Wedding Date...but not quite

Today was supposed to be our wedding date, but of course with Covid-19, it was pretty much postponed a month ago to next year. Have to wait another year, which just drags and halts or planning processes. I guess luckily I moved all my essentials to the new place, so technically things would have been what they'll be like after we were married, just missing the official signing of the documents...Like I've said in my previous post, at least we're healthy and safe, and at least weddings can be moved unlike things like uni placements overseas etc

To commemorate this 'supposed wedding date', still ordered some cake (yay for Koi delivery). Both were really nice and not too sweet. Also had UberEats with local Korean food, bit more expensive, but trying to make it the most of the situation.

White peach and french earl grey

White Noise (as seen on MasterChef but cake version)

Also, thanks Shirley for these surprised housewarming succulents, they're so cute!

Hope I don't kill them (thank goodness for Blair's knowledge of taking care of plants)

Another highlight catching up with g8s, and playing Codenames online.

We both absolutely hate summer, but postponed for another 9 months...so another waiting game. Might sound ranty, but glad to still have some work, still healthy and Blair to keep me company during self-isolation.

Quarter Century

It doesn't ever feel different when you become a year older, until it really hits you that you are older. One thing I realised I was looking forward to is renting a car if I ever need to, without a premium insurance fee. Also figuring out health insurance was such a waste of time. That's probs the 2 main things which really 'solidifies' the extra stuff you have to do once you hit 25.

Pandan and coconut

This flavour got deleted literally 2 days after I ordered the cake, so I forgot what other flavour it had. It had layers of a darker choc sable, bits of mango and a lemony curd/sauce inside. The pandan was quite subtle in the mousse. It wasn't really sweet and the slightly sour lemony mango inside help balance it.

I have a thing where I like to have the exact amount of candles as the year I'm turning. Surprised 25 candles managed to fit on this small cake.

layers

Red velvet cake from Michel's Patisserie

Manager at work buys everyone a cake on their bday. Glad they chose this flavour for me (not a big fan of chocolate), but either way I wouldn't mind. She even puts in candles which is cute.

Thanks g8s for these cakes! Love trying new flavours. The mango and yuzu was the favourite of the night, also an og so you can't go wrong. I quite liked the guava and strawberry too, so cool how they're making more cakes shaped like fruit tasting like the fruit. No one liked the purple lavender one, I actually didn't mind it. I couldn't taste the soapiness, although it wasn't my favourite it wasn't bad either. The ume slice was delicious as well, full of various flavours. Love catching up with g8s, and was definitely delightedly surprised that Happy Apple came. 

Thanks Happy Apple for my first ever succulent - hope I don't kill it...

85deg Black forest cake

Finished off cake week with a simple cake to share at church. Thanks Blair for the surprise. Although I'm not a big fan of Asian cake, the good thing about 85deg is that it comes with plates, knives, forks and candles, so can literally just buy this cake and eat it anywhere. 

I think I'm caked out...for now....

Chef's Palette

It’s a nice cafe in Eastwood which is relatively spacious and has decent amount of seating. Nice place to just relax and chat over coffee and cake. Both times I went they mixed up the flavours of the cakes I wanted, but I’m not really picky in this sort of setting. 

Taro and matcha crepe cake-$7.95 each

The crepes could be thinner with less cream, but it’s decent for cafe standard and not too sweet. It also had a good height. Would have liked more matcha flavour, but the taro flavour was more distinct. Favourite crepe cake is still from Lady M, which is available overseas (like all good food, haha).

Taro Gelato Shake-$5.80, Iced Irish Cream Latte-$5

Souffle cheesecake original-$7.95

Taro shake was nice and thick, and loved the taro flavour in it. The other latte had some coffee flavour, but was more on the sweet side. I'm not sure what makes it Irish. The souffle cheesecake wasn't your typical souffle or as light as your Jap style cheesecake, but not heavy either like NY cheesecake. Still quite filling and it's good to share. It has some cream cheese without being too overpowering and not too sweet. 

upstairs seating

Pinto

I’ve been wanting to come here for a while since I saw their mont blanc cake dressed like a Christmas. Came here for breakfast even though their selection for brekkie isn’t really amazing, and most of the stuff was just toast. Wanted to try some stuff which is only available during lunch time, so may be back. However, there were so many flies during our meal, had to cover the dishes with some extra plates. At one point a fly flew into the soup, normally I won’t drink it but I still love trying stuff  so had a small sip. Half the time we were there trying to swat flies away. 

food spread

The ice purple potato latte ($9) could have had a stronger sweet potato flavour. The colour was vibrant but the flavour wasn't, and it was more on the watery side. Would have liked it a bit thicker/milkier. The hojicha latte ($6.50) had a nice bitterness to it, but I felt like the roasted flavour of the tea could have come out a bit more.

