Have fun messing the kitchen!

I have always wanted to share the joy of spending time at home, especially in the kitchen. The art and science of cooking satisfy my greed in doing multiple things at a time. Life is too short to be serious all the time. I have fun experimenting recipes and make them easier to comprehend. A lot of my friends told me they have problems understanding the recipes and hopefully I can help a little. I am more than happy to share my experiments' processes and results, giving it a twist is something I want to do for a long time!

I never liked recipes which claimed that they were easy and simple and suitable for singles, with the list of ingredients equals to the list on the catalogue of a supermarket. Are you getting your readers stocking up their arks? Ingredients should always be fresh, and be used and kept in a smart way. The KISS principle is also applicable in cooking and buying design - Keep It Simple, Stupid!

Eat smart, cook something wallet-friendly, healthy and tasty. My definition of healthy include eating muffin or cookies occasionally as treats. I will not avoid them, I still eat them. It is okay unless you over do it. Over eating does no good to you, the most important thing is to balance. If you have to avoid all the fats and sugar, you are missing a lot of great edible inventions! Food is a very important part of every culture, embrace it and you will discover more than you think.

Baking Scones

Scones have been one of my favourite breakfast on-the-go picks; handy, filling and scrumptious! I have tried a lot of recipes, mostly online, getting them from AllRecipes.com, BBC Food, or other websites. I will make a list of websites where I get my recipes from. Some of the recipes I got were from my mom, my aunt and wonderful cookbooks. I always look for traditional or family recipes instead of "Standard" ones. Unit conversion is very important, here it is.

I am not a professional chef and I need references. I believe practice DOES make perfect. I learn by doing it and never think using recipe means you are a bad cook. I still remember when I was in school I was forced to follow the recipes from the textbook (Yes we have textbooks for home economics!!) precisely, and I did not like that. I am the kind of person who follows the heart over the head, and thinks that rules are made to be broken.  Some of them, not all. And my friend, who is the exact opposite, always follows the exact amount, "1 decimal place! No more, no less!". My style is more layback and relaxed. I am not against any style, everyone should have one that makes them excel in cooking and enjoy the process, and the result of course.

Scones are real easy to start with. There are traditional English scones and other biscuit/scones available. Sometimes I will just bake according to recipes but most of the times I integrate everything. I tried the scones and biscuits from different places, in different countries, just to figure out what is inside and remember the texture. The honey biscuit from KFC, the English scone that is merely bigger than your eye from BurgerKing, the huge triangular scone from Starbucks, scones from local coffee shops and bakeries etc. are very different in texture and taste.

The below recipe was modified from Joy the Baker's recipe (Modification in bracket), her cookbook is very user friendly, especially for starters! Oh and by the way, I like the fact that she and I are both tattooed bakers :P
Let's start shall we?

Oatmeal Raspberry Scones

Oven Preheat: 200'C/170'C with fan/400'F           Makes around 15 scones

Ingredients:

1 2/3 Cups all-purpose flour (1 cup cake flour & 2/3 cup wholewheat bread flour)

1 1/3 Cups old-fashioned oats (I mixed roll-oats, barley, oatmeal)

1/3 Cup sugar (Brown sugar is better)

1 Tablespoon baking powder 

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (I added 1 teaspoon of mixed spices, including nutmeg, grind ginger, cinnamon, cloves, etc.)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon ginger, finely chopped (If you don't like the taste of ginger, just skip it.)

1/2 Cup buttermilk, cold (What I did was adding milk, cream and lemon juice, or just replace it by yoghurt, perhaps soy milk next time?)

10 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cubed (That's around 140g)

3/4 Cup fresh raspberries, puree it with a fork briefly 

How I did it:

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a big bowl.

Rub in the butter cubes until they become fluffy crumbs.

Whisk the egg, mix well with butter milk or what I have suggested above.

Add crushed raspberries, do not over mix it, try to make a marble pattern, keep the colour difference! Say yes to style.

