Alrose Garden

Came here for dinner after visiting BW's church as Strathfield is close by. This place is quite simple with not an extensive menu choice, and not many side dishes either. One thing I love about Korean food is all the side dishes.

food

Clam hot noodle soup-$13

Decent amount of clams in these noodles, and the soup wasn't overly seasoned. There was actually quite a decent amount of noodles in the bowl and we couldn't finish it. It is a more healthier alternative for dinner out, compared to the next dish.

Fried chicken (half)-$18

I normally don't order fried chicken since it's so unhealthy and not good for your skin (hence haven't had KFC in so long), but would still have some if I'm sharing. I no fried chicken expert but I thought this chicken was decent, not too salty and decent chunks of meat. There was this deep fried pork with cheese inside that looked so good when it was cut into.

Weekend of less sleep

I can't believe how fast this long weekend flew by. I sort of can't wait until my mini 2 week breaks in a few months time. Somehow I managed to get less than 6 hours of sleep since Thursday night, but my time was spent well with others.

Thanks Happy Apple for bringing these over on Friday. The effect disappears immediately, but whilst it's in the fridge and just before you take it out, it has snow flakes appearing on the 'chill me!' part of the packaging which I thought was quite cute. It wasn't too sweet for turkish delight, but not really sure where the Messina flavour comes in.

It's been years since the majority of the G8s have come over to my place. Normally my place is too far for everyone, but now people car pool/can drive over. Played some Switch, the the Jackbox TV party games are so fun and hilarious.

Wedding on Sat morning, and ahh, I always love the feels and vibes weddings give. I can't help but compare weddings to other weddings I've attended before...Although I've never actually been to a reception, social media seems to show 'Perfect' is a very popular first dance soundtrack. 2 weddings that night had that song, and other wedding's I've seen (through social media because I don't have friends lol).

helium balloons!

Went to a 21st (feeling old, it's already been 2.5 years since I was 21...), and loved how there were helium balloons! There was also a cute polaroid photo corner, which is very reminiscent of a 21st bday (not that I had a polaroid for people to take photos of since they're so expensive and me being stingy rather use polaroid photo money for a three figure cake...). It was a lovely night meeting more new people and playing more Switch (how is milking a cow even a game? haha)

Sunday at work all the computers were in a mini meltdown. Then came home and there was an internet outage which doesn't help esp if you're running out of data...

 

what do you mean to be confirmed?

So happy that Federer won! First man to win 20 Grand Slams ever. Was not expecting it to be a 5 setter, since I wanted it to end early since I was already super sleep after church, luckily it didn't go past midnight...Even my pastor made a joke about how 'Is it wrong to pray for Federer to win?' and 'Go home early to watch Federer win.' Out of all the sports people out there, he's probably the most humble guy and most composed without being angry/frustrated if they're losing, or taking their anger onto their opponent. He's also so old in comparison, but somehow he's maintained really good health and only stopped for a 6mth injury just a few years ago. 

The Aus Open this year wasn't as fun to watch since so many people retired cause of injuries. I wouldn't have liked to pay a couple of hundred to see a match end short/unfinished. I actually haven't had the chance to watch a lot of the tennis either this year.

Every morning I walk past Country Road when switching buses and it has the 'Official Partner for lifestyle clothing' then I realised the other day, all the lines people and umpire have Country Road branded on their clothing. I feel like it's a downgrade from Lacoste or something from previous years. The ball kids uniforms were a pretty ugly orange imo, and had Vegemite branded on it.

I thought the overall graphics and 'virtual reality' 3D things they do on the tv have improved a lot. They don't shrink the scores though when they win a set, and rather shows the number of games for all 5 sets. It's takes up more space on the bottom left corner of the tv, but I guess they think people have bigger tvs these days (?). They also have electronic adds all over outer edge, rather than old school paper adds. So during the breaks, you see different adds moving, then the adds remain static during play. I like the camera they have inside the tennis net, and this ultra wide lens they sometimes show, where the whole tennis court is in landscape view, even though the camera is probably only 3-4m away. The umpire chair's seat is also electronic. Did they have that last year? Didn't even watch it since I was overseas (#wanderlust #takemeback).

