Tuesday, Dec 30th 2008
It's raining and cold today to go outside. So I ended up staying at home, doing various stuff and watching anime. Not very exciting.
Wednesday, Dec 31st 2008
It's the last day of 2008! Stayed up late until 12am, when the countdown began we watched it on TV since it was too cold to go outside to the nearby Sports Gym to watch the Taichung New Year Leap Celebrations. Anyways, it was the Taipei 101 one, and we counted down from like, 20 seconds, with a rise in volume when we reached ten, and a huge "HAPPY NEW YEAR!" shout at 0. Woooow! Yum yum yum! Happy New Year! Fireworks at Taipei 101 for about 3 minutes, with love hearts included, and then got ready for bed. But you could hear fireworks outside for about an hour before subsiding.
Welcome to 2009.
Note: actually posted this on the 1/1/09, but I like my entries in chronological order. XD
Wednesday, 31 December 2008
Tuesday, 30 December 2008
I miss my bed :(
I can't sleep properly these days.
I miss my bed! Granny's bed is too hard, and the pillows are like, softened rocks. DX
She snores at night, and it's hard to get back to sleep when you get woken up in the middle of the night.
Where's my privacy? I can't even go to the toilet in peace anymore! She sleeps so light that she almost always makes a comment about the light, slippery floor, etc when I go in. DX
"You can't see if you don't turn the light on."
"Careful you don't slip over."
"Put a layer on."
etc, etc.
Due to the too hard pillow and bed, my spine in my neck has been pushed to the left side. So whenever I tilt my head to the left hard enough, it hurts. >o<
I miss my softer bed. I miss my pillow. I miss my privacy. I wanna sleep on the sofa but if I really do that that'll lead to endless questions and debate, plus I might offend Granny.
Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah~~~~!
I miss my bed! Granny's bed is too hard, and the pillows are like, softened rocks. DX
She snores at night, and it's hard to get back to sleep when you get woken up in the middle of the night.
Where's my privacy? I can't even go to the toilet in peace anymore! She sleeps so light that she almost always makes a comment about the light, slippery floor, etc when I go in. DX
"You can't see if you don't turn the light on."
"Careful you don't slip over."
"Put a layer on."
etc, etc.
Due to the too hard pillow and bed, my spine in my neck has been pushed to the left side. So whenever I tilt my head to the left hard enough, it hurts. >o<
I miss my softer bed. I miss my pillow. I miss my privacy. I wanna sleep on the sofa but if I really do that that'll lead to endless questions and debate, plus I might offend Granny.
Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah~~~~!
Taiwan Days 31-34
Saturday, Dec 27th 2008
Nothing much happened today. Mostly stayed home and caught up on some anime. More like, I can't remember. DX
Sunday, Dec 28th 2008
After discovering the joy of the Outside, I convinced Alan along to go to the no. 77 and 79 Animanga shops on Kuan Fu Road. This time, armed with sunlight, I saw that there was a BIGGER and BETTER animanga house up ahead, one or two buildings away. Wow, upon entering I was met with a roomy shop with bookshops stacked up with animanga merchandise. Having a look around, I spotted several sweet heavy as artbooks, and I spotted a Soul Eater Data Book thingy which costs almost $400 NTD.
Going upstairs, we came to a DVD shop, with a R18 section. I shall tell you the story. After browsing the right side of the shop, I started to wander towards the left side. As I turned the corner, I noticed that something was not quite right. All the DVD spine pictures had like, ayashii looking females on it. I stopped, and just as I was about to turn around, my bro said, “I don’t think there’s a need to go in there” just as my suspicions were confirmed. I quickly backed out, and sneaked a peek over to the guy behind the counter. Thankfully he was reading something, and didn’t see me. Later, back on the RIGHT side of that shop, I looked back to the left side, and saw that there was a “If you’re not 18, entry is forbidden” sign on it. ^_^;; I’m so blind, eheheh...