Japanese breakfast set: steamed rice, pork belly, miso soup, small size dishes (tofu), soft boiled egg

tofu

The Japanese set is cute with it’s individual dishes, just like how they would do it in Japan. Whenever something like this comes up, I always think of how many plates they have to wash after just one meal. Guess that’s why they have industrial dishwashers…The food wasn’t amazing (maybe I’ve been too spoilt with so much authentic and delicious food from Tokyo last year). The pork belly was moist and flavourful which went well with the plain rice. 

cakes

 

mont blanc -$9

Mont blanc was average, and I don't think it's worth the $9. Didn't really have much chestnut flavour, and had a bit too much cream for my liking, which is ok if it had flavour but it didn't. It was just lacking in general compared to other mont blancs I have (Angelina mont blancs are still my fav).

strawberry shortcake-$8

This cake wasn't that amazing either, if I tried this without knowing the price, I would've just pair $4 for it. The sponge is light, but at the bottom the moisture from the cream already made the sponge slightly wet and not light. The cream was average as well, not too sweet but could be lighter in texture.

beef onigiri-$5

inside

This onigiri is pretty much average compared to other onigiris I've had from takeaway sushi shops. Sometimes you see stuff online and people are paid to advertise them, but on this blog is just honest opinions, and this was pretty average. Could have more beef, or beef with something extra inside to not make it so monotone. 

Bakehouse Garden and Cheeky Chocolate

First time coming to eat in this part of Sydney. I didn't realise this used to be the old Arnotts factory, but I like how they've tried to keep the old factory walls for the local car park, and walls inside and out for the restaurants here. Came here on a hot Autumn evening for wollamsam, the Korean version of rice paper rolls.

Wollamsam. $22 pp

love the vibrant colours

rice paper roll

It is definitely cheaper to have it at home, but you're essentially paying for someone else to wash, cut and prep all the ingredients for you. There are heaps of veggies to choose from including avocado, and 2 types of meat. It's a decent price for a buffet style restaurant, and it's relatively healthy. I don't think I ate $22 worth of veggies, but at least $4 worth of avo, if one avo is $2.50-$3. I ate heaps of rolls that I forgot how many...Was so full at the end.

Blueberry Cheesecake: white chocolate mousse, green tea sponge, blueberry jelly, yogurt cheesecake-$10.50

It's more expensive than your average piece of cake, for an average cheesecake. It was quite dense even though the cheesecake is only about 1/3 of the height of the slice. Wished there was more acidity from the blueberry jelly to cut through the denseness. It wasn't too sweet luckily. Couldn't taste the green tea at all. The bottom was sort of leaking some moisture, looks like from the sponge but tasted creamy. I like this cafe as it also kept features of the old factory within the walls inside. 

   

Avengers: Infinity War

Thoughts on the movie down below. May contain spoilers.

Started the day trekking to the hospital to find out there were no patients. Since bus was in an hour back home cause #hillslyf hourly buses between 9-3, decided to finally try the new cake at Black Star Pastry.

The Dragon Cake: Scales of finely sliced dragon fruit on a delicate sponge. Pineapple vanilla cream with pomegranate jelly ripples on a biscuit crumb base-$9

I like their packaging, it's taller than the width, also in a way try to prevent it for moving too much

layers

top

side

It was a nice cake but not amazing and on the pricier side. The dragon fruit flavour wasn't as prominent, maybe cause it was too thinly sliced or not ripe enough or had gelatine on top. I liked the sweetness from the pineapples and the acidity from the pomegranate jelly. The sponge was light and the base wasn't too hard or butter. Got that in the morning so they were still cutting it from their massive cake which was like 80ish cmx 80cm. The cake didn't stick fully to the cake board so did move a bit when I got home.

Showground road has finally been upgraded/finished. The completion date was early 2018, and since I didn't go gym last week, I think they finished it end of April. Imo, early 2018 is Q1 (so Jan-March), so I think they were behind schedule, esp with all the rain etc, but now it's 2 lanes each way, plus one side has extra stop/parking lane. Don't know why for a section there's like bricks with plants though...maybe could've made a 3rd lane...I still remember when it was one way each way...The north wet is rapidly expanding, I so feel like even with the extra lane, there's still gonna be traffic. Reminds me of the M2 upgrade, traffic was ok for about a week, then it became a car park again during peak hour with the new additional lanes.

