Moist English Apple Cake

apples apples everywhere

I have to admit that this is not the best looking cake in the world. There wasn't a picture in the cook book, so Mrs Kong had in mind, a smooth, moist, apple cake, with the apples evenly distributed on the top of the cake. Instead, this emerged from the oven, with a strong scent of apples.

yummiieee!

A little ugly it may be, but it is a lovely moist and yummy apple cake! the top has a lovely moist layer of apples, which sort of combine with the sweet cake to give a delicious mouthful.

want some?

Mrs Kong's Shortbread Xmas Trees

On the weekend, we acquired a new member to Mrs Kong's baking team. Xmas Tree cookie cutter left the cushy confines of Abaxas cook store on St Giles Street, and ventured into the sweatshop labour environment of Mrs Kong's kitchen.

cookie cutter posing for the last time next to xmas lights

And it was put to work immediately; on another of Mary Berry's shortbread recipes, this time "A Very Special Shortbread". This recipe has slightly more flour and no semolina. Mrs Kong thought perhaps this would be the recipe for smaller cookies, rather than an entire shortbread tray (which was what the previous recipe was intended for).

The recipe started off fine, and this time, Mrs Kong made sure that the butter was cooler than before. It was a lot of flour and sugar relative to the butter, but it seemed ok. However, Mrs Kong soon found that the mixture would not dough. It was a little frustrating - with 45 minutes of light kneading, but still no dough! D**n it Mary Berry, I had to alter the recipe!! And it did dough up in the end. Since it has been altered, it should now be called Mrs Kong's Very Special Shortbread cookies, and not just Mary Berry's. Only fair! (Hah!)

Mrs Kong's xmas tree factory

before oven

all buttery smelling out of the oven

Unlike normal butter cookies (which according to Mrs Kong's godmother, involves melting the butter into the mixture), shortbread does require a lot of patience. It requires knowledge & experience of the shortbread mixture, and the exact time to stop rubbing and doughing up. It looks simple enough, but not something one can do without patience!

Just like any other thing in life really!

Teddybear pancakes ...

For breakfast today!!

teddy bear pile up.

disabled teddybear

Perfect Pizza

pizza prep - ed for oven. The white bits is not chicken though it looks like chicken.
Its mozzerella cheese!!

Right out of the oven

If it looks good, it tastes even better!

Tonight we had for dinner, Mr Kong's home made thin crust pizza with organic vegetables and ham - and it is superb! The thin crust is perfect, and if you have only ever tasted Dominos or Pizza Hut thin crust, you don't know what pizza heaven is!

Mr Kong has cracked it!!

Mrs Kong's shortbread for the day

The Characters, lead role: Butter

Mary Berry describes this recipe as "The Very Best Shortbread". So quite as expected, Mrs Kong was very excited about trying this recipe out. In addition, the recipe itself did not look all that difficult. As Mary Berry herself describes in this section (on biscuits and shortbread) ... "none of the sinking fears attached to cake making are relevant to biscuits". Right what can go wrong then?

Mrs Kong first mixed the flour and semolina together in a bowl. Then the recipe required the butter and sugar to be added into the mixture, and mixed together in a food processor. Being the poor migrants we are, we don't own a food processor.

Mrs Kong then moved on to the other alternative which was to rub the butter in with ones fingertips. Mind you, it is not easy doing this, especially when one has to remain seated to avoid agravating a swollen ankle.

And so, after a few rubs, Mrs Kong realised that the butter should not be 'over - rubbed'. Yes, there is such a thing, except that (i) Mrs Kong realised too late; and (ii) it was not Mrs Kong who realised, but more so the voice in Mrs Kong's head - Of Mrs ONG, Mrs Kong's Sains Rumahtangga Teacher!! (Sains Rumahtangga = home economics)

This is how my teddy bear shortbread were suppose to turn out.

The got a little bit fatter in the oven.

So much so they look like cramped snowmen in a budget japanese hotel.

It looks more like a snowman huh?

Well, Mr Kong has had some and thinks they are ok.

There are subtle things in this recipe that Mary Berry fails to mention; there is a reason why most people still buy shortbread from the shops (rather than make it themselves). I suppose the only difference is if you bought your shortbread, you wouldn't have a flat smelling like warm butter, and butter(ry) fingerS!

Will we or will we not ...

have homemade short bread for tea this afternoon?

Whilst walking out of a well known designer outlet yesterday here in Northampton, Mrs Kong missed a step off the pavement, fell and twisted her ankle real bad! Its extremely painful slightly swollen now and at home resting. Its also incredibly bored. She can barely stand, but the boredom is even worse so it might just be internet shopping today!!

Mummy Kong would approve

Today, I took a long walk to our local wholefoods store, and bought brown rice! While picking up a packet of our regular brown rice, I noticed this packet with the wild rice mix. Of course I had to get a packet of that too.

Having had it for dinner, I have to say that it is not bad at all! Definitely better than plain brown rice. Mr Kong said it is a little crunchy but said no more.

Mummy Kong would be proud.

Cluster of Macaroons

I just had to post this picture!

This is what happens when you place the macaroons too close together on the baking tray!

And Yes, we have Macaroons this Afternoon

1 pm on a Sunday afternoon and Mrs Kong has managed to bag a packet of semolina for the macaroons Mrs Kong has been thinking about ever since Jaime, Mrs Kong's old university mate, mentioned that he had fallen in love with a particular brand of macaroons only to be found in London. Well, I can't say for sure that London is the only place you will be able to get such macaroons but its where Jaime eventually found them again - in Piccadilly, London, at GBP1 per macaroon.
Mrs Kong's macaroons will cost substantially less - the recipe to be found in "Mary Berry's Ultimate Cake Book (Over 200 Classic Recipes)" was not to difficult to start with. Its a fantastic book for typical English cakes and cookies, with lovely shiny pictures telling you what the result should look like.

The most difficult part of the recipe I found, was having to halve the blanched almonds. At first, I wondered how one halved almonds. No it is not to be expected that I should know - I only learned what blanched almonds looked like yesterday in the supermarket when I actually bought them. The first almond was a breeze. One split on its side and walah!! Then, it started to go wrong ... the subsequent almonds would not split! I had shavings of almonds but not halved almonds. Sigh! Maybe Sainsbury's should have halved the almonds before they blanched them and put them on their shelves! Don't have time for this!!

Other main ingredients: ground almonds, semolina, sugar and egg white. The recipe required for the egg yolks to be separated and put aside. So arguably macaroons are healthy .. only if you turn a blind eye to the 175g of sugar that goes in of course. I whisked the egg whites, folded in the sugar and semolina and ground almonds, and added the almond essence at the very end. No idea what it should have looked like, but really, how would a Chinese auntie like me know.

into the oven!

All in all, I thought the recipe to be quite simple and good. The only thing I would add of course, is that one should resist the urge to add in more than a few drops of almond essence. I added two lots of "a few drops" and had a moment of panic when I realised that it might come out smelling like marzipan!

out of the oven!

Well, thank goodness that it did not. Mr Kong, the one who hates marzipan and the only one here who has tasted macaroons before, has given it the thumbs up.

We need an Italian friend to taste these! (Konon nya Macaroons are from Italy!)

Will we or will we not ...

have Macaroons this afternoon?

Well, it would depend on whether Mrs Kong finds semolina at Morrisons (closest local supermarket to those who have not been to Northampton)!

Beans on Toast

"Beans-on-toast" is, to the English, what "Nasi Lemak from Peel Road Market on Sunday morning" is to Mrs Kong. Never stand between an English person and his/her beans and toast (like you should not with Mrs Kong and her Nasi Lemak). It could get ugly.

On this occasion, we have resorted to buying (and preparing for lunch) cans of a particular brand of baked beans - the ones that come in a green can! (and or relation to the last democrat leader in the US running for president then - we still might see him make a re-appearance I hear).

Making do without Nasi Lemak ... for now.

Sniffle cough cough

Its Cold & Flu season and very few have been spared. Sniffles and coughs, some worse than others. Mr and Mrs Kong have been hit, but are well on our way to recovery. Cold & flu = days off work. No wonder they were handing out free flu jabs at Mrs Kong's workplace.

More interesting posts coming soon.

The Difference Between England and Malaysia pt2 - Exclamations!

Mr Kong met up with KTKK, the newlyweds Mr & Mrs Hove aka Simon & Wayar and their friend from Hong Kong - Chi Sing in London yesterday.

It was great to see all of them and fantastic that we could all meet up in London. Had a great time with a good lunch, mini pub crawl & dinner, but that's for another post.

