My latest online purchase was done on a whim. After purchasing a couple of kitchen appliance/utensil items, I itched to buy something for myself. After all, those kitchen things were more for hubby to use, and we’ve hardly gone out to do any shopping, let alone go out.
So what did I buy?
A do-it-yourself home! And I had to buy the biggest house with teeny weeny parts to be put together with glue and tweezers. And as if that’s not enough, I bought two more houses too, one for M2 and one for hubby to fix! Crazy.
My house arrived slightly squashed but all contents were intact
The DIY house kits arrived separately – mine first, at the end of May and the other two several days later.
Hubby’s baking skills have improved. He’s gone on to bake cakes besides bread, cookies and scones as well. He’s done carrot cake a couple of times already. Don’t forget there’s also the team effort apple pie and apple bread bomb.
The scones’ texture and taste were just right
I have to admit, I have gained a pound recently despite the vigorous weekend golf games. Maybe this is insufficient and I need to step up my exercise regime even more if I am constantly savoring all the baked temptations.
The latest effort is a sponge cake with a twist. M2 requested a Victoria Sponge and hubby obliged. But he didn’t want a whole Victoria Sponge cake because he felt that the jam filling would be too sweet.
So he improvised and instead of having a one-flavor cake, he did a half-and-half whereby one half had mixed berries for the Victoria part and the other half had Gula Melaka with coconut shreds. The second flavor was more suited to our tastebuds because the Gula Melaka was drizzled sparingly while the coconut shreds had hints of saltiness to counter the sweetness. Yum.
The half and half sponge cake
Such ingenuity as everyone was able to enjoy their preferred sponge cake without any guilt.
Ever since the MCO started, hubby learned how to bake and as such, the eggs in the fridge are used up very quickly. It used to take forever to finish them but now, they are always on the grocery list to be replenished.
The best part of this is recycling the eggshells as fertilizer for the garden instead of just throwing them away. And I seem to enjoy fussing over the eggshells.
I’d remove the membrane first before pounding them up with my mini mortar and pestle. Fine but not too powdery, the eggshells act as a good deterrent for the slimy snails in the garden. They are also a good source of calcium especially for the habanero chilli peppers and it shows with the healthy harvests.
Besides the eggshells, other food waste is also recycled to be natural fertilizer for the garden. Rice water for instance. Whenever I wash rice grains before cooking, the water from the washing is kept a day or two in a container to be fermented before being used.
Occasionally if there are juice pulps from juicing, these are instantly sprinkled around the garden amongst the plants. And banana peels are always fed to the staghorn fern for nutrition. Nothing goes to waste in our home.
Our weekend golf games are routine by now. During this CMCO phase, we’ve opted to walk and carry our golf bags playing at the Hills course instead of taking the buggy. Some may say crazy but to me, that’s my outdoor gym right there and really good exercise.
I’m proud to say our stamina has improved and the past weekend we walked 18 holes on Saturday and 16 holes on Sunday. An increase in holes covered compared to the weekend before.
And both days, hubby baked in the afternoon. On Saturday, he made dinner rolls which turned out soft and fluffy. And on Sunday, ciabattas. On top of these, we did our tag team baking as well for yet another apple-filled effort.
First time making dinner rollsCiabatta was simply heavenly
Not a pie nor a tart, it bordered between an Apple Bread and a Caramel Apple Bomb. We had to combine two recipes because we didn’t have caramel and I didn’t want the outside to be too flaky. So a bread-like texture akin to dinner rolls instead.
Our version of Apple BombHonestly, you wouldn’t know what these are
Turned out good. So did the ciabattas. Like the golf, the baking is almost like a pro too. And as always, I look forward to the weekend routine of golf and baking efforts by hubby.
It takes a pandemic to change the behavior of people and how the world functions. We have been under the MCO and now CMCO since 18 March, and during this time, things happen to us. I’m sure we’re not alone on this behavioral change.
We discover ourselves in the midst of the semi-lockdown situation, perfecting our patience and unearthing amazing skills in the kitchen. Whilst my cooking has improved, hubby discovered baking. Who would’ve known?
On top of these, I find myself thrilled by online purchases of kitchen appliances and utensils! Something unheard of pre-MCO life. The first thrill was when the stand mixer arrived some time back. This time, it’s an eight inch baking pan which arrived middle of last week. Yes, an eight inch baking pan!
The thrill of my life!
The pan was specifically purchased for one purpose only and that is to bake apple pies. And since I didn’t go to the office the day it arrived, I efficiently whipped up my apple filling before the water could even dry off the pan after a quick wash upon unwrapping.
