Bunny Makes Express Dried Tomatoes...

I really really hearts hearts hearts sun dried tomatoes. They taste so exquisitely flavoursome and the chewy texture really brings the food it's been paired up with to a higher level of blissfulness. The tartness yet caramelized sweetness goes well with sandwiches, pasta, pizza, breads and many more stuff. However, the price for sundried tomatoes in Malaysia is really expensive ranging from minimum RM12.90 onwards for 100 grams!

Luckily I was reading a food blog and came across a recipe for homemade dried tomatoes using the oven. I would like to thank the flogger behind The Hungry Caterpillar for highlighting the recipe out from Flavours Magazine.

I was afraid to buy too many tomatoes just in case the recipe turned into a flop. I bought some plum tomatoes, cut them into half and deseeded them. Other recipes in google highly recommended Roma tomatoes as they are meaty and tastes the best. I will use Roma tomatoes the next time I do these oven dried tomato beauties.

 
Next, my condiments include Olive Oil, Black Pepper, Mixed Herbs and salt (not shown).

Mix in the olive oil, dried mixed herbs (they provide a more intense flavour than fresh herbs), black pepper and salt. No exact measurements as I used my instincts. The salt is added to help draw out moisture from the tomatoes faster.

Then line the tomatoes on a baking sheet and preheat the oven to 220 degrees fahrenheight or 100 degrees celcius. Put in the oven and start your timer. Smaller tomotoes require about 5 to 6 hours of slow roasting whereas the bigger tomatoes will require 7 to 8 hours in the oven.

After 1 hour in the oven, the tomatoes start to loose its juices and become wrinkley.

After 2 hours, they look like this...

Then disaster struck! My mum thought it was a waste of electricity to use the oven for so long and she decided to help save some time by putting the tray on the top most shelf whereby the heat is the hottest. My poor tomatoes were charred before they lost enought juices... :(

Always maintain the tray in the middle rack whereby the heat is more evenly distributed. My tomatoes were pre-maturedly roasted and I had no choice but to stop roasting them and I took them out...after only 4.5 hours...

Sigh..sigh..sigh...but what is done is already done. The rich smell of roasted tomatoes fill my kitchen. You have a choice of peeling off the skin or leaving them intact. They are easier to peel off when they are still warm. I left some on and peeled the blackened ones off.

Here are some of the ready ones. You can store them away in the freezer as it is or bottle them up in olive oil. I chose the latter as the former have a higher chance of going mouldy due to our humid weather here in Malaysia.

I filled up the jar...it's only a small jar. So my next tryout, I will use triple to quadruple of what I used this first time so that I can make more using the same amount of electricity.

This is after I filled it to the brim with olive oil.

My next attempt, I will add 1 to 2 whole cloves of unpeeled garlic for a more flavoursome oven dried tomatoes saked in olive oil. Stay tune for my yummy BET (Bacon Egg Tomato) sandwich made with herb bread.

Bunny's Stroopwafels Affair

My love for Stroopwafles began when my 3rd sis (Haruki's Mama) was always travelling to Europe for business and leisure trips and came back with a few rolls of these goodies. Stroopwafles originate from Nederlands and is a flat waffle sandwiched with a rich buttery spiced syrup.

The Dutch enjoys the Stroopwafles with their tea, coffee, ice cream, desserts or even on its own. My friend, sdg (a SQ air stewardess) managed to buy 3 rolls back for me during one of her flight routes. I really enjoyed them so much that now I import them in to so that I could continue to enjoy them.

Here's my friend enjoying her stroopwafle with a cup of delicious single bean original coffee from Coffee Ritual (at Section 14, PJ).

Firstly, take a piece of Stroopwafle out and place it over the cup of steaming black coffee. This is to let the syrup in between the sandwiched wafle heat up a little whilst absorbing the fragrant coffee steam.

Next up, you can now consume the stroopwafle with your hot coffee or tea. Make sure your coffee or tea is unsweetened or lightly sweetened as the stroopwafle is rather sweet on its own already. I normally like to tear my stroopwafle apart to see the gooey syrup come out...yummy!

I am currently bringing in more fresh stroopwafles and if you are interested in purchasing a roll or 2 or 3, please drop me a comment at this blog with your email and I will advise you on the pricing. The Stroopwafles are flown in using air freight as they have a short shelf life of 2 to 3 months in room temperature and up to 1 year in the freezer.

For Singaporeans, sdg can bring in some Stroopwafles if you want to but you gotto drop her an email at her website.

Coffee Ritual @ Sec 14, PJ

Hunny has always enjoyed a good cup of coffee daily but he loves his non-asian roasted coffees the best. According to Hunny, Asian coffees tend to be roasted with sugar whereas other regions of coffees aren't. Hunny normally goes to Starbucks for his coffee fix but eversince we discovered Coffee Ritual, he has become a number 1 fan of this cafe.

I read about Coffee Ritual from The Star newspapers early this year and suggested Hunny to go try the place but Hunny was very skeptical and we didn't try this place till 2 weeks ago. This is a review of our past 2 visits. I have enclosed a map to get to this cafe.



What makes this place so special is the way they brew the coffee. They store their coffee beans in special vacumned air tight containers and they only grind the beans when someone places an order for those particular brew. Next are the equipment used to bew the coffee. Very special!