Now all these TV shows are starting back, but need to control myself and not watch since I have not done any proper study since the beginning of this year...Doesn't help that winter Olympics is also starting next week. 

La Floraison

This cafe does printed coffee art and has some nice wall/ceiling decor, but came here for the cakes. 

cakes

 

inside

Flower jelly-$9

The flower one was interesting since there’s a flower set inside a jelly. It tasted like normal jelly and nothing special, probably could taste some of the gelatine in it.

Hokkaido rose layer cake-$9

The rose cake had a nice flavour without being too overpowering or sweet. It had a mix of some mousse and sponge. I think the cakes here are ok, but more on the pricey side and nothing amazing.

cake display-they switched around the green tea and hokkaido cake signs

Chat Thai

I love meeting up with high school friends, even if it’s half the group. Haven’t had Chat Thai in years, and first time trying out this one here in Gateway Sydney. There’s plenty of seating inside, but there was still a wait to get a table on a weeknight for dinner. 

food spread

spicy green mango salad with pickled crab, dried shrimps, fermented fish-$16

 Grilled beef coconut curry with betel leaves-$20

Steam rice-$4 

My friends were kind enough to let me pick out what to eat. I normally am ok in choosing what stuff to eat, but decided to be a bit more adventurous, which was a really bad decision. Some stuff on the menu didn’t say it was chilli, but they were. I know I’m trying to increase my chilli tolerance, but the chilli in the salad and curry was too much for me to try to enjoy. The curry was so spicy, but the salad was a bit more bearable.

Prawn, tofu, coconut and turmeric crepe with house pickle cucumber-$16

Crepe was super thin and interesting combo of toppings.

Pad Thai w/ chicken-$15

The pad thai was decent but their wasn’t much chicken and portion was generally smaller (but I hardly eat Thai so maybe portions everywhere have shrunk). I guess maybe that’s why prices haven’t increased too much. They ran out of sticky rice even at around 7:30pm.

Service wasn’t the best since it took about 5 tries to get the waiters to order our food, and request for other stuff like water and more rice.

I like how they have open kitchens

Jang Ta Bal and Square Cafe

I'm actually not a huge fan of kbbq since you're essentially eating a lot of fat, and bbqs in general aren't healthy or good for the skin. They are good to for catchups though since you can slowly cook and talk. Love going to Korean restaurants for the sides. My chilli tolerance has increased ever so slightly since I can handle kim chi spiciness. 

food spread

meeeat

This place gives a different sort of vibe when you step in, as the actual seating is at the back, sort of like an open garage and half outdoors, with stools only and large communal tables. Doesn’t feel like you’re actually in Sydney. Ordered quite a bit from different sets/platters, to individual meat dishes. Food arrives pretty quickly, and service was ok. They were willing to change the mesh if you asked, but really meshy/wire ones have the meat stuck to it really easily. All up we paid around $30pp. 

Bing soo is always a good idea after KBBQ. This medium size was ~$32 each. They have the nicer milky ice here rather than the hard flavourless ice. The fruit was nicer than than mochi/almond one . It is overpriced ice, but it’s sometimes fun to eat stuff out of a massive jug with friends. Can’t really make this stuff at home unless you have an ice machine.

Uni-cycles

Almost finished with 2nd week and already it's deciding between:

Should I give up study time for exercise time, give up exercise time and waste money, or give up bus study time for sleep, or give up sleep for study? In between this loop is figuring out when to go out.

There's nothing pressing that needs studying, but I know I have to refresh all my knowledge. Doesn't help how I've never had a hard px in 4th yr, and even after my 6th px so far, they have all been easy. Even my supervisor says my px were easy. Hard px are good since you learn more. Even writing my log book I really learn minimal amount of things. Too bad you can't choose your px....Just my luck I get all the hard px in 2nd rotation and then get lots of unsats and fails and not meet quotas...which means another year in uni...

It sounds like I complain about uni a lot but still grateful to be able to see px. I feel Happy Apple's pain/injustice with the whole uni decision...

