birthday dinner @ Zen japanese restaurant Sunway Pyramid

Happy birthday to me :D

decided to have Japanese food this time.

based on Sarah Kate's recommendation, we went to..

Zen Japanese Restaurant

OB2-F-U2

Oasis Bolevard 2

Sunway Pyramid

(its above Kim Gary)

the interior is very nice. but the food smell (fish, to be exact) was abit too strong-_-"

a blur photo of me. i'm not even looking at the camera >.<

mummy and i :D

first dish of the day, unagi hitsumabushi (RM 25)

Sushi rice and a big slab of eel. yummy. the sauce rice and eel. nice combination indeed!

came with side serving with "cornflakes" and seaweed

also served with clear soup. in a teapot! so adorable :)

my sister's dish, Salmon Bibinba (rm23)
rice with salmon, egg and vege. pretty good too

soup in teapot.lol

and i ordered the Rokkaku Set (RM60)

this was great as it had a variety of stuff. from fresh yummy thick slices of salmon to tempura prawns, chawan mushi, sushi rice, eel, some other seafood. fruits and soup. all-in-one :)

and last but not least, desserts :D
strawberry ice (rm8)

its frozen strawberries filled with vanilla ice cream inside and cream. just pop in into your mouth and it will melt slowly. and give you a brain freeze.lol

all in all, Zen is a pretty nice place to dine. Service was efficient, didn't have to wait too long.

will definitely come back here again :D

on another note....guess what??

musmus has a new toy. a pink fluffy pillow :D

its actually a birthday gift from ambiga and wai teng. thanks soooo much, its so sweet of you girls :D im so glad i have both of you through out sem7!!

and thanks to all my dear friends who sent text messages and messages via facebook! :D

esp to david, ellice, suesuegamushi and kee for dinner on friday :D will write a review of the place we went. a pretty interesting place with fancy drinks!!

won't be blogging much till mid august. BIG BIG exams coming up in 2 weeks time. i need all the luck i can get!!!

Devil's Food Cake with chocolate frosting

Post exams also means more time for baking!!! wheee~
this time is chocolate cupcakes for Father's Day :D

Ingredients:
3 1/2 tablespoon soft margarine (i used butter, cos no margarine in the fridge)
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup sour cream (i substituted it with plain yogurt)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 Celsius. Line with paper cups or grease a muffin tray
2. Put margarine, sugar. eggs, flour, baking soda and cocoa powder in a bowl
3. mix well with an electric mixer until smooth
4. fold in sour cream/ yogurt
5. Spoon batter into muffin tray
6. bake at 180 Celsius for 20 minutes

Frosting
4 ounce cooking chocolate
2/3 cup sour cream/ yogurt

1. double boil/ microwave the chocolate until melted
2. add in sour cream/ yogurt

to assemble:
1. let the cupcakes cool
2. spread frosting and let it set.
3. top with almond nibs/ hundreds thousands or chocolate shavings, whatever you want :)

Enjoy!!

the simple ingredients. use good quality chocolate for a yummy frosting!

smooth glossy topping!!

the end product! :D

my birthday came early this year :D

yay! Obstetric posting is over. exam (long case) is OVER!

i got a relatively easy case but made a HUGE blunder. sigh, just hope to pass.

weekend is here and time to rejuvenate before starting psychiatry and preparation for EOS 7!

and even though my birthday is not till a months time (25th July *hint hint*) i already have gifts! *evil laugh*

a huge tote bag from Padini, thanks to big sis ^_^ *muaxx*

definitely have space to dump all my stuff in here, plus my baby blue xoxo bag is starting to give way :(

a nice visit from miss bubu a.k.a alicia chu who brought me home made pancakes, strawberries and blueberry+maple syrup! a big achievement coming from someone who did not know how to break eggs properly last time! (big secret is out! muahahha)

it was really yummy. thanks BOO!

and along with it was a collection of pretty THORTONS dessert gallery chocolates all the way from UK :D

and since its so so so pretty, almost like a work of art, they deserve and individual shot. and i have no heart to eat any of them yet but i'm sure it will taste as good as it looks!

double chocolate mousse

lemon meringue

Toffee mousse

Tiramisu

Creme brulee

and the prettiest one of all, kirsch torte. topped with pretty pink sugar crystals. *melts*

and a nice birthday card with a sweet message

and a pretty, huge bangle.

thanks boo :D

Mastermind (MM) Cafe

Its been awhile since i last blogged...too caught up with work ever since i started obstetrics posting..

here is a quick foodie update

MM CAFE
AG-1 Ground Floor Block A
Happy Mansion
Jalan 17/13
46400 Petaling Jaya Selangor
11am to 11 pm daily
(tel no: 03-79588728)




came to know about this place through a The Star's Eating Out column (Wednesday, 27 May 2009) Happy Mansion seem to have many good eating places ^_^

This cafe is modern and simple yet has some coziness. The outside has several potted plants providing nice greenery. There are also several sofa to relax.
The menu was divided to several sections; Small bites, soups, salad, pasta, main meals, asian delights, cakes and desserts. prices ranging from RM10-20

