Rice Cooker Bread (Sunday Project?)

after lastweek sucess in making doughnuts, i embark on a new project to bake rice cooker bread 
i got the recipe from here 
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Rice-Cooker-Bread

(actually, i ran out of spegetti, rice and …and all i have in my storage is the ingredient left from the doughnut :p )

see how they turn out to be! nice, rite? Too bad i put too much of salt, so it taste a bit funny 
i’m using them to make french-toast for my breakfast anyhow.

Awesome Japanese Trains

I was surfing yesterday an stumble upon a cute photoblog showing some interesting photos of a special Japanese train.

The first train is designed primarily for the benefit of the kids. It encompasses the whole playground equipped specifically to justify all their needs. The second one is also nice due to its unique strawberry design.

Take a look!

My 1st Doughnut

Last Saturday i made some doughnuts and it was a success! (huhu…so proud of myself)

I got the recipe from my “baking Mentor” :p
here’s the list of ingredient:
Ingredients for dough
350g flour
half teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon instant yeast
30g castor sugar
30g butter
1 egg
150ml milk

Ingredient for coating
castor sugar OR
1 chocholate bar + half can of condensed milk (water heat)

Instructions
(1) heat 150ml of milk till luke warm (not boil)
(2) mix milk, 30g butter, 1 egg
(3) add in flour, salt, sugar and yeast
(4) leave the dough at room temperature for 1 hour, cover with damn cloth
(5) fry it and add sugar/chocolate coating

Anyway, i don’t have proper measuring instruments for the ingredients so i improvise and modified the recipe a bit.

Here’s what i used:
600g flour
1/3 tablespoon of salt
1 packet of instant yeast (suitable for 500g of flour, so said the lable)
2 tablespoon of castor sugar
60g butter
2 eggs
2 cup of milk (with my new nescafe cup)

After mixing the dough ingredients in my pot, the mixture turn out to be too liquid. It is somewhat like “pisang goreng” mixture. So, i consulted my Mentor and she said i have to add more flour. So, i slowly fold in more flour. After adding another 300g of flour, the mixture finally form a soft dough. Instead of using my hands, i used the wooden spatula to knit it a lil’ more. Then i left it for some time so that the dough will raise.
…and after 50 mins….alas! my dough is raised and ready to be shaped and fried.

At first i have no idea how big i need to shape it. However, after some experimentation, i finally got it right! The secret for a perfectly cooked doughnut is not to make a round (cross-section) dough ring with small cross-section diameter. Instead, make it FLAT! In such way, u can make bigger doughnuts!

Next, down it goes into the frying pot. Nothing special here, but it is important to note that the dough expand less after some time. So take as little time as possible between start of dough shaping till it is in the frying pot.

After the tedious task of frying the doughnut one by one, i finally came to the point to coat it. Originally, i wanted to make 4 different types of coating: classic sugar coat, cinnamon sugar coat, apple struddle sugar flavour, and chocolate. In the end, out of laziness, i mixed cinnamon, apple struddle flavour and sugar as 1 coating :p still, the result taste superb 
(though i lost my appetite for it since i had to eat quite a few failed experiment samples :p)

Since i couldn’t have finish all the doughnuts i made, i gave them to my friends. Of course, the feedback is positive.

冬至(winter solstice )

冬至 is an important day in chinese culture. By tradition, we eat 湯圓 (tang yuen) !!

talking about 湯圓, i’ve always thought that they are somewhat too plain to be nice. Mom used to make these simple small glutinous balls with a simple caramel sauce. I am not a big fan 湯圓 myself, but i’ve always eaten it during winter solstice (No second helping though).

NB: large 湯圓 is a big “no no” for me :p i remembered grandma used to make them. They are plain balss without fillings!!! i can still recall how traumatizing it is to yank it down my throat… i think i choke a couple of time trying :p

These few years, i’m away studying in Moscow, so i didnt celebrate 冬至 . Anyhow, some friends do celebrate them and i saw them making 湯圓 with peanut fillings. Never realised it can be made that way (shame to call myself a chinese now).

2 years back, i travellled to HongKong, and there, the 1st time i actually enjoyed eating 湯圓 . They serve it cold with creamy mango ice-cream. Everything just RIGHT!

This saturday will be 冬至 again. So happens that the x’mas bash charity concert will be on the same date…so i supposed that i will be celebrating without 湯圓. (Yeap, 1st Malaysian Idol winner Miss Jaclyn Victor will be performing! Cool, no?)

at the 6th year of my medical schooldays…

at the 6th year of my medical schooldays…. 
things went cuckoo a bit… not in a bad way, just not quite the right way :p

at the 6th year of my medical schooldays…
i want to make the best out of everything. Maybe it is not feasible,  but i want to try, at least

at the 6th year of my medical schooldays…
I want to make sure i’m taking with me the knowledge, which is what i came here for in the first place.

soon a full-fledged doctor with a M.D. permanently associated to the back of my name

“i’m sorry, but i’ve tried my best…”…am i able to say these phrases san regretto?
(okay, don’t get me wrong here. I’m not saying that those words are gonna be my “most frequently used” ones. I’m just saying, considering the circumstances, am i really well prepared to take on the title Dr.Yip in less than, say, a year from now?)

