Ruminative Ponderings - Appliance Adventures

Written in 2010 - in India ... When we lived in Indonesia I experienced firsthand the joys of trying to find a half decent loaf of bread. As a result, I had a pretty good idea what to expect in the bread stakes once we got to India and I haven't been disappointed.

The solution I came up with in Indonesia was to purchase a bread making machine in Singapore and source bread flour and yeast from one of the big hotels. This was a so-so solution which was ultimately irritating, frustrating and unreliable so I decided to come up with a more convenient alternative this time around.

Before we arrived I had decided I would not bother at all with baking commercial/traditional yeast breads and would instead; once we were established,  pursue the bliss of sourdough. The other reason for this is that both Geri and I don't cope well with most yeast breads but do ok with genuine sourdough.

The day we arrived at the apartment I went into the sweat box aka the kitchen, and took a look around ... okaaaaay .... no oven.

 'Servicable' is the word that comes to mind me thinks ....


 ... and perhaps slightly skody ...






A crappy microwave and health hazard kettle (No dishwasher either, but that's another story hehe) completed the picture - gee thanks Chris! He then proceeded to assure me that there were LOTS of bench tops ovens available in the shops and the next day we headed out to find one. HMMMM Can you guess what I discovered?? Steeeerike! Do not pass go, do not collect $100. The 'ovens' were glorified toasters and I informed Chris that the only thing they would accomplish  would be to turn the kitchen from a sweatbox into a room sized oven. Sorry dear .... time to think again .... this is not an acceptable solution ...

We were also on the prowl for a number of other things at this stage. These being an Espresso machine. I hadn't had a decent coffee for over a month and Chris was just starting to understand how important it was to remedy this situation - and FAST.  An HDMI LCD monitor (which we had found out were rarer than rocking horse shit in Gurgaon)  and a kettle completed the list. After a month of searching for these items; and you have no idea just how hard it is to shop around (not to compare prices mind you.... just to find anything suitable)  in Gurgaon... we were beginning to get mighty frustrated and irritable as the models on offer; if any, were 'interesting' to say the least.

Finally we found ourselves in Reliance which is a reasonably large (for Gurgaon, that is) appliance store in one of the major malls. There, we thought we had hit pay dirt. We discovered they had everything we were looking for - and all under one roof what's more. After accosting a sales assistant  we showed him what we wanted. We breathed a small sigh of relief, were we finally in the home straight? Nope! Time to think again .... We were told they didn't have any of the four items in the store .... Oh ok, well, we asked,  can we order them please? We waited for 45 minutes until the sales rep came scuttling back to inform us that none of the items were available at all ... OMFG!!! At this point I left Chris to it and wheeled Geri off so I could find somewhere to sit down. An hour later Chris emerged from the fray; with steam erupting from his safely valve, and told me that we had purchased the store demo monitor, kettle and Espresso machine and that they were going to call us about the oven. The store refused to deliver, so we lugged everything outside and waited in the 46c heat for the car to turn up.

On arriving back at the apartment, the anticipation of that first cup of coffee (having also tracked down some coffee beans - another miracle...) was immeasurable. I ground beans, Chris plugged in the machine and filled the water tank. He turned it on to prime it.... nothing .....I hovered anxiously .....nooo! He turned it off, fiddled, turned it on .... motor noise, no water, no espresso .... I levitated.....NOOOOOO! As  my levels of 'irritation'  rose and my "I've had enough and am going to go home" vibe began seeping; once again, out of every pore Chris really started to sweat .... poor man. We tried everything we could think of and finally; admitting defeat, packed the damned machine back into its box and banished it to the top of the fridge. The good news was that the kettle and the monitor did work. Just as well....

Sunday morning dawned and as we read the paper over breakfast I spotted a tiny advert for an Italian Espresso machine at an electronics 'superstore'. The store was put at the top of the list for next weekend, I dared to hope that I may yet get to enjoy a proper cup of coffee and went online to research the Espresso machine. The good news was that from the accounts, reviews and video I found on the web it looked like a little gem.

