Tea time

So pretty. 200 ml capacity.

Seasoning my yixing.

Second brew. I may have put too many leaves in there. I tried 20 grams. Way too much. First brew I didn't use a scale and just threw leaves in there. I think I only used 10 grams. Not enough.

French Bread 9/29/10

Second shot using the second recipe. The dough wasn't as sticky as the first try at the recipe but came out just as good. Still need to work on getting the bread narrower after second rise.
After second rise. Came out wider than I wanted

Baked up and ready to go

Ready for a little butter or nutella

Carcass

French Bread 9/25/10

I decided to have another crack at it. This time I used all purpose flour, same brand, but only 5 cups.

Dough after an hour of rest. Very sticky. I made two loaves with this batch

After second rest. I cut the slits on top before the second rest this time, but wasn't successful with the sticky dough. I also need to roll it much tighter. This guy spread out too much

After 30 minutes at 400 degrees

This came out much closer to the way I like it. Not as dense and nice and chewy

Carcass

French Bread 9/24/10

I like buying the freshly baked French bread from the grocery store, but always wanted to make my own. Today I decided to take a shot.

Read about this flour online so picked up a bag. Next time I'll get the bleached kind.

After mixing and letting the dough sit for an hour

Punched down

Recipe was for two loaves, but those were gonna be too big so I split it up to four loaves

After splitting them up and shaping em, let em sit for another 45 minutes

Cut slits on top and ready to bake

30 minutes later at 450. Cooling off

Close up shot

Ripped open, ready for taste test

After eating this piece, it wasn't good at all. I dumped all of the flour in the mix instead of slowly adding the flour into the water and yeast mixture and the stuff didn't completely mix. I tried all four loaves just to see if I got lucky with one. All were duds

Take Two.

Decided to take another shot at it. I added the flour a little at a time and also used a larger bowl

Look how much more it rose

Saw a video on youtube where the lady poked the dough after it had sat. If it didn't rise, it was ready to go. Didn't rise

Once again I made four loaves instead of two. Letting rest for another 45 minutes

After resting for another 45 minutes. Now why didn't I split em up like the first time?

Cut the slits on top, ready to bake

After 30 minutes at 450. Recipe had it bake for 25 minutes and then add an egg bath and another five minutes. I don't eat the crust so I just baked it for 30 minutes straight.

Success! Much better.

How I like eating French bread. I just go for the meat and leave the skin

Lunch 8/11/10

Had a hankerin for some deep fried tilapia. Went to the local market to buy it. They only had live ones when I went. Told the butcher, he got one from the aquarium and proceeded to stun the thing with a mallet so it would stay still while he weighed it. Got it deep fried. I also bought a mango, eggplant, tomato, and a red onion to make a salad of sorts to go with my fish. All with white rice ofcourse.

Deep fried fish straight out of the aquarium.

Mango, eggplant, and tomato salad. I 'grilled' the eggplant first on our George Foreman grill before dicing it. Decided not to use any of the red onion.

Fresh rice from our 'rice cooker.'

I went to town on that thing. Fish didn't have a chance. Forgot to take a pic of it all together before I tore it up. Next time.

Dim Sum 7/7/10

And Dim Sum

Kogi Truck 5/7/10

The wife told me the Kogi truck was going to be close by last night so we decided to try it out. So I go the whole experience of standing in line and ordering while she stayed home. Whoopy. An hour later, I was back with the goods.
The whole spread.

First up was the Kogi sliders. Beef on what looks like Hawaiian rolls.

Then onto the Kogi dog.

Korean bbq taco

One of the specials. Snake in the grass. Hot dog burrito with beef and cheese. My favorite of the whole bunch. Most of the others were too spicy for me.

And for dessert, a tres leches cupcake deal.

Gone.

I think next time I'd want someone to be with me to suffer through the line. Plus I'm not a big fan. Most everything was spicy and the stuff I ate wasn't even the ones they called spicy.