Friendship

 

Have you ever 'meet' someone online but become closer than ever ? I do ... !! I have and 'meet' several people online , never meet in a real life but our friendship grow big and big .. well, if I can tell that even better that a real person that I meet daily actually. I don't know why, maybe because I am a shy person so I feel more comfort meet people online .. 

Yesterday, someone made me cry by sending a beautiful package full with a lovely stuff. I never meet my dear friend Chase, but tough our friendship is grow nicely every time we share story through e-mail . She is nice and caring person , hopefully someday I can be able to meet her and have a cup of tea .. maybe .. hopefully ..

I hope your life going to be wonderful too, my friends reader .. thank you for visiting my blog daily ..

 

And since today is Friday, is should be nice to bake some cake before we heading another cold weekend. well .. I chose pretty simple recipe, BUT ... don't ask the taste of the cake.. it's very delicious and very moist , maybe because of the blueberry inside of the cake itself make the cake taste so different.. let's try

 

 

Blueberries Pound Cake

Ingredients

6 eggs, separated (do this while the eggs still cold)

1 cup butter, softened

3 cups of sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 cup fresh blueberries (if using frozen, use without thawing do avoid discoloring the batter)

    

Directions

1. Let eggs stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the extracts and butter flavoring. Combine flour and baking soda; add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream, beating well after each addition. In another bowl and with clean beaters, beat egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold into batter. Fold in blueberries.                        
2. Spoon into a greased and floured 10-in. tube pan. Bake at 350° for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Yield: 16-20 servings.

Haleem - Persian Breakfast

 

One evening, while we had dinner, my husband told us about his childhood memory - it always fun to hear about Persian custom from him; and one of his story was about 'Haleem' - a type of breakfast dish , which is so popular until today. Haleem is a thick Persian high calorie dish. It is a special dish prepared for breakfast or during Ramadan since its good for the stomach.  This dish is slow cooked for some hours which results in a paste like consistency.  *in fact the other side of story was, he kind of missed this dish too , but he won't even bother to tell me to make this dish for him *eh, is this typical of man ?  *

Anyway, short story I search for the recipe and next day, I visited one biggest International food store in my city which sell (almost) every products from different country. I'm sure, everybody there know me, since I always go there once at least once a month. I picked some stuff to make this dish, but not tell my husband until ready to serve *oooh, what a nice wife *wink*

I admit, this dish is not (so) appealing and I'm not blame on you if you don't feel like to try but as my little one always say 'don't judge by the cover' - the dish it self absolutely delicious!! . As my husband recommend the original recipe is using lamb shoulder but I couldn't find the lamb at the store that day, I substitute with turkey tight.

I let my little one, involved in a cooking process , *well.. this is part of trick to make her eat a new kind of food too* . She read the product label, (oh.. turkey!! - she loves turkey meat) , wash the turkey , put in the slow cooker pot etc. Hey, I'm not surprise when she asked the porridge for breakfast and even dinner LOL

 

Haleem (A Wheat and Meat Persian Breakfast)

Recipe : from Azita - Turmeric & Saffron - with a little change from me

 

Ingredients:
3 cups pelted wheat, rinsed, soaked overnight in 4-5 cups of water, drain before cooking
2 pounds meat (preferably lamb shoulder or turkey breasts) - in fact I chose turkey tight
enough water

1 sliced onion

3 cups of milk
Salt , Pepper to taste

Toppings:
Cinnamon
Butter, melted
Sugar *I'm skip this one*

Method:
Place the lamb or turkey in a medium sized pan, add salt, pepper, onion slice and enough water to cover. Cover and cook for about 1-1/2 hours on medium heat or until the meat is tender. Stir occasionally, to prevent the formation of a crust on the bottom of the pan.  If juices evaporate before turkey is done, add 1/4 cup water. Remove from heat and let cool. Remove and separate meat from bones if using turkey tight like mine and shred into small pieces. Reserved the liquid for next step

Place wheat in a heavy bottom large stew pot on medium heat, pour in about  6cups of water and some of liquid from the meat, bring to a gentle boil for a few minutes, reduce heat to low and cook for about 1-1/2 hours. - if you like to use a slow cooker pot, it will work too - trust me, no mess in the kitchen.

Pour the cooked wheat in a food processor in small batches and pulse till it becomes of a creamy and smooth texture. Using a wooden spoon is recommended.

 

Combine the meat and the wheat mixture and return back to the heavy bottom pot on medium to low heat. Add the milk one cup at a time. Simmer for an additional 30-40 minutes till it reaches the desired consistency and becomes sort of supple and stretchy. Taste and add salt if needed. If you don't like to add milk to your haleem substitute it by adding water instead.

