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Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Nigella's Triple Chocolate Brownies!

I made brownies today! I used the recipe that i found - it's Nigella's Triple Chocolate Brownies! I followed the recipe to a T and it was wonderful!

Here is a slideshow of the photos that i have taken.


This is the recipe i used.

Ingredients

* 3 sticks plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter - Around 360grams
* 12 ounces best-quality bittersweet chocolate - Around 300grams
* 6 eggs
* 1 3/4 cups superfine sugar - I used caster sugar
* 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract - I used vanilla paste
* 1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup white chocolate buttons, chips, or morsels
* 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate buttons, chips or morsels
* Approximately 2 teaspoons confectioners' sugar, for garnish
*
* Special equipment: Baking tin (approximately 11 1/4 inches by 9 inches by 2 inches), sides and base lined with baking parchment. - I used a pyrex dish 9 x 13inch

Oh..regrading the amount of butter - it may seem excessive but i still used it all the same though i might cut it by a little - maybe just 300grams. Still, it adds to the flavour of the brownies!

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. (Around 177 Celsius)

Melt the butter and dark chocolate together in a large heavy based pan over a low heat.

In a bowl or large measuring jug, beat the eggs together with the superfine sugar and vanilla extract.

Allow the chocolate mixture to cool a little, then add the egg and sugar mixture and beat well. Fold in the flour and salt. Then stir in the white chocolate buttons or chips, and the semisweet chocolate buttons or chips. Beat to combine then scrape and pour the brownie mixture into the prepared tin.

Bake for about 25 minutes (After reading reviews and trying it myself - the best timing is actually 35 minutes). You can see when the brownies are ready because the top dries to a slightly paler brown speckle, while the middle remains dark, dense and gooey. Even with such a big batch you do need to keep checking on it: the difference between gooey brownies and dry ones is only a few minutes. Remember, too, that they will continue to cook as they cool. - No problem at all - real gooey and nice!

To serve, cut into squares while still warm and pile up on a large plate, sprinkling with confectioners' sugar pushed with a teaspoon through a small sieve.

This is a wonderful recipe which you can alter yourself. I would definitely try it without the white chocolate and used either chopped walnuts or peanut butter chips instead.

This is a quick recipe as all just comes together in one pot and into the baking dish and you're done! Less than 1 1/2 hr in total.

Nigella really knows what she is doing!

Monday, September 29, 2008

The Best Cookies & Cream EVER!



This ice cream is the best ever! This is our favourite ice cream from a franchise called "Wendy's" where they sell ice cream, shakes etc..

There are loads of cookies in it and it's really creamy and buttery. Very flavourful and creamy!

I can eat like a whole tub at one go - it is that good. There was an offer a few weeks back for 2 tubs $10. Now it is $6.95 i think for a tub. But..still.. its too good. So we got one for me and one for hui..YaY!

Hopefully i don't finish it by tonight..haha.. =)
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Footsie!

We went grocery shopping today at Eastgardens. Guess what i bought - other than groceries?


Isn't it cute?! HaHa..It's called a Footlet - to wear at home..like slippers sort of. They're really soft - like fluffy socks... =) Hui has one too - but without the purple heart on the top and popping pink hearts at the sole. It was a pack of 2 for $9 sth.

Cute eh?

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Dinner at Din Tai Fung!

We - me, Fish and Hui had the bestest dinner ever at Din Tai Fung in World Square, Sydney. I have read a lot of reviews about this place and have been there around 6 times since its opening. But this meal was the best. Some reviewers complain about the waiting time. I admit, the waiting time is long, but there are ways to circumvent it. Dinner service starts at 5pm. If i am going there for dinner, i try to leave my house latest by 4:30pm. I reach there for an early dinner around 5:30pm. There are some people waiting, but i never had to wait for more than 1/2 hr. However, if you do decide to come later, the restaurant is full and the crowd outside waiting starts to ballon at around 6pm. It looks like there's a party going on outside the restaurant. It is that packed. Luckily, the waiting area outside is very big and airy. They provide tea and have heaters for cold nights. So, go early and solve waiting problems - i have never felt hungry later in the night. =)


