Peach Bread

We have an excess of peaches so we've been making peach recipes. Like that peach and blueberry cobbler in the earlier post. And now this recipe, which I adapted. If you make this at home, be sure to include the topping. It makes a world of difference. 

Peach Bread

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp almond essence
• 1/8 tsp butter essence
• 2 cups ripe peaches (skinned, diced coarsely), about 2 large peaches
• 1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder

Topping:

• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar (light or dark)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and line a large loaf pan (about 9") with parchment paper.
2. Cream butter and sugar.
3. Add eggs, one at a time; mix well.
4. Add water, vanilla, almond and butter extracts/essences.
5. Mix in peaches.
6. Combine dry ingredients and fold in.
7. Pour in loaf pan.
8. Mix topping ingredients together in small bowl and sprinkle evenly over top of batter.
9. Bake 50 -55 mins or until skewer inserted in middle of loaf comes out clean.

Swimming Update

So, I've been swimming laps in the mornings at the pool. The most difficult part of this particular regime is not the workout itself, or even the waking up in the mornings - it's the forcing myself to go the bed at an earthly hour the night before. In addition to not being a morning person, I'm also a very staunch night person. I do my best work (of all kinds) between 1 and 3 am when it's quiet and the world around me is still and dark and uncluttered. Having to surrender that to go to bed by midnight or earlier, is painful. But I do it, because swimming by myself in the mornings is also quiet and uncluttered, especially the parts when my head is under water and all sound is blocked out. For a noisy person, I sure need quiet.

This morning while doing (non-continuous, with lots of panting and gasping in between) laps, I was struck by how different the other morning swimmers were from me. 

For instance, they all brought their own mesh bags containing flippers, foam floats, paddles and other precision-training aids. I didn't. 

They also did continuous laps without any of the aforementioned panting or gasping. I didn't. 

And they clocked their times with the swim trainer and called out friendly insults challenging their courage and perseverance when someone left the pool before it closed at 8 am, like "(Disparaging name)! Quitting already? All you 7:30 people!" I didn't (especially since 7:30 was the time I arrived). 

But it surely is the mental aspect of swimming that must show up the greatest disparity between me and Them. Doubtless, They were focused on their goals and distances and personal times and other admirable things like that. I knew this because They would repeatedly ricochet off the ends of the pool and then come to a victorious finish in time for the swim trainer to click her stopwatch and say, "3100! Excellent!" And They'd respond, disappointed, "Oh, but I was aiming for 3800."

My mental processes, on the other hand, went like this, "I think Emily ate the last chocolate chip cookie last night so I think I'll make brownies this afternoon."

Worlds apart. 

But I tell myself that I wasn't there to find soulmates - I was there as proof that it's possible for a night person to drag herself out of bed at all the wrong times of the day and work her lungs into rigor mortis. AND plan meal* menus during. Take that for out-of-comfort-zone-ness, all you 6 am people.

*Why, yes - brownies count as a meal, didn't you know?

Uffda Tacos

Erm.

I may be wrong but I think that people don't know what food cravings are until they've met a Singaporean. Really. I mean, everybody knows Singaporeans love food. We eat five or six meals a day and have a book called the Makan*sutra, which is a guide to the best hawker fare on the island, categorized by dish. I even know Singaporeans who have planned the catering menus for their own funerals. Nothing new there. But cravings! Pregnant women have nothing on Singaporeans, let me tell you. I know, because I've been both.

I have multiple ongoing cravings. These are the dishes I can eat any time of the day, as often as I can get them, without feeling jelak**. Here is a short list (because if I let myself list them all, I'd become depressed):

• Mee siam
• Mee rebus
• Lontong
• Indian rojak
• Mum's popiah
• Soon kueh
• Hakka yong tau fu
• Bak zhang
• Nyonya zhang
• Ubi kayu pedas

Okay, that's enough. And no, I'm disinclined to translate those dishes to English. They're meant to sound exotic because that's how they taste. Moving on now.

Other cravings are one-time, ad-hoc afflictions. The good news is that they go away after finding and eating that particular dish. The bad news is that sometimes the finding (and, therefore, the eating) is imposible so the craving goes on and on, like a thorn in the flesh, consuming me from the inside out.

