Sawee has finished IAP and is feeling very relieved. Michelle is overworked in Beijing but at least it is ending soon. My brother has gone nutso with philosophy talking about milo and mega-watty smile. (go read his entries, I find them quite meaningful.) Aileen has a crush on her History teacher.

What am I doing?

Generally termed as resisting change, where one refuses change, for better or for worse. I am stagnating in my own nonsense. haha.

I am so bored that I am actually irritated! Help!

Do I make you want to eat piping hot waffles with maple, dolloped with fresh cream and berries, now?

I do realise that pictures are very powerful. I have known this fact for quite some time though it was only until now I have truly appreciated photography. I leafed through Anne Leibovitz's A Photographer's Life: 1990-2005 in the library today. For the first time in my life, I can feel pictures. I can hear the music behind whatever emotions the picture holds, imagine what the photographer is feeling while taking a shot. I even pretend I am there with her. Especially so with the unmoving landscape shots. Unlike the surface "ahh, this is pretty..." kind of appreciation, this, what I had felt today, is so much more powerful.

Let's put food into perspective. How do I capture the sweet aroma of fresh baking, crumb and texture of each bread and cake? How can I put so much taste into pictures that you can savour them? When you look at my pastries, how do I make you hungry enough to tag me and say: you have to freaking cook that for me the next time you return!

Well, I think it's either you take really good pictures or you cook very well.

Haha, you know I might change my mind and go into photography. But I know I am not depressive enough for this kind of thing. For now, I will stick to the superficial "ahh, this is pretty..." sort of pictures. :D

On a lighter note, French class is progressing smoothly. I am re-learning all the tu t'appelles comment?; un, deux, trois; and (most importantly) quelle est votre numéro de téléphone?. Which is all very well. In no time, I just might have my hot Frenchman. For the record, je suis célibataire. :)

Breads

I am too stoned to type anything now. So pictures and captions for now.

Vegetable bread. Spinach, capsicum, mushrooms, carrots and grated cheese. By Chef Micheal.

This is the inside. You can see the vegetables are not very well dispersed.

Yup, so he taught us another way of making the vegetable bread. The end result: Monster bready. Yes, the vegetables are all over the bread dough but it does look like Martian bread. Do Martians eat bread?

30% wholemeal bread in pagnotta (cob) and ring shape.

Tuesday lesson, Lavosh bread. It is more of a cracker than anything.Ciabatta that is pre-made the day before.

Our proving Ciabattas.

Grissini. Italian bread sticks.

Wednesday, French sour loaf (baguette), babs and fruit loaf. Chef Andre was so kind to bring the port jam that he made at home. :D

End.

Library

I promised to show you guys the great-looking library I go to right? Here it is. Very un-library like. It looks like a court-house more than anything. But they have the most amazing collection of books. They even have Japanese anime DVDs that you can borrow home. Naruto, Inuyasha, Initial D... I am absolutely in library heaven. Haha. All my cookbooks, gardening books, art books, design books are here. Hell, they even have my favourite genre of fiction books. heehee.

People staying near the library gets membership for free. People like me who live not too close to the library, pays 15 dollars for the annual membership. I get to borrow 20 items (books, DVDs, CDs) and 5 toolkits for 3 weeks. Not bad eh?

12 bucks fish and chips of the stand. Fish is not fresh and not cooked. Calamari feels like it is coated in sand. Umm, not my ideal kind of fish and chips and a complete waste of my precious allowance. Urghh, looks good in the photo though.The library.

The balloon outside the library. It is a dome actually but I like to call it the balloon. You can go in and send encouraging message to Australia's Olympiads for free I think.

End.

Cafe 2000

I have a roommate! Stella's cousin, J, from Taiwan is staying with us, in my room, for the time being until she finds a room for herself. Now, I can say I have truly experienced room-sharing with a complete stranger. haha. Quite entertaining. We talked to sleep, I French-plaited her hair, she offered me Taiwan health food, I put on facial mask in front of her. We don't act like strangers at all. haha. And it is such a pleasure to converse in Chinese with a Taiwanese. I laugh most of the time when talking to her. haha.

It's Balmain again! I am hooked to this place. There is something new to discover everytime I go there. But this time, I played safe and went back to cafe 2000 for my second round of Italian flavour.

I missed coke. I've realised I have actually lived without coke for nearly a month. Spaghetti mare & terra (chicken and prawns) and white bait pancakes with aioli. I am falling in love with Italian food. The spaghetti sauce has so much flavour and yet it is so light. It surprised me. I really like it.

