Durian Story

I was down with flu. Yes...I'm not well. Too much durians... :) (not to mention-the hot weather nowadays).
It's all started with a trip to my mum's durian orchard.
We went back to my kampung last Saturday. As we arrived, we can smelled durians from outside the gate. Once inside, my 'ever dearest' finished up one whole durian within 5minutes. Then another, and another.
By late afternoon, he complaint of headache. However, we still have an appointment with the 'durian' tree after Asar. So, he swallowed 2 PCM, and off we went to the orchard. It was a small orchard, used to be so large, but after my grandparents died, my mum and her other siblings had to divide it equally. So, it's not that big, but enough durians for us, and enough to make lots and lots of 'tempoyak' storage that will last until the next durian season.
I still remember, when I was still a kid, we used to go there every single year, without fail. my granddad would spent the nights there to gather all the durians before the 'wild animals' managed to grabbed it first.- either the tiny miny squirrel, the playful monkeys, and even tigers. (well-that's what he used to tell us-that tigers eat durians too)
During those days, we made a trip there ( me, my aunties and uncles, and my cousins), brought along 'pulut' and coconut milk for a feast of 'pulut durian'.
Once there, me and my cousins started collecting the durians, and we would compete who could gathered the most. By noon, we would sell 'our' own durians. The buyer would pay us as much as rm2 to rm5. What a great memory.
However, after my grandparents passed away, all that is not routine anymore. The cousins would prefer buying durians rather than go to the orchard.

Anyway, just to let my kids have the experience, I brought both of them to the orchard.
Dress them up nicely (but being a forgetful me- I didn't bring their shoes nor their longsleeves t-shirts). Laiqa wore her beautiful shoes, Umar and daddy were wearing their sandals, but... mummy brought her shoes, and her long sleeved t-shirt...hehehheheh. Sorry guys...didn't mean to pack only for me.
We had to drive for 10minutes from my parents' house, parked the car by a tobacco plantation, and walked another 10-15minutes through a rubber plantation and bushes.
We had to walk pass these.

Umar had a great time- collecting durians and fooling around. Laiqa...well...she's always not comfortable outside, especially in places like the orchard. Anyway, she'll get used, I hope.

The kids with 'atuk' and 'nenek'.

By 7pm, we started heading home.
And guess what??? Who was the one that was fully clothed with socks, shoes, long sleeves, etc, and who got bitten by 'pacat'?? Me...yes, it's me. D***, that s***** 'pacat'.

Sunday...we headed back home. I baked some durian cupcakes (will post the recipe next week). A friend came to visit, so, we served them 'pulut durian' what else...:)
By late evening....the flu bugs attacked... :((



This picture has nothing to do with this entry.

Wise Crack

I was bloghopping as usual, and found this very interesting entry.
Really, really have to share with all of you.
Thanks Sis Bee.



Medical Practitioners
The neurologist knows everything but does nothing
The surgeon knows nothing but does everything
The psychiatrist knows nothing and does nothing
The pathologist knows everything and does everything, but too late
And the anesthesiologist sits on a stool all day long and passes gas.

Anon

Loeb's Laws of Medicine
1. First of all, do no harm.
2. If what you are doing works, keep doing it.
3. If what you are doing doesn't work, quit doing it.
(He considered this to be a corollary of his first law)
4. If you don't know what to do, don't do anything_ (So now you understand!)
5. Above all, never let your patient fall into the hands of a surgeon (Remember that Dr. Loeb was an internist) (It's supposed to be funny; be sure to laugh).

Oven - Plain Cupcakes

Yieehaa...bought myself a new oven. ( actually, it's my 'ever dearest' that bought it for me :))
This time I have a REAL oven. It's not that my last oven is not an oven, but, this time it's more real. What am I mumbling about..???
Well, may be because I am overly excited.
Let me tell you about my last oven. It's a very small convection oven, which my mother bought almost 25 years ago (my goodness...the oven is about my age ...hehhe, well may be I am a few years 'older' than it). After i got married, i kinda took the oven from her (since she always prefer to use the 'round' one). All this while, I've been doing all my baking with the oven. From cakes to cookies, breads, all kind of buns, and I even roast chicken in it. But, those who are familiar with ovens and cooking in general, would know that small oven always cause problems to its baking products, my cake always overbaked at the top, cookies were not evenly baked, etc. But I managed...
I've never asked my husband to buy things for me. Anyway, he must have thought that i need a new oven (after 6plus years of marriage :)) . He did all the 'choosing the right oven' thing. He went to lots of shops, read reviews, compared the function, etc.
To you dear..thank you very much...love you.

I haven't placed the oven inside its cabinet. Anyway, my hubby and the kids were really excited more than myself (it seems), and kept pressuring me to try baking with the new oven.
So, here's my first cupcakes. The texture really improves with the oven. So, who said baking is baking, doesn't matter what oven you are using???... It does matter.



Did you notice the texture? It's softer.
I've baked using this same recipe at least 10 times, but this times, it's the best. Well, may be it's pure luck, but I believe it's have something to do with the oven. :)

Plain Cupcake
* 3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
* 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup butter
* 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar (I used 1 cup)
* 4 eggs
* 1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
* 1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 174 C. Line pan with baking cups.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

Cream sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla to creamed mixture and beat until thoroughly mixed. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Continue beating one minute.

Pour into prepared cups. Bake 18-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely.

Dark Chocolate Cake

I found this recipe sometimes ago. Anyway, i have been keeping it eversince, since I always prefer to bake chocolate cakes that uses cooking chocolate rather than cocoa powder.
Anyway, I forgot to buy a cooking chocolate during my last trip to the store, and I have this chocolate rush in me that can't wait, I tried this recipe instead.


INGREDIENTS

* 2 cups boiling water
* 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup butter, softened
* 2 1/4 cups white sugar
* 4 eggs
* 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line muffin tin with baking cups.
2. In medium bowl, pour boiling water over cocoa, and whisk until smooth. Let mixture cool. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at time, then stir in vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the cocoa mixture.
4. Spoon 2/3 full in individual baking cups.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Allow to cool.

Not bad. Will make again.

Custard Cupcakes

I was told about this cake by a good friend -Ernie.
I was chatting with her at that time, and she told me she just bake a custard cake which is fluffy but yet buttery.
Anyway, she haven't given me the complete recipe. So, since I was eager to try out the recipe (and I still have my previous year stock of custard powder- not knowing what to do with it), i searched the recipe from the net.
I found one in a fotopages which I can't remember which. So, to the owner.....thanks for the recipe. If I ever found your site again, i'll thank you in person(cyberly) :)

Custard Cupcakes

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup custard powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp soda bicarbonate
1 tsp vanilla essence

#
-beat butter and sugar until fluffy
-beat in eggs one by one.
-add dry ingredients that have been sifted together
-mix in vanilla essence
-scoop into prepared muffin tin
-bake 20-25minutes in a preheated oven 175 degrees C.

makes 12 cupcakes