The Indie Writers and Publishers

(Books featured from L to R: Tenggelam Timbul by Tok Rimau, Stingarden by Sinaganaga, Ka-Wah by Pipiyapong, Rok n Roll Lu Memang Brader by Zanbassist and Monolog Seorang Lelaki by Azzam Supardi. Get the books from Sindiket Sol-jah or Studio Anai-anai by emailing them at sinaganaga1547@yahoo.com or clashead@gmail.com)

The Kuala Lumpur Alternative Book Fair took place last weekend. My friends the Sindiket Sol-jah and Studio Anai-anai boys were there to peddle their wares. I had things to do and a movie to catch but in the end decided to spend my Sunday at the Annexe Gallery in Central Market with them, mostly because I was interested to observe the scene and see how these people make a living.

These, I must say:

1. Duality: Writers are no different than other people who practice creative arts such as painters, songwriters, sculptors etc. They take something internal and personal, regurgitate it into a form that is (somehow) recognizable, and then share it with the world. In the same sense, they open themselves to the possibilities of rejection and scorn and failure for doing something that they love. Well, who doesn’t? The writers that I met are some of the most eloquent, gregariously funny and self-deprecating people around – yet they loathe to talk about their books, almost painfully shy, a little embarrassed maybe with the attention and the fact that they have a physical manifestation of a piece of themselves on display – ready to be traded for a few Ringgit. This duality, while charming, is not unique and is not new. It happens to all of us and to the best of us. Get over it.
2. Fake It: If there is one lesson that I learned from my years and years of being around rockstars, watching them, emulating them, working with them, it would be this – showmanship first, skills second. A writer is a performer, not just in the performing the act of writing itself. You are a performer in the literal sense. A reader doesn’t just buy a book. She buys your thoughts, idealism, personality, hopes and fears. She identifies with you, sees a connection, finds her own voice through the words you chose. So, when you are out there, give them a show. It is okay if you fumble (it’s charming, trust me), and it is certainly okay to be awkward and uncomfortable and for all these flaws to show. You need to be able to face your public, tell them why you should matter to them and make them feel special. Learn to write memorable (and personal) autographs, pose for photos, ask questions and answer them, be a little cocky and believe that the whole world is in love with you. Every rockstar I know fakes this, and no one can tell the difference.
3. Stake a Claim and Own It: The alternative book industry is hard, particularly when a previously successful business model is copied by others, making it harder and harder to be heard and be noticed. So, own it. Make each book event a big deal and a serious deal. Arrange for readings, live performances, meet-the-fans session, live-tweet it or even stream it online somewhere. Be on time, look good, smile. Get hot girls to man the booth, dress your area up outrageously that your neighbours complain to the organisers, create feature walls, give free ice cream. Make people want to come and see you and stay and open their wallets and pick up a book and go home with a memory of what great time they had at your booth.

And that, as they say, is that.

Sol-jah’s at work with Ana Raffali during a MASKARA night. Photo (c) Sindiket Sol-jah’s blog.

Six-Sided Dice

When I was much younger I used to work for this Japanese company during semester holidays. The first year I was hired as a temp through the local Labour Dept to fill-in the receptionist post as she was on maternity leave. My job consisted of answering calls, patching them through, greeting visitors, arranging interviews for potential employees – all the mundane things that receptionists are supposed to do.

There were two Shahruddins in the company, one was the Chief Engineer, the other was the line supervisor on the shop floor. One was management and the other was union. The Union Din used to hang out around the reception and bitched about Management Din – it was the usual laundry list of complaints: too much work, too little pay, uncaring bosses et cetera. Being a temp, I had a lot of sympathy for Union Din, as I too had too much work and paid so little. I had very little contact with Management Din, but the stories I heard was enough to make me suspicious and wary of him.

After 2 months the receptionist came back to work. I must say this for myself, even when I was just a temp receptionist, I was a kick-ass temp receptionist. The (then) Managing Director, Mr Kuwabara, decided they wanted to keep me for good and offered me a (bonded) scholarship and an internship with the company for the years to come.

The next year I came back for the internship. This time they placed me in different department each month i.e. Purchasing, Accounts and Logistics & Procurement. Then, other HODs discovered that I was good for other things too. Management Din was one of these HODs. He involved me in Budget Planning, ISO 9002 implementation, put me through Kaizen training, the works. But soon the holidays were up and I had to go back to school. The Managing Director again took me to dinner and asked me to come and join them again the following year.

So I went to work for them again for the 3rd time. By now, people were familiar with me. I still handled the reception from time to time when the receptionist went out for lunch. But the bulk of my work was HR-related – from organizing events like Family Day and annual dinner to doing payroll and calculating overtime for the factory folks. That meant I had access to time sheets and performance evaluation reports; and I sat in management meetings to help take notes though I was too junior to understand what was discussed.

