Ravioli!

We made ravioli the other weekend.

Remember the ravioli moulds we got from eBay?

We put them to good use when we are in the mood.

It is great to have a second pair of hands in the kitchen.

It is also good to have two sets of pastry mats

and two small rolling pins.

We have two ravioli moulds from eBay

but I prefer the one that makes a dozen big ones

over the one that makes 28 small ones.

For the sauce, we could have used some pasta sauce

but we had none in the pantry so

we made some gravy using the 

Ikea Swedish meatballs copycat recipe.

Ravioli Dough (makes 48 pieces):
3 c   flour1/2 t salt2     eggs1/2 c warm water
Sift flour and salt togetherPut flour on a board and make a wellDrop eggs in well, break the yolk and beatCombine eggs and flourAdd enough water to make a stiff doughKnead until smooth (approximately 10 mins)Cover and let rest 15 minsDivide and roll out to 1/16" to 1/8" sheetsUse 1 to 1 1/2 t of fillingDry about 1 hourBoil 10 - 15 mins

Ravioli Filling
1/4 lb  ground beef1/4 lb  ground pork1 T     butter1 clove garlic1/2 c   cooked spinach, chopped1 T     flat leaf parsley2       eggs, beaten2 T     Romano cheesedash nutmeg/salt/pepper

For the gravy:2 T      unsalted butter2 T      all-purpose flour1 1/2 c beef broth1 t       Worcestershire sauce1/4 c    heavy creamsalt/pepper  2 T      chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heatAdd the flour and cook, whisking, until smooth. Whisk in the beef broth and Worcestershire sauce and bring to a simmer. Add the cream and meatballs. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until the gravy thickens, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper. Transfer to a serving dish; sprinkle with the parsley and serve 

Twinkle, Twinkle Times 144,000

I expected it to be a busy Friday the 13th yesterday so I went to an earlier morning mass and headed for the office after.  Instead of my usual (pass through the Priceline chemist shop to get a free spritz of perfume for the day) route, I decided to go through the (let's do some sightseeing and window shopping) Queen Victoria Building route instead.  

I picked up a QVB catalog just for the heck of it and browsed it on my way to work. Naturally the catalog would have something about the Swarovski Christmas Tree that was on display.  The  huge Christmas tree which fascinated me when I first saw it in 2010 stands tall in the middle of the building, you'd be blind if you missed it.  

As I browsed the catalog, the number 144,000 stuck in my head. The tree boasted 144,000 Swarovski crystal ornaments and 60,000 twinkling lights.  Wow!  (But really the 144,000 in my mind was something like 12 squared times 1,000.  Don't ask me why but that was my thought process when I saw the number. )

Fast forward to lunchtime.  For the first time since I started work, the Group was going to have a Christmas lunch sponsored by the company.  (Nice!)  We were told this was a "sit down" lunch and we were to have the meal in the room.  In other words, we could not just get food and return to our work stations to eat.   In fact, we were advised that there would be games and prizes involved during this gathering.   Teams were assigned based on the table where one was seated.   

There was a Christmas trivia with six questions : (1) In the song "Twelve Days of Christmas", what did my true love give to me on the 3rd day of Christmas? (2) What colour is the Grinch? (3)  What are you riding while you are "dashing through the snow"? (4) Who wrote the Christmas Carol?  (5) How many ghosts visited Ebenezer Scrooge?  (6)  Who was the last ghost that visited Ebenezer Scrooge.  

(I have a feeling we would have done better at this game when we were in grade school or high school.  None of the teams got all the answers correctly.)

The second game was a guessing game.  How many Swarovski crystals are there in the QVB Christmas tree?  Clue : It is between 100,000 and 150, 000.   

(Guess whose team won that game?)  

The last game was charades where they words to be guessed were Christmas-related. There were easy ones like snowman, Christmas tree, and star. There were harder ones like wreath, milk, etc. Then there were the tough ones which people did not get like biscuits, joy, left-overs.   There were some words which my brain did not immediately comprehend as being related to Christmas such as SUMMER and SAND.

