On a Boredom Monday with the Browns and More Blues

Boredom, one word i had always known since young. The Wikipedia defines the word as an emotional state experienced during periods of lack of activities or when individuals are uninterested in the activities surrounding them. Psychologically, there appear to be three general types of boredom, all of which involve problems of engagement of attention. These include times when we are prevented from engaging in something, when we are forced to engage in some unwanted activity, or when we are simply unable, for no apparent reason, to maintain engagement in any activity or spectacle. Consistent with the definition provided above, recent research has found that boredom proneness is clearly and consistently associated with failures of attention. Boredom and boredom proneness are both theoretically and empirically linked to depression and depressive symptoms. Nonetheless, boredom proneness has been found to be as strongly correlated with attentional lapses as with depression. Although boredom is often viewed as a trivial and mild irritant, proneness to boredom has been linked to a very diverse range of possible psychological, physical, educational, and social problems.

Don't get me wrong: I'm bored but i'm not depressed nor am i suffering from depressive symptoms. People would call me stupid; my present life is like one of a princess's. I wake up every morning to know breakfast would have been ready downstairs and throughout the day, i'm not required to do anything but lazily linger around and wait for time to pass by. When dinner comes, i would have known the day is coming to an end and then anticipatedly wait for the next circle to begin again. I think some humans are like this: when they're working damn hard, they hope they can have a life like mine; and in contrast, when people like me got nothing in commitment to do, they hope they can go back to working life. I'm ashamed to say i fall into both categories, which for this reason, Hubby always calls me an unthankful/unappreciative lady!

Honestly, i couldn't wait to go back to working life. And when this time comes, i would put more effort than how i used to, and build a strong firm career (soon soon soon). Of course, my family would always come before my career. I envied housewives who could concentrate in bringing their children up and taking care of their household business. Something which i have never thought i could do, because in my entire lifetime, full time housewife is not an ambition i have ever dreamt of, and Hubby understandingly accepts that i want to be a working wife @future mom while cooperating with him to handle our family business. (I'm so thankful for him!!:-)). While we both would have our own careers and jobs outside, he can take charge of the cooking business back home and me, bake make knead until we master the arts of culinary and baking!!

Enough of boredom, let's talk about browns. Today is a Bs day. Why? During boredom hours, we normally sit around in front of the TV and crack nuts that Mom in law has generously packed from the market. As a typical KK girl from a tropical country where nuts in shells are extremely rare, i thought it would be fun to show these:

Macadamia Nuts! These nuts are bigger in comparison to the ones we bought not long ago. Extremely hard to crack. And worst thing: they're not as good as the smaller ones though more expensive. I stil love them though!

Pecans! Roasted with butter, these ones have buttery taste, that makes you crave for more after one bite!

And unsurprisingly, i also bake during boredom hours. Besides surfing and reading other bakers' blogs of course. This time round, i decided to rebake blueberry cheese cups, since there are some leftovers from the previous. Not to mention i love blueberries too much.

I didn't get a bite of them (again), as Mom in law has given all to our next door neighbour who is a popular national actress. Can always see her in many chinese dramas. Despite her popularity, she's not arrogant or proud at all; infact, she's one the sweetest aunty i've ever known. Tell you one more secret: she was the emcee for our wedding!

Blogging is my next thing to do during boredom hours. It's a Bs day afterall huh?

More Blue Kraut (Brassica oleracea var. capitata f. rubra)??

Not seeing double or triple, i just completed my mission to bake another Red Cabbage Butter Loaf last night. Just few days ago, Ah Yee had cut half of the cabbage to be made as salad for dinner, and i couldn't resist 'stealing' some to bake this special cake, so i sweetly asked Ah Yee and hid them carefully in the fridge.

Hubby actually likes the cake, because he claimed it's one of the healthiest (as cakes are commonly known as 'rubbish' or unhealthy) which would fit for the family. I agreed no more although i don't consume the cake itself, as cabbage alone is known to be an excellent source for vitamins and dietary fibre, and what more of the red type which gives more iron mineral. To summarise, this cake is not only nutritious and healthy, it could be a great alternative to moms whose kids don't fancy vegetables and fruits.

So here it is, without the cream cheese topping which i normally spread on to enhance the taste. I decided to separate the cream this time to lengthen the shelf life of the cake, and store the cream in a container just next to the cake as dip or spread.

The Bestest Friends in the Cold

Boy today was FREEZING COLD! Dark, gloomy and the sun seemed to have disappeared. I had to wake up at 7am today as Hubby has class on at 9am, and it was still abnormally dark when he dropped me and mom in law at a nearby market about 1km from home across the river. We came back with a more than 5kg shopping cart loaded with veges and fruits and think i should have burnt a few calories pulling the heavy cart all the way home, but i didn't sweat a drop so am not sure if that would be countable. One thing i hate about winter is my poor hands get stiffen, red and so cracking dry that i felt i've got no hands at all.