Firstly, a glass pot of filtered water is placed over a burner. You can see the barrister lighting the burner in the picture below. The red machine in the foreground is the coffee bean grinder.




Freshly grinded beans are placed in the container with a spout in the glass pot of boiling water. As the water boil, it'll create a suction and suck the heated water up to brew the freshly grounded coffee beans.




The grounded coffee is given a stir with the boiling water to mix up for even flavouring.



The coffee and boiling water are left to brew for 2 minutes...I find it so miraculous that the boiling water has been sucked up to the jar above it but it's all scientific methods. You can begin to smell the coffee frangrance as it releases its flavors.

The burners below are removed and the coffee mixture is given a final stir.

As the liquid cools, it is filtered as it flows downwards again. A heavenly coffee fragrance permeats the surroundings.

The coffee is ready to be served.

This was Hunny's cup of freshly brewed Arabica Coffee that gotten him exclaiming " OMG! This is GOOD coffee!" as he was sipping the coffee with a dash of milk. According to him, it was very smooth and pleasant to drink.

This is my banana smoothie from my 2nd visit. The smoothie was really nice. Not too sweet with the pleasant taste of pisang berangan (a local fragrant banana popularly used for cakes).

This is the breakfast set from our 1st visit. Hunny had scrambled eggs and toast and an additional order of 2 hash browns. RM3.20 + (RM1.80 x 2) = RM6.80

I had a combo set of Mushroom Crepe which came with 1 hot coffee (I think it was about RM12.90 which Hunny ordered Arabica Coffee) and a glass of Mango Low Fat Yogurt Drink (RM5.50) as I wasn't much of a coffee drinker.

A creamy black pepper sauce poured over a light savory crepe encased with sauteed mushrooms and melted mozarella cheese served with a side of salad. I enjoyed this very much.

This has been listed as our current favourite place to visit. Yummy! They do get crowded on weekends during meal times. Do call to reserve a place if you plan to go in big groups.

Lunch Boxes Part 1

Ever since working in my new company 2 months ago, my lunches are some what restricted as you'll have to drive out for good food. As I don't drive and I don't always follow my colleagues out to eat, I wake up earlier in the mornings to prepare my healthy lunch boxes. Therefore, I do eat somewhat healthier and wholesome foods.

My 1st Lunch Box - Strawberries as dessert/snack...too sour...i no likey >.<

Healthy goodness of steamed yam cake, steamed sweet potatos and okra, and garlic oyster sauce sauteed button mushrooms...

Next up, was an experiment using tomyam green tea instant noodles which was too spicy for my tastebuds...paired with my favourite steamed pumpkin and some blanched greens seasoned with soy sauce...

Then, this is stir fried udon noodles with those korean mushrooms, garlic complemented with blanched greens....

I did many other combos but I always forget to take pics of them. It's nice not spending any money for lunch but the money goes towards my weekend replenishment of stuff to make my lunchboxes for the whole working week.

Bunny eats Char Siu at Section 17

Hunny brought me to eat yummy charsiu at Happy Mansions (across from 6-to-10 Restaurant), Section 17 today. Luckily we reach there at 11.15am...bec after our orders were served, the crowd increased...

Hunny ordered a mixture of meats...

When the rice came, it was cooked with chicken stock...yummy...



The charsiu is the star here...roast pork belly is so-so and the roast chicken is forgettable...







It was so good that I made Hunny order another strip of char siu to eat as snack later....one strip was RM16 for half lean half fatty... RM17 for our meal of mixed char siu, roast pork belly and chicken. Next time will just take the char siu....yummy!!!

Bunny visits Secret Garden @ 1 Utama

I got sunburnt last Sunday walking around in 1 Utama. Impossible? 1U is all covered...how could I have gotten sunburnt? Read on to find out...

Did you know that there are 2 secret gardens in 1 Utama's new wing? One is the Secret Garden Cafe by Voir Gallery and another is the rooftop garden. Last weekend, I accompanied Hunny to 1 U so that he could get his bi-yearly fix of fashion show photography. As we were registering at the Customer Service Counter, we saw the public getting a card and it turned out to be the latest happening spot in 1U, the Secret Garden!

Hunny got me a pass and on the card, it stated 10am till 1am meaning that each person is only allowed to be in that Secret Garden for an hour which is the time stated on the card. I took the lift (same lift as going to the karaoke and rock climbing, I think) to level UR. This is what the entrance looked like...


After registering with the guard at the counter, I proceeded inside. It was a pleasant surprise to see a thriving garden with many trees, leafy and floral plants, creeping vines and cactuses at this rooftop garden.


Here are some of my favourite shots. The sun was really hot by the time I got up and there were many over hanging water sprays to keep the plants moist and hydrated.











Here are some of my not too good shots...I must really learn how to shoot these at better angles...



This one was nice but alas...it had 2 spots of water on it...I must have passed through one of the water sprays and gotten my lens wet... :(

I will come here again when I have the chance to go 1U but I would love to try it on a cloudy morning or the 5pm to 6pm session. This Secret Garden is opened only on weekends from 10am to 6pm. Limited passes can be collected free of charge at 1U (New Wing) Customer Service Counter. The pass will only enable you to enjoy the garden based on the time stated on it. Do bring along a hat and put on sunblock as it can get really hot and sunny in the garden. You don't to end up getting sunburnt like me!