Jaded July

And July finally comes to a close.  I've baked a lot this month to offset my gloomy mood in the work front.  At least baking takes my mind off some bumps at work.  It hasn't been an easy month as I've grown weary of my mundane daily functions in all honesty.  I can't help but miss my early project management days.  

Soy Matcha Latte From Kopi Janji Jiwa @ Grand Batam - Galaxy Note 9

I don't have much to share either this month other than some interesting stuff in Batam.  I've also come across a new idea to increase occupancy rate of my father's property in Batam.  As of now I'm waiting for the marketing staff & the general manager to draft out the plan formally for me to check and fine tune.

Pandan Chiffon Cake

Okay, this is the last one on pandan.  I've basically ran out of pandan & coconut oil after this bake.  

Fresh From The Oven - Galaxy Note 9

Pandan Butter Cake

Since I had quite a fair bit of pandan and coconut milk with a block of butter left, I thought I'd try making a pandan butter cake.  And instead of following Gracious Treatz's recipe, I tried Diana's recipe again, but of course with some tweak of my own.  Diana's recipe (which is an adaptation of another famous recipe) uses pandan paste (which I really don't like) and requires separating the egg whites from the yolks before finally combining them together again.  I thought this should be worth a good try.

I'm strongly against pandan paste and such because if you'd take a look at the ingredients section, you'll notice that they are made up mainly of propylene glycol and glycerine.  If you've taken up chemistry before, you'll know that both propylene glycol & glycerine are essentially a type of sugar alcohol.  To further drive my point across, I should also mention that food grade propylene glycol is mainly produced from propylene oxide which is a probable human carcinogen.  I know the end product is purported to be "food grade", but the point of baking my own cake is to avoid ingesting unnatural substances as much as possible, especially if they could probably cause cancer, as such I insist on making my own pandan extract naturally.  

I didn't take any photos, but I started by blendering 3 pandan leaves with 65 ml of coconut milk.  That was quite a disaster because there was too little liquid and the pandan leaves didn't blend in perfectly.  I should have used either a slow juicer and then mix the pandan extract with the coconut milk or used a bullet blender with finely cut pandan leaves for better result.  Will keep this in mind next time.  

As soon as the pandan extract was ready, I started creaming the butter and sugar.  This time I took out my 6 year old 1000 watt Kenwood Chef Premier to do the beating.  

Creaming Butter & Sugar - Galaxy Note 9

Gula Melaka Chiffon Cake

I can say without any doubt that the combination of pandan and coconut results in the most heavenly flavour ever, whether sweet or savoury.  You can find pandan and coconut in Nasi Lemak or Nasi Uduk - that's savoury - or in deserts such as chendol and cake - that's sweet.  I had previously baked pandan chiffon cake but this time I thought I should try making a gula melaka version which puts more emphasis on the coconut.  I adapted my recipe for this gula melaka chiffon cake from the amazing Domestic Goddess Wannabe, Diana Gale.

My Take of The Gula Melaka Chiffon Cake - Galaxy Note 9

Lincoln's Grateful Birthday

One day before Lincoln's birthday, we went to an orphanage in Batam to celebrate his early birthday party.  This year, I and my wife thought that we should let him celebrate his birthday by sharing his joy with those who are less fortunate.  We want him and Lindsay to learn to be more grateful and cultivate a compassionate spirit, to help others who are in need. 

On this occasion, the lady boss of Little Nyonya Batik and her hubby went along with us to make the event merrier.  I also had a lot of help from my father's staff in making the arrangements.  We decided to celebrate Lincoln's birthday in an orphanage called Yayasan Samaria Fao Kasih.  The orphanage is located near the Hang Nadim airport.  There are 22 children in the orphanage, the youngest is a 5 year old boy while the oldest is an 18 year old girl.  

Yayasan Samaria Fao Kasih - A7R3 + FE 16-35mm F2.8GM

Universal Studios Singapore Trip

Still in the month of June, on my wife's birthday, she asked for a family trip to the Universal Studios Singapore which I gladly obliged to as this would have been our first visit since the park started operations from October 2009.  It was a cloudy day with occasional drizzles which made for a pleasant visit as we escaped the hot sun for most of the day. The park was quite crowded with holiday makers, but not so packed. 

After a quick brekkie at McDonald's Sentosa, we quickly bought our tickets and checked into the park.  

Lindsay Enjoying Her Wrap - A7R2 + Batis 2/25

From the entrance we arrived at the Hollywood zone where shops lined the street leading to the intersection to Madagascar and New York zones.