My most recent craving has been uffda tacos, more generically known as fry-bread tacos. It's fair food, which is sad in itself, but it can only be found in the more northern parts of the state, where we don't live. I first tried it one summer at a county fair while visiting the in-laws, hundreds of miles from home. Immediately, it became a craving. From then on, I've schemed every summer to eat it and obsess every fall, winter and spring for summer to come so I can eat it again. Tragically, it isn't a guarantee that each summer, our out-of-town jaunts will serendipitously collide with an uffda taco stand. So some summers I've had to do without. Very unhappy. I get crabby. I pore over vendor lists at local market and craft festivals and county fairs. I do internet research and fanatically follow the tour schedule of the uffda taco stands (we are not on their route, bah). I corner the relatives (who have the audacity to live in towns that are on the route) at family gatherings and tell them about my craving the way some people recount their chronic illnesses to hapless strangers too polite to walk away. Perhaps if I pester them enough, I think, they will introduce me to someone who knows someone who knows someone who might be related to someone who might have married someone who works in an uffda taco stand. Like I said, there is no craving like that of a Singaporean's ("Or maybe it's just you, you crazy woman", I hear you think. Yeah, right. How many other non-food-crazed Singaporeans have you met? Mmhmm.)

This summer was threatening to be one of those uffda-taco-less ones. I mean, it's almost August and there hasn't been an uffda taco sighting for miles! Decided I'd have to go the DIY route. After all, if I've made a sewing career out of making things I coveted but couldn't buy, surely I could do the same with food? 

Armed with the advice of one of those aforementioned cornered relatives (who makes her own uffda tacos with frozen bread dough), I hit the local supermarkets for supplies.They didn't have frozen bread dough. Evidently, no one in the metro area has an uffda taco craving. Despondent. Went home and looked up recipes on the internet. Found this one. Highly-rated but no yeast. Decided that it would probably do, with slight modifications.

Yes, it did.

Finally - uffda tacos.

Here is the recipe, in case you ever crave them but don't feel up to braving the behemoth of noise, crowds and overheated pavements that is the Minnesota State Fair:

Fry bread

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour (I used bread flour)
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp instant yeast
• 1 tsp granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp softened butter
• 1 cup milk, warmed to 120-130F (to activate the yeast)
• Oil for frying

Method:

1. Mix everything in electric mixer with dough hook; knead for 10 minutes. Or hand knead. Add more flour as needed to make a silky dough.
2. Let rise for about an hour till its bulk increases by 50%.
3. Divide into 6 balls (roughly the size of tennis balls), roll each to 6-7" in diameter, with about a 1/2" rim that's about 1/4" thick. Make a small hole, about 1" wide, in the center of the circle. This is to prevent ballooning when the dough is frying and thus allowing the center to lay flat enough to cook evenly.
4. Heat oil to medium-high temperature. Fry circles one at a time, flipping over when the first side is golden.
5. Drain on paper towels.

Meat filling

• Ground beef, with taco seasoning
• Lettuce, shredded
• Tomatoes, diced
• Cheese, shredded
• Olives, sliced
• Sour cream
• Salsa or taco sauce

Last word: Unsurprisingly, Singaporeans send other Singaporeans food in the post for their birthdays. This is what arrived in the post this week, from my lovely friend Eunice. 

It's ubi kayu pedas. And yes, I also know a DIY version - back when I was a teacher, I made the office clerks teach me how to make it (you fry paper-thin slices of tapioca and add sambal, peanuts and ikan bilis aka anchovies).

Two cravings down. There will be others, though. There always are. 

* Makan: eat (Malay)

**jelak: satiated by (especially very rich) food, to the point of repulsion. (Malay)

Peach and Blueberry Crisp-Cobbler

Made this tonight, from the excess of peaches in our kitchen. The original recipe is here but I changed it a bit because I wanted a crisper topping than traditional cobbler. I think my life would be perfect if I was only required to serve desserts and treats at mealtimes. I am happiest when I am baking these and most dejected and uninspired when I am cooking regular meals (boring). And the ideal world would be one in which desserts are the main course and any savory offerings merely the foil to allow for the consumption of even more sweets after.

Peach and Blueberry Crisp-Cobbler

Filling:

• 6 large ripe peaches
• 1 cup blueberries (frozen is ok, but thaw first)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar or a little more, if peaches are not very sweet
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 tsp lemon zest
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice

Topping:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup oats (I used quick-cook)
• 1/4 cup light or dark brown sugar, packed
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1 /4 stick butter (5 oz)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Boil a pot of water and blanch peaches for about 1 minute. Dunk in cold water and remove skins. Wedge peaches and then cut into thirds (about 1" pieces).
3. Combine peaches, sugar, flour, zest, lemon juice in large bowl and mix well to coat. Add blueberries and toss gently. Let stand for at least 10 minutes.
4. Combine in a separate bowl the flour, sugars, flour, salt and cinnamon. Rub in butter till clumpy. Add in oats and vanilla and mix with fork.
5. Pour fruit mixture (including liquid) into oven-safe dish. Mine was smaller than a 9 x 13 and larger than an 8x8. Spread topping evenly over fruit mixture.
6. Bake for 45 minutes or until liquid underneath oozes out and topping is set and crispy.
7. Serve warm with ice cream.

