Image of the Baker

Eat it like this

Ahhh -  somehow vox got rid of all that I had typed up before!!!
Well back to what I had said:

Just reflecting on the Amazing Asian Food Safari that had occurrred in July when I was travelling with family to China (HaiNan Is), South Korea + HK.
Food is so much more affordable - you can snack up to 4-5 times AND come under budget of AUD$20!
Yes, snacking can become a past time for you if you want to take it up.

Well, since coming back home, I've wanted to continue trying new foods - I've since been to a nice Spanish rest. in the city on Liverpool st (?) - need to get back to you on that one.
But the food is fairly affordable and the atmosphere is really great!
Tapas don't come cheap, but then I suppose you share the cost and it turns out to be ok!
Artichoke hearts are very nice! More abt that in future post!

Anyway, Jaye came over to drop off a few things and she also bought over a Thai desert that I'm rather fond of (well I'm rather fond of anything sweet...)
Back in the origin land - this coconut-sago pudding/desert is encapsulated in either banana leaf or Pandan leaf which would really impart a heavenly aroma!!
Note, previously that I've successfully completed a pandan sponge - but the aroma isn't as evident in the sponge most likely cos I used pandan essence instead of the real deal.

Anywho, I did find the desert very nice, creamy, rich in the mouth. Contrary to what Jaye said, the desert wasn't too sweet, cos the coconut cream does well to balance out the sweetness of the sago layer underneath.

I give 7.5/10.
 Here is eye candy.

RIMG1343

Bloggin off
kwana

P.S Almost forgot what I was meant to be bloggin abt...well on Friday class (Nutrition + Public/Community Health) - my friends and I were discussing cereals and breakfast foods of the grain family...
How to eat Weetbix---make it all nice and soggy in the microwave - it tastes better when its in porridge like consistency.
Cocopops - never leave them to get soggy - even if you get a really nice choccy milk afterwards.
You got to time yourself so you get it not too crunchy and not too soft + soggy.
Miloflakes - again 100% sugar and I assume high GI, but they don't go soggy as quickly as coco-pops.
They also leave a choccy flavoured milk behind too!
Cornflakes came into contention as well. Sora (who isn't fond of crunchy things??) said that one should leave them to soak up the milk!!! *shock horror* WHO does that?
Personally I really enjoy the crispness of cornflakes - so I pour out proportionally less milk and try to gobble it up in record breaking time.
Vincent on the other hand had one very smart way to go about this. Eat cornflakes in smaller bowls so there is less time for the flakes to soak up milk. Then refill your bowl until you get full!!
LOL - that is the most practical food tip I've heard for a long time! :)
Hope it comes to use for you too!

define this

 

The internet is not working very well. In fact its in a horrible state - I can't access Gmail!! I've got to send some important emails! GRRR. Grrrr to internet provider who is messing up or grrrr! to our home internet networking!

The definition of gad = Generalised Anxiety Disorder. I just randomly typed it into Google to see if Google search would work, cos I wanted to find out if those epi plastic magazine wrappers are recyclable earlier this morning.

Today marks the last day I'll be in Sydney for the next 4 weeks! Yikes! :(

From nice cold cold freezing Sydney winter to gross hot hot sweltering summer in HK!

One of the things I really don't like doing is packing for holidays. I just want to be there and enjoy myself and not worry about forgetting to pack my pajamas.

Personally, throwing clothing randomly on my already stockpiled bed constitutes for packing. At least one half of it anyway.

I've got a mental list and also a handwritten one in my diary to make sure I don't forget! :D

Ah, time for deliscious piccie time!

Last blog (or rather some time ago) I said I'd attempt to make a Pandan sponge.

Well, the 2nd try I succeeded! YATTA!

It turns out the culprit behind my failed cakes was the new scales I had bought on ebay.

They were a nice set of electronic scales from Terraillon---but....turns out they're prob not calibrated!! Argh.

They look very fancy - which is prob. why they don't work very well. It's got a glass top and its only supported by a metal bar that runs longitudinally along it with two plastic weight bases.

0 calorie cupcake! yikes

The magical cupcakes weighs 0g! *gasp* Thats the solution to weight watchers disgusting deserts range!

