Dessert amoureux !

sweet review: macaron + chocolate

nobody@vox.com(kwana) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:41:12 +1000

Having accumulated a copious amount of food photos on her computer, kwana decides to complete a first proper review on 1.) Macarons from Le Renaissance Patisserie in the Rocks precinct and 2.) Jeff de Bruges chocolate from King St .

Both were bought after kwana's final exam (possibly LAST EXAM EVER!)

The end of each particular story shall be sweet (and indulgent).

1.) Macarons from Le Renaissance Patisserie Francaise.

Kwana decided on the morning after she bought the macarons to take very delish pics with her dad's new SLR!

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The 6 selections that kwana bought were:

- Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Vanilla bean with white chocolate ganache (green)

- Salted Caramel - Fleur de Sel de Guerande - (caramel)

- Rose water with lychee scented buttercream (pink)

- Dark chocolate with dark chocolate - Valrhona Guanaja 70% - ganache (light brown)

- Passionfruit with dark chocolate ganache (not pictured as A ate it - but was pale orange macaron shell)

- Jasmine Green Tea with white chocolate ganache (white)

Overall, the shells were delicate, light and slightly crunchy and most importantly not hollow. They melt in your mouth, the creamy and smooth texture of the filling completing the full circle of sensations that comes with eating a macaron.

kwana's top favourite(s) so far (sampled all but the EV olive oil one) is the Jasmine tea and the rose water macaron. Both have a strong flavour yet delicate aroma (isn't that opposing??) that fills the palate - melds perfectly with the creamy texture of the filling. The aroma travels up the adjacent nasal passages and your sense of smell is given some fun in eating a macaron!

At first, kwana forgot what sort of filling was used for the rosewater macaron (in fact, the website does not specifically list the flavour of buttercream). But it was unmistakable – at least to kwana’s senses that lychee syrup was added to achieve the amazing fragrance in the buttercream.

The addition of salt in sweet things is a sort of on trend technique being used to bring out the fullness of the caramelised sweet creaminess in caramel.

Le Renaissance macarons are far more fresh than the macarons kwana is usually tempted to purchase at the Lindt chocolate cafe... it could be the fact that the macarons are not made in Sydney but are made in the kitchens back in Switzerland and then carefully packed and shipped halfway across the world to be displayed in the Sydney Lindt concept stores? kwana continues to ponder!

The final verdict is that Le Renaissance macarons win hands down! (even though kwana still loves the 70% excellence macaron at Lindt.)

Update: Have just gobbled up the last macaron - the texture is nice despite it being bought some 3-4 days ago. kwana savours the vanilla bean ganache. Hints of olive oil round up the rear and complete the finish as the macaron is completely devoured! yums! I rank it 3rd...after the dark chocolate and caramel one come 2nd!

2.) kwana hasn't had a chance to try all the chocs that were bought from Jeff de Bruges yet (been filling up other junk food) - so feels guilty about how much calories she has saved up in her Abdominal Subcutaneous Fat Bank. If only kwana had the exact same zeal towards saving up money in the non-food world.

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Clockwise starting with the owl: Hibou Noir, Euro Noir, Canard Noir (?? the website does not have the name! so kwana just Babelfish-ed it), Trefle and Colimacon.

2 chocs are missing from the pic above (Vanillon and Derby).

The Derby choc - which is a dark chocolate filled with dark ganache shaped into a head figure of a horse with an upside down horseshoe in the background (kwana believes that some sort of liquor was also added - as she could feel the warmth of liquor filling the mouth) and the only non-dark chocolate choice (a white chocolate with vanilla filling and sliver of walnut - which kwana shared with A).

kwana does not like the combination of liquor with chocolate, but found Derby to be intense in flavour and rich in cocoa. Very high concentration of cocoa mass! yums!

Vanillon: white chocolate was characteristically (overly) sweet. The vanilla scent of the filling was not as noticable but the addition of walnut helps balance out the sweetness of the white chocolate outer shell and filling.

