Creamless Ice Cream?

I like ice-cream. To me, beside from being sweet, it's a healthy snack. Don't kill me yet. The main ingredient is milk. Milk is a good source of calcium. The only downside of ice cream is the sugar. Customized ice cream can be expensive. One can adjust the sugar level but it is still expensive. Why not make your own ice cream? No ice cream maker? No problem. Look for some recipes in the internet. Most don't use ice cream maker.

I love ice cream so much that I could argue about how healthy it really is. Once, my friend Cherri told me her parents never give her ice cream as a child. Unhealthy they said. Well, I grew up eating freshly made ice cream. Frosty Boy to name one. Another fresh ice cream vendor that I know of is our church. Ice cream is good for bone. I would give my children limitless ice cream. They're gonna grow up spoilt. Well, if this method that I'm going to share succeed, I'm gonna make low sugar ice cream. Let's see tomorrow.

I have a lot of leftover milk. Actually, it's my mother's Omega 3 fortified milk powder. So, an idea came to me. Making ice cream.

First, I prepare the milk. Mixing a heap into some water. Cool water. This makes blending the powdered milk easier. Something that I learnt from a nurse while preparing milk for diabetic patients. Leave aside some milk to dilute with cornstarch.

Heat the rest of the milk until boiling, then simmer. I've burnt a lot of milk before, so be careful when heating milk. It's recommended to use bain marie/double boiler or simmering plate. I use a heave bottom pan. It heats slower than aluminium pan but constantly. One may use copper simmering plate to separate open flame from the pan. Once boiling, reduce heat to simmer.

While heating, I also add some condensed milk, vanilla essence and sugar. I even add some butter hoping that it would make the ice cream creamier. In this island, cream is expensive. And because I am a frugal Asian, I don't use any cream. The cornstarch help stabilize the milk fats. Adding butter to milk is just an idea. I saw it once on frugal living website. I'll add the link later below.

Once the milk reduced to two third, or until it thicken, I add the cornstarch mixture into the simmering milk. Make sure to mix the cornstarch completely to prevent lumps from forming.

Heat until it thickens. Custard thick. Maybe a bit runny.

Then put the milk mixture into a bowl and immerse the bowl into an ice bath, stirring. This helps reducing more water from the mixture. Mix until the mixture is lower than room temperature. Keep mixing. But in the hot tropical sun, just pop it inside the freezer.

After 2 hours, scrape the ice and blend the ice cold mixture. It should be flurry like consistency. Mix again and leave for 8 hours or overnight. I can't say anything beyond this point. I'll update tomorrow.

Next time, I'll use egg yolks. Or maybe coconut cream to make it creamier. Coconut and pineapple perhaps. Pina colada. See if the ice cream is a success tomorrow.

And I apologise for not mentioning the measurement. That's how Asian cooks. Not that I am keeping them a secret. If in doubt, follow your heart. Cooking is from the heart. Secret ingredient is always love.


Frugal living
http://frugalliving.about.com/

There's a lot of ice cream making videos in YouTube. I like those demonstrated by CHOW and masak.tv. The latter is in Indonesian, but the method is practical to Asian kitchen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y265GcqB_4c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkCl8IOf_1Q

Crossing fingers for the outcome

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My ice cream is ready! It's a hybrid of gelato and sorbet. Yum!

Christmas songs...

I am indifferent towards Christmas song. Maybe, I've turned into a semi-grinch. In my younger years, my family celebrated Christmas away from our relatives. Listening to Christmas songs makes my mother miss her relatives. So, she kinda 'dislike' listening to any Christmas song. Celebrating Christmas away from family. Well, we are just accustomed to it.

This Christmas I'm likely to be alone. No biggie. I could just have Home Alone movie marathon. Hey, it's fun to celebrate alone. Christmas is just another holiday to me. My first Christmas away was 9 years ago in a small island. Instead of celebrating with my family, I explored the whole island.

It's not a big deal really. Many from the Norther Hemisphere spend their holiday in the tropics, to escape the cold weather. Some with family, some travelled alone. So, I'm normal, not a grinch.

Today, I accompanied my brother shopping for rations. In the first supermarket, Christmas songs played through the speaker. Not in English but in Indonesian. Probably, recorded in the 80s or 70s. Back then, Indonesian Christmas songs were a hit. I heard them before, so it doesn't amuse as much as the song played in the next supermarket.