Scoop them onto a baking tray covered with a baking sheet/cloth, each scoop would be around the size of a Kiwi fruit if you want to make around 15 of them. The texture should be like very thick oatmeal/congee, if it is too watery, add more flour or rolled-oats. If it is too dry, add more milk.
Bake for around 20 minutes or turn off the heat when they turned golden brown.

Hot and Fresh!

Loving the moisture content :)

Steps at a Glance

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in a big bowl.

2. Rub in the butter cube until they become fluffy crumbs.

3. Whisk the egg, mix well with the buttermilk or what I have suggested.

4. Pour the mixture into the crumbs.

5. Add crushed raspberries, no need to mix too well, slightly more than how you make a marble cake/pattern. Keep the colour patches!

6. Scoop them onto a baking tray with a baking sheet on, or baking cloth; each scoop would be around the size of a Kiwi fruit if you want to make around 15 of them.

7. Bake for around 20 minutes and they are ready to serve!

Twist it! 

*You can change the 3/4 cups of raspberries into other fruits/nuts that goes well with scones. The only thing you need to consider is the moisture content of the dough, other fruits might not necessarily be as juicy as raspberries! 

If you want to add other berries, you don't need to add anything extra.

If you want to add apple, add some lemon juice. 

If you want to add nuts, add 1/4 cup of nuts, 1/4 cup milk and 1/4 cup honey/maple syrup.

Apple Pie - Extra cinnamon added, raspberries replaced by adding cubed apples and lemon juice.

*Turn it into bite-size party snack? You just need a smaller spoon to scoop them. And be careful when baking, because you literally increased its surface area to volume ratio, the baking time required is shortened. Depending on the size, sometimes 10 minutes will suffice.

Enjoy it and stay tuned for more! Ciao!

Objects #1 - Tools I need in order to blog

Am I missing my headphone? Yes it was broken last time when I was jogging downstairs, have to get a new one before the one from Apple breaks my ear.

These are objects that I need when I blog or when I do my preparation. They have to be in the #1 post just because I want them to. Black is the best colour for tools, still look cool when it is broken, I have the best example in my bag.

From left to right:
CASIO MQ-24 [1330] : Classic, simple, durable and water-proof; what more can I ask for?
CANON S100 : Perfect for night shooting, handy, fits into pockets, that is why he is always with me. Kiss X2 will be with me when it is a planned shooting.
iPhone 4S : Perfectly cool with the broken glass, still working perfectly and getting more admirers because of his charm. And yes one day it is going to split my cheek into half when I pick up the phone.
iPod Shuffle : Limited RED edition for charity with my name engraved, it was a gift from my sister and that was why the object has my name on it, that is something I rarely do.
ZEQUENZ 360 Sketchbook : Small, handy, well designed, 360 flexible, can be folded back, rolled up, durable and comfortable for left handed geeks.
MUJI Gel Pen 0.5 : I always prefer thicker tip when it comes to writing, I would only need very thin tip when I do fine lines drawing or type art.
MacBook Pro 15": My computer, for everything.
BAMBOO : I drew the picture, and every digital drawing with it!

It's been a long day, off to bed! Have fun with your objects, ciao!

0773H

My obsession of using letters and numbers for naming objects or projects is getting more obvious since I named my graduation project which was a floor lamp as POST220. A floor lamp design that expresses my affection towards street lamps in different cities. I find the distance between the object and people very beautiful and poetic as it reminds me of other distances found between architecture and people. The best example would be the dome shaped ceiling inside a historical church, which is often seen in European countries, was designed with the purpose to make one feel impossible to reach god. 

The initial sketch of my floor lamp design

My tutor told me the design reminded him of an artistic lamp made with plants he saw in Bali but I forgot its name. I will find it out.

I found this photo on this blog.