One day as I was handling the reception, Union Din came and started to chat. I understood his issues clearly and perfectly. But because I was (by then) familiar with Management Din too and with his budgets and plans for the shop floor including his limitations and the challenges that he faced, I no longer felt any animosity or anger or suspicion towards Management Din. It took me 3 years to reach that point, but I remember thinking to myself how different a story sounds when you have a better understanding of the situation from both sides. It didn’t mean that I have less sympathy for Union Din or that I needed to take sides; it simply meant I grew up and understood that it would always be a question (and a struggle) of balance – be it a balance of power or money or fame. Both Dins wanted the best for the company and for themselves; both had a idea of how the other should operate; both had issues and problems to manage. They talked and debated and argued; and I am quite convinced they hated each other’s guts, but that’s the way it is – you win some, you lose some. You just have to learn to deal with whatever life throws at you.

Anyway, by the end of the 3rd year’s internship, I had been exposed enough to understand that working in the manufacturing sector or in certain professions was not my cup of tea; I had also figured out that wanting to do something is not the same as successfully doing something. So I went to see the MD to thank him for the opportunity and told him I would not be taking the scholarship and would not be continuing my internship with them next year. He still took me out to dinner; and told me that I should do what was best for me, and that I if apply myself the same way I did when I was temping as their receptionist, I would be fine wherever I go. He asked me what I learned from the three years that I spent with them. I said I learned that there is always two sides of a story. He laughed and said that is true, and there is always 6-sides to a dice, but only one can come up at every throw.

There is a moral in this story somewhere.

Feel free to disagree.

_________________________________

Photo (c) Clker.com

Baking Series: Super Easy No-Knead Bread

My first post for the year 2013 and it is about baking!

I have been baking a lot of bread lately. This easy recipe from Jezebel.com wins the prize for the simplest, tastiest loaf of fresh bread that a novice like me can make at home. You need only 4 ingredients:

1. 3 cups of warm water
2. 1.5 tablespoon of yeast
3. 1 tablespoon of salt
4. 6-6.5 cups of all-purpose flour

In a tall, airtight container (like the ones you use to store powder milk or dry pasta or water), mix the warm water with salt and yeast and let them bubble away. Then dump in all the flour and mix thoroughly til there is no flour pockets left.

Loosely seal the top and leave the dough on the kitchen counter for about 1-2 hours till the dough has risen all the way to the top. Then, seal it tightly and put it the the fridge overnight. This dough makes about 2 loaves of bread and can keep in the fridge for about 3 weeks.

That’s it. You are done with the prep.

Whenever you want to have some bread, preheat the oven to 230 Celcius. Depending on the kind of oven you have, you may want to adjust this. I use a cheap electric oven and its temperature is not exactly accurate, so I check my bread from time to time to make sure it doesn’t burn. Anyway, lightly oil the loaf pan, I just use regular sunflower or palm oil, then take the chilled bread dough out of the fridge and use your oily hands to scoop out the dough and form it into a loaf. Using a sharp knife, score the top – this step is completely unnecessary but I do it anyway to make the bread prettier.

Bake for about 30- 35mins; to crisp the sides, turn up the heat to 250 Celcius during the last 5 mins. The baked bread will have a hollow sound when you tap it. I let it cool a little bit on the counter before attacking it, and I keep the leftover in the fridge.

VARIATIONS

I have used same basic recipe and exchanged the ingredients to make all kinds of bread. Here’s the substitution list:

1. Potato Bread – swap 1 cup of flour with 1 cup of instant mash potato.
2. Wholemeal Bread – swap all flour with wholemeal flour, which I warmed for 5 mins in the microwave before dumping it into the mix.
3. Mixed Grains Bread – retain same wholemeal recipe, just add in about 1 cup of  (combined) rolled oats, seeds and nuts into the mix. I do a quick egg wash and stick some of the nuts and seeds on top of the bread, then bake as usual.
4. Almond Meal Bread – swap 1 cup of flour with 1 cup of almond meal.

You can eat the homemade bread the same way you would storebought bread. The texture is chewy and rough (I don’t know how to explain it but it is not smooth and silky like the white bread you buy from the shop) like the kind of rolls you get at hotels or restaurants. I usually cut it thickly and use it for open-face sandwich, my current favourite being the apple and cheese mustard sandwich.

APPLE AND CHEESE MUSTARD SANDWICH

Mix a tablespoon each of grainy mustard and plain yogurt with a few drops of olive oil and lemon juice and pepper to make the dressing. No salt please. Slice apples thinly, any kinds of apples can be used.

I assemble them in this order, but you can use whatever order you like: a thick slice of bread, dressing, emmental cheese (doesn’t matter whether it’s the grated kind of the sliced kind); I blast this in the microwave for 20 seconds. Then pile on apple slices and pickles (optional). If I have the ingredients I usually make a little salad of diced tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, cranberries and almond flakes on the side using the same mustard dressing that I use on the sandwich. Yum.

If you are using this recipe(s) to make your own bread, let me know how it goes!

