My oven is dead.
I am sad- no cakes and bread.
Time for Ikea.
(hey, that took 1 minute! Give me a break~)
You're only here for a short visit. Don't hurry, don't worry. And be sure to smell the butter along the way.
Thursday, September 04, 2014
Thursday, August 07, 2014
Strangers and Cheesecake
We meet people everyday. Strangers who might be passing by in a shopping mall, the driver in the car next to yours at the red lights, a greeting with a friend's friend. Many will simply slip by without notice. When Chance decides to stop and allow an encounter, with some, there is an automatic click, where one goes "ah, we can get along". Perhaps this is the all-elusive "spark" that some are looking for. Others, we are more cautious in approaching or getting close, though that can certainly change with time. Yet others, we will instinctively avoid or even have a mild dislike right from the start.
While I do not personally believe in phenomenons such as love at first sight (how do you even know it's love when you don't know anything about a person? Can one really understand their own feelings within a mere few seconds of first sighting? I think not..), our power of observation and intuition is something we rely on more heavily than we know. The way we've been brought up, our prejudice, our bias, our preferences are all attributes to how we deal with the situation where we meet someone for the first time. Feelings are not irrational, they can be explained- if one allows it to be explained, but often, Denial pays a visit and Logic is cast out.
We all start off as strangers at one point, and perhaps after a certain period of time of getting to know someone and becoming friends/partners, we become strangers once more, almost like an expiry date stamped onto a relationship.
From baKEE |
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
On Loop
It's almost 2am. I've been listening to a live recording of Isaac Stern's playing of a Mozart violin concerto on loop for the past hour, silently celebrating the life he had and remembering back to the day he passed away nearly a decade and a half ago. At around 4 minutes, a distinctive sneeze is heard. Twice. A further third sneeze half a minute later. A fourth one at 5 minutes. And another one after that during the theme reprise.
Someone, please hand that lady a tissue.
Usually, this would annoy me and I'll change the track or listen to another version. While it is most definitely a pity that it is forever recorded into an otherwise stunning performance by a great master, the wonder of Isaac Stern's playing is that no matter what distractions there are, it doesn't ruin it, nor does it take anything away from the quality in which he plays. I'm not a big fan of Mozart either- my previous violin teacher knew that and never had me play any of his pieces. I wasn't given a choice and my current teacher's first suggestion was a Mozart violin concerto. Oh well, one can only learn and not complain- here's my chance to figure out why I cannot play a classical piece in all its simplicity. Minimal glissando, minimal flare, play the notes on the page, take note of the timing. Isaac Stern as a reference...
Repeat.
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From fooood |
Labels:
Cafe Series
Candy Mountain @
82 Rowe Street, Eastwood NSW 2122, Australia
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Shoes
... the soles of your shoes are all worn down
The time for sleep is now
It's nothing to cry about...
It's no secret that I'm more keen on buying shoes than any other items. Clothes- I recycle through about 3 shirts, 2 jeans, 3 jackets, 1 scarf. Bags- I try not to even bring them around anymore, but I've been carrying only one brown backpack for the past month or so. Shoes? I'm not even going to bother counting. There are different shoes for different occasions. Badminton, running, walking, casual walking, different lengths of boots (thigh high, mid length, ankle), work shoes, comfortable work shoes, formal events, hiking, rainy season, summer season, beach, washing car (that's really just slippers)... you name the occasion, there's probably a pair of shoes especially for it.
From fooood |
Labels:
Cafe Series
Candy Mountain @
108 Great North Road, Five Dock NSW 2046, Australia
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Choice of Communication; NZ3 FIN
Music or language?
Or, more specifically, given the choice of knowing how to play every single musical instrument out there, or being fluent in all languages, which will you choose? For me, there's never a doubt in my mind- language. If I were to have any sort of magic, any sort of "superhero" power, it would be to master every single language and dialect out there in the world. A close second will be teleportation, but rather than being able to teleport, wouldn't time warp make much more sense? Then you can freeze time, go to another location, unfreeze time- that's the same effect as teleportation really.
