Water Daily

*This is definitely an unpaid post*

I'm not the biggest fan of drinking plain water and I know that. The idea of gulping 2.5 liters of plain water throughout the day is kinda..an unpleasant one. Hence my body suffers the consequences of my laziness and I learned the hard way, trust me on this one.

But I sorta got a revelation a week ago and drinking 2.5 liters or more of plain water is not (actually) that bad. And with the help of Water Daily app in my phone, things got pretty easy. It's just the downside of drinking too much plain water is the frequent of me going to the toilet. But then again, not being able to pee at all is unimaginable. So I still am grateful to Allah for being able to pee normally. Count your blessing peeps!

[I have 5 hours to go until my bedtime & another 20% (500 mL) left until I achieve my goal for today]

So here goes the link to the free app of Water Daily >> click here. If you're lazy like me, please, please, drink your plain water!

Match made in heaven

Homemade marshmallows in hot chocolate. The best! Recipe adapted from Cooking For Engineers. And fyi since I don't have any corn syrup at home, I've substituted it for honey instead. 

Recipe: Super Quick and Tasty Chicken Mushroom Pie

This is my version for my (tasty) quick recipe for chicken and mushroom pie. I know there are fancy recipes out there but I just wanna make a quick one because I have passed my supposedly lunch hour. And the good thing about this filling is that I'm not using any condensed soup. So less msg and salt perhaps? ;)

Chicken and Mushroom Pie

Ingredients:

250g of diced chicken breast

6 pcs of fresh button mushroom

1/2 cup of chicken stock

4 tbsp of cream

2 tbsp of plain flour

1 tbsp of corn flour

freshly ground salt & pepper

a knob of butter

1 egg

ready-made rolled puff pastry

Directions:

1. In a skillet, melt butter and saute chicken until slightly brown.

2. Add mushroom.

3. Pour chicken stock and cream. Add in flour and corn flour.

4. Season with salt and pepper according to your taste. Put aside and let it cool.

5. Preheat oven to 180C.

6. Grease your pie dish or ramekin with butter or cooking spray.

7. Pour the chicken and mushroom filling in the pie dish.

8. Cover the filling with puff pastry. Brushed beaten egg on top of the puff pastry.

9. Bake it in the oven for 20-25 minutes. And...you're good to go!

Recipes: When You Got No Fancy Schmancy Ingredients at Home

Phew! My 'dark and gloomy cloud' has went away, I guess. Apology for my previous uber emo posts. I just miss me dad but I'm more redha to Allah over all matters. :)

So I've been quite productive over the past few weeks. I baked, I cooked and I sewed. And yes I've found it to be very therapeutic compared to writing technical paper. Lol. Some more, since it's spring in Melbourne, with bountiful sunshine and great weather, me and my husband have been such an avid (and responsible) picnickers almost everyday since the Fitzroy Gardens is just less than 5 minutes walk from our house. Oh what a life! Alhamdulillah.

Well here goes few simple and easy recipes that I've been whipped in my kitchen over the past few days.

Basic Chocolate Chip Muffin

Source: Best Recipes

Ingredients:

2 cups of self-raising flour

1/2 cup of sugar

1 egg, beaten

1/4 cup of oil

1 cup of milk

1/2 cup of chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients in a bowl. Mix until combined.

2. Bake at 180C for approximately 20 minutes.

Verdict:

Moist and fluffy 'nuff, just the right texture for muffin. Will definitely use this recipe as a muffin base for any flavouring or filling.

Egg-less, Butter-less & Milk-less Chocolate Cake

Source: All Recipes

Ingredients: 

2 1/4 cups of sifted all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups of white sugar

1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup of vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups of water

1 1/2 tsp of baking soda

1/4 tsp of salt

1 1/2 tbsp of vanilla extract

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 175C, grease and flour 8 x 8 inch pan.

2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, soda and salt. Add sugar and mix together.

3. Add oil, water and vanilla and mix thoroughly.

4. Pour into 8 x 8 inch pan. Bake at 175C for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Verdict:

Very moist, very chocolaty, simple ingredients. Not to sweet. Since I'm a bit rajin at that time, made vanilla icing to compliment this cake. And...it's perfect!

(Apology for the not-so-beautiful photos. I just took it from Instagram)

Flaunt your Instagram photos!

It's 4.44pm here in Melbourne and I just finished, 'partially' revamping my blog. The weather seems pretty nice outside as I am typing this but we're just too freaking lazy to go out. By the way I just wanna share with you guys in case you people out there kinda like wondering how to 'flaunt' your Instagram photos in your blog/website like I did (lol) so here's a good one, I found this really cool widget, SnapWidget for you guys to try it. It's free and user-friendly. It's definitely a no-brainer thingy. And in case if you're wondering, no, I don't get paid to promote them. Lol.

