eHomemakers Malaysia

Bread week was one of the weeks I looked forward to when I was at the Pastry Academy. The sweet aroma of freshly-baked bread that fills the air never failed to tantalize my palate any time of the day.        Making this baguette was very exciting because we had to get the ingredients ready a day ahead - the bigga - and that was the first time I learned and used bigga. Perhaps this explains why this baguette is much lighter compared to the previous recipe. It has the irregular holes with a crispy crust. You should be able to break chunks off easily with your hands.  Bigga: 1 day ahead 250g flour 150g water 2g yeast     Mix all three ingredients in a bowl. Cover with cling wrap tightly. Leave overnight. Dough: 500g bread flour 15g salt 2g yeast 350g water 5g improver       First, mix the flour with water. This is what is called 'autolyse'. Leave it in bowl tightly wrapped for 20 minutes. Then, dump e...

I think the media is largely to blame because of this! Women look at the various magazine covers and wish to look like the cover girls they see. "Oh! I wish I was that slim", "Oh! I wish I had her abs", and so on.        What they don't realize is the work that goes into that magazine cover. Most mag covers are air-brushed so the model looks 'perfect'. And many times, to look as 'fit' as they do, the models have to do all kinds of 'tricks' to look so 'perfect'.        And these tricks can sometimes be dangerously unhealthy and should never be adopted long term to have that perfect bikini body! Even bikini models have an off and on season. Even they don't adopt those crazy plans all year round! Imagine cutting out fruit totally for weeks or even months!        That can't be healthy! Loading up on proteins and cutting out carbs is also unhealthy for long term! These are some of the 'tricks' the...

       Pudding has always been a great cold dessert that is easy to prepare and very economical to the household budget.        The best time to eat this chilled, smooth and rich custard-like mixture is during breaking fast. The silky smoothness that slides down you throat will satisfy your sweet tooth immediately.        This marble pudding recipe can also be used to make puddings of other flavours - chocolate, vanilla, orange, peach etc. The most important thing is not to boil the jelly strips too long so as not to reduce the water too much.         The ingredients you need are a  packet of jelly strips,  a  liter of water, a  liter of fresh milk, a  can of evaporated milk, 2  cups of sugar, a  cup of custard powder, a tablespoon of  cocoa powder mix with a tablespoon of hot water, 30 grams of melted butter,  few drops of vanil...

            Spending RM16 on 4 small pieces of cinnamon roll at Cinnabon is worth every bite.        Unfortunately, they don't run a franchise here in the East Coast and I needed help with my intense craving for the fluffiest and moist cinnamon rolls with generous creamy topping, sprinkled with the crunchiest toasted pecans.        But since Cinnabon wasn't within 100 km drive I had to head into my kitchen and start whipping up things to soothe my desperate craving. The rolls turned out to be awesomely tender and tasty! And I'm sharing this with all you bread-cravers out there!        In a mixing bowl, put 500g of bread flour, 10g salt, 15g yeast, 60f sugar, 150g milk and 2 large eggs. Use a dough hook and knead until a ball of dough is formed.       Then add in 100g butter. Knead again and when all of the butter is incorporate. Cover the bow...

        December is a perfect opportunity for me to spend time in a little self-indulgence. It's the month with the least stress and not much running around doing errands and household chores.       And since the kids are away at holiday camps during the recent December school holidays, I decided to go for a cooking escapade in Saigon Cooking Class in Vietnam. It was an unforgettably interesting experience and what I love about their cooking is the abundant use of fresh herbs and vegetables. Among the recipes that I learned there were fresh sweet and tangy salad and spring roll.          I never expected that water spinach would be used to make the salad.  Although I have cooked and prepared water spinach in many ways, I discovered that all these years I have wasted the stem when it could easily be made into this wonderful Asian sweet and tangy salad. Such a waste! I also discovered that there ...

         Salam Ramadhan and Happy Fasting to all my Muslim readers. May this month full of barakah and blessings brings joy to everyone regardless of race and faith.       In this holy month, Muslims all over the world fulfil the third pillar of Islam by fasting, which is a challenging means to learning self-restraint and self-control particularly the desire to drink or eat during daytime. The healing power of fasting is tremendous. It purifies, cleanse and detox the body system.       Personally, I would take this chance to rejuvenate my mind and body. However, I find the temptation is far greater than my own diet self-control when it comes to visiting Ramadhan bazars in the evening where the food stalls would normally take up almost all area.       Looking at the variety and array of food makes me wonder how possible can our body sustain the process of cleans...

