Sunday, September 17, 2006

The Fabulous Baker Boy

To spend my free time to the fullest, as my (HOLI) days are numbered, I decided to glue less to the computer and be more productive. Of course, I still took the time sleeping and watching the final season of Will & Grace (Thank you, Kekex, it's brilliant!) and now, FRIENDS season 10 (laughed till my stomach cramps). This explains my sporadic presence at the blogosphere these days.



I turned to doing something I've never really done before--- BAKING.

It started when my chef-to-be-friend agreed to baking a birthday cake for me. I helped and realized that cake-making is easier than I thought. It's like having sex. Then when I went to Australia and saw Counfusticated whipping out "orgasmic-inducing" brownies within an hour or two, I resolve to bake on my own in the future, and bake I did.

So I searched the Internet for a simple recipe and I found the low-fat banana bread. I followed the recipe and did everything on my own (despite my mom's discouragements like "Don't eat so much baked goods , they're full of sugar" and "Don't mess up my kichen.") . I even resorted to using a fruit juicer to blend the ingredients as I didn't have an electronic mixer that time, thanks to my sister who previously managed to overheat and break two mixers when she baked for fun, like me, after her SPM exams. Needless to say, the first attempt at baking for a blur guy like me is condemned to failure.

I thought I need to bake at 350 degrees but when I look at the oven, the maximum degree I can bake at is 250.



I opted for 250 anyway, not knowing that the "350" was in Farenheit and 250 celcius is for roasting meat. The bread was done within 15 mins instead of an hour.

The second time, after buying a RM37 (around 12 dollars) mixer from Carrefour, I made this banana bread again, which I overcooked. I got comments like "Did you put herbs inside?", "Put less coco powder" and "It's like eating burnt bananas".

Then I tried my hands on making shortbreads, which turned out to be another time-consuming fiasco. I spent the whole night making the shapes on the baking paper one by one, and baking them in my cheap oven, only to find most of them extremely delicate and fragile. Touch it and you'll break it.

But the rest of my attempts were rather succesful.

Low-fat banana bread




















Moist Banana bread with sour cream



















Apparently Sour Cream is pretty rare in Malaysia. They have to explain what it is.















One step closer to being a Fabulous Baker Boy!

8 comments:

Annie said...

OMG Harvey! You bake like I cook! The oven is the devil. Remember that. I don't trust it anymore. Microwave is my friend. :D

Anonymous said...

Wanna bake me?

-Live Long & Prosper

ikanbilis said...

i miss baking cakes. i've done chocolate and marbles. but instant ones, haha!

hrugaar said...

Bet you bought that book for the cover photo la. ;oP

Yeah, I love baking breads and cakes. Did you see my recent post on croissants? Maybe it's the way to a man's heart - or at least to his waistline, heh.

Anonymous said...

oooh. me juz LOVE croissants. if only i knew how to make them, then i'll be eating them for breakfast, lunch, tea, high-tea, dinner, pre-supper, supper and post-supper. yum =P

onegayboy said...

It looks yummy. Really yummy.

Shake Trees said...

wah harvey der baker boy can bake... not bad wor. i'm waiting for ur tiramisu cake. lolx.

Harvey said...

annie: Yeah, I like microwave. One time I tried to dry a card with it and the card burnt. Another time I put charcoal in the microwave and it exploded with big crackling sound.

Anonymous: Ah, scanky comment! Sounds almost like an invitation for sex.

ikanbilis: I think the instant ones are expensive so I haven't tried it.

hrugaar:Nah, I didn't buy the book. And I'll try making the croissants when I have the time. Thanks.

senaiboy: Heh, I only learn about croissants this year from the anime Yakitate Japan.

onegayboy: Thanks. It tastes not bad, expecially when it's freshly baked. And I love the sense of achievement.

Cybertron: Haha, I just wanna bake simple stuff with cheap ingredients.

g_c : Yeah... maybe oliver just doesn't wanna show his tummy. And I don't think I can learn and practice anything from his cooking show... his western way of cooking ( put lots of grass-like ingredients) is weird to me.