Lazy Bake

Cupcakes in the oven

It was a lazy saturday morning.. I had just returned from Redcliffe and was just lying in bed watching movies on my laptop when i had the sudden urge to bake. I don't know how or when they happen but i guess that's why they're called urges.. because they're unpredictable .. (rolling eyes) well anyway into the kitchen i went and quickly whipped up a buttercake batter. I love baking because its like chemistry or potion making ( thinking Harry Potter here) ... you cream the butter, sugar, eggs and flour and behold the velvety batter... there is just something therapeutic for me as i stir the smooth concoction...

So anyway, within minutes and with surprisingly very few dishes to wash, i had six buttercake cupcakes in the oven. It's excellent that even though i'm staying in college, there is a cute mini oven for us to use and i absolutely adore it. The cupcakes only take 20 mins in the oven and i also love watching the batter melt and then rise and the best part is when they brown on the top to give you that divine crunchy goodness... yum...

Golden Girls ?

With the rest of the batter, i added about a tablespoon of mixed spice to try to make cake lapis , an Indonesian recipe i think. It's where the cake is made up of many layers. I got the technique right but i found the cake a bit dry .. especially towards the top.. but hey at least i still had my wonderful and delicious cupcakes... no fuss at all.

Cake Lapis

Uni Lunch

Lunch

The one thing about living on your own is that you gotta cook for yourself and not to forget grocery shoppping as well. I had just come back from a lecture and wanted something quick.
I was really running low on supplies and the linguini was just sitting in my pantry, begging me to eat it ( well not really but anyway) .. i had also bought chicken cordon bleu from Coles which are basically chicken breasts stuffed with bacon and a cheese sauce and the whole thing is then crumbed. So i started defrosting that in the microwave, chopped up some garlic,onion, carrots and tomatoes and presto in 30 minutes i had pasta Putanesca with chicken cordon bleu.

So i sat down to my afternoon show of Ready Steady Cook (love that show) and had my lunch. I would have so loved to have had a glass of wine but settled for 'sky juice' as always... giggles...

Boreen Point

After a really taxing semester, friends and i decided to take a trip up to Noosa, Boreen Point. Noosa is beautiful with excellent beaches. That's a shot of a beach along Hasting road. It's basically a wonderful getaway in summer with great restaurants and cafe's as well. We had been there before, in first year architecture, so it was all pretty much familiar. Initially there were six of us and then it was just four. So the lucky members were Nick, Daniel , Jen and Me.

Noosa

The guys had to leave first as i had work which ended around 8pm in the Gold Coast. So i was planning to take a train up to Noosa, ( i know .. crazy isn't it !! cos the Coast is way south and Noosa is up north ) so anyway at least somewhere close so that they could pick me up. To my horror, after stopping in Caboolture, i find out that there's no more trains. Sometimes Brisbane public transport can be really misleading and annoying ! So a quick call and they decided to pick me up from Nambour.

We stayed at the Apollinian Hotel, but honestly its not the kind of hotel you usually think of. Its like a lodge or inn and they have a cosy bar with a piano and fireplace and a restaurant that serves excellent food. I mean the chef creates magic in that kitchen i tell ya ...There are bunk rooms with a shared kitchenette and toilets with showers in them that use bore water. It took me some time to get used to the bore water because it had this earthy taste which was horrible honestly ...i had to make sure my mouth was shut when i showered.. anyway.. we ended up sharing one room with two double decker beds since there were only four of us. Then we were off to explore parts of Boreen Point we may have missed the first time...

Hotel

During our explorations we found a long bamboo cane and Jen had brought along a pirate flag. We were in a kind of pirate mood as Pirates of the Caribbean had just come out. So using some string that we found, the boys tied the flag to the 'pole' and we hoisted our flag .. giggles... it was stupid .. but incredibly fun ...

The Pirate Flag

Ahoy the Pirate

Whilst in Noosa, Jen even dared me to wear her pirate hat and i did. Goodness, i so looked like one.. just needed the smell of the sea and rum... giggles... We went around Boreen Point in foot and even visited Fedor Medek's boat house. It was one of our destinations for our architecture tour.

Me, Nick and Dan

Nick

Other times, we were in Nick's car who has quite some skill when it comes to driving. I mean some might find it reckless but i think he has a great control over his machine. So anyway we went to Eumandi and around other parts of Noosa and somewhere remote called KinKin. It was like a small town that we stopped at for a toilet break. We attempted to go to Rainbow beach but realised that it was too far away and so we just settled for an enjoyable ride back.

In front of Medek's Boat House

We had each other, fudge, movies, pictionary and vodka. Basically good food and friends. What else do you really need in life ? Giggles... we did shots and played pictionary... but found out that we could still draw properly even when tipsy and speaking like we were in a room full of people... even though there were only four of us. After that we watched movies like Beverly Hills Cop and Rush hour and even episodes of The Tick.. i wonder if anyone still remembers that.. it's a guy in a blue suit with antennas ( i call them that .. ) and his sidekick the Mothman... it was hilarious !!

All in all it was a good break from uni. We all wished it could go on longer but we had to leave because Jen had invited me to O'Reilly's, a rainforest retreat high up in the mountains as well.

Even though the trip was short , it was sweet and I'll never forget Boreen Point...

Our Mark

Pier Nine

Righteo.. okay been a long time since my last entry .. well i'll just start from the start of the year.. my birthday.

This year i was in Brisbane with my Aunt and Uncle for my birthday and they made it extra special by treating me to a meal at Pier Nine, a trendy restaurant at a posh setting near the Brisbane river.

Eagle Street Pier

I think we were there early and so we were told to wait at the bar. I didn't really want anything alcoholic so me and my cousin had shirley temples whilst my aunt and uncle had Pimm's. We started chit chatting and i was just trying to calmly take it all in. It was honestly so surreal.

We chose to sit outside and my cousin being a massive seafood fan, wanted their prawn bucket whilst my uncle ordered half a dozen oysters. Ooh.. i was getting real excited because it would be my first time trying an oyster !

Prawn Bucket - The prawns disappeared fast

Oysters

The prawns were really good. Fresh, succulent and dipping it in the lime mayonnaise was absolutely divine. Although it does get a bit messy and not the preferred choice if you want to be dainty and all. Next was the oysters and i must say i didn't really hate it or didn't really love it. It kinda 'swished' in my mouth for a little while and i swallowed it. That's how you're supposed to eat it i was told but where's the fun in just swallowing something and so with the second one, i bit into it. Whoa... ( not a good whoa.. kinda like someone hit you in face whoa ) your mouth gets hit with an extremely fishy taste and i mean the longer you chew the worser it gets... so anyway, after that experience .. it was time for dinner....

There were so many options to choose from that i honestly had no idea. Eventually my cousin went for a sushi and sashimi platter. It was beautifully presented with a wasabi aoli that was not that very mild.

Sushi Platter
Smoked Salmon

I went for the smoked salmon. It came with slices of smoked salmon that had a lovely smoky flavour, and a soft boiled egg topped with some roe, toasts and a rocket salad. There were lots of flavours on my plate and i enjoyed every morsel of it.

My aunt had the Cajun chicken with couscous and my uncle had the snapper with potatoes. They were both alright but the Cajun chicken was a little spicy and i would have preferred a gravy if i was being served couscous but nonetheless they enjoyed it.

Finally it was dessert time and by this time i was so happy that i could care less if there was no dessert. But unknown to me ( yeah right.. my aunt kept giving me hints all the time ) dessert came with something special.. a sparkler and birthday song.. giggles .. it was really cute.... what a wonderful birthday

My birthday dessert

Sparklers for me