Got New Blog!

Haven't checked this blog since 2007! I probably should have deleted this before I started a new blog with my sister.

Check http://thingsonmytopshelf.com for recipes, restaurant reviews and the occasional travel ideas.

See you there!

Blogging foodsters

My older sister is joining us in the blogosphere.

An automobile professional with a passion for food and cooking, it's no wonder that she christened her blog "The Motoring Chef". Here she blends the two sides of herself in a charming and interesting way if I may say so myself.

After our mom, my sis was also the one who got me into food and cooking. The two of us spent years in the States, studying but also eating all the way through. While we were not trying new things, we were craving Indonesian food. And the only way to get those Indonesian favorites was to make them ourselves. So there were times when we were trying to whip up some Mie Ayam, Rendang, or Lumpia with our mother guiding us through on the phone from all the way in Jakarta. Oh, good old times.

I'm glad that she started this blog. It's one more way for us to check out each other's lives and recipes even when we live so far apart. So, do check out her blog. I think you'll enjoy it.

A Bit of TLC

Yesterday, my husband and I have been married for two years. The time just goes when you’re having fun and we have been having fun ever since we said our vows to each other.

When we met three and a half years ago, we bonded over dinners and brunches that lasted for hours. Since being married, we continue to fill our days with great chatters over great meals at home or at one of our favorite restaurants. Even when we travel, we make it a priority to check out wonderful out-of-the-way local restaurants. Food is just a big part of our lives and relationship. Food has brought love to us.

In a way, food brings love to the table. I think how we feel when we cook transfers into the food that we are preparing. There were occasions when I was not in the best mood, I couldn’t seem to do anything right in the kitchen. I’ve ruined simple oven-fried chicken, burned my skin on hot pan fresh from the oven, knocked the dishes drying rack scattering the pans on the floor and scaring my cats out of the kitchen with their tails puffed up. However, I found that I did my best cooking or baking when I was doing it with the intention of making others feel good through the food I serve them. It could be the Jambalaya that I love to cook for dinner parties or cookies to treat my colleagues and staff at work or hearty breakfasts for my husband.

My husband loves breakfast and he doesn’t get to eat full breakfast very often since we both go to work very early. So, for our anniversary, which happened to fall on a Sunday, I treated him with a good old American breakfast that he misses so much. All I wanted was to sit next to him at our kitchen booth and watch his expression when he first bit into his breakfast. With that thought, I started to put together a banana pancake batter and fried up some bacon. And voila…the best pancakes I have made so far; they were fluffy, even sized and tasty. They were what we call perfect short stacks. Served with organic maple syrup, smoky bacon, grapes, orange juice and vanilla café latte, the pancakes kicked off the third leg of our marriage with a sweet taste.

End of word, put a bit of tender loving care to every fold, stir or shake when you are cooking or baking. It matters.

Celebrate with Carrot Cake

Living up to my blog’s name – absentminded cook – I forgot that I had a blog. So, imagine how surprise I was when I logged back in and found a message that I was awarded with the “Rockin’ Girl Blogger Award.” This award was passed down to me and four other girl bloggers from LitaS, who received it from Hanny and Eva, other seriously great girl bloggers. I do not deserve this award at all!

Nonetheless, it calls for a celebration. And what is more appropriate for a celebration than a cake? I’ll bake myself my favorite cake: Carrot Cake. I like this cake so much that I chose it to be my wedding cake as well - an occasion that I wanted to celebrate the most!

Yes, there are carrots in carrot cake and for those of you who don’t like carrots, don’t diss this cake until you try it. With a combination of the carrot, pineapple and walnut chunks, topped with cream cheese frosting, this cake is yummy!


Okay, here is how my sister, Louise, taught me to bake it. First, I preheat my oven to 350ºF/180ºC/setting 4 for gas oven. Then, in a large mixing bowl, I put 2 cups of all purpose flour, 2 tsp of baking powder, 1.5 tsp of baking soda, 1 tsp of salt and 2 tsp of cinnamon (freshly ground if you have any). I like to make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients before I add 2 cups of sugar, 4 eggs and 1.5 cup of oil. I use oil instead of butter because the oil will make the cake moist.

Once I have all those ingredients in, I mix it well using an electric mixer. Before hand, I’ve prepared 2 cups of grated raw carrots, 2 cups of sweet crushed pineapple, and half a cup of walnut chunks (I personally prefer to cut the pineapple into little pieces instead of crushing it, but either way is fine). After the batter is mixed, stir in the carrots, pineapple and nuts using a wooden spoon.

