Breadmaker Creations: Pizzas and Cinnamon Buns

I'm never a fan of commercially mass produced pizzas and least of all, frozen ones. However every so often I've a hankering for some slices of this pie! Since I'm not gonna pay exorberant prices for some pitifully topped, mass produced, delivered pizzas and I didn't know of a good pizza place, I would have to delve into the "world" of pizza making. I know that a good pizza requires a good dough and then you're pretty much set. I made a few variations with the toppings here but I definitely made my fav and also a classic, Pizza Margherita, as shown in the second picture. The dough was made using the Bread machine's recipe, no difficulties there, just follow the instructions (I think different bread machine has slightly different method/recipe to follow). Then I attempted (note "attempted") to shape the dough into a round shape, without success, so it turned out slight oval. I also did the throwing in the air thingy which didn't do anything taste wise (I didn't think so at least) except to dust my whole countertop with flour! Oh well.....at least I tried....hehehe..





After the pizza making attempt, I went onto cinnamon buns. Oooohhhhhhh I LOVE THEM! Well....at least I love the giantic ones from Cinnabon. I like it "pure" which means simply just as it is, no nuts no nothing. As you can see from this one, it's got nuts, pecans to be exact. Well, I had made two different batches but the ones with the pecans looked much prettier...hehehe... I make the pecan ones coz Ed loves them...so I know for a fact he wouldn't steal mine!!! Yes, two batches made for a selfish reason!! We gave some away and ate all of it in one day!!!! Yes, we had them for breakfast and brunch and it was gone!! Guess got to make some more. With the breadmaker making doughs(with yeast) are definitely less scary and closer to perfection, I mean, you really can't screw up. For those who thinks I'm cheating...well....it's good cheating then...LOL....with food like this, you can call it whatever....hehehe.....

With the bread maker I think I'm braver to make yeast doughs. I used to make to doughs in the past but they always turn out as failures but with this bread machine, all my yeast doughs are successes!It's GREAT! You don't have to invest on an expensive one, just one works.:)

Vacation Pictures

There were so many of them so picking out these few were seriously tough. We went to Koh Samui, Thailand since it was my husband's hometown and also his brother still stays there. It's a real beautiful island except that it's really hot and humid, as expected!! So let me cut the whole long story and just show some pics


Above is pics of the hotel we stayed in while on Koh Samui. It's the Nora Beach Resort and Spa at Chaweng Beach. Let me say this about this hotel, if you've any young children, this is a good place to be. Coming from a place where child friendly places are part of life, we take it for granted that vacilities attaining to it is an everyday thing. Well, Koh Samui, although a tourist place, does not really provide a lot of kid friendly place, you usually improvised what you have and most of the time, it's not safe for the child. So considering that this hotel gives attention to couples with children, I'm totally impressed!! Both my husband and I love it!!! It's got a big kiddy pool as well! Impressive!! On top of that, it's also a spa, which makes it REAL adult friendly. You can enjoy yourself in peace knowing that your child is also enjoying himself! There were many other activities there as well but we didn't have the time to indulge ourselves that much since most of time is spent with relatives. We had a villa (an upgrade!!NEATO!) and it was fantastic!! It had a small private outdoor courtyard attached to our villa that includes an outdoor shower (if you wanted to use it...*ahem*). A big bathroom with a huge jacuzzi tub AND another shower with a skylight and a rainshower shower head! Cool!! As you can guess being there is definitely one of the biggest highlight for me!! Six thumbs up (me, Ed & Ethan). Oh yah, did I mention that it was by the beach too...:D


Some home cooked food prepared by my sis in law. We had our dinner outdoors, al fresco style, despite the heat and humidity, it was truly enjoyable! Now I'm thinking of adding a dining set outdoors on our sideyard, but I think the Texas' heat is a little too much!! heehhe...


And here's some street food at a central market. Most locals do their groceries at an outdoor market but it was closed by the time we were there, except for the food stands which was fine by my husband..:) He went there for the desserts!!! LOL

A few pics of Ethan enjoying himself at the beach. He wasn't too keen in playing with the sea water but he was crazy over the sand!! He ended up picking handfuls of sand and throwing at the sea, himself and finally at us, coz he thought it was just funny to see us running from him!!!Of course, he was also slathered in about a gallon of sunblock!! Well...he was topless and rather fair, didn't want him to get sun burns!

Any Other Place

Just came back from Singapore and Thailand with an almost 3.5wks of vacation, welcoming the peace of this moment. Everything's so hectic back home, it's always a rush, even when it's not. Some people might think my mindset is laidback, well, not really, it's just that it would be NICE to, every now and then, stop and smell the roses! I seriously think this idea is lost in the sea of rushing here and there!!
Now that almost everything's back to "normal" and settled, I'm beginning to feel a little homesick. I think me feeling that is mainly coz of Ethan. He seems so lonely without his cousins, aunties and uncles. On the other hand, he's also less crazy and definitely more manageable. I think the heat got to him!! Plus he was teething as well!! So everything IS crazy!
Thing's so laidback here that I feel that I need to get out of here, any where seems better than here!! LOL I guess the grass is always greener somewhere else! Now if I can merge the best of home and here, that would one great place to be residing for sure. Meanwhile I would just have to settle for the "peace' and "quiet" of Dallas. Oh yah, did I mention that Ethan's "suffering" from major jet lag and extreme neediness!!! *sigh*

PS: More posts on this vacation later...:D