Banana Bread

At this moment, the sweet scent of banana bread permeates the air. There is another 20 minutes to go before I check on it.

Rising up nicely

I sit at KT's computer typing this entry whilst waiting for the bread to be cooked. It is a sunny day, with a slightly cool autumn breeze. 


The smell of good food makes me happy. 


I found this recipe on Christie's fig&cherry blog, and was attracted by the lovely photos of the finished banana bread. Lots and lots of nuts? That is right up my alley.


Ingredients: 
125g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 very ripe bananas
1/2 packed cup brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground cloves
1 and 1/2 cups of plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
Two handfuls of pecans, toasted and roughly chopped


Method:

1. Pre-heat oven at 160°C fan-forced. Grease then line a loaf tin with baking paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add the melted butter, mashed bananas, sugar, egg, vanilla extract, cinnamon and cloves. Mix to combine.
3. Gradually sift in the flour, baking powder, and salt. In between adding in the flour, add the chopped pecans. 
4. Bake in the oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted leaves a few crumbs.
5. Remove from tin and cool on a wire rack. 

Missing a tiny slice from the left corner. :) 

I have taken the bread out of the oven. It is very, very dense. I have cut a slice and slathered it with Harmonie Organic Butter (I happened to use the same brand as Christie). It is dense, moist, crunchy with nuts, and surprisingly, just nicely sweet. :) 


I have to restrain myself from having a second slice. 


Mmm, I am indeed happy. :)

Banana Bread

X's scarf

Scarf motif shown top left corner. 

The day before X and I were to leave for Sydney (this was during the CNY trip back home), we were at Sunway Pyramid window-shopping whilst waiting for our father to pick us up after a karaoke session. X wanted to get a scarf for herself; after much talk, I promised her I would knit her a scarf by April. 

She decided on a pattern, I went about knitting it. My knitting skills are horrendous. After much picking, unravelling, and countless mistakes, I have managed to produce half a decent-looking scarf. At least X likes it. 


I bought the yarn Lily Sugar 'n Cream in Wine (100% cotton, use 4.5mm knitting needles) from The Granny Square in Newtown. The fern lace swatch is from the Hamlyn How to Knit book.


How to knit the scarf:


Cast on 31 sts.


The pattern is repeated over 16 rows.


Row 1 and every alternate row. (WS). P.


Row 2 K3, *K2tog, yf, K1, yf, sl 1, K1, psso, K5, repeat from * ending last repeat with K3 instead of K5.


Row 4 K2, *K2tog, (K1 yf) twice, K1, sl 1, K1, psso, K3, repeat from * ending last repeat with K2.


Row 6 K1 *K2tog, K2, yf, K1, yf, K2, sl 1, K1, psso, K1, repeat from *


Row 8 K2tog, *K3, yf, K1, yf, K3, sl 1, K2 tog, psso, repeat from * to last 9 sts, K3, yf, K1, yf, K3, sl 1, K1, psso.


Row 10 K1, *yf, sl 1, K1, psso, K5, K2tog, yf, K1, repeat from *.


Row 12 K1, *yf, K1, sl 1, K1, psso, K3, K2tog, K1, yf, K1, repeat from *.


Row 14 K1, *yf, K2, sl 1, K1, psso, K1, K2tog, K2, yf, K1, repeat from *.


Row 16 K1, *yf, K3, sl 1, K2tog, psso, K3, yf, K1, repeat from *. 

X's scarf

The Plan

Wouldn't it be good to make a business out of a hobby?




That is what I would like to do.




About two or three years ago, I discovered the bead and button shops at Newtown, and bought packets of beads and buttons of all shapes and sizes which caught my fancy. I sewed them onto embroidered skirts, and tote bags, just for fun.




I don't know exactly when I thought of the idea of making bracelets, but I made quite a few for myself and for family and friends. I've had good feedback about the bracelets.




So here's my plan, and I've been thinking about it for a while.

Could I be able to sell hand-made bracelets?

I'd like to try, at the open air markets, such as those at The Rocks, Paddington...




No more just talking about it and not putting thoughts and words into action, I've bought the raw material, and I'm raring to go. I've got some back-up from my sisters (at least one of them to start of with :P) , and I've sold two so far.

So wish me luck, and hopefully in the new year, I can be able to update with promising news. :)

The Plan

Knitting

My knitting project is going well.

KT would be pleased to get his scarf before winter ends.

Fingers crossed.

Speaking of which, I don't know if it's my technique that's lacking, but I find knitting a very laborious hobby, and not quite as relaxing as the old ladies make it out to be on television. My fingers feel as if they have been disjointed each time I put the knitting down.

I will keep knitting...

Knitting

Mid-Autumn Festival Sunday 14th September 2008

The moon was full and round that night, swathed in a chiffon of clouds.

