Whirlwind weekend.

It's the hols already and it's been non-stop activities since I finished the exam on Thursday till now.

The paper on Thursday was pretty disastrous. Editing the PR passage for 100 errors was akin to seeking out a needle in a haysack. I could only find about max 80 errors (and even then I wasn't sure if the ones I spotted were errors...). The writing of the media release part was nerve-racking. I swear it took me 15 minutes, in the very least, just to think of how to frickin' start writing the whole damn thing.

I caught The House Bunny on Friday and it was pretty good. In certain scenes, good in a bad way. I mean, it had me cringing so much at the lead's blonde moments and thinking, "this is so not possible in real life (erm, right?)". After the movie, Jos and me went over to a friend's place to copy (more) videos (hurhur) and played some mahjong. OMG can. I don't normally bet money while playing mahjong but they were playing with money and (as usual, with my downtrodden luck) I lost money. At least it was not SO huge an amount so it's still okay, but nevertheless... gah.

I joined Silvia and her friends to Oktoberfest Brisbane 2008 yesterday night and it was pretty fun. Beer. Sausages. Pork knuckles. Frolicking around in the dance area to country-styled German tunes. It certainly was an interesting experience. Anyone fancy joining me to a long Europe trip to explore? No harm being at the ACTUAL Oktoberfest in Germany at least once in your lifetime isn't it? (:

September 08 bentos

Here's a summary of the September 08 bentos. I doubt I'll be making any more till after the semester break. School hols start this weekend and end a week later. I'll be having a late semester exam tomorrow morning, and since I have no school on Fridays, Thursday marks the start of my break. HOWEVER. There are tons of work to be done. Golly.

As the Aussies like to say, "No worries, mate."

I'll MAKE time for play too. Trust me on that. ;)

04/09/08: Brown rice, egg rolls, broccoli, spicy sour fish. Pictured with my coffee in the morning before I head off to school...

11/09/08: Chicken rice, corn, stirfry mix veg and unagi.

16/09/08: Mushroom risotto, broccoli, beansprouts, katsu-age, tomatoes and pumpkin.

17/09/08: Brown rice, leftover takeaway Indian veg curry, egg rolls, salmon and tomatoes.

Monday's bento: Noodles, crabmeat, veg, sausages, tomatoes.

Yesterday's bento: Mixed fruits nuts salad

Today's bento: Grilled chicken, egg, tomatoes, chikuwa, pumpkin atop salad leaves

Mopey.

I had thought that I've moved on from the childish antics. Being 20, I had liked to believe that I had finally developed a sense of maturity, leaving behind the teenage-bopperish years of adolescent angst and juvenile beliefs. Guess what. It took less than I imagined possible to set of my self-indulgent thoughts over something I reckon most adults would think is trivial matters. I can't believe myself.

It pretty much sucks to know it.

If I think in depth about what's happening around the world now, with the numerous dismal problems it is facing - think US economy slump, Russia/US "cold war", China's milk scandal, rampant teens in schools on killing sprees, terrorist suicide bombings in Islamabad and so forth. My fretting is minuscule in reality. YET. People tend to focus on an innate me-thinking. Where the self is of the me-me-and-me concept. I'm not an exception.

But hopefully, I snap out of this whinging soon. Yeps. Give me some time to digest that information first and I'll be okay in a jiffy. Yup.

Shoes

Shoes. A woman's best friend. Next to her bag. Or bags. And her clothes. Let's just leave it at here and not delve into her cosmetics, perfumes and accessories...

Anyway.

The point is, I was out browsing the stores today, and I noticed spring trends in the shoes stores deviating towards heels. All sorts. Gladiator styled. Platforms. Mary Jane buckles. Wedges. Stilettos. Appearing in the hottest three colours of the season I reckon - black, tan and brown. All that equates to lust.

The Oxfords from the past year season was one of the shoes I had lusted after, but yet to get since I couldn't find a heel that was not overly high and within my budget. (whines) I saw a pair of black and white two toned shoes, not exactly Oxford style, from Diana Ferrari (couldn't find the image online) that was hot hot hot. Alas, the price was pretty hot too at over AU$100. Sigh.

But. Moving on to those within my budget, there are some pretty sexy heels I'm so in love with. Yet thinking whether should I, or should I not.

I saw the above pair in two colours, black and tan below. I love the black ones. There's also a brown one that I can't find the image for. Should I Should I Should I???

And I saw the above pair in brown in the shoe shop, yet can't find the image online -.- This is the black version, which just doesn't look as nice as the brown one. I love the buckle strap it's so adorable! Ah...

That leads to my final equation:
Shoes + Lust = Dilemma.

Eclairs.

When I think of eclairs, I think of Beard Papa. I'm not really an eclair person. I'm more into other baked goodies like cakes and brownies and whatnots. However, the only eclair that I remember being really into was the ones from Beard Papa. I recall the first time I tasted it, it was at the Takashimaya basement outlet. I ordered one (measly small piece it was, that costs me about two bucks) and took a bite out of it.

I was hooked. The creamy chocolate cream (I normally detest cream of any sort) that simply melts in your mouth - I still remember how happy I felt eating it - and then proceeded to declare it my pick-me-up treat. It was back in the secondary school days I think. And for a period of time, whenever I dropped by town, and if I was feeling low, an order of Beard Papa's chocolate eclair was sure to be on the list of things to get. A mouth of that yummy dessert and I'm all perked up (I reckon it's my inner happy endorphins that got a kick out of all that sugar rush...).

I was browsing through all my favourite food blogs as usual, when I saw the Daring Bakers baked good of the month - Pierre Hermé chocolate éclairs. Since I am experimenting with different baked goodies lately, I decided to make it for fun's sake. I used the choux pastry dough as per listed, made a batch of almond pastry cream (that's simply to-die-for) and topped the treat up with melted 70% lindt dark chocolate before adding chopped pistachios/a raspberry to the eclairs.

Of course, I hurried to complete the pastry in hopes of snapping some pictures of it before the sun sets as my digital camera sucks at night photography (do I hear a new camera hollering my name?). I was lucky (since I did the almond cream the day before, I only need to make the pastry today), I managed to get in some day shots of the completed goodies before passing the sweets on to the housemates. (:

Chopped pistachios atop an eclair.

Almond pastry cream. Lusciously divine.

Pictures 13

Enjoy.

Lemon bars and brownies made about two weeks ago for well, Fiona's birthday.

210808 bento: Inari sushi, tomatoes, broccoli, miso chicken

220808 bento: Furikake rice, broccoli, grilled salmon and loads of water. I borrowed the interesting book from the library, but a pity I couldn't finish it in time before the due date...

Berries custard tarts which were so easy to make using frozen puff pastry. Simple dessert ready in less than half an hour (could be).

280808 bento: Beef rolls, steamed veg, bean sprouts, basmati rice and tomatoes

Woo Aa's friend bought her a big strawberry shortcake. We all had a slice. yums.

290808 bento: Brown rice, beef rolls, strawberries and orange.

Ingredients in making...?

Here's a clue...matcha powder...

Matcha cookies. (: For Silvia's 22nd.

I think I'm getting into that whole "k-let's-find-suitable-props-and-bg-deco-to-match-the-food-to-snap-pictures" mode.

It's lucky how the house has these petite elegant teacups and matching saucers. Jasmine tea and matcha cookies shaped in poker- card shapes.

Flowers

One of my favourite shots. What do you think?

030908 lunch: Canned salmon, tomato, butter lettuce on nine grains bread