What I Learned From Watching Tons of “Secret Trick” Weight-Loss Videos

English: PACIFIC OCEAN (Nov. 12, 2010) Sailors from the engineering repair division perform jumping jacks during group physical training in the hangar bay of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76). Ronald Reagan is underway completing a composite training unit exercise in preparation for an upcoming deployment. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Oliver Cole/Released) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I watched so many &%!#(&# long videos to get the “secret trick” to losing weight and getting fit and as usual was told to buy some magic pill, potion or book/video at the end of it and you know what? There is no secret trick! Anyway, please learn from my big waste of time and just take away the salient points which I already knew all along from my years of working with Nutrition Society of Malaysia:

1. Don’t go on diets. Go for a whatever-you-want-to-eat diet; which means do not ban any foods, enjoy whatever you like, just be mindful of the portion. Keep a food diary, don’t keep a food diary – whatever that works for you. Don’t beat yourself up if you binge, just adjust your next few meals to balance it out. In other words, don’t stress yourself about it, just eat.  If you know you can eat anything anytime, you will be less likely to binge. Your body knows when to tell you to stop because it is full; and it knows when you are punishing it with diets and food restrictions. Food is meant to be enjoyed and you don’t work so hard only to find yourself eating steamed chicken and green vegetables 6 times a day.
2. Don’t go to the gym if you are not comfortable with it. Exercising at home or on your own is just as good. Watch videos, read or get a friend to show you the right way to do it, and then do it at your own pace, at a time that’s best for you. The key is to get up and walk. Even doing a 10-sec plank or 20 jumping jacks a day can make a difference. You can’t see it, but your body will.
3. Don’t put in long hours doing exercise routines. If you can afford the time, great. If you don’t, short and intense is best. A 2-min warm up followed by a 4-min HIIT (aka TABATA) is enough to get the heart pumping and racing. You will feel like you are going to die, but you will feel great afterwards and soon be addicted to it. Trust me on this one. And, don’t forget to cooldown and stretch.
4. Don’t ignore weight lifting. It won’t bulk you up; just stick to 3-8lbs dumbbells at a maximum of 10-mins at a time. It helps to strengthen bone density, tone muscles and improve your general core and balance – something that general cardio like running/walking alone can’t do. It takes only 2-3mins (if you can’t afford the 10-mins), 3x a week. It’s not that hard. You can.
5. Don’t overtrain. The body needs time to heal and recover. Designate a rest day or two every week where you just do things recreationally like taking a stroll in the park or traipsing the shopping mall on weekends to try on shoes. And a couple of times a year, take long breaks for a week or two to recharge. The body is made to be in motion, but not perpetual motion.
6. Don’t skimp on sleep. Some people need 8 hours, some people need less but try to go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day, even when you are on holiday. This is the hardest for me to do and I try all sorts of things to get myself into bed. Right now, I do not use my laptop or gaming devices on the bed anymore, I also don’t bring food to eat in bed while watching bad tv on youtube. I take a really hot shower in the evening and use J&J’s bedtime baby oil in lavender after I put on my pajamas. And when I am ready, I crack open the window just a little for fresh air and also for the sound of rain to come in. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t but I get more sleep these days than I have in years.
7. Don’t listen to negativity. You know how some people say things intending to be funny like “You look so sihat these days,” or “Gemuknye kamu,” etc? Kick these people to the curb or tell them if they don’t have something nice to say then just talk to you about the weather.
8. Don’t be shy about it. Post photos, grumble in status updates, give yourself a pat in the back, blog, tweet, sms, skype – if you want to publicize it, publicize it. Positivity begets positivity. You will be surprised to see how many people will cheer you on and console you when you slip. Getting fit is a universal struggle – everyone understands.
9. Don’t stop moving. Lapsing and relapsing is normal. Everyone goes through it. Even Daniel Craig doesn’t look like James Bond all the time – he only looks like that for the topless scenes and these were shot early in the days after he had trained intensely for 6-months. Just don’t stop moving. It is very very okay to be lazy about it and play hookey (even for prolonged periods of time) and cheat and give up and be an absolute bitch about it. Are you done yet? Yes? Okay, now, pick yourself up and start all over again – start with 10 jumping jacks a day and claw your way back up. It can be done. People throughout the entire history of time has done it again and again. You just need to know that there is a limitless amount of second chances and learn to take advantage of that.
10. Don’t be afraid to talk about it. Sometimes you need medical assistance or professional help to start eating right and exercise regularly especially if you have an underlying medical condition or if you have not been exercising for a long time. Not all doctors know what advice to give you so you may need to speak to a few to find one that understands your needs and can prescribe the right therapy and/or supplements for you to try. Make an appointment with a GP at a government hospital, then ask for a referral for a dietitian or nutritionist. It may take you months to finally see one but it is worth the wait. If you can afford it, join health camps or fat farms or detox spas to help push you along the way.

