Arranged with Tab to go over to her place on Sat with many agendas.
First was to borrow her scanner to scan the grant, so that I can use it for email to NTUC to settle off one more item on the Sg side. Secondly, she wanted to fly the drone I made earlier from the nlb course. Thirdly I wanted to borrow her kitchen, which she agreed, to bake. Previously was cinnamon rolls but since I did it at home, so I changed it to Giant cookies and pizza dough. The cookies can be for tea and dessert. The pizza dough can be used to make pizzas for dinner. Needed more stomachs, hence Tab lumped me and Juls together on the same afternoon. Later Quetzal came over in the evening for dinner. I msged FH but he wasnt free on such short notice. Finally also to catch up with Tab who just came back from her trip but hadnt had the time to fully listen to her travel stories and look at her pictures.
Overall, it was a great day of baking and enjoying the fruits of our labour.
I am still in the midst of realigning my body clock to saner sleeping time and hours but I managed to wake up. I was quite afraid to have overslept cos I was supposed to meet Tab and Juls for lunch there. I had to go buy a last minute item - baking paper and then packed my KM bag full of ingredients, some baking tools. In a second bag went my important documents and the drone kit. Set off around 11.30pm and reached around 12.40pm. Met Tab and her mom at the doorway.
So I settled in and took out all the ingredients I've brought, baking tools and recipe sheet. Then as we chatted, Juls came and I was doing up the first pizza dough. It was my first time so wasnt sure what was the serving size but later after it rose, we felt it was enough dough for one pizza. I started making the giant cookies. Came across the recipes on Youtube videos while I was checking up about cinnamon buns. They seem simpler and so great for Tab's kitchen cos dont need so much specialized equipment, lesser mess too. And after making the cinnamon buns, I wanted to try out pizza doughs.
Tab showed us a slide show of her travel photos. So we looked and if we saw any interesting photos, she'll tell us about it. I glanced at some and listened to the stories and join in the conversations that arose while going about with the first giant cookie. It was supposed to be chocolate. I was surprised by the size of the giant cookie after it had finished baking. And continued with the Sugar cookie, then Raisin oats one and finally the Cinnamon one. Interestingly they all came out in various sizes though the biggest could cover my face. And it was unanimous that the Raisin Oats was the best. I feel it was due to the molasses sugar I used. It has a fragrance and creaminess about it. After a long while, I was about done with giant cookies and switched to doing up the second pizza dough. And also flew the drone about a bit, more like try to let it not bump or crash into things. Tab had a go and it was not easy. This was my third time flying the drone, had slightly improved control but this is really not the model to be learning to fly cos it had too many instabilities for a beginner flier.
Nearing 5pm, we headed out to the supermarket to buy the ingredients for the two pizzas. This part, I let Juls be in-charge cos my goal was to make the cookies and dough. Plus Juls and Tab had made a quick-hack pizza last time using pita bread and simple ingredients. After checking with Tab exactly what she had in her fridge - 2 onions, we can gauge what ingredients to buy. So they decided on making Hawaiian and Bacon Mushroom pizzas. Then with budget conscious shopping, plus I added Vanilla ice cream (for the cookies), we arrived home with the ingredients that averaged $8 per pax. Would have been lower if not for the ice cream. By then a whole afternoon of chatting, baking had caught up and we lazed about on the sofa and enjoy the fan cos it was hot hot and sunny on the way and back from the mall.
After lots of playing around with the Plusheen and Peanut plushies which involved lots of cat butts and evolved into the search for peanut-love and peanut-phobia fetishes. Erm not my idea nor my fetish.
At 6.30pm we started to get ready to make the pizzas. I only did the rolling out the dough onto the baking paper. Tab and Juls washed, cut and prep the ingredients, laid out the ingredients on the half-baked dough and others. Spices and ginger were sprinkled generously to give the pizzas more taste.
There was a part where we searched online how long to bake a pizza and a bit of trial and error on how to transfer the half baked dough from the oven to the counter. All went well enough. No kitchen burnt down, no charred pizzas, no exploding oven. So it was great to have enough hands to help out. Feels easier also with the work spreaded out. Then of course the cleaning was also easier, cos while cooking, we were cleaning up and washing up so there was no mess.
