Of Bread, liver pate and turtles

Today being sunday, mummyji n daddyji visited our favourite market in AMK. The stalls have been relocated to a temporary site after the original got burnt. The new place is really quite claustrophobia-inducing, so it's a matter of choose, pay and go - no browsing or contemplating what to cook with what, unless you wanna be squashed by aunties with loaded trolleys.

Anyway, while daddyji was paying for some squids, mummyji was being stared at by some bright vermillion goldfishes in the next stall. They were pretty adorable, and mummyji contemplated getting a couple for the water feature at home. Somehow, in a twist of events, we ended up getting 2 little turtles instead.

So back at home, these 2 little fellas got into the water feature and did some laps around, like 2 happy kids in a pool.

Soon they latched onto the pipe and tried to climb out of the water, but kept slipping down back into the water again, quite a comical duo to watch.

The lil fellas were named Cafe (the darker one) and Latte (lighter coloured one, obviously) and after watching them swim around, we left them alone and got on with our own stuff.

Z had a bout of nose-bleed (3rd time in a few days) so daddyji brought her to the clinic while mummyji stayed home with S for science revision. 

Mummyji went to look at C and L, and found C doing this.

about an hour later, both were no where to be found!! Red Alert!!

mummyji searched every nook and corner of the little pond, then S thought, "maybe they swam to the back through the little opening" and looked behind the water feature. Lo and behold, the little fellas were there, with L the braver and more athletic one, perched on the ledge.

Mummyji wanted to grab it but it fell back into the water, so we just left them there, hoping they'll swim out of the narrow space by themselves.

Meantime, Z came back from the doctor's - $22 for the doc to advise her not to dig her nose too hard or it'll bleed... advice which all of us have been doling on her. (Ok, so for the $22, there was a bottle of nasal drops too, which mummyji had too, in her stash of meds)

After a yummy lunch of steaks and potatoes, mummyji decided to bake bread, so that we can mop up the gravy of tonight's clams and squid marinara sauce.

Bread dough proofing.... 

then mummyji whacked the chicken livers which daddyji had lightly fried in butter and onions into the blender, with 1 half-boiled egg and blitzed the lot into pate.

Creamy Liver Pate lovingly scooped and packed into a glass jar...

and lightly drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. 

Said jar is now perched proudly on a refrigerator shelf, waiting to be spread onto toasted baguette slices... probably tomorrow..

and then just when mummyji was about to take a break, she spotted a little spot of green behind a pot of pandan plant next to the water feature.

Latte's done a Mas Selamat!

Escaped turtle, Latte 

- swam to the back of the water feature, managed to squeeze through the tight space there and clawed up to the ledge. When spotted by mummyji earlier, he'd jumped back into the water. Later when all was calm and the owners were lulled into thinking that he was safely stuck in the tight spot there, he found a window of opportunity and made his jump to freedom, ala Singapore's most famous fugitive.

Alas for Latte (unlike Mas Selamat), his freedom was short-lived for Mummyji quickly picked him up and plonked him right into old Kaiser's round bowl. (Kaiser's our late fish)

All this while, Cafe was still paddling behind the water feature.

Mummyji decided that some action was required, for while Cafe may appear not to be as bright as Latte,  it could very well be but a show. We must not slip in our judgement of these turtles' intelligence. So daddyji, the hero, jumped into action and squeezed into the back precariously, fished Cafe out and plonked him into Kaiser's bowl too.

Fugitive turtles re-captured and placed into smaller space. 

We are hoping that the roundness of this bowl will prevent them from clawing their way up and out. Till we get a proper turtle tank, that is. Looking at Latte trying his utmost to claw up, Mummyji felt really bad about keeping them "locked up" like this. Would they be better off in the wild? Were they born in captivity or were they poached from their mother? Sigh, was it wise to have purchased them at all???

On a happier note, the bread turned out fragrant and did a great job of mopping up the sauces.

This is a somewhat focaccia, with wheat and organic plain flour, and a teaspoonful of Herbs de Provence mixed into the dough after the first proof.

Well, this was the last picture of the 2 little fellas taken today. Let's hope they'll behave themselves and stay in the tank. Just to be safe, tomorrow morning, Mummyji'll definitely check on them before she starts preparing breks.