(Note to self : Wake up!  You live in Australia now.  Christmas is still in December but December is during the summertime therefore think SAND and not snow!)

Our table tied with another table for the charades game.  So there was a dance-off to break the tie.  Since we had won the previous game, the rest of the team voted for the other guy.

There was a lucky number door prize draw and a "guess how many lollies in this jar" game ... then it was back to work.

Ho!  Ho!  Ho!  Merry Christmas!

This is the tree that won our team some chocolates.

The More (Coffee) The Merrier (Christmas Planner)

I'm really not a coffee addict.  However, I do drink more coffee these days than I used to when we were back in the home country.  MacGyver and I actually have several containers of instant coffee in the house now.  We would have Nescafe like normal people do, Decaf for the times when we feel like having coffee but know we need to sleep, and the occasional date coffee such as Moccona or Nescafe Gold for the times when we want to share something special.   (We are simple folk.)

I often tell MacGyver that I prefer it when he prepares my coffee.  No, I am not being lazy about boiling water and preparing coffee.  It's just that I feel my coffee doesn't taste as nice when I make it myself. (I think he sprinkles an extra bit of love in there, making my coffee taste better than when I make my own.)

Anyway, I realised that I only really started drinking coffee in 2008 as documented in my blog post Coffee, Coffee, and that since writing Not Just Any Cup of Coffee , I have increased my coffee chain statistics as follows :

Previously ONE, currently two, or possibly even three.  I joined Sunshine and her husband at the Starbucks along Timog Avenue when we went home for Father and Mother's 50th anniversary in 2011.  We had a nice long talk. That one I know for sure.  Then back in 2010, I vaguely recall walking into a Starbucks with some of my officemates. One of them wanted to try the green tea latte.  They were a bunch of coffeeholics so I must have joined them for a cup of coffee that day. Let's call it THREE then.  I actually passed up a possible fourth when we had a mini-reunion last September. I was with two classmates from High School.  We had lunch then we walked around the city.  Before heading home, one of them offered to treat us to Starbucks.  However, since none of us were really THAT into coffee, we opted for bubble tea instead.  (It just shows where Starbucks is in our list of places to frequent.)

I have added Gloria Jean's to my coffee chains sampled. In fact, I believe I have had TWO cups of coffee from here.  The first time was with my sister-in-law when we bumped into each other at the mall and a second time with a friend who works in the same floor as I do and lives nearby.  I often see her at the church in our parish and we went for coffee one Saturday after mass. I had almost gotten a third one when the trader from Tokyo came to visit Sydney.  He wanted to meet us bearing cups of coffee but he had only ordered four.  He regularly deals with three of us and did not realise there were two other members in the team.  One of my colleagues was absent that day and since I knew the trader needed his coffee fix more than I did, I let him have the fourth cup.  

Anyway, since Christmas is fast approaching, the Starbucks Planner is a hot topic once again.  I remember former officemates in Manila going out for coffee and rejoicing when they had earned enough points to redeem a planner.   I suppose some people just really drink a LOT of coffee or some people just really WANT to get a planner.

I found these myManila infographics interesting.   They illustrate the cheapest way to get the planner/s based on the mechanics of the planner promo and the cheapest drinks on the menu. 

In summary : 

2012 -- PHP140 Short Peppermint Mocha; PHP95 Short Brewed Coffee

(Option 1) PHP 2,020 - 9 Christmas Drinks + 8 Core Beverages

(Option 2) PHP 2,185 - 23 Core Beverages

2013 -- PHP140 Short Toffee Nut Latte; PHP 85 Short Brewed Coffee

PHP 1,940 - 9 Christmas Drinks + 8 Core Beverages

2014 - PHP140 Short Gingerbread Latte; PHP 85 - Short Brewed Coffee

PHP 2,025 -  9 Christmas Drinks + 9 Core Beverages

What do we conclude?

