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Elyssa
I only manage to bake a successful orange chiffon cake at the second try. Third one was even better from the second one as I learned more things from my previous mistakes. Anyway, I would like to share this recipe with you because it is really delicious compared to the ones you buy from supermarkets. It is definitely much simpler than my Japanese cheesecake :)


Note: Recipe by Agnes Chang

Ingredients A
5 egg yolks
150g self-raising flour
75g castor sugar (I used brown sugar instead)
5tbsp corn oil (I used olive oil)
5tbsp orange juice
1tsp grated orange rind

Ingredients B
5 egg whites
1/2tsp cream of tartar
75g castor sugar (I used brown sugar)

METHOD:
1. Put all Ingredients A into a mixing bowl
2. Use a whisk and stir in one direction until smooth and well-combined
3. Put egg whites and cream of tartar into a mixing bowl, use high speed to whisk until frothy
4. Add in sugar slowly
5. Continue to whisk until stiff but not dry (egg whites can form into small peak)
6. Pour in mixture A
7. Use a whisk and stir in one direction until smooth and well combined
8. Pour into a 22cm chiffon cake tin (do not grease or line)
9. Bake in pre-heated oven at 1500C for about 30minutes until lightly brown. Change to 1800C and
continue to bake until 100% cooked and golden brown
10. Remove from oven, invert and leave to cool completely before removing cake from the tin

TIPS:
1. Use fresh egss. Do not mix any egg yolk into egg whites so that egg whites can be whisked up
easily to stiff
2. Use clean mixing bowl to whisk egg whites
3. The key to a chiffon cake is to spend time on whisking the egg whites till peak (if you turnover
the bowl, your whisked egg whites will not fall)
4. Do not grease or line your baking tray for chiffon cake
5. After removing cake from oven, it should be inverted and leave to cool completely before removing
from tin

ALL THE BEST!!
Elyssa
It has been 15 years I have not laid my hands on baking. Just a month ago, I decided to start baking again because it is one of my interests. My first baking product was a Lemon Crystal muffins, then it was Orange Chiffon Cake and now Japanese Cheesecake. Since there are a few that requested for the recipe for the Japanese Cheesecake, let me share it with you here. I will share the Orange Chiffon Cake recipe in another post.

I came across this recipe from “Christine’s Recipe” blog (recipe extracted from her blog).

I love the texture and the taste of Japanese cheesecake. For me, the taste and the creaminess of the cheese in this cake is just nice for you to have a few pieces instead of just a few scoops of it. It practically melts in your mouth and makes you want to grab another piece of it. Please read the tips after the recipe for better results :)

Mine sunk a little in the middle as I did not follow Step 7 thoroughly (please read the tips). But it still tasted good

Fluffy and creamy cheesecake



Ingredients:
Two baking pans (9”x3.5”x3”) – aluminium ones works good

Mixture A
250ml milk
250 gm cream cheese (Cubed and softened at room temperature)
60 gm butter (Softened at room temperature)
6 egg yolks

Mixture B
55 gm cake flour – (I used superfine flour)
20 gm corn flour

Mixture C
6 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
130 gm caster sugar – (I used brown sugar)

Others
1 lemon zest

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 150C (302F).
2. Mixture A: Use a large bowl, pour in milk. Place the bowl over simmering water. Don’t let the bottom of the bowl touch the water. Add cream cheese, stir occasionally, until completely dissolved and the mixture turns smooth. Stir in butter, till dissolved. Remove from heat. Let it cool down a bit, then add the egg yolks and combine well. (Note: Make sure the mixture is not too hot, as you don’t want to cook the egg yolks at this stage.). Some will use the double boiling method for the cream cheese mixture. I used steaming method
3. Sift in mixture B into Mixture A, a small amount at a time. Mix well between every addition, and make sure there aren’t any flour lumps. Stir in freshly grated zest. Set aside.
4. Mixture C: Place egg whites in a large clean bowl. (Note: Make sure there’s no oil or water in the bowl at all.) Use an electric mixer to beat the egg whites for 3 minutes, then add cream of tartar and blend again. Pour sugar in the egg whites and blend until very stiff peaks form.
5. Fold-in Mixture C into mixture No.3 gently with a rubber spatula just until all ingredients are incorporated. Do not stir or beat. For a better result, fold in egg whites with a small amount at a time, at least for 3 times.
6. Pour the mixture into the two baking pans. Place the pans into another larger baking tray. Add hot water in the tray up to half way. Bake for about 50 to 60 minutes. Test with a needle or skewer that comes out clean.
7. Turn off the oven. Leave the oven door ajar for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and remove from the pans. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Chill in a fridge for about 3 hours.

