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Popular posts from this blog

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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High tea- final day

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Presenting some of our best shots and reflections on our experience. If you'd like to read about the background story/ beautiful chaos we had, see the other blog on  planning  :) Menu Sweet Chocolate cheesecake Butter Cake with buttercream icing Sweet potato and almond brownies Scones Semolina cake with cinnamon and lemon syrup Coconut macarons Red velvet cupcakes Vanilla thins Jelly shots Cream biscuits Sponge cake with whipped cream icing Mini coffee cupcakes with caramel icing Chocolate biscuits Lemon Shortbread Savoury Pinwheel sandwiches (chicken, egg and vegetarian) Curried chicken pastries Spinach ans ricotta pastries Sun-dried tomatoes, olives and polenta muffins Sun-dried tomatoes, capsicum and feta tarts Drinks Strawberry iced tea Masala spice tea Various pink Schweppes drinks (raspberry, pink grapefruit and blood orange) Butter Cake with buttercream icing Coconut macarons Sp...
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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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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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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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The beginning :)

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Hello there, As you can tell from the title, I like to partake in shenanigans so thought I'd make a blog and document it. I actually thought about doing this for ages. But I wasn't sure how and when do I begin? Or if I should write even? My 'big' plan was to launch this blog in January this year but it got delayed by quite a bit as you can see we are in June and I'm still writing my intro here! I did make an account earlier though, but I never got around to writing because I was busy with training placement and it took so much out of my time, it didn't really leave time for anything else. (For anyone that's not familiar with what being in placement involves- it's basically like full time work but you don't get paid anything. You may be armed with a whole lot of experience but it leaves you exhausted and broke) :( Now getting to the proper intro - I'm a 22 year old student dietitian living in Sydney. I've always wanted to blog but n...
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Kale chips

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I've been thinking about making kale chips for a while now; it was one of those things I thought would be too complex. Normally, I use kale in a smoothie or a salad but I can never get through a whole bunch without it going yellow. Recently, I've had a go at making kale chips. It's actually not that difficult, but it's just very delicate. You need to have the right temperature and time setting. Otherwise, you end up with burnt or soggy chips (like I did for the first few times!) I've adapted this recipe from some recipe sites and personal experience :) Recipe is as follows- Ingredients 1 kale bunch Paprika Cayenne pepper Lemon pepper Sea salt 4 Tb Extra Virgin olive oil Method  Preheat oven to 150 (fan-forced) Remove stems from kale and tear leaves into bite sized pieces) Wash kale thoroughly Dry kale with a salad spinner (this step is important!)  In a bowl, mix olive oil and herbs/ spices (amount to your liking) Line tray with baking paper U...
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