Sad story...

As much as Glutton Rabbit loves to cook, blog and share her interest with all of you, it looks like she is currently too busy with work. It took her quite a while to come up with this sad decision... Glutton Rabbit will be retiring from the food blog scene for a while until work is less pressuring. This may take weeks or months, nobody knows...

Hey, I think I still owe some of you with the MEMEs... sorry, but could you tag another person or is someone willing to complete the MEME for me? Lastly, thanks again everyone for supporting or reading this site... until then. See you.

Hay Hay It's Donna Day #2... The Moment of Truth...

Now for the moment that we've all been waiting for... Who takes it? Who wins? Who's macaroons reigns supreme? And the winner is Iron Chef Clare from Eatstuff! Her amazingly cute bunny shaped Ruby Red Grapefruit and Lime Macaroons have definitely won the hearts and votes of many. Congrats Clare! The made in Japan transportation themed cookie cutter set is yours plus we look forward to you being the next hostess for the Hay Hay It's Donna Day event.

I wish to thank everyone again for participating in this event and for casting votes. It was really a tough competition and I think that everybody is a winner because you've all put in so much effort to create such an impressive show of macaroons! I'm really really proud of you all!

Lastly, I also hope that more people around the world would get to know about Donna Hay and fall in love with her great recipes, ideas, magazines and cook books. For your info, I hadn't knew about Donna until just recently too. But believe me, just read her magazine once and you'll know what she's really made of. She's just great and I''m sure may will agree with this statement. A dear voter, asked me if Donna Hay actually knows about this event? To answer her question, well, I don't exactly know. But maybe she will get to know about it one day ;p. Until then, let's look forward to the next Donna Day event at Eatstuff! Go Clare!!!

Who is the Winner of the Hay Hay It's Donna Day Event #2? Coming Soon...

Dear readers and bloggers... Thank you so much for voting for your most favourite macaroon entry. Voting is closed today, so if you hadn't voted yet, quickly do so by today. The winner will be announced by this week. Stay tuned everybody!

Round-up: Hay Hay It's Donna Day #2 - Macaroons

Hay Hay It's Donna Day #2 - Lime Macaroons round-up is finally out. In honour of Donna Hay, I would like to feature her Lime Macaroons (the above photo) as an opening for the round-up. For your info, these lovelies are made by Barbara from winosandfoodies the founder of Hay Hay It's Donna Day event.

How to VOTE for the winner...

For those who hadn't been following, participants are challenged to make Donna's Lime Macaroons but to replace the key ingredient, which is lime zest, with the ingredients of their choice. The winner of this event will walk away with a set of made in Japan cookie cutters and he/she will get to host the next Hay Hay It's Donna Day event.

How is the winner determined? Well, this is your part. Kindly go through the below round-up and vote for only ONE of your favourite macaroons recipe by sending an e-mail to hayhaydonnaday@yahoo.com. As a reminder, please do the judging based on the criteria of cuteness and best recipe. Voting is open to all bloggers and readers (but please do not vote for yourself ;p). Kindly send in your votes by 7 February 2006 and the winner will be announced after that.

Lastly, I would also like to thank everybody for their macaroon entries. I can see that everyone has really put in a lot of effort to come up with these masterpeices. This is going to be a tough competition and I'm just glad I'm not the judge. Anyway, please drop me a mail if I happen to miss your entry. Without further delay, here goes the round-up in alphabetical order...

Anne from Anne's Food gave us her version of Donna's macaroons by adding lime and orange zest into the recipe. She calls them Coconut Macaroons with Lime and Orange. She added that the macaroons taste best straight from the oven. Mmmm... I could almost smell the freshly baked macaroons by just looking at the photo. They look so delicious and I really envy Anne...

Baking Soda from Bake My Day is offering 2 delicious entries called Almond Expresso Macaroons and Rum Coconut Macaroons. I am especially drawn to his/her Almond Expresso Macaroons as Almond and Expresso sounds like such a great combination! Great effort for someone who's new to the world of food blog events! Also, thanks for sharing the interesting information about macaroons with us baking Soda.

Caroline from Bibliocook made some delicious Chocolate Almond Macaroons. Despite her humble description about how the macaroons look I would simply love to give her recipe a try one day. They look so light, crispy and oh-so nice!

Stephanie, our regular blog party hostess from Dispensing Happiness used raspberry candy flavouring to come up with these great looking Raspberry Macaroons. For the filling she used white chocolate tinted with pink and sandwich the macaroons together. Lovely combination. Thanks for taking the time and effort to participate in this event Stephanie. I really appreciate it!

The Chef-girl, Paige made such decent looking Ginger Macaroons! When I first looked at the pile of macaroons in the photo, I can't help but think in my heart that these are such beautiful and proper looking macaroons. Paige says the ginger is to give the macaroons a nice bite and that it works really well with the sweetness of the coconut. Thanks for sharing Paige!

