甘恋人 - sweet lover -

"WHO DARES GOETH BEFORE WE, THE CYBORGIA?"

2010-05-23T23:27:00.002+10:00

"IT BE ANGELIBORG OR DEMONIBORG; YOU WILL LET ME PASS."

I just want to make an official statement to your majesty, the jury, and the court.

I am guilty of every charge you have hereby leveled against me in this house of god.
Let it be known, however, that I do not and will not feel shame for my actions.
I smoked weed, I had the best fun with the baddest friends, I woke up at noon, I watched movies and read books, and I yelled 'fuck the police'.
I would do it again if i could.

That is all your honour

-Repairborg, 2010

To whom this may concern,

2010-04-19T18:43:00.003+10:00

"Let the proclamation go out across the lands on our fastest horses;
a geeg has been moojed on this very day, at this very place.

Let the people dance for joy in the streets,
let the wine poor late into the night.
Let the stories of our victories be passed down from generation to generation;
let our names be known to all of Mankind for the rest of Eternity.

The sons of Zeus...

The Cyborgs."

Thangaratnam, R, 2010.04.07

Underdogs

2009-12-22T17:03:00.004+11:00

Two years ago, I was afraid of wanting anything. I figured wanting would lead to trying and trying would lead to failure. But now I find that I can’t stop wanting.

I want to fly somewhere in first class. I want to travel to Europe on a business trip. I want to get invited to the White House. I want to learn about the world. I want to surprise myself. I want to be important. I want to be the best person that I can be.

I want to define myself instead of having others define me. I want to win, and have people be happy for me, I want to lose and get over it. I want to not be afraid of the unknown. I want to grow up to be generous and big hearted, the way that people have been with me. I want an interesting and surprising life.

It’s not that I think I’m going to get all of these things, I just want the possibility of getting them. The possibility that things are going to change.

I can't wait.

Büdé

2009-10-28T02:41:00.003+11:00

In the sweetness of friendship
let there be laughter,
and sharing of pleasures.

For in the dew of little things
the heart finds
its morning
and is refreshed.

macarons me donnent envie de dormir

2009-09-04T10:57:00.006+10:00

Stayed up till morning making macarons..
but I can't believe I forgot to take photos before deplenishing them.

REALLY SAD FACE... almost as sad as this mermahuataur!

Joyeux Anniversaire Grace -- Charlotte aux baies

2009-06-29T04:40:00.017+10:00

It's my friend Grace's birthday, so I designed her a cake with the assistance of Winnie.

I think making presents means so much more and the best. And it saves the hassle of finding a present!

Stay gorgeous, bubbly, healthy always and hope you have a great birthday!

Berry Charlotte (adapted from tartelette)

Coconut lady fingers:

1/2 cup cake flour
3 large eggyolks
1/2 cup sugar, divided
pinch salt
grated coconut

Compote des baies:

800g mixes berries
4-5 tbsp casting sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup cranberry juice
2 tsp gelatin powder

Mousse de framboise:

250ml milk
1/4 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
2 sp chambord
2 tsp powdered gelatin with 1/4 cold water
1 1/2 cups raspberries mashed with fork
3/4 heavy cream

Crème fouettée:

1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp granulated white sugar

2009-06-06T17:40:00.001+10:00

I'll eventually get back to this blog... workworkstudystudyfunfun

Amazing how those tired clichés remain fun to this day…

Finally... It's done!

2009-03-19T04:24:00.004+11:00

This place is getting a tad dusty...

0444hours. Sort of feeling tired from creating this but it was so worth it. I have finally started my recipe collection/design book.. there are numerous amount of times where I have forgotten ideas. :(

Alors.. c'est ici!!!

book covered in natural materials

before

after

side note

front page

Ce n'est que le début du voyage!

Cuire à la fin de la nuit! - Late night bake down!

2009-01-07T22:37:00.012+11:00

bienvenue à la nouvelle année

Happy new year everyone!!! First post of 2009.. actually I'm quite late ain't I. 7 days into 2009 and I've already been drunk on so many occassions. What a good way to start the year by being an alcoholic! Yay, hi-5 anyone? Tried to stay sober aslong as possible but that only lasted 1 day... failed at commitments :(

Anyway back to the post, on a random night that Andrew(Lengzai) happened to come over for dinner. Grace called us up for a bake down at Alvin's house where Andrew lives. It was a challenge I couldn't refuse(obviously I will be the victor harharhar, gives me another chance to bake). Headed back to destination and met up with Alvin, Grace and Winnie. We decided what recipe to bake and went to buy ingredients. Alvin decided the fruit flan for me from Le Cordon Bleu, Grace decided to try her diabetes giving double choc-chip cookies (which were really nice) and Winnie wanted to join the wagon and just did another batch of choc-chip cookies.. what's with them and cookies (too simple, why am I the only one doing something with more effort!?) I think we overkilled with the fruits as we spent $20~ for the whole lot. Berries are so expensive :( but since this was going to be used for the get-together next day, a good cause it was for.

pour lengzai, mon love heart shape tarte

So us 6 spent hours into the night, while baking, chatting, singing along to alot of songs from Ella Enchanted songs which drove me lunatic! I'm not a big fan of High School Musical, sorry to anyone out there. None the less, I very much enjoy the company of others when in the kitchen. With some left over pastry, I made a loveheart tart and a sumo which everyone killed :(, then engulfed the leftover berries (get in my belllllyyyy).

