Exam time...

Guess what! It's exam time again... This is when:

1) Kids who value their future will panic.
2) Kids who worry about how to answer to their parents will be stressed.
3) Kids who did not study will 'pray' that they will 'advance' to the next level next year.
4) Kids who just don't care about their results will be so bored and will end up getting caught doing 'stupid' things during the exams...

Whichever category you belong to just bear in mind... it's your choice in the first place! No one can force you into doing anything you don't like or don't want to do. So live with it!

Something Interesting from China

Not sure if this is true but really interesting. (why not just give me the car...so wasteful!)

Chinese Blog Pictures

Kids, here are the pictures you asked for... Let me know if I should take this post down after you used the pictures.

Recipe: Cup Cakes

Cupcakes

225g Self Raising Flour, sifted
130g Sugar
125g Butter, soften
3 Eggs, light beaten
60ml Milk
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Toppings like chocolate chips, raisins, etc.

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Place sugar, butter, eggs, milk and vanilla extract in a bowl.
3. Beat to combine.
4. Gradually add in the flour.
5. Beat well till mixture is smooth and pale.
6. Stir in chocolate chip, raisins, nuts, etc. (Anything you like to add in).
7. Spoon mixture into muffin cups.
8. Bake for 15 minutes till golden brown on top. (You can check if it's cooked using a toothpick)
9. Cool on rack.
10. Enjoy!

Recipe: Yogurt Bread

Yogurt Bread

250g bread flour
15g sugar
3g salt
3g yeast
100g flavoured yogurt (I've used Mango yogurt)
60g fresh milk
25g egg (about half an egg)
30g butter

1. Place all wet ingredient into the bread maker.
2. Add all the dry ingredient on top of the wet ingredient. Make the yeast the last dry ingredient to be put into the bread maker.
3. Select sandwich bread mode. Start machine.
4. Machine will start kneeding and proofing process. Once 1st proofing is done, remove dough from the bread maker and separate dough into small buns. Place buns onto a flat bake tray.
5. Cover the tray with a cling wrap and allow the dough to go for second proofing until double its size again.
6. Egg wash the top of the buns and sprinkle some sesame seeds on top of each small bun.
7. Bake in preheated oven at 170-180C for 20 minutes until the top turns golden brown.
8. Remove bun from tray to cool completely.

Note:
- This recipe can also be baked into a loaf. I would suggest baking the loaf at 160C for about 30mins.
- The dough is not sticky and is hence good to use for shaping to make into buns.
- To prevent wastage to the egg, you can adjust the amount of milk you use.

Recipe: Focaccia with Rosemary and Sea Salt

I love bread and just love to 'play' around in the kitchen. Have decided to post some recipe in the blog also to share with friends. Here's the first one.

Focaccia with Rosemary and Sea Salt
7g sachet easy-blend dried yeast
280 ml water ( room temperature )
6-7 Tblsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 tsp sea salt
2 Tblsp finely chopped fresh rosemary, plus extra sprigs
about 500 g unbleached white bread flour
2 tsp coarse sea salt
extra flour for dusting
extra oil for greasing bowl
An oiled roasting or baking tin, about 25cm x 35cm (I used a bread pan)

• Place half the flour in a large bowl (I did this in my mixer bowl), add the salt, chopped rosemary and mix briefly.
• Tip in the yeast and mix well.
• Pour in all the water and 3 tablespoons of olive oil.
• Mix until the flour is incorporated.
• If you're doing this by hand, just beat the mixture together with your hand.
• Gradually work in, spoonful by spoonful, enough of the remaining flour to make a soft but not sticky dough.
• Knead for 10 minutes until smooth and silky, or 5 minutes slowly in a mixer with dough hook.
• Leave to rise until doubled in size at cool to normal room temperature in a lightly oiled mixing bowl covered with a damp tea towel or clingfilm. This will take about 2 hours.
• Once risen, knock back and shape into a rectangle, then press into the base of the tin. Push into the corners and even out.
• Cover and let rise until doubled (about 45 minutes).
• Flour fingertips and make 1cm deep dimples in the dough at regular intervals. Cover and let double again - approximately 45 minutes.
• While dough is rising again, preheat oven to 220C/Gas Mark 7.
• Once risen, press sprigs of rosemary into the dimples and fill with the remainder of the olive oil.
• Sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. The bread should be golden brown.
• Cool on a wire rack.

Term 4 week 1 2008

Can you believe it? It's already term 4 week 1! Just find that this year goes by really fast. so busy with work and everything and all of a sudden it's term 4 already!

Just received my class T-shirt. Thanks to the class committee to 'finally' got it done. I like the colors. (Was thinking that the pink is not so 'pink' after all.)

Here's how it looks like in the front and back respectively...



Next in line... the EOY barbecue

Pot Luck Gathering (06/09/08)

Classmates and I had a potluck dinner at Siew Yen and Geoff's place last night. There was so much good food that by the end of the evening, most were already eaten. Here are some pictures taken of the kids and friends.

Botanic Gardens September 2008

Seems like I always visit the Botanic Garden (not the 'Botanical Garden') everytime I have a new camera. Went there this morning and took some pictures with the D300. The camera is really really sharp. I decided to leave the WB (White Balance) at automatic to see how it fared. I'm very happy to say that it is rather accurate. Here are some pictures taken using the camera. The lens I brought along is the 18-200 and the 60 Macro.








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