an adventure… to find “The Ultimate Question to Life”… I find the ending of the show quite touching and it gives you a sense of appreciation for Earth… and it’s quite funny the show… really it is… or maybe some of you won’t get it… the show was an abridged version of the real story… I know this because well… I have the audiobook and I have actually watched the TV series as well… hahaha… It turned out that my uni library had the series when I first heard the movie was coming out and so I decided to watch that first… but of course the movie was much better… Well… so if you have the time I think you should give it a go… won’t hurt… Cheers!!

Recipe: Tiramisu

This one’s for Bavani… I found this recipe but have not tried it… although it did get a high rating and good reviews from those who have…

Ingredients:
CAKE:
1 (18.25 ounce) package moist white cake mix
1 teaspoon instant coffee powder
1/4 cup coffee
1 tablespoon coffee flavored liqueurFILLING:
1 (8 ounce) container mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons coffee flavored liqueur

FROSTING:
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons coffee flavored liqueur

GARNISH:
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 (1 ounce) square semisweet chocolate

Baking Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 3 (9 inch) pans.
2. Prepare the cake mix according to package directions. Divide two thirds of batter between 2 pans. Stir instant coffee into remaining batter; pour into remaining pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. In a measuring cup, combine brewed coffee and 1 tablespoon coffee liqueur; set aside.
4. To make the filling: In a small bowl, using an electric mixer set on low speed, combine mascarpone, 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar and 2 tablespoons coffee liqueur; beat just until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
5. To make the frosting: In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer set on medium-high speed, beat the cream, 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar and 2 tablespoons coffee liqueur until stiff. Fold 1/2 cup of cream mixture into filling mixture.
6. To assemble the cake: Place one plain cake layer on a serving plate. Using a thin skewer, poke holes in cake, about 1 inch apart. Pour one third of reserved coffee mixture over cake, then spread with half of the filling mixture. Top with coffee-flavored cake layer; poke holes in cake. Pour another third of the coffee mixture over the second layer and spread with the remaining filling. Top with remaining cake layer; poke holes in cake. Pour remaining coffee mixture on top. Spread sides and top of cake with frosting. Place cocoa in a sieve and lightly dust top of cake. Garnish with chocolate curls. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving.
7. To make the chocolate curls, use a vegetable peeler and run it down the edge of the chocolate bar.

Random Thought…

You know I was watching this cooking program on TV the other day and I so totally agree with something the guy said… He said, quote: “Cooking is an artform… it’s not about the measurement.” unquote. When I cook I hardly ever measure anything properly… I measure by my sight… if I see it looks like enough then it’s enough… of course most often than not you’ll later have to rely on your nose and taste buds to confirm what you did earlier was good enough… Most people think that cooking is such a technical thing but they are totally mistaken… You should use your intuition and gut… literally… ;P I guess it comes with experience… in terms of the more you do it the easier it gets… I myself don’t remember when exactly that I started developing interest in cooking… but I know I’ve enjoyed doing it since I was young and personally… I haven’t really cooked anything serious until I came over to Melbourne… I wouldn’t dare say that I’m good at cooking… I really wouldn’t… but I think… THINK… it does come rather naturally to me… I mean I can nearly estimate the taste of the food I’m going to end up with by the smell of their ingredients that’s why you’ll see me smell my cooking more often than tasting to see if it were salty enough… Don’t believe me? Ask my housemate Priscilla… I think she thinks it’s weird when I do that… So what about you?! Are you one of those people who think cooking is soooooooo difficult and you just CAN’T seem to do it right… and the only things you can cook is 2 minute noodles and fried eggs or to use the microwave for EVERYTHING? Personally… and I don’t mean it as an insult… I don’t understand how someone can not cook… I mean seriously… you just dump everything in let it cook and vualla… a decent meal… Hmmm… maybe you should give me something to ponder over… why not tell me why YOU find it simple or difficult to cook… Cheers!!