Anyways, the main point is that there are 3 animanga shops right next to each other. Sweet as, only if I had money. DX I gotta wait until my parents AKA ATMs come back
Monday, Dec 29th 2008
Sandy's b'day today. I wished her a happy b'day via email, in big colourful happy font. She reply with a thanks. 8D
I made someone happy today!
Finished Moyashimon today, and watched more ARIA along with some shinbans. Mmm.
Nothing much happened today. Mostly stayed home and caught up on some anime. More like, I can't remember. DX
Sunday, Dec 28th 2008
After discovering the joy of the Outside, I convinced Alan along to go to the no. 77 and 79 Animanga shops on Kuan Fu Road. This time, armed with sunlight, I saw that there was a BIGGER and BETTER animanga house up ahead, one or two buildings away. Wow, upon entering I was met with a roomy shop with bookshops stacked up with animanga merchandise. Having a look around, I spotted several sweet heavy as artbooks, and I spotted a Soul Eater Data Book thingy which costs almost $400 NTD.
Going upstairs, we came to a DVD shop, with a R18 section. I shall tell you the story. After browsing the right side of the shop, I started to wander towards the left side. As I turned the corner, I noticed that something was not quite right. All the DVD spine pictures had like, ayashii looking females on it. I stopped, and just as I was about to turn around, my bro said, “I don’t think there’s a need to go in there” just as my suspicions were confirmed. I quickly backed out, and sneaked a peek over to the guy behind the counter. Thankfully he was reading something, and didn’t see me. Later, back on the RIGHT side of that shop, I looked back to the left side, and saw that there was a “If you’re not 18, entry is forbidden” sign on it. ^_^;; I’m so blind, eheheh...
Anyways, the main point is that there are 3 animanga shops right next to each other. Sweet as, only if I had money. DX I gotta wait until my parents AKA ATMs come back
Monday, Dec 29th 2008
Sandy's b'day today. I wished her a happy b'day via email, in big colourful happy font. She reply with a thanks. 8D
I made someone happy today!
Finished Moyashimon today, and watched more ARIA along with some shinbans. Mmm.
Friday, 26 December 2008
Taiwan Day 30
Friday, Dec 26th 2008
Boxing Day.
In the afternoon me and my bro wanted to go out to that Animanga House at Yi Jhong Jie. Boxing Day shopping. Gift shopping for myself, really. Kinda sad. T_T
Anyways, I managed to buy 4 R18 books... nyahahhahahah!
Also spotted a French curve set... it was cheap so I bought one. Yay!
Photos come soon since I'm using my cousin's lappy. I saw quite a lot of artbooks there, and merchandise.
It's nice to go out and walk. I think I have rediscovered the joy of the Outside.
Boxing Day.
In the afternoon me and my bro wanted to go out to that Animanga House at Yi Jhong Jie. Boxing Day shopping. Gift shopping for myself, really. Kinda sad. T_T
Anyways, I managed to buy 4 R18 books... nyahahhahahah!
Also spotted a French curve set... it was cheap so I bought one. Yay!
Photos come soon since I'm using my cousin's lappy. I saw quite a lot of artbooks there, and merchandise.
It's nice to go out and walk. I think I have rediscovered the joy of the Outside.
Taiwan Days 26-29
Tuesday, Dec 23rd 2008
Today we hitched a ride on 5th Uncle's car to 4th Uncle's shop. There we stayed for an hour or so, using the computer, waiting for 2nd Uncle to come and tell us when it's time. After 2nd Uncle's meeting finished, we went upstairs to his apartment where Joy was also. 2nd Uncle wanted to rest a bit before setting off for lunch, so we watched some Discovery/Animal Planet and then headed towards MOS Burger, where Joy's mum's parents were going to treat us out for lunch. MOS Burger had hamburgers. And rice burgers. What did you expect? It's got burger in the name. XD
It was quite nice, since the whole thing was a set/combo and I was quite full. Nice fries. Nice ketchup.
After parting and saying goodbye, we headed back to Feng Chia where Joy wanted to borrow a Pokemon DVD to watch. So in vain we searched for some video stores near their house but none of them have Pokemon. Then we walked past Formosa Glasses and popped in the shop to see if Joy's contacts were done. She also bought coloured contacts for her school prom. Purple ones.
