Baking #51: Milk White Bread

Hello everyone! How’s your Sunday so far? I had been staying home today as I do not feel like going out and it has been a wet day since morning. So, I spent my entire Sunday watching the drama series which I had been downloading, including Castle, The Mentalist, Elementary and 爸爸去哪儿. Apart from drama series watching, I had also made Milk White Bread after having breakfast this morning.

Instead of making dough, I made the entire bread with a bread machine. All you need to do is dump all the ingredients in and press START. And you will have fresh homemade Milk White Bread. But before I go on with the ingredients and how to make this loaf bread, let me show you how my Milk White Bread looked like.

Milk White Bread (adapted from Lazy AWESOME Dad)

Ingredients:

• 310ml full cream milk
• 3 tsp oil *corn oil*
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• 450g bread flour
• 3/4 tsp bread improver
• 1 1/4 tsp instant dry yeast

Directions:

1. Measure all the ingredients in advance with measuring cups and spoons.
2. Remove the bread pan from the bread machine and install the collapsible paddle.
3. Place and pile up all the ingredients in the same order as above (milk, oil, salt, sugar, bread flour, bread improver and active dry yeast).
4. Wipe spillage outside the bread pan, if any.
5. Return bread pan into the bread machine and close the lid.
6. Choose settings (basic – normal) and press START.
7. Wait for bread machine to finish all cycles before removing the bread pan from the bread machine.
8. Leave bread loaf to cool on a cooling rack prior to slicing.

This is the bread machine which I am using at the moment, courtesy of Jennifer’s mom. Her mom gave me the bread machine since they are not using it anymore but I haven’t been giving it much use though apart from making dough with the bread machine.

Settings of a bread machine vary depending on bread machine. Mine doesn’t have much complicated settings so I chose the most basic one, which is basic bread with normal crust. It took my bread machine three hours and 10 minutes to finish baking the entire loaf and the entire house smells nice of freshly baked bread while it was still baking in the bread machine.

Pictures of how my Milk White Bread looked on the inside will be up shortly. So, stay tune!

**Updates**

As promised, let me show you how my Milk White Bread looked like. I had about two to three slices of my freshly home baked Milk White Bread yesterday afternoon and another slice, which was the last slice this morning.

The texture of the bread is soft and fluffy. It stays that way even till the next morning. The crust was however crusty when freshly baked and turned rather chewy couple of hours later. Not sure if this is how the crust should be if baked entirely with a bread machine. So, if you haven’t got time to buy your own bread, perhaps you could try baking your own white bread at home?

Breakfast this morning, with jam …

Now that I had succeeded my Milk White Bread with the bread machine, I think I am more adventurous in venturing new bread recipes. I had found a couple on the Internet and you will be seeing them soon here. So, stay tune!

Of Random Things #56

Not sure if I had mentioned about a swollen cheek in my previous few blog entries but I indeed had a swollen right cheek for about two days before the swell subsided. So, here’s a recap of what happened the other day.

I had my follow up appointment at National Dental Centre (NDC) last Tuesday afternoon. It was originally scheduled to be two months ago, a week after I came back from Shanghai. I couldn’t make it to the first follow up appointment, so I went back to reschedule again. I had my root canal treatment in early August. So, the main purpose of my follow up appointment is to remove the temporary filling and replace with a permanent filling.

The procedure took about an hour and a half. After the anesthesia had worn off couple of hours later, I had experienced a mild irritation on the “operated” tooth but it was still bearable as it was not as irritating as compared to the pain from a tooth extraction. I took an aspirin hoping that the irritation will be gone by the next morning.

Much to my surprise, I was greeted by a swollen right cheek when I woke up the next morning as I could feel my right cheek hardened. Without giving much concern to the swell, I went to work. A few colleagues saw my swollen cheek but were nice enough not to mention anything until I told Sister about the swollen cheek and she suggested that I return to the dentist for a further checkup.

Later that night, I realized that the swell on my right cheek had gotten slightly bigger in size. Mom suggested that I return to the dentist the next morning for antibiotics. So, I went back to the dentist the next morning and did an X-Ray on the said tooth. The dentist mentioned that there is nothing wrong with the tooth at the moment. The inflammation could have been triggered by how deep the root canals of my tooth were damaged in the first place.

But of course, there is nothing much the dentist could do at the moment but prescribed me a course of antibiotics which could lasts me for five days. Should the inflammation doesn’t go away by then, I will have to return to the dentist for further checkup whether another root canal treatment should be performed or much worse, dental extraction.

I am currently on my third day of antibiotics today and I am pleased to say that the swell had gone down on the first night after taking the antibiotics. Irritation is minimal at the moment and hopefully, there will be no irritation by the time I finished the antibiotics.

Review: The Body Shop Camomile Silky Cleansing Oil

I guess you will be seeing quite a lot of skincare products reviews lately on this blog as I am running out of food topics to blog about. I haven’t been baking since last Sunday and I am considering taking a break for maybe a week or two from baking. But unfortunately, there are a few ingredients which I bought previously would go expire if I don’t use up them soon.

