Last Day of August - Durian Kueh

I've always wanted to learn Popo's recipe from her. Little by little, I'm collecting all so one day I can pass it down to my daughter, perhaps. Since it is durian season here, now, there are durians everywhere selling as cheap as RM 1 for a durian. Mind you thou, those are only kampong durian. Nevertheless, they taste awesome too. Can't get the awesomeness enough.

Yesterday, I literally beg Popo to teach me how to cook durian kueh or durian cake. Actually it's not cake, it's more to kueh coz there's no batter involve. I just dunno how to explain. Just see and observed. Before starting, Popo already told me that lots of stirring needed. Frankly speaking, after doing durian kueh, what I gotta say is that you really need a tough hands to do this. No lies. I'm just gonna do this one time and never again. Or maybe one day in the future, passing this very unique recipe to my daughter.

Nowadays, I can rarely see anymore people selling durian kueh. Maybe the tiring process just not worth the amount of money you get from selling.

Durian Kueh's recipe

Ingredients:

• 400 g of durian (seedless)
• 200 g of coarse sugar

Mix all those cheap durians I bought

 

Popo said, "Take a blunt knife and scrape out all the flesh."

 

 

 

 

 

Using this type of wok

 

There's a purpose for the two durian seed being in there

 

Mix in both durian and sugar, start the fire.

 

Start stirring non stop.

 

Popo is stirring for me while I rest my hand for a while

 

Keep stirring...

 

It started to form a solid mould.

At this stage, you can see the seed is slowly being separated from the contents.

This indicated that it is almost cooked.

 

Took it out and place it on a plate.

Here is where you have to remove those uncooked impurities.

Caution hot!

 

After that, mould it into any shape you desired.

This is the easiest.

 

There you have it. A homemade durian kueh. I would say the hardest part is stirring when it gets more solid. Lots of energy and muscle needed. To cooked this, I only took almost 40 minutes which is far lesser than Popo said. Maybe it is because I'm cooking in a small amount.

  

Popo also added that this durian kueh is made because the durian fruit can't last long. So in order to eat durian after the season is over, people made this. If keep properly (refrigerate), it can last till a year.

 

So here's the very own Grandma's recipe. You may put lesser sugar if you does not prefer it to be sweet. Keep note that the color of the kueh may be vary as it depends on the color of the durian flesh.

 

Happy stirring. And hello to September!

 



Happy 56th Birthday, Malaysia

Selamat Hari Merdeka! Happy Independence Day! Me proud to be yours.

 

A 56th years of independence. Malaysia has come a long way to its glory today. The freedom was given by the blood that was taken. In harmony and peace, we lived together as one. I remember when I was small, Mum enthusiastically woke us up that very morning to go to the parade or watch it live from our rear projection TV. In front of the big screen, the three stupid little girls went on singing to their heart contents, feeling proud inside.

 

 

That was long gone. Today, the three girls have grown and prefer to sleep than going for the parade. Things have changed much. The girls no longer singing the national anthem or the Merdeka songs with a sense of proud.

 

When I was 10, I joined the parade with a bunch of my Girl Guides' friends. As early as 6.30 in the morning, we were lining up in the stadium thou the event started at 8. From there, we joined others from different school and various organizations. And from there, we walked almost 3 km to give respect to the Sultan and Sultanah. I do complain a lot at that time. Hot la. Tired la. But it's a good experience.

 

I don't see my two little brothers did that anymore. No joining the parade nor watch it live. This saddens me as we, Malaysians should be proud of who and what we are.

 

Popo (Grandma) often told part of her stories about merdeka celebration. She was only 10 at that time when freedom was given. She said that all races, no matter Malays, Chinese and Indians would all sit on boats to go to the stadium. On the way there, those on cars would honked and shouted "Merdeka". A spirit that was long gone. Spectators in the stadium shouted "Merdeka" with proud and joy. Youngsters these days shouted as if they were forced to. I love to hear her old stories and imagine myself in there.

 

As for myself, in school, we would have competition between classes to compete for Most Patriotic awards. We would clean and decorate the class. That very one year, we also painted murals on that class walls with the theme "Unity Is Us"

 

My favorite song would be the Tanggal 31 by Surdiman. Whenever I forget which year we first celebrated Merdeka, I would hummed "Tanggal 31 Bulan 8, 57." A very nice song that I believe is still being sing till today thou there are lots of other patriotic songs out there.

