Chocolate & Orange Loaf

I've become a real breadmaking fan since moving to Brunei.  The climate in our non-airconditioned kitchen, whilst a pain in the arse for cooking most things as you need to go and have a shower after about 5 minutes in there, is perfect for rising yeasted doughs.  I am in the routine of making a couple of malted granary loaves every fortnight which we slice and freeze so I can just pull a slice out of the freezer on a school-day in my 5:45am stupor, and 3 minutes later have toast. 

I've recently begun some tentative experimentation with sweeter breads, most often the recipe that you find on the side of the packet of the Waitrose Organic Malted Grain bread flour that we buy from SupaSave here in Brunei.  It's a nice loaf with only a hint of sweetness from the added honey, and I often adapt it slightly by using whole hazelnuts instead of the specified walnuts, and also throwing in a handful of raisins.  Eaten toasted, slathered with butter and a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar, it even makes getting up at stupid o'clock almost acceptable.

But this morning I decided to push the boat out still further and have a go at some Chocolate bread.  I had found the recipe on the back of a sachet of dried yeast from Sainsbury's, and had hung onto the empty packet intending to make it.  As the expiry date on the packet is July 2011, I think I must have held onto it for well over a year before I actually got round to making it, such is the speed at which my culinary mind works at times...

But as I said, this morning I tackled it.  I was up and about well before Rob (thanks to him 'forgetting' it was a public holiday today so setting his alarm clock last night... thanks love!) - he had managed to go back to sleep but I was suddenly and irritatingly wide awake and ready to bake.

Here's the recipe:

Chocolate & Orange Loaf

500g strong white bread flour
25g cocoa powder
25g butter
1 1/2 tsp fast action dried yeast
1 1/2 tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp salt
Grated rind of one orange
100g milk chocolate chunks
2 tbsp milk
315ml cold water

Sift the flour and cocoa powder into a large bowl and rub in the butter.
Add the yeast, sugar, salt, chocolate pieces, orange peel and mix well.
Add the milk and water (I also added some orange oil I found lurking in the fridge) and mix to a dough.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead for 10 minutes (or 5 minutes in a mixer with a dough-hook).
Shape the dough as required (I plonked mine into a greased non-stick loaf tin) and place onto a well-greased baking tray.
Cover loosely with greased clingfilm (or don't bother - I didn't) and allow to double in size.  This may take 30-60 minutes, depending on the warmth of your kitchen.
Carefully uncover and bake in a preheated oven - 200C fan, 220C non-fan, gas mark 7 - for 25-30 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.

I'm pleased with it.  It tastes lovely, especially with some salted butter (I love the salty/sweet combination).  Mine has quite a loose crumb as I lazily didn't knead it for the allotted 10 minutes.  My board kept sliding around on the work-surface (note to self, put damp teatowel underneath it next time to stop it moving so much) and the chunks of chocolate also made it tricky to knead well.  So I gave up and left it to rise.  It's now sliced and in the freezer... but I'm a little worried it'll be a pain to toast as the chunks of chocolate will melt in the toaster.  Still, it'll taste great I'm sure, even if it is a little messy!

Wedding Bells at the Empire Hotel

Last year I went to my first Bruneian wedding, and last month I went to another!  They really are a fascinating experience for those of us used to the traditional British wedding.  Never mind it all being over in one day, the Bruneians make it last for days with lots of special food and outfits.

The beautiful bride at this wedding was the sister of the lovely Maya, aka Foodiva, my Bruneian blogger friend.  Maya has written a little about the wedding in this recent post, but I thought I'd add a few of my own photos too.

The party was held in a large hall, part of the fabulous Empire Hotel.  We went along with another couple that we knew (who are friends of Maya's brother) as we knew that men and women usually sit separately at these events.  Good to have someone to chat with as well as share some enjoyable people-watching at what is always a colourful occasion!

When all the guests were seated the happy couple arrived - here they are entering the Hall (a rather blurry photo in all the excitement).

As you can see, their outfits were simply stunning - I just love that vibrant turquoise blue.  In Western weddings the bride often outshines the groom, but I love that in Bruneian weddings the groom gets the chance to dress up in fabulous clothes too so they both look amazing!

A delicious meal followed, at which I was too busy talking and eating to take photos

I'm not sure how much the poor bride and groom got to eat as they seemed to be constantly having to smile for photos.  A down-side of being the centre of attention for the day I suppose!

