Friday, May 23, 2008

No Yeast Easy Pizza Dough

It is sunny again!
I can't believe it's gonna rain this weekend!

Today, I want to write about my garden spot.
Almost 3 years ago, I tried to grow celosia flower plants, but they were all eaten by locusts. Then I grew shiso (perilla) using edible insect killer spray, but it didn't work and eaten by them again.
I gave up growing leafy ones and tried to grow grape tomatoes and habaneros (my boyfriend's choice) from seedlings. It took about 3 months to grow up but was finally successful!

Those tomatoes were the most delicious of all!
I used them for our pizza!

Talking about pizza, I have a super easy thin pizza dough recipe :)
No yeast used, so you can save time to let it rise!!!



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No Yeast Easy Pizza Dough

Difficulty: Easy
Time: 30min
Number of servings: makes 25cm (10inch) pizza dough

Ingredients:
150g (5.2oz.) bread flour (hard flour or strong flour)
a pinch of salt
a pinch of sugar
2 tsp. olive oil
1/3 cup (65cc) warm water

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees C (482 degrees F).
2. In a large bowl, place strong flour, a pinch of salt and sugar, and olive oil.
3. Add warm water slowly and gently mix with fingertips.
4. Press into a ball with your hands, wrap in plastic wrap, leave it still for 10 minutes.
5. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out into a 25cm (10inch) circle.
6. Punch some holes in the dough with a fork to let the air escape while the pizza is in the oven.
7. Bake at 250 degrees C (482 degrees F) until dough is lightly browned.
8. Put on your toppings of choice and bake it for 15 minutes or until done.

My original recipe in Japanese is here.
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I enjoyed a lot but was better buy than grow. My garden was so small that I finished these tomatoes in a few days. I hope to have a big garden someday.

Yesterday, I went to the spa again. I had free LPG Cellulite Treatment for the second time, this time with thermotherapy. They use something called "W block heat therapy" to warm internal organs and control the automatic nerve system. Your fat softens and starts to lose weight. When used in combination, LPG works effective and dramatically reduces cellulite. Of course, you won't see a result in one shot. They suggest you to continue for more than 20 times... which is inconceivable! So, this was my last free trial (out of 3) since the W block heat therapy counts one.
I would rather continue taking a hot bath and massage cellulite (lymph) everyday.

Sorry about my spa stuff!

Again, I am posting this on Saturday morning.
I guess I can't stay awake on Friday night.

Okay, see you next week.
Have a sunny weekend :)

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Thursday, May 22, 2008

European-Style Curry and Rice

Today, it is nice and sunny again!
But I remain deep in the shock... I lost one of the big contests. The result is not yet released, but I realized it from the package I received yesterday, which was the lowest award! Always things don't go my way. I knew it and was true :(

Snap out of it!
I went out to eat lunch with my co-worker.
We had curry and rice at a famous curry restaurant called "Aubergine" near our workplace. They serve European-style curry and rice. They use special onion paste and simmer the curry for about 2 days. They have 4 levels of spice. Their butter rice cooked with spices goes great with the curry and brings out the rich flavor of curry!
I had a vegetable curry using seasonal vegetables. By eating it, I realized that the seasoning was similar to the Mediterranean Curry roux which I used for my curry and rice the other day! I think S&B did a great job!!!

Different story.
Last night, I went to the spa again. This time, I had a free facial treatment. It is for free for three times since I purchased the IPL treatment package in April.
The spa uses Environ products, which are forefront of scientific skin care. I had a vitamin therapy, which involves the use of electric current to facilitate greater penetration of vitamins A, C, E and beta-carotene into the skin.
The therapy wasn't that bad, but I didn't like the way they removed my makeup. I thought it wasn't thorough... which was kind of uncomfortable. Anyway, I have 2 more times to try out, so will see!

Again, different story.
Yesterday, I found an interesting software while searching how to backup my Blogger posts.
Blogger Backup: a simple utility to backup to local disk your Blogger posts.
Using the GData C# Library, the utility will walk backward in time, from your latest post to your last, saving each post to a local Atom/XML file.
I used it and was great! It saves all the posts (only text, no images) in few seconds!

There is another tool that saves images as well. Firefox add-ons called DownThemAll. I haven't tried it yet since I use IE. Also, all Blogger images are saved in Picasa web album automatically, so I thought it is not that necessary to save images.

Also, there is an instruction at Blogger Help.
How do I create a backup of my entire blog?
But this requires the modification of your template, so it isn't that convenient if you want to back up your blog on a regular basis.

It is good to have a shelter against every storm :)

Oops, I was going to translate my recipe, but running out of time!
Hope I can tomorrow!!!

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Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Natural Disaster

Today, the sun showed up, but the forecast says it's gonna rain again this weekend :(

This morning, we ate the last of the ikanago no kugini that my grandma gave us. Next year, I really want to cook it with her to learn how!!!

Yesterday, I wrote that global food crisis is closer than we think.
In addition, we people live in Kanto region need to be prepared for a great earthquake, which might take place soon.
Severe earthquakes have hit Japan since the beginning of the twentieth century.
In 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake (magnitude of 7.9) took place, which caused extensive damage over a wide area including Tokyo. Then in 1995, the Great Hanshin Earthquake (magnitude of 7.2) took place, which devastated much of the Hanshin area, including Kobe and Awaji Island. And in 2004, the Chuetsu earthquake (magnitude 6.8) took place, which ravaged the central region of Niigata prefecture. In 2007, the Noto Peninsula Earthquake (magnitude 6.9) and the Chuetsu Offshore Earthquake (magnitude 6.6) took place.
We have frequent earthquakes these days, so we are overdue for a large one! I need to provide against it but it depends on where you are. I might better check the safest place to take cover during the earthquake.

Speaking of earthquake, Tokyo Fire Department has asked for the survival food recipes using preserved (canned) food products and familiar vegetables in April. I submitted some of my recipes. Hope I could pass preliminaries since I had a call from them that I am a nominee.

Sorry for the gloomy topic again.
Bad weather until yesterday made me think pessimistic.

Tomorrow, I will write something happy!!!
I have a lot to write!

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