Well actually I've never tasted weight watchers dessert foods, but come on! Any dessert that is 98% fat free, cannot taste as good as the real deal! (and this would be the part where my dietetics career is smeared :P)

Anyway, the support is pretty flimsy and I'm thinking of either contacting the local office for calibration or ....buying another one?

Pandan cake - which was fairly successful - the colour turned out very nice, but I couldn't detect the pandan flavour very well.

I'm suspecting it's because I sub the coconut milk for just low fat milk - coconut milk would impart a very nice aroma, and low fat milk really sucks in cake recipes. Full cream milk just doesn't find its way into my fridge is all.

Although I admit, full-cream milk has the greatest taste - although you can't tell when you mix it with muesli anyway :P

Another factor - would most likely be in the essence itself (I don't know how long the shelf life of it is - my mum just stocks all this stuff - I just don't know if its over its use by date or not! hee hee).

One fact of baking is that you can never substitute vanilla extract/paste with vanilla essence.

It would be the equivalent of selling a white cat with wool glued onto it in place of a baby sheep to Japanese people. (It's a true story - or a very similar one I read somewhere).

So relating this back to the pandan essence - I saw a Youtube video showing a lady who hand extracted actual pandan juice from the leaves...but I don't really want to do that...:P

 

 

Sideview of pandan sponge

 

Pandan sponge

 

RIMG4847

As you can tell (or perhaps not cos it just looks soooo yummy - that you are partially blinded by its AWESOMENESS and YUMMYNESS COMBINED! - hehe, quote from Kung Fu Panda), its a little burnt or overbrowned is the right term. I was fairly anxious about whether or not it would be cooked on the inside, as my last baking creations were not cooked inside properly.

Rule 102: NEVER use a skewer to poke a sponge cake to see if its ready. All the hard work you've done to ensure its well aerated would be wasted. Always use a fingerpad to tap the top of the cake. If it springs back then it's ready.

Another tell-tale is if the sides of the cake leaves the sides of the cakepan.

Well, thats it for me for now. Lots of things to blog about - but not very much time.

I'll try to cont. blogging if time allows for me when I'm O/S.

Bloggin off - kwana

 

a guy/girl named vic

I was trying (read failing) to clean the underneath of my bed today in my bid to find my senior high school maths text books (Cambridge Mathematics 3 Unit for yr 11 and 12).

Jay came over this morning to see Maxi and was wanting to borrow both texts (well for the yr 11 its return since I had borrowed it from a little over 4 years ago now).

I came across all the notebooks I had kept over my 3 years of uni and had archived them in plastic baggies in case I would ever need to look back over them (since then, I have NOT had to refer back to them) and so they've been well preserved. They are however stacking up to a dangerous level and all in all I think all the notes might very well weigh over 10kg!

Over this brief period, I started looking at some the notes I had taken for subjects that I can now deem pretty darn useless (e.g Biomechanics which is the largest waste of time ever!!). I can't see myself doing research on that field, so that really puts me something like $400-500 more into debt! :P

Keep on getting off topic, but I came across the first ever notebook that I wrote in first semester, first year. This hefty plastic covered blue lined notebook that came with 2 plastic dividers. It was labelled Chemistry, Functional Anatomy A and Neuroscience 1A.

The notebook was heading towards the recycling bin because its contents weren't that useful to me now (and I kept on thinking to myself, 'in 5 years time when I hopefully am able to move out, would I still keep this book with me?') but I still wanted to flip through it to see what I can salvage. I turned to the back and saw that I had printed off a muscle attachment sheet printed on pink paper. This may come in handy, so I took it off. Before I closed the notebook, I saw that I had my first year timetable and also some post it notes with some times jotted on it. It turned out to be the timetable times for a few close friends of mine. I saw 2 good friends and another name which I had written down...'vic's timeable'.

I cannot for the life of me remember who vic was...for some reason it makes me sad to think that this person was important and dear to me, enough for me to write down their timetable times and now I can't even think of who this person is.

I'm think of 2 possible Vic's. One I would have known for sometime before I had started university...

I think I have a clue, but I don't ever remember meeting up with Vic... 

Oh, another thing. My ever so reliable Dell Desktop has died on me. Well more like become a vegetable-computer.