I digress. Back to languages... One of the components of my job is to aid communication through music, for those who do not or cannot speak or use words. To be able to play every single musical instrument out there and make them sing is a fantastic skill to have- one that I would love to possess, but for someone who can speak, being able to communicate fluently with anyone in the world must be one of the handiest skill to have. What can one do in a place that is completely foreign with no common language at all? I hardly think playing a piece of music on the violin will be able to communicate the question of "where is the closest restroom" to another person... To me, stepping out of my comfort zone is to go to a place where the language is foreign. That's something to do in the future...
From NZ 2014 |
Sunday, July 20, 2014
The Cost of One & NZ2
So recently my dad told me to get life insurance.
Coincidentally, my brother was talking about how he was getting life insurance a couple of days prior to that too. Then there was the news about the MH17 passenger airlines getting shot down, with a devastating death toll of 298. And not forgetting MH370, the missing flight carrying 239 lives that simply vanished. On a smaller and more personal scale, I'm a self-confessed road rager (in my yearbook at the end of my high school, I was given the title "worst driver" of my year, though in my defense, the one and only accident I was involved in was not actually my fault); my field of work is not exactly the safest (being attacked by clients is definitely not unheard of); and I'm a bit too lazy to care very much when it comes to general self-care. Oh?Muscle strain? Stop playing badminton for a week? Yeaaaa maybe.... nah.
Make that very lazy. And head strong. You there, stop nodding please.
On a side note, it will be interesting to find out how much this life is worth to the insurance companies. I was always reminded that I'm an investment which my parents make on a daily basis, and I don't doubt that. In fact, I will never be completely aware of exactly how much investment my parents put into me. Looking at it retrospectively- there's the big stuff, like how they paid for my music tuition fees for years, some of my uni fees, but also the small- every square of toilet paper, every gigabyte of internet, every drop of water etc. Not just money, but time, love and effort... this defiant, stubborn child was never an easy one to take care of. While life insurance (money) can bring little, if any at all, comfort to bereaved ones, it can be considered a responsibility to get it. At this stage for me, it's also a note of thanks for investing in me. In the future, that will change when I have others depending on me, but for now....
New Zealand 2!
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From NZ 2014 |
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Shuffling and NZ1
Everyday is like a jigsaw puzzle. With 24 hours, it's a matter of shuffling activities into those 24 hours. I've never really had a problem with time management. Ha. Let's face it- I have massive time management issues, but being someone who works much more efficiently under pressure, ie time or the lack thereof, I always manage to fit what needs to be done into whatever little time I have.
Till today.
I literally couldn't think of any way I could fit everything I want done into 24 hours. What I'm trying to get at here is that perhaps what we all need is a central focus point. Brings back the point of priorities really. What is important? What do I want to be good at? Often, those with savant minds are very focused on being good at one thing. Perhaps it's having an amazing memory, or the talent of drawing, or music, athletic abilities... it is right to challenge ourselves to different things, perhaps even get quite good at them, but we all have one thing that we enjoy or excel in above all other fields.
Someone once told me that when he goes for a passion, he puts 100% investment in it. Time, money, talent, effort, everything. He was lying of course, because it doesn't work practically. Money is essentially what runs our ambitions. If I want to focus on music, I will need the finance to do so, and the only way is by having a job. That takes away time and effort. It's a conundrum that cannot ever be solved satisfactorily.
Unless you are filthy rich. In which case, go live your perfect life and be really good at that one passion. Hopefully it's something that the world needs.
From NZ 2014 |
Friday, July 04, 2014
Sentimental Post
So this entry is going to be a quick one. Supposed to be packing for a trip to the snows! Skipped badminton for various reasons...
Random story time:
Yesterday, my dad was handing me a teacup and I saw a drop of red on it. Thinking it's just dirty, I jokingly passed it back to my dad and said, "Look, there's blood on it."
Dad looked surprised and said, "Where did it come from??" while gazing at his hands.
Turns out he had a small cut somewhere. When he told me it was his blood, I exclaimed, "Ew dad, I almost touched it! That's disgusting!"
He gave me the look and said "what do you mean 'disgusting'?? The blood running in your veins is mine too you know."
=__=
Two entries ago, I wrote that I find it hard to find the motivation to exercise after work. Not today. I was actually thinking: I won't be exercising very much for the next week or so, I'll be skipping Sunday and Tuesday's badminton... I really need to go tonight, however...