Right after we arrived home, mom in law decided to take a bus to another market (my mom in law has great stamina!). I hessitated to go with her this time, outside was too cold and i just couldn't bear it. I rather stay at home, hug my hot water bottle bag and enjoy my hot cup of coffee while reading other people's exquisite food blogs. Best thing: i could study and get more recipes from them and i'm still deciding what to bake later!

Dark and Gloomy Outside

My best friends during winter

I was browsing and cleaning up some folders on the laptop and guess what i found? Some pictures which i had wanted to post not so long time ago but forgot to do so. Since i have plenty of time and no accompanion in this big house now, thought i should get a few done now.

1) This is BaBi, mom in law's pet dog that looks like the 'My Dog' softtoy popular not many years ago. It was hardtime for me to snap a good picture of him, since being a dog, he knows nothing of posing and standing still in front of the camera. BaBi, like his name, is pretty fat for a dog his type. He eats at least four mantous a day (mom in law claimed it is too expensive to feed him rice) and some leftover dishes which we couldn't finish per meal. 3 meals a day. And One BIG bowl of food per meal. Cutest thing is he does nothing after eating, but sleep sleep sleep lazily just like what babi does. They did give him a right name, didn't they?

2) My first time of eating persimmons in my entire 24 years, and i was so excited i actually snapped them just to show on my blog. There are actually two types: the crunchy (non astringent) and soft ones (astringent).

Astringent persimmons contain very high levels of soluble tannins and are unpalatable if eaten before softening. Therefore they must be eaten when soft only and this is why i referred them as soft ones. Non-astringent persimmons are not actually free of tannins as the term suggests, but rather are far less astringent before ripening, and lose more of their tannic quality sooner. Non-astringent persimmons may be consumed when still very firm to very very soft.

Persimmon trees bear fruits during end summer and autumn, and according to mom in law, it's not easy to plant trees that can bear crunchy fruits. Me being me only love the crunchy ones and couldn't even take a bite of the super soft orangy ones (now you know why i don't eat bananas) coz it gives me this 'yucky' and mushy mushy feeling. Just like dad in law who also doesn't take soft ones (though he loves bananas). The trees in the garden only bear the soft fruits, so most of our persimmons are given away to people as nobody at home except mom in law consumes them. And most of the time, the ones we eat at home are bought from outside as only those from the markets are crunchy.

Only those bought from outside are crunchy like these.

The trees in the garden only bear soft persimmons

I'm actually wondering if persimmons would be great for baking. Checked a number of blogs but still no sign of persimmons. Will continue trying.

Home Baked Pizza Al Taglio and Potato Salad

Today i was given the pleasure to make lunch for everybody. :-) Hubby had wanted to eat some homebaked pizzas since last Wedsnesday when we went to get some baking ingredients. Think he reminded himself of our uni life few years ago when we often baked pizzas, pies, and lasagnas during free times. In the end before we left the shop, we managed to pack up some mozarella and cheddar cheese, basil, oregano, and mixed herbs, and some good dried yeast. Mom in law was not in favour of pizzas originally, but since her most beloved son was craving badly, she decided to let me have a go and today is the day!

And of course,just pizzas alone would be inadequate, so Hubby further suggested that i make potato salad as starter being one of the easiest. Ah Yee assisted to make another salad, and a chinese dou fu pork soup, just in case mom in law is not used to eating pizzas.

Potato salad with turkey chunks, shreded carrots and chopped cucumbers

Out of the pizza dough which i raised early to make and knead, i managed to roll out two rectanguish pizzas or what the Italians termed as Pizza Al Taglio (popular pizza baked in rectangular trays with wide variety of toppings). There was no choice for me since i only have rectangular pans!

Kneading pizza dough is much easier in comparison to bread dough with fermentation time of up to an hour only. Different pizzas have different types of crust/base. The original Italian pizza crust is crispy and much thinner. Like those you eat in Little Italy. Pizza Hut has a more spongy, soft, pliable and thicker base, almost something like bread with toppings. This time i got myself to bake something in between; not too thin nor thick, crispy and still chewy like bread, but not too 'bready'.

My first pizza consisted of turkey ham, bacon, and capsicum with tomato paste as the spread. Everyone including myself agreed that this was not as good as the second one, which was of seafood flavour with thousand island. Think it's the prawns. Once baked, they give a sweet moist taste. Accompanying thousand island makes it more perfect. Yumm...

Turkey and Bacon Tomato Pizza

Seafood Pizza with prawns, corn nibs and peas

As requested by Ah Yee, i also baked somemore chocolate chip cookies which were so buttery and crunchy that they almost ran out by the time we finished lunch. She had initially asked me to make more, but due to the limited time i have, i only managed to bake 12 cookies.

