Saturday, November 8, 2008

Tomato Muffin - AD Baking Time

I must be in a high level of stress *__*
I've baked two items in one night.. Cheese Biscuits and Tomato Muffins...

Oh no, another muffins? Err.. so sorry yes it's another muffin. Why? Because I don't have any mixer here, and muffin doesn't require any (I miss my Tang-O so much!). And why tomato? Because I had four big ones I haven't touch since last week.

Baking here requires more trick and strategy. I brought along with me muffin tins and paper cup. Ms. Lingling has a set of cup and measuring spoons. The rest is about estimating and converting grams/litter to cups/spoons :D

I also have a mission to finish all baking stuff I've brought before I go back to Sg. Because it will be a waste if nobody uses them here. Another thing is to use whatever in the fridge since so many times Ms. Lingling (and plus me now) tend to buy things but forget to eat them.

So here we are with tomato muffins :D

Well, I used my basic muffin recipes, but I think the taste is not so nice :(
I should have made savory muffin with tomato instead making a sweet one. This one is lost in between - mmh, ok, next time will be better :)










Cheese Biscuit - AD Baking Time

Mhh these biscuits are way too salty :(
I used Edam Cheese and slightly salted Lurpark Butter - maybe I should use the unsalted butter, but they're really too salty for me. Must eat it with coffee or hot chocolate...

And today all my meals got cheese inside... Hoo, Singapore, will I return to you in a good shape? :P














Saturday, November 1, 2008

HB Famous Macaroni Schotel - AD Baking Time

It's weekend and for the past few days I'm absolutely in my baking moods. Me and Ms. Ling Ling went to Abu Dhabi Co-op yesterday, it's like Singapore's NTUC Fair Price - a hypermarket owned by goverment, I think.

It wast the most fun outing :P since I got the chance to spend quite times there and browsing around - studying what they have here in Abu Dhabi compared to Singapore or Indonesia. I found that baking stuff is quite hard to find (please, anyone lives here, correct me if I'm wrong). I've tried Carrefour and this Co-op but the selections are very limited. But they do have more options with cheese and somehow their cheese is so cheaper than Singapore. Huwww... it's not fair :P

So I've made my plan to make baked pasta and today here it is :) It's one of Hihihi Bakery's signature food, and the recipe taken from Ci' Ine's blog - modified by me (Ci Ine, terimakasih banyak untuk resep2nya). Actually months ago I've made a posting about it, but anyway, enjoy the pictures here.


I used big macaroni elbows, and some Iranian herb cheese

(I can't really remember the names or the origin)

Fresh baked and ready :)

Would you like some?

Mmh, want some more ma'am?

This is actually Mark and Spencers can soup - I added carrot, beef ham and salami and some cheese cubes inside. Mmhhh, tak terkatakan!

White Grape Muffin - AD Baking Time

It's quite challenging since it's not my kitchen and I don't have my equipment with me. Now it’s been the 2nd time I baked here and I feel veerrry happy  :D

When my boss assigned me to go to Abu Dhabi for three weeks, kitchen and baking were ones of my biggest concerns. I couldn’t get away so long from baking… even if I have deadlines, usually I still do baking at least once a week. So I was so curious whether the office apartment has an oven or not :P

It’s a good thing I wouldn’t stay in a hotel – but in my branch office apartment – so at least there should be a kitchen. So I was really hoping that the kitchen has an oven – and when one of my colleague said that Ms. Lingling – one of AD staff who lives there – ever told him that she’s tried to make cakes, I was so happy because it means she has an oven. Hehehe… so easy to make me happy :P

So I started to think of things which don’t require too many things like mixer etc. So I remember reading mbak Vania’s blog about her moving to Mumbai, where she brought along muffin tins and baking powder with her because muffin is the easier thing to make. I thought it’s a brilliant idea, so between my clothes, shoes, toiletry, and 4 kg of documents and a very big laptop (from the office – whew they’re really trying to kill me), I put 2 muffin tins, some amount of paper cups, baking powder and baking soda, and two measuring spoon and cup inside my suitcase.

My mind was filled with ideas – what can I make without mixer (and scale :P) – muffin, brownies, baked pasta, and bread pudding. Mmh… I was glad I’ll have something to do with my free time there – and baking always makes me happy.

Last weekend I made cream cheese brownies. I brought the recipe with me along the way from Singapore – printed in A4… one of my surviving kits :D

Tonight as I didn’t know what to do after the whole afternoon, I started to think about baking again. I remember there are some white grapes in the fridge, and coincidentally we also have white grape juice. The other basic ingredients are in hands, so I browsed the net for basic muffin ingredients.

I found one in Allrecipes.com, looked at a glance at the reviews and marched in to the kitchen. I halved the recipe and substituted the milk with the grape juice – actually because I thought I didn’t have any milk (but then I had). I reduced the sugar a bit and substituted the oil with melted butter.

I put amount of white grapes (they’re quite ripe), put them in the oven, and voila…

They’re done and I was as happy as a happy bee: D