There. Pass this along to save another person from having to sit through one of those long @^$#@#((@5$%^&^@ videos. Time is precious. Better use it to do more jumping jacks :)

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• Free Diet Plans Online (answers.com)
• Double Standard: Women Must Typically Work Harder to Lose Weight (foodconsumer.org)
• Eating Out Without Expanding Your Waistline (sohealthynutrition.com)
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The Cupcake Slayer Pt III: The Replacements

I had a hankering for brownies recently and a good friend of mine shared this recipe for Gluten Free Brownies from Annabel Karmel. See original post here.

My 6th brownie batch cooling on the kitchen counter.

Ever since the brownie bug bit me, I have baked 6 batches of it: 4 of them using the Annabel Karmel recipe that I could not praise enough, the other two was using a simple all-in-one brownie recipe for the Brownie-in-a-Jar mix that I have been packing for friends.

For the first two I bought all my ingredients (except for eggs and brown sugar) from Pusat Bekalan Bakeri (www.bagus.com.my). Both times, the brownies came out marvellously. Though I overbaked the second batch a little bit (and I blame the oven for that), the brownie was very good.

For the rest of the batches I used various ingredients in my effort to diversify, and also because I didn’t have time to go to the bakery supply shop. These are what I found out:

1. Muscovado sugar definitely can be replaced with brown sugar. You  hardly notice the difference. Much to my surprise, Giant carries muscovado sugar. Look for organic molasses sugar, the packet costs about RM12.90 for 1kg.
2. Unsalted butter is much better than salted ones. The only problem is price as unsalted butter may cost as much as RM9.99 a piece. That’s about 3 times regular, salted butter.
3. Almonds are no walnuts. I could not find walnuts one day so I bought slivered almonds instead. I didn’t like that batch at all. Walnuts, I discovered, are expensive. A small 300g packet can cost RM15. Since I like my brownies with nuts, this is a choice that I always make.
4. Buy the best chocolates you can find. The biggest difference in taste is the quality of chocolates that I use. I bought store-brand chocolates for my 5th batch as it didn’t carry any other kind of baking chocolates. I could only manage maybe 2 slices and then binned the rest. Low quality chocolates are too sweet and taste too  much like sugar; you won’t get that chocolate-y, silky flavour from them. A bar of 113g Hershey’s baking chocolate costs RM13; the 300g chocolate chips is RM20. If you have to skimp the rest, make sure you use most of your budget on getting the best chocolates your money can afford you.
5. Flour is the same everywhere. I’ve used Pillsbury, I’ve used Cap Sauh. They are all the same.
6. Baking powder, on the other hand, is not. This is the thing that surprises me the most. This item is cheap, costs no more than RM3-4 at the bakery supply store while generic ones is about RM2 a bottle. The rising quality and taste of the brownies were different from one bottle to another.
7. Don’t leave the brownie batter sitting idly on the counter for 15-20mins because you forgot to heat up the oven. You will undo all the good work done by the baking powder. So, after you have finished measuring the ingredients and before you crack the eggs – turn on the oven!
8. Check the brownie time to time as it bakes. Having a cranky, un-precise electric oven like ours can post various problems. You can overbake, temperature can be too high or too low etc. So check it every 5mins or so. Leaving it baking happily on its own for 25mins can result in a burnt brownie.
9. Don’t panic when the brownies settles down a bit when you leave it to cool. This is perfectly normal. If you want to make it look prettier, make some fudge and slather it all over the brownie, or simply dust some icing sugar on top. And if for some reason the brownie doesn’t turn out as well as you’d like them to be, keep them in the fridge for at least 2 days, then slice it thinly and bake in low heat (150 Celcius or so) til its crispy and you’ll have yourself some delicious chocolate biscuits to dunk in your coffee (tips from Aten).
10. And yes, lining the baking tin with aluminium foil does make it easier for me to peel the brownie off.

Hey look at me, all brownie-baking expertlike now :)

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The Cupcake Slayer Pt II: Brownie-in-a-Jar

I had a hankering for brownies recently and a good friend of mine shared this recipe for Gluten Free Brownies from Annabel Karmel. See original post here.

My brownie frenzy continues. I made the Brownie-in-a-Jar above for a friend by re-purposing an old spaghetti jar. I used a regular tea cup as the measurement device and fashioned a funnel using A4 paper. I forgot to pat down the ingredients before layering them so the layers are uneven. It doesn’t matter since all these dry ingredients will go directly into one bowl anyway.

The whole idea of a brownie premix is to make it as simple as possible for the intended recipient. Hence, I used this recipe by Maisy and Grace instead of the Annabel Karmel one (which is my favourite). I think it makes a cute gift, even for those who don’t bake, as the recipe is easy enough for a child to follow and doesn’t require any special equipment apart from a bowl, a baking pan and an oven.

