Another Baking Weekend!

Quick notes for the stuff that I baked today: 2 lemon-related sweets and a yeast muffin.

 I feel I had to use up at least a few lemons from a bag that I bought early this week at Costco. Recently, 23 pcs pack cost 2500KRW nearby but I spotted this bag with roughly about a dozen pieces for 8000k. It's was time to make one of my dream pies and make some lemonade too!

1. Lemon Pie (originally a Lemon Meringue recipe)

 

This is a recipe from one of my fave blogger Jenny Can Cook who hardly uses butter for baking.
Her apple pie is my go-to recipe for anything pie crust related. The lemon pie included a meringue recipe but as usual, the amount of sugar already in it made me skip that part. The filling itself needed 1.25 C to 1/3 C of cornstarch which I understand since we're dealing with the 1/2 C sour lemon juice. That is my limit. I know I can very well cut down the sugars and it will still be good.

Result: It was a bit on the sour side but the crust made up for it. I've rolled the crust a little bit too thinly and unevenly so there was a bit of extra that I had to trim off the edges which I baked separately used to scrape off the leftover filling from the saucepan. That is how I roll. ;)

I've also attempted on the 3-finger scrimping but it's still far from satisfactory. And I also tried to remove wax from the lemons in the microwave so I can zest it. It was magical. I know that nuking something can have some micro reaction invisible to the eyes but boy, I was able to get a lot more juice easier than by just rolling it before squeezing. That was a cool hack that I learned from experience today.

2. Lemon Squares

 

I don't understand exactly why Jenny Jones' called it Lemon Brownies on her site but I'll stick with simple squares even if I didn't end up cutting them into squares. :D As usual, the amount of sugar it requires really put me off and I cut down the 24 T to 20 T. (I doubled the recipe to fit the only available pan I had which is a rectangle one.) I also skipped the glaze and good thing I did because it was already too sweet even with all the sugar adjustments I've made. Imagine, 2 C of flour to 1.5 c of sugar and only used 2 T of lemon juice? I didn't see that coming but I do have an idea now. The west really uses more sugar than I can imagine and I've gotten used to adjusting the amount of sugar in these recipes. Nonetheless, I am thankful that a site like hers exist. It makes me realize some personal baking goals that might otherwise have been harder for me to tweak.

Now for the notes:
I can possibly triple the recipe to fill up my rectangle pan. (I might really consider getting a square pan in the future, along with a pie ring for my pies. My baking hobby can really be making  on my budget.)

This is a fairly easy one to put together especially since I skipped the glaze part. It only needed 20 minutes in the 180 C oven.

As I've already mentioned, I need to adjust the sugar more next time. We used Nutella (yes, I bought it as a treat this month but it's a once in a blue moon thing) as a spread on it as if it wasn't sweet enough still. I do believe that lemon and chocolate will not be that bad. lol

3. Yeast  Muffin

This is nothing new in my regulars but I've doubled the recipe since I accidentally bought a taller muffin liner a week ago when I finally got a 12C muffin pan. (Can you even breathe though that sentence? Whew!) The original recipe filled the 6C pan with a bit more for another or two when I used the smaller liners. After my initial trial last weekend, I figured out that doubling the recipe (but not the yeast: 2.25 t to 3t) and using the tall liners will fill the whole 12C pan. Not so bad as I have a 200pc pack of liners that I had to use up. They're really big and filling.

I did half cinnamon and Nutella to jazz things up today. My son is pretty happy with the latter. It's a bit step up from the cocoa mix I used last week which he liked as well. But boy, cocoa powder can be pretty pricey if I use it that often. :D I made 12 cinnamon muffins but I added a dollop of N spread on the 6. Half and a half to even it up. If given a chance, I'll try the cheese next time. And raisins and nuts. If only not for my son... *sigh

The 6 cups of flour that I had to mix today fit perfectly in the 30cm stainless wok and the silicon pastry mat worked well as a cover while the dough rises.

It's almost 12 midnight and I have a smile on my face as I stare on the 4 containers filled with the baked goodies sitting on the table even though I still have to wash the remaining dishes and stuff before bed. So off I go now!

P.S.
Recently learned about free Alexa Music by decade and it has been good keeping me company at home even if I have to be doing some Korean stuff instead. THAT is for another post. ;)
Currently listening to the 60's now as it is already late night and I just feel a strong affinity to that era somehow. Late-night rambling effects.

Talking Clocks

Either you hate or love it.

"Talking clocks are the worst ever invention of humanity," says my son.
Haha!