TIPS:
1. Make sure the cream cheese and butter is really soft in room temperature before starting your double boil/steam method. It will take lesser time to do the cream cheese mixture plus if the cream cheese is too cold, it will have little lumps when you heat it up with the milk.
2. Make sure you prepare Mixture C properly. This is one of the biggest reasons of a failed cake. Make sure that a stiff peaks form (meaning, if you turnover your mixture, it does not fall to the ground)
3. Step 7 is important as the cake will sink a little if taken out straight from the oven after baking. Leave it in the oven for awhile to let it cool down slowly
4. Make sure you FOLD and not stir the egg white mixture into the cream cheese mixture.

ENJOY yourselves while baking and enjoy the cake after that with your love ones!
Elyssa
I just recently had the best seafood steamboat ever (well, up till now at least). My friends, hubby and I wanted to have Fatty Crab as a last minute meet up with each other but we suddenly recalled they close on Monday...alamak. As one of my friend is pregnant, we let her decide on where to go. However, it ended up that her hubby chose Damansara Village on her behalf since she did not have much cravings for any kind of food except for Penang food (LOL).

It was my hubby's and my first visit to this place which is located in Petaling Jaya (they have a branch in Imbi too). My friend warned us the place might be packed but thank goodness we were there on a weekday. Hence it was not that packed. Do keep in mind our friend did not "brief" us on this place so we thought it was just the normal kind of steamboat restaurant.

First thing I noticed was the setting of this restaurant. It felt comfortable and nice. However, when I saw the menu I got a shocked. In my mind I said "wow, for just a steamboat, this is expensive oh". As I looked more closely at the menu items, I noticed that they really had a variety of seafood and it looks good (in photo that is..hehe).

So we decided to take the set for 3-5 people which had fish as the main dish (Price was stated as RM135). Fish is my hubby's favourite and the problem he has with normal steamboat was that he does not eat any type of fishballs or fishcakes. So normally I end up eating more and he eats really little. So this steamboat seemed a little different to us. Anyways, our set came with a type of fish (you can choose between 3 different types of fish), clams, prawns, crabs and their standard set of steamboat items.

Below are the photos for you to help you judge it for yourselves :). Sorry for not taking photos of the restaurant. I was hungry and busy eating that I forgotten to take any :P

The only photo that is not food and part of the restaurant :P


Look at that! The whole pot filled with delicious looking seafood!


This was our main dish from our set - we chose the Taiwan promfret. It was oh! so FRESH!


The fresh clams were also delicious


The crabs looked a bit small to me at first but do not judge its book by its cover. It was fresh and sweet


Kupang and abalone


This is part of their standard set (did not manage to take photos of the noodles and egg..but well we were so full that we did not eat it anyway..LOL). I was not able to try out each and every one of them because there were so many choices. So far the ones I took were nice


I did not expect their fishballs to have "inti" in it...it was delicious


The ever so FRESH ALIVE prawns - I never really liked the idea of eating live food but it was so so so so so delicious. This was my hubby trying his best to put the prawns into the soup...BUT....


We needed help la...haha...so the staff helped us put the whole plate of LIVE prawns into the soup instead.


All in all, I had a very good experience in this restaurant and would highly recommend to those who wants to eat fresh seafood steamboat. We ended up spending around RM40 each but did not manage to finish the food :P

For more information you can refer to their blog
http://www.damansaravillage.blogspot.com/
(just saw and this restaurant was opened by none other than Patrick Teoh! Good job Patrick Teoh!)

1067, Jalan Jenjarum, Kg. Sg. Kayu Ara,
off Jalan SS23/10, 47400 Petaling Jaya.
Open for Dinner 7 nights a week.
Reservations: Tel: 03 7803 1832.
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Elyssa
Before I start my story, I would like to explain that the company I work for now is the same company I worked for almost 4 years since graduate. I left the company to seek a job more suitable to my personality. However 5months ago, I came back. It was only for one major reason..to be nearer to my baby. One thing I liked about this company was the friends I made here comparatively to my second company.

I had a very rough past couple of weeks at work and it took a toll few days ago. It made me burst into tears two days straight..alone, in the office and even in front of the client’s representative.

Firstly, let me explain a little on my line of work. I am an engineer consultant and I help the client to prepare drawings, documents, forms and reports for the submission to authorities for approval on their project

It is of course normal for client to rush us for results (as in any other kind of work) as the faster it is done, the faster they will receive their $$$ from the sales of their project. I have worked for many clients before and some can really push us to the maximum. I always tried to accommodate them the best that I can.

However this time, this client does not just push us to the max..it is pushing us to a point that the time given is actually impossible.

But what that hurt me more was that I did not feel any proper back up from my management when all of this was going on. This really got to me and that was when I burst.

The story as below:

Assuming client’s boss to be the WOMAN, her assistance to be “A” and the architect to be “B”.

