this one's for you yvonne

i stumbled upon her blog a few years ago, by accident and was immediately amazed by this young lady's courage and strong will and i became her stalker. her blog's stalker laaaahhh...

one day, i read that she published a book and that was when i knew that i had to meet this courageous person. i don't know why. i could've gone to a book store to get her book, but i decided to meet her in person. and it was a good call. the first time we met, she gave me a hug. it surprised me, because in a world where you are taught to be wary of strangers and people you've never met, she came out of her gate and gave this stranger a hug. it warmed my heart and i vowed to never lose touch with her.

many years have gone by...we've kept in touch in whatever way we can, be it in the isolated emails, or even in a facebook inbox messages.

but this is not what i want to write about tonight. tonight i want to write about yvonne, the girl with a heart of gold. the girl, who did not think twice and gave me a hug.

the girl who now needs our help.

i don't think i am able to fully explain yvonne's true condition, but you guys can go to her blog and read all about her.

a few months ago, she helped a friend of mine, syahidah raise funds for syahidah's surgery in LA and now, Yvonne needs emergency surgery.

i would love to help and i know of only one way that i could help. i can whip up a few batches of my cookies and sell them and i pledge to give ALL the proceeds for Yvonne's emergency surgery funds.

or if you guys don't want my cookies, i would appreciate it if you could go on to yvonne's blog and see if there is anything that you guys could do to help.

thank you very much!!

***latest update, my roomie has pledged to add in RM10 for each container of cookies sold for this particular project. YEAY!!! thank you roomie. Alhamdulillah. i lebiuuuuu!! muah!

you can read about yvonne here.

and syahidah, here.

wordless wednesday: flower

daging padprik

also known as padprik beef. or, according to mr. wikipedia, it's stir fry beef, thai style. you can read more about thai dishes here and about pad prik here.

i took the recipe from the 1 hari 1 resipi book. taste wise, well, i think it would've been better. but, in all fairness, i lacked one key ingredient which was the tom yum paste. i thought of substituting it with a tom yum cube, but apparently, the robot malfunctioned, again, and forgot to tell me that we were out. so...what to do...we make do.

ready? here we go!

you will need:

(a)

300g beef

½ carrot, cut in any way you want
4 long beans, i didn't have any, so i used french beans
1 red chili
1 big onion, cut into circles

(b) for the sauce/gravy

1 tbsp tom yum paste/sauce, i didn't have any *boohoo*

1 tbsp thick soy sauce

5 tbsp chili sauce

2 tbsp tomato sauce

3 tbsp oyster sauce

5 kaffir lime leaves, i didn't put any as my roomie HATES them! :-p

1 lemongrass, bruised

5 bird's eye chillies, bruised

3 cloves garlic, bruised

½ cup water
cooking oil

the how to:
1)  heat oil in wok, saute the garlic and lemongrass till fragrant.

2)  add in the beef and stir.

3)  in goes the carrots, thick soy sauce, tomato sauce, chili sauce and the oyster sauce. let the mixture simmer till it starts to boil.

4)  add in the french beans. i also added some tomatoes.

5)  next, in goes all the chillies, stir till mixed. add in a little bit of water.

6)  when the dish start to boil, add it the kaffir lime leaves, big onion. stir and heat off.

7)  ready to serve with rice!

i wish i had the tom yum paste because i'm sure the taste will be a tad different, but my *ehem* version is still edible and nice, mind you. so, get yourselves a jar of tom yum paste and padprik away!!

recipe source: 1 hari 1 resipi by chef hanieliza
thai food information taken from www.wikipedia.org terima kasih abang wikipedia.