There are some dishes that are staples, that we definitely order. Appetizers. We will surely order the - i dun remember exactly what it is called - something like "Vegetarian Delight"?. Anyway, you can't miss it. It has improved since their opening. The portion is larger and it is served colder and better. The other dish you see on the left consists of soft tofu, pork floss and century egg. We only eat this if hui comes along because we wouldn't be able to finish. It tastes really light and great with the floss and century egg. Although we do think that more century egg is needed for it is a huge slice of tofu. =)


Next we have another staple. Pork and Vegetable dumplings in a concoction of chilli oil and vinegar maybe? Anyway, it tastes damn good! One of my favourite dishes! I actually ordered 2 bowls of this. HaHa.. The dumplings are well shaped. I don't think you can see from here, but each dumpling has a loop where you can hold it with using your chopsticks. I highly recommend this dish. It has the right amount of spiciness and sourness. I don't, but hui and fish uses the mixture to add to their rice and noodles. Delicious!


I usually have fried rice, but today i decided that i will go for noodles. I tried their Braised Beef Noddle Soup. The soup looks oily, but it is really light and delicate in flavour. This is not a soup for those who like robust and strong flavours. Although one might be still able to appreciate it. The beef falls apart at the light press of the chopsticks. I love the soup and because i don't eat much meat, i gave them to hui and fish. However, i don't really like their noodles. This is just me because Fish obviously loves their noodles. So since he was still hungry, he had 1/2 of my noodles and the beef and the three of us shared the remaining soup.


This is what i usually eat. Fried Rice with Chicken Chop. I first ate their fried rice in Singapore and loved it. They cook it a little different here, but i can't really compare as it has been a while since i ate the one at Singapore. The chicken is crispy and nicely fried. The fried rice is well fried and delicate in flavour. I usually use their chilli which is like chilli flakes in chilli oil. Tastes good together and i just love it. =)


And of course, we definitely have to eat the Xiao Long Bao. With hui, we order 2 baskets, if not, we only order 1. It has 6 dumplings in a basket which is different to the one in Singapore as you can choose to have regular or large (as in the number of dumplings, not the size). I love their dumpling. I have never once broken a dumpling before - the trick is to hold it at it thickest portion, which is where all the folds are. I don't like vinegar and ginger, so i can't say anything about that. =)


This is the first time we tried this. Well, it tastes good obviously, but i think the next time we can skip it and try something else. It didn't make that much of an impact and since fish don't like prawns, the chances of eating this again are slim. =)


I have been waiting the whole night to eat this!! Aren't they just the cutest?! I ate this the last time and fell in love with it! Inside has soft mashed taro, a deep lavender color which tastes so good. The thickness of the skin can be tasted when you bite into it and it's perfect! Since i don't like sweet sweet items too much, this was perfect - you could taste the fragrance of the taro and it is accompanied by a lovely mild sweetness. I loved it so much, i ordered another basket to take away, which i had for breakfast the next day, but its still best eaten fresh. Heavenly!

Shi Hui took away the red bean version - but i have no idea how it tastes cause i have not had the chance to ask her. But i think it would still be really good!


How tantalising does this look?! OMG. Just looking at it makes me so totally wanna go back and eat again! Click on it to get a big big close up picture - i betcha you will so totally wanna eat it!

All in all. This was a wonderful meal, we all had a good time and definitely good eat. =) There were some dishes that i neglected to take photos of though, like the zha jiang mian that fish ate cause he started eating it so fast and the food were all arriving so i had to start eating and stop taking pictures!!

