Inner Solace

My sister had a Mad Hatter’s tea party last month. It was...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:54:26 +0800

My sister had a Mad Hatter’s tea party last month. It was a BYO hat and teacup, saucer and plate kind of do. Lots of fun with a broad range of tea sets showing up.

Mum brought her Johnson Bros. Haddon Hall set[1] (front right), brother and his partner brought two sets of espresso cups each[2] (rear right). Mother’s friend brought one of her favourite sets, sister had hers, and Eric and I brought a brown Pyrex that I got as a hand-me-down from my sister (left and right edges).

My contribution to this tea shin-dig was an apple strudel inspired by Giuseppe Corica’s famous product.

We love GC strudels, always have and probably always will, but the increase in popularity has lead to strudels which have shrunk in size and increased in cost (though this might be due to inflation as well, truth be told). They do also appear to be taking some shortcuts with the custard, it’s quite a bit thicker than it used to be.

Every time we have it[3], there’s always a comment about how deliciously simple the apple strudel is. And it really is quite simple. But, as always, it’s all about the quality of the ingredients.

I used the puff pastry from Carême. Their puff pastry rises to an impressive height, but it did make my strudel tower a little dangerously, even if it did make it look rather epic. The apples were stewed myself with butter, sugar and spices until they were soft, but with a little bite still. And there was some slightly thickened crème anglaise with vanilla bean, and also some fresh whipped cream.

After I’d baked the puff pastry, I realised I didn’t have a container or dish that I would be able to use to transport the fully assembled strudel to my sister’s. So all the individual components were packed up and assembled there.

I’m pretty chuffed to say that it went down well, and family consensus was that it might even be better than GC’s. ^_^v

I win at strudel.

[1] She’s had this for years and years, and she only pulls them out maybe once a year so they’re starting to crack a little. She had the complete set once, but a maid broke the teapot (I think) and we’ve been hunting for a replacement ever since.

This is such an impossible set to track down specific pieces for. And it’s so much nicer than the more recent sets being made.

[2] My brother thought this would make it easier for him to double-park different teas. Typical.

[3] I’ve pretty much grown up on this particular style of strudel. So much so, that I really can’t handle the other strudels which are either sickly sweet and pop-tart-ish or weird and fruity with raisins[4] like what you find at Miss Maud[5].

[4] Not really a fan of raisins. But I do get fruit-toast phases.

[5] Speaking of weird and fruity, this one relatively new pastry shop a few years ago, not sure if they’re still around, tried to make a GC strudel knock-off. But they added sweet pineapple jam. Honestly, wth. *twitch*

{031} Chicken okonomiyaki.

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:08:52 +0800

{031} Chicken okonomiyaki.

{030} Watercolor of my Tamron 28-75 f/2.8. Blargh. Leonardo da...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:08:12 +0800

{030} Watercolor of my Tamron 28-75 f/2.8.

Blargh. Leonardo da Vinci, I ain’t.

{029} Cop-out photo of my ceiling because I had a raging...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:06:33 +0800

{029} Cop-out photo of my ceiling because I had a raging headache.

{028} Tinkering with watercolours and my Pentel Aquash. Did this...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:52:47 +0800

{028} Tinkering with watercolours and my Pentel Aquash.

Did this one a few days before I took the photo. It takes a bit to get used to the medium again.

When I first started doing the art thing, I remember I used to consider watercolour the ‘hard art’. I don’t know why. Perhaps because you had to waterwash the paper to prep it, perhaps because it was hard to fix if you mucked up because it dried so fast. Don’t know.

But it’s really quite nice to mess around with.

{027} Waiting for John Cleese. This was a lot of fun and...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:48:21 +0800

{027} Waiting for John Cleese.

This was a lot of fun and I’m glad I went. Must rewatch everything!

Also, listening to John Cleese talk about his youth and time with the Footlights and his earlier work with his contemporaries was really brilliant. Not to mention his anecdotes about his mother.

Tokyo Hooters Will Celebrate Valentine’s Day With Hello...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:13:21 +0800

Tokyo Hooters Will Celebrate Valentine’s Day With Hello Kitty (via BuzzFeed)

Two things I didn’t expect to see in a collab…

foodpornstars: interesting service piece

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:48:13 +0800

foodpornstars:

interesting service piece

brain-food: I just needed to blog PokeAwesome again. It brings...

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:32:22 +0800

brain-food:

I just needed to blog PokeAwesome again.

It brings me infinite chuckles.

Oh goodness. Hilarity.

Is there more? Please let there be more. No? I’ll just have to rewatch this one, then.

January

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 22:48:00 +0800

Got quite a bit done this month. Pretty pleased.

