mooncake making - episode 1

I LOVE mooncakes! and it is the season for them agian... we are one full moon away from the roundest full moon of the year... i am so glad that i haven't left it too late this year... and can start the festivities early on in making my own mooncakes (and save some $$ in the process - note: mooncake retails for $8-10 EACH in sydney! wAH!) a bonus is that my own MC won't have any nasties (preservatives and minimal saturated oil %)...

the first thing to do is to start with the yolk (salted egg yolk)... and these babies are maturing in our "igloo" - the coolest part of the house now (as above under mcduck's desk)

it takes about minimum 21 days to mature... the organic fresh eggs are dipped in shao shing wine and then salt... 6 of them fit in a zip lock bag and three of these bags are tugged into bed in the GJ box...

i guess more salt = more water being drawn out and harder the end product... i've read on other useful blogs that homemade salted eggs are often less salty and retains more egg taste...

hopefully the yolks will turn out to be firm, oozing out golden oil... ready to be stuffed into my lotus seed paste...

and a happy note! i got my wetsuit after 3 months of ebaying!

home made croissants

i chanced upon instructable.com's v comprehesive manual on croissant making and it inspired me to make a batch...
... a 4L container full! there are enough croissants for sunday breakfast for the rest of the year!

i started with 1kg of plain flour with 8tbsp of gluten flour (so to make the cake flour a strong flour - much more economical than buying bread flour (( usually 4 times the price of plain flour))) ... gluten is 75%+ protein vs cake flour = 8 to 10% protein... what we are looking for here is 11-13% protein in the bread flour...

little croissants are lined up for proofing before being baked...

they are in...

they have expanded after 10 mins

a freshly baked hot rustic (quirkily shaped) croissant with my home make marmalade...

other quirky croissants cooling down...

look at all the layers! (on the side... that's the result of all the folding, rolling and waiting)

yum!

fluffy texture... interlacing layers and the buttery aroma!

...all in all i've produced 35+ small croissants from less than $5 worth of material (1kg flour, 8tbsp gluten = $6 for packet of 500g, 5oog butter, 2 eggs, 2tsp salt, 2stp sugar, 4 tsp active dry yeast, water)... coles sells croissant 4 pack for $2.89? or is it more? and i've got 35+ croissants for less than $5! (and no preservatives and additives!) bargain!

patch 3 update

new veggies have moved in... and they are enjoying a bit of sun too!

veggie patch 2 months on...

what a difference 2 months can make... the seedlings of several cm in height at the end of may have gone through their grow spurts and are now 10cm+ tall...

the scattering of plant life has visibly transformed itself into a little patch... (while toothy gnome still looks on... hidden behind the snow peas)

... the patch is literally blooming!! (and food is on its way)

even patch 2 is taking shape... (and one can see patch 3 being tucked into bed with newspaper cuttings, and in the not too distant future will receive more plant life)

... the broccoli from the egg containers have moved house to patch 2 and are doing well...

and the ones on the nursery porch are rapidly outgrowing the space...

these teenage broccoli cannot wait to move into patch 3...

so are these adolescent carrots...