Clients changing their details in their project are a normal thing. As consultants we have to amend and change everything when this happens. For this particular project, we have informed them that we will need 5weeks from the day they confirmed their details with us to do the submission to the authority following the proper procedure. They actually expected us to keep the previous deadline based on the old details. Hence they gave us a week. I ask you, how to finish a 5 weeks job within a week? My job also involves external parties and even if I finished my part, there are other factors to take into account. Truthfully, if my bosses took away all my other projects to concentrate on this particular one, I would need a minimum of perhaps 2.5weeks? One week is IMPOSSIBLE.

Hence, my superior and I met up with our boss who is in charge of this project to explain the situation. We worked out the minimum time we need to finish our work for the client and he said he will tell the client in the meeting. Next thing I know, my superior came to me and said the client wants it by tomorrow. WTH?Since there is nothing I can do, I just tried my best but knowing it cannot be done. Hence, my drawings are incomplete and do not follow the instructions by the authority (from my previous discussion with the authority). The proper procedure was when I finished my drawings, I am supposed to meet up with the authority for their pre-checking and they will fill in a checklist. If there are major amendments, I have to redo the whole process and the authority will fill in the checklist again. This will go on till the authority is happy with our drawings and therefore will issue out an official checklist to us for our onward submission to the One Stop Centre. (Note: This was one reason why we stated 5 weeks’ time frame)

When “A” came to the office to collect my documents and drawings, I explained to him the consequences of doing this in a rush manner. There is also a high possibility the One Stop Centre will not accept the submission because we did not follow the proper procedure. “A” was surprised and he requested me to be at the One Stop Centre with him, his boss and the architect. I said alright and told him I will just keep my mouth shut about not having the proper documents and hope that person is blind enough and accept our submission. Told him I will let him do all the talking unless something technical comes up. He agreed.

Of course the personnel at the One Stop Centre is not blind when checking through our documents. They asked for the checklist from the authority. That WOMAN, “A” and “B” stared at me. The personnel continued to scold me and said “Aren’t you aware of the checklist? This is the procedure you have to follow? You don’t know meh?”. Imagine how I felt and none of them helped me to reply them. So I calmed myself down and said “Yes, I am aware but it is not available yet. However, I did a pre-discussion with the authority already”. That personnel continued to scold me. This was my first embarrassing moment of the day. So I kept quiet and just say I understood. During this moment “B” asked me “First of all, were you aware of this?”. I said “Yes. I am well aware. This was why I told you all I need a certain time frame. But you are asking me to do a 5 weeks work in one week. How can I when there is so many other procedures to follow?” The WOMAN then spoke out “First of all, you are all aware of our programme and we expect you to follow it”. I then replied “That was before the big change in your layout. Before you gave us the new layout, we have informed you the new deadline and even “B” was aware of this”. The WOMAN kept insisting that we have to follow their original programme.

I was feeling the rage then and I was so angry because in the first place, they are aware of the situation before we went there. And now that it is rejected, they put the blame on me. WTH? Then the WOMAN said “Why don’t you go now with “A” to that authority and get it all done and me and “B” will wait here for you”. I explained that first of all, we need to make an appointment with this authority. Second, my drawings did not incorporate most of her (the authority) comments in my pre-discussion with her due to the time limit given to me by the WOMAN. Then again the WOMAN started blaming me etc. So I had it, I looked at her and said “We have informed you on the time frame needed for this submission but NO, YOU insisted we come and do it today? And you expect it to go well?”. As I was saying this, tears flowed out a little. I knew if I stayed on, a bigger fight will occur..so I took all my documents and drawings and stormed out of the room. As I was storming out, I said without looking at them “Since you want me to do it, I will go and meet up with the authority now”. That was when I heard her saying to the rest “Well, that was unprofessional of her!”. I admit, it was unprofessional of me. But what does she expect from me? I did my best for her and this is what I get? I was also unprofessional because I submitted my drawings and documents knowing they were incomplete, knowing that it would be rejected!

Anyway, “A” followed me to see the authority without any proper appointment. The authority was nice enough to see us after we persuaded her. She actually took her lunch time to deal with us as she just came back from a meeting. During the checking, I got scolded a lot for not following her instructions from our pre-discussion. This was my second embarrassing moment of the day. After a period of time with me and “A” only she realised that I made all this incomplete work because I was rushed by the client. She looked at “A” and said “Tell your boss not to rush the consultant. What is the use of rushing them when they need to do so many amendments and they give me incomplete work? It is actually normal for me to meet with the consultant 2-3times before the final checklist is out. Give them this time to do it. Do you prefer that they submit in these incomplete work and you have to wait for a month before I reply that the consultant did not comply and you have to go through the whole process again or do you prefer that you give them a little more time to complete according to my discussion with them and get it approved in a month? And this does not only effect the approval, you as the client have to pay up the processing fee each time the consultant resubmits their submission. Do you really want this to happen?”