I'm on the opposite side of that! I like talking clocks especially when I am in the middle of doing something that I literally lose track of time. I needed to hear the clock to set my brain to hurry up more or adjust my tasks. For example, it is very useful to hear how many minutes I had been in the shower or how many minutes I should need to get dress.

Looking back to a couple of decades ago, my father got a wall clock that plays a song every hour. We know what time it is whenever we hear a specific tune. But now, it's not just by the hours. No music, yes, but a voice that gives the time on how frequent you want to set it. Some have the option by minute, five, 15, 30 minutes or an hour.

It's pretty cool to use it nowadays, be it online or on the phone. My favorite online one is online-stopwatch.com. It has a lot of different clocks, alarms, timers that I can use but my go-to is the talking clock. I can set the frequency and hear the time as I set it.

Then there's the talking clock app on an android phone. I missed this one when had an iPhone but happy to find it when I went back to an android one. This is pretty basic: gives the time as I set it and can also change the voice into male or female. I usually run the app when I'm in the bathroom or when I am heading out somewhere.

Now that I have a bluetooth speaker, which I got for free from a phone center over the change of year, it will be more fab to have it running in the bathroom while I wash and get ready before heading out. It beats the Alexa speaker that my husband got last December. Now, that might be for another post.

For now, I am happy with the existence of talking clocks online when I'm on my laptop or on my phone when I'm out and about.

Baking Bliss (voice-to-text on Google but total fail)

I like baking. I think I've been using the oven at least twice a week lately.

I usually bake two batches of bread in a week: at least one in the weekend

and another one sometime during the weekdays. Since I usually bake yeast bread,

it spoils faster and can only last for 3 to 4 days. It’s either because of that or it's all been consumed or eaten. My son eats it for breakfast and sometimes snacks as well.   

We rarely buy bread ever since I got the oven coupled with the time to bake.  Sometimes, I would still buy some bread on a whim or when I don't have time to prepare something for breakfast the next day.  But it seldom happens nowadays. It's either homemade bread or cereal for breakfast. And when I buy bread, I would usually go for the Roman wheat bread with nuts and stuff. Or I would pick up some sweet bread when I feel like eating one but don't want to be troubled to use of all of those butter. I do feel guilty when I see how much sugar and butter go into those bread. So in the spirit of “ignorance is bliss,” I just trying to buy a bit of this and that just to satisfy my cravings with lesser guilt.

I usually bake a loaf of bread or Pinoy bread rolls. Most of these, if not all, have yeast, water, oil, bread, and sugar --- just the basic ones for baking. It doesn't even need oil sometimes which is quite surprising. Sometimes, I would also try quick bread that uses baking soda or baking powder instead of yeast. These would usually be a muffin, some rolled bread or a cookie. Quick bread usually needs more sugar and maybe even butter so I tend to baked things like that rarely. Not only that it's not healthy with all the sugar and butter it needs, but it's also expensive because of the butter so I seldom bake sweet quick bread.

I found myself baking and kneading quite often nowadays and I feel like kneading by hand takes so much time for me that I really wish that I have a stand mixer. I mean, I like the kneading part especially if I am watching something interesting that I would hardly notice the time passing while my hands are busy but “people” in the house are complaining how much time I spend baking. Don’t they know….? They clearly have no idea!

Now, I really wish to be able to buy that stand mixer! 180k grand. I need to save up for that first after I’ve paid my husband for my car. Yes, that was the deal. Instead of me being able to send my annual savings to put in some funds and stocks, I will have to shell it out for the car this year.

My big ticket purchases last year, aside from the trip home and the car, were the oven, Lodge cast iron skillet, Dutch oven, and a Pyrex loaf pan. I still have to complete the car thing with some car tire changes and brake pads sometime until the middle of this year, I hope.

Going back to baking. I will get a stand mixer this year. I’ll have to keep an eye on some sale soon. It will fall into place. :)

(composed using Google docs voice typing tool, Gradeproof add-on, and good old manual editing)

Phone Cable Dilemma --- Convenience Store to the Rescue

My knock-off phone cable has been acting strangely for about a few weeks ago. I've checked for possible replacement online and was ready to buy online since last week. But then, before doing that, I thought about checking an offline store at first. That proved to be an unfortunate choice because I couldn't find any store that sells it. It's a bit outdated so it's a little bit hard to find, I thought. I figured I need to find a replacement before we head out on the road this holidays. What I didn't count in was that online deliveries will be super delayed with the holidays coming!

