Today is the day

It's tue, 21 Dec 2010, 7:44 am..
today is the day that i've been waiting for.
this might cross your mind, why i woke up so early??
well, the only reasons is that i can't sleep. This always happen when i'm so excited of something.
so what's the things that i'm so excited this times??
It's MOM is coming to the town!! lol
YES, yes, mom will arrived very soooooooon.
miss her like crazy already, almost one 1 year i didn't see her, which i still haven't used to.

Now i'm still counting on the time, it's still early in the morning, mom will arrive at about 12. geeeez, i still need to bear for another 4 hour.
the first things that i'll do when i see her is that I call her " Mami " , hehehe. that's what we call her.
i might burst into her chest & hug her but it seems so awkward remembering we didn't used to hug each other. we are Indonesian.

things that i've prepared for my mom is that i've made Nastar ( pineapple filling cookies ), it's mom favorites. i can't wait to see her expression >.<
i've cleaned the kitchen as well so that it's not messy when she come :)
i just done the laundry, so that our laundry basket is not full when she put her clothes in.
next i'll vacuum our room when my sister wake up so that it's clean & comfortable when she sleep in it.
oh yes, i've bought a bread for her yesterday. so we'll take it to the airport & she can eat it if she's hungry.
have i covered everything?? hope sooo..

Hmm, Dad & my lil bro will be here this thursday. Tomorrow is my sister graduation. they gonna missed her graduation because my bro finished her exam on tuesday.. hmmm
i wanna share my lil secret,hoho.
i've prepared something for my sister graduation. hope she like it, but i bet she will like it. wahaha

Christmas is coming! i can feel it!!
i'm going to celebrate this year Christmas will my family ( mom, dad, sis & bro ). so excited!
i've plan a Christmas dinner for them, i mean for all of us.
hope that what i've arranged will leave a sweet memories for all of us :)
i'll update about the Christmas dinner after 25 dec ( of course -.-" )

So Happy Holiday!
hope that your holiday is coming as well.


p.s. don't play too hard :)

'10 Wishlist

It's December so it's means that it's the end of the year...
going to say goodbye to 2010 & welcoming 2011.
time flies so fast, feel like i just graduated from high school, having a long holiday & came to Melbourne.
It's almost 1 year i've been here.
i feel that i change a lot since i came here, i've learnt something new, experience something new, etc.
the other things that impact me is that i became interested on something that i wasn't interested when i was in Indonesia.
I never bake in Indo, but since i came here, i become more & more interested in it.
I didn't really crazy of something which is called photography before i came here, but now i'm crazy of it.
Seems like these 2 have become my top hobbies now. haha

Thinking of the coming 2010, of course we all have something that we wanted to have.
we tend to wish for a new stuff for a new year.
so my wishlist for this ending 2010 is :
Canon 550d
Blackberry
Camera filters
Rolling pin
Spatula
Converse shoes
Bread pan

that are the things that i wanted to have now,just 7..hahaha..not a lot right???
Can't wait until 2011 & going to cross them out one by one ( hope so,Amen )

It's friday today, this week is going to end. i'm so happy, this means that it's getting closer to the week when my parents will arrived, so excited!! i've been missing them like crazy >.<
i just need to bear for another one week & holiday ahead!!

Time

we always hear this quote "time is money", i want to add "money is not time" to this quote.
Yes, i've been thinking of this lately, i always busy of working because of the money that i'm going to earn later. i'm so crazy of working because i have something that i want to purchase, but now i've reached the target.
so now i'm thinking, for what now i'm so crazy of working?, i don't really need that much money now & then i realized back then i don't really enjoy my life here because i always working.
we can slowly earn our money, like what my sister always say, all we need to do is enjoy our life, don't become the slave of money. well, i admit that i've become the slave of money which i need to change immediately or i'm not going to enjoy my life because i keeps looking for money.
After thinking of that, i make a decision, i'll not working as much as now once i come back from my holiday back to Indo, i'll spent more time with my friends.
I don't want to end up like my mom, who don't enjoy her life until today. i know what she do is for us, her children. maybe at first the reason is her children, but then slowly it become her habits.
she don't even have 'Sunday' on her dictionary, she work everyday from morning until night, & the strange things is that, she feel uncomfortable if she's not working. oh well, what a habit!
So that's why i don't want to end up like my mom & actually i wish that i can do something to make my mom enjoy her life.

The conclusion is, don't because of money you don't enjoy your life, once the time past, it won't turn back. all left is just 'regret'.

p.s. time is money but money is not time

Nastar ( Cookies with pineapple filling )

Finally i made this Indonesian cookies, which we always have during Chinese New Year.
so for Chinese in Indonesia, we of course celebrate Chinese New Year, before the Chinese New Year, we prepare various cookies, some of them which are popular is this Nastar. i got the recipe from my friend, she has ever made this cookies for me & it was really good, so that i asked her the recipe. hehe
This is the first time i cut a pineapple, it's so hard remembering how i always see my aunt cut pineapple for us to eat, it seems to easy but actually it's not.

Ingredients :

Dough :
- Butter 275gr
- Caster Sugar 80gr
- 4 eggs yolk
- Plain flour 450gr

Filling :
- 1 Pineapple
- Sugar 225gr

Egg wash :
- 2 eggs yolk
- 1 eggs white

Methods :

Filling :
1. Shred or mash the pineapple & put into a medium pot. put in the sugar & cook until caramel color & quite dry.

2. transfer into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap & put into the fridge.

Dough :
1. Put butter & caster sugar into the mixing bowl, mix with electrical mixer in slow speed, put in egg yolk one by one. mix well.
2. at last put in the flour in 4 times, mix in fast speed.

