Tag Team Baking

20 Apr

We found the right combination to bake during the MCO last week. Hubby did the dough and I did the filling. The tag team baking worked out well for our first combined attempt – apple tarts because I have the molds. For someone who doesn’t bake, I sure have a lot of baking equipment.

The ideas were from googling up recipes and watching YouTube to find the next easiest thing to bake with the best combination. And basically just to pass time instead of baking bread and cakes (from boxes) individually, this effort was a good variation.

First attempt at apple tarts

The first batch of only five tarts was accidental because there was some dough left from making something else. And since we had apples, why not bake apple tarts? It was experimental as something was right and something was off: the filling was good, the crust needed work.

We tried again two days later. As long as I don’t have to deal with letting the dough sit and rise, I was perfectly contented to make the apple filling. And I made more this second time, using three apples. The first time, just one apple! After all, it was an experiment.

It was fun decorating and after a good 45 minutes in the oven, our effort came out beautifully. The taste? Very good if I must say so. We make a good tag team at baking.

Happy star and Smiley tarts

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MCO Extended, Phase 3

17 Apr

It looks like this Movement Control Order (MCO) is never gonna end as the Covid-19 cases keep growing. There are still idiots who are not abiding the law to stay home. So after the second phase concluded on 14 April, it was extended!

Even my Gnomes are showing the way to do it – stay home!

We are now into our third phase which started on Wednesday, 15 April and will conclude by 28 April. For the record, we have been confined, restricted, staying home and distancing ourselves since 18 March. That’s a whole month already. Dang!

Will we be the same once the MCO is lifted and we are allowed to be out? I think no. Life from then on will never be the same again.

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Baking is The New Normal

14 Apr

After the ‘success’ of the accidental bread last week, hubby urged me to bake another loaf. So I did, just to kill time. And discovered what went wrong with the first loaf.

I got the units wrong! Silly me. The measurement was correct but the unit was wrong. The teeny weeny print on the measuring cup was ‘ML’ which I couldn’t see and I simply assumed it was gram. Signs of being a dinosaur… sigh.

Thinking I had it right, I measured 350ML of flour and not 350G as required by the recipe. No wonder the mixture was watery with the flour ratio way off to the milk. Don’t forget, this was my first attempt at baking a bread after so long. To even attempt something like this, common sense to what was required was not present. Luckily we were able to save the dough with the additional flour thrown in.

So having learnt the mistake, I was more careful with measuring for the second attempt. But patience’s not on my side. I find I don’t have the patience especially when it comes to allowing the dough to sit and rise. I couldn’t wait for the yeast to do its thing.

Unlike baking a cake (from a box that is) where I just throw everything together and pop it in the oven without wasting time, bread making needs more precision and patience.

The second attempt. Ugly but edible

The second attempt turned out a little less stellar than the first loaf but still edible. And since then, it’s hubby who has been baking every other day to pass time. It’s as if baking is the new normal as we continue adhering to the MCO as laid out by the government.

He’s baked several loaves already as well as a batch of bagels. We have so much bread to eat now.

Bread, bread and more bread plus bagels!

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Days of My MCO Life, Part 2

13 Apr

The bread that I baked last week was an out-of-the-blue decision. I called it the accidental bread. I was set to bake a cake in the beginning, the instant cake-from-the-box easy peasy one of course. Then I decided why not bake bread too? Since we have all the time in the world.

Also I wanted to give the Kenwood Rapid Bake bread maker another chance but the bread maker tripped the electricity in the house again. This reaffirmed that it’s a machine problem and wasn’t a user problem the last time when I used the machine.

So Plan B had to be kicked in because we had an unbaked bread in hand.

Rather than wasting the dough because the trip occurred when the bread maker went into the baking mode, we managed to salvage it. With some modification – adding more flour to the unusual watery mixture (don’t ask me how it became like that), we let the dough sit for a bit.

Then into the conventional oven it went. The final outcome turned out pretty good despite its appearance! A pat on the shoulder for the both of us.

Tastes better than it looks

Do I look forward to baking my next loaf of bread in the oven? I’m not too sure, we shall see.

Besides these self-discoveries and time-consuming activities, I caught up with my reading, finishing several titles and I started watching a Netflix series, something I never did previously. It’s certainly interesting times with the days of my MCO life.

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The Big Clean Up

10 Apr

So on Tuesday we got to see our M2. My… my… I think a wee bit taller and definitely fairer but not skinnier which is good. This means I had fed her well during her two-week quarantine.

The customary selfie upon release

We had a big clean-up that day, disinfecting the whole room and throwing whatever that can be washed into the washing machine. The windows were all opened to let in some fresh hot and humid air to start anew!