A nice start to 2009, I hope everyone has also enjoyed the start of the new year.

Tarte aux fruits
(For 6 tartlets)
You need

for sweet pastry:
200 g plain flour
large pinch of salt
70 g unsalted butter, chilled
80 g caster sugar
1 egg, light beaten
1-2 drops vanilla extract or essense

for pastry cream:
315 ml milk
90 ml lemon juice
graced rind of 2 lemons
4 egg yolks
100 g caster sugar
2 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp cornflour

for topping:
400 g mixed berries (I like to overkill mine)
100 g apricot jam (or whatever jam)

For pastry, sift together the flour and salt in a large bowl. Dice the butter and place in the flour. Rub the butter into flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and make a well in the centre. Pour in the combination off egg and vanilla and slowly incorporate the mixture using a palette knife or pastry scraper. If the dough is too dry, sprinkle it with a little water until it jut holds together. On lightly floured surface, remove the dough and using the palm of your hand, smear the dough away from you until it is smooth. Gather the dough into a bowl, flatten it slightly. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill for 20 minutes before using. (Tip: this quantity of pastry is sufficient to line two shall 18-20 cm flat tins. If only making one flan or tart, divide the pastry into two and wrap separateely. Can be frozen for a month.)

Grease the loose-bottomed tartlet tins with melted butter. Preheat the oven to moderately hot 200°C.

For pastry cream, place the milk, lemon juice and rind in a pan and bring slowly to the boil. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks with sugar until light in colour. Sift in the flour and cornflour and whisk until well incorporated. Pour half the boiling milk into the yolk mixture, whisk well and return to the pan with the remaining milk. Bring to the boil, stir constantly, and boil for 1 minute to completely cook the flour. Remove from the heat and leave to cool. When cool, whisk until smooth (if you want, cover surface with baking paper to prevent a skin forming).

Roll out the pastry on a floured surface to 3 mm thickness, cut around 5 cm larger than the tin(s) that you are using, then ease into the tins, prick the bases with a fork and chill for 20 minutes. Cut a circle of baking paper and place into pastry cases. Fill with baking beans or rice. Bake for about 10 minutes. Remove the weights and return to the oven for a further 5 minutes, or until golden. Remove the tartlets from the oven, rest for 2 minutes, remove from their tins and place on a wire rack to cool.

Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the pastry cases to three quarters-full, here comes the fun part, pile the berries on top so that the tarts look generously filled. (or overkilled like mine :))

In a small pan, heat the apricot jam with 3 tbsp water. When mixture beings to boil, sieve into a bowl and, while still hot, brush a thin layer of glaze over the cooled tartlets. Serve warm or at room temperature.

NOTE TO SELF:

2008-12-18T02:20:00.005+11:00

DON'TTAKESHORTCUTS!
DON'TMAKESHORTCUTS!
DON'TBEIMPATIENT!
DON'TFORGETTOREADEVERYTHING!
DON'TBEIGNORANT&LISTENTOWHATOTHERSSUGGEST!
DON'TLEAVETHINGSUNFINISHED&JUMPINGONTOSOMETHINGELSE!
DON'TBAKEINTHEOVENWITHOUTTRAY!
DON'TCOOLITBYFRIDGEBUTBYROOMTEMPERATURE!
DON'TTRYBEPROUNLESSYOUKNOWWHATYOU'REDOING!
DON'TTRYANDDOSUPERIORLEVELSTUFFWITHOUTKNOWINGTHEBASICS!
DON'TFORGETTOWASHALLTHEKITCHENTOOLS&CLEANUPTHEAREA!
DON'TMIXTOOMUCHIFITHASMILKINIT!

If you do this, you should be fine..

Thank you :)

période d'examen est ennuyeux...

2008-11-02T00:01:00.013+11:00

Ça fait longtemps tout le monde, it seems quite dusty here.. It's been quite a few weeks, just too lazy to get myself to type up stuff. Anyway, it's been 2 days since I've been feeling fed up with reading text.. and just been speculating movies, animation and what not... sigh, instead of feeling stress. My boredom just builds up and get the better of me. Exams haven't started for me yet, it's this coming Wednesday and ends the Wednesday after that with Japonais! Simple, I hope. Whats worse is that I have a clash on Wednesday the 5th of November for Intro. to Finance and Français. Probably just think that the date for one of the exam will just be adjusted to another day but monash had to be queer and made some rule.

"In order to allow you to be able to sit both exams, one of your examinations has been moved tothe other session on the same day, as reflected on your personal exam timetable. This is known as a 'clash' of exams, and, to ensure the integrity of the exam paper is maintained, you must be supervised throughout the day.

UNIT TIME DATE VENUE

AFC2100 9:30am 5 November Caulfield Racecourse, Ground Floor, Clash Area Seat Number: 2 (Hey I'm not the only one :D)
FRN1020 2:30pm 5 November As above

PLEASE NOTE: You will NOT be allowed to leave the examination room between exams. Accordingly you should bring your lunch. Youwill be allowed to study for your second exam over the lunch break, therefore you will need to bring any study materials you may require with you. However, this excludes the use of electronic equipment such as lap-top computers, as these may be used as a meansof wire-less communication. The use of mobile phones is also disallowed."

As you can see, I'm stuck there for 7 hours. The whole day. Yes, whole day at the exams! Woot! I'm so hyped up for this NOT! I should bring an eski of ingredients to make an epic lunch or something.. :(! Probably should stock up on cake.. mm. I guess I am not really fuss about it since I'm never fussed about the exams anyway.. just this is really めんどうくさい.. Timeto turn this entry for the purpose of this blogspot!