Gelato. Freshly made in the cafe. Taste awesome. Full-flavoured, smooth textured, superb eating quality. I chose chocolate and brandy flavours. There is enough brandy in the gelato to make you feel giddy. haha.

Stella, J and I. I am seriously going to hit the gym. No aikido, no kick-boxing. Just pure gym activity. Please spur me on. :D

End.

Baklava, hotcross buns, apple strudel, danish pastries, donuts.

I am not getting enough sleep. I am totally not getting enough sleep. It is the dead of winter now. And it is only healthy that people sleep more during winter. Dragging yourself out of bed 6:30 in the morning in the freaking cold is no fun, not healthy. It takes away your alertness, dulls your focus, makes you irritable and almost semi-retarded for most of the day. I was semi-retarded today. I woke up at 6:30am so that I could make it in time for my French lesson at 9am in town. My four hour long French lesson. It is almost like my Biology lecture. Oui? No actually, French is more interesting.

Anyway, I am lagging in the picture updates. For this week, we had baklava, hot cross buns, apple strudel, danish pastries and donuts. I really like this week's products. Very refreshing. Especially baklava. I never even dreamed about making those in my entire life. And next thing I knew, I was making baklava even better than the ones in those specialty shops. Next week will be even better. Breads. Oh, how I miss breads.

Baklava or baklawa is a rich, sweet pastry featured in many cuisines of the former Ottoman (Turkey) and Iranian countries. It is a pastry made of layers of filo dough filled with chopped walnuts or/and pistachios and sweetened with syrup or honey. There, all these are made in class. I have never truly appreciated baklava until this day. It taste so wonderful when you make them right and eat them fresh.

Hot cross buns. Seriously, I think there is something lacking in our school's recipe for hot cross buns. Hot cross buns in Singapore tastes so much better. And it is Singapore you know.

Apple strudel. The very traditional one where the apple filling is encased and baked in very thin, large piece of rolled pastry dough, until it is all mushy inside. Eew. I prefer the modern puff pastry apple strudel. The non-authentic version that we have in Singapore. That tastes so much better.

Donuts! Real artisan hand rolled donuts. What a pity that it is for demonstration only. Eat with pastry cream and jam.

Danish pastries. Ermm, just ignore the background. Focus on the pastries.

End.

Balmain

We went to Balmain again the following week, Saturday. The original plan was to visit Glebe's Saturday market. But I changed the plan last minute while riding the bus. I had this feeling that I have not explored the place enough. Turned out that I was right. That bit that we saw the previous week is only the very tip of what Balmain has to offer. This time, after lunch and dessert, we spent 2 whole hours trekking through Darling street of Balmain, visiting the numerous quaint little boutiques and amazing pastry shops. The only thing I have to complain about is I can only shop with my eyes and nose. Mum has made it very clear to me that I am to be stingy with spending. (I guess she was a little shocked at my expenditure during my first three months. haha.) I am also discouraged from taking up extra curricular activities (ie. Aikido and even French lessons) simply because it is extra expenditure. Well, what happened to: use this opportunity to learn as much as you like?

I am going to sidetrack a little. I am going to justify my spending expenditure. I admit, I am not a frugal person. I cannot be. Simply because I am not brought up that way. On the other hand, I do not spend excessively. I do not shop for fashion, I am not into alcohol and I definitely do not gamble. The only thing that I probably blow most of my money on is grocery food. I eat very well, something I take from my parents. My father is all for freshness and my mum is all for organic. Since both is so readily available and of a higher eating quality than in Singapore, why not indulge?

Eating out is also another big expenditure for me, which I am currently exercising restraint over. I am in a foreign country. I want to try out the food culture in Sydney. I want to taste the best of pastry. I want to sample the best of cuisine. Hell, I even want to sip the best of coffee in Sydney. (I never touch any form of coffee in Singapore.) Which is really really difficult if I also want to save money like crazy. What I really want to say is, yes, I will control my spending but please, do give me some freedom to do what I really like: to eat really well.

Owells, let me now show you how I spend my precious allowance in this wonderful Balmain.

The Saturday flea market which sells all kinds of second-hand goodies. Nothing to tempt me there.

Lunch. We decided on this semi-gothic cafe due to it's popularity. Look at the paintings on the wall. Pretty unappetising huh?

Skittles!

Ricotta cheese ravioli bolognese and salmon risotto. Taste bland with baby food texture. We don't like it at all.

At Strudel Baron Balmain, bread custard pudding and lime brulee tart. We came here to soothe our dissatisfied palette knowing that Strudel Baron will certainly deliver. It did but comparing with the branch at Drummoyne, we found out that we liked Drummoyne better.