Haalo from Cook (Almost) Anything At Least Once is offering 2 entries for this event. They are Vanilla Bean Paste Macaroons and Dark Chocolate and Orange Macaroons. Both types looking lovely and scrumptious. I was particularly drawn to her chocolate heart shaped macaroons which I think is rather appropriate for the season (since Valentine's day is coming soon)... how romantic!

Cyndi from Cookin' with Cyndi made some lovely pink coloured macaroons that she calls Pretty in Pink Macaroons. Say, there was an 80's movie that go by this title. I guess she must be refering this movie. Such a sweet name for a macaroon. Anyway Pink is my favourite colour. I can't help but wonder if Cyndi purposely made them pink to please Glutton Rabbit ;p?

WCB Clare from Eatstuff made some interesting Ruby Red Grapefruit and Lime macaroons. With her creative flair she shaped and decorated the macaroons into cute looking bunnies. Truly a work of an artist! Clare said the bunnies were actually inspired by Glutton Rabbit. Awww... that makes a bunny feel so proud! Hop-hop-hop! Thanks Clare for the thought and effort! I envy your cat Kiri, I wonder if she gets to eat the macaroons?

Bron of Green Eggs and Spam is offering a unique entry of Wasabi and Black Sesame Macaroons. Well done Bron. The idea has a Japanese touch and it sounds very adventurous and well as original. Do you consider marketing your product in New Zealand one day?

Rob and Rachel of Hungry in Hogtown is offering 3 exquisite macaroons recipe. They are Homemade Banana Rum Ice Cream Sandwiched Between Lime Macaroons, Preserved Ginger Macaroons and Dried Apricots Soaked In Earl Grey Tea Macaroons. Very elaborate and sophisticated reicpes. The idea of sandwiching ice-cream between macaroons sounds fabulous! I find myself craving for one now...

Swee San from Just Heavenly is also offering 3 fantastic macaroon entries. They are Chocolate Macaroons, Cherry Macaroons and Cinnamon and Honey Macaroons. All of them looks so irresistable. I just love the way Swee San presented her macaroons in little cupcake cups. Very pretty indeed!

To suit the Chinese New year mood, the talented Boolicious of Masak-masak came up a delicious concoction of Mandarin Orange Macaroons. These elegant looking macaroons are topped with mandarin orange curd, decorated with mandarin orange segment and sugared mint leaf. What a superb way of presenting macaroons.

Tami from Running with Tweezers don't make macaroons that often but when she does, she just want to do it right. Meet the essence of macaroons - the killer 'Moundaroons'! What an appropriate title and name. I almost fell off my chair when I saw these gorgeous macaroons. Great stuff Tami!

Jennifer from Taste Everything Once made us some mouth watering Lemongrass Macaroons. In this recipe, she substituted lime zest with lemongrass puree. I use a lot of lemongrass in my cooking but I didn't know lemongrass could be used as an ingredient in desserts. Wow. This is an eye opener for me! And these macaroons look exceptional...

Rachel from Thamjiak came up with two wonderful macaroons recipe. One is Lemon Macaroons and the other Pandan Gula Melaka (Screwpine and palm sugar) Macaroons both which sounds truly delicious! Rachel, I would love sample those Pandan and Gula Melaka Macaroons (that is if you have any left)! The concoction sounds really Malaysian. Great idea!

Mia from The Skinny Epicurean made us some cute and roundish Lime Macaroons. The macaroons really reminds me of adorable little hedgehogs marching on the baking tray. Though as cute as they may be, I would love it if these hedgehogs could then march into my mouth and then into my tummy!

Last but certainly not least, I would like to close this round-up with the entry from the originator of Hay hay It's Donna Day event. The lovely Barbara from winosandfoodies also made us some gorgeous looking Lime Macaroons (photo is also featured above). I really admire the round flat shape of the macaroons and the way she composed the photo by stacking the macaroons into an elegant tower. Wonderful work Barbara and thanks again for making this event possible!

Announcement: CNY Gathering for Bloggers & Netizens

Lucia Lai of Mental Jog is organizing a Chinese New Year gathering for Penang bloggers and netizens (and also for those who happen to be in Penang) this coming Sunday, 5 February 2006. Time is at 2:00pm and venue is at Ong's place, 8 Prangin Lane, Penang. Among those who will be attending the gathering includes Penang Podcast and Kew, the founder of Penang Bloggers Portal. Read about the details here...

About the Donna Day Round Up

Thank you all for participating in the Hay Hay It's Donna Day #2 - Macaroons event. This week, I will be going from site to site (or rather blog to blog) to view everyone's wonderful entries. Looking at my busy schedule, furthermore with Chinese New Year just around the corner - which this weekend actually - I hope to get the round up posted up somewhere mid of next week.

