gina's 23rd

tomorrow gina (the nem) turns 23. above is the nem and her cake( blackberry cheesecake, topped/garnished with strawberries)

hating charsiew

It's Saturday and I wanted nasi goreng. I have this vegetarian charsiew meat in my fridge that I bought a while ago from the local Taiwanese grocer. I still don't like the taste, I think I just don't like charsiew flavour. So I tried masking the flavour with tom yum paste.

Result: very faint hint of the charsiew flavour. i wouldn't put that much tom yum paste in next time and perhaps green peas would help the color and nutritional content a bit more.

sang merah putih

Can't really celebrate this year. Gina is out with fever all week, I have a tonne of thing to do.

moshi moshi bento

Chawan mushi with prawns, onigiri, tuna salad, prawns & smoked trout, cucumber

bekal monster

I love japanese animation, but my cooking mood seems to always emerge when I'm watching them. Last night I made pandan bread after watching Yakitate Japan from episode one again. Anyway, I let my dough rise twice in hope that I'd achieve that snowy softness, it came out very cakey, soft nevertheless. The pandan essence smells nothing like pandan. Yuen's market sells frozen pandan but that won't do. I dream of being able to cook with real pandan again.

Tonight I'm watching Ichigo Mashimaro. I had to pause it every now and then to try to read the Chinese subtitle that seems to flash by. The itch to cook took over and then off I went to the kicthen. My ingredients are limitted, I'd like to have some cucumber, that would go well with the tuna salad. For more details, please click on the picture. That will take you to my Flickr page and you'd be able to see little notes.

我在想。。。 台灣便當跟日本的 bento 有什麽分別呢?

chocobomb

Lagi ngantuk pas selesai bikin kue ini. menurut rencana tadi maunya mocha mousse cake, tapi akhirnya error mulu. moussenya nga jadi karena tadi coklatnya kiki masukin ke microwave (karena males dipanesin pelan-pelan). begitu kuning telur dimasukin kok coklatnya tiba-tiba jadi keras...! nothing ever goes according to plan. telur yg udah disiapin buat mousse akhirnya buat quiche bawang. kemudian, kue ini jadi mocha cake bersandwich whipped cream dan dilapisi hazelnut ganache. yg bulat diatas itu hasil coklat yg dimicrowave tadi, dihiasin biji kopi.

pizza

I like to be a rebel when it comes to create traditional dishes. Far back is pizza al funghi with aiolli sauce base. The one on the front has prawn topping marinated with morrocan seasoning that i found in my spice cupboard. I hadn't made my own mayonaise for quite a while now and i really enjoyed it. I love the feeling of dough sticking to my hands, it's like a clingy puppy that you need to treat with love.

I'm graduating again in December, this time from my Biochemistry Honours degree and I'm going to move to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia for 2 years. My parents are going to be really upset (I haven't told them, thank god they don't believe in internet). I still really want to do a phd, but not straight away.

I visited KL twice this year and I absolultely love the city, the environment, the pace. Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia are really similar culturally; Indonesia is slightly different. Singapore is a bit fast even though it's the perfect city for biotech. Indonesia is out of the question; I'd have no freedom. Malaysia is just right. :)

The most delicious thing I had while I was there in June was the deep fried oyster mushroom in Jalan Alor. I stayed at the Royale Bintang (previously known as Novotel) and the place is just a 5 minute walk away from the hotel.

l'ennui

i decided to bake, at 8.58 tonight. it's peanut butter cream sandwiched between layers of mocha sacher. i accidentally added too much ground coffee... happy birthday, chére blier.

le petit volcan

i call this the little volcano because of the dangerous amount of chili involved in the making. the chilli dough wraps tomyam flavoured vegetarian mince and chili. only for the brave and chili resistant mutants. if you can eat one bird eye chili (cili padi [malay]/cabe rawit [indo]) without crying, you can take this.

anti social

for the anti-social in all of us:
pan fried black sesame crusted ocean trout on a bed of spaghetti.
who says cooking for one isn't fun?

croissant

My first successful batch of croissants. In the picture is Gina's stuffed pig, Zai-Pi, with a mini croissant that I experimented with. I made them with lower fat content than the conventional croissants and increased fibre power. The texture was just as flaky and inside it's soft... so soft. (^o^)

For my own croissant recipe please click here.
To find out more about yeast and solution temperature click here.
For other illustrated croissant recipe click here.