The joke was 'how many people are needed to ...?" , to take a picture, to move a pizza out of the oven, to make a pizza.
The first pizza Hawaiian was not baked at high temperature but came out with the mozzerella cheese still melty and our first few bites, there was the stringy cheese. The dough was fluffier. My first pizza with so much toppings that it covered the entire dough surface except the edges. A big generous decadent quarter. After we ate that, we were a bit full.
Then went about cooking the second Bacon Mushroom pizza. This time cos the bacon was raw, so decided to cook it a bit longer and a bit higher temperature. Keeping an eye on it wasnt easy cos cant see through the oven door clearly. But luckily nothing burnt. It came out to be a juicy pizza with the cheese browned by the heat. Phew. We realised the 'juice' was the oil from the bacon so we tilted the pizza slightly over a tray to drain the oil. While letting the pizza cool, we headed to Tab's study room to borrow the scanner to scan. So while scanning, we looked around her study at the number of cameras, her travel booklet and others. Then after the scanning and emailing was done, we headed out to eat the pizza.
I was worried that it would turn out hard cos the dough wasnt as fluffy compared to the first one and, cos it stayed longer in a hotter oven but except for the edges, it turned out great. Like pita bread. When we all bit into the pizza, all let out a very satisfied groan of yummy. So meaty, tasty, juicy, flavorful. After that quarter, it was like the inner carnivore in all of us were satisfied. Quet and I had liquor while cooking and eating the pizzas.
Then we had hot tea to aid digestion and clear the palate. Tab and I managed some vanilla ice cream with cookie crumbs, so satisfying. Soon it was time for me to head home or risk missing the last bus. I left around 10pm and reached home close to 11.30pm. Bathed, and slept soundly.
This successful and delicious session makes me inspired to find more of such stuff to try. I wouldnt mind making more DIY-pizzas in the future too.
Monday, June 27, 2016
Thursday, June 16, 2016
In a state of flux and stillness
There seems to be a lot of things happening in my family and also nothing happening in terms of moving forward.
My sis's episode set us back to staying mostly at home and deferring the next step to go back to Muar. Also the accountant who was doing the msian taxes hadnt finish yet. And the sinseh was ill two weeks back. Then my other sis is going to have her operation next week. All these coming together meant, we stayed home mainly. I stayed around to help out instead of heading out. Even on some weekends. Waiting til near the end of this month to go back to Muar to settle some stuff. I try to plan those free library courses and my own activities around all these happenings.
On my end, once I received the notification from CDP about the successful transfer of the few lots of shares to my cdp account, I got my mom to sign the account closure form and mailed it out. And I decided to go down to either of the three brokerages to try to close my Dad's accounts without my mom, and also pay off the remaining amts owed to them. The first one I went to, couldnt so that meant I didnt have to go to the other two. But at least for the first one, I paid off the amt owed and the lady gave me the forms for my mom to sign and mail back. She also made a photocopy of the grant and stapled the whole set. Just need her to sign and mail back. Hence that is the end of one account. Two more to go.
My mom was super busy and occupied with the ceremony last Sunday. So leading up to it, she was buying ingredients etc and I helped out in the preparation for the ingredients on Sat afternoon, evening and also on Sun morning. Then the next few days, she was busy making sure the food cooked was heated up and eaten. Too much of the oily food for my liking. I feel like eating simple and clean food.
Today I asked my mom if she was free. Tomorrow, I will accompany her to the two other brokerages to close the accounts. Cos at the moment, nothing much else happening. The calm before the next thing, my sis's operation, so quickly go and clear up another part of the estate stuff. Then I would be left with the NTUC share and one more bank account at the SG side.
__________________
Personally, I am at a very stagnated point. My endeavors - Bazi, FH's project, reading stock books and Malay are all stagnant. Even my exercise is very much reduced to 1kg dumbbells, body weight exercise. I miss KM sorely yet my knee havent recovered fully. Two weeks back, I was out for 4 consecutive days to JB, in town, in MarinaSquare and in Vivo. The amount of walking I did, hurt my right knee especially. I could feel the pain while walking about but didnt say much. Later on the sinseh told me got some internal bleeding. So ate meds and homebound to rest it but that made me stagnant...