I'll try to get the round up as soon as possible so you don't have to wait too long and can start voting for your favourite entry. Also, to my Chinese readers out there, I would like to wish you an early...

A Very Happy Chinese New Year
&
Happy Holiday to You as Well as your Family

Jiffy Tom Yam Fried Rice

Since the beginning of the year, I've been super busy planning and carrying out my projects. To make things worse, I've also been bogged down by system problems. Life hadn't been easy for me this month. Nevertheless, I will faithfully update this blog from time to time...

As a busy person, I am really grateful of advent of instant foods. A couple of weeks ago, I made Tom Yam fried rice for my family. I used leftover rice, some prawns, frozen mix vege, shredded wild ginger flower and kaffir lime leaves to come up with a really appetizing fried fried rice. As for the Tom Yam flavouring, I used Maggi Tom Yam paste (which cost only 80 cents per sachet). You don't have to use Maggi. You can use any other brands like Adabi, Peace brand etc... The whole process was really quick and easy. All you need to do is just heat up the wok, add a little oil and cook the prawn or meat until just cooked, then, add in the Tom Yam paste, followed by the rice and the rest of the ingredients. Adjust the seasoning with a little sugar, salt and Thai fish sauce. The result was really tasty!

I bought some mango kerabu from an ecomony rice stall to go with the fried rice .I also served the rice with some lime wedges. My family really liked the meal a lot and they gave it a thumbs up. By the way, Hay Hay It's Donna Day #2 starts tomorrow and I've recieved some early bird entries already. I can't wait to see all your wonderful entries and thank you for participating!

Childhood Food Memories Meme

Many weeks ago, I've been tagged by Greenapple from My Felicity Corner to do a cute little Meme about one's childhood favourite food. Though as cute and interesting as this Meme sounds, Glutton Rabbit delayed and delayed in doing so. To make things worse, she even let it drag it over the new year and now she feels terribly guilty. My sincere apology to Greenapple for this misbehaviour. Please find below is the Meme that I promised to do...

Oh my! How time flies. Now I’m a grown up and in this is really a nostalgic Meme. I have many childhood memory foods but I manage to list a few of them…

Satay
I simply adore satay when I was a kid. Maybe this was because we don’t get to eat this food very often. Satay was only served during special occasions like birthdays or barbecues. What attracts me most about satay is the fragrant smell of tumeric powder and the sweet taste of the grilled meat. My mom used to prepare satay at home for our own barbecues. I cherish the memories of helping my mom skewer pieces of marinated meats onto bamboo skewers and helping dad to grill the satay on a makeshift barbecue pit.

As a child, satay are irresistable!

Indomie Goreng
Indomie's Mi Goreng (fried noodles flavour) is one of my favourite instant noodles as a kid and even today. Way back then, I was really impressed on how one can actually get fried noodles just by boiling the noodles in some water, drain and mixing it with seasoning. Although there are many brands of dry style instant noodles today, I still think Indomie Goreng rules supreme in the hearts (and tummies) of many Malaysians… don’t you agree?

Ice-pong or Pop-Ice
Another food I recalled eating as a child are ice-pongs or pop-ice. Ice-pongs are basically fruit juices filled into thin long plastic containers then frozen till hard. It only cost 10 cent each last time. There is a little dent in the middle of the ice-pong where you can break it in two. It’s quite an economical treat. Me and my brother would often buy one and share it between us.

Ice-pong... almost every kiddy's favourite back then...

Currypuffs
I love the currypuffs sold at a special stall in my hometown, Alor Setar. You can still find the stall today at Jalan Pintu Sepuluh (known as ‘sin lor’ in Hokkien) opposite the Sentosa shopping complex at Jalan Putra but I heard that it doesn’t taste as good as it used to be. My dad used to get these for us as a supper treat. I love the taste of the curried potatoes filling inside the currypuffs. Really soft and nice in contrast to the crunchy currypuff skin or crust...

Chocolates
Chocolate is another one of my childhood favourites. I used to love chocolate covered almonds and hazelnuts a lot. As a kid, I was easily impressed by the packaging of the chocolates, especially the ones that comes in rectangular shaped tin boxes. I would eye the box from time to time like an eagle and when we have finished the chocolate, I would beg mom if I could have the box to play ‘masak-masak’ or keep stickers. But most of the time, mom would keep it for her own use. Maybe she finds the box attractive too ;p…

Anyway, those were the memories I had about some of my favourite childhood foods. *Sigh* I had a really nostalgic time thinking and writing all these. Once again, I would like to thank Greenapple for giving me the chance to look back in time to the food I once loved. By the way, I don’t want to tag anybody this time. Instead, I’ll open this Meme to volunteers. Dear bloggers out there, just let me know if you’d love take on this Meme!