Daring Bakers - Challenge THIRTEEN!

The June challenge is ... Bakewell Tart/Pudding!

I'm posting this way too late and I know it won't even count but I so don't care right now. I know I did the challenge during the month and that's all that matters right? And it tasted good and I'm happy. If I ever see another bag of almond meal again before my death it'll be too soon. Anyway. Think happy thoughts.

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

My sister ran off to Jordan and took my DSLR camera with her so crappy pics will be the norm for the next 6 months. SIGH. To think I paid a grand+ for it. :(

I decided to do half jam and almond frangipane and half nutella and hazelnut "frangipane". The shortcrust recipe they gave us was amazing. I froze the butter and it turned out brilliant. I'm definitely using this recipe again.

The tarts were really popular.

Sliced up mini-tarts. Pretty?

I personally preferred the jam one! Stood the test of time; must be good.

I'm losing motivation to do all these challenges. I liked the old forums better too. The new forums are really hard to read and navigate and are hard on the eyes. Sigh.

"Older Posts" Button

Does anyone know how to make an "older posts" button at the bottom of the page?? It's really annoying me. I vaguely recall it being there once upon a time. It's stupid having to click the archives just to see past posts.

Anyone good at blogger template coding? Html? XML!?!

Truth

To remember what it is like to live in truth...

Daring Cooks - Challenge TWO!!

Hello again!

Posted late (what's new LOL) again. So anyway, this month's challenge for my cooksie friends is potstickers, also known as Chinese steamed dumpling things. And sometimes fried on the bottom to make then crunchy.

A thin unleavened dough contains my filling. I found that it is a lot more enjoyable when the dough is thin. Too thick and it just feels thick and unpleasant.

Little Asian Tip: put vinegar in the steaming water to whiten the dough.

Look! Crunchy butts. mMmm!! :)

I filled them with a Malay-style curry chicken thing. Very tasty.

...and cut them in half with my Kyocera ceramic knife!!

Very fun challenge!

Live Without Regret

I've realised something that really gets in the way when I'm studying. Sometimes, I start to think about my first semester and all the stupid things I used to do and how my WAM is so bad and how I should have done this and should have done that and then my mind starts to wander to all the other things in my life and I start to think of how different my life could be right now.

Then I realised:

Concentrate on the Present.

Live without Regret.

Flow as the wind...

I've come to the conclusion (once again) that I will never understand my dad so (once again) I've stopped trying. And being indifferent/emotionless just doesn't work. So I just take everything as it comes, and go with the flow.

I want to fly.

The new fridge/freezer (well not so new) has this button that makes the freezer go into "quick-freeze" mode and it makes this cool noise. It's next to my room so I can hear it. My dad really likes pressing the button. I don't know if he knows I can hear it but he presses it a lot. When he walks past he presses it like 11 times then goes away.

Just so odd.

EXAMS AGAIN.

I am so over exams. Are you over exams? I think you are.

Another think I am very much over is Psychology. And to think I was contemplating doing a whole major in Psychology!! Urgh I hate Freud. Nutcase. Thank THE HIGHER POWERS I am no longer doing it. O_O.

Anyway, I just got back a mark for one of my assessments and it was plain old rape. *Sad face*. So the subject that doesn't count to my degree will pull down my WAM and reduce my chances of going somewhere schnazzy for exchange.

Oh did I tells you, I quite excited by the prospect of going on exchange. Somewhere new, somewhere I can have adventures! I really want to go to the UK. Or America? Why not both. Fufu.

So here I am studying at 1:11 in the morning for bloody exams. I had bad food cravings so I ate an entire loaf of garlic bread. Yes, like the whole long thing. Sometimes it's not so good to be able to good decent food.

I am so over people telling me to apply for co-op, over my current job, over everything I just want exams to finish so I can laze around and do NOTHING.

Awesome.

DAYUM.

So anyway I set a cake into the oven and put the internet timer (here) on for 20 minutes. Except I had another timer open on another page that already finished. So half-way through I saw the timer flashing 00:00 and thought ok that was a bit early and went to check the cake. It was wet in the middle and I thought nah that's not done, "needs 12 more minutes."

Then I went back to the window to check why it flashed to zero and realised I had opened the wrong window and when I went back to the timer it said 12 more minutes left and I was like DAMN I'M GOOD.

HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Waste of time!!

Today was the ultimate waste of time. I woke up at 3 p.m. and tried to go to the gym I have to go once a week for 10 weeks to get some free stuff lol anyway) but I also had to pick up the van from Bankstown station. So I thought I'd take the train to Bankstown, and using the van drive to the gym before 4 (see I have an off-peak membership so they don't let me in after 4).

But when I got to the van the engine wouldn't start. Frack. I called NRMA road service and the guy showed up and hour later, couldn't even fix the car, so I had to wait another 2 hours for an effing tow-truck to show up and then I dropped the van off at home.

All for nothing!

Finished Chinese!!

Woohoo did my Chinese final exam today. I hope I did well. I need that damn HD average to apply to go to exchange to UPenn. Sigh!! So silly in my first few semesters....

Anyway! Enjoy one of my Chinese passages! And if you can't read it don't worry you're not missing out on much. It's not very exciting...

王朋：李友，你上个星期考试考得怎么样？
李友：考得不错，因为你帮助我复习，所以考得不错。但是老师说我中国字写得太慢！
王朋：是吗？以后跟你一起练习写字，教你什么写，好不好？
李友：那太好了！我们现在就写。给你笔。
王朋：我教你写“难”字。
李友：你写字写得很好，也很快。
王朋：哪里，哪里。你明天有中文课吗？
李友：有，明天我们学第七课。
王朋：你预习了吗？
李友：预习了。第七克的语法很容易，我都懂，可是生词太多，汉字也有一点儿难。
王朋：今天晚上我跟你一起练习吧？
李友：好，谢谢你。
王朋：不谢，晚上见。

I CAN READ MOON RUNES NOW!!