The batter is ready to go into the oven. You can use a 13x9 inch pan and bake it for 35 to 50 minutes. I, however, use two 8-inch diameters round pans and bake it around 25 to 40 minutes or until it springs back when touched lightly. Pierce the cake with a wooden toothpick to see if it’s done. When the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is ready. Then, leave it to cool.

To make the frosting, I gradually add 1 pound (about 450g) of confectioners sugar to 8 ounces of softened cream cheese and 1 to 2 tbs of butter. Mix it well. Add vanilla (a few drops of vanilla extract, if you don’t have real vanilla bean) and just a bit of lemon juice for fragrance. Then spread on a completely cooled cake. That’s not too complicated, right?

So, in the spirit of celebration, this cake is big enough for you to share, but it’s so good that you wouldn’t want to.

Blog for foodies

Love it when I found a recipe, tried it myself, and it became a repeat in my kitchen.

Love it even more when I found a blog full of tested recipes, tried a couple of the recipes, and I became a big fan.

The reason why I started this blog was because I wanted to share my interest in cooking, baking and all about food to other foodies out there. Naturally, I was inspired when I stumbled on Elise Bauer’s Simply Recipes page.

Elise started this blog to share recipes tested by herself, her family and friends. Now, with a few hundreds recipes, tens of thousands readers, numerous press mentions, I’m not surprised that this blog was voted as Best Food Blog Overall in the 2006 Food Blog Awards. And this is just one of the recognitions it has received.

On Monday, I first tried Elise’s Grilled chicken with tarragon sauce recipe. It was very simple, quick and delicious. As the custom in my kitchen, I used skinned chicken breasts and since my husband and I are carb-eaters, I had to serve it with pasta. In this case, it was penne.

Succeeding with the first recipe, I started to check out Elise’s Simply Recipes blog daily. Yesterday, I scored another good recipe: Penne with ricotta and asparagus. My husband loves ricotta and asparagus. I had a bunch of penne leftovers. Perfect. Again, it was simple, quick and yummy. Of course, as a true carnivore I needed something meaty in the dish, so I mixed in a handful of chopped freshly fried thick bacon. It added a new flavor that did not compete with the ricotta and asparagus.

Both big hits and I can’t wait to try her Cheesy crustless quiche. Do check out this blog if you’re in need for recipes.

Roll it up

You’d think making sushi would be as easy as slapping a piece of fish onto a rice ball. In theory it is that simple. Making it for the first time is a different story.

My mother somehow got a chef from a very famous and always crowded sushi restaurant chain to teach her and a few friends how to make sushi and other Japanese dishes. And as a good mother, she passed down the knowledge to me a couple of weekends ago.

We started with the rice making technique. Using a special type of rice, washed very lightly so not to break the grains, we cooked the rice with equal amount of water, a half teaspoon of Miola rice powder, and a few pieces of Kombu (a type of dried seaweed). Once cooked, a combination of salt, sugar, and rice vinegar was mixed into the hot rice.

The fun part for me was learning to roll a Maki (sushi roll). Rolling a firm and neat Maki is tricky. My first attempt was Sake Maki (Salmon roll), my husband’s favorite. On a bamboo sheet, I laid a piece of Nori (seaweed), arranged the sticky rice on it and placed long pieces of salmon, cut with a special sushi knife, on top of everything. Then, basically, I just had to roll and pack it in using the bamboo sheet. However, don’t expect those tiny neat rolls with the salmon piece right in the center. Mine was not that pretty.

Even if my sushi rolls didn’t turn out perfect, they were still edible. We had quite a feast that day starting with Japanese mushroom soup, iceberg lettuce salad with Miso dressing, fresh Sake Sashimi, my ugly Sake Maki and Tempura Maki Ebiko.

It was a delightful way to spend an afternoon with my parents and it was entertaining to try my hands on Japanese cuisine. I definitely need a lot of practice if I want to be good at sushi making. And I meant A LOT of practice.

I couldn’t help to think that it would be much simpler, faster and cheaper to park myself at a sushi bar whenever I needed a sushi fix.

Please read my little profile when you question the frequency of my postings: "A professional in a stressfull professional environment whose passion is food and stress management method is to get busy in the kitchen."

The far in between postings should obviously show my stress level. Since going back to work last month, my stress level, which was the depth of a kiddie pool, has gone up to the depth of a full Olympic size swimming pool. Unfortunately, I haven't quite leveled it down again by spending a lot of QT in the kitchen. But, I had several occasions where I managed to try a good new recipe or two. I'll write more about those soon when the time allows.

Coming up, I'll share about making home made bread, pizza, great simple pasta dishes and even my cooking class experience in Bali last January.