Italian dishes....yummy....D.I.Y.

Tagliatelle pasta.....from durum wheat

Pasta bolognese.... lasagna... .pizza..... all are yummy Italian dishes. The majority of Italian pastas have similar ingredient, taste, texture and colour. The main ingredient of pasta is the durum wheat. There are hundreds of different shapes of pasta with at least locally recognised names; spaghetti (thin strings), maccheroni (tubes or cylinders), tagliatelle (flat noodle), fusilli (swirls), and lasagne (sheets). The main component of Italian dishes that makes each dish different is the sauce accompanied them. How to prepare your own tastalicious tomato based pasta sauce? Here I share a simple recipe for the pasta sauce either by itself or can be added with meat i.e. chicken or beef. Try this if you want to impress your spouse or friends.

Diced Holland onions

Italian spice.......a mixture of dried basil, majoram, oregano, sage

You required the following ingredients: two large Holland onions (yellow onion, coarsely diced), five to ten pieces of garlic (coarsely chopped), 1 tablespoon of Italian spice mix (dried basil, marjoram, oregano, sage; just buy the commercially available product, this is cheaper than mixing yourself), chopped tomato (2 cans or from 4 deseeded and deskinned large red tomatoes; drain the fluid), canned plum tomato (drained the fluid), double concentration tomato paste, sugar (2 tablespoons for each can of chopped tomato or 1 table spoon for each large red tomato, olive oil (or natural taste cooking oil), salt and black pepper.

Chopped tomatoes.....drained

Whole plum tomatoes in can

Tomato puree or paste......double concentration

Heat 4 table spoons of the cooking oil in a sauce pot. Then fry lightly the chopped onion until transparent or clear, then add in the chopped garlic. Fry for another 2 minutes, do not brown them…..you are not cooking rendang or curry!!!!. If preferred, now you may add in the meat (250 grams) and just seal the meat juice in. Throw in all the chopped tomatoes, plum tomato as it is (do not chop), two tablespoons of tomato paste, sugar and the Italian spice. Simmer for 10 minutes or until the meat cooked. Add in salt and black pepper to taste. To add more interest to the sauce, final touch the sauce with fresh basil leaves. For better taste pasta, throw in the pasta in the sauce and lightly cook them in the sauce for two minutes. Enjoyyyy!!! J

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Converting Bedside Table to a Portable Wash-Stand (IKEA Hack)

What to do if a ready made furniture is not able to fit in the space that is available? Your choice will be either build a customised furniture or hacking a furniture for a different purpose. Hacking a furniture will cut almost 70% of the work required to build a customised furniture from zero. Here, I share a step-by-step process on one of my DIY weekend projects converting bedside table to portable wash-stand. What will be required for this project? Tools (e.g. saw, metal ruler, hand drill), sand paper and brushes for wood work, base furniture to be hacked, water-resistant paint and metal knob. STEP 1. Get some ideas on the design and materials by visiting several furniture galleries/shops. For example here, the idea was from an IKEA wash basin base cabinet, Lillangen. The material mainly particleboard, which might not be that suitable for Malaysian humidity and bathroom practice. For that reason, I choose solid wood material the project. The dimension of the IKEA cab

Too dark...too bright....

Too dark or too bright.....this is due to poor exposure of the sensor to light. Is it a problem if my photo is too dark or too bright? May be yes and may be no, depends on what you want in your image. If the photo is too dark (underexposed), you will loss the detail of the shadow. If the photo is too bright (overexposed), you will loss the texture of the cloud and sky. Exposure is a combination of two fundamental settings: the aperture opening and the shutter speed. Aperture opening is the function in your lens and the shutter speed is the function in your camera. Optimal exposure can be achieved with many combinations of aperture opening size and the shutter speed, BUT each combination will have differences in depth of focus, motion blur and etc. How this exposure can be controlled? The answer is by having a good understanding of the combination of aperture and shutter speed. Shallow depth of focus, focus point was on the middle broccoli, focal length of 50 mm, large aperture ope

Cranberry and Raisin Scones....simply yummilicious

The scone baking project was to fulfill the weekend afternoon, and not because of the "doughnut story".....hihihi. Here I share the basic scone recipe. As I have mentioned earlier "Now everyone can bake", as such the recipe is easy to follow. Ingredients: 2 cups plain flour 1/3 cup sugar 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup butter 1 egg (medium) beaten with 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/3 cup whole milk 1/2 cup raisins 1/2 cup dried cranberries 1:1 ratio of egg:milk wash Method: Pre-heat the oven to 180-200C. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs (photo 2) and then follow by the egg and vanilla. Add in the milk slowly to form a firm soft dough that can be roll out. Stir until the dry ingredients are moistened. Add in the dried cranberries and raisins. Roll out the dough on floured surface to 2 cm thickness. Using a 5 cm round scone cu

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