Update: Canard Noir - a lower concentration of cocoa (?50%) with praline and amaretti filling. Delightfully light and crunchy! Not too intense + dark, so good for those who aren't fond of high conc. cocao!

Next on the menu will be poached pears in red wine and cinnamon syrup (kwana hope its keeps well, since she had kept some of the leftover syrup from her brother's party!)

Enjoy pics!

bloggin off - kwana

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The photo taking day

nobody@vox.com(kwana) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:08:10 +1000

Kwana's deep slumber (which was thankfully absent of spleenitis inducing dreams involving handsome looking males who object to everything kwana had to say...) was interupted by the croaky morning voice of her mother.

Kwana knew it was the day in which the last (well second last) assignment for uni was to be handed in! She had worked hard on it, but had only finished it the night before.

Having a mediocre warm cereal breakfast, kwana quickly grabbed her father's d-SLR camera, ready for snapshot action for what may possibly be the last time kwana may step foot on the campus of the University of Sydney (at least as a student and not as a graduate).

Dreary eyed, kwana was driven to the train station. She hopped off and hoped to pick up some Dark Belgian (70% min cocoa solids) Chocolate at coles. Unfortunately, the shop assistent had apparently lied to kwana the night before, claiming that the new stock should be on the shelves the next day. kwana was desperate to purchase said chocs to make the Nigella Lawson chocolate mousse she wanted to make for her family. kwana thinks that Nigella Lawson is the godess of domestic home cooking and is amazed she can still look so good while juggling family and sweet as cooking on her shoulders.

When kwana arrived at the Darlington campus of Sydney uni, she nervously pulled out the camera - feeling something akin to self consciousness in looking like a random/snitch taking snapshots of uni architecture and landscape.

In anycase, she got used to the feeling of lugging a relatively large camera on her neck. She quickly handed in her assignment before heading over to surprise A at the chem building!

A and kwana sat down to read to bible together, with A sharing his reflections on the passage of Col 2 (second half) and kwana sat down pondering about the absolute greatness and amazingness of how even mere humans can be bought so close to God via the deity embodied in human form known as Jesus Christ!

kwana felt that v6-7 was very impactful as it says that the sinner who was bought with the blood of Christ lives in him, and is rooted in him. Christians get their foundation and source of everything that we need from Jesus! We are strengthed in him! :)

Afterwards, kwana felt much at ease and was full of thankfulness. She continued to walk to the Quadrangle which reminds kwana very much of the Quadrangle in Hogwarts from Harry Pottter.

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The neo-gothic architecture is wonderful and even every little detail is an adventure for the eyes to travel and explore.

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She takes a picture of the leadwork and reflections on a window and likes it very much.

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Afterwards, kwana desired very much to visit the reviewed and praised (by food bloggers) Black Star Pastry shop that opened earlier this year in Newtown on Australia Ave.

She had wanted to visit that patisserie ever since she read about it in Good Living and Sydney magazine from SMH.

Kwana took her time to absorb all the smells, sights, people and shops that alloted themselves on City Rd in Newtown.

kwana felt an unhealthy urge to splurge on....calories. Well more like SAVING up a generous amount of calories by stopping at Burgerfuel and helping herself to sweet potato chips (Kumara) with aioli dip and a vegetarian burger (Eighth pounder - 'Mushroom, kumara, chickpea and basil pattie, melted cheddar, iceberg lettuce, tom sauce and aioli on a mini sesame seed bun') that claimed had a basil in their veg patty but was undetectable to kwana's senses unless the cheese overwhelmed it.

Eventually kwana found herself at the frontstep of an unusually quiet Black Star patisserie - it was closed on Mondays! If only kwana checked ahead of time! However disappointed kwana felt, she did not leave empty handed and walked into one of the quirky stationery stores and bought herself a swanky black Rhodia notepad she had her eye on for a while and some O-check lace patterned tape for making cards and the like.

wHOAH. Writing in third person is a bit difficult Esp for blogs! >_<

The rest of the day involved in finally making the Nigella Lawson choc mousse. It's incredibly easy most likely due to the fact that Nigella takes wise shortcuts=minimal effort with maximum results.