After almost 3km of walking, I can't be bothered with picture-taking anymore. haha. This is Balmain Court House, you know, where lawyers argue in front of a judge. It is beautiful, quite similar to the subordinate court in Singapore.

End.

Bowan Island Bakery

Bowan Island Bakery at Drummoyne is a seriously good organic cafe. I was blown away by their really simple yet delicious grubby food. Stella ordered a steak and curry pie with a side salad. As you can see, salad is well dressed and well varied with tofu, spinach, tomatoes, all my favourite foods. And very generous as well. And all organic.

I had the plainest outside breakfast ever and it is one of the best. Fresh organic tomatoes with basil on sourdough toasties. I think this is very Italian. Simple flavours rocks. But, Bowan Island Bakery is a quite steep in the pricing. $8.20 for a simple dish like mine. Dinner was a wonderful affair at Makoto with Cynthia. I miss sushi and I cannot, cannot tolerate bad sushi like I used to anymore. Ever since Japan has enlightened me. Makoto is perhaps the best sushi place in Sydney.

Thursday, I was feeling particularly dressy and vain. So I went all out to put on a dress and make-up and heels. Killer, cheapo heels I bought in Tokyo almost maimed my feet. haha. I survived and came back home to take lots and lots of self-shots! It was the spur of the moment kind of thing. So I took out my camera and it was non-stop in-front of the mirror until I had my fun. Oh, it was fun. And it was ultra vain.

End.

Plated Desserts

I am going to blog after all- I have just too much time. heehee.

I have decided not to work just yet. I will concentrate on gaining as much knowledge and skills as I can for now. Continuing with my French lessons is a sure thing since I have already signed up for it. I also plan to take up driving and martial arts. Hopefully Aikido. I am very interested in Aikido. haha. We'll see.

This week's lesson in on plated desserts. Souffle, baravois, raspberry mousse, panna cotta, self-saucing chocolate pudding, we made as mains. Creme anglaise, raspberry coulis, chocolate sauce and strawberry and pineapple mint salsa for garnish. Below are some of the desserts my chefs demonstrated.

I can seriously imagine beautiful, appetising, wow-ing desserts in my head. But when I translate it into real world, they look like this: -_-

And Chef Andre says: imagination is your limit. I do agree with him but you do need a certain amount of skill to execute your ideas, don't you.

End.

Newsflash!

You know people, I am not going to put up any pictures for a while cause my internet is crawling at the speed of an earthworm. Pathetic. I think I busted my usage allowance for the month. Which means I will have to wait till the next month for usual speed. haha, owells. I shall content myself with library books for now. I joined membership at this awesome library at circular quay. I'll post pictures of it some other day.

No point blogging without any pictures. Therefore, no posts for now! Adieu! :D

Cafe 2000

Yeeha! I feel inspired all of a sudden. I want to:

jog every morning

learn the positions of at least 100 countries on the map

draw flowers and people all day long
learn photoshop for real
make my own dress
master the medicinal properties of herbs and plants
read like crazy
rip pimples off my face

Okay, one at a time. Right now, all I want to do is blog about my exciting Thursday affair in Balmain.

Stella and I alighted at least half a kilometers from Balmain, darling street, just to visit this petshop which we found out to have positively no animals in it. So we left, and walked to Balmain. Good exercise la. Good views too.

Upon reaching, we immediately scouted for food. We walked up and down darling street once through before settling for Italian at Cafe 2000. Very Italian cafe. Chef is Italian, waiter and waitress is Italian, pastry is Italian too. Bon appetito!

Spaghetti Vongole, my choice, was done to perfection. Spaghetti just cooked, vongole fresh, olive oil and chilli flakes not too over-powering, just to my taste. I turn to the waiter to give my compliments, then the chef shouted out: "They didn't cook it. I did!" There you go, Italians.

Stella's roasted quail with grilled vege. Absolutely delish. Quail is not dry, vege is awesomely flavoured.

Dessert part. Italian cake. I can't remember the name but I tell you, this is good. Full of nuts and wholesome sweetness.

Another Italian cake which name I also conveniently forgotten. Thick crusted and dry. Some syrup to go with it would be welcomed. But I like the texture. Rustic.

Latte and mocha for me and Stella. Stella don't really like Italian roast. She thinks they are over-roasted. I can't tell the difference really. haha.

The Italian waiter tells us, "The Italians taught the French how to eat." Which meant that, the Italians are really the best chefs in the world, not the Frenchies. Then he said, "But the Italians are stupid. They let the French take their food." Owells. That is abit of history for you. But you know, I don't really care where the food came from as long as my taste buds likes it. :D

End.