Have a good day peeps!

Recipe: Home-made Caramel Frappuccino

A really good caramel frappuccino from the coffee shop...made right at home by me husband! :)

Home-made Caramel/Butterscotch Frappuccino

Ingredients:

1 cup of strong brewed coffee 

(Note: For a little more of a Starbucks flavour, add 2 packages of Via instant coffee instead of liquid coffee)

1 package of Jell-O Instant Pudding, any flavour

(Note: I chose vanilla pudding flavour)

Caramel/Butterscotch sundae syrup

Milk

Ice

Whipped topping

Methods:

1. Add brewed coffee + pudding mix + caramel/butterscotch sundae syrup + milk in blender.

2. Blend it for a minute or two so that all of the ingredients mixed well.

3. Add ice (according to your preference) and blend it to desired consistency (until you no longer hear the ice crushing).

4. Top it with whipped topping and drizzle it with caramel/butterscotch sauce.

5. Enjoy!

Happy Labour Day guys! :)

The birth of a book

Find this cool video via Kak Syam from LittleSyam. :)

Cupcake Mixology

(Source: A Beautiful Mess)

6 different cupcakes using only 3 recipes.

I drool over that marshmallow cupcake. :)

One Plastic Beach

One Plastic Beach from High Beam Media on Vimeo.
I found this video to be very interesting & inspiring. :)
Thanks to Murni from Mimpi Murni for sharing this.

Recipe: Chocolate Cake + The best frosting ever!

Mini Chocolate Cake

Recipe adapted from Chocolate Sheet Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups of all-purpose flour

2 cups of sugar

1/4 tsp of salt

4 tbsp (heaping) of cocoa powder

2 sticks of butter

1 cup of boiling water

1/2 cups of buttermilk

2 whole beaten eggs

1 tsp of baking soda

1 tsp of vanilla essence

Methods:

1. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar & salt.

2. In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together.

3. Add boiling water to the butter + cocoa mix. Allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds then turn off heat. 

4. Pour flour mixture and stir lightly to cool.

5. In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda & vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/ chocolate mixture. 

6. Pour into muffin tin and bake at 177 degrees Celsius for about 10 minutes or until the cake tester is clean.

------

The Best Frosting Ever!

Ingredients:

5 tbsp of flour

1 cup of milk

1 tsp of vanilla essence

1 cup of butter

1 cup of granulated sugar (not powdered sugar!)

Methods:

1. Bake your favorite chocolate cake and let it cool.

2. In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly until it thickens. You want it to be very thick, thicker than cake mix & more like a brownie mix.

3. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. (It must be completely cool before you can move to next step!)

4. Stir in vanilla. And leave it cool some more.

5. Cream the butter & sugar until light & fluffy.

6. Then add the completely cooled milk + flour + vanilla mixture and beat the living daylights out of it. If it looks separated, you haven't beaten it enough! Beat it until it combines & resembles whipped cream.

7. Grab a spoon & taste the wonderful goodness of this frosting!

Verdict:

Loved it! Will definitely make this again. :)

Recipe: Butter-less Chocolate Chip Cookies

Butter-less Chocolate Cookies

Source: Adapted from Stephanie Cooks

*Makes 2 dozens of cookies*

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour

1/2 tsp of baking soda

1/4 tsp of salt

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup of packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup of vegetable oil

1 large egg

1 tsp of vanilla essence

1 3/4 cups of chocolate chips

Methods:

1. Preheat oven to 177 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).

2. Stir together flour, soda & salt. Set aside.

3. Whisk together both types of sugar, oil, egg & vanilla.

4. Add flour mixture to oil mixture & stir just until blended. 

5. Stir in chocolate chips.

6. Using a tablespoon measure, scoop up dough and shape into tight rounds of about 3/4 - 1 inch. Space them about 2 inches apart on 2 ungreased cookie sheets. 

7. Bake for about 8-10 minutes. Cool for 2 minutes before transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling.

Verdict:

I still love the buttered version of chocolate chip cookies. However this one turned out great. And the chocolate chips really help in overshadowed the 'missing' of butter in this recipe. Will use this recipe again if I have nil stock of butter at home. ;)

UNESTABLISH: The S.F.L Looks!

I have a confession to make... 

I super effin' love dresses! Who doesn't? Especially those from UNESTABLISH. And here are my 3 favorite looks from their collection. I called it the S.F.L looks! ;)

(S)weet: The KLING Dress Party Wave is the perfect dress to go out on a date with me husband. A sweet and decent but with a touch of sexiness at the right place are the perfect elements to be with your other half, be it day or night. *love*

(F)abulous: Being fabulous yet minimal at work with this KLING Tunic Dress Cleopatra really do the justice in enunciate the professionalism in you. And thanks god, my work doesn't require me to be that strict...

