scones for breakfast
06/05/2009
The first time I had scones, they were round. I was probably 9. My folks carted my brother and I over to the UK for our first European adventure. I saw bears in the Black Forest. We went to some castle for wine tasting. We had Chinese food in France. I think I saw the Eiffel Tower. I don’t remember it very well though fortunately the photos are around somewhere. At home with my folks.
I remember the second time we had scones much better. I was probably 11. We had it in a cafe. They served it with cream, but it was light, more like whipped cream, and jam. I wasn’t really a big fan of butter or dairy growing up, but this was acceptable. I ordered it each time we stopped for tea. Tea and warm scones were quite comforting. We had some at Oxford, right before we walked around, saw a bunch of guys punting down that canal, bought my favourite tee shirt (through my teens – I haven’t really been that attached to my clothes after that), and a souvenir mug which read: Insanity is hereditary. You get it from your children. I thought it was hilarious.
I’ve tried making scones back in Singapore, but never had much success with them. It was always something or the other, sometimes they turned out like stones, other times, they just weren’t worth finishing. I thought I’d try them again, now that I’m equipped, and it was getting all drizzly and rainy here. The first batch was awful. Maybe I forgot the sugar (not likely), or the improvisation of baking soda and half-and-half, but after a couple of bites I had to throw the whole lot out.
I was going to give up. I put it in the backburner, and decided to forget about it. I can buy scones, dammit. I’d probably have to take the bits out of it, because for some reason, people here put stuff in their scones – like raisins, or blueberries. I really prefer mine plain, the way I remember them. That and I really don’t like raisins for the most part. And most dried fruit.
Anyway. The other day, I was out with Dr M at the Half Moon Bay plant Nursery. It was drizzling and foggy there, and we were walking through rows of rose shrubs. This is what I remember the UK to be like, I said. He said, Well, it doesn’t get more UK than this – the rain, and me. But it was the whole thing. Truding through muddy gravel, the drizzle and fog, the accent, the light scent of roses. The only thing missing was the smell of bread at Sainsbury’s and the buttery comfort of scones.
So. That afternoon I bought the bunch of ingredients I was missing, and made a fresh batch of scones the next morning. I’m happy to say they turned out really well. I’ve been having scones with tea for breakfast for a couple of mornings. 
It’s certainly more appropriate and satisfying than chocolate cream pie for breakfast, at least!
Here’s the recipe for the scones I made. I left out the raisins. The trick is not to over work the dough – rub/cut it in roughly, add wet ingredients, then slap it together. It’s supposed to be crumbly. Not bad for a half-hour job.
Poached Salmon
20/07/2008
Before I got really sniffly and gross-out sick, I was actually having a pretty good time knitting and cooking.
On Wednesday, I poached myself a couple of salmon steaks – in an effort to re-create that dish that I loved eating at SG Ikea.
We’ve been heading the the Palo Alto Ikea – it’s slightly further than the Emeryville one, but we don’t have to cross the bridge, and we usually make a little stop over at A and R’s to drop off their order of preserved beets. Though slightly larger than the ones I’m used to back home, the cafeteria quality is nowhere compared to ours in SG. If that can even be possible.
The little old cafeteria ladies at the Alexandra Ikea were always pretty pleasant, and the food was astonishingly normal. Not the gourmet feast, but the salmon seemed pretty fresh – not like yesterday’s leftovers – and the chicken wings had a healthy turnover. I mean, there is usually a line to get in come lunchtime!
The cafeteria at Palo Alto Ikea – is how cafeterias are usually depicted in US movies or TV shows. Unhappy, unfulfilled kitchen staff wearing ridiculous white showercaps doing the same mundane thing over and over again, and food that looks like Rover’s leftovers. It’s not even funny.
So, when I saw a couple of salmon steaks at Safeway the other day, I decided it can’t be all that difficult to poach salmon. I mean, people do more to poach halibut! Well, they pretty much have to, halibut is just boring whitefish.
A quick search off my still favourite Search Engine, and I found this recipe: Dill Poached Salmon. It seemed easy enough. Chicken stock, salmon fillets, dill. As expected of a real hardcore cook like me, I had no chicken stock, no dill, but at least I’ve got the salmon! We’re ready to rumble.
So, in a shallow pot went my two fillets of salmon, enough water to cover half of it, some sliced ginger, four nubs of garlic, some kaffir lime zest and juice. When the water started to boil, I just put it on low and simmered the fish gently. Took all in all about 15 minutes with the pot covered. The fish came out fantastic – juicy, tender and soft. Just a teensy tad fishy. Maybe next time I try more ginger, or a butter-dill sauce like at Ikea. But really. What kind of half-assed cook would I be if I had dill around the house. I’m raising some mint and parsley, by the way. And basil. So perhaps when they grow up, I might actually make a decent meal.