Fatigue took over so we went home to the shop and waited for some time before heading home home.
This was Joy's last day in Taichung.
Wednesday, Dec 24th 2008
Christmas Eve.
Anime marathon.
Not much done really.
I hoped that Santa might being me something this year.
I have been a good kid. I think.
Thursday, Dec 25th 2008
Christmas. Woke up and accomplied Granny to the market. Bought mainly a huge bag of eggs, some fish and squid, and two bunches of Han Choy.
Anime marathon in the afternoon.
Not much done. Ate a Ferrero Rocher though.
Santa-san ended up not giving me anything again this year. It's the 17th year in a row. :<
Today we hitched a ride on 5th Uncle's car to 4th Uncle's shop. There we stayed for an hour or so, using the computer, waiting for 2nd Uncle to come and tell us when it's time. After 2nd Uncle's meeting finished, we went upstairs to his apartment where Joy was also. 2nd Uncle wanted to rest a bit before setting off for lunch, so we watched some Discovery/Animal Planet and then headed towards MOS Burger, where Joy's mum's parents were going to treat us out for lunch. MOS Burger had hamburgers. And rice burgers. What did you expect? It's got burger in the name. XD
It was quite nice, since the whole thing was a set/combo and I was quite full. Nice fries. Nice ketchup.
After parting and saying goodbye, we headed back to Feng Chia where Joy wanted to borrow a Pokemon DVD to watch. So in vain we searched for some video stores near their house but none of them have Pokemon. Then we walked past Formosa Glasses and popped in the shop to see if Joy's contacts were done. She also bought coloured contacts for her school prom. Purple ones.
Fatigue took over so we went home to the shop and waited for some time before heading home home.
This was Joy's last day in Taichung.
Wednesday, Dec 24th 2008
Christmas Eve.
Anime marathon.
Not much done really.
I hoped that Santa might being me something this year.
I have been a good kid. I think.
Thursday, Dec 25th 2008
Christmas. Woke up and accomplied Granny to the market. Bought mainly a huge bag of eggs, some fish and squid, and two bunches of Han Choy.
Anime marathon in the afternoon.
Not much done. Ate a Ferrero Rocher though.
Santa-san ended up not giving me anything again this year. It's the 17th year in a row. :<
Monday, 22 December 2008
Taiwan Day 25
Monday, Dec 22nd 2008
Today I stayed at home and caught up on like, 15 episodes of various anime, some shinbans, some not. Wow. What an anime filled day! I haven't had one of these in a looooong time. Lesse....
Gundam 00 x1
Kyouran Kazoku Nikki x1
Ah! My Goddess x4
Casshern Sins x2
Tytania x1
Doraemon x1
Tales of the Abyss x4
Hakushaku to Yousei x1
Phew~
My cousin Joy came in the evening today, and she got her period. like me, she gets bad cramps and I lent her my PJ pants since her tummy gets swollen, unlike mine where I can totally see my hip bones. DX Maybe it's because I can't eat anything for the day, and I end up puking out whatever goes in.
On a side note, I'll type up a hate list! <3
Today I stayed at home and caught up on like, 15 episodes of various anime, some shinbans, some not. Wow. What an anime filled day! I haven't had one of these in a looooong time. Lesse....
Gundam 00 x1
Kyouran Kazoku Nikki x1
Ah! My Goddess x4
Casshern Sins x2
Tytania x1
Doraemon x1
Tales of the Abyss x4
Hakushaku to Yousei x1
Phew~
My cousin Joy came in the evening today, and she got her period. like me, she gets bad cramps and I lent her my PJ pants since her tummy gets swollen, unlike mine where I can totally see my hip bones. DX Maybe it's because I can't eat anything for the day, and I end up puking out whatever goes in.
On a side note, I'll type up a hate list! <3
- People who use nihon-shiki, even though they're not in Japan.
- Simplified Chinese.
- Period.
- Super salty foods.
- Snail meat.
