Matcha Ice Cream

I tried a green tea desert for the first time at Sushi King, it was a packet Matcha Tiramisu. Masa tu makan dinner with Hunny. Then at Azuma, also with Hunny, we got tiny but free scoops of matcha ice-cream. So tiny but so sedap.

The other day, I told Mamak about this green tea ice cream and he told me dia tak pernah makan, so I decided to make some at home. The problem was that we searched high and low for powdered green tea kat grocery stores sini, hampeh tak jumpa-jumpa. At last we decided to go to a Tee-Fachladen, a shop that only sells tea to ask for Matcha. I warned Mamak, kalau ada pun kat kedai camni, mesti mahal. He said, we should give it a try since he was already very excited with the idea of green tea ice cream.

So kat kedai tu, there were no Matcha to be seen so I had to ask the lady. The nice lady at the counter told us she has Matcha and senyum-senyum simpul kat kami. She fetched two small canister of green tea and told us, one is 20grams for 22€ and the other is 30grams for 12.50€. Terus both of us start laughing, ye lah, for us Tea noobs, the price was ridiculously high. Terasa macam nak beli emas pulak, ikut gram tuh. Then I asked her if she know of any other form of powdered green tea and she said, she only know Matcha as powdered green tea. Other japanese tea like sencha are all not powdered. So we took her word for it..

..and we ended up buying this one.

Thats right folks, of of course we bought the cheaper one. We thought we wont feel so robbed if we buy this one...haha. Now I know why we got such a tiny scoop of Match ice-cream kat Azuma dulu.

This is how the green tea powder looks like. The powder is so fine that everytime you open the canister, some of it will 'fly' out in a puff.

The ice cream making part is however easier. First buy a good quality vanilla ice-cream (I use Mövenpick) and leave it to defrost a little to become softer. I sieved around three teaspoons-full of Matcha powder into a quarter cup of milk. Mix until the Matcha virtually dissolves into the milk. Add the Matcha-milk to the ice-cream and stir until incorporated. I poured the ice-cream mixture back into the plastic container and freeze until to be served.

Why so much work for a scoop of Matcha ice-cream? Well you'll have to try it yourself. Ermm..also because there's none to buy at the stores here. But hey, look at the pictures. They are totally worth the trouble.

Mamak totally love this stuff now and we are planning to use every bit of the ridiculously priced powder tea to good use.

Itadakimasu!

Salam Maulidur Rasul

Hari Maulidur Rasul jatuh pada hari ke-12 bulan Rabiul Awal sempena kelahiran Nabi yang jatuh pada pada hari Khamis 12 Rabiul Awal Tahun Gajah bersamaan dengan 23 April 571.

I made the Devil

 Semalam little P and his mom datang kampung mami to buy apple and pears, so diorang singgah rumah sekejap. I made this Devil's Food Cake for them (and of course for us as well..hehe..).

I used this recipe, but I made the mistake of using a slightly larger cake tin, so cake tu jadi flat and takleh nak buat layer cake. 

I simply pour the ganaché over it.

Then I use the fork to make ripples on the ganaché. The taste? No wonder its called the Devil's Food cake, just a piece makes you feel sinnful. 

Total guilty pleasure.

 

And oh little P's mom bought me an orchid plant as a present. Yeah! Our second orchid in the house. Ni nak story about incident little P pulak. I still feel so bad because little P fell on his back in our living room. Orang penang kata tertomoih, tapi ala-ala backflip gitu. Ish..baru ja mak dia pusing sat nak sembang. Two seconds mak dia paling, he lost his balance, kedebum! Teruk jugak tengok gaya dia jatuh tu sampai panic I, you! 

Seb baik tak meraung lama. Comparative to my experience with children, sat saja dia meraung, gamaknya dia ni kurang dramatic kot. Or maybe meraung sebab malu bukan sebab sakit (which I always do as a child..hehe). After meraung tu, mak dia suap kek, habis jugak sepotong. So I guess thats a good sign. Is it? 

 

Seriau jugak sebab anak orang, kalau anak kita takpa la kan..huhu.

Winter Olympic Fever

At the moment, the whole of Germany is suffering the Winter Olympic fever. Itu termasuklah Mamak&Mami. It's a good thing that time difference between Germany and Vancouver is around 8 hours, 8 hours late that is. The live events starts at 18:00, just right because Mamak balik kerja and terus boleh layan Olympics. We both will be watching sampai pukul 12 malam. Semangat tu!

Mamak tu (may Allah bless his soul!) just like me jarang tengok sports on tv. He does not follow the bundesliga or the champions league, which I am really grateful for. Its not that he doesnt like football, he told me playing football is more fun than watching football. His colleague pernah tanya dia why, he said he doesnt feel like he belong to certain teams, so bila dia tengok pun tak semangat. Tapi kalau World Cup or Olympics memang dia semangat la nak menengok, sebab he can cheer for Germany. Mami pun tumpang sekaki la cheering for Germany (wondering bila Malaysia nak hantar athletes join Winter Olympics..hehe..Jamaica and Ghana masing-masing dah hantar wakil). 

