Homebaked Granola & A Handsewn Fabric Trivet

The BFF has been cooking and baking so much that she's shrieking about seeing trails of red ants and the occasional cockroaches. Teehehehe. She decided to get down to toasting granola. I'm the lucky recipient of a box. She dutifully followed recipes and added a teaspoon of sea salt in the batch of granola. Oddly, I could taste it. We've decided that granola really doesn't need salt. It wasn't overly salty. It was just a wee bit. That's okay; I'll eat it still. This is just straight up granola — lots of nuts, wolf berries and coconut flakes, all geled together with honey.

Granola is my go-to food for the day. It can be breakfast, brunch or lunch. Hahaha. Plus I'm stricken with indigestion for the week. I'd prefer to ride it out than to take antacids. It could be alleviated with intensive exercise and a strict control of the types of food ingested. The last handful of the BFF's granola was topped up with a red kiwi, the latest variant to hit the market. Found it at the supermarket that night and decided to get box to try. I'm generally okay with kiwi in my açaí bowls and granola, or in desserts. I was curious to see how the red kiwi turned out. I like it quite a bit. This red tastes like berries. It's not as sour as the green kiwi, and not as sweet as the yellow/golden.

J didn't mention anything and sneakily sent over a thoughtful gift. It appeared in the mail box one night, and I was totally surprised! It was a really useful pot-holder sewn by momshoo, a mother and daughter outfit who sew all their fabric products in small batches with hand-knitting and embroidery. They've been doing this for over a decade. Mine was embroidered with a Shiba Inu running through a field! Too cute. Ahhh, Choya misses running through the greens now that the dog parks remain closed. 

The linen and cotton trivet is a tad thin to be used on baking trays and the cast iron Dutch ovens when they bake in the oven at 200dC for hours. It works on handles of pots and pans on the hob, and when taking out hot plates from the microwave oven. It's too pretty to be used on grease and curries. Turmeric stains are really tough to get rid of even in a dishwasher. I don't need to keep it pristine, but it should be kept better as a trivet to cushion my eating bowls and such. Took it out for a first use for my bowl of granola. Nice!