I've used the SLR (ID Pentax K200D with Sigma lens 18-50mm) to take some gorgeous and gratituous food pics.

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The texture at the time of assembly was just right. However, with setting time, the texture is very firm but the mousse retains the light texture that personifies the dessert. Perhaps half the amount of whipping was required with Nigella's quickie choc mousse compared to more traditional methods of preparing the dessert.

If the serving quantity was halved (as in my case) then it is the right amount to savour on. W commented that it was a little too firm and 'dry'.

It actually tastes and looks alot of like dry icecream. So I think I may try to incorporate 300ml of pure cream instead of the thickened cream I had to use up before it expires. (Thickened cream has added thickeners and the marshmellows pretty much ARE gelatine + sugar.)

The original recipe calls for double cream which is free from thickening agents. Next time, I hope the results will be different.

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Bloggin off - kwana

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Keeping a diary 09

nobody@vox.com(kwana) — Sun, 31 May 2009 01:25:39 +1000

I started keeping a diary/journal from around...late last year. I thought it would help me appreciate what God has done in my life...! As well as being able to pen down thoughts which would have stayed a bit too long in my head.

Blogging is...difficult.

This year 09 - one of my top priorities should be to organise my time better. That way, it should be easier to get things that need to be done NOW. Done NOW. lol

Too easily is my reputation as being the 'late one' cemented into the thoughts + opinions of people around me! Not a good look. Especially on resume. And I don't think it would be wise to point that out as a weakness in work interviews..!

This year, everyone in the double degree cohort is working hard. Hard working, dedicated and time-efficient. I don't often compare myself with others, which I did alot of in the past. One way I've matured over the years in uni is to only think of improving myself and looking at my own standards. That's the way I sort of look at fashion and style too. I don't approve of the idea of people who dress for others. I guess that can go for other things too. Like what people say and do.

In some ways, setting my standard to my own...is sort of like Sin. Sin is looking at oneself as the top leader, king of their own life. Living life their own way. God doesn't even exist - not even as the minute atom of their world.

As a Christian, its a big struggle trying to live with God as the epicentre of all you do, think and say - reason + logic. Lately, because of study...its been alot of me in the centre and God pushed somewhere on the brink of the universe that is my life.

Hm. That's why I like to bake...to take my mind off things. I can just focus on what's at hand. I'm still very very grateful of the blessings that God has given me. I really want to draw close to God, so that he will draw close to me.

⁸ Come near to God and he will come near to you...' -- James 4:8a

===

Apple Crumble is the dessert I made tonight. I LOVE apple crumble. One of the best fruits God has created married with lovely crumbly pastry top...very healthy (the apple part) - its high in fibre and Vit C. Good for these winter months...I KNOW even if there isn't any evidence for the link between Vit C intake and the decreased incident of colds...still! You need it to prevent scurvy ARRGH! ;)

I'll upload piccies later on. I do have much to blog on about. Food Food Food. Love Food. I do aspire to transform this blog to a **foodblog**!! :P

Found an awesome and express chocolate mousse, since the one I made before didn't turn out 100%. Its by sultry + smoldering Nigella Lawson! I can't wait to try it. Less risk of Listeria poisoning with using raw eggs...hehe.

Uses the gelatine found in the marshmellows to help hold the shape and texture, is what I believe...! Yum!

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reflection on 08

nobody@vox.com(kwana) — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 00:47:44 +1100

Most possibly the last post for this year! And hasn't it flown past soo quickly. One of the most memorable and enjoyable years I've had even though I've only lived 22 years (and 27 days).

What makes the year so memorable?

1.) Realizing that friends mean so much to me and that they really play an important role in my life.

2.) Reflecting and being reminded that God is in complete control of my life and everything that happens in the world, even in times when I really really doubt that He is in control.

3.) Baking many more times and getting the near perfect (but NOT!) strawberry sponge cake!

