Tuesday, September 25, 2012

forgetting



choosing what
to remember
remembering that we forget
memories and forgotten
my life
my reality
my existence
~9.25.12~




The first time I heard the song 'Forgetting', I wept. 

I wept hard. Then I wept some more, wishing that it had been me writing those heart-rending soulful lines. Wishing it had been my story being told. Such simple lines, yet such intricate stories, exquisitely beautiful. Every forgetting revealing a story, every stroke of the piano key narrating a history.

This is what composer/writer had to say about writing the song. 

"...we choose to forget most things. Most of the times because life would be just too painful if you had to sort of just remember just how painful life is for so many people and the fact that your existence is propped up on this incredible  pyramid of down-trodden masses or whatever it is. Every step of the way you can question life. And it's basically you just draw a shutter down, and that makes live tolerable" - David Gray -


'Forgetting' by David Gray

 Crawling and walking
And running and sweating
Forgetting

Lying and cheating

Aiding and abetting
Forgetting

And itching and scratching

And punching and hitting
Forgetting, forgetting, forgetting
Forgetting

Reminding rewinding

Removing regretting
Forgetting

Your smiles at the wake and

Your tears at the wedding
Forgetting, forgetting, forgetting
Forgetting
Forgetting, forgetting, forgetting
Forgetting

Spellbound and hellbound

And caught in the netting
Forgetting

Wiping it clean

Minute Armageddon
Forgetting, forgetting, forgetting
Forgetting
Forgetting, forgetting, forgetting
Forgetting
Forgetting, forgetting, forgetting
Forgetting


Crawling and walking
And running and sweating
Forgetting

Lying and cheating

Aiding and abetting
Forgetting

And itching and scratching

And punching and hitting
Forgetting, forgetting, forgetting
Forgetting

Reminding rewinding

Removing regretting
Forgetting

Your smiles at the wake and

Your tears at the wedding
Forgetting, forgetting, forgetting
Forgetting
Forgetting, forgetting, forgetting
Forgetting

Spellbound and hellbound

And caught in the netting
Forgetting

Wiping it clean

Minute Armageddon
Forgetting, forgetting, forgetting
Forgetting
Forgetting, forgetting, forgetting
Forgetting
Forgetting, forgetting, forgetting
Forgetting



Monday, September 24, 2012

The day I conquered them pancakes


Pancakes is a big favorite in our household. For years I've been making them using the store-bought premix like Aunt Jemima and Pillsbury, they taste great but the problem is they cost quite a bit and you are always out of the mix whenever you want it. 

Buttermilk Pancake with Blackcurrant Preserve and Clotted Cream with Vanilla
I haven't gotten to making them from scratch because I always get intimidated whenever I see buttermilk in the list of ingredients. Buttermilk was another challenge, my home made version always taste like vinegar chalky water. Well, that is until I figured I need to use full cream milk to get great buttermilk. Buttermilk is now big in my cooking and baking list.

And so last Saturday, when Zz asked for a slice of the red velvet cake for breakfast (again!) I offered to make the much missed pancakes instead. I quick search on my mobile for a buttermilk pancakes resulted in this giant serving of pancake recipe. A few tweaks & scaling produced the recipe below. An easy to make pancake that serves at least 4 voracious pancake fans, and can be made in under 30 minutes.

Leftovers can be frozen with a layer of baking paper between each pancakes. Just zap it in the nuke box for a minute on high, voila! You have instant pancake. And oh yes, you can make waffles using the same batter.

Buttermilk Pancakes

Ingredients

(A)


1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

(B)

1 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons milk
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted


Directions



  • Combine all dry ingredients (A) in a large bowl. Beat together buttermilk, milk, egg & melted butter in another bowl/jar. 
  • Remember to keep the liquid & dry mix apart until you are just about ready to make your pancakes.
  • Heat your griddle or frying pan on medium heat. It’s hot enough when you flick water on it and it sizzles immediately.
  • Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry mixture, and mix until just blended together, DO NOT over mix. Yes, we want those lumps in the batter. Mixing is best done using wooden spoon or cooking chopsticks.
  • Brush the griddle with butter; pour ½ cup measure of the batter for each pancake. Cook until they are golden brown around the edges, then flip over to cook the other side. Approx. 1-2 minutes on each side.
  • Keep the pancakes warm while you cook the rest by stacking them on a plate and cover with a clean moist kitchen towel.
  • Serve with butter & loads of syrup.

  Variations



* If you want to make the recipe egg-free, replace the egg with ¼ cup of buttermilk.

* Add flavors if you wish to, my favorite are to use vanilla bean or cinnamon powder. Let your taste bud & imagination be your limit. 

* If you are adding fruits to the pancake, dust them with a bit of the flour so that the fruits won’t sink.

 

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Buttermilk & Cottage Cheese

I owe a few people recipes. Quite a few actually. And most people, especially my friends will not buy my excuse of being busy. So here’s a couple of basic recipes to pacify them while I attempt to find time to sit down and write the rest of the more complicated ones.

p/s: this post is dedicated to a friend whom I once shared a joke about laban or buttermilk with. Here's to never spilling laban again.



Buttermilk

250ml fresh milk (UHT works too, but don't use lowfat, you won’t get it right, believe me I tried)
1 tablespoon white distilled vinegar

  • Add vinegar to the milk, stir well. 
  • Leave about 10 minutes, the buttermilk will thicken slightly.
  • It’s ready for use now.




Cottage Cheese 

1 liter of milk
2 tablespoons of lemon juice /white distilled vinegar
Salt to taste
 

  • Heat milk in a pan until hot but not boiling, stirring to make sure it doesn’t burn.
  • Cool the milk for a few minutes then add the lemon juice/vinegar.
  • Stir & let the milk separate into curd and whey. Whey is the watery liquid while the curd is the milk solid that has reacted to the heat & acid.
  • Line colander with cheese cloth/muslin, strain when cheese has cooled to room temperature, saving the whey if you are using it for your baking, otherwise just discard.
  • Squeeze out as much as the whey as possible from the cheese while it’s still in the cheesecloth and rinse under running water for a couple of minutes.
  • Salt the curd to taste. Voila! You have your home-made cottage cheese that’s almost always taste better than the store bought ones.
  • For richer and creamy cottage cheese, add cream to the cheese, you’ll get taste and texture similar to ricotta cheese.
  • You can further flavor the cottage cheese with freshly cracked pepper, chives or any other herbs or spices.