Tuesday 30 June 2020

AU REVOIR



French Kiss by Huebucket

I wish you bluebirds in the spring
To give your heart a song to sing
And then a kiss, but more than this


Sunday 28 June 2020

FRESHLY BAKED

Nothing beats the smell of fresh bread in the morning.  

Last night, I made the dough and placed it in the fridge for the final proof.  

I got out of bed at around 7:30 this morning to do the baking but Mum sent me on an errand.  Before I headed out, I removed the pan (with the already shaped dough) from the fridge and set it on the dining table to thaw.


Shoved the pan inside a pre-heated 200 degrees C oven at around 8:30AM.  


Got to eat hot, buttery homemade tear-apart butter buns before 9.  How cool is that?


Mum says she really likes the flavour.  Not surprising because the low temperature slows down the fermentation process, increasing the flavour of bread.   Here's how the science is explained in Cook's Illustrated:

Yeast left out at room temperature consumes sugars and leavens the batter rapidly. But then it’s spent; it stops producing not just gas but also compounds that give bread flavor. At cool temperatures, yeast produces carbon dioxide more slowly, so refrigerating the batter allows yeast to leaven at a slow and steady pace, providing more time for a more complex-tasting combination of flavor compounds to develop. The net result? A more flavorful dough.



Bread dough: 250 grams Casarine flour, 1 packet (5 grams) Shirakami Kodama Koubo, 25 grams caster sugar, 2.5 grams salt, 110 grams milk, 70 grams water, 25 grams butter

Filling: 45 grams butter (5 grams x 9)

Check chillicrabkitchen out on Instagram!



Friday 26 June 2020

SEEING DAD AFTER CIRCUIT BREAKER


Finally saw Dad this afternoon!  No one in the family hasn’t seen him in person since the first week of April due to Covid-19. The Nursing Home introduced very strict new rules: 

o Dad is in Ward 3 (an odd number) so we can see him once a week on either Monday, Wednesday or Friday. 

o Visits are by appointment only. We get to choose from 3 time slots in a day. 

o Only 1 visitor is allowed per visit. The visitor has to be pre-registered in the Home’s database. This means only either Mum or I can visit. The rest of the family will have to wait until further notice. 

o Each visit cannot last more than 30 minutes. 

o Visitors are not allowed to bring wet foods into the ward. 

Today, I wasn’t allowed to stroll into the recreation area as per normal. Instead, Dad and I were placed a metre away from the front door. Two “X”s were marked on the floor, a metre apart. I sat in a chair on one “X”, Dad in his wheelchair on the other “X”. 

Dad was excited to see me, “I’m very comforted to see my youngest daughter!” I said, “I’m your only daughter!” For some reason, Dad burst into tears. I leaned over and managed to clutch his fingers. He calmed down right away. 

Then came an outpour questions: “Why did you set my bank passbook on fire?” "Everyone gets to eat dinner at 3:30pm.  Only I eat at 5:30pm.  Why is that?"

And for finale: “Why does your mother walk around without her pants on?  She is an embarrassment.”

Tuesday 23 June 2020

CATARACT SURGERY II



Had cataract surgery done this morning.  Unlike the last one, I was awake throughout the entire procedure today.  It wasn't scary at all but I'm glad it's all over for both my eyes.  Hurray for ultra HD vision!

I've been relying on my friend and coworker, Donna, to help me out with work while I'm on medical leave.  She is holding the fort marvellously.  Truly cannot ask for a more fantastic colleague.  

Gotta rest my eye.  See you back here in a few days.


Sunday 14 June 2020

CATARACT SURGERY I


During a Team Lunch at the start of 2020, everyone took turns to share their New Year’s Resolution. When it came to my turn, I announced, “I’ve spent a great deal of time taking care of other people - both in my job and my personal life. This year I want to take care of myself.” 

At that point, I had signed up for gym membership and had already completed 8 sessions with a personal trainer. The next thing I did was started the process of having cataract surgery done. My right eye was in bad shape. Surgery was originally scheduled for the Apr 21 but postponed to Jun 9 due to Covid-19.

When I went in for pre-op assessment on the morning Mar 19, my blood pressure reading was 140/xx (cannot remember the lower number). The nurse said gently that it would be good if we can bring the upper number down to 130. I tried to relax and the reading reluctantly snailed to 138, then 135. 

I’d be crazy to let a set digits hold me back from surgery so I went on a diet. On the morning of the surgery, the reading was 128/xx. Still couldn’t figure out the lower number ‘cos I wasn’t wearing my glasses. The two nurses who had been staring intently at the monitor cried out in unison, “VERY GOOD!” and I mentally petted myself on the back. 

A day before surgery, I told Krishnan, “I suppose they’ll need to clamp my right eye open throughout the 20-min surgery. The question is: Do I keep my left eye open, or close?” I needn’t have been concerned because I was given a sedative “to calm down” and I ended up being asleep the entire time. 

Am looking forward to set a date to have surgery on my left eye so I can have UHD vision!

Tuesday 2 June 2020

Saturday 30 May 2020

AU REVOIR

French Kiss by Huebucket I wish you bluebirds in the spring To give your heart a song to sing And then a kiss, but more than th...