sourdough returns

in a bid to revive the nigella soudough starter, i fed it again and took out a chunk to make the sourdough loaf again.
i think this glass bottle is the best container for the sponge. it is so airtight, it keeps the alcohol all in, and the warmth and moisture that the yeast produces is kept within the bottle. what you get is a bubbly, alcoholic/aromatic sponge.
mixing up the dough. this time i halved the salt and used less water, because i wanted to manually knead it.
after almost 45 minutes of doing this, the dough became this. (it was actually smoother than it looks in this photo; the dough was no longer sticky, just tacky.)
following reinhart's method of giving a short rest after the kneading, i did the same, and it was very easy to shape it into a ball.
this was the first rise for the dough, and it was full of life, though not entirely due to the starter. there was actually commercial yeast in it too, but i was just following the recipe!
after taking the dough out to fold - and all the while the feel of dough was very promising - i shaped it into a torpedo.
and it puffed to such a huge size. i made many slashes happily, because the dough wasn't sticking and tugging the blade back.
i think it's always fun to sit and watch the dough bake in the oven. you get to watch it spring up, turn from wet to dry, shiny to matt, white to golden.
today, i could hear the dough crackling audibly as it cooled outside the oven. it's like pressure release on granite (maybe?), and the surface of the dough cracked in several areas, but it looked so nice.
the crumb was not as open and airy as i thought it should be, but is this called a 'creamy' crumb now? anyhow, it was delicious after slight toasting and with a healthy olive spread: lucky i halved the salt in the dough.

wasn't just

the new computer and printers are finally settled in, and cable management done, so i've pushed the table towards the wall. now it's complete. a desktop, a colour printer and a laser printer, all for less than $1200; some things just don't happen this way unless you know someone who knows computers, or someone you know knows someone who knows computers etc.

then i was looking at CSM's facebook photos of his apartment and dreaming up futures. with great big good fairy (from the julie & julia soundtrack) playing on the computer, i felt so comforted. not that i was unhappy or anything, but 'comforted' sounds more correct than 'comfortable'.

and i'm still learning to speed cube.

fairy

i made the chocolate beer cake for jiayi's birthday. this time i used tiger beer again. sorry, no time to go and get guinness.
the various stages of preparing the cake batter. beer and butter, then plus sugar and cocoa, then plus sour cream and eggs, then plus flour.
the batter was so luscious and delicious. the beer gave it a very ferrous tang. and of course the pan was scraped clean (because i ate up all the remaining batter).
this is the third time i've made this cake, and each time, the same circular crack appears on top. it's something i feel so endearing.
i also made cornmeal shortbread cookies again, this time using - sadly - inferior butter and doing the dough by hand. the cookies held their shape better and were exceptionally crunchy, but tasted very flat. i think that's the result of using inferior butter.

and today i made some cookies. they don't have a name, but i think of them as anything-goes-cookies. i used up my cornmeal in them, and managed to finish some butterscotch chips too. and the christmas-coloured M&Ms too.
late lunch with steven and the others, and endless walking at orchard just tired me out so completely. but i saw the most beautiful tarts i have ever seen at orchard central.

and this is my new computer. i love my desktop background. it makes me feel so dreamy, so retro, so french.

3/4 jeans fashion

yesterday was so unlikely, so impossible, that it was so magical. after a visit to camp to see everyone, i ended up at SITEX and the airport with ek and weicai until very late. and even later, i was at spize with jiayi, guolun and bingrui for supper. eating prata and curry - sweating - at 1am in the city (mid)night.

i felt so alive.

time after time

this very beautiful song was used in julie & julia, no credit to the singer (margaret whiting) - sorry, and no offense intended, and the singing is indeed very nice too - but i just love the musical interlude a lot. i cannot imagine amy adams as anything else but giselle though.

heart stop

made a marble cake with jinquan yesterday. this one comes from joyofbaking, and it uses a lot of baking powder. the sour cream makes it light and moist too.
dolloping the delicious batters randomly into the cake pan and giving them a simple swirl.
simple and soft, nice and sweet. but i must stop eating butter and sugar. on the other hand, whipping cream is on sale - buy 2 get 1 free. there has never been such an offer, so of course i'm stocking up.
it was also the debut for this pig timer that seibu sent over.