Don’t ask me why i like to stressed myself.. I have a valid point, rite? I mean, hey, u can talk all u want, but have it ever-crossed your oh-so happy-go-lucky mind that life ain’t really that all that easy going?

So,
- don’t say i’m too serious when it comes to study! i’m just trying my best.
- Don’t mind me keeping to myself. (no, it is not PMS; no, i’m not bad-mood either) I’m just felt a lil’ declined to be too relaxed
- Don’t be mad at me, if i always put patient before anyone else. It’s just my instinctual reflex

 at the 6th year of my medical schooldays…
I want to take with me fond memories of this place (despite it being said many times, to be the worst place ever). I’m sure being in Moscow will be an important chapter of my life. It’s my tale. So, i’ll take my time visiting some interesting place here this year.

at the 6th year of my medical schooldays…
I want to savor the frenship with the ppl i met here. Coz i’ve always enjoy making frens. (though i can’t say the same or wether not others enjoy making frens with me :p) No, seriously, i am not so easy to be taken in afterall. Perhaps it’s my serious attitude. Perhaps is that thick air of coldness that lingers in my presence. Perhaps it is the pressure i tend to make ppl feel. Perhaps it is my words that never comes out rite. Perhaps it is my overly un-amusing joke. Perhaps it is me being unfrenly.

But trust me on this: I’ve always been sincere.

at the end 6th year of my medical schooldays… marks a new path to be written.

Untitled Autumn

I am in my bed resting my overly exerted mind. The chaos of the day seems to be potent enough, that i couldnt have done anything else had i not stop and give myself a break. A nap seems to be rational for me.

Too bad my troubled mind kept me awake. so, i slowly rolled over to the edge of my IKEA double decker. Being just next to the window, i could catch the view outside. Stooping over, i quietly watch the tiny humans moving seemingly aimlessly. Here from the 8th floor,the people outside didnt looked too different from some wandering ants.

the breeze and the swaying trees seems soothing.

Despite the time showing 7pm, it is still rather bright outside. It is autumn now in Moscow. It is marked vividly by the yellowness everywhere. The season itself makes everythings seems to move slower this evening. Supposingly, it give an overwhelming sense of serenity.

but here i am, lost in my thought, thinking of nothing in particular. It felt as if that I’ve been disconnected from my inner self of late. An uneventful news brings me no more than surprises, my inner safety mechanism triggered, and now locking me isolated. There is no way to recall what were those troubling thoughts are as of this moment.

Yet, i find no peace.

How ironic. How sarcastic.

睡眠101

最近生活又开始有点颠倒。可能是季节的转变，人容易变得疲累。很时常，随兴地就跑去睡。

睡眠是很重要的生理程序。睡眠让器官进入休息状态-也就是放缓metabolic activity，增加细胞组织的寿命。好的睡眠可以确保清晰的头脑运作，加强记忆力。而且，正常的睡眠能协和荷尔蒙失调。这可避免荷尔蒙失调造成的局部 积肥现象。呵呵，相信现代俊男美女很关注这一点吧？（甭说阿yip 没提点你们噢！）

对我来说，睡眠是有减压的功能。因为当心情不好的时候，只要大棉被盖过头，醒过来又是新的一天咯！（没错，新的一天并不代表会比昨天好。可是我先天性抱着期待的心情去看每一天，所以醒来总会比较开心。）

话说回来，最近因为睡眠时间太随兴，难免大白天也照样赶去见周公。可是说实在的，我睡得并不太好。睡眠素质变差的原因之一，就是我房间的光线太大。

好几遍我逛街都会留意哪里可以买到那个睡觉用的眼罩，可惜没缘。每当那仅仅32瓦斯的灯光在我尝试入眠的时闪得特别灿烂，我心里暗地下会想，如果有眼罩就不用受这种比皮肉之苦来得更苦的苦 :p 如果有人免费送上，就简直 perfect 啦！

说真的，睡眠不好很大条。心情会随之变差。最近连叽都笑不出来 

希望接下来，周公的 appointment 没那么密，多给我陪他聊聊天。

"milosci od pierwszego wejrzenia" - poem by Wislawa Szymborska

这样的笃定是美丽的，
但变化无常更是美丽。

缘分将他们推近，驱离，
憋住笑声
阻挡他们的去路，
然後闪到一边。

有一些迹象和信号存在，
即使他们尚无法解读。有一晚，也许同样的梦，
到了早晨变得模糊。

每个开始
都只是续篇，
这情节多端的作品
都还只是看到一半。

Beautiful is such a certainty,
but uncertainty is more beautiful.

What of the streets, stairways and corridors
where they could have passed each other long ago?

chance had been playing with them.Not yet wholly ready
to transform into fate for them
it approached them, then backed off,
stood in their way
and, suppressing a giggle,
jumped to the side.

There were signs, signals:
but what of it if they were illegible.Perhaps they had the same dream on a certain night,
suddenly erased after waking.

Every beginning
is but a continuation,
and the book of events
is never more than half open.