The supermarket is quite crowded so we moved on to another supermarket. This supermarket is smaller as it is located in our neighbourhood. But still busy as it is near the main road to the new township. As I entered to supermarket, there's Christmas song playing too, but it's different. After hearing some familiar Tagalog words like aming, araw, buhay, dahil and nang/ang/ng in the song lyrics, then it hit me. Tagalog Christmas Songs! This is my first time listening to Tagalog Christmas Song in my life, what more to say in a supermarket in this little city.

There must be many OFWs here. Not a big surprised though. My aunt is a Filipina, my neighbour living just across the street is also a Filipina. Even in our church, there's a Filipino family, very friendly people. I can say, there's quite a number of Filipina here. My aunt runs a catering business, specializing in Filipino foods. And there's always somebody needing her service. I can estimate at least 100 Filipinos live here. At least. I'm not sure of the exact number. Can be up to 500? Counting the OFWs in the neighbouring Sultanate, there could be more. There's even direct flights to Ninoy Aquino from our small domestic airport.

That, with the fact that a supermarket playing Tagalog Christmas songs. No, I'm not paranoid. Our OFWs are mostly legit, not illegal immigrants. With legit I mean, having legal document. But only God knows what they do here. Fortunately, most Filipinos I know here are good honest people.

Back to the Tagalog songs, it's way livelier than any other versions of Christmas songs. Maybe there are thousands Lea Salongas in the Philippines, I mean they are vocally talented (am I stereotyping?). My neighbour across the street use to sing. The Filipinos in our church sang very well. But not my aunt though her foods are divine. Kutsinta, Puto, Fried Bangus, Kare-kare... name it, she can cook almost everything Filipino.

Well, she taught us well. My sister and I learn a lot from her in the Kitchen. The funniest one is 'throwing' spaghetti on the wall. No, it's not food fight. That's how our aunt demonstrate how to see if a spaghetti is well done. We don't do that now though. We were young that time and it's the easiest way to check for 'doneness'. She even taught us how easy it is to cook Turon. Turon is fried fruits, usually bananas, wrapped in Popiah skins. Our popiahs are usually filled with vegetables. So, at first, I was skeptical. Turns out, we like Turon more than banana fritters.

Too bad, Aunty wouldn't be here during Christmas. She'll celebrate Christmas with uncle in our hometown, probably with my parents. But she'll be around for New Year.

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Some of the foods mentioned

Turon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tur%C3%B3n_(food)

Puto
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puto

Kutsinta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kutsinta

Bangus
http://www.pinaycookingcorner.com/2012/02/daing-na-bangus-milkfish-marinated-in.html

Kare-kare
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kare-kare
And kare-kare was mentioned in this funny advert featuring Obama and Macapagal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IqP8zk4hp0

Another easy to cook Filipino food is Tortang Talong (Tortang = tortilla? Spanish tortilla not Mexican)
http://panlasangpinoy.com/2009/08/09/filipino-vegetable-food-eggplant-omelet-tortang-talong-recipe/

PinayCookingCorner and PanlasangPinoy is my reference website when I miss Filipino foods. Or you just can watch Gerrard Panahon's channel for cooking and entertainment.
http://www.youtube.com/user/gerrardpanahon

Archipelago on the Indian Ocean?

I'm referring to Indonesia. The suffix -sia is applied to archipelago. Micronesia is tiny islands, Polynesia is lots of island, Melanesia is black islands? Or is it islands of the Blacks. Melanin is a black pigment. So Indonesia is Indian islands.

When I was in my early teen, my father bought a lot of Indonesian Agricultural Publications. On how to raise rabbits, fish, sheep or how to grow chillies, lemongrass to how to extract essential oils. There's even a book on how to train dogs. That's after he met and befriended an Indonesian cook at his workplace, Bapak Deddy. Before that, most of the agricultural articles were from Universities from United States like OSU (Oklahoma State University) and TAMU (Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University) or other state universities in the prairie region. Sometimes from 4-H too.

Agricultural practices in this region are different from the States. Climate-wise it's hotter. And food regulations are different. So most articles are on basic agricultural stuffs which are applicable here, such as composting, building water well, garden sheds, solar drying or energy efficiency.

