Lychee Konnyaku Jelly

It's been a super long time since I last participated in a blog event. I was blog hopping and chanced upon some events and thought, hey, why not participate in one?

One of them is Sugar High Fridays (SHF). It was first started by Jennifer of The Domestic Goddess. This month, SHF is hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and the theme is Bite Sized Desserts.

I havent been too productive in the kitchen of late and so I thought I'd use one from my archives (yes! SHF allows archived posts). For this submission I have to ensure it's vegatarian as Aparna writes a vegetarian blog.

So here's my submission .. Lychee Konnyaku Jelly.


Ingredients

10 gm Konnyaku Jelly Powder
210 gm sugar
950 ml water
12 pcs canned lycees, halved

Method

Put half a lychee in each konnyaku jelly mould.
In a pot, mix the jelly powder and sugar together.
Pour in 950 ml water.
Switch on the flame, stir until the water starts to boil.
Switch off the flame and keep on stirring for about 5 min.
Pour the Konnyaku mixture into the jelly moulds.
Chill to set for about 3 hours.

Click here if you want to read more about konnyaku.

BBM - Little Things

First and foremost, I would like to apologise to Melody of Trap Door for not putting this up any earlier.

My younger girl dropped my precious Exilim hence had to wait for my man who was out of town to come back with our old Canon to take pix of the package.

I sure am glad to receive the package!!! Who wouldnt? I swear I love everything that was put in the package.

It was two Fridays ago when I got home and saw the package on my dining table. I knew that was my BBM package.

I ripped the box off and nice scent enveloped the WHOLE BOX!! YES, it came from something that I longed for. Will talk abt it later in this post.

Here was what Mel had included in the package:-

- a very nice frame, love the picture
- a scrap book with recipes
- and a cute lil card. cute init?

Next, Mel included:-

- a couple of spatulas
- a huge basket cookie cutter
- coasters
- a nice lil table cloth

My specifications mentioned about me being a sucker for dark choc and Mel had taken note of that and sent me:-

- dagoba organic chocs. one was dark choc chilies and nibs and the other was dark choc lavender essence and wild blueberries.
- guittard cappucino chips. i so cant wait to start baking cookies or muffins using these chips.
- lindt bugs and bees chocolates for my daughters. ooh how thoughtful.

That is not all. Remember the scent I got when I opened the box. It came from these ..

YESSSSSS .. vanilla beans .. can MEL read my mind or what?!?! I longed to purchase them but seriously I do not know where I can them from and even if I can get it will definitely cost a bomb! This is my current most prized possession!!! I am just so thrilled to receive this .. really!!

Thank you Mel for the package. I sure love them all - from your favourite ingredient - vanilla - which happened to be mine too and to my other treats!!

Thanks to Stephanie of Dispensing Happiness too for hosting yet another BBM!

To view what others who signed up received, click here.

Makan Kakis - BBQ Cookout

We had our Makan Kakis BBQ Cookout last Saturday over at Shaz's place @ Elias Green Condo. She had booked the bbq pit which was just by the pool! Nice!

With the man and kids in tow, we reached Shaz's place only after 7pm. The bbq had already started by the time we arrived. I said hi to all, made myself comfortable, looked what was in store for my tummy and made small chats with the group.

So what was really in store for us all you may ask? A couple of days before the bbq, Shaz sent us an email and these are excerpts from it:-

"2 dozen live oysters which we will serve with lemon on a bed of ice."

"a selection of seafood like salmon, prawns and squid, lamb and beef burgers, lamb and beef kebabs, chicken wings and breast,hotdogs, potato/green apple salad, some cooked dishes"

"a 3-tier chocolate fountain with marshmallows, strawberries, banana and pineapple!"

"the key is in the little details like the BBQ hot sauces e.g. smokey brown sauce, honey mustard and Nando's EXTRA HOT peri-peri chili, marinades e.g. sambal belado, garnishes and fresh vegetables e.g. white onions, parsley, lemon, portobello mushrooms, asparagus and, yes, fruits for grilling over the BBQ pit."

"a refreshing lemonade made from Bickford's lemon cordial, fresh lemon juice, sugar water and iced water!"

Oh yes, I was already salivating when I read the email she sent us. As promised, I also brought along a tray of fried mee hoon and assorted flavoured milk jellies.

Ok let's just look at some pix now taken at the bbq ..

the array of food layed on two tables ..

Hakim slicing the salmon .. which I then took over ..
that's Nassy with Tihani .. caught in the act ..
the lamb burger which I had .. yes .. it WAS YUMMY .. best homemade patty Ive tasted ..
the kids lounging around, enjoying a good chat and food ..

the different sauces to go with the different food ..

that's yours truly and my new friend, Sraelynn . I read her blog alot and at long last I got to meet her in person .. beautiful in person and YES she writes beautifully too ..

that's Hakim and Tihani ..

Liza, Sraelynn and her mystery friend, Shad ..
Hana and her brother, Farhan .. look at their gorgeous smiles ..

Auni with the choc jelly I made ..
Aidil hard at work .. trying to feed the people ..
some of the bbq-ed stuff ..
stingray anyone?!
some of the nice bunch of people who went ..
oh yes, Eja also bought a nice, rich chocolate cake for Aidil's belated bday .. how thoughtful ..
wondering what were these kids looking at?? YES .. Aidil got dunked in the pool .. woots!
With the great company and food and laughter aplenty .. we thoroughly enjoyed ouselves! My thanks to Shaz, Aidil, Hana and Zak for making this happen!