The Brownie-in-a-Jar Recipe

In a jar, layer the following:

• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 3/4 cup plain flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa
• 3/4 cup walnuts/pecans (optional – replace with chocolate if necessary)
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips/chunks/buttons

Baking directions:

• Preheat oven to 160 degrees celcius
• Line an 18x28cm (or similar) baking tin with baking paper
• Empty contents of jar into mixing bowl, mix in 3 lightly beaten eggs and 1 cup (225g) of softened butter.
• Spread into baking tray and bake for 30-35 minutes

UPDATE

Before I went ahead and gifted the jar, I decided to try the recipe myself. The result was alright, but not great – the brownie is too sweet and some of the sugar granules did not melt so you can feel the crunch of the sugar as you eat it. I also find it a little too oily.

So I baked it again using slightly modified ingredients.  I disregarded the original  baking directions completely, that’s why you see it being crossed out above. The resulting brownie with my modifications tasted so much better, with better texture and “squidginess” and less oily too.

This was how the modified recipe and instructions look like (my addition/changes in italics):

The Brownie-in-a-Jar Mix

• 3/4 cup plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• A pinch of salt

These 3 items are sifted together and then layered as 1 item.

• 1 1/2 cups muscovado sugar (interchangeable with light brown sugar)
• 3/4 cup cocoa
• 3/4 cup toasted walnuts, chopped into smaller chunks
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips/chunks/buttons

All dry items are layered carefully in a mason jar (a large Prego spaghetti sauce jar seems to be the right size).

Then, I typed and printed the following which I pasted onto the jar.

What U Need

• 1 Brownie-in-a-Jar mix
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup of butter (about 200-225g)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 50g white chocolate chunks

How to Make It:

1. Pre-heat oven to 160^oC, line and grease baking pan and dust with icing sugar or a little flour.
2. Dump Brownie-in-a-Jar mix into bowl.
3. Melt butter in microwave or stove (medium heat) til it starts to bubble.
4. Pour super hot melted butter into mix and whisk til thoroughly combined (Important! You’d want the sugar to melt properly). Depending on mixer, this can take between 3-8mins.
5. Beat in vanilla extract then add eggs one by one; keep beating til all is totally mixed in.
6. Pour into baking pan and bake for 30-35 mins. Check every 10mins to make sure you don’t overbake. The edges of the brownies should be set with satiny top crust, but when you press it the middle is still soft.
7. Cool completely before removing brownie from pan. Cut into squares, dust some icing sugar on top and enjoy! Tastes even better when refrigerated overnight.

Below is how the completed jar looked like, decorated using bits of old decorative wrapper that I found in the house.

The wrapper around the body of the jar is unnecessary coz you want people to see the nicely layered Brownie-in-a-Jar mix. But I did a terrible job at removing the old Prego sauce labels I decided to cover up the blotches this way. I also add the same decorative wrapper at the mouth of the jar, secured it with a rubber band and then screw on the original lid tightly.

The baking instructions were too long to be printed and tied to the lid as a card, so I stuck it to the body of the jar as well. I was impatient as you can see the  wrinkles.

Nevertheless, the final jar looks presentable and I was quite happy with the final baked goods.

***********************

Clockwise from Top Right: Aten’s 3-in-1 decadent dessert (triple chocolate brownie with caramel toffee and pavlova meringue), Brownie Bar Maker, a brownie neatly wrapped in foil and  a square muffin tin.

It has been bothering me that I am unable to cut my brownies into sharp, clean squares. My friend Aten gave me a few tips, I list them below together with other tips that I found online:

1. Keep the brownies overnight and then cut it with a really sharp knife.
2. Try a denser brownie recipe (I am still waiting for Aten to give me this).
3. Line the baking pan with foil (instead of baking parchment), lift it from the pan and then slice it with a long, heavy knife in one smooth motion.
4. Use a pizza cutter. Neat.
5. Cut the brownie while it is still slightly warm using a plastic knife.
6. Give away the brownie in the pan it is baked in. Daiso sells 6″ round silicon pans for RM5 each that are the perfect gift size. I suppose loaf pan works too. If you want to keep the pan then you can just wrap the brownie (uncut) with clingfilm or foil, wrap it again with decorative paper or  doily and slap a ribbon on it to make it festive.

I looked up brownie bars online and saw a few nifty ideas that I can consider.

1. I can buy a Brownie Bar Maker, price starts from USD15 online. If you are thinking of getting me a gift, get me this.
2. Use square muffin tins instead, price starts from USD9. It makes the brownie looks like mini cakes but I suppose that’s perfectly fine. I think I can find this from the bakery supply shop near my house.

Lastly, if you are looking for muscovado sugar, I discovered that Giant stores carry it under the name Organic Molasses Sugar (molasses sugar is another name for muscovado sugar) for RM12.90/kg packet. Taken raw it tastes like a lighter version of gula merah (palm sugar), though I doubt if you can interchangeably use palm sugar in recipes that call for muscovado sugar.

I get all my bakery needs from a shop called Pusat Bekalan Bakeri; you can also shop via their online store at www.bagus.com.my.

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Digital edit and filters provided by BeFunky.com

I have a few empty jars lying around the house so I rinsed them in order to use them to pack my Brownie-in-a-Jar mix. While waiting for them to dry, an idea struck me and I tried using one of those disposable containers instead.

