oreonobakecheesecake project

TAAADAAAAAA!!!

Finally I tried the Kraftfoods recipe for oreo no bake cheesecake.. It was simple, easy and delicious, I am proud of my very first cheesecake. Hey, don't laugh at me, I hate cooking/baking or in other word I hate being in the kitchen, so my no bake cheesecake is a HUGE success for me :)) I think this cheesecake will be noelle's first project when she's old enough to help me in the kitchen..

Here's the original recipe and weight conversion for the ingredients :

What You Need!
1 pkg. (1 lb. 2 oz. or 500gr) OREO Cookies, divided
1/4 cup (1/2 stick or 60gr) butter, melted
4 pkg. (8 oz. or 220gr each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
3/4 cup (180gr) sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tub (8 oz. or220gr) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed

Make It!
@ COARSELY chop 15 of the cookies; set aside. Finely crush remaining cookies; mix with butter. Press firmly onto bottom of 13x9-inch pan. Refrigerate while preparing filling.
@ BEAT cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Gently stir in whipped topping and chopped cookies. Spoon over crust; cover.
@ REFRIGERATE 4 hours or until firm. Store leftovers in refrigerator.

Buuuut, as you know me, I am a rebel in this world and of course also in the kitchen, so I make a rebelious attempt with ingredients and method :p I must admit I used 2 package of oreo each 26 pcs of oreo sandwich weigh total approx 600gr and I used all of the oreo filling to be whipped with the cream cheese.

straight from the fridge..

This is so easy, why can't other cake recipe and method be so easy like this??? :p Just refrigerate overnight and voila, you have your dessert right away.. But I must admit, cutting a cake is a bit tricky for me, my hand is not good on things like that. So with my poor cake cutting technique, I prayed that I did not ruin this white cream filling with blackish colour from the crushed oreo when I pulled the knife..

Oh yeah, I must say that the person who invented oreo is a TOTAL GENIOUS.. It goes well just like that, dipped in milk, with ice cream, cheesecake and maybe you can name any other food or beverage with oreo as one of the ingredients..

Anyway, Abenk drove himself to the office today and just had his lunch at home. For the first time he had dessert after lunch at home, and it was this oreo no bake cheesecake. He finished it just in a blink of eye. Boy, the man didn't know how to eat yummy dessert.. :p

coto makassar a la daeng glenda

akhirnya, saya berhasil membuat sendiri coto makassar.. setelah googling resep coto makassar, meminta resep ke teman2 yang asli makassar, persiapan mental (i'll tell you about this later), persiapan bahan2, dan akhirnya saya pun memasak hidangan khas provinsi angin mamiri itu..

waktu awal2 datang di kota ini, abenk bilang kangen coto (dan pastinya terkenang2 sama coto daeng rimang pasar magani sorowako) jadi meluncurlah kami ke salah satu kafe yg menghidangkan coto, tapi ternyata cotonya nggak cocok di lidah saya, kuahnya aneh karena nggak terasa bumbu kacangnya, malah terasa seperti gulai/kari yang encer..

dan awal bulan ini, teman baru saya, kak oya mengundang saya makan coto di acara ulangtahun anaknya.. berhubung beliau ini menikah dengan bule, dan kemungkinan tetamu juga bule, sudah bisa dibayangkan rasanya coto a la bullcreek ini pasti mild supaya bisa keterima sama lidah bule.. ternyata tuan rumah memisahkan kacang dari kuah coto buatannya, jadi sekilas si coto mirip sama beef soup, pake peanut chilli sauce baru jadi coto.. komplit dgn ketupat, abenk makan lahap dan pulangnya kami dapet bingkisan coto lagi.. mupengnya keliatan hehehe

dasar abenk, si batak penggemar coto, masih terngiang2 aja sama coto yang dikenalnya pas bermukim di sorowako, cuma 5 tahun kurang tapi begitu membekas.. ketar ketir nih kepikiran sama coto, apalagi saya nggak suka masak, dan memasak masakan yang bahannya lebih dari 10 macam menurut saya itu butuh persiapan mental.. apalagi kalau bahannya aneh2, seperti lidah sapi.. hiiy

resepnya modifikasi dari berbagai sumber, yang rata2 menyertakan jeroan, tapi saya memakai daging, hati sapi dan lidah (pesanan/kesukaan suami).. semua bumbu ada di dapur, kecuali taoco, jadi saya meniadakan sambal taoco yg biasa menemani coto makassar.. dan juga ketupat krn saya gak bisa bikin ketupat hehe

coto makassar

bahan :
300 gram daging sapi
400 gram hati sapi
900 gram lidah sapi
4 batang serai memarkan
4 cm lengkuas memarkan
2 cm jahe memarkan
5 lembar daun salam
250 gram kacang tanah, goreng haluskan
3,5 liter air cuci beras/tajin *
1 sdm bumbu kaldu bubuk rasa sapi *
6 sdm minyak sayur**

haluskan :
10 siung bawang putih
8 butir kemiri sangrai
1 sdm ketumbar sangrai
1 sdt jintan sangrai
1 sdt garam
1 sdt merica butiran

pelengkap : bawang goreng, irisan daun bawang, irisan seledri, jeruk nipis, kecap manis, sambal

sambal taoco *
haluskan : 10 bawang merah, 5 siung bawang putih, 10 cabai keriting rebus sebentar, 100 gram taoco, tumis dengan 6 sdm minyak sayur hingga matang, haluskan tambahkan garam dan gula merah.

