DIY Woody Toy Story Costume for Year End Class Party

I've been meaning to blog about this but never quite found the time to do it properly ... so, here goes :

Dec 26, 2013

Lil button's year end class party

As the previous year, the class teachers gave us an invitation card for I1 year end class party, complete with the theme and activities planned for that day. The theme was 'Wild wild west'.

Oh wow.

We were excited. I mean, I am excited ... but I thought Encik Mon biasa-biasa aje. I started to imagine clothes that lil button own at home and whether any of those can fit into the theme. Encik Mon cakap, "wah ... lil button nak jadi woody toy story laaahhh..." . I started to google woody toy story costume and found quite a lot of reference in personal blogs and youtube tutorials. I am totally ecstatic!

We refer most of the Woody Costume tutorial from here and the cowhide vest from here .

First, we took a look at what we already owned that we could use. Lil button already got a pair of jeans, so checklist, tick!

Next, it was a coincidence when we were window shopping at FOS and stumbled upon a yellow shirt. We bought it straightaway although Woody wears a long sleeve yellow shirt.

It was also a good time to drop by at textile shops ie JAKEL because of the sale season since it was school holiday and end of year. I wanted to buy Felt but the sales people in JAKEL did not understand what Felt is. Our mistake as well ... we often hear malaysians say Kain Felt, so naturally, we will go to kedai kain to get kain. Later, we found that kain felt is available at kedai menjahit. hihi. So anyway, back to JAKEL, since they do not have felt, I asked for any type of material that has a cowhide print. Muka tersenget-senget ... pastu macam paham dan kata, ada!ada! Lega sket hati ni kan ... so I added, even better if you have it in velvet. velvet? Baldu lah .. oo baldu.... ada!ada!

We followed the salesperson excitedly ... susup sasap ... and then...tadaaa ...... he showed us leopard prints material. adui. kita kata nak corak lembu. ditunjuknya kita corak rimau. aummmmm

kensel plan. kita beli corduroy in the end. with black jersey material and red coloured cotton. bersemangat ni nak menjahit costume woody.

Then, we went to Bunga Reben. This shop has most of the things under one roof. I discovered that Felt is sold here. must make that a mental note. tehehehe. We bought yellow and tan coloured felt material, oversized buttons, UHU, special thread for thick materials and these cost Encik Mon a few puluh ringgit. uhuh .... the vest better be nice ... otherwise I would feel guilty towards Encik Mon ....hoho

By now, I think we have almost everything to execute the d-i-y Woody Toy Story Costume except that we lack of the accessories that would totally complete the look. The cowboy hat, buckle and set of pistol and holster. ahhh.......

The buckle can be diy. pistol and holster, not a problem. the big problem is the cowboy hat. We have scoured in and out of shops but couldnt find a toddler's sized cowboy hat until one day, after paying our groceries at Tesco Mutiara Damansara, we saw Peekaboo's children performing dance at the void area ... all clad in cowboy attires. perfect! we asked one parent where he bought they cowboy hat, and he answered, diy shop upstairs. betul ke ni.....topi koboi kat mr diy? kita checkout je lah ... sekali betul you ... ada!! and it was RM6.90! Berbaloi-baloi ... !! The pistol and holster set was bought at a shop in Kg Melayu Subang for RM5.90.

So one sunday, kita pun sinsing lengan baju dan start projek diy Woody costume ni.

We also prepared some goodies for the teachers and his classmates ...

On the party day .... 

Yeehawwww!!

He won the best dressed boy :)

Colmar Tropicale, Bukit Tinggi

27 Oct 2013

We were supposed to let the steam out and relax at Fraser's Hill on a weekend but luckily I made a phone call to the caretaker and found out that there was a problem with water supply at the resort. 

So then, came Plan B. Plan B was daytrip to Colmar Tropicale, Bukit Tinggi.

 We arrived at Colmar around 10.45 am and the weather was just perfect...not too hot and breezy.

Little button was excited and kept pointing his finger to everything :)

When it's time for lunch, we headed to our favourite restaurant that serves the best pais patin we ever tasted....but to our dismay, the eatery was closed. Even Pak Usop also closed. A quick Google search directed us to here:

Go Bang Maju Patin Tempoyak

The service here is slow but the patin tempoyak is tasty. Some of the waitresses do not seem to speak or understand standard malay language ... so that was quite troublesome. 

Apple Pie and Pie Maker

I bought myself a new toy recently.

It's a Breville Pie Maker.

Ever since I discovered the existence of this little 'kitchen helper', I could not sleep at night, wishing I can get my hands on it right away. (okay, that's a bit exaggerated....)

And now, it's here. I am so excited to try it.