Then I waited patiently for hubby to return from the office to prepare the dough. That night immediately after dinner, we got down to baking the apple pie.
Again it was a test of patience – an hour for the dough in the fridge to settle, then another hour to complete the rest of the process and baking.
As soon as the pie came out of the oven and cooled, the three of us polished off three quarters of the apple pie without any guilt. So good, burp.
I am bowled over that hubby dearest has taken to baking so effortlessly, like fish to water. I simply do not know where he gets his energy from.
Even after a round of golf, he can still bake whereas I would just keep things slow to a manageable pace. For me, it’s to cool down my body in this furnace of a weather and not sweat any further than what I have already shed at the golf course. But he just goes on.
Last Sunday, after walking 15 holes with me, we got home and two hours later, he whipped up a superb herb whole wheat loaf. And as if that’s not enough, he baked a sponge cake thereafter!
Sponge cake had coconut shreds topping
If you thought I helped in anyway, hardly… I just ate when they were fresh from the oven. Of course this encouraged the accidental baker in hubby.
And as he’s constantly at it, I have to exercise constantly too to balance my intake. The weekend golf games are scheduled already and I am pretty sure the accidental baker will bake after the games.
Weekday efforts: cupcakes, banana bread and mini scones
It looks like the only time we do our tag team baking is when we are doing apple pies – I’d do the filling and hubby would take care of the crust. The second time, we decided we should do a whole pie instead of mini tarts. It’s less work to have the dough in one pie pan compared to a dozen or so tart moulds.
Having learnt from the earlier effort, hubby patiently worked on the crust and it came out beautifully this second time. Needless to say, the filling was good too.
But sometimes things doesn’t go as planned. The latest third attempt failed because I got distracted by the washing machine and the filling got too mushy. And hubby’s dough wasn’t enough to cover the top of the pie despite following the same recipe as before.
I felt so unaccomplished after that so we’d have to bake another one again soon to get over the failure.
We thought the Snickerdoodle apple bread was oh-so-good but it has been superseded by the latest baking attempt.
The latest loaf, a herb white bread is simply heavenly. Hubby managed to buy bread flour at the last grocery run and this made the difference. All previous attempts were using all purpose flour.
I remember he mentioned that the temperature of the oven was important. While I did not pay attention to the details of the whole process, I managed to take some progress pictures.
The mixer at work and then the setting of the dough
Shaped and into the pan to set again
Rise of the Amazing Dough
It was an astonished but delighted moment when the pan came out from the oven. The five inch rise of the bread was very impressive.
I have to admit… the stand mixer was an excellent purchase as hubby has been using it. I have yet to use it though because I don’t really bake from scratch, only from pre-mixes in a box that don’t need a mixer. Heheheh…
The banana loaves and snickerdoodle apple breadThere were two batches of butter cookies
So far he’s baked three loaves of banana bread, butter cookies and a Snickerdoodle apple bread (this was oh-so-good!). There have been attempts too that did not require the stand mixer but just good old kneading and patience for the dough to rise.
All in all, the baking days have kept him busy for there have been many rainy days and he couldn’t go out to the garden. For M2 and me, it was many varieties to savor and I have been upping my exercise routine to counter all the intake.
It was supposed to end today, the third phase of our Movement Control Order (MCO) but no… the government has decided to extend it again. Another two weeks from tomorrow until 12 May for Phase Four.
Well, we have gotten so used to staying home, being in partial lockdown for six weeks already, what’s another two weeks, right? We’ll just continue with our home routine. No problem.
The home routine revolves around food – what to cook, what to bake, when to cook, when to eat because these activities are the highlight of each day while house chores are definitely not. We can skip sweeping or mopping the floors but we certainly can’t skip a meal.
Two weekends ago, I decided to buy a stand mixer from my regular online shopping site. This is one kitchen appliance I don’t have because I’ve never had a use for it before so the thought of owning one never came about. But now, it’s a much needed appliance since hubby’s baking so much.
Since we cannot go to the stores to shop, online shopping was the way to go and the box arrived a week later. Never have I been so excited by a kitchen appliance before, what more a stand mixer! Little things in life now thrills.
It’s a timely purchase because with the MCO Phase 4 in place, our baking endeavors or should I say hubby’s is about to be more exciting. He can now try all those recipes that require intense mixing with the addition of a stand mixer now. Bring on those recipes!
Angieneering 
Remarks