Random Art By Kate

I am optimistic that life might finally be slowing down enough to breathe again. We had a garage sale a couple of weeks ago that monopolized the first half of the summer. Then there was the general sense of deadlines (of all kinds) hanging over us. And I won't go into the other ad-hoc family events that, while enjoyable, were veritable time-suckers. There were many, many days on which the activity didn't stop long enough to sit down till maybe 11 pm, by which time I was so desperate to do something that wasn't organizing- or cleaning- or child-minding- related that I chose to sew or read instead of sleep. Yes, 3 am bedtimes are stupid but when one needs sanity, they are a small price to pay. 

This week, though, I feel as if summer - as it was meant to be in all its lazy charm - is really here. We still have a packed July and August but nothing like May/June. And I'm finally finding a bit of time to take and edit photos and think about updating this blog a bit. 

Today's post is all about random art by Kate that we wanted to photodocument before tossing into the recycling bin. I always find it hard to throw away things the kids have made. Someday when they are parents themselves, it would be marvelous for them to be able to pull out actual projects they made as children to show their own kids. Unfortunately, we don't have the space to store everything, so flat, 2D photos must suffice.

The first picture is of some fabric art Kate made one day while I was sewing. She was desperate to work with fabric and I (with some deadline hanging over me) obviously had no time to teach her to sew something. So I cut a big piece of white fabric for a blank canvas and gave her free access to my big bag of fleece scraps and fabric pens and she made that collage. Kate says the red streak is a blow-kiss.

Next are a pair of cardboard TVs she made for herself and Bunny, out of a cereal box and a Jello box, respectively. 

These are woodworking projects from preschool, which got swallowed up in the rest of the garage innards and found only now that we're spring cleaning. I think this might be an aeroplane. The wings swivel about the nails knocked into the center beam.

This one was practice for knocking nails into wood. Jenna made similar ones when she was in preschool and also a birdhouse. Emily, I remember, missed her woodworking module in preschool because she was in Singapore. So her classmates kindly made her a fancy bit of wood sculpture (no photos). 

Another result of garage-sale-inspired spring-cleaning - turning out tubs of baby items and forcing myself to sort through 8 years of memories. Here are just some of the bibs that have wrapped around the chubby necks of our three babies. Some were sewn by my sister-in-law and some by me. They're all faded and stained now and have to be throw out but I took a photo. 

The Color Girls Book 3: Kate Helps Princess Carolyn

Book 3 in Jenna's The Color Girls Series:

Kate Helps Princess Carolyn

Double exciting news!!!! Princess Carolyn is coming to town!
And that's not all: there is a rainbow up in the sky and without any rain!

Katie was there, too.
She quickly ran to the carriage and helped Carolyn out.
Kate could not believe it when she asked to stay.

Kate gladly accepted.
Right when Carolyn saw the house, Will the Wizard grabbed her arm.
Kate turned into a superhero and Grace came rushing out to help.

The Princess is trapped! By Will the Wizard.
But no fear: Kate is getting Prince Peter to rescue the princess.

Peter agreed.
He rushed to the rescue just in time before the lock became permanent!

So Carolyn and Peter got married.
The - wait!
Kate still needs to stop Will! Before he causes any more trouble.

Kate rushed to find Will. And asked to be in a duel.
He agreed to fight to the finish! They had the duel in a ballroom.

Begin!
Kate pounced and shot a bolt at him.
And turned him into a girl.
Kate won!

So before Carolyn left, she gave all four girls crowns.
So that they would not forget her.

The Color Girls Book 2: Molly Joins The Team

Behold the long-awaited sequel to The Color Girls by Jenna.

This one is titled "Molly Joins The Team".

Note: Before its public release, the book was unfortunately left facedown in a small puddle of water. This led to interesting tie-die effects in the cover art, which spread to the inner pages as well.  I would've screeched and thrown a crying fit myself but Jenna was wonderfully gracious about the accident (especially since she was the one who left the book in the puddle).

Very important fact on the back cover: Based On Real People!