After the Sprouted Wheat Bread adventure, I did continue to bake breads at a steady pace (weekly, pretty much). We had a few repeated breads, but I tried to balance the repeats with some new recipes. Here are the breads I made from April to August of last year. The first is called Buttermilk Cheese Bread, containing – you got it! – buttermilk and sharp cheddar cheese. After the first rising, the bread dough is formed into a loaf and placed in a loaf pan: [[image:bread128.jpg:Buttermilk Cheese bread in loaf pan:center:0]] Here’s the bread after it has been baked: [[image:bread129.jpg:Baked buttermilk cheese bread:center:0]] [[image:bread130.jpg:Sliced bread:center:0]] [[image:bread131.jpg:Close up:center:0]] The Buttermilk Cheese bread was quite cheesy, and the texture was very nice and fluffy. Quite an enjoyable bread, had a nice tang from both the buttermilk and the sharp cheddar cheese. Next, I decided to experiment with brioche. Brioche is a french […]
Continue readingBut Dopey He Aint, Thankfully
So I arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport from Bangalore by way of Chennai (which I was told used to be called Madras, by the way) at around 1540 hours this morning. I was early enough to jama’ qasar my Isha’ with my Maghrib before Subuh began. Tonight while putting him to bed, Ain & I came to the conclusion that Irfan (like most kids his age) are 2/7th (or 0.28571429) of the Seven Dwarves (as told by what is now known as the Disney Company). Why? Cause he’s both Grumpy and Sleepy at the same time when fighting his lethargy.
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On The Way To Work At Bangalore
From the hotel to Yelahanka Air Force Station, I took a cab. For three days I took the same cab. It was a four wheel drive vehicle. The driver’s name was Mallesh. I had his cellular phone number and when I heard it rang there was a Tamil song on the other end. It was he who sent me to the airport after everything was over. And I was happy with his service. Anyway it takes an hour (and sometimes almost two if traffic’s really jammed up) to reach Yelahanka from the hotel and vice versa. I took plenty of photos over the course of several days. Here is a small collection of them. Bear in mind that my travels never took me anywhere near the city of Bangalore (unless it was the trip to and from the airport) so it was mostly rural countryside photos and small towns along […]
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Arrival At India
Two Friday nights ago, I got a call saying I had to be in Bangalore by Tuesday for work reasons. I said there was no way for me to get the visa and ticket done for me to be there by that time, so Tuesday was postponed to Thursday. Visa was impossible to obtain on a weekend. The following Monday, the preparation to obtain the visa (a set of three photographs, etc.) was done. However, since we also had to take Irfan to the doctor’s that morning, there was no time to reach the Indian High Commission by noon to submit the visa application form. After that, with Ain’s help I booked the ticket to Bangalore (by way of Chennai). On Tuesday, I spent from morning to the afternoon waiting for my number to be called so I could submit my application form to the counter at the High Commission. […]
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Alternate Universe Irfan’s School Friends
If Schrödinger’s cat meowed in a totally opposite way once upon a time, Irfan would have had totally different school friends from the ones he has now. So, I’ve tried taking photos by tripping the light fantastic (after a fashion) and using quantum visual camera with the Heisenberg compensators at level two. What I got was a series of photos of Irfan playing at friends’ house as if I’d never choose to leave my old job and move to Kuala Lumpur. Very interesting.
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Irfan Goes To Cherating
For the Thaipusam / Federal Territory Day holidays, we went for a free night’s stay (plus one extra night of paid stay) at a resort at Cherating in Pahang. It was not realy in Cherating, but further up north towards Chukai, in the seaside hamlet of Chendor. (Don’t ask about all the ‘Ch’ names at the towns there, I don’t get it either.) It was a resort by the sea, pretty clean, homey and had a relaxing atmosphere. I’m gonna let the pictures tell the stories and I’ll be over there listening to MP3s if anyone needs me. By the way, the free night stay was an belated anniversary and birthday present to us from Cik Emma. Many thanks to her for booting us out of the house so we can enjoy some fresh air outside the city. Irfan loved the bedsheets. After discovering the superb swimming pool, we had […]
Continue readingBreads 2006 (Sprouted Wheat Bread)
I really have been remiss in posting my bread experiments from last year! So to continue the story, I take up where I left off: the next bread I baked in April. I tackled a complicated bread and took so many different pictures that I figure it rates its own entry. 😀 I have been baking pretty steadily, and really getting into bread baking. It’s still something I enjoy doing, and the process is getting quite familiar and comforting. It’s still an adventure to see whether the bread will rise or not, or if it will have the texture I want. In fact, I’ve even branched out to combining a bit of gardening with baking bread. This bread is called Sprouted Wheat Bread. It’s a whole wheat flour dough that is enhanced by adding sprouted wheat berries into the mix. You start off 3 days prior to baking day, growing […]
Continue readingBirthday Surprise
As Hisham so kindly posted, my birthday was just last Monday, January 29th. It was a really good day, not to mention I began celebrating on Saturday with a small dinner party with friends. I just wanted to do a quick recap, because as part of the birthday fun, something happened which will change Vin’s and my life! We begin first with cake. I made Orange Chocolate Chunk cake on Saturday (I was in the mood for chocolate and citrus). The cake is filled with semi sweet chocolate chunks and orange zest. Here’s the cake when it first came out of the oven: [[image:janbday01.jpg:Fresh from the oven:center:0]] Then spoon over some orange syrup while the cake is still hot: [[image:janbday02.jpg:Shiny syrupy cake:center:0]] When the cake is cooled, cover it with a chocolate ganache: [[image:janbday03.jpg:Ganache:center:0]] I also wanted to take the time here to thank everyone for their phone calls, emails, […]
Continue readingAnother Celebration!