In one of the pubs, Mr Kong & Wayar started talking about Malaysian style exclamations (i.e. expressions of shock, surprise, dismay, disgust etc) & how only Malaysians or someone who has spent time with Malaysians would understand them.

We laughed ourselves silly thinking of them & explaining them to Mr Ho(ve) and even KTKK hadn't heard of some of them.

This morning Mr Kong thought about the diffences in Malaysian exclamations vs British exclamations as they are quite different. Here are some that he'd thought of:

British

Oh! (generic surprise & alarm - can be expanded to Oh I Say!)
Gosh! (ditto)
Blimey! (ditto)
Crikey! (ditto)
What what! (ditto)
Damn! (anger or slap head d'oh situations)
Brilliant! (pleasent surprise)
Lovely! (ditto)
Super! (ditto)
Purrfecck! (ditto)
Blooody 'ell! (surprise mixed with mild alarm or disgust)

Everybody in England uses these & speaks exactly like this "Cor blimey guvnor, that was bloody purrrfecck, what what, Oh I say!"

Malaysian

Aiyo! Fuiyo! or Haiyo! (or the Hindi movie inspired full length version - aiyoyo A Ma! - all signify surprise with shock, evoking your mother is optional)
Aiyer! (subtly different to aiyo etc in that it denotes a bit of disgust)
Alamak! (slap head d'oh situations)
Cheh! (condescending remark, not worthy of attention)
Fulemak! (like alamak but with added 'fu' - greater surprise, admiration, shock etc)
Fualauweh! (ditto)
So terror! (used for admiration, or in sarcasm)

Some can be used in combination e.g. "Fulemak! So terror one you!"

Any that were left out? Suggestions welcome!

Mind your head

You'd think that people here in UK are quite tall but actually Mr Kong is taller than most people here.

The government here are pretty anal about Health & Safety so they're quite good about putting signs out to warn you of dangers though like 'Mind the gap', 'Mind your head' etc.

You should still watch where you're going though...

Note: No Kong's were injured in the making of this blog entry

2nd Anniversary Celebration - London

The second part of Mr & Mrs Kong's 2nd anniversary celebration was spent with KTKK in London.

We'd said we would visit KTKK for some time since his move to London so last weekend we finally did!

KTKK making Madeleines - out of the oven, into the mouth...

We went first to KTKK's flat near Old Street Tube station in Hackney to drop our things, rest & have some food. The area is a little run down (maybe it should be described as 'ripe for regeneration') but his flat is very cosy & spacious inside.

KTKK kindly made us some Madeleines to stave off our hunger.

Then it was off to Borough Market.

It was the 250th Anniversary celebration (coincidence?!) of the opening of Borough Market and there were people dressed in 18th century costumes among the crowd.

Musicians dressed in 18th century costume

Lovely autumn produce

Mr & Mrs Kong have mixed emotions about Borough Market. On the one hand it really is a fantastic place, full of history and interesting stalls of food & produce from all over the world.

On the other hand, the crowds are just ridiculous. There are masses of people crushed into a small space and queues everywhere for everything. It gets a little tiring after a while. If 3/4 of them disappeared, it would be a great place to visit.

Then it was back to KTKK's place to get ready for dinner.

Japanese food is calling...

For dinner, went to Edokko Restaurant near Holborn (as recommended by Mr Loke! - ok Mr Loke, happy now? Credit where its due... actually wasn't it your friend who recommended it...?)

2 years!

KTKK: "House of Flying Daggers gets all the details absolutely correct!"
Mr Kong: "But in its style over substance, its the death of narrative cinema!"
Mrs Kong: "Yawn! Boringgg..."

It was a superb, slap up Japanese meal. Very authentic (it wasn't run by Malaysians!) and all the food was excellent.

Edamame, Sashimi, fried tofu, tempura, sushi - we had it all! That was the first time Mr Kong can remember being full to bursting from eating Japanese food.

After dinner, we wandered over to a old pub called the Princess Louise

This pub has to be one of the best preserved and most attractive pubs in London.

Cheers!

KTKK with Sam Smith's Wheat Beer

Just another evening down the pub

Another fantastic anniversary celebration...

2nd Anniversary Celebration - Northampton

Mrs Kong before dinner date

Last week was Mr & Mrs Kong's 2nd wedding anniversary and we had a double celebration. Once on the actual day (17th October - get those cards & presents now!) in Northampton and again with KTKK in London.