KT, PY and I were at a friend's apartment (a block across from ours) celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival. We had Korean / Japanese / Chinese fusion hot pot (for the occasion, KT bought the hot pot "kit" - the hot pot pot :P and portable gas stove).

Afterwards, we were treated to Mei Sum's "bing pi" (snowy skinned) moon cakes of different flavours - blueberry, mango, and even mocha. I love bing pi moon cakes. :P

Back at our place, we have some mini lotus seed paste moon cakes - I made them!!! My parents bought over a moon cake mould knowing that I wanted to make some, with a recipe of Betty Yew's. First attempt proved successful, although the moon cake pattern wasn't well-defined. I could have added a little bit more flour to make the dough easier to mould and used a finer pastry brush to brush the egg wash.

KT and PY said that it tastes yummy ^_^

Mid-Autumn Festival Sunday 14th September 2008

The Art of Chocolate Soufflé

I have heard of the story of Soufflé. Temperamental concoction of egg whites, but oh-so-delightful to the palate. How could I resist trying out the recipe in Australia Vogue Entertaining + Travel (April / May 2008)? I could not. I was in the mood for a challenge.

Soft butter, to grease
75g caster sugar
100g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped
4 eggs, at room temperature, separated

The ingredients were simple enough. Nothing exotic or intimidating. I have seen recipes calling for Dutch cocoa or dark couverture chocolate. Where do you suppose I could get Dutch cocoa from? The Netherlands? Even though Sydney is truly a cosmopolitan city, I doubt our friendly Coles' or Woolworths' stock Dutch cocoa. Try SELECTED delis. Never mind.

Back to the Soufflé project.

Step 1: Grease and coat the insides and rims of four ramekins with a generous amount of butter, then caster sugar. I remember what Matthew McConaughey said in "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days". "Frosting". So the insides of the ramekins looked like they've been frosted. Beautiful. Put the ramekins on a baking tray. Done.

Step 2: Preheat oven at 200 degrees Celcius. KT was using the oven to toast the garlic bread whilst I whisked the egg whites. Done.

Step 3: Melt the dark chocolate in a double boiler. Whisk in the 4 egg yolks one by one. Remove mixture from heat. Done. The mixture looked good enough for me to stick my finger in it for a taste, but I resisted the urge and risk of Salmonella poisoning.

Step 4: Whisk egg whites to soft peaks with an electric mixer. Electric mixer?!! I resorted to physical violence with my trusty stainless steel, manually operated balloon whisk. After much huffing and puffing, the soft peaks deigned to form.

Step 5: Whisk a quarter of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to loosen up the mixture. Gently fold the chocolate mixture into the remaining egg whites until just incorporated. I interpreted that as to handle the Soufflé mixture with the same care as you would a priceless antique. Done.

Step 6: Divide mixture among ramekins, then bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until risen. 10 minutes later, I reckoned they were done.

Comments on this recipe:
I could have whisked the egg whites more. I read other recipes on the Internet, and those recipes called for stiff peaks as opposed to soft, drooping peaks. Some recipes also suggested the use of a "binding agent" e.g. cream of Tartar or a pinch of salt to help stabilise the soft peaks, then to add sugar to the egg white mixture prior to whisking to form stiff peaks.

Some recipes also suggested to add butter and/or heavy cream and/or sugar to the chocolate mixture, perhaps to produce a more rich Soufflé. I wonder if the addition of such heavy ingredients would impede the rising of the Soufflé, hence needing the egg whites to be whisked until stiff peaks are formed.

All the recipes I searched on the Internet suggested longer cooking times, some as long as 26 minutes. A vast difference from the 8 to 10 minutes I operated on. The end-result should be a outer crust, yet still "jiggly" Soufflé core. Hmm...

The only way of mastering the Art is more research, practice, and trial and error.

Until the next practice session, I bid the Soufflé au revoir.

The Art of Chocolate Soufflé

Recently

I've been doing a lot of things recently...

I've renewed my bracelet project - making bracelets out of ribbons with bead / embroidery patterns. I'm getting better at the designs and the final products look much more presentable.

I've made a hard cover book from scratch... I'll upload the pictures soon... but for the first try, I'd say that it's a pretty decent book.

I've tried two different recipes of tiramisu. The first one, an oven-baked item, although it looked disgusting in presentation, surprisingly tasted good. I've just tried out the second recipe tonight, I'll only know the result tomorrow. ;)

I also cooked clay pot chicken rice tonight for the very first time. It was a bit wet, but it tasted good, much to my surprise.

I've also fallen in love... with life. There are so many things that I have tried, that I have yet to try... I can't wait to wake up every morning to start something new.

Unless, of course, I have to wake up to work. :P

Recently