Bright Skies and Chocolate Cake

Project 'Unpack' is going slowly. The Mr. has been working 7 days a week and I've been working 6. Its a struggle to get anything done, let alone tackle the boxes. But we will get there. 

Here is a picture of the view from my kitchen window. This is a very rare sort of view in Singapore, a land of 4-5million people squished into 700square km of space. About 90% of people live in high-rise apartments, close together and all you see is into the next block of apartments. But the Mr. and I were very blessed, we got a view. Our hill is treed and lush, with lots of birds flying past. Unfortunately the birds are flying past so fast I can't catch them on camera! But they are there. I see Black Streaked Orioles, lots of Swifts, Pigeons and Doves, big seabirds and I'm sure once I saw an Eagle! Pictures will come eventually, once I get one of them to sit still somewhere!

The other reason I have been slow to unpack is that I'm still sick. My digestive system seems to have issues with the concept of eating. I've found out I'm allergic to eggs, wheat and am lactose intolerant. I'm also unable to eat any type of grain at the moment. Add to that the fact that I'm a vegetarian (or pescatarian really) and I'm struggling to find food to eat. I was so happy when I found this cake recipe which has no wheat, dairy or eggs. I baked the cake today and I love it. I'm so happy as I have a sweet tooth and was missing my cakes. Like my other creative projects, I made some changes to the instructions for the cake and substituted a whole bunch of different ingredients (partly to save cost, partly cause I don't like bananas!). It still turned out great. Its a really moist and juicy cake, like a brownie.

So I'm slowly learning how to cook without eggs, grains and milk. I've made veggie burgers, tofu scramble and eggplant stew. I'm taking it as another creative challenge. I cook like I crochet - experiment, swap things, change that, see how it turns out!

On the crochet front, I'm making a cushion cover for my couch. Its colourful and will have a tri-stripe back and a bobble stripe front. This is the back. I'm using really chunky wool, so its going quickly!