Wally Wednesday: videos!

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Wally is a very goofy cat. Once in a while I manage to get videos of him being silly and here are a couple of them :)

He’s highly inquisitive and curious of what a bag contains. This was a couple days after we came back from Malaysia, doing the last bits of unpacking.

I guess he was looking for souvenirs ;) we did bring back 3 big bags of Mamee Monsters and gave him a little bit hehe

Wally is also undeniably a really active cat – he loves playing all day, everyday. His favorite game, other than chasing around the featherball is hide&seek and we usually play that while making bed in the morning.

That is his favorite spot to nap/lay around in our room and usually the hide&seek game starts from there. Whenever we walk pass him while he’s laying there, he’d try to reach out to us with his front legs, to initiate a game.

I used to hide under the blanket and he’d come jump at my feet or my stomach when he saw me moving. Obviously that wasn’t really safe for me cos when he’s excited he just jumps straight at things, sometimes with his claws out.

So we’ve changed things up a little bit and play the game like this:

Obviously this game costs us our comforter but his claws are always trimmed and he rarely get his claws out when playing with soft objects. Yes he does make little holes here and there but not that many that I’m ok with ignoring that.

And also cos he’s a spoiled cat he gets away with anything =P

Hope you enjoy the videos!

Chocolate Souffle

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A few days ago I tweeted about wanting to make something special for Gruffy but wasn’t sure what to make. I wanted to celebrate his recent job-related achievement and I wanted it to be something that I haven’t made before…

T suggested to make chocolate souffle. I thought that sounded good (and Gruffy loooooves chocolates) so I looked for a recipe and found this on Martha Stewart’s website.

It was pretty intimidating and I was really scared that it wouldn’t turn out good, especially considering why I was making it. Gruffy said he’d eat it anyway. He also comforted me by telling me he was sure I’d be able to pull it off – so off to the kitchen I went!

You’ll need:

  • Unsalted butter, room temperature, for baking dish
  • 1/4 cup sugar, plus more for baking dish
  • 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped, or semisweet chocolate chips (1 cup)
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 3 large egg yolks, lightly beaten, plus 4 large egg whites
  • 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter a 1 1/2-quart tall-sided baking dish. Coat with sugar, tapping out excess. Set dish on a rimmed baking sheet.

This recipe calls for 6 ramekins but I only  have 4 so I thought I’d just wing it =P looking back, maybe that wasn’t the best idea but I’m such a beginner in this baking world I still don’t know how to cut ingredients in half when the full recipe calls for 3 egg yolks – I am very sure I’d ruin the whole thing if I tried to half an egg yolk. Maybe when I’m a pro yolk-halfer, I’ll try it =P

ok I digress (what’s new??)..moving on!

In a large heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, combine chocolate, vanilla, and 1/4 cup water. Stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth, about 10 minutes.

*while waiting you can separate your yolks from whites. Notice that the recipe wants 3 yolks but 4 whites? They just HAVE to make things tough for me – I used the extra yolk for my fried rice this morning hehe

Remove your chocolate mixture from heat and let cool to room temperature, 20 minutes.

Stir egg yolks into cooled chocolate mixture until well combined – this is your souffle base.

Set souffle base aside.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat egg whites and cream of tartar on medium-high until soft peaks form, about 2 minutes. Gradually add sugar and beat until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 5 minutes (do not overbeat).

Fold egg-white mixture into souffle base: With a rubber spatula, gently cut down through center and lift up some base from bottom of bowl. Turning bowl, steadily continue to cut down and lift up base until just combined.

To be honest, I folded the egg-mixture into souffle base in whichever way that came naturally to me – in other words, hentammmmmmm je!

Transfer mixture to dish, taking care not to get batter on top edge of dish; smooth top.

Bake souffle until puffed and set, 30 to 35 minutes. (Do not open oven during first 25 minutes of baking.) Serve immediately!

YES I GOT A HAIRCUT =P

lesson learned: If the recipe called for 6 ramekins, DON’T try to fill all of the batter in just 4 – look at how over-puffed all of mine are hehe

I also need to get a sifter if I want my souffle presentation to be better than the one I made yesterday.

I just chucked the confectioner’s sugar on it using a teaspoon hehe

taste-wise, it was really good, if I may say so myself hehe

Gruffy loved it – I can always count on his feedback. He’s always honest with what I cook/bake, if it tasted good or needed improvement or if it wasn’t really his thing.

I’m glad he loved it – my achievement in the kitchen is nothing compare to what he does for our family :) but I hope he knows I’m always behind him, supporting him in everything that he does, the way he always has my back.

Congratulations, Gruffy :) I am so very proud of you and I love you very much!

And oh – Happy Mother’s Day to my Mom and Mom In Law! I love you both :)

baking&cooking&mixing it up!

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How has everyone’s week been? Yours truly has been somewhat under the weather since Wednesday – whatever it was that tried to get me when we were back in Malaysia, got to me. It’s a fever+flu combo = hell lot of sneezing. I blame Wally. He had the kitty cold last few days and kept rubbing his wet nose on my arms whenever he got the chance to.

This morning when he realized I wasn’t gonna get out of bed the usual time to play with him, he got right on my pillow and meowed right next to my ear.

What a spoiled kitty ;)

Anyway, though I wasn’t feeling too good, I felt good enough yesterday to try making something in the kitchen. When we were back in Malaysia, rushing back and forth to the hospital, we didn’t really have time to sit down and eat whenever mealtime came. One time, I picked up some pau(s) (steamed bun) – red bean, kaya, chicken curry…and Gruffy loved them.

So yesterday I thought I’d give it a go. My mom bought me this mini steamed pot before I moved and yesterday was the perfect time to use it :)

I used whole wheat flour for the dough and sweetened red bean for the filling because Gruffy loooooooves red bean. I figure if this attempt was successful, I’d make it again with other fillings.

They turned out quite good – except the first batch because I hadn’t figured out how to put the filling in and close the dough correctly then. But hey, I learned from mistakes :) hopefully I’ll do better next time.

I took some DayQuil and rested a little bit before waking up to make dinner. I knew Gruffy wouldn’t mind if I didn’t cook dinner but I wanted to. The catch was that it wouldn’t be anything fancy – he’d have to eat whatever I whipped out =P

I made cayenne chicken with avocado salsa

I thought it turned out quite good  – and thanks to my addiction to cooking shows, I now know how to cook chicken breasts perfectly ;)

By the way, I ordered an addition to my kitchen last week and it arrived in the mail couple days ago – I am very excited to use it!

If you can’t tell from the picture – it’s my takoyaki pan! I’m so so excited to try making some in the nearest future. Cyan said I should practice lots and then apply for a job with Jusco – doinkhead! haha gonna look for a good/easy recipe to try soon and you bet you’ll read about it here when I have ;)

I’m just gonna take it easy today cos I wanna feel better soon. We have quite a number of things to do this weekend – in order to do things/run errands, I need to be healthy ;) so I better start now!

Gonna end this post with this adorable picture of my two boys, chilling, watching TV last few days hehe

Have a good weekend everyone!

ps: it’s exactly one month till our 2nd wedding anniversary! :D