3. Put in a bowl, cover with the plastic wrap & put in the fridge.

4. Let inside the fridge for about 1 hour, take out & start to make the shape & fill the pineapple.
5. Grease the baking tray with the grease paper.

6. Pre-heat over 180C, bake for 10 minutes, take out & brush the egg wash, bake again for another 10-15 minutes or until the tops turn nicely golden brown.

Tips :
- Don't take all the dough out from the fridge while you are going to shape it, take a few which enough to make 8-10. this is to prevent the dough become dry.

Milo Chiffon Cake

Last few days i suddenly missed a cake which called Bolu but Chiffon in English.
Yes, i missed Chiffon, it's taste, the spongy feeling when you bite it, everything!! well,remembering this cake make me remember of my home.
Just don't realized that it's almost one year i was apart from my parents & my family.
EEEits, enough of the emo things. this post is about Chiffon, not the missing things.. hehe
Well, because i feel like eating chiffon cake, so i just search for it's recipe & try it in our kitchen this morning.
It's quite easy to make, so..
Preparation time : <30 minutes
Baking time : <30 minutes

Ingredients :
Part 1:
1 1/2 tbsp Milo powder
20ml hot water
2 egg yolks
20gr caster sugar
20ml olive oil
40gr self-raising flour

Part 2:
2 egg whites
1/4 tbsp cream of tart
50gr caster sugar

you also need a 16cm Chiffon pan

Method :
1. Pre-heat oven at 170C
2. Stir Milo powder with hot water until dissolved, set aside.
3. Sieve flour & set aside.
4. Separate egg yolks & egg white, set aside & bring to room temperature
5. Whisk egg yolks & sugar until sugar dissolved & well combined.
6. Add in Milo mixture & oil.
7. Whisk until combined. sieve the flour in & gently fold the flour with spatula until well combined.

8. Whisk egg whites & cream of tartar in a mixing bowl with an electrical mixer in medium speed, mix until frothy & foamy.

9. Then add in sugar in 3 separate addition while beating with high speed. beat until stiff peak form.

10. Add in egg white foam into the egg yolks mixture in 3 separate additions, each time gently fold with spatula until blended.

11. Polish Chiffon pan with butter to prevent cake from sticking on the pan.
12. Pour the mixture into a 16cm ( 6 inch ) Chiffon pan. 

( actually my pan is too big, hehe )

13. Bake for 25-30minutes or until the cake surface is golden brown & skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
14. Remove from oven, immediately put the pan upside down.
15. Let cool completely then carefully remove the cake from the pan.

The shape of my cake is not really nice because i didn't polish any butter on the plan, so don't forget or you cake will end up like mine. haha

My recipe is quite different from the original recipe because i think i need more Milo taste on the cake & i think the cake needs more eggs.

I remembered that someone had ever told me that the good Chiffon cake needs a lot of eggs.

So for the conclusion, i think that i'll search another recipe & try again next time. But this cake taste good as well. Enjoy :)

Experiment

Geeez,i'm so bored of the things that i eat everyday.especially dinner, i always don't know what to eat & end up eating oats.
overseas students life.hehe
so because of that today i done an experiment, actually i just wanna try to make a dish which is called chiffon rice which i always order when i go to A1 restaurant.
it's rice covered by a layer of fried egg with meat ( i always have the BBQ Pork,slurp!! )

Here's what i've done with my dinner.
i fried my rice with mince garlic,soy sauce,oyster sauce,black pepper & mushroom powder.
Fry until dry enough & smells good......
Then i beat an egg in a bowl, put in some left-over beef & fried it in a large frying pan.
i was trying to make a big round plate shape fried egg, without making any crack but i was failed, maybe i should do more experiment because the beef is heavy which broke the layer when i was trying to flip it.
After the egg is cooked, i put in the top of my fried rice.
here's the picture of my sudden random experiment :

( just realized that the picture is too dark -,-" )

Anyway, it taste good..hehe.. cos is not with steam rice, instead it's with Jessica's style fried rice..

I'm quite satisfied & quite enjoy it :)

Before ending this post, i've another photos to post.

It's coffee art again ( tehehe )

p.s. i was aiming to impress my sis but know what her respond?

       ' they looks more like flying ghost that love shape ' Geeeez!

End of the Busy week

What a relief remembering today is monday ( maybe you might think 'what? we hate monday' lol ), cos last week is the busiest week ever. busy of what? of course i'm busy of working.
Last week i work from monday to sunday, no stop . I was suddenly got a lot of shift from KFC, from monday to friday & as usual every weekend i work in Kotaraya.
Well, sometimes i find that working is tiring but i find it quite fun as well cos you are interacting with the other when you are working & there is always something funny happening while working.
So yeah, just worth it & finally i've past that busy week.
But another busy week ahead >.<

Last 2 weeks i went out for photo hunt which i said previously that i wanna go for photo hunting once i have free time.
last photo hunt is not really about architecture which you can easily find in Melbourne & which i always capture, but it's more about surrounding & people.
Here's my last time photo hunt route :

I walk from home to Parliament Building, which is near ( about 10minutes walk )

Then to the small garden next to Parliament

Cross the road & came to Fitzroy Garden

Just when i was walking home, i suddenly realized that i didn't saw any dandelion remembering dandelion is a good figure to shoot & Bang! i saw i single dandelion in front of me. just a few steps away from my feet. How lucky!!

That's the end of my photo hunt on that day

But before i end this post,i wanna share some photos that i've edited, i'm still learning though..hehe