FOOD : Crackers and Cheese : 'A Grand Day Out'

Spent my weekend afternoon watching Il Commissario Montalbano, an italian detective series, with some classic crackers and cheese.



Having Crackers and Cheese reminds me so much of one of my favourite animations, Wallace and Gromit. In one of the episodes, 'A Grand Day Out', they build a rocket to fly to the moon only to realize he's forgotten the crackers! He takes the crackers and returns just in time. Shortly after, they reached the moon and realized it was made of Cheese! So they set up a picnic blanket and cut up moon cheese to eat with the crackers.
The link to the wiki entry here.

No moon cheese for me but Australian-made cheese singles instead.



With it. some milktea. Normally I'd just have tea (without milk or sugar) but some days I like it sweet so milktea it is! :D (Also it is perfect for this neutral tasting, slightly salty cheese.)



Looks lovely. I also love how it complements the gold plate. (Did you know i got the plate at a flea market for only 10(local currency), which is about 20yen/0,15euros. *A* It's really amazing, the things you find at flea markets! However, being at a flea market where you don't speak the language is a little difficult because I don't even know how/where to begin to haggle.:P Then again I enjoy checking out the goods.:D)



Anyway, today was our highschool homecoming which I didn't attend. I totally forgot about it until I turned on my laptop and checked facebook. (I turn off facebook notifications on my phone because I find it a little pesky...n_n) Turns out a lot of people went, and not much has changed. I'd have enjoyed going there, yes; but I only spend 54 days a year at our weekend home and it's the only time I have for myself. :3 (I sometimes find it difficult to explain this to people.) Other than that, I prefer to spend time with friends rather than acquaintances. (Partly, I am convincing myself I made the right decision not to attend, but it is also partly true. 85% of the people there I hardly talk to -- even back in school.)



But, that is that. XD

This was the VHS cover of Wallace and Gromit.


(photo credit: wiki)

Mine was the 2-CD VCD version which I watched on our Windows95 comp! (It feels so ancient!!)
I remember buying it from HMV Hong Kong because it wasn't available in my country. We used to visit Hong Kong (Dad's hometown) every year a long time ago to visit relatives. Now we hardly visit and I miss it. It is so much more diverse than here, the culture, the shops, the fashion, and you're bound to find the things you're looking for. XP

(i.e. collector cards, figures @WanChai, fake branded goods with quality @NorthPoint, Very yummy cookies in sanrio lunchboxes @Mannings/Watsons, Manga, Fashion Magazines @Newsstands everywhere -- and there's the annual expo, where they give out a lot of freebies *A* Well, you have to pay a minimal amount to enter. But, one things that I miss most is the food. xlb, chee cheong fun, satay, charsiu, stinky tofu, and those egg waffles from street vendors!) -- The list goes on forever and I think I should make another post for this!!

`A plouche!! :X

Food :: Banana Squares

So... While cleaning the cupboard I found a box of cake mix I bought earlier this year (that was so many months ago. Haha).

I decided to make some Banana squares.



It's actually an oven-toaster mix so it was quite easy to make.



I mashed some bananas. added the cake mix, and 1 medium-sized egg.



The crunchies you see on top aren't nuts. I actually don't like nuts. ^_^ But I wanted to add some texture so I added crushed cereals (I used my favourite -- Kellogg's Special K)



I actually like how it turned out. :D The only thing that I didn't like about this mix was that it was a little sweet.XD

I have previously tried this with pumpkins and it came out very nice too.

I think I will try carrots next. :D (And maybe put them in mini cupcake cups.)

---Ohhh, and not to forget, I added a hint of cinnamon because I love it. *A* (Did you know I used to hate the taste of cinnamon as a kid? But I absolutely love it now. It smells wonderful and adds such a beautiful flavour to everything.:D)

Coming down with a Cold

Hello~~

I've just recovered from a bad cold. Well, I still sound very awful but I feel so much better than the first two days.

Would you believe I woke up with a very sore throat on my birthday?! Haha!! Talk about coincidence.X_x

Anyway, I can't wait until the weekend (tomorrow). I have so much to do and to post.

Besides photographing my haul from the last two weeks, a friend of mine asked me to translate a document. It isn't much but I don't mind earning some extra.XD Actually I said I'd do it for free anyway since I'd do anything to save me from boredom. :P

Highschool homecoming is this coming sunday. I can't believe it's been 10years. I'm both anxious and excited but not anymore because I have decided not to attend. (I am feeling very anti-social right now but I've never been so social to start with.) I have responded to the invitation and said I couldn't because I had work on saturday. And then someone replied and said it was on a Sunday!! OMG. I seriously thought it was on a saturday. (My reason for not going -- a lot of people aren't attending, none of my "friends" are going... and there isn't anyone in particular I want to see...So. That is that.)

Anyway, found a few photos from 2012 on my "TO POST" folder...




.. I don't do throwback but what the heck. XD

~*~

Until my next post! :X

Food Review :: Komoro Japanese Dining

This evening we decided to come back to that Japanese restaurant we went to a couple of weeks back.^_~



The food is very nice. Mostly fried stuff, so it is quite filling.

This time we ordered the Ebi Tempura bento.



I had the Tendon.



I feel so guilty eating so many deep-fried stuff. But it's not like I eat this everyday anyway. XP



There was 1pc of ebi tempura and the rest was a bunch of vegetables. Carrots, Okra, and some leeks.. I think they were leeks. And onions.
It would have been nice if they included squash or Kabocha.



And then for sides we ordered some Gyoza.