Father daughter movie time

Did you know, now when you book online, you can change seats or movie session times? That use to be impossible since once they get your money it's non exchangeable. I think they're doing it so more people will still come to the movies, since there's so many online options nowadays. Like I bet they always had the technology, just was holding it from customers.

I thought the movie had a pretty simple story line (until the ending), and loved the intensity/action. I don't read up on movies or the comics, so I did find it a bit anticlimactic that the villain won, it just seemed to easy for him. Usually the good guys win, but I guess that's why there's a part 2. Also loved the CGI. The credits had like heaps of people listed under special effects, and I feel like these movies are worth watching in the cinema, since the screen is bigger to see all those stuff. To me, it wasn't a sad movie, and I guess cause I expect most of the characters to somehow come back to life. Sort of like GoT where almost all the main characters die. 

I liked how Thor, Dr Strange, Iron Man was in it, since I think they're a bit more witty/cheeky/funny, and I like their powers more. I also like the real life actors, and the other movies/shows they play in. Funny how they combined Guardians of the Galaxy as well. Good sense of humour throughout. I think they still did a good job at investing into the feels of different characters, even though there were so many characters, but it wasn't hard to follow. I haven't seen Black Panther yet, so was confused as to what he's doing/hiding from the world, but it looks like it's got really good ratings, so watch that when I have time. Also haven't watched Thor: Ragnarok, and probably other ones as well...

I always feel guilty watching a movie when it's not holidays, but I really like Avengers, and wanted to watch it before I come across spoilers irl or on social media.  Castle Towers have changed heaps, didn't even realise they got rid of the yum cha place which the Putt Putt/bowling/games arcade overtook the medical centre and yum cha. All the restaurants in the Piazza are changing. I guess goodbye to Mad Mex, the thai place, GPK the pizza place, Baskin Robbins, Max Brenner and other restaurants...

This is here instead of the Coffee Club

Don't have to trek to the other side of Sydney to try this. I'm not a nutella fan, hence never made the trek down since I know these desserts would be overly sweet.

I'm already keeping a lookout on when it's opening for free burritos lol. 99% sure I'll be on placement or uni.

Finally all 8

After over 3 years, all 8 of the G8s finally were in the same place at the same time. The last time was when half of use got back from holidays and met up in beginning of 2015. Since then, either someone if busy studying/interstate/overseas/working, so max we have is 7/8, and is very normal that someone leaves the country the day before or even same day as someone arrives. We don't even tell each other this, but somehow miss each other lol. Thanks to Dandelion for organising another birthday dinner, and doing a yearly quiz (which I feel like we do worse each year haha), but still fun to do. It was so good just chatting with everyone, especially just chilling at Central Park afterwards. Probs gonna be another 3+ years before we're all together again. I'm thankful for my hs group whom I don't see often, but are still tight and can just easily talk about anything. 

Steam Mill Lane

There's this new lane in Sydney which is sort of like Barangaroo, but smaller, and more 'young' and 'funkier' I guess, where is Barangaroo is more 'romantic'. I like these coloured lights though. Heaps of new restaurants opening up here where I'm pretty sure used to be the Entertainment Centre carpark and heaps of empty space/land.

Random balloon looking things on the building

We had dinner at It's Time for Thai. I think the one near uni is slightly better. Since I had a pre dinner, ended up taking away half my plate of noodles.

cakes from Koi

Green tea rose ganache with pistachio joconde, strawberry mousse and marshmallow

layers

The serving size suggested about 6-8 servings, which is pretty big for a piece of cake. I feel like it can serve about 16 small but not too small servings. Dandelion ended up skillfully cutting it into I think either 18 or 24 pieces so most of us could try both flavours. It's not cheap for a cake, but it's so pretty. 

Black sesame with yuzu marshmallow and passion fruit

Majority of us preferred the green tea rose ganache, as the strawberry flavour popped and gave it a nice refreshing flavour. The black sesame was nice, but the flavours didn't really differ that much, and couldn't taste as much yuzu to give this cake a different dimension. Both cakes were relatively heavy, so I guess still get good value if you calculate it by weight. I base cakes on looks and technique, and I can see why it's worth the price. Have I become immune to overpriced cakes? Maybe....but hey, birthdays only come once a year, and 'special occasion' cakes like 21st or wedding cakes are literally once in a lifetime. Well everything is once in a life time, but I guess that's why special events exists.