Some of my family has flown into Melbourne for a holiday and we’ve been busy the past two weeks showing them around the area. One problem I face with visitors is that I never can decide which restaurants to bring them to. Should we visit a restaurant that I have been wanting to try and has many reviews raving about it online, or should we stick to one of my favourite restaurants in Melbourne? After a long consideration, Miss XS and I decided...

I was having a conversation with a friend one day, and as my conversations sometimes do, the subject moved to baking. We discussed about making cupcakes for sale, and how we could decorate them. After all, like my school teachers used to say as they pointed out our untucked shirts and ankle socks, "first impressions are very important." I wasn't sure how it happened, but I made a remark off-handedly during the conversation: "Don't bother using...

I have something to confess. Sometimes, my desserts taste bad. BAD. Bad, in an Excuse-me-while-I-go-to-the-toilet-and-rinse-my-mouth-out kind of way. Still, I do put a picture up on Facebook, where it sits there looking pretty and accumulating Likes. For absolutely no reason at all, (don't sue!), this is my version of Brad Spence's Salted Butter Semifreddo,  It... looks pretty decent doesn't it? Ice cream resting on a bed of crunchy granola,...

Back in 2013, after my Year 1 examinations, I was looking for a Gingerbread House recipe. I found this one, which looked really promising. In the author's own words: It has no leaveners that would make it puff up and distort the shapes, and it's firm so it can support lots of decorations. It also uses no expensive spices and has only five ingredients. ...

This is the first recipe I made that my family approved of. It's pretty easy to make, and yields an impressive dessert. Stand back after serving and prepare to bask in glory. This recipe is one of my favourites! Tiramisu Adapted from: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/8677/tiramisu.  I made additional notes and clarification here where needed.  Ingredients 1 1/2 cup strong black coffee  1/2 cup Baileys   3...

My dad has a bad habit of sprinkling fruit seeds into our garden. Years later, I'm the person elected to cut them all down. Having more free time than wisdom, I offered to turn a recent one into a bench over the June holidays. ...

My voyage into the spicy world that is Korean barbeque ended with me getting out relatively unscathed (Ha! Pun intended). Afterwards, we headed over Koko Black in Chadstone for desserts. It’s a place I’ve been wanting to try for the better part of the year, and I finally managed to coerce my friends into coming with me. Whee! We had the Classic Belgian Hot chocolate ($6.50), and also shared a plate of Koko Black’s degustation ($26). Degustation All...

Whew. 2014 has been quite a ride. Looking at everything that has happened, I'm not sure whether the positives and negatives came in equal proportions this year.  It has been a hell of a ride (In both good and bad. See? Yin and Yang.) Year 2 is also a demanding year for my course, where we were tested on everything we learnt since Day 1. I sat through the 3-hour paper and walked out thinking "I'm glad THAT's over. I'm ready to fly back to...

Many moons ago, way before I started to blog, I toured around Guangzhou, and I wrote about my experience in a bookstore here You enter a bookstore. At first sight, everything seems normal. Your first red flag occurs when you pick a book up. Perhaps the colour on the cover is a little off. Perhaps some pages are printed askrew. Perhaps the pages are flimsier, and you can make out the words printed on the other side of each page.  Or...

Sometimes when I walk into a restaurant, something curious appears on the menu. There might be something labelled Valrhona chocolate tart, or Valrhona chocolate cake. And it’ll invariably be the most expensive dessert on the menu. The question that first popped into my head was “What the heck is Valrhona?” Bought from Sun Lik, Singapore. Link below Valrhona is a luxury French chocolate-maker, one that produces premium chocolate. Along with...

I love Korean food. It’s an acquired taste, one that developed rapidly when I moved to Australia for my studies. I love picking my way through all their many side dishes, and would gladly sit there for hours sipping Korean barley tea. In all honesty though, I’m probably not the best person to eat Korean food with. People tell me I hold the chopsticks wrong. (It’s not wrong. I can use the chopsticks just fine, thankyouverymuch. I can use them to...

I like to bake. No wait, scratch that. Let’s start over. I know how to bake.  Valrhona Molten Chocolate Lava Cake I would like to say that I am naturally gifted at baking, but it's far from the truth. I still remember my first few attempts. My sponge cake tasted like cookies. My cookies tasted like bricks. My dog turned her nose up at my cake and continued rooting through garbage for scraps.  I gave up soon after. Valrhona...