This was another, oh dear, what am i going to do cake. It was made in March for one of my friends birthday. Well, Ive known this friend since I was in Form 1 (counts back, OMG 14 years ago!!!!) I remember she sat next to me. Ive then, known her as a sporty person. Shes more of the Sporty Spice if we were to give us all a label, I would probably be a Posh because I generally am not a bright, shiney, happy, person from the first look. I am the one with the cool and don;t talk to me look. Meh. But all in all, if u know me, Im not that much of a Posh anyway

AAAAnnnywaayyy, to speed things up (youre not expecting the whole 14 years story are u?) I asked her what she wanted for her bday cake. She said rum and raisin related. OKAY. To be honest, Im not the biggest fan of rum and raisin ice cream. Not sure if its because of the cheap non-alcoholic rum these people use here in halal ice cream parlour, or dried mediocre raisins in it. Not blaming anyone but since, I have a (checked) ice cream machine, a cake mixer (checked), and an (actually 2) oven (checked), Im going to make a cake, AND a rum and raisin ice cream.

Now for the rum and raisin ice cream, I cheated. I had a vanilla ice cream which Ive made a couple of days before the real day, due toexcessiveyolks lingering around the fridge. So I just macerated raisins in rum for a couple of hours, then drain them and stir into the vanilla ice cream. Easy peasy

*sprinkled with fleur de sel

So now the cake.. hrm chocolate and raisin was what I had in mind, but I wasnt heading towards the line of entremet or anything over the top. I decided on the classic flourless rich chocolate cake, which would be darn great paired with rum and raisin ice cream *drools* Now with most flourless chocolate cake, almond meal would be a prompt substitute for flour. Then I was juuuust thinking, out of the blue.. Is it possible to use macarons? Since macarons = almond meal and sugar and egg whites, it should work. Ive had some not so pretty and cracked macarons kept in the freezer for god-knows-why. So I took it out, whizzed it in the blender and added into the cake, of course I adjusted the amount of sugar since macarons already had its fair share of sugar.

(now I need to go find my recipe book.. wwhhheerree is it)

Flourless Macaron Chocolate Rum & Raisin Cake

(adapted from Nigella Lawsons Flourless Chocolate Cake)

serves 12

150g dark couverture chocolate (used Valrhona Guanaja for this one)

150g unsalted butter

6 eggs

150g caster sugar

150g macarons (whizzed to fine)

4 tsp cocoa powder

100g raisins

a couple dashes of Rum

savoiardi lady fingers

fleur de sel, cocoa powder and cocoa nibs for garnishing

Method

1. Pour hot water into raisins, let it soak for 1-2 minutes then discard the water. Drain the raisins, add in rum to cover and let it absorb all goodness while u prepare the cake batter.

2. Preheat oven to 180C. Line cake tines (I used a 9 spring form)

3. Melt chocolate and butter in a microwavable bowl. Set aside to cool

4. Meanwhile whisk eggs and sugar til! l foamy and double or tripled in volume. gently fold in the macaron mixture and cocoa powder into eggs. I use a whisk to fold in this case. Add in melted chocolate and butter. Add in soaked raisins.

5. pour into baking tin, and bake for 40-45 minutes. The cake will be kinda firm on top but still a tad wobbly.

6. Remove from oven and let it cool on a wire rack. Remove the tin, place it on a cake board or serving plate.Dust the top with cocoa powder.Cutsavoiardi lady fingers in half and arrange the sides (I cheated. I had some spare ganache at hand, so I covered the side of the cake with ganache, then stuck the lady fingers at the side). Sprinkle some fleur de sel and cocoa nibs around the side of the cake.

Rum & Raisin Ice Cream

(cheats version)

1/2 portion homemade vanilla ice cream (recipe here)

1 cup raisins, soaked in rum

Method.

1. Discard juice from raisins, stir into vanilla ice cream. Let it freeze for a couple more hours.

2. Serve with cake.

Its a crazily rich cake!!! But its a flourless chocolate cake, its meant to be rich and dense and gooey and yummy. Traces of macarons in the cake? Not really as its kinda deformed earlier to become almond meal. so even if u were to use coloured plain macarons, it wont be visible either.

Macaron scrap! s? didnt turn out? dont throw it for it may come in handy to replace almond meal in certain recipes

Cheers.

