Tuesday 31 December 2013

New Years' Resolution for 2014

This week's Pin:


This Week's Pin:  New Year's Resolution for 2014
Who's This For:  Just Me 
Price:  Nothing


This is an inspirational quote from Albert Einstein.  It seems like a good philosophy to live by so that's as good as any resolution I've heard of.


Oh, if only 'laughing' was spelt right.  Alas.

I'm not usually someone who makes resolutions on New Year's Eve.  I know plenty of people who are and I always laugh at the ridiculousness of the whole situation.  In my opinion, make a decision today, or tomorrow and do it.  The date on the calendar is irrelevant.

If I find a resolution that fits me perfectly, then maybe I can have one.  This one seems fairly straight forward, how about it?


And if it doesn't work, then what?  My Mother had a stupendous saying for everything "Oh, well".  She lived a very happy life and achieved many great things.  However, my New Year's resolution can't exactly be 'Oh, well'.  

So, I found this Pin.  Perhaps this is me.


I was brought up with that old fashioned philosophy that if you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all.  That doesn't work in the real world.  Internalising problems doesn't make you happy.

Yes I want to be happy.  But leading a normal life encompasses more than that.  Sometimes something interesting happens to you and it doesn't necessarily make you happy but it was still worth it.  Ok then.  What philosophy can I base my New Year's Resolution on then?



Ha, now this one I like!  Not much of a New Year's Resolution 'though.  It's more of a guideline.  Try again.

Here's a Pin that I could use:



Actually, that's a good one.  My New Year's Resolution is to sleep more, listen to more music, drink more tea, read more books, see more sunsets etc. etc. That's close, but where's the EAT MORE CHOCOLATE! I think this Pin's too specific.  I need to find something more appropriate.

Here's one that's closer to me:


"I resolve to laugh every day, eat more chocolate, sleep in on Sundays, make dinner an event, breathe more deeply, spend more time with the people I love." Yes, that's a resolution that matches me.  But what about doing new things?  I need that too.

How about a simple statement that covers it all?



Is it too narcissistic?

This Pin is John Lennon's quote about being happy.  


This resonates with me.  I like it.  If it's good enough for John, then it's good enough for me.

So that's it then.  Here's a simple resolution that I can keep:


With a little modification, here's my resolution: In 2014 I just want to be happy.

Happy New Year to you and yours,

Soops

“Time And health are two precious assets that we don’t recognize and appreciate until they have been depleted.”  ~Denis Waitley

Monday 16 December 2013

Vanilla Ice Cream

Summer's here, it's holiday time and it's been a long time since I made ice cream.  You know what we've got to do then...


This Week's Pin:  French Vanilla Ice Cream
Who's This For:  My kids
Price:  around $4.50

I remember my parents attempting to make ice cream when I was a child.  We lived in a very hot city in Australia so this was going to be a challenge.  My parents spent many days freezing ice cubes and storing them ready for the day.  The machine would churn the mixture but had no chilling capacity so we layered ice and salt (this makes the cold ice even colder!) around the can and waited.  

It never became the right consistency in the ice cream machine.  Afterwards, we'd place it in the freezer to finish the freezing and it would be icy and very solid.  Such a disappointment. 

A few years ago I received an ice cream machine and I've used it a number of times.  I have the same problem as my parents.  It won't freeze the entire batch at once.  So usually, I halve the mixture and churn it in the machine in two batches.

My lovely friend Angela assures me that my problem is simply not letting the mixture chill for long enough before I churn it.  I've found a recipe and I'm going to try again.

The ingredients are:

2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean (or 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract not 2 tablespoons)
6 large egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream

The process is simple, make a custard and then stir in the cream.  So I heated the milk with 1/4 cup of sugar and the vanilla.


 Then I beat the egg yolks with the remaining sugar until the mixture become pale yellow.  It also needs to fall away in ribbons from the beater.


So that you don't make scrambled eggs, pour a little (1/2 cup) of the warm milk into the eggs and whisk.  Then add the eggs into the milk and stir constantly over med-low heat for 10 minutes.  Strain the custard, stir the cream and place bowl of mixture into an ice bath to cool quickly.

At this point, I put the bowl into the fridge and left it overnight.  It was there almost 15 hours.  The ice cream machine bowl was frozen solid and had stayed in the freezer overnight too.  I churned the mixture for more than 30 minutes and look, still runny.


The bowl was beginning to melt and so I placed the whole thing in the freezer for a few hours, churned it again and then left the ice cream overnight again.

The result?


Solid, icy, canary yellow ice cream.

I threw the whole lot into my mixer and whizzed it up so that it would become lighter and fluffier.  Yep, looks so much better.  The flavour's delicious, it looks great, but it still has those large ice crystals that are a disappointment.


So close this time!  But, I'm not going to give up this easily and I'm buying another carton of cream and trying again.  Until next week, may your ice cream be soft and your determination like steel.

Soops
“Experience teaches slowly, and at the cost of mistakes.”  James A. Froude


Friday 6 December 2013

Oven Tray Cleaner

I like efficient cleaning.  When I do something, I want to do it thoroughly so that I don't have to come back tomorrow and do it again.  So I'm going to try this tray cleaner and see if it can bring my baking trays back to life.


This Week's Pin:  Oven Tray Cleaner
Who's This For:  Me and my tired old oven trays
Price:  Tea Trea Oil $7.50 (for 15 ml) but you only need a few drops

The website, onegoodthingbyjillee.com shows how to clean your oven trays using Melaleuca Oil.  As she explains, Melaleuca Oil is also known as Tea Tree Oil and is an antiseptic used for cuts, pimples, minor infections and insect bites amongst other things.  Can it polish my baking trays?  Let's see.


I combined a couple of drops of Tea Tree Oil with a drop of Fairy Washing liquid and rubbed it on my old, stained tray.


Left hand side is before and right hand side is after.  Can't see the difference either?  Nope, me either.

I even used a scourer.  Heck, if it was going to come off with a scourer, it wouldn't be this stained in the first place.



I tried wiping it with Tea Tree Oil and then wiped it with Gumption Paste (or White Lily Paste works as well).


Yep, now there's some action.  So I'm going to wipe the inside with oil and then Gumption and see how it progresses.


I'm not exerting much force but it's certainly cleaning up.  But look at my cloth!


As a comparison, I cleaned the outside of the tray using only Gumption.  Brilliant, look at that!



Sorry Tea Tree Oil but I think it's the paste doing all the work because it appears that the oil is not improving my results at all on the inside of the tray.

So, I'm sticking to Gumption and perhaps if I stop cooking, then my shiny trays will stay shiny for much longer.  Now, where's that take-away menu?

Soops
“Life doesn't imitate art, it imitates bad television.”