Lately it has been all about the food for me (though sometimes it's about the driving)

[afuna]

Okay, so.

Remember in that one news post, where I admitted my craving for pad thai? On Saturday, I finally satisfied that craving at 8 Spices over in T. Morato -- and it was good. It was also expensive: quite easily the most I've ever spent on a single meal. To be fair, that was because the portions were for two to three people (I ate half of each serving, and packed up the rest to take home). The pad thai was not *quite* what I was looking for, but close enough. Close enough :)


Sunday, I hung out with family, and did the usual Sunday thing, which involves eating a huge lunch, gorging on ice cream for merienda, and grabbing some yummy dinner together. Love kare-kare (usually beef tail and tripe in peanut butter sauce with vegetables). Seriously love. Home-cooked is better than any store-bought I've ever had, but that dinner (from Bangus in MoA) was decent, considering it's from a restaurant.


Monday, I caught up with some of my friends from high school. We ended up at Tokyo Cafe, where we hung out and ate pasta and french toast. Then we ended up in Gloria jeans for some coffee/cake when the fourth member of our group arrived late.

Ended up doing some shopping, where I'm proud to say that I managed to avoid spending anything. Mostly we just talked; I miss them! It's been a while since we've had a chance to get together. :)

I do not otherwise miss my high school days, or my my old high school classmates, but these three girlfriends? I miss, and am glad whenever we can get together. I gave them each a beret I knitted for them, and I'm pleased that I successfully gauged which beret would go to whom (I let them choose because I wasn't quite sure enough of myself!).

Considered voting for the barangay elections but I know very little about the candidates, other than what is in their pamphlets which, ugh, whatever. I feel like I should become a better citizen at some point. Hmm.

Got completely lost on the drive home. I'm very good at getting lost -- last week, the five minute drive from the mall to my grandpa's place ended up taking me an hour and a half, because I ended up on an expressway to Cavite, and I had to call up my dad to guide me home.

Oh maaan last week I was completely freaked out. It was the first time I'd driven alone outside of my home area, so I was on edge already. Things that were good: having a cellphone and being able to call home for instructions on getting home. Things that were not so good: having to figure out a cellphone while in a car, at night, lost, trying not to panic, trying to remember how to turn on headlights, on a huge road with cars zooming fast (making it scary to think of pulling over), and feeling absolutely completely utterly incompetent and scared of causing an accident through my incompetence. The last thing I needed was rain -- two minutes after I thought that, it started raining. Oops.

I had both hands clutching the steering wheel. I was pretty sure I didn't have enough hands to be able to turn on the wiper too, but somehow I did.

Number of things that were new to me as a driver in the previous two paragraphs *counts* six. Seven, if you count the rain and wipers as separate things.

I should have figured out that it was not my night when I got lost while trying to drive out of the parking garage. Hey, at least I had gas, sufficient charge for my cellphone, and it wasn't raining hard enough to flood :-)

So anyway, that was last week. This week, I went over my route home with my dad. We decided on a straight line as the simplest route. Literally once I got out of the mall area, all I had to do was follow a straight line up the coast and turn just once. I still managed to get lost and almost in Cavite again. Ugh.

This time, my friend was in the car with me, and with the help of 3G internet and Google Maps (yay technology), we found our way home. IN FAIRNESS TO ME, there was no left turn from the road I wanted to take to join to the bigger road, and no indication on the map that this was the case, so I had to turn right and keep going until I found a U-turn. After that U-turn, which it's a good thing we found it because we were almost at the airport, okay?, we had no problems. But I don't think I'll ever lose my reputation of getting lost. At least not with my family :x

So yes, home safe. Just for the record I hate: big roads because they have fast moving cars. Small roads because they have people who walk in the middle of the road who I have sometimes accidentally hit with my side mirror when I misgauge distance (I am so sorry). People who walk in the middle of big roads because seriously whhhhhy it's such a huge risk especially in the dark with no road lights and just whyyyy? Trucks, buses, jeepneys, taxicabs because oh god. Yes I know your vehicles are big so you can afford to be really aggressive, but you all are just really scary when you swerve like that. Bicycles on the road at night with no lights/reflective gear IF I CAN'T SEE YOU I CAN'T AVOID YOU. Seriously, I'm such a crappy driver it's no joke. I am terrified that I'll either hurt someone or someone will hurt me, and I'm not sure which is worse.

