My dear Rosemary has arrived

She has finally arrived. She is a Kala Concert Travel Ukulele. She’s so sexy, it hurts!

Oh ya, and it comes with this really sexy case.

If you want to buy one, check it out on Amazon.com, but I think they are out of stock for now (but it’s available in soprano and tenor size).

 

My Beginner Lessons 2

I have bought The Daily Ukulele by Jumpin’ Jim and transform the music notes into ukulele tab (I have also transposed some parts so it will fit for a high G ukulele). It’s really an amazing book. Some songs are old, but it’s very good for beginners. You will eventually learn to love this book. Songs included are “Don’t worry, Be happy”, “Hey Jude”, “Close To You”, “Tonight You Belong To Me”, “Que Sera, Sera” and a bunch of Christmas songs. They give you the chords and the singing parts in music notes.

I did the transform and transpose by hand, big thanks for this book. Please support the original book and buy it if you enjoy playing 1 song everyday without thinking/picking.

You can find my tablatures here:

lesson 04 – The Sound Of Music – Do Re Mi

lesson 05 – Disney’s It’s a Small World

lesson 06 – Dream a Little Dream of Me

I will do a proper ukulele book review later. (So far, I have four books.)

 

My Mug

Even my mug plays ukulele

 

Gladys 寫真

My first ukulele (a red Mahalo) is called Ruth. My second one (Kala Travel Ukulele Concert) is called Rosemary. – I still haven’t received it from Tomlee… sad. My third one is this baby – purple EMUS. Her name is Gladys.

My next one will be called Irving. It’s either a Eleuke Peanut or a Risa Solid (no idea which size…) Still saving up. It’s €200.

 

Shortbread Cookies

From http://www.joyofbaking.com/shortbreads/shortbreadcookies.html (Adjusted recipe because I didn’t have so much butter at my house…

Ingredients

• 83 grams all-purpose flour
• a pinch of salt
• 73 grams unsalted butter, room temperature
• 20 grams icing sugar
• 1 few drop of vanilla extract

Directions

1. Whisk the flour with the salt. Set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, use your electric mixer to beat the butter until smooth and creamy.
3. Add the sugar and beat until smooth.
4. Beat in the vanilla extract.
5. Gently stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated.
6. Form the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill the dough until firm.
7. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
8. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to thickness of 1/4 inch (.6 cm).
9. Cut into shapes using a lightly floured cookie cutter.
10. Place on the prepared baking sheets and place in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.
11. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) with the rack in the middle of the oven.
12. Bake for 8 – 10 minutes, or until cookies are very lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.

It’s AWESOME! I love Walker’s butter shortbread. It’s my favorite comfort food.

 

Kitchen Porn 01

Besides ukulele porn (yes, that site exists! Check it out: http://www.ukuleleporn.com/), I also watch kitchen porn on youtube. Actually, they are not really hot and sexy kitchenware. They are just infomercial. I am not sure why but since I was at a very young age, I have been in love with infomercial. Yes, I am a creep.

I really want this one! And I think I have seen it at a local non-as-seen-on-TV-store. I do know that if I buy one, my mom will kill me because I have like 6 baking sheets and countless baking pans… but this one is a MUST if I am really opening my own cafe.

This one is really cute! I know Starbuck is selling cake pops like this. I will buy one for my cafe in the future!

This one is just funny. Not going to buy one anytime soon.

I don’t know why, but since I was a kid, i was very fond of boxes. Every time I go to Ikea, i want to buy their whole box collection. Is it just me or is this everyone’s fantasy – be surrounded by Ikea’s boxes.

Pretty useless, but pretty cool. You can make your home freezy. No more paying for 7-11/Timmy-Startbuck frozen drinks!

 

Whole Wheat Bread

Last time I baked bagels, now i am baking actual bread…

After toasting

 

Before toasting

From http://allrecipes.com/recipe/simple-whole-wheat-bread/ (Adjusted recipe to make 1 loaf instead of three…)

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1/8 cup brown sugar
• 2 cups bread flour
• 3 teaspoons butter, melted
• 1/8 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup of whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons butter, melted

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix warm water, yeast, and 1/8 cup brown sugar.
2. Add 2 cups white bread flour, and stir to combine.
3. Let set for 30 minutes, or until big and bubbly.
4. Mix in 3 teaspoons melted butter, 1/8 cup brown sugar, and salt. Stir in 1/2 cup whole wheat flour.
5. Flour a flat surface and knead with whole wheat flour until not real sticky – just pulling away from the counter, but still sticky to touch. If the dough is too dry, add a few drops of water.
6. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to coat the surface of the dough.
7. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled.
8. Punch down and place in greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans, and allow to rise until dough has topped the pans by one inch.
9. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes.
10. Lightly brush the tops of loaves with 2 teaspoons melted butter or margarine when done to prevent crust from getting hard. Cool completely.

 

Pichu from Adrian

I am a Pichu collector… People who are travelling to Japan, (yes, I am implying you, Crystal) buy me more Pichu… Please……….

 

Bagel 2.0

Tried another recipe. Need more flour, but feel more like bagels. If I am selling bagels at my cafe, I guess I will be selling this one instead of the previous one. (I made 6 instead of 12.)

What should I bake next?

From http://www.thefreshloaf.com/recipes/bagels plus my modification (’cause I started making at 10 night, so I didn’t have enough time to do every step at night. I let it rise longer than the original recipe and continue in the morning after breakfast. They still turn out okay.)

Makes 1 dozen bagels

Ingredients
Sponge:

• 1 teaspoon instant yeast
• 4 cups bread flour
• 2 1/2 cups water

Dough:

• 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
• 3 3/4 cups bread flour
• 2 3/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon honey or brown sugar

Finishing touches:

• 1 tablespoon baking soda for the water
• Toppings for the bagels such as seeds, salt, onion, or garlic

The Night Before

1. *Sponge* Stir the yeast (from sponge part) into the flour in a large mixing bowl. Add the water and stir until all ingredients are blended. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for two hours.
2. *Dough* Remove the plastic wrap and stir the additional yeast into the sponge. Add 3 cups of the flour, the honey/brown sugar, and the salt into the bowl and mix until all of the ingredients form a ball.
3. Pour the dough out of the bowl onto a clean surface and knead for 10 minutes.
4. Work in the additional 3/4 cups of flour to stiffen the dough while kneading. The dough should be stiffer and drier than normal bread dough, but moist enough that all of the ingredients are well blended.
5. Let the dough sit overnight (like 8 hours).

Baking Day

1. Begin your day with kneading your dough.
2. Split the dough into a dozen small pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and set it aside. When you have all 12 pieces made, cover them with a damp towel and let them rest for 30 minutes.
3. Shaping the bagel: punch your thumb through the center of each roll and then rotate the dough, working it so that the bagel is as even in width as possible.
4. Place the shaped bagels on an oiled sheet pan, with an inch or so of space between one another. Cover the pan with towel and allow the dough to rise for about 30 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 500. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Adding one tablespoon of baking soda to the pot to alkalize the water.
6. When the pot is boiling, drop a few of the bagels into the pot one at a time and let them boil for a minute. Use a large, slotted spoon or spatula to gently flip them over and boil them on the other side.
7. Before removing them from the pot, sprinkle flour onto the sheet pan. Remove them one at a time, set them back onto the sheet pan, and top them right away, while they are still slightly moist. Repeat this process until all of the bagels have been boiled and topped.
8. Once they have, place the sheet pan into the preheated oven and bake for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to 450 degrees, rotate the pan, and bake for another 5 minutes until the bagels begin to brown. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool.