Baking Bread Again

Coffee Boys with their tops

Baked bread again this weekend, this time i tried more varieties. I was up till about 4 am and started banging the dough in the kitchen. It was very theraputic with all the violent moves but slightly daunting that someone might rock up at the entrance anooyed with the ruckus i was causing.

This time the dough looked more like what it should be ...smoother and more pliable.. but still not there yet.. well you know they say third time's always a charm. Anyway, i left the dough to prove and started surfing food bloogs and got a recipe from Aunty Yochana's Website for Coffee Boy. I halfed the recipe but even then i knew that there was too much. Made the topping and piped them all over the buns anyway.. They look fine in the picture but when they baked the topping oozed all over the bun and pooled at the base.. hmm not a good thing.. maybe next time i'll quarter it...

Proving Caterpilla Buns

Cheese Buns

This time i added grated Tasty cheese on top. This time the dough was proving alot more.. when i cut them whilst shaping they were tiny and by the time i finished the last one i could see the difference in size of the first one.. wonder if that is normal...Mom requested for cheese buns so i cut a large cube of Cheddar this time and stuffed the bread. Topped it with butter and sugar.

The finished products. Coffee Boy (background) Cheese Buns and the Caterpillars (foreground)

They all turned out to be absolutely yummy. I am so glad that my bread making skills at least with Chinese Sweet Dough is getting along well. Hmm now i think i'll venture into other breads like focaccia and challah.

Don't bake without Baking Powder !

Batter in the muffin tin

It felt like a good time to make chocolate cupcakes and i dabbled in some kitchen work over the weekend. As usual i started measuring out my ingredients and then half way through i realise i had no more baking powder.. i looked up at the shelve and i saw the evil bottle of bicarbonate of soda beckoning me with its sinister grin.. what do i do ? Fell into the trap .. that's what happened.. i substituted the baking powder with bicarbonate of soda. Sigh...

Everything seemed normal, the batter was fine.. into the muffin tray it went even though i was doing cupcakes.. honestly what's the diff.. the former healthier than the other ? pft..

Flat Cupcakes

Whilst they were baking the beauties rose and looked like the perfect cupcakes. Once they were done i took them out and like some bad souffle they started to deflate .. nooo i cried but to no avail... the damage was done.. I ended up with flat cupcakes.. sobz..

Sweet Bread over the Weekend

First Attempt at Chinese Sweet Bread

I had chanced upon a website that had a recipe on Chinese Sweet Bread a long time ago .. trust me it was a really long time ago and i made my dad buy me some milk powder as the recipe called for it. Then there was the whole scare on melamine in milk powder and it kinda put me off. So the milk powder and my bread flour sat in the kitchen for a really long time collecting dust.. okay not really i'm just exaggerating here...

Anyway, one saturday my dad came home at four in the morning and i woke up because lets just say his entry wasn't really discreet. The whole house including Josh was asleep and for some odd reason i just wanted to bake bread.. it's weird that a feeling like that such crops up out of nowhere..

So i took out the recipe, and began measuring my ingredients... bread flour .. check.. plain flour.. check.. and then... milk powder.. er.. a said a little prayer hoping that this batch of milk powder is not tainted with melamine .. pathetic i know .. but hey you can never pray too much..

Then i began kneading and holy moly it was a tough job.. my arms started aching and i started to perspire at five in the morning when the air is pretty still and cool. Hmm a workout i thought to myself..Then i placed the dough in the warm oven to prove and i went into my room to browse other websites and bam ! i fell asleep.. again! .. oops.. didn't expect that but then when i got up at about ten in the morning the dough had doubled in size.. yippee

Proving Caterpillars

So i shaped it and made Hot Dog Bread, a version that is really popular in Asia. The bread was a little hard.. it was still soft but not spongy soft like the bread in the shops .. nevertheless my dad and uncles gave them a thumbs up and i am now determined to get them right!

I got the recipe from Fresh from the Oven

Chinese Sweet Bread

Ingredients

480g bread flour
120g all purpose flour
1 pack rapid rise yeast
110g caster sugar
20g dry milk powder
300ml warm water (about 105F)
1 egg
1 tablespoon salt
60g unsalted butter, at room temperature

Add yeast to warm water in a medium bowl, and set aside for 10 minutes. Make sure the water is lukewarm because if the water is too hot it will 'kill' the yeast. The water is warm if you can leave your finger inside it without cringing. It should froth up and be foamy.

