Halo baking

Ok, it's not really anything to do with angels, but I'm trying to be good and cook/bake without any gluten and dairy as we've been having problems (between us) with them.

As with anything you can't have..I am suddenly finding that I'm having cravings for things I shouldn't have. Things like a gooey pizza with lots of stringy cheese and meaty toppings (oh and wouldn't that cause me a world of pain), BREAD, pasta cabonara and more. Bah humbug.

So, I've been doing my research to try and find alternatives and substitutions we can use. I'm fed up of having no snacks, and, as one thing I've always wanted to try making is bread..this is my mission: to bake the perfect gluten and dairy free bread. I shall call this Project Loaf.

Today, I attempted Irish soda bread. I adapted from a "normal" recipe and came up with this:



I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but the crust is very hard and crunchy while the inner bit is quite damp looking. It's also quite solid. A friend advised me to reduce the temperature and bake it for five more minutes and as this supported my suspicions, I'm going to try this next time. Stay tuned for the next installment of Project Loaf!

Oh yes, and I've also been reading this blog () and am hoping to try making sourdough bread, pizzas and stuff. I'm going to make a starter today..if I remember. I quite fancy trying her pizza recipe, if I can get my mitts on a good non-dairy cheese substitute.

I miss the good old days of eating whatever I liked and thinking I had no problems with food. Mind you, I don't miss the side effects..so I'll soldier on.

Before I forget, I'm also typing all this accompanied by the warm scent of fresh rock cakes. Yep, dairy and gluten free. I haven't tried them yet as I'd like to not have a scorched tongue..but here's a sneaky peek.

Autumn Cleaning?

*Slinks in quietly* Eek, I have been rather lax with the blog lately. It's been a combination of either being horrifically busy with trying to finally sort out the house. We moved here two and a half years ago and are trying to achieve a state of "everything has a place and everything in its place" (or whatever it is). However, while I have planned out each stage and each major area in the house to sort, I've fallen behind thanks to various lurgs.

I'm not going to go into detail because that's just nasty. But suffice to say I've possessed less than the concentration and energy required to clear, clean and rid ourselves of clutter and mess. Before I/we succumbed, however, I have managed the kitchen, the laundry room and the bathroom. Not sound like much? Maybe not. However, there are lots of cupboards in the kitchen and the laundry room has more cupboards, some overhead shelves and the dreaded Understairs Cupboard of Doom. I have so far got rid of probably two whole bin bags of rubbish, one huge bin bag full of packing materials (on Freecycle), several bags of stuff to the charity shop, a bag full of soapmaking stuff on Freecycle, several more bags of stuff into the compost...oh and a bag of shoes and boots to sell/charity shop. So a lot of stuff out of the door just in those three rooms! Plus I've liberated a lot of stuff to use (I now know it's there, where it is etc).

There is lots more to do, but I'm pacing myself. We're still not well, it's the school hols so my daughter doesn't have pre-school...but I'm determined to get it done by..well I was hoping for the end of August. Fingers crossed.

If I didn't know better, I'd say I was nesting. But maybe it's just Autumn cleaning? Oh yes, it's not JUST de-cluttering I've been doing. I've been cleaning and scrubbing every surface too. It feels good.

Anyone else feeling the urge to purge (and clean)?

Pay it Forward

I got this from Bint (The life of Bint) who got it from someone else..I like the concept - the world needs a little more kindness.



"The idea is that random acts of kindness are given without expecting anything in return. Just passing on the kindness, hoping that your recipients will do the same and forming a never-ending chain of kindness.


I promise to make and send a gift to the first 3 friends who comment on this post requesting to join in and promising to Pay it Forward to 3 other people etc..... I don't know what my gifts will be but I promise to send them within the next 365 days. What you then have to do in return is to promise to Pay it Forward by making the same announcement and promise on YOUR blog."

The bee's knees, the dog's er..waggy tail?

I recently combined an order with a friend from Japan Centre (here) online. As she had said that she only likes the Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise, I thought I'd try some.

I did buy some other bits as well - and you've seen some of the results of that order - the sushi, the onigiri..but I think this is one of my favourites. Life changing and AMAZING!



I definately recommend a bottle of this stuff if you have a chance. Kewpie. Mmm. It's gorgeous on chips, as a salad dressing..er with sushi..

There's something fishy about this - good fishy

I love seafood. Well, fish, prawns and crab. I'm not keen on molluscs or squiddy things.

Anyway, steamed fish was always one of my favourites growing up. It's refreshing (coriander and ginger - always a winning combo), delicious and er..well, it can be healthy.

So, let's have it. I'll tempt you with a photo first.



