Recharged, re-energised and relax

 

No…this is not Dubai!

It’s the Golden Palm Tree Resort in Sepang, Malaysia.

My family and I spent a relaxing weekend there recently. After a very hectic week, a weekend getaway like this is really god sent. We have a week’s accommodation at this 5 star resort. However, due to the school and work, we could only spend the weekend there :(

We arrived on Friday night (around 10pm). It was just a 1 1/2 hour drive from home to this resort. However, along the way, we pit stopped for a scrumptious seafood dinner (thus rendering a near 3 hours journey)

The staff at the resort were extremely friendly and accommodating. Despite not being able to locate our reservation, they upgraded us to a larger villa.

This is the Villa that we spent our weekend, It’s the Ivory Palm Villa which can accommodate up to six persons.

 

The view inside the villa. Notice the huge king size bed in the master bedroom. The master bedroom opens out to the balcony overlooking the Straits of Malacca.

 

The second bedroom comes with twin beds with fresh crisp linen that makes you want to dive in and snuggle underneath those sheets. This is the room that my kids chilled out and they even spend time studying in there!!!

 

The hall/ living room comes equipped with a plasma TV and internet connectivity.

     

 

   The dresser is fixed with his and her  wash basin. Love those fresh and clean towels.

   There is even a sunken bath tub in the master bathroom!!!

 

 

 

 

Love these framed pictures.

The atmosphere around this resort is calming and relaxing. The staff were well trained and very friendly. We spent most of our time just lazing around and soaking up all the calming vibes and de-stressing. We did not venture to the beach front as there were lots of jelly fishes around. To stay fit, DH & I spent some time in the gym (quite well equipped) while my girl swam in the swimming pool.

Food was plentiful, with buffet spreads for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Being small eaters, we did not patronise all of them.

  

   We opted for steamboat at their beach restaurant for dinner on Saturday night. We had Tomyam & herbal steamboat!. See how my eldest & youngest enjoying their meal. We also had some chicken satay to complete the meal.

 

     

Desserts during Lunch on Sunday.

Overall, we enjoyed the stay at Golden Palm Tree Resorts, Sepang. The resort is relatively self contained and is perfect for honeymooners and those who are looking forward to a quiet and relaxing vacation. The landscape is beautiful and serene. It’s a pity I did not take more pictures of this place. We left on Sunday evening as we need to get back to urban life with schools and work on Monday.

Came home de stressed and ready for the challenges of the week ahead. :D

Moist Chocolate Bundt Cake

 

It was my significant other half’s birthday a couple of days ago. Since DH does not fancy birthday parties, the occasion was just a very private family affair.

I had planned to made him his favourite “Steamed Yam Cake”. Stayed up late on the eve and steamed a tray of the Yam Cake. However, it was a disaster! I must have miscalculated the amount of water to be added and the cake was a tad too hard. Poor DH… despite that he still down a substantial amount of it for breakfast.

Feeling bad, I decided to bake him a cake instead. No fancy cake (with lots of icing) as he prefers it plain. Chocolate cake is my family’s favourite so it would be a good choice.

 

Instead of the normal Steamed Chocolate Cake, I have opted for a baked Chocolate cake using  sour cream. Simple yet delicious. It is such a jiffy to make. Light and moist…

 

  …

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Moist Chocolate Bundt Cake

Ingredients

2 cups cake flour
1 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
340g  unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar (you may add up to 2 1/2 cup sugar – I like mine to be less sweet)
4 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream

Method

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 160C. Grease the inside of a 10-inch Bundt pan. Dust with flour.
2. Sift the flours, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. In a bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium speed until very creamy, (about 2 minutes).
4. Gradually beat in the sugar. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the mixture is well-blended and light, (about 4 minutes).
5. At medium speed, beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
6. Combine the vanilla extract and the sour cream. in a small bowl.
7. At the low speed, add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the sour cream mixture in 2 additions and mixing just until blended.
8. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
9. Bake the cake for 65 to 75 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
10. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Then invert the cake onto the rack and let it cool completely.

Orange Cranberry Chiffon Cake

 

Since I mastered the skill of baking a Chiffon Cake without any leavening or stabilizing agent (like sodium bicarbonate or cream of tartar), I would bake at least 1 chiffon cake a week. It is so simple, fast and most importantly, I know I have not added any chemicals into the food that will be consumed by my family.

Chiffon cake is light and is just great for snacking and also breakfast. I like to make them plain without frosting as we do not fancy food laden with heaps of sugar. So with no butter and reduced sugar, this type of chiffon cake is just what the family likes.

