Chocolate Coconut Macaroon

Yummy! Ping went to Roma Bakery early last week just after turning in ahdik's application. Got
some of their chocolate macaroon and it was great stuff!!! So hunt around online for the recipe and found one that is very easy, requires simple ingredients that is readily available in Ping's pantry and fast too. We were also going to celebrate May Chia's '二X' birthday so got more motivation to make the macaroons.

Coconut Macaroons

4 egg whites

2 cups shredded coconut

1¼ cups white sugar

½ tsp vanilla extract

¼ tsp almond extract

¼ cup flour

¼ tsp salt

⅜ tsp apple vinegar

Melted chocolate

1. Preheat oven to 300^oC and grease and flour cookie sheet.

2. In a bowl, beat egg whites, vanilla extract, almond extract and vinegar until soft peaks form. [ This is the longest and tiring step because we did it by hand, starting with Ping then Jo took over]

3. Gradually beat in sugar and whip until stiff.

4. In another bowl, toss flour, salt and coconut.

5. Fold dry ingredients (4) into the egg white mix (2-3). [Once mixed, must not dilly-dally in making the spoonful and putting it into the over because the mixture will lessen over time as the ‘soft peaks’ become less foamy.]

6. Drop spoonful on cookie sheet and bake for 18-20 minutes.

7. Allow cookie to cool and dip into chocolate. [We started out using melted chocolate chips but decided that we don’t have enough and should make more. So we made chocolate from cocoa and soy milk. It turned out okay but the process got us nervous for a while as we were not sure if we are getting a dipping chocolate that will solidify.]

The best part is the last part when we get to dip the macaroons in chocolate and make all kinds of decorations. The one on the left is one that has only part of the macaroons covered with chocolate - kinda like Pepperidge Farm style cookies while the one on the right is decorated with chocolates, dried strawberries, coconut, cereals and almond.

Making this reminds Ping of the almond macaroon Ping once learned from Tua Ee. That was the best macaroons ever!! Ping can finish the entire cookie container Ee usually use in like a day! Have to ask Ee for the recipe again. Ping only remember that it requires lots and lots of egg white. This time when make the almond macaroon, must get egg beater edi because too many egg yolks will need to be used later (although Ping can still make milo pudding after that). Will wait till after the committee meeting to work on that....now must study first.

Paintball

Paintball - a very expensive and painful sport but we did have fun. Brian organized a trip to Chaos Paintball at Charlotte last Saturday. It is only about 25 minutes away from Lansing, near a housing area, with 6 fields.
When we first got there, we each get a paintball gun filled with compressed air, carried in a gas tank. This makes the gun very heavy and as time goes by, it becomes quite a challenge to carry the gun and aim. We were also provided with a bag of 500 'bullets'. The paintball is made of vegetable oil and food coloring, protected within a gelatin coating. While the impact of being hit from a distance that hurts the most, when the gelatin coating burst upon contact with skin surface, it can also cause scratches. The 'bullets goes into the white bottle attached to the top of the gun as in the photo above. In addition to that, we were also given 2 containers for more bullets to be refilled when in the field. The containers are attached to a waist belt, which is another challenge if you have to crawl on the ground when avoiding the opponent.

The first field we played at is the 'Hyperball Field'. It is basically a flat greenland, with plastic materials set up as places to hide. Each team starts from one end of the field and we have to try to eliminate everyone in the opponent team. In the first two game, Ping was the last survivor in Ping's team and had to surrender both times because Ping have no idea where the remaining opponents are and Ping was ambushed!!! When Ping first entered the 'battle-field', it wasn't that scary because it was more exciting. It was almost the end of the first game when someone kept shooting towards Ping and the sound of the 'bullets' coming at you is 恐怖 (terrorizing?...scary).
The second field we played at is much harder - an open field. There is barely any place to hide unless you are in the ditch, which can be pretty dangerous because when the opponent come running from the top, you have no where to hide. Another way is to stay flat on the ground but that also reduces your own visibility of who is going where and the big picture is lost.

This is definitely a 'gia lui lai ho lang sae' (use money to be shot). But it was lots of fun! Fortunately, Ping did not get any direct shot. Got a few scratches and 'or chae' from crawling on the ground and running from one hiding place to another. For those who got hit, it does look scary because it is a huge 'or chae' and looks like the Lyme disease Bull's eye rash symptom.

It's mom!!

Vintage craft

Guess what!!! Ping's mummy is in the paper - The Star! One of M'sia's most read national newspaper!!! Hehe...

It is about all the lovely 'kasut manik' she makes!!! Below is the 'newer' one that mum made for Ping.