I'm a full-time mummy

We made a trip to KLCC Aquaria last Friday afternoon (after Ben woke up from his nap). Just a brief info for those of you who wants to know more:

"Aquaria KLCC, is the only state-of the art 60,000 sq. ft. aquarium right in the heart of beautiful Kuala Lumpur City. Key highlights include their daily Piranha Feeding Show, the unique DNA Touch Pool with Bamboo Shark, Horseshoe Crabs and starfish, a giant size tube tank, an Amazon Flooded Forest featuring the gigantic Arapaima, Coastal section, a 2.5 million litre “Living Ocean” which houses most of our large marine animals, the Weird and Wonderful section which exhibits unique animals including Chambered Nautilus and jellyfish collection.  Be amazed by our life-sized models of marine animals including a Hammerhead Shark, a Great White Shark, a Barracuda, an Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola) and a Anglerfish at the Discovery Zone."

Ben got excited looking at the fish murals while we're walking towards the ticketing counter...

We missed some of the daily feeding sessions as we arrived at 3pm and quite a number of the feedings sessions were done in the morning. We only managed to catch the feeding at the Jewels of the Jungle section and the feeding of Coatimundis.

Ben enjoying the sight!

Ben making friends with a boy on tour with his parents...

I'd like to highlight one incident which I'm not happy with during our visit there.

You see, when we arrived at the entrance, 2 staff huddled us to stand in front of this nice backdrop of Aquaria and took a photo of us. They said our photo will be ready by the time we exit the tour and that we can choose to buy (or not) the photo. As we are leaving the Aquaria, we saw our photo (not that impressive quality) and asked how much it is. We were told the price was RM30 (about USD9.70) for the 5R size with the frame (don't see any). We decided not to get the photo and I immediately saw one of the staff mumbling loudly "Don't want again..." while throwing away the photo into the dustbin next to her.

From the sound of that, it seems there are others like us who did not get the photo. What a total waste of paper and ink! If the photo was less than RM10 (about USD3+), we would've considered getting it but RM30 is just too much and bloody rip off! If only I could reach the dustbin which was over the counter at the staff side, I'd definitely grab the photo!

I personally think there should be more exhibits and stuff to be displayed around for the money I'm paying. If compared to the Waterworld I went to in Sydney with hubby few years ago, that was much more worth it! Overall it was a nice family outing, though the entrance fee is a bit steep. And I'm really disappointed with some of the staff there.

Hubby requested that I tried making this when he glimpsed through one of my baking cookbooks.  Hence, this is my 1st attempt of making:

MILLIONAIRE'S SHORTBREAD.

A brief info in case you're wondering what it is:

"Caramel shortbread, also known as Caramel Shortcake, Caramel slice, Millionaires shortbread, Millionaires slice, Wellington Slice, Wellington Squares and Caramel Squares is a confectionery item believed to be of Scottish origin because of the use of shortbread. It traditionally consists of three layers; a shortbread biscuit base, a caramel filling and a milk chocolate topping."

This recipe was adapted from  "Home Baking Cookbook" book. FYI, I didn't follow the exact recipe so am not sure whether mine turns out nice or not compared to the actual one that follows the exact recipe. Also, this book did not show the step by step pictures, so I pretty much have to rely on my just-do-it-don't think or doubt-so-much sense...

PREPARATION TIME: DIDN'T TAKE NOTE COS' IT FELT LIKE FOREVER...

* About 10 minutes to mix & knead dough
* 20 minutes for baking process
* About 10-15 minutes to melt the toppings

Ingredients / Tool Required:

* A bowl to mix ingredients in
* Kitchen scale
* A 9-inch square can tin
* 115g butter, diced and chilled plus extra for greasing
* 225g plain flour (I used corn flour cos that's what I have)
* 60g soft light brown sugar, sifted (which I totally forgot to do, yikes!)

Topping:

* 4tbsp butter (about 60g)
* 60g soft light brown sugar
* 500ml canned condensed milk (I used 400ml of condensed sweet creamer cos that's what we get here and MIL nagging it's too much)
* 150g milk chocolate (I didn't use this at all)

What to Do?

* Preheat oven to 190℃ and lightly grease a 9-inch square can tin.
* Sift the flour into the bowl, add the butter and rub in until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

* Add the sugar and work the mixture to form a firm dough (No matter how I try to form the dough, the mixture keeps crumbling!)
* Lightly press the dough into the base of the cake tin and prick all over with a fork. (Also had some problems here as the crumbs stuck onto the fork)

BAKING PROCESS

* Pre-heat oven at 190℃ for about 5 minutes
* Set oven to 180℃ and bake for 20 minutes until firm and lightly golden. Leave to cool in the tin.

TO MAKE THE TOPPING

* Put butter, sugar and condensed milk in a non-stick saucepan (I use a small pot) over a low heat and cook, stirring constantly (I used a pair of wooden chopsticks to stir) until the mixture comes to the boil.
* Reduce heat and cook for 4-5 minutes (I think I took about 10 minutes), stirring continuously until the caramel is pale golden and thick and coming away from the side of the saucepan.

* Pour topping over the shortbread and leave to cool.

(I skipped the following parts completely)

* When the topping is firm, break chocolate into pieces and melt in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water
* Spread over the topping and leave to set.

THE RESULTS

REACTIONS FROM MY "GUINEA PIGS"

So there you go.... my 1st MILLIONAIRE'S SHORTBREAD attempt!

Overall, I'm happy with this attempt - in terms of the base which is really nice and yummy plus the firm and yet crumbly part that is a satisfaction point for me. But horror is the caramel layer. It's wayyyyyyyyy to sweet for our likings except wonky MIL's tastebuds.

I think if I'm to try this recipe again, I'll definitely reduce the condensed creamer amount or probably just do away with it and do the chocolate layer instead. And a note on why I used condensed sweetened creamer instead of condensed milk, it's because that's the only thing sold in the supermarkets here. Read this article on "Condensed milk canned for good" if you still think I'm shitting you joking.

To view my other recipes, feel free to hop over to my Recipe Library page for more info!

Brought to you by: Mama Baker wannabe aka

Read: 1 Corinthians 11:1 (NIV)

(Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ)