Braids

I'm here, I'm here! Still alive and busy!

So much to do, so little time - yet I had time to braid breads. See what I did there?

Had leftover strong flour from pizza-making earlier this year so I decided to make a 5-braid loaf. Only tempted to bake this because I saw photos while surfing through Instagram and it looked pretty! However I think my dough was too wet, and it didn't rise properly, so the texture wasn't great in the end.

Not sure if I'm gonna do a second try on this since I've got very little flour left and I don't really intend on getting any more. Partly because I discovered that I might have gluten-intolerance, I'm trying to cut down on stuff like this. Not avoiding bread totally though, since I love them quite a bit! 

Have you tried Sainsbury's Cranberry, Orange & Pumpkin Seed Loaf? 

or Marks & Spencer's Pecan and Cranberry Baton?

My two favourites! 

Anyway here's the recipe I sort of followed - tweaked a bit here and there since I didn't use cheese and herbs. 

I also really want to try some gluten-free recipes soon so hopefully I'll have the time! Back to work now!

Can't go wrong with Chinese cooking

Minced pork with leek, served with sliced cucumbers

Was just clearing my fridge today before leaving for the States next week, and the one thing I really want to get rid of is the frozen minced meat passed down by a senior before he left Notts for good. Basically at the end of every term, seniors clear out their stuff and juniors tend to get showered with either (used) gifts or well - junk.

I got both, haha.

Speaking of frozen food, I don't ever freeze my meat longer than the 'best before' date! I don't like the idea of what's going inside of me not being in its 'best' state, and yes I'm an advocate of eating fresh food! 

However, another thing that I'm an advocate of is not wasting edible food. It must have been training since a kid - my parents always made sure that I finish all the food on my plate, and that means every grain of rice. Of course, I don't force myself to finish up anything beyond what I think is suitable for my appetite. It was a problem at boarding school, where the dining hall auntie would scoop a standard portion onto your plate and I'll go "oh auntie/uncle, enough enough enough- or, oh thanks- not so much!!!", haha! Then again, I'm no saint. Before the time when I took the initiative to request for smaller portions, I do remember throwing away quite some leftovers, OR eat everything up and get too full. WHICH IS BAD. You guys should never do that. Over eating is totally unhealthy! I've changed my mindset and told myself nowadays that I'll have to be reasonable and evaluate the situation myself.

Whenever I go out now, I make sure I order something light (it's always better to be just not hungry than to be too full), or, if when I'm with my friends, I'll ask them if they'd like to share the meals with me (Seow Wei you didn't wanna share my chips :'( hehe).

Anyway, this dish above is really simple: 

I used coconut oil to sauté ginger strips and red onions. 

Add minced pork and fry till slightly golden.

Throw in the chopped leek and stir-fry somemore, then add boiled water and allow it to simmer -

this is to make sure that my pork is very properly cooked!  

I added shaoxing wine too, and let it simmer until all the moisture is evaporated.

Add grounded black pepper, salt, sugar and some white pepper - voila! 

Garnished with fresh coriander and served with slices of cucumber.

Happy Tuesday! 

Poof!

Whoa. I know it's been long since my last post - so many things have happened and I guess that's prolly why I haven't had the chance to do any blogging at all!

The only social media site I can keep up with is Instagram, and I think I'm gonna put up a widget on the side of this blog just in case you'd like to follow me on my daily adventures!

Mom and I have been travelling a LOT since summer holidays started, and I'm not sure if I'm dedicated enough to type out the stuff that we saw and did, but I'll try my best to keep this updated with photos (at least).

Anyway, last weekend had been a good ketchup with Seow Wei and I fell in love with London and its happenings all over again. We ate a lot, talked a lot, saw a lot, heard a lot. Brunches have been trendy lately and I can absolutely see why! Who doesn't like a full, happy tummy at the start of your day? Not just food for the belly, but food for the eyes really!

We went to The Modern Pantry on Saturday where I had the curry leaves waffle and a matcha latte (which I loved), then Bea's of Bloomsbury where we had the awesomest red velvet cupcakes ever! Jin Wun is a crazy Lola's fan, but this is a self-note to bring that girl to Bea's for their cupcakes 'cos I think it's slightly better than Lola's. Not bad indeed, so thumbs up for you, Bea's! Sadly, they ran out of scones so we couldn't try any. Boo.

The last time I wanted to book for afternoon tea at Bea's, they were also out of slots, so it's advisable to book much in advance! I tried The Wolseley instead, and their cakes were so-so decent but the decor was grand. Very nice. So yes, I would bring a friend there again. ZX (who tried both Bea's and Wolseley) said Bea's scones are better... so yeah... have to go back.

Sunday morning with SW started out at Dishoom in Covent Garden, and we tried their famous bacon naan and chai. Hmm... I've had better mamak breakfast back in Malaysia but this ain't a bad place for a morning hangout. Pretty cool '20s-ish posters of Indian girls and women framed on walls, and their toilets were decorated with Indian ointment bottles and packagings. Quirky?

