food+food

Lemon Drizzle cake from Jamie Oliver's
-i wasn't too pleased with the cake-first of all, i didn't have a cocktail stick to poke evenly on the cake before i pour on my lemon syrup, but used a chopstick instead, thus somebits have more lemon syrup and somebits less. I thought the recipe has too much ground almond(i'm not a big almond fan), but still got good feedbacks from colleagues, so i will still recommend it, but make sure you use a cocktail stick!!
Instead of putting real icing sugar on top, i just used powder sugar before serving as im not a 'too' sweet person either.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/other-recipes/my-nan-s-lemon-drizzle-cake


Pan roasted Salmon with anchovy rosemary sauce and Broccoli from Jamie too
I was speechless when i put that piece of salmon in my mouth, it was just unbelievably delicious, and super easy to make(less than 20 mins). Love that.
Real herbs really make a big difference, get some fresh rosemary and good quality anchovies.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/fish-recipes/pan-roasted-salmon-with-purple-sprouting

Adele's Power Breakfast
Ah, yes, my 'own' kind of recipe.
-Fresh apple juice
-Mushroom, onion omelette cooked with olive oil
-Rocket salad
-Warm Ciabata bread with Olive oil(+salt and pepper) dipping
+sun on my balcony
=perfect

cherry blossom

These are what i picked from Franconian Switzerland on Saturday, it was a perfect day for outing, and it was just what we needed-nature, sun, and a scenic drive.
If you are interested in scenic drive in the region, i would strongly suggest to drive from Forcheim to Wiesenttal via B470, small winding roads with cute villages, it was certainly worth it. It was a shame that they didn't offer more parking area along the route, or else it would've been perfect. Nevertheless, we manage to stop somewhere, and there were some benches where you can sit and enjoy the breathtaking view, and i was very naugthy to pick some cherry blossom(honestly i don't know if it is allowed) but i just couldn't help it, and there was nobody around.....and it really suit my flat!

What? Baking?

It is very common for Caucasian to know how to bake, but not Asian. Most of my cooking knowledge comes from my mum, as she doesn't know how to bake, it is very natural that i didn't know as well.
I've always been impressed by people who know how to bake, and one of my friend once said that to me: Anyone can bake, you are just following the recipe! is not difficult at all and that is preciously what i did.
Learning new things is one of my resolution this year, i started with the easy curry puff that my friend taught me, then moving on to banana cake(i was craving for Malaysian style banana cake which you don't get here), then to madeira cake, and this week, i'm trying Jamie's lemon drizzle cake.
For those of you who like Madeira cake, check out Nigella Lawson's recipe, it was easy to make and super delicious, well, at least this is what my colleagues said, but i would take it easy on the butter and sugar.

http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/my-mother-in-laws-madeira-cake-103

I'll tell you more about the lemon drizzle cake later.

Spring!! and i went a little crazy on saturday.

valentines day

No candle light dinner, no flowers, no chocolate, no present, but we do have in flight meal with a starter, main course, dessert and a bread with the choice of soft drinks, coffee, tea or wine and beer, is not that bad, is it?

Not to mention we almost wanted to kill each other less than 8 hours ago, there we were, happily paid an extra 130 euros, just to be able to sit next to each other in economy comfort(as KLM calls it) during a 13 hours flight. Just before boarding, He said: this is what valentines day is all about- No matter how mad we are with each other, we always get over it, and find a way to be happy wherever we are as long as we are together.

That-to me, was a very good Valentines day. How was yours?

(for those of you who wants to know if the economy comfort is worth 130 euros single way? Not to me, you only get more leg room-in length, i rather have 130 euros in my bank account)

lights decor.

Was dismantling my christmas decoration, and felt the lights might look good on my wall, does it?

Bangladesh

I was in Dhaka, Bangladesh about a week ago for work.

It was a very short 3 days trip, and Yes, everyone’s reaction of Bangladesh is-how poor they are, and how dirty it is, how chaotic the traffic is, how rule-less the whole place is, but surprisingly I find myself admiring the colours in Dhaka even more than in India. The lorries(all painted), the rickshaw, the street, the people, the clothes, bamboo forest, I didn’t know what to expect before I came, but I have to say I wish I can stay a bit longer to see more, it was quite an experience, i certainly enjoyed it.

I even came across this(most random and bizarre) party in the Dutch club in Dhaka. I don’t exactly know what it is, but as far as I understood, it is a place for Expats to socialize and hang out(there are also American club, German club, etc), and once in a while they organize some parties, I was extremely lucky to get an invitation thanks to a friend’s friend. To be honest, it looks more like a private party at someone’s house, or more like a teen’s party with some tacky decorations, but I find myself enjoying it because of the randomness. Beautiful and interesting people, from 50s down to some 16 year old kids, so RANDOM, but it was good fun, and I definitely drank too much.

What a trip.