Life as it is...
                         hard work...

Under the hot prickly heat, exemplifying determination, courage and inspiration...Well, sometimes it’s important to work for that pot of gold. But other times it’s essential to take time off and to make sure that our most important decision in the day simply consists of choosing which colour to slide down on the rainbow...This man has all my respect...

Chocolate  Tiramisu

      Tips: 

Tiramisu is a no-cooking cake dessert; unlike most cakes we can make it in 15 minutes. It's inexpensive, elegant, super easy and fun to make. Instead of using espresso to soak our cookies, use 1 pot of very strong coffee chilled in the refrigerator overnight. It's cheaper, much easier than using shot after espresso shot and works just as well! Tiramisu stores a long time. It's easily frozen and thawed. Great to serve at a party for the holidays or tea-time. Chocolate, ladyfingers, coffee and mascarpone are four layers of wonderful.Hmmm...yummy yumster!!!

*** yields 4-6 servings

Ingredients: 

12 egg yolks

½ cup granulated sugar

2 pounds mascarpone cheese (at room temperature)

1 box ladyfinger cookies

1 pot strong American coffee

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

1 medium chunk dark chocolate

 Method:

 Make a strong pot of coffee or espresso and let it chill in the fridge completely.

Whip egg yolks and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Once the mixture has reached a nice fluffy stage, fold in the mascarpone cheese or use the electric mixer on low.

Let the mixture set up in the fridge for approximately 30 minutes.

Pour cold coffee in a mixing bowl and add the vanilla extract.

Take a medium sized (6 x 9) baking dish, and spread a thin layer of the mascarpone cream mixture on the bottom.

Dip the cookies very quickly into the coffee and layer onto the cream. Repeat until the layer is covered.

With a cheese grater shave the chocolate on top of the cookies.

Repeat until the dish is full to the top.

Serve immediately or keep chilled in the fridge for later.

*** Mascarpone is an Italian cheese made from cream, coagulated with citric acid or acetic acid. Mascarpone is milky-white in color and is easily spread. It is used in various dishes of the Lombardy region of Italy, where it is a specialty. It is a main ingredient of modern tiramisu.

Perfect Late Nite Sandwich

Hungry and think there is nothing to eat? No way! Here's a super delicious sandwich that's super easy to make and gives up foolproof tips to make all our sandwiches better.

Tips:

• Sandwiches are the perfect snack: fast, quick and delicious and we can make them out of pretty much anything we find in our fridge. Any toppings will work, but egg, cheese and cold cuts are always a slam dunk.
• Brush the bread with olive oil and use a toaster for perfect crispy results.
• Cheese makes the sandwich. Use thinly sliced, easily melted cheese like cheddar, provolone, Swiss or Fontina to melt well on the sandwich. Cheese is a great first layer to go first against the bread.
• When adding the cold cut, rip it up and help it give the sandwich texture instead of just laying it flat on the bread.
• Add an egg to take any sandwich over the top. 

Ingredients: 

2 slices bread or whatever we have in our house

3-4 slices of turkey deli meat

3-4 slices of sliced cheese

2 eggs

2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

Mayo to garnish

Hot sauce to garnish

Method:

Slice bread and drizzle with a little olive oil, then toast until light golden brown.

In a small pan, heat the olive oil and crack eggs into the pan to fry.

Flip egg and finish cooking.

Spread each piece of bread with mayo and top with sliced cheese while the bread is warm so the cheese will soften.

Top one piece of bread and cheese with turkey.

Transfer fried eggs to the turkey side and drizzle with hot sauce.

Top with remaining piece of bread covered in cheese.

The  Science  of  Psychoneuroimmunology 
Mental attitudes to fitness

cool  and  relaxing

Whilst it's important to keep our body exercising to retain a fit and healthy lifestyle, the power of the mind should not be under-estimated. Mental training and exercises can get us through the pain barrier and motivate us to stay on course for physical exercise success. Here's the reabuzz.com guide on how mental training could help improve our fitness goals.

We all hear people say, "It’s all in the mind!” or "It’s 100 per cent mental!” when they refer to athletes competing in events. So, is it? Could we run harder in that marathon or faster in that swimathon if we had the right mental training or attitude?

If we could, we wouldn’t bother running 20 miles a week and spending hours ploughing through the worst that the weather can hurl at us to train for that half marathon! We would just sit at home and think about all that hard training.

Just like physical training – is not mastered simply by doing it once. Imagine practicing for a race once or twice and then saying "the training didn’t work for me; I’ve got to try something different." No serious athlete would do that with their physical training and yet, too often, mental skills are abandoned if they don’t bring immediate results.