- My Granny when she starts to buy clothes for us. :< I don't like all of the clothes... jeez... even when I tell her not to buy, she does it... Bah! telling us to eat more when we're already stuffing our face full of food during a meal... telling us to eat until we're full, not to be like, courteous or something. Etc, etc...
- Forgetting to blog.
- My cousins when they turn real annoying and noisy. Namely those 3. >_>
- This list.
Sunday, 21 December 2008
Taiwan Day 24
Sunday, Dec 21st 2008
Today is Dory's birthday. I wished her happy birthday in BIG COLOURFUL FUN FONT via email.
I don't think much happened today. Umm... ah!
We went to the Natural Science Museum with Joy, 5th Uncle and Auntie and their kids, and my bro with the intentions of going to the Mammoth Exhibition. However, by the time we got there, there wouldn't be enough time to browse the exhibition, so we ended up exploring the other parts of the museum anyway. I haven't been here in a long time! the roaring moving dinos are more realistic than the last time I remember. There was a new exhibition, the Vanishing White Earth, with polar bear and penguin conservation as a theme. Of course, the exhibition was divided into the Arctic and Antarctica. There was some grammatical mistakes in the English captions under the photos. Can't be helped, I guess, since one of the workers told us that it was a private collection.
The kids wanted to go to Maccy's so we ended up going to a Golden Arch. I ordered big fries and ate a left over apple pie which tasted disgusting. That was my first time eating M's apple pies. Never again. Never should've. Never would've. We still had to eat some dinner when we got back. Did I tell you I used up 4 packets of ketchup? Also, I ate a chicken nugget dipped in sweet and sour sauce.
Did I ever mention that chicken tastes different in every country? The nuggets tasted different, and Japanese KFC chicken burger tastes different from NZ.
I'd upload photos if I could.... gimme me a moment...
**** why does Vista gimme me a save image option when I'm trying to upload soemthing?!?!
*fiddles*
Mmm.... baby giant squid.
[insert imaginary pictar replacement here]
Will upload when I work out how this Vista thing works.
Today is Dory's birthday. I wished her happy birthday in BIG COLOURFUL FUN FONT via email.
I don't think much happened today. Umm... ah!
We went to the Natural Science Museum with Joy, 5th Uncle and Auntie and their kids, and my bro with the intentions of going to the Mammoth Exhibition. However, by the time we got there, there wouldn't be enough time to browse the exhibition, so we ended up exploring the other parts of the museum anyway. I haven't been here in a long time! the roaring moving dinos are more realistic than the last time I remember. There was a new exhibition, the Vanishing White Earth, with polar bear and penguin conservation as a theme. Of course, the exhibition was divided into the Arctic and Antarctica. There was some grammatical mistakes in the English captions under the photos. Can't be helped, I guess, since one of the workers told us that it was a private collection.
The kids wanted to go to Maccy's so we ended up going to a Golden Arch. I ordered big fries and ate a left over apple pie which tasted disgusting. That was my first time eating M's apple pies. Never again. Never should've. Never would've. We still had to eat some dinner when we got back. Did I tell you I used up 4 packets of ketchup? Also, I ate a chicken nugget dipped in sweet and sour sauce.
Did I ever mention that chicken tastes different in every country? The nuggets tasted different, and Japanese KFC chicken burger tastes different from NZ.
I'd upload photos if I could.... gimme me a moment...
**** why does Vista gimme me a save image option when I'm trying to upload soemthing?!?!
*fiddles*
Mmm.... baby giant squid.
[insert imaginary pictar replacement here]
Will upload when I work out how this Vista thing works.
Saturday, 20 December 2008
Taiwan Days 17-23
Dec 14th 2008
I was sick the whole day today. Nothing much except that I slept a lot and missed Pokemon movie - the Deoxys one.
Dec 15th 2008
Feeling better today. Still slept a lot and stayed home to recover. My stomach constantly feels bloated, as if there's gas inside.
Dec 16th 2008
My cousin (2nd Uncle's daughter) has returned from Qatar and is staying for about a week. Today she came to Granny's house and stayed all day, mainly using the computer and watching some TV. She has changed a lot!