Fauxtography

Started 365 again. Going well so far. Not exactly inspirational photos, but there was a little experimentation going on with the tripod, 2x teleconverter, and remote shutter release which is better than no tinkering at all.

Also experimenting with mobile post-processing on the iPhone and iPad. Interesting with mixed results thus far. Bit hard though since you can’t easily calibrate the display. Also learning more about post-proc in Lightroom and Photoshop. Trying to graduate from using presets that I don’t understand the construction of…

Also also, bought a new lens (post to come). I didn’t mean to. But the price I got it at was ~$100 less than what the market price has been for the last few months. I don’t regret the purchase yet, but it’s a near thing…

Food

More ice-creams (lime and cardamom yoghurt, and a delicious chocolate. I have more plans for my ice-cream maker which I need to pace out a bit lest I gain too much weight. -_-

Made a clone of the Giuseppe Corica apple strudel[1] that I’ve been telling myself I’d do for years. Seriously, I win at strudel (post to come). I love GC, but I love my rendition of their strudels. The difficult thing now will be deciding if I can be bothered dropping $18.50 for one of theirs, or spending the time to make one of mine.

Made yee sang from scratch. Much easier than expected. But need sharper knife for slicing the fish. Also, a julienne peeler like Marcus suggested would be a good idea. My knife skills are not so refined that I can julienne quickly (and evenly), and while the food processor is fast, it mushes it up a bit.

Fountain Pens

Decided I need to hand-write more otherwise my hands will be permanently stuck in the hands-on-keyboard position. So I bought a new paper diary/planner.

Also gave my favourite fountain pen a little TLC with some maintenance. Decided that while I loved it dearly, I wanted to branch out into a (Japanese) fine nib.

Bought two new Pilot fine nib pens, one classic, one with a clear demonstrator body. And also a Parker 51 clone for giggles to replace my dad’s old Parker 51 that broke ages ago.

Obtained two Sheaffer Touchdowns of unknown model, and my dad’s old Parker 61.

Learning how to maintain all of these properly. And also learning to repair Touchdowns. This has been pretty educational and kind of neat. I was just waiting on parts to come in, and now all I need is to buy some shellac and I can finish this off.

Arty

It’s been ages since I’ve drawn or painted anything either. I don’t have the time or the space for acrylics, and I lack the talent for oils and pastels, but I’ve pulled out my Pentel Aquash[2] and watercolours and started tinkering again. Once I get the hang of using the brush, I may even pull out my Aquarelles and put the two together.

Musical

I borrow my sister’s instruments from time to time, usually my mum’s old classical guitar, but I’ve been listening to more Jake Shimabukuro again, and then there were those videos of that adorable little boy who played Jason Mraz’ I’m Yours, and then that video of Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt doing What Are You Doing New Years Eve?… So this time I borrowed the uke.

I’ve learned the chords for Puff the Magic Dragon and a couple other songs. It’s not much, but it’s definitely progress. I may even start the piano again, but one step at a time.

Garden

The shiso seedling I sprouted is still a seedling. But I guess this is better than it not having sprouted at all but it isn’t growing any bigger. I suck at shiso. I might have to give the seeds to someone else to try and sprout for me next season and then get it off them again when they’re seedlings. If only they sold shiso seedlings in Perth. *tear*

[1] These strudels are famous. So famous that people (mainly Asians it seems) will cart them as carry-on luggage to give as gifts to friends/family/business associates overseas. It’s like what people do for Krispy Kreme’s when they fly in from over east, except that GC strudels are actually worth the effort.

[2] “Why not just use regular brushes?” I hear you ask. Well, it’s more convenient for spontaneous bits of watercolouring without having to have a jar of water nearby. I can just pick up the brush, crack open the box of watercolours and away I go. Convenient for getting myself back into bits of painting without having to break all my supplies out of the store room.

Rescue plane. Doing a lap around the river before the fireworks...

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 01:35:37 +0800

Rescue plane.

Doing a lap around the river before the fireworks on Australia Day. The sky looks blue-ish here, but it was grey and horribly overcast.

{026} Australia Day fireworks.Didn’t get any lightning...

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 01:34:38 +0800

{026} Australia Day fireworks.

Didn’t get any lightning shots unfortunately. Most of the lightning occurred everywhere my camera wasn’t aimed at. Some of the lightning did wash out a few of my photos though. But sadly I didn’t get anything noteworthy.

Next time I’ll do more research for fireworks photography in advance.

{025} First night out with my new lens. All I have to say is...

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 01:33:08 +0800

{025} First night out with my new lens.

All I have to say is that I’ve been spoiled by f/2.8 and f/1.7 lenses.

