This week, I looked how the EU Energy Star specifications apply to an Apple iMac. I walked through the calculations used to determine whether a computer meets the Energy Star requirements, and compared my results to the Energy Star database.

The first step is making the dough. The dough is a simple mix of flour, water, yeast, sugar, and salt.

Flour for steamed buns

Yeast mix for steamed buns

Kneading the dough

Dough after kneading

Leaving the dough to rise

After leaving the dough to rise, you add baking powder to it before shaping the buns.

Steamed bun dough after rising

Adding baking powder to dough

Steamed bun dough after kneading in baking powder

The dough is rolled out into small circles. You put some filling in the centre (in this case, some red bean paste I picked up from our local Asian supermarket), and then fold the edges together to seal the filling inside the dough. Twisting a piece of dough off the top of the bun makes sure it is well sealed.

Rolling out dough for steamed buns

Preparing to add filling

Adding red bean paste

Steamed bun dough with red bean paste

Folding in the dough to close the bun

Steamed bun dough with all edges folded in

Sealing a steamed bun by twisting the top off

Sealed steamed bun

The buns are placed on squares of baking paper and left the rise again before steaming them. The baking paper stops the buns from sticking to the steamer.

Sealed steamed bun left to rise

Steamed buns after rising

Steamed buns in the steamer ready for cooking

We keep our left over buns in the freezer and reheat them in the microwave as we want them.

You can find the recipe I used here.

Yoghurt maker

Adding Milk Powder

I add half a cup of full cream milk powder to almost 1 litre of skim milk for my yoghurt. I was originally using skim milk powder, but the full cream milk powder gives consistently thicker yoghurt.

Using Powdered Starter

My preferred starter is the Easiyo sachets. The sachets are designed to be used with water, but I use two generous tablespoons of the sachet with skim milk.

I was originally using some yoghurt from my previous batch to make each new batch. I found the results highly variable; sometimes the yoghurt wouldn’t set properly, and sometimes it had hidden pockets of liquid in it.

Using the powdered starter gives more consistent results. I have also had success freezing some of the yogurt from good batches and using the yoghurt ice cubes as starter.

My Basic Yoghurt Recipe

• almost 1 litre UHT skim milk
• 1/2 cup powdered full cream milk
• 2 tablespoons plain Easiyo sachet

1. Mix all the ingredients in the yoghurt jar and shake well.
2. Put the yoghurt jar in the Easiyo thermos with hot water.
3. Leave for 8-14 hours.

This week I looked at the energy consumption requirements that computers must meet to use the Energy Star label in the EU.

After publishing last week’s post about EU policy on stand by power consumption for electrical equipment, I discovered the directive it was based on had been replaced. This week, I tried to discover how the new directive would affect the existing regulation on stand by power consumption.

The topic this week is the EU Ecodesign concept and EU policy on stand by power consumption for household electrical items.

This week I looked at why the European Commission is described as representing the common EU interest, and what this means.

Strasbourg, home of the European Parliament

First, the EU and its policies are influential; what happens in Europe appears to influence what happens in the rest of the world.

Second, DssW is an English limited company. This means it is subject to EU laws, and they have a direct effect on our business and our customers.

I’m writing about what I learn over on the DssW blog. I’ve started with two posts:

• Learning about the European Union
• Where does EU policy come from?