I am so excited! I’ve finally registered for a Spanish language course which will begin its first class next month! Though I gotta part ways with RM650, but hey, money comes, money goes right? It cost RM650 per level, and there is a total of 16 levels altogether, which translates the total sum of a completed Spanish course to…

RM 10,400!!!!

Mierda!!

But I don’t think I will take all 16. Maybe till level 8, IF I manage to pass all the previous levels! Yes, there are always tests at the end of each level, failing which, you either have to retake it or go cry your eyeballs elsewhere. Nonetheless, I am ready for the challenge, perhaps due to my overwhelming desire to travel to Spain when the time comes.

I was greeted by a lovely pregnant Spanish lady in the registration office of the institute. Thank God we can understand each other in English coz’ she spoke English with Spanish accent and I spoke English with the typical Malaysian accent. I filled up the form, paid the fees and she’ll inform me by email on where the classes will be held. When I mentioned that RM650 was a pretty pricey fee, she apologetically explained that it was controlled by the institute and not her, and that actually RM650 is one of the cheapest language fees!

Then…the bomb came when she added, “Oh, there might be an increase of RM50 for the next level intake, possibly this September or next year because the management said that the course fee has not been increased for the past four years.”

MIERDA!!!!

So, if the fee is increased to RM700 in the next intake, and if I were to take up ALL 16 levels…my total cost would be…a hefty…

RM 11,150!!!!!

Blardee kambing! I think I’ll just study till level 8! After the registration process was completed, she thanked me by saying “muchas gracias” (thank you very much) and I replied with a smile and said “Adios!”

Hehehehe…Now, I can only imagine WHO will be teaching the language! Is it gonna be a Spanish hunk? If it is, then I’m gonna sharpen my baking skills and bribe him with loads of yummy-licious cakes, cookies and pies in exchange for extra hour of personal tutoring! (eh, chicos and chicas, don’t think the other way round, vale?)

There are like hundreds of creative ways to make a mango cake, but being the lazy me, I decided to go for this very simple way of making a mango sponge cake. Like I said before, once you know how to bake a basic sponge cake, you can turn it into almost any cake, the way you want to have it!

Ingredients (A):

Refer to the ingredients in Basic Sponge Cake recipe

Ingredients (B):

1 or 2 ripe mango
1 tbsp of butter
¾ cup of maple syrup
Whipped cream

Method:

1. First, bake a basic sponge cake.

2. While waiting for the cake to cool, heat up a saucepan/griddle over low heat. Pour ¾ cup of map syrup and 1 tbsp of butter into the pan.

3. Stir the maple glaze until butter has melted. Remove from heat and set aside.

4. Peel and cut your mango in thin slices.

5. After the cake has cooled down, remove it from the baking tin and cut the cake with a bread/cake knife into two layers.

6. Spread whipped cream evenly over the bottom layer. Then top it up with the sliced mango. Spread another layer of cream and mango (if there’s extra mango) and place the top layer back.

7. Glaze the cake with the maple glaze using a brush.

8. You can either eat it like that, or served with whipped cream. If you like it cold, refrigerate the cake for at least 4 hours before serving.

Some comments on the method above:

In Step 2, I actually have plenty of maple syrup left (because I love serving pancakes with maple syrup and bought a bottle of it!), so I put it to good use by making a maple glaze. While this is not necessary, it certainly gives your cake that shiny look and taste pretty good too.

In Step 5, if you cut your cake with a normal cooking knife, chances are, it’ll turn out pretty messy. So, go get a bread/cake knife and get the job done with less cake crumbs all over the place. The knife looks something like this:

In Step 6, I used QWip Ultra-Pasteurized Sweetened Whipped Light Cream that I bought from Jusco. I did try to make my own whipped cream before but it just didn’t work and I had to throw the entire cream away! Talk about throwing your money out of the window just like that! Sigh. Oh, if you want more mangos, you can do two or three layers, with alternating slices of mango and whipped cream in between. I tried with two layers but felt it wasn’t enough! Maybe I’m a mango-crazy person!

Happy baking, peeps!

Baking sponge cake is really difficult as it requires certain technique to mix the ingredients and beat the egg whites. I think I’ve tried baking over 10 times but I still think I have not perfected the skill. Sigh…anyway, once you are able to bake a basic sponge cake, you can go crazy with any delicious ideas you have and turn the cake into your desired dessert!

Ingredients:

6 eggs, separate whites & yellow
190g castor sugar (but I usually reduce to 170g or 180g)
95g self-raising flour, sifted
55g corn starch, sifted
45g butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 180?C.

2. Place egg yolks into a mixing bowl and mix them on high speed till creamy.

3. After a minute, add about 2 tbsp of sugar (from the 190g sugar). Continue to mix for a few more minutes till mixture becomes thicker.

