More Ice Cream and Cake

I feel like I should do a massive 'master list' of all the soft serve ice creams I've consumed this year. Even I have lost count how many soft serves I've eaten, but thank goodness for photos. I sort of couldn't resist trying more Aqua S, especially since they were in my fav colour, and the flavours were both new and sounded interesting.

 

Elderflower + blueberry, honey + lavender w/ wafer flower

You can taste a hint of elderflower in the blueberry one, however it was more on the icier side so it melted as soon as it came out. The honey in the lavender cut down the lavender flower. I prefer to have a stronger hit of lavender, even though it's a more potent flavour/acquired taste. Both flavours still worth a try though. Normally I don't get toppings for Aqua S since I feel like it's a waste of money, but these wafer flowers were so cute. It was $1.50 for 2 flowers, so decided to just have a flower for each cone, since not much point having 2 flowers in one cone. The ice cream purple colour turned out to be more murky in this batch, compared to previous photos and also their photo. Either they used a lot of editing or they just didn't add enough purple food colouring to these batches. 

When one cake it too mainstream, get 4. Finally had the chance to get individual cakes I've been meaning to try for a while for Mum's bday. Didn't get the chance for my bday since I was running on 4 hrs sleep and was dead/ceebs getting cake for myself...

Japanese Forest Cake-$10

Built to look like a divot of the forest floor, made with layers hojicha sponge, Choya confit ume fruits in umeshu infused cream, and garnished with matcha moss, leaves and bark of dark chocolate and confit whole ume

It does look like a forest. Would have preferred more hojicha flavour in the sponge. The cream was relatively light and could taste the slight umeshu (sort of Jap plum wine) in it. The confit ume had that weird sweet/sour taste, but it balanced nicely with the chocolate. I still prefer the strawberry watermelon cake. I think I was just expecting more from this one.

Lemon myrtle chiffon-$5

This was surprisingly delicious, and loved the myrtle flavour in it. Really light as well, hence the left side of the cake was slumping since there's no support from the other slices of cakes. The cream here with the desiccated coconut was light as well.

V8 Apple Pie-$11 (2 for $20)

Inside: Cinnamon almond dacquoise, cinnamon crumble crunch, apple crème, cinnamon chiffon, apple pie filling, apple jelly, apple crème diplomat finished with a green glaze and chocolate plaques.

You could definitely taste the flavours of the apple pie in this, and the crumble crunch gave the cake really good texture. Once you divide a serving into 4, it's quite hard to taste all 8 individual layers especially the chiffon, since the mousse (creme diplomat) surrounding it is relatively thick and becomes the majority of the cake. I found each layer quite thin compared to 2 years ago when I first had the V8 Vanilla. I think for these sort of cakes, better to find people and share the bigger cake size, so it's easier to taste more of the filling in the middle with less mousse/diplomat on the outside. Both the cakes were 'leaking' a bit though as if the water content in the glaze was seeping out...

V8 Tropical-$11

Inside: Coconut dacquoise, tropical crunch, passionfruit chiffon, tropical cremeux, tropical jelly, tropical crème diplomat finished with a yellow white chocolate glaze and yellow chocolate plaques.

The tropical one was also surprisingly delicious as it had the right amount of tang and sweetness from the tropical flavours. Again, you can see here the creme diplomat is quite thick, so less filling on the inside. Even my dad said the V8s were quite nice, and that's saying something since he normally doesn't appreciate any cakes/desserts (complete opposite of me, haha). Didn't bother trying other flavours since I feel like I can imagine what they taste like.

    

iPhone 8

yay new iPhone!

Decided to pick it up in store since it felt safer for the phone. Wouldn't be surprised if Aus Post chucks the phone around during delivery... So many other people picking up a new phone even towards the end of the day. First time going to Towers since they officially implemented the ticketless parking. It actually does make a difference doing timed parking since all the staff park outside, and you can actually find a parking spot straightaway.

meet my iPhone fam: 3G, 4s, 5, 6s plus, 7, 8

  

iPhone stack

I've been wanting to do this for a while just for fun (I'm actually not that materialistic, these phones are between 3 people for around 5 years. The 3G was 3rd hand when I had it, but hey, it's an iPhone so no complaints). They have improved from shrink wrap style packaging since 3G/4s, to just pulling a tab and the outer plastic comes off from the box. I am missing the first iPhone packaging, which I know one of my uncles bought back in 2007, but doubt he's kept the box. I also couldn't find my dad's 4s box...

