Zumbo Cafe-Rozelle

was looking forward to this the whole week, after i knew about it from his insta/fb page (:

i don't know why my snapchat said roseville instead of rozelle.

i used to think balmain/rozelle was really far away. back then when he first appeared on masterchef in 09, i couldn't drive, so yes, it was far away and not public transportable. and i don't know why i never really realised rozelle is just across the road from lilyfield. we go to lilyfield often since we have a good family friend there. all those times i went to lilyfield i could have visited his rozelle patisserie! he gave out this 10% ice cream vouchers, i shall use them next time i'm near. rozelle is on the other side of victoria rd, but his place isn't near the main section of rozelle. it's about a 2 min walk from the main section. driving takes longer since you have to drive around the streets filled with one way signs. it's not really a trek to get here, about 30ish mins, but traffic was good today (: 90% of the time, victoria road has traffic. today it was move-able traffic. i still remember the time, end of 2012, my bro was going to hk by himself and we drove the slow victoria rd, and so much traffic everywhere and he made it 5mins before bag drop closed. so we never ever take victoria rd if we go to the airport to drop off people anymore.

so glad i found a spot without waiting (: all free spots in the carpark are 2 hours, and there are street parking, but some is ticketed, and they're mostly full.

famous graffiti wall

got there 12ish, and decided to have some brunch and enjoy the view of the kitchen whilst sitting inside. 15mins later, people started arriving, and there are limited seats inside, so some people ate standing up. everyone was after free ice cream, but i really wanted to try some stuff there. i didn't want to risk almost missing out last time with morrison's free burgers...

lemon meringue-$9, mia quiche (pumpkin and goats cheese)

i think i prefer the grounds lemon meringue slightly, their meringue is slightly sweeter. even though i don't like desserts overloaded with sugar, i secretly have a sweet tooth. this one was so pretty, and still worth the $9. was quite lemony without it being too acidic (:

we got 2 caps, $3 each, pretty good price for a decent cup.

there was a time when 5 people huddled around a cake. possible red velvet since it was covered with a cream cheese but not sprayed red yet.

free ice cream flavours (:

there was two times this amount of silpat mats. rrp $35

first in line!

salted butter popcorn, watermelon and lychee, raspberry shortbread, gin and tonic.

i had the salted butter popcorn and it tastes like what it sounds (: i think i prefer it in ice cream form over macaron form. watermelon and lychee was good-not too sweet. the raspberry shortbread was the sweetest surprisingly. it was kind of more cheesecake bits and pieces inside the ice cream. the gin and tonic was the most "adult" flavour. not sweet at all, but tastes like the drink.

redskin

got this extra scoop since i just mentioned i almost guessed close to the flavours he posted on his insta (: this was actually no where as sweet as the actually lolly. it was a nice subtle flavour and a good amount of creaminess. most of his ice creams aren't too creamy, so it's not too heavy on the body, hehe.

#selfies

he actually scooped ice cream. but after about 15mins, this other guy helped him. but he couldn't take photos since he was busy turning his back to everyone scooping out ice cream. i didn't want to wait until the end since it's only 2hours parking, and needed to go back home then church. i guess i could've asked him for a photo before he started scooping, but he just stood on the other side of the door...

got tagged in a comment, and zumbo liked my photo! mission complete =D 

made my day (:

i really love zumbo's new website (well it's changed it's format a few months ago). his old website was un-navigatable. like how the old event cinemas website was really bad, if you want to look at seats you had to pretend to buy a ticket, unlike now where there's a "quick view" button.

bought my grandparents out with my mum and i. didn't have enough time to show them the inner city's hip weekend markets. we left at 1.30ish, and the line was just out the door, so it was quite short, but later i saw a photo and it went down the street....the good thing about giving out free ice cream is that it's so fast, easy and efficient! i think the only thing slowing it is people not deciding what flavours to get.

found out at church i'll be stuck in the same group with my brother for kids fun days...

