Sleep In Heavenly Peace

It was all over the news feeds -- Pope Francis was going to give a special blessing on Friday 27 March 2020 at 6 PM Rome from the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica.  

The pope’s blessing, Urbi et Orbi (To the city and the world) is usually reserved for Christmas Day and Easter Sunday.  However this extraordinary blessing was being given in view of the current global situation as more people are being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.  

This special blessing came with the opportunity for everyone to receive a  plenary indulgence.

I was all for receiving a plenary indulgence.  Heaven knows I need all the blessings I can get.  The problem was I had deadlines to meet and ended up logging off late on Friday night and sleeping after 1AM.  Before I went to bed I read the message of Sister Deer who is based in HK who said she was going to wake up for the Pope's blessings.  I was not 100% sure I could say the same.  You know, the spirit is willing but the body might still be asleep.   

I knew I wanted to get some sleep but I really wanted to wake up for the Pope.  Right before I slept, I did what I usually do when I felt I needed help, I asked the Holy Souls in Purgatory to wake me up if I was meant to get the blessings.  

Lo and behold, I woke up right before 4 AM just in time to catch the Pope walking in the rain.  (Thank you, Holy Souls in Purgatory!)

It was good to hear the Pope.  In the midst of this pandemic, he remains a beacon of hope.  

After he gave the blessings, I went to sleep hoping that I had received all the graces I possibly could.

When I checked my phone, I was extremely surprised to see this solid deep sleep.   I guess when your heart is filled with joy and cleansed of sin, one can really feel at peace.

Whole Day Ensaymada

Last 21 March, my sister-in-law SI in Calgary posted a photo of their afternoon merienda (snack) in Facebook.  They were having hot chocolate and freshly baked ensaymada.  Impressive yet not surprising as SI comes up with such delectable baked goodies and desserts.

 

(Ensaymada is a Filipino-style brioche available in most bakeries.  The dough is shaped in a spiral form and the final product is usually topped with butter, sugar and cheese.) 

 

I still owed RD an ensaymada from July 2019.  We had bought some ensaymada from the nearby Goldilock's and RD was planning to bring his to have as a snack while waiting for our plane back to Sydney.  We were already on the way to the airport when we realized that we had forgotten to pack his ensaymada. I promised I would try to make some ensaymada for him to make up for it. 

 

When I saw the FB post the other week, I figured it was as good a time as any to try making soft and fluffy ensaymada.  I sent a message to SI and asked her for her recipe.  She promptly replied and I discovered the secret to fluffy ensaymada -- mashed potatoes! 

 

Fortunately, MacGyver had gotten a big bag of potatoes the other day so I had that ingredient covered.  However, the recipe also called for seven egg yolks.  Seven egg yolks meant seven eggs.  Seven eggs was equivalent to two breakfast. Given the situation, I could not in good conscience use seven eggs to make dessert if  we only had a dozen eggs at home.  This ensaymada had to wait.

 

On Thursday, we decided to use up some of the potatoes MacGyver had purchased and had  mashed potatoes with our chicken.  I asked MyGirl to choose one potato that would comply with the needed 75 grams of boiled potatoes for my ensaymada experiment and set it aside.  On Friday, I was fortunate enough to be able to get a big tray of 30 eggs.  I had to get eggs or else I could not make the ensaymada.   I still had some flour in the pantry and yeast in the freezer.  We don't usually have evaporated milk but I figured either regular milk or powdered milk would do.  I felt we were getting close to getting the ensaymada on the table.   I figured the only other things I needed would be sugar, salt, water, time, patience and determination.

I certainly had the determination.  I was not sure if I had the patience.   Thank goodness for the weekend, because prior to Saturday I didn't have the time to make ensaymada.  (I had been working from home the whole week because we were now on split operations.  Half the team works from home on week 1, the other half works from home on week 2.  Who knew WFH was so tiring?  I found myself working longer hours this week.  In fact, RD was our chef for most of the week because I was working through dinner and beyond.) 

Anyway, come Saturday, I see a message from SI asking if I was able to make the ensaymada yet.  (Pressure!)  I replied that I hadn't but her message strengthened my resolve to make a batch pronto. 

