nigella's chocolate mousse

i attempted to make this recipe last week..

its fairly simple..

u need;

150g mini marshmallows

50g soft butter

250g good dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids), chopped into small pieces

60ml hot water from a recently boiled kettle

1 x 284ml tub double cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

just mix the marshmallows + butter + chocolate + water in a heavy based pan until all the marshmallows melted thoroughly, then put aside to cool. whip the cream and add the vanilla extract (if u have). then mix the two together and put them in nice tiny pots and cool in fridge.

my experience;
i couldnt find any mini marshmallows so had to buy them big sizes ones, and get my little nieces and nephew to tear them into small pieces. went all the way to giant, tesco and lastly cold storage to look for the chocolate, the double cream and vanilla extract. the chocolate i got, the double cream was too bloody expensive at RM30 per 100 ml!! dats um, about 5 quid per 100 ml! i made do with normal single cream instead. cant find any vanilla extract so settled for vanilla flavouring instead - huge mistake.

the choc + marshmallows + butter + water melted nicely, i was a bit apprehensive in the beginning cos the marshmallows took a long time to melt, but be patient, it will melt eventually, just keep stirring and make sure it all melted thoroughly otherwise it gets clumpy when it cooled. the cream was more difficult, after whipping it, i added the vanilla flavouring, which immediately turns the entire cream to mush! anyone ever experience this before? just goes to show to never subsitute vanilla extract for artificial flavouring huhu. had to make a quick visit to the shops again to get fresh cream.

anyway managed to complete the rest of the recipe without mishap, doled them out in the pre-cooled pots and refrigerate them for about an hour - cos i was too impatient already hehe.

tadaaaaaa!!!! (^_^)

it would be even better if it has this!

disclaimer : ok2..lets be honest here, the pictures above are courtesy of google - i didnt manage to get any pictures my camera was on loan and my hp was out of battery! but in all fairness, it looks EXACTLY like this, except for the spoon - mine is nicer haha

the total cost for making this recipe?:
butter = only use a little bit, so i will estimate it 50 cents
marshmallows = RM11.20
70% cocoa dark choc = RM32.50
cream = as i only use single cream - and not considering i had to buy twice = RM15
which gives the grand total of = RM59.20

the recipe above serves 6 person - so around 10 bucks per person..

oh the taste - heavenly delicious seriously yummy one of the best choc mousse ive ever tasted!

go try it :)

roses are red, violets are blue..

yesterday i braved one utama after being in confinement for the past two weeks. onfinement because ive been coughing and have horrible flu and occasional high fever, so my usual routine is to work, and back home straight after. no usual rendevous to dinners and suppers with friends, no quick stops to the malls to get something or to window shop, and hardly any meet ups with the babes.

but yesterday, i was sick and tired of being at home, watching channel AFC non stop, which doesnt really make me any better cook, just makes me more depressed how easy it is to cook things i like in uk or in us, like in the case of my attempt to make nigella's famous chocolate pudding - will blog about this later :). i think even my mom got sick of watching me slumping on the sofa with the remote permanently glued to my hand. my mom knows her daughter well and she knows im hardly the kind to spend more than an hour on the idiot box as there's always things to do and people to see. before she always nags me for going out all the time, yesterday she actually nag at me for being at home to much. haha. such is the irony.

so i got up from the sofa, after chef at home finished cooking, and took a shower and got dressed. i put on my jeans for the first time in two weeks and waddayaknow, its pretty loose! a quick check on the scales shows that ive actually lost 3 kilos! i shud lounge on the sofa more often haha. no lah, i think its due to the fact that being sick makes one lose one's appetite and ive been steadily living on a diet of water, soup and tuna sandwhiches for the past two weeks. sure can easily gain this back within a week huhu.

neways, by the time im ready, it was quarter to 6pm, i informed my mom im going out and that i will be home late. like really late. she just nodded. yikes. thats a first. that just goes to show how bad she wants me to go out already.

i decided not to call any of the babes. cos, first, they all live over kl side, and im ever so lazy to drive all the way there, wishing sometimes i have someone close this side of the town, and second, im not exactly sure what i want to do and with my mood swings like this, i know it will annoy some people so rather not risk that, i'd better go out alone.