To dust off some cobwebs from this foodblog, I have sort of made a rough plan of what to do after I finish exams:

Bake weekly to make up for the lack of baking for past year :(
Teach myself basic of french pâtisserie
Bake a birthday cake for Feng and David(Wang)
Bake christmas cakes as presents ;)
Find more cafés
Find more jobs (barista, bartender, patissier)
Shopping hahah
Join Army Reserves :)
Control alcohol consumption
Gym&Cardio more -> Lose weight/get ripped :D
Nov 29th Rye trip <> Feb 8th Queensland

~~Today~~ Yesterday was also me Mother's **th Birthday. Spent quite a nice dinner at Goshen on Kingsway. I'm even surprised we finished 5 dishes.. jab chae is a must for me everytime now! We got her a pair of heels, coco chanel perfume and cake! I must say, the lady who reconmended the flourless chocolate cake failed me quite bad. The cake was good with chocolate until the taste of rum hit. consisted of too much rum, which made it quite bitter. I think I'll go back to the strawberry pavlova..

Joyeux Anniversaire, Ma Mère!
flourless gâteau au chocolat (I should've asked what was in it >_<;;)

millefeuille et tarte aux fruits
Ma famille!

Je pense à sucreries..

2008-09-25T17:41:00.012+10:00

A redesigned cute cupcake food pyramid from Cakespy

Recently, a website called Cakespy recreated something called 'The Sweet 100!' which listed. Their list includes 100 of "fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food"--but in our universe, it's all sweet! (In case any of them are foreign to you, links to pictures and recipes are included)

How many have you tried? If you'd like, feel free to follow the same guidelines:

1) Copy this list into your site, including the instructions!
2) Bold all of the sweets you've eaten!
3) ~~Cross out~~ any of them that you'd never ever eat.

4) Consider anything that is not bold or crossed out your "To Do" List.
5) Optional: Post a comment here linking to your results.

Red Velvet Cake
Princess Torte (or Chocolate Torte?)
Whoopie Pie
Apple Pie either topped or baked with sharp cheddar
Beignet
Baklava
Black and white cookie
Seven Layer Bar (also known as the Magic Bar or Hello Dolly bars)
Fried Fruit pie (sometimes called hand pies)
Kringle
Just-fried (still hot) doughnut
Scone with clotted cream
Betty, Grunt, Slump, Buckle or Pandowdy
Halvah
Macarons (...)
Banana pudding with nilla wafers
Bubble tea (with tapioca "pearls")
Dixie Cup
Rice Krispie treats
Alfajores
Blondies
Croquembouche
Girl Scout cookies
Moon cake
Candy Apple
Baked Alaska
Brooklyn Egg Cream (but not brooklyn style)
Nanaimo bar
Baba au rhum
King Cake
Sachertorte
Pavlova
Tres Leches Cake
Trifle
Shoofly Pie
Key Lime Pie (made with real key lime)
Panna Cotta
New York Cheesecake
Napoleon / mille-fueille
Russian Tea Cake / Mexican Wedding Cake
Anzac biscuits
Pizzelle
Kolache
Buckeyes
Malasadas
Moon Pie
Dutch baby
Boston Cream Pie
Homemade chocolate chip cookies
Pralines
Gooey butter cake
Rusks
Daifuku
Green tea cake or cookies
Cupcakes from a cupcake shop
Crème brûlée
Some sort of deep fried fair food (twinkie, candy bar, cupcake)
Yellow cake with chocolate frosting
Jelly Roll
Pop Tarts
Charlotte Russe
An "upside down" dessert (Pineapple upside down cake or Tarte Tatin)
Hummingbird Cake
Jell-O from a mold
Black forest cake
Mock Apple Pie (Ritz Cracker Pie)
Kulfi
Linzer torte
Churro
Stollen
Angel Food Cake
Mincemeat pie
Concha
Opera Cake
Sfogliatelle / Lobster tail
Pain au chocolat
A piece of Gingerbread House
Cassata
Cannoli
Rainbow cookies
Religieuse
Petits fours
Chocolate Souffle
Bienenstich (Bee Sting Cake)
Rugelach
Hamenstashen
Homemade marshmallows
Rigo Janci
Pie or cake made with candy bar flavors (Snickers pie, Reeses pie, etc)
Divinity
Coke cake
Gateau Basque
S'mores
Figgy Pudding
Bananas foster or other flaming dessert
Joe Froggers
Sables
Millionaire's Shortbread
Animal crackers
Basbousa

Not so shabby, eh? Probably explains why I was fat during my early-teen years HAHA... awwwww

omg... hawt?

Life is...

2008-08-17T20:09:00.003+10:00

Life is short, it's scary now some have realised it,
time will move on, even if we try to resist it.
Don't hold grudge but accept what has been done,
before it's too late and the things we love will be long gone..
Yet, why do I try to be poetic?
It makes me feel old instead of the feeling romantic..

already looking back at life [photo from Rye08]

a picture tells a thousand words...

