Sourdough bread and strawberries from the garden!

Finally, I made Soudough bread! There are lots of recipes on the internet forever tempting me to attempt my first.

I got smart and obtained some 'mother' from my local baker. I fed it and kept postponing my baking for almost a week. Worrying that something would happen to my starter dough or 'sponge' as it's technically called, I began work early at 9a.m. this morning.

I had a busy morning between making bread, going out for breakfast, tuition and Uni runs and errand runs. It was a chaotic morning rushing from one place to another in between the "bread proofing moments".

Nevertheless, the bread came out very well. I'm elated that the recipe called for so little yeast. I bake often and I do have some issues with the amount of yeast used so I bought organic active yeast. Now with the sourdough sponge, I can choose to omit the yeast but allow longer rising and proofing time.


Delicious Sourdough bread! I fed another batch of flour and water to the 'mother'. I'll try the no yeast method next!


See what I found in my garden!

10 minute Banana Bread

I love the holidays! I have time to experiment with new recipes, do some spring cleaning, browsing my recipe books and surfing the net for new 'adventures'.

Banana is our favorite fruit. In this house, we eat bananas if we get constipation, eat them for energy, eat bananas for dessert, make smoothies out of bananas, etc.

I came across this banana bread recipe today and was captivated by the simplicity of it's method. I didn't even have to bring my Kenwood out!

As described in the recipe, it is really simple and quick. I made a double recipe here.

Beautiful banana bread!

Look at it's texture. It was delicious!!


A great recipe to try if you're in a hurry!

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Edit:

I tried the better banana bread.
I improvised on the ingredients because I only had one cup of Yogurt, so I balanced the recipe with another cup of cream. It tasted softer and more moist. Personally, I prefer the no fuss and more 'textured' 10 minute banana bread.

My own version of "Chirashi Sushi"

I made sushi for dinner last night. More often than not, the kids would be waiting impatiently for their dad to return home for dinner and as soon as he walks in, they'd all be ready at the dinner table to feast on home made sushi!

It was past 7.00p.m. and because 'dad' wasn't home yet, I decided to make a dish of Chirashi Sushi so that everyone could 'dig in' instead of waiting for me to roll the futomakis.

This was a quick and simple version of chopping the same ingredients which I use for rolling the futomakis and hand rolls.

Clockwise: Tamagoyaki, carrots, Teriyaki chicken, Crabsticks, simmered mushrooms, Kyuri all alternate with Sakura Denbu and kewpie mayo.

Delicious combination which resulted in many happy and contented stomachs!

Hari Raya Holidays

Malaysia, being multi-racial and multi-cultural has once again provided opportunities for families to spend time together. I love living in this country despite of all the underlining 'issues' (many too, at that!).

Hari Raya is wonderfully welcome because schools get the longest break. A whole week to celebrate this festival, adding the weekends, they total up to 10 days.

Last night after dinner, #2 promised to make breakfast for us this morning. Pancakes were the call for this morning. They were freshly made and I made the 'accompaniments'. Instead of Maple syrup and butter, we had a variety of, whipped cream, lemon curd and a combination of onions and canned mushrooms cooked in Italian herbs and cream.


A closer look at this deliciously savory combination. #1 exclaimed that it was "delicious"!


This is a sweet combination of whipped cream and lemon curd.

Breakfast was at the terrace where my vegetable seeds has begun to sprout. These are tomatoes in the making!


My "kunyit" (tumeric) and spring onions are already growing and so is the "sawi" or was it "siew pak choy"? Anyway, there's going to be more updates soon on my other herbs. My little pots of herbs are growing and keeping me very busy.

*happy!*

More cooking lessons by and for #3

When I got home one night, #3 told me that she and #2 "made an ice-cream cake" for #1's birthday! I was surprised and asked how they did it. Apparently she stumbled on an old 'cooking activity book' for children and there were simple pictorial descriptions of how to make an ice-cream cake.