Next, add the bread flour, all purpose flour, granulated sugar and dry milk powder into a large mixing bowl. Slowly mix in the water and yeast mixture with the help of a scraper.

Add in egg and softened (not melted) butter. Mix well and knead to form a smooth and elastic dough.

Okay the dough id first really sticky, i mean seriously it sticks to everything. And the way you knead it is very different to other kneading techniques. Do not add flour just because its sticky. Grab it with your hands and smack it on the worktop (hence the banging noises in the middle of the night) then the dough sticks to the surface so you jab it on both sides with your fingers like your're about to lift it and pull it a little into the air then fold over. Then grab the whole thing (there will be dough stuck to the worktop .. don't worry they'll come out eventually as you keep kneading) and smack it again.

If it sounds too confusing, check out Fresh from the Oven, there's a video

http://novice-baker.blogspot.com/2008/02/pork-floss-buns-for-home-sick.html

After kneading, leave the dough to prove for 1 hour, or till it doubles in size. Try pressing a finger into the dough, it should leave a clear mark when it's ready. The dough is now ready to be shaped.

Let it prove a second time after shaping.

Bake in a moderate oven (180 Degrees Celsius) for 15 to 20 mins.

Enjoy!

Marble Cake

Marble Cake

I had a cousin over the other day and she wanted me to bake something for her. So i thought Marble Cake as i did not want to go down to buy some chocolate. So with the cocoa powder and all the other ingredients that i had at hand, i stepped into my playground. It has been a long time since i stepped into my kitchen given the circumstances of my work. Oh god i really miss baking.. i can barely even describe the feeling of measuring things and beating and mixing and watching the various reactions that take place. After about two hours the cake was ready and there was a wonderful tea time treat for everybody.. especially my cousin...

My Marble Cake

Ingredients

250g self raising flour
250 g softened salted butter
250g caster sugar
250g (about 4 to 5) eggs at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 Tbs dutch-processed cocoa powder
a little milk
1 Tbs condensed milk (optional)

Beat the butter until light and creamy. Then slowly add sugar and beat until pale. Try to use caster sugar as it is finer and thus more easily dissolved into the batter.

Add the eggs one at the time and beat until well incorporated. Then add in the vanilla essence.

Using a spatula or a wooden spoon add in the sifted flour. The batter will be thick and so to loosen it up add a little milk.. say two tablespoons or so.

Add the condensed milk, i think it just gives the cake an extra edge.

Now divide the batter into three parts. Combine two parts and that will be the white of the cake. With the third part add in the sifted cocoa powder and mix well.

In a lined cake tin, take a dollop of white batter and drop in the middle. Then take a dollop of cocoa batter and drop it smack in the middle of the white puddle and tap your spoon all the way down till it hits the tin 'poing'. Then take a dollop of white batter and drop it in the middle sinking your spoon to hit the tin again.

Repeat until all the batter is used up. The end product should look like a mound of bulls eye. You don't have to smoothen the batter as it will heat up in the oven and level itself.

Bake it in a moderate oven (180 Degree Celsius) for 40 to 45 mins.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Dinner for Mom

This year i was finally able to celebrate mother's day with my mum. She was really excited and so was i. So we prepared .. yes we.. my mother likes to poke her nose into everything... one of the reasons why she's so adorable.. well the storey bagan like this. We were lying beside each other and i suggested High Tea at the Good Wood Park .. but no... then i said Sakae Sushi.. hmm .. okay.. not too bad.. then i said i wouldn't mind cooking for her and making a mushroom soup.. her eyes lit up instantly .. my mom loves the comfort of a homemade soup and so it was settled brunch and dinner with one exception.. a Hyatt Cheesecake...

So i started planning my menu. Honestly i did not really have that much time with work and all.. architecture demands most of your time .. so i finally decided on of course the mushroom soup, a vegetable tart and grilled lamb for main course.

Mother's Day for my mom started on Saturday.. i brought her to a jewelery shop and got her some gold earring.. she loves them.. then we went to an Indian restaurant and had some Indian food (much to my dismay) but Mom wanted it so Mom's the word..

The very next day, on Mother's Day .. i got up early, cleaned the house.. blew some balloons and wrapped her present. Even dad got up and helped .. i know i have the sweetest dad .. darn Father's Day is coming up. So anyway.. i started preparing breakfast and realised .. that there was no coffee !! the one thing my mom can't live without .. so i quickly rushed to the store to get some (i personally don't drink coffee)

Breakfast/Brunch

She was supposed to sleep a little while longer but got up at around 9 ish.. so i give her a big kiss and blew bubbles as she walked out of the room.. then she put on her present and they looked really good on her !!! Okay breakfast/brunch was huge ... there were pancakes, maple syrup, homemade strawberry and vanilla syrup, scrambled eggs, baked beans, dark rye bread ( mom's fav), cream cheese, butter, kaya and an assortment of fruits, orange juice and coffee. Woah .. what a mouth full.. okay 'line' full.. so anyway by the time we finished we were SO STUFFED !!! No one did the dishes .. ha ha ha .. which is really rare in our household as dishes always get done promptly rain or shine.

So then me and mom cuddled on the sofa with Josh .. our two year old Jack Russell Terrier whose more like my youngest brother than a pet... and soon Mom dozed off.. phew my cue to dash to Hyatt with Dad to pick up her cake.. you see i told her that i was too late and couldn't make the order so she thought i was making another dessert.

Josh

Came back and she was still asleep .. giggles .. she deserves it honestly.. so then Dad left for a little while and i started on dinner. Did the dishes and prepared my workstation. My ! it was overwhelming.. it has been a long time since i cooked dinner like this and i felt really out of place.. cue to start cooking more... so soup was done but i screwed it up !!! Too much salt ... wanhhhh... that is one problem that sucks ... next time i am not salting the soup .. i'll let them do it.. okay then the pastry.. darn cases didn't puff up .. the lamb was decent and my sauce was excellent .. that's one thing i can do without screwing it .. a good sauce .. not the ones in the packet but one that uses the pan dripping and so on.

After dinner, we all sang a Mother's Day song and cut the cake. She loved it and although i know in my heart dinner was not all that great .. she valued my effort and all the love i put into it. Love you mom.. always !

The homemade mushroom soup

The vegetable tart with a poached egg and herb vinaigrette

Roast lamb with roasted vegetables and mash

Strawberry Cheesecake

Pierre Herme in Singapore

Me and the Pierre Herme

Yes yes yes .. i got to see Pierre Herme , the fourth generation pastry chef from France. W and i really wanted to attend his masterclass that took place when he visited Singapore. It was really crowded but he was so cute !!! in a cuddly sort of way. He showed us two desserts, one was a tomato and strawberry concoction called the Revelation and the other was called Tart Mogador. He is really bold with his flavours and is not afraid to experiment.

Tart Mogador

The first dessert he showed us was the Tart Mogador in which a biscuit case is filled with passion fruit infused chocolate ganache and topped with grilled pineapples and macarons. The chocolate was placed over a bain marie and once it all melted, passion fruit juice and many other ingredients were added. Then the pineapples were steeped in syrup and baked in the oven. The smell that was coming out of the kitchen was YUM ..

The Revelation

While those were cooking, he moved on to the tomato and strawberry dessert called the Revelation. What a strange combination don't you think. He first made a tomato and strawberry jelly. Then a custard with three different types of vanilla , one was from Madagascar.. whoo.. then he mixed them with mascarpone and gelatine and left that to set. He then layered the jelly and cusard and topped them with cut tomato and strawberry pieces and tomato infused puff pastry strips.

Someone made a comment about using tomatoes and Pierre replied that tomatoes and strawberries are so similar that he has made pasta with strawberries instead of tomatoes before. Wow .. wonder what that would taste like...

We got to taste his creations after the class ( of course ) and to be honest the revelation tasted like a really expensive and refined .. are you ready for this .. pineapple tart ! .. giggles.. i think there was too much pineapple so it was really overwhelming.

The other was really interesting, i have never tasted anything like that before. It was very foreign but very refreshing. Hmm .. now i really want to go to Pierre Herme's restaurant !!!

Les Macarons

Stack 'Em Up

It was one of those days when i decided to venture around Raffles City basement and what do i find ... Canele. It's a patisserie and they had a beautiful collection of macarons. I have been macaron crazy for the past week, trying to make them and reading about their history and dreaming about going to Laduree.. or Pierre Herme in France sigh.. so when i saw those colorful discs sitting in their glass thrones i just had to get them. I got one of everything they had, they must have had more in the morning but by the end of the day i think there were about seven or eight flavours left.