* artinya gak pake
** diganti margarine

cara masak :
1. rebus daging sapi, hati dan lidah, beri serai, lengkuas, jahe dan daun salam. setelah matang angkat, tiriskan, potong dadu. khusus untuk lidah sapi, setelah matang baru dikuliti/kerok, baru dipotong dadu. sisihkan.
2. panaskan margarine, tumis bumbu yang dihaluskan hingga harum, masukkan kedalam kaldu, tambahkan kacang tanah goreng, didihkan.
3. penyajian, siapkan mangkuk, isi dengan daging, hati sapi dan lidah, beri kuahnya, taburi bawang goreng, irisan daun bawang dan seledri.

paling nikmat disajikan dengan buras/ketupat dan sambal taoco tapi apa daya cuma ada nasi putih dari rice cooker, tetap disyukuri juga lah.. apalagi tadi pas suami pulang kantor langsung mengendus2 harum dari panci, dan ketika akhirnya mencicipi sendiri coto a la daeng glenda keluar semua deh puja dan pujinya, berikut request untuk kapan2 bikin lagi coto yang sama.. daeng jadi tersipu malu nih..

oh iya, sekelumit tentang persiapan mental yang saya sebutkan di atas, itu tentang keberanian untuk mengolah lidah sapi.. abenk minta cotonya pake lidah, jadi saya pun membeli satu potong lidah di swalayan.. dikemas segar, sepotong lidah beratnya mencapai 900gr.. bentuknya mirip lidah manusia cuma berkali2 lipat besarnya.. ada bintil2nya juga, cuma beda warna putih dan ada belang bonteng item.. ngeri deh..

saat di swalayan itu saya mikir, "wah masaknya harus barengan abenk nih, saya nggak berani pegang lidah sapi, geli." tapi praktiknya, saya akhirnya masak sendirian.. *huhuhuhu* saat mencuci daging dan hati sapi, saya masih berani memegang dengan tangan telanjang (maksudnya langsung dengan tangan, bukan sambil bugil ya).. tapi saat mengolah lidah, terpaksa deh pake sarung tangan karet yang memang saya siapkan untuk memegang bahan2 aneh seperti memotong ayam utuh dan mengolah lidah sapi..

gk ada kepala/muka tapi bisa ngejek gitu.. weeeeekkk

sarung tangan karet yang lumayan tebal itu lumayan menyamarkan tekstur si lidah, bikin saya tenang dan nggak kepikiran sama geli-nya memegang lidah.. tapi setelah lidah matang, saya kan harus mengeruk kulitnya, mau tidak mau harus memegang langsung.. hiiiiy.. akhirnya setelah memotivasi diri sendiri, mulailah saya menguliti si lidah.. sampai selesai. hasilnya nggak mulus, sepertinya butuh latihan supaya bisa menguliti lidah dengan baik... waaaaaa *kabur*

kesimpulan dari kegiatan masak coto hari ini, ternyata nggak sulit2 amat memasak coto sendiri. butuh waktu dan kesabaran untuk bisa enjoy masak coto apalagi dari mupengnya abenk, kelihatannya menu coto bakal jadi acara bulanan nih..

11 months and 3 days..

Noelle turned 11 months old on November 20th. God bless her with good health and lots of lots laughter.. She's trully a wonderful baby eventhough now she's a bit more like a daredevil instead of a princess :p Actually, I don't know what to write, the words are jumping in my head but I got writer's block and poor time management so I don't have time to write. But still, I manage to stay up late just trying to "pay my debt" to my baby Noelle. Yep, I owe her one note every month..

Uhm, where do I start?? Ok, I'll get the picture, this note will be full of "disappointment" about how my expectation has not fulfilled. I've been trying to stimulate her, but not a biggie progress I think.. Before you try to comfort me, I must say "yeah I heard that everybaby is unique and grow at their own pace.. "..

Noelle has mastered standing on her own and cruising the room while holding onto furniture or my hand, but she seems not interesting to walk on her own even I guard her by placing my hands on her sides. :( She loves to grab onto anything and everything, as well as climb onto my tigh, lowest drawer, her stroller, the box near her room window.. If I'm on the good mood, then I'll support her climb whatever she wants with me guard her, of course. But if I'm tired, all I want to do is grab the remote control and press STILL to freeze her :p

She has a CHICCO baby walker, but she doesn't use it anymore because she has exceeded the maximum weight capacity (13kg). Well, the last month she used it more like a cry game because she refused to be put on her walker and then she kicking her feet when I try to put her in the walker and screams to the top of her lungs. She prefers cruising on her own, but not walking on her own. Period. Thank God she loves to push her Ride On-Walker, she pushes and pushes the Ride On Walker across the room proudly, especially when I cheers and claps my hands for her. On my point of view, it seems like she's fully capable of doing so, but as soon as she realizes that I've let go of her from my hands, she lunges for me or drops on four and start to crawl again. I read that baby prefers doing so because crawling takes them faster than walking. OH MY.. hopefully my baby will grown out of it soon.

