26 November 2009

Banana Walnut Cake & missing my dear old laptop

Honestly I’ve never thought I’ll feel so attached to a device as I’m not really a gadget person. I try not to because devices tend to wear out or spoiled or even stolen and I don’t want to feel all that bad when it does. I don’t even have the latest phone model! But ever since I left work to be stay home to be a mommy, my laptop has been my trusted companion. It connects me to the outside world, help me meet new friends via forums, enlighten me about parenting from the world wide web. And it’s even my very own DJ console as I have more than 6000 songs stored in it. After I started blogging it’s becomes even more valuable to me.

Sadly, after nearly 3 years of heavy usage, it begins to break down, starting with a crack on the casing and eventually the monitor cease to function. It’s been a week since I sent it for repair and no news yet. I just hope the hard disk can be salvaged so that I can transfer all my stuffs to a new laptop ( that is if I’m getting one! aiihhh) So at the moment I've to make do with my hubby’s super high end PC.  Honestly I prefer my own laptop even though his much faster and has more storage, but beggars can’t be choosers right.

Oh well back to food, I still cook just that I couldn’t upload and write recipes as often as I want so at the moment it’s mostly just photos until I get the laptop only I’ll update with recipes. So do bear with me till then ya! This afternoon I dreamed a funny dream, about me helping Santa Claus to save the fairy and magical kingdom by baking a tray of sugar cookies! And all these was in a Harry Potter inspired background. How weird! So feeling slightly disoriented after a weird and not to mention exhausting dream, I decided to bake banana walnut cake, only because I had a few left and they are about to go bad.  Recipes would be up real soon! :)

 




You Need   
1 cup (115 grams) walnuts or pecans,
1 3/4 cups (230 grams) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (150 grams) brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 ground nutmeg
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter melted and cooled plus extra for greasing
3 ripe large bananas , peeled
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

How To 
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius / 350 degree Fahrenheit. Lightly grease and line a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf tin / bread pan or in my case two small loaf tins. Set aside.
2. Place the nuts on a baking tray/sheet and bake for  8 minutes or until lightly toasted. Let cool and chop coarsely
3. Sift the flour, sugar, salt and the spices into a large bowl. In a separate bowl mash the bananas, stir in the eggs ,melted butter and vanilla essence. Pour into the dry ingredients and mix well.
4. Spoon into the prepared tin and bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour. Test to see if the loaf is cooked by inserting a skewer into the centre. If it comes out clean, the loaf is done. If not, bake for a further 10 minutes and test again.
5 Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin. Turn out the loaf, slice and serve

Enjoy!!

10 November 2009

A.W.E.D An almost perfect Sago Gula Melaka

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Why I said almost perfect? Because the pictures doesn’t do any justice to this yummy delectable sweet dessert! It’s been raining nearly everyday and gloomy weather makes ugly pictures and plus I’m not very good with external flash. But while I’m writing this and eating these sweet goodies, it made up for the not so nice pictures heh!
 
If you’re wondering why am I reposting this again just when I posted this not too long ago, well a foodie couple whom I’ve always admired way before I started this blog suggested that I should submit this recipe for a food event called A.W.E.D (A Worldly Epicurean Delight) hosted by another wonderful foodie, Annarasa.
 
This event was first created by DK of Chef In You (what a small world!; you’d remember him as I used one of his recipes to make pumpkin puree for my Pumpkin Pound Cake) and what this event is that every month, a different kind of cuisine would be chosen as the main theme and anyone even if you don’t have a blog can cook up a dish from that cuisine and showcase it to others. And this time A.W.E.D has arrived in Malaysia! A chance to showcase our country’s best dishes :)
 
I think it’s a very good effort in introducing different kind of gastronomical delights around the world and the best part of this event, you don’t have to step out from your house to enjoy the yummy food. Kitchen travel at its best! :)
 
You can get the recipe here along with step by step how to


 
 
 
Edit: Decided to take another shot at my Sago Gula Melaka since the weather’s sunny today and the pictures turned out great! Now my Sago Gula Melaka’s perfect :D