Banoffee pie

Chocolate curls

I love baking and making desserts. Unfortunately, I don't like eating a lot. And I find tasting way more pleasurable than eating. Hence, the big problem arises when I'm done making desserts and I just want to taste a little piece but do not really wish to eat the entire lot. What happens to the rest?

A sinful slice!

Luckily, at my work place, we hold "cake club" every second Friday. Someone gets assigned to bring something sweet on that day. Because we are a big group, my turn to bake only comes every 3 to 4 months or so. But my desire to create an experimental dessert "burns" more frequently than that. So every now and then, I try to find an excuse to bring my experiment into the table. The latest one was two weeks ago when one of my colleagues in the lab had to say goodbye as she had to go back to her country. 

The pie without the chocolate curls

Several days before that I asked her what she wanted for her goodbye tea party. And she said, "I really love banoffee pie!" I got so stressed when she said that because I had zero interest in making banoffee pie. I happened to try the banoffee pie in the cafe near our building and it was disgustingly sweet, I remember struggling to finish that tiny piece of insane sugar monster! I thought there was no way I could ever bring myself to make a dessert I hate. But because I really liked my friend, I spent three nights conditioning myself that I had to make one "crazy" banoffee pie. I took a random recipe online and as usual, made a number of modifications such as adding coffee to the caramel and putting a very thin layer of it at the base. I also opted to sprinkle my pie with shaved dark chocolate and put a bit of chocolate curls in the middle. I had problems tempering my chocolate to make the curls. But I surprisingly pulled it off in the end. The dessert looks complicated, but it's actually very easy to make. 

I was so ecstatic to see everyone's face light up when I saw them eating my pie. They really loved it especially my friend! I was so happy to see her smile. In making desserts, I follow two rules: Less Sugar and More Love.

Stradbroke, Queensland

Point lookout.

My friends and I went to Stradbroke Island last week and it was nothing short of amazing! I would probably do it every weekend if I had the time, money and energy. The sun was excruciatingly unforgiving though; but l brought a liter of sunscreen for everyone to use and that definitely saved our skin cells from mutating!

Wild current at Point lookout.

Our first stop was at Point Lookout. We walked through a short trekking path which gave us the chance to see the meandering river. Many parts looked breathtakingly dramatic with the violent current bashing the frothy river water onto the rocks. Some areas were serene as the water was still and quiet.

Yoga at cylinder beach,

After a quick lunch, we then headed to the Cylinder beach! The current was stronger than usual. But we still jumped through. I stayed in the shallow portion because I'm a ridiculously awful swimmer. In fact, I can't swim well. But I really enjoyed throwing myself into the waves and getting swallowed for a while. But what I did was not dangerous at all because I made sure the water level was not beyond 2/3 of my height. (Which means, it was pretty shallow). We bathed in the sun for the rest of the afternoon. My yellow skin just turned golden brown and I was extremely amazed! Now I know why brown is more beautiful in Australia. When you are brown, it usually means you had more fun in the sun. I don't ever want to be a white Asian again. Golden brown is definitely better.

Pretentious shampoo commercial at the Brown lake.

The next day, my friend and I woke up early to do yoga. I have always wanted to do yoga on the beach; and I just made my dream come true. I woke up my friend really early just to do yoga with me that day. It was ridiculously early and I had to make her coffee. 

We also went to the Brown lake. The lake is surrounded by tea trees! The tea tree oil gets infused into the water; and it had a therapeutic effect. The lake was brown too (but very clean)! Swimming at the brown lake made me feel like I'm an ant in a huge tea cup. 

It was a fantastic weekend. Unfortunately, I left my brain on the island and the entire week I was struggling so much to fish my brain back. 

Forming habits: my new books and old yoga routine

I love books!

And I love yoga! The modified wheel pose.

Forming a habit is easier than I thought! I say so because I have been doing yoga almost every weekdays before I head to the lab. If I don't do it, I always notice a sudden drop in my energy level! Yoga is nearly tantamount to drinking coffee (with milk) in the morning! I'm now on my 6th week of yoga training, and I intend to go on for as long as I can. I really enjoy yoga as it literally calms my nerves. I always do yoga first thing in the morning. It seemingly draws the sunshine to my occasionally bleak student life. 

My morning habits are pretty much stable. However, I intend to make some changes in my evening routine as I have noticed I'm becoming a little bit "unhinged". Unhinged in the sense that I actually "find myself staring at the wall." 

To replace this dreadful habit of staring at the wall, I have amassed yet another batch of books. I have been reading The Taste of War the past few days and I quite like it. However, as it is a world war two book, I find that it is somewhat heavy for a bedtime story. Hence, I need to pick up another book to read along side The Taste of War. I hope to read an hour everyday before I retire to bed. I just need to have the discipline to stick to such habit in the same manner as my morning yoga. 

Tomorrow is the beginning of another work week. I never picked up on work this weekend by the way. I was so busy drooling over my books and celebrating Chinese New Year with my friends! Cheers to the new year and my new habits!  新年快乐!