The service is wonderful there. We Chinese are different from Caucasians in a way that we don't like to place our bags on the floor - there is nothing more i hate. Imagine my disgust when i saw 3 Caucasians who were eating at Yishun Coffee Shop and they just threw their bags on the floor which is so so so dirty!! I could never never bring myself to do that. Here, they have - i don't know what to call them - like baskets (pretty ones) where they place next to you for you to put your belongings in and they cover it with a piece of dark red cloth. Also, if you have jackets which you place over the back of your seat, they have a cover, also in dark red to cover over your jacket just in case if any unfortunate incidents were to happen. =)

Some find the service a little too overwhelming and pushy. Maybe just a little - but still very very good service - i kinda feel like they have one waiter per table and a head waiter for each area. One of the services i have experienced - though the waitress that was serving us seem to be new - still friendly nonetheless albeit a little blur. =)

This meal was much more expensive than what it would normally costs. For 3 huge eaters - AUD$125. Usually me and fish eat for less than $45 but it was sort of a special occasion and we were really hungry - so..you know. =)

Definitely be going back and eating more of their delicious foods!!

Another Surprise!

I took too long to post this! Sorry.

Anyways, the postal system here loves to deliver my parcels between 7:30am to 8am during weekdays when i am still sleeping. My earliest class is at 9am, so i am usually not awake. Anyway. A few mornings ago, i received a package from Singapore!

 

Of course i took away from address from the picture. Kinda weird to display it, dun ya think?
First look at the handwriting and i knew who it was instantly. Yu Ting! Could only be her handwriting. I opened the parcel albeit my half opened eyes and without my spectacles, so you can imagine me placing everything close to my face to see what the hell it was. HaHa..

 

LOOK! SO PRETTY! I didn't take a picture of the inside of the card - there is a very pretty drawing and words from Shi Wei, Shan Shan, Yu Ting and Hui Fen. The photo frame was homemade and had my name and the number 21 on it. It was a picture that we took at Shi Wei's 21st birthday party! HaHa..i remember us hiding in a room was the food - having a great time eating and gossiping and this so totally reminds me that i definitely have to meet them when i return for many many gossip sessions! I am such a kaypoh queen..haha..

Thank you so much guys! I really appreciated it! Can't wait to come back and meet up with you all!!! See ya Soon!!
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Thursday, September 25, 2008

My birthday present from Fish

Assignments have been keeping me away..but..i'm here to blog about the present Fish got for me!! I am so excited. This is like the first surprise he has actually managed to keep under wraps! He wasn't around when i opened the present cause he went back to Singapore for his grandma's funeral. But he directed me to where it was hidden. =)


This was what he lured me to finding at the back of the wardrobe.
REally ugly wrapping paper and wrapper skills. HaHa..but..


LOOK WHAT I FOUND! OMG. a camera. i have so totally wanted my own for the longest time ever. EVER. At this point i was crossing my fingers hoping that it was not the silver as shown on the box cause that would be too dull.


Guess what?! He's a genius! It's pink. I read it on the box and thought to myself. "HE GOT ME PINK?!" but then. when i see the pink - it looks beautiful! not the sickly pink but a nice shade of pink with glitter all over. BEAUTIFUL!


It's a touch screen Sony DSC-T70. He being the idiot that he always is, had no idea that it was touch screen. HaHa. It is 8.1 mega pixels which i guess there are a lot more in the market that are better. BUT, i suppose it serves me purpose well. I changed the settings to 5 mega pixels instead to save on space, but maybe i'll change it back to max. Its clear and sharp though sometimes i wish its sharper when its 5 mega pix. Or maybe its just me doing something wrong. I'll keep trying!

And the coolest thing is you can draw and add borders and stamps to your photo. You can also do effects like nostalgia etc.. Here's an example. I am having much fun with this camera!



I still had a surprise from Yu Ting, Shi Wei, Shan Shan and Hui Fen when they mailed me a handmade card and photo frame with a picture we took from Shi Wei's 21st Birthday. Going to go out for dinner soon at our fav restaurant - Din Tai Fung at World Square. So i'll blog about my dinner and the presents later! =)

I am so lucky..and so loved..and so blessed..and so in love..

Friday, September 19, 2008

Mosquitoes!

