It's already New Year?!!

" Time flies when you're having fun...I've had great moments in the past 12 months...explored many new things..made mistakes..learn from them..repeat mistakes..baru nak sedar...and became a new person "

That's my Facebook status for today.I'm kinda surprised at how things have gone very fast...There are so many moments...great and wonderful moments, and not forgetting the not so great moments too...Lots of memories to be treasured..happy and joy, exciting and interesting, stupid and silly, pain and sorrow just to name a few...All of these have made me who I am today...A better person who is matured spiritually and mentally...That's what I think of myself right now..hee..

I would love to take this opportunity to wish all of you 

Happy New Year!!!

Selamat Tahun Baru!!!

Prosit Neujahr!!!

¡Feliz Año Nuevo!!!

It's a new beginning for all of us...New hopes and resolutions,new spirits and goals...I hope that we'll have a promising and fulfilling new year, full of joy and happiness...

Till the next post...Tschüss und mach's gut!!!

Impressing Hanis on the first day...

How to make someone feel excited, intrigued or impressed?  Especially when that someone is your bestfriend...and that someone is Hanis Zalikha...

Actually you can just leave the last part..I've known Hanis for quite a long time..She has always been down-to-earth and "sempoi" in most of the things she does..So xde la nak impress ke ape..just to make her feel excited and happy to see what Germany has to offer...

I've planned some exciting things that we can do once she's arrived...From the moment Azizi and I went to the airport to fetch her till the last day when we say goodbye...tsk2..

The adventure started right away...Unfortunately, I got the date mixed up..I thought she was going to arrive one day earlier, but instead she arrived on the next day...Even though she's just arrived, she was very energetic to continue the day as what has been planned...That is to go back to my place in Krefeld, and in between, we'll go around the city of Cologne..taking pictures..relaxing ourselves..going to the open-air ice skating rink, hang out with a friend having tea time..and etc...

Hanis experiencing snow for the first time...teruja kan..jom snow fight jom..

But before anything, we still had time to freshen up and hang out for a while at Azizi's and Faizal's place..Azizi was really nice to accompany me to the airport to fetch Hanis and let her take a rest at his room for a while...and thanx to Faizal as well for the hospitality and Nasi goreng he made for us for breakfast before the long journey to Krefeld...

 Thank you for the hospitality...

 Rüsselsheim Train Station...

 There was a delay for the train going to Cologne..Sementara menunggu...Mamak Roti canai satu!!! kat sini Käsebrot jerla kot..

 Views from the train...awesome...

 Macam Photo shoot plak kan...Jalan2 in Cologne...

I kinda like this picture...

Open Air Ice-Skating - We were planning to go for Open Air ice skating but we couldn't stand the cold..hee

 Hanis loves these things...

Entrance Restaurant je dah gempak..

Tea time at Erster Wiener..Vincent joined us for the wonderful tea time..

It was pretty cold that night...things were made worst when there were train delays and crowded people at the central station..after we had the tea time, we went to find an alternative way to get back to Krefeld...Alhamdullillah sampai gak...

Hanis got really tired after a long day of walking in the snow...and she's just started adjusting herself to the weather and time difference..huhu..kesian dia...I made her sambal tumis udang and instant rendang tok for dinner..hehe...xtaw la dia impressed ke x...

Owh and for breakfast we had rice pudding with caramel sauce...Bread with chocolate and cheese spread..and scrambled egg...hee..bagi hanis rasa german breakfast kan...After that, we made our way to the central station to take the train heading to Rotterdam...Stay tune for the next post on the activities we did in Rotterdam and Amsterdam...

Tschuess und mach's gut!!!

Am I dreaming? No, you're not Nabil!

There she was, standing right before my eyes...with her sweet lovely smile and that beautiful rambut ikal mayang I've always adored, my bestfriend Hanis Zalikha. 

It felt as if like I was dreaming and needed a pinch to get back to reality.. I couldn't hide my excited face the moment I saw her coming out of the exit door. Teruja sampai I pown jadi speechless out of sudden...baru nak digest that Hanis is finally here, has arrived safely and will be spending her next few days with me..happy...teruja..excited...semualah..

Another tick on my 'Dream On' list...definitely...

I x sempat nak buat banner besar2 ngan gambar hanis...so i buat flashlight with text "Welcome to Germany Hanis Zalikha"...pastu angkat tinggi2 di udara..hee

This is just the beginning of many more adventures and exciting moments to come...

Stay Tune!! 

Tschüss und mach's gut!

Meet the Mugologist...

I want the white one...hurm..or the red...ehhh...what about blue..no..no..the one with the shape like a shoe!!!

What am I talking about, you might ask?
MUGS!!!

Well everything started when a close friend of mine,Vincent came to visit me last Wednesday. I went to fetch him in Düsseldorf.As it's his first time in Duesseldorf, we thought of exploring the city together and I could show him some of the interesting places in the capital city of NRW.We were walking along the streets, heading to the Weihnachtsmarkt in Düsseldorf...

Before I continue the story, let me enlighten you all with the term Weihnachtsmarkt.

A Christmas market (Weihnachtsmarkt) is also known as Christkindlmarkt, Christkindlesmarkt, Adventmarkt, and Gluehweinsmarkt.It is a street market associated with the celebration of Christmas during the four weeks of Advent. These markets originated in Germany and Alsace but are now being held in many other countries.

