Settling down

Yes, we have moved once again. The little kampong life is over for us and we are now back to the city living again.

It was an extremely good two years (nearly). My kids enjoyed it tremendously and we love the clean crisp air, the greenery that surrounds us and the birds chirping away that welcome us each and every morning.

All our friends who have visited enjoyed themselves and the numerous numerous of BBQs we had with good company were fantastic. It was simply going to be an unforgettable experience.

Though the experience was good but my dream, upon a time, wanting a little garden become less and less an ideal one. We now realised that staying on landed has it prones. I detest the creepy crawlies that I have to watch out everytime I set foot outside the house and sometimes, that croaky thing gives me such a scare as they venture into my household!!!! or sometime finding a cozy corner in my shoes! Now I realised that having an outdoor area is no longer as appealing to me as before.

Like some of our friends' wives, they too prefered high rise living so this time round, we opted to stay on the highest level. LOLz.

The view is spectacular especially in the night. Though we will miss our garden, I intend to convert the little area outside into a little paradise. Now let's hope indoor plants work well here.

Perhaps one fine day, I can have a skylight garden. hehehheh... wishful? As what my better half always said, nothing is impossible.

I will be heading for the hospital in two days' time. So let me take this opportunity to wish all my friends, relatives and family a Healthy and Joyous year.

Also wanted to thank my readers for the continuing support for this little humble blog of mine. It has created a little santuary for me as well as extending another year of friendship that I have found through it.

Though it might be a tough year ahead, I am sure we all will overcome it some way or another.

God Bless.

Recharged?

Been so busy that I simply had no time to bake. Initially I wanted to bake my well loved Hampton Fruit Cake but somehow, I just couldn't find the time to do it. Yet I needed something Christmasy for my party tomorrow.

I read about E'Joie's stollen bread and thinking about my last failed attempt at bread making, the stubborn streak in me just didn't want to give up. Thus, seeing the fine weather at this end of the sunny island. I decided to embark on it.

I love anything that has alcohol. Perhaps it is in my blood because my granddad is a good drinker. Surprisingly, the next generation, all can't drink and follow by the next, most of us are pretty alcoholic. LOLz.

The dough started out really wet. I used the machine for a good 15 mins to knead it (is this enough?). I think it passed the window test but when I added in the fruits and nuts. The dough soften to a wet dough again. My gut feel was telling me it is going to flop big time.

I refused to give up. With such good weather, I hope it will give it a good rise. Unfortunately after 2 hours!!!!! of proofing. It only balloon 10%. Darn goes my stollen.

With so much goodies as I have added mazipan, rum soaked fruits and almond. How can I threw this into the bin. I went ahead and baked it nevertheless.

Let's see what my guests had to say tomorrow.





I am definitely going for your class in Jan.

This bread making tactic is getting into my nerve.

On sleep mode

I haven't been blogging these days and hubby will once a while reminded me that. Partly I lost the mojo when I got injured. I realised that for the past weeks, life without a computer is really possible. LOLz. I spent the minimum time catching up on emails and some time on msn. Was I really getting bored with the usual routine that I used to do? I really don't know.

Though I did bake which is a minimum and cook (most of the time, my helper stands in), there is nothing really exciting enough to blog about it. I still can't sit and stand for long. Maybe this is the reason that I am getting restless but that doesn't mean that I am simply lying on my bed.

For the past month and a half, I feel that my days are really productive. Catching up with friends, having luncheons, tea, my classes as well as a charity bake that I had done so far. I am actually pretty pleased that my activities will keep me busy all the way up to countdown. Thanks to CK, I am done with my Christmas shopping in a one stop shop which has chairs that I can rest on. LOLz.

My injury isn't getting better too. So I will be heading for the operating theatre before the countdown. The doctor is afraid that if I procrastinate longer, my nerve might be damaged.

With a nagging cough and a off and on flu. Even with a 2 weeks antibotic dose that the doc gave me doesn't seems to be working. There are days that I feel so shitty that I wish I get well with a wisp of the wand. Where is my fairy god ma? Haiz.... After the medical check up to ensure that I am deem fit to go under the knife ... the verdict isn't great because I have to get my nasty cough fixed. Another round of even stronger antibiotic? Damn.

I am craving for something sweet. Store bought stuff isn't that great to entice my taste bud. I have been eyeing a recipe that I seriously wanted to try since the day I got discharged but simply do not have the energy.

My daughter on the other hand also reminded me that we need to bake some gingerbread man and I have been putting it off again and again.....

Finally, I couldn't shake off her persistence .... so here we are .... our naked Gingerbread man.





As I go through my huge pile of recipes that I wanted to try .... I came across something that is interesting and with ingredients on hand especially when I just bought a tub of organic yoghurt out of curiousity. This recipe was shared by a lady from France in a forum and had received favourable comments. Once again, I try my hand with bread. Brioche with Yoghurt.





The result was a total failure. Perhaps anything related to bread is not meant for me. The yoghurt was really watery, I should have strain it further to reduce the liquid. Being out of touch, I guess it was a hasty action. By the time my brain cells started to work, my action already happened. The dough was so wet that I got to add on another 100g of flour. I didn't dare to add on more, the proofing was pathetic too. Nevertheless, I went ahead and bake it. It was nice when it was fresh and hot. Once it cooled down, the broiche becomes hard.

Taste wise is okay. I guess I really need to get a bread machine (hint hint hint) and I heard Carefour sometime has got good deal but I always missed it. Perhaps next year, it will be easier for me to hop over to grab one when the promotion is on.

I longed for a sugee cake. Since HK came by with her mango cake the other day. I baked something in return.





This recipe is well loved and it never failed to satisfy my craving.

Once again, I had to thanks AK for sharing such reliable and wonderful recipe.

3 items in one day seems too much for me to handle. I am totally flat out and the pain is coming back once again. I should have taking it easy and not being over zealous about it. Now it is my pay back time. Back to bed rest.