Quickly headed home carefully carrying my treasure and casting annoying glances at ignorant commuters that keep bumping my bag. Back home i put everything aside, took a large swig of water to prepare my mouth for the ecstasy that was beckoning.

Here are the flavours, i think...starting from the front moving into the background... Milk Chocolate, Violet, Rose, Coffee, Chocolate, Lemon, Salty Caramel ( MY FAVOURITE !!! )

Now put them in a row

The milk chocolate was good, it was delicious and it had ganache instead of the usual buttercream. Their macarons were not achingly sweet like mine, i really need to find an appropriate recipe. Anyhoo, i couldn't make out what the violet was .. it didn't taste much of lavender and i am pretty sure it is not yam .. probably came up with that because of the violet coloured yam ice cream sandwiched between wafers that we Singaporeans would have eaten during our youth.

The rose was nice with its raspberry jam filling. The coffee didn't really tickle my tongue because i don't drink coffee ... yes yes i am one of those proud wierdos' that don't drink coffee ... the chocolate .. well tasted like chocolate.. the lemon had lemon curd in it that my father did not enjoy.. or yes i shared the macarons with my family... then the beauty of them all.. the Salty Caramel... or my god it was SO SO SO GOOD ... i had never tasted them before and when i had them.. for some odd reason it brought back childhood memories.. i think food has never affected me like that before.. for those that watched the animated movie Ratatouille.. i felt exactly like the critique who was reminded of his childhood.. It was heaven... what a delight !

Bernard's Birthday at Pier Nine

Molten Lava Cake

Sometimes my uncle and aunt really pamper us too much. In just one year they have brought me to Pier Nine for dinner again. This time the occasion was B's birthday.

Initially, on the day of his birthday, that was the 1st of December, we were not able to make it to Pier Nine as my uncle and aunt now reside in Redcliffe. So we ended up patronizing one of the boat clubs on the peninsular. The setting was very informal and we were in our formal clothes so my aunt and I felt very out of place. My aunt was so unhappy with the ambiance that she insisted we go to Pier Nine the very next day.

In actuality, even though the ambiance wasn't all that great, the food was good and we even got a free plate of seafood risotto as it was our first time there.

So off to Pier Nine the next day and this time we were seated immediately. We had oysters and went to main course straight away. I ordered the quail, B the Asian noodles, K the lamb, Uncle Y the Atlantic salmon and Chitti the quail as well. In the end, K was not too happy with the lamb as it was sweet and so he switched with me and Chitti switched with B.

After main course, surprisingly everyone had dessert. It's surprising because only K and I are dessert crazy. So Bernard and I had the Valrhona molten chocolate cakes, K had cider jelly that looked like a pyramid, Chitti had the cheesecake and Uncle Yo a coffee inspired dessert.

Of course we had to do the sparkly thingy and so B's dessert came with a sparkle, song and smiles from everyone. Our molten cakes had an additional chocolate fudge sauce poured all over it and was accompanied by a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It was divinely rich and chocolaty. Look at how well Bernard cleared his plate. Giggles.

The family

It was a wonderful dinner and we had our usual walk by the Brisbane river. It was thoroughly enjoyed by all and thank you Chitti and Uncle Y !!!

March Babies' Treat at 61

The treats

Woo Hoo i love my office !!! Every month, babies of that month get some monetary allowance to treat other colleagues to a feast. ( Well that depends on how many babies there are that month ) So for March, there are 12 of us ( including me ) and we decided to get Singapore's latest craze Chewy Donuts, some éclairs and mufflins from Delifrance and some Chinese kueh.

To be honest i was not expecting so much food to be there. Just look at the spread. The winners were definitely the chocolate mufflins and the éclairs. The chewy donuts were okay. I mean those in Australia would know of Dreamy Donuts and oh my god their Raspberry Dream, which is a raspberry filled donut coated with Lindt white chocolate ... oh my god i' m moaning now... sigh .. well i haven't tried Krispy Kremes , so i'll evaluate those donuts later. So back to the chewy ones, i think the only appeal was its variety. There was chocolate, oreos, nuts, plain cream cheese (unsweetened), blueberry, strawberry, apples, kaya and the list goes on. But they sure look good don't they.