1. Short brewed coffee was more expensive in 2012. ( I wonder if the cup was bigger then.)  
2. The selection of cheapest Christmas Drinks have changed over the years.  I don't know enough to make any comments on the popularity,  taste, size, or even the cost of these drinks.
3. Based on the additional information provided in the 2014 version, there is an increased consciousness over the calories that come with the planner.   
4. Regardless of cost, kind, or number of cups, if people want to get a planner, they will.

Fore-Edge Painting

There was a time that ad-cubes became quite popular as give-aways during Christmastime. As children whose usual source of paper was limited to school notebooks and various sizes of pad paper, the possession of an ad-cube represented an almost unimaginable wealth of paper.   (The reams of coupon bond in our supplies cabinet were reserved for "official use" only.  Those were not for drawing or playing unless one side had been used and the sheet had subsequently been declared as scratch paper.) 

One of the things we would do with ad-cubes would be to make flip books or make big drawings on the sides while the pad was slightly tilted so they sort of shrank when the pad was realigned.  I was never really good at either but it was still lots of fun.

RD knows I go for these sort of interesting things so he introduced me to fore-edge painting.  Apparently it was quite popular in the 19th century and a lot of books still exist with these secret hidden within their pages.

I wonder how they managed to work their magic during the early stages of this art.  This is how they CAN make it today.

This one shows the artist's painting skills. 


Check out this entry from Colossal which has a lot of  great samples of fore-edge painting plus some nice youtube links.

The Piano Guys

It's the First week of Advent so Christmas music is more than appropriate.

This is what happens when you have one piano and four piano guys.

Goodbye Red and White, Hello Green and Gold

KFC supports the Australian Cricket Team

and they want to show it.

 

Something Old, Something New

Leonardo da Vinci (April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519)  was a true genius.   He invented this viola-organista during his time but the instrument was played for the first time last month.   It took over three years for Polish concert pianist and instrument maker Slawomir Zubrycki to build this instrument which was designed over 500 years ago. 

Check out this article for more details.

Car Talk

I think this car was trying to say something.

Garage Sale Haul

I could not resist getting these from the garage sale last Friday.

For cooking:  Angry Birds Spice Rack

For baking : nesting doll measuring cups

The heads measure 1 cup, 2/3 cup and 1/3 cup 

The bases measure 3/4 cup, 1/2 cup and 1/4 cup

Aren't they cute?  

I love the Russian nesting dolls.  Apparently they are called matryoshkas.

I had seen these in the stores but they were just too expensive to buy at the regular price.   It was a lucky find at the garage sale for this kid at heart.

Bread Company

Remember my last post where I had a recipe for No Knead Bread which I wanted to try?

Well here is the bread, complete with rosemary (from the "garden")!

We baked it yesterday.

Since it needed 4 1/2 cup of flour,

the loaf yield was quite decent.

I sliced the loaf and announced, "Bread!"

GI came over and got a slice.  He topped it with some sliced ham and placed it inside the oven toaster. (The sliced ham is something that GI had purchased from the grocery for his sandwiches. The rest of the family knows it belongs to him.)

I decided to toast a slice for myself so I nudged his slice of bread to the left and placed mine beside his.  When the oven toaster timer rang, GI came over to pick up his bread.

"Oh!  My bread has company!"  he exclaimed as he saw my slice of bread in the toaster.

"It was lonely,"  I explained.   

GI laughed.

Then I added, "My bread is lonely too. It's missing sliced ham."

(GI did not find that funny.)

Do I Need to Knead?

I keep on finding bread recipes online and recently I have been seeing more no knead bread recipes.  I think I am a bread magnet.   

In spite all the recommendation for low-carb diets, I love freshly baked bread (especially with butter!).

This love for bread is a result of the sourdough bread that Father would bring home from his business trips to the U.S.   We always looked forward to his coming home.   We would rummage through his luggage to see what treats he had brought home for us.  When we were younger, they would be toys, stationery and knick-knacks but as we grew older, Father would bring sourdough bread from Fisherman's Wharf, chocolates, Mauna Loa macadamia nuts and other goodies.

