Jolly Christmas Time

I used to go around shopping malls in town to see their Christmas deco every year (2006, 2007 Christmas Deco in shopping malls), not only to see the creative ideas in decoration but also experience the jolly atmosphere in the mall, everybody was busy shopping present for their loved one, parents bringing children to take picture with those colourful and beautiful deco… but I think since economic downturn in year 2008, some malls seems to have cut down a lot of budget in it, until this year, I find that Mid Valley, 1 Utama, Leisure Mall are having very interesting deco in the malls. I didn’t manage to capture any picture in 1 Utama, but I like the idea of creating a Christmas town with a few cottages surrounding a frozen lake in the middle, the cottages were not only a deco, but served as booth and rent out for some merchants to sell some festive stuffs, smart idea! Not only spending but get some return too.

Mid Valley Megamall & The Garden

In Mid Valley, they were creating a very happening wonderland with a lot of big teddy bears, clowns, army soldier toys, wooden horses and marry-go-round, hot air balloons… Whereas in The Garden, they were creating a very harmony and serene environment for the shoppers. When I was there, there was also a harp performance in the center. I love listening to harp, I always relate the harp player to angel, but I think the girls playing the harps were too cool… I can’t relate them to angels lo…

Leisure Mall

Leisure Mall was having a charity event name – Toy Bank – Gift of Love. Children from a few orphanage homes/ care centres will make wish lists in love-shape cards, hanging in a compartment of the train, shoppers can go in to pick a card, and fulfill what’s written in the card. Most of the wish lists were very simple, some wrote shampoo, teddy bear, dictionary, toy… Then, what need to be done was just wrap it and drop it in toy bank in another compartment of the train.

I picked one, the wish list was belong to a 14 year old boy named Kar Kit, he wishes for t-shirt (M size)/ stationary/ slippers. I bought him all except the slippers because he didn’t write his size. I hope he will like the t-shirt and stationary that I bought for him. Actually, I should also drop him a message, encourage him to study hard and wish him has a bright future.

I think this event is very meaningful and at the same time, I think has brought a lot of sales to all the tenants in the mall.

24 hours to Year 2011! Happy New Year and may year 2011 a better year for everybody! 

Genexy Khoo & Gideon Lee

GeneXy Khoo & Gideon Lee

Their Cute-ness is way beyond words… May both of them grow up healthy, happy and with lots of love

Caramel Apple Almond Cake

Woohoo!!! I would say this is my most popular cake… I baked 2 big and 2 small cakes in a week, but yet, all sapu habis every time they came out from oven…

As I’ve promised to some friends, I’ll share the recipe here.

(Recipe taken from YumYum issue 69)

Apple caramel:

100g caster sugar

1tsp cinnamon powder (because I personally don’t like cinnamon, so, i didn’t put this in)

25g butter

2 green apples, cut into thick slices and removed core

Cake:

(A)

125g butter

4 eggs

150 caster sugar

(B)

120g dairy whipping cream

180g plain flour

45g high protein flour

45g ground almond (you can also get almond powder from bakery ingredient shop, but I still prefer grounding the fresh almond)

8g baking powder

Method:

1. Line a 8” round cake tin with greaseproof paper. Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius.

2. Apple Caramel: Put caster sugar in a saucepan, stir over low heat until lightly brown. Add in butter, cinnamon powder, sliced apple and cook until soft. Remove from heat. Arrange apple slices and caramel sauce onto the prepared baking tin.

3. Cake: Whisk butter and caster sugar until soft. Add in eggs and whisk until fluffy. Add B and mix well.

4. Pour the batter into the baking tin. Bake in preheated over at 180 degree Celsius (depend on what kind of oven, because I’m using big oven, I actually put 150 degree Celsius) for 45-50 minutes.

5. Remove cake from oven and unmold carefully. Cut into pieces and serve warm.

My first attempt (might not look very pretty, but smell real good)

My 2nd attempt (I used smaller tins, and red apple, I think green apple make the cake tastier)

Where is my 3rd attempt? Hot cake from oven, was rushing to send to my ex-colleague as her birthday gift… so…