One More Week to Go...

One more week and we are off for our long vacation. It's that time of the year where many people will be traveling so the air traffic will be busy. DH had left early this week and with one less person in the house, there seems to be a little lesser chores to do! I'm still doing some bakes and they are going out to neighbours and friends since there isn't anyone to eat the buns and cakes.

 I was talking to a friend about christmas shopping and she seems to have a long list as compared to mine. She was telling me about karaoke machine at acekaraoke.com then she went on to talk about a retro game machine of the 80s. I told her my Christmas list is simple, unlike the past where I felt obliged to buy a gift for all the friends around me. Not anymore now. Life is simpler and quieter now. At the end of the day, there's just an accumulation of too many gifts and you just don't know what to do with them! If I have an oven in SG, I'll love to bake for my family and friends... but since I don't, I should pamper myself into an indulgence this holiday season.

This afternoon, I attempted these Mexico Buns (aka Rotiboy buns)... and am truly happy with the outcome!

Paper Wrapped Cupcakes

I was half way with my batter and just as I started to preheat my oven, it just stopped and I thought to myself, what timing it was!

I have been spending so much time in the kitchen and baking is my current passion. So when you are in the midst of baking something and your oven decides to play up, it is frustrating. Well, I checked, troubleshoot and did lots of things but nope, it just wouldn't start at all. So I turned to my table top turbo oven... thank God it was just paper wrapped cupcakes. I told myself, nothing to lose if they didn't turned out. After a good 20 minutes, the cupcakes rose and yes, fluffy HK style cupcakes in my less than perfect table top oven! I was delighted.

Not sure about you, but I spent lots of time on the web googling information and sometimes, I do my friends a favor to find them something they were searching for. Someone wanted to know about software development and I found http://www.eoncode.com, another wanted to buy winter wear and there were many websites for that. But I don't like spending so much time in front of the computer so being in the kitchen is alot more fun! That explains the long absence from my blog these days!

Bread Making and ....

I finally know why bread making is addictive. It all started when I saw my blogger friend's bread roll photos in Facebook and I was hooked since. The only thing is, I can't eat them fast enough before I get my hands on the next dough.

I had never hand kneaded a bread dough and it was quite an experience. The method I was keen to experiment was called the Tangzhong 65C method, aka water roux method. This method produced lovely soft bread like the ones you get from Asian bakeries, such as the ones in Breadtalk or Breadtop (in brisbane). I'm not a big fan of sweet breads but I just love making them!

It's amazing to know that we are into term 4 of school and in a few weeks' time, school will end. This has been an exciting year of ups and downs, joys and pains for me as a year 2 parent. I struggled and thrived in many situations but through it all, I learn to trust more.

For now, I'm preparing for my long trip home though I have been too busy with lots of other daily stuff. I might have to put my Christmas list on the paper and as usual, gift ideas such as best fragrance oil, accessories, lego for kids will be in it. And yes, my little boy turned eight last month and whenever I looked at him, I realized he had grown taller in the last few months. I missed those baby and toddler days, though I love every stage of his growing up. Parenting is both a joy and pain and like food, it can taste nice whether bitter or sweet.

My favourite bread from my oven: Hong Kong Pai Bao