Tomato Basil Bread

I was browsing through the Zojirushi website and came across a list of recipes. Found one that piqued my interest and I decided to try it at home. Tweaked it a little as I did not have dried basil or garlic powder, and used fresh ingredients instead.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup tomato juice

1 tbsp olive oil

2 1/4 cups bread flour

1 1/2 tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tbsp milk powder

1 tsp salt

10 basil leaves, chopped finely

2 garlic cloves, chopped finely

1 tsp instant yeast

Instructions:
Add all the ingredients to the breadmaker and let it do its magic.

One Year

It's hard to imagine how much my life has changed in the past year. I started dating +3. We bought a house. We travelled to London and Scotland. We got engaged. And now we are looking forward to the next phase of our lives together.

Looking back, it doesn't seem like only a year has passed, especially if you judge the passage of time by how comfortable you feel with your partner.  When I think about my relationship with +3, it doesn't feel like we have been together for only a year. In fact, there's a very "old couple" feel to our relationship, like we've been together for years and years.

But because it's still a relatively new relationship, there is still much to learn about each other and I guess that's what makes this so much fun. A combination feeling of old and new, of being so comfortable with each other yet learning and adapting to live together better.

I've definitely grown as a person in the past year. One thing I love about +3 is how he is always able to give me a different (usually more logical) perspective on things. I also love how we can be absolutely silly with each other, making up songs and dances (in the privacy of home, of course) and yet when it comes to serious business, we work well as a team and are generally on the same page on things.

We have our fights too, as all couples do. But we talk about the issues, work things out, and we have come out stronger and closer as a couple.

--

Thank you, dear, for loving me and my family and for being such a wonderful partner. I've been so happy and am excited about what the future brings us, knowing it will be good with you by my side.

The Pros And Cons Of Owning A Breadmaker

I don't really remember how my obsession with getting a breadmaker started. Perhaps it was a conversation with 222, I'm not too sure. But anyway, somehow it got into my head that I wanted one and +3 bought one for me to celebrate our first anniversary.

To be frank, I think he wasn't all that keen to get one but I kept talking and talking and talking about it. Thankfully, after waking up to the smells of freshly baked bread the next morning, he was sold.

I've been posting the pictures of bread that I've baked, plus incessantly yakking to anyone and everyone who would hear about the awesomeness of the breadmaker. And so I thought I'd summarise the pros and cons of getting my breadmaker (Zojirushi Home Bakery Mini -  BB HAQ10).

Pros- Yummy Smells + Timer Setting
I think one of the best things about  getting a breadmaker is waking up to the smells of freshly baked bread in the morning. I'm not sure if it is something all breadmakers can do, but mine has a timer function that allows you to set it up to 13 (I think), hours in advance.

Pros- Easy to Prepare
I usually prepare the ingredients before going to bed, set the timer, potter around the house and then go to bed. When we wake up in the morning, it's done! No need to knead and wait for the dough to proof, then punch it down and proof again before baking. Heck, I don't even need to mix the ingredients together. Just measure it out and put them in the pan (in the order stated in the recipe book). It's *so* easy.

Pros- No Preservatives
A big draw for me was being able to bake bread that had no preservatives in it. Because we bake the bread in small portions, it also means that we finish the bread sooner and do not need to keep it.

Pros- Environmentally Friendly
I didn't really think about this but +3 shared that one of the things he really liked is how we consume less plastics now since we don't have to individually wrap each loaf of bread in plastic packaging. A good point!

Of course, I have to be realistic and talk about the cons.

Cons- Space
One of the major reasons +3 wasn't so keen on getting a breadmaker is the lack of space in the kitchen. But eventually we found a space for it.

Cons- Not So Cost Effective
On top of the cost of buying the machine ($338 on sale), you have to keep buying ingredients. To start we bought a 1kg bag of bread flour ($3.50 I think), some yeast (5 packets for $2), and dried milk ($19.90 for 1kg -  why is milk so expensive!). We already had sugar and salt.

I'm assuming the milk powder will last forever since each loaf only requires about 2 tablespoons of the stuff.  A packet of yeast lasts for about 4-5 loaves, and the bag of flour about 3 loaves. So you will keep having to buy flour if you plan on baking bred regularly.

Cons- Hot Loaf And Slicing
Ok maybe this isn't really a con but being used to having room temperature sliced bread from the supermarket, it does get a tad tiring to have to deal with hot appliances when you just wake up in the morning. And we don't have a bread knife so I've been hacking at my loaves of bread with a chopping knife.  Lol.

Cons- The Mess
Again, this could be because of aforementioned hacking of bread but the crumbs make a mess. 

Anyway all in all I do think the pros outweigh the cons and would highly recommend getting one.

A Date!

Oooh I'm so excited. I'm getting ready to leave the office (in about 5 minutes) to go on a date!

Was chatting with a colleague today and somehow ended up talking about Geylang. Me, being the glutton that I am, immediately thought of the beef hor fun and how it's been a long time since I've eaten there (almost 10 years methinks).

Pinged +3 and asked if he would mind going there for instead of having the steamed vegetable dinner we originally planned, and the answer was obvious. Hehehe.

I'm excited because it's been a while since the both of us did something new and different. These days, we tend to meet at the same places or just have a home cooked dinner. But now it feels like we're going on a date and I can't wait!

Happiness! It's almost 6pm. Time to log off. Wheee!

Green Chilli Sambal

Here is a very simple recipe for a green chilli sambal. The level of spiciness can be adjusted by the number of chilli padi added - more if you like it spicy, less if you prefer a milder version.

Ingredients:

10pcs of green chilli

4-5 pcs of green chilli padi (more if you want it more spicy, less if you prefer is milder)

3-4pcs of shallots, sliced thinly

3pcs of kaffir lime leaves, julienned after centre stalk removed

salt
sugar
lime juice

oil

Instructions:
Steam green chilli and chilli padi for about 5 minutes till it softens. Remove and roughly blend in a food processor, or pound it using a mortar and pestle.

Heat up oil with high heat, add the chilli paste, shallots and lime leaves. Reduce heat and keep stirring. Add salt, sugar and lime juice to taste.

Oh Such Joy! - Simple Granola Bars

Found a very simple recipe online for making no-bake granola bars. This was perfect because we do not have an oven at +3's place, and the ingredients required were quite minimal.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1 cup almonds

1 cup pitted dates (I'll reduce this next time)

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup honey

parchment paper to line

Instructions:

Chop dates finely. You can use a food processor but I just chopped them up with a knife on a chopping board.

Add peanut butter and honey to a small pot and heat it up to melt. Mix thoroughly and remove from heat. Add oats and peanuts and chopped dates and mix thoroughly till the dates are well incorporated.
Line a small tray with parchment paper, and put the granola mix on. Cover with parchment paper and use a rolling pin to roll it flat. The mix should be packed quite densely.

Leave to cool and place in the fridge overnight. Remove the next morning and cut into bars.

Malgudi Days

I'm reading a collection of short stories that I studied for Literature when I was back in school.  Chanced upon a copy of Malgudi Days in a bookshop on one of my many trips to India a couple of years ago, bought it out of nostalgia and left it in my cupboard.  It was only when I was going through my shelf last night did I find this book that I once spent days reading and re-reading in preparation for the exams.

The stories are familiar but there is a new pleasure in reading these words again.  Perhaps my many jaunts in India has given me a better appreciation of the descriptions of the sights and sounds written in these stories.  Perhaps it's knowing that I do not have to remember details of names and the corresponding facts to be questioned on later. Or perhaps it is just really being able to enjoy lying in bed with my book in hand.

Doesn't really matter why, does it.  Back to my book.  :)