Late last year, one NY resolution was for me to keep in consistent contact with close friends and even not so close friends...I don't think I did a very good job. Regardless, God has been in control and has kept on reminding me to think about those people and to be vigilent in my prayers for them!

Uni this year has been very busy and challenging - really trying to juggle time between work, uni, social life, church and ministry commitments (though not in that order of importance!).

Semester 2 has been very choc full of assessments - even more than Cindy's chocolate chip friands! *drool*

It's then that your feel that your friends really share and can understand the hardship and fraustrations that uni assessments can take on you!! *ROAR* Just knowing that your friends are going through the same experiences enables you to plough through it all.

Not saying that God plays no part in my getting through the truckload of assessments! Time management, the prayer support of bros + sis's really gave me the strength and perserverance to get through it.

It was completely worth it - all the literal sweat and tears. But then, I get that phone call from my course co-ord and it really feels like my world has turned upside down. The very first time I've felt that in my life.

Deep down, I really really doubted if this was the way for God to take me.

But I knew that God has intended for me to go down this pathway. God knew the way before and has laid down the path for me. But I don't have to be afraid or wonder if its the right way because God plans everything to shape me and build me up to be like his perfect Son Jesus Christ! :)

That is the only one and sure assurance I have! Romans 8:28 reads

'And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,^[a] who^[b] have been called according to his purpose'

I have read/heard from some source (now unknown to me) that we should present our lives to our father God with our hands wide open. This is because God gives us our lives and everything in it. Everything belongs to him and he has the right to take away or to give us blessings. If our palms are wide open when presenting our lives to him, it will be less painful for God to take away compared to if we presented our lives to God with our palms tightly closed so that God has to wrench and pry our fingers open in order to take something away.

I pray that for the next year and beyond, that we all and myself can live with our palms wide open towards God!

Bloggin off - kwana

P.S Hmm, the tone of voice/blog is not my usual - so next blog will be more cheerful and I'll be posting about the sort of blessings and experiences I've had at SPRTE! Also will blog of baking adventures taken since!

Next on the baking board is:

Lime Chiffon Tart

Garden party themed Cuppies! (ie.cupcakes)

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Bake your own 'Hedgehog Scones'

nobody@vox.com(kwana) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:44:45 +1100

Just an hour ago, I tried at baking some scones.

It just felt like a scones type of afternoon – so I flipped through a few books to find an adequate recipe.

I was flipping through the Readers Digest 'Baking with love' which sounds like a very dopey sort of title...but all the recipes inside look so bakable!

I couldn't find the recipe for plain scones – had initially contemplated altering the recipe for some sweet scones they had...but I thought that if I took out the raisins...then what would take up that space? Some people can automatically take out ingredients and replace them, but I don't really want to take that gamble given my lack of experience!

I ended up referring to a cookbook I got for my 21^st birthday – AWW 'Old-fashioned Favourites'

Even before baking I had intended to halve the ingredients because I didn't feel that my family could finish 20 scones in a few days (scones taste best eaten fresh from the oven!).

But halfway through I forgot to halve the wet ingredients...I noticed when the mixture was very slushy... 'Hmm...why isn't it coming together?' I thought in my head.

Then I quickly mixed in some more SR flour...and melted more butter...in the end it came together. But as you can see in the photos – the scones resemble hedgehogs in some way (the flour didn't get incorporated enough).

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In the end, the texture was ok – I thought it would be more tough cos I had to manhandle it quite a bit! I need to figure out if scone mixture is really that tacky + sticky! It gave me 15 minutes of pure hell as I tried to unstick it with my fingers – only making it worse.

So for next time---

Try to get the proportion of ingred. Correct first go.
Use disposable gloves that are slightly wet (to prevent sticking).
Use muffin trays – they work WONDERS! Non stick n don't need to line them.

