#30. Try five new teas from a teashop

Food

30. Try five new teas from a teashop (5/5) (August 2008)

Those who know me, know I LOVE LOVE LOVE coffee & tea. Those who know me even better know that, yes I would, spend $83 on tea. Partly because I’m a crazy sucker for food / drink, & secondly because I’m extremely good at wasting my money. [Ahh well] My excuse is that I don’t want to discriminate against the tea lovers. I already have a coffee machine with a bunch of coffee flavours but nothing to cater for people who take tea. Also because my sister irked me on. :-F She takes after my shopaholic mum.

After Maida bought me French Earl Grey from T2 for my house warming, which is absolutely delicious <333333, the week after I went out and bought the set of 16 in the black box [+ . I haven’t tried them all yet but I plan to ;-D

The ultimate collection of 16 sensational black teas including Sydney Breakfast, Melbourne Breakfast, English Breakfast, Irish Breakfast, Morning Tea, Afternoon Tea, Evening Tea, Sikkim, Darjeeling, Assam, Best Blend, Orange Pekoe, Sri Lanka Bop, Earl Grey and Really Russian Caravan

Anyone want to come over for tea ? ^^

#29. Try 5 new recipes

Food

29. Try 5 new recipes (5/5) (July 2008)

Since moving out I’ve had to cook for myself [to survive X-D] so I’ve been adventurous every now and again and tried out some new recipes because I love trying new things !

1. Sigrid’s Carrot Cake – Perfect for Easter!

I never took a picture of the end product but it looked NOTHING like Pioneer Woman’s recipe ! Haha X-D. Co-workers liked it actually though they said it was too moist. I put the cake in the oven for the amount of time specified but since then I’ve learned that you just have to check for yourself whether it’s done or not. So I’m a beginner @ baking.  I’ll get better. I swear, I will. I’m going to attempt sticky date pudding later !

2. The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever.

Nearly every person I’ve mentionned my “chocolate sheet cake” too has looked at me bizarre with the reply, “chocolate SHIT cake? what was that like?” =.=” It was actually pretty good. Just ask my co-workers who all took more than one slice each ! X-D You can’t really go wrong with chocolate cake though. It wasn’t too much of a challenge. A good recipe for beginner bakers. Oh, I also made this cake especially for my mum who was turning .. I spelt out ‘21′ in M&M’s ;-D Childish but whateva.. it’s all about presentation ! Haha, which I gotta say wasn’t the best since the tray i used to bake it in was like $2. But since then I’ve bought all these brand spankin’-new, shiny kitchen applicances & baking trays & such. It’s all very good ^^

#31. Try five new coffees

Food

31. Try five new coffees (5/5) (13th June 2008)

1. Ristretto / Short black from Gloria Jeans : * disgustingly bitter with a disturbing aftertaste
2. Iced Americano from Starbucks : *** yummy but nothing special
3. Vivalto from Nespresso varieties : Eh.  Alright. < Instant coffee
4. Volluto from Nespresso varieties : Same response as above. Tasted the same / similar ! Obviously I don’t drink much “real” coffee though X-DD
5. Decaffeinato Lungo from Nespresso varieties : This was a really nice — my favourite from the Nespresso varieties

#32. Compile a list of easy meals I can rely on

Food

32. Compile a list of easy meals I can rely on

Breakfast

1. Wholemeal pancakes
- – - – - – - – how long it takes before you can dig in : 15 minutes
- – - – - – - – ingredients : 100g wholemeal self-raising flour / 1 medium egg / 300 ml skim milk
- – - – - – - – instructions :
1. Place flour in a large bowl, mix in the egg & gradually whisk in the milk to give a smooth batter
2. Heat a little oil in a small frying pan and pour a round circle of the batter onto the pan. Remember that it will expand so you don’t need to put huge dollop of it.
3. Cook for 1 minute until golden brown, turn with a palette knife and cook for 30 seconds to one minute.
4. Lift the pancake onto a plate & keep warm over a pan of hot water, covering the pancake with a clean cloth [so you can cook the rest & the earlier ones you made will still be warm & crispy]
5. Repeat to make however many pancakes you want
6. You can serve them with jam, cream cheese, maltesers, bananas, lemon juice, whatever really.
- – - – - – - – calories : 200

#25. Try 50 new restaurants

Food

25. Try 50 new restaurants (9/50)

1. October 21st 2007: Studley Park Boathouse Kew

   • Occasion: Dad’s birthday !

     Comments: Despite all the bad reviews about the poor service in this place — I have to say I am perhaps one of the lucky ones who experienced wonderful service from this restaurant ! — which just shows how services are often so variable due to different staff, amount of experience they have etc. The staff — waiters etc were extremely friendly and helpful when deciding what to order etc. They knew their stuff, which is good because it’s never very helpful when they have no idea whether Dish X contains any meat if Person Y is a vegetarian. ;-s The food was OKAY. The chicken breast was dry [unfortunately i find this generally the case with this often] But then again — Maybe I am biased. I have a grandmother who cooks different Chinese home made meals every night for us — they’re DELICIOUS. [years of experience !] It wasn’t anything that made me go “wow”. Just mediocre. The ambience ? Well it was a 30-something celcius degree day so walking into the breezy-cool boathouse really was a relief ! And the setting was quite elegant too. I felt really comfortable there ;-) Ultimately — above average value !

2. November 20th & 21st 2007: Lanes Edge

   • Occasion: Lunch with Tan & Sars before they go overseas to Europe & Saudi Arabia / Dinner with Caitlin & Jasmine.

     Comments: You know it’s a tolerable enough restaurant if you are able to go there twice. I don’t think I’ll go there a third time though. The service is a little inconsistent; it was good the first time I came, and gave me a pretty good impression of the place — the atmosphere was relaxing, the waiters & waitresses were polite and smiley & the food was delicious and well portioned though I do believe I didn’t finish it all. The second time I ate there was with a different set of friends and it took much too long for us to be served, our tables to be wiped down and the food wasn’t fantastic. The dinner menu was much too limited. Consistency is important.

3. December 1st 2007 : Greco

   • Occasion: After dining after a cocktail night with mum, Belinda & Grace — staff at the bank

     Comments: If the food had not been so good I would not have thought so highly of this place. Though the wait was long — & though I strongly encouraged mum that ice cream would be a simpler option than waiting in line for fifteen minutes — the range of desserts was extremely impressive as well as the serving sizes. MASSIVE. So you won’t leave hungry ! They’re actually probably too big though considering we are in the middle of an obesity epidemic. I didn’t much like the mocha though. Perhaps they didn’t add chocolate, as is the norm now a days, but I do realise that maybe I should have asked them whether it was added considering that originally mocha is a strong, bitter coffee from Arabia, Yemen’s port, Mocha. Not sure if I’ll ever come back though, since I’m an impatient person. You can actually get cakes over the counter if you don’t want to eat in, which I would recommend. Or if you are not impatient, unlike myself, I would thinking waiting in line is not so bad especially because the waiters / waitresses use a trick where they tell you it will be a long wait. This cuts the line in half because heaps of people don’t like waiting. This is how we made the front of the line quicker X-DD. Thanks mum.