We had a simple Italian dinner at a place called Papa Chino's in Northampton town centre. The decor was very cheap & cheerful but it served good hearty food that definitely filled us up. A nice place for some no frills Italian.

Somethings that made us both laugh was the way in which the kitchen let the waitresses know that an order had to be picked up. A bright orange light went on outside the door to the kitchen & because the dining area wasn't very large, it lit up the whole place. So you could always tell when someone's food was ready!

Midget & Giant playing at the Fish pub, Northampton

Fully concentrated on the music

After that, while walking home some folksy music drew Mr & Mrs Kong into a pub where a duo called Midget & Giant were playing. It really was one taaallll woman & a shooooort guy on guitars. They were good so stayed for a while.

All in all, a good evening - Happy Anniversay Mr & Mrs Kong!

Its Autumn in Northampton!

And Chesnut season! We saw Mr Kong in action collecting chestnuts. We forgot a plastic bag and could only collect as much as 4 hands and pockets could carry!!

Have YOU been to Northampton?

If you are either a member of Mr and Mrs Kong's family, or a friend who has had the opportunity to visit UK in the last 18 months, AND you have NOT visited Northampton by now, YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED of yourself.

What IS in Northampton is the warm and cosy home of Mr and Mrs Kong; The hospitality (we hope); our willingness to show you a snap shot of our daily life. Also the fact that if YOU were living in Northampton, and we came to visit England, we would come and visit you without doubt. What you have missed out on is an overall great time!!

Here is a list of Friends and Family who have managed a visit to Northampton since our arrival in April 2005:

(in the order of appearance)

1) Yee Fun, Mrs Kong's ex colleague from Leeds who came over for lunch!

2) Hsiu Pin who drove all the way from Egham to (a) drive us to Milton Keynes in search of a chinese supermarket and (b) drive us to Comet (UK electrical chain store) to buy our first kettle. We discovered Taipan on this trip, whilst being mistaken as Chinese students/ immigrants by a chinese shop cashier.

Hsiu Pin, we still have that kettle and will be bringing it back to Malaysia with us!!

3) Susan and Jeremy, Mr Kong's friends from Oxford, who managed a quick stop on their way home to Reading. Susan and Jeremy were in the midst of errands in preparation for their move to St Kitt's. but managed to make it anyway!!

4) Ling, Mike and Harry who dropped us home, on their way to Manchester. Harry loved running up and down our house, and also managed to call Mr Kong "Uncle Kit"! Harry was not talking much then.

5) Lisa and Kok Loon, who visited us in Sept 2005. It was the first week we had our new car and we went to Stoke Bruene Canal for the first time with Lisa and Kok Loon. No visit was complete without a trip to our "favourite" chinese restaurant in Milton Keynes.

6) Dennis and Wai Wai, who came to visit in November 2005 - Dennis having to drive all the way from Cardiff after work on a Friday and Wai Wai who had to endure a three hour bus ride from Heathrow while being jet lagged after a long haul flight from Hong Kong (not as a passenger but a flight attendant!!) And Wai Wai who went home ill from quite possibly too much fun at our place!

We had a humongous cook out!! and exchanged x mas presents of course. Wai Wai's first words when she came through the door if I remember correctly were "I am ok, I am ok... lets cook ..!"

7) Eugene, who came not knowing anything about Northampton except for the fact that Alan Moore, whose comics he reads, lives in Northampton! Eugene got the opportunity to savour the gastronomic delights in Mr and Mrs Kong's home cooking plus a little sight seeing and more than paid his dues by fixing Mr Kong's wireless connection (and set theft safe password!)

Thank you Eugene!!

8) Papa and Mummy Kong who came in May 2006, to see us, and to check out our place. Mummy complained that she struggled to fit into her trousers after the trip - the food must have been too good!!

Fantastic memories!!

The Difference Between England and Malaysia pt1- Queuing

A few weekends ago, Mr & Mrs Kong went for a mini shopping trip to get some things in town and ended up at a sports shop looking for swimming goggles for Mr Kong as his were leaking like a sieve.

There was a long queue for the cashier as there was only 1 cashier open but the staff finally twigged that more customers should = more cashiers open.
Mr Kong arrived with his goggles in hand as the new cashier opened so in that situation, what would any rational person with half a brain do –

1. Join the looooong queue of people
2. Join the newly opened cashier
   

B of course!!! And that’s what Mr Kong did but suddenly there was a shout & looking up he saw a red faced guy shouting “No, no, no – you cannot jump the queue like that!” and dragging not HIMSELF but the person in front of him to the new cashier.