I'm going to give the ingredients to serve 2. It's generally used as a central dish Chinese style. You can use any white fish (cod, bream and sea bass are the most popular) I use about 150g per person and tend to go for cod loin fillets. They're good if you don't want to deal with heads and tails and de-boning.

Ingredients:
300g white fish (obviously)
1 tab soya sauce
coriander
2 tabs water
1" piece of ginger - finely shredded
about 1/4 of a stock cube
a dash of sesame oil

Place the fish in a heatproof dish (I often use one of those pyrex things). Place the shredded ginger and half of the coriander on top. Place the dish in a large shallow pan (with a lid) and add some water to the pan (but OUTSIDE the fish dish). You'll then need to put the lid on and turn the heat on. The aim of this is to steam the fish. Some of the steam will condense and settle in the fish dish but that's ok. You may need to experiment a bit, but this amount of fish should take about 15 mins to steam. When the fish starts to flake, it's ready. Don't overcook it or it'll be dry and a bit rubbery.

In a small separate pan, add the oil, stock cube, water and soya sauce. You'll need to heat this up on high. It only needs about 3-4 minutes to get super hot. Time it so it's ready just when the fish is done.

Pour the sauce over the fish, sprinkle the remaining coriander over it and serve immediately. Serve with rice and perhaps some braised pak choi or stir fried veggies.

Enjoy!

Back to food - hurray!

I've recently become rather obsessed with Japanese food. Especially bentos. I'm not sure why. My daughter was given a gorgeous little lunchbox and matching cutlery set (with spoon, fork and dinky chopsticks, which she insists are knitting needles) by a friend and, as she'll be having to take a lunch in to pre-school one day a week from September, I suppose I'm planning ahead. I know, who is this person who has taken over my body..planning ahead indeed!

Annnyway, so I decided that my hubby also needs a decent packed lunch and prompted investigated lunchboxes (minds out of the gutter if you please). A friend of mine sent me a link to Bento & Co, a company based in Japan (but of course) and the rest is history.

I got a funky, compact, microwavable lunchbox for DH and some lovely things to use for my daughter's lunches (and they might find themselves in his too - kawaii cartoon cuddly bear ketchup pot in his lunch? Muhahaah!). She loves the little sauce pots (tiny, lidded plastic pots big enough for about one teaspoon of ketchup - not nearly enough for her).

Here's a picture of the pots. They come in packs of four, each featuring a different cute animal.



I love these!



They're rice moulds for making onigiri (rice balls). There's a star, a heart and a bear. Very cute.

And here are the results (there were more but er..they were used for "testing").



I'm going to try making Japanese omelettes and stuff next. Oh yes, and I forgot to mention that I've been making sushi! I make gaijin (foreigner) sushi, of course. I use smoked salmon and cucumber, which isn't that far out, but I also experimented with frankfurters (those Hertz ones - yum) and cucumber.

Gosh, that's a rather picture heavy post. So, no recipes - I'll have to put some up another time. I've just seen a lovely photo of steamed fish (Chinese-style) saved to my "blogging" photos folder so I'll have to do a write up of that one too.

Stash Flashage

As I've been obsessed with make up lately, I've been organising my very very modest stash. I always think it's fun seeing other people's stashes of various things, be in knitting wool, nappies (yes, I like cloth nappies), make up, fabric or whatever.

So here's my make up.


Left tray: Foundation, kits, blushers, powders and my new Shu Umeru eyelash curler. Oh yes, and a tin with my samples and spare bits.
Middle tray: Lip products.
Right tray: Eye products.

That's all of it except for one eyeliner crayon (but then it's a dupe).

The eyeshadows

1: Bourjois Smokey Eyes Trio in 05 rose vintage
2: Ruby & Millie Eyes
3: Bourjois Smokey Eyes Trio in 06 violet romantic
4: Avon True Colour quatro in sueded nude
5. L'Oreal ColorAppeal Platinum
6. Sleek Divine Eyeshadow Palette in storm
7. Avon Anew lifting eyeshadow in sky
8. Revlon ColorStay eyeshadow quatro in 10 berry bloom
9. Revlon ColorStay eyeshadow quatro in 07 spring moss

The eyeliners

Left to right: Barbara Daly Make-up liquid satin in seal, the same in marine,Laura Mercier eye liner in black ebony, Barbara Daly Make-up eye define in black, BarryM Intense black eyeliner pen, Avon glimmerstick eye liner in blackest black, Avon Anew smoothing eye liner in grey, the same in brown/black.

I got bored and haven't gone through the lip products. Or nail polishes. But I don't have so many of those.