I love seeing the Bruneians dressed up in their vibrant baju kurongs (the ladies' outfits), tudongs (ladies' head-dresses) and baju melayus (the men's outfits).  I can no longer fit into my lovely green baju kurong so I wore a more Western outfit for the occasion.  I think this made me a rather more noticeable guest, as several Bruneians asked if they could take my photo alongside them and their families! 

Here's me with Maya:

All best wishes for a long and happy marriage to Fida and Ardian - and special kudos for having the cutest wedding favours I've ever seen!

A Busy Few Weeks

Oops, 19 days since I last wrote on this blog!  I've been chivvied along reminded by Maya that I need to re-enter the 'blog-cave' again, so here I am.

So, what have I been doing in the last 2 and a bit weeks...?

1)  Working.  New class, new Principal, new role (Year Leader), lots of work.  The children are delightful, and just beginning to get into their new classroom routines.  Me too.  But I know that a good start to the year is invaluable so I don't mind spending time on this.

2)  Cleaning.  Because when you're temporarily without an Amah, if you don't clean the kitchen you get ants!  Who knew?!

3) Taking photos of babies.  Our 1-month-old neighbour for a start (and wow, babies are tricky to take photos of - they keep MOVING - hence the sleeping shot!):

But also this baby kingfisher we found in our street last week:

Poor little thing, we think its mother had been killed.  It was looking very lost, and sat here for ages (which at least allowed me to take a photo).

4)  Meeting the local wildlife.  I continue to be delighted and amazed by the wildlife here in Brunei (OK, not the ants.  I could do without wildlife in my kitchen).  This little fellow was lurking outside our door at the weekend:

5)  Pinning.  Have you found Pinterest yet?  It's a website where you can create virtual pinboards of all your favourite things.  Check it out - although be warned, it's totally addictive!

6)  Reading.  I've become mildly obsessed with the Mitford sisters, the eccentric aristocratic family who became notorious in their lifetimes for political reasons, but whose memories live on through their prolific writings - autobiographies, novels and letters.  They're a truly fascinating bunch.  I've been engrossed in this excellent biography, and felt quite miserable when I finally finished it...  so immediately went onto Amazon and ordered a book of letters between Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh - My next Mitford-fix!

7)  Cooking.  This weekend we had a pretty typical Brunei-shopping experience - carefully planning some meals and then discovering that crucial ingredients were nowhere to be found in the shops!  I had decided to make a chilli-con-carne, but there was no mince and no tins of kidney beans.  Correction, there was mince, but it was so fatty as to be almost white (ick!) and there were kidney beans, but they were in syrup (another ick!).  So I ended up making a chilli with diced steak and tins of lima beans instead.  I'm nothing if not adaptable!

I'm looking forward to a bowl of this for supper tonight (with chips and some grated cheddar - naughty but nice!) and then we'll fill the freezer with portions of it.  Over the last couple of weeks we've almost emptied the freezer of the 'ready meals' that we make andkeep for busy weeks, so it's satisfying to restock it.

This isn't actually the recipe I used (I don't usually use a recipe for chilli), but a friend posted it on our forum recently and I have been meaning to give it a try, if only for the name!

Cowboy Chilli

olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 or 2 red chilies, finely diced
salt
4 cloves garlic, finely diced
2 lb (1 kg) ground beef
6 strips (300 g) bacon, diced
1 x 14 oz (400 g) can of kidney beans, black beans or pinto beans
1 cup (250 ml) barbecue sauce
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (optional if you don’t want it too spicy)
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 x 12 oz (350 ml) beer
grated cheddar cheese, sour cream, diced scallions, tortilla chips, etc., to serve

Heat a splash of olive oil in a large pot over a medium-high heat. Add the onion, chilies and a pinch of salt (to stop the onions from browning) and cook for 10 minutes, or until the onions have softened. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Add the ground beef and bacon and cook until it’s nearly cooked through and browned, stirring occasionally.

Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer, then lower the heat to keep at a gentle simmer. Cook for 30 minutes to 1 hour – the longer you cook it, the more the flavors will develop – adding more beer or water if the chili starts to look too dry. Serve the chili warm with toppings of your choice.

Packaging Style in Brunei

I'm an advertiser's dream.  I'm so easily swayed into making purchases based almost solely on the attractiveness of the item's packaging.  Brunei - indeed, most of Asia - is great for retro-styled supermarket items, and I can occasionally be found roaming the aisles of local supermarkets with my camera in order to capture them!