Today is also my dad's birthday. We always prioritize things in life. For some, status and career comes first, for others, friends, partners, social life, religion... at my current stage in life, family is definitely in the top 3. There are times when I get exasperated at him simply because I was tired, and I know I shouldn't. When he finds little reasons to pick a fight with me, I know it's because he's finding any reason to interact with me. I'm not home a lot of the time, so he finds every excuse to see me, like insisting on driving me to work sometimes, even if it's an hour's drive away, and letting me sleep in the car for that whole hour anyway.
So today, when I came back home, dad said he left a bag of groceries on the bus today. It was a bag of sweet potatoes and he was lamenting about how he had to pick and choose especially nice ones. Even if it was about $3, he was quite upset about it. I drove to Pishon at Eastwood after work to pick up... a sweet potato cake for him. For this, I skipped badminton.
So today, when I came back home, dad said he left a bag of groceries on the bus today. It was a bag of sweet potatoes and he was lamenting about how he had to pick and choose especially nice ones. Even if it was about $3, he was quite upset about it. I drove to Pishon at Eastwood after work to pick up... a sweet potato cake for him. For this, I skipped badminton.
Thank you dad, and happy 64th! Thanks for bringing me up to be who I am now... hopefully I'm making you proud.
Thursday, July 03, 2014
SNAFU
We learn from mistakes. If we don't ever make them, we won't learn or grow, or become better. The greatest danger is to stay dormant, to stunt our own growth, to lead a terribly uneventful life that does absolutely nothing for yourself and anyone. We are always told to be satisfied, to be content, to treasure what we have and to accept that we cannot have everything. That is wise, especially when it comes to materialistic wants, but it does not apply for everything. I, for one, am not satisfied with my music (therapy) skills and aim to improve. I'm not content with the knowledge that I already have in regards to the world, news, politics, history. I want to know more about cooking and the chemistry behind foods.
Someone once told me that parroting is stupid. By parroting, he meant listening to someone else's opinions or "facts" and "truths", and taking it in as your own. We all need to hunt for the truth ourselves, and develop our own way of thinking. Do as much research on everyone else's differing opinions before forming our own beliefs and truths.
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From cookkk |
Why am I talking about mistakes? Because of this. This is a recipe I will use again. Even though I succeeded in making it today, I also failed. Will I make the same mistakes again? You bet I won't, because I'm writing it down here, laying out my mistakes and ironing it for next time.
Wednesday, July 02, 2014
Venticinque: The joy of Achieving
What makes happiness? We are constantly trying to find that elusive multi-dimensional entity. Back when I was at uni, I took up a philosophy unit on Happiness. First lecture in and the lecturer was already disclaiming that we're not going to be any happier doing this course, nor will it bring us any closer to finding it. Needless to say, I stopped attending lectures but still managed to do rather well.
For me, one of the answers is to work hard towards something and to finally achieve... that sense of accomplishment and gratefulness combined is happiness. Self-entitlement is therefore the antagonistic interference of that kind of happiness. Normalcy, at times, can be happiness too, in which case unexpected events can cause major upsets. There's plenty more, but nothing beats...
Climbing into bed at the end of a tiring day and burying my entire face into my pillows, indescribable.
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From fooood |
Back to Saturday after our run.
Labels:
Cafe Series,
Chinese
Candy Mountain @
9/258 Burwood Road, Burwood NSW 2134, Australia
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Ventiquattro: Expectors
No pain no gain.
There are no shortcuts to success.
The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.
The mind is everything. What you think you become.
Inspirational quotes. They are absolutely everywhere. Some we know and take to heart, others... we know but we choose not to see it. If you are one of those friends that post inspirational quotes on Facebook or social media on a daily basis, I may well have blocked your posts from showing up on my feed. To me, they are in the same classification as "spam", even though, granted, some are actually pretty deep.