So I'm trying to upload photos via USB cable on my mum's comp and because she doesn't have any card slots, I think I have to install a driver!!

Yesterday, Czarina, Charlene and myself visited the new Sydney Apple store that has set itself up on George St.

The decor inside is typically very Apple minimalistic-chic, with the overall colour theme of white, grey and more white.

It features a unique opaque-ish set of plastic staircases thats illuminated with lighting from below. I was looking into buying an iMac, now that I have a genuine excuse to buy a new computer!

I didn't actually expect or know that Apple was planning to plant a retail store in Sydney, so its like a really pleasant surprise. Sort of like a surprise you wait 2 weeks for. (Well that's how long I knew abt the Apple store before they opened it.)

Bloggin off - kwana

 

washing the dog is therapeutic

Today marked the dreaded day of giving Maxi a well deserved wash.

Even Jay noticed the pong emanating from Maxi!! He stinks quite a bit and has become the butt of some of my jokes.

Esp. in reference to my bro's morning breath and just general BO. Boys stink!

In any case, I was procrastinating for most of the day anyways (as I do when I feel overconfident with studying for exams), so I thought it would hit two birds with the one stone if I was to give Maxi a wash.

It took a little while to get started when finding the bucket and dog wash (yes it has been that long since he got a wash) - but hey Maxi did wind up back at his owners place for a few months.

So this is his first wash in a while (well since we adopted him again).

Giving him the scrub down is strangely therapeutic. Scrub scrub -- and I get time to unload some of my thoughts out loud to maxi. And its strange too, cos its nice for a dog to listen to you speak out loud.

I think thats what cuts it between owning a dog and a cat. You speak to a cat and it really acts as if it thinks you're crazy! *lol*. That sentence alone sounds a bit nutso--

And I'm watching way too much Death Note. I was doing a bit of research on my favourite character L - I'm pretty certain that he has Aspergers syndrome or something alike that. Except that people who suffer from Asperger's have affected motor control/capabilites and in the anime L likes to stack things up like sugar cubes and the such.

L has a very unique sort of personality and that some commentators (well don't know if thats the right word) say that he is 'partly evil' even though he's the antagonist (of the evil main character). I think for some people who suffer from austistic related disorders, the line between good and evil is blurred and also their ethical judgement is a bit on the edge too.

It's very comical that L knows about how to act in a social context and comments so in the anime, but when placed in the situation himself knows very little about how to act. Though that is a little different to what the official Asperger's syndrome sufferer differs in.

A particular scene in ep 25 shows flashbacks from L's past which leads me to believe that perhaps he suffers from low latent inhibition. I had to do a bit of googling to find that out. In that scene L recalled the sound of bells chiming - and the scene cut to the inside mechanics of a bell ringing (with all the jogs-wheel things). So it brought me back to Prison Break where the protagonist Micheal is described as having low-latent inhibition - a characteristic in which an individual is incapable of limitng all the incoming stimuli around them. If the person has a high degree of intelligence, they are capable of processing this stream of information effectively, an ability that greatly aids their creativity and ability to learn and which categorizes them as almost creative geniuses (extracted & plagiarised from Wiki).

That is probably what enables L to have such a high degree of deduction - from observing all the details around him.

I feel sort of sorry for these people. They must need such a high intake of carbs to sustain all that brain activity!! haha, which is why L eats an enormous amount of sweets! <3<3

Looove sweets.

Ah off topic. Still got another unit to study for. Hmmm. Since the last post, my mum and I went out to splurge (well its on sale) on a food mixer. Its great to making sponge mixes. Will post up piccies of culinary delights soon...

Will miss Maxi and his smelly cute butt!!

bloggin off - kwana

 

cupcakes a go go

Again, being extremely pressed for time cos I really should be working on a major paper + presentation *long sigh*
But thanks to my partner who forgot to copy the results to me...I'm not being very productive.
Eh, on the other hand I did put into practice practical procrastination...if there is such a thing.
Well - youtube and procrastination go hand in hand.

I just found some really awesome videos people post up relating to cake decorating and cupcakes!
My all time favourite past time is baking -- here is one of my past culinary creations - note most designs I usually get from magazines or whatnot. However, I did come up with my own cupcake design which I'll post up later on.