2008-07-21T20:41:00.038+10:00

here's is 41,000 words... to make up for the missing 1 month

i'm sorry for neglecting you baby

--click on photo to enlarge--

our trip to mt buller

enjoyed our limited snow

with "moderate" alcohol consumption.. oh brianxmrcow ;9

our trip to rye

nice house with an awesome family

with lots and lots of alcohol..

as result..

nice day for Allan & Joy's BBBQ (Birthday Barbeque)

Vietnamese Iron Chef Vo with his bbq specialty & his team

Birthday Girl & Boy

happy customers

and dead ones ..

café bumming

photowhore'ing here and there..

we <3 andrew "leng jai" hsieh

random karaoke'ing

Allan's 20th House Partyyyyy

reunion of old friends

making the new

enjoying the friendship
&

loving life

Pour Sandra, une tarte d'oeuf

2008-06-21T17:20:00.014+10:00

Just a recipe entry so Sandra (or others) can attempt :).
I shall blog about my holidays when my brain can sort out itself... that's if I have a brain left or a liver...

Tarte d'oeuf

Lemon egg tart - Tarte d'oeuf jaune citron

Active time: 45 min, Start to finish: 4 hr
Serves 6

You need:

For tart shell

2 tablespoons almonds with skins, toasted and cooled
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup confectioners sugar
Pinch of fine salt
1/2 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 large egg yolk
3 1/2 tablespoons fruity olive oil (preferably French)

For lemon curd

3 large lemons (optional)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 whole large eggs plus 2 large yolks
1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 tablespoons fruity olive oil (preferably French)

Equipment: a 9-inch round tart pan with removable side; a small offset spatula

Steps:

Make tart shell:

Preheat oven to 218°C with rack in middle.
Pulse almonds with flour, sugar, and sea salt to a fine powder in a food processor. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal with some small (roughly pea-size) butter lumps.
Add yolk and oil and pulse until just incorporated and a very soft dough has formed.
Spread dough evenly over bottom and up side of pan with offset spatula. Chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
Bake shell until golden brown all over, about 13 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely, about 30 minutes.

Make curd:

Grate enough zest from lemons to measure 1 tablespoon, then squeeze 3/4 cup juice from lemons.
Whisk together lemon zest and juice, sugar, cornstarch, whole eggs, and yolks in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly. Boil, whisking, 2 minutes.
Remove from heat and whisk in butter and oil until smooth.

Assemble tart:

Pour lemon curd into cooled shell and chill until set, at least 2 hours.

Cooks' notes:

Tart shell can be made 1 day ahead and kept, loosely covered, at room temperature.
Assembled tart can be chilled up to 4 hours.

Je veux fêter

2008-06-21T16:19:00.009+10:00

Finalement, j'ai fini avec les examens wooo!
Finally it's over, the 2 weeks of "stress?" is finally been overtaken by the overflowing feeling of freedom. But the best thing is..

SLEEEEEEEEEEEEP!

You don't know how much I lack in sleep, especially sleeping without a worry of anything.
An reflection over my exam period, I could've done better for my commerce subjects but I am atleast satisfied-verysatisfied with my french and jap.. especially after having both languages exams on one day! gosh, caulfield is quite a confusing campus to get around..

Après les examens Joy, Frank and I went to a korean restaurant "The Taste of Korchi" on Clayton rd, Clayton. Which was so cheap for 3 dishes course of $10 each.. followed by half a bhaklava with Joy at a Greek café which was so sweeeeeeeet. The sweet fest kept coming with choc-chip cookies, starburst lollies and smarties... ah man these are going to straight to my thighs and stomach :(! Came home at 2am and went to work from 10am till 9pm.. j'ai très fatigue.

Ddeokbokki, Mandu et Jajangmyun

Baklava

Pastry made of layers of phyllo dough filled with chop almonds (or walnuts/pistachios) and sweetend with syrup or honey.

Mung bean & Pumpkin!

Don't have any recipe prepared at the moment that will tickly your fancies but since I've talked about sweet soups in previous entry about adzuki beans, heres another vietnamese dessert that I'm currently consuming away while rewatching Harry Potter and the so on sequel movies(i can't wait for 6th part 1):

Mung bean(Green bean) w/pumpkin dessert

Serves 4~6

You need:

1 cup of mung beans(as desired), maintain the skin cause it is good for health
1/3-1/2 a pumpkin, chopped into small pieces
1/2 can of coconut milk
2 rock sugar or 1/2 cup of sugar (as desired)
7 cups of water (depending on amount of mung beans)

Steps:

Presoak the mung beans for 1/2 an hour and drain(Shortens cooking time). Combine the beans with 7 cups of water and bring it to boil.
Let the pot simmer for about 15 minutes over low heat. Cook uncovered till beans are tender.
Add the sugar (please do taste before adding too much). Stir after sugar dissolves.
Add chopped pumpkin until it becomes tender.
Add the 1/2 can of coconut milk and stir gently. Remove from heat.
Best serve hot.

Pumpkin throwing up

Reminds me of what I did at Allan's house... hrm?!

Mangez les emos...

2008-06-15T20:10:00.013+10:00

It has been a very eventful weekend, shouldn't really type much since management exam is tuesday and haven't studied yet, whoops? haha I really hope i can somewhat bluff this one and to pass :), credit would be good but pass is satisfactory.

Photographies du week-end :
Caught the 11:30am train with Chii shi & Joy to attend the Melbourne Big Freeze on Bourke St Mall (also bumped into James). The freeze was fun but also COLD as! Damn 14 degrees... with everyone keeping close watch of the time, eventually Bourke St Mall became still. I was shivering a little cause it was so damn cold, Joy was shaking alot haha, too bad we're not on the clip D:.
But we were next to the tram which was blocked by group of frozen people, you could hear the mass dinging in the clip. I want to do this againnnnn...