It was a busy day and it felt good.

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Days of My MCO Life

7 Apr

We are now a week into Phase Two of the MCO. What this means is that the rules are stricter and anyone caught going beyond 10km from their home will be arrested if they don’t have a valid reason. Well, I don’t have to worry as I have not ventured out even to the front lawn of the house.

Being confined to the house for so long during this MCO, I found myself doing things that I’ve never done so much before within a certain time frame.

Like cooking. And constantly at it, twice each day, trying out all sorts of recipes sourced from the internet. It’s the most logical thing to do and besides, I have all the time in the world for the preparations.

Then there’s the carving. I’ve carved so many Whales in March and these would all make lovely gifts for my friends when I see them.

All these carved during the MCO

There’s also another homely thing that I found myself doing every now and then. Baking! Although it’s the instant out-of-the-box, it’s a good variation from the cooking routine. Twice I baked and once I even baked a loaf of bread! Surprise… surprise…

The second cake – Lemon Cake with poppyseeds of course!

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Last Day of Quarantine!

6 Apr

Today’s the last day of M2’s quarantine. Yay! But the MCO is still on. Tomorrow when she’s officially out from her room, I get to finally give her a welcome home hug, something I didn’t get to do two weeks’ ago.

We look forward to actually spending time and being with M2 once she’s out of her room. We can have real conversations without having to resort to using the phones anymore. And we can have meals together instead of her eating her food in Bento boxes in her room.

Obviously room service is no longer necessary but I must say, I’ve enjoyed the deliveries as it was good exercise for me going up and down the stairs several times a day.

We remain house-bound until the MCO is lifted on 14 April and this is if the government decides it’s safe to do so. The MCO could still be extended. The nation awaits the decision on 10 April.

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New Carving Direction, Part 2

3 Apr

Carving a new shape is not easy! Three months ago, I used the little birdie that my friend bought for me from Japan as my sample for a new shape to try. It was a real challenge in every aspect – the 3D visualisation and proportion before I even began carving and shaping the block of wood.img_7730

Even though I had all the measurements of the angles and sides, I was still off! Eeeks. Little birdie was without a beak because I miscalculated the allowance that would be shaped into its beak! At that point, little birdie looked nothing like a little bird at all. Hahahaha….

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So a little surgery to add on and some putty magic to fix the problem, otherwise the whole effort would have been wasted! But the effort resulted in little birdie looking like a little duckie! Horrors… challenges after challenges.

Fast forward to the finished piece, little birdie looking like what it should be with a further reduction on the size of the beak. But now, after two months I am still stuck on how it should be finished, as in what color to paint instead of just leaving it in its gessoed state. Sigh… this new carving direction has not been easy.

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The End is Not Nearer

31 Mar

Just when I thought my iPad Mini is nearing its end and usage, it found a new lease in life. Two and a half months ago, I started playing Homescapes on my iPhone XR and have been at it constantly.

One day, to my horror, I discovered this activity drained one per cent off the phone’s battery health. Eeeks! Can’t allow this to happen. So brilliantly, I thought of using the iPad Mini instead for Homescapes and give my phone a breather from constant usage.

The iPad Mini is now experiencing a revival especially with this game despite some occasional instability but generally, the game can be played online and offline as well. It’s okay if I don’t use it to read the news on Safari or even crush candies because after all, the Daily Bonus streak snapped already on Candy Crush Soda.

The end is not nearer for my faithful iPad Mini and my iPhone XR’s battery health is intact. But during this MCO period, there’s a surge in using the phone to keep up with news and social media while the iPad Mini is purely for Homescapes. I am at Level 1783 now and expect to move up to pass another day in quarantine.

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Quarantine, Day 8 (MCO D13)

30 Mar

It is Quarantine Day 8 (MCO Day 13) and this staying put is starting to get to me. The daily routine is the same, day in, day out.

I wake up, I eat. Then I prepare lunch. Then we eat. Taking a breather I carve. Then I snack. Throw in some house chores in between.

Then I prepare dinner. Then eat again, accompanied by a stiff drink or two or sometimes three. Then as I get ready for bed, I think about what to cook for the next day. This routine is then repeated the next day and the next and the next.

See the pattern? It’s always revolving around eating and food. No wonder the waistline is expanding!

I shouldn’t visit the kitchen so often or rather, shouldn’t sit all day at the island in the kitchen surrounded by food. Seriously, the MCO should be applied to the kitchen area to prevent all this food temptation. During the past two weeks, the living room has been replaced by the kitchen as the most used place in the whole house.

I need to vary the routine… and eat less.

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