Since she has mastered standing on her own, now she takes bath in standing position. Bye bye baby recliner bath.. Oh no, my hubby still use it to bathe her.. Bath time always be her favourite activity, with toys or no toys, she'll manage to amuse herself in the shower. And I keep pouring water in her head to rinse the shampoo just trying to make her get use to it, and everytime I did that, Noelle will try to open her mouth and stuck her tongue as if she wants to taste the water.. Silly yet so adorable..

She's still babbling, still the same Mama and Papa, and other words in her own language which I doubt anyone would understand but only her and God :) She has this expression when she's babbling, so I guess she's trying to tell me something but I am still trying to understand it. Her signing language has not improved yet. But it seems she uses BODY LANGUAGE to communicate. She shake her head to say NO, nod to say YES, claps her hands when she's happy or excited, grab her toy if I tried to take it (I took it as she OBJECT for my action), and she leans to me or looking for me when she soiled her diaper. After that, we go to the toilet, she sits there nicely while I clean her with bidet just like adult :) And when it comes to FOOD, she just eyeing my plate (or the food in my hand) and tried her hardest to grab the food. No wonder she gets so big.. LOL

I'd love to say she eats like a champ, drinks from a glass (she skipped sippy cup phase but now learning to sip from a straw) and sleeps through the night (eventhough she moves alot and positioned herself tons of times during her sleeping). On a perfect night, she'll go to bed around 7:30 PM and then wake up around midnite to be fed and again at 6 AM. On a so so night, she just want to play until she tired and go to bed at 9PM.

I remember a couple of nights ago, she woke up at 2 AM and could not settle and refused to sleep again. And since her father is a sound sleeper, then it's my responsibility to wake up and finally play with her, until 5 AM. There I was, playing with her, read her a couple of books with my head and eye pounding by a hammer.

I don't know whether it's her nature or my poor cooking skills, but I think she hates meat. She eats salmon, tuna, organi chicken, veggies, mashed red beans, mashed fruits, potatoes/pumpkin, mashed rice, cheese, biscuit, even bread+nutella. But she's just not into meat meal. If you only knew, kiddo.. It was organic meat, pricey but only for you.. Please eat your meat ya..

And, 11 months means the end of her scheduled routine because now she just do whatever she wants to do. From 3 times nap during the day, now only 1 nap, and the time is up to her whenever she feels like she wants to sleep. And she loves to watch the telly. I know, babies are not supposed to watch telly so often but I got chores to do and telly is the my savior if she gets bored with her toys.

Soon we will enroll in one-in-a-week class activity just to interact with other babies because she seems interested in other moving things in her size, and animals. Or maybe anything that's not adult? :p

Round thing (balls, rings, cylindrical) are major obsessions for Noelle. Give her 5 different 3D shape objects i.e rectangular, cross, star, triangle, and cylinder and then she'll pick the later. Always. Yesterday we bought her alphabet fridge magnetic in different colour and pattern to form N O E L L E, and when we put it on the fridge wall, she tried to take the letter O.. the same result after we scrambled the alphabets and closed her eyes, she picked letter O again and again. I think I've read about typical personality from our favourite shape, but I forgot what and where I read that, hopefully it was not my imagination.

She still loves to "play" with her mirror image. Touching, kissing and talking to her twin. Seriously, I think that she thinks the image is her friend. Poor baby, I wonder when she would realize that the image is herself??

One of her favorite games is to be chased, so she’ll make a beeline for an open door, and if no one comes after her, she stops in the doorway and calls to you until you go get her, at which point she cracks up and tries to crawl away as fast as she can. The same thing goes in the living room, she hold onto the coffeetable, and tap her toys to the table (to get my attention) and when I see her, she just grin and if I move an inch to the left, she'll move to the right cruising the table as fast as she can. And this chase would go round and round until finally I got her.

Noelle is such a love. She gives hugs by opening her arms and reaching any body parts she could reach i.e : my arms (if I'm on my knee), my neck (if she stands on my lap), or my tigh (if we both stands). She also tries to give kisses by popping her lips, but more often than not she ends up spitting on the object of her affection.

Now I just want to say that I enjoy this age very much, not only because Noelle is learning tons of new things each day, but also because her personality is really starting to emerge, and as she gains more skills and becomes more independent, determined, I can see her as a person and not just a baby. She makes decisions and sets goals for herself, then takes steps to achieve those goals. She thinks about things, remembers things… And since she barely talk, I wish I could hear what goes on in her mind.

Well, in the beginning of this note I said that this note will be about my disappointment but in the end, I found myself smiling and typing words after words. What a relief, I almost think that I am a failure :)