When we went to the baseball game a few weeks ago, our friend, Aliza won a baking class. You might remember the quote about how she's never won anything other than a frozen chicken at a Purim carnival? Anyways, she was generous enough to invite me and Matt along for the class, which was this morning at 9am. I must say that a cooking class is definitely one of the most random things I have done on a Sunday morning. Brunch, yes. Market, sure. Exercise, no problem. Cooking class? Okay...
It was great fun - as usual it was Aliza's friends from all over the place, and we sort of made 1/20th of apricot cashew bread, and we made an osmanthus flower cake. Osmanthus is a local flower. I say 1/20th of the bread, because basically we saw one step of the process (mixing it all together), and then we used another dough from an earlier mixing to actually shape the breads that we put in the oven. Overall, I can't wait to try it for dinner with soup, but I could NEVER replicate this at home. There are two different kinds of sponge (I don't know sponge other than what I use to clean and what I see in the ocean), and there are verbs in the recipe that I have never heard of. Many.
The cake was an interesting experience, since we made a mousse, which I have never done before. We had our yolks whipping (thank goodness it was by a machine) for about 15 minutes. I didn't know that yolks could turn to look like softened butter. Interesting. We also layered sponge with the mousse, and the most exciting part for a Jew who used to care about kashrut, is that we used gelatin. Gelatin was something that I learned to stay away from. Granted I love gummies, so I didn't REALLY stay away from it, but I was very aware that it was just not something I should eat. This time, we put sheets of gelatin into water (apparently they absorb water up to five times their original weight), and then we mixed it into the mousse as well as the liquidy/geletany thing with flowers that we poured on top, like the clearish stuff on top of a fruit tart. It was all very sophisticated, and I felt like a novice, but it was great fun. We tasted a pre-made cake, and it was quite good. I don't know if Aliza tasted it, because she dropped her piece on the floor. Sorry, Aliza, had to mention it. It was really funny.
In other news, we went looking for apartments to purchase yesterday. We looked at a few in our area as well as in the Novena area. There were two that were semi-okay, but they're just so damn expensive. I just can't stomach paying that much for an apartment, in a city that I don't even feel that connected to, and we have no idea how long we'll be here. We say 3-4 more years, but we really have no idea. For this kind of money, we could get a pretty nice place in Manhattan or a whole neighborhood in Detroit. Painful. Seriously. We're looking at another today, and then I will continue working on pressuring Matt to rent.
If we buy, we have to basically have a deal in the next two or three weeks, because we have to be out of our apartment at the end of August, and the whole process takes 3-4 months. If we rent, we can probably look at the end of July or beginning of August. We're just a bit spoiled now, since we live in an absolutely superb location in a condo with incredible facilities (particularly the pool...). To get a three bedroom in this complex will cost us about $4,000 USD per month. That makes me want to puke. We may have to move farther away from the city, but then our commute will be longer. My priorities for this new apartment in order are:
1) proximity to work, or at least short commute. I would like to maximise time for both of us with our child. When we lived in Bedok, it took Matt an hour to get to and from work, and that's precious time when we have a little one waiting for us.
2) space. If we will be having a stranger living with us (or a helper, as some call them), which I believe we have to if we are going to keep our jobs, which we intend to do, then we need space. Also, if I'm home for four months on maternity leave, I will probably go crazy no matter what, but if the apartment is a bit bigger, it might slow down the process.
3) facilities. We just love having a pool and a gym. So convenient and nice, and I also want a way to be able to meet other mothers and most importantly, for our kid to be able to hang with other kids (or babies...). In apartments with no facilities, it's definitely hard if not impossible to meet other people.
4) quality. I would like something that's not falling apart. If we're buying it, it better be in a bit better condition. Otherwise, as long as it works.
I also would like an oven. That has made my life so much better over the past 9 months, compared with our apartment in Bedok.
Such challenges. Quite stressful.
One funny note - I went back and forth about whether I should blog about being pregnant. I finally decided to come out of the closet, and for some reason, that particular blog posting did not get imported into facebook, where most people read my blog, so here it goes again...
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