Bread Making

For those who knew us, they will tell you that Chris is the baker in the family. Measuring and being exact were never my thing. I could manage things like tarts and pies because they do not require things to be really exact. Bread making, in my mind, is on a level that I was not interested in getting involved in. Chris made some delicious bread before and all that getting the water to the right temperature for the yeast, timing all the proofs, and kneading does not looked fun to me! That is, until I discovered Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day by Jeff Hertzberg MD and Zoe Francois. It was actually an accidental purchase on my kindle and I decided to keep it anyways. The only thing I had to get was a container big enough to hold the dough while it sit in the refrigerator waiting for me to bake it. I baked my first loaf this morning and it was good (better if I didn't burn the bottom a little bit). It really does only takes about 5 minutes of actual hands on work to start the dough and less when prepping to bake. The dough have not had enough time to get a good flavor yet and the crumb is definitely a little more dense that I would have liked. We'll have to see how the flavor develop as the dough will keep in the refrigerator for 2 weeks. It's no Acme bread, but I will say that it beats a lot of the "artisan bread" that your regular supermarket is selling though. So, for the little amount of work involved, I may be making more bread from now on.

We had the bread for breakfast with some leftover cheese, cold cuts, olive spread and apples. Not the quickest thing in the morning to make, but definitely tasty.

A few very random thoughts

- I discovered that there's nothing like thoughts of losing a few pounds to sent me to make desserts. I really do think I come up with the best ideas. (Picture and recipe to come soon if I manage to pull off what's in my head right now.)

- Am I the only one who thinks underwear are overpriced?!?!? And no, I'm not giving up on them.

- Speaking of thinking about losing a few pounds, I did discovered that finding clothes now is a lot easier. (It really just encourages me to buy more!)

- Talise really don't like to sleep.

- Why do they have so many fundraisers for daycare when we paid an insane amount of money each month already?? Yes, we try to participate on most as well.

- Foreign version of magazines like Woman's Day have much, much more interesting recipes. Eggplant and fish stew? Can't say I expect to see it in the US version anytime soon.

Eating habit of a 2 year old

I was really hoping for a toddler who would be adventurous when it comes to eating. I know, wishful thinking on my part. When she first started on solid food, like most kids, she would eat anything I give her since it's a new flavor compared to the formula she was on. Now she definitely got to the point where she has opinions and favorites. It was pretty difficult for a while there where I have to cook separately for her. Even then, she would only eat Costco chicken and fruits. Lately, it's been a little better, at least it seems a little more balanced and more variety to me. Sometimes she may actually eat what we're eating. She loves rice with the dried shredded pork and seaweed/sesame rice sprinkles that you could get at Japanese stores. (She loves seaweeds!) Chicken is still her main source of protein, at least we got out of the Costco chicken phase. I'm still trying to get her to eat fish, which she will eat salmon sometimes. Vegetable wise, she loves broccoli and will eat some other greens. I don't think there's much fruit that she doesn't like. From what I've been told though, she eats a little more stuff at school. Thanks them serving pasta at least once a week, I could finally serve her pasta at home as well. Pictured is an example of one of her dinner. Poached chicken in soy sauce broth, rice roll (mixed with seaweed, sesame, and dried pork), broccoli, cauliflower and chicken broth. Aside from the cauliflower (Chris is not a big fan either), she ate most of it. Now, I just need to work on a homemade version of 'chicken nugget' that could replace the frozen stuff she asks for all the time.

Cherry Cloufoutis

I usually purchase way too much whenever I go to the farmer's market. Everything look and smell so good. Before I knew it, I came back with a full basket of fruits and vegetables. Then it's a race with the clock to eat everything before they go bad. Last week was actually the first time I've been to the farmer's market for a while, I've been waiting for the summer fruits to start. I came back with cherries, strawberries, peaches, squash blossoms, Chinese broccoli, and a bunch of Chinese long beans. I had the intentions to eat the cherries as they are, but a cherry dessert sounded really good last night. A cloufoutis is like a baked custard, easy and fast to put together. Best part is that I have all the ingredients on hand already. The longest part of the recipe is probably pitting the cherries. Some people will say that is unnecessary, but with Miss T eating it with us, I didn't want her to deal with the pits. My OXO cherry pitter made the process quite fast anyways. Recipe is from Joy of Cooking. The only alternation I've done is replace the cognac with a little almond extract.

Cherry Cloufloutis

1 pound of cherries, pitted
4 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
3/4 cup all purpose flour
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 375F. Beat the eggs and sugar together until a little foamy and well combined. Stir in milk and extracts. Add the flour a little at time until fully corporate. Finally, add a pinch of salt to enhance the sweetness. Line the bottom of a baking dish with the cherries. Pour the custard mixture over the cherries. Bake at 375F for 10 minutes and then turn down to 350F for another 35-40 minutes or so, until the middle is set. Serve warm with powdered sugar sprinkle on top.

