Biskut Sarang Semut Ed, Addicted Since 1990s.

Finally I baked the cookies. Yeayy. It was pretty hectic yesterday. The night before I went out with friends, dinner and some impulse decision for karaoke of which I really really like. Came home about midnight. In the morning the alarm went off at about 6am. I snoozed it. Thought I could used extra minutes of sleep. Unfortunately it didn't work that way. The last time I heard the alarm went off again at 6:55. Brilliant. I'm supposed to start work at 7. So I guess, I got to start at 8am then.

The plan was to start work early so that I can leave early but sin

ce I'm going to start at 8 I would finish by 4:30pm! Herm...pretty late and rush to start baking after that. So I told my colleague I would leave at 2:30. So that's 6 hours of overtime. Not bad actually.

Few minutes before I left the office, I just remember I forgot to ask my housemate to take the butter out to thaw. Once I got home, the butter still hard like brick. I could built a house with that butter!

While waiting I went on Facebook playing Cityville. Then when I start prepping I just realised I forgot to buy icing sugar. Urghhh I had to go out again. Hate it. Thank god a chinese supermarket was just within the block.

Everything seemed fine when I started mixing the ingredients and when I was ready to press it, the dough was too hard. I couldn't even rice it. I tried add more butter. It worked. But then again, after awhile probably the weather was hot and humid it become hard again. I had to nuke (microwave) more butter since the butter was so bloody hard then mix it again.

I started to rice it again. But somehow the presser couldn't reach the bottom. I wonder why. But I tried to press it harder and ended up I f*cked the potato ricer! God, that thing has lifespan of less than an hour! I got it couple months ago and yesterday was the first time I used it. So there's no second batch then.

Anyway these are all what I made yesterday. About 90 plus of them.

Late Aunt Sarah Secret Recipe cookies

They look nice together gather.

Sneak peek. Can't help to see my babies rise to the occasion.

Unboxing My Russian Dolls.

The last couple of days I've been thinking about baking my signature cookies for awhile. Let me tell about a brief story about it. When I was a kid I always like my late aunt's Biskut Sarang Semut (Ants Nest Cookies). I watched her doing it. Me and my cousin just sit around and looked at every steps of the making and we just love the smell. It made us starving. Oh yes, she baked it during Ramadhan (fasting month). How cruel was that.

Seeing I spent too much time in my aunt's house, which is just next door! My mum asked her the recipes and she was glad to passed her secret recipe. Now the recipe is very, I mean VERY well-kept. Safe guarded by me. As far I could remember, this has been a-must cookies during Eid Mubarak ever since. My favorite cookies and it should be on the table!

Then when I was in high school, I baked that cookies myself and one day I thought why not baked it and sale it at school. So I did. I remember two of my early customers were Azlina and Azrillaa and these girls hooked to my Sarang Semut ever since even until now. Azlina told me she was craving for my cookies when she was in Scotland and Azrillaa wanted me to bake the cookies for wedding but at that time I was working as PRO. Extremely busy and got no time even for myself.

Back then I think "corporate world" was for me. But now it all changed. I started to realise, I had set of skills and gift but I wasted it. OK maybe the recipe wasn't really well-kept. I did gave it to some people at one stage. Gave it to my birth mum. She tried to made it but the taste is no way near as good as mine even though she used the same ingredient. Also I gave to a friend of mine, again the taste were very hermm. My point is, it takes certain hands to do that cookies. I think. Must be.

So now I was thinking, if I have the gift to make that cookies why didn't I do something about it. Like commercializing it for instance. I talked this to Hannah and she said my face was brighten as I was talking about that idea. Perhaps it's the calling. Then, since then I'm so pumped up to start bake again.

Today after I finished work, I went straight to Foodtown to get the ingredient. I got the flours, sugar, secret ingredient, had to get butter instead of margerine because the one is here they were either salted or the soft ones. That won't do good to my cookies, aren't they?

