Plans

Since my father and brother are going away camping this weekend and I don't work today (yay!) I've decided to cook Indian for my mother, fiancee and I. Nothing really complex, just butter chicken out of a pack and rice. It's really about time I try the stuff though since one of my friends seems to love it and I can't remember ever trying it... although I might have once after a SCA training. Pretty sure that's what the baron was eating at least... aaaaanyway. It sounds good so all should go well!

I'll update this space later with pictures of the finished product and my final verdict!

So what else should I do since I wont have people bursting in all weekend? Well I have a 11-7 so I might make bento (since I have noodles and the cutest jellies now!) I also have to start a piece of art that's been commissioned, but that means not being lazy and actually going into town and buying a canvas which I can't really do until after the next payday anyways since I plan to get one for the commission and one for a project I'm doing for myself... thankfully he hasn't specified a deadline!!

Hmm in other news I'm thinking of making a blog about the food I make and reviewing bits and pieces for cooking and places I've eaten.

See you Monday!

Just because the packet says microwavable...doesn't mean you should

I have a new favourite snack! It's:

a. cheap

b. easy

c. super tasty

Prawn tubes are just awesome... however just because you can supposedly microwave them doesn't mean you actually SHOULD.

I decided to TRY and be healthy on my first attempt and adventure into this colourful fishy world, and it was simply epic fail.

~First attempt~

The packet suggested 30 seconds on high and if that didn't puff them up to adjust... this is what I got. Soo...

~Second Attempt~

Another 30 seconds...made half cooked/burnt half raw unpuffed tubes of god awfulness...

~Third Attempt~

_(deepfried)

SUCCESS!!

They're so cute and colourful and yummy...

Another one of my favourite snacks is the pandaroo jelly cups. They come in sets of six with the flavours Mango, Strawberry, Lychee, Papaya, Kiwi and Honeydew. Inside the jelly is a small cube of coconut gel and they are 100% vegetarian.

Anyway that's it for today ^^;; enjoying a day off being lazy and eating yummy food! Byes!

ICHY FACE!!

Yes folks my face is killing me... my allergies have played up something shocking and my entire body is covered in a red dotted rash sort of similar to chicken pox... and it's just as itchy!! All I want to do is scratch, but obviously that's the worst thing I can do so I need something to distract me, like chewing gum... 

Also tonight Andrew and I are going to dinner since he hasn't taken me out for a while. Not sure which resturant to go to this time though, usually we go to the local Chinese place but I'm not keen on going there for personal reasons. The Irish pub usually has good food, so we'll probablly go there. In reality we'll probably put a few names in a hat and pull one out... so we'll see ^^

On another note, today after work as I was waiting with Andrew for my caramel latte frappe (which are to DIE for) my boss walked in and called out accross the resurant "Guess who's Crew Person of The Month?" I was like um... ?? Thinking Andrew had gotten it again as we were seated across from each other. Then she pointed at ME!

WHAT

THE

HELL

O_O

So now my photo is going to be on the wall near the door with all the other winners and I'm all icky looking from allergies EEEEW... However I'm happy as since I actually feel like people really do appreciate my work (even if it just is McDonalds) plus I get extra pay that I can put towards doing something nice with. 

Hmm other than that I've got my cert two classes tomorrow then I don't work till Wednesday for wash up. Mostly this week will be lesure. ^o^

Anyway since this week will mostly be a lazy one (on account of many birthdays and general lack of shifts) I'm tossing up the idea of doing a video on where I live. It could be fun and it'll show anyone who reads this where I come from. Plus the weather has taken a change for the better and the place looks really pretty at the moment... Well lets see anyway ^^

~ Cooking with Cuteness ~

Well this is getting posted far later than I had hoped... due to circumstances beyond my control I was unable to post at midnight like planned. However at least it's the right day ^^;;;

Plans for the week ~

♥ meet Lawrence at the airport, or at least see him soon after he gets back from Argentina

♥ cook cute bento!

♥ get a better recording of RE 

♥ WOOOOORK

♥ perhaps exercise... lol. Well really I should.

What I actually achieved ~

♥ Worked (more on that topic in a minute)

♥ Recorded RE, Beth mixed it, and if you think you get to hear it you are so very wrong!!

♥ Cute bento! (also more on that to come)

What I haven't done as of yet ~

♥ Exercise... go figure

♥ Met up with Lawrence. Not sure when his flight comes in :/

Anyway onto those topics I said I'd abriviate on... As for work I've been enrolled into a certificate class (meaning at the end of my course I'll have certificate II in retail) I'm pretty happy about this as my resume is otherwise devoid of qualifications. Even better is that my friend Jess is my study buddy person! Also  my pay rate will stay the same rather than dropping just because I'm a trainee.

Now for the fun part of this post!

おーべんと

This is my first real attempt at making a cute bento. It contains:

♥ Seasoned rice

♥ Carrots and green beans

♥ Onigri (rice ball)

♥ A shaped coloured egg with candy sprinkles

I wasn't too keen on the carrots and beans, but the seasoned rice and onigri were yummy! The egg was ok but I did a really poor job dying it... 

~Instructions~

Haru's Seasoned rice 

Make up as much sushi rice as necessary, let it cool slightly, add rice wine vinegar, chilli powder, garlic flakes, thin strips of nori and paper thin shreds of shitake mushrooms. Use as desired or just eat YUM!