Popular attractions at the market include the Nativity Scene (a crèche or crib), Zwetschgamännla (figures made of decorated dried plums), Nussknacker (carved Nutcrackers), Gebrannte Mandeln (candied, toasted almonds), traditional Christmas cookies such as Lebkuchen and Magenbrot (both forms of soft gingerbread),  a sort of egg bread with candied fruit, Bratwurst, and for many visitors one of the highlights of the market: Glühwein, hot mulled wine (with or without a shot of brandy), or Eierpunsch (an egg-based warm alcoholic drink).

(Source from Wikipedia)

My friend said he would like to collect the mug sold at the Weihnachtsmarkt...When you drink a mug of Glühwein or Coffee or Hot Chocolate at the Weihnachtsmarkt, you'll have to pay extra for the mug...it's like a deposit..If you return the mug you'll get your money back, but you can also keep the mug as remembrance.The latter was what we did...and the rest is history...

We went from one city to another in two days...We managed to go to 4 Weihnachtsmarkt in NRW and collected a number of mugs of different shapes and colours.Happie!!!

Düsseldorf

The view of Düsseldorf at night

Weihnachtsmarkt Düsseldorf

 

The mug from Düsseldorf

Krefeld

Weihnachtsmarkt in Krefeld

Champignons (Mushrooms) with homemade garlic sauce
 

Mug kat Krefeld jugak paling chomeyl kan..hee...

Dortmund

Weihnachtsmarkt Dortmund
 

Coffee mug from Dortmund...

Penat berjalan kitorunk stop makan kat Rigoletto,Italian Restaurant kejap...Tapi makanan agak hampeh so we decided to go to Vapiano on the next day..



Tiga orang ni memang minat makan italian..dating kena gi Italian Restaurant ye..

Köln 

Weihnachtsmarkt Köln 

The mug I got from Koln Weihnachsmarkt...

So that was it, the adventure of the Mugologist...bajet ada la word tu nak cakap collectors of mugs are called Mugologist kan...hee...

Tschüss und mach's gut!!!

Let's satisfy our cravings...

Satu rumah kot kempunan nak makan secret recipe's oreo cheesecake.So I gigihkan diri to find an easy oreo cheesecake recipe that can satisfy our cravings...If u've read my previous post, you'll know the kind of websites I normally google to find my recipes..and normally I'll adjust the recipe to suit my taste...This time I found the recipe here.I took my time to read all the reviews on the recipe.Thez are actually quite helpful...

It's my first time baking a cake..before this I've always doubt myself if I could ever bake a cake that wouldn't sink or explode...Baking a cake is not that simple...yeah..ada pantang-larang plak...But2..this recipe was kinda easy...it just needed a bit of adjustment here and there and Wallla!! Oreo Cheesecake ready to be indulged...

"Sedappppp" kata kawan - kawan..teruja je dalam hati kan dengar..haha..Tapi xle kalahkan secret recipe's oreo cheesecake la kan..tu memang ar terbaek..xpe nanti akan gigih cari recipe lain plak..hee..

I updated about this baking attempt on my facebook status yesterday..hee..ada kawan2 mintak recipe la plak kan..Actually you can get the recipe from the website I've linked above.but2, if you want to have a recipe with colourful pictures and easy explanation..continue to read below..hehe...I've read the reviews and made my adjustment here and there.I've also added chocolate topping to give it an extra flavour....owh one thing to tell you guys..the original recipe is for a 9-inch springform pan..but I only had a 10.5-inch springform pan..so I required more oreo cookies for the base..and that's why the cake doesn't look that thick..
 

The Ingredients needed for the cake and it's base:

 32 Oreo cookies, just the cookie without it's cream..You can use more than 32 if you like...

I didn't have enough..that's why...

 3 tablespoon melted butter

 3 eggs

 3/4 cup of sugar

 3 x (250g) PHILADELPHIA Brick Cream Cheese..I used the tub type..couldn't find the brick one..

Two tablespoons of Sour Cream

One teaspoon of lemon juice

2 teaspoons of vanilla essence

Ingredients for the chocolate topping a.k.a Chocolate Ganache...

Chopped 200 gram of dairymilk chocolate or dark bittersweet chocolate..

It's your choice..which one you prefer

3/4 cup of heavy cream

Step by step to make the oreo cheesecake..

Starting with the base

1. Remove the cream filling between the cookies...Cream tu simpan untuk sapu atas roti pon sedap..hee
2. Finely crush the cookies..Guna lesung batu paling practical kot..malangnya I xde..ketuk2 dalam plastik je la..
3. Mix 1 1/2 of the finely crushed cookies and butter in a bowl.Then, press firmly onto the bottom of 9-inch springform pan.Bagi rata supaya nampak cantik skit bila potong nanti..I punya x cantik sangat..xpe..saya budak baru belajar..howoe

 Now we've come to the cake part

1.  In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, vanilla and lemon juice with an electric mixer on medium speed.
2. Beat eggs, one at a time, just so that it is well blended..Don't overmixed.
3. Take half of the remaining crushed cookies and add into the batter.Gently stir it together.

      4.  Pour the batter over the prepared crust...If you like, you can sprinkle the remaining 

           crushed cookies on the cake. But I didn't have enough..So i did the chocolate topping instead.

It's time to bake the cake..Before u start on the cake u should preheat the oven to 175 degree celcius. Bake the cake for 40 to 45 minutes or until the centre is almost set. Cool in the refrigerator for at least 3 or 4 hours.

Making the Chocolate Ganache

1.  Heat the heavy cream in a small sauce pan over medium heat.When it started to boil, pour in the chopped chocolate bar and whisk until smooth.

Before cooling the cake in the refrigerator, pour the chocolate ganache on the cake and let it cool together.It'll become a nice topping after 3 hours of cooling.

Enjoy the cake...

Tschüss und mach's gut!!!