For The Love Of Baking :: October

October 17, 2006

Away for Lebaran

How time flew like blink of the eyes. We’re now only one week away from Lebaran. Oh, well. Will I see Ramadhan again next year?

I’m gonna be away from the internet world for about 2 weeks, to help my sister-in-law facing her last pregnancy days and continue with celebrating Idul Fitri with my big family at my eldest brother’s house.

Happy Idul Fitri to all muslim in the world.
I plead guilty for all my mistakes, and asking for your forgiveness for everything I did that might hurt any soul. The fault is mine and mine alone. May Allah purify our soul. May we reborn as a new human being. *sigh*

About the cookies in the jars:

Espresso Delight, recipe from Vania
I dissolved the coffee in 1 Tbsp of water, and added up 1-2 Tbsp flour to balance the moisture.
Kaasstengels, recipe from Sedap Sekejap
Used 100 g fresh salted butter and 25 gr margarine. Substituted edamer with parmesan.
Nastar (Pineapple Cookies), recipe from Fatmah Bahalwan, posted by Rita
Chocolate Surprise, recipe from Santap Magazine, posted by Anastasia
She doesn’t have the recipe on her post though, you might want to ask her to put it up on her blog

Irish Soda Bread for the World Bread Day

Isn’t it great there’s a day dedicated for bread? Zorra is hosting this event, go visit her blog for more about this day and –of course– the round up.

I love yeast bread. And for this special day, I decided to try an ancient recipe. So from this ancient book, I chose Buttermilk Rolls, which sounds simple but hearty. I started preparing the flour, milk, salt, then the disaster began. I was soooo sure I bought a box of instant yeast last week. But there was no yeast anywhere in my kitchen cupboard! It’s almost Maghrib time and I have to prepare for breaking (from fasting). So I told Agus, the helper, to go to the nearest grocery store after maghrib and buy a box of instant yeast. Phewh, so close.

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Mixology Monday VIII: Exotic - Red Mystery

Exotic. To my husband, this word means “food or drink that is served in an extremely minimum amount of quantity”. LOL.

To me, exotic means “a journey to the unknown”. That’s why I love pure adventure game, which by the way, has nothing to do with food whatsoever

Anyhow, Meeta of What’s For Lunch Honey? is hosting this event called Mixology Monday, coming up to its 8th round already. So watch her blog for the round up.

When Meeta decided to chose Exotic as the theme, I suddenly remember the fruits I bought the other day. The unknown fruits.

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October 15, 2006

Pumpkin Pie

Actually I baked this about a month ago, haven’t got a chance to post it here until today.

What I like about pumpkin is that you can eat it plain right after it’s steamed until tender. It is good the way it is. Naturally sweet, tender, juicy. A ready made pudding presented by the nature! Now I understand why people call their loved ones ‘pumpkin’.

I bought almost 1 kilogram of pumpkin, nuked it all until tender, and half of it went into my stomach while baking

I just couldn’t help myself.

Here is a light version of Pumpkin Pie, recipe by Santap Magazine 11th edition.
O, yeah, it’s good.

Pumpkin Pie - Light Version
Recipe by Santap Magazine

Crust:
120 g plain crackers biscuit
30 g quick cooking oats
4 Tbsp sugar
8 tsp light olive oil
1/4 cup (65 ml) fresh milk

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October 10, 2006

Monthly Mingle #5: Take Two!

I’d been wanting to participate on this month’s Monthly Mingle hosted by Meeta, but something always got in my way.

I bought the sage, zucchini, eggplant, took a picture, then I made Zucchini and Eggplant Salad (recipe by Santap Magazine). But it’s gone before I had a chance to take a photo! I never knew my hubby loved the dish that much. As far as I know he hates purple eggplants! So you see, this was totally unexpected.

I already put aside the idea of participating when I was cooking this dish the other night, when I realized I just substituted the cucumber with zucchini. So I thought, what the heck, let’s try throwing a little bit sage in it! Let’s see how the dish turn out, then I can make it as my entry for Monthly Mingle #5.

This is an Indonesian common stir-fry dish of carrot, cucumber — which in this case I replaced with zucchini–, small chillies and shallots, spiced with ground fresh turmeric, candle nuts, ginger, shallot and garlic, enhanced by vinegar and sugar. We usually call it “Acar Kuning“, means “Yellow Pickles“. It doesn’t look like a ‘pickle’ to you, I know. But what am I gonna do, I didn’t name it in the first place

But it does have that tangy-sweet taste you usually found in regular pickles.

Well, the sage, I’ve got to say, softened the spices a little bit. I also added black pepper to match with the sage. There were some corns in my fridge, so I threw them in as well. When my sister came by that night, her maid frowned,“What did you throw in this yellow pickles?”
“Any vegetables I had in my fridge,” which was true. If I had some cauliflowers I probably would have thrown them in too.

About the photo, not a very good shot though. I took it in a hurry that night, while it’s still in the wok, before the dish disappeared again into our tummies.

Thanks, Meeta, for hosting the event!

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October 4, 2006

In a Lazy Afternoon

Do you have those old clippings of recipes you thought you’re gonna try someday but turned out never? Sounds familiar, huh?

I have this recipe for so long! I thought it must be a very delish pie ‘coz I love salted eggs. But still, I didn’t get to taste its real taste, because I ended up eliminating this and that, including the pie crust itself, which by the way, happened to be the very essence of every pie! So I got a Vegetable & Salted Eggs Casserole in the end. Is it good? Well, my tastebud is now used to the blandness of fresh raw vegetables, even craving for it, I can eat them like a pig. But if you’re not fanatic of veggies, you should strictly follow the recipe.

So, guess what, I still haven’t tried this recipe! It’s a curse!