Saturday dawned and off we went to 'The Electronic Store' on the quest for the holy Espresso machine. We also went to Croma; another 'super store' to test the waters there. True to the form we have come to expect in India the Electronic Store didn't have the model advertised in store. However they promised they could have it delivered that afternoon... however they couldn't give us a price and said they'd email us with a price during the week - umm yeah right! NOT! Alrighty then... next stop Croma. We cased the joint for ovens and didn't see anything remotely suitable and as Geri had been hassled by some unpleasant men whilst she was waiting for us downstairs in her wheelchair (no lift) we gave up and headed to the Leela for some lunch and some time out.

Later that week a flyer for Croma arrived with the paper. I looked through it but not closely. When Chris had a look he spotted what looked like a good quality Samsung Convection/Microwave oven that looked like it might be what we were looking for. It was looking like Saturday was going to be another round of exhausting searching.

Armed with the flyer and the newspaper advert we swooped on both stores on Saturday morning. No, neither store had either item in stock but we were beyond caring what the price was ... we just wanted it sorted, once and for all. We ordered and paid for the oven then arranged for delivery the next day. Then we went to the next store and did the same for the Espresso machine. It was to be delivered that afternoon. Ok... good.... maybe the pain was almost over ....

Saeco arrived as promised that afternoon; prompt, efficient and on time - utter heaven. They also informed me that they could supply me with beans as they do their own roast of Indian beans. I'm keen to try them as hopefully being local they'll be cheaper and fresher than the only other beans I've managed to find which are imported.  The delivery of the oven was another matter entirely ... We waited for 7 hours.... waited, waited, waited, stewed and steamed ...After a  couple of very confused phone calls the oven was eventually delivered. The weekend was over and we were in business - coffee and cake was back on the menu!

Arty Farty - If the Clog Fits, Wear it .... but if it doesn't fit, then what?

Written in 2010... The knitting of the Shrek slippers was duly completed. Check.

Photo of said slippers; prefelting, was taken. Check.

Preparations for the felting sequence were initiated with great anticipation. Check.

However ... Pat and I were dubious about the size of the things ... they were simply massive! Some seeds of doubt wormed their way under my skin but I chose to ignore them ... for the time being.

We then prepared to have fun felting the clogs in the washing machine and the process of timing, agitating and checking repeatedly ensued. As it transpired, this proved to be a trifle challenging because it was so cold that night that the heat pump hot water cylinder struggled to make the water hot enough to do the job. Subsequently, after half an hour the expected felting process hadn't even been initiated and the clogs didn't seem at all keen to transform themselves into anything resembling potential feet warmer uppers!

Not one to be beaten by something as simple as a lack of hot water, Pat's 'Make it Work' gene kicked into action and a continuous round of kettle boiling and transferring said boiling water to the washing machine began.  Another half an hour elapsed. Some felting was becoming evident but not enough for our liking - those clogs were still mighty huge!  Admitting defeat we moved on to Plan B and shifted the entire operation to the kitchen. The stock pot was unearthed and filled with water and whilst we waited for it to boil we prepared a bucket of super cold water.

Pat attacked the clogs with some soap and then we plunged them alternatively into the boiling water then the cold water, before repeating the process quite a few more times. Felting magic finally became apparent and the clogs got smaller and more dense but it was hard going to say the least. Once the clogs had shrunk as much as it seemed they were going to we reassessed the situation, came to a consensus. The seeds of doubt had sprouted, grown and bloomed.  We agreed the problem was two fold. I had over estimated both the length and width of Pat's feet so those clogs were never going to shrink enough to fit. GAAAARG! It seemed as if it was time to go back to the drawing board... and also to try to find someone who had feet of truly monumental proportions!

I cast on for my second attempt; this time in a smaller size, and got knitting. Once they were ready to felt we decided not to bother with the machine and went straight to the kitchen to begin the boiling / cold water treatment. With baited breath and much anticipation we did a great job of imitating the witches from Shakespeare's Macbeth - Double, double toil and trouble ... We slaved over the boiling cauldron .... oh yeah - pot, muttering and with; in my case anyway,  the occasional manic cackle erupting in what seemed to me to be an entirely appropriate manner.

