the finest, richest, creamiest chocolate pudding

my little family is a big fan of chocolate. even mizan who is allergic to cow's milk (including every kind of dairy product) is always craving for chocolate. so last week i googled for some recipe and found this amazing food blogger. i found a recipe of chocolate pudding in this blog and went straight to my kitchen to try this. it was so easy to make and the result was fantastic. my husband is a big fan of fine dessert so he loved this so much. mikal and I loved it. mizan tried a spoonful of the pudding and suddenly the rashes came out in his face. oooh poor my little boy.

here is the recipe:

what you need:

3 cups (675 ml) of fresh whole milk/full cream uht milk

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tbsp. cornstarch

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp. salt

2 egg yolks

80 grams dark chocolate, chopped well

1 tsp. vanilla essence

method:

whisk together 1 cup of milk with the sugar, cornstarch, cocoa powder, and salt in a small bowl. when well whisked, put in the egg yolks and whisk. set aside.

in a large saucepan, stir the remaining 2 cups of milk and boil over medium heat. whisk frequenly. as soon as milk comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low. gradually whisk in the egg mixture, stirring quickly to incorporate. continue cooking and stirring until the pudding is thick enough (about 2-3 minutes).

remove from heat and stir the chopped chocolate until it is completely melted and the pudding is smooth. stir the vanilla essence.

serve the pudding warm or cold, with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, nuts, strawberry, or mangoes!! the pudding will thicken up a bit when cooled.

a trip to kuantan

last november we went to kuantan for a short break from our daily activities. we stayed for two nights and three days there. after googling and asking some friends who ever went there we decided to stay in different hotel at each night. it took about 3.5 to 4 hours drive from KL to kuantan. at first night we stayed at hyatt regency kuantan resort. it was located in telok cempedak area. the resort had its own private beach that was so nice and clean. after checking in my husband and me wanted to take a rest first, but since mikal already saw the beach from hotel lobby, he insisted to go straight to the beach. the boys were so happy. they played with wave and sands. my husband was playing kite, mikal was making his sand castle, and mizan was running round and around while i watched them and stared at hundred shades of blue so peacefully.

at night we walked outside the hotel and surprisingly only 5 minute walk from it we could find anything that tourists want to find. there were many kinds of restaurant, from macdonald, kfc, kopitiam, and local seafood restaurant. there were also some souvenir shops and a bouncing castle playground. telok cempedak public beach was quite nice and tidy itself.

the boys kept themselves busy while papa doing the check in

telok cempedak

my boys

local souvenir shop in telok cempedak

on second day we moved to swiss garden resort. this place was also nice with its private beach, pools, and playground, and kids club for children. it was located on the side of balok beach. the hotel was quite far from the city, but  nearby (about 3-5 minutes driving) we found a very nice sea side seafood restaurant. it sold range variety of seafood and the taste was very good. the name of the restaurant was pak su seafood  and my favourite was pak su stuffed crab. it was minced crab meat put in the crab shell and cooked in pak su special way. the taste was incredibly delicious.

playing in balok beach

overall we spent our holiday playing in the beach and pool repeatedly.when the kids were happy, it was enough for us. we didn't go exploring the city cause there were not many to see. there was a newly opened zoo, but a friend suggested it might worth to visit for the next year but not now since there were not many animals or show to see.

you can find information about hyatt regency kuantan resort here and swiss garden resort kuantan here.

20 months old Mizan

can't believe that my baby mizan turns 20 months old. mizan...he is our sweetheart. there are million things in him those make he is such a little darling. he has many words to speak out now. his first word was "abang" (means big brother), the word he calls mikal is. then it was followed by apple, papa, and many other words before finally he started calling me mama. i was so happy and proud back then. now he can say orange, strawberry, mango, books, penguin, turtle, duck, elephant, starwars (i gues he got this from his brother)! he can count from one to ten. he can also count in spanish from uno to cinqo (he got this from dora the explorer :) ).

mizan knows most of nursery rhymes songs and can sing them along. his favourite songs are the wheels on the bus and twinkle twinkle. he is so cute when he keeps singing and talking. he recognizes numbers from 1 to 9 and some letters (of course his favourite is o :D).

he loves berries and raisins. if he could make it his way and i let him, he could eat thousand of raisins and/or berries a day and eat nothing else. he is allergic to cow's milk but he is always craving for chocolate and cheese. he is still breastfed to me.

cabin fever, always happens when mikal is at school

when we are about to go outside, mizan springs to life. he is so happy and ask me to get him ready first. then he will take on his shoes by himself. after that he will take ours, each pair for each of us, and put them in front of us so we can take on them after that. when i say, "mizan, please kiss me" he will come to kiss not only me, but all the three of us. even if mikal is so lazy to be kissed, he insists to do it to mikal. isn't he so sweet?

he loves books. his favourite is a hungry dragon from early readers series. he loves playing ipad and he's the master in swiping it. he loves playing legos and blocks. he is very strategic on doing something. he loves playing with water but he hates to take a bath. he's often throwing tantrum when i take him to the washroom to take some shower.

mizan..what can mama say but a prayer to your health and happiness. you are papa's stress reliever, mama's source of proud, abang's best friend. thank you for letting us having you, panda bear. we love you to the moon and back infinity times. xxx