What to do during a heat wave??

AAHHH!! Just managed to survive a 6-day heat wave with my sanity intact, but just barely. I actually took a girls-only trip to Whistler with a couple friends and the heat was so intense (reaching aroung 40C) that we actually saw a forest fire on the mountain!!! I can't believe that this is going to be the site of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games! Hopefully there'll be more cool weather and some real snow by the time the games roll around.

But anyways, after coming back from the Whistler trip with my friends, I decided to treat my family to a recipe that we hadn't enjoyed in a long time. Something simple, easy and refreshing to help us cope with the unbearable heat. Ais Kacang!! YEAY! My sisters simply love this dessert, the shaved ice and evaporated milk, ice cream and other various ingredients. My youngest sister really loves grinding the shaver and watching the little snow-like pieces of ice drop from the machine... soo cute!!

I also made some cendol because I love the pandan flavor, and it tastes so good with the coconut milk and shaved ice!! It reminds me of being in Singapore! AAHHH!! I really want to go back sometime soon. The recipe for Cendol I used can be found at Rose's Kitchen. The only alterations I made to this recipe were to add about 1/4-1/3 cup of rice flour to the mix, in order to make a firmer and more chewy cendol. I know they look like greenish-turds but they are seriously delicious!

The ingredients we used for our Ais Kacang were: shaved ice, coconut milk, evaporated milk, gula melaka syrup, cendol, halo-halo, jackfruit, sweetened red beans, vanilla ice cream, and creamed corn!! It would have been nice to have some grass-jelly or durian to add in, but all-in-all it was a great way to beat the summer heat, and a lot of fun to design our own personal desserts... we must do it again soon!