How To . . . . Blondies

Hi friends

I like to bake.

I don't really know why but one thing is certain.. I simply like to eat cakes, I don't mind having them for breakfast if I run out of breakfast food and happens to have cakes in the fridge. Since I am on a quite strict diet now I try hard not to bake even though the crave for it comes strong. But when situation arise I would willingly bake.

 Now when I think back, yes may be I am a little conceited. When those people who eat the cakes I bake tell me that they like the cakes because  it tastes good,  nice and fluffy and etc and wanting for more I feel proud and kembang hehe.

And when they said my cake deco is stylish or beautiful I am happy and will quietly gloat over it for days. I forget the hard work and the long hours of putting it together and at my own expenses usually.

Am I the only one having such an attitude, which I sometimes feel stupid.

Anyway it takes efforts to be happy, I believe. That is, by making others happy first.

So when a friend, a retiree too, suggested that we break our mundane life by having a pot luck get-together I agreed and without thinking much I offered my house to be the venue. And in my mind I already had what sweet treats to serve for them all.

I baked for them a date cake,  brownies and lemon  blondies.

I will share with you here how to make blondies .

Recipe is not my own, as usual it is from the internet. I stumbled upon it some time ago. I have made it a few times. This is quite a simple dessert, very few ingredients used. To me it tastes nice with its not too sweet and tangy lemony taste. My friends enjoyed it and was praising me, of course I demurely brushed aside the compliments but on the inside you can guess hehe.

Credit should be given to the person who concocted the recipe . Nowadays people are willing to share. Thanks to them all.

I am being ungrateful I forgot which website I referred to.

Here goes . . .

 Lemon blondies

3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup castor sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter (soft)
2 eggs

1/2 lemon for juice

Zest of 1/2 lemon

For glazing,

Mix about 1/4 cup icing sugar to juice of 1/2 lemon. Stir.


Method

As usual one bowl method.

Put all ingredients, except items for glazing, in bowl.

Start the mixer, mix until smooth.

Put batter in lined 7 inch square baking tin

Level it.

Bake at 165 degrees C about 25 minute. (My old oven took less.)

When baked take out from the oven prick the blondies with a fork.

While still hot dab the surface using brush dipped in lemon glaze.

Put the blondies in the refrigerator.

When cold and hardened cut into squares.

Served cold is best.

Enjoy.

NB:

• Make double recipe. Single measure is always not enough. And make sure every drop of the juice is squeezed out from the lemon. Perah sampai kering . . .
• When stacking the squares in container put thin plastic sheet or cling wrap in between layers
• Store them in the fridge

I love this lemon zester so effective and easy to work with

The zester

Mix everything

Use off set spatula to level the batter

Prick it

Dab with glaze laden brush

Lemon blondies

There you have it how to make lemon blondies.

Desserts by whatever name is sweet.

Bye . . .

Burn Them

Hi all

I am now on a crusade. Any available time I have it will be spent on efforts to accomplish that mission. It is hard I know and I must not give up when things don't seem to move. I keep reminding myself never to get discouraged if I falter along the way.

Am quite happy with the efforts I made so far because there are signs of success though I know real success will only come with patience honesty and good thinking.

Patience means I must wait and understand that to undo a  certain thing that has been there for years is not as easy as clicking the undo button on the computer.

Honesty? I must not cheat though sometimes we humans may succumb to temptation. Must have a strong heart by which I mean strong will power.

Good thinking?  With access to all sorts of information and facts, right or wrong, and differing opinions we need to filter them. We need to use a lot of common sense . Caution should be exercised so that we are not misled.

Yes angina-like symptoms and a pounding heart beat is a very frightening experience . All this while you think it only happens to other people.  Accept the fact that there is strain and stress and wear and tear to the "machine" that has been working for so many years even though you thought you nourish and take good care of it. Though the pounding doesn't come too often it is just common sense that I need to do something to address the problem.

So you see one important step that need to be taken seriously is to reduce the extra burden the body is carrying. The fats that has been piling on over the years I think has become too stubborn and too sticky and that has played havoc to the organs, clogging vessels and hampering cellular functions inside there contributing to the unhealthy condition which causes the pounding heart. Pounding, not just flutter, mind you. Many things are not right as the lab test shows. True, the culprit is the fats. Burn them those fats!!

The limited hours of tennis and swimming and dancing exercise that I put in is not enough to melt down the fats and shrink the fat cells. I have to add more hours for physical activities. That was why I stated earlier that at any time free I would use it to put more efforts to get these fats burnt. Meaning that the time when it is so nice to curl on the sofa and laze around will instead be activated by whatever physical which will raise the metabolism.

Lets go exercise!!

It is good to have a fit ball at home. You can sit wobbling on it while reading blogs. You can roll on it if you have flexible body. Me, an old woman, the body is supple no more so I will just bounce it basketball style. Keep bouncing it until you sweat. The action would become smooth and voluntary after some time which then enable you to dream away to kill the boredom of the repeated action.

If I listen to the music I won't just be lying or sitting and listening. It is good to tap your feet, remember those who have restless foot syndrome are mostly pencil thin. That's what I notice anyway. It has got something to do with their restless feet, I believe.

If nobody is watching get up and move your body . Enjoy. Shake and sway to the rhythm of the music. Or pretend you are a prima donna performing on stage to a song such as the one below, be as expressive as the the vocal and s-t-r-e-t-c-h . . .  tai chi style, to the high and low of the melody  hehehe.

If somebody happens to notice your weird way ignore them , they just don't understand your desperation.

But don't overdo lest your heart will start pounding. The idea is to move moderately, at times intensely, so that the calories would keep burning.

Well these extra moves and plus some housework help burn calories. 

I am thinking of getting a hula hoop, just to add variety, but I wonder whether I still can twirl that hula hoop around my body. . . hah hah hah . . .

The second part of my crusade is dieting. By the way  I call it crusade because to lose weight requires really, really great efforts. It is a struggle. You have to put heart and soul into it otherwise it will be a failure, a frustration. Have you ever seen the weight loss program on the TV? Well I am having one, my own hehehe.

I was advised to eat like a goat. A big percentage should be greens and raw is better.  Cut down carbohydrate.  No fried food. No cakes and cookies. No kerepek.  With so many restrictions can you tahan? I have to. No cheating. Just think, a few pieces of kerepek pisang gone into your body has calories that requires so much efforts to burn them. It is better not to consume. Curb the urge to binge. Munch on fruits.

Bulbul enjoying mulberry fruits

Sometimes friends too have lots of tips. Many share their experience, their own or their mother's or their father's. Some very highly opinionated.  Some are conflicting just like what I read somewhere someone said milk is for the babies and cow milk is for the cows. All along I thought milk is good for adults too and non cows . . . sigh . . .

The evidence that my effort is paying off is in what can be seen and what can be measured and most important of all what the latest lab test indicates. So far the results are encouraging. The triglycerides is down a good percentage meaning some fats did melt off, rid off. The best thing is I feel light and feeling better health wise .

Hey now I am thinking whether the good thing that happens is due to my exercise and diet efforts or is it due to the supplements I am taking. Which is supporting which.  It is all about economy. Exercise is free. The supplements and the tests and the consultations with the nutritionist at the wellness clinic don't come cheap. But then when you get alarmed over your health status to whom do you go if not to the professionals.

 Lo . . . I have written quite a long entry hope you find it interesting. . . just like to share my experience with you dear readers.

Now sweat it out with these music . . .

                                                                             

Phew . . .

Blue Kingfisher Blues

The kingfisher perched high on a casuarina branch

Walking along the beach at the sea front

My feet would sink in the soft loose sand

It slows me down

Making  me stop and stand and look around

There perched on the kasuari branch

I have seen many a time

A bird glowing blue shone by the morning sun

Sometimes you appear without a sound

Sometimes your shrieking can reach the ground

I know, you are calling a friend

I hope to meet up with more of your kind

Then you would disappear, flying away at lightning speed

Though doubting your coming back , I would still patiently wait

And as my patience is running thin

There you unexpectedly soon come again

Ah . . . you are back alone without companion

Though you keep calling with your piercing sound
And a mouthful to share to bait attraction

No one seems to pay any attention

It is okey friend

Here I am . . .

