Beautiful Brioche

When I visited Slash-M in Sweden in 2018, he bought some brioche moulds for me when we visited a small store selling cooking and baking tools and gadgets. Admittedly brioche moulds are merely containers that hold and shape the pieces of dough. The moulds do not enhance the flavour of the bread but they certainly make the ensaymada pretty. Slash-M did not HAVE to get them for me, but I am certainly glad that he did. These moulds will always be special to me.

At the time, I had tried several ensaymada recipes with varying success. I had made some revisions to my grandmother's ensaymada recipe and was pretty pleased with the results. My main issue was that the recipe uses eight egg yolks, leaving me with egg whites that usually end up as meringue or some other sweet dessert. Last year, my sister-in-law SI shared her recipe with me and they turned out great. I would have made ensaymada using her recipe more often but the recipe requires some boiled potatoes and is quite involved. I don't always have potatoes on hand plus this ensaymada baker rookie could spend the whole day trying to come up with the ensaymada.

The other week, I chanced upon this link in youtube. The recipe seemed straight-forward enough and the comments were quire encouraging. The plus side to this recipe is that is uses 4 eggs and an egg yolk, which in my mind leaves me with a single odd egg white that can easily be added to someone's fried egg or scrambled egg for breakfast.

They turned out nice and soft. It was a "choose your own (toppings) adventure" because I was not able to prepare the usual ensaymada toppings ahead. MyGirl put some butter and sugar over hers. RD placed some grated cheese. When I got around to serving some to MacGyver's friends that came over, they got the full experience of both butter/sugar mixture plus grated cheese.

Thank you, Kuya Gil for this wonderful ensaymada recipe. I will try your other recipes soon.

Hey, Slash-M, I think this recipe will give more oven time to the brioche moulds. Thanks again!

Classic Ensaymada Recipe

Ingredients: 480 g all-purpose flour ( 3 1/2 c) 11 g instant yeast (1 T) 77 g granulated sugar (7 T) 10 g fine sea salt (1/2 T) 4 whole eggs, cold 1 egg yolk, cold 82 g cold whole milk 216 g unsalted butter, cut into ½ in cubes, room temp for 15-20 min Ensaymada Buttercream Frosting 4 tbsp unsalted butter 3 tbsp sugar 1/2 tsp vanilla

Whisk together flour, yeast, sugar, and salt.

Add eggs and milk. Mix 5-6 mins on low Add butter pieces a few pieces at a time, allowing butter to get incorporated into the dough. Stop and scrape down several times. Continue mixing for about 15 minutes, scraping down sides every so often. Do several stretch and folds on the dough. (I did this inside the bowl, though instructions indicated pat, stretch and fold on worksurface.) Cover and let rise 1 hour or until double in size. Do another set of pat, stretch and fold. Refrigerate overnight. Transfer to lightly floured surface. Flatten and roll into a baton shape. Divide into 12 equal pieces. Shape dough (roll into long strip then shape into coil) Place on lightly buttered mould. Cover and allow to rise 1 1/2 hours or until double in size. Place on baking tray. Bake in preheated 325 oven for 17-18 minutes. Immediately brush with melted butter. Remove ensaymada from moulds and allow to cool on rack. Mix together 4T butter, 3T sugar and 1/2 t vanilla extract. Frost cooled ensaymada. Top with grated cheese.

Rainy Days and Mondays

You would not believe the amount of rain we had last week. 

This is what it looked like on Sunday.

It was not much better on Monday.

We looked forward to Wednesday.  

The weather forecast was sunny.

Yes, it was a beautiful day indeed.

Thank God. 

(This is for my kids in case they do not know the song and may have no idea who The Carpenters are.)

Ant Umbrella

GI stayed over last night.  We went to the mall at about noon to get chicken and vegetables.  In the afternoon, he roasted the vegetables and baked the chicken for his meals for the coming week.  

After the food cooled, he packed them up and prepared to leave.  He realised it was still raining and found himself without an umbrella.  

When he said he wanted to borrow an umbrella, I assumed he did not want one of the big umbrellas because it would be difficult to handle considering he would also be carrying his food.  I gave him two choices -- a small compact umbrella and a brand new Kathmandu commuter umbrella.

