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Chap Goh Meh and Total Lunar Eclipse on 20th February 2008

The finale to Chinese New Year celebration is Chap Goh Meh or in Hokkien means 15th night. It is a day when fair maidens will go out for a night with their chaperon on a full moon night. Of course, I must mention that the Chinese Lunar calendar uses the numbers based on the moon. The first day of the lunar month is when the new moon appears. Therefore, on the 15th of the month or chap goh meh, we get a full moon.

However, do you know that on 20th or rather 21st for us over here in Malaysia, there is going to be a total lunar eclipse?

In the late night hours of Feb. 20, 2008, a total lunar eclipse will dazzle the night sky. And this lunar eclipse may be worth staying up for, because it will be the last one until December 2010.

Residents of the Americas, Europe and Africa will have the best view of this eclipse.

Here in the United States, the entire eclipse will be visible for the majority of the country. However, residents on the West Coast will miss out on watching the early stages of the eclipse, as it begins before moonrise.

(Source : NASA)

Unfortunately, or fortunately, we won’t be able to witness the lunar eclipse. Fortunately is because some fengshui masters said eclipse is bad luck. Whatever…

But what is most interesting on Chap Goh Meh is the orange throwing event by the sea. Long time ago, as in 60 years ago maybe, the girls were not allowed out of their homes to mix with boys. However, on Chap Goh Meh, they were let out of the home and they would throw oranges and make wishes. In Hokkien, it goes something like “Tim kam, chua ho ang” or “Throw Mandarin orange, marry good husband.”

Of course, no one throw oranges for that purpose anymore, I think? There is always online dating websites. LOL.

And the sweetest thing on Chap Goh Meh is the pengat which Penangites cook. I have the
recipe for pengat also on Food Haven. As a Penangite, I must insist again that Pengat is NOT bubur cha cha. Once you tasted our authentic Penang Pengat, you will know what I mean.

I have bought all the stuffs meant to cook pengat. There are still many ingredients which I haven’t bought yet. So, watch this space for the pengat recipe.

Popularity: 45% [?]

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Anyone knows a good recipe for sherry trifle?

My son went to this birthday party of an Irish girl and he came back and asked me if I know how to make sherry trifle. I do not even know what is sherry except for what I read in novels and story books. I know English ladies drink sherry to get a high in one of those Barbara Cartland’s romance novel. LOL.

The party is at Stella Maris, which I believe belongs to the Catholic church. It is the first time I have been there and am surprised to find that it is actually quite a large property consisting of rooms and apartment units by the sea. I have some stay-in-concentration camp this Feb. 16th and 17th and I am ‘forced’ to stay there for two days. Initially, I thought Stella Maris, being part of the Catholic church must be some some old bungalows with ghosts of the Brothers and Fathers (priests) roaming around. Hahaha.

Anyway, one of the thing my son ate was the sherry trifle. He found the information on Wiki but I am not going to try something unless someone has a better recipe to share.

This is the sherry trifle. Both photos are taken by my son.

So, do you have any recipe for some sherry trifle that guarantees to make one a little tipsy and talk rubbish? You know….like some lawyer who claimed he can talk to President George Bush after 2 and a half glasses of wine?

Popularity: 10% [?]

Pure Indulgence - Desserts

ANNOUNCEMENT

Folks, I am pleased to announce that Cooking Island has their own website now and you can order all the cooking ingredients I used over here. They can ship all over Malaysia. Both Lawrence and Erina said they are currently very, very tied up and hence, I am making a simple announcement first. Their website is : http://cookingisland.net If you are in Penang, better hurry up and grab some of their Chinese New Year cookies. I will feature it on Monday (when traffic is higher). They are healthy, delicious, special and never tasted before varieties. The price? As reasonable as those you found by the roadside. Hurry, hurry, before they ran out of stock!

THE BELOW ARE FROM BAKERZIN, Queensbay Mall.

This is the menu. Pure Indulgence. Indeed.

Sweet pleasure. A chocolate heaven.

My double latte.

The desserts in small portion which they call tapas. Sort of like dim sum style, small, dainty and touches the heart. Tapas mean ‘covered’ in Spanish as in covered in the charge. You get free tapas when you order the main meals.