Bapak Deddy showed him some of the books and in a month, our book 'population' doubled. My old man ordered not less than a thousand of those books. Indonesian is not our first language, so my old man also ordered a big Indonesian-English dictionary.

In a way, it expanded my Indonesian vocabulary. Sometimes it helped me. In my former school, there were 3 lecturers from Indonesia. My favourite is an Occupational Health Doctor, I do envy his job. Not wearing white coat, not using any stethoscope, doesn't look like a doctor and always on a field trip. I'm also one of his favourite student too. He likes to tease me. If only all doctors are like that.

Another doctor is a pulmonalogist. He's an expert on respiratory health, so he can't ditch his stethoscope. He's educated in the Netherlands so some of his words are 'different'. We never heard the word PROBANDUS and ANAMNESIS before. He said it's commonly used in a continental medical universities. We use patients all the time. One day, he had a problem with explaining a rubber stopper. So he reverted to Indonesian. KARET. Stopper made from KARET.
"I forget the word, but in Indonesian, we called it karet" "What do you call it?"
Then I replied. "Oh, rubber stopper. Karet tu rubber kan Prof?"
"Yes, rubber stopper"
My Indonesian saved the day.

The third is a paediatrician. All I can say about him is he is strict.

I watched a lot of Indonesian TV too. Thanks to my pop's 6 feet parabola. Besides watching TV is do watch Indonesian YouTuber. Mostly their cooking vlogs. And not to forget Sacha Stevenson.

Yesterday, I was shopping for some vegetables. In this city, Some of the TKI works in retail. Even our hypermarket hire TKI. Some said, when comparing this little city with the big city, "The little city is like Los Angeles or any cities in SoCal, while the big city is like New York or any city by the Eastern seaboard". I'm quoting my best friend. With this equation, our TKI are like Mexican working in San Diego or Los Angeles.

While picking my vegetables, I said sing-songy "wortel, jahe, jeruk dan tomat" (carrots, ginger, lemon and tomato, those were in my shopping list as I need them to cook vegetable curry) The shop assistant heard me and smiled. "I heard you.., singing in Indonesian"

I wish one day I'll visit Indonesia.

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*TKI = Tenaga Kerja Indonesia, overseas Indonesian worker. Analogous to OFW which is Overseas Filipina/Filipino Workers

Probandus, definition in the link below
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/probandus

Indonesian YouTuber I follow
Sacha Stevenson
http://www.youtube.com/user/sasaseno
Masak.tv
http://www.youtube.com/user/masaktv
Kokiku Tv
http://www.youtube.com/user/KokikuTv

I wish I could... ... ... ... play the guitar. Hahahaha

I don't know how to play any musical instrument. Maraca maybe.

I like this guy.

Okay

https://www.youtube.com/user/iampaulritter

Quite tired, as I went shopping with my brother.

Guillotine for eyelids,

Ever wonder how to get sexy eyelashes. Do you envy Ashton Kutcher or Elizabeth Taylor's eyelashes. Guy with curly eyelashes are handsome too. I've met this Indian guy with nice curly eyelashes. He is so cute, I mean his eyelashes are. And calling other men cute doesn't make someone gay...

So, the metrosexual in me keeps on urging me to curl my eyelashes, with eyelid guillotine aka eyelash curler. It's not surprising to find concealers, eyeliners eyelash curlers, nail buffers, mascara or bronzer in a metrosexual's vanity bag. We are not drag queen, we just like to look and dress better. Maybe we are a bit insecure but we are bold and brave enough to use girly stuffs.

With eyelash curler that I have for years, (the rubbers are still soft though) I curl my eyelashes. I even search for YouTube video. It's scary. If you're a pro, there's no need to look for YouTube tutorial, but I'm just scared.

1, 2,3.... ouch. Shit! I guillotined my eyelid. Second attempt... same. Eyelash curlers are scary to mere men but not to metrosexual men... as I said, we're braver and bolder.

After umphteen attempt, I finally got the look I like. However, it's not obvious because of my hooded eye. Talking about hooded eye, I have love hate relationship with my hooded eye. Sometimes it's makes me look fierce. But sometimes I'm grateful, because it gives an illusion of me being serious. Men looks better if they seems serious. And Sean O'Pry have hooded eyes too. So does James Franco.