I would love to be able to move somewhere more transit-friendly / walking-friendly / bike-friendly, then I won't have to drive.


In news that are less stressful, today got to use our oven for the very first time! We finished renovating the kitchen a couple of months ago, but because of some *mumble* we weren't allowed to use the stove/oven until the kitchen had been suitably blessed, and we had to wait for a good day (fortuitous day? lucky day?) for the blessing to be done. So I've been waiting for a long time now to be able to use the new kitchen, and that day came last week.

Spent a very excited day shopping for flour and baking pans and baking powder and other stuff. I couldn't get everything: the baking store didn't have cookie sheets or muffin cups, but they did have baking pans, so I decided to do brownies. Other bonus for brownies: you do not absolutely need an electric mixer, though it would probably be nice.

My sister got the flour and baking powder and what she told me was vanilla but turned out to be strawberry flavor oops so I didn't put any vanilla in there. I got cocoa and whole wheat flour and walnuts and white sugar (I am guessing that when they say sugar, they mean white sugar not whatever sugar you have available which in our case is brown). I couldn't find any buttermilk, but thought that butter would do (I have since found out that what I needed was milk and vinegar :-D but the butter didn't seem to harm the taste)

I find the mixing soothing, but could do without the actual cooking part. Oh, but the mixing, I really love that part. So I mixed and I poured and I fussed over the fact that holes started to appear once it started to bake (later on I realized that it was probably the walnuts that were causing the weird depressions). And then thirty minutes later I could smell it, and it was done!

The recipe said to cool it on a wire rack, and the oven had a wire rack, so I tried to let the brownies cool in the oven. My brother kindly let me know that this was wrong. I... I guess I thought it would work somehow because of a commutative power of wire rackedness. It made sense in my mind!

The brownies tasted okay even without the vanilla. In fact, with the powdered sugar on top, it made me think more of crinkles than of brownies *G* They weren't too sweet, and they were pretty thin (I think my pan was too big -- I didn't realize that actually made a difference! In hindsight, of course it does because volume == length x width x height, so if it's too wide, the brownie becomes flat). However, I think it worked out in the end because with the brownie being overcooked, I'm kinda glad that it was thinner so I could pretend it was a chewy cookie rather than a moist brownie. Again, it makes sense in my mind!

One odd thing, I think I enjoy baking more than I enjoyed eating what I'd baked. I mean, I'm happy eating what I just did, but I'm happier just giving it away (after I've had the first piece of course ;-)). Maybe if I'd started baking earlier, back when I had more of a sweet tooth, I'd have been happier eating more? These days, I love sweet stuff, but only in small quantities. Thirty-six servings of brownies is definitely not a small quantity *G*

(I WISH I HAD MORE LOCAL PEOPLE. THEN I COULD FEED YOU BROWNIES which are forgiving of mistakes AND THEN MAYBE EVENTUALLY COOKIES with the help of my cousin because I think cookies aren't as forgiving as mistakes AND MAYBE ALSO BREAD which I suspect is also not very forgiving of mistakes. AND MUFFINS. AND TINY CUPCAKES. I dunno. I WOULD COOK FOR YOU IF ONLY YOU ALL WERE NOT SO FAR AWAY).


Ummmm. So anyway, I think I like baking even with the mistakes. Maybe especially with the mistakes? ;-)

Comments

[starshadow_rivaulx]

As one who has been driving since 1st year college, I can relate with everything you said about driving - up to and including getting lost. Fortunately, I appear to have been blessed with a fairly accurate mental compass, so even when I'm lost I find it easy to work my way to civilization.