Thing I did was mainly reading storybooks, did get some stock books, havent reached them yet, and did the baking. I did copy down the recipes for more cookies and pizza dough but havent gotten about to it because there is too much food left in the fridge since Sun. Have to wait until mainly finished before I can do something. So again, the feel of being stagnant.
My sis's episode set us back to staying mostly at home and deferring the next step to go back to Muar. Also the accountant who was doing the msian taxes hadnt finish yet. And the sinseh was ill two weeks back. Then my other sis is going to have her operation next week. All these coming together meant, we stayed home mainly. I stayed around to help out instead of heading out. Even on some weekends. Waiting til near the end of this month to go back to Muar to settle some stuff. I try to plan those free library courses and my own activities around all these happenings.
On my end, once I received the notification from CDP about the successful transfer of the few lots of shares to my cdp account, I got my mom to sign the account closure form and mailed it out. And I decided to go down to either of the three brokerages to try to close my Dad's accounts without my mom, and also pay off the remaining amts owed to them. The first one I went to, couldnt so that meant I didnt have to go to the other two. But at least for the first one, I paid off the amt owed and the lady gave me the forms for my mom to sign and mail back. She also made a photocopy of the grant and stapled the whole set. Just need her to sign and mail back. Hence that is the end of one account. Two more to go.
My mom was super busy and occupied with the ceremony last Sunday. So leading up to it, she was buying ingredients etc and I helped out in the preparation for the ingredients on Sat afternoon, evening and also on Sun morning. Then the next few days, she was busy making sure the food cooked was heated up and eaten. Too much of the oily food for my liking. I feel like eating simple and clean food.
Today I asked my mom if she was free. Tomorrow, I will accompany her to the two other brokerages to close the accounts. Cos at the moment, nothing much else happening. The calm before the next thing, my sis's operation, so quickly go and clear up another part of the estate stuff. Then I would be left with the NTUC share and one more bank account at the SG side.
__________________
Personally, I am at a very stagnated point. My endeavors - Bazi, FH's project, reading stock books and Malay are all stagnant. Even my exercise is very much reduced to 1kg dumbbells, body weight exercise. I miss KM sorely yet my knee havent recovered fully. Two weeks back, I was out for 4 consecutive days to JB, in town, in MarinaSquare and in Vivo. The amount of walking I did, hurt my right knee especially. I could feel the pain while walking about but didnt say much. Later on the sinseh told me got some internal bleeding. So ate meds and homebound to rest it but that made me stagnant...
Thing I did was mainly reading storybooks, did get some stock books, havent reached them yet, and did the baking. I did copy down the recipes for more cookies and pizza dough but havent gotten about to it because there is too much food left in the fridge since Sun. Have to wait until mainly finished before I can do something. So again, the feel of being stagnant.
Thursday, June 09, 2016
Cinnamon Buns - restarting my cooking experiments, and more bread and even cookies are coming soon
I love cinnamon buns. I dont really eat it often but it is one of those bread I would choose when I see. Yet the ones bought from outside seemed to lack something. The main thing is most are soggy by the time you bite into it. Not like those freshly baked ones. Not sure if its meant to be so.
So one day some weeks ago, when I saw and bought spice (paprika powder and cinnamon powder), I committed myself to try and make cinnamon buns from scratch. From the internet, I looked around for the recipes. Settled on 2 recipes, copied them down on paper (no printer) and compared them. One has fewer ingredients and also made much fewer portions 12-15 whereas the other had many more ingredients (definitely better tasting from so much more ingredients) but make into 24 servings. How is my family of 3 going to finish all that? Hence I chose to try out the easier one.
Tried it out on Tuesday. Cos got many things happening in my family and got distracted and busy with settling stuff. Some days too lazy or tired. The day before, I headed out to buy the ingredients, flour, yeast, sugar, confectioner's sugar, vanilla extract and butter. Had already bought the cinnamon powder. Then I am set. Using milk and an egg from the fridge.
