Breakfast of Champs

13 September 2020. 

Let the pictures do the talking. 

Assortment of lamb chops cut into slices, sautéed cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, mushrooms, spaghetti bolognese 

Home brewed latte. Made easy with the right tools. Laced with butterscotch

Lamb chops took some time to make. Marinated 24 hours in Heinz bbq sauce and grilled this morning. These are what was left over after being devoured by my family. The plate did not even leave the kitchen and I was not able to take pictures of the ample meat chunks due to constantly being attacked by family members

Sautéed carrot, mushroom and cherry was simple enough, just drizzled with Himalayan pink rock salt, fresh ground black peppers and some freshly cut parsley. Cooking was done with olive oil and huge blob of butter at the final stages of cooking. Cook separately ya. Do not cook them together. Once on the plate, I just grated some fresh lemon skin and small squeeze of lemon to give it that extra zest

Combined on a plate for an overload of deliciousness

Spaghetti bolognese made by my wife. Super delicious. I’m unable to share the recipe as she is a much better chef that I am and her recipes are too complex, which is why hers taste better that most upscale restaurants 

Easy breakfast which only took me 5 minutes

This is a simple enough breakfast to make. Ciabatta bread, generously glazed with Lurpak butter,  drizzled in extra virgin olive oil, black olives and cold cut meat of your choice.

It does not even take 5 minutes to assemble it. 

My breakfast for 12 September 2020. Give it a try and see if you like it

Simple display for your knife

Doing your work you need something to keep you motivated. Stay focused and inspired.

I’m thoroughly impressed by the display hand used by blade hq in their background. You may have noticed it whilst watching some of their vlog on youtube.

It took me sometime to find it. Ikea do sell them  I bought mine from San San stationary at Shah Alam for RM50.00.  The size is slightly bigger than my actual hand.

This is one way I have my display

When I get bored of seeing the above, I change and use the display below 

This is how the hand looks like when initially purchased, plain and too wood like

The same hand after using bees wax 

All the grain pops out

More pictures of the display

My home work desk

Bang Rak Corner’s Thai Food, BK 5 Puchong

When the kids have their own activity, its date night for the parents. As we are not fussy eaters, we just request for a nice environment and good food. The quality of food, we do not compromise. 

9 September 2020, we had our dating dinner here. 

It would be better illustrated through pictures.

Located at 27 Jalan BK 5A, Puchong. Operating hours 2.30pm to 10.00pm daily. Their menus is extensive so rely on the waiter for recommendation. On a foot note, inform them not to make it spicy if you are unable to handle it. If you don’t be prepared for spiciness or chili overdose.

Nasi goreng daging USA RM11.90. Flavor packed but spice level was tongue burning due to my mistake not informing them. Beef pieces were adequate but a tad on the little side. Rice was fluffy and very tasty with a hint of Thai spices added

Sup daging RM9.50. My wife had the foresight when placing her order and informed not to make it spicy. Although informed it was still spicy but bearable, fresh produce made it a joy to eat. Taste more authentic than most Thai restaurants at its price point

Kailan ikan masin RM7.90. Just nice balance with the saltiness. Not too overpowering. Vegetables were fresh and crispy. Had a nice crunch when bitten into

Egg omelet or telur dadar, RM2.30. Nothing to shout about as it was plain telur dadar with no filling. My wife did not want any filling, Easy enough to make. You just need a very hot wok with very hot oil and dump in the beaten eggs. The eggs will sizzling fry immediately. Due to the immense heat from the flames, the egg will fluff up, giving it the unique taste

Their grilling area. They have ikan, sotong and daging bakar. We ordered takeaway daging bakar

RM15.50 but worth every ringgit. Small in size that is my only gripe but full in flavor. Had a mix of western and Thai flavoring to the bbq. Soft, tender and juicy. How a bbq should taste 

Thirst quencher. Carrot susu at RM5.50

 

Badam Milk Recipe

Recently after my kids arts classes, we went to a local Indian bistro in Kota Kemuning, my eldest child saw something unfamiliar to him on the drinks menus and queried what it was. 

I informed him badam milk is just almond milk and he shrug in utter confusion. I clarified that it is made of crushed almonds and cooked in milk to bring out the delicious almond aroma with a creamy texture. “You should try it, you may like it. To me, it is nice”, I informed. He agreed. I think it cost about RM9.90, if I’m not mistaken. 