The next Makan Kaki event will be a trip to KL next month. We talked about it at the bbq and just confirmed there and then. We are spontaneous like that, can?
*pardon the pix as most were taken by my 3-year old Auni*

Makan Kakis Trip to Batam

What do you do when you're off from work on a Saturday?? In the spirit of good fun, I joined the Makan Kakis, to Batam, in search for good food. Yeah all the way to Batam! This group of people are young, hip, cool and happening! I definitely didnt feel out of place hanging out with them.

The group met at #02-29 Harbourfront as early as 9.00 am.

I was greeted by some familiar faces I met during the Darul Ihsan outing, and some of the not familiar ones. So being the people person (uhuk ..) I introduced myself to those whom I havent met.

After getting our boarding passes, checking in and 45 min ferry ride later, we arrived in Batam.


Upon arrival, we were met by our tour guide, Ibu Wati. By then hunger pangs had struck most of us as we had skipped breakfast so we wasted no time and hit out first stop.

All of us boarded the chartered minibus and and headed to Stamina Ocu. Name kinda corny eh - I was like thinking - we go to Stamina Ocu to build/get stamina to last us the whole trip. The tour guide suggested 30 mins there but we wanted more time to savour our Padang Food.

We were served a whole selection of Padang Food with warm white rice! We thoroughly enjoyed the food - different dishes of fish, meat, chicken and vegetable. The grilled food was for me the nicest. The grilled aroma really lifted one's appetite! They were simply yum!

That's us tucking in ..


That's Hana still enjoying her fish when most have given up!

I especially love the fried fermented soya and soya beancurd (tahu tempe) and polished off the whole plate which were kinda left untouched (this kids dont know how to enjoy the goodness of tahu tempe lah .. LOL)

Believe it or not, being famished, we managed to finish eating in less than half an hour .. so much for asking more time to eat at Stamina Ocu .. haha!

After the tummies filled, we made our way to the Barelang Bridge. Wikepedia mentioned that "the bridge is an icon of the local area and is a popular tourism site."


The view from this bridge was simply breathtaking.



There's nothing like having the wind blowing on your face and messing up the hair too.

Some of us enjoying the scenery.

Some of the babes.

Me and the girl who has been secretly admiring me, Hana.

That's the man enjoying the view.

We could haved stay on that bridge longer if not for a fight which broke between two food pedlers. Our safety comes first eh so we boarded the minibus and headed for our next stop.

We spent about an hour at BCS Mall where I bought some cookbooks (what else!) for myself and a top and dress for my angels.

Next was to the Polo shop.

I wasnt really into it. What I was more interested in was the chips and preserved fruits which were being sold outside the Polo shop.


After we were done sightseeing and shopping, we headed for our next makan stop, Golden Prawn 555 for our Seafood Lunch.


We had Gong-gong .. having to use a pick and digging out the treasure out of the shells was a whole lotta fun ..

Sweet and Sour Fish

Chilli Crab .. I will definitely enjoy this more if my dad was there coz he's such an expert at peeling the crabmeat out of its shell .. hehe

Cereal Prawn .. they were not big prawns and I even commented to Hak who was seated next to me that we could literally eat the whole thing .. which I did .. really crunchy stuff ..

Fried Calamari .. I am a calamari fan .. so I enjoyed this one very much ..

Sambal Kangkong

And yah, I have been longing to drink Alpukat so I asked the waitress to bring me one ..

Yum yum .. could have been yummier if it was more concentrated but still I was satisfied coz at long last I got to drink this!

Being full doesnt stop us from taking our jump shots .. It is a MUST shot at all the Makan Kakis outing. It was crazy, we couldnt get a good shot, we laughed most of the time and I almost puke from having to jump and jump.

Last stop for the day was Megamall .. J.Co Donuts and Coffee Here The Makan Kakis Come!!

We had pre-ordered 60 boxes of J.Co Donuts which equates to 720 pieces altogether .. yeah a grand total of 60 BOXES. While the rest of the group, had their drinks and glazzies at J.Co (we had tables reserved for us eh), I went to meet sis and mum who went there separately at A&W. Then I rushed to the supermarket to do a little shopping then back to J.Co to meet the guys again.

I only had a minute with the J.Co crew and boy were they ultra friendly (never fail to smile) and helpful .. really!! First impression definitely counts! Well, packing 60 dozens of donuts was by no mean easy. But the guys at J.Co were awesome!! How not to love them .. you tell me! .. hehe

At 6.30 Batam time, we left Batam for Singapore, each of us carrying bags of J.Co. It was definitely a sight .. people looked at us, but who cares, we got what we went there for .. IT was in the agenda!

While at the Singapore immigration, I had this Japanese fella who asked "What is that?", "Is it nice?", "Where can I get them?". If I had carried my own boxes of J.Co, I would have offered him some .. seriously.

All in all, I had a GREAT time being in the company of the Makan Kakis - Shaz, Aidil, Eja, Faddy, Haq, Hana, her mummy dearest, Aqi, her hubby, NH, Tuty, Liza and Rikka. All of us just clicked even though it was the first makan outing for some of us!

We will be having the next one in November, after Ramadhan and Eid. So watch out the Event space on the right column for more details on that!

To Kak Lily, Izz and Mila - Hope you guys enjoyed the donuts I got you!
To Zoul and wifey - It was nice meeting you guys! Im sure you guys enjoyed them a great deal!

Oh ya .. to those who wish to try J.Co but havent got the chance yet .. no worries aite coz J.Co Donuts and Coffee is J.Coing soon to Singapore!