Dec 17th 2008
Today me and my bro is to accompany our cousin to department store shopping.
after arriving at my 4th Uncle's computer shop, we went upstairs to the 7th floor where my 2nd Uncle's apartment was. I figured I have mild diarrhoea since all my poop isn't solid. DX My stomach kept feeling uncomfortable - I simply just don't know what the hell is wrong with it.
What I have to say is, she changed soooo much from 4 years ago. She's so American-ised, and wears make-up, worries about being pretty, has had boyfriends before - not one but two apparently, and reads those celebrity mags... etc etc. She's only 14 and yet it worries me for her future. D:
We ended up going to Cheng Ping Department Store, where we started off from the first level and looks at various clothes stores. We also went to a pet's accessories shop called Dog Wears Crown where they had 2 white fluffy dogs in the store and a whole lot of luxury pet items like clothes, food and collars, etc.
My stomach constantly felt bloated and had gas in it, it hurt a bit and was uncomfortable, so I ended up being slouchy (posture) for the whole day.
I remember spending ages in the bookstore on top, and saw quite a lot of MOOKs like Megami, Dengeki Hobby magazines and such. Mmm.... and there was a small section for manga.
Blame me for not having time to blog, I forgotten a lot of things. >o< Somehow we ended up at a horse stables place in the evening, and Joy takes private riding lessons here every year. I got to stroke horses' noses there, and then while my cousin went off for her lesson with a private instructor, we watched some TVBS news and there were adorable pandas on it. Aww... it was OK, a bit boring, but after she finished up her lessons we finally got to go home. I ate dinner really late that night. DX
Blogger keeps losing information and this is like, the 8000th time I've types this part out, because everytime I put in a emote with a "<" or a ">" it seems to think that it's an HTML tag and loses the text I type in between a formatting. DX Same thing with previous posts, I'm so sick of this.
Dec 18th 2008
Another department store today! This time, my cousin wants to watch Twilight. My feelings towards that film is like, ergh.... not something I would want to watch. I ended up going in with them anyway... the film was OK, it wasn't all lovey-dovey stuff, there was a bit of action. It was soooo obvious that the Cullens were wearing make-up to achieve the pale face. XDDDD
I received a free Twilight calendar thingy. It's quite small, if anybody wants it, I'll gladly give it to you.
Before we arrived at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi we had ramen at a nearby shop in Feng Chia. Yum! Cheap big bowls around $4 NZD! Wow! Anyways, after the movie, we headed for a BOOK STORE AGAIN YAY! Also, a stationary shop! I can spend ages just browsing the wares in a stationary shop and bookstore. Mmmmm....
Anyways, for dinner, we're going eating in the Feng Chia Nightmarket. That place is sooooooo popular! There was also a Turkish ice-cream guy, this time we saw him actually dishing out ice-cream! The ice-cream looked like play-sough is, and it's quite hard. He's been there for ages, I want an ice-cream next time round.
Since my stomach is still feeling odd, I chose to eat easy-to-digest noodles. It was quite nice, and it was a small bowl, so it filled me up pretty much good since my stomach shrank really seriously these past days. We had some egg cakes afterwards - they were so cute! The cakes anyway, ji dan gao. Yummmy!
Dec 19th 2008
HOT SPRINGS TODAY! My 2nd Uncle has some coupon things so we're going to Ho Yean Shan Hot Springs Recreational Area. I think I got the name right. First, we made a stop at Carrefour to buy some swimsuits. Wow, there's no one-piece's on the shelf. Anyways, my cousin bought a pink and black swim suit which I liked a lot but there was only one L size, so I bought a blue and white swimsuit. The pants were uncomfortable since the seam joining the two pieces together in the middle wasn't flat. >_<>
Oh, the first ride after lunch was a Mid-air Train. The wheels groaned since it was rusty but we sat on it again since the ride was short. That one was really enjoyable because when you look off the side it feels like you really are driving on air. I felt a little pressure that the train could go off the rail at any second because it was so narrow, but when I got off I saw that the wheels were fixed from the side also, and then I felt relieved.
