Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream Result

So, did it happen? Noooooo ... it did not.

It is either I´d spoilt Mama´s ice cream machine - of which I will try and make another batch of ice cream this week to test it out again, OR this recipe is such that you simply cannot substitute condensed milk with cream. Anyhow, I froze the coffee mixture overnight after two failed attempt. It was hard as a rock the next day alright but not wanting to waste it, I moved them to normal cooling department and waited a good 2 hours to try the texture again. And you know what? It turned out marvelous! The Vietnamese Ice Cream was really, really good and I can say that it is THE most kicking I have ever tasted! What is not, when I had in it quite a fair sum of expresso + Nescafe powder in it eh.

So, if you´re feeling adventurous ... you can try this `without ice cream machine`recipe out while I improvise them further.



Recipe and Method

• Boil 1 cup of Expresso and mix them with 1 1/2 tablespoon of Nescafe Classic
• Mix in 3 tablespoon of white sugar (of adjust according to taste)
• Bring 500 ml of cream to a boil in a pan, and pour the Coffee Mixture in. Mix well.
• Let it cool for 1/2 hour before placing them in the freezer.
• Move them to cooling department 2 hours before serving. Done.

As you can see, it is not very difficult to make but do feedback to me if you find the texture too hard, too soft.

Lemon Gelato

David Lebovitz´s Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream in the Making

The consistency is not there yet, and I made a huge mistake by pouring the hot-from-the-stove Coffee Mixture into Mama´s machine first trial. I also substituted the recipe from Condensed Milk to Cream. It is second trial now, using the same mixture and reworking them in the ice cream machine. I hope it works!

Poached Eggs and Organic Spinach on Rye

First time poaching eggs and it was not as difficult as I thought it would be. Now, you have probably come across thousand and one method to poached these babies, but really ... take the safe way if I were you - means break the egg into a cling wrap foil, secure them properly so that nothing flows out and drop them gently into a pot of boiling water. Let it cook there for about a minute and watch how the translucent egg colour changes to white. And now, depending how runny you like your yellow, of which I like mine runny with a bit of solidness at the side, I let it cook further for another 20 seconds or so. On this particular morning, I wanted to enjoy them on a bed of green vegetables and recall that Mama had placed two bags of spinach which she harvested for us when we were off for holiday in our fridge. A quick swirl on the same boiling water and its ready to be assembled on top of Rye slice. But of course, drain out the water first and season them with some salt and pepper for taste. To LUX it up, theres no harm drizzling some truffle oil over eh. Yummy breakfast :-)

3 Minutes Cherry Tartelettes

I wish I am posting this recipe with the cherries plucked from our lil cherry tree on the balcony. I also kinda wish its from the big, strong cherry tree at our garden. But ... damn those birds. They always smell a riped one from far and before we get our hands to it, its ALL GONE!

Anyway, this is a simple Cherry Tartelettes recipe which takes no more than 3 minutes to assemble. And another 3 minutes more to chomp on.

Here´s what you do.

• Remove seeds from approximately 24 cherries
• Put 1/2 cup water, a tablespoon gelatine and 1 tablespoon jam into pot - cook it and let it mix well. Set aside.
• Arrange cherries on ready made tartelettes. And pour gelatine mixture on top.
• Done.

Don´t you just love easy to make, and taste good recipes?

Langkawi (Malaysia), More Than Just An Island

We, or rather I could not believed our luck how blue the skies were when we touched down Langkawi airport two weeks ago. The first thing that strucked us as we made our way to the taxi lane were its humidity. Even our lightest cotton T could not stop us from reeling the heat - all drenched with sweat within minutes of exposure. We tried and managed by blasting the aircond of our rented car as soon as we enter them. Not a minute wait. Our lovely resort room´s aircond at the Sheraton were not spared. They were constantly on standby and we suspect that this is a usual practise here as we found an extra card key already slotted comfortably at the entrance. Our stay were punctuated further with lovely visits to beautiful resorts around this magnificent island but always ending up in airconed coffeehouses for needed drink.



Heat aside, Langkawi island is all we dreamed off. It had stretches and stretches of beautiful, soft, sandy beaches that glossy magazine booast about. Over here, the waves sings to you while the palms from the coconut trees whispers sweet nothing in your ear. When midday sun gets too much, we took a cable car ride up Mount Mat Cincang for a nice temperature drop welcome. The ride up is windy and breezy with the air flowing into the cabin via the ventilation slits at the top. Once up there, there hung the famous Sky Bridge - a curved, suspended pedestrian bridge that makes one feel like they are walking on clouds. The view here is breathtaking. It seems that one can view as far as Tarutao Island in Thailand on a clear day. We had no such luck.

Langkawi had a lot to of nature to offer too but we did none of those. The lazy bones in us were screaming for TLC, and they are so right. There´s the Air Terjun Temurun waterfall, Sungai Kilim Nature Park, Gunung Raya - the highest peak in this 99 anchipelago island, Mangrove visit and more.



This island had developed into a beautiful little haven. There wasn´t that many beautiful resort scattered around the island many years back e.g Four Seasons and Westin. Nor was there the Cenang Quay smacked in a lil corner of Cenang Beach, or Perdana Quay up north where private sail boats docked for the night. BonTon was a surprise treasure for a fifth timer like me. Built on a 100 year old coconut plantation, it offers not only a secluded resort away from it all. The Temple Tree, its latest addition is an ambitious restoration project bringing together traditional Malay, Chinese, Indian and Eurasian houses sourced from all over the country for short and long term stay. A peak inside brought back nostalgic moment to how our ancestors use to live, albeit the new-age facilities they fitted for the comfort of the guest.