For reals, I have gotten lost at night in places that would make my mother's heart palpitate if she'd only known.

Re buses: I LOATHE THEM FIERCELY. One season our family car was a wee Fiat (lovingly called "Potpot"), and the memory of driving down EDSA in it, then finding myself sandwiched between two buses (pre-yellow lane era) is a memory of white knuckles and muttered prayers to all the saints and angels.

Kudos to you for having modern technology on your side - and knowing how to use it! *bounce*

[afuna]

Heeee oh nice. I have a decent sense of relative direction, but no absolute direction at all. Meaning, I can figure out how to get from point A to point B to point C, but am not blessed with the ability to figure out how to get from point A directly to point C; I need the B to get my bearings.

And ughhhh yeah. Ever since I heard about that one guy whose car got literally crushed between two buses that were racing each other (and hadn't noticed him there), I just. I mean freak accident but also *shudder*

[ex_rising236]

You know, or maybe somewhere more driving-friendly so you could have an experience driving that isn't a horrible one. Here, we don't have nearly the thing with small roads and people and bicycles, and there are enough traffic laws and stuff that drivers cannot behave too aggressively. Driving over there honestly sounds crazy.

[afuna]

It gives me hope to know that there are better places to drive. My ideal is still to NEVER HAVE TO DRIVE AGAIN EVER but it gives me hope, you have no idea ahaha.

[pinesandmaples]

Where the hell do you live? Because my memory tells me Australia, but this post tells me Philippines. We're going to go with Philippines. (Tangent: One of my exes is Pinoy. I have lived the joy that is meeting Lolo and Lola then having to turn down balut. In one day.)

Driving in developing countries is always wild. Driving in Canada or the US or western Europe is really different because law enforcement seems to have beaten back that all-too-human need for speed and general ingenuity that turns traffic into happyfundeathland. Chances of being pulled over in Trinidad, for example are slim to none while everyone I know in the US has been pulled over at least once for some reason. I mean, rooibos couldn't describe a traffic cop's uniform to me because she's never seen one in her home country. I'm fairly certain they don't exist.

I... I guess I thought it would work somehow because of a commutative power of wire rackedness. It made sense in my mind!

Here's the actual reason why this wouldn't work: even when the oven is turned off, the residual heat keeps cooking the [item in/on pan]. Even removed from the oven, the pan would keep cooking the [item in/on pan] because it's also a heat conductor.

Added: Bread is lovely and easy. If you want a basic recipe, I'll be glad to share the one rooibos and I use. It yields good solid tasty bread every time! (I can even give you the measurements in Metric if you'd prefer.)

[afuna]

Philippines, yes! I was in Australia for a month middle of this year so that may have been where that memory comes from (and hee oh dear. I will gladly take balut off your hands, but yeah it's most definitely an acquired taste.)

I've been seeing signs of traffic enforcers trying to crack down, but it comes and goes in waves. It's ridiculously easy to get a license, though (I didn't even have to get in a car to show off my skills) and while it might sound like it's less stressful, the relief is only until you realize that everyone around you drives as crappily as you do. I am terrified of the roads here; everyone else seems to be following a set of rules that is above my head *g*

(Where was rooibos from, IYDMMA?



And yeah, hmmm. Would it work to cool the brownies even if they're still in the pan, once they're outside the oven though? Or would that still run the risk of overcooking? (Oh! And I bet that's why my cousin told me to remove cookies from the sheet as soon as possible. I thought it was just to prevent them from sticking *G*)

I would love a recipe for bread! I have had bread from a breadmaker before, and that was the tastiest bread I've ever had; I've heard that actual baked bread is even better than that so :D

Measurements in Imperial are fine, though. All our measuring cups use cups rather than oh I guess I don't know the equivalent. Grams? The oven is the only thing we have that requires metric measurements, but I can convert those easily enough.