Happy baking! I apologize for the lack of illustration guide. The next time I make croissant, I’ll get pictures of the stages.

cece and her birthday bouquet

Not completely unrelated to food or the midnight bakery.
This is my sister, my original taster, and her birthday bouquet.

quiche

新年快樂

call it good sign, i dreamt that the tree in front of my house, on the right side of the drive way, was fruiting with massive red ripe tomatoes. gina arrived just in time when i took out a rather strange looking ladder and we spent a bit of time setting it up to make sure it was stable. when i was up closer, i noticed that the tree was bearing rambutan, tomatoes, red capsicum, purple plums....

(^o^) happy new year everyone. wishing you happiness, health, wealth, love, luck and world peace. :P

spaghetti marinara

For Cece, a seafood addict, the funnest sister in the world, a funky banker and an awesome photographer.

Boentoet Jahoet

tadinya mo kiki kasi nama roti buntut, tapi rasanya kok boring gitu.. kaya ikut-ikutan sop buntut. wehehehe, jadi ganti aja namanya yang unik dikit. buntutttt yahuttt [boentoet jahoet]. *lol* spicy marinated prawns wrapped in bread dough. the dough is glazed with the marinate and sprinkled with black sesame seeds. i love the spiciness in this, but maybe next time i should mix in some chopped red chili into the dough to really bring out the indonesian flavour. nyam!

Selamat Ulang Tahun, Mama

If I could go up to the sun and take a morceau of its light to brighten everyday of your life, I'd happily burn and roast. But I'm not an astronaut, nor do I have wings to take me there. But I have hands, eggs, butter, sugar, fruits, jelly and knowledge of biochemistry and cakery to create something delicious yet healthy. ^^ Hehehe. Happy birthday, Mama. 祝你永遠幸福,永遠快樂, 永遠看起來象25歲的美女.

salty goodness

sautéed portabello with garlic, asparagus & anchovies pizza with cracked seasalt & drizzled with the new bottle of cold pressed extra virgin gourmet avocado oil that i bought just now. ah, the red thing there is thinly sliced chilli, gives the pizza a bit more of a bang.

like superglue

the midnight baker is finally confirmed a UQ graduant for graduation ceremony on the 7th of Decembre, 2PM. :P if you click into the picture and if you're wondering why i blacked out two rows... it's because i have a double degree. kakak, that's right. BSc(Biochemistry)/BA(French language & Mathematics). *tears of joy* after 3 months of worrying that i might fail my last semester. it's been one hell of a year and i'm still in one piece and unbreakable... like superglue thanks to everyone who kept me sane; Cece, Gina, Maša, Crystal, Gumby, Papa & Mama. i love you!!!

watch this space for some crazy cake coming up real soon.

crystal

Crystal 生日快樂!!!

mamamia macadamia

Selamat Ulang Tahun Stevana!!!

what you see: crème ganache blanche, strawberry fans, white and dark chocolate walls, macadamia nuts & pink ribbon.

what you don't: chocolate sponge cake, strawberry cake, macadamia whipped cream, 2 days worth of Bengawan Solo song playing over and over again and a happy family gathering. (^^)

headline news

*WARNING: pictures not for viewing of crabs under 1 month old*

Over the weekend came a disturbing news about the masacre of crabs. The victims were kidnapped from their homes and sold for $10/3 at a human shopping centre. Three in particular were reported to be bought by a human by the name of Kiki and her sister who later cooked and made a fiesta out of the incrabane killings.

Gelap

These are low sugar hazelnut brownies. I've decided that feeding people with artery clogging food stuff isn't really going to help my karma. The centre square is topped wtih ganache and roasted hazenut. The rest are completely glazed with ganache and topped with pecans and lindt's dark chocolate.

NOIRE

looks familiar? I wanted to experiment with chocolate curls. I made a mini one so that I could do a miniature Noire but Phillip ate a chunk of it... we worked around it and covered it in white but I forgot to take pictures before he ate it for real. maybe next time. Hehehe.

Luna de la lune

Welcoming 中秋節 (Chinese MidAutumn Celebration) or also known as Moon Festival.

I wish I'm home. It's a pity that Phillip doesn't like peanut.

¡Feliz cumpleaños!

Cakes are cold tasteless ornaments without the warmth of laughters of friends and family to celebrate the occassion with you. The surprise party was very nicely planned; I'm glad i took that extra double shot espresso to attend it. Hahahahaha. ¡Feliz cumpleaños, Miguel!

Sunday Night

Sate Pan

Khuntien #2, a special bread named after my hometown (written as pronounced in Teochew dialect). It's basically grilled prawns wrapped inside sweet bread dough on skewers and then baked.