I HATE MOSQUITOES! THAT BUGGER SUCKED MY BLOOD 8 TIMES! ON ALL MY FOUR LIMBS! I HATE IT!

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Egg Foo Young

We were supposed to have porridge for lunch today. BUT! I had an inspiration after looking at the Cooking Guide on my DS. I decided to experiment with Egg Foo Young. In Chinese its called, Fu Rong Dan.



So i basically used lup cheong, luncheon meat, dried shitake mushrooms and tofu marinated in teriyaki sauce. I sliced all of these into small into cubes and fried them. There was no need at all for all because of the fats from the lup cheong.

Then just pour 6 eggs over it and voila! Lunch is served. Of course there is the sauce over it which is really simple. A can of chicken stock and cornstarch dissolved in water - i had to use quite alot. Maybe my proportions of water to flour was wrong. I just let that cook and thicken and added sesame oil to make it more flavourful.

Then just place rice in a bowl, a serving of egg on the top and scoop the sauce all over and you have a simple dish!

The other thing you see in the picture would be this thing we bought from the supermart. Seafood tofu with seaweed. It's not bad. In fact its quite nice. I fried 3 pieces for each person.

Good lunch! Since i did all the cooking, Fish will have to do all the washing! HaHa!

RatuSari

We - as in me, Fish and hui when to RatuSari for dinner last night. I have always wanted to try the Indonesian food there but never managed to. RatuSari is located along Anzac Parade in Kingsford and is a more upscale place as compared to the rest of the eateries around the area.

We had plain rice with 4 dishes and 2 drinks. Service was prompt and courteous which is always a plus!

We ordered prawn crackers but i would not again because it was a small portion for $5. Sun Sung has much better prawn crackers for $3 i think, and a much larger portion.


This is Soto Ayam - Fish wanted to try it but at the end we didn't really like it and so only drank 1/4 of it. I only drank a tablespoon of the soup. HaHa.. It just tasted weird. Maybe not what we are used to.


This is their Rendang which is really really really really good. Its about $16. When the portion first arrives, you will find that it is quite small. But when you eat everything in its entirety, you will find that it is actually enough. We wanted to order another portion of rendang, but lucky we did not.


I don't remember the name of this dish. It is basically fried boiled eggs with a tangy Indonesian sauce on top of it. It tastes very much like salsa although its a little different. Not too bad. Portion looks small again, but it really is not.


This dish came last and was wanted by Fish and hui. This was a surprise, with the small portions, this was the biggest portion of all. The picture was taken after eating it halfway and i realised i forgot. It actually came with 8 slices of eggplant..i think. It is battered eggplant, deep fried with dark soya sauce infused with onions, green capsicums and green chilli. I wasn't too keen on this dish, but when it came and fish gave me a bite.. It was really good. The batter was crisp and the eggplant was juicy. I really loved to sauce that it came with.

And the drinks we had was Cherry Blossom and Ice cream soda. The cherry blossom i tried was due to a fellow reviewer who said it was quite cool. She didn't know what it was, but i do. It is simply bandung! Just that they add some funny chewy seeds inside which are nice..but i won't spend $5 on that again. Hui's ice cream soda was much cooler. It came with lime flavoured syrup and a scoop of ice cream and a can of lemonade. I would drink that again.

I would definitely go there again. For the rendang and the eggplant. The bill for the 3 of us was around $70.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Melt and Pour Soap Kit

Yay! I received this yesterday!



This is my first Melt and Pour soap kit. I am so totally excited! I have been thinking about this for years..years. In Australia, there is a website aussiesoapsupplies.com which sells but i decided on ordering my kit from ebay. She has a wonderful array of soap supplies and the prices are acceptable. This soap kits makes hard soap which i have to receive yellow and violet soap colouring and i get to choose 2 soap fragances. I chose 'Black Raspberry and Vanilla' and 'Rice Flower and Shea'. The smell of the black raspberry and vanilla is DIVINE! It smells very very very delicious! The rice flower one is a milder but still nice smelling.

