Quay Po Cooks: rum balls

Showing posts with label rum balls. Show all posts

Thursday, January 12, 2012

I LOVE LUCY!

My Quay Lo made some rum balls and had used them as Christmas gifts for our close friends. They are also one of the desserts we served during Christmas day to friends and family. Everyone love it and there was not one ball left! Yes, they were very delicious and addictive! So, instead of spending a fortune to buy a box of “GODIVA” chocolate as a gift, how about making rum balls yourself and give them as gift to your sweetheart this comingValentine? This will be a more valuable gift because it is something you made with love and money cannot buy. Furthermore, it will only cost you a fraction of what you pay for those outrageously expensive flowers or chocolates sold during Valentine's Day. This reminds me of an incident that happened during the early part of our marriage. My Quay Lo was on a long business trip to Bangkok and in order to break the long time separation, Quay Po a.k.a. Lucy went to join him for the weekend. On the day of her arrival, Quay Lo went and bought flowers to decorate the apartment and a big box of ‘GODIVA” chocolates to welcome her. So here comes Lucy walking into the apartment and she could see flowers everywhere in the apartment and a nicely wrapped gift on the center of the coffee table. That put a big smile on her face. Quay Lo asked her to sit down and relax. He even made her a cup of her favorite English Breakfast tea before handing her the gift that was on the coffee table. He asked her to open the gift and so she did while Quay Lo eagerly waited for a response from her. Are you curious to know what is the first thing that came out of her mouth when she tore off the gift wrap and saw the box of GODIVA Chocolate? Can you guess? I don't think so. LOL! No, not “Honey, how sweet and thoughtful of you, Thank You! MUAX! MUAX!” BUT being CHINESE and being LUCY she said, “Wah!! this chocolate is VERY EXPENSIVE wan!! How much ar?” LOL! OOOPZZZ!! She immediately noticed the “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU SAID THAT” expression on Quay Lo’s face. HAIYAH, DIE! Lucy!!!, you just gave the wrong response and said the wrong thing!!

Usually when a friend gives Lucy a gift, she will not ask for the price but among family members, she would because when she gives gifts to her family members, the price will be the first thing they ask sometimes even before saying thanks. After Quay Lo got over the culture shock, he told her that he almost dropped dead when he was asked for the price of the chocolate instead of the normal response that he was used to. He told Lucy that it is rude to ask for the price of a gift. Westerners will never do that even with family members. (Oh I see, said the blind man).

When Quay Po did something stupid or embarrassing, she would love to blame it on LUCY! I hope I did not confuse you on this story. I am sure my regular readers know that Quay Po is Lucy and Lucy is Quay Po.

I love you, LUCY, please don't cease to exist so I will always have someone to blame. LOL!

Another suggestion. Since Chinese New Year is round the corner, Rum Balls are something different to offer other than the usual traditional Chinese New Year cookies. Look, don't you think they look attractive but don't you dare ask "How much ar?" LOL!

Rum Balls

(My Quay Lo's recipe)

Start with “day old” brownies (I use the Better Crocker brownie mix to make the brownies) that have been allowed to dry. Break apart in a mixing bowl. Sprinkle with rum (or bourbon or brandy may also be used) and stir until a clingy dough is formed that is not too wet. (At this point you may add into the mix optional chopped nuts that have been toasted in a frying pan or low temp oven. You could also add finely chopped preserved fruit best of which would be cranberries, cherries, blueberries, or blackberries).

Note: If day-old brownies doesn’t work for you, try this recipe:

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice (optional)

1/2 cup dark rum

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

2 1/2 cups finely crushed vanilla wafers

Method:

Mix all of the above together and go to next step.

Place in fridge for at least 35 – 45 minutes. Remove and while still chilled roll spoonful’s in the palm of your hands until the size you want. Roll each ball on toppings of your choice. Chopped nuts (pistachio is excellent here) powdered sugar, decorative sugar, or dip in chocolate.

Place on a silicon padded or wax papered pan. Return to the fridge and allow the formed balls to return to a chill. Place in a covered cookie container and keep cool.

A LITTLE ABOUT THIS QUAY PO

Before I was married to my "Quay Lo" (Guaylo) husband, I did not know how to bake or cook. Subsequently I learned some baking and cooking Western cuisine from him, and providing his food for him launched an interest in cooking in general. Many of my Chinese friends and family told me that "Quay" is the wrong spelling for devil in Cantonese. The right spelling should be "Kwai" or "Guay". Well, somehow I like the spelling "Quay" better although I have to agree that it does not sound very Cantonese. Try asking a Westerner to pronounce "Kwai" and you will probably hear "Quay" haha. Whether is "Quay" or "Kwai" or "Guay, just know the devil woman is me when you see Quay Po Cooks. My hubby said if people pronounce "Quay" as "Key" is even better because I am the key to his heart. LOL!

Only now, have I started to learn the traditional Cantonese cuisine of my Mum. She cooks fabulously and all her specialties are divine. These two interests, my husband's Western food, and my mother's traditional food, prompted me to document them so they will not be lost.

Here, I wish to share my cooking and baking experience with my readers. I also hope to inspire those who do not know how to cook or bake to do so because, trust me, if I can, you can too.

Something I'd like to mention is that I find that many people are rather unwilling to share their recipes. However, for me, I think differently. I think good recipes should be shared thus allowing as many people to enjoy it as possible. Unless those recipes are for doing business, I don't see why we want to keep them all to ourselves. So if you are generous in sharing your recipes, you are welcome to share on my blog. Send the recipes to me and better still with pictures of the final products and I will be very happy to post them them with credits to you of course.

Our cuisine is a deeply embedded part of our culture. When two cultures come together under the same roof the results in the kitchen can sometimes be comedic, sometimes confrontational, but more often it is a journey full of surprises and discovery. There is joy in our food. If we think upon this, it is intuitively obvious. This blog is a journey of joy and sharing, reflecting what the French like to call "joie de vivre" (joy of living). No one could be more different from one another then my husband and my mother. Yet one thing they share in common is knowing intuitively that food, cooking, and sharing can be avenues of joy in life itself. So herein, help yourself, to a little joy and , if you like it, share it with your own family and friends. Joy is something that should be shared.