To test the stretchiness, use a wooden spoon and gently scoop some haleem. If there is some stretch as you are lifting the scoop then that's the perfect haleem. Your chances of reaching the desired pull of the haleem is better if turkey breasts are used instead of using lamb.

Serve warm in individual bowls or place it in one big bowl. Top with cinnamon, sugar and drizzle with melted butter. If there are any left overs you may freeze them in small plastic containers.

..back on track..

 

with so much distraction around me lately, from news about my beloved grandma who passed away a week ago , next was a computer crash , wipe out all the data on computer , and last was some family's issue . Oh gosh ..I was so tired, those made me delay some of my homework . But I know everything happen for a reason, there is no problem without solution.  Everything will be all right, with a good family members who always beside me no matter how hard the problem are - GOD gives us strength  , and thank you for my husband, we celebrate another year in a good times and bad times together again yesterday . Love you, Hun..

 

And today, finally I be able to back on track . Finished what had been delay before.. such back to my sewing machine ... Q..U..I..L..T..I..N..G - you know I do love quilting :)

4 sewing project already sent to customer !! She was so happy see a whole finish project, and I more happier too .. everything just perfect, and need to back sewing 'holliday theme project' pretty soon ..

 

 

 

*thank you for you, who loves to come back here to read 'inside my head' .. so much appreciate, even I don't always have an answer ..

A new stash ..

 

Christmas is just around the corner, and I've been busy doing some projects for a lady who came to our dinner party last week. She wants some of my craft works, well.. she said she is not rush - but I'd like to doing on schedule and not postpone the work especially working with a lovely fabrics. Who can resist this pile of fabric from heaven  LOL

I got this a new fabrics last Friday , oh..wow, they are just as beautiful as I can imagine when I saw for the first time from my flickr friends, Tasha.  She has so adorable fabric collections, that I will like do "fasting" - not shopping a new shoes to exchange with hers fabrics *grin*

Now, let me excuse my self back to my sewing machine.. and I will come back bring my food recipe tomorrow to share with you.ok.

xoxo

Me time...

 

quilting time mean me time !, while wife taking over a dinning table mean no dinner tonite. LOL - should I send hubby and kid going to McD for dinner  ? No doubt, my daughter will have 'dora dancing' , *she wish ..  I send her for McD meal .. :O*

Anyway, this is a big quilt blanket I ever make, made me move my sewing machine from basement to dinning table.. jeezz.. and than I did boring job ever, sewing vertical and horizontal line for at least twin bed size blanket. And I can say ... I won't do this no more :p

needle..stitches..baking..special day..

 

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I'm doing hand quilting stitches, while baking a spekoek layer cake - the MUST cake I need to bake for a special day.

So, how do you like this handcraft so far ? .. this is my first time doing hand quilting, It's fun. I will come back to post the final result and the cake maybe .. :)

Donut Cookies

 

It's almost the end of Holy Month Of Ramadan, is always become a sad day while we no longer in Ramadan Month . Because we never know when we will meet a full of blessing days like Ramadan Month.

And I'm sure almost Moslem's families around the world especially ladies, moms, daughters, aunties busy around the kitchen. They are busy preparing many stuff before Eid Fitri Festive comes, especially baking a good goodies .. Oh, My, it's always remind me how busy my mom was. And even until today. She is still the best cook ever.

Well, I bake too .. but not as much as my mom does. Not many family around us to celebrate the happy day after Ramadan. So, I just bake a little portion of cookies or cake, in case we have friend visit. Mostly I stick with 'an original' , old times cookies style such a nastar (ananas tart), sagu keju etc. But since I have a little girl who loves to help around the kitchen, I bake a little different cookies, so she can help easily too.

Like donut cookies, it's pretty easy for 6yo girl making without worry about messy around the kitchen.

Donut Cookies
Adapted from : King Arthur's Flour Recipe Collection

Dough
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 1/2 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Icing
1 cup (4 ounces) confectioners' or glazing sugar
4 teaspoons milk
4 teaspoons light corn syrup

I'm not used icing sugar but chocolate icing - taste much better for my style.
- chocolate melted and white chocolate melted for topping

Beat together the oil, butter, eggs, vanilla, salt, baking powder, and sugar until smooth. Add the flour, beating until smooth. Refrigerate the dough for at least one hour, or overnight.

Scoop the dough into 2-teaspoon-size (1/2-ounce) balls; a teaspoon cookie scoop works perfectly here. Roll the balls into logs about 4 inches long and about 1/2-inch in diameter. Coil into doughnut shapes, leaving a small hole in the middle.