I get to choose 2 additives as well in which i chose 'Certified Organic King Island Kelp' - the little bag at the front of the picture, and 'Organic Calendula Petals'.
The kelp works as an defoliant as well.

Then you see the 2 blocks at the back, those are the melt and pour soap. One is white and the other is meant to be clear but since its natural, its not possible to be transparent, so it has a light tinge of yellow.

I will be ordering from the soap supplies the vegan lip balm kit and the SLS-free shampoo kit.

I want to start on the right foot if you may say. Normal lip balms contain beeswax which some strict vegetarians or vegans would not consume, so they would need a vegan one which if you look at the ingredients sound and seems much nicer than beeswax. Using the vegan ones would also eliminate any possibility of honey allergy.
Also, the SLS-free shampoo is natural and i have wash my hair knowing that the products i use are not acting against me.

Some people don't really care. Cheap products are all that is necessary - which i absolutely understand - i like cheap stuff too. But there are some things where i think i want to make a sacrifice for. Because i know in the long run whether physically or mentally, i would know that i am treating myself the way i ought to be treated and minimising the imapact i have on the environment. Far from being an environmentalist, i just want to do my part knowing that i sleep at night at peace. That i embrace the chance that i was given to be part of this world. That i wish for many others to live in harmony and peace and enjoy the miracles of life.

Its not possible i guess - but i hope to leave the world in a better state than what it was for my future generations.

Some say its idealistic or not practical, but this is my defiance. My way of what i wish for the principles of my life to be. Not a drifting log. Being too practical i think at times makes someone cynical and pessimistic - why waste time and mental space on these thoughts when we could use those energy in so many many more ways?

Anyways, enough of talk. I will be so looking forward to making the soap and since i can't possibly use all by myself, if anyone is interested in receiving one - for free of course. Drop me a mail or whatever ways to contact me.

A Buddhist teaching to leave you with.

Living in a Grateful World
Be grateful to those who have hurt or harmed you,
for they have reinforced your determination.

Be grateful to those who have deceived you,
for they have deepened your insight.

Be grateful to those who have hit you,
for they have reduced your karmic obstacles.

Be grateful to those who have abandoned you,
for they have taught you to be independent.

Be grateful to those who have made you stumble,
for they have strengthened your ability.

Be grateful to those who have denounced you,
for they have increased your wisdom and concentration.

Be grateful to those who have made you firm
and resolute and help in your achievement.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Lunch




We had Mee Siam for lunch today! Fish's mother brought "Prima Taste" from Singapore when she came over. We wanted to try the mee siam for a while now, but couldn't find the time, so we managed to make it today for lunch.

It tasted not too bad. Quite good actually. The sambal chilli provided was good and the portion was just enough for the 2 of us. We boiled 3 chicken eggs and 6 quail eggs to go along and we added tofu puffs - loads of them. Oh, and Fish boiled some sausages.

Overall, it was good and simple to cook, reminded us of home and i think we'll be buying more of these meal kits to try!

Sunshine Egg!





This is my real first sunshine egg that i have ever cooked. It's considered my first because..firstly, i don't like runny eggs so i do not eat sunshine eggs. Secondly, since i don't eat it, i don't cook it for myself and neither has anyone asked me to cook one before. The way i like my egg is to crack it into the pan like sunshine egg, then break the yolk and fry the egg till it is nice and cooked.

This time, we were going to have noodles for supper and fish wanted a sunshine egg so i tried cooking one. When my dad was here, he gave me some tips on frying eggs, so i decided to try, using an amount of oil and high fire. After cracking the egg, i used a spoon to scoop some of the oil onto the yolk and the surrounding whites because i wanted the whites to cook, i think it might be nice to have runny yolk but not raw whites. And it turned out perfect!!! I'm so happy!! HaHa.. I am using this picture as my hp's wallpaper..That shows how proud of the egg i am. HaHa..

