randomness and amy's kitchen

i havent been blogging regularly lately, and today i got semangat to blog, so this shall be a long post today!

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there was a blackout in kuching last saturday.

i'd just put the ingredients into the bread machine a scant few minutes before the electricity got cut.

so the yeast made everything rise and rise and rise...

when the electricity came back on (a million hours later), i switched on the machine again and made it resume baking the bread.

this is the end product:

.....

....

...

..

.


the bread collapsed!


but it looks pretty darned cool right?


nah, side view.
hahaha!

ok ok, kids, its that time again!
its time for amy's kitchen! (wtf, i feel so lame. LOL)

tagline: better than ron's! (simply choi su aka asking for trouble -_-")

anyways, today, we shall make lime meringue (can ask stef to pronounce, she's very pro)!

preheat the oven at 160 degrees celcius

ingredients:

see, im so nice, i measured it out and put it out nicely ala cooking show.

for the crust, u will need:

100g butter


50g caster sugar and 225g crushed graham crackers

i crushed the biscuits by putting them into plastic bags then mashing them. i dunno how other ppl do it, but this way is quite efficient (IMO).
oh ya, must make the plastic bags double layer incase u get to excited smashing the biscuits and the plastic bursts.
note: using plastic bags instead of a bowl and spoon to smash the biscuits will increase your carbon footprint. albeit by a wee bit. but every bit counts. wtf

as for the filling, u will need:

the juice of 2 fresh limes, mixed with water to make up 300ml


3 tablespoons cornstarch/cornflour


15-25g butter and 175-225g caster sugar


2 eggs separated

here's how i separated the yolks from the whites (i learnt it from watching random cooking shows on tv!)
u carefully crack open the egg and hold the half which has the egg yolk upright so that the yolk and white in that half dont spill, and u empty the other half of the egg. then u transfer the yolk into the now-empty half shell and pour the remaining egg white into the bowl. then u just tilt the egg yolk into another bowl. tada! so easy right! (i always wanted to try it ever since i saw it done!)

and most importantly, u will need...


me! your host for today! =p

so wad u do is cream the butter and sugar, then mix in the crumbs.


then line an 8 inch fluted flan dish

but i dont have a fluted flan dish, so i just used an 8 inch cake pan. aiyah... the only difference is in the presentation wad! =p


then u mix the cornflour, lime juice and 100g sugar in a pan. stir over a gentle heat until its thick.

(i made a mistake at that point, i poured in all 225g of sugar. wtf)

remove from heat and add the beaten yolks.
must remember to remove from heat 1st! if not the egg yolk will become poached like the way eggs look in soups or steamboats. the aim here is to mix the eggs in to become part of the rest of the mixture.

taste and add abit of sugar if u like.
(i obvously didnt have to do this part anymore -_-" but i added another lime to try to mitigate the sweetness... didnt work -_-)

cook very gently for several minutes


pour the mixture into the crust


beat the egg whites untill stiff, then add half of the remaining sugar. then add the rest.
so white and fluffy looking! like melted ice-cream. haha~

spoon it over the lime mixture.
i dont think u should pour it in coz its supposed to be on top of the mixture. u dont wanna penetrate the surface and have everything all mixed up.

actually ar... all these tips or wadever u may call it, were made up by myself and i dunno whether its really supposed to be like that. its just what i think. so dun blame me if its all crap =p


then u stick it into the preheated oven for 20mins.


ta da! so pretty right??

so in making this, i learnt:
1. to read the directions carefully la! i put in too much sugar and my supposed sour lime mixture ended up too sweet -_-"
2. stick it into the fridge before serving! that way, the lime mixture will be more solid and not ooze all over the place! but the funny thing is that the directions say "serve hot". so how ler? but if its hot, the lime mixture will be too liquid! *confused*

so my 1st try at making a lime meringue sucked :(
but fear not!
i have learned from my mistakes and i shall make a much nicer meringue nxt time!
(i just hope my tasters will not be soo put off that they dun wanna try my other attempts *big wide eyes* )

here's your host amy, signing off! xoxo

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later that night, after baking the lime meringue, i had to attend my granddad's birthday dinner. so i got all dressed up.
and since i havent been camwhoring alot recently, i shall remind ya'all how i look like :D

the pics very nice right??
eh, i didnt photoshop them ok!
the lighting was so nice :D

and i tried to do something with my hair, to get my fringe outta my eyes. but it cant really be seen in the pics. oh wells, i hope it looked nice :)


nah, last picture.
with my pjs and comforter hanging off the side of my bunk. wtf

i moved away from the dressing table to take this pic, thats y the lighting sucks and the picture isnt as nice as the others :(

i wanted to camwhore more, but my parents were rushing me. and i didnt bring my cam coz... i dunno. my cam and i are taking some time off from each other. wtf

and i considered giving the lime meringue to my granddad as a birthday pressie, but in the end i didnt coz i hadnt tried it yet and had no idea it would turn out. now im very relieved i didnt give it to him, it would have been wayyyy to sweet! err... i meant that literally =p

oh ya, rmbr the passport sized pics i mentioned a few days ago?
my mum collected them for me today.
they turned out better than i expected.
not great, but not hideous either la.


ya la, laugh all u want.