Place the shaped cookies on lightly greased baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between them. Bake them in a preheated 350°F oven for about 15 minutes (original recipe said : 18minutes, but I find it that made cookies become hard to chew, so just reduce the baking time like mine). They may have the merest hint of golden color on top, but they definitely won't be brown. Remove them from the oven, and transfer to a rack to cool completely before icing.

To ice the cookies - if you use icing like an original recipe

- Put 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar into each of four bowls. Add 1 teaspoon milk and 1 teaspoon corn syrup to each bowl. Stir until you've made a soft, spreadable icing, adding more milk if necessary. Tint the icing in each bowl a different color. Dip the top of each cookie in one of the icings. Sprinkle with sugar decorations. Allow the frosting to harden before storing the cookies.

- or just simple melted enough chocolate or white chocolate into double boiler pan, and dip the cookies on melted chocolate. Sprinkle with sugar decorations.



Yield: 3 1/2 dozen cookies

Another Happy Colors..

I don't have any sewing skill background, I never attend sewing class or what so ever, I proud to say that I'm self taught sewing who learn from many mistake. It take me a while to figure out all the steps. And until today I still learn from everywhere. Including, Youtube. Yeaah right, I'm graduation student from Youtube :O But so far, I'm happy with every result.  And I definitely make quilts to be loved and used, not show quilt. The lady who order this picnic blanket just want a happy colors. My idea about happy colors is to put as many bright pretty colors as I can. I hope she will like it.

I spy in the garden picnic blanket is a custom order picnic blanket , with size 40x48inch. (Reserved - ready to send to France this week)   SOLD
And here is another blanket I finished 2 weeks ago. The lady who got this blanket was so happy. I called this : Sweet Water Picnic Blanket - size 37x49 inch, 100% cotton from  MODA  and Robert Kaufman fabric collection

Have a nice day.. and enjoy the picture

Indonesian Chicken Risoles

Off for too long ?? jeezz, after finished with Girl with Dragon Tatto Trilogy now I'm stuck with The Hunger Games Novel .. oh.. no, I know I'm in trouble .. reading alot, ignoring my sewing machine even getting lazy to updating my cooking blog. In fact, the weathers are so insane, we reach 90F for spring today.. I think i better prepare for my little garden than sitting here to update my blog.

so many thing need to be done, I need to paint a new bedroom  for my kid, she is geeting bigger now, she has many friends for playday at home and sleep over on other weekend . So, let see how the new room will gonna be ? . I still need to paint my back porch too. wuhuuu.. a lot of work for me.

Anyway, I still love my cooking blog - so I just want to share a little recipe, like Risoles may be ? oh.. this is not little, this is a lot of work , I suggest you to prepare the Risoles filling day a head, or you will end up like me , mess around the kitchen :p

Rissoles are a snack food in Indonesia, where they are called risol (pronounced 'riss-ol'). They are commonly filled with chicken, egg, carrot, common bean, potato, and eaten with chilli sauce or bird's eye chili.

Indonesian Chicken Risoles Ingredients:
For filling
1 onion, chopped
125 g chicken, cubed
150 g carrots, cubed or shreded if you try to make it faster.
150 g potatoes, cubed into tinny size
50 g peas
125 ml milk
75 g flour
200 ml chicken stock
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp white pepper
1 1/2 tsp salt
hand of full chopped green onion
5tbsp of butter

For skin wrapper
1 egg
50 ml milk
1/2 tsp salt
70 g flour
150 g water
1 tbsp butter, melted

For crumbing
4 egg whites
400 g bread crumbs, panko or fine
Oil for deep-frying

Directions:
For filling
Heat butter over medium heat. Stir-fry onion until translucent, about 3 minutes.
Add chicken pieces, cook for about 3 more minutes.
Combine carrot, potatoes and peas into the wok. Continue cooking until all ingredients are well distributed, about 2 minutes.
Season with nutmeg, pepper and salt.
Add chopped celery and mix well.
Add flour and stir continuously for 5 minutes.
Pour milk and chicken stock into the wok. Let simmer for 5 minutes, till the mixture thickens, stirring a couple of times to ensure even cooking.
Turn off heat and let cool.

For wrapper
Combine flour, salt, water milk, butter and egg yolk in a bowl. whisk until well corporate, and than use your strainer to get a very thin batter, no crumble batter at all.
Pour 1/4 cup of batter into a lightly oiled and preheated non-stick pan (20cm).
Cook until the sides start to curl up, about 1-2 minutes over medium heat.
Loosen the sides with fork and flip the pan quickly on a plate to get the wrapper off.
Continue with the rest of the batter.