While I won't be caught dead posting spam usually, these quotes are here because it's all related to mind strength. I've often been told that my mind is weak. Note that mind strength is actually quite different from mental endurance. Hiccups in life faze me but I won't sink too deeply into depression, pressure drives me to achieve, and my head is hardened by what is commonly known as stubbornness. Mind strength, to me, is resolution. Commitment. Most noticeably lacking when exercising and during sports. People who know me will know that I play badminton 3 times a week, but they might find it surprising that it's actually really difficult for me to motivate myself enough to go. Every. Single. Time, my mind will be a raging debate between "stuff it all, I'm tired *insert thousand excuses*" and "come on, exercise, play the sport that you love!" The former is often stronger than the latter and would have won if I didn't have friends waiting for me, expecting me to be there.
Expectations. I hate to disappoint.
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From fooood |
Labels:
Cafe Series,
Western
Candy Mountain @
612 Darling Street, Rozelle NSW 2039, Australia
How to "Yum Cha"... at home
I've always been interested in reading. Guess it's the way we've been brought up- my sister and brother loves reading too, and ever since I can remember, my mum would take us to the library and pick out some books, take it home and wipe it all over with alcohol rub (because library books are filthy and you never know whose grubby hands handled them before you) before giving it to us. It was exciting to visit the library, quite unlike a lot of kids these days, who probably enjoy watching youtube and jabbing their fingers at touchscreens much more than reading a good old-fashion paperback.
Of course, some books are more interesting than others. For my brother, it's always been contemporary, philosophical, thought-provoking books, which I have learnt to enjoy as well. My sister was into crime fiction, which we all read. Me? I like fantasy, sci-fi... and cookbooks. Recently, I've been reading a lot on how to make food that you get at yum cha (previous entry started it all). After experimenting with mango pancake, I came across a dumpling recipe from Donna Hay's cookbook.
From cookkk |
Having made wanton plenty of times before, I had the translucent kind of dumplings in mind- the type that har gao comes in.
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Remnants of the Past
We know that everyone we meet has some kind of influence or impact on us that shapes us to be who we are presently. No matter how insignificant a conversation might have been, a passing comment, a smile, a look, a game, chance meetings, everything gets stored in some form or another. Some memories are stronger than others, and I often find myself remember snippets of conversations or experiencing the feeling of deja vu, but the full picture always eludes me. It's terrible, because more likely than not, I will remember the topic of conversation but not the person I had the conversation with.
So, I remember this particular conversation with someone about yum cha, during which I was told the dish where the restaurant owners rake in the most profit. That dish is mango pancake- cheapest to make, sold for the same price as other dishes.
From cookkk |
So I made my own. I remember making this ages ago, but filling it with cream and durian. It was absolutely awesome, but unfortunately, I'm not allowed to bring durian home. I had most of the ingredients at hand already, except for one: custard powder.
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Ventitré: Classic Twists
So I haven't had time to do anything recently. Like check out cafes.
Actually, no, that's a lie. I have been to a few cafes, but I am seriously feeling the oddness of whipping out the camera and taking photos of the food and place. Funny, that, because I never used to care so much. Perhaps now I just don't care about different things. In the past, I didn't really care about what people think when I take photos of food, because I've been doing that for years- even before the stereotype came about, of Asians taking photos of their food endlessly. It was my way of documenting moments, knowing that my memory fails me often.
Now I just don't care so much about documenting less important moments. What I ate two days ago is what I define as "less important" because it certainly isn't as important as being present in that moment with my friend concentrating on the conversation at hand. Perhaps if I were alone, I would feel more relaxed about taking photos, but a camera to me now feels like a device that shouldn't be present at dining tables, much like the phone.
That aside, there is certain company which I know wouldn't mind the camera, like my cafe buddies, so unless I'm out with them, I doubt I'll blog about cafes or restaurants. Happens that I was out with the princess recently and visited:
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From fooood |
Labels:
Cafe Series,
Fusion
Candy Mountain @
62/80 Rowe Street, Sydney NSW 2122, Australia
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Revisiting my Nemesis
As someone who loves baking, cooking, and eating in general, there are a few things I avoid making. Recently, a friend asked me to make pie. My excuse NOT to make pie is that I don't actually have a pie dish. Actually, that's a lie- I have a large glass pie dish, but when you think pies, you think of individual serve small pies, and I don't have the pie tins for those. Truth is, I avoid making pastry dough. Having to rub the cold butter into the flour- annoying and you end up with cold oily fingers. Having to roll out cold dough- confirm aching arms. Smushing (my word) the rolled out dough into the tin/dish- not hard but still annoying trying to get it to fit. Then there's the whole process of blind baking (I have no pie weights), and dealing with shrinking dough (always happens), removing the weights, more baking, filling, bake again.