Walaupun hanya tumpang sekaki, I am still so impressed by the German team. Entahla diorang training macam mana. They are always there fighting and giving their best for their country. I really wonder what makes them push themselves so far. Physical fitness tu takyah cerita la noh, if you see the german bobsleigh riders you will know what I mean. Biathlon pulak 12,5km cross country skiing and riffle shooting, which the gold medalist did under 36minutes! Mami ni baru jalan 1 km dah semput..hehe. As I said, macam mana la diorang training sampai bleh terer. It must be their dicipline or maybe its in the blood.

Germany is currently ranking second to USA, having only 3 bronze medal less compared to USA. If you see how they fight, I guess they deserve every medal. 

Go Germany!

Go Malaysia!

Hasil Tangkapan di Lafayette

Mami ni kalau travel, suka beli makanan buat kenangan. Other people maybe prefer the clothing area when shopping, tapi mami kalau pegi memana mesti berjam-jam kat food section sebab dok mengusha makanan. Haritu di Galeria Lafayette, sempat jugak la beli a few food products which are not sold where I live. Takda la shopping bagai, just a few small things.

 

This is cream caramel with salted butter. It is actually bread spread macam Nutella tu but I'm thinking of eating it warm and runny on vanilla ice. YUM!

  

This one is Mustard with Terragon, a type of herb. Can't wait to try this with Grilled Beef.

  

Tiny 30g Chocolate bar from Fauchon.

  

I have never tasted Valrhona chocolate before, some says its the best chocolate to be used in cakes and what not. So I bough these tiny Valrhona chocolate bars, just to try them out.

 

This one is french caramel bon-bons or candy. I've read before that if one should travel to France, they should try these candies for the french seems to make the best caramel candy. Since I have never been to France, I bought these as pre-tasting. Memang sedap.

Our Japanese Dinner Last Night

Akibat dok layan Japanese Drama dua tiga hari lepas terus naik selera nak makan sushi. So semalam,  I took my own sweet time making this japanese dinner, its really my kitchen therapy. . :)

Ada filling surimi, timun dan salmon.

I made one normal sushi rolls and two inside-out sesame rolls.

Salmon sushi with wasabi under the salmon layer.

Semalam pegi pasar dapat beli fresh salmon so bleh la nak buat sashimi. This is my amateur attempt of Salmon Sashimi, served with Daikon Radish.
(Ni kalau tunjuk kat japanese chef mesti fail nih..hehe.)

Yang ni pulak Tuna Teriyaki, seared Tunafish steak and glazed with Teriyaki sauce. I used frozen tuna saja, but still so yummy.

We ate all this with Soya sauce, Wasabi and Gari (pickled ginger slices).

Okaylah, thats it. 

Have a nice Sunday !!

(ps: hunnybunny, I miss pickled baby octopus..huhu..sini takdak juai aaarrr...)

More pictures from our recent holiday

Mamak insisted then we went hiking at the Harz National Park. Hiking??!! Mami was nervous, I mean hiking does not scare me too much but hiking in snow?? I get cold feet even if I'm wearing socks in my heated apartment. 

I was raised in a kampung house with no aircond and I am very much comfortable sleeping in sweat rather than a cold air conditioned room. By the way mami is a prominently known Couch Potato. That means my idea of a perfect day is to laze away and do..erm..nothing. My friends in college called me 'mami = sporting tak bersukan'. The closest thing to sports that I do is Wii Sports Resort. 

So I was in no way fit for a hike, physically or emotionally.

Well did I do it? Of course, since the whole family were so excited about it, I couldn't say no. It was 3 hours drive from Mamaks home to this National Park.

This is the troop.

Well, it was beautiful. I ended up walking slowly behind everybody to catch my breath. Thanks to my camera, I could stop to take a break and act like I'm taking photos..hehe.

One of the oldest untouched forest in Germany.

The Brocken Bahn, which reminds me so much of the polar express.

It was truly enchanting and I was glad I came along. Only wished I was a bit stronger, since we turn back after a few kilometers back because of me. Malueew tauu..Next time nak pergi holiday on ice with my mentuas ni, kena pi jogging everyday to keep up the stamina, baru bleh join dengan suka hatinya..hehe.


(ps: adakah ini revenge mereka kerana dibawak jalan2 penang dibawah panas matahari yang terik, digelakkan oleh mami kerana muka diorang merah macam lobster akibat kepanasan suatu hari dulu..muahahaha)

Our Lunch Yesterday

Nothing interesting to write today, so jom layan gambar makanan saja lah ya!