They used a round loose bottom pan and lined it with plastic cling wrap. They crushed some digestive biscuits and scattered onto the base of the pan. They then scooped Vanilla ice-cream into the sides of the pan and then filled in with Strawberry and Chocolate ice-cream.

The original recipe called for nuts but knowing that their eldest sister didn't like nuts, they avoided it and used Digestives instead. I thought that they were very discerning and considerate!

After that, they returned the fully filled pan into the freezer. The next day, #2 drizzled Hershey's chocolate syrup on top and served the ice-cream as a dessert. #1 was amazed and touched! This 'cake' was one of the many which came along the way in celebrating the end of #1's teenage journey and the beginning of a new horizon as a growing young adult.

Happy Birthday sweetheart!



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Lemon Curd is a hot favorite in our home. I saw lemons going for dirt cheap at the wet market and instantly bought some with the intention of making lemon curd.

Recipe/Method:

Grate the zest finely and squeeze 6-8 large lemons equivalent to 300ml of lemon juice


Cut 225 g of unsalted butter into small cubes. Add together with 575 g caster sugar and the 300 ml of squeezed lemon juice and zest.

I created a Bain-Marie from a casserole over another pot of simmering hot water and slowly dissolved the combination of butter, sugar, lemon zest and juice


Lightly beat 5 large eggs and sieve into the above combination. Stir continuously for 25 minutes over a pot of simmering hot water until it gets 'thick' and able to coat the back of a wooden spoon. #3 was patiently doing that and once again enjoyed this supervised 'cooking lesson'.



This recipe filled the various sized bottles below.


The taste and texture was awesome as previous times. "Smooth, sweet, sour and just addictive!"

ABOK-ABOK SAGO

Why all the 'excitement' about making a local dessert? Well it's easily available locally, and it is not expensive. To be honest, I haven't attempted making any local dessert since my home science lessons in high school.

A recent weekend trip to Melaka saw me coming home armed with loads of gula Melaka, belachan, curry powder and a couple of souvenirs for the two elder girls.

In Melaka, we had the most tasty Cendol, generously laced with fresh coconut milk and the most delicious, fragrant gula Melaka. I couldn't stop thinking about the delicious combination of coconut milk and gula Melaka!

I had to try making Abok-Abok Sago again today and it was one great success!!!

Nothing beats steaming it wrapped in banana leaf!


Delicious and a simple Malay dessert to make.


Made a bowl of popcorn too!!



Yeap! I'm random like that!

Bento 238

This is a quick fix. #2 finishes school at noon and need a light meal for break or in between exams.

In the left box are some sliced carrot circles for munching. There is a pancake sandwich slathered with peanut butter and strawberry jam.

In the right side box, there is home made Ciabatta bread with tuna and moyo in between. I also experimented with Abok-Abok Sago. This is a Ramadan sought after desert and sago, being #2
s favorite, I decided to try making it.

I read about it in the Star newspaper yesterday and since there was a recipe included, I experimented it. It was a simple recipe. I tried to follow it as closely as possible but because there wasn't specific measurements for some ingredients, I had to use my instincts. It turned out okay with some tweaking but I'm intend to try it once again today just to get the actual measurements.

By the way, I didn't have banana leaves yesterday so I steamed it "talam" style. I got some from the market this morning to try the recipe again.

Bento 237

I had to get my maid's passport renewed today so we were out of the house very early this morning. Got this bento ready bright and early.

Spaghetti tossed in the balance of the oil from the pan, after frying the prawns. #2 enjoyed this!



Quick blanched baby corn and baby 'sawi', topped with a squeeze of mayo. I added two muesli bars for 'just in case'.

All went well at the Indonesian embassy despite hearing and reading about un-settled disputes.
God is good!

Bento 236

It's been more than a month since my last bento. Today's bento is for lunch, I am supposed to drop this off at school because #2 stays back to take an exam paper she earlier missed due to a throat infection.