(L)et Loose: Once in a while, the need to let loose of myself is needed in order to achieve the perfect balance in life, just like this dress ([eve] Asymmetric Draped Dress). My kinda thing would be, a fun and shitty night out with me husband and our dearest friends, watching our favorite band in an ultimate crazy atmosphere!

So go to UNESTABLISH (and shop till drop!) if you're that ultra uber cool men and women!

Happy Weekends peeps! ;)

p.s. All the photos are definitely from UNESTABLISH website

Crafty Sites

Check this out peeps!

Top 6 sites to learn creative & clever crafts from mylifescoop.com :)

Oh Happy Day

Poppy Talk

A Subtle Revelry

ShimTokk

Sweet Designs

Craft:

And all of it are my favorite sites! :)

Cute Quote

This is just too cute for me to share this with you guys. :)

Happy weekends love!

Recipe: Nei Urundhai (Simple Laddu)

Made nei urundhai for my mum today since she loves this manisan so much. :)

Nei Urundhai (Simple Laddu)

Ingredients:

450g of Nei Urundhai flour

125g of Ghee

5-10 pcs of Crushed cardamom + 1 inch ginger (pound together)

40g of Cashew nuts

50g of Raisins/Mixed fruits

Method:

1. Toast the Nei Urundhai flour until slightly brown.

2. Sauté a bit the raisins/mixed fruits together with cashew nuts, crushed cardamom & ginger with a little bit of ghee and put aside. (Mix A)

3. Warm the ghee until it melts and put aside.

4. Stir together the flour and Mix A.

5. Add melted ghee and immediately roll the the flour into small balls.

Happy Diwali to my friends and family! :)

2011 Top 100 Wedding Blogs

I'm very much involved in anything wedding nowadays. Just to feed me ( + husband's) satisfaction over, how should I say it...our previous wedding celebration where it's more like it's-not-our-wedding-but-theirs (the family) thingy. But I'd let go everything, few weeks before my wedding. Hence I'm married with an open mind. And praise to god, my solemnization and other wedding events went damn well. Our rezqi perhaps. :)

So as I googled around for more ideas and inspirations for my next client's event, I saw a list of top 100 wedding blogs for 2011. And the best part of it is most of the blogs listed there are definitely my ultimate references and liking which I always go oohh-la-la over their photos. ;)

(Click on photo and it'll redirect you to the website)

Friday please come fast, I wanna check 'em out one by one! :)

Discover. Share. Cook.

source: allrecipes.co.uk

Ice cream making in minutes! :)

Recipe: Moist Orange Cake

My dad is currently on his (strict) diabetic diet. Hence I baked something that is less sweet for him and my family, for our iftar together yesterday. Since he loves orange cake, I found a simple and yummy version of moist orange cake recipe from allrecipes.co.uk :)

Moist Orange Cake

Ingredients:

110g of unsalted butter

2/3 cup of caster sugar

2 tbsp of grated orange zest

2 egg yolks

1 cup of self raising flour

125ml of fresh orange juice (roughly I used around 2 oranges)

2 egg whites

A pinch of salt

Methods:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degree of Celsius. Grease one 20cm of round baking tin.

2. Sift flour and set aside.

3. Cream butter, sugar and grated orange zest until light and fluffy. 

4. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time.

5. Fold in sifted flour, alternating with orange juice.

6. In another bowl, whisk egg whites until stiff and add a pinch of salt.

7. Fold whisked egg whites into the mixtures and spoon it into the prepared tin.

8. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 - 40 minutes or until the cake tester came out clean.

As for me, I just dust off sieved icing sugar on top of the cake instead of topping it with butter-cream icing in attempt to reduce the amount of sugar for the sake of me dad. :) And I must say the cake turned out beautiful and tasty too. Perfect texture, sort of very light and moist cake. As for the taste of the cake, it came out very rich but still maintained a great balance of orange flavor in it. 

Good luck! And Eid Mubarak to all Muslims! :)

DIY Mini Cake Stand

 I wasn't too keen to use it as my daily-use plate because of its fanciness so I made 6 pieces of mini cake stands out of it. 

Fyi, I bought cheap ceramic mugs (with no handle) and glued it with super bond glue onto the bottom part of the plates and voila! I have myself mini cake stands for me to serve my cupcakes, cakes and cookies for this Raya celebration. :)

Vanilla Macarons

Made this with the help of dearest husband. :)

Vanilla Macarons

(Inspired by Kayla's recipe)

Since I don't have cooking chocolate at home, so I opt for the normal vanilla buttercream instead for the ganache. ;)

For full recipe and methods to do it, feel free to check out Kayla's blog. :)