Pink is back in at the Aus Open. I'm pretty sure Fed wore pink shoes back in 2013 when I went down there. There's a couple of people with the same shade of pink accents in their clothing/shoes. Too bad can't follow the tennis this year, or the winter Olympics, MKR and minimal MasterChef.

The Q on Harris

Making the most of non 9am uni starts by exploring new places for breakfast. The menu is quite limited here, but it’s a quiet cafe just away from the city with a nice courtyard and natural lighting, perfect for a place to chat. I’m quite behind on places to eat since uni has started, so didn’t even realise they stopped selling their matcha cheesecake last year. 

food spread

Capp: $3.50

Batch brew Solok Radjo: rum raisin and tropical fruit punch with full bodied velvety dark cocoa finish-$3.50

The coffee was average. I thought the filtered coffee came cold, but I guess there’s a lot of variations for filtered coffee. This one was quite bitter and on the first sip reminded me of Chinese herbal tea. I never put sugar in coffee because I think that just ruins the taste of the actual coffee flavour (except for iced coffee, then again I hardly have those drinks). Slowly we sipped our way through this huge mug. Tried to appreciate the different flavour notes in the coffee, but I’m no coffee connoisseur. 

Buta Katsu Sandwich: House made thick-cut ham cats, tomato chutney and mustard mayo, with a side of potato korokke-$18

It didn’t say how many grams it was, but I’m assuming 150-200g, like other thick cut pork cats sandwiches I’ve had. The skin could have been more light and crispy/golden since it was a little bit on the oily side. The potato side was a fun addition to have on the dish. It was a surpassingly filling dish. 

Q Bowl: house smoked caramelised bacon, tempura shiitake mushrooms, glazed dutch carrot, pickled raddish, black rice-$16

I think this is more on the pricey end for a bowl of rice. You could choose between house smoked bacon, pastrami or salmon. Couldn’t really taste the smokiness in the bacon, but I liked how it wasn’t over caramelised. The tempura could also be lighter for the mushrooms. The pickled raddish helped give some acidity from the heaviness from the bacon. 

Baking 2017

Better late than never, most of the stuff I baked last year. I was hoping to bake at least twice the amount of this since I supposedly had more free time, but that time disappeared pretty quickly.

Spinach and ricotta quiche

I understand why people 'blind bake,' so the pastry doesn't split and fill with with air whilst it's baking. It ended up being a bit soggy since there was a tear in the base whilst I was pouring the filling, so had to place a baking tray under the tin, then use extra pastry to 'glue' the tin to the tray so the filling won't spill all over the tray....It tasted quite nice, but the pastry wasn't light enough and tasted on the buttery side. There is probably a way to get the same amount of butter but then get a diff texture, but I just don't know how to do that, or even make a sort of flaky pastry without so much butter...

   Zumbo Baking-Raspberry and white choc muffins

Jap matcha chiffon cake

I don't have an angel pan since I only make this stuff literally once a year, but I still managed to get some height in a normal pan. Quite like the lightness in this cake.

Zumbo brownies

So rich and sweet, really need a cup of tea with this. Overbaked it so it didn't have the 'gooey' texture, but you can also have cake textured brownies anyway.

Those Zumbo stuff were from the freebies I got from being one of the first to line up on Zumbaron Day to buy a packet of Zumbarons (macarons).

Coconut flour, almond flour, flour, mixed berries, banana, cinnamon, whatever else I have in my pantry

Texture was more dense and bready. Why did I even buy a packet of coconut flour? It's so hard to use. Need like half a dozen of eggs which I didn't want to use to make a coconut flour cake, so went with this random thing instead. 

 Vanilla soufflé

Accidentally turned the heat too high and cooked the flour a bit too much so the consistency was a bit gluey when I poured it into the ramekins...It did rise though, so at least this time I didn't over beat my egg whites, and it didn't have an eggy flavour like my last attempt since I actually put sugar in it this time.

I have a feeling my packets of almond flour has expired after a year. Goodbye $5ish...I thought a year expiry date would help force me to make macarons from scratch (this has been on my 'to do' list end of 2012 and just keeps on being there...).