30 Day Anime Challenge

Ideally I should do this in the summer... I may end up stopping (or forgetting about it) after a few days, so I doubt the '30 days' will be continuous. I came across it on FB, just like the 30 day song challenge. 

I'm starting to think, maybe it should be 30 week anime challenge instead... that might seem more doable =P 

Day Week 1 - Very first anime 

Oh dear, I really can't remember. It was either 

Doremon 

or 

Sailor Moon

I've watched both of these as a kid - from as young as I can remember. But they were definitely one of the first ^^ 

New Badminton Racquet

I'm happy today =] Besides the awful weather (and we (UNICEF) happened to be doing a cake sale today), everything else is going pretty well. Oh, and besides the fact the only time I actually want to buy a skirt, I can't find any nice ones. But I finally bought a new badminton racquet. I reserve it and went to collect it today. I'm happy =] Shiwaseda! (I hope I spelt it right ^^) 

I feel the need to show off my new racquet - it's not amazingly expensive but I like it =] 

Also, *jumping up and down* (doing my usual spazzing moves), I got a free pencil today. It's one of the most trivial things but it's the small things in your everyday life that makes you happy =]

Well, I've got to go and tidy up because I have a friend coming round... I hope the weather's being nice to you and have a lovely day x

Baking Failure: Egg Tarts II

Yes, I am back again posting about baking and yes, I failed once again. There was some pastry left and some evaporated milk left too, so I thought I might as well just use it all because I don't have no use for the pastry and I don't like milk (evaporated milk included). So I had enough pastry to make five more egg tarts, and I divided the recipe for the middle egg bit by three. 

And this is what happened after about forty minutes:

I don't think I need to say anything anymore, the photo above it just describes it all. Well the pastry (I have decided to blame the pastry a few minutes after I put it in the oven). After about three minutes or so, I thought I'd just quickly check on it and I realised that the pastry basically shrunk T_T Because I rolled it out a bit more (YES, I BOUGHT A NEW ROLLING PIN BABY! =D That was also a reason why I wanted to bake, I was dying to try out my new rolling pin - although I do have to admit, most rolling pins does the same job). Ahem, before I went crazy about my rolling pin, the dough/pastry just didn't stretch and hold. My theory is that when the dough/pastry was being made in some Tesco plant (¬_¬) , they just didn't knead it enough hence it contracts when it's in the oven. This is all just a guess, there's no science behind i but I'm ought to start researching puff pastry (and next time I'm going to make mine from scratch, just so I have no one to blame but myself). 

Besides the pastry, the egg thing was a problem too. I don't know why it rises and sometimes it looks a bit like 'pineapple bun'. It's this Chinese thing that's called a pineapple bun (I personally don't like it but according to my sister and everyone else it tastes good so if you ever go to a Chinese bakery, try it ^^). 

There was actually something else I wanted to write about today, but I've been talking too much about these egg tarts and my rolling pin that I've forgotten what I was going to say. I've also been thinking, if a randomer just happened to come across my blog, I must look like a really free uni student with nothing to do and I have so much time on my hands, I just bake and blog all the time T_T I've decided, I'm going to set some goals. 

Current list of goals:

• Go jogging every morning (this was meant to happen a while ago but it's just been procrastinated every single morning when I tell myself to get out of bed) 
• Actually keep to the Special K plan (it's difficult for me to eat a lot of cereal because I don't like milk... I usually stick to the 'eat Special K for breakfast and lunch' thing (in my case, brunch) for about half a week then I get so bored from cereal) 
• Maybe this one is the most important: do my economics coursework, preferably do 300 words a day and finish it by next week? 
• Do sit ups... I've been so lazy since Christmas (Christmas was so long ago, I've been lazy for such a long time) I haven't done sit ups then... but I think I'll start again and do my 100 sit ups each night 

Other goals could be go to taekwondo, I really want to go but I'm too scared (and shy) because I completely suck at stuff like that, but that's more of a reason to go, so I can become good at martial arts =] 

And I used to do some yoga, maybe I should carry on... but I'm an extremist - I either do no yoga for ages, or I do lots in one night then the next day I wake up in pain because I over did it T_T 

Anyway, the weather's shining here ^^ hope the weather's being nice to you too =] 

Have a lovely day! x


P.s. I thought I should just say that even though the egg tarts look awful, they don't taste too bad =P 

Baking Failure: Egg Tarts

I made egg tarts today... I've been having random cravings for them sometimes. In case you don't know what egg tarts are, they're similar to the Portuguese tarts you get in Nando's but less sweet and I think the pastry is a little different. Anyway, egg tarts are awesome (if they're made well). 