I was so thankful to this authority for helping me voice it out. However, I wished that the WOMAN was here to hear all of this because “A” will only take it all in and will not “fight” with his boss about this. When I went back to office and gave this authority a call to make an appointment with her, she actually told me how she was really unhappy with our behaviour for barging in her office like that and stated how rude “A” was for going into her office few times and tried to catch her even when she was busy.

Conclusion was I was humiliated for something I should not deserve to be blamed on and this really affected me emotionally.

The above will not happen if the management back me up on my request in the first place and did not agree on the WOMAN’s unreasonable requests. This is only one of the many submissions in future. So if we say YES now, she will always expect us to do the same for the rest.

What makes it frustrating and sad was that there was not back up from my management in the first place.

Anyway, I will not stay long in this company and that is something I can look forward to. I will never ever look back again when I leave this time.
Elyssa
Well, not exactly because the owner is from Kluang. Whatever or wherever he is from, the beef noodles tasted good! Basically, it is similar to Seremban’s beef noodles with the salted vegetable, ground nuts, variety of beef parts and the soup. Difference between this shop and the ones in Seremban are:-

1. Option on the type of noodles: “lai fun” which is the original or “hor fun” \
or “bihun”
2. Option of which part of the beef: Few options are given as shown in the menu
3. Option to be served claypot style
4. A little bit pricier than Seremban beef noodles. However at certain shops in
Seremban, it differs only about RM1-2. It cost a minimum of RM8 per
bowl for this shop

I got to know about this place from a review from a local newspaper as shown below. The writer implied that the portion was small. However I do not feel it was small. It is just as much as other shops.

Conclusion about this shop:-
1. Beef was cooked to perfection (tender and soft)
2. Salted vegetable was nice
3. Soup was nice but the one at Seremban Pasar Besar is nicer :P
4. Noodles – to me the original “lou shi fan” or “lai fun” as they call it here
in KL, is the best. Does not taste so good with “hor fun”

I will definitely come back here again whenever I long for the beef noodles in Seremban

A snapshot of the article in a local newspaper introducing Uncle Cheng's Beef Noodles at SS2


The front view of Uncle Cheng's shop @ Jalan SS2/4A


Inside view of the shop. Clean and comfortable


Menu Selection


Mine was the Beef + Tripe + Beef Balls + Dry Meat with Lai Fun - RM9.50


Mine - after mixing


My mum decided to try the Hor Fun with Beef + Tripe + Beef Balls - RM8.00 (cheapest)


Location:-

Jalan SS2/4A, Petaling Jaya

Turn left at the traffic light just before reaching Kelana Jaya LRT station
I parked at the open car park at the end of these rows of shop houses (if not mistaken next to 99 Supermarket). Parking space is limited hence go earlier to get a parking spot.

Open daily except Wednesdays (9am - 4.30pm)
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Elyssa
I have been using Photoscape software (FREE) to edit my photos (arrange few photos into grids) and post it in other websites. However, I found Picasa (FREE) to be more exciting and I am still exploring the other possibilites of making my pictures fun for viewing (plus I just need to post one photo instead of 10 photos to tell a story).

I am no expert yet but I would like to share the basics of using this software. I know there are people out there who would like to arrange their photos like me but just do not have the time to explore the steps to create them. Hence, I have created a step by step instruction on how to create one nice photo from a variety of photos. Hope this helps and when you have time, explore the programme more! :)

First download the software as shown below (http://picasa.en.softonic.com/)

Click the folder(s) containing the photos you want to choose from

Choose your photos by holding down the CTRL button on the keyboard and click using your mouse (just like how we would normally choose files or photos to copy/cut/etc)

Create your collage

Select how you would want to arrange your photos. You can choose Picture Pile, Mosaic, Grid, etc). In this post, I will be showing you examples of Picture Pile and Mosaic.

In "Picture Pile", your photos are automatically piled up together. You can re-arrange your photos anyhow you want. Choose the type of frame that you want (there are only two options apart from NO FRAME). I would have prefered if I could choose different types of frames just like Photoscape. You can also change the background colour of your page. Then click Create Collage

Edit further if you want to by adding text, or cropping or others (explore). In this example I added text.

Once finish, click "Export" to save your picture into your folder


And....VOILA!!!! A "Picture Pile" End Result!


Another example: Mosaic (To add frame for the photos, you have to edit the "grid spacing". You can also change the colour of the grid background)


And...VOILA!!! A "Mosaic" End Result!


You can always play around with the settings they have in Picasa. I have yet to explore all because I have only just started using it.


And...VOILA!!! A "Mosaic" but with different applied settings on it, End Result!


So hope you busy people out there will find this a helpful post in creating FUN FUN FUN photos in a few simple steps. Plus, ain't my little one CUTE??? :). I have always wanted to introduce my new family member here but just did not have the time. So here I introduce you to the new addition to my lovely family, little Ayden!
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