Here's some Andy-Warhol-style displays of tins.  It amuses me that the Sardines are 'Ayam' brand...  Ayam means chicken in Malay!

Tinned mushrooms always seem to have lovely labels here.  There are often some strange-looking mushrooms inside the tins too.

Rose syrup - love it or hate it, it's found everywhere here.  It tastes like liquid Turkish Delight.  I'm solidly in the 'love it' camp, and particularly enjoy it mixed with crushed ice and condensed milk (known for some reason as an 'ABC').   This is the only brand I'll buy... obviously because of the sheer beauty of its label!

And then there are the items bought so that I could keep the fabulous tins.   These Lucky Spot crackers are OK to eat (if a little bland and uninteresting), but the tin is now used for storing home-made biscuits.

My lovely Shake Hand Brand curry powder tin is now a pencil tin on the computer desk.  Look at the fabulous retro-font that they've used for 'Curry Powder'.  This is actually very tasty too and we use it a lot.

This tape tin is from school.  I asked for some more sellotape for my classroom and it was brought down from the office in this marvellous tin!  Again, superb retro-styling - and just the right size for a kitchen utensils holder.

I'm not quite alone in this fascination for packaging...  An author and cookbook write who shares the love is Jake Tilson.  I first heard of him when I picked up a copy of his book Twelve Kitchens in TK Maxx, at some ridiculously cheap price.  The book is beautifully written with some lovely recipes, but more to the point is beautifully presented in a collage style, and includes many photographs of gorgeous packaging.  Some pages can be seen here on Jake's website. 

Let Them Have Cake - Baking in Brunei

I love blog-world.  Most of the people who read this blog are people who I know in 'real life' - it feeds to my Facebook profile, so my FB friends can see it, various family members in the UK read it, and several of my cooking-forum friends also pop in and say hello.  However, occasionally a 'stranger' happens upon my blog, and sometimes you get to chatting...

This has happened with my new blog-friend Ben.  Ben found this blog whilst looking for information on macarons (this post to be specific), and was surprised to find that I lived in Brunei - because he is Bruneian!  He's a teacher, like me, but to escape the stresses of his job (teaching secondary - I couldn't do it!) he bakes.  He plans to enroll in pastry school one day, but in the mean time he makes - and sells - the most amazing looking cakes, cookies and macarons.

I've been really impressed to read that he always uses the best and freshest ingredients.  These things don't come cheap, and so often it's all too obvious that commercial bakeries here just don't use good quality products.  That incredible-looking cake that you bite into to find bland over-aerated sponge, sickly-sweet shaving-foam-style icing, and nasty fake chocolate - sadly a common disappointment.

But Ben's cakes?  I think they're the 'real deal'!  For any of my friends here in Brunei who might be interested in ordering that special celebration cake, or just treating yourself to something hand-made and delicious, here is a link to what's available.  Ben's phone number is also on the blog so you could make contact via text to place an order.  I'd guess he'd need some notice - he's a teacher as well as a baker.

Ben's Products and Prices.

I wish Ben all the best with this.  Good cake is hard to find here, so it's great to find someone making and selling great quality baked goods.

March Memories Photographic Challenge - The Results

I'm writing this two thirds of the way through March because I have realised that I won't be able to post at the end of the month.  In fact I can't post at all during the last 10 days of March because I'll be on holiday in Myanmar...  We booked this trip ages ago, well before I even thought of this challenge, but I didn't put the proverbial two-and-two together and set the challenge anyway.  Idiot!

Anyway, despite inadvertently giving myself 10 days less that I should have had, I have managed to complete my own challenge (phew!) and have, through the magic of Blogger, set this to post on March 31st.

So here we go, my 16 things for March 2011:

1.  Celebration.  We've had lots of birthdays in my class over recent weeks, and the children seem to have started a very nice habit of bringing a birthday cake in to share with their classmates (and teachers).  This was a particularly tasty one - a dense chocolate brownie cake with crunchy praline on the bottom... yum!

2.  Stripy. I thought this one would be simple, but wasn't struck with much inspiration for stripes this month...  still, here's a slightly unusual take on the theme.  As part of our Eco-Week in school our year group visited a local recycling centre.  The kids were fascinated by the place, and so was I.  This is a close-up of a huge bundle of cardboard which has just come out of the compressor.