Boiled some potatoes, then tossed them with olive oil and garlic. Yay. Done.
Snappy
03/08/2006
Detox attempt: Day 2
Ok. Today was bad. It was so bad, Lilmurmurs couldn’t even last till our 11.30am lunch. She had to leave for home because she felt really sick. She was white as a sheet too.
I skipped breakkie, which isn’t the way you do it, but when you’re a lazy ass like me, you do it anyway.
Lunch was meticulously prepared by the aforesaid pale Lilmurmurs, and was two generous pieces of baked fish – ikan kurau and salmon, i think – and boiled veggies. It was pretty good, I finished it with less pain than the lunch I prepared the day before.
But by about 2pm, I was spiralling downward. Restless, grouchy, tired and irritable, I couldn’t really focus at work. I snacked on some yogurt and granola, a ricecake, but it wasn’t really doing it for me.
Finally, at 4pm, after developing a splitting headache, I decided to call it a day on the detoxing and harrassed Glutton the Duck until he went to second lunch with me. hahaha. In the end, claypot Yee Mee saved my day.
Day 2 has been a total disaster. But tomorrow we will perservere, so for lunch we’ll be having stir fried watercress and tuna pitas. For snacks, we’ll be having plain popcorn and yogurt. I haven’t opened the box of weetbix yet, but it’s probably going to be my breakfast.
Let’s see how it goes.
Dappy
02/08/2006
Detox attempt: Day 1
It was a long, tough day. As we decided the day before, our menu was:
- Breakfast: Banana porridge – thanks Lilmurmrs. It really turned out a lot better than I expected. I’m not a big fan of bananas.
- Lunch: Grilled cod with veggies and brown rice – which was bland as hell. Ugh.
Snacks for the day was another banana and water. I really have to bring some nuts and rice crackers to the office tomorrow.
Finally I caved at dinner and had a grilled chicken breast and chicken and leek soup. And now I’m munching on some pistachios. Love pistachios.
Tomorrow I think I’ll have Weetbix and yogurt for breakfast, and lunch will be prepared with love by Ms Lilmurmurs. Looking forward to that.
Gappy!
01/08/2006
Detox attempt: Day 0
No pangs, no cravings, no lethargy, nothing. Mostly because all I’ve done today is mostly research, and preparation. Tomorrow we’ll begin with a wholesome banana porridge breakfast, followed by grilled cod for lunch. Let’s see how long Lilmurmurs and I can keep this up.
In really good news, they’re opening the GAP stores in December this year, yay!
Minor Swing
04/04/2006
I found a nice cupcake recipe site
Off sfgate the other day – it’s Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit, who referenced a great chocolate cake recipe from MarionQuaggatuggu. See how it went from old-media on new-media to blog (marketing) to Flickr (celebritying)?
Ahhhhhhh… and they write books about how blogs are going to be the next big hit in marketing. I hate internet wannabes writing on old media trying to look in from the outside. Wannabes.
So I tried the chocolate cake recipe, but I think I overdid the eggs. I am quite pleased how the cocoa and sweetness turned out – I went heavier on the chocolate and lighter on the sugar, so I doubt the cake’s going to be very popular with most. Maybe the next time I’ll substitute some yogurt for egg. I really detest that eggy smell. Other than that the cake turned out pretty ok. Ugly but ok.
I don’t think there is a career in cooking/baking out there for me. The impending clean up that awaits me renders me sorta stingy when it comes to utensils. And embellishments (frosting, sprinkles, cookie dutters, etc) are too much trouble. And I prefer recipes that do not require creaming. There is just no room in the world for lazy bakers.
In other news – me – Yahoo! Answers – 555. Yay.
Auf Wiedersehn
21/02/2006
KF’s cousin were in town over the weekend
And we had a blast hanging out with them. Our activities centered around mostly food, although on Sunday R went to play golf with my brother and we brought A walking around Chinatown.
Anyway, Ms A left me with a neat Ginseng Chicken Soup recipe. It’s really easy:
2 chicken breasts
5-8 red dates
1/4 cup of wolfberries
1/3 cup of American Ginseng
Pinch of salt
Boil a pot of water (around 1-1.5l). Drop everything into the boiling water. Lower the heat when it comes back into a boil. Soup will be ready in 90mins or so.
Anyway, the nice thing about this soup is that it’s really scalable. So I figure I can half the recipe and it’d be a good lunch dish for KF and I on weekends.
Ms A says if you double boil it, the soup will be clear. How cool is that?
Now I’m looking forward to my next trip to SF and hanging out with them again.
Cool
15/01/2006
A couple of days ago I went to the office with a horrible craving for this: the yogurt ice cream with mint sauce on a bed of iced blueberries from Kokkari.
Damn, I want that.
