The New Adventure of Cupcakes with snowy icing frosting

I always want to try making cupcakes with colorful topping.. but I never got a chance to attend any classes. Few weeks ago I bought an icing presser.. but I never used it.

So today, 23/05/10.. I decided to try..

As a 1st timer, I tried using the simplest method of making the topping.. I used the basic royal icing recipe. This topping will hardened when exposed to air, n does not have the buttery taste. So this recipe suits those who dislike the taste of milk or butter.

This recipe also a hit with children.. so if you plan a birthday party for kids maybe you can use this recipe..

Simple royal icing.. (got it from the net)

175 gm of icing sugar
1 egg white
1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice

whisk egg white and add icing sugar. beat again until fluffy. add in the lemon juice to neutralise the eggy taste. beat gain and can add some food colouring.. jgn la plak ltak water colour yer kawan2.. ader plak yg masuk wad nanti..
then apply the topping to your cuppies..

I've to practice more.. the topping still comot.. hehe..

LACES & RIBBONS ~ Gifts & Hantaran Ideas

Announcing my latest blog.. LACES & RIBBONS ~ Gifts & Hantaran Ideas

The service provided is preparing gubahan hantaran, bakul, kotak & tapak hantaran for weddings. We also offer homemade chocolates for presents and wedding door gifts.

Feels free to check out http://lacesnribbon.blogspot.com/

Happy 1st Anniversary to Us! ~ Dinner at Mandi-Mandi Tamarind Springs

It still seems like yesterday, I still remember everything clearly. We were legally married after 2 times of lafaz akad nikah. I still remember, how wonderful the day was....

And today, 2nd May 2010.. we are celebrating our very 1st wedding anniversary.

Last night, 1st May 2010.. he took me to a very posh restaurant, Mandi-Mandi, Tamarind Springs in Ampang. I was really swayed by his effort to impress me & to make me happy. I once mentioned to him that I wished to have a very romantic candlelight dinner on our annivesary nite, but I didn't really hope so much for it to happen though. However he had made my dream comes true, eventhough I know, this dinner will cause a huge dent to his pocket. We are not the kind of people who will spend lavishly on things that we think are not important. We both have our own financial commitments to meet every month, yet he's still willing to spend for our night.. that's so romantic!

We left home at 7.00pm as the reservation was made for 8.30 dinner. We were not really sure on how to get there, but we had a slight idea about it's location. We reached there at 8.00 pm. Well, I could not help but to agree that it is a very romantic place.. the moment we walked through the front gate we felt as if we've stepped into a totally different world.. a world of serenity & romance.

The Restaurant

We walked down the walkway towards the restaurant. At the left & right handside of the walkway were all plants, created a unique atmosphere.

The walkway

We then took a stair to Mandi-Mandi, a Malay-Thai restaurant.

We were then taken to the pool area where we were given a small hut for our dinner. It was really beyond my expectation, as earlier on I thought we will be a given a usual dining table under a cocomo hut. Apparently the hut was cushioned & equipped with large pillow for comfort.

The hut was facing the pool & beside us was the nature.

Then it was time to order the food. The menu was kinda like screaming, 'Expensive!". But anyway, we love the place & we were waiting for it for months.

I ordered Cranberry juice  & Hafiz, Apple juice for our drinks. We also asked for a sparking water for additional drinks.

We had Spicy Papaya Salad for our starter.. not so spicy for me anyway, but nice & crunchy.

Next, we ordered the Red Tom Yam Mixed Seafood for our soup. This tom yam was a bit different from the normal tom yam as it was added with some coconut milk & the taste was less tangy then our normal tom yam from the local tom yam shop.

For the main course, we ordered Pandan Chicken & Grilled Squid.

Vege dish, Sauteed Kailan with Garlic & Salted fish.. my fav!

Hafiz was indulging himself..

Personally, the food was nice.. but too expensive. The dinner costs us a total of RM218.00, which we can get triple of what we had here at other places. So, my conclusion, if you were planning for just a dinner, you might as well go to a cheaper place. But if you wanted a wonderful & meaningful dinner, this is the place!

We had bought a cake for the dinner.. a small, cute one. I bought it from Kedai Kek Hidayah near our place (yeah, the same bakery where I bought my 3-tier wedding cake last year). The bakery owner already knew us since we were a regular there. She even wished us happy anniversay..

No annivesary dinner is complete without the anniversary gifts.. we had done our best to find something for each other. It was not an easy task though, as we had to find an alone time to buy the present without the other half.

I bought him a full leather Pierre Cardin wallet, but didn't buy the wrapping paper. So I have to work some magic to make it look presentable.. xkan la nk bgi dlm plastik bag jer. So, I wrapped it with 1 organza piece and put a ribbon on top of it.. hehe.. all from my 'work box for hantarans'.

This is Hafiz's gift to me, a white gold ring that I've been longing for all these while. I showed this ring to him when we were in Carrefour the other day, so, I know he bought it from Lazo Diamond.. hehe..

We are so in love with each other!

The night was a very special for us. It symbolise our triumph to overcome all the obstacles we had faced in our 1st year of marriage. We pray that this union will lasts till the very end of time.. Happy 1st wedding anniversary to us!

Straight? Curly? or Au Naturel??

I have bad hair day almost every day!

My original hair, was extremely messy, super fine frizzy hair. I always envy any girl who is blessed with the smoth silky straight hair.
My longing for straight tresses started when I was still in school, years before some idiots started the idea that to be cool & beautiful, one has to have the silky straight hair. If you don't have straight hair, you are definitely a loser! (This was according to the tv commercial ok, not me..)

