I smelled the food but I lost my way

I was excited. I always am when our local bloggers plan a get together. While blog sharing in cyberland is what we all love and revolve around, I love the chance to get up, close, and personal with my pals. It is all the more festive & fun if we have a solid excuse to party. What better a reason than the Chinese New Year?    Wendy of Table for two and more was the bright light of recognition that we all would be silly to pass up this chance and very kindly organized a Chinese New Year  (CNY) lunch for local bloggers. Sonia of Nasi Lemak Lover generously opened her beautiful home to host the lunch. I was looking forward to this lunch scheduled for fourteenth day of the traditional CNY celebrations . When the day finally arrived, I woke up early that morning to prepare the cauliflower and potato in chilli tuna salad. I left the house early at 11.15am (though the lunch as set for 12 noon).  If a person blessed with a normal sense of direction drove it, they would probably reach Sonia’s house within 20 minutes. It took me 1 hour to reach her house and would have taken longer if not for Sonia’s hubby who was so kind to patiently direct me by phone on how to get there. My Quay Lo said he is very grateful that I can find my way home every night. Oh Darling, how blessed are you!! LOL!

When I arrived at Sonia's home, Lena of Frozen Wings was there already. Sharon of Feats of Feasts arrived shortly followed by Wendy of Table for two or more and Swee San of The Sweet Spot. Although all had arrived, there was still a little last minute cooking and plating for all of us to do before we could sit down and enjoy an array of home cooked delicious food.

LOOK!!

The above photo shows the lovely table setting by Sonia 

and below photos show her famous

nasi lemak with peanuts, hard boiled eggs,

boiled kangkung, deep fried anchovies, fried chicken, 

sambal prawns and the best sambal belacan I have ever had.

Sonia also made us a special drink that was so yummy and refreshing.

She called it Lychee lime soda

Food by Wendy 

beef rendang, kamquat almond mini cake and 
Goiabinhas

Food by Quay Po

Cauliflower, potato, romanian lettuce in chilli tuna salad,

Swedish wedding balls and pheasant pate and cheese on mini toasted bread

Food by Lena

Pandan kueh, sweet sour crab and scallop kueh

Food by Sharon

stuffed you tiau with pork and 

apple salad/slaw

Food by Swee San

Sicile (top l. & r.) an entremet of pistachio and blackberry cake,

and a Plum frangipane tart (below). Exquisite!

Last year, our CNY Blogger's lunch was at the home of Reese of Reese Kitchen  and you can see we had lots of wonderful food then as well. Time flew and one year passed already.

Reese was supposed to join us but she could not make it. Though her plans were changed, it was so thoughtful of her to send the chicken wings that she had marinated through Sharon. 

Reese, thank you so much for the delicious chicken wings. We wish you were here with us and we all missed you.

I am sure everyone will agree with me when I said we all felt connected even though some of us were just meeting for the first time. We didn’t seem to have any reservations; instead chatting like old friends. Our lunch lasted for almost four hours because we had so much to share. I am glad I can fit in despite the age difference between me and all the lovely young ladies. Most of them could be my daughters. 


Like the saying goes, All good things must come to an end, we took a group photo to remember our fun day.

Back row: Wendy, Lena and Swee San

Seated: Sonia and Quay po with

Wendy's two sweetie pies! (We missed Sharon in the photo as

she had to rush off for another appointment.)!

Just before I left Sonia’s home, I quickly caught hold of Lena and told her that I need to follow her car to go out onto the highway.  I know, it was so embarrassing that someone who is not from KL (Kuala Lumpur) had to show me the way out. I had to confess I have no sense of direction and if you blindfold me and turn me around, that would be enough to confuse me where I am.  No kidding, I am that hopeless. For being able to return home safely, I had to thank Lena for leading me to the highway from Sonia's house. Having said that, I can proudly announce that I found my way home without much fumble. APPLAUSE!! 


I would like to thank you again, Sonia, for being such a fabulous host. I am very grateful for your generosity in opening up your beautiful home to host the lunch for all of us. It was so thoughtful of you too to present me those gifts of ingredients any food blogger would be delighted to have.

Oh Lena, you are so sweet to give me the lovely little ceramic bowl and the pretty apron. I love them! Like how I look with the apron on (below)? I am holding the ceramic bowl you gave me also, I need a bigger one to ask for more of your out-of-this-world delicious sweet and sour crab lah! "lay sik joe lor" (You know what to do). LOL!

