Quick (word-y) update

Merry Christmas everyone! I realize it’s been almost 10 days since my last update (I don’t think I’ve ever gone this long without updating) and I’m not going to abandon this space. Rather, I’ve been too busy to sit down and properly edit all the photos from the last week. This is the first year that both the boo and I are celebrating Christmas together in KL (first year he was in New York and second year we were at Disneyland (!!)) so we spent it pretty much with his family. Lots of family birthdays during December.

My Christmas week – I like to drag all occasions into week-long celebrations – can basically be summed up in one sentence: lots of good food! Seriously, in the last week alone, I had turkey, roast lamb, ribs, international buffet, nyonya food, italian food, and lots and lots of pasta and yummy home-cooked meals. Seriously, for a foodie like me what more can I ask for?
For the boo’s birthday we had an amazing buffet lunch at Mosaic Mandarin Oriental which is highly raved about as one of the best buffets in the city. For winter solstice we had the boo’s favourite nyonya food (that Portuguese Devil Curry is still on my mind…) and the squid ink pasta with anchovies and prawns from Midi 57 was the best squid ink ever.

Coming back to work from a 6-day holiday is a bit of a reality check, but all is well as my bosses (yes I have SEVEN bosses) are all going overseas one by one nyehehehe. However, my manager is having a sort of hissy fit about my leave and complained to my colleague about me being missing from work…. I think he’s the one missing the festive gene hmph.

Coming up next: Christmas party at the boo’s place tomorrow night (I’m making brownies!) and meeting up with some school friends on Sunday. Bring on the festivities because I’m still in the holiday mood!

On a final note, we’re now on a downhill journey for the rest of the year. 2014 is coming up just next week and the next few days will be a time for me to reflect on this year, and what I want from myself for the coming year.

Faces of Pudu

I don’t usually use my 35mm for street photography because it gives me too wide of a field-of-view, and I like street portraits. We were just buying food from Pudu after collecting my 100mm macro lens and just so happened that the 35mm was attached to my camera. The wider angle gave me a different perspective than usual and forced me to think of more interesting compositions and subjects. The thing about long lenses is that it lets you take a photo of just about anyone or anything without even moving around much since you can pretty reach everything just by standing in one spot.

That last photo there is a little special to me because it sort of marks a personal milestone, that’s why I saved it even though the composition isn’t really that great (chopped off head and everything). What happened was, after I took the shot he started yelling at me about taking photos without permission. Then the nice old man (the one who’s head is disembodied in the frame) tried to calm him down while he continued yelling away. Oh well, I knew this was going to happen some day and I suppose it’s a life experience amirite?

Speaking of which, the coming week is going to be parties and celebrations (Christmas, Winter Solstice and the boo’s birthday) and I’m taking 4 days off from work so yay! Oh, and today is Jason’s birthday so big shout-out to him. Happy Birthday if you’re reading this!

O Banh Mi, Damansara Uptown

We’ve fallen in love with O Banh Mi. The fluffy and light home-made baguettes are just love and who knew that copious amounts of cilantro with pickled carrots, onions, lemongrass minced chicken and Vietnamese chili sauce could end up the freshest and yummiest sandwich I’ve had (forgive me if I haven’t tried the original banh mi in Vietnam)? The original banh mi had a swipe of pork liver pate but I skipped that (organs are not my cup of tea) and it still tasted amazing. The coffee is great as well even though it put me in a state of shivers and headaches for a whole day (I’m caffeine intolerant sadly).

We’re hoping that more stuff will be added to the menu soon (they had a teriyaki chicken banh mi the last time we went). My current favourite is the O School banh mi, whilst the boo’s changes with his mood.

O Banh Mi
33, Jalan SS21/56b, Damansara Utama,
47400 Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

Christmas is just around the corner

1 / 2 / 3 / 4

Wishlists are like my guilty pleasure, I love making them but I know I shouldn’t because the chances that I actually get anything on the list are usually nil.

I’m looking for a new backpack for travel/photography usage since I’m seriously limiting myself by carrying around a handbag every time I’m taking photos. Herschel carries a pretty nice looking line of canvas backpacks that aren’t explosion-in-your-pocket expensive (think below RM300), but some reviews say that the quality is a little lacking. I’m looking to upgrade my 50mm f1.8 to the better-built 50mm f1.4 USM but that obviously isn’t going to happen soon. Hopefully it’ll happen by my birthday next year… :D

Kate Spade had a site-wide 30% sale and I so wanted to get an iPhone casing (always wanted one) except, no shipping to Malaysia. Great. The Kinfolk Table is more of an eye-candy book for me rather than a bona fide cookbook, as I’ve had first hand experiences with Kinfolk recipes – vague instructions and missing ingredients.

Anyone want to be my secret santa?

Lemon and Rosemary Shortbread Cookies

I was a little adventurous and tried this Lemon and Rosemary Shortbread Cookie recipe the other day. I came across this on My Baking Addiction and was intrigued with the notion of adding herbs in baking. I realize that the herb in the pictures are thyme and not rosemary, but I accidentally got a little too carried away, chopped up all the rosemary and plonked them into the cookie dough when the recipe only specifically called for one tablespoon. I must have added 2 and a half tablespoons of the stuff, and the cookies ended up a bit overpowered by the rosemary sigh.

But don’t get me wrong, the texture was great especially with the addition of wholemeal flour! The recipe called for freezing the cookie dough, which made it stiffer and crispier than my usual cakey-textured cookie. This experience taught me to read the instructions twice over, and today when I used herbs in baking, I made sure that I chopped up exactly the amount of leaves the recipe asked for – double and triple checking!

Lemon and Rosemary Shortbread Cookies
My Baking Addiction

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon lemon zest (from 1 lemon)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 Tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced
3/4 teaspoon salt
Sanding sugar for rolling (optional)

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add lemon zest, vanilla and egg and beat until incorporated.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together both kinds of flour, salt and rosemary.
3. With the mixer on low, gently add dry ingredients into butter mixture. Mix until ingredients are well combined and a stiff dough is formed.
4. Cut two 12x16 inch pieces of plastic wrap. Divide dough in half placing one half of the dough on each piece of plastic wrap. Use your hands to form two 1 ½ inch diameter logs. Open the plastic wrap and sprinkle logs with sanding sugar (if using) and roll a bit more to coat the logs well in the sugar. Wrap logs tightly in the plastic wrap, place on baking sheet and freeze logs for 1 hour or until firm.
5. Preheat oven to 375°. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
6. Remove dough logs from the freezer and remove the plastic wrap. Slice dough into ¼ inch thick slices and place on prepared baking sheets 1 inch apart.
7. Bake until cookies are just golden at the edges, about 16-18 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on wire racks. Store cookies in an air tight container for up to 4 days.

Foodie Fest 2013 by Food Bites

Rodeo Drive, Los Angeles