Today, in the box on the left, we have Cha Soba topped with sesame seeds, some home popped popcorn coated with melted butter, honey and salt. The Cha Soba recipe can be obtained on the right side bar under Labels - look for Cha Soba.

In the center box, there is a mixed salad consisting of rollo rosa, julienned carrots, tomatoes, green apples and fresh button mushrooms. The prawns were fried with olive oil, garlic, mixed Italian herbs, salt and pepper. Very fresh and very delicious!

The small box on the right is filled with cold dipping sauce.



Here's a close up of the bento.


EDIT

I had Cha Soba for lunch too and it was delicious with the additional condiments!!

2nd Cooking lesson for #3

Today, up to Thursday this week, #3 is on holiday due to the UPSR examinations for Standard 6 students. To keep her occupied and satiated in her personal culinary quest, this morning we had our 2nd cooking lesson.

Meanwhile, #2 has ongoing SPM trials until the first weekend of September.

#3 fried her first pancakes (under adult supervision) this morning. It was a gleeful hour of dressing up with an apron for the role and then gathering the ingredients to whisk the load of wet and dry ingredients together to form the batter of this very flexible breakfast favorite.

We had these lovely pancakes with butter and maple syrup. *smacks lips*



This was #2's lunch when she got back from school. #3 fried the pancakes while I, pan fried the Sole fillet. I tossed some rolo rosa, julienne carrots, tomatoes, corn and sesame seed dressing together for the salad.


Notice the irregular color on the pancakes? The pan wasn't hot enough. The pan fried Sole fillet was topped with a gravy so that the dish would not be 'dry'.


When #1 came back from University after 2.00p.m., this was served to her. This time the pan was HOT and see how lovely the pancakes turned out!


Pancakes - delicious for breakfast, lunch and dinner! Who said pancakes were for breakfast only? They are a flexible lot to be creative with! #3 had to make a second batch to serve this meal because there wasn't enough!


Another Smilebox recipe for you! Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Frist cooking lesson for #3

It's Saturday and all the kids were home, so lunch had to be served! I was amidst spring cleaning the cupboards and house was in a total mess.

My ten year old was reluctant to practice her piano scales, so I cajoled her by inviting her to "help mummy to prepare lunch." She was very excited and so was I. Our lunch menu was Spaghetti Aglio Olio and Italian Seafood stew.

Item 1: Spaghetti Aglio Olio.

Step 1: Fill a wok half full of water and add 2 tsp of salt.
Step 2: When water boils, add 350 g of spaghetti in a 'spread out circular motion' (shown below).


Step 3: Peel about 10 pips of garlic. (Here, you can see #3 peeling the garlic under supervision).

Step 4: Add 2 tbsp of EVOO into a pot and toss in the sliced garlic. Add 1/3 tsp of salt. Keep fire low and once the garlic is soft, it is ready. Do not cook till brown or it will taste bitter. Turn off the fire.

Step 5: Once the spaghetti is cooked, toss it into a sieve till dry. Toss it into the EVOO and garlic combination and mix well.


Step 6: Mix and toss well so that the spaghetti is well coated with the garlic EVOO.



Step 7: Spaghetti Aglio Olio is ready to be served. Congratulations #3! You cooked this dish almost completely by yourself, under mummy's supervision.



Item 2: Italian seafood stew. This was from my frozen stash. It's a vegetable base and I can add whatever which is available from my freezer. My elder two loves seafood so it's been like that for a while.

I took the box of frozen vegetable base and added a piece of Sole fillet and some fishcake which I bought from the market. It was near expiry and I wanted to use it up quickly.



This was lunch today. The two elder girls had a great time tucking in. #3 had her spaghetti aglio olio with Kewpie mayo as usual. All the dishes were empty and that was a good sign.

While all of that above was happening, I had two loaves of bread proofing.

This time, I sprayed water on top of the bread before baking instead of salt water and the finish was slightly different.