Food on this island were lipsmacking. Since Langkawi lies on Andaman Sea and is located near the border of Thailand, it is no surprise that their local fare reminicense a bit of its neighbour. I had a wonderful time tasting their local Laksas, Nasi Lemak, Ramlee Burger, Kuih Muih, Keropok, Ikan and Sotong Bakar straight from the sea. When the weather gets to use, we indulged in the never ending buffet spread and ala carte in several Starwood hotels ranging from local fairs to international. When we got bored, we head out to Perdana Quay for more selection. The Loaf, a gourmet bread store brought a smile to my bread loving hubby but what we got addicted more was its U-Huhu Cheesecake. Due to strong Euro currency, we spared no thought in ordering the best drinks there is to offer too. From special slings, coladas, mojitos to shots, drinks on this island is anything but delicate.



One of the most memorable activity we did was hiring Affendy as our photographer. With nature´s blessing, we had him and the perfect weather on the day we wanted. He got us comfortable immediately (very important), and within two days, a series of 300+ beautifully captured digital copies were making its way home with us. Affendy and his beloved daughter Nabilah captured us through their lenses all the way from our resort, right up to Harbour Park. Let me tell you about Harbour Park. It is simply a hidden treasure for photographers. There is of course the Perdana Quay where the sail boats docked. If you drive further in, there lies a secluded beach with a mountain backdrop so stunning you might mistaken yourself you´re in Hawaii. At one side lies a group of local fishing sampan in the most colourful hues, while the further end of it stands a magnificent lighthouse. When the sun decent to its rightful place, one just can help stealing kisses from your beloved one although you are in the middle of a photography session!



This place call Langkawi ... ahhhh. Romance is everywhere here. Everyone goes about doing their chore without a care in this world. It takes a while to get use to slowing down to 50km per hour drive from our limitless speed Autobahn back home, but we grew to loved it after laughing at it.



The lighthouse ended our last night in Langkawi with our feed buried deep into the sand, and a happy belly filled with Shuk´s famous platter. Our eyes were hypnotized naturally by the wonderful, panaromic view sunset, and deep inside we know we will return again.

Fried Zucchini Flower

I don´t know to laugh or to cry when Mama said that she eats only the Zucchini - the fruit of this plant and discard away the rest (all this while) yesterday. It was still fresh in my mind how excited I got when I first spotted them in her garden last Spring. There weren´t just one, but three huge plants with each bearing a few large zucchinis about the size of my shoe scattered around her garden. But my eyes naturally got drawn towards the petals, for I´ve heard sooo much about them but have yet to discover its delicateness.

Before getting to the recipe part, I do want to share with you one thing. Wash these petals thorougly. Do not be like me - whom judges the outer cleanliness only. It was not a pleasant experience to discover a FAT, HUGEEE worm laying inside the petal just when you´re about to pipe the filling in.



Without further ado, here´s the simple recipe which had captured my tastebud. If you´re not a convert after trying this crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside and ohhhh soooo delicate the taste experience, do let me know why :-)

Here´s the recipe.

• 6 Zucchini Flowers
• 80 grams Riccota Cheese
• 1/2 cup of Basil and Parsley Herbs, Chopped Finely
• Flour
• Oil for Frying
• Salt to taste

Method

1. Mix the cheese, herb mixture and seasoning into a smooth paste.
2. Next, spoon them into a small piping bag. Cut a small tip about 1/2 cm away.
3. Inject the cheese mixture inside the petals until it is full. Close the petals carefully.
4. Heat up a pan with oil.
5. Place the petal onto the pan carefully and let it fry for a good 1 1/2 - 2 minutes each side, or until it turns golden brown.
6. Drain them on paper towel when its done. Serve hot.

Spargel Capellini (White Asparagus with Angel Hair Pasta)

I know. Spargel season´s gone and now I am blogging these. But I do have a good explanation ... really, I do. You see, I just got back from our wedding celebration in Kuala Lumpur, followed by a 10 day long honeymoon vacation in one of Malaysia´s popular island getaway. It had been great ... dreamy, romantic and all ... but amidst all the buffet session and local fare which saw me pilling up the kilos faster than lighting, I was dreaming of a certain sprout back home and was kicking myself for not enjoying them frequent enough.

Its too late now. Its season are gone and all I can do is wait for another year.

But in the event you can get your share of Spargel from another corner of the world (I know Peru has great ones too and are available year round?), this is a recipe if you´re a protein fan and wanna have a full meal with your spargel all in one go.

Recipe

• 150 grams Spargel, skin peeled off and cut to 2 cm length
• 200 grams Tortellini (cooked til al dente and set aside)
• 2 packets Knorr White Cream Sauce
• 2 sausages, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoon oil

Method

1. Heat up oil in a pan and place sausage in to brown. Cook them thoroughly.
2. Add garlic in after 2 minutes, followed by Spargel.
3. Pour the water in, followed by seasoning. Let it come to a boil before playing the pasta in.
4. Mix them well and serve.