4. Add vanilla extract. Keep mixing until mixture becomes double of its original volume.

5. In another clean mixing bowl, place egg whites into the bowl and beat them on high speed till white and frothy.

6. Slowly add in the sugar by tablespoon at a time. Stop when mixture is stiff.

7. Combine egg yolks into egg whites mixture and fold them with rubber spatula. Do not overmix.

8. Combine flour and corn starch in the sieve and slowly sift into mixture. Fold all together, do not overmix, then add melted butter to the batter, combining it briefly.

9. Using rubber spatula, transfer the batter into a lined spring form pan (or in this case, a round baking tin). Spread batter evenly with rubber spatula and give the pan a few good shakes.

10. Bake at 180?C for 30 minutes. Set aside to cool before removing from pan.

Some comments on the method above:

In Step 5, it is very important to beat the egg whites in a CLEAN mixing bowl. A slight trace of fat (from the egg yolks or from other element) will affect the whipping of the egg whites. So, do separate your egg whites and egg yolks with extreme care. It usually took me about 15 minutes to separate them! LOL! If you accidentally punctured the egg yolk, throw the whole egg away and do it all over again. I suggest you separate them at a smaller bowl, and then transfer the egg whites into the mixing bowl. That way, if you accidentally punctured the yolk, you don’t have to throw away the good ones in the mixing bowl, only the ones in the smaller bowl.

In Step 6, you’ll know your mixture is stiff when the whipped egg whites mixture clings to the beater attachment but does not drip after you lift it up.

In Step 7, slowly fold the mixture with a rubber spatula. Stop mixing when the yolks have been incorporated into the whites (it turns a bit yellowish).

In Step 8, when you fold the flour into the mixture, make sure you do it slowly and check whether there are small lumps in the mixture. These lumps are usually traces of flour that you have to break it down (just mix it till it disappears). You can melt the butter over a double-boiler, or in my case, since I do not have one, I melt my butter in a stainless steel bowl over boiling water in a pan.

There you have it, a basic sponge cake recipe! I’ll share with you some of the varieties that I’ve made with a basic sponge cake in my next post.

I have been smiling quite a bit lately, which is usually NOT normal for Perrinator, the mean-looking chubby lady with a sour face that scares the daylight out of every living being. I think it started about two weeks ago.

Here are some examples…When I am driving to work, I usually listen to the radio. When the radio announcers make some jokes, normally, I would be like, “Okay, that’s funny” but there’s no smile nor giggles. I simply do not have any jolly reaction. But recently… when I hear them cracking up some jokes over the radio? I’d either smile, giggle and even, LAUGH. What the fart?! I don’t seem to care what other people in their cars might think when they see me smiling or laughing by myself (my windows are slightly tinted anyway).

Oh, and when I work? I don’t smile for no reason either. But then again…when I greet people, I…smile a little. Or when I talk to them, I feel like I am actually smiling at them when we talk, nodding my head or giggle if I find it funny. Weird. Weird. Weird. I normally don’t do that! One of my clients did say, “Hey, you seem different a little. Like, you’re more cheerful these days.” HHMMM!! Did my beachy holiday have anything to do with my…changes? Ohh, here’s another one…I can even suddenly smile when I am walking to a place, or when I am in the lift, or when I queue in the bank or when I am swimming!!! Oh my holiee goat!!

I remembered asking a long-lost friend of mine a couple of weeks ago, “Are you happy?” Well, I guess the definition of happy or happiness differs for each individual. She’s happy. And I told her I’m not. Here’s what made me start thinking when she asked me, “What WILL make you happy?”

<* Perrinator ponders for a moment, thinking of that simple question over and over again and still couldn’t define what WILL make her truly happy *>

Since I am still breathing, and since Grim Reaper doesn’t seem to want me yet (with all my daring stunts like sleep driving or drinking cough mixture before bedtime as if it’s a supplement or inhaling toxic smoke…erm…I mean, toxic “air”)…might as well I make full use of my…miserable life? Is it too late for me to start all over again? Is it too late to erase the word miserable from my life-tionary? Is it too late for me to find…happiness? How long will it take me to find happiness? How am I gonna find out what WILL make me happy? How can I TRULY…be happy?

I know I’m happy when I’m with my buddies. I smile and laugh with them. But how can I maintain that happiness when I am not with them? Sigh…so simple yet so tough. Perhaps I should start writing a list every single day on What Made Me Smile Today? Whatever it is that made me smile pretty much lately? I hope it will continue to stay with me for a long, long time. Thanks Lou, for that very thoughtful and simple question that propels me to seek…happiness.

The recent global financial crisis – also know as the Great Depression of the 21st Century – has a profound impact on almost everything and everyone. Well, guess what? Some jokers (or a joker) photoshopped these hilarious logos depicting the effect of the financial crisis on these organizations…and I swear it wasn’t me! (I’d photoshop my fat ass off if I possess this brilliant photoshopping skill!)