Of course my own egg turned out beautiful as well, but it isn't as photogenic as this one.

Hungry?

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Sleeping and Waking up Early

HaHa.. i feel good today!

Since i have been utterly sleep deprived for the past few days and i really slept almost immediately after posting yesterday - which was 2130.

And i woke up naturally at 0730 this morning. Surprised actually - with my stupid sleeping habits which dictates that i require 12+ hours of sleep, i actually woke up with 10 hrs of sleep. I was due to wake at 0855 for my lecture at 10am. But i decided to wake up instead of gg back to sleep. I decided to cook miso soup so that it would be like a small breakfast and i could eat my vitamins too. Thus, i started thinking..

Maybe its because of the time i sleep - usually at 4am and i can wake up at 8pm which means more than 12 hrs. So i think that is very very bad. If i were to sleep earlier, maybe i can get more sleep for my time - in some funny sense and wake up naturally as what i think we think should be the case.

So i think i shall try to sleep earlier - not like last night - that was way early. Maybe midnight. That should be okay.

I have been taking vitamins too! Me and fish bought this women and men's vitamins, Cenovis i think. And have been taking them faithfully for a while, missing a day though. Maybe that is playing a part? I decided we needed some vitamins because of our very shitty meal plans. We usually eat 1 meal a day - dinner. The day before i think, we had breakfast only - a relatively big one though. So our meals are too irregular and i felt like maybe my body wasn't getting the nutrients it requires which makes me tired as well - so so so i decided to try and see what happens.

I have just finished lunch - oh and Tues are the only day which we eat lunch on a regular basis. Before that was History of English lecture. It was interesting - we were looking at Middle English today and looked at a number of lyrics which were very interesting, one was about death, putting the arrival of death in a very lyrical and sort of beautiful way. Carmella, my lecturer, reads the lyrics with a very good voice, especially the ones that are very beautiful - she reads it and it sounds really beautiful too. I don't think i will ever be able to do that - i can't even figure out how to pronounce the words. HaHa..

I leave with a beautiful song that Carmella read today. Maiden is the Virgin Mary if i am not wrong. I found the song on Youtube. Enjoy!



I SING OF A MAIDEN

I sing of a maiden
that is makeles,
King of all kinges
to her sone sche ches.

He cam also stille
There his moder was,
As dew in Aprille
That falleth on the grass.

He cam also stille
To his moderes bour,
As dew in aprille
That falleth on the flour.

He cam also stille
There his moder lay,
As dew in Aprille
That falleth on the spray.

Moder and maiden
Was never non but sche;
Well may swich alady
Godes moder be.

Monday, September 08, 2008

Assignments

I am so very very very tired now. Haven't slept in a little less than 24 hrs.

Received my first assignment back from Semantics and i am so happy i got 84.5%! Yay! That is because this course is not so technical and rigid and my lecturer is great though his lectures can get really really boring at times.

Some lecturers in UNSW are still very old school. It's still transparencies and chalkboard. Peter Collins, my lecturer, is really nice and funny but really old school too. This is week 7 and he has only ever used 1 set of transparencies and some of the lectures which if do not have a discussion element in them with some of the other students in class - cause that tends to be funny - becomes really boring. Like last week, he just talked the whole lecture through. I was too bored - though i did try to take notes.

Only the law faculty seems relatively high tech.

A stupid thing just happened. When we went home, we found a letter on the floor from the strata management, it was a notice for us because we were found to be obstructing common property. I was like .. oh no.. what did we do.. Guess what. What the big obstruction is all about? Our Doormat. Our neighbour just crushed the letter and threw it on the floor next to his doormat. HahA..Fish was saying that it was an obstruction to the cleaner who i guess couldn't vacuum the floor properly.. Fish didn't keep the doormat though. It's still outside. I kept the one at my place though - no troublemakers there. HaHa..

I am gg to be flooded with assignments soon, i think starting from Wed. I need to get some sleep. I am going to sleep. Sleep. Bed. Foggy. ZZZZZ...