wordless wednesday: turkish coffee and baklava

curry puff

in my current condition...no, i am in no special condition...just in an unspecified uncertain condition of uncategorised nature, i totally do not know what i want. one minute i want to eat this, then the next, i'll change my mind. then i'll go back to the first choice, only to change it at the very last minute...senang cakap, i'm being a typical fickle minded woman on crack. hahahaha!! okay, strike the crack bit...maybe i'm just high on something else. truth be said, my taste buds have not been the same ever since this whole house was struck with the mystery of the non-appearing fever virus...*i think one of the symptoms must be constant ramblings that has no sense at all, like now*

so, today, i woke up feeling a tad better. went for my run, as usual, and immediately after that felt the body aches again. and what does one do when one feels as if one is about to be down with fever? one makes pastries! yes! brilliant idea! i am such a wonder genius at times, yes?

genius that i am, i didn't go the make-your-own-puff-pastry way. *i no i.d.i.o.t.lah* i decided to use the instant store bought pastry, went to one of my favorite blogs and see what i can find and...ta-raaaaaaaaa!!!

the recipe is simple enough. i had everything in the kitchen/fridge/pantry. so in a matter of minutes, the filling was ready and all i needed to do was to wait forever  for the puff pastry to thaw.

all in all, i like the filling. and it's exactly like sardine puff only with tuna in it. hehehe...to CMG, thank you once again for a wonderful and yet easy to follow recipe.

you guys ready?

you will need:

1 pack of instant puff pastry Kawan brand

1 egg, for the eggwash

some freshly ground black pepper, i omitted this

for the filling:

2 potatoes, peeled, cubed and soaked in water

1 big onion, cubed

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 tbsps fish curry powder
¾ tsp ground black pepper
1 can tuna, drained
1 tbs oyster sauce
2 tbs light soy sauce
1 cup water
sugar
some curry leaves

the how to:
for the filling:
1)  heat oil and saute the big onion and curry leaves till fragrant, add in garlic and oyster sauce, stir and put a little bit of water.

2)  in goes the curry powder, once the mixture is 'cooked', add in the tuna, ground black pepper, potatoes and water. you can then add in the light soy sauce. reduce heat and let it simmer till the potatoes are cooked.

3)  lastly, add in a little bit of sugar. if everything is balanced, take the filling off the heat and let it cool.

baking instructions:
oven will be at 200°C for 15-20 minutes. you can cut and shape the puff pastry any way you want. have fun while you're at it! :-)

recipe source: dapur tanpa sempadan, terima kasih daun keladi ye... :-)

Mak's simple vegetable soup

okay, firstly, lemme tell you that the recipe is not from my mum, but it's from the author's mum. hehehe...my aunty gave me this book quite some time ago and this would be the first time i'm trying a recipe from here. i heard that the author and her mum and grandmum are wonderful cooks. so, i'm sure everything will be delicious.

one thing i like about this book is that it is like a story book. apart from recipes, the author shares personal photos of her family and stories that are connected to a particular recipe. i find this really interesting, not only do you learn new recipes, but you also get a piece of history with it. which makes the recipe and the dish itself, something really special.

to kak kama, or puan kamariah jamaludin (i only met her once, at my aunty's house a longggg longggg time ago, she came with a very interesting individual, someone i really, really minat. hehehe) thank you for sharing your recipes and your stories. and to my aunty adek, thank you for getting me this book!

well, what's there to say about this soup apart from it being really simple to make and really, really delicious. it's the kind of soup you'd want to have on your table when you're not feeling too good, just the kind of soup that i be wanting. :-)

ready? let's go!

you'll need:
4 cloves garlic, crushed
3 pieces of chicken fillet, sliced or ½ cup shelled small-sized prawns
1 cube chicken stock
vegetable of choice - sawi (mustard greens), green cabbage, cauliflower, carrots
1 tbsp cooking oil

the how to:
1)  heat oil and saute garlic till golden yellow.

2)  add water and sliced chicken or prawns.

3)  keep at boiling stage for about 10-15 minutes.

4)  add chicken stock and stir well.

5)  add in vegetables, do not overcook.

author's mak's tips:

~ another simple vegetable dish that can be prepared real fast. just saute sliced garlic, add some oyster sauce and add lettuce or other types of vegetables. this dish needs to be served piping hot!

see? told ya it was easy.

recipe source:  nostalgia bonda, reminiscing mum's love by kamariah jamaludin