A big THANK YOU to all the "kitchen goddesses" who were there,  for your delicious food, great company and an enjoyable afternoon. That was a million times better than to have a lunch at a restaurant. You ladies sure can cook and bake! Three cheers to you gals! Keep on cooking, baking, blogging and sharing!

The only way to have a friend is to be one - Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you were to ask me one year ago if we can make friends through blogging, I would probably said, quite unlikely. Today, I have a totally different opinion because after just one year of blogging, I have made many friends, some I have met and some I have not. All my blogger friends and readers are very supportive. They not only leave encouraging comments often, they also share their knowledge and offer advice without expecting anything in return. Isn't that amazing? For example, when I made mistakes in my recipe, I was not criticized but instead they take time to alert me about my error in a very polite manner. Two blogger friends who take time to do that are Wendy of A Table for two or more and Elisabeth of food and thrift. I really appreciate it. Thanks again Wendy and Elisabeth. Then, I have LeQuan of love to eat, who always take time from her busy schedule to read almost all my posts and leave comments which always put a smile on my face.  Diane from My life in Charante too visits my blog often and I was so happy to receive a postcard from her sometime ago. Not forgetting David of Alokoli, he is a sweetheart, always leave kind words on my post. He is an amazing writer.  I love all him poems, always strike one of my nerves. Another great blogger friend is Sonia of Nasi Lemak Lover. Whenever she goes on holiday, she will bring back goodies from abroad to share with us. She has given me a bottle premium fish sauce from her Vietnam trip and Shanghai noodles from her Shanghai trip.  How thoughtful is that? Oh another blogger friend, Pei-Lin of Dodol Mochi who is a busy bee but it was so nice of her to spend a weekend with me, to teach me how to make macarons.  Swee San of Sweetspot is a talented and generous baker. She had shared with us so many of her wonderful bakes. Last month, we had a gathering at the Chillis in Empire, I managed to catch up with Reese of Reese Kicthen and also Ann of Pigpigscorner. We had a great time together and we got to see Wendy's new born! He is such a cutie! 

Just yesterday, I received a package from a blogger friend Joelyn.  She posted a photo of her and her girlfriend on facebook. I noticed the beautiful scarf around her neck and I complimented her. Guess what? The next moment, she messaged me and said she is going to send me the similar scarf because she had bought two!  Isn’t she sweet?  Then when the packaged arrived yesterday, I was surprised with two more gifts. A box of fragrant soaps and a nice looking shopping bag! 

Hey Joelyn, I love them all and I can’t wait to wear the lovely scarf. The shopping bag is so handy to go shopping with and the soaps smells good. Many thanks, I am touched by your thoughtfulness.

I love all my friends and I would love to maintain our friendships for life. I hate to loose a friend for what ever reason. Here are some guidelines I used to help me to be a better friend to my friends:-

I must always remind myself not to ever judge my friends’ choices. I should trust that their wisdom will guide them through their life not mine.

I will always respect my friends’ decision even if I think it may be wrong and let them know I will be there when they need me.


I will never do anything out of guilt for my friends. Whatever I do for them is always from my heart and if there is something I can't do for them, I will be truthful and tell them even if I have to disappoint them.

I will never trash talk about one friend to the other. I will speak my mind directly with them if I think they treated me unfairly. Good friends are those who will speak the truth even when the truth hurts sometimes.

I will always try to be there to share big moments, sad moments as well as stupid moments with my friends. 

Here is to our friendships! Have a healthy, refreshing, colorful and delicious salad, just like how friendships should be!

Couscous Salad

Ingredients:

(A)

2 cups vegetable stock

2 tbs butter

2 cups instant couscous

50g rocket

¼ tsp ground black pepper

½ tsp paprika

(B)

1/2 tsp lemon juice

2 tbs fresh parsley

3 tbs softened butter

¼ red capsicum, diced

¼ orange capsicum diced

¼ green capsicum diced

½ cucumber, removed seeds, diced

50g feta cheese , cubed

1 small purple onion, thinly sliced in rings

Method:

In a medium saucepan, bring the chicken stock and butter to a boil over medium heat. Gradually, stir in the couscous. Remove from heat, cover and set aside to steam for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Place rocket in a serving plate. Add (B) to cooked couscous and mix well. Sprinkle ground black pepper and paprika. 

How many kinds of friends have you?

There are a few kinds of friends in my life.  There are my real life friends, business friends, social network friends and the recent addition is my food blogging friends. 