An all time favourite dish prepared in a breeze....sweet and sour fish, and for today, it's grouper from the market - fresh, shiny and metallic. I would have preferred Asian sea bass because of its chunkier and firmer flesh but it was out of season.  Sweet and sour fish is served at almost any Thai or Chinese restaurant in the East Coast region. It is a dish not too hot and not too fancy for anyone's palate. Whether it's Thai, Chinese or Western sweet and sour dish, the ingredients are almost the same. The good thing about this dish is that you can prepare the sauce way ahead, and reheat it when it's time to pour it over the fish, just in time for lunch or dinner. Simple, yet delicious. For 1 big fish: For the sauce, p reheat 3 tbsp of oil in a pan. Then a dd 3 crushed garlic and  2 shallots finely chopped.  In a processor, blend a cup of water, 1/3 cup vinegar, 2 medium sized tomatoes, 1 tbsp cornflour and a slice of pineapple ( about 20...

Well, here I am at home, my Dad is watching a DVD but I'm bored and..........hungry...... So, I thought, what snack can I fix myself that's both healthy and filling? Well, I have some romaine lettuce : Bingo! Homemade Ceaser Salad! The Dressing : 2 cloves garlic, chopped fine, mixed with light mayo and mustard. Set aside and allow flavors to develop. Then I chopped the romaine lettuce to bite sized pieces, you can also tear the leaves in 2s or 3s. Since there is half a cucumber waiting to be used in the fridge, I chopped them and added them to the lettuce. The Croutons : Cut a slice of day old bread into cubes; sprinkle with olive oil, you may also sprinkle some dried herbs like rosemary and thyme like I did, bake in a toaster oven for 30 minutes or so till crispy. The croutons have to golden brown to be done. When croutons are done, put over salad, sprinkle some real or vegan bacon bits, pour the dressing over and toss! Walla! Homemade Ceaser Salad!!! Bon Appetit...

It's a hot day! Again, I find myself longing to go to the nearby cafe, Coconut Groove to try their huge and icy Coconut Shake. I've never tried it before and it looks good on the menu. But it'll probably be a bad idea because 1) it's not exactly cheap 2) it comes in this huge jug which frankly to me looks like it could be shared with a family! Not a good idea for a dialysis patient like me; who need to control her fluid intake. Also, as always, I have cravings for a McDonald's Double Cheeseburger, which again is not a good idea because of the cost, the amount of fat I'll be ingesting, not to mention sending my protein and phosphate levels rocketing sky high! Just think : 2 slices of cheese, 2 fatty beef patties, bad idea, not to mention the sodium. And don't even get me started on 'saving' money by ordering the McValue Meal, which adds more fat and sodium in the form of fries, not to mention the sugar-laden soda (soft drink) that comes with ...

Loosing weight is an uphill battle even if you're not on steroids, but even more of an uphill battle with steroids. I was prescribe steroids by my nephrologist (kidney doctor) when my SLE was active. At that time, my weight ballooned up to 68kgs! Imagine being that heavy at 4 feet 11, I was overweight, bordering on obese! No matter what I did at that time, the extra weight just refused to budge! To make matters worse, I had a tummy to rival that of a pregnant woman! And I was teased by heartless people for my tummy problem! To make matters worse, the steroids also increased my appetite. Now, I have a pretty good appetite even without the steroids but with the steroids, I was hungry all the time! And I had to eat a lot to fill my rumbling tummy! So, that made it even harder to slim down. Then came the magical day when my doctor announced that steroid are not meant to be taken long term and that I'd be taken off the steroids from that day onwards. Hallelujah! Praise the Lo...

It was a very hot day today. It was too hot for me to walk to the mini-mall nearby. So, my Mom dropped me off there at around 1pm today. The Easter Sale at the Christian bookstore officially started today, which was why I was so excited to go there.   I've had my eye on the ESV (English Standard Version) Study Bible for a long time now. The leather edition sells for above RM224! Because of the Easter Sale discount, for a limited time, I can get it for only RM179! So, this afternoon, I headed straight to the Christian bookstore and bought it! The last pristine copy left! It's like the Study Bible was waiting for me to buy it!   I'm so excited! I can't wait to delve into it tonight during my quiet time. I have extra motivation to read the Bible now! I've been rather lax lately, I hope my enthusiasm lasts though! Heck! I'll make it last! I've never read the Bible cover to cover in all my years as a Christian, well, this is the year I'll finally succeed...