My first harvest

Its been a while since I've shared some of my highlights with you. Life has been pretty crazy, with school and packing and keeping up with normal life all at the same time. So here I am finally sharing some great moments with you again.

Bowling with friends

I had a friend come to visit over the May holiday,we and some of our other friends went bowling together, it was their first time ever to bowl. I had a lot of fun trying to teach them, and watching them get excited when they did amazing. They were better than me...but what can I say, its been a while. :)

My friend got her first strike ever!

We may be from different countries, but we all look the same in bowling shoes - a little weird.

Dumplings ( Jiao-zi )

Recently a friend took us to a little hole in the wall restaurant on our street, that has the best dumplings I have eaten here so far. And it's super cheap! A little less than a dollar for this platter. Yummy!

My first harvest of cilantro!

I have been sad at the reality of us moving soon, and not being able to harvest all the goodness from my garden that I've put a lot of time and effort into. I don't regret any of it though. It has been so much fun for me to watch my garden grow, and I'm glad that I took advantage of my roof top space. Thankfully I have been able to harvest a few things already, which makes it all worth it. :) The first harvest has been cilantro! Somehow it seemed like the best cilantro I have ever eaten, but maybe that was just my imagination.

Hello date with my love

We discovered a cute new dessert place that is close by, we were drawn to it by obvious reasons. :) The dessert turned out to be delish and it was a fun place to hang out as well.

Love,

Jessica

English Muffins

I had fun making English Muffins, but I never knew that you have to cook them in a skillet! The things you learn as you try out new recipes. :)

English Muffins

Recipe from budgetbytes.blogspot.com 

Ingredients:

1 tsp active dry yeast

1 Tbsp sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 Tbsp butter

3 cups flour, divided

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup cornmeal

non-stick spray (I used oil)

STEP 1: In a small bowl, combine the yeast, sugar and 1/2 cup of warm water. Stir to dissolve the sugar and yeast. Let sit about 5 minutes or until foamy on top.


STEP 2: While the yeast/sugar mixture is resting, combine 1.5 cups of the flour and salt in a large bowl. Stir well to evenly distribute the salt. In a second small bowl, combine the milk and butter. Microwave the milk/butter for 30 seconds, stir and microwave again for 30 seconds. Stir the butter until it melts into the warm milk.


STEP 3: Pour the yeast mixture and the milk mixture into the flour. Stir until it has combined into a pasty mix. Adding 1/4 cup at a time, stir in more flour until the dough forms a soft, slightly sticky ball that pulls away from the bowl. I added about 3/4 cup to get it to this point.


STEP 4: Sprinkle a little bit of flour onto a clean countertop and coat your hands in flour. Dump the soft ball of dough out of the bowl and knead it for about 5 minutes. Add as little flour as possible to the countertop while kneading. Adding too much flour will yield tough muffins. I found that a very slight sprinkle was all that was needed to keep it from sticking (see photos below for an example).


STEP 5: Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a bowl that has been coated in non-stick spray. Lightly spray the top of the dough and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until double in size (about 45 min - 1 hr).


STEP 6: Punch the dough down, shape it into another ball, cover the bowl/dough and let rise a second time (45 min - 1 hr or until double).


STEP 7: Punch down the dough again and turn it out onto a well floured countertop. Using a rolling pin, lightly roll the dough until it is about 3/4 inch thick. Using a cookie cutter, biscuit cutter, opened (and cleaned) can, or a large round glass, cut the dough into circles. When you can't cut out any more circles, gently ball the remaining dough, roll again and cut more. It gets more difficult to ball and roll out each time so fit as many circles in the dough as possible before balling it up again.


STEP 8: Place the cut dough circles onto a sheet pan that has been liberally covered in cornmeal. Sprinkle more cornmeal on top of the muffins. Cover loosely with a damp towel and let rise, once more, until double in size (another 45 minutes).


STEP 9: Heat a large skillet over medium-low heat. Spray the pan with non-stick spray. Carefully transfer the fluffy, risen muffins to the hot skillet with a spatula. Cook the muffins, in batches, in the skillet until they are golden brown and crispy on each side. Make sure to keep the heat low so that the outside browns slowly, allowing time for the inside to "bake." I cooked mine for about 7 minutes on each side but this will vary from stove top to stove top.


STEP 10: Let the muffins cool on a wire rack before attempting to slice open. Toast the split muffins in a toaster, slather with butter and jam then ooze with happiness!

I was really happy with how the English muffins turned out! They did take a long time (rising) so I probably won't end up making them very often, but they were a success to be sure. :) Next time I will be wise and have two pans of them going at once so I don't have to stand in front of the stove top for so long.

Love,
Jessica