Sourdough journey update

 

It's been a while since I last shared my sourdough experiments and it's time for a sourdough journey update.

I've been baking a lot less bread than when I first started because of storage issues. Seriously. There's only a teeny weeny amount of bread you can freeze in your freezer because you have to store other food too.

Also, the other Yam family members actually don't really enjoy sourdough bread. Mainly because they are lazy and impatient. Sourdough bread needs to be toasted so that the edges are crispy and the bread is soft and the butter spread just melts on it. Even though the frozen bread pieces are sliced, it still takes about 25 minutes to toast them in the oven for optimal enjoyment. Of course, to speed up the time, the other Yams will crank up the oven temperature and then complain that the bread is too hard/dry. *dramatic horror music plays in the background*

So now I just make them sourdough pancakes/waffles (which is way more popular) and make sure I have some scones and muffins on hand too. Yep, I'm making sourdough everything. *winks*

And for the past month, my focus has been to perfect the sourdough breads that I personally enjoy like this Tangzhong sourdough bread. Tangzhong is a technique which involves cooking a portion of the flour and liquid first and then adding it back to the bread mixture which in turn produces a soft and fluffy bread with a longer shelf life.

And sourdough focaccia...which is my backup for lazy days of soup and salad. This one the Yams will actually eat without complaining because I would serve the focaccia warm and toasted. 

I'm pretty happy with the oven spring I've been able to achieve without any specialized equipment. My bread dough is shaped and placed on baking paper in a round Ikea soup bowl (instead of a banneton basket) for bulk fermentation. Instead of a cast iron pan, I bake my bread in a Corningware casserole dish. Plus my oven's maximum tempertature is 240c/460f which is lower than the recommended baking temperature of 260c/500f. 

Can you tell that I had fun incorporating a girl, a kite and a pear on my layout? *LOL*

Playing along with The Studio Challenges.

Workspace Wednesday - my staged desk *winks*

 

Well friends, you know how my desk gets when I actually work on projects. And this is NOT it. 

But I was totally inspired by the highly curated desk situation posts on IG so I decided to "stage" my desk. For most people, it would mean starting with a clean desk and adding "props" to create the "look". For me, it's clearing off the messy bits and leaving whatever is "presentable" because it has to be mostly real life, right? *LOL*

P/s: And people definitely take photos when they just got nice fresh flowers in...and me? "Oops...let's take a photo before the blooms die,,,," (aka one week later...hehehe)

First family meal out in months

 

Even though we were allowed to dine out back in late June, we only had the first family meal out on 1st September. And it was to a restaurant in a nearby mall (5 minute drive).

Reservations had to be made in advance and we had to keep our masks on at all times unless we were eating or drinking...(which is still the rule right now).

The upside to dining out in a pandemic is that restaurants have promotions/deals to lure customers to dine at their establishments....so we had a pretty sumptuous meal at a good bargain (courtesy of my sister who is an expert at sussing up the best deals *winks*).

I went a little crazy with the colours and patterns here....but I had fun! ;)

Playing along with The Studio Challenges.

Err...last week's Santa card

 

Err...interrupting the regularly scheduled Monday post to bring you last week's Santa card. *hangs head in shame*

I know. I was doing so well. Then I totally dropped the ball. This Santa looks a bit mad at me, right? *winks*

And you guys were right. As I'm working on the last few fussy-cut Santas, I'm wondering if I should keep some for like 2025 or strictly keep him as the 2020 Santa...I'm gonna miss this Santa once I've depleted my stash. *dramatic sad music plays in the background*

Happy week ahead friends!:)

Simplifying #stayathomecooking

 

After months of #stayathomecooking, I'm now streamlining and simplifying the meals to save time and make cooking less of a chore (some days are better than others...*winks*).

For instance, instead of a chicken pot pie, I just go with a chicken galette so I just need ONE pie crust instead of 2. More rustic-looking, takes way less time to prep and cook and still delish. :)

I've even simplified the mixed rice bowl to exclude the runny sunny-side up *gasp!* because that would mean an extra pan to wash. *LOL*

I do try my best to slightly modify the meals so that there is variety and meals are a little more interesting...like changing up the veggies, the sauce and adding different textural elements to stimulate the tastebuds (Yep...pretty much the approach I use in my crafting...hehe).

Mostly fussy-cutting on this layout ...

I also delved into my sticker stash which I also fussy-cut. :)

Playing along with Let's Get Sketchy.

The one about the new iron

 

So someone has an expensive new toy! Yep, mum got a fancy new iron! :)

She was pretty excited when it arrived and actually read the entire instruction manual! Apparently, it's so smart that it can detect the type of fabric so you don't need to set the temperature. 

Needless to say, we are not allowed to use her new iron....which we are all pretty happy about since nobody likes ironing. *LOL*

Playing along with Stick It Down.

The challenging card

 

Sometimes you just have one of those projects that prove to be quite challenging. For me, it was this card. 

The patterned paper I chose for the base was rather busy and I didn't want to cover it up to make it work. So it was one of those card bases that I would fiddle with for a couple of minutes, then just chuck back into the drawer for "another day when inspiration strikes".

Apparently that day was this past Sunday. I added a strip of green chevron patterned paper, then I found a frame for my owl....and things started coming together.

I added a film strip die-cut to mimic the film strip design on the patterned base. And angled a strip of washi tape to create a visual triangle with the owl.

I finished with some bling. 

What do you think?

Make Stuff Monday - a decorated tote bag

 

Hello friends! Today's Make Stuff Monday project features my new fave tote bag for my once-a-week-out-in-town-shopping! :)

The inspiration for the bag came when I scored these cute pins from YSL Beauty when I attended one of their online beauty events. Seriously, how fabulous are these pins??!! 

Then I remembered I had some other beauty-related freebies in my stash too... 

And also that my mum had THE perfect canvas tote bag for me to use.

And needless to say, I found some other iron-ons in my stash that I just had to incorporate. 

I LOVE the bright pops of colour against the black background. :)

Please don't try to make sense of how fruits and Winnie the pooh and lipstick pins are in this eclectic mix...you know I'm a mish mash kind of gal. *LOL*

Happy week ahead friends!

Another week, another Santa tag

 

Well friends, let's end the week with another Santa tag, shall we? *winks*

Another quick tag with paper scraps from the Christmas pile...

And some stickers....:)

Happy weekend friends! :)