My alone time

When the children were younger, there was a trick I used to play on my family.  I used to pretend that I hate ironing clothes.  My ironing board is located in the laundry room which is along a small corridor at the back of the house.  I would tell my children, looking sad, that I had to iron clothes.  I get them to watch their favourite TV programes with their father, before I head to the laundry room. Their father will ensure that they do not distrub me while I was ironing.  

That was the most alone time I had for myself.  I had a portable radio there and I would listen to some cassette tapes that I had picked up from the Buddhist society.  They were moral educational tapes with very interesting story lines.  I remember one about a well-known noble man in ancient time.  A young boy insulted him in public and people around were surprised that he was not punish for being disrespectful.  A few years later the noble man regreted forgiving the young boy because he grew up fearless and killed someone.  It did influence the way I raised my children.

Punishment is not for revenge, but to lessen crime and reform the criminal.
-Elizabeth Fry 

Now that the children are older, I have more time to myself and I still spend thoes moments listening to stories.  This time I use my mobile phone. Other than while I am ironing the clothes, I also do it while I am doing these mundane chores at home:

-weeding the garden
-cooking meals for the family
-doing the laundry

I am now addicted to listening to true crime stories on YouTube.   I also (mostly) listen and watch (now and then) them while I am taking my lunch alone at my bike shop or while I crochet. It stops my mind from wandering to matters I don’t want it to think about. Self pity will be one of them if I am doing a chore that I feel I should not be working on.

I have been told that watching/listening to crime stories is very negative as there are fights and death involved. But you will be surprised at the amount of information I can learn by listening to some of my favourite YouTubers. From them I learn about:

-the people and the environment of the towns where the crime occured (geography).
-the crime rate of the states involved (statistics).
-how crimes are solved (how investigators work).
-how scientific methods are used to solve crimes (science).
-how criminals think (psychology).
-why or how criminals kill and hide their crimes (life stories that led to the murders).
-the victims (how relationships can trigger crime of passion).
-unsolved crimes (which I can create awareness by sharing the stories)
-information of crimes that occurred in other countries (general knowledge).
-sentencing of the criminals (law and how court hearings are conducted)

Do you know that the judicial system in South Korea is very lenient for sex offenders? A rapist sentence was reduced as he claimed that he was drunk when he raped an eight-year-old girl. When he was released he returned to his former residence which is less than 1km from the victim’s home. It is also not far away from schools and playgrounds where he had been seen hanging around. 

I picked that story up from Rotten Mango. 

You can learn a lot about Asian culture if you listen to Stephanie Soo on her podcast and YouTube channel. I also like it that, she is creating awareness by highlighting what is actually going on so that we can take actions to push for change that will help victims of crimes.

How negative is that?

Rice Paper Meals

I shared how I can make braised pork and meat floss with soup bone earlier and after discovering that I can serve meat floss in rice paper, I became interested in finding recipes for them.  So, I am glad that Beryl Shereshewsky also shared such recipes in the following video because she had leftover rice paper from her last video.

There are additional recipes from this video for me to check out.

This looks so easy to make.  Just marinate bite size pieces chciken breast with salt, pepper and curry powder before wrapping each piece with softened rice paper to pan fry for 5 minutes.

Airfry 2-Ingredient Milk Bread

Yes, you can bake a bread in the airfryer too.  What I like about this bread recipe which I found on Tik Tok is that I require only two ingredients to make it.

You can learn to change the flavour of this bread by watching this video. 

3-Ingredient Cakes

I like keeping recipes that requires three or less ingredients to make.  

Here is one for baking sponge cake. 

I can add flavouring essense to the batter if I want to.

I prefer this recipe which I found on YouTube as less sugar is used.

Sponge cake can also be steamed to cook.  The preparation method is the same except that the base of the cake pan need to be lined but not be greased.

This method is a little different as the egg york is separated from the white before it is beaten with sugar.

I would also like to try making 3-Ingredient Greek Yogurt Cake.

It can be baked in an airfryer too.

Korean Chillie Sauce

I buy CP Korean Popcorn Chicken whenever there is an offer running for it.  

The popcorn chicken taste good by itself after it has been air fried, which is the way my daughter loves eating it.  I can also use the meat for making sweet and sour chicken.  So what did I do with the packets of chillie sauce that came with them?  I have been saving them in the fridge.  Recently, I discovered that I can add about 2 tablespoon of the chillie sauce to my bell pepper dish to change its flavour.

Since I did not add meat to this batch of bell peppers dish I made, I decided to add the leftover  pan fried pork cutlet from yesterday, by slicing them up.  

Love the way it turned out and brought it to work at eat for lunch.  

I wonder if you have noticed that I have placed the metal container in a plastic container.  I usually store my food in metal containers so that it will be easier to heat it up later over a pot of boiling water.  As the food is still hot, it will be difficult for me to handle the metal container.  So I will use a plactic container as an insulator.  This time I made a wrong judgement and use a plastic container which was too small so I was not able to cover it up tightly.  The sauce spilled into the reusable bag and I have to wash it.

So, remember to always use a plastic container that is larger so that both containers can be closed properly.  

I like the chillie sauce from CP Korean Popcorn Chicken so much that I started looking out for Korean chillie sauce.  If you are doing the same, don't ever buy Spicy Korean Sauce from Lotus's.  It does not taste anywhere near that from CP.

3-Ingredient Sponge Cake

I found a 3-Ingredient Sponge Cake and thought that it may be a good idea to make some so that I can bake it smaller amount in the airfryer.  I read that by refrigerating or freezing the cake batter, I can safely keep it for a couple of days or up to several months.  But should I do that?  These are some of the points I picked up about storing batter from Recipe FAQ:

-cake volume is related to the air that has been incorporated into the batter.
-the results will be better if the cake batter is used soon after it has been made.
-cake batter can be stored in the fridge for up to 48 hours before it is used.
-however, too much air will escape if the batter kept past a couple of days.
-leavening agent like baking soda or baking powder will lose its effectiveness much sooner.
-the texture and rise of the cake will be affected if the batter is stored in the fridge for several hours.

Since sponge cake relies on beaten eggs for leavening, it will not become light and fluffy if air has escaped over time.  If I do not want my sponge cake to be dense and flat, I should use the batter straight away. 

I found a "3-Ingredient Sponge Cake" recipe shared on Easy Home Cooking Facebook page.  These are the ingredients required:

- 4 eggs
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (120g) all-purpose flour

I found another recipe at Savor Easy Youtube channel which provided optional flavouring ingredients to add.  It requires an extra egg to bake it:

-5 large eggs or 4 extra large eggs
-1 cup sugar (200g)
-1 cup all purpose flour (125g)

I think I will go for this recipe as it requires a smaller quantity of ingredients to make the batter:

-4 eggs
-150g (3/4 cup) granulated sugar
-90g (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour

You can see the optional flavouring ingredients that I found from Savor Easy on this recipe card I prepared.

Shortcut to Cooking Speghetti

To make your speghetti dish, you need to boil a pot of water to cook the noodle till it is al dente first.  Then you need a pan to fry the ingredients to flavour it.  By baking it, you cut down these two processes so you will have less utensils to wash too.

Here is the recipe for it from Feel Good Foodie.  I like it that Yumna shared her recipes with lots of photos.

I first discovered this recipe on "I love Recipes" Facebook page.  I like it better as there are lesser ingredients required to cook it.  Except for Oregano, they are ingredients which I often use in my kitchen.