You could add curry instead of chili if you prefered.

Shaped and Coloured Eggs

Hard boil an egg. When it has cooked immediately shell and press into a container the shape you want it to come out as. Apply even pressure to the opening and submerge in cold water for about 5-10 minutes. When the egg is completely cool fill a bowl with cold water and add food dye till you get the colour you want (Please don't over do this!! Food dye is more potent than one would first assume...) submerge the egg untill you get a cute coloured agg!

Onigri

I make mine by hand (because I don't have any proper shapers) but basically I wait till the rice is cool and the wine vinegar has been added then roll it up in my hands until it's firm then put it in the box... simple. As for decoration that's just shapes cut out of nori I put on. Neko Onigri!!

Todays lunch consists of my seasoned rice, freshly husked peas, lunch meat, jelly (jello) fresh berries and candy sprinkles ♥

I love sugar!!

I might make one tomorrow too since I have to work. So many ideas ^_^

♥  いただきます ♥

Alien Foods

Today I thought it would be fun to try a new type of dink, something that you see in all the major supermarkets here but have so far been to chicken to try. The drink in question is Yoosh Aloe Vera, which if you can get past the idea of it being a plant byproduct and the "floaties" of plant matter, is actually really really good. It's a combination of both the aloe vera and honey, so it has a very sweet flavour but isn't caffeinated and doesn't even have the preservatives most popular soft drinks do, so it wont mess up autistic or ADD kids... Anyway I enjoy it :)

Also today I got some "Gap" biscuit sticks... the Tomyum ones are well... yum! I wouldn't get them regularly because they're a bit spicy but even my family like them! I also got the Salad variety, but I'd had them before so no adventures there...

Also got some red miso paste and bonito flakes, so I'll make miso for breakfast tomorrow hopefully!!

Anyway, Mum is in charge of dinner tonight so like a good little Australian I'm gonna go eat a meat pie... classic.

Crazy Cooking Adventure!

I've never really been considered a good cook by my family, however that may soon be a thing of the past. Yesterday I decided it could be fun to try making pastries, and my family actually liked them :o

AND there were no comments about it being deadly poison ^o^'

So what exactly did I make you might be wondering? Well currently I'm obsessed with putting maplesyrup on EVERYTHING (well other than my dinner and breakfast cereal...that wouldn't be good at all...) So I made some Apple/Maple/Pecan Danish pastries!! I can't really give you a recipe because I didn't use one, and used premade puff pastry >_> but I can at least give you a few tips ^^;
(mostly really basic but you have to start somewhere)

• With the apple don't blend it too finely or the moisture sends the pastry soggy and you wind up with a mess. It's also so much yummier when you have chunks of apple to bite into!
• Use grease proof paper AND non stick spray...normally I'd just use paper but these like to stick. A lot.
• Keep the puff pastry in the freezer and only take out a few sheets at a time or it softens too much and it's like working with bubblegum. Not good.
• Also don't force the pastry to bend whilst it's still partially frozen, or it will snap.
• Separate an egg and use the whites as 'glue' where as you use the yolk to glaze. Sprinkle sugar for a crunchy finish.
• More importantly experiment and have fun!

~ The results of my 'hard' work ~

Panini, Sanity & Purchases

Yesterday despite the bad weather I deicided to go into town with my partner rather than sit around the house like we usually would. I can't say anything major happened while we were down there, but I made a few interesting purchases and tasted what would have to be one of the yummiest foods down there.

It all started with the panini.

Now you may or may have not had panini before but in my opinion they are the perfect snack on a cold day. Maybe that and soup. The panino in question (yes panino is the singular noun) was a toasted cajian chicken that brought me much joy. In fact they are so good that when I had it in the paper bag in shops the staff even asked if I was the one with the yummy food. If it hadn't been pouring down earlier I would have been tempted to go get another one. I'll just have to make one later.

As for Sanity, not that doesn't apply to my state of mind (never will) it's actually a reference to the music and DVD store. I know they're fairly wide spread in Australia but I'm not sure about internationally. In anycase any trip into town usually ends up here at one point or another. As usual my partner checked out the DVD's and music whilst I gravitated towards the anime section. Fairly dismal in size and dominated by Naruto episodes but sometimes you can pick up the ocassional treasure! In my case I found the DeathNote live action movie. I'm not sure if I want to watch it before I've finished the anime, but it's nice to have it if I do. I might just watch it later anyway. Also the guy behind the counter actually watches it too so it was fun to talk about how awesome it is.

After that the weather started to go even worse and there was a light rainshower so we made our way to Cashworks, a second hand store that sells games, consols, bike gear, phones, DVD's music and just about anything you can think of. I nearly died when I looked in the computer games section and found Sims2 expansion packs for $15 each. Major retail outlets are still charging $50 each... the disks wern't even minorly scratched ^o^ So I got Nightlife and University. Yay now I can obesess on the Sims2 and have more options!

Sadly they don't have any DS games in at the moment, just PSP. Makes you wonder about the sucess of the PSP compared to the Nintendo DS huh?

Anyway after that the weather remained bad, and it was close to the time all the highschool students congrigate in the mall and make it a less nice place to be. So we headed home.

And that was my trip!