Thinking that a smaller umbrella would be easier for him to handle, I held up the compact umbrella and said, "This one is small."  

"OK, I'll take this one," GI replied, opting for the compact one after seeing that the Kathmandu umbrella still had the tag attached.

He opens the umbrella then gasps, "Oh!  It IS small.  This is for ants, Mom!" 

"This is for ants," I chuckled and whacked his butt with the small umbrella after we had swapped.   

I had never heard of such a thing and GI must've realised that because he sent me this youtube link soon after he left.

Banamana

RD and I were in the kitchen when I saw a super brown banana peel in the bin.





I said, “Thank goodness Dad ate the dying banana... unless you did.”





“I did,” he said, then confessed, “but it wasn’t very good.”





“Oh, thanks for that but you do know that you could have put it in the fridge or the freezer so that it could become...”





I paused and as if on cue he broke out in song to the tune of Mahna Mahna and went,

"Banana bread, do do do do do"

“And maybe...” I said, to which he continued singing,

"Banana muffin, do do do do"

He was on a roll, so I prompted him with, “And finally...”

"Banana shake  do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do"

Needless to say, we had a lot of laughs.

I Want To Hold Your Hand

I found this video so cute that I posted it in FB.

Eldest Sis added the comment, "Just like you." 

I replied with this picture which I grabbed from MyGirl.

Over the years, MyGirl has taken so many pictures of me and MacGyver holding hands while walking that she has created a folder to store them.  Naturally, when she saw my FB post, her aunt's comment and the above pictures, she pulled out the big guns and posted four more pictures in reply.  

I replied to her barrage of pictures saying I thought she had proven her point.

Apparently she still had one more up her sleeve.  She posted this one she had taken last July during our vacation.  She said this was the one most relevant to the FB post (because it was taken on the beach).

I thought she had ran out of ammunition but I soon found out that MacGyver and I are easy targets.  

Concert and Light Show at St. Mary's

Here is the light show in action.

Born to be Wild

I turned the TV on the other night and caught the tail end of the documentary Blackfish.   If you are not familiar with the movie, like I was, Blackfish is a 2013 documentary film about Tilikum, an orca featured at SeaWorld, and the controversy over captive killer whales.   

Tilikum was captured when he was only 2 years old near Iceland. At the time he was about 13 feet long.  He was the largest orca in captivity, weighing 12,500 pounds and over 22 feet in length,at one point.  Tilikum had been in another park prior to SeaWorld.  Tilikum was involved in three deaths, including that of Dawn Brancheau in 2010. Tilikum died last 6 January 2017 of a bacterial lung infection.  

I watched a couple other more YouTube videos on orcas.  I think they are beautiful creatures.

Among the things I learned as I watched the videos include the health and wealth aspects.

• An orca in the wild would have a dorsal fin that are straight and strong.  The dorsal fin of orcas in captivity are collapsed and flaccid.  The strength of the dorsal fin is a 'use it or lose it' thing.  Since captured orcas are confined to a finite space, they are unable to swim very far. 
• Apparently, most of the whales that are captured are female, making Tilikum a valuable asset.  He not only provided income to SeaWorld as one of their main attraction, but he was also a source of income as a sperm donor.  Over 50% of the orcas in captivity have been sired by Tilikum.

I must admit, I have enjoyed many of my visits to zoos and animal parks. I have always known that these animals were smart. I have been amazed at the sight of magnificent creatures I would not otherwise have been able to see up close.  Watching the Blackfish documentary just reminded me that there are always two sides to a coin.

Here is a video of Tilikum's performance at SeaWorld.

This one is a video of one version of Tilikum's life.

Smart Money

Three of the kids of Mumoffive went to the US to attend their cousin's wedding last month. When they returned, among the stories one of the kids had was how frustrated she was with paying for things.  Adult issues?  Not quite. 

She wasn't used to the US dollar notes, taxes and tips.  She was accustomed to paying the tag price and not having to calculate extra to cover for taxes when paying for purchases or extra to cover tips. She said it wouldn't have been so bad if the tax was a round number but there were states that the tax was an odd 6.875%.   She said she ended up with so much coins because she couldn't figure out exactly how much to pay.