It was interesting to be able to mix the ingredients into something that resembled dough. Yellow dough. But too sticky so I slowly added more flour until it became something more manageable. Then I dont have a clean surface to work on, so an idea struck me, I used the baking tray as the flat surface. Floured it and knead the dough like on TV cooking shows for 10mins. Good exercise, I should use my left hand more but being right-handed. Just purely right. Then got to rest the dough. Meaning, you leave it in a bowl preferable near somewhere a bit warm to let the yeast work. When the yeast ingest the sugars, they release gas which raises the dough and makes it swell up to twice its size at least. So for that 1 hour, I went to the living room and watched one episode of recorded show.
One hour later, I went to knead the dough a bit to flatten. It did rise up though not to twice the size. I put the shrink wrap on the table to try to create a clean surface but it didnt work so well. So I decided to use the baking pan again. Divided up the dough to two portions, I rolled and flatten one using the rectangular baking tray as the guide. Applied generous amounts of butter and a mixture of sugar and cinnamon powder. (With hind sight, more cinnamon, less sugar or use confectioner's sugar might be better) Rolled into a big roll and cut 1.5 - 2 inches width. Repeated with the other and put them into the baking pan. But they kinda looked squished up and my mom was telling me, might turn out hard, cos they dont have place to expand. Will put in the baking tray next time round.
So I have to set it aside again, 45mins to an hour, to let the cinnamon rolls raise again. That meant another episode of recorded cable TV. 20mins before, I preheated the oven and mixed the glazing. (Think less butter and confectioner's sugar) After the time, noticed that the space between (which wasnt much) pieces were nil and put into the oven to bake. 30mins is enough but I checked every 10mins. Took out for them to cool and I had to cut to pull out the pieces from the tight baking pan. Next time must let them have lots more space to expand or maybe consider two batches to bake. Applied the glazing after they have cooled some.
The taste is pretty good, except I think I overdid the glazing. Chewy on the outside, soft on the inside. Some of the sugar inside didnt melt, so can chew into sugar grains. That can be improved upon with confectioner's sugar instead. I ate two and the next day two. Gave 3 to my sis, other sis ate 1, mom ate 3, she gave 3 to her friends in the market (otherwise how to finish) and viola, all gone.
Later I went online to look for more bread recipes for those that I like to eat, like pita bread, own pizza dough etc. Dont mind trying out and making own pizza.
And just now, I came across the Youtube video for a Giant Cookie for one. Great and super easy from the videos. I am so amped up to try to make but I still need to space the cooking out so that we all dont end up gaining weight from eating all these and secondly, my mom needs the kitchen during some days, especially this coming weekend. So I will leave the single-serving Giant Cookie to the next week. Can use the time to get the ingredients I lack. At the back of my mind are the Cinnamon cookie and Peanut Butter Jelly cookie. Yummy.
So one day some weeks ago, when I saw and bought spice (paprika powder and cinnamon powder), I committed myself to try and make cinnamon buns from scratch. From the internet, I looked around for the recipes. Settled on 2 recipes, copied them down on paper (no printer) and compared them. One has fewer ingredients and also made much fewer portions 12-15 whereas the other had many more ingredients (definitely better tasting from so much more ingredients) but make into 24 servings. How is my family of 3 going to finish all that? Hence I chose to try out the easier one.
Tried it out on Tuesday. Cos got many things happening in my family and got distracted and busy with settling stuff. Some days too lazy or tired. The day before, I headed out to buy the ingredients, flour, yeast, sugar, confectioner's sugar, vanilla extract and butter. Had already bought the cinnamon powder. Then I am set. Using milk and an egg from the fridge.
It was interesting to be able to mix the ingredients into something that resembled dough. Yellow dough. But too sticky so I slowly added more flour until it became something more manageable. Then I dont have a clean surface to work on, so an idea struck me, I used the baking tray as the flat surface. Floured it and knead the dough like on TV cooking shows for 10mins. Good exercise, I should use my left hand more but being right-handed. Just purely right. Then got to rest the dough. Meaning, you leave it in a bowl preferable near somewhere a bit warm to let the yeast work. When the yeast ingest the sugars, they release gas which raises the dough and makes it swell up to twice its size at least. So for that 1 hour, I went to the living room and watched one episode of recorded show.