[pinesandmaples]

I knew my Pinoy senses were tingling. Sorry to have outed your relative geographic location to all the other DW stalkers. Now you'll have sheep showing up all the time.

(I didn't even have to get in a car to show off my skills)

I suspect that's part of a larger, broken system. It doesn't sound any less stressful because then you know for sure that everyone around you sucks and/or is making things up! I much prefer to believe that other people in large metal boxes that are very deadly have some idea of how not to kill me.

(Where was rooibos from, IYDMMA?)

She's from the Trinidad half of Trinidad and Tobago. We also generalize and say she's from the West Indies or the English-speaking Caribbean because people suddenly get stupid about Caribbean geography. Islands = confusing OR islands = stories of that one time we went to Jamaica on a cruise, isn't your country near Jamaica?

Would it work to cool the brownies even if they're still in the pan, once they're outside the oven though? Or would that still run the risk of overcooking?

Most boxed recipes (which is what people tend to rely on in the US) give a cook time that allows for continued cooking in the pan once it exits the oven. I suppose most cookbooks would compensate for that, too. My mom's rule of thumb is to pull the brownies or cookies out just a hair before they're actually done unless you plan on eating them RIGHT NOW. I usually pull my brownies and cookies 30 seconds to a minute before I think they're done, but that's a practiced measurement. If you cook them until they look "done" then whatever you just baked will be over-cooked by cooling in or on the hot pan.

The moral of this story is that you should bake more brownies!

I would love a recipe for bread!

Bread! This is the most basic of basic recipes, and it is really low fuss.

Ingredients:

1 cup of warm water

1½ tablespoons of granulated sugar

2 teaspoons of active yeast

1 teaspoon of salt

5 tablespoons of oil or melted butter

2½ to 3½ cups of all-purpose flour

Process:
1. Combine warm water, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl. Watch your little yeasties come to life and feed on the sugar!

2. When your little yeasties are active and growing, add the salt, oil or butter and 2½ cups of flour. Mix everything together until it forms a ball. If the dough is really sticky, sprinkle on more flour. If the dough is really dry, sprinkle on more water. Add either water or flour until the dough is well-formed and not glued to your hands.

3. Sprinkle a bit of flour on your kneading surface, then smack the dough down. Knead away! This video is really helpful for basic technique and general trouble-shooting.

4. After kneading, put the bread dough back in your bowl, cover with a kitchen towel, and let it rise in a warm dry place (like your kitchen) for 1 hour.

5. An hour later, come back and check. The dough should have grown! Punch it down, form it into a loaf-ish shape, and bake.

6. Bake the bread for 30 minutes at 400˚f/ 204˚c.

General notes:
Bread can be really complicated. This recipe can be tinkered with. But this is the general framework for all bread, and should be pretty straightforward. If you don't like part of the recipe, by all means play with it! Also, you don't need a loaf pan to bake this bread. We formed it into a loaf-ish shape and baked in a cookie sheet for a good while, with results that looked like they came from a fancy grocery store. It was lovely.

We make this recipe for our dinner sometimes and eat it hot with butter. It's lovely.

[shinsetsu]

I laughed when you said that letting them cool in the oven on THAT wire rack seemed okay. lol

Driving at night in unfamiliar territory IS very scary. I remember doing it by myself on big freeways with high bridges, and I literally had to FORCE my self to keep going and not give in to a panic attack. I'm not keen on high bridges and overcrossings in daylight, let alone at night. :/

[afuna]

Heee it all made sense in my head. And *wince* Yeah that sounds scary; I've never driven on a big freeway, but I've been on some while I was visiting family in the US, and the cars there are really fast!

[shinsetsu]

I like this green and yellow together. :)

Oh and also I meant to say that here if you hit anyone with your side view mirror, you'd have a law suit on your hands. :p

[afuna]

Hee, yeah I bet. OTOH, I am also going to guess that almost no one there walks in the middle of small narrow streets almost blocking the way.

(I would never hit anyone on purpose but have misjudged several times, rather embarrassingly :/)