Single and Married : Not a Competition

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wa barakatuh...

I am now onsite. In Bonny Terminal to be exact. I came in yesterday and primary scope is to conduct a training. My colleague is here as well. She is here to attend familiarization session (induction sort of) for a week. She has not conducted the training that I am doing, and we were taking this opportunity for me to do some coaching for her and for her to pick up and do the rest of the training for all other facilities next year.

I shared with her that I traveled 1 week ++ to the Swamp locations in December last year, just to carry out this training. She was so gung-ho to do the same. The reason I did not include her in my plan, is she has a toddler, a 1-year old boy, and I know that it's going to limit her movement. She was adamant that she can do it for this year.

Today, she has to go back home, she was supposed to be here till Friday. Her son is sick, and I don't blame her. I know what a mother can and cannot do. And never once I expected her to do what I did, and I am no better than her for being able to travel 1-week straight. That's not the point. She was so adamant initially because I think she does not want to loose to me. I have that reputation now, when it comes to flexibility to travel on site, you ask me to jump, I'll ask back how high. Simply because I don't have commitment here. My families are all back home. If I have a small child, I would not be doing as much travel as I am doing now. Trust me, I won't do that. Even if I have a husband with no kids, I would still go easy on the travelling bit as my priority has shifted.

This is not a competition, if it is a married me, I would not want to compete with a single me as well. Its not a competition. There is so many other ways to perform at work, and for the time being, I do what I do best, which is willingness to travel to all these locations. When I am married (which I don't know when) things may change. Oh how much I hope I can get married soon. Doakanlah..

Till next time, wassalam...

Travel back in style. Haha

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

Yesterday adds on the the interesting working event in Nigeria. We had to be evacuated from the office by helicopter! So here's the story. There is this one group of people that call themselves Biafran.

Biafra was a loose territory of ethnic groups in pre-colonial Africa prior to the coming of the colonialists.Pre-colonial maps of Africa show the location of Biafra and the Bight of Biafra was renamed to Bight of Bonny by the Nigerian Government.^[2] An attempt was made in 1967 to restore the old Biafran territory as an Independent state from Nigeria which caused the civil war. Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a secessionist state in south eastern Nigeria that existed from 30 May 1967 to 15 January 1970, taking its name from the Bight of Biafra (the Atlantic bay to its south).[2] The inhabitants were mostly the Igbo people who led the secession due to economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions among the various peoples of Nigeria. The creation of the new state that was pushing for recognition was among the causes of the Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Nigerian-Biafran War. - Wikipedia

So for the past years, we've heard of movement  by these Biafran to claim their independence. They have many things going on, they even have their own radio, which is now banned and recently the director was detained by the Nigerian government. Then there was a court order for him to be release, but apparently it did not happened. So his supporters took it to the streets. They hold protest in few places, and yesterday it was done in Port Harcourt. So happened that the location of the protest is near RA. People in the RA can actually heard gunshots that was fired by the police to disperse the protesters. They even smelled the teargas that was released. The road heading to RA was closed.

We received series of text messages keeping us updated and one that came quater to 4PM says that bus from IA to RA has been canceled. We are asked to wait for the next update. By 5PM we were notified to make way to helipad, we are going home in style bebeh! In chopper :)

They have to make the decision very quickly, because by 6.15 PM it gets dark, and risk levels are elevated for night operations. We were loaded to 3 choppers on 1 trip and I cant remember how many trips they made, but everybody is back in camp by 8PM. Not even 2 years, yet I've experienced many interesting things, and most importantly, I can laugh about it. Yes, security is a big issue here, but so far it has been managed well, and I am fine. Alhamdulillah.

Till next time, wassalam.

  

Wordless Sunday.. apakah?

This was 2 Sundays ago. This Sunday (today) am housebound sebab semalam dah attend a housewarming party. Last night at the party somebody complimented my dress saying I look nice. Hakak tido dengan senyum... :)

Baking Bucketlist

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wa barakatuh...

The other day I talked about travel bucket list. I now realized that I have more than one bucket list. That is baking bucket list :) So here goes:

1. Chocolate Souffle - done
2. Cheese souffle
3. Victoria Sandwich Cake - done
4. Hummingbird cake
5. Mille fuille

   

   pic from google :)

6. Macaroon

   

   pic courtesy of google

7. Macaron? Haha
8. Pandan cupcake with gula melaka frosting - halfway done, pandan cupcake yes, but gula melaka frosting, I failed..haha
9. Checkered cake
10. Devils chocolate cake
11. Sandwich loaf - done
12. Sourdough bread
13. Braided bread
14. Make my own pizza

Have slowly been buying the tools for baking and slowly trying out new recipe. Baking is my therapy :)

Cinnamon rolls recipe by Sally

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wa barakatuh..

My journey with yeast has been good so far. It didn't start quite well though, as I ALWAYS kill the yeast. I failed miserably. That is until I came here. I started to learn more from youtube, other people's blog and started experimenting on few things.

This one has been on my mind for quite some time. So last night I tried making it and it was a success! :)

Sharing the recipe. Link here.

Easy Cinnamon Rolls (from scratch) by Sally

Easiest cinnamon rolls I've ever made, only 1 rise. Perfect for yeast beginners!