With note 3 – the shape of the scones aren't as natural as you would see them. But hmm. Got to weigh up what to compromise on...the shape or...? Easy cleaning afterwards? :P

Basic Scones (Makes 20)

4 cups (600g) SR flour

2 Tbs icing sugar

60g cold butter

1 cups milk

¾ cup water (aprx)

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Preheat oven to 220 deg celcius
Use muffin tins (non stick) or just a lined baking tray
Sift flour + sugar together. (Maybe a few times to incorporate more air)
Use fingertips to rub butter in (Do this quickly so that butter is well incorp + doesn't melt
Make a well in the flour mixture – pour in all the milk + most of the water (Check for consistency before adding the rest of the water)

Use a knife to 'cut' the flour + wet ingredients. Texture should be sticky and soft.
Knead dough on a floured surface to ensure smoothness.
Press dough to 2cm thickness + use a 4.5cm round cutter to cut out as many as you can.
Gather scraps and roll out + repeat prev step.
Brush tops with extra milk (oops, forgot this step!) + pop them into muffin tins/place them on baking tray + place in oven.
Bake for 15 mins or until the tops appear a golden brown colour. (Use your nose too!)

Sourced from AWW 'Old fashioned Favourites'.

Here is a very nice 'dressed up' scone with cherry topping (didn't know where the jam was) + some whipped up cream!

Bon appetito!

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Bloggin off with stomach full o' scones

- kwana

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Eat it like this

nobody@vox.com(kwana) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 22:54:00 +1000

Ahhh - somehow vox got rid of all that I had typed up before!!!
Well back to what I had said:

Just reflecting on the Amazing Asian Food Safari that had occurrred in July when I was travelling with family to China (HaiNan Is), South Korea + HK.
Food is so much more affordable - you can snack up to 4-5 times AND come under budget of AUD$20!
Yes, snacking can become a past time for you if you want to take it up.

Well, since coming back home, I've wanted to continue trying new foods - I've since been to a nice Spanish rest. in the city on Liverpool st (?) - need to get back to you on that one.
But the food is fairly affordable and the atmosphere is really great!
Tapas don't come cheap, but then I suppose you share the cost and it turns out to be ok!
Artichoke hearts are very nice! More abt that in future post!

Anyway, Jaye came over to drop off a few things and she also bought over a Thai desert that I'm rather fond of (well I'm rather fond of anything sweet...)
Back in the origin land - this coconut-sago pudding/desert is encapsulated in either banana leaf or Pandan leaf which would really impart a heavenly aroma!!
Note, previously that I've successfully completed a pandan sponge - but the aroma isn't as evident in the sponge most likely cos I used pandan essence instead of the real deal.

Anywho, I did find the desert very nice, creamy, rich in the mouth. Contrary to what Jaye said, the desert wasn't too sweet, cos the coconut cream does well to balance out the sweetness of the sago layer underneath.

I give 7.5/10.
Here is eye candy.

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Bloggin off
kwana

P.S Almost forgot what I was meant to be bloggin abt...well on Friday class (Nutrition + Public/Community Health) - my friends and I were discussing cereals and breakfast foods of the grain family...
How to eat Weetbix---make it all nice and soggy in the microwave - it tastes better when its in porridge like consistency.
Cocopops - never leave them to get soggy - even if you get a really nice choccy milk afterwards.
You got to time yourself so you get it not too crunchy and not too soft + soggy.
Miloflakes - again 100% sugar and I assume high GI, but they don't go soggy as quickly as coco-pops.
They also leave a choccy flavoured milk behind too!
Cornflakes came into contention as well. Sora (who isn't fond of crunchy things??) said that one should leave them to soak up the milk!!! *shock horror* WHO does that?
Personally I really enjoy the crispness of cornflakes - so I pour out proportionally less milk and try to gobble it up in record breaking time.
Vincent on the other hand had one very smart way to go about this. Eat cornflakes in smaller bowls so there is less time for the flakes to soak up milk. Then refill your bowl until you get full!!
LOL - that is the most practical food tip I've heard for a long time! :)
Hope it comes to use for you too!

