6 years since the first blog post on 13 September 2008: http://www.dishwithvivien.com/2008/09/happy-meals-durian-puffs/

Now averaging 150 unique visitors per day and Page rank has climb back to PR3 🙂

Here are 8 tries (in June and July this year) of bread making using Cornell bread machine bought on promotion for only RM299. Above is first try, i think it is some flour mixed with water and left it to autolyse for few hours before adding in flour.

mix in flour

then put on ‘dough’ function of the bread machine

Roll out dough individually and put on slices of cheese

done, looks ok but taste so dry and not nice at all

2nd try:

Above is quite good recipe of using a “roux” mixture. The roux mixture being 100g of bread flour mixed with 70g of boiling water, add more boiling water if the roux mixture is dry.

made into roll with sweet potato filling

looks nice

very good texture

3rd try:

making 2 potato bread using 2 recipes

forgot what is the difference between 2 recipes…

This is the more “liquid” recipe whereby the dough is very soft and more moisture

the left side is the one with less moisture and the individual rolls are less glued to each other

done

both bread are very soft, too soft for my liking though, one of it is very much “kuih” texture

4th try

making sausage roll using recipe using “roux” again

nice and soft

5th try:

filled with yam

6th try:

2nd time making bun filled with yam, and also filled with steamed mini ayamas sausages. Using a different recipe, remembered it to be just ok

400g flour

260 milk

70g sugar (2.5 Tbsp)

6g yeast (1.5 tsp)

1/4 tsp salt

50g oil (2.5 Tbsp)

7th try:

filled with cheese (Plain White Load recipe using Wu Chun Pao Recipe) *highly recommended

375g bread flour

30g sugar (1-1.5 Tbsp)

3/4 tsp salt

20g butter (add last)

1 tsp yeast

240g milk

Bake at 190 Celcius for 30 minutes

rising

fully risen and ready to be baked

8th try:

should be using the same plain white recipe from Wu Pao-Chun Champion Toast (吴宝春金牌土司)

filled with cheese slices inside

top with more mix cheddar cheese and baked in a pullman loaf tin

done, yummy, will want to make this cheesy loaf again, just like those bought from store

Below the complete bread recipe (roux technique) which i used
Basic Sweet Bread dough from Alex Goh “Magic Bread”

A
100g bread flour
70g boiling water

B
300g bread flour
100 plain flour
80g sugar
6g salt
20g milk powder
9g instant yeast Put on TOP

C
175g cold water
60g cold egg (I replaced with cold water)

D
60g butter (When all ingredients come together, pour in the melted butter, continue kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic)

1) Add boiling water from A into flour, mix until well blended to form a dough. Cover and set aside to cool. Keep it into fridge for at least 12 hrs. (I only left it in fridge for 1 hour)

2) Mix B until well blended. Add in C and knead to form rough dough. Add in A and knead till well-blended.

3) Add in D and knead to form elastic dough

4) Let it proof for 40mins or longer till it double in size, roll into loaf, Brush whisked egg on surface. Bake in a pre-heated 180C (356F) oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until turns brown. Remove from the oven and transfer onto a wire rack. Let cool completely.

5) Else divide the dough, mould it round. Rest for 10mins, then shape into buns/loaves, let rise until doubled and then bake at 350F.

We should have taken the KLIA express pass, but accidentally bought the KLIA transit ticket. The boarding area for both train are in different ends of KLIA sentral

first meal: Caesar salad in KLIA

Non-vege option in MAS flight, quite nice with spicy chicken, even though it look bland

hotel room in The Park Hotel, Anna Salai

toilet

shower

room with a clear glass dividing the bed and shower area

hotel swimming pool on the 8th floor

gym on 9th floor

breakfast

cornflakes and banana

omelette station

fruits in breakfast

sambar = dhal curry

paneer paratha

vada

steam fish

muffins

pastries

aloo paratha

my omelette

thosai available during dinner

very delicious home-made bread

dinner plate 1

dinner plate 2

dinner plate 3

dinner plate 4

dinner plate 5

dinner plate 6

fried bread with potato

aglio olio

basil tomato

in pesto, salty, generally the food in the hotel is very salty until we wrote in comment sheet and submit to the reception, then the food become less salty from that day onward

freshly made naan

apom is quite nice with cheese and mexican beans

very delicious mushroom pizza

extremely thin crust and super delicious!