At Home At CY's

April 2012


CY's house reminded of my aunt's house in Langley, Washington. A fireplace, a large deck set over avalley with a view of San Francisco in the distance and a newly renovated kitchen. No kids, no mosquitoes or flies. It was a just a little too cold, especially at night, but it was bearable. I was completely without care and totally enjoying myself. Behind the house, there's a trail that runs to the 'village' nearby, about 20 minutes' jog away. The trail is wooded, with trees and wild flowers but I never got up in time to run. The house is 10 minutes by car to the nearest subway stop and coming home at night passing through dark wooded hills, it didn't feel like I was in SF. There was the stink of a skunk everytime we passed the football field, and I expected to see a deer or at least some rabbits.


This grows wild and the color was a lot more intense when I first arrived.


Lavender.


CY's rosemary bush is taller than me and totally uncared for, just like how we take lemongrass for granted in the tropics.


The next time I visit CY, her cherry blossom tree will be replaced by something "more useful". This kind of cherry blossom does not fruit but I think their awesome flowers are worth keeping the tree.


This is a beautiful tree but I've forgotten the name. The flowers are tiny and would make a nice bouquet.







CY's neighbour's laurel bay tree (from which we get bay leaves) which is as tall as a three-storey house. Of course I grabbed a whole bag to bring home. Fresh bay leaves smell so much better than the dried ones. I've found that it's better to freeze the leaves because if you dry them in the sun, they curl so much it's hard to store them without crushing them.



One day, I found a bag of fresh egg noodles in CY's fridge.!




Toss boiled egg noodles in sesame oil, chili oil, oyster sauce, light soy sauce and a shake of white pepper. Eat with sauteed bean sprouts and mushrooms. Completely devoid of meat.



It was immensely tasty and satisfying. It reminded me of university days, how we used to cook simple meals on a small budget.



One night, CY and I watched an old Chinese movie, 'The King Of Masks'(highly recommended)on Netflix (wish we have that here; I read that Internet streaming media will be the thing in future, no more TV stations) and we ate pork congee with century eggs lying on the couch and floor. It felt like we were back at college, like we were 19 again, except CY's house was a lot more luxurious than our university apartment which had only one armchair made of wood and cushions.



The century eggs in America are way better than the ones we get in M'sia, because the eggs are fresher and they keep better in the cold weather.The yolks were yellow (instead of green), soft, creamy, runny and there was no ammonia stink.

Tai Tao Steamboat Restaurant @ Bandar Menjalara, Kepong

You will find steamboat restaurants in every nook and cranny of Kepong, no wonder people call it a steamboat town. Next on our trying list was Tai Tao (Big Head) at Bandar Menjalara an ever-busy steamboat restaurant that is always packed especially on weekends. Although there are not many online reviews about this place, the busyness should be a good indication of things to come. Yeah, that assumption is not always accurate, but I guess it is better than trying out a restaurant that is void of customers.

A steamboat set here is only RM16 per pax, which is slightly lower (but not cheapest) than the standard price in Kepong.

The ingredients in the set are pretty much self-explanatory by looking at the photo so I am not going into details. I have been writing so many steamboat related posts that I feel many of them are just a repetition of each other. But if there is anything worth highlighting then it would be the freshness of the seafood.

There are many other things you could order from their ala-carte menu, and we chose the pork belly slices. To me, RM8 for ~20 slices is not bad at all, plus they taste really good too.

As for the soup I would say it is one of the better ones around. The clear broth is nice and quite flavorful on its own without giving you the feeling that it is MSG laden. Not saying it does not have MSG, who am I kidding anyway? Just maybe they are not too heavy handed with it.

A BBQ Chicken Wing stall outside the steamboat restaurants is a common sight in Kepong, Tai Tao is not excluded too. I felt it was quite delicious and you could tell that the person who prepared the chicken wings certainly has the skills. I can tell from the little burnt parts and having eaten a number of chicken wings in my life.

TL;DR version Tai Tao is a reasonably priced steamboat restaurant and the food they serve is good overall, BBQ chicken wing is recommended too. Try to be early if you want to avoid waiting for table.

Tai Tao Steamboat (opposite Tesco Village Mall)
No. 97, Jalan 11/62A,
Bandar Menjalara,
Kepong, 52200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 012-604 1509
GPS Coordinate: 3.209,101.638
Business Hour: 5.00pm to 11.00pm daily

Powered by Protein: Barn BBQ & Matsuya Bangsar

A friend in need is a friend to feed; helping out a buddy who's training for the Standard Chartered marathon, we barreled over to Bangsar with him to bulk up on protein, with The BIG Group's Barn BBQ as our starting line.