 

 

Saya Anak Malaysia is also my favorite. A music video that reflects us all. ^_^

 



 

Well, before I end this, here's our national anthem, beautifully sang by Janelle Arnelia.

 

 

Saya Anak Malaysia !!!

It's squeaky clean !!

I've used to have 6 bunnies at home but recently I had to give them all away as I'm studying abroad and do not have much time for them.

I kept all the bunnies in separate cages. One bunny in one cages. As bunnies poop and urine, it stains the plastic board beneath the cage.

In the past, I find it hard enough to scrub the stain off and it frustrates me. But then there's a friend sharing his magic on the internet and recently I decided to test it.

All you need is a very dirty plastic board, a bottle of vinegar and a washing dish scrub. Just pour a little amount of the vinegar on the board and start scrubbing. After a while, you'll notice that the magic works and the stain is removed. Rinse the board with water and there you go, a brand new sparkling plastic board!

 

Tadaa!!

 

It's that easy!! 

Honey Glazed Spare Ribs

Ingredients:

• 500g spare ribs, cut into pieces and cleaned
• 5 cups oil, for deep frying
• 1 tsp chopped garlic
• 1 tsp toasted white sesame seeds

Marinade:

• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tbsp. corn flour

Seasoning:

• 4 tbsp. honey
• 4 tbsp. water
• 1/2 tsp dark soya sauce

Method:

1. Mix spare ribs with marinade and marinate for 30 minutes.
2. Heat up oil fro deep-frying, deep-fry spare ribs until golden brown and cooked. Dish and drain.
3. Leave 1 tbsp oil in wok, sauté chopped garlic until fragment. Add in seasoning and cook at low heat until the sauce is thick. Add in spare ribs, toasted sesame seeds and toss well. Dish up and serve.

 

 

I do made modification. First, I do not put sesame seeds coz there's none at home. Nevertheless, it taste awesome. And also to mention, there's sauce but I do not include it onto the plate because the sauce is full with garlic. I hate garlic so I asked Grandma to put separately since she loves it. So fret not if your's have sauce. Overall, it is a super simple recipe for those who are tired of chickens!

Cheapskate

I did nothing much today. Probably because my day start at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. After having my trunch (breaskfast + lunch + tea time), I went on finding recipe books to cook for dinner. Eating chicken everyday is too mainstream so I decided to go a little different today. The main dishes of the day is about pork. Gonna post the recipe soon in another entry.

Later in the evening, I went to the backyard together with Xiao Ai to check on the construction for our back gate.

 

 

It would say that they, the construction workers do really work fast. It's only day 3 and they've already managed to build up this part of the wall and also have the drainage system done coz I'm having a new kennel for the dogs, a much better one and also have put those solid metal wires screwed in the ground.

 

The question now is that how am I going to put my garden light. I do not prefer the normal round bulb coz that is so outdated. Besides, I noticed the lights only bright at the particular spot only. I want a design that can entirely light up the place. Since the house it at the beach and crazy idiots love to peep at night, I want a brighter lighting so I can also peep at them back

 

This is so common.. Huff..

 

 

I told my idea to Mum that I want it to be the long white fluorescent light bulbs because I notice that that is the brightest bulb of all. But obviously having it outside like that would be ugly. So I plan to have it in the walls.

 



 

Something like this

 

So basically I would have the fluorescent light bulbs embedded on the outer side of the walls, which is facing the sea. I also took into consideration that the metal plates that held the bulbs might be rusty and those crazy idiots destroying my bulbs so I wanted to place a plastic cover that screw into the walls to cover the bulbs from rain and itchy hands. This is to make sure they're easy to service later on. What do you guys think about it? Some comments perhaps? Mum just can't imagine my idea so I conclude Mum does not have good imagination. Muahahaha !! *evil laugh

 

Enough of that and

 

What is Xiao Ai doing in the wheelbarrow??

 

 

That evening, I brought Xiao Ai to the beach again. But this time, we're accompanied by Eric!

 

 



Looking across the ocean, Xiao Ai??

 

 

Little bro and Xiao Ai became my model for candid shot!

 

Love this shot very much!

 

After dinner, Mum brought us (me, Eric and Kevin) to IT Fair that will be held till 1 September. There's lots of IT gadgets selling at a very reasonable price. I got myself a Power Bank. I been searching for a good and reasonable Power Bank for the long time already.