Hmm, ok .... no felting action!! What the heck ???

Pat asked if the wool had been preshrunk and I assured him that this yarn is sold specifically as being excellent for felting - but I had to admit I was beginning to wonder. We finally got them to shrink a bit but they were still way too big and Pat threw in the towel - or perhaps that should be the clog ... and resigned himself to having cold feet.

I took a few days to ponder and ruminate and then decided that there was no way I was going to let  something as simple as a pair of knitted clogs defeat me. I was going to make those bastards shrink if it was the last thing I did.

I had a load of towels waiting to wash so I decided I'd chuck the slippers in with them on a hot wash and simply keep repeating the wash cycle until I got the results I required.  SCORE! Finally I got the clogs close to what looked like the right size - after 1.5 hours of hot washing. Leaving them to cool so that Pat could try them on I finished the wash and discovered the towels were really, really clean hehe. After a fitting session we decided the clogs were almost right and I waited until I had another load of towels to wash before I started what I hoped would be the last felting session. One more 1.5 hour session of washing did the job and the clogs finally fit. Oh JOY success at LAST!

Now, I have a question .... Riddle me this ...
How come when one accidentally puts a woolen jersey in with the normal wash it comes out looking like an elf's jersey after one wash yet after hours, nay days of abuse, these clogs only very grudgingly decided to felt ????

Ruminative Ponderings - Slowly Going Crackers ...

Written in 2010 - In India ... Food is one of the major triggers for Geri's mast cells and kicks off many a mast cell party, so I am constantly on a quest for nutritious and trigger free recipes. When we are living in western countries it can be easier  to source ready made; but often less than nutritious, food. Consequently, the need to make from scratch isn't as pressing, and I haven't been as motivated to experiment and search for alternatives as I perhaps should have been.

Now that we are in Gurgaon the range of available and 'safe' food is limited so I have been forced to pull finger and find some solutions which has resulted in a rash of the development and testing of new recipes. The biggest hurdle; apart from finding ingredients has been the lack of an oven. This problem has now been resolved ...see my post entitled 'Appliance Adventures'.

As one of Geri's staples is crackers (bread often triggers her) I decided that that was a good place to start in my kitchen experimental 'lab' ...

 My first attempt was some Atta; an Indian wholemeal flour - very finely ground and rather nice, Besam; Chickpea flour, and fennel seed crackers. These were an abysmal failure - although they tasted great, they were just a crumbling mess.

Next up I tried this recipe.                           

Rich, Wholegrain Crackers

Now these have a fair amount of butter in them, so I think that with the next batch I will reduce the butter and increase the yoghurt. Butter in cracker recipes is hard to avoid altogether as crackers are essentially pastry...

The recipe calls for the mixture to be left/soaked somewhere warm for 12-24 hours. I left it out on the bench for the day; roughly 12 hours, but put it into the fridge overnight because the temperature in the kitchen stays in the mid 30s through the night and I didn't want to risk the dough going off.

                                                                        
The other benefit in chilling really well here in Gurgaon of course, is that when the ambient kitchen temperature is in the mid-high 30s rolling out pastry is a trifle tricky and gets sticky very quickly! The dough was very cold the next morning and wasn't a problem to handle as long as I moved fast.

 Rolled, cut and ready to bake.



 I baked according to the recipe and the result was ok but both Geri and I felt they would be better if they were on the crispier side of things.

After first baking


 So, once the crackers had cooled a little and were easier to handle I simply loaded the whole lot onto the tray (the rack would have worked to, now that I think about it) not worrying too much about keeping them in a single layer. I reduced the oven temp to 180c and baked the crackers again for about 10 mins. This made a big difference to them.

  After the second baking = YUMMY!!!

 Next time, I'll experiment with rolling them out very thinly to see if that negates the need to double bake - although, in the heat this will make them pretty tricky to handle before they are cooked... so I shall have to see.... I'll also substitute some of the Atta for Besam and experiment with adding seeds into the mix as well as on top.

Next up is a test for a recipe that is lower in fat, but first I have to try to find some Linseed.... and so the quest continues.