The actual foiling is the same rose gold colour and shade, but looks different because of the box background colour. For once, the box is coloured a little bit pink here in iPhone 8 compared to all the previous iPhones where the box is a white colour. Inside, everything is similar to the 7, but keen to see if I can tell a difference with some added features to the screen with True Tone, camera and augmented reality. I don't play games though, but might download one to see how AR works. (I also realised taking photos at my desk doesn't have the best lighting when it's cloudy).

The colour is so pretty irl! It's gold, but not really since it's like a tint of rose gold mixed with a white gold, not yellow gold. The colour is a lot softer compared to my current rose gold which tbh is pink. So glad I got this colour since silver only had white on the back, whereas this colour is mixed, and sort of looks different at different angles. The actual phone is quite sleek because of the glass, and also they didn't have the 'Designed in California, made in china' and all those disposing instructions on the back, only says iPhone.

Won't be using it until next month, but that's ok since I'm also still waiting for a cheap phone case to slowly float across to be delivered which will be here next month...Technically I can use this phone, but then I ceebs switching phones for a week, and re-syncing everything twice. 

Pokéd

After all the years of lining up for free food, experience has taught me to get there early. First day of opening of a new Poké food bar, and they were giving out free small bowls to the first 100 people. I was worried that there were already 100 people lining up before me, but I guess people weren't as keen as free Poké bowls compared to free Mac lipsticks from last month... Got there around 15min before opening, and for once, there weren't that many people. Normally there are heaps of people since it's situated amongst heaps of office workers, and 5 mins later, the line was massive. I always see photos of Poké bowls when people go to Hawaii, and it seems to be the new trend in Sydney, with many places trying to have more healthier food choices.

  

First time having a Poké bowl!

The Hawaiian: sashimi salmon and tuna, hawaiian soy, pineapple salsa, pickled cabbage, edamame, (seaweed salad), wonton crisps-$10.95

Meat Lovers: chicken and steak, pineapple teriyaki, (broccoli and mushroom salad), pickled cabbage, corn, edamame, wonton crisps-$10.95

They only had 3 choices/flavours since it was opening day/free/discounted. The stuff in brackets weren't served since it was only a small portion. I think they gave less fish/meat because it was free. It's definitely a healthy lunch option since it's served on brown rice, without all those heavy salad dressings. I think some people might find it a bit bland, but I'm used to not heavily flavoured food at home. I guess this is sort of considered 'clean eating'. All the ingredients were quite fresh. Probably the unhealthiest thing is the wonton crisps, but I like how they add a bit of texture.

freee

KOI Dessert Kitchen

As a MasterChef fan, I was so excited to see Reynold and his team make these fruit cakes as part of their new Spring menu. It's not as fancy or complicated as the ones made by Kirsten Tibballs in the MasterChef finale this year, but they sure do look like the fruits on tv, just missing fancy components and ice cream/sorbet/multiple layers etc. Funny how nothing is original, since I feel all good ideas always comes from some pastry chef in France, like how these cakes were inspired by Cedric Grolet.

Fruit cakes-$12 each

They aren't cheap and are quite small, but you've got to admire the skills to make each these, and trying to copy the texture of the skin like the actual fruit. I actually don't like the traditional fruit cake. There's actually not a lot of tables to eat there compare to the KOI at Chippendale. Fruitful conversations over cute fruit shaped cakes is always a good idea.

Pear

Pear mousse with almond joconde

The pear was my favourite, because there were pear bits inside and tasted more like the fruit it's supposed to be. The white choc skin wasn't too sweet and I liked how they put the dots on them like on real pears.

Mandarin

Almond sablé, vanilla mandarin mousse, pineapple jam

Couldn't really taste the pineapple jam, and would've liked more mandarin flavour in the mousse since the vanilla was a bit more overpowering. The sablé wasn't too hard so easier to cut into.

