Good Food Wine Show 2014

my first good food wine show. when i saw Zumbo macaron masterclass tickets released for Sydney, i really wanted to do it (despite the $99 price tag), but then i saw you had to pay an entry fee into the show itself for over $20, but i didn't buy Zumbo class. then i got free tickets, but his classes on all 3 days sold out in about 1 day, and obviously by that time, there weren't any more spaces. $99 is quite expensive, but apparently you get $70 worth of stuff, and when you think about it, expos are always a bit more expensive since they have to connect gas, electricity, water and set up all the equipment etc.

so close yet so far!

my closest encounter would still have to be at Rozelle free ice cream earlier this year, less than 1m away. there was also Zumbo's book signing at 12, which obviously meant photo included,. his books are one of the cheaper ones, the macaron on is $25, but then i thought, do i really need a macaron book? i'll look at the pictures but won't have time to attempt anything so didn't buy it. i'll use that $25 towards a class with him (if i manage to get a ticket to the always sold out tickets to Zumbo Academy, and after i try to make them from scratch).

i still saw him make macarons, and wow, he can pipe macarons in less than 0.5seconds-such a machine, and perfection all the way. i wonder if he still makes macarons, or if he just leaves it to his team since he has so many stores now.

croquembouche verrine: textures of vanilla & caramel, profiterole, lemon jam-$9.50

i bought this one since you could only get it at the show. the piggy one was also $9.50, usually cakes at his stores are $9, so again, increased prices...the tarts and macarons were still the same price. the description on insta is a bit different/more detailed: caramel liquid, malted milk Panna Cotta, lemon jam, almond Sable, creme patisserie Legere, jersey caramel creme, profiterole filled with creme patisserie.  this dessert was so good. i can't honestly say i tasted every single layer since i was eating while walking, but i loved the vanillary creme patisserie and haven't had a good profiterole in a while. the only thing i didn't like was the caramel liquid at the bottom. it was soooo sweet that i couldn't finish it (and that's saying something since i can tolerate large amounts of sugar even though i may not like it). i think the caramel at the bottom is mainly used as a foundation for the verrine, so things stay nicely layered. i kept the little jar thing since it's made of class and i can possibly make a 1 serving size panna cotta in it. 

nespresso masterclass!

this was so fun! for once i didn't drink or eat fast enough since you kept making coffee and she taught you how she prepared to food. those little containers on the left has coffee infused muesli and coffee infused yogurt and a blueberry for garnish haha. i love nespressos! sooooo user frienldly-just lift the handle, pop the cap in, pull down the handle to start it and you get beautifully brewed coffee. the milk frother is very nice as well. and i love this nespresso model, so sleek and cute. i've wanted a proper coffee machine which you can froth your milk, but realllly thinking about it, you have to clean every single time you use it, and it's just too high maintenance. these ones you just take the rubbish out. my mum has wanted one of these for so long, but in my family we're not regular coffee drinkers, so we would rather purchase other appliances before this...

basically the 1/2 session was to teach you how you could use your nespresso machine in cooking/food. everyone had their own machine, and so many attendants around. every lid you take off, or empty cup, and bam, they clear it and help you put it in the little bin ASAP even though the bin is still within your arm's reach.

"breakfast" fortissimo lungo, intensity 8, one of the newest flavours. loved the intensity (: 

"afternoon" dharkan, intensity 11 with a goats cheese and caramelised onion tart sprinkled with bukeela ka ethopia, intensity 3

the intensity levels go up to 12, this was so bitter, and i had about half of it. it went well with the goats cheese since it's so rich. we also stabbed holes in the other capsule to use as a shaker. wow, if i owned a machine, i would never use the coffee like that, such a waste. you only use about 1/10 of the whole capsule. i regret not sprinkling more on. it smelt nice but couldn't really taste the coffee in it.