Failed yet unfailed

I had trouble making tarts recently. My tart dough shrunk the moment they entered the hot oven, which made me paranoid over the past days until i discovered today that the flour i had been using was actually high protein flour. I'm not sure if that's the reason why this happened, and the thing is i've never had this trouble back in KK before!! Can anyone explain why they shrunk in the oven when they looked pretty good on the moulds just before they enter? Or is it due to the cold climate, which brings about extreme temperature difference between inside and outside oven? Or ingredient problem?

Despite the failure, i decided to bake the dough as cookies and surprisingly, they turned out pretty good! (I stole mom in law's almonds, pistachios and cashew nuts hehe). Buttery and crunchy, and best thing is they're not sweet at all!! Hmm, love them!

As Hubby has already mixed the cream cheese batter for the tarts, i had to use it somehow so ended up with these cheese cupcakes with blueberries (canned) and nuttella chocolate and almonds. All gobbled by Hubby's friends last night.

Blueberry Cheese Cups

Nutella Almond Swirl Cheese Cups

One thing i learnt this time: Never waste anything although the original plan didn't work. Twist around and you may find something new and maybe even better.

Ah Yee's Bao Zhi

Today i woke up earlier than usual, at 7am to make sure i catch Ah Yee in action with her baos. She had planned to make bao zhis for lunch for us last night, and i told her i desperately want to learn how to make one since i love them so much. Too bad it's not 'char sao' filling, nevertheless, it has been a pleasure learning to make these 'white cabbage pork' baos (bai chai zhu rou bao)...and i'm sooo glad i finally knew how to make one!!

To start with, Ah Yee made the dough out of merely high protein flour, yeast and some warm water. She kneaded the dough until they formed a paste just like this:

I told Ah Yee i hated baking breads without the machine particularly when comes to the kneading part. Why? Once you see me knead, you'll know why...sweat all over and think i could shed 1kg just kneading bread dough! I'm amazed at how strong Ah Yee is, despite her petite size, she not only knead very well, she could even carry and change a 10kg drinking water tank all by herself!

Ah Yee constantly reminded me that the filling is what makes a bao taste good. I totally agreed. Unlike Hong Kong/nan fang baos which considers the dough equally as much as the fillings (the more spongy the better), Ah Yee emphazied that bei fang puts more attention to the filling. To them, the thinner the dough the better. Therefore, the proofing time is much shorter and not much kneading required.

This filling consists of pork, white cabbage, spring onions, big onions, soy sauce, sesame oil, scallops, and some other seasonings.

After rolling the dough flat, Ah Yee slowly showed me the steps; 1) Put enough filling and arrange neatly in the middle,

(2) While the left thumb holds the filling to prevent them from falling off, the right hand starts working to cover them and slowly fold them upwards until they are fully covered.

(3) Arrange neatly on the steaming pot with enough distance to prevent them from sticking to each other. I forgot to ask Ah Yee why white cabbage leaves are needed at the bottom; but i suspect they're to prevent the baos from sticking onto the pan. Like greaseproof paper. Maybe.

(4) After steaming for approximately 15 - 30 minutes (depending on how big is the pot), the baos are now ready!! Yum Yum.....

Don't ever judge from the look. I have seen many chinese baos looking like pathetic 'bao-ko-zhung' , but they taste superb!

The filling was really superlicious delicious (three cheers to Ah Yee!). One of the best pork baos i have eaten. Guess how many i had for lunch?? Not too many...in comparison to how many i helped Ah Yee to make! :-)

Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake with Fruits Topping

I could finally bake!! And i'm so happy. Hubby ordered a mixer for me online when i was sick, his reason was to cheer me up but somehow, things don't come 'free'. Hehe, his hidden motive: he wanted me to bake some cakes as gifts for some VIPs. So here's the first one i did today, which we will deliver later in the evening along with a box of Ferrero Rochers.

Due to the limited resources/materials we could find here, i decided to bake this blueberry swirl cheesecake. 8" in size, this weighs about more than a 1kg. One word to describe it: RICH. One cake which i don't personally fancy coz it's simply too rich which makes me feel like 'puking' whenever i had just a few spoons of it. Nevertheless, Hubby wants something 'posh' so we both agreed this is the best, besides Tiramisu which is more on the selective side considering some people are not coffee drinkers/fans (just like mom).

The cake is basically just cheese...with blueberry preserves on top, and chocolate wafers as the base. Took nearly two hours to bake inside the oven.

As usual, i'm always bad in decorations. So typical 'non artistic geek increative' me always think of fruits when comes to decorating a cheesecake. Too bad strawberries are too expensive nowadays since they are not in season, otherwise they'll make good and colourful combinations with these kiwis, hami melons and grapes.

One thing good about here although baking ingredients are not easily accessible is the beautiful boxes they sell to house cakes. Here is the one we chose to fit the 8" cheesecake. We are ready to deliver the cake now!