recipe : walnut raisin loaf

Made this few days back. Walnut Raisin Loaf.  Original recipe at delia online. Substituted wholemeal flour with bread flour and walnut oil with olive oil. Wholemeal flour tu pernah la nampak kat kedai. Walnut oil tak pernah nampak pulak. But both memang takde kat rumah so make do je lah with whatever yang ada.

Ingredients: -
1. 6gm dried yeast
2. 2 tbsp brown sugar
3. 200ml warm water
4. 1/2 tsp salt
5. 1 tbsp olive oil
6. 300gm flour
7. 1/2 cup walnut
8. 1/2 cup raisin

- Add sugar to warm water. Pour yeast and stir. Leave for 5 minutes until the mixture bubbles.
- Mix flour with yeast+sugar+water mixture.
- Add salt and oil.
- Knead for about 5-10 minutes, until the dough does not stick to the bowl
- Add walnut and raisin to the dough and knead until well-mixed.
- Knead into your preferred shape and let it proof for about 1/2 hour or until dough doubles its size
- Bake for 20-25 minutes at 160d, api atas bawah with fan.
- Leave to cool before slicing

Note:-
- I knead using a mixer
- I put the dough in loaf pan and left to proof for 1/2 hour.

 Told ya. Too bland for my tastebud (I am sweet-toothed!) so I slapped peanut butter generously.

This is how the dough looked like after 1/2 hour proofing.

Iman says...

During one of those dinner time, me and Tebby touched the subject of death. We explained that death can happen anytime, regardless our age. Iman looked a little worried, he asked out loud.

Kalau Ummi mati, kita kena cari mak baru

More like a statement actually.

-___-

The next day, I saw him sat on the prayer mat after he has done his Subuh, closed-eyed, praying hard. So I asked what he was really asking to get

Saya nak Ummi hidup selama-lamanya

While I was flattered by that, it just doesn't work that way, Iman.
I pray every single day that whatever time we have together in this world - is filled with meaningful moments.

bekal - pizza sandwich

'2014 Cost Saving Initiatives' kick-off!

Walk the Talk bak kata orang ni. Well, I am walking other people's talk and I sincerely hope they do the same :-)

I normally prepare two sets of bekal i.e one for kids to bring to school/kindy and another one for kids to munch at taska. Now tambah lagi satu set, bekal for me and Tebby for breakfast. I can safely say we have saved around RM40 this week. True that it takes more of my morning me-time but the satisfaction is overwhelming :-)

The key-word is 'plan'. Sama jugak macam buat Business Plan kat ofis kan. You need to know your objectives, set your strategy and initiatives in order to achieve the objectives and list out the resources needed. Kalau bangun pagi bukak peti ais baru fikir nak buat bekal apa... kelam kabut juga. Saya la tu, orang lain mungkin tidak. Unless I wake up at 4:00 or 4:30 la.. which I don't anyway.

Semalam plan nak buatkan Pizza-Sandwich for kids. Last night Tebby helped me assemble lebanese flat-bread with pasta sauce, sauteed beef and cheese. Kept it in the fridge and this morning I just heat up the oven and toast it. At the same time goreng ayam. While those are cooking (about 10-15 minutes), don you telekung and do your Subuh prayer. I am sure we women and mothers can multiskill. That's one strength Allah Bestowed upon us ladies. Isn't standing under shower while brushing teeth sound familiar? Or breastfeeding baby while spooning lunch to your other child.

For the Pizza-Sandwich, I used 2 sheets of lebanese flat-bread. Actually cari Missions's totilla wraps tapi tak ketemu. Lebanese flat-bread that I bought is smaller than totilla bread, hence hasilnya kecik cukup-cukup je for the kids bekal.

I am excited to plan ahead for next week. Hope I can squeeze sometime this weekend to try make my own sandwich loaf and to re-try doing my puff-pastry thingy, that was horrendous beyond words. The kind you need to eat with closed-eyes. They tasted good (masuk bakul angkat sendiri) but they puffed too much that you can't tell those are tarts without me telling you.

not yet forty...

Alhamdulillah.

My faboulous-forty year.
May we all have a blessed and happy life - family and career-wise.
Hope to add value and meaning to my life as well as to give out more to the society.

Happy 2014!