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Black Star Pastry (Strawberry Watermelon Cake)

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Some of you might know about the desperate attempt I made last year for the Strawberry Watermelon Cake (see previous post at  Black Star Pastry ).  Yesterday I had the privilege of tasting this cake at a party. I got super excited as I’ve been wanting to try this for almost a year now. I was so tempted to just skip the mains but I patiently waited for dessert time and made sure I left space for the cake :P In the meantime, I went to take a close look at the cake (could not resist, for obvious reasons) and I was amazed at how magical it looked. It was constructed beautifully starting with a layer of almond  dacquoise followed by cream, then a slice of watermelon with cream,   almond  dacquoise and cream again. Finally, it was topped with strawberries, pistachios and dried rose petals. It was a quite a delicious cake but unfortunately, it did not meet the expectations I had. I liked certain elements, such as the lightness of the cream layers, f...
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Post-thesis celebration

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So I handed in my thesis today!!! After three months of solid hard work, it's finally all done! I'm so excited because I've been waiting for this day for a very long time. I know I shouldn't get that excited because I technically haven't finished my degree yet (got a presentation next week) but it kind of feels like I'm done! The thesis does make the bulk of my marks so that's definitely an important milestone and worth celebrating :P So now let me give you a rundown of what I did today- I started off my day skimming my thesis one last time. Then I nearly killed off a forest printing about 140 pages (poor trees!) Next stop was binding. My stomach had started grumbling from all the waiting around so we hit Ralph's Cafe for a celebratory lunch. We had to wait a while because it was lunch hour. But that was okay because we know their food is worth the wait! The Ralph's burger with chips (~$14) After this came, we just went silent as we...
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Nettlesome November

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This month has been a range of feelings. I've finished up with my linear regression model I was working on, which means I'm done with the statistics (for now). My aim was to have this paper completed before the end of the year but I've realised that's not going to happen.   I decided to focus on a simpler task that would be easier to finish before Christmas.  So I’ve gone back to  working on one of my old papers. It was really difficult to get myself into that mindset again, after not having worked on it for so long.   It was really daunting at the beginning, but safe to say, it did get easier after having a few go's. I really wanted to be done with this paper but I just couldn't do it due to time constraints. I managed to get close but it wasn’t enough. I really wish I had an extra week at least to finish up what I needed to do. At one point, a part of me wished I didn’t have the conference to attend in December, so I could just keep on working to fini...
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Fast February

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Gosh, this month has gone so quick (even with the extra day that this leap year has given us!) I started my PhD at the beginning of this month and can't believe it has been a month already. I've been trying to adjust myself to the full-time (9 to 5) work routine. Right now, I am working on my paper from last year and starting a new SLR. To be honest, it has been a hard juggle but I'm slowly learning (safe to say!) I think the key is that you have to accept the fact that there will be ups and downs and you're not going to be super productive everyday.  For the majority of the time, I have stuck to very simple/ quick options (as you can tell from the pictures below) except for the Brazilian Passionfruit cake which was for a very special occasion (see recipe here ). Other than that, I started using my bamboo steamer during the Chinese New Year time. I have always wanted to use one of these, hopefully I can do some experiment cooking with it soon :) I...
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Oatmeal omelette

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Easiest brekkie ever! I learnt this while I was on holidays :)  Ingredients * 2 eggs  * 2 tablespoon oatmeal * 3 tablespoon powder milk * 1.5 tablespoon water * Spices (black pepper, cumin)  * Any herbs you like (coriander/ parsley) * Tiny amount of butter (1/2 teaspoon) Method 1. First combine oatmeal and powder milk together 2.  Add water so the mixture binds  3.  Add in the eggs, plus all herbs and spices you wish to add 4. Combine well 5. Heat a frypan, spread the butter and cook in pan for 10-15mins
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Wholemeal date and walnut loaf

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Happy Monday everyone! It has been a while since I baked a loaf so thought I'd make one :) Recipe adapted from http://daa.asn.au/recipes/wholemeal-date-and-walnut-loaf/ Ingredients 2 eggs, lightly beaten 100 g pitted dates, chopped 45 g margarine 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 cup water 40 g walnuts, chopped 1 cup self-raising flour 1 cup wholemeal flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 2 tablespoon LSA oil to spray Method 1) Preheat oven to 180 °C. 2) Combine dates, margarine, sugar and water in a saucepan. Stir and boil gently. Set aside to cool. 3) Sift flour, baking powder, LSA. 4) Add in walnuts and eggs  5) Add in date mixture and mix well. 6) Lightly spray a loaf tin pan. Line with baking paper. 7) Pour mixture into pan 8) Bake for 45-50 mins. Skewer should come out clean.  9) Remove from oven and cool for 10 mins 10) Turn out on a cooling rack. Slice and serve with yoghurt, if desired.
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Adamant August

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This month was a one hell-of-a-month for me. I still had a lot of work left to do from the major revisions of one of my old papers which took me a really long time. I was trying really hard to finish this because we had a deadline. But then, I got caught in the last wave of flu. I don’t get sick very often, but when I do, it’s really bad. I would’ve liked to take some time off to recover, but I knew I needed to push myself to meet the deadline. Working during that time wasn’t easy, it was tough. There were times where I struggled a lot, but I refused to give up. I ended up working from home for two days which helped me work and recover at the same time.  The next task was revising my other paper which was nearly done. I hadn’t worked on this for a while, so I had sort of forgotten what I was up to. The good thing was I did a writing workshop this month where I used this paper as an example. I found this to be incredibly useful because it helped me get into the mindset again...
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Finally a dietitian!

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It seems like not too long ago when I was in third year and was trying to decide what I wanted to do. Some of my friends wanted to continue studying in the field for an honours or masters, while some wanted to do medicine or pharmacy and some just wanted to get out there and find jobs.  I remember thinking, what do I do? Where do I fit in?  I was doing a mini neuroscience research project at the time that I had really enjoyed so I was considering honours. But at the same time, I realised I had a passion for food. Now don't get me wrong, I loved working in the lab and doing things I did like molecular biology, haematology, anatomical pathology, etc. But I kind of started realising my love for food and I wanted to do something that would allow me to make a difference in people's health. That was the initial vision that drove me to explore.  Up until this point, I had never done a nutrition subject so it was rather strange. The closest thing I did to nutrition was ...
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Picnick View Cafe

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We actually had plans to somewhere else but spontaneously decided to come here (as we were running late). I remember reading about this somewhere last year and wondering where the location was.  I used to do volunteering here with Cancer Council and did one of my placements here last year so I knew the area well but I had no idea this cafe was hiding here the whole time (it’s because you  can't see the name of the cafe from the street). It's completely hidden, all I could ever see was Campos coffee. We sat down after ordering food and looked around at all the hipster elements of this cafe. They have a lot here, it's pretty much packed with stuff. We waited for a while and started wondering why the food wasn't coming. We found it quite difficult to sit outside (it was a really hot day) and there was no arrangement inside (it's a really small cafe). Seating area Word! Soon after, one of the staff came and told me my dish would take a...
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