Anyone who are interested in creating a mental training program may want to consider including the following principles into their exercise and training:

Frequency – Practise on a regular basis. Just like physical training, we will need to practise regularly if we wish to see results. As we would lose fitness with extended inactivity, we will lose the benefits of mental training without regular practise.

Duration – Practise for a significant period (20-30 minutes per session).

Intensity – Bring an emotional content to our practises so that  we replicate (in our imagination) the race conditions.

Specificity – Develop a range of skills that can be applied to the ever-changing challenges of a running race. For example: relaxation for pre-race conditions, self control for the early stages of a race, discipline and perseverance when the race becomes physically draining. 

Progression – Improve the quality of our practices week after week.

 

Does mental training improve our exercise?

Using yoga techniques –  slows both the heart rate (to barely a few beats per minute) and oxygen consumption rate, so that we can stay under water for several minutes with only a single breath. Imagine the benefits of that kind of mental discipline in a running race: using our mind to relax a specific muscle that is repeatedly cramping towards the end of a marathon. Studies have shown that white blood cells – which fight infections – function significantly better when people were given relaxation training. Also, these blood cells were found to be four times more aggressive in fighting colds when a person had positive thoughts rather than negative thoughts about the illness.

p/s     Well, negative thoughts and emotions significantly increase muscular tension. As tense muscles do not work as efficiently as relaxed muscles, it is apparent how negative thinking could be to the detriment of a running performance. So is it all in the mind? I doubt it’s all in the mind, but as the above suggests, mental training as well as physical training could seriously improve our results. Great results come from a combination of real physical training and sound mental training.

Life  is...

 

...  a  roller-coaster to some.

You have to hold on and be strong to reach your final destination...                                      

French Macaroons

 Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 7/8 cups almond flour
• 1/2 cup egg whites
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 drops food coloring
• 1/4 cup water

Easy Buttercream:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 tablespoon hot water
• 1 teaspoon instant coffee
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Total Time: 1 hr 0 min

Prep: 25 min

Cook: 35 min

Yield :  6 -8 servings

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

 Stir together the confectioners' sugar and almond flour and sift it through a tammie or very open mesh strainer. In a mixer with a whip attachment, whip the whites until frothy. 
Add the sugar (and food coloring if using) and whip until stiff. 
Add 1/3 of the almond mixture and fold part way in. 
Add another 1/3 and fold partway in. 
Add final 1/3 and fold in leaving a few specks of egg whites. It will look like deflated marshmallow. 
Place a pastry bag with a close pin holding it shut in a tall round container folding the edge over the rim of the container to fill it easily. 
Pipe dots of meringue at each corner to stick down some parchment paper on a sheet pan. Pipe rows of kisses 1-inch each (size of a quarter) one half inch apart. 
Bake about 17 minutes until very light brown. Pour 1/4 cup water under the parchment paper at both ends of the sheet to steam them loose. Let cool and peel off.

Easy Buttercream: In a mixer with a whip attachment whip the butter very well, scraping the bowl often until it's light and fluffy.
Add the confectioners' sugar and mix on low. Drizzle in the flavorings with the hot water. 
Chill up to a week until ready to use, then bring to room temperature.

Pipe macaroons with buttercream and make little sandwiches. Keep in a covered box chilled.

p/s...these look like whoopies, but whoopies are much softer (like little cakes). Godwilling, will post the recipe of whoopies in future entry.

KUIH TAKO

Lapisan Bawah
25 gm tepung hoen kwe - hijau 
1 1/2 cawan air
1/2 cawan gula
2  biji sengkuang cina - di potong dadu (kalau tak de boleh guna buah pear)

Lapisan Atas 
25 gm tepung hoen kwe - putih
2 cawan sartan - 1/2 cawan santan Kara + 1 1/2 cawan air
secubit garam

Cara

Susun kotak pandan atas tray.
Aturkan potongan sengkuang Cina dalan kotak pandan tadi.
Campurkan semua bahan Lapisan Bawah  dalam periuk dan masak atas api sederhana sambil mengacau hinga dia meletup - letup dan pekat terus tutup api dan masukkan dalam kotak pandan tadi.
Kemudian kita ketepikan, dan buat pula Lapisan Atas.
Satukan semua lapisan atas dam periuk dan masak atas api sederhana sambil dikacau. Sama seperti proses memasak lapisan bawah. Bila ia meletup2 kecil tu terus tutup api.
Pastikan lapisan yg bawah tadi dah mengeras baru tuang lapisan putih.
Tuang dari bahagian tepi dulu supaya dia tak bolos ke lapisan bawah. Tuang perlahan.
Tunggu sejuk dan kemudian boleh di simpan dalam peti ais.

p/s  sedap dimakan jika ianya sejuk !