February 1st. A holiday in KL. More importantly, Hisham’s birthday!! Happy birthday, Yope! May this year be filled with happiness and blessings. You’re the best brother ever (my favorite brother, even!) and I love you and appreciate everything you do for us. You’ve always been a great brother, it’s great to see you become an awesome dad and a wonderful husband, and still remain a good son, brother, brother in law. Break out the cake! It’s time for my brother to spread his bronchitis by blowing out some candles. Seriously dude, have an awesome day. Love yas from Vin and me.
Continue readingTok & Opah Irfan Comes A-visiting
Last Saturday, my parents (also known as Irfan’s Grandparents) came to spend several days with us. It was the first time, they saw Irfan all dressed up ready to go to school with his memory bag prepared for battle. It was also fun for them to be seeing Irfan spelling out words, writing the alphabet and reciting bedtime and mealtime doas. His claim that W was an inverted M is quite amusing.[[image:zippy01.jpg:Watching TV:center:0]] Sunday morning, Ain, Irfan and I took Tok & Opah Irfan for a visit at Sungai Congkak. Irfan as usual loved the river and liked seeing leaves go over the rocks in the river. I also showed him beautiful blue dragonflies, water skimmers and vibrant, green algae growing out of roots of the tall trees at the riverbank. Tok Irfan took some great photos.[[image:zippy03.jpg:Irfan on the rocks:center:0]][[image:zippy02.jpg:Good luck getting me out of the water:center:0]] Irfan also had […]
Continue readingIt’s That Double Celebration Time of the Year Again…
… where I wish my sister Sila a very happy birthday and my parents (and Irfan’s grandparents) a very happy anniversary, both from Irfan, Ain & me. May this year bring more joy and happiness into their lives. They’ve been the best family ever and I wouldn’t want my life with them in the past 34 years to be different in any way whatsoever.
Continue readingTennis
A little bit of retrospective blogging: back to Mak and Abah’s visit here. Even though it was early November, we had a nice warm-ish day, so we decided to head out to Miami University Middletown (MUM) tennis courts for a little exercise. Abah, of course, has been playing tennis (and playing it well) for 40 years. Hisham and I both learned to play when we were little, and I know I was never very good at it. But I do love going outside, going to the courts, and getting some exercise (trying to beat Vin which I have never done yet – give me time!). So the four of us packed into the car, and took the short drive to MUM. We couldn’t drive right up to the tennis courts (they closed the gate to the access road) so we parked the car in the car park a short walk […]
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Cracken’s Collection of What?!?
In the tradition of West End Games’ series of sourcebooks such as Cracken’s Rebel Field Guide, Cracken’s Rebel Operatives and Cracken’s Threat Dossier (all of which are books written in-universe by the fictional General Airen Cracken), I now bring you the non-official mini-sourcebook pdf for the Star Wars Roleplaying Game (D6 rules version)… Cracken’s Collection of Crazed Crackpots. It’s created 100% by open source software. The artwork was made with The Gimp, the layouts were done in Scribus, and some elements were saved in EPS and ported from Inkscape. And it’s compressed into a zip file by Ubuntu’s onboard archiver. It’s basically a book about some dangerous escapees from a nuthouse for the criminally insane. Stats are included for D6 roleplaying goodness. Take it seriously at your own risk… and sanity. Apologies for not having the time to create a back page. Oh, and Airen Cracken doesn’t really appear until […]
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Yesterday’s Birthday Cake
Yesterday was Ain’s birthday. I thought I could have the money to buy a present for Ain this year. But we spent way over our regular budget this month getting Irfan prepared for kindergarten. So, maybe next year. Anyway, there was cake as can be seen in the photograph below. And apparently Irfan ain’t partial to yoghurt cheese cakes. Which is good news, cause there’s more for me! 😀 Happy birthday, my wife and my companion through adventure and hardship.
Continue readingBread for Abah and Mak
A quick review back to Mak and Abah’s visit here last year. After all this while of looking at the breads I’ve been baking, I finally got a chance to have them taste my home made breads. Here’s Abah and Mak’s introduction to one of Vin’s favorite breads, Raisin Orange Bread. While I was making this bread, Abah was running around wondering when he would get to eat it! After all, with bread baking you have to knead the dough, let it rise, then shape the loaf and let it rise again (that’s about the average way to bake bread, with 2 risings). Without the rising, the yeast won’t make the bread nice and fluffy! Then after all this, the bread has to go in the oven to bake. Abah was just about ready to give up on the bread when it finally got out of the oven. [[image:us346.jpg:Abah and […]
Continue reading10 Reasons not to go outside
After about a week of rain and snow flurries and overcast skies (luckily it wasn’t too too cold so no snow stuck), Friday was a sunny day. Cold and windy, but the sun was finally out and Vin and I took the afternoon off to go out and spend the afternoon together. Saturday wasn’t a bad day either. But this is what I woke up to this morning and my heart fell. Let’s not be shy about it. Believe me, I don’t make any excuses – I will say it out loud and say it strong. I HATE SNOW! I loathe it. I think that snow is the single most depressing thing in the world, and the one reason that I would think about moving. Here are 10 pictures of the scene I saw when I woke up this morning. The first snow of the season that has any kind […]
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