My Secret World～僕唯一の逃げ場所～ https://ameblo.jp/winternitemare/ Ramblings and occasional scribbles of a university student. ja Coconut Coffee Cake And then there's my cohort, stuck in the labs slaving over our research project.
Just the other day I was hit by three types of crisis: lipids, yellow tips and ethanol; two of which are solved but the lipids are the worst (and most frustrating) of them.
Disregarding the technical terms, let's just move on to just talking about summer.

So... My facebook feed has been filled with people enjoying their summer travelling and just having fun in general.
There are some one their month-long Euro tour prior to graduation season in July while others have gone home and are enjoying the comforts of well... Home.
I have to admit to feeling a bit sad but I've had my share of fun, especially my overnight stay at Liverpool with my friends and my graduation road trip around North England and Scotland and then Amsterdam with my family.

Drawn on the beachfront of the B&B we were staying in- Roker Beach.

The summer of that year really did feel like summer.
How should I say it... It was the warmest summer I've ever experienced here.
This year is pretty wet; it's been raining almost every day since last week.
That's British weather for you, I guess.

Come on, does this even look like summer to you other than looking like 4 pm in the afternoon when it's actually 7.

So what does the word 'summer' bring to one's mind?
Vacation, beaches, Piña Colada... Just to name a few.
To me, summer meant that I could go home and enjoy about three month worth of days not having to think of what to cook for my next meal, what to buy for the week's grocery and having to even go out of the house.
Summer also meant having to readjust my body to the warm tropics of my home country, which surprisingly takes me only a few hours (honestly).
Moving on, the idea for this cake came to me when J had me check the expiry date of his packet of desiccated coconut last Sunday.
The last time I used it was back in February in my attempt to make the Kelantan specialty Cek Mek Molek.
友達の家で食べたら恋しくになったから自分を試す作りたい、油ではなくオーブンで焼きました。
...And I've diverged from my original subject.

So my task was to get rid of desiccated coconut by the month's end, which gave me the idea of doing a coconut-themed month of baked goodies.
The cake was planned to be on Saturday but because I finished early and the fact that I was extremely eager to try it out, the deed was done today.
All I lacked in my 'pantry' was Greek yoghurt and I neither had any yoghurt to strain to make home-made Greek yoghurt nor the patience to actually wait overnight; to Morrisons I went after packing up my bench.
The recipe I'm about to share is from Nick Malgieri's Perfect Light Desserts in collaboration with David Joachim which I have spiced up to have a crispy and crunchy top. From the illustration, the cake looked a little more dense than what I've produced, which looks like this:



I couldn't wait and cut it as soon as I could handle the spring of the cake tin.
The top was crunchy, the cake itself was soft and fluffy... All done with a hand whisk and some elbow grease.

Coconut Poppy Seed Coffee Cake


(recipe adapted from Perfect Light Desserts, HarperCollins, 2006)
made with an 8-inch (20cm) springform cake tin; serves 8-10 depending on size per piece
Ingredients:

Cake

  • 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour

  • 1/4 cup (40g) poppy seeds

  • 3/4 cup (56g) desiccated coconut

  • 1 tsp (4g) baking powder

  • 2 large eggs

  • 3/4 cup (170g) golden castor sugar

  • 1/2 cup (100ml) neutral-flavoured oil

  • 1/2 tsp (3g) salt

  • 1 cup (226g) plain fat-free yoghurt (preferentially Greek yoghurt)

  • cooking spray (only if not using non-stick cake pan)


Topping

  • 1/2 cup (46.5g) desiccated coconut

  • 1/4 cup (50g) demerara sugar


Method




    1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).

    2. Prepare two large bowls and a small bowl. In the first bowl, sift in the flour and baking powder and then stir in the desiccated coconut and poppy seeds. In the second bowl, add the eggs and whisk while gradually adding the golden castor sugar until the mixture appears light. Whisk in the oil and salt. In the small bowl, stir in the desiccated coconut and Demerara sugar until combined.

    3. With a large spatula, fold in half of the flour mixture into the egg mixture, fold in the yoghurt and then the remaining flour mixture.

    4. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and shake slightly to even it out. Sprinkle on the coconut sugar to the top of the cake.

    5. Bake the cake for 30-40 minutes or until a bamboo skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

    6. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 5-10 minutes and then unmold to cool completely.




The cake is best served at room temperature and is kept by double-wrapping in plastic and placed in the fridge. It can also be frozen for up to a month.
The best accompaniment would be with tea... I'm thinking Earl Grey but my knowledge of tea is only limited to Jasmine, Darjeeling, Matcha, and Puer... I can't really recommend unless I've tasted it.
As for the leftover coconut sugar, it can be used to for other cakes / muffins or even be used as a sandwich filling or even for mochi! The possibilities are endless!