The container I used is a bit higher than the usual size sold at the stores so there is still some empty space on top. It originally housed the chocolate buttons – I was measuring the items then decided to just reuse the container rather than take a new one from the pantry. If you use the normal-sized one, the recipe above will fit just nicely. You can buys these at retail hypermarkets, usually sold in a pack of 10′s, 20′s, 50′s and 100′s; some sundry shops sell them too.

If you can’t find any containers around, I guess you can make like Musang Berjanggut and just mix everything in a ziplock bag.

Add some wrapping paper and tie a ribbon around it with the baking instructions, I think this can be a handsome gift for the the Ramadhan season.

The Cupcake Slayer: The Brownie Awakening

I had a hankering for brownies yesterday and a good friend of mine shared this recipe for Gluten Free Brownies from Annabel Karmel.

The recipe:

Gluten Free Brownies

Ingredients
200 g (7 oz) plain chocolate, cut into chunks
200 g (7 oz) butter, cut into 1 cm (1/2 in) chunks
3 large eggs
175 g (6 oz) light muscovado sugar
110 g (4 oz) gluten-free plain flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tsp gluten-free baking powder
a pinch of salt
150 g (5 oz) white chocolate, chopped
icing sugar, for dusting (optional)

Method
Pre-heat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas 5. Put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir until melted. Alternatively, put the chocolate and butter into a suitable bowl, microwave for 1 minute, stir then microwave in 10-second blasts until melted. Allow to cool slightly.

Using an electric mixer, whisk the eggs and sugar together until pale and frothy. Stir in the chocolate and then sift and fold in the flour, cocoa, baking powder and a large pinch of salt. Fold in the white-chocolate chunks.
Line a 28 cm x 20 cm (14 in x 8 in) cake tin with baking parchment, with the parchment coming up the sides of the tin. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 20–25 minutes, until a crust has formed but there is some give underneath when pressed. Do not overbake. Remove from the oven and allow to cool thoroughly in the tin. Don’t worry, it will sink and crack a little.

Remove from the tin and cut into squares before serving. You can dust with icing sugar if you wish.

Being a non-baker, I was apprehensive about baking my own but the ones I bought from stores were so unsatisfactory. My friend reassured me that this recipe is foolproof and a novice like me need not be alarmed. So I tried it today.

This was the result:

It tastes really good. It is not so compact and squidgy like the ones you buy from stores, but rather fluffy and moist. Maybe I didn’t whisk the sugar and eggs long enough; I think 8mins were the recommended length, I called it quits at a little under 3mins. Nevertheless, a success!

I made some modifications to the recipe:

1. I used plain flour instead of gluten-free flour. Just regular Cap Sauh flour that you can buy for RM1.80 a packet at the sundry shop. I sifted it twice with baking powder (regular one too, not gluten-free), cocoa powder and salt to make sure there was no lumps.
2. I substituted muscovado sugar with regular light brown sugar (the one that sells for RM2 a packet). Actually we have muscovado sugar in the house but I couldn’t remember where I stored it til I made the batter. Muscovado sugar has high molasses content so the flavour will be more intense, but using brown sugar is fine too.
3. I used milk chocolate and white chocolate buttons instead of bars. So the chocolates were completely melted instead of remaining as chunks in the brownie. Maybe I don’t chop the white chocolate buttons and drop them as is into the batter next time?
4. I sprinkled toasted walnuts on the baking tin before I poured in the batter. I did this because I wanted the walnuts to be on top of the brownies when I flip it out of the tin. I discovered a mistake – I didn’t chop the walnuts into smaller pieces so it was a pain to cut the brownies into nice squares afterwards.
5. Apart from lining the baking tin with A4 paper (I didn’t have parchment paper – well we do but again, I couldn’t find it til after everything was over), I also dusted it with a little icing sugar. I can’t remember who taught me this but it made peeling off the paper from the brownie much easier.

Since I have some ingredients left I think I will attempt to make some brownies again for the next couple of days and see which recipe is the best for me. Who knows, baking brownies could (finally) be my legitimate excuse to have a kitchen in the house :)

Try it and tag me with yours, I’ll add the pics in this post as we go along. Hey I can’t bake or cook and I did just fine; it’s time to bake yours now!

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Mansuh PTPTN, politics without romance dan student power — Zul Fikri Zamir Mohamad Munir

I fully support the writer’s view. And that’s all I have to say about this matter.

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16 APRIL — Ketika tulisan ini sedang ditulis, saya membaca Twitter seorang rakan bahawa sekumpulan mahasiswa sedang membuat benteng manusia di Dataran Merdeka bagi mempertahankan khemah mereka dari diroboh DBKL. Sementara itu laporan Malaysiakini pada 12 April 2012 membayangkan sekitar 300 ke 500 orang sahaja mahasiswa yang turun untuk demonstrasi mahasiswa menuntut pemansuhan Perbadanan Tabung Pendidikan Tinggi Negara (PTPTN) di Kuala Lumpur.

