Five things

I got the ' Five things' idea from Cupcakes and cashmere , so I will be posting '5 things' every now and then.

Preview picture of my next post... My Gold Coast trip in '11. Should be posting on the weekend? Calamari with chips. I'm salivating right now.

My favourite steak in the entire world (or at least in Australia). Cooked medium rare, served with mushroom sauce and curly fries. 

 One of my favourite ice cream brands. My second sister bought these tubs last year because they were selling one tub at a dollar (she bought 4, I would've bought at least 10). This was for charity. Normally though, they are pretty expensive (sometimes, I wish I could live in the U.S) but my favourite flavour is strawberry cheesecake!

 My favourite macarons from La belle miette. Perfect macarons, which I can never seem to master.

Books I'm currently reading.. I'm sort of a book worm (I got the worm from my oldest sister), and lately, I have been so busy with school, that I've barely had any time to read (except for the occasional weekend). But that was until this week! I've been reading every night.  Reading is my escape from reality, where my imagination can run wildly. 

I've over-used the word 'favourite'.

The croquembouche

I just wanted to feature this blog post on my dear friend, Kelda! And her extremely cool birthday cake. Happy birthday Kel!

She wasTinkerbell!

  Yesterday, I went to her Disney princess-themed 15th birthday party. I was Pocahontas.. I had to borrow a dress from my second sister! The party was SO much fun, she threw such a wonderful party! Every girl from our original year 7 form class (except for one and there's my Kiwi friend who just came this year!) came. We're all in the same friendship group, always sitting down together for lunch. And when you have a house party with 12 girls, it's noisy alright! So thankful to have these girls in my life!

Some of the girls

Kelda told me that the birthday cake was going to be a surprise..It really was! You see, she and I have very similar taste in food. We both love macarons, cupcakes, you name it! She ordered a croquembouche, which is a French dessert. It literally means in French 'crunch in the mouth'. 'I've seen this before on Masterchef Australia, and it looks terrifying to make. It was my first ever taste of a croquembouche.

  A croquembouche is made up of profiteroles. Profiteroles are cream puffs, made up of choux pastry. These profiteroles are filled with cream. And then, the whole thing is stacked up together, whipped with generous amounts of caramel. It's rather hard to dissemble it, but it taste amazing! Think crunchy caramel, soft profiteroles with cream filled inside. And then, on the bottom, strawberries and blueberries; only my favourite fruits.

We also had other food of course, for the tea party. SO MUCH FOOD! 

Hehe

She baked these brownies and they were amazeballs.

Macarons baked by her sister!

Modern Mexican food

Oh Friday nights, how I love you so much. But then the next morning, there's Chinese school. I'll be honest; Chinese actually really is interesting, and it's definitely an important language. But, since I did not acknowledge the usefulness of it as a young child, my skills are equivalent to about a primary school kid. It's embarrassing. I should get a tutor or something.

Anyway, my cousin, Li Yiing (mentioned her in my Japan post) from Malaysia , has been in Melbourne for the past week! She used to live with us for a short while a few years ago. She is a really lovely cousin; considerate and always generous. She is very different to us, the Phang sisters. You want me to describe my sisters and I? Messy, crocodile eaters and eats incredibly fast. My dad always has to tell Li Yiing that she better take her share of food before it's all gone! Li Yiing is a much slower eater, and never seems to ever get fat (unfair).

My second sister treated my mum, Li Yiing, Aunty Soo Suang and I for dinner! We tried a different restaurant in Kingsway, it's a completely new one. It opened in July: The Black Toro.

The Black Toro is a modern Mexican restaurant. I just searched up what Toro means in Spanish, and it means bull. 'The black bull'.

Poached eggs at Coco lounge

Sunday mornings (and Saturday nights) are probably the most relaxing time of the week. I go for my usual jog, then make myself a great breakfast. Sunday lunches at home usually consists of dim sum. My mum buys frozen dim sum from a local Asian place and steams it at home. It's just as good as the ones you eat out in a restaurant.

But today's Sunday lunch was different. Or shall I say brunch? 

I went out with my oldest sister to Kingsway. She bought me brunch/lunch at Coco lounge! Perks of having older siblings.

We had the breakfast menu though (available until 3) and we both had eggs begs. It is eggs benedict, but with avocado and bacon. OH and it is served on whole wheat toast, not an English muffin. 

I have been to Coco lounge a few times and have always enjoyed every single time. I've had dinner there, eating some delicious pizza! I love how the restaurant is set out. It's so cosy and warm, lit with candles. Great place to escape from the cold weather Melbourne is currently having.

I had iced chocolate. Even though it's cold, I'd pick iced chocolate over hot chocolate any day.