Food for those who don't want it

As I've mentioned (read moaned about) before, I've had problems with eating lately thanks to lovely drug side effects (that's medicinal drugs, not recreational - I've never even tried any of those). I know from also having suffered from awful awful morning sickness that sometimes you WANT to eat, but the fear of boomerang food means that you just go hungry.

Anyway, today is one of those days I'm hungry and NEED to eat, but nothing takes my fancy. This is my go-to recipe for a nutritious and non-offensive, filling meal for the sickly. It's also packed full of veggie-bubble goodness.



Ingredients
3-4 potatoes
1 onion
1-2 carrots (depending on how carroty you like it)
2 sticks of celery
2 garlic cloves
2 stock cubes
water
a splash of soya sauce (optional)
cabbage (optional)

Step 1: Boil about 1 litre (2 pints) of water
Step 2: Peel and quarter the potatoes, throw them in the pot
Step 3: Peel and slice the carrots, throw them in the pot
Step 4: Crush and dice the garlic, throw in the pot
Step 5: Dice the onion, throw in the pot
Step 6: Throw the stock cubes in the pot
Step 7: Chop the celery into 1-2 inch pieces, throw in the pot
Step 8: Add boiled water and soya sauce, then cover
Step 9: Allow the pot to boil, then turn down the heat to a brisk simmer
Step 10: Add cabbage if you like it. I love it and add lots, but I realise that my love of cabbage is actually quite freaky.
Step 11: Allow the stew to cook for 20-30 mins or until the potatoes are soft (but not crumbly).

Serve with rice. I like to ladle it up (with plenty of the soup) into a bowl, mash it a bit, then mix the rice in. It's nutritious, very satisfying and very easy on the tummy.

These amounts should serve 2-4.

Ready to eat!


The beauty of this recipe is that you've got quite a few different veggie groups in there, you can add/change/substitute other things as you fancy, you don't have to prepare things very much, just peel, chop and throw them in. It's simple to make too, which is just what you need when you're feeling a bit under the weather.

Photos to follow.

I've hit my teens

Yep. At *cough21yetagaincough*, I've finally hit my teens. I've started taking an interest in fashion and makeup. Didn't take long eh? I know just who to blame though. My friend Lana (in Oz). She showed me these video tutorials on YouTube (by someone called Catalina), and suddenly, I decided that I too could maybe do this makeup stuff.

So with my guru Lana (she used to be a makeup artist) advising me, I've made some purchases. Oh yes, and I've been stalking some other blogs too, and found some other cool bits and bobs. No more will my makeup collection fit into a baby-sized shoe box..!

This is what I got today - a Sleek iDivine eyeshadow palette in Storm. Under a fiver in Superdrug. BARGAIN!



If you fancy indulging in some girly makeupness..here are the blogs I've been enjoying:

Catalina's Blog
Chanel Blue Satin
Cosmetic Candy

Oopsies

I know, I've been bad and not posted for a while. To be honest, I haven't done much cooking lately..or I have, but haven't really felt like it. I'm on some rather nasty tablets and they're making me feel sick a lot of the time. So cooking and eating are rather well, not really what I'm after at the moment. This is very disturbing for me as food has always been very important to me. Ah well.

I've just been getting rather obsessed with make up as well at the moment - so I've finally hit my teens! I was never bothered with such things and never even wore makeup til I was in my early twenties. Now, I think, I need to make a little more effort in order to not look like a hideous crone. Muhahaha.

Other than that, I've been rather busy with other stuff in my life. We've all come down with a cold, the weather was nasty..but has now turned nice and sunny..er and time has just flown.

Oooh yes, and I've just learnt how to do threading. I'm still rather un-co at it, but I'm very pleased with YouTube..it's so handy for learning how to do things. Perhaps print media might be on its way out? Possibly a worry to print publisher - and that includes me as I'm in that industry. We'll see.

Sowing sowing sowing

Spring is springing and it's time to get back out in the garden to do stuff. I've ignored it for most of the winter, but now that we're getting some sunshine, I've found my gardening mojo again.

So I've been digging, planning, watering and SOWING (my favourite bit).

I've got tomato and coriander seedlings coming up - yay. Also have chilli, okra, chinese bitter melon, lettuce, peas, pak choi, spinach, spring onions, leeks and carrots in. I love sowing seeds.

Zzzzzz!

No recipes today. Today, I am so exhausted that my legs feel like jelly and everything about me is droopy. I'm barely typing here, I've actually got my eyes shut - so it's a jolly good thing I paid attention to the lovely teachers at school who taught me how to touch type. That was certainly a skill worth having - it paid my way through university and it means that even now, I can rest my eyes while blathering merrily away. Please forgive the slight more mad than usual rubbish - I AM tired.