For full article, please click the Malaysian Insider’s link here: Main – Side Views – Mansuh PTPTN, politics without romance dan student power — Zul Fikri Zamir Mohamad Munir @ Mon Apr 16 2012.

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IA’s Note: Below is the English translation. Any errors and/or omissions are purely mine. In the event of dispute, the original article in Malaysian Insider is taken as the definitive version. For purpose of this translation, university students will be collectively known as “graduates”.

16 APRIL — As I wrote this piece I am reading a tweet from a friend that said a group of university students are creating a human fort at Dataran Merdeka to defend their tents from being demolished by City Hall. At the same time, a Malaysiakini report dated 12 April 2012 estimated that only about 300-500 graduates participated in the demonstration to abolish Perbadanan Tabung Pendidikan Tinggi Negara (PTPTN) held in Kuala Lumpur.

Demanding PTPTN to be abolished? Interestingly, the group shouted slogans, amongst them “Najib Altantuya”, “Jahanam Umno-BN”, “Musnah Rosmah” and “Jahanam Najib”. Firstly, what’s Altantuya, Rosmah and “Jahanam Najib” got to do with PTPTN? Secondly, based on current reports, there are up to 227,000 university students nationwide, meaning only about 0.2% came to support the demonstration. Where is the balance 226,500 students, who largely make up the group that borrows from PTPTN?

A more unfortunate news – there’s also reports that a group of youths put wreaths on photos of the Prime Minister and Minister of Higher Education. I do not see the link between Altantuya, Rosmah as well as the insults hurled at the Government’s coalition party, with the issue of abolishing PTPTN. This small group of 0.2% youths, all of them are students of institutes of higher learning, all of them graduates. Therefore, a debate has to be answered with a debate. If the Prime Minister says abolishing PTPTN can bankrupt the country, then graduates must argue back using economic theories that they learn in the lecture halls of their respective universities. Not by countering RM43billion with “Najib Altantuya” slogan. I became confused, are these undergraduates or Mat Rempit Jalan Kebun?

Rafizi’s Model

If we scrutinise the higher education reformation proposal put forward by Rafizi Ramli, PKR’s Strategic Director, the principles behind abolishing PTPTN can be done by having the Government picking up the tabs for: a) school fees and b) accommodation. PTPTN debt amounting to RM27.5billion can be amortized by the Government at RM2billion a year using oil and gas revenue (from Petronas, of course) in 15 years. For the future, Rafizi proposed that 10 more public institutes of higher learning (IPTA) to be built to provide for 100,000 students, within the next 10 years.

This model seems attractive, however there are a few big questions that beg further scrutiny. Firstly, if the Government pays for school fees and provides accommodation, what about the students’ living expenses? Secondly, the dependence on Petronas is seen as highly unsustainable. Thirdly, what about the cost of building the proposed 10 IPTAs, as well as the future cost of managing them (staff salaries and other expenses)?

PTPTN Issue

What is the real issue with PTPTN? According to Dr Asraf Wajdi Dusuki, the 1% service charge mechanism imposed by PTPTN does not meet Syariah Standard AAOIFI, in fact the majority of clerics at the international level only allow charges based on real cost.

Wow! This 1% charge does not meet syariah standards, though the 1% ujrah concept was only put into motion around September 2011. What about the 3-4% charges that were imposed on students for the past 13 years since PTPTN was introduced in 1997?

This is the real issue with PTPTN. PTPTN is used for business, making profit through “good intentions” to help needy students to further their tertiary education. That is why we can understand  students who defaulted payment can be blacklisted and prohibited from leaving the country, like in the ongoing case of Mr. Mandeep Singh, who sued PTPTN over the matter.

The idea of doing business with needy students through PTPTN is most immoral. Suddenly after 13 years, the service charge can be lowered using ujrah? What’s up with that?

Politics without romance

I think it would be interesting if we can discuss the problem of financing the school fees, accommodation and living expenses of these over 227,000 graduates using an economic framework. Is the economic model that we use now based on Gary Becker’s “Human Capital” theory? If we take Mr. Amin Ahmad’s article on Legatum Prosperity Index into account – that only 68% of Malaysians finish high school (secondary education) as compared to other countries, placing Malaysia at number 81, then what is the most appropriate economic model that we should implement to solve the dropout problem of these over 32% students?

This is where we need economic graduates to propose solutions to the current Government on how the country’s resources can be channelled, especially since we can use RM43billion as the base of the budget. As an example, if this James Buchanan’s “Public Choice” framework proposed by Pakatan Rakyat is not suitable, the students should propose alternative models based on their higher education learnings.