Eggs begs- definitely recommend it. I love poached eggs, but I rarely have them since they're a bit troublesome to make. I eat soft boiled eggs on toast for my weekday breakfast though. I also had hash browns. Lovely crisp, flavoursome and warm hash browns.

Two poached eggs with hollandaise sauce, grilled bacon, avocado salsa on whole wheat toast.

My favourite part.

 This month is the last month of winter, but it is unusually early that blossoms are blooming. On the way home, I saw these cherry blossoms. My sister said "I think the trees are confused!"

Eating mochi in Japan

Apologies for not posting very regularly, but I live a student life (Though I can imagine my sisters going on right now about how their work lives are much busier). And currently there are no holidays :( In other news though, my debate team (consisted of five girls including me) had our very last debate of the year against Huntingtower school, and we won! We were the negative team for "We should tax all fatty foods." However, I do actually agree with the statement, but studies have been done and they say that it needs to be 20% tax, in order to be effective. And the thing is, to impose a tax, it is rather difficult in terms on how effective it will be, jobs etc.

So anyway....

Dear Japan, I think your atmosphere is amazeballs. I visited in 2010 as a just-turned-13 year old. Such a tragedy in 2011, I cannot imagine anything like that. I am so thankful that Australia rarely has any major earthquakes, since we're not in the ring of fire.

Most people who visit Japan, typically love it. I did for sure! First of all, I am in love with Japanese food. I love sashimi, tempura, sushi; all those typical Japanese good! And the culture there, there's just something that makes you feel really good. You get a sense of closeness within the communities, and the high intelligence and precision they have. In contrast with Melbourne, as much as I love Melbourne, the 'precision' isn't really there and what I mean is in terms of transport; the stupid Metro trains... They spend millions of dollars and we get trains that aren't even on time? 

The bullet train there is crazy. It goes so fast, and is on time. Always. Japanese transport = smart and innovative. Sigh, if only Melbourne had that. 

I went with my parents, and with my relatives! All on my mum's side. My Yi Ma and Yee Cheong, Yi Yi and Li Yiing (Yi Ma and Yee Cheong's daughter and in other words, my cousin!) and also two of my parents' friends. We went on tour with Reliance. It was nice to have Li Yiing there hehe :)

My cousin, Li Yiing.

 We visited Japan during the 'Sakura season' which is the cherry blossom season in late March- early April, which is in spring. Melbourne also gets cherry blossoms during spring time, it is absolutely beautiful! In fact,  I went for my jog on the weekend and saw the first signs of spring; the bare trees starting to bloom pink blossoms.

Things I love about Japan:

. I love how Japanese people are so polite. And how hygienic it is.

. The toilets, oh the toilets. THE TOILETS ARE HONESTLY JUST SO COOL THERE. I think it's kind of like a 'bidet' (AHAHA learnt that in French last year). But I just searched it up and I think you call it a 'washlet'? I don't know.  So the toilet right, you can warm up the seat, you can apparently wash your butt or something (I didn't do that.). AND MUSIC LOL. I wish we had these in Melbourne. Or you know which country would find them extremely useful? MALAYSIA. The public toilets are filthy, especially those squat toilets. How are those any more hygienic than a normal western toilet?!?!? You get the picture.

I somehow can't find the picture I took, but I had to search for an image on Google.

Happy anniversary!

You know what I'm really longing for? Summer. I see other food blogs and whoever who lives in the Northern hemisphere having their summer, and I am so envious, because I can't wait for those days where you wake up and not have a single worry. I'm dying to try out a whole bunch of new recipes, to have movie marathons, sleepovers, go the gym and read all day! I haven't had the chance to read novels because of assignments and tests! I have been holding onto my school library books for too long, you know you have when you attempt to borrow a new book but the librarian doesn't allow you too, and says you have to return the books and put on hold on the new books. It's really poop.

Well, still have another semester to survive. Another 2 months of the bitter winter and then spring.

So Wednesday, the 20th marked my parents' anniversary! Their 30th anniversary. 

Riding an elephant in Thailand.

Last year, around my summer (keep in mind that I do live in the Southern hemisphere and that is why I have my summer holidays during December- January) in January, I visited Chiang Mai, Thailand with my family! Yii-May also came along, which was good to have a sister accompanying.

Visited some silk place.

Silk worms. Disgusting.

Baking

The Salzburg post is the last post of Europe '10. The next day, we went back to Munich, then flew to Dubai. Our flight from Dubai back to Malaysia was at 2 AM, I actually fell asleep. My dad had to start hitting me lol! I'd really like to actually visit Dubai one day. The things I've heard sound amazing, especially the pictures. Looks like an extremely modern city with uber awesome places.

