In need of Holiday

Who isn't, right? It's that time of the year when you suddenly realise... it's already towards the end of February, the supermarkets are selling Easter eggs (but NO WHERE can I find the Ferrero Eggs! Franklins used to sell them when it was still being supplied by PicknPay, now it's Metcash with its blackngold rubbish... disappointed!), and year is going by so quickly, what is this I don't even..

So, been busy lately.. I've taken to eating my brother's food since he's always digging into mine.

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And to keep awake, I've actually.. not had coffee for a while now.

The usual cafe where I get my coffee before work now have to ask if I want coffee with my bacon and egg roll, only to get rejected. Sorry. Coffee is actually quite bad for you in general, but I like the occasional coffee... just not everyday.

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Though making coffee is another thing altogether. It's actually quite fun!

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I've always seen how people make my coffee when I order it, but I've never actually used a grinder, or a coffee machine before.

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Coffee beans grinded! The grinder was set to 6.5 or so... we adjusted it a bit because it wasn't fine enough the first time round.

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Took a barista course at the Coffee School one Sunday. Just out of the blue. Just because it's fun.

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My first coffee! An expresso.

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The beans we used! I can't imagine how much of this we wasted that day...

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Long black~ we were taught to fill a cup halfway with hot water and then fill it with a double shot.

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On to the milk!

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That's Grace, our barista trainer!

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Nozzle half way into the surface of the milk, slightly to the side, till you hear the "sound". I can't describe it, but the "sound" is good, it means you're doing it right!

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Temperature of milk should be around 60-70 degrees, which means your palm can touch the side of the milk jug for just a second or so.

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I actually failed pretty badly on my first attempt at texturing milk. Was too busy taking photos to pay attention.

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This was our next project- to make a flat white and cappuccino.

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I ended up with two flat whites, but cheated my way through by covering it with cocoa powder. That's all you need to see, appearance matters! The foam was thin, like a flat white though, haha. My second try was much better though, got the hang of milk texturing.

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Lattes next!

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Layered latte, which is really just textured milk, with a shot of expresso drizzled down slowly, or down the back of a spoon.

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Latte, and a piccolo latte.

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The whole line of coffee, ending with a fake one- hot chocolate!

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Mocha~ Basically a spoonful of cocoa powder mixed into the expresso and topped with textured milk.

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Macchiato? Or Ristretto? I have forgotten everything!! This is just a shot of expresso with a spoonful of milk froth in it. Not something I'd order, so it's ok to forget.

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Hot chocolate, mocha, and the one I've forgotten.

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Lunch break of laksa! Cheap, around $8 or $8.50, can't remember. Well, cheap for city...

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Back to the coffee school for latte art.

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These are actually really easy to make, you just need to cover up all the white parts of the coffee surface, then use a spoon to pile on the froth at the bits where you want it to be white, then squeeze lines of chocolate syrup before using a skewer to drag and swirl.

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My worm with a sunflower head.

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Or you can do without the chocolate sauce and just use the whiteness of the foam and the brown-ness of the coffee to make designs like hearts etc.

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The coffee school's signature monkey!

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My try at it.

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Tried to do a rabbit on my own... she's cute in my eyes! >=(

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We then had a competition, where everyone in the class had to design an original latte art. Guess mine!

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This one won, but it's not mine. It's pretty cute though, so gotta give it to the girl who drew it!

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Mine was the lion. Didn't look very much like a lion after it's sat there for a while, but still!!

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Random one- my last photo of the day actually. We attempted pouring a rosetta and heart without using skewers, just pouring. Failed so bad... it was surprisingly hard.

Might go back to practice sometime. When there's time. There's never time.