Breakfast Guilty Pleasure

I got very hungry just before reaching lunch time, and it's because of what I ate for my breakfast.
I almost never dare to skip breakfast because of a saying that says breakfast is important. Unfortunately I often am being careless about the nutrition fact and the quantity of my intake by stuffing my stomach with things that only pamper the taste buds of mine. This is the picture of my very light but high in calorie breakfast

The one that is so special to me is not that Hagen Dazs ice-cream, but it's the ones wrapped in leaves.
For information, they are not any sort of stuffed rice or rice filled with something inside. They are fermented glutinous rice, or its traditional name is Tape. This one is special to me because I never saw Tape Ketan wrapped in leaf like that before my in-law gave some to us on previous day. I like Tape Ketan very much and this tape tastes even nicer. I think the leaf adds a unique taste to it, and the bake process enhances the taste.
Adding choco ice-cream was definitely a big no-no, vanilla flavoured ice-cream is always a good companion for tape. However, there will be no next time for this kind of breakfast! I need to care more of my stomach and future health :-/

Cooking Made Easy

"I do like cooking, but I can't guarantee you will like what I cook," this is my default intro words whenever got asked if I can cook. Yes, I'm not confident with my cooking, because even though I follow a recipe, the result is unpredictable ! It's somehow a tough job for me :-D
So to prevent disappointment in the future -when the tongue touches my cooking, I always say that kind of sentence.

I like to try recipes that look scrummy, and -the important thing- easy to follow by me. I always check the appearance or the photo of the prepared food when I search a recipe on internet, because it's motivating, you know.

Got motivated is also what I feel when watching the video of Chef Ariane Duarte preparing some economical and simple Summer recipes, because she prepares scrummy looking Sirloin with homemade steak sauce and cauliflower puree from things that can be bought easily from most supermarket -on that video all stuffs are easily found at Walmart. The sauce used to be her secret recipe, and wow -this is something healthy but tasty that I won't mind to eat- her cauliflower puree is said taste mouthwatering that a kid won't even know that it's from cauliflower!! Trust me, just by watching it, makes you feel like want to lap your monitor :-D

This site also show me how it is very easy and also affordable to make Vanilla Ice Cream Cake, and it looks like a fun activity too for kids. I won't ask my little niece and nephew though, because I'm sure they will have too much fun and mess everything before the cake is ready :))

You Can See More Life Made Easy Videos Here on iVillage.com. This seems already boost my confidence in cooking, hope this is not temporary :)

Pull me up

Ho avuto questa ricetta di sabato scorso dal mio professore, mi piace molto tiramisù!!


Ingredienti per due persone:
200gr Mascarpone
100gr ca biscotti "Savolardi"
2 uovo
Caffe/ Alcool
Cacao in polvere
200gr zucchero

Dividere il tuorlo dell'uovo dal bianco
Montare il bianco dell'uovo con una frusta
Unire il tuorlo allo zucchero e al mascarpone
Mescolare, poi aggiungere il bianco montato e creare un impasto omogeneo
In una teglia mettere un primo strato di impasto
Immergere un po' di biscotti nel caffe e metterli sopra allo strato d'impasto
Ripetere l'operazione fine alla fine, l'utimo strato deve essere d'impasto
Infine coprire la superfice con il cacao in polvere
Mettere in frigo per circa 1 ora.

Hhmmm...gusto celestiale nella bocca, c'e Tiramisu.
Ma attento del' influenza aviaria!! :-P

Photo by UncleVinny

Still Mango

The Häagen-Dazs Ice Cake that I ordered for my Pa's birthday was great, much better, fresher and prettier than Bakerzin's Mango Mousse Cake. The whole family were enjoying it.

Last Saturday I was a bit hopeless that I couldn't find a nice substitute for Mango Mousse cake from Bakerzin. My family and I always ordered that same cake for many occasions. The only alternative that I could think was Häagen-Dazs.

Then some friends suggested me Secret Recipe. One friend said Secret Recipe makes fresh cake and he even told me that it also has Mango cake though it's not a mousse cake one. Most of those friends were complimenting Secret Recipe cheese cakes, and I don't really fancy cheesecake. However I still went there with my friends to check how the Mango cake really looks like and to see its other cakes.
I was not satisfied with what I saw. This was not because the cakes were not scrumptious but because they just didn't look scrumptious enough to my eyes
Their prices are very reasonable compared to those at Bakerzin though.

Since I didn't want to take a risk, we then went to another Shopping Mall to find Häagen-Dazs. Unfortunately –which is good because that means it's fresh- all the cakes there can only be ordered 4 days in advance. I was almost regretting myself for not preparing it much earlier, until the waiter told me about the ice-cake type that can be ordered 2 days in advance and the price is reasonable since Häagen-Dazs has been known worldwide for its super premium ice-cream quality. So it I ordered -I forgot the name!!- the ice-cake which is actually 1.5 kg ice cream in a cake form and it's made of strawberry ice cream and our favourite Mango.
The best thing is they even provide a free delivery service for that, I think it's because my place is not very far from there.

There is a bit turn-off though, I found out later from its website that for my purchase I would actually be entitled for four stamps, and with ten stamps collected within a five-months period I would be able to get Häagen-Dazs Super Premium Club (SPC) Membership.

Oh well, nothing is perfect.

Fermented Black Glutinous Rice

A.k.a Tape Ketan Hitam, one of my favourite Indonesian foods.
It has sweet, a bit sour and a unique alcohol flavour (contains 6-10% alcohol).
There are actually 3 colours of Tape Ketan in the market: black, green and red.
Black is what I like the most.
Tape Ketan making might seem easy, but the proper result is a bit hard to get. Sometimes it tastes too sour, sometimes too pungent, sometimes it's tasteless, sometimes either the grains become too soft or hard still.

But tape ketan hitam from Peuyem Ketan Istimewa Cimahi really suits my taste and reminds me of the taste of our long ago home-made Tape Ketan Hitam. Mom never makes tape ketan hitam again since long ago, tired of cooking stuffs :-)
Grâce à my Mom's friend who almost always brings us that Tape whenever she's back from Bandung.

If anyone by any chance visit Indonesia and is interested in tasting traditional food, don't miss Tape Ketan Hitam.
Anyone in Indonesia can find the best taste Tape so far here:
Peuyeum Ketan "Istimewa"
Jln. SMP No. 1
Ph. +62 22 6654064
Cimahi-Bandung

Remember, it's better to serve it cold.
Let me continue my slurp...slurp...... :-)