"evening" on the far right-vanilla bean ice cream with decaffeinato intense, intensity 7 and hazelnut sugar

the ice cream is gourmet because you could see heaps of vanilla bean seeds in it! it's actually my first time having an affogato outside my house (since i usually just order a cap at cafes to compare them), and this was my favourite (: the intensity of the coffee balanced the sweetness of the ice cream and was so lovely to eat and drink. 

justine from S1 master chef!

sammy (bella was doing the paid masterclass), winners of mkr 2011 teaching how to cook stuff. 

i definitely recognised them, but back then i wasn't a massive mkr fan so didn't bother taking a photo. i won heaps of jalna yogurt here, and some expensive micro fibre/fancy new technology cleaning cloths here. too bad you couldn't taste it. at least i got some scone and bread mix. it was at this point my mum and i decided to buy a trolley for $30 =/ it's not worth, and was out most expensive purchase of the day, but it's impossible to carry around 3kg of yogurt for the whole day, let alone all the stuff we were yet to get. at least the trolley is pretty good quality.

barilla pasta masterclass!

didn't book online, and managed to make it in for the 2nd last session of the day after waiting 1/2 hour. i wouldn't mind waiting for another hour for the last class since it's free and i didn't bother paying $5 to book online. 

the left two look familiar...

2 people per stove.

watched the chef for 20 mins, then they had heaps of other chefs helping around to help you make it

pasta with winter veggies and ricotta

btw, barilla pasta is considered expensive. masterchef went there last year or year before to their factory in Italy (: the chefs around said the sauce is expensive, so not to use a lot, and also the olive il is expensive, and if the Italian say it's expensive, well it's expensive (hence us asians put more in). kind of regret not making more pasta. they said one handful per person, but i guess they technically can't control how much we put in. the curry's next to us managed to take home 1.5 boxes of pasta home! also, at the end of the show, they tipped all the pastas into a box/sauce into jars together to not waste it, and i guess emphasising that it's expensive.

the chef from Barilla

Darren Robertson from Three Blue Ducks and Recipe to Riches

he is another boy to have washed dishes for Marco Pierre White. lately a lot of chefs on master chef this year has cleaned dishes, then worked for Marco in their early years.

if you wanted to eat any of the celebrity chef's food, you had to pay $55. initially it seems expensive, but when you think about it, it's less than $20 a plate, and the price also include wine. like the breakfast the other day cost a bit over $20 and there were no celebrity chefs involved. i have been wanting to go to Three Blue Ducks for a long time now...

i counted 13 "behind the scenes" chefs, aka the people who cook whilst Darren talks

different angle

my mum managed to get free ice cream at the end of the show. the guy didn't give it to me ):

this was strawberry flavoured and today it was $5 a scoop. at find food show, it's free. well the scoops are smaller but the point is that over there it's free so i was refs not paying $5 for it.

free food haul!

it's quite small compared to fine food show, but i guess this stuff is more quality over quantity. we also bought gourmet sausages for $2 a packet, normally $8 a pack/$16 a kg. it was 10 for $20, but we shared half of it with some randoms, and we also kept the cooler bag. those sausages are so lean and gourtmet-ish (: they sold $2 for one sausage on a stick, but $2 a packet-bargain! my mum also bought $2 a packet organic/healthier italian pasta. we did most of our buying just before the show closed (:

i didn't even bother trying everything. a lot of wines and cheeses which were so filling...i got filled up on coffee and heaps of free Dr Oetker pizza from the morning when there were no lines. probably everything i ate today is on my not supposed to eat list...

goodfoodwine is probably the only time you'll see so many white people with trolleys (usually it's asian), and since this event is ticketed, a lot less asians are here. compared to fine food expo (which has more free tickets available), this show is more "higher class" with renowned chefs. there are less samples, but more hands on stuff and definitely kid friendly. fine food bans people under 18 (it used to allow high schoolers doing food related stuff, luckily they made that rule after i turned 18...). there's not as many expos here, but definitely more chances of rubbing shoulders with celebrity chefs. too bad george only came yday when i couldn't make it ):

things i learnt/nts:

- bring a pen. i could have totally filled out all the entry forms to increase my chances of winning. didn't bring a pen ): my mum found a free pen with the yogurt, but we were already home

- bring a trolley next time

- stand near the ice cream trucks when the show is about to close

- put up your hand for everything. this person said they had one of Darren Robertson's cook books and got free wine. the chef himself said "you know, you guys could have lied, i wouldn't have known"

2 past contestants from mrk liked my photo hehe #winning

Magic Cake

the problem with baking from scratch at my house is that i have to make an effort to buy those ingredients instead of them already being in the pantry/fridge. we don't buy any milk apart from rice milk, goats milk and occasionally almond milk (not supposed to have nuts atm...), but you can't bake "properly" with those. also, we buy organic eggs which cost about $1 each, so it's kind of a waste using them in baking. hence, to make a cake, i have to "downgrade" to free range eggs (in between organic and cage eggs) and full cream milk. 