It has been a while since I last baked a chiffon cake so I am thinking of baking one this weekend. I am planning to reattempt Milo Chiffon Cake by Peng’s Kitchen. I had attempted it couple of months ago but it wasn’t successful as the chiffon cake was kinda dense at the bottom. I am thinking of making the chiffon cake my way rather than following the instructions given.

Anyways, let’s not talk about baking anymore but focus on our topic for today – The Body Shop Camomile Silky Cleansing Oil.

The Body Shop Camomile Silky Cleansing Oil

I bought this cleansing oil quite some time ago when it was just launched at The Body Shop for not long. I think I purchased it with my 50% off birthday voucher from The Body Shop. As I mentioned in my previous few blog entries, I had decided to keep the remaining of my Bioderma Sensibio H2O Solution Micellaire for future use when I am going on a holiday. To be honest, I find cleansing water to be more convenient and time saving than cleaning oil.

The Body Shop Camomile Silky Cleansing Oil comes in the size of 200ml, stored in a plastic bottle with a pump dispenser like majority other brands of cleansing oils. The cleansing oil is slightly yellowish in color. It has a lovely floral scent and yet subtle at the same time. The texture of this cleansing oil is light and it is able to cleanse the skin well without stripping off skin moisture.

All you need is about two to three pumps of the cleansing oil and gently massage them onto your face in circular motion. When you are done massaging them on your skin, take some lukewarm water and repeat the same process again. You will see the cleansing oil emulsifying into milky color with the lukewarm water. You can then proceed with either wiping the emulsified cleansing oil with a piece of cotton pad or rinse off them away altogether.

As for me, I would choose both ways. And what does it mean by that? I would wipe off the emulsified cleansing oil with a piece of cotton pad and then rinse my face with lukewarm water before double cleansing with my usual facial cleanser. As for now, I am pairing this cleansing oil with my Kanebo Impress IC Refining Face Wash.

Albeit all the good things which I mentioned earlier about this product, there is only one thing which doesn’t impress me and it will be the reason for me not to repurchase a second bottle. Despite the product cleanses my skin well, it leaves an oil layer to the touch on my skin albeit the number of times I tried to wash them off. The oily feeling will only be gone after I had double cleansed my face.

So, here’s what I think of The Body Shop Camomile Silky Cleansing Oil in a nutshell:

Pros:
1. Lovely and subtle floral scent.
2. Cleanses skin well enough.
3. Neither dry out skin nor strip skin moisture.

Cons:
1. Oil residue after rinsing.

Overall Rating: 4.2 out of 5

Price: B$24.90

Repurchase? Nope

Baking #50: Cheddar Cheese Chiffon Cake (22cm)

I took a day off from work yesterday and went for my follow up appointment of my previous root canal treatment. I did not expect this procedure to be “slightly more” painful than the previous procedure. But thank goodness that a local anesthesia was injected into my gum so that it will be numb throughout the entire procedure.

The entire procedure took about an hour and a half. I went in around 2:45p.m. in the afternoon and only came out around 4:00p.m. in the afternoon. So, imagine having your mouth wide open throughout the entire procedure apart from the time whereby I had to go next block for an X-Ray. But all in all, I am glad that the entire procedure was completed albeit I am having a swollen cheek as I write. I had checked online and it is normal to have a swell after the procedure and it will be gone in a matter of days.

I was supposed to meet Ing after my treatment but she was running late and I couldn’t be sure how long I could hold up after being being anesthetized. The first time when I had this treatment, my arms and limbs all went weak hours later and there was nothing I could do apart from taking naps.

So, I decided to bake Cheddar Cheese Chiffon Cake a short while after I came home as I had already removed some eggs from the fridge to leave it for room temperature before leaving home.

Cheddar Cheese Chiffon Cake (adapted from Baking & Cooking)

Ingredients:

• 120g full cream milk
• 60ml unsalted butter
• 6 slices Kraft cheddar cheese
• 6 egg yolks
• 70g fine granulated sugar *40g*
• 150g cake flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 6 egg whites
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 70g fine granulated sugar

Directions:

1. Mix together cake flour, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.
2. Melt butter and cheddar cheese slices with full cream milk over a pot of simmering water. When completely melted, remove from heat and set aside to cool down.
3. Beat eggs and 40g of fine granulated sugar for a minute or two until the egg yolks turned pale and creamy.
4. Slowly add in the egg yolks batter into the melted cheddar cheese batter and whisk until well mixed.
5. Sift in flour mixture and mix until no flour lump could be seen.
6. Beat egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy and frothy.
7. Gradually add in 70g of fine granulated sugar in three batches until stiff peaks are formed.
8. Gently fold in 1/3 of the meringue into the cheese batter and repeat the same with the remaining 2/3 of the meringue until no white streak could be seen.
9. Pour the mixed batter into an ungreased 22cm chiffon pan and bake in a preheated oven of 180 degree Celsius for approximately 45 to 50 minutes until an inserted cake tester comes out clean.
10. Invert the chiffon pan immediately when removed from the oven and only remove the cake from the chiffon cake when it has completely cooled down.

