Tuesday 27 September 2011

Honey and Milk Bread

I like cooking because it is an art too.
But it is a little more special, because you can eat your artwork :)

The previous banana bread requires no kneading (more like a cake),
but this time I really want to try kneading.
Rupanya tak sesusah yang dibayangkan :)
Tak sempat keluar peluh pun.

Never in my whole life,
I had ever imagine I can bake my own bread.
I surprised myself success at the first time.
So I guess making bread isn't that hard anyway,
we just need to give some time for the yeast to do their job.

With the rising concern in the halal status of food products in the market,
maybe we can try doing it our own.
Ditanggung halal!

Senang saja,
jom cuba resipi ini :)

*Recipe*

Mantanani Island

It was a two days work trip to Mantanani Island.

I'm back with nasty sunburns.

It was such a precious experience for me,
but I wish my job is more than just preparing meal, observing, passing stuffs and holding the camera.
We wished we can go for some snorkeling and swimming,
but all the time spent for work.

The place is so beautiful and peaceful.
Sometimes I feel like I was so far away from home, but actually it was only 37km from our house,
plus another 1 hour boat trip.
If given a chance, I would love to live there for 3 months.
Yeah, why not?
(but of course not alone, hehe).

Friday 23 September 2011

Cookies...or Cakes?

Neither!

I am still not over yet with my excitement of having a new toy for the kitchen.
:)

Sometimes I found myself fallen asleep while drooling over the photos in the cooking magazine. Not only that they look delicious, but they are also inspirational.

I've been longing to bake some bread, and finally!
My first bread.

Sugarless Banana Bread ~ use dates to substitute sugar.

Pineapple Muffin.

Last but not least, a picture of stamp that I completed 3 days ago
(sedang berusaha menghabiskan sisa-sisa tempahan).

I met an old friend whom I haven't met for 10 years (except in Facebook), and he asked me how's my cake/cookie business doing? Hahahahaa...that's funny!...Really? Those stamps look like cookies and cakes?!

Lack of Confidence



I think I can almost hear myself whispering,
that I regret saying YES
for the book illustration job.

I only touched brushes (larger than size 0 and 2) few times in my life
(because I used to draw on ATC only).
I don't know where on earth the courage came from.

Because of the illustration job,
I invested in some new brushes and the biggest (and most expensive) ever watercolor paper,
I had so far.
Never worked with acrylic paint before,
so I bought a box of acrylic paint (because a friend suggested I should try acrylic),
and this is it.
This is where I force myself to get use to brush handling and
understand the acrylic paint character.
No time to practice before the real thing.

I only have 7 days to finish another 11 illustrations.
And oh boy! I am unsure about almost everything I've done so far.
Will the color pallet and drawing suit children's taste?

I hope this will only means,
Every first time is just as difficult as any other first time for anyone.
I hope everything going to be all
right.

Wednesday 21 September 2011

Approved!


This is an old pending work,
the earlier CorelDraw file had gone with my corrupted external HD,
so I redo it in Photoshop.

My client has approved the one with magician hat!
Yeeeehaaaaw!

One sack of burden,
off my shoulder!

Monday 19 September 2011

It Is but It Is Not


Today I was browsing the internet and found this image.

It looks familiar but not from the work of artist whom I have been following for almost 6 years.

Today the world had become small,
and distances won't feel that far anymore.
We can even feel like knowing somebody their whole life,
knew every member of their families, maybe every corner of their houses,
every single piece of their work,
eventhough we never even met them,
and they don't even know us!

My point is,
people can differentiate between inspirations and imitations.
Sometimes we see something and eventhough it reminds us to somebody or some other work we've seen before,
it's undeniably an original piece of work.

Sometimes,
All we see is just...copies!

Saturday 17 September 2011

Personalized Stamp Order No Longer Available


Yes, it's official.

I will still be carving,
but I will no longer accept orders for personalized handcarved stamps.

I've been considering and reconsidering it for quite some time,
it's a sad decision
but it's getting clearer that it's the best option now.

To all those who emailed me,
I want to thank you all.
Million of thanks to everybody,
I can never repay you.
Please forgive me for all the unreplied emails, delays and wrongdoings.

Everything that begins must have an end,
I pray to God that it is ending for something new,
and better.

I hope Mangosteenskin will continue having your support.
Off my hat and I'm taking my bow...

THANK YOU!!!!!


Tuesday 13 September 2011

My Pastry Experiments

Only a few months left before I reach 30's.
And this is the first time I got the chance to own an oven.

To think back,
Sometimes I feel...(it's not sad but I don't know what it is)
30 years is quite a very long period (I don't know what have I done with that lot of time).

But ofcoz I feel so grateful whatever it is (we are always more fortunate than some people).

My pastry experiments; Lemon Meringue Cupcakes (made from Mom's homegrown lemons), mini cinnamon rolls (served with cream cheese frosting), pizza (I found one easy and sure-jadi dough recipe by Jamie Oliver~ and I'm still experimenting with different toppings, the list seems endless), and last but not least, moist chocolate cakes/cupcakes. For the time being I just use Nona Cake Mix for the batter because it is economical and quick :) HAHAHAHA. The only thing that is prepared from scratch was the chocolate ganache.

I still remember when we were young,
my dad got a pie dish as free gift for buying a tin of formula milk for my baby brother.
The dish was decorated with an illustrated lemon meringue pie recipe.
I always wonder how it would taste.
Thinking,
when I grow up, lemon meringue pie is one of the recipe I want to try.

Hehe, not yet a pie lah~
but I'm still feeling so content for these humble achievements :)

Happy!!!
... and chubbier :)

Wednesday 7 September 2011

Home to Myself

Click photo to view graffiti replay.



I wake up and see
The light of the day
Shining on me
Make my own time
It's mine to spend
Think to myself
My own best friend
It's not so bad all alone
Comin' home to myself again
Now I understand
Whatever I feel is whoever I am
Watching my life and how its grown
Looking on back to friends I've known
Its not so bad all alone
Coming home to myself again
It's not so bad to get lost in my tears
And to laugh and to cry for the years gone by
Oh my, oh my,

Now somehow I know
I've come a long way
Got a long way to go
But something inside
Keeps making me strong
And in the bad times
I‘ll get along
'Cause it's not so bad all alone
Comin' home to myself again
I'm Comin' home

Tuesday 6 September 2011

Graffiti Graffiti Graffiti

I'm using Graffiti apps in FB to practice
  1. using my wacom tablet
  2. creating a story in one single picture
  3. brushing my skill of presenting ideas into something visual
  4. cheering people (i hope it will make the graffiti receiver's day!)
I try to copy the html code from older graffiti and change the ID with new ones,
but the replay engine is not working for graffiti made later than 2010.
I learn from the Facebook Graffiti Knowledge Base that the apps developer had changed the replay engine (that's why the embed/sharing button is not available anymore).

If you want to view the replay
you can just click on the photo
and it will take you to the direct link of each specific graffiti.

Thanks for your time and I hope you will enjoy watching them :)