I actually don't mind kneading dough.  Ironically, it is the rising time that gets me down.   

We hope to try the first recipe since it uses more flour therefore will yield a bigger loaf. We tried the second one during my leave and it was gone in one sitting.   

====

Easy No Knead Skillet Bread (http://bakerbettie.com/easy-no-knead-skillet-bread/)

Ingredients

• 1 package active dry yeast (2¼ tsp if measuring from bulk yeast)
• 2 cups lukewarm water
• ½ TBSP kosher salt
• 4⅓ cups all-purpose flour
• olive oil
• rosemary

Instructions

1. Combine yeast and warm water in a large bowl or pitcher.
2. Using a wooden spoon add in 1 cup of the flour and then the salt and mix until combined.
3. Stir in the rest of the flour, one cup at a time, until completely incorporated.
4. Cover with plastic wrap or a lid that is not shut completely.
5. Allow to rise for 1 hour.
6. Do not punch down the dough.
7. Lightly oil the bottom of a cast iron skillet.
8. Sprinkle a good amount of flour on top of the dough and then cover hands with flour.
9. Take all of the dough and shape into a disk. (it will be sticky)
10. Place in the 10" or 12" skillet, cover loosely with a towel, and allow to rise for another 30 minutes.
11. Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
12. Drizzle a little more oil over the top of the bread, and slash the dough with a knife creating an X.
13. Sprinkle with coarse salt and rosemary leaves.
14. Bake for 35-40 minutes until the top is a deep brown color.

No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread  (http://www.motherearthnews.com)

1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting. You may use white, whole wheat or a combination of the two.
1 1/2 tsp salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran for dusting 

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add the flour and salt, stirring until blended. The dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest at least 8 hours, preferably 12 to 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.
2. The dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it. Sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let it rest for about 15 minutes.
3. Using just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to the work surface or to your fingers, gently shape it into a ball. Generously coat a clean dish towel with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal. Put the seam side of the dough down on the towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another towel and let rise for about 1 to 2 hours. When it’s ready, the dough will have doubled in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
4. At least 20 minutes before the dough is ready, heat oven to 475 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in the oven as it heats. When the dough is ready, carefully remove the pot from the oven and lift off the lid. Slide your hand under the towel and turn the dough over into the pot, seam side up. The dough will lose its shape a bit in the process, but that’s OK. Give the pan a firm shake or two to help distribute the dough evenly, but don’t worry if it’s not perfect; it will straighten out as it bakes.
5. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake another 15 to 20 minutes, until the loaf is beautifully browned. Remove the bread from the Dutch oven and let it cool on a rack for at least 1 hour before slicing.

Failures are Brave Efforts

The fear of failure can be debilitating.  It is not a nice feeling.  Take it from me.  I know. 

I think it is fair to say that nobody likes to be a failure but it is inevitable for everybody to experience failure at one point in time or another.

  

When we fail, we are always reminded to learn from our mistakes.   

The Ode to Failure adds these other things ...  

Accept limitationsLet go of need to be perfectOffer self-kindness

\ 

The video came to me at the right time.  Among other things, I've been afraid to take my test. I have been carrying around a learner's permit since 2010 and although it expires January 2015, unless I get my full licence, I would always need MacGyver in the car with me if I wanted to drive. (And he is the sort that gets dizzy when he's not driving.)  When I filed for my two-week mandatory leave, I asked MacGyver to help me schedule a driving test.  My test was scheduled for 10AM today.  I woke up at 4:30 and 5:30 this morning.  I was obviously worried.  Yes, the fear of failure creeping in again!  

As I waited for my testing schedule, I decided that this video would get posted regardless of the outcome of my driving test.  I didn't want to post it earlier this week because it might jinx my driving test.   But after MacGyver and I had a serious talk yesterday (about me and my issues), I was reassured that regardless of my success or failure, he would be there for me.   It helps to know that.  It really does.

I am posting this so I can view this video when I need to remind myself that it is all right to fail.  Failures are brave efforts.

