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!

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

 I was cleaning my desk awhile ago when I saw three printed postcards of me holding a koala! I wondered who to give them to; and suddenly I had this awesome idea of sending them to my siblings since the three of them live in three different places! I don't think they will be so pleased to receive a postcard which supports my ever inflating vanity though! But the mere thought that my siblings will be somewhat irked to see my face on a postcard makes me smile from ear to ear. 

The postcard photo was taken when my friends and I went to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane. It's one of the best places to visit if you ever want to see koalas in flesh and blood. In fact, I have never seen koalas in the wild despite the road signs which tell people to beware of koalas crossing! In some areas they even built a tiny hanging bridge solely for koalas to cross. But watching them cross must be a fairy tale!

I paid 20 dollars for my photo to be taken and I must say it was all worth it because hugging the koala made me feel fuzzy and warm in the inside. 20 dollars is pricey for a photo; but the profits will go to building a better sanctuary for these poor sleepy creatures, so it's definitely a win! 

Other animals were also in the sanctuary. There is this area where people can enter and interact with kangaroos! I got the chance to feed them on my hands! Although I must say it was very ticklish! I would have enjoyed the feeding experience a lot better if I didn't get tickled. I wanted to hug the kangaroos but they apparently did not like me. I would love to think it was because of my hat and not because I looked scary. 

I remember I really enjoyed my time at the sanctuary. I am longing to visit more places like this in Brisbane. I'm just waiting for my friends to invite me to go with them. I'm definitely in! 

Lucky 7!

I went mad shopping for books today! I told myself I will only buy one book, but I ended up walking out with one bag! I spent more than an hour choosing which books to buy and luckily 6 books caught my heart. They are mostly history books which are written in a different fashion. I never learned history when I was growing up due to two reasons: (1) I hated simple narration of facts and (2) my teachers never told the story in an interesting way. Because of these, I appear oblivious to the world. But I am aim to cope with this ignorance by looking at history in a difference lens! I was specifically very euphoric to find a book written by Tom Standage. I had a chat with the bookstore personnel and was very happy she also likes him. She told me there is another book he authored which is due to arrive next week and that she would give me a ring when it's available. So in reality, I have/will have 7 new books. Lucky 7! I can't tell you how happy I am to see these books on my table. I badly needed to buy these because I realized some nights I find myself staring at the wall before I retire to bed. I mean, only crazy people stares blankly at the wall, right? Then it occurred to me that the reason why I was staring at the wall was because I had no book to read. These 7 books should be enough to keep me sane in the coming months. 

Cakes for Australia Day

Mango passionfruit cheesecake from The Cheesecake Shop.

Happy Australia Day!

I dashed to the nearest cake shop a couple of minutes ago, hoping to buy a piece of cake which could hopefully inspire me to continue writing my report. As the clouds were grey and could apparently rain any minute, I had the excuse to walk with my UV proof umbrella. And that simple fact got me smiling while walking as no one in Australia normally walks with an umbrella when it's not raining!

I baked this some months ago for a friend.

Upon reaching the cake shop, I headed to the corner where quarter slices of cakes were displayed. I was looking for my favorite passion fruit cheesecake; but it was unfortunately unavailable so I had to make do with a chocolate cake topped with fresh strawberries (a cake which I normally bake for a friend's birthday when I don't have much time). When the cake attendant came, I asked him if they happen to have a passion fruit cheese cake which was not on display. Unfortunately, there wasn't so he suggested I take the mango passionfruit one which he reckons is also delicious. I was surprised he gave me a generous discount and I didn't even ask for it! It must be the Australia Day spirit. I walked off jubilant and paid the nice cake attendant with a beautiful smile.

Transylvanian food and fire dancing

Yesterday morning I woke up with a bad headache which I presumed was more of sinus-related than anything else. The night before that I went out with my friends from the lab and did some sort of "club hopping."  We went to Prohibition and Cloudland. It was honestly my first time to go to the clubs in Brisbane and I must say I would definitely rather go to pubs due to several reasons which I refuse to elaborate. But one main reason is that I'd rather enjoy an intimate conversation with my closest friends while sipping a pint of refreshingly bitter beer than go dancing in the club with skimpy clothes to a music I do not like. Or maybe the music in those two clubs were just not good? However, I must say the bathrooms were very impressive and I quite like the furniture. 

Dejected over the events on the Friday night (not to mention I was too sober because I don't think they even put alcohol in our cocktails), I was determined to have a more worthwhile Saturday night! True enough I really had a blast last night. First, my girl friends and I went to the Night Food Market at Boundary St., West End. I tried the Transylvanian cheese pie with the cabbage roll. I found the cheese pie surprisingly delicious. The cabbage roll was also very tasty (although I would prefer it a bit sour). Afterwards, we headed to a park where the "hippies" gathered around to celebrate the full moon through fire dances. I really enjoyed watching the performers toss and turn their fire paraphernalia. I would love to imagine doing fire dancing myself; but because I'm very clumsy, I don't think I will ever learn to do fire dancing without burning myself entirely. We sat for an hour gazing at the fire dancers! I was mesmerized and I really enjoyed it! I will likely come back some time in the next full moon and be another hippie-wanna-be who adores playing with fire. 

Before the sky started crying, my friend and I went to a pub which I completely forgot where because I'm very good with directions! It was a very quaint pub with no more than twenty seats. I would really love to go back there as they were serving the kinds of beer you hardly see in other pubs. They just sell those from small breweries. I'm still in search for my favorite beer. And so far, my two candidates are Sea Bass from this pub I'm talking about and Young Henry's which I got at the Lefty's pub near Petrie Terrace, Brisbane. After having a nice conversation with my friend, we ended the night with a truly satisfied stomach and liver! After she left me at the bus stop, however, one stranger was trying to pick me up. I was more irritated than scared actually. Luckily I was not drunk and I knew I could still run if I had to. The bus came on time to save me! In the end, it was a beautiful night.  I also had the chance to once again enjoy the full moon when I was crossing my favorite bridge in Brisbane!