They had a circus show too, at 3pm. It wasn't as entertaining as the Warner Bro's Circus back in NZ, but it sure made time go fast. After the mostly-acrobat-show-with-no-flamethrower-guy, we changed and got ready to soak. Ahhh.... the water felt silky and smooth, which left your skin feeling that way too. They had two massage chairs with bubbling effects, which we hogged near the end when there was no people. For some reason, we started singing songs badly since our voice vibrated when sitting/floating in the chairs, which was fun, but our throats hurt. Haha.
Doing push ups in the water is soooooooo easy, you should all try it some time. XDDD They had a shallow part, so that was where I did push-ups. XD
After a rinse and change of clothing, we headed for home at around 4:45pm - 5pm. By the time we reached Taichung again (the resort was in Miaoli) we were due for dinner with a Ma-bobo and his family. Apparently, he's dad's childhood friend.
Uh-oh. Goodness did I know that the place we were going was a steakhouse on the 11th floor of a Carrefour. AND, it was a full course western-styled meal. You know, like, an appetiser first, then salad, then soup, then mains steak meal, then dessert, then drink. DX
How was my tummy supposed to squish all this in!??! And, there was beef from NZ! The menu said "far away and the world's finest" for the NZ page. =3 *feels proud*
They had 2 pages for steak/the main meal, one was American steak, and the other page was NZ steak. Whoo!
The steaks were all sooooo big! I chose the smallest one, 8 ounces. DX It still looked mighty big to me. That one was $590, but I bet the whole set meal ended up costing more. Since it was on Ma-bobo's house, I didn't know the price.
I had to omochi kaeri my unfinished steak, and made just a little bit more space for Tiramisu dessert which I swapped for with pudding and ice-cream with my 2nd Uncle. Stretching my tummy even more, I drank some herbal honey tea. Ergh. So stuffed. If you want to take to to the "eat until you're full" meals, or full course western meals, you gotta starve me for at least 2 meals, man.
Tired out, took a shower, and went to bed once we got home. Zzz.
Dec 20th 2008
I ate the leftover steak from last night for brunch.
Stayed at home and rested today, nothing interesting.
Light show at night though. Here it goes!
My 2nd Uncle took us by car to an apartment mansion he used to manage. First, he went to greet one of his old workmates, and then after we explored the water feature garden place we headed towards the Charity Christmas Show, which I guess is a bit like Christmas in the Park. First we walked around the festival area and looked at the various stands. After we completed our round, we stood and watched some bellydancers perform on a small stage. When the belly and hip movements were over, we started to head home.
BUT
ON THE WAY
WE SAW
*DUN DUN DUN DUUUUNN~*
A GOAT!!!
No, really, a real mountain goat, the type that they milk and sell the goat's milk, tethered to a tree. The owner guy were hanfing out free samples of the milk, and it tastes real nice, way nicer than the one that Granny is currently buying. It doesn't have that weird strong taste, and it was nicer than cow milk. Mmm.... the goat kept repeatedly trying to eat a wooden sign corresponsing to a tree, and tried to eat some jackets from people petting the goat. I got to stroke the goat, but it kept moving here and there, and turning its head. Its fur was real soft...
Anyways, after 2nd Uncle saud his goodbyes at his old apartment mansion place, we headed home.
What a busy week/half week. DX
I was sick the whole day today. Nothing much except that I slept a lot and missed Pokemon movie - the Deoxys one.
Dec 15th 2008
Feeling better today. Still slept a lot and stayed home to recover. My stomach constantly feels bloated, as if there's gas inside.
Dec 16th 2008
My cousin (2nd Uncle's daughter) has returned from Qatar and is staying for about a week. Today she came to Granny's house and stayed all day, mainly using the computer and watching some TV. She has changed a lot!
Dec 17th 2008
Today me and my bro is to accompany our cousin to department store shopping.
after arriving at my 4th Uncle's computer shop, we went upstairs to the 7th floor where my 2nd Uncle's apartment was. I figured I have mild diarrhoea since all my poop isn't solid. DX My stomach kept feeling uncomfortable - I simply just don't know what the hell is wrong with it.