Recipe: Potato Gratin (Western)

The first time I had this dish was my first year watching F1. I was seated in the paddock, so we got to have a nice lunch…

Ingredients:
Potatoes (no specific amount, depends on the size of your baking pan)
Shredded cheese (any type will do depending on taste, but I recommend either cheddar, parmesan or mozzarella)
Butter
Garlic and onion (optional)
Thick/Heavy cream (one tub)
Salt and pepper
Herbs (optional)

Pre-cooking preparations:
1. Slice up some potatoes to about 2-3mm thick. There should be enough to cover your pan twice.
2. Coat your baking tray with a little butter, so that your dish would not stick to the pan.
3. Then add one layer of potatoes to your pan. Remember your baking pan should be appropriately size for the amount of servings. Make sure you overlap each slice of potato.
4. The add a layer of cheese.
5. Add some herbs if you like. Any herbs will be fine depending on taste: mint, parsley, thyme, rosemary, sage, cumin, basil…
6. Then add the second layer of potatoes.
7. Now, melt some butter in a pot. Add a little oil before you put in the butter to prevent it from burning. About 3 table spoons of butter should be enough. Add in the garlic and onion if favoured. When the garlic browns or when the butter is complete melted. Pour it evenly over the potatoes.
8. Add salt and pepper to taste.
9. The pour the cream evenly over the whole pan and add a last layer of cheese.

Baking instructions:
1. Pre-heat the oven for about 10 minutes at 165 degrees. It’s fine if you don’t want to pre-heat but at least let the oven warm up.
2. Then let the potatoes bake for about 75 minutes or until it turns nice and golden brown.

Note: Don’t bother removing the readied potatoes into a serving plate. Just leave it in the baking pan and let everyone help themselves.

Recipe: Honeydew Sago (Malaysian)

A great Malaysian-Chinese dessert! My favourite!

Ingredients:
Small honeydew (can be replaced with watermelon, rockmelon or you can even experiment with different fruits. Juicy fruits recommended)
1 cup Sago (tapioca pearls)
8 cups Coconut milk (santan)
7 cups Water – I use 3 cups to cook the sago and 4 cups for the dessert
2 or more Pandan leaves
2 cups Sugar
1 tbsp Vanilla extract

*This amounts will give you quite a generous amount of the dessert. I usually make it in a large batch so everyone can have some.

Cooking instructions:
1. Start off by boiling the 4 cups of water with the pandan leaves immersed in it. Keep the pandan leaves in a knot for easy removal. When it comes to a boil, turn it down to a gentle simmer for 5 minutes.
2. In the mean time, boil the cup of sago in 3 cups of water. Keep stirring to stop the sago from sticking. Remember to keep an eye on it. When it turns translucent, it’s ready. This may take awhile so be patient.
3. Back to the pandan water. After the 5 minutes, add in the coconut milk and sugar, and stir well. Adjust sweetness to your liking. Add it slowly and taste to make sure you get the taste you want. When it starts to simmer again, remove the pandan leaves and add in the vanilla extract. Keep it at a gentle simmer.
4. Once the sago is done, drain it and add it into the coconut milk mixture. Stir to separate the sago. Turn off the heat.
5. Cut up the honeydew into bite small bite sizes, or ball with a melon baller. Add into the coconut milk mixture.
6. Once the mixture is cool enough, chill it in the refrigerator. Trust me it’s much better when it’s cold!
7. It’s now ready to eat.

Note: Add a little bit of the juice from the fruit will give the dessert extra flavour. Also remember that my measurements are rough. Use your own instincts. I never bother with measurement, just my gut and taste bud.

Recipe: Cucur Udang (Malaysian)

Good for a snack and afternoon tea.

Ingredients:
Prawns (up to you however many you want to use)
Spring Onions
Onion
Plain all-purpose flour
Egg
Salt
Black pepper
Water
Cooking oil

Pre-cooking preparations:
1. De-shell the prawns if preferred. If you leave them on make sure you trim off all sharp edges. The cucur udang can either have one whole prawn in the middle or you can chop up the prawns and chuck it into the batter.
2. Chop up the onion and spring onion. For those of you who don’t know what is spring onion, it called “chung” in Chinese and it’s long and green and hollow and used to garnish porridge. It’s up to you how much you want to put in, personally I like loads of onion and less spring onion.

Batter instructions:
1. Pour about 2 cups of flours into a large mixing bowl. Add in 2 eggs and mix it in. I average about one egg per cup of flour.
2. Add water bit by bit into the flour mixture and mix well. Do this until you get a good consistency for the batter. Add more flour if necessary. If a lot of flour is added add one egg.
3. Once you get the batter to be smooth and thick like a pancake batter, add salt and pepper for taste, and also add in the onion, spring onion and prawns. Those who want one prawn on each fritter don’t add the prawns.

Cooking instructions:
1. To cook the fritters, just heat up enough cooking oil in a wok.
2. About one tbsp of batter should make a perfectly sized fritter. If you want the cucur udang to be perfectly circular, use a metal egg ring. For those who want one prawn per fritter, add the prawn in the center after placing the batter in the oil. Once it’s firm and golden brown remove it and drain it.