I am not extremely satisfied with the outcome of my Cheddar Cheese Chiffon Cake as I find the taste of cheddar cheese to be subtle. But according to Mom, the cake doesn’t taste sweet at all but slightly salty. It is completely understandable as cheddar cheese is originally salty in taste. But I find the texture of my chiffon bake this time round was slightly dry for my liking.

Skincare Routine – Evening

After having updated my daytime skincare routine, I am here with my skincare routine during the night after a day of work or leisure. An evening skincare routine is important to our skin as we do not want to bring the dirt that our skin picked up during the day to sleep. And therefore, it is important to incorporate double cleansing in your evening routine.

I know there are some friends of mine who couldn’t be bothered, especially those who do not wear makeup. To be honest, I still find double cleansing important whether you apply makeup or not as you do not know what dirt did your skin picked up during the day. And even if you do not use makeup, I am assuming that you may have at least slabbed some sunscreen onto your face before leaving the house. Isn’t that true? LOL!

What difference in my evening skincare routine compared to my skincare routine during the day is that I incorporate a cleansing oil and a night cream instead of the moisturizer I use during the day. Anyways, enough of the ramblings. Let’s get this rolling, shall we?

The Body Shop Camomile Silky Cleansing Oil | B$24.90

I have yet reviewed about this product as I had only started using it couple of evenings ago. I had decided to keep the remaining of my Bioderma Sensibio H2O Solution Micellaire for use the next time I go on a holiday.

I like the scent of this cleansing oil but not so much on the feeling that it left on my skin after rinsing off the cleansing oil. I felt that there is still a layer of oil on the surface albeit the number of times I rinsed them off with lukewarm water. The feeling only vanished after I washed my face with my usual facial cleanser.

Kanebo Impress IC Refining Face Wash | RM100

This is my current facial cleanser, both during the day and night. I don’t have a separate facial cleanser to use like some other beauty bloggers do. This is a good facial cleanser but it kinda tightened my skin on the first few washes but it got better eventually. It leaves my skin soft and smooth after wash now.

Kose Sekkisei Lotion | RM260

Need further introduction of this holy grail toner which I had been using religiously for the past year or so? For those of you who had used this product before, I am sure you will know why I am still sticking to the product. And if you haven’t, you should try. This is one of the best toner which I had used by far.

Kose Sekkisei Eye Cream | RM175

This is my temporary fix for eye cream until I got hold of my Elizabeth Arden Visible Difference Moisturizing Eye Cream. I had this with me for quite some time already. I requested a friend of mine to get it for me from Miri but I ended up not using it till it finishes as it does nothing much on my skin as compared to Artistry Youth Xtend Enriching Eye Cream or Origins Plantscription Anti-Aging Eye Treatment.

Kiehl’s Clearly Corrective Dark Spot Solution | RMB349

I use the same essence/serum both day and night. Perhaps that was the reason why it has been running out so quickly compared to before. I had bought a new bottle of Laneige White Plus Renew Original Essence about a month ago. I was thinking of switching back to that after finishing this. But I remembered a friend of mine whom once told me that it is better to use something more hydrating after finishing a bottle of whitening serum.

And therefore, I am planning on starting my new set of Artistry Hydra-V series. I am sure Ing will be pleased to know that as she had been pestering me whether I had started using the new range since the day I bought the products. LOL!

Elizabeth Arden Visible Difference Skin Balancing Night Cream Combination | RM193

This is my current favorite night cream in which I had even asked my colleague to get me another tub from her aunt when she is returning to Kuching at the end of this month. You know that I am never a stickler with skincare products unless they are really good! This night cream doesn’t come with a nice scent as compared to Elizabeth Arden Visible Difference Gentle Hydrating Cream Dry but it isn’t unpleasant either.

The texture is creamy and it absorbs well onto my skin. Now that I am sleeping in an air-conditioned room, it doesn’t leave my skin feeling heavy after application. I know that some night creams are too heavy for the skin especially if you are not sleeping in an air-conditioned room.

Laneige White Plus Renew Capsule Sleeping Pack | B$45.90

This is an add on product which I don’t use very often but I am thinking of using it on daily basis starting from tonight. I got this at staff price from an acquaintance of mine whose sister is working for Laneige at the moment. It is suggested in the product manual whereby a capsule is for twice usage. But I personally find it to be rather heavy on my skin. It is neither greasy nor oily but just heavy.

So, I ended up splitting the capsule into four portions and finishing up each capsule in within four days. The product smells great, just like Laneige White Plus Renew Original Essence. I am pretty sure that this product pairs great with the mentioned essence. So, I am thinking of leaving the remaining 8 capsules for use when I am starting on their Laneige White Plus Renew Original Essence.

This pretty much sums up my evening skincare routine. You will realize that I use less skincare products during the night as I don’t want my pores to be clogged up with multiple kinds of skincare products. So, a toner, eye cream, serum and night cream are more than enough. And a treatment product when I feel like it.