one utama was, as usual jam packed with peeps. and is it just me, or there's more foreigners here more than before? pak arab and blacks are quite common, but now there are more white foreigners you know. weird.

anyway, by the time im done in one utama it was raining cats and dogs. i decided to get out anyway and had a moment of "aloneness" when i was queing to pay the parking ticket. as usual, its the guys who will be queing and in front of me were like 3 guys. upon discovering the machine only accepts coins, they all turned to their respective other halfs and called out to them, "sayang", "honey" .."darling" asking for coins where the ladies immediately pops out the coin purses for the said coins. i dont know of any women who doesnt carry coin purses. ok, i do, me. :p. anyway, was suddenly feeling sad and melancholic after witnessing that moment whereas i, having no one to turned to, just forays in my bag and found the coins lumped at the bottom of my handbag. note to self : get a coin purse. note to self 2 : next time use touch and go. :p

i was in and out of one utama in less than two hours and realise that the night is still young! hmm. but what else to do and where else to go. i refuse to go home so early, i refuse i refuse! even though im already bored to death of the malls.

i went to subang parade instead. :)

i decided to buy the things ive been listing to buy for ages but never got around to. ok, dont ask why i didnt get them in one utama just now ok, i told u my mood swings are weird. so i bought the squash balls, two of them, the other day we lost one to the ceiling fans :p. new rubber for the handle for my favourite squash racquet, i have three, but i only like to use one. dunno why i got the other two in the first place. i fixed my glasses, bought new contact lenses. searched for ipanema sandals but they dont have any. bought a top in dorothy perkins and finally lastly, i bought a pair of shoes. a lovely orange leather pumps. :) my most extravagant spending of the night!

and i went home at a reasonable hour of 9.30pm.

9.30pm!!

my life is so sad.

so how was your weekend? :)

happy birthday bloggie

three years ago today i created this blog.

three years.

im actually surprised it lasted this long :p.

GLEE & a police entry..

im addicted to the series GLEE.

so much so, i actually went and bought the entire Season 1 and watched all 13 episodes of it in 2 seatings.

now im waiting anxiously for the Seasons 2 :p

last weekend i was on my way to kota damansara to meet up with the babes for drinks. it was quarter to 11pm and i was driving down mahamehru highway, there's a roadblock on the highway and as i thought i was just passing through, thinking i had not done anything wrong, i was suddenly being asked to pulled over..

me : ya encik, saya ada buat salah apa-apa ke? *smiling my best smile*

policeman : oh takde takde, ni cuma routine stop saja, tolong bukak boot. *i got out and opened the boot for him*

policeman : oh banyak nya kasut, jual kasut ke dik? *snickered*

me : *huh?* oh tak la, memang simpan kasut dalam kereta.

he forages some more, looking at the back seat of my car, the passenger seat, my road tax. he didnt asked for my license or my ic, which is weird for me. by this time im kinda annoyed already, coz 1. im already late to meet my friends and 2. i dont see his point of making me pull over if i havent done anything wrong!

finally i cant stand it, i said;

me : encik, lama lagi ke, saya dah lambat ni. *pretends to look at my watch anxiously*

policeman : ha, ni mak awak tau ke awak kat mana nie, keluar malam-malam? *he snickered again and gelak2*

i was livid!

me : encik, encik ingat umur saya ni 17 tahun ke nak tanya soalan macam tu?

he just laughed! boleh!! finally, after another few minutes, he signalled for me to go. that was one seriously most pointless thing ive encountered! shouldnt the police be out solving crimes or something? why have this stupid not required checks for people who CLEARLY has not broken any law? like dah seriously takde kerja ke? and even then, does he have to go through my shoe collection and make brainless remarks like that? unless if he's interested in my shoes..well, then that's a different story :p

the best thing

the other day over supper of teh tarik and maggie goreng;

nn : dear, wanna ask you, you're in a long distance relationship right?

me : er, yes, why?

nn : and u guys have no problems right? i mean, the distance is not an issue?

me : *grins* distance always an issue, dekat sangat pun issue, jauh sangat pun issue

nn : well yeah *smiles back* but how do you work at it, i mean do you have any tips?