My real life friends are those whom I am sharing a big part of my life with. They are the ones I trust and feel safe to wear my heart on my sleeve. They are the ones who are not afraid to tell me that I am a bitch when I act like one and still love me. If I were to end up in the hospital, they will be the ones who will rush to visit me and let me know I am okay.  If I am no longer in this world, they will miss me and remember all the memories we have made together during our life time. I do not need to mention names but you know who you are.  I love you all very much and thanks a million for being part of my life.

Next, I have some business friends whom I still keep in touch. These friends are those I see or chat on the phone once in a while but I am happy to know that they are keeping well and vice versa. I am very grateful for the business support that were given to me in the past.

A couple of years ago, I have some facebook friends, most of them are my real life friends and some are new FB friends whom I have not met in person but  enjoyed our chats whenever we catch each other on line.  Then, ever since I started food blogging last July, I made many new friends from the food community.  These friends are mostly family orientated , warm, thoughtful and generous in sharing their knowledge related to cooking, baking and travelling. Diane from My Life in the Charente is one of them.  I was so delighted to receive a post card from her yesterday.  The joy of knowing that I am in her thoughts is heart warming. Diane, many thanks, I love the post card and I appreciate your friendship. 

  

The post card from Diane

If you want to see enchanting places like those in the above post card, but are not keen to fly the tedious hours like me, Diane's blog is where you should go.  I saw many wonderful places through her eyes.  She is not only a good writer and story teller, she is a skillful photographer and takes breath taking shots of all the wonderful places she has visited. 

Diane, I would like to give you back the joy you have given me. I baked this cake to feast your eyes for now, since you are so far away. Hopefully one day you and your other half will come to Malaysia for a vacation and spend an evening with me and my Quay Lo so that I can bake this cake again to feast your tummies.


I have many packets of rhubarbs in my fridge. Would you believe me if I told you that I have bought the whole shipment of rhubarbs from the supermarket near my home the last time I went there? I am not kidding, I really did! LOL!  So now, you know why a new way of using them up will not escape my eyes? My mum was curious about how the taste of this red celery looking plant, so she took a small piece and said it was sour and nothing special.  She wondered why both Quay Lo and I like it so much.  Although rhubarb is sour but when combined with sugar and baked with a mixture of brown sugar and butter in pies, crumbles or cakes, it tastes sweet yet retaining a little tartness and that makes it appealing to the palette. I am quite happy with the outcome of the upside down cake I baked except that it is a little dry but eating it with vanilla ice cream seemed to balance that up. Other than that, the cake could be taller if I had used the right size spring foam pan but mine was 10-ins not 9-ins. Anyway, the two flaws did not stop the cake thief from stealing a slice when the cake was left to cool on the rack. I am sure you already know who he was. 

Rhubarb Strawberry Upside Down Cake

Adapted from The New York Times – Dining and Wining, with modification

This recipe was featured in Asian Food Channel (Official) Facebook page

on 22 October 2012

Ingredients:

2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature, more to grease pans

3 cups rhubarb, rinsed and sliced into 1/2-inch cubes

1 cups sliced strawberries

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 1/2 cup light brown sugar

2 cups cake flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

Zest of 1 lemon, grated

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 large eggs

1/3 cup sour cream

2 teaspoons lemon juice.

Method:

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Butter the paper and sides of the pan. Wrap two layers of foil under the pan, and place it on a buttered baking sheet.

2. In a medium bowl, mix rhubarb, strawberries, cornstarch and 1/2 cup granulated sugar.

3. Mix the brown sugar and 1/2 stick butter in a pan over medium heat. Whisk until smooth and bubbling, about 2 minutes. Sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt.

4. Whip 2 sticks butter in a mixer with a paddle attachment for 2 minutes. With your fingers, blend the remaining 1 cup sugar with lemon zest until the mixture is uniform in color. Cream together with the butter at medium-high speed until it is light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, stopping to scrape down the bowl halfway through. Add the vanilla and mix well. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in the sour cream, then the lemon juice. (It’s O.K. if the mixture looks curdled.) With the mixer set to low speed, add the flour mixture, 1/4 cup at a time, until well combined. Scrape down the mixer bowl in between the additions.

5. Pour the brown-sugar mixture into the cake pan, then spoon in the rhubarb and its juices. Spoon in the batter so it covers all of the rhubarb. Smooth out the top.

6. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the top of the cake is firm to touch and a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out without any large, moist crumbs.

7. Place the pan on a wire rack, and cool for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the cake, place a plate on top of the pan and turn it upside-down. Release the cake from the pan while still warm or else it will stick.