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define this

nobody@vox.com(kwana) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 13:45:59 +1000

The internet is not working very well. In fact its in a horrible state - I can't access Gmail!! I've got to send some important emails! GRRR. Grrrr to internet provider who is messing up or grrrr! to our home internet networking!

The definition of gad = Generalised Anxiety Disorder. I just randomly typed it into Google to see if Google search would work, cos I wanted to find out if those epi plastic magazine wrappers are recyclable earlier this morning.

Today marks the last day I'll be in Sydney for the next 4 weeks! Yikes! :(

From nice cold cold freezing Sydney winter to gross hot hot sweltering summer in HK!

One of the things I really don't like doing is packing for holidays. I just want to be there and enjoy myself and not worry about forgetting to pack my pajamas.

Personally, throwing clothing randomly on my already stockpiled bed constitutes for packing. At least one half of it anyway.

I've got a mental list and also a handwritten one in my diary to make sure I don't forget! :D

Ah, time for deliscious piccie time!

Last blog (or rather some time ago) I said I'd attempt to make a Pandan sponge.

Well, the 2nd try I succeeded! YATTA!

It turns out the culprit behind my failed cakes was the new scales I had bought on ebay.

They were a nice set of electronic scales from Terraillon---but....turns out they're prob not calibrated!! Argh.

They look very fancy - which is prob. why they don't work very well. It's got a glass top and its only supported by a metal bar that runs longitudinally along it with two plastic weight bases.

0 calorie cupcake! yikes

The magical cupcakes weighs 0g! *gasp* Thats the solution to weight watchers disgusting deserts range!

Well actually I've never tasted weight watchers dessert foods, but come on! Any dessert that is 98% fat free, cannot taste as good as the real deal! (and this would be the part where my dietetics career is smeared :P)

Anyway, the support is pretty flimsy and I'm thinking of either contacting the local office for calibration or ....buying another one?

Pandan cake - which was fairly successful - the colour turned out very nice, but I couldn't detect the pandan flavour very well.

I'm suspecting it's because I sub the coconut milk for just low fat milk - coconut milk would impart a very nice aroma, and low fat milk really sucks in cake recipes. Full cream milk just doesn't find its way into my fridge is all.

Although I admit, full-cream milk has the greatest taste - although you can't tell when you mix it with muesli anyway :P

Another factor - would most likely be in the essence itself (I don't know how long the shelf life of it is - my mum just stocks all this stuff - I just don't know if its over its use by date or not! hee hee).

One fact of baking is that you can never substitute vanilla extract/paste with vanilla essence.

It would be the equivalent of selling a white cat with wool glued onto it in place of a baby sheep to Japanese people. (It's a true story - or a very similar one I read somewhere).

So relating this back to the pandan essence - I saw a Youtube video showing a lady who hand extracted actual pandan juice from the leaves...but I don't really want to do that...:P

Sideview of pandan sponge

Pandan sponge

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As you can tell (or perhaps not cos it just looks soooo yummy - that you are partially blinded by its AWESOMENESS and YUMMYNESS COMBINED! - hehe, quote from Kung Fu Panda), its a little burnt or overbrowned is the right term. I was fairly anxious about whether or not it would be cooked on the inside, as my last baking creations were not cooked inside properly.

Rule 102: NEVER use a skewer to poke a sponge cake to see if its ready. All the hard work you've done to ensure its well aerated would be wasted. Always use a fingerpad to tap the top of the cake. If it springs back then it's ready.

Another tell-tale is if the sides of the cake leaves the sides of the cakepan.

Well, thats it for me for now. Lots of things to blog about - but not very much time.

I'll try to cont. blogging if time allows for me when I'm O/S.

Bloggin off - kwana

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a guy/girl named vic

nobody@vox.com(kwana) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:47:53 +1000

I was trying (read failing) to clean the underneath of my bed today in my bid to find my senior high school maths text books (Cambridge Mathematics 3 Unit for yr 11 and 12).

Jay came over this morning to see Maxi and was wanting to borrow both texts (well for the yr 11 its return since I had borrowed it from a little over 4 years ago now).