 

Green (20,000 mAh) is mine & Pink belongs to Niki (18,000 mAh)

 

 

Here's the deal. You buy any power bank (6, 12, 18 or 22) and you get a 20,000 mAh for free. How affordable right? The 18, 000 mAh is RM 119.90 and the 22,000 mAh is RM 199.90. The 22k one is a little expensive so I got the 18k one. Choose pink for Niki coz there's no much colour. Black, white, red and pink. The free one, I got no comment coz it's free. Only green. Well, at least there's 2 years warranty. And the free one got no wire, so I have to but the wires and the connecting plug with an extra RM 10.

 

Then we went for mouse at RM 30 for 2. One wireless with 3 years warranty and a normal one for RM 5 with 3 months warranty. I love the normal one coz there's dog prints everywhere on the mouse. Super cute! We also bought a mp3 for Eric at RM 50. Super cheap. Probably China made one. It function la and there's a screen to view the songs' titles except that the song that is playing does not match the title that is showing on the screen. What do you except from a RM49.90 thing? Ok la for kids to hear.

 

There's so many IT gadgets selling at a very low price than usual. They have pendrive 8GB at RM19 and 16GB at RM 50 ( I think). Mind you, it's Kingston brand. There's also mouse, headphones, laptops, printers and many more. Lazy to list out one by one.

 

Furniture showcase is next door. For those who are interesting to buy new mattress or sofa, this might be interesting or otherwise, it is boring. Both naughty small devils went to buy Chinese books coz there's 40% discounts on selected items. Since I got nothing to buy, the book case sparks ideas. I don't have a better picture of the book shelves but I hope this is clear enough.

 

 

 

The book shelves is placed in a zig-zag pattern. For those who are finding ideas for a studyroom, this might help coz it is less space consuming. It's made from metal, so I think it can hold pretty much books. The best part is that, no worries that the book is to big and it will not fit coz you can change the height you desired. There's this hold on the metal bars for you to hook the shelves.

 

 

I would probably save this ideas for my future house! There are lots of books selling but none look interesting to me. Those English novels are selling at RM13.90 only. Some are new while others looked like second hand books to me. Both bros bought books with a total of RM 70. I'm waiting to see when will they read them...

 

*yawn That's all for today. Bub-bye.. ^_^



Saying Goodbye ( 1 July)

In a blink of an eye, one year has passed. Great memories have been made as well as great friends. I can clearly remember how reluctant I am going for Uni life as all my high friends went different route. Some took laws while others took A-Levels.

It was the exact one year ago that Mum and sister, Brenda sent me to Kolej Bandar Utama. And it was that very first day of orientation that I made new friends. From new friends, we became classmates and then we upgraded it to best friends.

Our intake is just a small class with 11 students earlier. But as time passes, 11 became 8. Some dropped and some repeated. Nevertheless, the bond stay strong.

Well, time has come for us to bid farewell. No fear my dear friends, for we shall meet again one day.

Me and Sofea

 

Fatin, the future doctor and I

 

It's Kitty again! *meow meow

 

Kalaivanie, the sweet girl

 

Krinissah, the lady in red

 

The three Musketeers

 

 
My 'sister' aka my lecturer, Ms Dorcas Kong
=P


Fatin & Annie
 

With our Math lecturer, Mr Fong

 

Foundation in Science - July 2012 intake
p/s: Wee Kiat is missing here

And lastly, the class photo!

Us left after 3 semesters

~Memories are like coffee. Some are sweet and some are bitter ~

Going Abroad?

Whether it's for study or a holiday, I believe everyone should bring their own medicine kit in case of emergency. For me, myself, while I was in college my medicine kit do really help me a lot especially in times when I'm too sick to go down and buy medicine.

Here's a list of the must have items in your medicine kit.

1. The Panadol aka Paracetamol

 

2. The orange one ( Dhacopan) for stomach pain and

 the green (Dhamotil) for lau sai or diarrhea

 

3. This traditional pill for menstruation pain

 

4. Zenpro for gastric

 

5. An oral aid for mouth ulcers

 

6. Any cough medicine. But I prefer this

 

7. Cure sore throat with Difflam

 

 

8. And Clarinase for selsema or runny nose

 

 

Put them all in a Tupperware and there you have it,

 

Your own medicine kit !!