From the "Asian menu" this is the Kam Heong Chicken Fried Rice. a little lacking in terms of presentation, but otherwise no complains :D
it is very yummy and spicy, with generous chunks of well marinated chicken.

and from the main meals, this is the MM Mushroom Chicken. Perfect for all mushroom lovers, even though i wished they has more mushroom in it. Its actually two pieces of fried breaded chicken fillet with fresh mushroom slices sandwiched in between. and the most amazing part was the creamy white sauce that was cheesy and absolutely delicious!!! it it served with fries and a serving of coleslaw.

and you will be SPOILT for choices when it comes to dessert. there is chocolate brownies with ice cream, bread butter pudding, tiramisu, carrot cake, chocolate mousse, Classic swiss apple pie with ice cream and pumpkin pie, all home made :)

as we had a tough time selecting ONE, we decided two have to instead.

the chocolate brownie was quite good but too sweet for my liking. top marks for presentation though :D

the swiss apple pie with vanilla ice cream was good also, something like my apple crumble. should attempt an apple pie next!

all in all, MM cafe is a nice place to dine, with good food and yummy desserts. service is fast and friendly, definitely worth a second visit :D

*up next will be another post on Haikara Cafe..with reviews on more food items :D*

Krispy Kreme is in Malaysia

Yep! the first KRISPY KREME store is located in Berjaya Times Square, which created a BIG HYPE!!! my dad who just could not sit still at home went all the way there and came back with a huge box of a dozen doughnuts. two weeks back. apparently they were having promotion (buy 8 free 4) and were even giving away doughnuts (the original one) to the customers who were lining up~!

the verdict?

it was quite good but i didn't really fancy it cos it was TOO SWEET!! seriously sweet stuff. honestly i prefer big apples/J Co.

but their toppings are pretty good as they use Hershey's chocolate. had to gulp down a whole cup of water after eating the doughnut!

click here for the Malaysia Krispy Kreme website (with a full description of all flavours!)

IMU Music Nite 2009

beautiful backdrop by kee and juejing:D

music nite was held on 29th april 2009. just one of the events us SRC had to organize to inject some fun.
glad that many people helped out and relieved that students actualy participate! hurrah~
I was in charge of invitations (again) and was coaxed to be emcee with dejun ONE day before the event. OMG!!!!

just some snapshots of the nite...


i brought musmus for amusement (and support! LOL) and musmus got violin lessons from wen leong. hahahahh. and he was supposed to put musmus in his pocket when performing on stage!! but he chickened out last minute :P

part of the ensemble
(thanks crissy for the correct spelling. hehe)

mike on the drums. Look closely for the flower on his hair, courtesy of meiann :P

with two good girl friends, suesuegamushi and eley.

Dejun and I, the emcees of the nite.

it was OK, except that embarssing beginning. eek >.<

can't believe i actually made it through the night! haha

david and I. one of our hobbies is calling each other "kiasu" :p

It was a great night, good first (and last! i hope) being an emcee.

chocolate lava cupcakes for mother's day

since is Mother's day today, i asked my mummy what she wants to eat so i can bake something for her. she said..
something new...
with chocolate!
very easy :D
let me share a recipe...chocolate lava cupcakes. rich chocolate cupcakes with a creamy chocolate centre. I've cut down sugar and chocolate cos mummy doesn't like it too sweet. use good quality dark chocolate ( i would recommend carefour dark chocolate, which is quite cheap and of good quality too)

Chocolate lava cupcakes

Chocolate ganache
100ml whipping cream
100g cooking chocolate
1. Boil the whipping cream. Remove from heat
2. Break the chocolate into pieces and stir in it the whipping cream until melted. Leave to cool and refrigerate it until semi-solid
*can actually make as much ganache as desired. This is just about enough for the filling for 12+2 muffins. Just use 1:1 portion of chocolate to whipping cream*

Cupcakes
(A)
250 all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
30 g cocoa powder
½ teaspoon sodium bicarbonate
(B)
10g chocolate emulco
40g brown sugar (I halved the original value=80g)
1 egg
150g cooking/dark chocolate (original value= 250g, I thought it was too much, so I cut 100g off)
180ml fresh milk
(C)
90g melted butter
(D)
Chocolate ganache (as above)

1. Prepare muffin tray ( I used a 12-hole muffin tray and 2 ramekins)
2. sieve (A) into mixing bowl
3. Stir (B) and combine with (A) lightly using a hand whisk. Do not overbeat!
4. add (C) to the batter and mix well
5. Spoon some batter into the tray (half full) add a spoonful of choch ganache and top up with more cupcake batter. Fill it to about ¾ full
6. bake at 180°C for 20 minutes.
7. decorate as desired.


the chocolate ganache
sifted dry ingredients

this is how the batter looks like

had extra batter so i used two ramekins (used for making souffle!) it looks rather nice in it :D

decided to give decorations a pass this time, cos its sweet enough and it was snapped up within minutes after i took it out the oven :P

happy baking!

and Happy Mother's Day :D