The wet weather that has been persisting for the past couple of days is downright depressing. The incessant rain just makes me want to stay at home and curl up in bed. Or read a book with a hot cup of tea by the side. But the worst thing about this period of wet and cold weather is that it’s been wrecking havoc on my nose. I’m constantly sneezing because my nose is just so sensitive to the slight changes in temperatures. Miserable.
Anyway, was supposed to go dragonboating in the morning yesterday. But on waking up, I was sneezing my life away, so had to forget about it. The sky didn’t look good too. So the plan for the day was to spend it at home all day. I read a few chapters of “Until I Find You” before lunch. That hardcover book is so thick and heavy that the only place to read it is at home. Can’t possibly bring it around wiht me to read on the bus and train.
Then I made lunch for myself. Boiled some macaroni, blanched some broccoli and placed everything in the lotus root soup which was left over from last night’s dinner. Took a few pieces of pork from the pork ribs in the soup too. Simple meal.
Watched a cooking show on TV featuring this Chinese chef using sea urchin in Cantonese cuisine. The dishes looked exquisite and so tasty. I so want to eat it. If only I were paid to eat and read–I would be a very rich woman then. Ha.
Then I made a big cup of tea for myself using a blend of tea leaves I bought from a shop called Perfect Potion in Sydney. The refreshing blend is made up of lemon blade, lemon grass and lemon myrtle. I love it! I sat down with my cup of tea at my desk and starting writing a letter to a good friend abroad. It was the perfect time to write a letter. I could just sit down at my desk with a fragrant and hot cup of tea, watching the rain come down, gathering my thoughts and putting it down on paper without having to worry about having to rush off somewhere or to do something else. If only there were more relaxing and lazy days like this…
After signing off and sealing the letter in an envelope, I decided to bake something. I decided to try the Demerara lemon cake with thick yoghurt from Nigel Slater’s The Kitchen Diaries.
The recipe actually called for the making of a topping and a syrup for the cake. But I was lazy so I decided to do without it. Then it needed demerara sugar which was something I never heard of. And it needed grounded almonds, plain flour and baking powder–all of which I didn’t have. So how? I thought of substituting the almonds for walnuts but I couldn’t find the walnuts which my mum had stored somewhere. So had to do without it. For the sugar, I used some raw sugar which I found. Later, after looking it up on the Internet, I discovered that demerara sugar is a type of raw sugar. Can’t believe my blind experimentation with sugar actually turned out correct. Haha. I also reduced the amount of sugar by 40g as I thought the required 200g would make it a bit too sweet. I was right there.
I substituted the plain flour and baking powder with self-raising flour which I found. The recipe also called for one large lemon. I only had half a lemon. So I just used that. I rummaged through the fridge and found a packet of dried cranberries. I decided to put that into the cake too.
Anyway, I modified the recipe so much that it was a far cry from the original. I was really crossing my fingers that it would turn out fine. Thankfully, it didn’t turn out too bad. Quite pleased about it. But definitely more room for improvement. It certainly doesn’t look like the one that’s shown in the book! I don’t even know what to call it. A cranberry & lemon cake (though you can’t really taste the lemon!)????


My “masterpiece” of the day