Blog?

I have a blog??? Really?? Maybe I should write some posts sometimes.

(Yes, I will try harder...)

Christmas 2008

I think that since Talise is close to 2 this year at Christmas, she's able to appreciate a lot more. One of the first thing she noticed were the Christmas decorations. The classroom at daycare and home all of a suddenly have all these 'trees' (her word for anything green) around! I think the second thing she noticed and enjoyed are all the lights outside of people's houses. I know for sure that she now knows what snowman is! She recognize Santa, but doesn't get the concept of him yet. She also still screams when Santa walked into her daycare classroom during their little holiday concert/party. I guess we didn't do a good job at introducing her to Santa, since we never mentioned anything about. Next year, she may understand the concept more. I'm still trying to figure out how to approach this holiday. I don't want her to think Christmas is only a time to get presents from everyone. Since Chris nor I are religious, we will have to turn this into something else. Maybe a time for sharing with others and enjoy your family. I guess I have a whole year to figure it out!

- I think we were at about 5 different Christmas parties this year between family and friends. It's a bit hectic, but definitely enjoyable to see everyone since we all get so busy with our everyday lives that we don't make enough time to spend with people we like.

- Thankfully, the gifts were not too excessive. There are still a few things that I think I may donate to daycare so she could share with other kids. I am also in process of cleaning out her old toys so we could donate those as well. She spend most of the time during weekday at daycare, so it make sense for her toys to be there as well and we don't end up with a living room that look like a toy store.

- I think she's getting the hang of opening presents now. Of course, her birthday is just around the corner so she'll have more to open. I guess we will have to figure out whether to have a party for her or not this year. I might just bring stuff in daycare that day. We'll see.

- Her favorite toy so far is probably the wooden sushi set her Uncle Alan and Auntie Brittany got her. I don't think she went through a whole day without playing with it. It also goes with the kitchen I got her nicely.

- Chris got her a tricycle and she loves it. She has been pointing out bikes everywhere she goes. Not surprisingly since she's used to seeing her Dad's bikes. Now her helmet fits her better, we could go for walks with her on it. She's can't pedal yet, but it has a handle in the back for us to push and steer. I think she likes that more than the stroller.

- Her little cousin Audrey was born on 12/23! Talise is no longer the baby in my family. Looks forward to her playing the Talise soon as they are closer in age than her other two older cousins. Since Talise is an only child, her cousins will be the closest thing she has to siblings.

- Lastly, Chris got himself the Rock Band set for the Wii. Talise have been helping with the drums since. I think she enjoyed it a lot more before she got a chance to sit with my Dad on his set of real drums. She was talking about drumming with my Dad a long time afterward (well, what we understand of her description anyways).

So much to catch up on...

- Halloween went pretty well. Although I did missed Talise's daycare parade because I had to finish up a big account. We did meet up with one of Talise's ex-daycare buddy at the mall and hung out there for a couple of hours. The two girls running around in their costume were way to cute!

- Even though Halloween was on a Friday, I actually didn't get a chance take pictures of Talise and her cousins until the next week. As you can see, the girls all looked great and didn't mind a chance to get into their costumes again.

- It's official! Talise's favorite word is "NO!"

- She is also getting quite bossy, "SIT down, Mama! Sit down!"

- She likes to name everybody she knows before sleep, some more than others (like her cousins).

- Time out is going on pretty often now. It may still take multiple time outs to get her to apologize sometimes. Stubborn little girl, no idea where she get that from! (In fact, she's in the corner right now.)

- All meats are "chicken" to her, at least we're out of the Costco chicken phase.

- Even though she still doesn't eat exactly the same thing we do yet, she does eat quite a few things that I'm happy about. Broccoli and kale, to name two. She will eat almost all fruits in sight! Carbs on the other hand, we're still working on.

- Thanksgivings went well, considering that she haven't been feeling the greatest and had to be around so many people from both of our families.

- We decided not to put up a Christmas Tree this year again. First, we don't have that much room. Secondly, she'll pull everything down. Maybe next year... She does enjoy the stockings hanging on the mantel though.

- Speaking of Christmas, don't tell her, but she's getting a little kitchen playset and probably a tricycle. Chris and I agreed long before that we will not over do it, with more presents from others and all. So we are limited to one big present each. I will probably have to go through her toys now to see if I could throw away/donate some that she no longer play with. Things like tuffed animals/dolls, she's just not interested in. Cars on the other hand...