The Kingfisher 

Hangover

Hi friends

Old people have tasted more salt they say. Meaning they have more experience, they have seen many things and have more knowledge. Really?

As you live through the years you just try to manage the everyday things that are of the immediate concern to you, yourself, your home your family. Outside that sphere you know nothing and you don't really care.

Soon after when you are retired or free from those responsibilities you look back on life and realized that all these while you have missed so much and you know so little and then  you might be overwhelmed by regrets.

And one regret might be that you have not studied hard or smart enough to gain entry to the sekolah tinggi which allow you to have a better life.  Yaaaah I never step into university . . . Ahh during my time so few people get into university anyway . . . Call me sour grapes . . . haha.

Lucky are those who can gain entry here

Inspirational tour. exposure at an early age

And then you also realized that you were not observant enough and that makes life before were just boring existence. To prove a point, you only now know that there is a bird of this nature, it has a red patch on its tail . . .

Not that it is so important that you must know this but . . . but you feel great when you can show off to your friends that at this age you are still bursting with life that you still have interests and not just hibernating in a shell.

And when you get a message like this off you go . . ..tennis of course . . .

Well friends my entry this time is like gila gila . It must be the hangover from too much lemang and ketupat and the rendang.

So forgive me but I still hope that you enjoyed reading the entry.

Bye . . .

Raya - Going Home, Coming Home, At Home

Salam Raya to all

I have started composing this entry a few days back but only get to continue today. Its raya . . .

Now everyone has gone back to work though some continue their holidays else where, don't we have 30 days to celebrate? As for me, a retiree, I have the luxury of time but not of money to take me to places but then its ok I like just being at home, just appreciate the pictures sent . Anyway you can get rain and sunshine where ever you may be.

This time as usual our celebration started on the eve with the takbir raya and since this time my house was the last destination it was already late when everything done and the group left. One am? Two am? But it's ok because that's one of the ways you can do if you want to have the feel, the spirit of Aidil Fitri, and to bring upon the mood of raya into your home.

A moment like this would remind you of the time long gone. Those days as the raya was nearing I would be busy preparing to balik kampung. With the family was still very young, mother busy, father clumsy, children making tantrum sometimes, you can imagine the situation and going home was a must. What with the bad winding road and the heat and the dust and sometimes the rain. You need to be tough to endure the long journey, or else your fasting will terburai,  remember, that time there was no highway and no RnR.

Actually no one forced us to undergo such a hectic tiring routine to join the rush every year but when it was time its just in you to join the exodus. You would not want to be left behind and realized that only your house was lighted at night. And you wondered why that missing feeling.

Whatever, everyone was on the go. Destination was home. Balik kampung was a must.

The situation now when the family has matured, the children have left the nest, from my point of view home is a vacuum waiting to be filled come hari raya. The otherwise quiet place burst into life as the car door opened and out came the girls. Just like in the TV ad aha. The home coming was a sweet moment though we do quite often meet. My mother must have felt the same a long time ago, I think. So the rush of balik kampung was worth it after all.

How about a situation where you have a family coming back to you and you yourself need to go back and see families and kins left in the kampung. Do you need to do that. As a person in the middle generation you sometimes feel it tough to full fill this unwritten rule. It is hard to oblige and then be called a benevolent person(?)

No doubt a celebration like this is best if all including the extended family can be together but at certain time in your life you want things to be done your way, call me selfish, never mind, that on the big day you are at home, and stay home celebrating with your very own family and get to entertain own siblings and own friends who come to visit.

Let not our own home be closed and appear lonely. Let our own home exudes the warmth and spirit of hari raya. A picture of rejoice. So stay home!

And this time I had it my way. It was nice to be in my own setting, us sitting around the table chatting over good food, cracking jokes and laugh our hearts out. And talking about non serious topics that go on and on randomly but no, no malice but full of goodwill. All happy and so relaxing in your own home.

chirping over food

Indeed Aidil Fitri is a time to celebrate and rejoice and in ways we are most comfortable with. Well I have been through many rayas but at the end of Ramadhan every year I would still be anticipative of the day.

Hope you too enjoy this Hari Raya.