Ingredients:

ROLLS
2 and 3/4 cups (345g) all-purpose flour (measured correctly)
3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 package Red Star Platinum Yeast or any instant yeast (1 packet = 2 and 1/4 teaspoons)
1/2 cup (120ml) water
1/4 cup (60ml) milk (I usually use skim)
2 and 1/2 Tablespoons (40g) unsalted butter
1 large egg

FILLING
3 Tablespoons (45g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar

COFFEE GLAZE
1 cup (120g) confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-3 Tablespoons (30-45ml) strong coffee (or use milk/cream instead)

Directions:

1. Make the dough: Set aside 1/2 cup of flour. In a large bowl, toss the 2 and 1/4 cups flour, the sugar, salt, and yeast together until evenly dispersed. Set aside.
2. Heat the water, milk, and butter together in the microwave until the butter is melted and the mixture is hot to touch. About 115°F (46°C). Stir the butter mixture into the flour mixture. Add the egg and only enough of the reserved flour to make a soft dough. I only needed 1/3 cup, but you may need the full 1/2 cup. Dough will be ready when it gently pulls away from the side of the bowl and has an elastic consistency.
3. On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough for about 3-4 minutes. Place in a lightly greased bowl (I used non-stick spray) and let rest for about 10 minutes.
4. Make the filling: After 10 minutes, roll the dough out in a 14x8 inch rectangle. Spread the softened butter on top. Mix together the cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle it all over the dough. Add more cinnamon/sugar if desired. Roll up the dough tightly. Cut into 11-12 even pieces and place in a lightly greased 9-inch round pan. I used a pie dish, lightly sprayed with nonstick spray.
5. Loosely cover the rolls with aluminum foil and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free place for 60-90 minutes. Here is what I do: heat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Turn oven off. Place rolls inside oven and allow to rise.
6. After the rolls have doubled in size, preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Bake for 25-30 minutes until lightly browned. I covered the rolls with aluminum foil after 15 minutes to avoid heavy browning.
7. Make the glaze: Right before serving, top your cinnamon rolls with glaze. Mix the confectioners' sugar, vanilla and 2 Tablespoons coffee together until smooth and drizzle over rolls. If it seems too thick, add 1 more Tablespoon coffee. You can replace the coffee with milk or cream instead, if you do not want a coffee flavored glaze. If you prefer a thicker glaze, add more confectioners' sugar and then add a pinch of salt to cut the sweetness, if desired.
8. Rolls are best enjoyed the same day, but stay fresh and soft in a covered container at room temperature or in the refrigerator for 5 days. Glaze the rolls immediately before serving. Rolls (with or without glaze) freeze well, up to about 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator and heat up however you prefer.
9. Make ahead/overnight: This dough can be made the night before through step 4. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in the refrigerator overnight. The next morning, remove from the refrigerator and allow to rise at room temperature, about 1 hour.

Additional Notes:

*Overnight: The dough may be made the night before through step 4. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in the refrigerator overnight. The next morning, remove from the refrigerator and let rise, about 1 hour.

I made my rolls smaller, so I managed to get around 16 pcs. It was heavenly as this is the first time ever that I manage to knead the dough until it is elastic. I let the stand mixer do its job for maybe close to 10 mins and when I pull it out to knead by hand, it was still pretty much very sticky.
I keep on kneading (with both hands!!) until I noticed some of the dough has started to detach easily from my work surface, so that's how it feels like. I know now :)

Next time, I will repeat this recipe, and take really good food pictures with my SLR, insyaAllah. Pinky promise :)

Till next time, wassalam. 

Its been a while..

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wa barakatuh..

Last weekend I spent a full 2 days finishing up a piece of doily. It was so big that it can be a tablecloth.

I will be losing few friends within these two months. In fact, one family has left and I did not managed to make anything for them. I started this project about one month back and only managed to complete it yesterday.

The whole piece. In comparison to iPad2.

 

I referred to patterns downloaded from the internet. There are loads of patterns to be chosen from. Its just a matter of picking it and starting a project. This maybe my biggest piece that I have worked on. The biggest challenge is making mistakes, and you only realized when the next round could not be completed because some chain and stitches are not there. I spent nearly 3 hours to undo and re-do some of the mistakes that I made. 

Mistakes happen when I was too engrossed and at time when I was sleepy. This one has definitely pushed my limit for crotchet. For knitting, don't even ask. I am stuck. I'll do something about it later.  I still have 3 doilies to start and finish though. So wish me luck! :)

p/s: The picture quality is very bad, I know, its from my phone. Haha. For now I am slowly getting back my mojo to write, one step at a time. Photography will be next,as we improve on writing and updating the blog ok. :D

Wassalam.  

Bucketlist Item

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wa barakatuh..

My mind is wandering all over the world. Due to work schedule that is pretty unpredictable, unlike when I was in PD, I have not been able to fully maximize my travel plan. And slowly I am forgetting my travel bucketlist. Before I forgot everything, let me share it here.

1. Watch Northern Lights 
2. Provence in Summer (Lush Lavender field)
3. New Year in New York
4. Go to Interlaken - summer/autumn
5. Morrocon summer - Marrakech, the dessert
6. Sakura/ Cherry Blossom in Japan
7. Round Turkey - Istanbul, Cappadocia
8. Alhambra, Granada, Spain,
9. Christmas market in German

These are the new list as I surf through the web, gosh.. banyak ni.. 

1. Ride the Trans-Siberian railway
2. Bamboo Forest, Kyoto? (Japan)
3. Canopy Tour Costa Rica
4. Grand Canyon - US
5. Visit Manchu Pichu - Iguazu Falls - South American nature wonders
6. See the Salmon swimming upwards
7. Truffle Hunting in Croatia
8. Climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania

Definitely I wont be able to cross all these in the next 2 years, but I think I can make it in this lifetime, insyaAllah :)