That whole process is not difficult, but tedious, and it's also a huge waiting game, resting the dough. Worst out of the lot? Puff pastry- because it's waiting and rolling x n number of times. When my first attempt at puff pastry ended in disaster right at the last proofing after 2 days, I went crying (not literally) to my mum and laid that recipe to rest.
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From baKEE |
Are you the sort of person to give up? Yep. Weighing the pros and cons, to give up or not to give up, I thought, nah it's not worth the effort and time. Then I had time today and decided to try a different sort of puff pastry- one that required less time, though the effort is still pretty much the same.
Wednesday, May 07, 2014
I ditched Butter =(
The amount of butter I consume confuses people often. Yes, I'm back on the topic of butter because recently at work, my colleagues and students were discussing the use of butter and I had to keep absolutely silent or I risk offending (and/or horrifying) most of them. I felt terribly guilty for not defending butter, but at the same time, butter really didn't have a place among health-conscious people. This time, the age-old question of whether butter should be melted or unmelted didn't even get a chance to come out. This time, it was more the basic question of "should we even HAVE butter".
I don't do food science. I don't know the first thing about polyunsaturated fats, or what good and bad fats are, but I choose to be blatantly ignorant when it comes to butter because even if butter is bad for me, I'll still stick with it through fat and thin. It's like we have this unhealthy relationship which I refuse to get out of, even if it means I have to work extra hard on the badminton courts.
I love baking with butter. Although sometimes it hurts when I have to melt butter (because time doesn't change a person- I still love my butter unmelted), I still like knowing there is butter in my food because no doubt in my mind, it adds so much to the taste of the end product. Then along comes this cheat's sponge cake that tastes so much like the honey castella cake which most kids from Hong Kong would have grown up with:
From baKEE |
It's just not fair. How can a cake without butter or oil or any kind of polywhateveritis fat be this good?
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Melbourne 5: Finale
Jealousy. The green eyed monster, as coined by Shakespeare in a couple of his works, notably Othello, where Iago says:
Oh, beware, my lord, of jealousy!
It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock
The meat it feeds on.
And this was him metaphorically describing jealousy like a cat playing with mice before eating them.
Then there's envy. I have massive problems telling the difference between "jealousy" (吃醋) and "envy" (妒忌) in any language. I often got picked on for my bad Cantonese and using words wrong. Simply put, envy is wanting what someone else have, while jealousy is fearing what you have will be taken away.
In which case, the term "food envy" is when you see someone else order a dish that you really want, and yours isn't as good. This problem can be solved when you go with good friends who don't mind sharing food with you, because then you can try everything. And that is probably one of the reasons why this Melbourne trip worked so well- because we're all single, we can share food like good friends do. However, sharing food can also be quite intimate too, and just imagine if any of us actually had partners, the jealousy it would cause.
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From melblog |
Saturday, April 26, 2014
Melbourne 4
So there was a blackout today. With no electricity, it meant no computer, no internet (wifi down), no baking, no movies, nothing! The lack of activity brought about this stifling ennui that seemingly stretched on, and even though it was only for a couple of hours, I got all fidgety, wandering around the house like a ghost and not knowing what to do with myself.
I managed to wash my car though, AND waxed it. Got rid of this big spider spinning its web all over the side door too. Thing is, I got most of that done before the electricity died, and the sense of achievement at having a bright shiny car kicked up the adrenalin in me, so I was literally running up and down the house annoying my mum. She found it rather amusing that I was stuck at home with nothing to do like a hamster in a wheel, but she was definitely feeling the boredom as well. First world problem indeed: what to do when there is no electricity.
Dreading work next week, but let's try to get Melbourne entries out of the way before that happens, or it'll never get done.