What I have to say is, she changed soooo much from 4 years ago. She's so American-ised, and wears make-up, worries about being pretty, has had boyfriends before - not one but two apparently, and reads those celebrity mags... etc etc. She's only 14 and yet it worries me for her future. D:
We ended up going to Cheng Ping Department Store, where we started off from the first level and looks at various clothes stores. We also went to a pet's accessories shop called Dog Wears Crown where they had 2 white fluffy dogs in the store and a whole lot of luxury pet items like clothes, food and collars, etc.
My stomach constantly felt bloated and had gas in it, it hurt a bit and was uncomfortable, so I ended up being slouchy (posture) for the whole day.
I remember spending ages in the bookstore on top, and saw quite a lot of MOOKs like Megami, Dengeki Hobby magazines and such. Mmm.... and there was a small section for manga.
Blame me for not having time to blog, I forgotten a lot of things. >o< Somehow we ended up at a horse stables place in the evening, and Joy takes private riding lessons here every year. I got to stroke horses' noses there, and then while my cousin went off for her lesson with a private instructor, we watched some TVBS news and there were adorable pandas on it. Aww... it was OK, a bit boring, but after she finished up her lessons we finally got to go home. I ate dinner really late that night. DX
Blogger keeps losing information and this is like, the 8000th time I've types this part out, because everytime I put in a emote with a "<" or a ">" it seems to think that it's an HTML tag and loses the text I type in between a formatting. DX Same thing with previous posts, I'm so sick of this.
Dec 18th 2008
Another department store today! This time, my cousin wants to watch Twilight. My feelings towards that film is like, ergh.... not something I would want to watch. I ended up going in with them anyway... the film was OK, it wasn't all lovey-dovey stuff, there was a bit of action. It was soooo obvious that the Cullens were wearing make-up to achieve the pale face. XDDDD
I received a free Twilight calendar thingy. It's quite small, if anybody wants it, I'll gladly give it to you.
Before we arrived at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi we had ramen at a nearby shop in Feng Chia. Yum! Cheap big bowls around $4 NZD! Wow! Anyways, after the movie, we headed for a BOOK STORE AGAIN YAY! Also, a stationary shop! I can spend ages just browsing the wares in a stationary shop and bookstore. Mmmmm....
Anyways, for dinner, we're going eating in the Feng Chia Nightmarket. That place is sooooooo popular! There was also a Turkish ice-cream guy, this time we saw him actually dishing out ice-cream! The ice-cream looked like play-sough is, and it's quite hard. He's been there for ages, I want an ice-cream next time round.
Since my stomach is still feeling odd, I chose to eat easy-to-digest noodles. It was quite nice, and it was a small bowl, so it filled me up pretty much good since my stomach shrank really seriously these past days. We had some egg cakes afterwards - they were so cute! The cakes anyway, ji dan gao. Yummmy!
Dec 19th 2008
HOT SPRINGS TODAY! My 2nd Uncle has some coupon things so we're going to Ho Yean Shan Hot Springs Recreational Area. I think I got the name right. First, we made a stop at Carrefour to buy some swimsuits. Wow, there's no one-piece's on the shelf. Anyways, my cousin bought a pink and black swim suit which I liked a lot but there was only one L size, so I bought a blue and white swimsuit. The pants were uncomfortable since the seam joining the two pieces together in the middle wasn't flat. >_<>
Oh, the first ride after lunch was a Mid-air Train. The wheels groaned since it was rusty but we sat on it again since the ride was short. That one was really enjoyable because when you look off the side it feels like you really are driving on air. I felt a little pressure that the train could go off the rail at any second because it was so narrow, but when I got off I saw that the wheels were fixed from the side also, and then I felt relieved.
They had a circus show too, at 3pm. It wasn't as entertaining as the Warner Bro's Circus back in NZ, but it sure made time go fast. After the mostly-acrobat-show-with-no-flamethrower-guy, we changed and got ready to soak. Ahhh.... the water felt silky and smooth, which left your skin feeling that way too. They had two massage chairs with bubbling effects, which we hogged near the end when there was no people. For some reason, we started singing songs badly since our voice vibrated when sitting/floating in the chairs, which was fun, but our throats hurt. Haha.