 

I bought this model, it has 4 individual sized pies and comes in red colour (the description was pink, oh boy, was I excited!) ... personally I would prefer mini sized pie ... but the seller have this model only so ... well, it's better than nothing. It's very straightforward, there are only 2 LED lights, one when it's plugged on, and another one when it's ready to use. It comes with a pastry cutter (for top and bottom pastry) and a dough press.

 

I can't wait to test out my new toy .... and decided to make apple pie. I thought I have tried Grandma Ople recipe and blogged about it but could only find this recipe by Nigella.

 

 

  Apple Pie by Grandma Ople (Allrecipes.com)

 

(Original recipe makes 1 - 9 inch pie)        

Makes servings USMetricAdjust Recipe (Help)

     

1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie

        

1/2 cup unsalted butter

              

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

                   

1/4 cup water

                

1/2 cup white sugar

                

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

                           

8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced

                

(I added a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg plus a tblspn of vanilla and omit 1 tblspn of water to compensate the liquid)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.
2. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.
3. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.

All the ingredients. I halved the recipe

Store bought pastry - RM12.90

 

Apple filling is now ready!Smells heavenly~

 Based on recommendations, shortcrust pastry should be used for the bottom crust  while puff pastry for the top crust, to yield a better outcome. Since I bought the flexi pastry, I planned to use it for both top and bottom crusts.

peeping the pie while it's baking in the pie maker

 The pies are baked in about 10 minutes, so that's why the filling must be pre-cooked and cooled to avoid crusts become soggy. The pies can also be baked either open or after being enclosed with another piece of pastry.

oh my pie!

the final outcome ... filling was just nice, not too runny

 Oh I simply love, love, love this thingy!

 

Pie making is more convenient and less time consuming, and it's even speedier should one use store bought pastry ... which I plan to do ... unless I get some positive vibes then I would make homemade pastry .... it's just that the dough press tends to stick to the bottom pastry and moulding the bottom pastry according to the cavity is slightly challenging. 

 

Now the old saying, "as easy as a pie" is more relevant, isn't it?? hehehe ....

Watercress, Potato and Courgette Puree

The first time I saw watercress was during my search for water chestnuts in Village Grocer, 2 years back. I thought it was mint leaves. I heard that this veggie has an abundant of health benefits but we were not exposed too much to it.

2 days back, when I browsed through Annabel Karmel's book, nak cari idea for little button's bekal for next week, I came across this recipe that calls for watercress. 

Bought watercress at Jaya Grocer for RM3.80 and millet (500g, RM5.50) since kat rumah millet dah habis. A few bloggers said that this recipe is a bit runny but I plan to serve it with millet and calrose rice. Here's how I do it :

1 russet potato

1 medium zucchini

a small bunch of watercress

300 ml water (can use vegetable broth as well)

1. Peel the skin of potato and slice it. Put into a pot and pour water until cover all potatoes. Simmer for 5 minutes.

2. Trim the zucchini, (remember not to peel the skin as the skin contains most of the nutrients!) and chop it. Add to the potatoes and simmer for a further 5 minutes.

3. Lastly, add a small bunch of watercress (cut stalks off) and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.

Here's the end product :

Gave a bit to little button for his dinner, cecah dengan roti, he loves it!

Caramel cheesecake

Dalam freezer ade 500g of cream cheese  of which the expiry date dia dah hampir. Mase tu lah kelam kabut bukak segala drawer,buku resipi,internet cari resipi cheesecake yang guna 500g cream cheese. Bila ade 250g cc,mesti terjumpe resipi that calls for 500g cc. Ni dah ade 500g cc,resipi tu sume dan-dan menghilangkan diri. Resipi yg pakai 250g cc pulak bersepah2. 

So try lah resipi caramel cheesecake yani. Gigih tu membeli sour cream fresh cream sume2 jenis cream lah...berdebar-debar je hati ni...jadi ke tak jadi...last2 jadi pun!alhamdulillah...hari2 lepas dinner makan sepotong dgn air nescafe...nikmat betul rasa.