End up not curling my eyelashes unless I put on some falsies. But that's to RuPaul drag queen. Looking good and feeling gorgeous...

(p/s Rusty Joiner have hooded eyes too right?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyG3MP6FebQ

This Old House marathon...

Watching one of my favourite TV show. Yup, I am not your regular guy. I don't watch Running Man, I don't watch mainstream TV show. I watch American house remodeling TV show. I prefer watching sweaty DILF's remodelling houses than watching absurdly cute plastic surgery face Korean men. (Sorry for the stereotype, I never watch Korean drama. All I know is they look too good too be true)

Did is call Roger, Richard, Tommy, Norm and Kevin DILF's? Whoops! Hey! I meant I prefer watching regular men doing regular things. I like Tommy's tips and techniques. Finding a stud, (frame stud, not stud stud) just by knocking the wall. That's akin to doctor's percussion. Doctor's percuss patient's chest to look for liquid accumulation or mass in the lungs. Tommy percuss old houses wall to find stud.

Norm is an excellent carpenter. He had his own show on replicating antique pieces. He is also to coolest one. He's more of a father figure among all these men.

Kevin, is the host. And I quite envy his job. Playing with power tools with his colleague. Kevin is quite cute too. I just wish I am as cute as him. Just kidding.

Richard is always up to date with his plumbing and HVAC technology. And a great diagnostician. He applies doctor's differential diagnoses to plumbing and HVAC.

Roger is great with landscaping. I like when he design retaining walls and patio, always beautiful. He also lays brick walkway, built fire pits, dry well, french drain and hardscapings.

But one thing that makes me nervous. They seldom wear PPE's. It's quite scary to watch Norm cut woods without guard, Tommy ripping dry walls without helmets and mask and all. Or am I just too cautious? Or is my imagination too vivid?

However, looking at the results, it's worth watching all those things. It's like an ugly duckling transforming into a beautiful swan. Still worth watching even though the building codes and techniques here are different than in North America.

DILF - daddy I like to xxxx (well, aren't most sweating men doing macho things are?)
HVAC - heating ventilation air conditioning
PPE - personal protective equipment

My favourite YouTube channels

Some YouTube channels I subscribe but didn't really follow, but some are in my weekly/daily list of must watch.

BuzzFeed is a must. They are informational. I watch all 5 channels, BuzzFeed Video, Pop, Yellow, Blue and Violet. 

http://www.youtube.com/user/buzzfeedvideo

http://www.youtube.com/user/buzzfeedpop

http://www.youtube.com/user/buzzfeedblue

http://www.youtube.com/user/buzzfeedyellow

http://www.youtube.com/user/buzzfeedviolet

Next is Sotheby's International Realty, looking or watching nice beautiful houses. Who can resist it?

http://www.youtube.com/user/sothebysrealty

And for hardcore house watching (kinda sound like bird watching if houses are birds) is This Old House.

http://www.youtube.com/user/thisoldhouse

These are my favourite channels, what are yours? 

Top YouTube channels by Canadian

Here's my top 3 YouTube channel (by Canadians)

Sacha Stevenson, A funny Canadian living in Indonesia. If you can understand Bahasa Indonesia, it's a bonus because most of her video is in Bahasa Indonesia.

http://www.youtube.com/user/sasaseno

Second is Matthew Santoro. A cute bald man with is list of things. Pretty informative channel. Famous for his 10 and 50 list of things.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=matthew+santoro

And the third, a personal trainer. It's from his channel that I learn about Tabata and HIIT. He also demonstrate on healthy cooking. Brad Gouthro.

http://www.youtube.com/user/bradgouthrofitness

Honourary mention include:

Just for Laugh/Juste pour rire. Below is the link to Just for Laugh gags.

http://www.youtube.com/user/JustForLaughsTV

Funny Quebecois with funny accent (he made that purposely, I reckon), OneFrenchCanadian. I don't know his real name.

http://www.youtube.com/user/OneFrenchCanadian

There are more actually in my subscribe list. But the most searched and most watched videos are from these channels. I found most are funny, entertaining and just cool.

Have a nice day!

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Also from Canada is Joy of Baking. Can't help but notice her Canadian accent. I don't bake much, but I like her cookies recipe. One day, I'll try making Nanaimo bars
http://www.youtube.com/user/JoyofBaking1