The initial plan was to visit the Science Museum and we were so close... we went to V&A Museum on the way, spent about an hour there, got distracted by the thought of Patty & Bun burgers and so we went back to Bond Street for more FOOD. YES. YAY.

Wait. What Science Museum?

So anyway. Smokey Robinson at Patty & Bun. Go for it man, seriously. Deliciously messy but so worth it! It's not even expensive, which is a huge factor for me when it comes to looking for good food! Because my mommy is such a good cook (and yes I'm bragging about her 'cos she's that awesome!), I sometimes find it difficult to choose a place where I can get good food that is also value-for-money. Patty & Bun... good juicy beef, properly grilled (I got pink elixir oozing out before I opened the wrapping), an okay bun, just the right taste - checked.

Fast forward, fast forward.

BBC Proms. Long story cut short: want cheap tickets? Queue. 5 quid. Not a great view of the orchestra if you're not tall. Excellent music. Gorgeous venue. Royal Albert Hall.

I'm not an orchestra music expert but I really enjoyed myself! All I can say is very nice! very nice! very, very nice! Here's a review I stumbled upon while trying to google the piece they played during the encores, so if you'd like to read someone else's more detailed review, there you go. Music is subjective I know, but you get a better description of the night from there than just "very nice".

Bank Holiday Monday, tadaa! Since SW doesn't have to go to work, we went for brunch at Ottolenghi. Prettiest spread of food, buffet style, but mostly for take-aways. We got our tables after a 30-minute wait and I had my frittata and hot choc. What did I like about that place... hmm. The feast for the eyes (or rather, the food I didn't get to try since I ordered my hot breakfast and was too full for anything else). Tempted to tapao the sourdough bread but I didn't. Tempted to tapao some cakes but I didn't. But I'll go back again to try them, definitely.

That's it I guess - well that's a long post. Thanks for the great company, SW! Can't wait to see you in London again!

Tata for now folks, Italy photos next time, hopefully!

p.s. Can't wait for my upcoming NYC trip AAAH!!!

Weekend in London, again

Nicole and I got a table booked at Duck & Waffle two weeks before as we knew that we were going to have to go through the hell week at uni and needed a good break after that. After our financial economics presentation on Friday, we hopped on the train and got ourselves in time for dinner. We went to The Little French Restaurant at Earls Court as the food was pretty decent and affordable, and I managed to bring Phanit away from his computer games to come join us! 

On Saturday, we started the day late with a full English breakfast, then went straight to Picadilly Circus for lunch with Seow Wei, Zhao Feng, Eunice and Alicia. Zedels had pretty interior and I loved the posters on the walls, but their 9 quid 2-course meal offer was a bit of a scam as you can't choose anything else besides their steak with a shredded carrots starter, or dessert (pear tart I think? or coffee and biscuits sort of thing). Instead I had rabbit and pasta and shared a lovely Gateau Opera (chocolate cake, basically) with Nicole for dessert.

We were stuffing ourselves so much, and even went on to Gelupo for more sweet treats. I had the mint chocolate flavour and it was yummy-mummy! I was starting to think that we wouldn't need to order so much for dinner since we had loads of goodies throughout the day, but I was wrong.

Our Duck & Waffle reservation was at 5 p.m., so Nicole and I headed to Camden market to walk around for a bit before heading over to Liverpool Street. The timing and day for such a dinner were absolutely perfect as we were blessed with a very beautiful sunset. To be honest I was screaming with excitement inside as we went up to the 40th floor, but had to remain composed and all that, y'know. Only when I saw others whipping out their cameras and phones, I took my little x20 out and meekly took a few shots of the beautiful London below.

Everything about Duck & Waffle was great that evening, and the service there was excellent. We went for a walk around Westminster before heading back, then met up with Nicole's friend and stayed up late chatting over drinks at Phanit's place. The plan for Sunday was to visit Borough Market but we decided to detour and went to Harrods instead. 

We had pastries for breakfast and I tried Gran Caffe's Mille Feuilles and a cup of moccacino. Despite their posh interior and prime location, the service was rather bad and the breakfast was too sweet for my liking... I expected way more from them and I'd say that I was disappointed! Should have just gone in to Harrods' food hall and get some of their lovely cakes instead!

It was one of the nicest, most relaxing weekend I've had since I got back to England after cny, and I'm definitely gonna do this again soon!

#3 carrot cake

My mommy's recipe:

• 240g carrots
• 120g canned pineapples
• 60g raisins
• 60g walnuts/ I used an extra 60g raisins instead of nuts because Nicole's allergic to nuts
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp vanilla essence
• 4 eggs
• 150g brown sugar
• 180ml corn oil/ canola oil/ I used light olive oil
• 240g self-raising flour with 1/2 tsp baking powder & 1/2 tsp baking soda/ I used Allinsons Wholemeal Seed & Grain Flour, a teaspoon of baking powder and baking soda each
• a pinch of salt, which I forgot to add

Beat the eggs and sugar until the mixture gets fluffy, everything else comes next.