SOMEHOW I need to cook the chicken sitting on my kitchen counter top. I need to turn it into a delicious feast with roast potatoes. Somehow, I have already managed to whip up pancakes for lunch, so hopefully I'll manage this too. It'll be good to have a proper dinner. I've been too tired to cook properly so I think a good feed will help.

That or my umpteenth cuppa tea.

Oh dear..got the sproglet in another room and I hear tearing sounds..must dash!

More recipes

Ok, ok, I'm cheating a bit because I've dug out some recipes I posted on a (cloth nappy) forum I frequent. But as they are my recipes and I'd like to keep them all somewhere central as well as share them with a wider audience (currently 1, I believe!)..here are two more I've adapted/created.

Now, despite my very sciencey background (I have a degree in Pathology), it is against my religion to follow instructions. Thus, cooking is very much an art (for me) rather than a science. I love cooking books, don't get me wrong. I love recipes. But I will leave out anything I don't like/don't have/don't feel like adding and throw in things I want to put in. My other half, on the other hand, will follow recipes to the letter (although if he sees mushrooms on the ingredients list, there is no force on earth that will make him put them in). Anyway, so yes..cooking is quite experimental for me. But if we didn't do that sort of thing then we wouldn't have new stuff.

I also don't hold to the notion that people who are sciencey cannot also be arty. I was first introduced to this idea during my first week at University when, as I was decorating my door with my collages and drawings, my flatmate told me that this should not be! Obviously the previous 18 years of my life - spent happily drawing/painting/sculpting etc AND enjoying Science and Maths - had all been a big mistake.

Yes, so..random tangent. I do that, you know. Well, if you know me, you will know. Perhaps this blog should have been called "Musings of the Barking.." Too late now.

So, without further ado, not one, but TWO recipes for you. One will come as no surprise to you - it features nooooooodles. But the other is rather..fishy.

Kway Teow (or fried ho fun if you don't speak Cantonese - I don't)
1 packet of ho fun (the packs are about 454g or 1lb of dried noodles)
2 eggs
whatever veg/meat you'd like to add
soya sauce
some oil
bean sprouts

soak, drain and fry the noodles with some soya sauce (as with the Chub Bwee Chow Hor).
put the noodles on a plate/dish
fry your beaten eggs and either slice or just rougly chop with your spatula. Plop on the noodles.
fry the ingredients, slowest to cook first - sprinkle some soya sauce on top
once the slow things are done, put the noodles and egg in, mix it up quickly, then serve up and eat.




Smokin' hot Salmon
1 piece of salmon (per person)
1 stick of celery
1 handful of beansprouts
1/2 a red chilli (more if you can take it - I can't *gasp pant*), deseeded
sprinkle of bonito fish stock powder (or you can use chicken stock if you need to)
few tablespoons of water
some seseme oil

Heat up the seseme oil
Fry the salmon quickly, about 2 mins on each side. Set aside
Fry the celery, then add the beansprouts
Sprinkle with a bit of the fish powder (or add your chicken stock here)
Add the water and the salmon back in. Sprinkle with finely chopped chilli.
Put the lid on, turn the heat off and leave it for 5 mins.

Serve on a bed of rice, with miso soup on the side. Mmmm

Spud Art

If you're a parent as I am, you'll be familiar with the constant battle that is entertaining your child. My daughter is now 2 and a half and it's more of a "challenge" than ever. I like to try new things with her - and I'm sure that 80% of it falls into the category of "I didn't do that in MY day".

Anyway, so I've heard of making potato prints, so I dutifully got out the bag of sprouting spuds and started carving a circle. And a square. Then I looked at the "bits" drawer and spotted some biscuit cutters (smallish ones) I had. Big potatoes plus smallish biscuit cutters = quick and easy fun shapes to print with!

So we had the basic circle and square..and have since branched into a Piglet, some flowers, stars, and all sorts really. And it takes a fraction of the time! You still need a knife to trim away the outside bits once you've pressed the cutter into the potato..but it's great!

The trouble is, by the time I've done them, set out the paints on a tray, some paper on the floor and some paintbrushes, all Sofia wants to do is paint her own feet! Nevermind - when she's ready, I'll be armed with my potato prints..

Let them eat VEG!

This is one of those recipes I made up when I needed a substantial lunch while also needing to use up a load of veggies - not to mention fill my little one with something nutritious.

It's a pasta sauce, but would work over potatoes too..or maybe a rice bake?