wanted to make this "magic" cake for a while (made it yesterday). it uses simple ingredients and it's the technique you use so it turns out into layers of cake and custard.

couldn't be bothered to wash this old cake tin so just chucked some baking paper on. someone needs to teach me how to fold it properly, haha

3 layers (:

since i still have an old hand mixer which overheats very quickly, i didn't fully beat my egg whites until they were stiff, more like soft peaks. also, i didn't have to patience to properly fold in the egg whites, so i think that's why the top cake layer is very thin whilst the middle custard layer is quite thick. the bottom layer is a denser custard. didn't put enough vanilla or sugar (so it definitely isn't sweet). it uses half a block of butter, but you can't taste the butter in it. i like how you can get a custard without using a water bath. ceebs creme brûlées with their water baths to bake the custard evenly without curdling. for the recipe, just google it. it's one of those links, lol.

Mad Spuds Cafe and Stix Desserts

onto a lighter note, i did go out after exams to eat, although i don't think i deserved to.

went to mad spuds spontaneously, since it's on the same road as stix desserts (and also everything else like messina, four ate five etc...)

i think mads spuds is nice, but for the price, i think the portions were a tiny bit undersized. we shared 3 plates between 4 people and it was just filling, but i think it's because it's potato=carbs, and also heaps of cheese.

mad spud stack-$15, moroccan chicken salad-$12, little piggy spud-$15 

look at that stack! it's actually taller irl haha

the stack is quite a small portion, but it's really delicious! love the potato cake (: the potato skin is like a thick potato chip without the salt but had so much crunch. the cous cous salad was alright, quite a lot for $12. it says $15 on the online menu...but on the menu there it's $12. also had a spud, since if you're at a potato cafe you have to have a potato. i think this is bit over priced, $15 for a potato with 3 different cheeses and some bacon. it came with side of coleslaw and sour cream. the potato was a nice  fluffy potato (:

finally visited the infamous stix desserts! yay for getting 3 stamps on the loyalty card. i think it'll take me until the end of my degree to complete the card...

the place was actually smaller than i thought

i tried spekulatius, apple pie, panna cotta, salted caramel, pistachio, blood orange sorbet

stix-spekulatius with dark choc and coconut topping-$4.50

loved the spekulatius flavour. it's a spiced Dutch biscuit but tastes like chai flavoured. i actually don't really like toppings, and in this case i think the coconut was a bit overpowering, but it's included in the price so...the dark choc isn't sweet which is good. the flavours of the gelato are quite spot on (for the ones i tested), but tbh. i don't really like the texture. it's not as smooth as your typical gelato or creamy ice cream. this one has a more "grainy-ish" texture. the sorbet also taste like an ice block instead your typical sorbet. i guess it's the novelty factor when it comes to this type of stuff (: 

oreo toppings make it look fat. 

McCafe apple pie macaron

so the thornleigh macca's finally finished renovating, and we received some vouchers from them. one of them was a buy a large coffee, get a free macaron, and i've been wanting to try their macarons for years. so my mum pasts it in the morning taking my bro to school (yes, he's in year 12 and still can't drive, he's super lazy), and brought home a macaron for me (: normally it's $1.95, and obviously it's not that good. it doesn't have a nice crunch when you bite into it, and it's definitely chewy. it's not very flavourful either, especially compared to zumbarons. i still want to visit thornleigh's maccas. they've renovated it at least 2 times massively. it still remains my favourite maccas (lol, they makes me sound so fat), since it has the best playground equipment where as i child, you'd get lost inside. it took me over a month to figure out my way around it. also, i had one of my parties there (: oh, i used to go there a lot as a kid since my church is across the road from it. but after primary school, didn't go as often and now not all. i just want to go to see their decor. for a maccas, it's probably the classiest (if that exists).

did you know towers also have "cronuts"? they have them delivered from brew town newtown. also, does paramount coffee project make their own? i think dominique ansel the inventor of the cronuts which are actually trade marked doesn't have time to sue people for copying the name "cronuts." it's probably just to prevent the big companies like Dunkin Donuts from copying him, but he doesn't have time to sue the little cafes all over the world (#cronuts shows lots of places in the world have joined the bandwagon) since he's busy make real cronuts 24/7 in his own bakery. 