When the drink came, he saw it looked like normal milk only with a slight light brown hue in shade. He tried it immediately, not from curiosity but more from thirst. He said it is very nice and very sweet. He said next time he wanted to order the same. 

I said I can make it for him at home and it would taste better as we would not sting one the ingredients.

So that is what I did on Sunday, 6 September 2020. We purchased some almonds nuts. almonds essence, vanilla extract, cinnamon sticks, rock sugar, honey and milk.

Long story short, it tasted amazing, very creamy, flavor packed and lots of crushed almonds.

Here is the recipe. I am unable to list the contents in weight or amount as it was made to taste. Meaning, keep adding and tasting, until you are satisfied with the final results.

Started first with pounding the almonds, You can use a blender but I choose not to due to small quantity to crush the almonds. Furthermore, I wanted it to be chunky.      

Thereafter, I started to roast them on low heat. Do not add any oil to roast them. 

Once the kitchen is filled with the smell of the roasted almonds, I added in milk and stirred.

Due to the low heat and constant stirring, the milk took time to boil. Just before the milk reached the boiling point, I added in the almonds essence, vanilla extract, cinnamon sticks, rock sugar, honey and milk. My wife suggested in future I replace the rock sugar with brown sugar to balance out or neutralize the honey taste.

Once the milk boils, just have a final taste to ensure all is up to your liking. Turn off the heat and you’re done. Well, almost. Now, just let the milk to cool down and place it in the refrigerator. 

Nothing like the refreshing taste and aroma of an ice cool badam milk on a hot day. Everything cost me about RM40 but I had badam milk for 4 family members to drink till their hearts desire and it was flavor packed with ample ingredients. Enjoy 😊

  

DIY own envelope with seal

The art of letter writing may be gone but it is not dead. Long gone are days of snail mail and the innate and intricate art of letter writing. But slowly and steadily the trend is gaining traction. The trend of penmanship is growing and daily gaining a steady following. 

Hence, I would like to share a simple method of your own DIY envelope to accompany your new found letter writing skill. 

First, you begin by folding the page into half

Open the page and make a fold as below using the previously folded page in half as a guideline 

Make another fold as per picture

Then the final fold

The circle in pen is where you place your seal

This is how it would like with the seal

The reverse is the address of the recipient

Below is a summarized drawing of the envelope folding 

Back in the old days I understand that one page was used as the platform to write your letter and the rear of the page was used as the envelope. Hence, you never waisted paper and there was no need for a separate envelope. Brilliant!. People back then had the most ingenuity. You had to make do with what you had. It was not as simple as going to the store to purchase what you needed back then.  

 

Soaked in Bleach

Anyone who saw the 2015 docudrama on the above title would realize that there remains more questions than answers on the death of Kurt Cobain. When the previous police chief of Seattle himself commits that the case should be reopened, you know that is more than it seems.

Let’s leave that up to the authorities. They already have more than they can handle on their plate with the current Covid 19, Black Lives Matters and Racism issues popping up at every corner.

What I wanted to share with Nirvana fans and in particular Kurt Cobain fans are nothing new. True fans would know the existence of these songs. But what I wanted to touch in particular are towards new fans of Kurt Cobain. 

Everyone knows the anthem of a generation, Smells Like Teen Spirit. But Kurt was a talented dude. He wrote songs that were not only catchy but they touched the tortured and rebellious generation X. If you were lucky enough and blessed enough to attend any of his concerts, you would realize that Nevermind, great as it is was, was just the tip of the ice berg. In every concert Kurt would belch to the best he could, never holding back 

Take a look at these songs. Kurt was just oozing with talent. 

Verse Chorus Verse 

https://youtu.be/d3t-EGyOIDk

Talk to Me

https://youtu.be/uukOdFdyqVQ

Sappy 

https://youtu.be/L_VSV1vLV1s

See what I mean. The songs were never recorded in the studio and were shared by bootleggers who attended their concert. Some will argue that that is piracy and so would I but Steve Albini said something that I could NOT argue with. And now I tend to agree with him. ‘

If it were not for these bootleggers, they songs may have forever remainder loss.

https://youtu.be/XDX5iX7wEco

One more special 

Message to go

And then I’m done

And I can go home

In 1994 I was at the blur age of 21 doing my studies law at university. Kurt was concurring the world before his untimely demise.  2020 it’s now been 26 years since you have been gone. I still do listen to your music. That is your everlasting impact. RIP Kurt