Undergraduates know about economic cycles, growth, tax policies and expenditure, our existing rational choice theory, international trade and markets. Therefore, I am hoping that these graduates will come forward with models such as Keynesian’s or Hayek’s “laissez-faire” to replace Anwar Ibrahim’s “politics without romance” framework. This is when the society needs these graduates to speak up about fiscal policy, the country’s economic system and the implications of the RM27.5 – RM43 billion burden every year instead of emptily screaming “Mansuh PTPTN”, “Free education now!” or “Mahasiswa bukan robot”.

Free education?

So, what are our choices, really? a) retain PTPTN by denouncing the service charge i.e. you pay what you borrow or; b) abolish PTPTN altogether and use Rafizi’s model?

Is free education realistic? Yes, free education exists. You can google phrases such as “free education” or refer to sites like “scholarship 4 development” and you will get thousands of links to institutes of tertiary education, mostly in North America and Europe, that offer free education. This, of course, does not take into consideration how those countries fund their own citizens’ education, like Germany for instance.

The difference between Malaysia and developed countries is this, the initiative towards free education has become a political matter as well as capital to fund business. PTPTN is used as a business opportunity, not as an honest channel to provide higher education to the people. There is tendency for government supporters to manipulate PTPTN with issues of payment defaulters. However, I think that is too juvenile.

The PTPTN issue is an education issue at its basic level. This is not the time for us to argue “you borrow, you must pay”! Unfortunately, Pakatan Rakyat succeeds in discussing the PTPTN issue philosophically, that is, providing free education up til first degree at least. The reality is the percentage of people continuing their studies to tertiary level is less than 29.7% as compared to North Korea’s 96%. If the Government can mete out easy loans amounting to RM250million to its main leaders, or bail out crony companies up til RM500million, what is the biggest hurdle for the Government to realise free education for the people?

What we need right now is a government that works towards realising initiatives and access to free education, to increase student enrollment in tertiary level. This initiative is not limited to purely abolishing PTPTN. From an economic point of view, an efficient management, minimising wastage as well as decreasing subsidies to cronies will shrink the money leakages which then can be used to fund this free education idea.

In addition, in the western countries not only free education is provided physically, they have also started to offer free education on the web. Websites such as Academic Earth, Curriki, p2p U dan The Khan Academy have long offered educational materials online for free. Recently, Massachusset Institute of Technology (MIT) created a website that provides access to its MIT lecture hall experience to the public through MIT.OpenCourseWare, on top of other institutions that have also embarked on similar missions such as Notre Dame OpenCourseWare, Open Yale, WebCast.Berkeley, LectureFox, Learn Out Loud, LearnThat, About U, GCF LearnFree, VideoJug, and TED.

Student power

I hope graduates that came to the demonstration on 12 April understood the basis of the discussion on this PTPTN issue from an economic standpoint, not just from a moral standpoint. It is not wrong to display student power, but as graduates the responsibility to fly your flag comes with an academic weight. I hope their academic discourse does not venture far from what we discussed above. These days demonstrations by students seem self-centered with slogans such as “Hidup Mahasiswa” and “Student Power” that glorifies the self instead of the cause. It is far from the demonstrations staged by students in the 70′s that used slogans on the economy, defending the poor and the plight of the farmers.

But I suppose the bigger issue is the ignorant state sweeping the rest of the students. 99.8% of our graduates do not even care about this PTPTN issue. Free education can be made possible if students speak up as one voice, pushing politicians to work together to find a concrete solution for the cause. But if only 500 students came, as compared to 227,000 students nationwide, what can we surmise from this, really?

My thesis is simple, our graduates need PTPTN. They prefer to borrow, the balance after deducting school fees can be used to buy an iPhone or iPad2. And after borrowing money has been culturalized for so long in our society, now they are scared to stand on their own two feet. That is why more than 226,500 students in the country turned a blind eye on the abolishment of PTPTN demonstration last Saturday. They don’t care that they have to pay RM63,000 when they only borrowed RM48,000. What’s important is that when the weekend rolls around, they can take their girfriends out to the movies, using money from PTPTN loans.

“…if you want to improve politics, improve the rules, improve the structure. Don’t expect politicians to behave differently. They behave according to their interests.” — James Buchanan

* Zul Fikri Zamir Mohamad Munir is a Fellow in Artist For d’Oppressed (AfdO), apart from being the Co-Founder of Teach For The Needs (TFTN).

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication. The Malaysian Insider does not endorse the view unless specified.

Running 101: A Beginner’s Guide | RunAddicts

Approximately two years ago I inherited a treadmill, which is basically good for three things: storing in your garage until you finally give in and sell it, walking or (gulp!) running. Being a fairly active person, I knew that I couldn’t just let my gift take up space, but I was in a quandary.

Walking bores me to tears, and I was hooked on the elliptical trainers at my local health club. I had been struggling with the notion of letting go of my gym membership, so with the downturn in the economy and the arrival of my treadmill, I decided to bite the bullet, give up the gym and take up running.

Read full article by clicking the link below. (IA’s note: very good read!)

Running 101: A Beginner’s Guide | RunAddicts.

Fail Again, Fail Better

This deserves a post of its own.