Hand Sanitizers

Due to the recent virus concern, hand sanitisers are popping up everywhere.  The ones that isn't bolted down are popping into people's bags.  I was comparing my old hand sanitisers on my desk with a discoloured bottle to another colleague with a slightly newer but still out of date hand sanitiser. 

Standing Order Flowchart

Someone I know has a elaborated flowchart detailing standing orders to maximise the banking benefits, that's some dedication!  I am not quite there yet.

Midnight

midnight
noun
mid·​night | \ ˈmid-ˌnīt \
Definition of midnight
1: the middle of the night specifically : 12 o'clock at night
2: deep or extended darkness or gloom

I always thought it meant 00:00, but as it turns out, it meant 23:59.

Sourdough Hotel

Some people describe sourdough starter as a pet, and like any pets, the are pet hotels, sourdough hotel.  There were a few in Sweden, and at least one in the States.  They are not cheap either!

Japanese Pig Cafe

We all heard of cat cafe, and now Japanese has pig cafe.  I was watching Alfred Chan's show, and they were in a Tokyo pig cafe!  The pigs (piglets) are so cute.

Lidl Sourdough Boule

The sourdough experience moved onto Lidl.  We for a white sourdough boule.  It tastes just like my sourdough, which was strong, Sarah likes it!  We were surprised that it was warm and seemed fresh and soft.  Sarah had hers fresh and I liked mine toasted.  We were unable to find out the full ingredients list, so we don't know if they added any secondary rising agent.

Moka Pot Experiment

When we were in Venice, I saw a chef used a moka pot to get some tomato extract.  So I decided to try using a moka pot to make tea-coffee.  It was weird, I don't do it again.

Italian Mooli

I was surprise to find mooli in a suburban ASDA, and I was more surprised to find they were Italian mooli.

Storm Naming

After the recent Storm Ciara and Dennis, someone talked about how storm didn't used to be named.  Then I looked up, the British didn't name their storm till as recent as 2015.

The storms in Hong Kong has been named using the Pacific convention since long time ago.  Then in recent decades, it was changed to using strange object names in the different Pacific countries, which I still find weird.

Fitness Instructor on Speed

I signed up for a kettlebell class, and I got a circuit.  The instructor was a real task master, I was in her class once after my surgery, and it was not fun; as soon as I saw her, I knew I would be knackered the next day.  I managed to stay the whole class even though I was really thinking of going half way.  How could she still have energy jumping after the whole session provided she already led another session before my session?!

The Book People

We saw the Book People in Ripley Castle Christmas fair.  Then the next time we heard about them was when they went into administration.  I thought we would hear from them again but then their January sale was good, so I braved myself and placed an order.  I have not heard from them for dates, and I started looking at their recent reviews, and they were all bad.  I held my nerve, and 10 days later the order was dispatched!  If you have faith, there are still bargain to be had with the Book People.

Parasite

After Parasite won Best Oscar, we went to watch it.  I am not sure why it made a big wave.  It is cinematically done nicely, but so are a lot of other movies.  Maybe the Oscar boards need to watch more international films.

Leicester Comedy Festival 2020 - Sarah Keyworth

I totally forgot about the Leicester Comedy Festival, Sarah reminded me to look at the book.  We managed to squeeze Sarah Keyworth's work in progress in our schedule.  We went, the club managed to squeeze us in, it was good.

Aldi Sourdough

Continue with our sourdough experiment, I moved onto the commercially produced sourdough.  The Aldi sourdough was very mild with only a slight tang.  I looked at the ingredients, their secondary rising agent was bicarbonate.

M&S Valentine's Meal

I am quite partial to a ready meal,  but I never bought into the Valentine's meal.

This year,  we followed the trend and picked up a M&S Valentine's meal.  I never had ready meal so heavily seasoned;  to be honest,  I was a bit disappointed.   I wonder if they calibrated the seasoning with the alcohol offset. 

Chinese Flu II

Dispite all the effort to stop the new coronavirus being called or associated with China,  it will likely to be known as Chinese flu,  much like the Spanish flu 100 years ago.

Spanish flu was never from Spain,  it was called Spanish flu after the WWI neutral state Spain reporting on the flu,  where all the warring states supressing their press to keep up morale.

Some historians believe the Spanish flu were a few different strands of flu,  one of which was from China.   The Chinese troops brought a virus to Canada,  spreading to the Americans and onwards to Europe. 

So perhaps the Spanish flu should have been called Chinese flu,  and new coronavirus 2019 should be called Chinese flu II.

Heat Pumps

I went to a free CPD on ground source heat pump, free food was also a bonus.  It is interesting, open loop system is always interesting.  Like the speaker said, the British is addicted to cheap gas, and the idea if heat pump is still a new idea.  I remember my dad installed a heat pump (window unit) in our flat 20 years ago.