But Europe in 2010, was seriously an amazing trip. I never thought I'd be able to visit Europe until a few years time, and to just see those places, which you pretty much don't normally see on your first visit to Europe (Paris, London are those kind of stereotype places you go to on your first visit to Europe) and experience those countries which used to be part of Yugoslavia. I loved the balance of the scenery change in that trip, from the alps to the Dalmatian coast. Um well except for the cathedrals, I kind of got sick of them.

My favourite country that I visited in Europe? Croatia! Dubrovnik and Split are such lovely coastal places. I would definitely recommend anyone who visits Croatia to at least go to Dubrovnik. The  buildings and the colour are pretty vibrant, not to be missed!

I also hope that sometime soon, I will be able to go to the U.S. I really want to visit, because 

1. The food.

2. The shopping. 

3. Scenery.

4. It's the U.S.

5. I want to take lots of pictures. There's this photo competition I want to enter hehe.

6. OOHH I want to see my little nephews in San Fran :) 

But really, I love travelling to anywhere in the world. It's just something I can see through my eyes and learn about the roots, the history and the beauty. The thing about travelling is that you usually experience the unexpected, see how a culture differentiates with yours and taste different flavours. Sometimes, you see things that really make you appreciate for what you have. 

So anyway, I may be just doing a bit of random posts like Japan, Thailand, Gold Coast. Not really a follow up, unlike Turkey, U.S.A and Europe. Expect a post about Thailand soon!

I also baked some cupcakes for my friend's birthday, Tina. She's my cute, tall and somehow eats like a pig, yet stays so skinny (high metabolism) Korean friend,and I decided to bake her rainbow cupcakes. Don't worry. It's not sickening sweet. It's just a vanilla cupcake with added colouring. And with cream cheese icing. The next time I make cupcakes, I want to use this piping flower tip my mum has which I think would look incredibly cool.

Oh if only you could see the layers and explosions of colours when you ate the cupcakes... But I couldn't, since I brought them to school!

I don't know what is with me, but I love baking for people. I love that feeling when you create something spectacular, or something so simple yet tasty, and it brings smiles. Put it this way, baking is like a science experiment. You have your different variables, your method, and even just one alteration can change the whole thing. 

Oh and did I ever mention that I love science?

Mozart

I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to make another pancake post. I'm starting to make it a tradition to make pancakes for breakfast on Sundays. After a good jog, it feels good to whip up some kind of pancake batter, top it with my favourite fruits like blueberries and banana, honey and cinnamon. I like to use whole-wheat flour. My mum bought a whole tub and I was interested in using it, because I like to experiment and also to cook or bake in healthier ways. This time I made banana pancakes, topped with real maple syrup and a bit of kiwi fruit. The best kind of pancakes I've mad so far! Doesn't get better than this for a breakfast!

Recipe: Whip up any kind of pancake batter, I used Taste's, but I did not have any whole wheat self-raising flour, so I added some baking soda and I also put normal milk instead of buttermilk. I did not use honey as well. I also decided to chop up small pieces of banana in to the batter, so the banana gets cooked! You can even put small bits of chocolate chip or blueberries. There are endless possibilities of pancakes, whether it's a peanut butter, chocolate pancake, or even I've heard, RED VELVET pancake. I'm a pancake girl! 

Salzburg Austria:
On the way....We made a stop near by, and we had to pay for les toilettes. But apparently, the tour guide said that we actually didn't need to pay, they just saw us and decided to charge us.

I wish I ate that.

Salzburg is very pretty indeed. In fact, all the countries I visited in Europe are actually very pretty, I need to stop using the word 'pretty'. Salzburg is the musical capital; the location for The Sound of music and the birthplace of only one of the best composers who ever lived, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Cacao green.

They have Starbucks here in Melbourne. Very few of them.

No new travel posts at the moment,soon I will be posting about Salzburg (Where I visited Mozart's house!).

My new obsession: frozen yogurt. My first taste was in Malaysia,over the summer. One of my closest Malaysian friend's, Wan Xin took me there. I've known this lovely girl for years, I remember how we first started talking in standard 1 (Grade 1) in primary school and using our animal pencil cases to play with each other. Anyway, we went to Tutti Frutti, which is a frozen yogurt place. Definitely going back there the next time I go back!

I had frozen yogurt in Melb a few weeks ago, with my friends in the city. We came across this place, it's a really cute, neat place. It's opposite Starbucks, and we were dying to sit down (Starbucks was over crowded..For some reason. Starbucks isn't even that popular here?) and wanted some froyo. I did not expect it to be full of incredible goodness. Cacao green, I think on Swanson street in the city, has some pretty good organic frozen yogurt! I had the pomegranate, since I have a slight obsession with it... And the price is reasonable too. By Australian standards I mean. Melbourne has been listed as one of the most expensive cities to live in. But yes, speaking in Australian terms, it's quite reasonable. It's $4.50 for a junior serve, and it's pretty big! It is $6.70 for a regular and $8.20 for a large.