Where Should We Go This Saturday?

OR

It would be nice to go for a hot chocolate 

or something at McDonald's 

but it is a warm day in spring

besides MyGirl and I already have

our FREE SLURPEE vouchers.

7-Eleven it is!

In House Gallery

These were among the paintings on display at our ground floor lobby in September.

The price tags were a staggering AUD470 for each.

But one can still enjoy the paintings without paying the price.

I love the way these are three paintings become one.

I find perspective drawings intriguing.

And who would not want to spend time 

relaxing on a beach or taking a dip in the water?

I love this one simply because it reminds me of home.

Number 5 is Alive

The buses almost always have advertisements on their sides.  I could not help notice the ones advertising Grand Theft Auto V.

[Most of the buses have individual posters.  This is the collage version.]

Why?  Aside from there being so many of them, I found it odd that they had to spell out the "FIVE" within the "V".   (I wonder whether this is for the benefit of the kids that play the game before they learn their Roman numerals.)

On the day I had taken the Grand Theft Auto photo, the next bus had this -- Forza 5.  

I therefore conclude that Hindu-Arabic numerals are more straight to the point and that there are way too many people playing games (for both these games to get to version five).

Pass the Popcorn

Am in the middle of my two-week mandatory leave, and as so far, all I have to show for it are additional inches and pounds.  Being at home enables me to be online or watch movies, and snack all throughout the day (Bad!). 

One day, we decided to have some popcorn.  Although we don't use oil to pop the corn (thanks to the air popper MacGyver got from a garage sale a couple of years ago),  if we don't drench it in melted butter, we coat it with caramel. (Good and bad!)

What can I say?  It's just so easy to make the caramel that it practically begs to be added to the popcorn.   

Ours would be a simple combination of 1/2 c sugar + 1/4 c butter + 2 T honey. 

Many of the recipes call for the brew to be boiled without stirring for 7-8 minutes after the sugar has melted.  I just let the caramel boil for a while.   I still have to figure out what that extra cooking time is all about.  

Does that mean I need to make another batch?  (Really BAD!)

You Had One Job!

Yesterday, GI introduced me to the whole concept of 'you had one job,'  by giving this example :  

In the Jurassic Park credits, you'll see 'DINOSAUR CONTROL.'
You had one job!

I thought that was funny so MyGirl showed me a couple more Instagram photos. 

I  was genuinely amused at most of the photos,  I was laughing so much.  She said she never laughed as hard as I did when she was looking through the photos under a 'you had one job' account.  

What can I say?  They WERE funny!

Yesterday, I saw this in the seafood store.  You'd think they were selling frog's legs.  

TOADY SPECIAL.  Really?  

You had one job!

12 Herbs and Spices

GI sent me this recipe via FB in July.   I promised him that we would try it one day even if I detest frying (such is my love for KFC Fried Chicken, oops, I meant such is my love for my big boy).  I explained to him that not all of the herbs and spices in the list were items we commonly used so we didn't have everything on hand.  

The other weekend, I asked MyGirl to write down all the missing ingredients for this recipe and I picked them up when I dropped by the grocery.  Last Saturday, I double checked whether I had all the herbs and spices needed before I went off to buy the chicken. 

For dinner, I cut up three chicken marylands and mixed up the coating ingredients.  I followed the breading instructions and got ready to fry.  I put the 4T of oil in the pan as per the recipe but felt it was too little to cook the chicken.  I decided to add another 4T of oil.   I figured I was frying it anyway, I may as well make sure it got cooked.

I cooked the chicken in two batches.  However, since the chicken pieces were not totally submerged in the oil, I felt they were not quite cooked and the last thing I wanted to do was serve the family raw chicken.  So I decided to complete the cooking in the turbo oven.

I was happy with the results.  The kids were elated.  

RD said it was one of the best dinners he'd had and made me promise not to lose the recipe.  

In my mind, of course it would be yummy.  Where one would normally just add a teaspoon each of salt and pepper to flavour the flour, this recipe required more than 4 times that amount of seasoning.  Besides, I actually FRIED the chicken that night.  I think that made the world of difference.  