One hour later, I went to knead the dough a bit to flatten. It did rise up though not to twice the size. I put the shrink wrap on the table to try to create a clean surface but it didnt work so well. So I decided to use the baking pan again. Divided up the dough to two portions, I rolled and flatten one using the rectangular baking tray as the guide. Applied generous amounts of butter and a mixture of sugar and cinnamon powder. (With hind sight, more cinnamon, less sugar or use confectioner's sugar might be better) Rolled into a big roll and cut 1.5 - 2 inches width. Repeated with the other and put them into the baking pan. But they kinda looked squished up and my mom was telling me, might turn out hard, cos they dont have place to expand. Will put in the baking tray next time round.
So I have to set it aside again, 45mins to an hour, to let the cinnamon rolls raise again. That meant another episode of recorded cable TV. 20mins before, I preheated the oven and mixed the glazing. (Think less butter and confectioner's sugar) After the time, noticed that the space between (which wasnt much) pieces were nil and put into the oven to bake. 30mins is enough but I checked every 10mins. Took out for them to cool and I had to cut to pull out the pieces from the tight baking pan. Next time must let them have lots more space to expand or maybe consider two batches to bake. Applied the glazing after they have cooled some.
The taste is pretty good, except I think I overdid the glazing. Chewy on the outside, soft on the inside. Some of the sugar inside didnt melt, so can chew into sugar grains. That can be improved upon with confectioner's sugar instead. I ate two and the next day two. Gave 3 to my sis, other sis ate 1, mom ate 3, she gave 3 to her friends in the market (otherwise how to finish) and viola, all gone.
Later I went online to look for more bread recipes for those that I like to eat, like pita bread, own pizza dough etc. Dont mind trying out and making own pizza.
And just now, I came across the Youtube video for a Giant Cookie for one. Great and super easy from the videos. I am so amped up to try to make but I still need to space the cooking out so that we all dont end up gaining weight from eating all these and secondly, my mom needs the kitchen during some days, especially this coming weekend. So I will leave the single-serving Giant Cookie to the next week. Can use the time to get the ingredients I lack. At the back of my mind are the Cinnamon cookie and Peanut Butter Jelly cookie. Yummy.
Sunday, June 05, 2016
Tinkering with free courses from NLB - a woven bracelet, some letterings, a leather key chain, a leather coin-pouch and a drone so far
This tinkering came about after the Press Play finale which we attended at the national library. In that short duration of time we tried 3 of the short 1hr courses they put up.
First one was writing with Ink and a thin brush. Brushstrokes were hard to do and the delicate control was needed. Then we queued for the weaving of a bracelet. Fairy simple and lastly we went for the leather crafting course. The main focus was embossing something on a thin cut strip of leather with holes punched. Then fold it with the ring and then get it stapled into keychain. My first genuine leather item and free and individualized too. So we kept a lookout for the NLB website for the next leather crafting course.
We registered for the Beginner course that was 4hours but couldnt commit for the 3 days Intermediate course. So we headed for that on 28th May, Sat. It was a light and fruitful course and we learnt useful knowledge about the types of leather, how to tell if it is genuine, how to store and care for the leather stuff. Had fun making our own coin pouch with tassels. We wanted to sign up for the next Intermediate class but was already fully registered by then. Looking out for the next one but it seemed this whole series of free programmes end on the 31st July. :( Then have to make the best of it.
I didnt know that but after the leather crafting course, I checked out the page for more other courses, and signed up so far for (1) beginner drone making (2) Passport cover sewing customisation etc and aiming for (3) glass fusing 3 day course to make a fused glass plate. I havent registered for the last one yet. Waiting to get in via registration.
My reason, since I have time on my hands and these courses are free. Why not? Learn something useful, indulge in some curiosity about some craft and just try it out hands-on. For now, try to maximise the remaining course that seems interesting to me.
If this series is brought back again, I will definitely go again.
And the drone-making course had its share of interesting points. Quite easy to build with the parts all provided and the wires color coded. Except I didnt observe the propellers, whether they were clockwise or anti clockwise and put them in series instead of alternate. When the instructor came to help all of us fly our drones, (cos we were all noobs, all dunno how to control and fly drones) so he went about one-by-one to check, troubleshoot and finally make sure everyone's drone were able to fly. The surprising end was that we could take the entire kit, box, usb cable for charging and our drones home. Just have to sign an idemnity form to protect the vendors and nlb against any own injuries and violations of sg rules if we decide to do something crazy with our small drones. A nice take-away from the course besides the lecture notes and own design sheet.
