26 July 2015

great captives


at one point in your existence you fall in love so hard... so hard that the mere thought of your love makes you breathless. the simple eye contact feels a slow choke that leaves a lingering impact in mind.

you are a prisoner of such feeling. it is dangerously addictive. the soft gracing of your love's kiss consumes your every being. the lightest touch of your fingers together haunts you to your sleep... in your dreams. the distinct scent creeps into your thoughts day and night.

love in its purest form is undeniably beautiful. the way it can overpower one's mind is in itself a phenomenon. the presence of your loved one is more than enough to keep your heart pounding rock hard.

i have fallen in and out of love and being in love is one of the best feelings one can endure. whilst it can hurt and potentially damage your entirety, it is truthfully a character-molder. it can never be placed in a certain box or any cookie-cutter shapes for each love in its varied degree has its own depth. 

tonight, we raise our glasses to all those who have loved and lost love, who are in love and falling in love. you are a fool to your own making and it is a f*cking amazing state to be in. whether you are clinking shot glasses, champagne glasses or beer mugs, we toast to us all who are great captives of our feelings.


06 April 2015

fast forward to 2015

it is interesting how nearly 3 years have passed since the last time i made a post. if my memory serves me right, i knew that i would take this long to post purely because i was about to start my post-graduate studies and i know it would require commitment (translation: time management)

fast forward to 2015, so many things actually took place. i got engaged in 2014, completed my post-graduate degree at the University of Liverpool towards the 3rd quarter of the same year and early 2015 i got hitched! 

i've been to new york city, london (about a million times), edinburgh, birmingham, liverpool (practically around UK), paris, and lastly, bali. i've had tons of arguments with my then-fiance and now hubby. 

in other words, i've been to so many things. life has this fascinating way of swaying you around without you realizing that a lot have changed since then.

i no longer enjoy the very late night outs... i no longer enjoy the "all-weekend" out of the house gimmicks... 

i now highly require that i atleast have one decent day off at home. boring i know. i prefer to workout than to get drunk from sunset to dawn. i prefer to travel than to buy a ridiculously expensive car. i prefer to buy gold / diamond jewelries than to buy tons of trinklets. 

perhaps i have matured or became boring. whatever it maybe, it is just insightful to see how time can evolve a person.

09 August 2012

earporn



i know i shouldn't be listening to music right now especially during this Holy month of Ramadhan BUT i did try my best to abstain from my headphones, speakers, etc but spare me for having this song playing on my mind whilst i wait for the pudding to cook in the kitchen. then, i realized it has been a year since the last time i posted something decent well that too was my take on cooking. :-p

at 1:40 am, you'll understand why i call this earporn... 


30 August 2011

22 Days Before Eid Al Fitr - Days 21 and 22


and so the end is here. the final meals, desserts rather to make the list. one dessert is the easiest i have learned before for all those chocolate lovers while the other is again new to my kitchen experience.

i guess i don’t need to bore you anymore on how i made it but one thing is for sure, i enjoyed sharing the experience with you all (if I actually have readers out there). Oh well, this is already in cyberspace so whoever stumbles into it, i’m glad you passed by.

aside from my rumbles over getting too excited or failing to meet my cooking standards (as if), this month indeed was special. i believe i got closer to ALLAH and was able to reflect on so many things. couple of people ofcourse made this journey a memorable one.

this month’s blog would always be exceptional. i do not claim any expertise on cooking but i do love to cook.

my friends, EID MUBARAK to you all and please enjoy my last entries… chocolate mousse and lemon puddle pudding-souffle




26 August 2011

22 Days Before Eid Al Fitr - Day 15 18


i am so behind with updating the meals i have been cooking / baking. since school officially started, half of my evenings are employed with reading modules, posting discussions, researching for resources etc. Not to mention that I too am a full-time bank officer at day.

excuses, excuses, excuses – i know. anyways, 3 days ago my mom invited couple of her friends for iftar. for some reason, my mom expected that i should be tonight’s chef. Hehehe. (i was wondering how graciously she gave me the limelight or maybe she was just too lazy tired to cook) needless to say, it was a chance for me to showcase my thai cooking skills (as if). and what best to showcase that talent than to prepare 2 famous thai dishes. (2 of my favorites in fact). i remember during our short trip to Bangkok, i told my mom that we couldn’t leave until we have a feast of the country’s best known meals (aside from tom yum soup).

without further adieu, i present to you Pad Thai and Chicken Satay.