Fold in the flour mixture until you get a nice consistency.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes on 170 °C.

Note: Squeeze the carrot juice out so that it's not too wet. Also, chop your raisins and nuts before adding for nicer bites. 

As for the cream cheese topping, it's a ratio of 1 to 1 of soft cream cheese, and an equal mixture of melted butter and icing sugar. Meaning that if I use 100g of cream cheese, it's 50g of butter and 50g of icing sugar. I thought that we didn't have any icing sugar left in the house so I missed it out in this batch of cream tonight. Was in the cupboard all along! 

That's it for this week's 52. Hope everyone will enjoy this recipe, goodnight folks! 

#2, detox

HA. Kidding! Nope, I did not have any mayonnaise on my healthy, veggie, fruity, week - that was a day before I started on week 2's challenge. Healthy week it is, but I might have gone a little overboard with the amount of groceries for this week!

Day 1 and 2 were easier than I thought. I actually get to snack on whatever amount of fruits and veggies, so that felt very nice! Grapes and melons are my personal faves. 

Day 3 failed because Kimmie hosted a Vietnamese dinner specially for us, and she really did put in a lot of effort to make it happen. That's a one-meal discount but I still kept up with my plan the next day. Tomorrow is Day 5 and it's beef day! Yep, I'm finally eating meat again after 4 days - it's not hard being vegetarian after all. 

Anyway, that's all I have for blog updates. Rather abrupt end but it's gonna be a crazy week at uni this week: 3 tutorials + 1 coursework presentation. Wish me luck folks.

more than just dough and cheese

Remember I mentioned that there were lots of pizza dough left from the week #1 challenge? I tried making different kinds of pizza (and buns) and I'm glad with the results! I used anchovies as fillings for my pizza buns and had them with seaweed and sambal. Yeap, Malaysian tastebuds ftw!

Well, enough of pizza for now, I'm moving on to week #2. This week's challenge... is to go for a detox! I've not tried any sort of dieting before, but my family is going for it and I should too. It only lasts for one week and I've also got to keep up with my workout regime, so wish me luck and hopefully I don't get lazy.

Project 52 is on again!

The last time I made myself do a 52-week project, I failed miserably after week... 3? (previously it was an attempt to do conceptual self-portraits)

I came up with something more feasible now, that is to make/ bake/ cook/ read/ do something new once a week. I think it's important to learn how to never be afraid of making mistakes and that it's okay to fail at things sometimes, so I intend to document my experience in this little space. Hopefully I'll keep up to it!

Here's week 1, and it's Pizza Wednesday.

Getting the dough consistency right was difficult for me - I used too much water for my yeast and ended up having to top up more flour until the mixture is just about right. And this baby grows twice its size after sitting in the bowl for an hour. Yeah, you can imagine the amount of leftover dough I have in my fridge. Guess what's for dinner tonight, and lunch tomorrow, and dinner too? Hur hur. 

The second mistake was to use greaseproof paper! DO NOT use greaseproof paper to line your pan/tin! (or maybe I used them wrongly) The paper was stuck to my pizza base, so I ended up scraping the pizza off with a knife and the meal turned out to look quite unglam, haha!

Pizza was rather bread-like too, I was hoping that it would turn out crusty but it didn't. Better try next time (or tonight).

Overall I thought today turned out okay - messed around in the kitchen, and the best part is that I don't have any classes today. Double yay!

Got tips or ideas to share, anyone? Join me in this project, google a new recipe and make something today! :)

Travelling

There was again a brief hiatus on this blog, and I only have unplugged holidays, uni exams and two new years in a month to blame. December went well with a trip to Southern Germany with Ying Hui, followed by a crazy few weeks of revision, then now, believe or not, I'm in Malaysia to celebrate Chinese New Year with the dearest people to me.

Didn't plan to come home until I graduate next summer, and wanted to travel somewhere in Europe for a treat after our exams (supposedly Netherlands, and ironically I did stop over at Amsterdam for transit on my way back). What changed my mind - I do not know - but what I'm certain of is that getting the flight ticket home was probably one of my best 500 quid spent on something. I kept it away from my family's knowledge for a month, and the expressions on their faces when they saw me at the restaurant last night was really, priceless. 

This also means that I would have to wait a little longer before I can get my 35mm 1.4. But that's okay. 

I want to show you how pretty Triberg was. I want to tell you about my fair share of sunsets, and brag more about the amount of lebkuchens we ate in Nurnberg. There is much to tell but as for now, I'm just gonna head down to the beach and read The Fault In Our Stars till it's time for lunch.

Life at home is good.

I'm on Dayre!

Fast blogging on the phone for busy people. Here's mine!

http://dayre.me/thejoycelau What's yours?

Will update this space with photos of my travels and stuff soon, but for now, happy studying for Jan exams and happy new year everyone!