my poor friend, her partner of 2 years is suddenly going to be transferred to Texas, and she is unable to follow due to her work and her family here.

alamak...tips.. im so not good at giving advice.

after thinking hard and long about it, i told her, the secret to sustaining a long distance relationships is.....there is no secret.

really.

you just take it one day at a time.

there are many reasons why long distance relationships failed or succeed. its really up to the individuals. sure, some people will advice you to always call each other, or make sure you arrange for visits, or you have to trust the other person etc etc. these are the common things, she doesnt need me to repeat all this, and after all, even tho you do all of them religiously, who's to say it may or may not work out? even couples who sees each other everyday still breaks up too, so really, who's to say? relationships needs work, a lot of work, and you have your ups and downs, its up to you what you want to do in those times.

in my part, the love comes as a surprise. it was unexpected and it was accidental. and when it happened it was the most amazing thing in the world! maybe that's why it works. who knows? if there's only one thing that we discuss about the future is that we must have a common goal i.e. we both have the same idea where we want this relationship to go. that helps. A LOT.

im a possesive person by nature, and as much as i trust him, the jealousy will still be there, and i have to learn to curb that. i "merajuk" all the time too haha, poor him, he always said its difficult to "pujuk" from far. but in between, we laugh and talked and had a good time. even when we're far apart :)

another thing that im really glad of, is having good friends around me who supports me, and to me this is very important..dont hang around with those peeps who will whisper evil things in your ear, making you doubt yr feelings, making mountains out of molehills and etc. if he has the same good support as well, even better! :) i tend to avoid those folks who comes up with stupid remarks like "get one bf in KL la, what he doesnt know wont hurt him etc etc" like why? why? why are you so intent in making my relationship fail?

it also helps that he's so relaxed and cool about it, he's not emotional, unlike me, the designated drama queen :p and the balance kinda works, u know? i mean, imagine if we had particulary stormy arugment, and if we're both emotional, already we're a world apart..then we might ended up doing things that we're going regret and then, there's no turning back..the damage already done.

so to my dear darling friend, maybe you can ask somone who has been in a long distance relationship longer than i have. i have no words of wisdom, no tried-and-tested method, no tips and no advices. i barely make it a month before crying my hearts out because i miss him so much. makes me wanna buy the next flight ticket then and there :)

wrting about this suddenly makes me miss him so much, well, bila masa nya yang tak rindu kan hehehe..neways im listening to this song now..and its dedicated to YOU! (^_^)

Ne-Yo – Never Knew I Needed

For the way you changed my plans

For being the perfect distraction

For the way you took the idea that I have

Of everything that I wanted to have

And made me see there was something missing

For the ending of my first begin

And for the rare and unexpected friend

For the way you’re something that I never choose

But at the same time something I don’t wanna lose

And never wanna be without ever again

You’re the best thing I never knew I needed

So when you were here I had no idea

You’re the best thing I never knew I needed

So now it’s so clear I need you here always

My accidental happily (ever after)

The way you smile and how you comfort me (with your laughter)

I must admit you were not a part of my book

But now if you open it up and take a look

You’re the beginning and the end of every chapter

You’re the best thing I never knew I needed

So when you were here I had no idea

You’re the best thing I never knew I needed

So now it’s so clear I need you here always

Who’d knew that I’d be here

So unexpectedly

Undeniablely happy

Sat with you right here, right here next to me

You’re the best thing I never knew I needed

So when you were here I had no idea

You’re the best thing I never knew I needed

So now it’s so clear I need you here always

Now it’s so clear I need you here always

spam

there's something wrong with my blog...

i got some weird, spam comments that i cannot delete.

when i tried, it deleted the whole post :(

so i have accidentally deleted about 4 posts, including the one on valentine's day, the post before this.

:(

i think i need to change the address soon.

otherwise it might ended up deleting my entire blog!

