Pandesal making

I have previously blogged about the breadmaker I bought myself a couple of weeks ago. And I did get to use it. I have tried my hands in making a well-loved Filipino bread - pan de sal.

Pan de sal is a Spanish word which literally means bread of salt ( pan for bread; de = of; sal = salt). Pan de sal has been a way of life for Filipinos. I don't think you're a true-blooded Pinoy if you haven't even tasted it once and haven't even a slightest of an idea about that bread. It brings back so many happy memories of my life in the province.

Anyway, my first attempt in making pandesal was a disaster! Que horror! I've googled a recipe from the internet, tried to follow it. Left the dough to rise. Baked it. And out came the breads all ruined. They're too hard!

I think I left the dough too long to rise. I have an earlier commitment of accompanying my cousin to the CBD that day and since time is a constraint, I though of leaving it for a couple of hours, for it to rise, and just in time for me to come back home and bake.

Err, that plan didn't really work! It turned out, hubs has given me the "day off" and I can do whatever I can for that saturday. I decided to maximize it and I went shopping with my cousin instead. Nice di ba? My me time spent well.

Going back to the pandesal baking. I attempted it the second time. This time using Mum's recipe. And it was a success! So ecstatic with the result that it's even yummier than my mum's pandesal. Ok, no exaggeration here.

Dough has risen

Pan de sal fresh from the oven

Ready to eat!

I'd love to try it again. They were gone so quickly. I hope it's not just a one-hit-wonder! LOL!

Colours of Autumn

Something random for today.

I love Autumn's colours. Last Queen's birthday weekend, we had the chance to stopby in Taupo. Weather was glorious! Perfect for stretching out before we head on to Palmy.

Time to look forward to spring!

Sigma Brushes

I've been reading a lot of positive reviews for Sigma brushes. If you want to have good set of brushes which are of almost equivalent to MAC brushes in terms of quality but reasonably-priced, then Sigma brushes are the way to go.

I bought a MAC traveller's set ages ago. I've been using them like crazy with my make-up. Their powder brush is so soft I use them every now and then. Since MAC brushes are so expensive, I've given up on buying more brushes from them.

One time, I asked how much a MAC foundation brush is and I was quoted NZ$90. How insane is that? So goes my saga on which brand of brush to purchase. One day, while going through the youtube make up tutorials, two of these make-up tutor biggies recommend Sigma.

It took me like a year before finally jumping into my craving. Sigma brushes are not sold in NZ unfortunately. I have to either go to the Oz market or to the US market. Taking into consideration the current foreign exchange rates and shipping costs, it turns out that it'll be best for me to buy directly from US.

And today...tadah! I can't believe my Sigma brushes have finally arrived.

I can't wait to try them. Hopefully, this brand will live up to the good reviews I heard so far.

Since I'm not that hardcore in doing make-up, I just ordered the basic ones. I ordered a set - the Essential Kit set, which basically has all the brushes you need for an everyday go. I didn't go for the set which comes with the tube-like leather case. No matter how cute they are. Instead I ordered the classic brush roll. My main reason will be it's easier to pack and it's not as bulky as the tube container.

The benefits of buying them from the US (aside from the financial aspect) are: (1) I got a complimentary gift which is a blending brush E25; and (2) I got 10% discount. This discount coupon code changes every month. Better to google for the current one. Most Sigma bloggers will have the current coupon code on their website.

Yay!

Winter chill relief

I can't contain my excitement for today. I can't wait to go home.

It's the first month of the winter season here down-under. For years we're just relying on traditional heaters to heat up our place; ie oil heaters and convection heaters.

With the baby needing that constant heat around the house, hubs finally agreed that we install a heat pump! Finally!

I still have to see how it looks like but I can't wait to feel the heat in the house without worrying too much of huge electric bills each month.

I hope the installation goes really well. For now, I'm stuck with the photo and some little imagination of this evening.

bread making

Caution: This is random.

I'm passionately been on the lookout for a good breadmaker (BM) this past couple of weeks. I go through different product reviews of different brands, surfing the net especially trademe (equivalent of ebay) looking out for used-only-once BMs but bought brand new. I'm just trying to see if baking bread is for me.

And yesterday, I finally had my breadmaker. It's the Sunbeam 3500S model. The reviews are quite good with this model, so I hope. I'm leaning towards buying a Panasonic brand as this is the best in the market (according to reviews) but they're really a pain in the pocket. Me thinks I'm only a beginner so I don't really need a fancy breadmaker. Let's see what happens in the next few months.

I haven't tried it though. I'm still thinking what to bake. Mum bakes pan de sal, siopao, and other types of breads for us when I was still living home. I can't believe I'm now in that stage.

I think the main reason I wanted to get one for myself was my constant craving for pan de sal and spanish bread. Since living on our own, I can only get to eat them during special trips back to Mum's. My son also loves pan de sal. He's crazy about them. He can eat a whole lot in one go.

Anyway, here's me wishing myself goodluck for baking bread!

Cats in the cradle

Just sharing… thoughts for the day.

It’s our usual weekday. Today is Monday morning. Kids are up at around 7 in the morning. Half an hour past, Hubby just came back from his dayjob. Kitchen is getting busy. Hubby’s on the kitchen trying to squeeze in time to prepare baon for T and me while I’m busy prepping up T for his morning routine before going to school at the same time trying to tend to M while she watches us on her exersaucer running around maybe having this weekday morning thoughts “what’s happening?” or maybe she’s gotten used to it. Once they’re prepped up, it’s my time to prepare for work.

You see, Mondays through Fridays, our family is like running a marathon trying to beat the 8.20 clock. That’s preparing breakfast, having a quick breakfast, preparing for school (T) and work (moi), and finally getting into the car. All four of us! And that’s just the morning picture.

Having the second kid has been like being in a whole new dimension of parenting. Our everyday lives have been challenged from what it used to be. Hubby and I are now basically wondering what happened to time. Has it been ticking too quickly?

Dropping off my son to school today, T asked us to just stay in the car coz [he knows] “how to get to my school on my own mummy”. As he was walking away from us, his Superman backpack amassing the sight, I looked at hubby with a poor puppy’s look and went on with my usual lines: What did just happen? Why is he growing up too fast? He was just a baby yesterday! (with all the exaggeration I can think of).

It dawned on me how precious time is. Certain situations can tap you on your shoulder and wake you up. And I’m thankful that we’ve been hands-on parents since the two kids were born. Oh, and did I mention that we don’t have any help since having the kids?

I told hubs: “Spend time talaga with kids ano?” Hubs only gave me that reassuring look of confirmation that he felt the same way and said “cats in the cradle”. Huh?

I was aware of the song but has never really made time to read between the lyrics. On our way to my office, hubs was summarizing and describing the lyrics of the song. I went on further to google the lyrics. It just hit me. That’s it. I don’t want to grow old only to realize that I’ve spent my time, my precious time, to the wrong people and wrong situations.

How do you balance life and family? It’s a very difficult task for parents. Add to that the other equally important nagging stuffs such as bills running here and there, savings and retirement finances popping up are just a few of the pressures.

I hate to think that at the end of it all, I look back and wonder where my own time has gone? I wish to think that my time has been invested on the right kind of investment - time with my family, time with my kids, time with those I love. If I've done this successfully, I can say I have lived life to the fullest!