Exam Treats ft. Bourke St, Zest Patisserie, Cosmo Coffee

my uncle came the week before and during stuvac. super inconvenient since it meant i missed out on heapsss of delicious food. the only dinner i went out to was in my last food post-Home Thai.

they also went to a cafe in surry hills, which isn't currently on my list to go, so it was ok not going (for now, if that makes sense...), but since they were there it meant they could bring me back stuff! originally i wanted some cake, but that cafe didn't really have nice cakes, then i thought, what better than treats from Bourke Street to fuel me to study? (i think i got more distracted, but enjoying the tarts took more than a few minutes).

i asked for the rhubarb one and a croissant, since i haven't had them before, but also for the ginger creme brûlée tart since the last time i had it-it was amazing! first new about it when i told people i was going to unsw, then they were like, you have to go bourse st bakery in surry hills to have their ginger brûlée tart, and the fist time i had it last year-it didn't disappoint.

they came back after they went out to dinner quite late-ish, so i guess the tarts did kind of survive (: had the lemon curd one last time as well, which is really nice and not too lemony. first time have the rhubarb one-it's ok, but the pastry is a lot thicker than the other tarts. the lamington has layers of jam inside and not too overly sweet likely the typical supermarket ones. i'm not a huge laming ton fan, but my uncle loves them, and i guess this satisfied my floury-cake craving. the croissant is a bit different, not too flaky compared to other places. i guess it depends on what you like, since this one is more "sturdier" and i guess incorporated the butter differently. it was still really good though (:

raspberry. almond, pistachio, coconut cake.

my uncle and mum also went out for coffee and cake one day, and brought me back a slice from my local patisserie. also requested that they take back some yum cha food for me since i didn't have time to go.

more cousin works in north sydney, and she also came up for dinner with my uncle at home and brought home this!

chocolate tart, more ginger creme brûlée and strawberry meringue tart.

chocolate one is chocolatey without being overly sweet. it's easy to cut up and divide since it's more solid. this ginger one had more ginger flavour compared to the bourse st one from a few days ago. usually the original store is the best, since the north syd ones are delivered from the other kitchens...i guess the other not as gingery one was just that batch....the strawberry meringue tart is so magical! it's my second favourite, after the ginger. you keep eating it, and the meringue and mousse-like filling inside is just super light, that you don't realised you've finished eating it until you look at it and see it's gone. sooo light and delicious. meringue again isn't too sweet and the strawberry has some slight sourness, and it's just so magical (:

shout out to Dandelion and Iced Trees from taking time out of your study to visit me! too bad that when i was coming back home, there was another accident on the m2=massive traffic during peak hour, so i just missed you guys... (there's been so many traffic accidents this past year compared to last year-be careful guys!) so blessed to have such thoughtful friends <3

and thank you for the snacks! i love this type of study food snacks! and yay variety, haha. 

how did i forget to mention this? WE WERE GIVEN AN ASSIGNMENT FROM OPTM SUBJECT DURING FINALS. everyone was super angry. like, how could they give us an assignment right before finals, then DURING finals when i had four exams left? didn't think you could do that, but apparently you can. well, the course convenor is our main lecturer, so people complained to her and asked for extensions but nup. part of her explanation was: 

"Probably, had I known that you had another exam on Thursday I would have been happy to make it Thursday night as a deadline, but, UNSW no longer gives me access to when your other course exams are on, and I would have had to chase around for that info which just takes time that I no longer have.  But on the other hand, that would have committed me to working on my Friday off in order to get the marking done in time for the UNSW-imposed deadline next week

After giving it a few hours thought and asking around what is fair, I have decided 'NO', the original deadline will stand."

oh boo hop, you have to come to work on Friday. and that exam on Thursday was our visn exam, and that lecturer's office is just two doors down from hers, and they're like besties since they always talk/share info etc. so she can't spend 1 minute asking what day our visn exam is, but she can spend a few hours pondering if she should give us an extension, even though though she said before "just takes time that I no longer have" my mum called me when you guys came over, but i was on the bus madly typing so i missed her call telling me you guys dropped by....