I came across all the notebooks I had kept over my 3 years of uni and had archived them in plastic baggies in case I would ever need to look back over them (since then, I have NOT had to refer back to them) and so they've been well preserved. They are however stacking up to a dangerous level and all in all I think all the notes might very well weigh over 10kg!

Over this brief period, I started looking at some the notes I had taken for subjects that I can now deem pretty darn useless (e.g Biomechanics which is the largest waste of time ever!!). I can't see myself doing research on that field, so that really puts me something like $400-500 more into debt! :P

Keep on getting off topic, but I came across the first ever notebook that I wrote in first semester, first year. This hefty plastic covered blue lined notebook that came with 2 plastic dividers. It was labelled Chemistry, Functional Anatomy A and Neuroscience 1A.

The notebook was heading towards the recycling bin because its contents weren't that useful to me now (and I kept on thinking to myself, 'in 5 years time when I hopefully am able to move out, would I still keep this book with me?') but I still wanted to flip through it to see what I can salvage. I turned to the back and saw that I had printed off a muscle attachment sheet printed on pink paper. This may come in handy, so I took it off. Before I closed the notebook, I saw that I had my first year timetable and also some post it notes with some times jotted on it. It turned out to be the timetable times for a few close friends of mine. I saw 2 good friends and another name which I had written down...'vic's timeable'.

I cannot for the life of me remember who vic was...for some reason it makes me sad to think that this person was important and dear to me, enough for me to write down their timetable times and now I can't even think of who this person is.

I'm think of 2 possible Vic's. One I would have known for sometime before I had started university...

I think I have a clue, but I don't ever remember meeting up with Vic...

Oh, another thing. My ever so reliable Dell Desktop has died on me. Well more like become a vegetable-computer.

So I'm trying to upload photos via USB cable on my mum's comp and because she doesn't have any card slots, I think I have to install a driver!!

Yesterday, Czarina, Charlene and myself visited the new Sydney Apple store that has set itself up on George St.

The decor inside is typically very Apple minimalistic-chic, with the overall colour theme of white, grey and more white.

It features a unique opaque-ish set of plastic staircases thats illuminated with lighting from below. I was looking into buying an iMac, now that I have a genuine excuse to buy a new computer!

I didn't actually expect or know that Apple was planning to plant a retail store in Sydney, so its like a really pleasant surprise. Sort of like a surprise you wait 2 weeks for. (Well that's how long I knew abt the Apple store before they opened it.)

Bloggin off - kwana

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washing the dog is therapeutic

nobody@vox.com(kwana) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 04:09:17 +1000

Today marked the dreaded day of giving Maxi a well deserved wash.

Even Jay noticed the pong emanating from Maxi!! He stinks quite a bit and has become the butt of some of my jokes.

Esp. in reference to my bro's morning breath and just general BO. Boys stink!

In any case, I was procrastinating for most of the day anyways (as I do when I feel overconfident with studying for exams), so I thought it would hit two birds with the one stone if I was to give Maxi a wash.

It took a little while to get started when finding the bucket and dog wash (yes it has been that long since he got a wash) - but hey Maxi did wind up back at his owners place for a few months.

So this is his first wash in a while (well since we adopted him again).

Giving him the scrub down is strangely therapeutic. Scrub scrub -- and I get time to unload some of my thoughts out loud to maxi. And its strange too, cos its nice for a dog to listen to you speak out loud.

I think thats what cuts it between owning a dog and a cat. You speak to a cat and it really acts as if it thinks you're crazy! *lol*. That sentence alone sounds a bit nutso--

And I'm watching way too much Death Note. I was doing a bit of research on my favourite character L - I'm pretty certain that he has Aspergers syndrome or something alike that. Except that people who suffer from Asperger's have affected motor control/capabilites and in the anime L likes to stack things up like sugar cubes and the such.

L has a very unique sort of personality and that some commentators (well don't know if thats the right word) say that he is 'partly evil' even though he's the antagonist (of the evil main character). I think for some people who suffer from austistic related disorders, the line between good and evil is blurred and also their ethical judgement is a bit on the edge too.