The cupcakes were made originally for my Sunday school kids in celebration of Easter...however, the cakes did not get the expected warm reception - the kids were just staring at the cakes as if I had secretly filled them up with arsenic T___T ...so anyway, I gave them away to friends in the English congregation later on after the service :(

Just goes to show how kiddos don't really appreciate anything until they get older!! I thought everyone LOVES cupcakes! Who can resist those little morsels of sugary sweetness?? Tell me WHO!?

Well, the eggs on the top are just sugar coated choc eggs from Darell Lea. They don't taste that great but the outer presentation is perfect! The duck egg blue and brown are very attractive IMO.

I roasted some desiccated coconut as per instruction in the article I read abt in the Good Living liftout from the papers. The buttercream consistency is far from desired. Icing sugar was on the low and I was icing these babies at 11.30pm – so I couldn’t be bothered with going out to buy some more. Thus, the buttercream does hold true to its title and tasted a little bit more buttery than it is meant to.

Additionally, our household stock of food colouring was actually dried up. So I have NO idea of how old that stuff actually is…so I had to make do with Pandan essence. For those who aren’t familiar with Pandan…its beautiful stuff! It is extracted from the pandan leaf (hence its natural green colour) and has a very sweet & outstanding aroma – sort of like Vanilla – its very potent – and so lent an 'Asian' pandan flavour to the buttercream.

Since its was my bro’s birthday just 2 days ago – I promised that I’d try to make a pandan flavoured sponge. It’ll be an exciting sort of adventure---

 

One last thing – here is a pic of a necklace I bought on sale from Myer a few wks ago (for Mother’s day present shopping - funny how you end up picking out stuff for yourself instead...) when I first saw it I literally ‘WHOAH, WHOAH….WHOAH.’ to Wayne. Stop Press---does this resemble something out of a video game…Zelda…ring a bell anyone?

RIMG4151.jpg

Bloggin off - kwana

Resuscitation...HR and BP up...

yay! I finally took the initiative to get a basic banner + renovate the blog.

I've always wanted a different focus for my blog and hence the makeover! :D

The banner idea has been stuck in my head for sometime and it was only today (even though I'm quite pressed for time) that I've decided to play around with PS & put it into little bits of data/pixels! [edit: I just C+P my display piccie and fiddled with it in PS - it does look less like a product that came from MS paint now haha - less kitsch I guess :S )

The results are mediocre. Although, I know a few more PS functions now! :D
I was thinking of moving to WordPress but I'm not familiar with all the coding thats req'd.
Besides, there's alot of precious photos on this blog...so cbb to move it all to another site.

Well, this year - I've been more involved with uni ministry work - so I'd like to maybe put some things about it here.
As well, this year marks the year in which I can successfully bake a sponge! YAHOO WAKA WAKA.
Thanks to 2 special friends who gave me tips:
special mention goes to Jess -- my dear uni friend who really gave me the secret step (well I think so anyway)
as well as to Lisa - who gave me the inspiration to start getting into food and esp. baking to begin with!
And also mum who has always suggested that I took too long to mix the flour into the batter - :)
And also for washing up the bowls and odd bits & pieces when I'm late to work and just rush off---
You have no idea how many comments she's made on the sponges that I've made in the past...
"This is soo hard that you can kill a dog with it." (meaning if you throw one at Maxi - the collie we're looking after)

"Ok, one slice is enough - its so tough I get tired of chewing it" [edit: OK, I made this comment up, but whenever I've made a sponge it's never been finished in one go. That said, the sponge made for my dad was finished at the one go & we were hungry for more!]

Well, last week - my dad was successful in being elected as deacon of the Chinese congregation at church - and to celebrate I just made a sponge - which turned out extremely well.
I don't want to brag, but it was SUPER good. Yes I brag. :P
It was just the right texture - with a crusty top - all it needed was fresh whipped cream which we finally ate it with.
The most rewarding comment I received was from dad who said that "perhaps Ada's sponge surpasses that of mum's" -- which is a really huge compliment!!
Then mum said "Well she does learn from the best" XD.
Bloggin off - kwana

RIMG4403

RIMG4215

RIMG4223

RIMG4249

RIMG4253

wakka wakka

I've noticed alot of tv-shows have been making parodies of mr pacman. WAKKA WAKKA! ;D

Anyway, time for mid-night (1.39am) random talk, which I'm a big fan of.