Skylines...

is it possible to fall in love with a country you've never been to?

i really love america <3 especially the skylines-i think they are to die for, and worth going. when i have the money/time in the future, i would visit the ones i love. it's hard to travel once you go into the workforce..unless your job requires it, which was probably to only reason i would do commerce to travel, but i know you can travel when you retire so it's all good (:

just looking at photos it looks so gorgeous! i loveee the tall buildings and unique buildings beside a river/beach combined with history. sydney has a harbour, but our buildings are like midgets compared to the world, and it doesn't have much history.

favourites so far: new york, seattle, miami, boston, san fran, philadelphia, chicago.

surprisingly not LA...don't get me wrong, i would love to go there, just not for the skyline. even though NY central park is all man made, it's still beautiful to have nature against a city of tall buildings.

i would love to live there someday. living in a super tall building with a modern apartment and a full glass wall around the apartment, and just looking at those skylines...the view! some books and photos capture the skylines so well (: and i haven't even started talking about the shopping, food and transport! (and might bump into the occasional celebrity, or be in the background of a movie. wait-do they always hire a whole city of background people for movies or is that just all done by the computers...)

apart from the fact that america's welfare isn't as good as australia's, and it's more dangerous over there in terms of people and the weather is more "threatening". like they're having one of their coldest winters atm. even if you like the cold like me, it's dangerous to walk/drive on the streets since ice forms over everything=slipping everywhere, and undrivable conditions. then there's the snow, when it melts, water everywhere.

also, america makes a super hard test for australian optometrists to ensure they fail/can't practice there, and same with aus-we make 90%+ chance test for americans to fail if they want to work here. my old optometrist sold his practice and is moving up the coast...but then that's still in aus...

hk skyline is also quite lovely-super tall buildings, river and a backdrop of mountains. it's just too polluted for my liking.

would love to visit places like canary islands, southern france etc, those places with picturesque beaches and mini cute buildings, and infinity pools overlooking gorgeous landscapes! personally, i think europe is more like that-cute but filled with history, and shorter buildings. then there's dubai-tallest buildings in the world and perfect beaches and beautiful architecture.

ahh, i really love american skylines (:

Chocolate Fudge Tarts

made these yesterday, inspired from the whole pantry app (:

the filling was the mousse form last time, but with less cacao, since it was a bit too much on the bitter side, but still very decadent. this time the colour wasn't as dark, and was a bit sweeter.

the tart cases are made from dates and almonds with more cacao. i don't like eating dates, but with almonds they're actually not a bad combo. it's times like these where i want a thermomix. they are heaps more functional than kitchenaids (although apparently people rich enough to own a thermomix also owns a kitchen aid-the thermomix isn't as good for mixing baked goods). thermomixes are about $2k, so more than double than kitchenaids....but they're so versatile! had some blended walnut dessert thing from a friend, and it blended the walnuts sooo smoothly. i used my old blender since i didn't want my newer blender to scratch. the old blender couldn't blend all the almonds finely, and you could feel it overheating =/

eating one of these tarts is soooo filling, since they're filled with nutritious ingredients which make you less hungry/more full for longer. and they're a good and healthy treat as well (:

finished three books in 5 days-and they're thickish books. feel like i need to get all my holiday reading done by january. i didn't even turn on my laptop for the past two days/and hardly went on social media, and managed to skip family outings to The Entrance and Port Stephens, and some yum cha outings. i actually read really slowly-normally it takes me about a week to finish a book (but that was during high school where i had school...) i can do nothing but read the whole day-i guess it's because there is zero time during uni to leisurely read. 

the trilogy i just finished has characters exactly like twilight but without vampires and werewolves, and...how should i put it....a hundred times more descriptive...no idea how they are going to get an audience since it would probably be rated R...i guess the storyline isn't too bad, it's just badly written (like twilight...). sometimes you have to wonder what are the chances of someone meeting a guy who earns $100 000/hr. but i guess if you're the author, you can just write whatever you wish.

kind of regretting helping out at church next week for kids fun days. i've helped out in the past 3 ones...but soo much stuff to do...like i can't even be bothered to take a look at some things on for sydney festival. so glad i'm only working once a week. two more book to read before a whole week is gone next week...

i kinda regret getting a kikki k diary this year. it's my first time, but it's too pretty to write in. i feel like it can't take the harshness of uni work in it, haha.

Express Mousse

so i've been back blogging today. feeling so lazy....actually i'm just busy reading. so far i've managed to read a book in 1.5 days as well as hanging out with grandparents/ cleaning the house etc. finished Inferno today. another good book (: where enemies become friends, and friends becomes enemies, and then more twists and then everyone becomes friends (: ok, it's more complicated than that, but i do recommend it. read it in large print since the normal copy wasn't available. wow, at first i had to read it like a metre away since it was too large, but then i got used to it lol. i like how it doesn't have any plot holes i.e. welt written, unlike the mortal instruments where back in yr 9/10 i thought they were good, but it felt like nothing happened in book 4, and book 4 and 5 were filled with plot holes =/

isn't new york weather so amazing? five different weathers in one week. i wonder what -11 degrees feels like....