Peach

Peach mousse, Sudachi and almond joconde

Was hoping for a more flavourful peach flavour, but I guess that made it less artificial and not too sweet. The sudachi was very subtle, just the slightest bit of acidity.

Apple

Apples with some sort of mousse

They didn't have a description of this but it's similar to the other cakes. It was still a bit frozen inside when I cut into it. Liked the apple bits inside to give it some acidity, but found the white choc here a bit too sweet. Most of the cakes weren't too sweet which is pretty good.

Surprisingly over the years I've actually tried most of the cakes. There's still a lot I haven't tried since they keep making new cakes, but that's the beauty of desserts since there will always be more to try. They have recently released a lemon version just this week, so hope to try that as well sometime. 

Possum Magic

It's been a whirlwind of a week even though I only had 1 day of uni, ironically. Excluding last sem when there wasn't any lectures, this past week was probably the first time ever having just 1 day of uni during the semester. From food expos, catch ups, 'networking' events, so here's a compilation of photos from the week, because why not?

For those wondering, I ended up getting iPhone 8 in Gold. It's really the same as iPhone 7 but I can't hold an 8 Plus and X I would rather wait for the one after since I don't need all these fancy functions. Pre orders started from 5:01pm, but couldn't order it till 5:07pm. Reminded me back in 1st/2nd year of trying to get the best timetabled classes, and just waiting for the not so trusty UNSW servers to load.

view from L'Aqua, Cockle Bay Wharf

If I wasn't so lazy and decided to walk those extra steps, that damn light in the middle wouldn't be in the way.

Trivia Night

Speccies always chooses a decent location with catered food/drinks, and of course persuading people to work for them. Thank goodness for other friendly people so not too awkward to just join the table. Came last in trivia, but it was still good fun. So embarrassing taking the above photo. I slightly stood up and said just wait to the table, but because our table was at the front, the person thought I was telling them to wait so I could take a photo of the slide lol. I actually don't really care what they think, just funny how they thought I was trying to take a pic of the slides. Not many people came this year compared to last year though, at least the food this year wasn't all deep fried.

Some friends are worth trekking to the city for, even if it's just for 2 hrs. It's always nice when others make an effort to catch up esp from interstate. Who knew ordering drinks for 6 people is actually quite complicated (another post to come).

Yesterday was pretty hectic in a good way. Met up with my cousin and uncle's friend for drinks/food.

capp and mocha from Lindt Cafe

I actually haven't been here since they had some free mocha thing back in 2013...Still found the dark choc quite sweet though.

sushi train!

One of our relo's friend came to Sydney literally for a day for this sushi and to pick up stuff. More on that later....Then went back home to bring more stuff out so he could take more Aussie food back to HK.

iced chai lattes whilst looking at diamonds...

2 days after I paid, they said students could go for free, so they are 'compensating' me with a free ticket to the Xmas party...So I guess more free food?

Mercure Sydney Hotel

I am so glad I went to this networking event to just hear about all these super experienced optoms who come from all over the place. People in research, started up their own practice, people who do more business/management and not see patients, others moved from overseas,  some moved 4/5 jobs, and just their overall passion gives me motivation. Although I was a bit confused as to where I want to head in the future, but I have another year to think about it, just gonna get through this sem first...I knew the food wasn't gonna be amazing, but it was nice just chatting to people and seeing how they got to where they are. Pretty much with so many grads it's almost impossible to achieve what they did since back then they could pick the jobs they want, whereas now it's a bit flipped...It's also a tad bit more reassuring to hear they have a life outside of optom/work. Even as a Christian, it's always a struggle between life vs study vs work...and it's only going to get harder...

it's a purple and pink $2 coin! 💜

I actually forgot what the book Possum Magic is about, but I do remember reading this classic as a kid. This is indeed my fav $2 coin though. Perks of working in retail sometimes...just switch my boring $2 with something like this. Quick Google search says only Woolies supplied these limited edition Possum Magic coins. The Anzac poppies were nice, but this is another level- can't get over the prettiness and cuteness.