Sisa Kemarin

Duluuu skali aku suka ngumpulin ranting kering dari pohon belimbing buat bikin api unggun di kebun belakang. Hidung si Papin pernah kebakar karena ngendus api waktu masi mungil. Kita masak agar-agar di kaleng bekas susu kental manis sampe asapnya itemm banget, dan setelah dinyam-nyam g sakit batuk seminggu. Ini buktinya kita belom kapok. Regina, Aban dan g nge-test drive mini BBQ grill yg dibeli Soikim pake sisa makanan yang nga sempat diabisin waktu 火鍋 / shabu-shabu minggu lalu ditambah Roti Bakar Bandung / Ropita. nyam.nyam.nyam.nyam.nyam

kurowa-san

It doesn't look too much like croissant from shape and texture, this is my first attempt.

white lie

L’inspiration n'arrive pas à quelqu'un qui le cherche… et c’était moi à vendredi. Je n’ai rien de recette secrète, je ne sais pas ce que je vais faire jusqu’à le moment j'y commence. À la photo est White Lies, un gâteau de chocolat blanc avec beaucoup de fraises. Joyeuse anniversaire Regina!

Peachy Peng-Loti

The things that fascinated me most as a kid when we travelled were buffet breakfasts at hotels, and I'm still crazy about them to this day. As a kid, I used to think that danish pastry was egg yolk on a piece of pretty toasted bread with loads of sugar. This is my own version, it's not perfect but I will get there. Thank you to my genious food photographer Regina/Inem and also to my critic Phillip/Aban for his very constructive advices and comments.

blood on the dance floor

bread smorgasbord

Went nuts on bread today. Hahah. these are just the usual... there's basil & sundried tomatoes, chocolatté, red bean paste and tuna mayo.

Dans La Famille

My cousin Phillip in his kitchen. I rescued this picture from my computer's trash bin. (^o^) He's too cool!!!

chilli delight

Finally a picture of Kiki's fried tofu & the special okonaise sauce. This one on the picture is for my cousin Phillip, one of them was secretly stuffed with fresh chili/cabe rawit. It was Gina's and my attempt to wake him. hehehe. Turns out he's immune to chilli anyway.

Kitchen Magic

I should have taken pictures of my fried tofu. heheh, I'm back in action today. I made some mocha hot cross buns tonight. The house is nice and warm, filled with chocolate smell.

Domino au Chocolat

Cookie Monster

Laksa Udang

Amah

My Amah, who passed away this morning

Max Brenner

I love Balmain, I loveee Sydney!! There's so much to do, so much to see, so much life happening after 5 PM, so many little stores. The best eat here I've found is Chu 妈妈的台湾小吃... The first time I went, Ju took me there about 3 years ago. I'm hooked

Le Diable dans la Forêt

This is the love child of Devil's Food Cake & Black Forest... I call it Le Diable dans la Forêt .

Kokobombastique!

Kokobom is ol ebaut pinat, almon, kofi en tu meni difrend taips of coklat. It is definetli de wei tu go tu mek yor dei beter... wi stard with e dens coklat-pinut-almond kek, koverd with e leyer of coklat, e leyer of wip krim, copd coklat pises, ganisd with coklat bater krim en glesd ceri.

You want a piece of me!?

These two cakes cost me 6 hours in the kitchen and a nightmare about chocolate butter cream, and you know... I really loved it, except for the nightmare bit.

Ambruadul

Tadinya bingung nih mau dikasi nama apa, trus berdasarkan komposisi makanan ini, akhirnya Kiki beri nama Ambruadul. Komposisinya: roast-potato sisa kemarin , capsicum/paprika hijau, sambel hijau ala Padang, trus keju Feta... bawahnya saus tomat yg buanyak banget, tambah oregano dan bawang putih cincang. Eng-ing-eng, g jamin nga bakalan keracunan, buktinya Kiki masih idup... walaupun kekebalan perut ini sebenarnya berkat rajin jajan di luar pagar SD dan SMP.

Les tours de chocolat

Voila, Les trois tours de chocolat for Hennu’s friends. All I was told was that three of her friends were having a sort of birthday party. I assume that it’s the Three Musketeers. Happy birthday, girls (or boys) !

I should start a business. Any keen investors out there?

Hot Cross Buns

These are Mocha hot cross buns with chocolate crosses, minus cinnamon (just because I don't like it). I'm practicing before Easter bunnies take over the world.