In her email she indicated that I was free to ask her questions.  Well as soon as I started, I took her up on her offer and pinged her several questions.  As I was going along, I had to ask her what time it was in Canada because I had a feeling this would not be "as easy as pie."  She said it was 6:15 PM Friday.  That translated to 11:15 AM Saturday in Sydney. 

By noon, I was in the mixing part but the dough looked like mush.  I sent her a photo and she said it looked fine.  I had NEVER worked with dough this sticky EVER!  (Maybe that is why my previous ensaymada experiments have never come up as soft and fluffy as the store-bought ones.)

I kept asking her more questions throughout the day. Will the dough be easy to handled after the first rise? What was the best place to knead the dough?  But more importantly, what time would she be sleeping?  (It was almost 8PM there by this time.)  When she said she'd be sleeping at midnight, I told her she was the best Help Desk ever!

As with other breads, the recipe required two sets of rising times.  One in the bowl after mixing all the ingredients and a second one in the baking molds after the dough had been formed.  It was almost 4PM when I managed to get the all the dough formed.  We were getting closer to the end but these still needed to rise.

 

At 4:50 PM, SI sent me a message that she was signing off.  She had reached her end of day and it was almost midnight in Calgary.

So close and yet so far ...  my dough had risen but I still needed to pre-heat the oven and start baking.

 

I kept sending SI updates even if I knew she was already asleep.  I took pictures to send to her as soon as they came out of the oven.  It was after 6PM by this time.  

 

We transferred them to a rack and MyGirl topped them with melted butter and sugar.  

 

They were certainly worth the wait.  It was 8 months for RD, one whole day for the rest of us.  

Yummy!  They were DELICIOUS!!!  

(I could not have done it without SI's guidance.  Seriously the BEST HELP DESK ever.  Thanks, SI!)





 

Madeleine

I remember eyeing a madeleine pan in the Gourdo's store in Glorietta when I was in Manila.  I imagined that the results would be so pretty.  I don't think I had even tasted a madeleine when wanting to buy the pans back then.  I was attracted to them because of the shape.

 

Fast forward to window shopping in Australia.  There was a Trade Secret (now TKMaxx since 2017) at the nearby mall.  They had items that would be available in store this week and gone the next.  I spotted a couple of madeleine pans for AUD 13.  I wanted them but I didn't buy them.  After a couple more visit, I saw they were priced down to AUD9.  Tempting, really tempting ... but I still didn't buy them.  However, when I saw them a month or so later with double red tags, I could not resist.  I picked up the last two at AUD6 a piece. 

 

I didn't know how to make madeleines when I bought the pans and they were in storage for quite a while.  Eventually I did muster up the courage to try a batch and they came out quite well.  This was probably a year or so ago.

 

In January this year, I borrowed a book on madeleines wanting to give the madeleine pans some action.  I flipped through the pages of that library book while on the train going home and took note of the ingredients I needed to get.  When I finally found the time to do some baking, I ditched the library book and settled on a recipe I found in the internet.

 

They turned out beautifully.  Apparently, the secret to madeleines with the signature "hump" is the step where one has to refrigerate the batter for at least an hour before baking.

  

 

Madeleines (makes 24)

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 2/3 c sugar
• 1 1/2  t orange zest
• 1 c flour
• 1 t baking powder
• ¼ t  salt
• 6 T  melted butter
• 1 T  powdered sugar

Instructions

1. In medium bowl, beat eggs with sugar until pale yellow then add orange zest.
2. In small bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
3. Add dry ingredients to the egg mixture gently. Mix until just combined then add melted butter.
4. Refrigerate the batter at least 1 hour (even up to overnight).
5. Preheat oven to 350F 
6. Lightly grease madeleine pan with melted butter or baking spray.
7. Scoop 1 heaping teaspoon of batter into the center of the well.  (No need to spread it out. It will spread out on its own.)   
8. Bake 7-8 mins until slightly golden around edges and centers look set .  Allow to cool slightly before moving to cooling rack, 
9. Once cooled completely, dust with powdered sugar. Serve.