Flying wasnt part of the course and our drones were not durable enough for dropping about on the hard floor, so he suggested that for those who wished to learn how to fly, buy the more durable drones he had brought along $30 or a large $60 model and learn to fly hands-on. I wasnt sure if I wanted to blow $30 nor own 2 drones suddenly. Later what if it turned out to be a 5min craze. Decided I would learn to fly mine over my bed, so if it falls, like how everyone who tried flying that flyable $30 drone, all of their drones crashed like crazy. So flying is harder than it seems. But once you get it, the instructor says you can fly them all. Curious to try to fly it tomorrow.
Met up with Quet and we couldnt get the movie tixs unless it was very front row seats. We took our time and instead had Pork knuckle and beer for dinner. Then walked around window-shopping and had dessert, latte and waffle ice cream. She kindly drove me home and I had time to bath but havent done my exercise yet. Will try to work on my tummy intensely...
First one was writing with Ink and a thin brush. Brushstrokes were hard to do and the delicate control was needed. Then we queued for the weaving of a bracelet. Fairy simple and lastly we went for the leather crafting course. The main focus was embossing something on a thin cut strip of leather with holes punched. Then fold it with the ring and then get it stapled into keychain. My first genuine leather item and free and individualized too. So we kept a lookout for the NLB website for the next leather crafting course.
We registered for the Beginner course that was 4hours but couldnt commit for the 3 days Intermediate course. So we headed for that on 28th May, Sat. It was a light and fruitful course and we learnt useful knowledge about the types of leather, how to tell if it is genuine, how to store and care for the leather stuff. Had fun making our own coin pouch with tassels. We wanted to sign up for the next Intermediate class but was already fully registered by then. Looking out for the next one but it seemed this whole series of free programmes end on the 31st July. :( Then have to make the best of it.
I didnt know that but after the leather crafting course, I checked out the page for more other courses, and signed up so far for (1) beginner drone making (2) Passport cover sewing customisation etc and aiming for (3) glass fusing 3 day course to make a fused glass plate. I havent registered for the last one yet. Waiting to get in via registration.
My reason, since I have time on my hands and these courses are free. Why not? Learn something useful, indulge in some curiosity about some craft and just try it out hands-on. For now, try to maximise the remaining course that seems interesting to me.
If this series is brought back again, I will definitely go again.
And the drone-making course had its share of interesting points. Quite easy to build with the parts all provided and the wires color coded. Except I didnt observe the propellers, whether they were clockwise or anti clockwise and put them in series instead of alternate. When the instructor came to help all of us fly our drones, (cos we were all noobs, all dunno how to control and fly drones) so he went about one-by-one to check, troubleshoot and finally make sure everyone's drone were able to fly. The surprising end was that we could take the entire kit, box, usb cable for charging and our drones home. Just have to sign an idemnity form to protect the vendors and nlb against any own injuries and violations of sg rules if we decide to do something crazy with our small drones. A nice take-away from the course besides the lecture notes and own design sheet.
Flying wasnt part of the course and our drones were not durable enough for dropping about on the hard floor, so he suggested that for those who wished to learn how to fly, buy the more durable drones he had brought along $30 or a large $60 model and learn to fly hands-on. I wasnt sure if I wanted to blow $30 nor own 2 drones suddenly. Later what if it turned out to be a 5min craze. Decided I would learn to fly mine over my bed, so if it falls, like how everyone who tried flying that flyable $30 drone, all of their drones crashed like crazy. So flying is harder than it seems. But once you get it, the instructor says you can fly them all. Curious to try to fly it tomorrow.
Met up with Quet and we couldnt get the movie tixs unless it was very front row seats. We took our time and instead had Pork knuckle and beer for dinner. Then walked around window-shopping and had dessert, latte and waffle ice cream. She kindly drove me home and I had time to bath but havent done my exercise yet. Will try to work on my tummy intensely...
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