If you have been reading my blog, you would have noticed that I have made quite a variety of chiffon cake with the same recipe. Recently, I made one using fresh orange juice and dried cranberries. The aroma of the orange permeating from the oven while the cake was baking was just heavenly. Another keeper!!

 

For those who would like to give it a try, here is the recipe.

    

Orange Cranberry Chiffon Cake 

Ingredients :

1. 4 nos. egg yolk (size : grade A)
2. 40ml corn oil
3. 100gm superfine flour
4. a handful of dried cranberries
5. 1 tsp orange zest
6. 70ml freshly squeezed orange juice (from 1 orange)
7. 5 nos egg white (size : grade A)
8. 45gm sugar (add more if you prefer or if the orange is sour)

Method :

1. Preheat oven at 170 C.
2. Combine egg yolks, oil, flour and orange juice and orange zest. Set aside..
3. In another bowl or mixer, whisk egg whites till frothy.
4. Gradually add in sugar. and lemon juice. Continue whisking till stiff peak is formed.
5. Mix 1/3 of the egg whites into the egg yolk batter with a whisk.
6. Gently fold in another 1/3 of the egg whites into the egg yolk batter.
7. Fold in the remaining egg whites and the dried cranberries into the egg yolk batter. Do not over mix it as it will deflate the air bubbles..
8. Pour batter into a chiffon cake tin and bang the tin a couple of times to release the trapped bubbles.
9. Bake in the oven at 170C for 30- 35 mins or till cooked.
10. Remove cake from oven and invert it immediately to cool for at least 30 mins before slicing.

Batik Loaf

 

This is a very colourful bread that I made today. I called it Batik Loaf as it reminds me of a piece of Batik material I saw sometime back.

It’s Sunday today and I am back to preparing bread dough for my week’s supply. This time around, I made a few batches of Hokkaido Milk Bread dough. (for the recipe please click here). I made them in 4 different flavours. I added 40 gms of black sesame in one, 40 gms of cocoa powder in another and 2 tbsp of green tea powder in yet another while the plain one had 40 gms of Horlicks in it.

It’s been a while since I played with the dough….so I took 300gms from each batch of dough and to create this loaf.

   

The 4 dough after the 1st proving.

 

After the dough double in size, they were punched down and shaped into balls. Then I gave them a 10 minutes rest.

 

  

The dough are then rolled into a rectangular shape with thickness of 1/4 inch.

Cut them into 1 inch strips.

 

I simply twist and turn all the 4 colours and form a loaf. Then place it into a loaf pan for the 2nd proving (approximately 60 mins). Look quite messy and not very appealing.

 

I tried a different technique for the other loaf. Did some basket weaving with the dough. After the 1st layer, I made yet another layer before placing it into another loaf pan for 2nd proving. It was quite fun!! Felt like a small girl playing with her “play doh”.

 

See how much the dough had risen after 60 minutes.

 

Egg washed and sprinkle some sunflower seeds on top before placing them into the oven to bake.

 

And TADAA…..

this is what I get!

I had forgotten to snap a photo of the loaves before I sliced them.

They are so beautiful and flavourful.

You can eat it plain or spread some butter or nutella on it.

 

Each slice has it own unique design. How interesting!

I think I have created a designer bread… ha ha ha!!!!

Care & Cleaning of Linziclips

 

Now what do you do when you have got yourself those fabulous “must have” Linziclips?

 

It goes without saying that you will be wearing them often!!!

There are just so many ways to wear them.

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Now after wearing them for a while, you will find that they do get dirty and can be a little stinky (due to the perspiration). This happens to all hair accessories (and everything else) that we wear. In many cases, due to the material used for the hair accessories we will have no choice but to discard the after it gets too dirty. (No ones wants a stinky and dirty clip on their head!).

However, for Linziclips you do not have to worry about having to dispose it off for this reason. Due to the material used, Linziclips can be easily washed and clean to keep them hygienic and fresh all the time.

Here is what I do to keep them fresh and clean.

First… fill a bowl with water and add a drop of your favourite shampoo in it. Shampoo is used to remove the grease, dandruff or dust from the Linziclips.

Next, immerse all your Linziclips into the bowl of soapy water.

Soak them in it for a couple of minutes.

  Discard the soapy water and rinse the Linziclips with more water.

Then shake off the water from the Linziclips.

Once all excessive water is shaken off, gently wipe each Linziclip and leave them on a clean piece of towel / cloth to air dry.

The Linziclips will dry in a jiffy and would be smelling great and squeaky clean.

The process takes less than 10 minutes.It’s so easy to clean and care for those Linziclips that we LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!