yes, so much stress. i can't think of a single person's course during 2nd year who has finals worse than optom students. if so, tell me so i know we just not the only ones dying.

also went out for breakfast at Cosmo Coffee at towers. that wasn't the intention of going outside my house, had to do something there...anyways, shared with mum since i'm trying to "save money"

cappuccino, large-$4.20

a regular is 3.50, which i think it's ok priced for towers, some cafes charge around $5. this coffee was really hot to touch, and more hot than i would've liked to be drinking temp, but my mum likes it hot so she didn't mind. coffee was alright, would've preferred more foam.

big breakfast-$17.90 hash brown, sausages, eggs, spinach, mushrooms, bacon, tomato and turkish bread.

yep, it's pretty expensive compared to other places. towers generally is expensive. the eggs were cooked nicely and runny, sausage was nice and lean. the only problem was that the hash brown was a tad over fried since it's a bit brown not golden, and i think there isn't enough potatoes in it. it was actually filling to share this breakfast between two. the cafe was quite full in the morning, wow, people are willing to take their kids out for some brekky. i would love to do that as well (if i had the money...) then again, it would be pointless for my dad to take my bro and me out for food since he's fat inside...

they made the entrance thing for castle towers train station, and put up this big ugly wall, making it more "secretive". (right now the wall it grew to blend into scenery i guess, but the other day it was grey or cream/brown or something).

ate so much snacks, and food which i'm not supposed to it, but then i always tell myself when i'm eating food whilst i'm studying-my brain needs energy to study as well.

Passing will take a miracle

if you think you had finals hard, please think again.

8 exams. i died.

i am 95% sure i'll be repeating my 2nd year optom subjects.

i already had a head space going into finals that i will fail. about 20% people each year repeat. this semester, there were over 30 (out of 110) repeating from last year, and that's not including ~10ish people who failed first year. yes, they do have the power to fail more than a quarter of the grade if they want.

it is a sad reality. repeating 2 subjects means money and 1 year of my life wasted. on the flip side, it means i'll actually have time to study and it'll be (hopefully) more easier, and i'll actually have a uni life.

also, two 8am starts. and they are so bad. you get there at 8am to find out what time you'll actually be doing your prac. i guess i was "lucky" since mine were usually before midday, but some people get to uni at 8 then find out their prac is at 1 or 2pm, so they sit there waiting. it's still ridiculous even for me starting at 10am, waiting/stressing until it's your prac turn. they don't release who your partner is until you get there in the morning so you won't be able to test them out/look into them...

optom weightings-the confusing marks just for one particular subject i've been talking about throughout semester. it's 3 subjects in one since each strand us completely different/don't relate. like the only thing probably related is having to use you eye.

and did i mention that they don't scale? ): it's so complicated compared to visn/anat where it's just 25, 25, and 50% finals. everything in optom itself doesn't weight much, like there are 3 prac exams, so 5% each, then 1.67% of the whole course, but you have to get over 50%. there is NO SUCH THING as "making it up" somewhere else, you fail the tiniest but vital component, and gg, see you again next year.

especially out optom final, it was so pressed for time, didn't finish, and neither did a lot of people. 

but ahh, if i fail 2 optom subjects, i'll having nothing to study next semester. i think i can repeat optom, but repeating visn will be hell. and visn supps are oral exams-like asdghjkl. you have to know your stuff and tell her on the spot. and if i do fail optom, please-i don't want to repeat all 3 strands.

i don't know why my brain doesn't absorb stuff properly, or i just freak out in the exam.

if i don't get a supp, i know i have failed ): only gets supps if you're borderline passing or if you aren't as strong in that component, but ace everything else. too bad i failed everything so they won't even offer me a supp. like the colour vision practical, completely mind blanked and the examiner was just glaring at me and telling me to hurry up. argh, why? and then since i couldn't even do the practical component, she gave me all the hard stuff to analyse. and then for slit lamp, i had the lecturer as my examiner, and it's never good for the examiner to question your technique and then cut you off. both my partner and i couldn't even turn it on to start with ): also, they most likely look into your mid sem marks, and since some i failed and some borderline passed, they will probably not even consider me for the supp list. 