Barn BBQ is the running mate of Ben's General Food Store, swooping in on what was the latter's retail section in Bangsar Village. Customers who like biting into cows, chickens and sheep will have a field day here.

Beefing up seems synonymous with steaks. Barn BBQ serves some premium Wagyu cuts, but consuming a lower-costing Black Angus grass-fed rib-eye should be sufficient to make the lower body bigger, better, faster, stronger.

We love a sausage fest: North African lamb and beef merguez, alongside a Slovenian chicken cheese! krainer . Both fabulously flavorful, as satisfying as anything at, say, Jarrod and Rawlins.

A caveman's-sized chunk of Wagyu 5 BBQ brisket, hopefully enough to help us limber up and leave the haters behind, their sneering opinions of us born of their own shortcomings, their collective hypocrisy and bad-mouthing.

A short sprint (or a snail's-paced stroll, as we preferred) from Barn BBQ, there beckons a less obvious but equally effective option for marathon makan _ Japanese food at Telawi's Matsuya.

Here's some top-flight (though flightless) protein to masticate at Matsuya. Don't duck the duck _ it has the smoked juiciness to keep our juices going. Who you calling chicken indeed.

Warm, soft eel, wrapped in warmer, softer egg om! elet.

Animal organs can supply muscle mass too, as we trust will be the case with this foie gras in chawanmushi. Love your liver, as the saying goes.

Tofu, a meat-free protein powerhouse, topped with sea urchin for a beautiful brininess.

Some swear by fish as their finest source of protein, from the head of sake-steamed sea bream...

... to the belly of swift-swimming tuna, a triumphant tableau of tenderness when double-boiled in this soup with mushrooms and veggies. If folks truly are what they eat, then it's too bad our friend is tackling a marathon instead of a triathlon.

Hitting the ground running requires more than protein: let's wrap up with some earthy carbs, incarnated in a hot pot of rice mixed with sauteed mushrooms and truffle oil.

After running so many miles, imagine how much liquid must be replenished. Gulp gulp gulp. Here's to a healthy, haze-free marathon!

Got milk? Must have milk, especially if it's Barn BBQ's Banoffee Pie milkshake, brilliant in both banana-toffee flavor and creamy-frosty texture.

Reaching the finish line at Matsuya, which serves both wine and sake by the glass. Thankfully, extra edges will push both this restaurant and this entry further.

Barn BBQ @ Bangsar Village
Matsuya @ Jalan Telawi 2
Bangsar Baru, Kuala Lumpur.
Both open daily.

Pork, Pork and more Pork @ Grumps, SS2 Mall

It was our first time in SS2 Mall. Not knowing where to eat we browsed through every restaurant's menu and decided on trying out Grumps after seeing its pork-centric menu.


Mushroom Soup

The Mushroom flavor was moderate and the soup was really creamy. I liked the addition of Bacon which gave it a smoky flavor.


Grumps Salad

Resembled more like a Chopped Salad that was served with a Honey Mustard Dressing. The bacon was crispy and had a nice smoky flavor.


Spaghetti Pork Bolognese

The Pork Bolognese was really bad. The sauce was extremely watered down and tasted more like Ketchup. No one liked it.


Roast Pork Belly with Sausage

The Pork Belly was a little tough and dry. It was overcooked. The Sausage however was quite good although it tasted like it was bought from a high-end grocery store.


Pepperoni Pizza


The Pizza Crust was like ready-made Pizza Crust. The flavor was quite good with generous amounts of Pepperoni.


Spaghetti Carbonara

The Carbonara was extremely thick but somehow was lacking in flavor. It tasted a little powdery and we felt it was probably from the use of flour to thicken the sauce rather than egg yolks which was why it probably lacked flavor. The Bacon used however was delicious.


Overall the food at Grumps was so-so. Their Pork Spaghetti Bolognese and Roast Pork Belly was really disappointing for a place that specializes in Pork. When it comes to Pork I still prefer San Banto which is also in SS2.


Food: 2.5/5
Service: 3/5
Ambiance: 3/5
Price: $ (Approximately USD $10 per person)


Contact Information:
Address: LG-57, Lower Ground Floor, SSTwo Mall,
Jalan SS2/72, 47300 Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
Tel: +60379318898
Map:

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