The other thing that bugged her was the fact that all the US notes were the same size and the same colour.  It's true.  Australian dollars are great in that each denomination has a different colour and a different size (nearly according to a logarithmic scale).   They being waterproof is great, too.

Here is a video about the Aussie dollars.  Perhaps you'd be impressed too.

 

Gather Around

We gather around the table and celebrate life.

Gather around, for the table is spread,
Welcome the food and rest!
Wide is our circle, with Christ at the head,
He is the honoured guest.
Learn of his love, grow in his grace,
Pray for the peace he gives;
Here at this meal, here in this place
Know that his spirit lives!
Once he was known in the breaking of bread,
Shared with a chosen few;
Multitudes gathered and by him were fed,
So will he feed us too. 

Autopsy on a Dream

This is a controversial BBC documentation about the Sydney Opera House.
It is a very interesting video and it has incredible footage of what Sydney looked like in the 60's.

My Three Caballeros

It is getting harder and harder to get a decent shot of the three kids together.

I no longer aim to get them to wear matching shirts.

The aim is to get the three of them to pose together for a decent shot.

If I can't even get them to pose together, I wonder what the chances are for getting a video like this one.

Coffee to Go

MyGirl has been practicing her coffee designs.

She often comes home from work 

and tells me that she made a beautiful coffee.

She then relays that she didn't have a chance to take a photo.

When I picked her up today, she was so excited as she showed me the below photo.

I was able to take a photo, she said, because the customer ordered coffee

then went to the toilet.

So MyGirl can now make good coffee as well as pretty coffee.

There is More Than One Way to Play the Piano

It is amazing what talented pianists can do when their fingers touch a piano (or two or more).

Someone posted a FB link to this TedTalk that featured the Washington Conservatory.
It is definitely a solo piano but is it a piano solo?

Then today, I watched seven children play some sort of round robin on four pianos at the Con.

I do look forward to listening to more piano playing.

Two Cents Worth

Ever consider how people offer a penny for your thoughts when they want to find out what you are thinking; but when they don't really want to hear what you want to say, you give them your two cents worth.

That is what crossed my mind when RD sent me this link:

We Will Remember Them

One hundred years ago today, the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) soldiers landed on Gallipoli to join allied forces hoping to capture Constantinople (now Istanbul) which was the capital of the Ottoman Empire, an ally of Germany.   The attack at Gallipoli had failed and more than 8,000 Australian soldiers were killed.   However this day was not a day of shame but a day of pride.  25 April has now become the day on which Australians remembered the sacrifice of those who died in the war.  

The "Ode of Remembrance" is an ode taken from Laurence Binyon's poem, "For the Fallen", 

(Stanzas 3, 4, and 5 out of 7)

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.

Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,

They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;

They sit no more at familiar tables of home;

They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;

They shall sleep with honour as do we;

You Have to Look With the Heart

Remember ...

"You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed."
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

Take It All Off

Eldest Sis showed me this cool product.

Who would have thought you just needed a dress to undress?

Hugs to All

This is a very touching story.

Eggsquisite!

This egg looks even better than the real thing.

Send Me a Venn Diagram

Earlier this month, RD said something like, "Did you know that part of Ireland (Northern Ireland) is in the United Kingdom but that another part (the Republic of Ireland) is not, and that Great Britain is comprised of several countries that are part of the UK?"  

I had never really bothered to learn the geographic details of this matter although I did wonder why England and Ireland share the same country code (+44) even if they were different countries.  I knew that GBP is the SWIFT code for the pound sterling but wasn't sure which countries aside from England used this.  And up until RD mentioned it, in my mind the UK and Great Britain were interchangeable terminologies.  (Am sure London Eye would have promptly showed me the error of my ways.)

RD continued to rattle away countries and subsets of countries belonging to Great Britain, the United Kingdom, the British Isles, etc. that were beyond my mental comprehension so I said, "You have to send me a Venn Diagram."

He gave me something better, he shared me this link, which was really informative.

In a nutshell (or if you don't have the patience to watch the video), this illustrates what goes where.

May I just say that I am glad I don't have to take geography tests anymore.