I remember this 1 tv commercial, a girl went for an interview, but her hair was so out of place and messy. Then she put on this miracle hair lotion and tadaaaaaa.. she got the job! Huh... what a shallow advertisement!
So I guess, moving forward, we should encourage our sisters, daughters n girl friends to wear their hair straight so that they can easily nail a job.. don't bother to study or get any good grades.. it won't help if one does not have silky straight hair yg 'guna jari pon boleh'.... hehehe...

Anyway, like it or not.. I was also as shallow as the advertisment was.. I would rebond my hair once in every 3,4 months, just to ensure that I look ok. I hate to admit this.. but I guess I was also fooled by the tv commercials.. sob.. sob..

Chocolate Cake for Hubby

I baked this cake for my hubby’s birthday celebration last year. Sajer.. wanna test my credibility as a cook.. hehe..

We also threw a small party aka mini open house for raya celebration at the same time. We invited only a small group of friends to come over.. yer la.. the apartment very small, if invited too many people nanti sumer kena berdiri rapat2 plak sambil makan.

The menu were, my version of mee rebus.. i put mashed sweet potatoes, i used the white ones.. u can use the orange potatoes but it could be too sweet.. (rebus dulu yer before mash the sweet potatoes). I also put a secret ingredient.. not ajinomoto ek.. i blended 1 cup of fried kulit udang & added it into my kuah mee rebus. Actually, u can add this secret ingredient (well.. not so secret anymore!) into mee kari, mee jawa.. mee kuah.. ape2 lah.. but mee soto jgn la.. x sesuai.. other than that, resepi sama mcm resepi mee rebus yg biasa.

I also prepared the Triffle Pudding with strawberry jelly topping. This pudding is 1 of my family’s fav dessert. The recipe, almost similar to resepi puding buah kastard.. cuma swiss roll at the bottom & strawberry jelly on top. Memang menggemukkan.. tpi this time i skipped the swiss roll.. x sempat beli :-p

So, this is the recipe of my choc cake.. i got this recipe from my cousin’s wife 10 years ago. Selalu jugak prepared this cake utk my family punyer birthday parties..

So people.. dig in.

Kek Coklat Yana

Bahan-bahan:
250 gm butter
250 gm gula kaster
190 gm tepung gandum
60 gm serbuk koko (ayak bersama tepung gandum)
5 biji telur (size sederhana)
1 sudu teh esen vanilla
3 sudu makan ovalette
6 sudu makan air

Cara:
Putar gula & mentega sehingga creamy
Masukkan gula kaster dan putar lagi dengan kelajuan sederhana
Masukkan telur sebiji demi sebiji
Masukkan esen vanilla
Masukkan tepung gandum yg telah di ayak bersama serbuk koko, sedikit demi sedikit
Masukkan ovalette dan putar lagi
Masukkan air dan putar sebentar
Masukkan kedalam acuan yg sesuai (loyang bulat size 9) & bakar pada suhu 180◦ C selama 40 minit atau sehingga masak.

Topping:
2 sudu makan butter
½ cawan serbuk koko
1 cawan gula
2 ½ cawan susu cair
½ cawan tepung jagung

Masak semua bahan di atas api kecil sambil dikacau sentiasa. Setelah masak sejukkan dan sapu ke atas kek.

My Online Business

Annoucing my online business, Lilyana’s World Online Boutique!
I’m selling calored contact lenses, women apparel, handbags, bedsheets & homemade chocolates for presents or wedding souvenirs.

For further info n photos, please visit http://lilyanasworld.blogspot.com/ or http://www.facebook.com/advertising/#!/pages/Kuala-Lumpur-Malaysia/Lilyanas-World-Online-Boutique/152866626048?v=wall&ref=ts

My Never Ending Battle

Born as a small sized baby, I grew up smaller than my peers were. When I was 7, I have to wear size 5 YO dress. during those years I've given several names by relatives.. cekeding la, bini popeye la. I remember I used to hope that 1 day I'll grow bigger.. now, how I hope I've never wished for such thing!

Back in college years ago, I was still a size 'S'. It was so useless to wear any low cut tops as I've nothing much to show off.. well.. not that I wanted to show off my asset, but it would  nice if I could pull off the sexy look once in a while.

However, everything started to change when I hit my late twenties. By then, I've realised that it was so not cool to be petite & curvy as every single pound counts. It's so easy to gain few extra pound here & there, but to shed it off.. almost impossible!

I was beginning to befriend all the slimming pills, slimming tea in the market. You name it, from cheap slimming tea to the expensive slimming pills.. I've tried them, tested them.. but most of them did nothing to help me. I was getting bigger & bigger, & before I knew it.. I was already 65kgs in weight.

I was frustrated, depressed.. until 1 day I met Dr Zetty. I went to the clinic due to my fever, but she commented about my size & hinted that she has this slimming program that might help me. I was immediately hooked. I saw a HOPE..

Dr Zetty gave me 3 types of medication, Duromine~ to control my appetite, Mediaxal~ to burn the existing fat & @ the same time acted as a carb blocker & 1 more medicine to help ease the bowel movement. She also gave a diet plan & a handbook for my guidance. Within a week I can feel that I was getting lighter. I was not dreaming or just perasan as I really did lost 6kgs of weight in a week! In 6 months time I managed to reach my target, 52 kg.

Duromie

Mediaxal

I stopped the treatment after 7-8 months from the time I started as I was told that it was not good to rely on the medication for too long.  My weight still maintain eventough sometimes it yoyoed between 52 to 55kg.

In November 2008 I started another battle against my weight. This time it was due to my desire to look my best for my wedding in May 2009. I was not overweight then, but I just wanted to be little slimmer than I was at that time. and once again I was able to reach my target. I was happy with my size n my look on my wedding day.

Now, after almost a year, I've added on few kg more.. & I guess I have to start figting again.. sigh..