Look at everyone indulging themselves. Ha ha ha ... t'was a delightful display !

The office

Daddy's 49th

The Cake

Daddy turned 49 last Sunday and i made him a chocolate cake. Phew ! Thank god it turned out good. I had to go through a whole other cake before this one. I started planning what to make him about a week in advance. Just sitting in the office and thinking. Even Yiwen helped me out by sending me a picture of the cake she did. Thanks gerl ! Then i decided on a vanilla blueberry cake since he liked blueberries. So i bought a box of vanilla cake mix (big mistake) and the blueberries, marshmallows , cream and gelatine.

I had planned to bake the cake on a Friday and frost it the following Saturday, but i got busy with tuition and ended up baking it Saturday. To my utmost horror the cake had this very artificial smell, not the buttery goodness that cakes usually emanate. This smell just made me sick to my stomach. Then i stopped and made the blueberry filling which was another disaster. I think i added too much sugar and so the filling was ruined !!! The consistency was perfect but it was too SWEET !!! Sigh i was really annoyed and frustrated, Even the cream that i whipped started to curdle.

That was it, i never wanted to bake again ( not really ) but i was seriously thinking of buying a store bought cake and just shoving everything i had done into the rubbish bin. But i really wanted to bake something for m y dad. Baking something for someone is an intimate and fulfilling endeavor. Well at least i think so.

So i turned to plan C (honestly i had no plans) i made a chocolate truffle cake with my trusted recipe that i have used many times. I made two layers individually because the batter yields too much for one tin. Then i mixed my almost curdling cream with melted chocolate to make ganache. I sandwiched the cakes with a generous amount of ganache and finished the decoration with whipped cream and silver dots. ( The store didn't have cherries )

My family enjoyed the cake and even complimented me for controlling the sugar in the cream as (i anticipated) the cake was sweet. Yay ! A wonderful and sweet finish to a disasterous beginning.

Macarons

Pink Shells

I have been wanting to do Macaroons eversince i tried a bag from Bakerzin. The smooth top, the crispy shell, the moist and and oh so heavenly almond centre... oooohhh.. indulgence to the max !

The other night .. late late night i was watching Joan Cusack's show on the TraveI and Living channel. This episode showed her touring France and visitng all the delighful culinary havens. Once such place was Laduree, the first house of gastronomy.And there was Chef Phillipe talking about making of all things MACAROONS.. and there were pistachio flavoured green ones, passionfruit favoured yellow ones and of course the chocolate flavoured brown ones !!! That was it .. i was making Macaroons ..

I had a recipe in one of my French recipe books My Vue. I also chanced upon another recipe from a friend that was in french. So it was time to seek the help of my trustful computer and soon i had deciphered the recipe.The french recipe called for 125g of icing sugar whilst the one in My Vue called for 225g. So naturally i went with the former.

I did the almond paste, and the italian meringue ( without a sugar thermometer i must add ) and voila there were sweet smelling strawberry flavoured pink macaroons neatly piped onto my baking tray simply because i had no other flavouring or colouring.

I watched them bake in the oven and i was really nervous. Because i was so afraid the shell would crinkle or collapse or just turn into something other than the smooth silky top that it was supposed to be. After ten minutes i peeked .. YEAH .. they were perfect ( well almost .. good enough for me ) smooth and shiny on the top and crinkly at the bottom edges.

I filled them with strawberry jam and oh ... well the plate says the rest....

The lone ranger

Life in a Box

Life is like a box of chocolates… you never know what you’re going to get … Cadbury’s selections have always been a favourite of mine. It all started when my Aunt would buy a box for Christmas and on Christmas day all of us cousins would circle her and we would get to choose one. I remember one particular year when I took the strawberry shaped one with obviously strawberry cream inside and my cousin took a strange looking one with a ruby coloured jelly like filling which I liked as well ( we shared bites ) I have now found out that it was Turkish Delight. It’s sad that Singapore does not have Fry’s Turkish Delights like those in Australia. But in some kebab shops Turkish delights are intolerably sweet. Back to the box now. I’m not a big fan of chocolates with nuts in it. I think the only exception is Van Houten’s assorted nut selection especially those with the raisins in it .. I know I know.. its not a nut but hey they’re in the box. Hmm… I feel like having some now… better wait for Chinese New Year to pass first before I get some…

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