:(

wtf?

as a rule i dont like to swear.

in fact, i never do.

but this is way beyond me, what i know and how i deal with things.

im sooooo angry and upset argghhhhhhhh damn it.

i hate hate hate hate this feeling.

damn it, i need to do sumting to correct this, otherwise every month i will be facing this problem.

damn damn damn.

guna kan lah bahasa kebangsaan kitaa

tadi berbual2 with him for almost an hour. di office! hehehe. tsk..tsk.. ok lah, it was almost 5pm, dan ramai pun dah balik. jumaat dan hujan lebat di luar. mesti jam. nak balik awal sure stuck so baik duduk diam2 kat ofis, buat kerja, or gi gym. eh, i dont call him on the ofis phone ok, dunt be crazy, menempah maut nama nya tu. he calls lah, kan ada voip, life is easy with internet :p

one of the things i like about him is he takes me seriously when i ask stupid malay language questions. i dont speak or write malay very well. betul. tak tau kenapa. i blame my parents :p my dad speaks to us mainly in English, sebab dia nak anak2 dia pandai English. my mom speaks to us in kelantanese malay or kelantanese english. so i can speak English "please pass me the spoon" or kelantanese English "pleash pah me the spoong" or "i waited and waited and it didnt come" or "wated wated tok kem" :p hehe tak lah, my mom doesnt speak English like this. main2 saja haha. anyway, i grow up knowing "pleting" and "tembok" and "gege" and "kubeh" but until recently i found out what "manikam" and "lurah" and "teruja" and "gempur" means.

just now i was asking him about the usage of the word "bertubi-tubi" and "gapai".

me : sayang kutuk i bertubi-tubi!

him : "laughing" wah dah tau guna bertubi2

me : betul tak i guna? it means over and over again rite?

him : betul lah tu *other conversation omitted*

me : my post yesterday, i nak guna gapai, ada kan such word, macamana nak guna?

him : gapai, meaning reaching. like lagu bunkface.."untuk menggapai bintang" - reaching for the star and "tergapai-gapai"..seeking, reaching out. macam orang lemas mintak tolong *siap buat suara org lemas*

me : ooo ok2. *sambil angguk2 faham* (mcm nampak padahal tgh ckp dalam telefon hahaha)

hehe, this is a normal conversation between me and him.

orang yang tak kenal saya mesti ingat saya ni mengada. melayu tapi tak tau bahasa sendiri. perasan nak jadi mat saleh. bukan bukan. i am proud of my language. sangat. sebab tu i still learn and try to use it. kalau tak, dah lama buat tak tahu saja.

ok lah. nak gi gym.

nak tgk citer toothfairy lah esok. siapa saya nak ajak nie..hmmm.

hidup ini indah

tajuk yang bertujuan untuk memberi semangat baru :)

yep. got the sad news this morning. masa nak cari loan untuk masters dulu pun macam tu juga. masa nak minta tu la dia suddenly tutup. memang takde jodoh and rezeki.

but i believe, when one door is closed somewhere a window will open. positive vs negative kan. i have to believe rezeki ada dimana-mana. i never thought i could get chevening. masa tu dah hilang segala harapan. but if HE wills it, mesti dapat nanti kan. i just have to be patience. so back to the drawing board! :)

hari ni mendung je. the weather and my mood. had a lovely banana leaf lunch at nirwana, my friends dragging me to lunch dah penat tgk muka saya ni monyok je kut hehe. the bosses were not around today, so can go out earlier and come back later. saw a gorgeous RM500 jacket from Guess and tetiba terfikir bila lah im rich enough to just buy something without even needing to think if i can afford it or not. ok2, a very selfish and poyo thought, when i shud be happy and grateful with wat i have kan kan..this is depression typing, nique has left temporarily :p

on my way home from work, it started raining really heavily. and even heard news that there's a lorry on fire somewhere in Kepong at one of the highways. the rain was so heavy, i could barely see despite the wiper working like mad. i gave up and turned into one utama instead :)

u guys pernah tak tgk wayang sorang2? kalau gurls mesti ramai yang jawab tak pernah kan? hehe me too, dulu. now, always. it started when i was working in my first company. kan kerja dulu asyik melekat ngan hp saja, jarang i could finish a movie, mesti tgh tgk wayang ade je operations problem. berapa kali i had to walk out on my friends masa tgh tgk wayang. even worse while i was on date haha. mana ada guys yg tahan oo. side track, i once dated dis guy who sgt tak tahan ngan my lifestyle, kejap dia call im on my way to port klang, skali lagi, dah nak gerak to singapore, skali dia call, dah offshore dah hehe. he gave up, kate nak cari gf yang boleh duduk diam hehe. lucky he wasnt even dat cute haha :p