2nd year is technically the hardest with everything little bit needed to be passed. and for visn you have to pass the finals to pass the course. please, i'm relying on half marks. today marks the day where i woke up at 4am to study for an exam-i was literally that freakin screwed. less than 6 hours of sleep, but the other people got 2 hours. way too much content, and i felt like the stuff i study wasn't in the test. and don't get me talking about my other tests...well i did wake up at 10am the day before...but if i don;t sleep in then i don't have the energy/alertness to study. like on one day, i woke up before 8am, but i actually started dozing off at 10am since i didn't have over 8 hours of sleep...

seriously guys, i tried. i do study, it's just you need to study constantly, and with 4 hours of travelling time, 9am starts and 5/6pm finishes during semester and only sundays to study, i get about 1/4 of the time people living close to uni get to study. from tuesday arvo to thursday after my exam, my phone went from 100 to 75% battery, and i used my phone overnight as an alarm as well (i normally use my alarm clock). please don't judge me when i repeat next year. at least i can hang out with you more next semester since i'll only have physiology (provided that i do pass, luckily it doesn't state that you have to pass finals to pass the course...). at this stage, i don't even care about getting a credit wam by the end of 3rd year-i am praying that i get a supp. i studied, but i just wasn't confident that the knowledge stuck in my head. just so much ): 

after this jam packed weekend, i will start studying for supps next week-fingers crossed i get a chance to redeem myself, especially in the pracs. hence why i don't want to go out so much, or go out until the weekend. can't file my stuff away. no sense of relief after the last exam today. i remember last sem, it was  "yay holidays" but this sem is just a different feel. there just wasn't enough time to study this sem. goodbye my beautiful sem 2 timetable ):

it will take a miracle to get over 50%, and another miracle to not repeat. i have already told my parents i've failed my exams, luckily they understand.

totally freaking out after yesterday.

saw that we have two 8am prac exams. the earliest i've been to uni is 7.30am for an 8:45am, since that day there was good traffic, and i want to get there early to avoid being stressed. but 8am puts a lot more pressure on you to get there on time-like what if that day another car flips in the harbour bridge tunnel? and then creating 10km+ queues and 30min+ delays. the other day i was late 45min to uni, luckily it wasn't one of my labs.

then the visn lec told us the exam will be hard (and the online quizzes already are already hard D=), but what's worse is that she told us not to study off her notes but to study off the textbook. why couldn't she tell us earlier ? her notes are so overwhelming already. i know i won't be able to know everything in time (even though this is my last exam). 2cm worth of notes, 6 slides per page, double sided, then there's the tute worksheets etc...i don't know how i'm going to memorise the notes, let alone the textbook. i just hope i pass. right now, i'm just passing...

well she brought us cake from Alexander's Patisserie. banana and chocolate cake.

the banana tasted a bit like banana flavoured stuff, even though you could see real banana bits in it. the icing layer was more creamy but still had integrity/stiffness to it. it wasn't too sweet. the chocolate cake was like any other chocolate cake. but wow, it's the thought that counts. i guess she brought this to "cheer us up" / de stress up a bit after saying you can't pass the exam by rote learning (even though most of it's anatomy, which you have to learn by rote). the only other time a teacher brought cake to class was in yr 12 English....also this led last time brought us biscuits during the tute...and i think it's weird how she doesn't drive/has no car...

Fortnum and Mason dark chocolate and macadamia biscuits

from my uncle's friend who goes back to London to visit his parents often (but lives/works in HK). a quick google search told me these aren't cheap. i've handed quite a lot of branded biscuits like crabtree and evelyn biscuits before, but none from this brand. even though i'm not supposed to have eat this type of stuff...still excited to try it. there's only 16 biscuits inside, which is 37.5g per biscuit, i.e. super heavy biscuit filled with deliciousness. next time he goes to the UK, i shall request some more branded biscuits hehe. 

ahhhh, need to study. hoping to pass. and it would be good to get a credit (since we have to get a credit by end of 3rd yr), but i've had no time to study this semester, so i guess i'll be content with a pass (and no supps. ohhh, for the supp exam for visn, she makes it an oral test D= so please no supps for that-can't bluff your way through talking if you actually don't know the answer, unlike writing where you write random stuff and hope to get 1/2 a mark.

i guess it's good how there's no optom once a month at work-i can automatically take a saturday off without asking for one (: study!