After the Freeze, there happened to be a Zombie walk event occuring. There were so many, atleast a hundred and it was so funny! So we tagged along to enjoy the walk :D!

"What do we want?! ...BRAINS...

When do we want it?! ...BRAINS..."

What was really funny was the emos sitting on corner of Flinders & Swanston st. On the church steps.. seriously what kind of emos are they? Go back home and have a slit-wrist party or something. Anyway, people actually thought the emos were part of the zombies walk HAH! and the zombies started screaming out "Eat the Emos........"

Joy losing her brains, Sharing popcorn with old school movie Zombie

Zombie couple (one of the best ideas)

Déjeuner à Brunetti

Realising afterwards that we haven't had anything to eat for the day. I took Chii and Joy to Brunetti's on Flinders Lane. Costed $12 for a tart, chai latte & cappucino which is reasonable cause the tart was délicieux :D

Lemon tart with dark chocolate flakes

Went to MAXIM's bakery in Chinatown to get Kien a cake. Mango fruit pudding cake! The cake was so light, I ate a few slices ... *blushes*.
Karaoke was at Kbox, where we sheltered from the wet, cold weather. 3pm till 8pm, 5 hours of singing was just nuts. Dedicated endless songs to Kien, my voice going dead and I think he loved it. Then off to Allan's house for late night BBQ woot, my stomach was screammming for food! The night was fun, aslong as food & alcohol are provided.. mingling comes naturally.

More photos on Joy Kao's facebook

Morning after, the Sunday. Couldn't remember the in betweens except for spewing in the toilet for a long time... Noon arrived, we got fungry and continued the bbq :)

3:24AM 16/05/08 Status: still haven't touched revision yet.. sacré bleu!
too tired to cram at this time... I'm going to sleep

Je suis amoureux de la rhubarbe

2008-06-10T21:35:00.017+10:00

Aujourd'hui, le thème est la rhubarbe
Oh, that reminds me, I need to go stock up on rhubarb since there's so many recipes that involve this. Yes, the celery looking ingredient is a fruit. Taste quite like berries, yum and healthy.

A rhubarb is:

Low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium
High in Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Calcium, Potassium, Manganese and Magnesium

The nutritional value of rhubarb makes it ideal for:

Maintaining optimum health
Weight loss

Avoid rhubarb in your diet if you're interested in:

Weight gain

I really should revise for my upcoming exams... haven't properly touched a book ever since my last exam on Thursday. And today, I didn't do any studying either but instead, to compromise I'll be awesome and continue to blog.

In the morning, while practising the piano piece that I FINALLY manage completing (Ravel's Miroirs No.4 Alborada del gracioso), I got a call from Kristin yay who I haven't been out with in AGEEEES, about lunch at Mocha Jo's. My expectation of the menu from MJ's was not let down, ofcourse this expectation was set by Kristin and Nat who always go there to eat. I also, reconmend people to try Mocha Jo's on Kingsway, Glen Waverley.

So I arrived early this time by 5 mins or so, since I'm the one usually late :D. And gave time to browse their menu and specials.

vegeterianvegeterianvegeterian... found one! Vegetarian risotto w/roasted vegetables(pumpkin, eggplant, spinach, tomato, etc.. *drool* YUM) but it was a huge serving just for one person... I somehow managed to finish it while chatting for couple of hours.

Kristin had grilled marinated chilli scallop with vegies, that looked really nice and Nat had potato & leek soup w/side of hot turkish bread. Sat for hours, having a good time, chatting and catching up over our coffee&tea.

My new love is Chai Latte w/honey & cinnamon ontop extra hot please :)

But there was something missing from today's course...

It was dessert! All about the dessert! How could I have not suggested this..? How could I forget? Ce n'est pas moi.. Never fret! There's always room in my belly for dessert!

Tried the rhubarb crème brûlée for first time shared with Kristin and Natalie (egg desserts scare me abit ever since Ben and I had a bad experience in Taiwan!). But, unfortunately Nat's stomach couldn't handle egg products yet alone food, due to.. food poisoning i think? Badluck Nat, it must suck since you can't eat much and have no appetite, also knowing you love food!

Rétablissez-vous bientôt, Natalie!

Update: Badluck to Kristin as well, there was an unwanted paper flapping on Dorian's windscreen :(! I always thought carpark behind MJ's were quite long hours.. condemn those ticket & parking inspectors!!

Rhubarb crème brûlée was so good that I shall share this recipe:

Crème Brûlée de rhubarbe

Serves 4~6

You need:

400g rhubarb, peeled, trimmed and cut into 1cm pieces
2 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup blond cane organic sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 egg yolks
Sugar to caramelize the top, about 2 tsp per ramekin

Steps:

Divide washed rhubarbs between your ramekins, and place the ramekins in a large baking dish.
Preheat your oven at 200°C. Place the rhubarb in a small roasting tin with 3 tablespoons sugar and toss to coat. Roast for 20 minutes or until rhubarb is very soft. Divide rhubarbs between your ramekins and chill.
Bring the cream to a gentle boil and stop immediately. Cover and let infuse for 15 mins.
Strain.
In the meantime, mix together the egg yolks with the sugar and vanilla until light in colour.
Pour the cream slowly and mix, whisking until smooth.
Divide the cream between the ramekins.
Fill the baking dish with boiling water so that the water line is half way up to the height of the ramekins. Bake in the oven for 25 to 30 min. Let cool before placing the creams in the fridge for a few hours.
When ready to serve, sprinkle with extra fine sugar and caramelize with a torch, or under the broil for a few minutes until caramelized. Serve with extra berries.