very good banoffee pie

not liking this

dessert plate 1

dessert plate 2

dessert plate 3

dessert plate 4

Lunch in food court in office

chinese prawn fried rice, ok, tired of indian food and went for this one fine day

vegetable fried rice on another day

apna ka dhaba, our colleague in India brought us to this nice indian food for lunch 2 minutes drive from office

No. 8/113, Kavimani Salai, Mogappair West, Chennai

papadam with fresh mint dipping

naan/paratha/kulcha

Main course

rice/briyani

delicious chicken curry dish

yummy aloo paratha and kulcha

chicken briyani

India KFC Menu, everything in India comes in vege and non-vege options

KFC menu

office pantry, the food here is super cheap

this plate above cost only about 5o rupees (~RM2.70) prevailing currency rate 10,000 ruppees = RM540

office lunch meal 2, love the paratha here

office lunch meal 3

office lunch meal 4

office lunch meal 5: samosa at 10 ruppess (~50 cent)

madras coffee house in food court in office building

filtered coffee, slightly too sweet

nalas aappakadai serve food apom, but their gravy (chicken curry, mutton chetinad are nothing worth mentioning, disappointing actually)

nalas menu

tapao the apom and bought it up to office to eat

nandos in india are bigger portion (bigger chicken and sides) and same deliciousness

nandos menu 1

nandos menu 2

nandos menu 3

nandos menu 4

India Pizza Hut

firecracker pizza

Pizza Hut menu 1

Pizza Hut menu 2

Pizza Hut menu 3

Pizza Hut menu 4

So Cheezy Super Vegetables pizza, not nice as the cheese on the side taste like some fake nachos cheese sauce

There is a buy 1 get one free deal on every wednesday, and we got the above Paneer Vegetables pizza for free. Between the 2, super cheezy is just so so, the paneer pizza is better

pizza hut bill

India subway: Non Vege option

India subway: Vege option

Subway menu 1

Subway menu 2

My aloo patty (potato patty) with addition of egg is superb, love the spiciness of the potato patty

Starbucks india in Phoenix mall

My masala chai lattee is a spiced latte, not bad for me. But for those who don’t like cinnamon etc spice, it may be awful

ibaco ice cream in Express avenue mall, quite nice and cheap

My ice cream of 2 flavor cost only 114 ruppees (70 ruppees for 100g)

Hard rock nachos

humos dip platter, all the dips are really salty 🙁

chicken

tequila prawn, quite salty for me

my berry drink is really sweet 🙁

this is realllly good, Hard rock cafe cheescake: Baked cheesecake with honeyed sour cream topping is really delicious, the bottom is walnut biscuit crumb is really good as well

yummy!

Hard Rock cafe drink menu

Hard Rock cafe appetiser

Hard Rock cafe starter

total bill for 4 pax, only around RM50 per pax

sign in airport, 10,000 is only RM540, so little! Even when entry to India, we have to sign a custom declaration mentioning we have no more than 10,000 Indian ruppees!

cafe in Chennai airport

vege fried rice in airport, just so so and portion so small

Non vege meal in MAS plane back to Malaysia

Pringles in India are already produced under Kellogg’s

My dream panini grill, quite expensive: 5600 ruppees

Everest is one of the famous brand for indian spice, bought a sambbar masala for making dhal curry

my food loot from india

Gino Feruci Braga hotel located in braga, around RM140 per night for twin sharing room with breakfast. Not recommended for ladies staying alone as we witness 2 pretty ladies going into a room with door wide open and menS smoking while lying on bed.

clean bathroom

nice shower

our visit to convenience store located stone throw away

Pink Pomegranate Magnum, sweet milky, okay

Avocado frosties

buffet breakfast in our hotel

fruits

salad

sushi, okay

pasta, okay

our driver, paid him RM175 per pax for 2 full days of driving us around to outlet stores, supermarket etc include lunch and dinner (totaled 8 of us RM175 * 8 = RM1400) He came pick us around 8am and we back to hotel about 9pm/10pm for 2 days, nice and comfortable seats, only peeve is hard to get to the last row for those sitting behind

gift from our driver: layer cake, just ok, slightly dry

buying local snacks, mostly fried (fried banana, tempe, peanuts etc)

