how fitting

Spring ROOOOOOLLs for dinner. Twas beautiful.

Choc-chip buttermilk pancakes. Made it from this recipe. I quickly searched for a pancake recipe just for two since most cater for 4 or 6 and this was the first to come up. And they were absolutely scrumptious. My tummy is happily content.

Hu Tieu Sao aka Beef Rice Noodle

Ever tried pandan coconut jelly? It's a traditional dessert that all Vietnamese mothers know the secret of. Unlike western desserts that usually involve ice cream and pastry, Vietnamese people tend to have either fruit, jelly or sweet warm dishes that somehow involve coconut milk.

Nieuw Amsterdam is the “nieuw” kid on the block showcasing some good American tucker for the Melbourne masses. We had a Nieuw Reuben sandwich, grits fritters with sweet corn and a tray of pork meat with salad. The meat was deliciously tender and perfectly cooked and that grits fritters put a sweet twist on your regular corn fritter. I recommend it for some good food but I did find the service to be conflicting, a rather pushy waitress (I assume the front of house manager) wanted us to order within the half about and on the other hand, we also had pleasant friendly waiter who addressed our every concern. Nevertheless, I would come back to taste that tender meat again. Oh and the popping candy berry split! I was surprised how good this was!

Oh such good kimchi stew. Meega @ Glen Waverly.

My birthday was today and it was incredible. I really couldn't ask for more. This was all I wanted, good food and good company. I didn't take the photos but on top of this we had 2-3 different cakes from Burch and Purchese, LuxBite and Adriano Zumbo, AND cupcakes from Paolo's. I needed to take mini-breaks in between all the food but honestly, I just kept on thinking, this has by far been the best birthday I've had. It's just, my friends don't know how grateful I am cause I don't really show it and I'm quite a consistent happy-go-lucky kind of person, but I was just crying tears inside when I saw how everything just looked. Nothing short of amazing.

Sigh I tried making macarons. And failed. This was my first time making them all by myself. I'm usually a small helper whenever my friends decide to make them, but I don't really know what's going on. All I want them to do is tell me what to do to get them macarons in my tummy! Too bad I don't pay attention. Anyways since I’m into cooking all of sudden, I decided to try the challenge of macaron making and boy is it a learning curve. Everything needs to be precise and I'm still learning how to detect the right consistency. After two tries with one recipe, one burnt lot and other one, cracked and sticking to the baking paper, I've decided to move onto another recipe. Although I crashed and burned, now I know the basic ingredients and the general method off the top of my head, AND know more of what not to do. For example, do not use wax paper. I realise that making perfect macarons does require the right equipment and preparation and because of that I may not try and attempt making them for quite a while (until I get my cooking confidence back up). BUT I still want to make them. Cause I want to eat my salted caramel popcorn macarons.

The fast diet is going surprisingly well and I've adhered to the diet for three weeks now. The amount of weight I've lost isn't substantial but I think I feel better internally. It's amazing how I'm used to fasting for hours at a time. Sure I get hungry now and then but it isn't as strong nowadays. In fact, I have more trouble stopping myself from picking a cookie up and chewing it just for the sake of it. The physical memory of eating seems to be stronger than my actual hunger state, which is why I found this diet to be perfect for controlling that habit. I have changed the diet however and instead of fasting for 12 hours at a time by having one small meal in the morning and night, I fast for the entire day and look forward to a hearty dinner. I may have a dying craving to eat more than 500 calories afterwards but I focus on the fact that in just a few hours and some sleep, I get back to my normal eating routine. I use the fitness pal on these fast days just to keep track of how much I ingest, but I’m really guessing most of the time since my mother cooks our dinners. Now that I'm quite regular with my fast diet, I am considering to take on the fast exercise. I have read the book but I didn't really understand how the exercise routines worked. I might have to read it again. Time to get my cardio back up.

Conquered: Places that I’ve been to.