Connected Again

Hello world.

Have been away for almost a month. Away as in internet absence for almost a month.

The recent months had been really really good. I have been reading quite a bit (random books), bought a Yoga mat, went away and had some quality time with hubs and my living dynamo, tried out some new recipes (I finally made my own Aoili!), walked my son to the park outside our house several times, read to him every other nights before we kiss goodnight (recently he is loving the ‘Gruffalo’), gazed at the stars and tried locating Mars and Jupiter, did a round of “Mickey-Musical-Latern which was given by our nice neighbors” during the Mid Autumn Festival and gee, the list goes on.

Frankly, I’ve been living without a personal PC for almost a month. No private emails, no blogging, no online shopping (opps), facebook etc. It has been really really good. This whole disconnectivity with the circular world felt good. It feels like I just went through some cleansing ritual, and really, I would strongly recommend this whole disconectivity-pursuit if you are feeling pressed and “a little too-into the rat race”. I think one should really do this, well, as least for me!

The past month has been an overwhelming month as well because we traveled as a family for the first time. No mother, sisters, in laws, tour guides, nothing! So, it was just the 3 of us, Ethan, hubs and I; we did the Land of the Rising Sun. That was an adventure I tell you. Armed with the only Japanese words I knew “arigato, sushi, sashimi, tempura, and chawanmushi” we conquered the land of Shinkansens, hub to the latest electronic gadgets, historic ryokans,  GOOD FOOD, and seriously, good good food! I’ll write more about it soon.

While all these were happening, my son is now turning into a young broadcaster. He is picking up new words everyday and the latest addition to his vocabulary is .. yes, the much anticipated “penis”. It all started when Ethan did a leak while he was in his underwear ( we are trying to potty train him) and the horrified daddy had to clean up the mess. So big daddy took Ethan away from the targeted spot, wiped the stained floor, pull down Ethan’s underwear and sent him into the bath tub for clean-up. While cleaning up, big daddy pointed at baby e’s mini pride and glory and said “Ethan, when you she-she, you have to tell daddy and mummy”. Immediately, the baby pointed at his own p&g, giggled and said “she-she”. So big daddy had to do some correction, quickly he pointed to the mini one and said, “Ethan this is penis… you see, P-E-N-I-S”. Naturally, my brilliant son followed “pee-nise”. Ahhhh, and so it is done, the introduction to Penis 101 has began (try beating this) at 21 months. HAHAHAH. But seriously, he knows his penis, well at least the location of it. =)

It has been an amazing journey with Ethan so far. He is now coming to 22 months and showing early signs to the much dreaded terrible two. Yes, the time of trying to be independent while having to be dependent. Amazing isn’t it, how God create 2 year olds. I just love them!

It’s past midnight and all the other living creatures in the room are fast asleep. My head’s spinning and will need to hit my cradle now.

So for now, sweet dreams and good night!
I’m connected again.

sour-paus

As some of you guys knew, I went for a 9km marathon with hubs this morning. So, last night, I thought of a brilliant idea to make Red Bean (tausa) Pau for all of us for breakfast.

So what I did was, I prepared the tausa dough last night, left it in the oven to proof. Thougt I should only line the paus in the steamer this morning so that all of us would have a nice piping hot tausa pau for breakfast.

However, when I went down this morning at 6 to steam the paus, to my horror, I saw these awful, ugly, flat and bubbly pau dough sitting on the oven tray starring at me! THEY LOOKED SICK!!! Immediately, I darted over to my computer to google why my sweet looking tausa pau turned into an ugly-sick looking pau this morning. URGH….

Answer is: I over-proofed my paus.

Gee. So I learned a lesson not to over proof dough(s) for paus, breads etc. Here I thought it would be an intelligent idea to let it sit and to serve it fresh the next day. Not so intelligent after all. ?!

So, I came across some tips when making dough/bread/pau/buns or rather what went wrong when…

Crust is Too Thick
• Too much flour
• Insufficient rising
• Oven temperature too low

Baked Loaf Crumbles
• Dough not well mixed• Too much flour added
• Rising place too warm
• Dough allowed to rise too long
• Oven temperature too low

Bread has Sour Taste
• Rising place too warm and dough rose too fast
• Dough rose too long before being baked

Dough Does Not Rise
• Water temperature too cool for dissolving yeast• Dough to stiff – reduce flour
• Rising place too cool – raise in warmer area

Bread has Dark Streaks
• Uneven mixing or kneading
• Bowl greased too heavily
• Dough not covered during rising

Bread has Holes in it
• Air not completely pressed out of dough during kneading and shaping
• Dough rose too long before baking

Tops of Bread Cracks
• Bread cooled too rapidly – probably in a draft
• Dough too stiff – reduce flour
• Dough not well mixed

Bread Doesn’t Rise in Oven
• Rising place too warm
• Yeast weak or old
• Dough allowed to risk too long

Bread is Heavy and Compact
• Too much flour added
• Dough not allowed to rise long enough
• Certain flours create heavier products (whole wheat and rye)

Bread Doughy Inside and Coarse Grained
• Loaf under baked
• Insufficient rising

Bread Falls in Oven
• Dough rose too much before baking

Bread Does Not Brown on Sides
• Pan too bright which reflects heat away from sides
• Overcrowding in oven
• Poor pan placement – try a different area of the oven

Bread Smells and Tastes of Yeast
• Rising time too long
• Rising place too warm

Bread is Doughy on Bottom
• Bread left in pans to cool. Remove from pans and cool on rack

My goodness. Its not all that easy to make a nice tausa pau isn’t it?

Anyways, all of us ate the ugly looking paus. They tasted a little sour, but the tausa taste manage to cover-up the sour dough. And so, should you want to try making sour paus, ladies and gentlemen, just overproof your paus!

Jog for Hope 2010

Good grief!

I'm joining my husband for his uni's charity marathon drive, Jog for Hope 2010 tomorrow. I'm pretty nervous now. The last time I did running/cross-country, I always finished in the top 10. Right now,after more than 15 years of not running, I'm just hoping I won't be in the LAST 10!

People are USED and Things are LOVED

This was one of those forwarded mails I received in my inbox which I would like to keep and well, I'm sharing it with you. A very short and strong illustration of the self explanatory title.
Well, if Saritha you are reading this, I got this from you. =)
...
While a man was polishing his new car, his 4 yr old son picked a stone and scratched lines on the side of the car.

In anger, the man took the child's hand, and hit it many times, not realizing he was using an iron wrench.

At the hospital, the child lost all his fingers due to multiple fractures.When the child saw his father.... with painful eyes he asked 'Dad when willmy fingers grow back?'

The man was very hurt and speechless, he went back to car and kicked it alot of times. Devastated by his own actions...... sitting in front of that car he lookedat the scratches ........... the child had written 'LOVE YOU DAD'.

The next day that man committed suicide....
Anger and Love have NO LIMIT - choose the latter to have a beautiful and lovely life

THINGS are meant to be USED and PEOPLE are to be LOVED,
but the problem of today's world is that

People are USED and Things are LOVED!!!

She

When we first set eyes on her, she didn’t have the best looking physique and stature among the rest. However, when spoke to her the first time, she was relaxed, composed, and above all, she blew us away with smart responses. She smiled at every sentences ended, and she looked into out eyes when we spoke. That got us smiling, all the way home.

I remember asking impatiently when she would be able to come home.We furnished her room with a new bed frame, new mattress, fixed up her new wardrobe and washed up her bed sheet and pillow cases for her.

I remembered the day when she was going to arrive. My heart was beating as I waited patiently for her. When she stepped in, I gave her my biggest smile. I was so pleased.
She was quick to respond, followed instructions enthusiastically, quietly observed details and was on her feet at all times.

She was all I ever needed. My help, and my assistance.

We brought her along with us, as a family everywhere we went. Introduced many of our friends and relatives to her. Made sure she feels assured and safe with us. We brought her out for dinner with us countless times. Made her order what she likes to eat. Bought nice clothing for her. And gave her more often than not, more that enough rest time, (from 8pm onwards).

Unconsciously, we have made her like a part of our very young and little family.

8 months past. We were starting to loose personal items and money seemed to go missing at times. All of us kept it to ourselves, thinking that we might have misplaced them. Then came one evening, hubs stomped down from the room and griping about how his USD went missing. We started confronting each other; me, my sisters and my mum.. and found out that all of us had our fair share of foreign currencies went missing.

Came out with a game plan. My mum will have carry out a closed door investigation, probing/questioning Lulu while Adrian and I did the same to her. Probed the both of them (she and lulu) and found out that they both had skeletons in their closets which only both of them knew. While both of them were put in separate rooms, they started to spill the beans, … and more beans. And finally we found out that she has been stealing things. We probed further and told her to come clean with us on what else she stole and we were very sure we lost money… and a huge sum of money, mind you.

She did not own up.

Lulu then confessed to us what she said and did while we were away from home. She looked guilty, but denied it. Many times. When Lulu told her to admit what she has done, she went berserk. She was screaming and hitting herself hard on her chest (Imagine King Kong) and pleaded with us to just sent her back. We were shock to see this person, whom we once trusted so much turned into an ugly monster. Little did we know?

We were sadden and disappointed with her. We sent her back to the place where we took her from, at 3 in the morning. We could not let her go near Ethan anymore since we have seen that shocking side of her. Very fast, we got her to pack her bags and very fast she left.

I was crushed.

After sending her off, we felt that emptiness and forlornness. It hit us quite hard and yes, nonsensically, we missed her.

Emotions aside, we had quite a bit to sort out since we got her officially in through an agency. She has our names in her Passport, Working VISA and I-Kad. We had to go back to the agency to make sure that we have officially declare that she is no longer working with us and that we will need to have her documents properly filed (this is just in case if she goes missing and the papers still states that she is under our care and custody).

We expressed our disappointment for being victimized. We were then told that we should lodge a police report for what she had done to us and she will probably be charged and sentenced. But that would however be the decision of the court.

We faltered no more and went straight to lodge a police report.

They took her and reprimanded her in the police station. When I looked into her eyes, I nearly teared. She looked sorry, but I told myself that that’s how she looks all the time. I held back, got myself back together quickly and waited as Adrian spoke to the sergeant.
It was quite a long wait. When Adrian was done, he came out.“We have enough evidence to charge her. She admitted that she stole our belongings and money” Hubby whispered.
She is still being remanded in the police station up till today. Not sure how long she would be there for. I still think of her. Praying that her sentence in jail would make her a better person.

Right now, I’m officially the full time maid after working hours. We’ve read so countless horrifying maids stories. Never thought it would happen to us. Not the most pleasant experience. We are still recovering, trying to take things one step at the time.

Despite all that, she is still in my mind… O dear Lord, please help us pull through this.