This, I think, is one of the best things on their menu! I just have to say -- their Gyoza tastes amazing. The inside is filled with vegetables, and the wrap had a soft but firm texture.

This was what made us decide to come back to this place! XD



***
Komoro Japanese Dining @S.Lazaro

Overall:
Food 8/10
Service 7/10
Presentation 8/10

*Averagely-priced Japanese food place serving authentic-tasting food. The tempura in my opinion was quite ordinary but their Gyoza is highly recommended! ^_~

Sunday Shopping Spree

What I love about weekends: late nights watching my favourite series, waking up past noon, coffee (for a year now I've been cutting back on coffee and drink it only on weekends. There are reasons for this -- my previous daily coffee consumption caused the following things: frequently waking up between sleep, sleeping 8hours but wake up feeling like I've slept only 6hrs, frequent headaches when I miss / have my coffee at a later time, neck pain -- which went away months after I cut down on caffeine, and (my sudden) low bone density when I randomly had it checked once. Even though I love milk and take calcium supplements.), and blah.
Today I went shopping. X3 I don't shop often, only once in a while. Lately it has become more frequent. :O

Will post my haul sometime next week when I have time to photograph them.:3

Here's the beautiful afternoon sky today.



The weather has been good today after a week of gloomy/rainy weather. :D
It's past 12 and today's officially my birthday. Not too enthusiastic about turning twenty something and my birthday doesn't change the fact that I still have to go to work tomorrow. x_x

---

Also I've joined Sam's Giveaway [click here]. She has recently acquired her own domain [ www.COLORCRRUSH.com].

Items included in the giveaway are the following:





(photo credits: www.COLORCRRUSH.com)



The sumikkogurashi stickers are simply adorable (looks like a cross between Purin and Monokuroboo)!! But so are the other samples which I haven't tried! When I went to Taiwan to study before they used to give free samples outside shops and along some shopping streets. Here they don't give samples for free, you usually get them after buying some products from a store. XD But anyway I've always wanted to try some of these products.

If you'd like to join, it's never too late. [Sam's accepting entries until 31st July! :3)

Food Review :: KimN'Chi - Cheap Korean Fastfood

Today I woke up at noon! I used to be an early riser but having started working I now realize how much I value my extra sleeping hours. XD

So we decided to try a Korean fast food place from the food hall in the shopping centre.

This was their version of the korean equivalent for japanese bento (I couldn't remember what it was called).



This was omu-raise and some rice noodles. It was quite nice but didn't taste korean at all. It tasted local but good nonetheless. Was also very filling --- with all the rice and noodles it's to be expected I guess.XD



Friend Dumplings were nice but ordinary. The wrap was crispy and the filling soft. But I couldn't quite figure out what it was filled with.:P



Chicken Barbecue -- very tender and tasted sweet and barbecue--ey. Very local-tasting and not Korean but yummy.



Dumpling Ramyon. Was awful. They used cheap local instant noodle packs. XD The soup base was nice however.



My meal. Is it a lot? I had quite an appetite that day and wanted to try everything.



Their kind of Bento!



Side dishes, local dilis, egg rolls, and crab sticks (and a rolled-up vegetable leaf) on skewers.



...

For a fast-food at a food hall it wasn't very cheap. But considering how expensive Korean-related dishes are here, it wasn't so bad. The taste caters to local palate and did not taste authentically Korean; but it was quite yummy.



***

KimN'Chi @Food Choices G4

Overall:
Food 7/10
Service 6/10 *The staff were not very kind at Glorietta branch, and I much preferred the staff at Galleria branch.
Presentation 7/10

Knitting: Red Hearts BeretxBeanie

Remember I started knitting a beret sometime around the beginning of this year?



and then I frogged it and remade it...:3

Well, I still didn't follow any pattern the second time around. I just started knitting by instinct. the result was that the beret looked more like a beanie, the ribbing was too loose (next time I should knit 40-45 instead of 50-60.X_x

I was quite satisfied with how it came out though.



Wearing the beret-that-turned-into-a-beanie! :D



Next time I will make a thicken ribbing. Maybe 2" instead of 1".



I did a fair amount of fair-isle knitting (--simply means working multiple colours at the same time).



The colour contrast is not too strong, which is fine. It looks plain from afar but cute heart details upclose.



I couldn't decide between the coloured one and black and white, so here's how it looks in black and white:



And the rest of the photos of me wearing it.

Weekend Pizza

Today I started watching a new series - Il Commissario Montalbano (Italian)(Actually, an old series which I have only started watching today.;D)

Also had some left over pizza from last night..



These were sooo good. ^_^



I love lazy weekends at home. X3 (well, as long as no one bothers me.XD)



Really should try to do something more productive. ~_~



:3

Food Review :: Bistro Ravioli

Yet another evening at Bistro Ravioli!



Quite smitten with the food (if there's a more fitting adjective), so we're back! XD



The table overlooking the kitchen.



Very interesting view from this window because you can see how they make their pizza.:3



Interior. Brick. Warm Colours. Neon Lights.





Puttanesca with Sun-dried Tomatotes



Italian Sausage Ravioli in Romesco Sauce



Very beautiful flavour. X3 The ravioli is stuffed with a chunk of sausage, with a very strong garlic taste.



The sausage is very tender and blends just right with the ravioli. These two goes incredibly well with each other.

Fennel Sausage Pizza


Light and tasty.

A closer look.






***
Bistro Ravioli @NorthWingMOA

Overall:
Food 10/10
Service 10/10
Presentation 8/10

www.bistroravioli.com