Chicken thigh stuffed with Gouda cheese, breaded and deep fried with mashed potatoes and salad.

Layan....

Have a nice day!!

Forellen also known as Trout

This is a freshwater Fischerei, where they breed saltwater fishes. So my PIL often beli ikan kat sini because they sell fishes so fresh that they still swimming as you order them.

You place an order to that particular lady and she'll catch them for you.

We ordered four Regenbogen Forellen which are rainbow trouts.

At home, my MIL prepared the fish and my FIL helped. I am still very awed that my FIL sangat rajin especially bab tolong isteri. He helps his wife, cooks sometimes and most of the time we were there, he was the one who prepares breakfast for all of us everyday. 

 He even ask me often if I wanted to drink coffee after dinner and serves me too. Kekadang sampai rasa segan sangat since I very seldom experience malay FILs a.k.a Pak mentua yang serve menantu kopi..Hehe..usually its the other way around.

Back to the fish story, my MIL steamed them in alu-foil with carrots, fennel, dill and lemon.

The fish served with butter sauce, lemon slices, fresh dill, potatoes and veggies. The fish was yummy and you can really taste the sweetness of fresh caught fish. I ate everything elegantly with fork and fish knife with mamak smilling and chuckling at me. He chuckles because he knows damn well orang melayu makan ikan guna tangan saja, takyah ber-fish² knife ni. Pastu mula la PIL dok menanya is everything okay?

 Ish3 mamak nih..biaqla orang nak makan dengan fish knife skali skala..nih dok gelak2 pulak..cess tui..Last-last, as revenge I ratah kepala ikan depan mamak, gigih tu pakai fork and knife. Masa tu baru la mamak terkebil-kebil macam tgk andrew zimmer makan insect dalam bizarre food tu. Tu lah gaya orang tak biasa tgk orang makan kepala ikan.

huhu...

Back Home!

After 12 short days, we are back home. Alhamdulillah the trip back were flawless and we arrived home safely at 18:30 yesterday.

We were greeted by our lukewarm flat with a scent of 'bau kepam'. Our plants are still alive and well though a little thirsty. We plugged into our internet and flowed the long awaited 6000kb broadband. Yeah! Well, all these while we used 367kb broadband for internet because there were no 'pencawang' here in the village. They started building it a few months ago, thanks to Mrs Angela Merkel, our German Chansellor who promised that every village in Germany should receive high speed internet. We heard that we'll be receiving high speed internet on the 5th of Febuary, but at that time we were already at mamaks kampung. So yesterday evening, after logging in the router, we checked the speed and yes 6000kb!

So everything is well and I will use our high speed internet to upload more pictures of our holiday in the near future. Oh! Before I forget...HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!! GONG XI FA CAI!!

Ice cold Berlin - Part 2

Lepas kami melawat a few historical spots, we indulge a while on the 'capitalistish' charm of Berlin.

Behold!
Galeria Lafayette

So many things to see..so colourfull..

Exclusive crockery.

Nigella Lawson uses these cookwares.Whooping price ranges from100-300€!
..Bila lah nak merasa..hehe..

5kg Nutella!

Tea Candies in all shapes and forms.

French tea shop.

Then I went to browse the Feinkost/Delicateessen section.
Found Valrhona and Godiva.

Chocolat!

Macarons!!!!
We bought 12 pieces! YUM!

Outside waited a Bugatti.

We pased a Blue Berlin Bear, the city mascot.

Find the mami! In front of the Ka De We, the socalled Harrods of Berlin.

(The Kaufhaus des Westens (English "Department Store of the West", commonly abbreviated KaDeWe) is a department store in Berlin and the largest in all of continental Europe. With over 60,000 square metres of selling space and more than 380,000 articles available, it attracts 40,000 to 50,000 visitors every day.)

Mamak and Mami dah makan kat Fillet O Fish kat McD (we were too hungry to wait..hehe) unlike Mamaks brother and his girlfriend, who werent hungry earlier. So dah tired gila and malas nak cari tempat lain nak makan, we ended up teman diorang makan kat Ka De We 'foodcourt'.

Nak sebut foodcourt pun tak sampai hati. There were 5star food and the self-service part was the only thing 'foodcourt-like' about this place. There were lobster offered at 11€ per 100g.

Assorted salads and pasta at 2,75€ per 100g.

Antipasti

Hmm...Rows of fresh fruits with whipped cream, 4,95€ each.

Self service coffee.

From the left: My coffee, our strawberry bowl and mamaks coffee.
Memang lah sangat tak padan, makan strawberry sambil minum kopi, but we couldnt resist..haha.

After the expensive foodcourt dinner for them and a rather satisfying coffee break for me and mamak, we left Berlin and headed home.