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From melblog |
9am
Friday, April 25, 2014
Melbourne 3
I'm fast running out of rubbish stories to tell, so let's go for interesting stuff instead.
Recently, my high school group of friends got together (without me, I was in Melbourne) and apparently had some table talk about personality tests. You can take one here. That one is a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), an assessment categorising sixteen personality types. Letting out my secret, the results I got 2 years ago is still the same when I took it 2 nights ago- INFP: introversion, intuition, feeling, perception. I must say this is one of the more accurate psychology tests out there... uncannily accurate. It seems like JRR Tolkien, John Lennon, Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are amongst some notable INFPs... maybe that's why I admire/respect them so much.
A couple of my friends are of the same type too, so the test is not just for introspecting, but also to understand friends and family, which can be useful. Those having problems with relationships? Definitely should check out each other's personalities and work out how to compromise from there. I might be asking some of you for your type after this, just out of curiosity.
Back to Melbourne:
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From melblog |
7pm
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Melbourne 2
Story for yawns:
I don't usually have much trouble sleeping. It can be anywhere- on the train, bus, car, stiff bed, floor, table... how it works is, I don't usually get consistent hours of sleep, nor do I have a sleeping pattern to follow. Similar to meals- i.e. eat when hungry, I sleep when I'm tired. Usual case is, sleepy at 3pm but unable to sleep due to work, get home thinking yea I'll have an early night, end up 3am wide awake.
People who say they can't sleep when it's not their own bed, I can't relate to that because I'm usually so tired by the time I get around to sleeping, it's pretty much KO as soon as I hit the bed. Or the bus. Or wherever I am that allows rest. Funny thing is the dreams that come with this kind of sleep. Sometimes, it might be a doze that lasts only 5 minutes in reality, but with the dream that accompanies it? Feels like hours.
The stay in Melbourne was pretty comfortable. I had my 4 pillows (perfect number) the whole time, a heater/air con and a spacious bathroom. Except I had that odd dream of loose teeth that everyone gets. Some say that indicates indecisiveness about a problem in real life, others say I'm hiding something, or that I'm grieving loss, or that I need to loosen up.
Whatever it is, I made sure to be extra vigilant when brushing my teeth the next morning. Don't judge- I like to take things literally.
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From melblog |
Alright! Back on track. Exciting times ahead because we went back to Little Lonsdale Street. I never blogged about my previous trip to Melbourne before this one. I went on my own because someone ditched me on that trip. That's story for a rainy day I think, but it was a wonderful experience and it was then that I discovered Little Lonsdale Street and the quaint cafes that dotted along it.
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Lunch!
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From cookkk |
Just to spite someone who is expecting Melbourne 2, here's reviving an old thread. After a few days of superb food and coffee, it's time to... go cheap. Egg sandwich costs next to nothing if you've got chickens in your backyard. Yesterday, it was a plain egg sandwich (boil a small amount of water, 7 mins 2 eggs, covered) that's been seasoned with salt and pepper and some kewpie.
Today, added a bit of tuna, some baby capers (already a jar opened in the fridge) and chopped up some of that yellow pickled radish (leftover from sushi making last time). Open sandwich because... well, I ran out of bread.
Melbourne 1
Boring title because really, who has inspiration to blog at 11am? Actually, come to think about it, the most uninspiring hours should be around 2-3pm, which coincides with a lot of people's downtime I would imagine.
Breakdown of a typical day at work:
6-9am: Bleh getting up, travelling to work.. never fun.
9-11am: still trying to wake up and struggling to get into the roll of things for work.
Past 11-12:30pm: so close to lunch time. Stomachs start to rumble, motivation to work heightens due to impending break.
12:30-1pm: Lunch!!
Around 1:30pm: Work extra hard. Energy gained from lunch depleted...
2-3pm: Just. Want. To. Go. Home. Already. Need a nap.
4-5pm: so close to home time. Pack up and think about dinner.
That doesn't work on your days off though. Days off, you'll just hate on everything and everybody that wakes you up before 1pm. Like today. Anyway! Melbourne.. here we go. Will be going through this trip super quick hopefully. It was a long drive to Melbourne from Sydney.