1985 Minolta AF Lenses (by fmajor007) Pretty pretty Minolta...

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 01:28:03 +0800

1985 Minolta AF Lenses (by fmajor007)

Pretty pretty Minolta lenses. The prices haven’t really scaled over the years and some of the lens prices are significantly different.

But given this was nearly 30 years ago, goodness some of those are expensive!

Added note, if only flashes were still $90.

brain-food: Maria Gvedashvili is a photographer based in...

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 01:25:04 +0800

brain-food:

Maria Gvedashvili is a photographer based in Tbilisi, Georgia. She started a personal project called, “Children in Maturity” which documents her incredibly adorable daughters growth.

Beautiful portraiture. <3

welovephoneography: Smartphones get smarter with nature with...

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 01:24:33 +0800

welovephoneography:

Smartphones get smarter with nature with the bamboo Android phone by ADzero.

Camera-wise, it’s to feature a “ring flash,” an exclusive & new camera tech spec not found on any other camera phones.

Just don’t let it near any hungry pandas!

World’s First Bamboo Smartphone

via Droid Life

This device is aesthetically pleasing. Shame it runs Android[1].

[1] I don’t have a specific objection to Android, but I object to the (lack of) upgrade paths for Android on current devices.

brain-food: Muhammad Ali x Street Fighter

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 01:22:03 +0800

brain-food:

Muhammad Ali x Street Fighter

(via davidberes)

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 01:21:43 +0800

(via davidberes)

When I tried to translate this myself, I had to look up the word...

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:49:19 +0800

When I tried to translate this myself, I had to look up the word ウケ [u-ke] (must be a colloquialism). For a moment, I thought my friend was calling her husband “the submissive partner in a homosexual relationship”.

Hilarious, although still possibly contextually appropriate given that he made her broccoli on rice for lunch…

More hilarious was the translation Bing tried to offer. A “Bento UTI antagonist”? I mean, sure broccoli on rice is a bit poor, but that’s quite horrible. Really, what does Bing have against broccoli? Or my friend’s husband, for that matter.

rhodeskc: One of the many ways a dog is better than a car Ever...

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:38:00 +0800

rhodeskc:

One of the many ways a dog is better than a car

Ever since Hammond covered this in Season 6 of Top Gear, where he asked, “What would be more likely to get you to go out with me - this Aston Marton DB9 Volante, or this 8 week old puppy?” I’ve taken every opportunity to follow in his footsteps. Now, Hammond is a rather good looking chap on his own and has quite the lady fan base, so this is hardly an impartial test. But it does look like fun… and it is.

Last night I pulled in to the apartment complex, and saw two incredibly hot young ladies stretching yoga style in front of the TV in the main communal area. As in, I expect most guys would rarely approach these two ladies to break the ice, especially in this setting. I headed upstairs, packed everything away, went down in my cycling gear and a thermal vest, and took little dog outside to do her business. When I went inside, I accidentally[1] got Betsy all hyped up, and when she saw these two pretty girls, she immediately wanted to play with them. They saw a cute little puppy that wanted to give them lots of love and right at that moment I saw their expression change to the “awwww, cute puppy” expression, I accidentally[2] dropped the leash and she went to say hello very enthusiastically.

I of course walked over and said hi to them, calmed little dog down a little (“OFF!! NO!!! *whisper* good dog, good girl, just like we practiced”) and said hello. We had a pretty nice chat - it ended up one of the other ladies had a schnauzer-poodle mix, aka a “schnoodle” - and I got to see up close and personal that they were even hotter in person, and remarkably nice too. Even when she headbutted one of them in the face.

This idea has been around for a while. When we were sitting in Bleu one day, Chris and I (plus a few others) hatched a silly idea of a puppy co-op, where the puppy can help the single guys to find that perfect lady for them. Now, we never did that, but it didn’t stop me when Betsy was smaller from taking advantage of that. I would often walk up to the prettiest girls I could find and say, “G’day, I’m Kris and this is my puppy Betsy. I’m trying to get my dog used to people so that she’s more friendly. Would you mind patting her and saying hi to her?” Few could resist the cuteness.

[1] On purpose

[2] Totally on purpose

I <3 this.

One of Eric’s friends in Melbourne had told us this guy he knows (complete douche) was trying to strategise how to pick up chicks. He was going to try the puppy route because how can a girl resist dogs, right?

You know what he bought? Two of the rattiest of ratty chihuahuas. For $1500 ea.

I can’t remember the details, but I have a recollection that he didn’t actually know how to look after dogs, didn’t know how to train them and was upset by how yappy they were. Also strongly suspect they’re not helpful in his objective either[1].

[1] On a serious note, I actually hope someone reasonable took those dogs off his hands and that they didn’t end up in a pound or worse… I was slightly concerned about the welfare of those dogs.