Now what's my next on my coconut escapade?
また今度～！ ]]> https://ameblo.jp/winternitemare/entry-11873430520.html Sun, 08 Jun 2014 07:34:20 +0900 親友からのプレゼント これがあの日のハンバーガーレストランです。

The amount of sauce choices they had... And the names.

The atmosphere was pretty good; it was American-themed.


これはお勧めです：ドーナツバーガー！
Burger filling sandwiched between two sugar-glazed doughnuts. Looks tiny but is actually filling due to the richness of the brioche.


This is what I ordered for: the Pit burger. Two steak burgers, pulled pork, dill pickles, hickory-smoked bacon between toasted brioche buns.


Initially planned to have their house special banana pudding but they ran out of grilled meringue so had their Mississippi Mud brownie instead. A rainy day, warm brownie with chocolate sauce and vanilla ice-cream, and good company...What more can one ask for?

そして、今日は親友からプレゼントを貰いました～！

She left a pretty nice message, which I will keep in the book and look at it if I ever feel like I want to give up.

It's the weekend and I've got two photo shoots scheduled for next week.
One's voluntary while the other one's a paid job.

My research project is going rather well, with a few rocky bits considering that they still can't contact the supplier for the materials I need for my lipids...
Either way, I learned a lot during my time in the lab and that's what really counts.

また今度～！ ]]> https://ameblo.jp/winternitemare/entry-11866511027.html Sat, 31 May 2014 03:05:06 +0900 Hello World
It's been... Six years since I started this space and I've practically abandoned it.
Is it being revived...?
Maybe.
...Maybe not.
Let's just see how things go.

My theme: an English blogger among the Japanese blogging community.
Sounds a little ambitious, huh?
Not really.
It's probably one of my fleeting passion that will probably die down soon, or it may turn out to be a long-time commitment; only time will tell.

A bit of background on me, if anyone's even bothered to read or has unluckily stumbled onto this little insignificant corner of the site:

My name is Rei. (←本名ではありません)
I'm currently a PG （postgraduate student;大学院生）in the UK. （もう四年にイギリスで留学しました）
I've been in the UK since my undergraduate studies (三年、専門は生理医学), having graduated last year and immediately continued to postgraduate in immunology and microbiology (免疫と微生物学).
I speak five different languages, including Japanese (not as fluent though) and two other Chinese-ethnic dialects.
I love gaming and baking, and can play the guitar and piano.

In a nutshell, I'm a gamer, baker and scientist... A truly weird combination, don't you think.
Notice that I put the terms 'gamer and baker' before 'scientist'; I'm dead certain that I'm the first two while I'm still a little uncertain about the last.
向いていないは言えないけど、ただ自信がないです。
Never really did expected myself to go down this path though.
Three years ago I'd imagine myself working in the hospital but it all changed the moment I started my postgraduate.
I'm almost finishing and am currently doing my research project on antibiotic and its relationship with intrinsic resistance; it'll get too technical so I'll leave it at that.

So what am I going to write here then?
As my subheading suggests, it'll be random ramblings.
Presenting my records of my past 20 days in research (twitter feeds; short and sweet):
初日：Of SOPs, risk assessments and COSHH. Plus side, glad the test is over.
二日目：研究室に自己紹介；仕事は明日に始まります。
三日目：昼ご飯に読書、研究家の日常。
四日目．午後：下準備。
五日目：手がノートになりました。 忙しくなった。
六日目：数学に下手を認めます、もっと練習を決めます！
七日目：死にそう…
八日目：本当に死にそうです！今日は六時半まで帰れないんだ！
九日目：もう良くになりました！実験結果はできました！
十一日目：数学が大嫌いです、特に統計。
十二日目：データを分析するがめんどい…
十三日目：科学の事実（上司から）：Science is built on hunches and sh***.
十四日目：フランス料理を食べたい…そうして、良い結果が出来ました～！
十五日目：ずいぶん慣れました。
十六日目：眠い…
十七日目：何も書いてないなので、すごく悔しいです。何時に書き始めますかなぁー
十八日目：時々は生物学が嫌いです。
十九日目：また外れました…_(:з」∠)_
二十日目：今日は誕生日に友達と一緒に祝うのはとても嬉しいです～！ありがうございます！明日も頑張ります！

ええ、今日は僕の誕生日です。
もう四年に誕生日が海外に家族と別々を祝いました…
今年は昨年より楽しかった、弟と一緒にからです(彼は大学三年生なので、あと二ヶ月に卒業します)。

As you can probably judge, I'm still between a beginner and intermediate in Japanese.
I've sort of put language learning on hold to concentrate on my research project but will welcome any feedback on mistakes (just as with my friend さやか on Facebook).

Anyways, I should be going to bed now.
It's going to be another long day tomorrow.

また今度～！ ]]> https://ameblo.jp/winternitemare/entry-11864502304.html Thu, 29 May 2014 07:24:29 +0900