Home Thai

i wasn't originally planning to go out to dinner even though my uncle is here, my mum didn't want me to either because even she knows how screwed i am for my exams. but then i ended up staying behind at uni to practice stuff, so it was kind of dinner time when i left. so decided i would only allow myself one dinner out, and will skip sunday brunch at surry hills, another dinner sunday night and public holiday eating adventures with my uncle. it's ok, i can go another time.

we went to Home Thai on sussex, which is the original home thai, since the original restaurants are always a tad better than the other later ones (as you'll see later). i guess my cousin has eaten almost everywhere. whenever i suggest a place to go, she always has an opinion on it. 

can't book for home thai, but once we got there someone was leaving (: it's one of those one and a half level type of restaurants, similar to Jamie's Italian. they're both not spacious sitting with diminish light. portions here are generally smaller, but that's why the prices are cheaper than other places. i guess with smaller portions, it allows you to try more variety without spending too much money. service was good and food came out super quickly. we left around fish and there was still quite a big line outside waiting. not going to elaborate on food, since this is my "break" from studying...

fresh spring roll-$9.90

this was so good! not your typical oily spring roll. the sauce has a good balance of flavours (:

pad thai with chicken-$12.50, red curry with duck-$14.90

this pad thai was average, not too special. they mixed the chilli flakes in so it was spicy for me =/ t felt like there was more chicken than actual noodles. the red curry w/ duck didn't have a lot of duck, which is expected for this price, but it had fresh figs with it. the spices here was good, it was spicy for me though ):

stir fried chinese broccoli with crispy pork belly-$15.50

yay crispy pork (: more meat here than it looks. not too overly seasoned in oyster sauce, and the chilli here wasn't chilli (:

deep fried snapper with pineapple-$35

this spiciness made the red curry not spicy, it was cray hot. deep fried fish is something we never order, but my uncle knows my mum never deep fries anything at home, so we ordered this instead of steamed. the fish itself it pretty good, and the sauce here had a nice touch of sweetness, but the chilli was too overpowering for me. it smelt so good though (:

their thai milk tea here is not as sweet compared to other ones i've had, and it's more milkier here. i guess i like the consistency here, but i do kind of like that sweet thai milk tea flavour...

went to holy basil for dessert for their fried ice cream. whenever my cous takes my uncle out, she tries to go places where hk doesn't have a lot of/none at all, so fried ice cream is definitely one of those items.

fried ice cream take 2 

holy basil on liverpool street is probably more than 2 times bigger than canley heights. we got there after 8 and it was still packed. so since this isn't the original store, i think there are too many orders here as well, so this ice cream was a bit of a disappointment compared to my first time. here the plate is longer and there's more sauce (not that i'm complaining), but if you've all eaten with me before, you'd know i'll whip out my phone/camera to take a picture of the food asap. well i did here, but if you look closely, you can see it's already melting when it came to us. obviously the ice cream isn't cold enough. last time i remember taking photos of it, with it, then my parents took photos of it, and it was well over 5 mins before we started digging into it, and the ice cream was still hard. this once was too soft and melted too quickly, and the filo pastry wasn't as crispy. this was nice, but it was perfect at canley heights. so if you've never had it before-have it at the original restaurant. i think i like Laos Thai better since it's not as spicy...also had a sip of their durian shake-nope, still tasted funky. apparently i used to love durian when i was a kid...

the back of someone's eye. this took me well over 8 hours. it doesn't look like it but it did ): i probably end up getting 5/10, and it doesn't weigh a lot either.... =/

Kumar from Masterchef S3!

there was a student cookl=book launch yesterday, and i allowed myself half an hour to get free food, which ended up being an hour...they let you taste test some of the recipes submitted my students, and they get published in the uni cookbook which is pretty nice. ate so much stuff and got quite a lot of cans of this ice tea in a can of this brand i've never tried before. it was too sweet to be considered green tea imo. Devon cafe also came, and showed us how to make their "Deveon Magic Muffins." ended up trying half a banana/pandan/coconut muffin. it was super soft and moist, and their secret kaya jam was so good, not too overly sweet but flavourful. it's made with coconut cream as well, so it's not as buttery as your other normal muffins. they also gave out free vouchers-totes regret not getting more...at least i stayed back another half an hour, or else i wouldn't have tried their muffins (:

today and yesterday i ate so many things i wasn't supposed to eat =/