Yesterday during my trip to Tesco I bought this rolled-out puff pastry... as I said to my mum yesterday when she read out the title 'Easy egg tart recipe'... I told her "There are no shortcuts in baking"... and this is actually one of the wisest things I've said. When we used to make egg tarts, we would buy the puff pastry from Sainsburys. Quick note: the pastry for egg tarts is super difficult to make from scratch because when the pastry cooks, it turns into all these awesome layers - I'm not too sure of the science behind it - but it's just awesome and too difficult for me to make. Anyway, we used to buy this block of puff pastry and you'd have to roll it out yourself. And since I don't have a rolling pin, I thought I'd try out the already rolled-out one... 

There are no shortcuts in baking

Edit: I actually wrote out several paragraphs but I doubt anyone wants to read about my analysis of why it went wrong, and what was the problem with the pastry, and the recipe and the baking tray.

So now I have twelve egg tarts... I've eaten two already T_T and really, one is satisfactory, and two is 'I'm full'. I don't know how to finish the other ten T_T I would share them to my flatmates and friends but they look too bad to even offer ='[ 

P.s. OMG I just realised that I don't have a 'baking' tag

Food Shopping

I haven't blogged all weekend so I thought I'd do a quick afternoon blog. Before I go onto the main topic, I decided to follow this DBSK fan group on blogger so now when I come on blogger, I get this gigantic list of updates. JaeJoong is apparently in Bangkok, YooChun apparently bought his brother a car last Christmas (or something like that) to celebrate his debut... I only scanned the headlines. 

Anyway, I've been busy doing coursework this weekend so I didn't do any food shopping. I had a 10am seminar this morning (why, oh why?). A seminar at 10am isn't too bad, the worst thing is, only after an hour I've woken up, she makes us think. My brain takes like two hours to wake up properly =P So, I went to the libraries but none of them had a spare computer for me to work at so I went home and went to the big Tesco to do food shopping. 

This is what I bought: 

• Special K (for brunch)
• Butter (for baking)
• Pastry (for baking)
• Eggs (for baking) 
• Chocolate (for baking cookies)
• Easter eggs (for my cousins)
• Shampoo (might as well, I'm almost running out anyway)
• Conditioner (same concept as shampoo)
• Crabsticks (either for soup, or I like just eating them as they as are as a snack)
• Cocoa powder (for my love for baking)

Basically... I've spent £20 and nothing actually contributes towards dinner. I just thought that was rather interesting. I suppose crabsticks sort of contribute... the soup could be a starter. I finally know why I never have anything decent to eat T_T 

I almost bought pizza... I put it in my trolley, then I put it back after thinking about the spots on my face. And OMG, why is the bad food always on offer? Walkers Sensations (I adore the sweet thai chilli flavour), they were half price and in stock. Usually the flavour I like is out of stock because it's just too popular. But I also managed to resist after thinking about the spots I'd get. I strolled round the supermarket again... I wanted to buy steak but then came the problem of what do I eat with the steak? Chips would be ideal but it's too unhealthy. Salad... the texture just doesn't go. Times like this, I really wish I lived at home or with people I know (as in, people who I can eat dinner together with), then cooking dinner wouldn't be such a problem. I made rice on Saturday (and I obviously overestimated my appetite again)... there's still some left in the fridge T_T My solution is just to eat noodles, they're the perfect portions - no leftovers =) 

Just looking at my list above, I'm sure I've bought more than that... I can't have spent so much money on that... oh yeah... cocoa powder, also for baking ^^;