Visit to Toko 3 selling jeans at reasonable price (Levi’s is around RM100-200) Above is just a fake mannequin

Free length altering for jeans

Our first lunch: nasi padang in Mitra Sederhana Pasteur, this shop has many branches in Bandung. The dishes are appetizing and nice, except 2 items: the beef tendon are not probably braised and still very tough and beefy smell, one vege which probably just blanched with no taste and raw smell

Avocado milk with chocolate, not that nice, milky taste

Mitra Sederhana Pasteur in Jalan Pelajar Pejuang 45, No.64

Nice snacks outside a supermarket we visited: Srabi Notosuman Polos, coconuty snack

Free dinner included: Stone Cafe

Great view and cooling weather

dining room

Food included in our tour package: nasi penyet (menu price for this is about RM20 for each set containing rice, chicken, a small bowl of sweet sour soup which is too sweet for a soup supposedly should be savoury) Nice chicken dish though

Nice, rice is container in the banana leaf dome

complimentary fruits

Visit to a mall: Champelas Walk, they are many local shops around this area as well, but we opt to go lunch earlier instead :S Only realised many shops around when the driver driving us to our lunch destination

In supermarket: their kraft cheese are not refrigerated!

Best meal in this trip: the fried tofu is surprisingly very nice, crispy outside, but soft inside, the other dishes are very appetising as well when eaten with hot fluffy white rice

Shop Name: Kedai Belacan indonesian cuisine: Jalan Halmahera No.4 Bandung, West Java, Indonesia

Another shopping mall: Trans Studio

Avocado produced locally

Dinner to same nasi padang shop, but another branch. The dishes is nothing special now since we had it the day before, and the dishes are cold and probably better to dine in this shop for lunch time, the rice felt cold and slightly hard as well

Pisang keju, fried banana topped with grated cheese, yummy, IDR12,000 (almost RM4)

closed up

yummy, sweet and salty with firm banana flesh

nasi padang available in Air Asia Indonesia

beef, vegetables, fried anchovies with white nice, very nice and homey

Nasi Palembang

flavoured rice with beef stew, the beef is very sweet, not nice

chicken rice

wanted to have other dishes, but this is the only dish leftover, just ok

AirAsiaIndonesia

KartikaSari, bought it in airport

banana bread, hot out of oven when bought, can be kept for less than 1 week. IDR40,000, about RM11, taste just ok

Overall, i find the clothing in Bandung is not very cheap, just reasonable price, total expense (roughly):

Air ticket (all inclusive of meals, baggage etc): RM240

2 days tour (van transport + lunch + dinner): RM175

Hotel (3 nights per pax for sharing room): RM220

Spending money: RM500

Total ~ RM1100

Recipe: (adapted from Annabelle White)

2 oranges (boiled for 90 minutes, cooled, deseeded and blended) original recipe is 1.5 oranges

5 eggs

150 sugar (reduced, normally flourless orange cake use 1 cup of sugar which is about 220g sugar)

300g ground almond (originally recipe is 250g, due to my almond meal is coarser, i increased it to 300g)

1 teaspoon baking powder

Boiled the orange for 90 minutes changing the water 2 times, to remove the bitterness of orange

blend the boiled oranges

blended

Beat the egg for 1 of 2 minutes, add in orange puree and blend it again

Mix almond meal with baking powder together

egg mixed with blended orange

mix in all the ground almond

Pour into a greased and baking paper lined bottom springform pan

level it slightly

done

Overall, the taste and aroma is good with strong citrusy smell and almond aroma, but it is slightly too wet, perhaps due to me using “leftover” ground almond which are of coarser texture (finer texture was used to make macaron). Next time will use finer almond.

I did make this cake the 2nd time using fine ground almond, and up it to 320g as well (since original recipe state to use 1.5 orange, and i am now using 2 oranges, so it will probably be alright to up the ground almond A BIT 😉 hoping to have a less wet cake. And the 2nd time turn out ok, without the slight wetness.

NOTE: did tried to bake it at later time using more ground almond, and finer ones, ie 320g fine ground almond (with 2 boiled oranges weigh 325g before pureed), it did turn out less wet.