The creme brulee closed up.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Paddington House of Pancakes

I admit that I am not a fan of pancakes. Especially when they are loaded with ice-cream, nuts, fruits and whipped cream. I prefer my pancake to be plain with just some maple syrup and melting butter.

We were at The Curve yesterday, after having our lunch. My three younger kids did not eat lunch with us and therefore, we were looking for something for them to eat. I remember Paddington House of Pancakes vaguely. (Upon return, I found out it was Boo who blogged it.)

I am quite annoyed that Paddington doesn’t offer ice cold water eventhough they are offering sweetish desserts. We had ordered our drinks (mostly ice-blended and coffee) and ice-cold water would be perfect to wash the sweetness. (Secret Recipe is not stingy with their ice water.)

The cutleries were placed in a small saucer and plonked on our table without settings. I mean, there aren’t that many customers as it was past lunch time and on a working day. Surely it doesn’t take that long to place the forks and knives? Moreover, no spoons were offered eventhough we are ordering icecreams.

If you see the liquid ‘hanging’ in mid-air, it is not through sheer photography trick (can be done with sports mode though). It is this gluey, thick dark liquid which is neither caramel, chocolate nor maple. I still can’t figure out what it is! It was supposed to accompany our RM16.80++ pancake with two scoops of ice-cream, peaches, strawberries and nuts. The brown liquid didn’t complement the taste of the pancake. Anyway, what we got was not pancake but crepe which is a thin layer of flour.

This is the aftermath of the pancake after my son ate the icecream and the crepe. A mixture of peaches, strawberries, nuts and raisins.

This is the second pancake we ordered. It is some fried bananas wrapped in crepe and sprinkled with cinnamon and icing sugar. More ice-creams accompanied the crepe. I think the price is RM14.80++. Portion was small as my toddler can easily walloped the two bananas filled pancake/crepe.

Paddington House of Pancakes has a LOT of varieties of pancakes. From savoury ones (salty) to desserts. Some looks like pizza whilst other are tiny buckwheat pancakes. These are served with salads and other accompaniments. If you are a fan of pancakes, then give it a try. However, if you are not a fan of pancake like me, stick to ‘normal’ food. I prefer to go to Italian restaurants to have my crepes. The Italians cook better crepes and presentation was more eye-catching too.

We had coffee, chocolate milkshake (another gripe is they don’t serve vanilla flavour milkshakes) and two pancakes. The total bill comes to about RM60+ which is rather pricey for some snack portions. Anyway, I can cook crepes perfectly at home and a tub of branded icecream, a tube of whipped cream, a can of peaches and fresh bananas will not amount up to RM60. (and the portion can serves the whole family!)

Sorry, Paddington House of Pancakes, if your waitresses are more pleasant and smile more, I will probably be not so critical. However, being so rigid with children certainly not augurs well for restaurants like yours. No, we don’t have vanilla milkshake. No, we cannot make pancakes with just peaches and vanilla icecream. No, we don’t serve ice-cold water. No……

Popularity: 22% [?]

Recipe : Marble cake (tips to avoid lousy cakes)

I have the cake recipe for Butter Cake in my old blog. So, I shall skip the recipe parts and tell you why your cake sometimes turned out lousy.

Making nice cakes involve precise measurements. One cannot skip or add extra ingredients. For e.g., my cake recipe needs only 4 eggs. On that day, my naughty toddler had cracked 5 eggs which I just bought from the supermarket. Therefore, I used 5 eggs. The cake turned out a bit hard and crispy on the outside.

The butter and sugar must be beaten fast and hard to avoid the butter melting too much. The butter and sugar has to end up fluffy and white. To get the best result, use a electric cake mixer. Nowadays, they are sold for less than RM100.

Add in egg one by one, alternating with flour. I.e. One egg, fold (as in gentle motion with a wooden spoon), add flour, fold, one egg, fold, flour etc.

I was making marble butter cake. So, just take out one quarter of the batter (after completed mixing) and add some cocoa powder plus some cooking chocolate.

Just plop the chocolate and white portion alternately. Then swirl with a chopstick.

Note that some cracks appeared on the top of the cake? It is because the cake tin is too small and there is not enough place for the cake to rise.

My computer where I stored all my photos crashed. So, probably there will be no updates for a day or two.

Popularity: 54% [?]