1 clove of garlic
1 onion
1 leek (smallish)
1 pepper (I used yellow, but I can't tell the difference in taste)
2 sticks of celery
2 tablespoons of tomato paste (I use the double concentrated one)
loadsa grated cheese
teensy weensy bit of stock cube (I used a bit of veggie and a bit of chicken)
glug of olive oil

How to:

Heat up olive oil in a saucepan.
Add chopped garlic and onions.
Enjoy the yummy smell.
Add chopped leek, pepper and celery, pop on the lid and allow to simmer for a bit. Do make sure you stir and don't let things burn!
Add the stock cube with a leeeeetle bit of boiling water.
Add the tomato paste.
Stir.
When you think it's done, whizz it with a stick blender if you have one (it's also ok non-whizzed, but tis easier for feeding children/men if it's pureed).
Stir in the cheese.

Pour over pasta/potatoes/whatever and enjoy.

There's no fun like ho fun...noodles that is

One of my favourite foods is the humble noodle. They come in so many delicious forms - ho fun (rice noodle), mee hoon (vermicelli), chow mein (egg noodle), udon, ramen, soba - everyone is sure to find a noodle to please. My favourite is probably the ho fun noodle, that is, the white tape-like noodle made of rice. It's simply glorious either fried kway teow style or with an eggy sort of gravy. Of course, it can also be fried Pad Thai styleeeee, which is also scrumptious.

Stopit, now I'm drooling. I'm posting here, now, to put the recipes for Kway Teow and the gravy Ho fun (I've heard this alternatively called Wa Dan Ho Fun or Chub Bwee Chow Hor at restaurants I've been to - that spelling being my attempts at recreating the phonetics). I promised my friend Mellama that I would give her my recipes..so here we go. I've not found a recipe for the latter (which has been my ultimate noodle heaven for many years) on the web, but have experimented until I have developed something that ..well, that I like.

For future note, unless I state otherwise, all recipes posted here are either heavily adapted from other recipes or completely made up by me.



Chub Bwee Chow Hor
1/3 - 1/2 a packet of Rice Noodles (Ho Fun)
1/2 a stock cube (chicken or veggie are best - I use knorr)
some boiling water, about 250mL
soya sauce
1-2 tsp cornflour
oil for frying - something bland like sunflower is best
1 egg (optional - if you don't like 'em, don't add them)
some veggies (pak choi or bok choi would be ideal, otherwise I go for cabbage and carrots)
optional meat/s* (prawns are good)

1. If you've bought dried ho fun, you will need to soak these in boiling water for about 5 mins. Drain. If you're lucky enough to have fresh, you'll just need to rinse them in boiling water.

2. Heat the oil. Set your heat to max.

3. Once the oil is hot, plop your noodles in the pan. Splash some soya sauce all over them (not huge amounts, they should just go a faint brown). Fry them for 2-5 mins.

4. Put the noodles on a plate, then put the pan back on the heat. Put the ingredients which will take longest to cook (e.g. carrots or cabbage) in first, then add the chicken stock cube plus water (you could just mix up half a stock cube's worth beforehand, but I just throw things in and mix it about). Turn down the heat to medium. Cover if you have a lid, and leave it for 5 mins to soften. Add any other ingredients (other veg, quick cooking ingredients if you're adding them).

5. Mix up the cornflour with a little cool water. Stir.

6. Beat your egg (if you're adding it), then turn off the heat. Add the egg and stir your mixture and let the egg cook in the existing heat. Add a little splash of soya sauce.

7. Once the egg has just cooked through, pour your sauce mix over your noodles. Serve immediately.

Note, ho fun doesn't really reheat well, so eat up! The quantities here are for one greedy Sonata-sized portion (so maybe 1.5-2 normal people). People who know me will understand this.

Hello!

I've been meaning to set up a blog for ages and ages, and like many of my "projects", time has flown, we've all aged (bah!) and there has still been no blog. I suspect I'm too much the dreamer, chasing after my latest and greatest new idea - waiting for the time I might have a few spare minutes to implement it - but by the time I DO get the time (once in a blue moon), I've been through several even more exciting and wonderous new ideas. I need to work on that. Ideas are great, but there needs to be some follow up.

That might be why I have a big stash of wool for all my "I'll start it next week" knitting projects, fabric for those "will start soon" sewing projects and..well, I won't go on. It'll be too embarassing. I'm sure I'm not the only one though.

So yes. A blog. I plan on rambling randomly about my various ideas, recipes (because Food is one of the great loves of my life), activities for toddlers (because keeping a small one amused is a constant battle) and whatever else pops into my head.

Why the name? Because I believe that sanity is over-rated. I also believe that chocolate counts towards your five-a-day as chocolate comes from a fruit from a tree. So I'm not completely mad.