Project Life 2015 ~ September 6 to 30

Project Life 2015

September 6

My sister-in-law Marilyn arrived in Vegas today with her daughter Angie and son-in-law. We went to Shake Shack for burgers.

September 13

I try a new bread recipe today, it has now become my hubby's favorite white bread.

September 15

I do a bit of gardening today, and then took Papi to the dog park in the afternoon, it is a cloudy day and drizzle a bit, the dog park is empty, just me and Papi, we had a lot of fun.

September 20

Today I wake up and feel like a really good french croissant, so hubby took me to Paris......



Paris hotel here in Vegas I mean......



Mon ami Gabi is a french restaurant, we go there a lot for dinner, this is the first time we are there for breakfast....

Oh boy, that croissant - $5.50, but it is as good as those we get in Paris

speaking of which, I am really due to make a batch of croissant at home, the thing is, it is so time consuming, I had to stay home the whole day because it will take 10 hours, a lot of folding every hour, so I really need to pick a day that I don't have teach, plus I will make so many pieces and we only get to eat a few when it is fresh, the rest will have to go into the freezer, not that it is no good but fresh is still much better isn't it, so maybe I should wait till I have a house full of people?

September 26

Today we went to Frank Caliando again, he is such a funny guy.

source

September 29

We drove to Grand Junction to see Sarah and the kids again. I am always happy that my Papi can come along.

We love driving through Utah, it is like a huge national park with miles and miles of beautiful scenery.

We stopped at Riffle, CO for a night, and drive to Aspen the next morning.

September30

This is the first time I see Aspen in Gold.

I lived in Aspen for 2 summers, 2005 and 2006, the aspen leaves were green then, I promise myself that someday, I am going back to Aspen in the fall. We went there first week of September 2013, it was too early for the colors. I finally fulfilled my wishes and get to see the Aspen leaves in Gold this time.

Papi was playing in the bush while I was taking this shot.....

and then he got "stuff" sticking all over his face, it took me hours to pull them off one at a time.

but he is a good boy overall, he always just sat quietly when we eats at a restaurant

daddy took him for a walk near Benedict Tent

before I go, here's a lovely shot of Papi, I played with my phone during the road trip.

Thanks for reading!

Bread Recipe #1 ~ Baguette (in 1 hour or less)

I remember just not so long ago, I was very frustrated with bread making, I tried a few and failed each time, somehow, things changed after I attended the cooking class at Sur la Table, not that I learn how to make bread there, but while learning how to make doughnuts, I also learn the "magic" factor I need for bread making that most recipe won't "tell" you.

a lot of bread recipes will just used the words "warm water" or "tepid water", ok, so I never really cook or bake growing up, "warm water" is hard for me to figure out? How warm exactly would be right? 

What I learn is that the best temperature for the water to use with yeast is between 105F - 115F. That seems to solved all my bread making problem, seriously, I never fail any after I "mastered" that.

after my post for Our Beautiful World last Sunday, my blog friend Davi asked me to share the bread recipe.... since I have to spend a bit of time working on this, I might as well share with all of you who are interested.

it took me a while because I need to re-write the recipe with my own words. I love to browse through cooking/baking blogs and I learn that when you share someone's recipe, even though you give credit and link back to the original post, you are still not "allowed" to cut and paste the recipe. 

so here you go my friends, to Davi and all who will be interested to try it....

Baguette

Recipe source: Here and Here

This is one bread that I make a lot, simply because it a quick one, compared to my other white bread that needs 6 hours (for bread rising time), this one is a breeze, I can start around 10:30 AM and it will be ready for chicken salad lunch, don't get me wrong, it takes little time but it is still good, it is DH's favorite for now.

Ingredients

2 cups warm water (105-115F)

1 packet yeast 

(I tried active dry yeast in small sachet as well as instant dry yeast, since I had a big packet of instant dry yeast, I learn that when recipe called for 1 packet, it is 2 1/4 teaspoon)

2 Tablespoon Sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

4 cups all purpose flour

cornmeal for dusting your baking tray

Method

1. In your stand mixer bowl, put water, yeast and sugar, slightly mix and let it set in a warm place for 10 minutes.

2. I like to prepare my baking tray before I get my hand all sticky from the dough, I place my non-stick baking sheet on the tray, dust it generously with cornmeal.

3. Using the dough hook, add in salt and 1 cup of flour, run on medium speed for 2 minutes

4. Add 1/2 cup of flour at a time, until 4 cups in total. It should be a soft dough at this point.

5. Remove the dough from your mixer bowl to a lightly floured counter top and hand knead for about 5 minutes, I add a little bit of flour on my hand as well as the dough so it will not be so sticky to work with, I usually used close to 1/4 cup of flour during this process.

6. Form the dough into 2 loaves and leave it on the prepared baking sheet, cover the loaves with cloth and let it sit for 10 minutes. At this point, I also preheat the oven to 425F.

(The recipe above said you can skip this step if you have no time, I like it better if I let the loaves sit longer, sometimes as long as 30 to 45 minutes, I notice the longer it sits there, it gets more airy in the bread and it also gets rounder and bigger, and it will be bigger slices for our sandwiches. If you want to wait longer then you should also start the oven a bit later.

7. Baked in the preheated oven (425F) for 15-20 minutes, for my oven, 18 minutes is perfect!

8. Let it cool for 5-10 minutes for easier cutting.

Note

According the the recipe source, you can sprinkle some ice cold water onto the oven floor before you close the oven door for baking, that gives you a crustier bread on the outside. I do it most of the time but skip it when I forgotten and didn't really notice any huge difference.

DH likes it with butter, he said it is so good he didn't even need jelly on it.

We do a lot of lunch with this, our favorite is chicken salad sandwiches, with lettuce and a slice of pickle, yum!

it is pretty good dipping them in sauce, make toasted garlic bread, I am so spoilt with fresh bread and won't even eat them on the 3rd day, I put them in the fridge and make croutons, so good and none of my bread goes to waste!

I would really love to hear from you the results if you ever try it!

I think we can all learn from each other.