Ingredients (6)

Base:
1. 300g (1.5 cups) flour,sifted
2. 120ml cold water
3. 2 tsp Instant yeast

Shortening
1. 1/4 tsp Salt
2. 3 tsp (12g) Castor sugar
3. 35g Butter

Steps

1. Mix the base ingredients and knead to form a dough.
2. Leave dough for first rise (fermenting) for about 2 hours or until the dough doubles in size.


- Dough First Rise (Fermenting) -

3. Mix shortening ingredients together. Add shortening to the base dough and knead until a smooth dough is formed.


- Completed Dough -

4. Shape the dough, place on a tray and set aside for second rise (poofing). The poofing process should be faster than the first rise, taking about 30 - 45 minutes until the dough doubles in size.


- Dough Second Rise (Poofing) -

5. Pre-heat oven to 180C and bake the bread for 35 - 40 minutes

- Crusty Bread -

For a soft crust, place a bowl of hot water on the lowest oven shelf to steam bake the bread.

- Goes well with balsamic vinegar and olive oil -

I stuffed mine with some dried shrimp sambal my mom made. YUM!

- The Oven -

Just for the record, we don’t have a fancy kitchen at home. Just a cheap stove, a few pots and pans, and a small 22.4L Pensonic oven which bakes with relatively uneven heat but serves its purpose. We don’t even have space in the kitchen so the oven stays in the box until we decide to make something and sits on the dining room floor when it’s on duty. Whoever said that you need a fancy kitchen to make good wholesome food probably trying to sell you something. Our parents and grand parents before them have made amazing food with less.

The first thing I ever baked was a lasagna when WL and I were first married. Hard to believe it’s been two years. A year back, WL and I got caught up with baking cookies. Earlier in the year, I learned to make pizza dough and overdosed on cheese. Right now, over the last weekend, I’ve moved on to cakes. I’ll be storing all my favourite recipes here so watch this space and share in some of my experiments with flour.

Quite frankly, I’m nearing burn out and this break couldn’t have come at a better time. Really looking forward to the long quiet stretch of nothing. Great opportunity to reflect on life, my achievements to date, and my next destination. Goal is to come back totally refreshed and geared to go. So bon voyage!

Wish me luck

Strangely enough, don’t have much else to add after a year’s hiatus. Until next time…

Well, the real reason is that I committed to losing 10kg by my next birthday. If I don’t take off the excess weight, I’ll have to hand over a hefty sum in cold hard cash to the missus. The clock’s ticking. It’s already two months in and instead of making any headway, I think I’ve actually gone backwards. Not proud of it, but I’m blaming it on the season holidays and the intermittent vacations.

Anyway, unlike California Fitness which is not as strategically located as it was previously. Gym sessions has dwindled down to a once monthly affair. On the other hand, the Fitness First centre I signed up with is just downstairs from my office. With luck and a little will power, I aim to hit the gym with higher frequency and start chipping away at the excess weight.

Wish me luck…

nataliedee.com

gbyeow:	hi boss
boss:	hi
gbyeow:	i’m resigning
boss:	whoa april fool eh
gbyeow:	lol on a serious note who’s our guy for project XYZ? i saw A’s name for XYZ in the resource plan
boss:	yup it’s him apa on a serious note? :-P
gbyeow:	expect my resignation letter lor
boss:	sure or not
gbyeow:	haha you say leh?
boss:	i’d say no lo
gbyeow:	if you say so
boss:	hmmm so what’s the deal if u’re serious?
Wait 10 minutes
gbyeow:	sorry. interuption where were we?
boss:	u were resigning?
gbyeow:	right.
boss:	and what’s the reason?
gbyeow:	not much fun anymore work getting repetitive
boss:	and why u didn’t come to speak to me sooner? u’re driving/leading change
gbyeow:	sorry. B’s here brb
Wait 10 minutes
gbyeow:	ok. back
boss:	ok gbyeow. as you’re serious about this can u call me on my mobile use one of the discussion rooms
gbyeow:	lol don’t have time la can’t play this. just April Fools too many interruptions it’s no longer fun
boss:	gbyeow .. not funny
gbyeow:	okie. i expect pink slip from you
boss:	which one u want from TNB? from EndahWater?
gbyeow:	erm… pay your own bills
boss:	ok time to get back to work it’s long enough for my heart to be on the floor time to pick it back up

I wonder what would have happened if I had called him up to continue to prank? I was initially trying to convince all my colleagues to tender their resignation. Too bad everyone wasn’t keen on it. No sense of humour?

Have you pranked today? Tell me about it. Maybe I’ll steal your idea for next year.

Anyway, don’t take today too seriously. Happy April Fool’s Day!

Unfortunately for me, the overheat signal glowed an angry red again not five minutes into the journey. I wasn’t even half way back to my parents’ place which was midway between our (WL and mine) new home and the office. I decided that it was best if I got the car checked by my usual mechanic. Since I didn’t know how long it would take, I called my boss to let him know I would work from home.

I dropped by my parents’ place hoping to get my dad to give me a lift from the workshop. The house was deserted. Both my parents were out and I didn’t have the house keys with me! There was nothing left to do but to head on over to the workshop and hope they could fix the car quick enough for me to get back to work.

The good news was that the problem was minor. There was an air pocket in the radiator which was blocking the flow of water. The foremen showed me that parts of the radiator pipes were cold to the touch indicating that the heated fluids were stuck somewhere instead of being routed through. They would need to pump out the air pocket to clear the blockage. They would do it for free. The bad news was that it took an hour, having to to wait for the engine to cool. By the time the car was ready it was already past noon.

I really wasn’t in a mood to head back to the office and I couldn’t get into my house. So I found myself a nice cafe with WiFi connection and worked from there instead. The jalopy is definitely getting old. My dad suggested trading it in for a new car. I don’t know. I’m not sure I want to invest in another car before I buy a property.

Lesson learned. Remember to top off the radiator before each trip to avoid those pesky air pockets.

During my leave of absence, I’d forgotten how horrendous early morning rush hour traffic could be. I’ve also nearly forgotten how to drive. Needless to say, it will be a few days before I get back into the groove of working.

Speaking of which, I was a little worried that I had a job to come back to. I haven’t been keeping up to date with the going ons in the office. Last I heard, someone had gotten a promotion and someone else was leaving. I haven’t seen the boss yet, so I assume he’s on leave. It’s either that or I’m reporting to a different boss now. I think I better go find that out.

Oh yeah! Happy Belated 2008 New Year BTW! Cheers!

At any rate, I’ll be away all that time. While I’ll still have internet access, I very much doubt that I’ll have the time nor interest for updates. So to my two or three readers, forgive my extended leave of absence.

To everyone else, season greetings, happy holidays, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

If you have browsed the said gallery recently, you would have noticed that the images are from a wedding studio shoot. Since I am in the images, it would invariably imply that I’m getting hitched. I proposed to WL, my companion for oh so many years (I’m sworn to secrecy on the actual number of years), a year back and now things are finally coming together.

For the record, organising a wedding is no simple feat. I’ll be the first to admit that I am inept at the task. Kudos to all you wedding planners and wannabes out there. You’ve got more (proverbial) balls than I do.

I guess I’ve said all there is to be said. Now this Romeo will have to scoot and will probably be away for another month or so. So don’t say you haven’t be told and don’t be surprised.