Express mousse from the Whole Pantry App

banana, avocado, cacao powder, cinnamon, dash of honey and water. feels so healthy (:

so glad i downloaded this app when it was free! it's so amazing (: so basically this woman had/has brain cancer, so she wanted to make super healthy foods for herself and her son. it really is inspiring! and ofc, i knew of her though instagram (: heaps of other stuff i want to attempt. yay free update this month! she had a holiday $2 package, but i just wanted the flour less black forest cake recipe...so i didn't get it.

went to buy super foods today. waited two weeks for this day since this place had 20% off today only. cacao powder is expensive-at least it's healthy and guilt free! (: it tastes like dark chocolate-not sweet at all. i also have two boxes of cocoa powder at home-one branded and one non branded. but i feel like i need to conquer to healthy recipes before baking other butter filled treats. the other day i made cinnamon scrolls, but they turned out to be ugly (and not worthy of photos apart from snapchat). maybe it's because i used expired flour, cream and baking powder lol. but they tasted fine and the texture was there. it was just hard to roll them from inexperience, and they didn't expand like they should've...oh, my grandfather also randomly bought a block of willy wonka chocolate tale. now that just tasted like sugar =/

the apple's 12 days of gifts wasn't too bad. managed to get about $20 worth of stuff. 

i love how sherlock as upgraded to an iPhone 5 in season 3 from an iPhone 4/4s in seasons 1/2 (: sherlock is so good. another recommendation.

i don't understand how people can be bored in 3 months. even though i'm not going overseas these holidays, there are just so much stuff to do! haven't even touched my "movie" list yet.

Yum Cha at Phoenix

went to Granville since they always have decent priced and quality and portions yum cha. turns out they closed down 4 weeks ago. no wonder why the carpark gate was open and it seemed empty...

they always have good business, but we think it closed down since the RSL club didn't want to give them the lease anymore since they took up too much business, and no one actually visited the other parts of the RSL. interesting to see where they might move too...

past El Jannahs, but didn't feel like chicken...

ended up going to parra, and for once i didn't have to wait for parking!

first time going to phoenix at parra for yum cha. i know, it's for western people and over priced, but their service is pretty good and so was the food. the dining ware is cleaner than the average yum cha place, and the food is better than a few other places as well. once we sat down, people swarmed you with food, unlike at carlo court where it felt forever until a trolley arrived. there were quite a lot of people considering it was weekday and late lunch time. even around 2, people were still arriving, whereas most other places, people would be leaving and you'll end up with food that most people don't want. food kept on coming though even in the afternoon, so that was a plus. and variety here! i think the one in parra is better than castle hill for yum cha, but rhodes is good for dinner.

Yum Cha and Pancakes

busy day today.

finally went to carlo court yum cha. haven't been since they changed the name/owners. also didn't notice a bread top there. apparently last time my parents went, it was pretty nice, but they went on a weekend.

going on a weekday was such a disappointment. even though there was free tea and 20% off, there was hardly any variety. haven't had such a let down before in yum cha. last time i was disappointed was my first time going to a michelin star yum cha place in hk featured in masterchef where all their bbq pork buns ran out (not a big fan of them, but these were hand made). then i went again 2 years later to have them, and i was satisfied (: ). today it had almost nothing of the usual i get at yum cha. oh wells, not coming here again on a weekday. and i thought carlo court is supposed to be better than village-well it used to be...

city for friend's birthday. can't play pool =/ 

also trekked to Pancakes on the Rocks at The Rocks. lighting was super bad...can't see the rest of the table...only my spot had a spotlight, the others were dim lighting. was mind blown by riddles throughout the night.

ended up having 5 pizzas and pancakes and wedges (which i couldn't reach =/). the lemon on is surprisingly food.

and finally went k after a year of not going, but didn't sang much...too tired. sometimes it's quite nice to meet different people who i probs won't see again.

Shine

2014.

i like how it's an even number. yay for winter olympics (:

not going tp recount the day, but i think it was pretty successful. friend's friend's relatives camped out for this perfect spot. (even though it's the back view). phone photos not that great since i didn't focus much. trust me, this year i took the least photos. i couldn't really see how it was "futuristic themed" apart from the spaceships which looked like bowl hats. 

i really do like the harbour bridge (:

grandparents came over form hk today. yesss, things i have requested have arrived (: kind of kicking myself for getting and xs instead of s...next time i will know.