21 August 2011

22 Days Before Eid Al Fitr - Day 12

This is a delayed post. This was in fact supposed to be posted yesterday hence Day 12 but got tied up with some researches. (it happens =p). So all references here will be like as if I blogged yesterday. Hehehe.

Anyways for some reason, I woke up at 3:30 am thinking of what to cook for Iftar. After Suhoor, I browsed through my Women’s Weekly Cookbook and two recipes caught my eye. Fish & Chips and an appealing dessert.

To fast forward to 2:30 pm, I decided to make Fish & Chips without the chips. Got the fish marinated with lemon and ground black pepper. Then began dipping it in home-made batter and deep fried the fish afterwards. Since I like my fish to be crunchy, I’ve waited just as when the fish passed its golden brown color. On the side, I’ve sliced some lemons and mayo-ketchup dip since I didn’t have the ingredients to make a tartar sauce. I just had to improv.

And because my sweet tooth was calling for some dessert, I decided to make pudding once again. Aside from additional step of making the caramel sauce, the dessert was pretty simple. And after my 7-month long abstinence from coffee, I got the satisfaction of tasting caffeine once again but definitely in a good way.

So here it is, Fish & Chips and Coffee & Mixed Nuts Pudding in Caramel Sauce.



19 August 2011

22 Days Before Eid Al Fitr - Days 8 and 10

first off, day 8.


my mom decided to meet up with her friends during iftar so it only meant one thing, the kitchen was all mine. :-p


then i thought of making something quick but my mom never tasted before. i immediately got the skinless chicken breasts out of the ref then started dipping each in a whisked egg then afterwards coated it with spicy ready-made bread crumbs. as the frying pan preheated, i tossed the coated chicken breasts and turned each just as when the crumbs were golden brown. 


while the chicken made a splashing sound, i began to chop tomatoes into small cubes as well as couple of cloves of garlic. be generous, garlic always makes a great flavor to almost any dish. as i took the chicken breasts out of the pan and dried the oil out with an absorbent tissue, another pan preheated and off i tossed the garlic on a medium hot extra virgin olive oil.  just as when you i can smell a good scent of garlic, i added the chopped tomatoes and sprinkled it with salt and pepper. as the tomatoes began to simmer, i turned the knob off and began scooping the tomatoes out of the pan and placed it on top of each chicken breasts. now for the drama effect, i sprinkled mozzarella and cheddar cheese on top and baked the chicken for about 15-20 minutes just as when the cheese turned into light brown. as a side dish, i baked few potato strips. 


instead of a 3-cheese dish, i made 2-cheese Chicken.






next, day 10.


my mom has been cooking our iftar dinner for the past 2 days and quite honestly i haven't been doing anything in the kitchen except to feast on meals and do the aftercare. hehe. so today, as i finished my first official online class with UL and i thought i had some sort of an information overload, i just needed to find peace... in the kitchen.


again, this dessert is a first so i apologize for any aesthetic mishap. nonetheless, i am happy that once again, i did a good job for a first-timer. all i had to do was to mix altogether the self-raising flour, light brown sugar, cocoa powder, butter and eggs until it forms a smooth cream-like consistency. afterwards, i just had to scoop and divide each on a lightly greased muffin dish and added a small chunk of milk chocolate at the center. (this is where i made the mistake of filling up the entire muffin dish instead of just scooping enough mixture until it nearly covers the mold but not entirely.) then i placed the muffin dish in an oven and baked the dessert for about 20-25 minutes on a 180C heat.


this sweet is a good companion of coffee / tea or just by plainly indulging into some good old chocolate flavored dessert. here it is, double chocolate pudding.