Cooking tip:
If the custard is cooked too quickly, it may become lumpy. You can rescue it by whisking vigorously until smooth, then continuing with the recipe.

Cream puffs de Nhu Lan à Footscray

Ma mère came home with a bag of pastry goods... Cream Puffs! Here's the recipe from "Joy of Baking". Seems to be easy to make but too creamy for me(fat :P) but hey! What's the point of dessert if you can't enjoy everything about them. Gosh those were quiet big, didn't know any places that made them this big yet.

They also remind me of mini-drills.. ?!? Cream pu--DRILLLU ドリャアアアーー!!!

Akira Kogami(らき☆すた) & 天元突破グレンラガン haha

J'aime des nourritures libres!

2008-06-05T20:16:00.015+10:00

Les macarons de PIERRE HERMÉ (Paris)

You know what the secret to skinny butts and desserts everyday is? Going halfsies. In addition to being better than no desserts at all, it costs less to share and is not nearly as fattening as a whole.

Awesome drawing by Feng

But you know what the secret to getting exams off your mind. Eatting piles of desserts straight after it! At work, my Boss & I were pretty much "taste-testing" alot of the desserts that we had, from mini hedgehogs and macedamia slices to even cheesecake... mmm free food. I like my butts round and firm :) *squeeze*

Okay, I guess I need to make this blog abit more about my life (unless you readers don't really care.. well suck). Had an accounting exam in the morning and I really don't feel like blogging about that. *damn you face book* I'll just pray and hope I don't have to repeat accounting again in uni, ever!

--time skip to night time--
It's 2am and I just got back from Airstream with Benjamin & David for some chat along with Chai Latte w/ Honey mm yum. Then hopped onto Frank and Nicole's table and discussed about asean camp & cars. To the friendly neighbourhood TAB for abit of gambling and with our luck combined togethor, Ben profited $280~ from the 3 different pokies machine... yes, $280 in total. I expect free food & coffee from him after using my luck to achieve that, maybe a ps3 in the future. The profits David and I earned, is insignificant and is quite embarrassing to expose, although we did manage to cheat the TAB staff by saying one of the pokies machine were jammed and didn't get our collection of $22. Yay.

my ODOT list for holidays (join for the fun):
*Macarons, experimenting with different flavours
*Kouign-Amann
*Tarts
Many more cakes & desserts

Why you may be wondering that there is alot macaron pictures rather than other desserts is because lately, I have fallen in love to how simple(or so it sounds) and how it presented through many different blogs. Although I am not known to be a meringue fan, just discovering the vast variety of beautiful colours and range of flavours these parisian macarons (mini-hamburgers) makes me stare in awe.

And hungry!

I want a new oven :(

wait let me rephrase, I NEED A NEW OVEN

Here is the recipe I've chosen from La Tartine Gourmande
Matcha Tea and Chocolate Ganache:

For the Chocolate Ganache

1/2 cup heavy cream
5 1/3 oz dark chocolate, 65 % cocoa

Steps:

Grate the chocolate and place it in a bowl.
Heat the cream and bring to a simmer. Stop and pour over the chocolate. Let sit for 1 mn, then mix together to get a smooth paste. Let cool before using.

For the Matcha Meringue (for about 15 small macarons)

2 egg whites (2 oz), at room temperature
3.5 oz confectioner’s sugar, sifted
2 oz almond flour, sifted
1 oz fine sugar
1/2 tsp matcha tea powder
A few drops of green coloring
1/8 tsp cream of tartar

Steps:

Sift the almond flour and confectioner’s sugar. Add the sifted matcha tea powder. Keep.
Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer. Start to mix on medium speed with 1/2 Tbsp fine sugar and the cream of tartar. Once slightly foamy, increase the speed. After a few mns, when they are almost firm, add the rest of the sugar, and a few drops of coloring. The egg whites should form nice firm peaks. Keep.
Add the dry ingredients to the egg whites in two or three times, making sure you fold them in carefully (Make circular movements using a rubber spatula). Once the preparation homogeneous, it is ready. Do not overwork the meringue batter.
On one (or more) baking sheets, place a Silpat or a piece of parchment paper. With a decoration bag, pipe small amounts of batter 1 inch in diameter, 1 inch apart. Leave to rest for 1 hour.
Preheat your oven at 320 F.
Place the baking sheet in the oven and cook for about 12 to 13 mns, according to the macaron size (if you make bigger ones, increase the cooking time). After 7 to 8 mns, crack the oven door open (keep it open inserting a wooden spoon for example) and reduce the heat to 290 F.
Take the macarons out of the oven (check whether they are cooked by touching them lightly) and pour a thin stream of water under the Silpat to create some steam. The macarons will be easier to remove. Wait a little before removing them from the Silpat (use a flexible spatula if they stick). Let them cool down on racks before assembling.
Once the filling cold — but not at fridge temperature — pipe some on one macaron half and stick the other half on top.

Give it a go, could be a tad tricky!

Ma dent douce avant le Minuit

2008-06-01T02:30:00.018+10:00

【試験モド・】 ACTIVATE!