Then I remember I don't have the measuring cup at home. The one in Foodtown cost like $12 and it was absolutely basic and tasteless. I remember I used to found one cool measuring that look like Russian dolls at Living&Giving. Perfect. That shop only like few minutes walk from Foodtown and I'll be walking in the same direction by the way.

I went to the shop with heavy shopping on my hands and headed straight to the last place I saw that Russian dolls cum measuring cup. Looked around and it's not there. Saw the steel measuring cup that looked like the ones in Foodtown except the price is more than double. I asked the sales girl. She made me follow her to the back of the shop and that thing right at the bottom of the shelf. I bet this thing didn't sell well. Good thing they got 30% discount. I just paid $20 from $30.

Come to think again, this is a luxury item for a baking equipment. But I like the design. This will look cute in kitchen when I have a house one day. I definitely will this back to Malaysia. Here's some of the photos I snapped soon as I got home.

6 cups stack into one another in one Russian doll. It's brillian. Really space saving

Look at them. Aren't they adorable?

The measuring right at the bottom of the cup.

Cat got their balls cut.

So yesterday I was talking about hairball and bla bla bla why I didn't want to desex Only just yet from videos I watched on youtube. After I posted that entry I was thinking why didn't I insert that video. Then today, I just want to put the videos that left a lasting gruesome images in my head.

Watch this one first:

Just looking at vet working on this tom cat's ball, I feel horrified. I know it's for something good, like reduce the number of unwanted kitten and stray cats but I couldn't bear to see Only in pain. Well, he's not if they knock him down.

This second video is the post-op, and see what happen to the cat's leg. I know it's temporary but then again I couldn't see that happen to my and only cat.

What can I say, I'm a soft hearted person and that tell you what sort of person am I. A good one. Lol. Even looking at this still images my eyes already watering since I could related myself to them (because they all ginger).

If Only need to go to this surgery, doctor need prescribe me with some hardcore pills that can knock me down and forget what happen to Only later on. Is there such pills? None. Good. Means Only will have his balls for now. (Cross my finger. Hopefully pharmaceutical company won't formulate that pills!)

His balls, GONE!

If you think I chopped Only's ball off, well almost literally right. But, nayh, I haven't had the guts yet for him to lie sedated at the vet operating theater. I blamed the post-op video of a male ginger cat in youtube. His leg was still numb and he couldn't wake properly. I'll cry if I saw Only like that.

OK, back to the balls talk. The balls that I meant here were the hairball on his legs. Only has medium-long-ish hair on his back legs right up to the tail and he hated, he absolutely hate me brushing his tail. But I still brushed him anyway even without his will but the part behind his back legs I can never do it right. He ran. I chased him. I brushed him then he slapped my hand. How rude. I know right. Most part, I just managed to brush his back and neck and that area left un-groomed for a while and over the time it became matted. I tried to untangled the hair and as usual I got slapped or worst, he snatched the brushed from my hair! Honest. This isn't a made up scenario. Then the tangled grow bigger and bigger and there were times I want to just cut it with scissors but Only has a very high IQ for a cat. As soon as he saw me with scissor he run and hide under the couch. So tell me how can i fixed it. I gave up.

Only looked so pissed. I woke him up.

So today he was napping on table next to my laptop. I had a look at the hairballs, honestly it looked gross. Like a homeless cat. So I played with it while he still sleeping. He was too sleepy to slap my hand I think. Then I felt around the hairballs, its about to drop so i just pulled it. I got one. The biggest one. The woke up and changed position. Just perfect, so I grab the other one and pull it out. Succeeded. No hand got slapped.

If you look down here, that's how big (one of the) balls are. Bigger than 20 cent.

On the other note, it's been awhile since I last my blog. My brain has been drained my a major corporation therefore the creative juice doesn't flow as fluidly as before. Bla..bla..bla..I know it's just an excused.

The Mutant Cat

Back in October, at the end of it, we went holiday so we sent Only to cattery in Ponsonby. Little did we know that cattery was a DNA testing lab. Secretly mixing animal DNA behind the Vet name. As we got him back home, we were surprised what he has turned into.