Message from Sunny California

I got a message from Leslie.  She said she wanted to move to Hawaii a few months ago, and she ended up in California, which is just as well.

Lidl Frozen Corn

After the disappointment of Tesco and Aldi frozen corn, I was still tempted to try the Lidl frozen corn.

When we were waiting at the queue, Sarah was berating me about picking up the frozen corn, and I exclaimed that I was poor and cannot afford the tinned stuff.  The lady in front joined in to say those frozen corn were very edible.  

I had very little expectation from my previous experience, that's how I was pleasantly surprised, they were actually quite good.

Scary Inner-City Ford

I have crossed a couple fords on the bike.  Storm Ciara had turned a section of Leeds ring road to a large ford.  I held my nerve and crossed it.  I actually was a little scare!

Tefal - Zero Scratch Resistant

I got a new Tefal pan.  I was very happy with it until this weekend.  I was toasting some sourdough bread in the pan and I was twisting it to mop up the butter, then when I washed the pan, it was clear that my action had left marks in the pan.  Now I know, Tefal is only good at one thing, non stick, and nothing else.

Storm Francis

So storm Ciara is coming this weekend.  I was looking up this year's storm names.  If there are 3 more storm, it will be storm Francis!

Sourdough Attempt IV and final

Following Sarah's instruction, I used the last of the starter to make a dough with aid of fast acting yeast.  As I got some bacon, I decided to make some bacon rolls, they turned out very nicely, with a complex flavour pro.  There are a few more dough balls left to use, I am thinking of making some steamed scallion rolls, naan and lastly a loaf, let's hope they all turn out nicely.

Meet the Councillor

Although I heard Angela talking about surgery all the time, I had never been to one.  I actually attempted to go to one a few years ago, but it was in recess in Summer. 

This time I brought my grievance on the crime in area to Councillor Jessica Lennox.  She seemed to have taken my information in, so let see if she is able to help.

Dried Up Cheese Sticks

I picked up some marked down cheese stick in the evening.  It was unbelievably crunchy, you can barely taste the cheese.  It is quite unbelievable!  The only thing that is acceptable after a whole day on the hot plate would be bacon hock or chicken leg.

DPF Chemical Believer

One of the many problems with a diesel car is the diesel particulate filter.  I usually have problem in winter, as the exhaust does not get quite hot enough.  When after a long drive, the DPF light came back, I decided to get the most expensive DPF cleaner and stick it in.

I used to put chemical in, but some mechanic said they do nothing, so I am not religious about them.  Then after I stick this expensive DPF cleaner in, the light came off after 10 miles driving and stayed off.  I am now a born again additives believer!

Sourdough Attempt in Breadmaker II

On the second attempt, I made some adjustment to make the dough dryer.  I was using the scale for the fast acting yeast, and I was planning to add 3 grams to help the rise, because 3 grams looked like a lot, so I stopped short at 2 grams.

After the mixing and the first rise, when I was checking up on the dough, it was clearly too dry.  After some consideration, I jumped in and made some last minute changed.  I concluded it was a little dry and insufficient lift.  I added a little water and another 2 grams of yeast, put it back in the bread machine.  But even the bread machine motor was struggling, so I hand kneaded it.

I also manually proved it, and I let the bread machine do the final baking.  We were both pleasantly surprised by the result.  So my final adjusted recipe is:

360g strong white flour
360g 50% starter
3 grams yeast (no short measure)
2 table spoons oil
50g water
8g salt
8g sugar
Panasonic Basic White Large

But I am not sure I need this again, as Sarah said I should wind down my experiment!

Peri Peri Chicken

We tried out the Portuguese restaurant in Leicester.  Both of us ordered things very predictable.  I got grilled chicken, Sarah got grilled fish, exactly what we had in the Lebanese restaurant.

So from my recent history lessons, I learnt that Portuguese has ties with Africa since 14th century, before Spain bursted onto the game of exploration and took the Americas.  That was a reason how they imported the spice via Africa and made "peri peri".  The chicken was very anatomical, it had a bum. which was not surprising, and it had a very long neck, which I had no issue nibbling.

One day when I visit Portugal, I shall try their Peri Peri chicken.

Sourdough Attempt in Breadmaker I

I found some recipe online for the sourdough in breadmaker.  In the first knead, it looked nice, and even has signs of having slightly risen.  So I diverged from the recipe, and added a little kick of fast acting yeast to it, it turned slushy again.  So I just set it to bake, and I was expecting the worst.  The bread turned out to be edible, albeit very unevenly risen.  When on a second thought, would it be the super duper Canadian Strong flour?