First day of the month meaning the first exam: 05/06... holy shi--it's 5 days away! Damn you accounting 1022! This is my 3rd year doing accounting and I'm still not pro at it *sadface...*
On the good side, it's the first day of the month meaning I'm UNCAPPED! YES! I'm FREEE~ No more restriction while surfing the net, no more slow loading porn pic---hahaha... ^A^;;
Oh snap, I've used 2.5gb offpeak already! Stocking up on anime for the upcoming holidays haha.. sounds wrong, doesn't it? I should be out socializing & working, not in bed all day watching anime like a hikikimori. Also, need to find job at a patisserie place (I hope Tanner's on Blackburn road will take me in for experience) *sigh*... and maybe spam work at Roy Morgans if i get accepted too. It's all about the money money money!

Can't wait for the winter trip at end of the month.. 楽しみよ！

my new automne theme desktop, if you take a look to the left i have a pile of accounting practise exams to do :(

En tout cas.. Mmm can't help to have but having something sweet to eat late at night.. especially during revision session. I know I should be studying hard but Indi requested a new blog(also due to lack of blog entries lately) so here I am, typing away at 2:54AM in my PJs.

I think it's time for a asian dessert night! A perfect hot sweet dessert soup for a cold winter night in Melbourne, I enjoyed it so much I had more than one serving yummm *happy stomach*

A Hearty Chinese Dessert

From my findings, Adzuki Beans are indeed healthy. They are good sources of iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, copper and thiamine. They’re also an excellent low-fat, low-calorie source of protein and dietary fiber. Red beans also contain phytonutrients that may help prevent chronic diseases such as cardivascular disease and cancer.

To make this lovely red bean soup, you will need:

1 cup of dried red aduki beans (as desired), soaked overnight and drained
1/4 cup dried lotus seeds, soaked for 12 hours or overnight, drained (optional)
1 strip dried tangerine peel or fresh orange peel (optional)
7 cups water
1/3 cup to 1/2 cup sugar (as desired)

Recipe Method:
Combine beans and 7 cups water in a large pot. Bring to boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook uncovered until beans are tender and the liquid has reduced by 3 cups about 2 hours. Add the lotus seeds and cook until almost tender, about 20 minutes or longer.

The soup may be served hot at room temperature or chilled.

Variations:
*Glutinous rice balls can be added
*Use brown instead of white sugar
*Other versions of this dish are made with longan seeds, lotus roots or lily bulbs or other beans.

Even try it with Mochi or Ice-cream

My Aunt's Sticky Rice Balls

I also had some sticky glutinous(rice) balls with coconut soup that my mother brought home from my Aunt's. Along with other dishes(peaking duck, soy rice, goat hotpot), but this was the only one I wanted to eat. Gotta stop eatting late at night.. *even happier stomach now*

"Can't i atleast choose where they go?"
"Sorry, it says here, these are going straight to your thighs."
Haha sorry abit random. If i recall correctly, it's from some brunch bar ad...

Here is the simple recipe method (serves 4-5):

Mixed an 150~200g of glutinous rice flour(or as desired) with a bit less than that of water, judging the consistency by sight and feel. You want a dough that is dry enough to roll out into balls.
Once the dough was shaped, into a pot of boiling water and when when they floated to the surface, scooped them into a sieve.
You can serve them with sweet adzuka bean soup from above or in milk/soya bean milk/ coconut sauce.
To prepare the coconut sauce or other sauces, heat 300mL thick coconut milk in a saucepan, stirring constantly.
After about 15 minutes, blend in the 1750g brown sugar or shaved palm sugar. Cook until the sugar melts and mixture becomes thick and smooth. Remove from the heat.

Heres how the japanese did theirs (Main-Main Masak-Masak)

5-coloured glutinous rice balls in milk soup 五色白玉ミルク

I hope you enjoyed my 4AM food rant :) *stomach feels hungry*

Is this a band meeting?

2008-05-14T17:45:00.008+10:00

i am now ranked Latte :)

And what I mean is that my milk is good enough for latte standards now. I shall tackle cappucinos tomorrow. Finally got the frothing right, yay!

Egg tarts

Egg tarts from Breadtop. Not the best place to get it but atleast, it still tasted like one. This shop kinds of exists everywhere, so it's quite convinient for some nibble on some sweet/savoury pastry. In my opinion, Springvale has some really good tarts if you know where to find them ;). The pastry wasn't thick enough or I think it was cooked for too long as my tart would crumble before my mouth gets to it. :(

Look more enthusiastic Michael, you're on camera!

Saturday the 10th, was little TJ's birthday. Another gathering at Michael's house with bunch of '07 and '06 glennies along with other(manifest and such). Some girl had a funny comment "Is this like a violin party because it is quite lame".. I concur, only reason is because EVERYONE, like literally almost EVERYONE had some musical instrument in their hand, may it be guitars or violins or a drumania drumset. Everyone, its time to gather around the camp fire and sing-a-longs! Other than that, it was an enjoyable night. Thanks Tj, Bye!

I think a new item is added to the banlist from house parties.
1/ Tekken 5 (or games that aren't multiplayer)
2/ Mahjong (only at Lyns, haha)
3/ Musical Instruments unless the birthday kid requests you to play

Mwahahahaha!!!

I like to add, Jigglypuff is now one of my favourite characters in SuperSmashBros. Brawl on Wii!!