It's very comical that L knows about how to act in a social context and comments so in the anime, but when placed in the situation himself knows very little about how to act. Though that is a little different to what the official Asperger's syndrome sufferer differs in.

A particular scene in ep 25 shows flashbacks from L's past which leads me to believe that perhaps he suffers from low latent inhibition. I had to do a bit of googling to find that out. In that scene L recalled the sound of bells chiming - and the scene cut to the inside mechanics of a bell ringing (with all the jogs-wheel things). So it brought me back to Prison Break where the protagonist Micheal is described as having low-latent inhibition - a characteristic in which an individual is incapable of limitng all the incoming stimuli around them. If the person has a high degree of intelligence, they are capable of processing this stream of information effectively, an ability that greatly aids their creativity and ability to learn and which categorizes them as almost creative geniuses (extracted & plagiarised from Wiki).

That is probably what enables L to have such a high degree of deduction - from observing all the details around him.

I feel sort of sorry for these people. They must need such a high intake of carbs to sustain all that brain activity!! haha, which is why L eats an enormous amount of sweets! <3<3

Looove sweets.

Ah off topic. Still got another unit to study for. Hmmm. Since the last post, my mum and I went out to splurge (well its on sale) on a food mixer. Its great to making sponge mixes. Will post up piccies of culinary delights soon...

Will miss Maxi and his smelly cute butt!!

bloggin off - kwana

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cupcakes a go go

nobody@vox.com(kwana) — Fri, 30 May 2008 00:41:56 +1000

Again, being extremely pressed for time cos I really should be working on a major paper + presentation *long sigh*
But thanks to my partner who forgot to copy the results to me...I'm not being very productive.
Eh, on the other hand I did put into practice practical procrastination...if there is such a thing.
Well - youtube and procrastination go hand in hand.

I just found some really awesome videos people post up relating to cake decorating and cupcakes!
My all time favourite past time is baking -- here is one of my past culinary creations - note most designs I usually get from magazines or whatnot. However, I did come up with my own cupcake design which I'll post up later on.

The cupcakes were made originally for my Sunday school kids in celebration of Easter...however, the cakes did not get the expected warm reception - the kids were just staring at the cakes as if I had secretly filled them up with arsenic T___T ...so anyway, I gave them away to friends in the English congregation later on after the service :(

Just goes to show how kiddos don't really appreciate anything until they get older!! I thought everyone LOVES cupcakes! Who can resist those little morsels of sugary sweetness?? Tell me WHO!?

Well, the eggs on the top are just sugar coated choc eggs from Darell Lea. They don't taste that great but the outer presentation is perfect! The duck egg blue and brown are very attractive IMO.

I roasted some desiccated coconut as per instruction in the article I read abt in the Good Living liftout from the papers. The buttercream consistency is far from desired. Icing sugar was on the low and I was icing these babies at 11.30pm – so I couldn’t be bothered with going out to buy some more. Thus, the buttercream does hold true to its title and tasted a little bit more buttery than it is meant to.

Additionally, our household stock of food colouring was actually dried up. So I have NO idea of how old that stuff actually is…so I had to make do with Pandan essence. For those who aren’t familiar with Pandan…its beautiful stuff! It is extracted from the pandan leaf (hence its natural green colour) and has a very sweet & outstanding aroma – sort of like Vanilla – its very potent – and so lent an 'Asian' pandan flavour to the buttercream.

Since its was my bro’s birthday just 2 days ago – I promised that I’d try to make a pandan flavoured sponge. It’ll be an exciting sort of adventure---

One last thing – here is a pic of a necklace I bought on sale from Myer a few wks ago (for Mother’s day present shopping - funny how you end up picking out stuff for yourself instead...) when I first saw it I literally ‘WHOAH, WHOAH….WHOAH.’ to Wayne. Stop Press---does this resemble something out of a video game…Zelda…ring a bell anyone?

RIMG4151.jpg

Bloggin off - kwana

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