Sunday came and I really had a hard time charging my phone during the whole day that I was out. My phone can only last until afternoon on regular use but it just can't with the heavy translating during Korean class. Good thing that I got my chromebook set up in the local wifi so I was able to use the online translation there. The phone miraculously found it's sweet spot and started charging. But boy! It was very frustrating to connect that thing to the lappy to charge. 

I am getting desperate to find the cable offline more than ever. But I haven't able to after class coz I just had to attend to my body needs, bathroom plus I had my monthly period and all, that I just went home right away. 

6500 KRW

The next day came and I am really getting desperate each hour. I decided to really find it before the day ends. I asked a local young adult student where I can possibly find one and she told me to check out convenience store. I'm like "really?" Even though there's one nearby, I decided to go downtown since the downtown ones would more likely stock up varied stuff and to pick up other stuff as well. After checking out DC marts, Daiso and a small phone accessory shop, I almost gave up until I remembered my last hope. I headed to the best location on the intersection and browsed the store. It wasn't hard to find at all. There it was on a corner a cable brand with all the cables neatly arranged together, even color-coded to easily find the price. It has various kinds and sizes which anyone would ever need in a pinch. I didn't know convenience stores were this cool!

The price is a little bit more than what you can find online. I was eyeing something more multi-functional online at about the same price but the availability and the sturdiness-look of this one makes up for the difference. It's flat cable and some pink part so I'm hoping this will be worth it's price before I change my phone a few years later. Procrastinating cost a steeper price.

Just this Sunday, I also had to do a quick run there to buy a pair of cotton gloves since I forgot to bring one of the three that I have up on the 10th floor. It was a life-saver since I still have to drive a bit more later the day on a sunny day.

So, if there's a random thing needed to buy, I think a convenience store should always be checked out. I got my gloves, and my replacement cable. What a relief!

Tech Notes

This coming days are going to be a bit of another adjustment. I have to get my notes and tech stuff organized. I got to figure out which app to use according to my need and availability.

I think Evernote can also work the list but it's a bit complicated to access for me still.

As for the Icloud thingy, it makes me feel so ignorant because of the incompatibility with my chromebook, as well as software versions. I need to find alternative way to get around the current blocks but I just don't want to. It makes me frustrated if I go that way coz I'm not really that techy and patient to spend extra time to work it. I'll deal with it in a less "time intrusive" way.

So here is how I'll try to work it out for now. I'm giving it a year, until my next birthday, to decide if I can stick with Iphone or go back to the more flexible android phone.

My Game Plan:

(input in chromebook, syncs with iphone, works offline when out)

For list: Icloud reminder (this will be mostly for to do lists, personal one or quick lists)

For longer notes:

1. Icloud notes (after syncing phone online)

2. Evernote (work related, longer notes, clothes plan or something that will use photo or audio file)

As for the google docs, and other net related, do it in advance. I got to clean up my NI Folder in my old android. Now, off to executive mode!

Technology and Me

My old laptop has been shelved for a while now that I have a new one. Well, not exactly shelved but I still use it at times that I need to use IE since my new one is a chromebook.

Hubby ordered it for me from Amazon in mid of November and it arrived more than a week later. Since shipping to ROK is tricky, he usually use a forwarding company Malltail. He got his own through that same route before paying about 30USD for shipping and extra 10% customs tax depending on the amount bought.

My new chromebook speed has been waay better and less complicated compared to the microsoft-run lappy before. It's good for basic computing, and streaming and everything online except IE sensitive sites like Korean online banking, government sites, and everything Korean related sites. For a country whose advance technology is touted for, it seems that their backbone is still Microsoft or windows related computers. I won't claim to be such a genius in technology coz I'm far from it but in cases like these, using a chromebook is charting a new territory. I, myself, has also been more familiar and comfortable with windows.

Going back to what prompted me to write this entry today is the printing aspect from chromebook. I was able to connect our classic printer to my hubby's account and shared it with mine. I had wanted to print something for a while but the printer is quite inaccessible for me before. Since chromebook cannot connect directly to printers (which is quite a downer for me) the alternative is to use the our windows-run turtle netbook (it's an old one and veeerryy slow) as the main one connected to the printer.

I just followed a few steps after googling how tos. First was connecting a google account from the turtle netbook to the printer, and sharing it with my own account. I accidentally connected the printer using my hubby's g. account so I still had to share it to my account so that I can use it. It could have been the other way but that's what you get when you don't read a bit more.

Here is what I followed for sharing. It might come in handy for me in the future. ;)

from chrome help site

trying out to print from chromebook from youtube

Enough suspense for me now. It's about time to find out for me how this cloud printing works for such a fancy name.