Resipi seperti di bawah:

• Krim
• 250g cream cheese - suhu bilik
• 3 biji telur
• 1cwn(200ml) sour cream
• 1cwn(200ml) fresh cream
• 120g gula
• 2 sudu besar corn starch
• beberapa titik vanila esen
• Lapisan bawah
• 100g biskut marie/ graham cracker
• 50g butter(cairkan)
• Caramel
• 1/4 cwn(50ml) fresh milk
• 80g gula

Cara-cara

1. Masukkan biskut ke dalam beg plastik. Ketuk-ketuk dengan kayu pencanai sehingga hancur. Masukkan butter dan ramas sehingga jadi berketul
2. Masukkan biskut ke dalam loyang. Tekan padat-padat biskut tadi.
3. Sediakan karamel. Masakkan gula dengan 1 sudu besar air sehigga perang. Padamkan api. Kemudian masukkan fresh milk. Ketepikan
4. Pukul cream cheese sehingga jadi bentuk krim. Masukkan gula -> esen vanila -> sour cream -> telur -> corn starch -> fresh cream ikut turutan sambil dipukul. Pukul sehigga jadi bentuk krim.
5. 
   Tuangkan krim ke dalam loyang. Letakkan karamel di atas cream tadi.
6. Bakar selama 30 minit pada suhu 200C dan turunkan suhu kepada 160C. Bakar lagi selama 30 minit. untuk mengelakkan hangus pada permukaan bolehlah letak aluminium foil selepas 30 minit pertama. Bakar secara double-boiler dgn meletakkan air suam di dalam dulang.

Oyster galore @ Ben's Independent Grocer

Baru-baru ni Encik Mon bitau yang dia ade course kat Maya Hotel dan the buffet spread was good. In fact,ade oyster served dan dia makan mau dekat 10 ketul....perghhh hehe. 

Pastu jumaat lepas masa kita jenjalan kat Big,kan ada a range of oyster  kat situ...tup2 Encik Mon ajak makan oyster. Dia kata dia dpt mkn oyster aritu,dia nak bagi pwincess makan gak...

Kat situ ade a few grades of oysters...pilih la nak yang besar,yang kecik,yang flat...price also different...there's Rm24 for 3 pcs,ada gak yang Rm120 per dozen...pilih la yang mana berkenan....

Kat situ boleh mintak dia masakkan terus jugak...style mcm jaya grocer gitu...ada cafe yang turut serve other kind of food as well...foei gras...pies...premium cakes

Oyster kat sini fresh....sedap,lenkali boleh try yg lain pulak. Thanks Encik Mon,semoga bertambah2 rezeki...ameen

Lychee Panna Cotta

Masa buka puasa beramai-ramai dengan mama papa, adik beradik semua ramadhan lepas, pwincess di-assigned untuk membuat dessert since yang lelain buat main dish. mmg itu pun yang kita hajati ... hehehe. Biasalah bulan ramadhan, mesti tekak kering, dan cuaca pun panas .... terpikir nak buat panna cotta. 

panna cotta memerlukan gelatin, so teringat kat almari mmg ade satu kotak halagel yang tak penah bukak .... excited laaa ni, nak merasmikan gelatin tu. sekali check2 expiry date .... baru je seminggu expired ... chaitttt geramnya ... sayang je terpaksa buang. pastu masa nak membeli halagel kat kedai, biasa bersepah-sepah nampak .... ni bile betul2 memerlukan, bayang satu pun tak nampak. last-last jumpa kat Giant. 

Pwincess refer ke 2 resipi yang lebih kurang sama - dari K.Nor dan jugak ohhlookbel dari sini



LYCHEE PANNA COTTA
resipi : K.Nor@SecubitGaram

Bahan:
1 tin laici
2 cawan susu low fat/full cream
2 sudu besar gula
3 sudu kecil gelatin ~ K.Nor guna gelatin halalgel
3 1/2 sudu besar air
1 /2 sudu teh esen vanila
1 paket jelly strawberi

Cara:
Ketepikan 5 - 6 biji laici. Blend lebihan laici bersama dgn 1 cawan jus laici.
Blend sampai betul2 halus dan tapis. Ambil air dan ketepikan.
Masukkan gelatin ke dalam mangkuk berisi 3 1/2 sudu besar air dan biarkan ia mengembang.
Masukkan susu, gula dan air laici yg ditapis tadi ke dalam periuk.
Masak hingga hampir mendidih dan hendaklah sentiasa dikacau.
Padamkan api dan masukkan vanila dan gelatin yg dah kembang tadi.
Kacau hingga sebati dan gelatin larut.
Biarkan sejuk, baru lah dituang ke dalam gelas.
Sejukkan dalam peti ais lebih kurang 3 jam.
Masak jelly mengikut arahan di kotak dan biarkan sejuk.
Tuangkan ke atas Lychee Panna Cotta perlahan2. (pastikan jelly dah sejuk dan panna cotta dah membeku/set supaya jelly tak tenggelam ke dalam panna cotta)
Masukkan kembali panna cotta ke dalam peti ais dan biarkan sejuk.
Hiaskan dgn hirisan laici sebelum dihidangkan.

nyaman!

With this, I also got the chance to merasmikan pyrex custard cup that I bought at Langkawi. A set of four, sebijik tu dalam RM8 kalau tak silap. Kat sini ade mau 2-3 kali ganda harga tu.