FINALLY FOCACCIA!

Dad is in one of his foul moods - he has been so for the last five days or so.  

A few weeks ago, Dad's bank passbook ran out of pages.  Since he was hard of walking and hearing he did not want to go personally to the bank to get a new passbook.  I explained to him that the bank account is in his name so it would be make sense for him to make a trip.  While we were both in the bank, I enquired if I might apply for new passbooks on Dad's behalf in the future.  Yes, was the answer.  Dad simply needs to place his thumbprint on an authorisation form.  Two bank officers explained this to him separately in Mandarin before Dad affixed his thumbprint.

This week he suddenly felt insecure about the whole thing.  He claims that he didn't sign the form out of his own free will and no one at the bank ever explained anything to him.  Then he even told my Mum that that form would allow me, his daughter, to tap into his bank account and withdraw all his cash!

Each time Dad acts crazy, I'd withdraw into my own bedroom - tormented and depressed - thereby ruining too many perfectly good weekends.  Today, I decided that life is too short to wallow in another person's madness.  Today, nothing would come between and my beloved baking. Today, I made a focaccia that is by far the best one that came out of my kitchen yet.

I keep my focaccia simple.  Light olive oil,  a hint of Italian herbs, a generous scatter of coarse sea salt on the top.  No elaborate topping that would turn it into a pizza.  

Finally, a focaccia that is soft and pillowy, and smells incredible.  I did it.

Bread dough: 300 grams Blue Jacket Bread Flour, 4 grams instant yeast, 4 grams dried Italian herbs, 2 grams caster sugar, 5 grams salt, 1 tablespoon light olive oil, 220 - 240 grams water.  Topping: light olive oil and coarse sea salt

Chilli Crab Kitchen is on IG.

BELGIAN PRALINES

Look what my BFF brought me all the way from Belgium!  

GATHER ROSES WHILE YE MAY ETC

Recently, a friend reminded me to take time to smell the flowers. Today I did just that!

SATURDAY BRUNCH

At home on a lazy Saturday.  Too hot a day for overly complicated, labour-intensive recipes. Made a simple Pasta Bake. A large pot of cooked penne. Tossed in plenty of olive oil.  Brown button mushrooms that had been stir-fried in garlic butter. Sliced hotdogs. Freshly grated cheeses, and a sprinkle of dried Italian herbs. Chilli flakes for a bit of attitude. Nothing particularly fancy about the ingredients, just an easy dish put together for family brunch.

DAY OUT: BOTANIC GARDENS

到植物园转一圈  蓝天白云艳阳天
还有鸭子! 

  Four ducks in a pond 

A grass bank beyond 

A blue sky of spring 

White clouds on the wing 

- William Allingham

APPRECIATION

Way overdue.  Cookies for all the wonderful neighbours who extended a helping hand to my family in one way or another when life presents its challenges.  I'm grateful for you.

Saying thanks.  My way.

I must've made David Lebovitz’s Salted Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies a zillion times. Over the years I’ve tweaked his recipe and made it mine. Everyone goes gaga over these cookies. Time and again my co-workers proclaimed them “lethal”.

Consider yourself warned.

SALTED BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES 

Adapted from this recipe by David Lebovitz 

Makes 24 cookies

115 grams salted butter, at room temperature 

85 grams light brown sugar 

100 grams granulated sugar (or 70 grams caster sugar)

1 large egg, at room temperature 

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 

180 grams all-purpose flour 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel (or whatever flaky sea salt you have in your pantry)

200 grams coarsely chopped bittersweet or semisweet chocolate 

1 cup toasted nuts, coarsely chopped 

In the bowl of a stand mixer, or by hand, beat the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar just until smooth and creamy. Beat in the egg and the vanilla. 

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir the flour mixture into the beaten butter until combined, then mix in the chopped chocolate (including any chocolate dust) and the chopped nuts. 

Cover and chill the batter until firm. (I like to let it rest overnight.)

To bake the cookies, preheat your oven at 180 degrees C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Form the cookie dough into rounds about the size of a large unshelled walnut (about 30 - 32 grams). Place the mounds evenly spaced apart on the baking sheets, and press down the tops to flatten them so they are no longer domed and the dough is even. 

Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, rotating the baking sheet midway during baking, until the cookies look about set, but are not browned. Remove from the oven and quickly tap the top of each with a spatula, then return to the oven for 2 to 5 more minutes, until the tops of the cookies are light golden brown. 

Leave the cookies in the baking sheets for about 2 minutes to firm up a bit, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

想旅行！

希望明年能有机会出门。

MIDDLE-EARTH COOKIES

Somebody from the office journeyed through “Middle-earth” last week and brought back Whittaker’s Artisan Chocolate bars in a variety of exciting flavours.  

Not everyone likes white chocolate. Someone definitely doesn’t so he gave his chocolate bar to me. I turned it into a cookie experiment. 

I've to say that the new flavour - Hawke’s Bay Braeburn Apple with Vanilla White Chocolate - is rather odd.  I used salted butter and flaky sea salt in the recipe and they balanced off the very sweet white chocolate quite suitably. 

WHITE CHOCOLATE CRANBERRY MACADAMIA COOKIES   

Makes 20 cookies

115 grams salted butter, at room temperature 

55 grams light brown sugar 

50 grams granulated sugar 

1 large egg, at room temperature, slightly beaten 

185 grams all-purpose flour 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel (or whatever flaky salt you like) 

55 grams Braeburn Apple with Vanilla White Chocolate, coarsely chopped

80 grams sliced dried cranberries 

60 grams toasted macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped   

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.   

In a mixing bowl, beat the butter until creamy and smooth then add the sugars. Continue to beat until the mixture is very light in colour and texture.   

Beat in the egg a little at a time, beating well after each addition.  Stir the flour mixture until combined, then mix in the chopped chocolate, dried cranberries, and chopped nuts.   

Cover and chill the batter until firm. (I like to let it rest overnight.)   

To bake the cookies, preheat your oven at 180 degrees C. Line two baking pans with parchment paper.   Form the cookie dough into rounds about the size of a large unshelled walnut. Place the mounds evenly spaced apart on the baking pans, and press down the tops to flatten them so they are no longer domed and the dough is even.   

Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, rotating the baking pans midway during baking, until the cookies are slightly browned.

Leave the cookies in the pans for about 2 minutes to firm up a bit, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. 

Enjoy!

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QUICK COOKIE

Made peanut butter cookies today.  I already have the ingredients -- flour, butter, brown sugar, caster sugar, peanut butter and eggs -- on hand so everything came together in a snap.

Baking time is only 10 minutes.  One recipe churns out a great many cookies.  The recipe says it'd yield 40 cookies but I got far more than that.  I didn't count but there are A LOT, ok?!

These peanut butter cookies are crisp on the outside and almost cakey on the inside.  

The combination of sweet and salty flavours is terribly hard to resist.

週日色彩

可爱的小辣椒
像一颗颗缤纷的糖果
为平凡的生活填上色彩