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From melblog |
4am
Started off at Eastwood and we stopped by a Maccas on the way, (B turned into some storage warehouse place and missed the first one), grabbed a coffee and toastie before hitting the road again.
Thursday, April 17, 2014
"Practice makes Permanent"
Food for thought:
There is the ongoing joke. A tourist asked a famous violinist How do you get to Carnegie Hall? to which he replied Practice.
I've never been into poetry, but since seeing this one youtube clip of Phil Kaye and Sarah Kay reciting spoken word poetry, I have been hooked. One particular clip which Sarah Kay did on long distance relationship titled "Postcards", she metaphorically speaks of the ongoing practice of a drummer living downstairs. How practice does not make perfect- it makes permanent. We may be repeating the same mistake over and over and it truly does not get us any closer to perfection- in fact, it draws us further away as we learn our mistakes. Phil Kaye further talks about repetition in this clip. If we repeat something enough times, it loses its meaning, be it words or actions.
It is always so much harder to unlearn a mistake and relearn it the right way, than to start from a blank slate and learn from no prior knowledge. Be it music, sports, relationships... /emo rant.
From baKEE |
So after a long time of not baking anything, we decided to go back to basics and make a mud cake. With cream cheese frosting.
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
A party for Two
They say bad things come in threes. Actually, that is more a luck thing- bad luck comes in threes, apparently. I'm not a superstitious person at all- though as a kid, I always thought there was a ghost living in my parents' room. Or specifically, their bathroom, and I hated going into their room, especially during the evening when the sun is setting and the world is shadowed in this unnatural semi-darkness. Perhaps it's because out of all the rooms in the house, their room is the one place I visited the least.
Where was I? Oh, three. If we were to be superstitious, three is a good number because it's meant to sound like "live" in Chinese as opposed to 4. Saying goes that it's always third time lucky as well. Then again, there is that weird superstition that you should never take photos with a group of three because the middle person will bite the dust. Yep, this world works in strange ways and one cannot define a number as being simply either good or bad. HOWEVER, I've had my three unfortunate events and would like to believe that things can only get better from here. It's all about being positive and optimistic.
From cookkk |
No better way to do that than to have a party! And since it's a weekday, few people could make it. Rather, it was a party for myself and PS (aka Princess) only.
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Ventidue: Kanzi Fashion Cafe
This marks my 400th post on this blog. Fact #1: this blog is actually a lot older than 6 years, even though the first entry in its archives are from 2008. I think I started blogging around the start of high school (when blogging was the trendy thing to do, with everyone owning a xanga page... kids these days probably never heard of xanga before) and that would have been more than a decade ago. Blog went through various revamps, entries got lost... till the only thing left from the past is actually... the tagboard (fact #2). Which hardly gets used these days, but it has withstood the test of time thus far.
From fooood |
Today, we head down to the city. Ever since tt and I stopped seeing each other, I hardly go to the city anymore. Scratch that- I don't go to the city anymore, but this was one of the last cafes we discovered and went to together, and it has become a favourite.
Labels:
Cafe Series
Candy Mountain @
393-399 Sussex Street, Haymarket NSW 2000, Australia
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Ventuno: Salvage Specialty Coffee
No excuse not to blog today apparently, because I have the day off and just wanted a completely lazy day. It has indeed been such an uneventful day I feel almost guilty for having it, so let's make up for the lack of productivity by blogging.
It's been so long since I did a cafe series entry that I've forgotten why I didn't number the past two entries, but since the last numbered one was 20, guess this is entry number 21. Recommended by friend and colleague KT, claiming it has the "best coffee" (hear that a lot, but really, there is no such thing as "best coffee", I just find that Single Origin or Campos are usually the safer options when it comes to coffee), we headed down to Artamon on a beautiful Saturday morning.
From fooood |
The place itself is quite small and cosy, not too overdone in terms of interior deco, but enough to make it inviting. Never actually knew Artarmon was like a Japanese hub, with Japanese convenient stores (konbini!), restaurants and bookstores scattered around the suburb.
Labels:
Cafe Series
Candy Mountain @
5 Wilkes Avenue, Artarmon NSW 2064, Australia
Wednesday, March 05, 2014
Pasta Project
Just when you thought things were going to be regular, she stops posting for a couple of weeks. Things have been crazy irl, and not in a good way.