Just finished culling a 3000 word report which should be really 2500!!

Its so hard! But I'm glad I've done some of it. Its group collab work so it'll go thru several cycles of culling.

I don't like the word culling. No. I sounds like you're going to chop the head off a chicken/fish! :C

Also - a long time back I remember mentioning that I would explain the concept I had just grasped in an Atheism talk --- now i totally forgot about what it was!! I really need to review and get back to it.

Alrighty - now for one of my recent fav piccys from one my most loved manga's ---tadaa! Naruto!
It's set as the background for the computer at my workplace! I've gotten alot of comments on 'What is that??!'

"Only one of the best manga series in the whole world!" hehe--.

Bloggin off - kwana

Naruto.Sasuke.Melee

Decadence to the max

While I'm patiently waiting for the download of the latest chapter of the Naruto manga to finish (DARN IT! Someth must be stuck...its still on 31% ever since I left to continue on with some study...) I've been pondering the best way to put forth what I've come to understand about justice, mercy, grace and human error into a succinct sort of paragraph. This is what I was referring to in the last post (the Atheism talk I heard at the EU meeting on monday). It really struck out at me and I'm pretty content about this little tidbit of info that been added into my head!

Another thing that I've learnt (and I guess in case I ever forget - I can always come back here) is how to most accurately palpate the brachial artery - that is to use for measuring one's blood pressure. I had the most difficult time when I tried to palpate it in my client --- it was literally 5 mins or poking my finger nails into his upper arm. Another factor is that he does have an over-sufficient amount of subcutaneous fat which doesn't make my job of reading his BP any easier!

So I just ended up placing the stethoscope over where I knew the artery ran and just hoped for the best! I was so glad to find that I could hear his pulse running thru! (yay - "What a fluke!"). I later told my supervisor about it and he told that he had a tip for finding the artery.

Ask the patient to extend their arm. Find the tendons of the biceps mm. Palpate sl. medial to these tendons and it can be quite easily found because the mm belly isn't in the way!

Also most recently I've been trying to find an ideal place to have High Tea! It stands for all things yummy and decadent. Just the way God intended sweets & alike to be!!! Honestly though, you CANNOT skimp on good quality deserts and mini-cucumber sandwiches!! And SCONES! I am the greatest lover of these buttery delectables - bring on the jam and cream!

Most people have an obession with sweet stuff I think. Even from a young age - I think we're hard-wired to love sweet things! Here are some of my recent culinary artworks!

As you can most possibly tell - I have a slight obession with strawberries and cream. The most destined pair of foods ever! The cake on the left most was for my dear friend Lisa's 21st. The 2nd is just a slice of it. Its meant to be a sponge but the bottom layer turned out quite dense. Due to poor technique.

The right most pics were made for my work-mates birthday (age undisclosed hehe)--its basically the same sponge recipe with choc & rum icing and strawberry slices again. Quite decadent but without cream, I feel something essential is missing.

Below are more piccies of the choc tour I took my pal Lisa to...(better and less blurry pics thank goodness)

Left-most is the display of Chocs at DJ in the city - the stuff looks pretty alright, although lacking the somewhat more 'connoisseur' /refined look of the other choc stores we had visited earlier. They have the most wonderful looking penguin chocs - its filled with apricot (?) praline - I had a similar one when I was in holidays in Tassie! :)

The remaining pics are of Lisa & myself in the tea lounge in the Sheraton hotel - enjoying pistachio macaroon from Lindt (not a trace of pistachio - just 200% sugar) and those 'hug mugs' made with Max Brenner hot choc. I had the dark chocolate variety - though it didn't taste any different from the normal milk choc hot choccy's I've had before.
But I give it 8.5/10!

Bloggin off - rather long post - kwana

DSC00131

true love...

I was just skimming over the Sydney Morning Herald (my current homepage) when I saw this gossip article on Heath Ledger & Michelle Williams break-up.

