colinwoon

Chinese New Year is almost here.

Being away from our family, one way to create Chinese New Year atmosphere here beside gathering with friends is to bake some Chinese New Year delicacy, pineapple tart (or roll) that is. It is one of the many wonderful Chinese New Year food in Malaysia.

Required main ingredient, plenty of them.


A wonderful wife is also required.






Enlist some girls power.


Plenty of girls power are needed.






Many hours in the making. The results are simply delicious.


Though we don't have many pieces to go around, hanging out with a bunch of good friends on a Saturday afternoon are definitely worth it.

Happy Chinese New Year to all!

|

Another wonderful Malaysia delicacy whipped out by wifey last weekend.

Kuih Koci, glutinous rice flour filled with a sweet shredded coconut - simply fantastic!

|

Orange Agar-Agar(Jello) - seen on somebody's blog. Wifey tried and succeed.

Promptly consumed approximately 5 mins after I took this shot - just can't resist!

Photography note to self - Tripod mounted camera with external flash(pointed up with diffuser) for fill light, sun light from left, remotely triggered flash on the right pointed up, reflector above subject to cast light onto orange cap and to eliminate harsh shadow.

|

Have you tried Japanese Cheesecake? If not, I suggest you do so ASAP. Yes, NOW!

Japanese Cheesecake is so light and fluffy, some even use the words "cotton soft" to describe it, it's unbelievably good! I love it! Wait, I shall rephrase, I love the one my wife made! (Yup, that will guarantee more to come in the future, hehehe...)

This is not the first time she made it but this time she adds a little twist to it. More like spur of the moment decision since the heavy whipped cream in our fridge is about to expire, why not add it in? Mixer + heavy whipped cream + Kahlua and minutes later, voila! A Japanese Cheesecake that has layers of texture, taste, and GOODNESS!

Oh, the cheesecake is cut into heart shape because Faye thought it will look more interesting in a photo and also the fact that heart shape food makes happy food!

Baking chocolate is added for flavor and texture. The bitterness of the chocolate goes really well with the sweetened whipped cream and the softness of the cheesecake.


My favorite of the 3. For me, almond goes well with any dessert, no?


The chocolate powder didn't do so well here but I still enjoy the cheesecake nevertheless.

|

Yee, my sister-in-law, was home alone last weekend while we were having fun with our friends in Austin. And this amazingly delicious mini blueberry cheesecakes were in the oven when we got home. I think we should leave her home alone more often...

This thing is so light and creamy with just the right amount of sweetness, it was heavenly!!! That's it, I'm leaving Yee home alone again soon, very soon!

|

Last weekend, LK & JP's son, Benjamin and my brother's son, Ray, turn 1 year old! Wow! Time flies, felt like they were born yesterday.

Too bad I'm not in Malaysia to take photos of Ray, it would have been fun!

Serious birthday boy, Benjamin! He has the CEO stare in this shot doesn't he? He always has that serious look but ready to crack a huge smile whenever you play with him.


Yes, I can write love! Janine wrote this wonderful birthday card to her baby brother. One thing I learn from taking photos of Janine is that whenever I let her view the photos I took of her, she will let me take more, sometime she'll even post for me. Not sure if this will work with other kids but it's sure worth a try.


Food galore AGAIN! When there's celebration, there will be good food! We have to fulfill our responsibility to eat, to help the eco-system, hehe... Joo Pheng is a good cook, she prepared most of the food here, she's just amazing! Joanne brought some really good food too. I don't mind wonderful feast like this every weekend!


The only contribution from our house, tiramisu made by Faye and Yee. As always, my only contribution is to enjoy this wonderful creation, ha!

|

LK, JP, Janine, & little Benjamin spent an afternoon with us 2 days ago while they were waiting for the power company to restore power to their house since Hurricane IKE hit.

The problem was that we don't have many toys to entertain the 4 years old Janine. What was there to do? Bake of course, suggested Faye, since Janine loves to help out in the kitchen, according to her mom.

So Janine help Faye and Yee make the dough. Then they cut out the shape of ginger bread man and various other things Janine like. It was a lot of fun thanks to our happy little chef, Janine!

Let the professional take care of the job.


Roll, cut, smile!


More works and smiles!


Finally, it's done!


According to Janine, this is daddy, mommy, and little Benjamin.


Master creation of Yee. She spent a lot of time on this. I thought it looks amazing. Janine said this is "COOL"!


While Janine is busy making cookies, JP is busy preparing dinner for all of us. If you have tasted JP's cooking, you know her food never fail to impress. This is her creation, chicken dumpling, and yes it's very delicious!

|

This is the delicious dessert we enjoyed at Karen's Baby Shower last weekend.

Slices of mangoes cover the cake and more mangoes chunk inside the cake too! Mango goodness!

Yeah, it's store bought.

|

Sisters + magazine + cookbook + free time + the urge to experiment some new dessert = chocolate covered goodies + a very happy man(me)!

Very very good equation! I just hope it happen more often!

Here's what Faye and FY made last week.

Chocolate covered ladies finger with frosting in between and topped with walnut. Sweet and yummy!


"Little Dippers" from Every Day with Rachel Ray Magazine. That's vanilla ice cream with fresh strawberry chunk in the middle. The top is macadamia nuts and the bottom is vanilla wafer. Combination of texture and flavor = amazingly delicious dessert.

|

When Zoe was living with us, she and Faye like to get busy in the kitchen to make some awesome desserts. They are always trying some new recipe or whatever good recipe they could find online.

Since Zoe left, no dessert has came out of our kitchen, not until yesterday. I was so excited when I see Faye and FY got out the mixer and start mixing some dough. It's cookie time! Jumbo cookie that is, with chocolate chips.

The cookies are soft, chewy, and buttery. Warm it up a little with the toaster oven and man, I can't even describe the sensation in my mouth.

2 or 3 of these could substitute a meal, no kidding!

|

Adrien's birthday party was 2 weeks ago but I never got around to post the pictures taken at the party because I was lazy busy.

All the foods are awesome at the party(Min and her mom-in-law spent 2 days preparing all the foods) but most of my shots were "bleh". So I just post 2 of my "OK" shots here because I know my picture capturing skills just don't do justice for those delicious foods.

I was too busy eating so I forgot to ask Min what this is called. I know it's very tasty though.


I think this is a "No Bake Cheesecake". Very delicious!


Birthday boy, Adrien!


Benjamin must be thinking, "Itchy gum! Me need chew!"


The car is mine, it's mine! Muah ha ha...

|

Belgian food, that is. We stopped by Cafe Montrose last Saturday to grab a quick lunch before we head home. Never had lunch there, basically the same dishes as dinner except the added sandwiches(which we didn't order anyway).

Omelletes - seems like Belgian omelletes are baked. Quite flavorful.


French fries - one of our favorite food of all time.


Moules Marinniere - steamed mussel with white wine. Cafe Montrose's famous dish. We like too!


Crepe Mikado - crepes with Belgian chocolate, and vanilla ice cream in the center. Very very good!

|

Finally!!! We found macaron in Houston!

I have no idea what Macaron is a month ago, then I saw the first macaron on Flickr. It was on a fellow Flickr friend's page, Zabaione. Based on the photos she posted, she seems to be a really great baker and a great cook too! Definitely a macaron lover and a great photographer. Her macaron photos look so good, that's the reason why I want to find out what macaron taste like. Check out her blog too!

We found macaron at Midtown Farmers Market last Saturday morning by chance. It was sold by a lady named Maison Burdisso. According to her, not many people sell macaron in Houston(possibly 3 including herself), that's why it's so hard to find.

Macaron sure is a very interesting dessert. It's like cookies with crispy shell and creamy filling in the middle. It sure is tasty! No wonder so many people like it. Faye and I love it!

Clockwise from left lavenders, caramel, tiramisu, lime, lemon, and chocolate in the middle.


Tiramisu flavored macaron is definitely one of our favorite.


Lime flavored macaron is my favorite.

|

Forgot to post these shots from the Samuel's birthday party. Samuel's mom made a lot of good food for his 1st birthday party but my focus is on the sweet stuffs as you may have already noticed, I LOVE DESSERT!

My wife found some good dessert restaurant on the internet for us to sample this weekend. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to take some good shots and post it here. For now, here're some dessert shots I enjoyed at the party.

A raspberry, strawberry, and watermelon bowl.


Forgot what is this called. It's crunchy and yummy. Any idea how to get this shot right? I tried and tried, this is the best I can get at the time. White balance? More light maybe?


A slice of the awesome chocolate cake. I didn't spend much time trying to get the shot right because I just can't wait to dive in and eat it!

|

Our friend made this super delicious chocolate birthday cake for her baby 1st birthday as well as her husband's birthday.

And yes it does taste as good as it looks. Very rich chocolate cake with a little bitterness to it. Yum yum!

|

Faye and Zoe tried out an interesting recipe for a "No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake". Instead of bake, they freeze it.

The result is very tasty, creamy and rich. It's a bit less dense compare to a regular cheesecake but it definitely taste like one. Me likey!

|

Faye made some really tasty muffin over the weekend.

She used banana, pineapple, pecan, walnut, and wheat flour as her main incredient. The results are super delicious muffin!!! My only contribution, EAT!

|

We had a small get together party at our home about 2 weeks ago. So my wife and sister-in-law made some really good delicacy for our friends and relatives to enjoy. My only contribution is to document all the good stuffs they made with my camera, and of course to enjoy them too! Yes, I'm a lucky man!

Below are the few awesome delicacy they made. We have plenty of other food too(took us a week to finish all the left over) but most of them are store/restaurant bought food so I only document the home made good stuffs.

The Siow sister made this really really awesome mini cheesecake with some strawberry and blueberry topping, DELICIOUSSSS! The store bought brownie is good too!


Chocolate fondue. We bought this thingy just for this occasion which turn out pretty good. Notice that we love chocolate? Who won't?


The little candle to warm the chocolate fondue.


Bacon wrapped scallop!!! The scallop is huge, about 2" in diameter and 1" in thickness, wrapped with juicy bacon! Next to the scallop is bacon wrapped shrimp, good stuffs too! It's fattening and unhealthy but man does it taste good!


Zoe, my sister-in-law, use some icing to reserve 2 brownie for her and my wife, Faye, just in case. Warm this brownie up and have it with a glass of cold milk or better yet have it with a scope of vanilla ice cream...Mmmm...

|