3.  Empty.  All out of Sauvignon Blanc...

4.  A Game.  I'm a total Scrabble-on-Facebook addict and am usually playing about 7 games at a time, with various people from family members to friends from primary school.  I took a shot of this particular game because I'm winning it!

5.  New.  My new toy - an iPhone 4.  Buying this was a big event for me - I'm not really a 'gadgety' kind of person, and I've always just had the cheapest possible pay-as-you-go phones, but I'd been hankering over an internet phone for about a year.  I finally made the leap into the world of the smartphone at the beginning of March.  Unfortunately within a week the stupid thing had gone wrong...  so this is my second iPhone of the month.

6.  Work.  This term Year 3 have been focusing on environmental issues, culminating with an extravaganza entitled 'Trash to Panache'.  This was a catwalk-themed assembly where the children modelled their 'wearable art' - inspired by some aspect of Brunei - that they had created from rubbish as a homework project.  Never one to miss out on the opportunity to dress up and make myself look ridiculous, I couldn't resist joining in with a floral-inspired tunic-top, created from carrier bags.  Chic.  Sometimes I can't believe I actually get paid to do this job.

7.  Growing.  I had SO many potential shots for this one, Brunei being a pretty verdant country!  However, I was most excited by this one.  Earlier this month we went for a walk in an area called Bukit Markuching, a new area for us to explore.  As we climbed up the first hill we found ourselves walking through a little plantation of various fruit - lime, banana, papaya... and pineapple!  I had never actually seen a pineapple growing before, and in case you haven't either, they don't grow on trees (as I had previously assumed) but on small spiky bushes.

8.  Home-made.  It's hard to find 'nice' bread here; much of it is full of sugar, which really isn't to 'Western' tastes, so I've taken to making my own.  That probably makes me sound really smug, but it's very simple and I only make one loaf a week, which is plenty for us. 

9.  Favourite. One of my favourite things about being in Brunei is the amazing wildlife, and this is one of my favourite creatures so far.  He was spotted on a walk at Tasek Lama, and I spent a good 10 minutes photographing him - he barely moved, no matter how close I crept.  What a poser!

10. Blue.  A particularly gorgeous day in Brunei with clear blue skies.  This is the palm tree in our garden (yes, I know, don't hate me).  The sky was bluer than this really so I'm not 100% happy with this one, but it was the best blue photo I managed this month.

11.  Evening.  Egrets at the Saddle Club as we cycled back from the beach one evening.  I used to get very excited whenever I saw an egret in the UK, but here they're common as pigeons (only much more beautiful).

12.  Pattern. This was another one I assumed would be easy.  I thought I'd just pop into a mosque and snap some of the tiled patterns...  but it just didn't happen, what with the busyness of the end of term.  So here's a beachy one instead.  Our beach is covered with these starburst patterns; they're made by little crabs who excavate burrows by rolling up little balls of sand and pushing them out of the holes.  Amazing.

13.  Flight.  We live fairly close to the airport here.  Actually this is Brunei, which is about the same size as Dorset - we're fairly close to everything here!  The flight-paths seem to vary but there are days when every plane that takes off or lands goes right over our house (that's our roof and palm tree in the picture) and there are times when it sounds rather as though they are about to land in the garden.

14.  Yesterday. I'm so tired today (17th March - when I'm writing this particular entry) because yesterday was the day of our year-group trip.  After the recycling centre (see photo 2.) we went to Muara Beach to do a beach-clean-up.  It was boiling hot and we were eaten alive by the sandflies, but despite all this it was fantastic.  In a mere 15 minutes we filled loads of bin-bags with various detritus found on the sand - and best of all it really brought home to the children this very real environmental problem.

15.  Fabric.  Some beautiful Robert Kaufman fabric from Hokko.  I couldn't resist it.  Despite thinking it's slightly too silly to actually wear, I'm having it made into a simple skirt.

16.  Loud. Small but VERY loud, these geckos aren't known as 'Chit Chats' for nothing!  This one is - thankfully - outside the window, but there are plenty who reside in our bedroom and act as spookily accurate alarm clocks, generally shouting to us at about 5.30am...

I'm looking forward to seeing other people's March Memories soon!

