CINNAMON ROLLS

A traditional Northern American Rolls (buns)

I am on my second trimester of my pregnancy. At night when i can't  go to sleep immediately i read some cookbooks  and started thinking of baking all those recipe the very next day.  Today, i decided to try baking my own home made cinnamon rolls.


Ingredients:

DOUGH 

700 grams all-purpose flour

1 package (7 grams)  active dry yeast

1 cup (240 ml) full cream milk

1/3 cup (75 grams) unsalted butter

1/3 cup (66 grams) granulated white sugar

1/2 teaspoon (2.5 grams) salt

3 large eggs

In a big bowl  ( i use an electric hand mixer), combine 350 grams flour and the  active dry yeast. In a small saucepan, stirring constantly, heat the milk, butter, sugar, and salt just till warm  and the butter is almost melted. Gradually pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture, with the mixer on low speed. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Then beat this mixture on high speed for 3 minutes. Knead in as much of the remaining 350 grams flour until you have a soft dough that is smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes), but not sticky.  Shape the dough into a ball and place in a greased bowl, turning once (so that each side wil not dry up).  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until almost doubled (approximately 1 1/2 - 2 hours). Gently punch the dough to release the air and let rest for another  10 minutes.

FILLING

3/4 cup  packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup  all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup  unsalted butter cold (cut into small pieces)

1/2 cup  raisins  (optional)

3 Tbsp.  light cream

• In a bowl stir together the brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon. 
• Cut in the cold butter with a pastry blender or two knives or big fork, until the mixture is crumbly.

• Using a Rolling pin. Roll the dough into a 16  inch  square.
• Sprinkle the filling evenly over the rolled out dough and top with raisins (if desired). 
• Lightly brush one end of the dough with a little   light cream (to seal the edges of the rolls). 
• Roll the dough to form a log,
  
  starting at the end opposite the edge you brushed with cream.
• Slice the log into  equal-sized pieces. 
  
• Arrange rolls in a greased glass or  baking pan lined with a wax paper. 
  
  
  
  
• Cover rolls loosely with lightly greased plastic wrap, leaving room for rolls to rise, at room temperature, until almost doubled (about 1 hour). 
• You can refrigerate the Cinnamon Rolls overnight (up to 24 hours) if you decide not to bake it immediately. Next morning, remove the rolls from the refrigerator, take off the plastic wrap, and let stand at room temperature for about half an hour.) 
• Break any surface bubbles with a toothpick. 
• Lightly brush rolls with  light cream. 
• Bake in a 200 degrees C oven for 25 to 30 minutes or till light brown, and a toothpick inserted into one of the buns, comes out clean.
•  Remove rolls from oven. Brush again with  light cream. 
• Cool for 5 minutes.

GLAZE 1-2 cups  powdered (confectioners or icing) sugar 1 - 2 tablespoons light cream or ( full cream milk) 3 Tbsps. of butter Melt butter in the microwave or in a pan.  Pour in milk together with the powdered sugar in the melted butter. Mix until smooth and well blended. Pour a spoonful of prepared glaze in each roll.

serve warm.

ENJOY!!!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY EMPOY

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY Empoy

If you think it isn’t another sappy love story you’re sitting down to, then be forewarned. Because it probably is. And make it with double doses of syrupy sweet musings.

It’s the little things that keeps us freshly and crazily in love everyday, certainly takes two hands to clap...

I know I haven’t exactly been penning down our personal love story (not quite much, hehehe), depicting it with pictures and emotional thoughts.

For something which we thought would only be a "friends with benefits",  blossomed into something worth fighting for and looking forward to, each fleeting day.

But now, a couple of years has passed; marking milestone on our "friendship". I can never forget how you asked me for lunch at  Florence, Tuscany (which at first i thought via Firenze (one of the streets in Rome) and little did you know that while hearing your invitation over the phone makes me giggle)...the supposedly "lunch" was ended on a pack of pringles, a box of gums and gummy candies while roaming around florence; a dinner at Mc Donalds (one of my unforgettable McDo ever)...:)

our JOURNAL....starts today....The preparation

We finally decided to tie the KNOT.Excitement filled us...and i think that's one of the reasons that as early as 86 weeks and 6 days before, we're preparing for our GRAND day on December 12,2012.(YES!..it's 12-12-12).And of course the fact that we're both expats and we could only make all the preparations thru internet.Browsing on every webpage about weddings.Finding suppliers.Making long distance calls for inquiries.Giving your trust to a person or a supplier you just met online.

As of today, i could say we already have a couple of accomplishments.With the help of our "online hired" wedding planner  Ate A..

•  the wedding planner...Mrs. Geraldine rivera LEVEL-UP COORDINATION 
• the reception...BAGUIO COUNTRY CLUB 
• our theme...HIP and CHIC 
• our motiff...matte dark red 
• videographer and photographer...NICEPRINT PHOTOGRAPHYY
• hair and make up...Byron Velaquez
• the church...Baguio cathedral (the church of atonement )

starting,...learning,...composing..:)

I was inspired by my dear friend sel ( this is the link to her domain http://www.mrspinkihan.com/) to finally start blogging too...everytime i read her post i can't stop admiring how she composes those words...

SENTIMENTS

SENTIMENTS

One of the reasons why people get so sentimental....
Its because, memories are the only things that don't change....
When everything does...

There are things in life that you can't hold on forever, no matter how much you fight for it. Sometimes destiny isn't always good, it becomes playful when you met someone you learned to love, you thought that it was destiny who have your paths cross but what if making your paths cross is just a part of game that the playful destiny create?? making you realize in the end that the person you thought that was destined for you wasn't really meant to stay... but only destined to make you feel love and leave you when you've already fallen. Its not easy to state a reason when you decide to leave your love. Some might think it's just an excuse.. some might not actually believe... some will blame you... some might even be mad at you... what they don't see is the fact that it hurts you even more to hurt someone who doesn't deserve to be hurt specially when you can't actually state the reason why you have to leave... You can never own something that was never yours... so lets stop gripping on the things we expect to last forever... nothing lasts forever.(Forever is a lie? perhaps i could answer it 1 day myself). EVERYTHING IS TRANSITORY. So while you have something in your hand, put in mind that it's just borrowed.So that someday when it's gone, it won't take you eternity just to let it go.When your feelings get stronger for someone, it's always wise to stop for a while and give your heart A TIME TO BREATHE, a time to use your mind to weigh the situation not on emotion because the saddest thing that can happen is when one fall in love while the other wants nothing more than friendship. Love can sometimes be magic (as my friend terry says), but magic can sometimes be an illusion. There are times when I wish that I was limited to certain emotions so that i'll never have to experience pain, never feel betrayed or disappointed, and never get my fragile heart broken. But the same thing means that i'll never know how it feels to love and be loved in return. The thought of it kind of scares me to have a heart that's WHOLE but numb, or a HEART THAT'S BROKEN BUT REAL. Someday, we'll be looking back to those days we learned to love, get hurt, cry and fight. Perhaps when that time comes, we'll be laughing at our old dumb selves, realizing how stupid we were to stand up for things we knew weren't really meant for us.

But I guess learning takes time and mistakes make one's journey fun.

LIFE IS WHAT WE MAKE IT.

Love makes the world go around.

So lets live, love and take whatever pain it brings.

MY FAVORITE SPOT....where i could shout...scream at the top of my lungs all the sentiments,the happiness,the burdens....where i could cry,where nobody cares except the wind and nature around me....

to the person who brought me here,who took this shot....THANK YOU...mi manchi...

just starting.....

i'm just beginning to build out this page.....


i hope in the next days...i could post my very first blog....