I can confidently recommend this recipe.  Try it.  Your kids will love it!

KFC ORIGINAL SECRET CHICKEN RECIPE 12 Herbs and spices

Ingredients 1 whole chicken, cut into pieces 3 beaten eggs 4 tablespoons oil

For the coating---

2 cups flour 4 teaspoons paprika 1 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon pepper 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning (or chicken stock powder) 1 teaspoon oregano 1 teaspoon tarragon 1 teaspoon parsley 1/2 teaspoon thyme 1 teaspoon chives 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon onion powder 1/2 teaspoon celery salt

Directions:

Sift flour and add together all the coating ingredients and grind finely with a mortar and pestle and place in a clean plastic bag. Coat each chicken piece first with the beaten egg, then with the flour mixture in the bag. Make sure you coat each piece completely with the flour.

Heat the oil in a skillet. Brown the chicken in oil slowly, uncovered. Once browned, cover the skillet and keeping frying on a very gentle heat until the chicken is fully cooked. Place on paper towels to drain out the excess oil.

Walk!

There are banners on the streets of Sydney with the names of cities and countries.

I could not figure out what they were.

Until a friend of mine visiting from Manila explained that these were what the pedestrian crossing men look like in the different parts of the world.  

It is part of the Art & About Sydney  banner gallery.

In all honesty, nobody really paid much attention to the pedestrian lights in the home country.  (The Australians take it quite seriously here.  In fact, I saw someone get caught for jaywalking in the city last week.)  But it didn't occur to me until yesterday that the walking men look different around the world.

Check out the walking man ... and look right and left (or left and right, as the case may be) ... before crossing the street.   Stay safe!

Snailovation

Snailovation  ... they are all over Sydney as part of the Art & About Sydney.

Seems they come in orange, yellow, pink and blue.

Birds and the Bags

While the people at the mall are looking at these bags ...

... I am fascinated by the birds.

 Remember the ones at the flower shop?

I wasn't looking at the flowers there either.

When the Big Becomes the Little

RD walked to the mall with me on the first day of spring.

(He was in a sleeveless shirt, I was wearing a jacket.)

It was nice of him to keep me company.

Plus, he was there to help carry the bags

and pose for pictures.

~~~~~~~~~~

I had RD stand by the coffee shop display so I could take a picture of him

and the Nutella they had on the counter.

(OK, I admit it.  I wanted a picture of the Nutella and of him.)

Can you see the size of that Nutella?   

There were actually three containers stacked on top of each other.  

The big one was quite big.  I suppose that is the smallest size they'd sell at Costco.

The one in the middle is the normal sized one you'd see in the grocery.

The tiny one is probably good for just a single serving.

Nutella ... yum!   That's about the size of it.
(Yeah, yeah.  I know it is mostly sugar.)

It's More Fun in the Philippines

I was about to cross the road

to catch mass at St. Patrick's one morning.

When I spotted this long bus.

The light was red so I was able to take a decent shot.

The ad said,

Parking.  More fun in the Philippines.

Hhhmmmm.... 

Then a couple of days later,

I saw yet another bus along a busy Sydney street.

This one had a different Philippine ad.

It said, 

Morning rush.  More fun in the Philippines.

(Sorry for the blurry photo.  The bus was about to move and I was still unlocking my phone.)

Clearly, these ads were not referring to the shopping malls during Christmas time

nor to the morning rush along EDSA on a daily basis.

So I had to look up what these were all about.

What can I say?    It Is More Fun in the Philippines

First Day of Spring

It's the first day of Spring and the weather is beautiful.

Here are some pictures I took when MacGyver and I

took and impromptu walk during our anniversary.

Oh, this one was on sale in the Reject Shop.

I have this thing for maple leaves 

and I just love the orange hues in nature.

These are the odds and ends of things that catch my eye.

The Cat in the Hat Comes Back

Dr. Seuss exhibit at the QVB Building across the street from my office.