Brunei Critters

Whenever I visit a new country (or even go to live in one!) it's often the wildlife that interests me most.  In Canada we would regularly cycle up to the pond to see the beavers swimming around, and never got over the excitement of seeing hummingbirds in our garden.  Seeing a black bear in the wild was also an amazing experience - although I still regret not managing to see a wild moose. 

Here in Brunei there are countless exciting creatures...  many of them living in and around our house!  However, last weekend we spotted a new critter.  We noticed a movement in the undergrowth near the path whilst walking at Tasek Lama, and a closer look revealed this curious chap:

He didn't seem bothered by me creeping ever-closer with my camera so I managed to get some quite detailed shots.

I love the blue flecks on his back, and his amazingly long tail.

We had never seen one of these before - I have no idea what it is...  any suggestions much appreciated!  I couldn't help but wonder if it was some kind of chameleon as it was so well camouflaged amongst the leaves, and it had those incredible 'swivelly' eyes.

Bizarrely enough, the following day - whilst at the Empire Hotel - we spotted a near-identical critter on the rocks by the beach.  Identical apart from the colour (lending weight to my chameleon theory perhaps?)

He had exactly the same loooooong tail:

And the same row of spines down his neck.  He's looking at me wearily and saying 'Bugger off!' here - I think he was getting heartily sick of me crawling across the rocks towards him, forcing him to keep scuttling away.

After our tea we came back out to sit and watch the sunset over the sea and were massively excited to see HUGE turtles swimming just off the coast!   No pictures I'm afraid - they bobbed up and down pretty fast, I'd never have managed to get a photo, and also the light was fading fast - but take it from me, it was a fantastic sight.

National Day 2011 - Part 2

So we missed the big parade in town last Wednesday...   but I still got to celebrate!

Here are some shots from our National Day Assembly at school last Friday.

The school hall, decorated for the occasion.

Waving the flag.  This photo makes me smile because the girl behind the flag saw me pointing the camera in her direction and gave me a beautiful grin... only for her neighbour's flag to flap right in front of her face!  (She and I had a good laugh about it in the classroom when we looked through the photos!)

The Year 3 Malay group marching.

A hall full of people dressed in yellow!

Me with my lovely class.

We were told to dress in yellow and black as they are the main colours on the national flag.  This proved rather a problem as I don't own a single item of yellow clothing (apart from one vest-top, but sleeveless = inappropriate here).  However, I went for black and red (there's a little bit of red on the flag!) and also wore a yellow Brunei baseball cap for the assembly.  Tragically there's no photographic evidence of me in said baseball cap...

On my way home I was waiting in traffic at the roundabout and snapped a couple of photos of the billboards that had been erected for National Day:

The Sultan certainly has an impressive range of uniforms - almost as many as Rob!

National Day 2011

Today is Brunei's 27th National Day - a celebration of the country's independence from Britain in 1984.  Brunei was never a British colony, but was a 'protectorate', and despite its independence, still maintains relatively close links with the UK today (hence the 'Loan Service' arrangement with the UK Armed Forces).  I can't help pondering the fact that Brunei, as an independent country, is younger than me...!?!

Bruneians are massively patriotic, which I like.  I often wish that English people were more vociferously proud of their country and heritage, instead of equating flag-flying with football!  Still, we're guilty of not flying the George Cross either - which seems a little strange seeing that we're currently flying the Bruneian flag:

I'm more than happy to do it...  although it wasn't really a choice!  We were told that we must fly it between the 6th and 26th of this month in celebration of National Day.  We'll be flying it again in July, for the Sultan's birthday.  I must say, the base does look great, with flags flying from every house and street-light.

Of course the main impact of today on us expats is that it's a Public Holiday.  Yay for February - we've had FOUR holidays this month (2 for Chinese New Year, 1 for the Prophet Muhammed's Birthday last week, and 1 today).  It almost makes up for the lack of a half-term break! 

This morning there was a huge parade in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei.  We were all set to head down there, despite the early start - it began at 7.30am - and as the roads were all closed we were intending to drive down as far as we could (probably to Tasek Lama) and cycle in from there.  However, we woke at 6am to torrential rain.  Usually rain showers pass quickly, but this one seemed to go on and on, well past the time that we would have had to leave to get to the parade on time.  Of course it had stopped by about 9, but by then it was too late.  Disappointing; but there's always next year.  We'll make a big effort to go then.

In the meantime there are some great photos on the National Day website to show us what we missed.

Happy Birthday Brunei!