I didn't put any toppings this trip, but I plan to put cheesecake next time. Toppings are at $1 each.  Highly recommend Cacao green for some froyo. Their menu also includes organic yogurt smoothies and gourmet waffles.



My Taylor-Swift-loving, generous, game-loving, nerdy, shorter-than-me, second sister, just recently celebrated her birthday! We had our traditional kind of family birthday dinner. Asian dishes like curry, noodles, pork belly and Laurent cake as usual. Le gateau- c'est fantastique. Layers of mousse, and walnuts, very chocolatey.

My mum made her tiramisu! Mum's baking and cooking is always the best.

Mother's day and Plitvice.

Happy Mother's day!Well, at least for Australia. And apparently the U.S...?
 Celebrating the women who give so much to their children; sacrificing, chauffeuring, cooking and comforting.

Who's that cute baby? 

Not the best picture but ; pancakes topped with bananas, blueberries, honey and cinnamon. Accompanied with a blueberry/banana/raspberry smoothie! 

I love my mum very, very, much. She's a wonder woman basically. I don't know what I would've done without her! I also translated my love into baking. I made her pancakes for breakfast! The past few years, I always used the pancake mix because I didn't know much about making food. Now I find the package mix rather sweet. I'm making pancake mix from scratch forever and ever! Think about how much sugar and additives they add into the package mix.... Think about how you can make fluffy pancakes that is so easy!I don't even add any sugar to it, I top with honey and cinnamon (I'm a cinnamon freak) always!

Well, I now bake quite often so I decided to make a decadent chocolate tart!

Cutting it isn't so easy, but the taste is pretty good!

To continue on with my Europe posting, after I visited Bosnia, I went to Plitvice, Croatia. The drive from Bosnia to there was horrible. Bumpy, windy road, oh and the worst thing happened. I didn't feel well, and motion sickness and me... I threw up. Don't worry, there were plastic bags on the bus. But yeah, worst part of the trip. Enough said.

Back to Croatia. Croatia is really beautiful. Plitvice is a national park, possibly one of the most amazing and stunning national parks I've ever been to. I'm not sure whether Yosemite in the States is prettier, it's not really debatable for me because , they're both so beautiful. And I wish I had more time to explore around both places. In Yosemite, I would've loved to go hiking, gone to more spots. In Plitvice, we didn't spend enough time there!

Plitvice has about 1209841038201 waterfalls.I don't know the exact number, but all I know is that there are tons of waterfalls over there. Big ones, small ones. You name it. There's a wooden path where you can walk on, which is really nice because it's so close to the water! The water is absolutely clean, some parts are pristine blue. There's a lot of flora, but I didn't see much fauna. No bears or anything :( I would've loved to see a big brown bear.

Trying the slow shutter effect! Always beautiful with moving water.

Dreams and appreciation.

After I visited Dubrovnik, I went to Bosnia! Bosnia is bordered by Croatia and Serbia. The Turkish also came centuries ago, so some parts you can tell are Turkish-influenced.  It is rather quite hilly and mountainous there, and it was really hot at that time! Bosnia is really pretty, definitely lots of natural beauty. 

The chocolate chip cookie

I absolutely love baking (Influenced by my mum). If I could, I would bake everyday but, I have school work + other hobbies. And anyways,I'd get fatter and fatter each day, eating up all the treats.I don't want to become a professional baker or anything,I just like baking for fun. And if I bake, I usually end up giving my treats away to my friends (My friends know I bake cupcakes kinda often) since none of my family eats them. Except if they're up to my mum's standard (Like her scones, cheesecake or chiffon cake).

 I also have a strange obsession of looking at recipes on food blogs , but at the same time , knowing that I'm not going to use all of them. The pictures look so scrumptious and wow, but sometimes I cringe at how much butter and sugar there is!

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Dubrovnik, Croatia

I just wanted to add a picture of macarons in. I had these about 2 weeks ago, my oldest sister brought them back from Sydney! 

Dubrovnik, Croatia. Dubrovnik is probably my favourite city that I've ever been to. The medieval feeling is pretty cool. The colours there are pretty vibrant, if only I had known how to use my camera more!

Sunrise

Hotel. 

Dubrovnik looks out to the Adriatic sea, very mediterrenean if you ask me. We went to the Old city, which is walled as it was used for defensive walls to protect its citizens, built in  between the 13th-16th century. Turks were trying to attack in the 15th century. The walls are well-preserved. I was also really excited to visit Dubrovnik, as The Amazing race went there for one of the seasons (I am a huge fan of The Amazing race. No joke.) and it just looked so beautiful on TV.

I forgot to mention, Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia (Which I will write about later on) used to be part of Yugoslavia. Other countries were Macedonia and Serbia. I only learnt about this on the trip (Hey,I was 13 okay!