Tuesday 1 May 2018

the grown up bed

I finally have a grown up bed

My old bed from IKEA lasted 18 years... yes ...I still dont believe its been 18 years, and that includes the IKEA mattress too.. 

I have always had issues with my back muscles, and as I have progressively aged, my back in tandem seems to be acting up more, the old bed didnt help, I would wake up in pain and have to use my hot pack several times a day just to be able to move without wincing or moaning.

So after weeks of scanning websites, sales and going down to try out mattresses I finally bought a new bed. 

the old bed
My old bed was low, about 1.5 feet off the ground, which made it harder for me to get off the bed after a night of painful back breaking sleep on the woefully inadequate support mattress I had, but the bed frame was still in pretty good shape.  
Which led to weeks of agonising debate within myself, on wasting a perfectly good bed frame.. but it had to go.  So I did the next best thing, I put it up for sale on Carousell, where we in Singapore sell everything (I have sold my old corelle tea cups and my old winter coat) The bed frame sold within hours of me putting it up on the site which made me happy to know that the bed frame was going to be used and not just wasted.

The mattress however would not be good for anyone, so I would have to throw that away... to the landfill it goes I guess..

the new bed..cant see the bedside table in the corner

My old bedside tables are dwarfed by the bed, but I wont be getting rid of those as they are mid century pieces that my grandmother used.. but I finally feel like a big girl now with a nice adult bed..

the gluten free singaporean

I have always loved baking and cooking, trying out recipes and creating delicious meals and treats.

When I realised that gluten didnt quite agree with me I was pretty upset as it would be difficult to continue baking with normal flours.  That led me to experiment with different gluten free flours which took quite some time till I found the right blend of flours that would mimic wheat and gluten.

Once I got the balance right, I started experimenting with recipes and found that I could successfully convert recipes to GF baking.  There were plenty of disasters, I have had to throw loads of experiments gone wrong in the bin.
With practice came almost perfection, and the best compliment I get is, you cant tell its Gluten Free, so with the encouragement of the sons and the daughter in law and son no 2's girlfriend, I actually thought why not make it a sort of business..

I was never going to be the corporate goddess, I hate the corporate world and all the ass kissing that happens.  I am too blunt, sarcastic and just downright naive to excel in a world where the ass kissers and ball carrying  thrive.  So with me being employed (from tomorrow) on a part time basis, I needed something to pump up the income... hence the GF baking and the birth of the gluten free singaporean -  The facebook page

Salmon & Spinach Quiche
 the cinnabuns
The next step is awareness of my brand and baking.. which leads to more experiments in the kitchen of tarts, GF bread and cinnamon buns.  Bread is quite a challenge, GF bread is very dense so am still trying to get the right flours to make it lighter ( like they have in the supermarkets in the UK, best GF bread!)


I used to be the one eating all the baking I did, which had my waistline complaining, so now as I try to make rough puff, hot water crust and short crust pastry, I need a new plan on the ingesting of said experiments.

I  did give some to mum but after the last time I gave her the first attempt of
cinnamon buns ( they werent wrapped tight enough so the sugar melted and leaked out and created a burnt bottom on some) she complained that they were terrible... I may need to find volunteers that are aware these are experiments and I promise not to give them the totally gone wrong ones.....

I am also lactose intolerant, so the cream and butter in the quiches and tarts will have me running to the loo so I desperately need volunteers to eat all the stuff I bake.. any takers?
GF choc brownies - these are pretty good.. not on the taste test list..