Quay Po Cooks: Liang

Showing posts with label Liang. Show all posts

Monday, March 5, 2012

We are Women, hear us ROAR!

With reference to my post titled "Deadly words used by Women", a phrase I have included is "I am Woman, hear me roar". My Quay Lo told me the phrase comes from a song by Australian artist Helen Reddy. Such a beautiful song and a wonderful tribute to women.

While I was watching the video, I received an unexpected phone call. I heard this sweet voice addressing me as Aunty Veronica and introducing herself as Xandria. She said she was with a new radio station (only about four months old) called Capital Fm 88.9 and it is the first radio station in Malaysia that targets a young, urban, female demographic. The video and the phone call at the same time made for an interesting co-incidence.

Xandria explained to me that the station is the only radio station in our country that provides women a voice and a hub to exchange thoughts and opinions. Isn't that fantastic? Then she told me that she heard about my blog and found that the stories posted there would be something that all women could relate to and she would like to invite me to be a guest on her show. Me? Going on the air? Thousands of women hearing my voice? Wow!

Uh oh, wow indeed. After the initial adrenalin rush, I began to feel nervous. I told her my English was not so good. She assured me that it is not a formal interview and was just a very casual chit chat session. She asked me to just be myself and speak like me. Ohkay! LOL! She also told me that the general theme of her programs is “Anything is possible” and is intended to showcase discussions with women who have overcome adversity, or have pursued a dream and I liked that idea! I was so very pleased to hear about the existence of a program like this even though I felt a little apprehension about being a guest on the show. Nevertheless, Xandria was so charming, enthusiastic, and upbeat I could not have resisted. So Wednesday came and I was expected to be in the studio at 5.45pm because the show would start at 6.00pm.

I think all women within broadcast range (which includes access on the station's web site from anywhere on the globe) should be interested. For more info, just click on the picture of Xandria and her co-DeeJay, Liang to get registered. I am WOMAN so I DID!

The Jam Break with DJ Xandria Ooi and Dj Liang

Quay Po with Xandria and Liang

It was the first time I had ever stepped into a radio station’s studio and I was a little nervous, but it did not take me long to feel at home because Xandria and Liang were so warm and friendly. When the show started, we spoke as if we were chatting over tea and we had so much fun, especially when I told them about my “Lucy” moments.

Since I knew I was going to the studio and talk about Quay Po Cooks, I thought I might as well bake something for them to try. I brought them a box of kumquat mini cupcakes, a recipe that was adapted from one posted by Wendy of "Table For Two Or More". This is one of the desserts she brought to the Chinese New Year Bloggers Potluck lunch that we had at the home of Sonia of "Nasi Lemak Lover" not long ago. I love these mini cupcakes for their delicous low key flavor. I recommend that you try this.

Kumquat almond mini cupcakes

Adapted from Table for two or more (with slight modification)

Makes 12 pcs 2x2-inch cupcakes

Ingredients:

Mixture (A)
35gm all purpose flour

50gm ground almond

½ tsp baking powder

*****************************

60gm butter

50gm caster sugar

2 eggs

60gm kumquat puree (recipe below)

18 pcs poached kumquat halves (recipe below)

1 tsp vanilla extract (I added this)

Method:

Prepare 12, 2x2 inch cupcakes liner. Preheat oven at 150(fan)/170C. Sift flour and baking powder. Mix in ground almond (Mixture A), set aside. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one by one, beating well after each addition. Put in Mixture A in 2 additions, mixing well after each. Mix in kumquat puree. Divide batter equally into prepared cupcake liners and top with a kumquat half. Bake for 10 mins (2x2 inch) or longer for larger cupcake liners.

*******************************************

Kumquat compote

Ingredients:

20 kumquats

Sugar

Water

Method:

Weigh kumquats and prepare equal amount of water (in weight) and half amount of sugar (ratio: 2:2:1, kumquat:water:sugar, eg : 200gm:200gm:100gm)

Half kumquats and remove seeds. Put cleaned kumquats, sugar and water into a saucepan and cook (on med heat)until the kumquat looks glossy and soft. Remove 12 pcs of halves and puree the rest with some of the syrup.

Keep the balance of the puree to make linzer kumquat cookies which I will be sharing the recipe with you soon.

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.