House Numbers

For the past several months, we were numberless. Actually no, the contractor put this cardboard one up. Classy. This week the permanent ones were put up :)

Reading Bench

My very talented friend, Yvonne custom designed a reading bench for this little nook downstairs, next to the sliding door. It has a pull out tray, a cubby, and two drawers too! It's a perfect spot to read in the afternoon, when the light shines in (that is, when there is sunlight). Thanks Yvonne!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

House Painted!

I'm really happy that this is finally done! It seems to have taken forever because of the wacky weather here (the painters couldn't paint on foggy, wet days). Our house really stands out now, since the majority of the houses on our block is creamy, neutral, pastel colors.

The next project is to fill the front planters with appropriate plants, and make the backyard look more green. It's a bit tricky with the climate here; partially sunny, foggy, salty water. Hmmm...

Painting has begun!

Finally, finally, FINALLY. Today the painters slapped on the first of three coats! I've been waiting since January to get the house painted. Since this is the first coat, the colors and textures are uneven; the blue will be a solid navy after two more coats.
The backyard window/door frame has been sanded down and sealed too. It was looking pretty bad after 2 years of being neglected.
I was so excited that we went to Flora Grubb today and bought some plants to fill the front yard planters. Can't wait until it's all done, which is hopefully by the end of this week. Stay tuned...

Exterior (work in progress)

Melon Pan

Melon pan used to be my favorite when I was little. Sometimes they even had choco-melon pan! Until recently, I had forgotten about this sweet bread and how delicious they are. And it was only when I decided to make it that I discovered that there's a thin layer of cookie dough that wraps the bread before baking! When fresh, the outside is crunchy and the inside is soft. I think it's just the right amount of sweetness that it can be served for breakfast, as well as an afternoon snack.





Melon Pan

Bread
300 grams bread flour
30 grams sugar
30 grams butter, room temperature
4 grams salt
4 grams rapid-rise yeast
200 milliliters milk, 80-90 degrees

Cookie Dough
220 grams flour
100 grams butter, room temperature
90 grams sugar
1 egg
dash vanilla
Garnish raw sugar

Directions
1. USING BREAD MACHINE: Place all bread dough ingredients in bread machine (follow machine instructions) and hit start.
BY HAND: Place all dry ingredients in a medium size bowl. Add butter and milk and mix until dough comes together. Remove from bowl and knead on surface for 10 min. The dough should be smooth. Transfer the dough into a large bowl, plastic wrap it and let it rise for 1 hour.
2. To make the cookie dough, place butter in a medium bowl and whip with mixer until it turns white and creamy. Add a third of the sugar into the butter, and blend well. Repeat until all of the sugar is blended in.
3. Add the egg and vanilla. Finally, add all of the flour into the bowl all at once and blend until you have a sticky dough. Transfer the dough into plastic wrap and refrigerate.
4. Take the bread dough out of the machine (or out of bowl) and divide into 12 pieces (48 grams each). Form them into balls and place on a cookie sheet. Place plastic wrap over it and let dough rise for 15 min. Reform the balls.
5. Take cookie dough out of the refrigerator. Divide the dough into 12 pieces (30 grams). Sandwich dough between two pieces of plastic wrap, then roll out dough. Peel one side of the plastic wrap off, and wrap around the bread dough. Peel remaining plastic wrap off, and sprinkle some raw sugar onto cookie dough surface.
6. Line up the dough on the cookie sheet, place a new layer of plastic wrap over it and let dough rise for 30-40 minutes.
7. Preheat oven to 356 degrees F. Bake bread for 15 minutes. Serve room temperature.

Bubble-Top Brioche

Brioche is one of those breads that are better consumed than made. Why? Because I know exactly how much butter went into it, so I hesitate to eat it. It's buttery, delicate, and soft. Perfect with some honey or jam.
This recipe doesn't require any kneading whatsoever, but it does take time. The dough has to chill overnight, and there's this tedious task of deflating the dough every half hour for 2 hours. Otherwise, it's pretty simple. And quite delicious. I am thinking of making bread pudding with the leftovers...mm.


Bubble-Top Brioche

Ingredients:
¼ cup water, warm, 110–115F
¼ cup milk, 110–115F
3 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 ¾ cups flour
1 ½ teaspoons salt
3 eggs, room temperature
3 tablespoons sugar
12 tablespoons butter, (1 1/2 sticks) room temperature
1 egg, beaten, for glaze

Instructions:
Combine warm water and milk in mixer bowl. Sprinkle yeast over and stir to moisten evenly. Let stand until yeast dissolves, stirring occasionally, about 8 min.
Add flour and salt to yeast mixture. Blend at medium low speed until shaggy lumps form, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally, 1-2 min. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Beat in sugar. Increase mixer speed to medium; beat until dough is smooth, about 3 min. Reduce speed to low. Add butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until blended after each addition, about 4 min. Dough should be soft and silky. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until dough pulls away from sides of bowl and climbs paddle, about 8-9 min.
Lightly butter large bowl. Scrape dough into bowl. Cover with plastic wrap. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until almost doubled in volume, about 1 hour 15 min, to 1.5 hours. Gently deflate dough by lifting around edges, then letting dough fall back into bowl, turning bowl and repeating as needed. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and chill, deflating dough in same way every 30 min. until dough stops rising, about 2 hours. Chill overnight.
Butter 12 standard muffin cups. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces; cut each piece into thirds. Roll each small piece between palms into ball. Place 3 balls in each prepared cup. Place muffin pan in warm draft-free area; lay sheet of waxed paper over. Let dough rise until light and almost doubled (dough will rise 1/2 in to 1 in above top rim of muffin cups) 50-60 min.
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 400F. Place muffin pan on rimmed baking sheet. Gently brush egg glaze over risen dough, being careful that glaze does not drip between dough and pan (which can prevent full expansion in oven).
Bake brioches until golden brown, covering with foil if browning too quickly, about 20 min. Transfer pan to rack. Cool 10 min. Remove brioches from pan and serve warm or at room temperature.