The thought that occurred to me was 'WHY do celebrities break up so easily??'

Do they initially think 'Well I don't really care if this person is the right person for me, if we split I'll just give them half my stuff and get on with life??'

Do they also think "Well, this person is ALRIGHT. I mean the gene pool ain't that bad - blonde hair, blue eyes, lean build...that'll just do. I will eventually get really get to like this person after we get married."

The thought that people can just treat marriage like some non-consecrated and un-important bond infuriates me to no end!

When God created marriage it was a symbol of life-long commitment & bond for both people!

Well thats my little rant for today. On the otherhand - this blog entry is taking a bit longer than usual (simul. msn chat) so I guess thats what keeps me from posting!

I have to post tomorrow about the good talk I heard at uni today! It helped me uncover this concept regarding atheism that I was trying to tackle for some time!

For the time being: here is one incredib. blurry pic taken by our tour host when my friend Lisa & I went on a Sydney Coffee/Choc tour .. and the second is a nice cup of cappuccino with froth art (or whatever its called).

<3 bloggin off - kwana

Haighs

Above photo taken in Haighs in the Stand Arcade - though I looked into their ingred. and they don't even use pure chocolate. They add flavourings??? And instead of the usual natural chocolate sheen they add glazing agent which is a shame for a place that sells quality chocolate...

Cappucino

Above is nice photo of my cappucino. I found out that the basis of all coffees is the espresso shot which makes up roughly 1/3 of this drink. The rest is hot milk and a large dosage of milk froth. Dusted lightly with cocoa powder! Viola!

The beginning of the end...of freedom!

 Many news I would like to blog about--

Firstly, the blogs that are meant to be a commentary to my holidays have been delayed...like been on an extended delay! I don't like to make excuses but I have been making myself very busy with small errands around the house!

Lately I've finished re-furnishing my room! *yay* Joy and Happyness for everyone at home including my mum who is the most prolific/freak/OCD cleaner in the whole world!

My wardrobe is finally been used instead of me piling loads and loads of clothes on the un-used side of the double bed!
It's sorted in colour and type of clothing - i.e skirts and tops.

Also I've been visiting IKEA lately and first had bought more clothes hangers (only in white - even though I found out later they also did them in black! :( )

Then in a sort of impulse like fashion bought 2 x 1m of table cloth fabric - which is a good thing since it really prompted me to clean off my desk.

The status of my desk is now officially new and sparkling! Here is the living proof:

Room-desk

I've also been caught up in a bit of DIY! Due my lack of hammer and nail skills (haven't really used a hammer since Yr8 woodworks class) -- the magnetic bar you see hanging up above the funky red wall clock-- required me to hammer two nails in then remove one because I had just realized I could of checked if the bar lay on a horizontal 180degrees before hammering the nails in. Anyway it didn't take too long and before I knew it--the whole bar was set up and ready to go! :)

Also I've been shopping most recently & the fruits of my shopping are mainly TEES!
Even though I don't normally shop for tees - I really don't know whats been up lately. I think my brothers snide comments about my style has finally gotten to me?! (noo way).

Anyway, I normally wear more classic, clean cut and sometimes tailored some eclectic tops and jeans vs. street wear so my brother always comment that I dress like an 'old lady'. ;P  I just dress mature, is all! And I love my style too!
So my latest purchase required me to tailor the top my self since its a guys size (they were out of XS)~!

Here it is! (Hehehe--GO old skool Nintendo!) I had to shorten the sleeves and shorten the whole length of the tee to make it look more *feminine. And its slightly baggy which is ok because I like loose fitting tops and oversized tees/cardigans/everything else are in for winter.

Mariotee2

Mariotee

I think the whole aim of these holidays for me would have been:

1.) Get more organised - DONE -- also getting into regular habits! DONE!
2.) Get into more activities/learn new things - DONE
3.) Relax - DONE

Yay! End product is a very content me. In comparison to last year - hmm, I think I've gotten way more organised and had achieved many small goals I had set for myself. That is...except the waking up early to jog bit...which will get under way...soon. I have been getting up relatively early (i.e before 9am) and been walking the dog everyday except Sundays (rest day eh he).

Bloggin off - kwana