anyway, sambung balik, so sebab i really want to watch these movies yg tertinggal ni, terpaksa la tgk kali kedua dan selalu nye kena tgk sorang2 lah, ye lah, sape lah nak teman lagi. last2 i can happily watch a movie alone. tapi makan, still tak boleh sorang. admire orang yang boleh duduk di restaurant dah makan alone. especially kat KL ni. kalau kat UK, um, boleh diconsider kut.

point of this - i watch The Legion tadi. alone hehe. takut la cerita tu. menyesal tgk sorang2. tercari tangan bf saya nak genggam lupa tgh tgk sorang, nasib sebelah takde org, kalau tak pegang tangan sapa ntah hehe. but i like the guy who played the angel michael. sgt macho :) reminds me of that guy in Transporter, apa ntah nama dia - comel tapi macho hehe.

i just realise this post is mostly in malay. maybe nak sesuai kan dengan title kut. something different for me.

esok work from home :) and my mom ajak gi makan steak kat Victoria Station this weekend, dia nak belanja. best2. if i dont write till then, have a good weekend everyone (^_^)

picture taken at Dungun, Terengganu :)

its confirmed and official.

no SPC this year.

spoke to Mara myself this morning.

i am thoroughly dissapointed.

:(

this ain't a scene, it's an arms race

it was bloody freezing in the office today, but which unfortunately, i was the only one affected by it..probably due to sitting at my desk not moving for hours while others were going up down left and right for meetings. sometimes tis a good thing being an analyst, often the number crunching and analytical part will be done behind the scenes, while the decision makings are left to the bosses so i no need to attend hehe.. anyway, twas so cold today, was contemplating wearing gloves! truly! kalau pakai sure kena gelak ngan my colleagues, my boss and kakak cleaner tu, huhu..especially since my gloves looks like this.. :p


anyway, two months ago i had my first appraisal in this international oil and gas company. having come from a tiny little establishment where we dont even have KPIs or systems of appraisals, and no point of having one anyway as the chances of you getting a raise or a promotion is basically slim to none, it was liberating to went through an international appraisal system, and what i got actually determines my career path and of course, the extend of the financial increment.

so i was looking forward to sitting down with first, the direct line manager, then the GM, to go through the 2009 goals and performances, and if i have met them, and where i could have done better. i was particularly anxious as im sure all who've read my blog, as this post is highly related to finance analysis, something that i do not have a strong (or actually none) background at all. then i was also am interested to have a dicussion of where im moving to next, to discuss my next potential position, my own individual development, as i have been taking a lot of e-learning via the company's open university and i was eager to discuss where and when i can make my next move. the hr and performance policy here have a series of interviews and performance appraisals, filling up online your final discussions, which will be viewed by your entire global managers, for recruitment once your windows are open.

needless to say, the process was, at the end of the day, highly overrated and i was thoroughly dissapointed :(depending on wat kind of line manager u got and mine could hardly be bothered to have a one on one discussion with us :( instead he asks us to write out wat we think we have achieved and where we think we could improve and he will add and comment accordingly. tak suka la like this, sama macam ngan company lama je. wats the point of having all those procedures then if the boss is too lazy to do them?? my boss, he is a great operations manager, but lousy at managing people...sigh.

the point of this reambling was actually this, i wrote down what i wanted out of my career here and where i wanna go next and submitted it to hr and the GM - who went berserk! he send me an email saying "young lady, we need to sit down and have a discussion on your career path etc etc" and the discussion is tomorrow. and im dreading it. sure he wants to me stay in the same team and in the same department, as long as he is in it..he's known to do that...while im raring to go other places and do other things! sigh.

suddenly teringat kat my old team in the old company..

although at this time, we were so young and naive and never thought about where we gonna go and what we're gonna to do next..we were just enjoying and having fun working on the big ship. life was certainly simpler then..

rasa macam nak demam lah...:(