Une gâteau de mangue

Michael Tjong's birthday cake was also from Breadtop. Haha, alot of Breadtop? No, I did not buy any of these products today. Try to cut this cake into ... 20 something pieces! GOOD LUCK!! It was messy and wasn't attractive... yeah. The bits of mango fruit between the layers with the cream was just about right, not too sweet :). I don't... know what the cake is wrapped with though. Looks like a thin sheet of crépe. We also had "green tea" roll sponge cake due to realising how thin the porportions of cake each people had.

Fact: Breadtop now has 11 franchises all over Melbourne and some in Sydney. Guess what, they're all in asian places. Haha, kind of expected, n'est-ce pas?

Why the pants?

2008-05-10T00:37:00.022+10:00

Ah mah god.. No way.. Your kidding ?! (Joy, don't worry, I didn't publicize your e-mail.. you won't have anymore strangers adding you haha)

Okay, for people who wonder why the "no pants Peter" name, some of my friends would know because they gave me this name..It really has happened.. Yes, the situation of me with no pants on. Kind of はずかし but funny. A side story none the less.

--a bit of reminiscing, i'll make it short i promise--
Kristin's 17th Birthday? I took over early in one of David's game of pool (8 ball) against Ken. There's a rule where if you lose without sinking any balls, you run with your pants (or whatever you are wearing down there) down, around the pool table. & yeah, that's where this name derived from. Oh I think David has photos of it too. --Wait-- ... I think Kristin was tipsy when she gave me that name?! Or was that "Dirty Dirty Peter" which was due to your trampoline!!! Ahoy peg-leg Alan and Kristin the deck scrubber!!
--oh, how short was that story!--

Apple & Persimon salad
Have you had your 5 to 8 servings of fruits & vegies today?

I'm not a vegetarian but I do prefer fruits & vegies over meat nowadays. Trying to get my family to follow and eat healthier is quite difficult when you have: a father who loves their meat, a sister who eats either junk or randomly. But yay for mum to putting more effort into dieting again! --i owe her a pair of new jeans in summer-- I guess, there's no point in discriminating.

Food is food. Life is short, so enjoy it :)!
Although, the more white hairs sprouting out of your head, the more health cautious you get..

Orange tea cake from Laurent Boulangerie Patisserie
I can't stop at slice no.1..

Ma mère walked through the door with a nice looking package. I think ever since I introduce Laruent Patisserie to my sister and mother, they only seem to buy cakes from there now... although the cakes are very good, stop spending money there, it's too expensive!

NOT! That'll never be a good enough reason, haha!

This was only $10-ish anyway, so it was quite cheap.. which came as a surprise.

I love dining at Laurent Patisserie! It's so relaxing and classy for a boulangerie-pâtisserie in Melbourne. It's probably so far, my favourite place to have a slice of heaven every now and then. It's pricey for small servings of cake, but worth every extra gold coins. Maybe food taste alot better when you pay cost more. Probably not in all scenarios. And it's interesting how Laurent has only positioned themselves in wealthy suburbs.

I noticed whilst serving it for David and Lyn who came to visit, that the orange tea cake was quite dry and brittle. So much crumbling while slicing the cake :(. Other than that, the orange flavour with chocolate chip in the cake was delicious, proven by the fact that I had several slices and Lyn couldn't resist nibling on some more. I would usually hesitate when it comes weird flavoured cakes.. Time to find new cakes to try then.

Yay!

Jikoshookai..

2008-05-07T17:00:00.010+10:00

Bonjour mes amis,

Okay, here is my first proper post. Hi, I'm your newest family member to the blogspot family. My other general blogging site is www.xanga.com/gtfopp. I remembered yesterday morning that I had blogspot account sitting somewhere in cyberspace while having cereal, waiting for Vince to arrive。 And here it is, all refurnished. Ready to go!

Oh don't mind me, de temps en temps, je faire écrire en français et japonais. For studying purposes, it's really basic so it'll be easy to figure out :).

Why blogspot? Is it because I want to be cool like all you other peeps?
The answer is no :P, joking.. i lubs you! This blog will be about food & lifestyle. Sharing my experiences with food and everything related, the positifs and negatifs.. hopefully the positive outweighs. I'll be posting new places to dine, new menus, cooking in the kitchen.. everything. If only I had taken my camera for previous stuff then this blog would be off on its way!

Too bad that most of the stuff won't derive from my kitchen since I don't even have a working oven haha! sigh.. But never fear!
I have a cooking buddy..

Feng. My いもうと. She's a happy youngling!
Very good at drawing, checkout her blogspot(noteandkey).
Yes I know this picture is a tad weird, but, that's Feng

You drew it yourself, so you can't blame me haha!
Or should I post the Gaara(Gadara) version..?

I guess you can say, I've somewhat been inspired by other food bloggers. Especially by Béa (La Tartine Gourmande), a french food stylist/photographer/writer, who is "obsessed with cooking, eating, sampling new ingredients, styling and photographing food". I love her photographs and recipes especially the dessert menus. It has totally broaden my mind about how you can craft any ingredients into anything magnifique. Never waste food, i must say!

In the meantime, welcome and hope you enjoy the journey. I hope to see new & familiar people loitering around here ;P.

Welcome

2008-05-06T18:00:00.006+10:00

Welcome! Bienvenue! ようこそ！

To my new blog guys & girls! (well it's been sitting there gathering dust)

I should write a proper first post but I gotta get going to do accounting assignment with Gabriel.

Accounting sucks ;P full stop!