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From cookkk |
My first real car accident involving another car, and it's strange how the first thing that crossed my mind as I was sitting there was "naw =( you can't be serious, I am 500m away from my destination!!" when really it should have been "what on earth just happened...". The next thought was, "great, I have glass all over me, but wait, they don't cut! O_o This is amazing!" before the logical side of me kicked in and it was all "ahh.. what do I do now...". I'm just glad to have friends who knows exactly what I need to get out of a rut, so B and H- thank you so so much for being there for me, for taking my mind off things with dinner (fried chicken and beer, can't get any better than that for comfort food) and for the reassurance.
Thursday, February 20, 2014
KFC but better
Say whaaat? Does anything beat KFC? Actually, yes. My brother and I went to Newtown tonight and stopped by a gyoza place after watching The Wind Rises (Miyazaki's final movie). There, we had Tebasaki chicken wings. Tebasaki is spicy and sweet sauce,the chicken itself is deep fried, then coated with the sauce, 7 spices and sesame seeds. Cookingwithdog has a recipe on youtube.
While the tebasaki chicken wings were quite a competition for best fried chicken (KFC's spicy wings are too good....), back a couple of months ago, Sal and I made a healthier version. Baked, not fried! This was from NQN's website.
From cookkk |
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Not on Diet
Because today's feature is brioche. Those who watch My Kitchen Rules will notice one of the judges- Manu, is French. His criticism of dishes is usually one of two things: Not enough sauce/non existing sauce/ not good enough sauce, and/or not enough butter/ cream. We all know French chefs love their sauces and their butter. Look at French Iron Chef, Sakai- his dishes tend to be simple, but always accompanied by a rich buttery or creamy sauce. Julia Child loves her butter too.
Which I can totally understand. I was shocked to discover FL's home has no butter.
From baKEE |
Brioche consists of high amounts of egg and butter, creating a crumbly and rich texture, made the same way as most breads.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Coffee, Cheese, Cream
Because no one's left comments, so I'm going to put up the ultimate un-appetizing picture up for today's cover photo.
From baKEE |
Bird poo for you. And yes, my fancy purple striped socks, gotta love colourful socks.
Monday, February 17, 2014
Choux à la crème
This food has astounded me for quite a while now. I first made it in high school, during one of the earlier years when food tech was one of the classes we could take. I remember food tech classes pretty distinctly, even now- who I partnered, what we made, what failed and why. If only my memory serves me this well for everything...
From baKEE |
Why is it, that with these ingredients alone, this choux pastry can form hollow puffs after baking? Where is the raising agent?? It is possible to make cake that raises without baking powder or soda, but that usually involves whipping the mixture (or in most cases, egg whites) to incorporate air into it before baking.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Simple Luxury
So these days, work lunches consist of a can of tuna, corn thins, and... that's it. Plus green tea. Dinner is usually steamed dumplings from a packet in the freezer. It's an improvement from, say, instant noodles, and I realised I can actually eat the same food for over a week without getting bored. That is the degree of can't-be-botherness I've reached, but hunger does trump laziness eventually (I had run out of tuna AND corn thins), and after one particularly trying day at work, it was time to do some grocery shopping. Instead of getting the usual 1L Connoisseur ice cream tub, I decided to go for something a little fancy.
From cookkk |
My mum requested cream cheese. I originally bought a couple of packs for a cheesecake which I never made and she's been slowly making her way into the block... bought another double pack. One can never have too little cream cheese. It's like butter, but better. No wait, I did not just say that. What can possibly be better than butter??
My First Post
From baKEE |
Happy valentine's day. I spent mine with food (surprise surprise). Imagine sitting at the table, a box of crackers in front of you... and a wheel of Triple Cream Brie. Can't get any more romantic than that- especially when you don't have to share it.
So I'm not doing too well with my resolution. It's already mid February and this is my first post of the year. Deadlines are seriously needed for the world to go round, because otherwise, people like myself will never get anything done, however! This blog post is specially dedicated to Sal, who absolutely insisted that what we made today is worthy of a blog post, and what better way to start on a resolution than to present: homemade Ultimate BLT.
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