For assembling
Place a tablespoon of filling into the middle of a wrapper.
Roll the side of wrapper away from you, form a 5cm log.
Fold both sides to the middle, ensuring no gaps.
Roll the risoles up and brush the tip with egg white for sealing.

For crumbing
Prepare two plates, egg white and crumbs each.
Dip risoles into egg white. Coat it with crumbs.
Dip the crumbed risoles back into egg white and coat it again with more crumbs , doing this until finish, keep at refrigerator at least 30minute, to make sure the crumb is stick togehter.

For frying
Heat cooking oil in a saucepan, put the rolls into hot oil, don't over crowd. Fry until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Serve warm with bird's eye chili.

away from fabrics and mixer (perhaps..)

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I've been waiting for 2 months to get paperback version, trilogy of Stieg Larsson Novel ! This will make me away from fabrics,needle and mixer for awile.

Well, I love my #NOOK, but nothing compare with the sound and the look of the letters on the crisp white paper.

Rosette Buttercream Cake

Roses are red ,
violets are blue
and look at my messy rosette ... boo !!

Anyway, Happy Valentine's Day everyone ..


*3 layer's chocolate cake decorate with rosettes buttercream*

NO BAKING TODAY : Scrapy Log Cabin

I always want to learn about quilting ! I can't belive that I did ; this is my first time scrapy log cabin ever. The block keep on growing .. and I still don't know how far i can go :)

Don't worry, not hard at all - you can find so many free tutorial through flickr or youtube . You just need a lot of scrap fabrics and passion for sure :)

Happy Weekend everyone,

xoxo

Celebrate 42nd Birthday

Inside every older person is a younger person – wondering what the hell happened yeah.. right ! Anyway, I feel blessed and lucky at 42 ; with a great families I have, with many nice people around me ..

 

Pecan Chocolate Cake

Ingredients :
7 oz. dark chocolate
1/2 lb. salted butter
2/3 c. plus 1 Tsp. sugar
1/2 c. half and half
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
4 eggs

Directions :
Preheat oven to 350.
Using butter or shortening, grease a 10" spring form pan.
In a heavy saucepan over low heat, melt the butter and dark chocolate.
Once melted and combined, remove from heat and add sugar, stirring to dissolve.
Stir in the half and half, vanilla and salt.
Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl.
Slowly pour and mix the chocolate mixture into the eggs, mixing completely until very well blended.
Pour the batter into the spring form pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the cake is just set.
And be sure the ring is properly attached to the base of the spring form pan before pouring the batter in or you are in trouble!
Remove cake to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before removing the ring.
Remove the ring and refrigerate the cake until chilled, leaving the cake on the spring form base.

Decorate your cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache

Dark Chocolate Ganache

2 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 pound bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped

Directions

1.In a large saucepan, bring 2 cups heavy cream, 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, and 1/8 teaspoon salt to a boil. Remove from heat; add 1 pound bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped, and let stand, without stirring, for 1 minute. Whisk just until combined. Refrigerate, stirring occasionally, until spreadable, about 1 hour.

NO BAKING TODAY : Jumper Linen

Oh NO !! Why I put this dress in cooking blog ? LOL .. oh well ; I tough is fun to put some of my activities beside baking and cooking too, after all this is RUMAH MANIS mean is everything happen at RUMAH MANIS (Sweet Home) is belong to this blog *silly explanation :P*

Anyway, I'm little bit busy to manage my time between, husband, kid, home, baking, cooking (thanks GOD, no garden now since fall season) , PTO, and sewing machine. NO..NO , I'm not a wonder woman ; but I Love to do many things. I always adore all creative people around me, how they can create a beautiful stuff from a piece of fabrics.

OK back to business, I made several dresses for my daughter ; surprising me that some of my friends love too .. so they start to order from me.

The first order came from friend who lives in Germany. Oh wow.. I'm so honor. I sew 4 collections first, and she loves all of them.. so this is one of my collection already SOLD !!

I didn't have chance to put on my online store yet, but I didn't mind.. I will make another one

This is an adorable, one of a kind, 100% linen fabric decorate with some handmade applique. A simple design can also be layered for colder weather with sweater, a shirt & pants or tights underneath. It will grow with your child & can be worn as a cute, swing shirt once the child outgrows it as a dress.

100% of my creations are completely handmade in a smoke-free home. So, don't hesitate to send me message if you like to get one too . :) I will be back with baking and cooking stuff tomorrow .. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone.