Tepee

THANK YOU!!!!! I think that's the precise answer to my problem. It makes perfect sense to me. I think I knew how to do that in my previous life. <TP doing the happy dance>

Yuki, your neen goh is killing me. I want some NOW! About your comment on the coconut flavor, do you use coconut milk in cartons or fresh coconut milk? I find there's nothing like the fresh thing, so much more fragrant. And you might want to line your pan with banana leaves. Dejah, your goh is so loaded with liu (ingredients). I'm the greedy type, I love my goh generously filled, and yours look sooooooo good!

Appreciate all the input. I'm embarassed to say that I can't answer your question, Tolliver. I'm a gadget doofus. I only know how to do one thing - zoom in/out and shoot. Oh, lately I discovered by accident that I could make the background blur by using the macro (press on the flower thingy), go a bit further back, but zoom in. OK, OK, I know how painful it must be for photo experts to read this, but this is the extent of my camera know-how. <<<small sorry voice>>> You asked for examples. See here? I did the macro, then zoom thing and got this. I like it but somehow it's still not a GOOD shot. The subject is still slightly out of focus, right? And this one...I wish the cat would come out 'sharper'. Since I'm at the point of tearing my hair in desperation, I'll be a good girl and go over this whole thread and a-b-s-o-r-b. Thanks, guys.

ISO some help, please. My problem with taking photos is not so much the composition, though it's not perfect. My BIG problem is most of my shots are blurry . I hate putting blurred shots on my site, but beggars can't be choosers. I use a Sony Cybershot DSC-V1. Would my shots improve if I used a tripod? Thanks for any input.

Nope, the guy very deftly holds the coconut with his left hand and whacks it with a parang (long knife). Splits right away.'Course, this way, the coconut water is not saved.

I see. By the ones flavored with pandanus, you must mean the green ones? The ones above are the traditional ones, but they are actually also flavored with pandanus, as the tapioca flour has to be lightened/pan-fried with short cuts of pandan leaves. However, the green ones have more pandan-oomph by adding the juice in as well. Ahhh, love letters . I could consume a whole tin of it if I could. The good ones are very thin, evenly-colored and fragrant with sufficient coconut milk. I haven't come across those you described though. CNY is not here yet, and I've already lost the diet battle. I had so diligently exercised for the past month so that I could look decent in a cheongsam, but alas the CNY goodies are too tempting. My downfall was caused by the little voices in the tiny deep-fried shrimp rolls, love-letters, almond cookies and green bean cookies beckoning me all through the day (and night). Woe is me.

We always have them in tong shui, either in ching po leong or pak kor foo chuk tong shui. For a period, we stopped eating them because some wise guy said that the cholesterol in quail eggs is very high. Lately, we heard from the national agricultural department that the cholesterol in 4 quail eggs is equivalent to a normal chicken egg. Eat on....

I just inherited 8 wooden shih fun paeng moulds from my mom, so this year I'm making the effort to attempt to make them myself. Its literal english translation is tapioca flour cookies, whereas in malay it's known as kuih bangkit. After half a day of bing bing bang bang and 'whitening' the house, I produced my first batches of melt-in-the-mouth cookies. Now I'm wondering if this is a Malaysian snack or a chinese one. And, would appreciate if anyone could let me know which photo is better? Will be posting the recipe in a friend's website.

Sorry I'm so late. The pics are not very good; I didn't want to hold up the long queue of people waiting for their coconuts, who, incidentally were pretty amused by me taking shots of such a common contraption. As you can see from the grated coconut in the catchment tub, there are lots of brown bits. These are not a problem at all for milk extraction. However, if we specify to the grocer (a sweet elderly man who didn't want his pic taken) to do the whites only, then you'll see much more left over in the shell, unlike those in the third picture which are quite cleanly shaven.

Wow, this thread made me realize how lucky we are not to have to grate coconut ourselves. We just go to the nearest kedai runcit (grocery store) and they've the machine to do it in a jiffy. Indeed the brown skin does not matter if you're going to extract the cream and milk. However, if the coconut is meant to be eaten, for example, in a rendang or coconut candy, then we specify to the grocer to extract only the whites, lest our mouths get scratched by the rough brown bits.

What a magical display of pastries! What artists!! What masterminds!!! There should be a drooling smiley here.

Excuse me for bumping this thread up, but, I've been offline for the past 6 days and am playing catch-up. Santa brought me an early gift this year, a Nordicware festive mould from which I made these... and I'll also be getting Colette Peter's and Alton Brown's latest books. Edit: Gosh, I must have been away too long...fumbling with my post.

Malaysia is by far the least hit, with 50-plus casualties, compared to the thousands in India and Thailand. Indeed, this is a very sad end to 2004.

I'm wondering....is brown sugar less sweet? Is that why the recipe calls for a packed cup of sugar when it's brown? Personally, I love brown sugar.

Thanks, Patrick and Joni. BTW, Patrick, I've been meaning to tell you I loved your pics, especially the mixer pictures...so surreal, and Jack-Jack looked so pleased! Joni, anything goes when it comes to swirling. I've used both butter knife and spoon before. Have a go at it!

I just did a swirl last night, by mixing a bowl of red and a bowl of green marshmallow fresh from the mixer. Then I placed blobs of the 2 colors randomly on my layer of white colored lychee-flavored marshmallow. The fun part is the swirling; it was such fun doing it that I asked my 10-year old to have a go at it. Please excuse the imperfect image. Since I didn't see a reply to my prior question above in time, I just went ahead and do a sheet thing, and this morning, cut it into hearts. Thanks, Neil, for your reply; yup, I think it's high time I went and got a can of baking spray.

I've a question for those of you who have used candy molds to fill marshmallows. Do the molds have to be oiled, and, if so, what do you grease the molds with - oil or shortening? TIA!

Hmmm...I always thought that gold/silver dusts, although labelled "non-toxic", is better not consumed. The labels on the jars I buy say they are for "decorative purposes only". However, if the gold is painted on fondant, you could ask your customer to peel it off before eating the cake. It'll be a tad more tricky if it's sprayed on buttercream.

I'm addicted to black rice from Sarawak (a state in East Malaysia). I have it everyday if I cook at home, steaming it 50/50 with white rice. Its fragrance is just like pulut hitam (black glutinous rice) but without its heaviness on the digestive system. Besides, it contributes extra fibre to your diet.

Last night, we went to a Taiwanese restaurant and made a plate of caramelized sweet potato chunks disappear faster than Dash Incredible. The chunks were very evenly coated with hot caramel, and we dip them into a bowl of water with ice cubes in it. The result...a very thin and brittle, yummy coating. I usually see recipes with apples prepared this way, but the sweet potatoes (pre-steamed, I suppose) were very good too. The proprietor says back in Taiwan, they use bananas too.

Actually, I did feel I should have used the word "mould" instead of bacteria. <<<Sheepish Look>>>

I make mine 50/50 by volume, mainly for making modelling chocolate. Since so little is needed, I store mine in a sterilised bottle. No bacteria after more than a month.

Beautiful cake! Love the colors of the leaves and the differently-colored top tier.

Jackal's thread is AMAZING! I posted a recipe here some time ago, for mini mincetarts. It's quite good.

Hey TePee.... What's a chiffon cake pan? I've never heard of that. Do tell! ← Wendy answered for me. A high tube pan.