This is beautiful isn't it? There are a lot of interesting crafts in Southeast Asian region and I would love to spend more time to discover more. I just got back from Singapore around a week ago, the blend of colonial culture and aboriginal culture was very well kept in its language - Singlish, as well as their food! The National Museum showed quite a lot of interesting events and people in the past, even though I find the curation was a little bit difficult to follow. 

Back to the topic of the naming obsession, 0773H is HELLO when it's written upside down! I think it would be a perfect display on the top of the page. 

Sunday with Movie

I find the title rhymes with a popular book 'Tuesday with Morrie' and that was why I named it this way. It is always nice to spend a Sunday on the beach, chilling with friends over beer. My Sunday started with a movie very early in the morning, to be more precise it was midnight. Big Fish by Tim Burton and music by my favourite movie sound tracks composer Danny Elfman. This movie was filmed exactly ten years ago and watching it again was perhaps a celebration? This is a rather philosophical piece filled with moments that make you think. I do not know how to appreciate very deep movies so I do not find them very appealing to me because I am not sure if they are really that deep or just pretending to be one when it was not necessarily so. 

There are various types of movies and each of them is unique in nature. Like any other form of art, it takes your mind away, gets into a world that might exist somewhere in the universe and brings you back at the end. However, not all of the movies can do that. 

Things are different when you look at it at different times, with a different mood, or with a different person, etc. The context affect the impact of the piece of art instead of the art itself but I think if that piece of art can make you look at it again, and again, it would not be a bad one. 

I was not majored in cinematography but I have always loved the making-of and behind-the-scenes of a production. The approaches and styles of different directors and production designers fascinate me. I cannot wait to share more on films, movies, cartoons - the world of moving pictures! And yes, the story always counts.

A man tells so many stories, that he becomes the stories. They live on after him, and in that way he becomes immortal.                        - Will Bloom, <Big Fish> 

 

 

20Cc [Project]

A little introduction of Project 20Cc. 20Cc is a experimental photography project that I would like to start with. I cannot call myself a professional photographer, I am a amateur that loves images and compositions. I do not know a lot of technical things, I will do my best to learn them as I work on my project.

The name 20Cc is simple. Using numbers and alphabets, or metaphors if I want it to be more sophisticated, is my favourite way to give a name to a project. 20Cc is a combination of 20, C and c. 20 means for each city or country, I am going to select a maximum of twenty pictures, non photoshoped, to publish on my blog; C indicates 'Countries' and c indicates 'cities'. Very clear and straight forward isn't it? 

Living in a world with highly mobile people and objects, it would be a waste not to share the world through one's lens. It would be wonderful if there are people who are willing to contribute to 20Cc in the future. Do feel free to email me or message me :-)

Renovation!

It had been a busy week as usual, cooking, taking care of plants, helping friends out, making ceramics, doing my part-time research job, taking a little break to Singapore...and finally, the blog! You will soon see a little bit of renovation on the side bar because I have been planning what to include there, what to write and share...and thinking if I should include a little giveaway corner. I don't want to waste anything and it is always good to help find a better owner for what I have.

This is the first time I actually PLAN for a blog which it is a place for me to share my thoughts, work and life. It's true that one doesn't feel like working when one enjoys and loves what he/she's doing isn't it? Alright, better start renovating my little place here!

Fresh Start!

I was once a Blogger user few years back when I was in uni and I abandoned my blog and let it wilted, slowly. After around a year I started a new blog on another blog host which I find the designs were really enticing and it turned out to be a Mr. Wrong for me. I think it is quite obvious what happened to it..

I am a person that treasures traditional ways of communication and expressing ideas.

I always have a sketch book and a pen in my bag.

I like being with animals even though I am allergic to them.

I am a Pescetarian, a soon-will-be vegetarian.

I have a typical middle child personality, a.k.a. being ambivalent.

I am running out of words, this is the moment when you force yourself to think, your brain turned into a stone. Ah well, let's get started shall we?