This dude was quite bewildered by it all but happily went in front. At this point, Mr Kong was too shocked to protest but after a couple of seconds, fired back with the logical point that it was not ‘jumping’ the queue as it was a totally new queue.

Unable to calmly & logically challenge this statement, the man just went “Aahh, forget it” and went back to his own queue where his by now embarrassed wife was waiting.

Mrs Kong also made the good point that if the guy was that anxious to save himself 5 minutes by barging into the new line, he could but I think by that time he had given up.

The moral of the story and a lesson for visitors to England is:

Don’t mess with the English and their queues and their unknown, illogical ‘Rules of Queuing’.

To be fair though, the Malaysian style ‘queue’ which in other parts of the world might be called a free for all / mad rush / riot is not the ideal either…

The Devil Wears Prada

Well, Mr & Mrs Kong went to see the adaptation of 'The Devil Wears Prada' 2 Fridays ago. According to Mrs Kong its not true to the book at all. Mr Kong will have to trust her on that as he's not read it.

Anyway, on to the movie:

Anne Hathaway plays a supposedly geeky, unfashionable graduate desperate for a step on the ladder to a journalism career. Miraculously, she gets a job at a fashion mag run by 'Cruella de Ville'/Meryl Streep, a dragon lady editor.

Cue 'fish out of water' scenes and "I can't believe how vain they all are..." remarks to hip, cool, down to earth friends.

Then for some reason, the Anne Hathaway character decides to sell out & goes through the obligatory Cinderella/My Fair Lady/Pretty Woman makeover done in double time & poof she's a wearing a new designer outfit everyday. You could see the envious gleam in the eyes of all the female audience. And they were all thinking the same thing "Where did she get the money to buy all those outfits?"

From there it shows her (supposedly) struggling with whether to take the 'evil' fashionista route & sell out or be true to herself. No guesses what she chooses.

All in all, its an ok Friday night light comedy entertainment. There are a few laughs but nothing that really stands out, except for the clothes and Meryl Streep's caricature dragon-lady.

The biggest problem with the film is that it doesn't really know whether its for or against the whole fashion industry and the fact that many women are slaves to it.

On the one hand it suggests that its evil, then the next minute its showing Anne Hathaway looking gorgeous in amazing clothes. A bit muddled really.

But you'll leave the cinema thinking you've just watched some fashion porn.

What's for tea Mr Kong?

1) Haddock fillet with crispy bacon
2) Roasted butter nut squash
3) Water Cress, pear and fennel salad
4) 1 pint of Tetley's smooth flow bitter

Perfect!!

Nuts!

Hazelnuts - from the tree outside our building

Autumn has arrived in the UK and one of the fascinating things for a Malaysian are the nuts that you find strewn on the ground here.

For us, nuts are things you find in packets or in your Cadbury's Fruit & Nut bar (tm), not laying on the pavement or in the grass.

Mr Kong went a bit nuts (puntastic isn't it? - Brits love their puns BTW) when he saw the amount and variety around Northampton and started a bit of a collection.

l-r: chestnut, hazelnut, walnut, acorn

But he wasn't the only one as we've often passed an old Chinese lady under the walnut tree collecting the walnuts in a plastic bag.

A little hard to see but that's a Chinese auntie in red whacking the poor walnut tree in the background - the Chinese auntie in the foreground is Mrs Kong

Embarassingly, she not only picks them from the ground but she's whacking the branches to dislodge them, all in plain view of the passing motorists. Typically Asian/Chinese eh?

Luckily Mr Kong is more socially responsible (only just) and picks them from the ground... we look forward to having a walnut feast!

Bowl of nuts anyone?

Clare and Paul's wedding!

On the 23rd of September 2006, Clare and Paul exchanged marriage vows at the St Werburgh's Church in Chester. St Werburgh's is a Catholic Church, but Paul coped quite well. We were at the church to see them get married, and to hear the jokes by the priest. Clare was in a beautiful white dress and Paul in his kilt.

It was a lovely church and lovely wedding. And now they are in in the Maldives enjoying their first weeks as Mr and Mrs Stevenson!!

Congratulations Clare and Paul!