When #2 ate it she exclaimed that it was delicious and tasted even better than the last. This girl has amazing taste buds.

Yesterday, when I was shopping for high protein flour at a nearby grocery store, I splurged on a bag of organic unbleached flour which cost me RM18/kg and a bottle of Organic active dry yeast. My regular high protein flour only cost RM3.50/kg.

I didn't even say anything about my excessive splurge and #2 could immediately taste the difference! She never fails to surprise me!

Finally, after a delicious and leisurely lunch at the terrace, #3 began practicing her piano scales. She spent about 3 hours practicing but also resting in between, to reach "an acceptable level of competency." Next stage is to work on the speed.

The Wedding Passbook

Thank you Pauline for sharing this with me.
May this inspire us in our relationships!

Monica married Nick this day. At the end of the wedding party, Monica's mother gave her a newly opened bank saving passbook with Rs.1000 deposit amount.

Mother: 'Monica, take this passbook. Keep it as a record of your marriage life. When there's something happy and memorable happened in your new life, put some money in. Write down what it's about next to the line. The more memorable the event is, the more money you can put in. I've done the first one for you today. Do the others with Nick. When you look back after years, you can know how much happiness you've had.'

Monica shared this with Nick after getting home. They both thought it was a great idea and were anxious to know when the second deposit could be made. This was what they did after a certain time:

* 7 Feb: Rs.100, first birthday celebration for Nick after marriage
* 1 Mar: Rs.300, salary raise for Monica
* 20 Mar: Rs.200, vacation trip to Bali
* 15 Apr: Rs.2000, Monica got pregnant
* 1 Jun: Rs.1000, Nick got promoted

However, as the years went by they started fighting and arguing for trivial things. They didn't talk much. They regretted that they had married the nastiest people in the world.... No more love....Kind of typical nowadays, huh?

One day Monica talked to her Mother: 'Mom, we can't stand it anymore. We agree to divorce. I can't imagine how I decided to marry this guy!!!"

Mother: 'Sure, girl, that's no big deal. Just do whatever you want if you really can't stand it. But before that, do one thing first. Remember the saving passbook I gave you on your wedding day? Take out all money and spend it first. You shouldn't keep any record of such a poor marriage.'

Monica thought it was true. So she went to the bank, waiting in queue to cancel the account. While waiting, she took a look at the passbook record. She looked, and looked, and looked. Then the memory of all their previous joy and happiness came flooding back. Her eyes filled with tears. She left and went home. When she was home, she handed the passbook to Nick, asked him to spend the money before getting divorce.

The next day, Nick gave the passbook back to Monica. She found a new deposit of Rs.15000. And a line next to the record: 'This is the day I realized how much I've loved you through out all these years. How much happiness you've brought me.'

They hugged and cried, putting the passbook back to the safe. Do you know how much money they had saved when they retired? I did not ask. I believe the money did not matter any more after they had gone through all the good years in life.

"When you fall in any way, don't look at the spot where you fell instead remember the place from where you slipped. Life is about making mistakes, correcting them and continuing the love."

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On a similar note

Fish and Chips

I was at the wet market this morning. I bought a Sole fish and got the fishmonger to fillet it. I love Sole fillets! It's such a flexible item to use in cooking.

Today, I made fish and chips for lunch. The Sole fillet was marinated with salt and freshly ground pepper. Before frying, coat the fish slices in corn flour, egg and pounded Jacobs Cream Crackers. Fry till brown and crispy.


This one has some added salad for the elder sister. I used the balance of the Honey dressing from Tuesday.


The kids loved it and was raving about it's flavor! Yummy!!

होम

Today's lunch was an Italian seafood stew. There were chunks of Salmon and King prawns, also cut into little chunks, served with home made white bread.

This picture gives a closer look at lunch.

This was dessert - Chempedak

From another angle.

Finally, only the seeds were left!