Doing push ups in the water is soooooooo easy, you should all try it some time. XDDD They had a shallow part, so that was where I did push-ups. XD
After a rinse and change of clothing, we headed for home at around 4:45pm - 5pm. By the time we reached Taichung again (the resort was in Miaoli) we were due for dinner with a Ma-bobo and his family. Apparently, he's dad's childhood friend.
Uh-oh. Goodness did I know that the place we were going was a steakhouse on the 11th floor of a Carrefour. AND, it was a full course western-styled meal. You know, like, an appetiser first, then salad, then soup, then mains steak meal, then dessert, then drink. DX
How was my tummy supposed to squish all this in!??! And, there was beef from NZ! The menu said "far away and the world's finest" for the NZ page. =3 *feels proud*
They had 2 pages for steak/the main meal, one was American steak, and the other page was NZ steak. Whoo!
The steaks were all sooooo big! I chose the smallest one, 8 ounces. DX It still looked mighty big to me. That one was $590, but I bet the whole set meal ended up costing more. Since it was on Ma-bobo's house, I didn't know the price.
I had to omochi kaeri my unfinished steak, and made just a little bit more space for Tiramisu dessert which I swapped for with pudding and ice-cream with my 2nd Uncle. Stretching my tummy even more, I drank some herbal honey tea. Ergh. So stuffed. If you want to take to to the "eat until you're full" meals, or full course western meals, you gotta starve me for at least 2 meals, man.
Tired out, took a shower, and went to bed once we got home. Zzz.
Dec 20th 2008
I ate the leftover steak from last night for brunch.
Stayed at home and rested today, nothing interesting.
Light show at night though. Here it goes!
My 2nd Uncle took us by car to an apartment mansion he used to manage. First, he went to greet one of his old workmates, and then after we explored the water feature garden place we headed towards the Charity Christmas Show, which I guess is a bit like Christmas in the Park. First we walked around the festival area and looked at the various stands. After we completed our round, we stood and watched some bellydancers perform on a small stage. When the belly and hip movements were over, we started to head home.
BUT
ON THE WAY
WE SAW
*DUN DUN DUN DUUUUNN~*
A GOAT!!!
No, really, a real mountain goat, the type that they milk and sell the goat's milk, tethered to a tree. The owner guy were hanfing out free samples of the milk, and it tastes real nice, way nicer than the one that Granny is currently buying. It doesn't have that weird strong taste, and it was nicer than cow milk. Mmm.... the goat kept repeatedly trying to eat a wooden sign corresponsing to a tree, and tried to eat some jackets from people petting the goat. I got to stroke the goat, but it kept moving here and there, and turning its head. Its fur was real soft...
Anyways, after 2nd Uncle saud his goodbyes at his old apartment mansion place, we headed home.
What a busy week/half week. DX
Saturday, 13 December 2008
Taiwan Days 14-16
Dec 11th 2008
We went to a City Council place to get out Identity Cards done. It's like a mini-passport you can use within Taiwan only. The lady was real nice, we were able to get it done without Dad having to be there in person, partly because we had all the stamps and documents needed. Heh, lots of forms exchanged hands, were stamped, signed (when they say 'sign here', it actually means 'write you name here', not actually sign your name) and stampled again. While we waited our new cards got printed and laminated, much faster than NZ where you probably had to wait a few days. Yum.
Nice shiny new card, but I'm not gonna post a pic of it because of security issues and such.
Dec 12th 2008
Today was the first day of the Technology Exhibition that came from Taipei to Taichung. There was a money scramble at the opening ceremony but since I didn't know which gate it was I missed it. :< Acer, if I remember correctly. After consulting the stand people he left and went towards some other stand which I can't remember, and then Asus, ending with Vaio/Sony. I told him to look at Sony, because it was a exhibition and you'll never know, but he said that it'll be too expensive. And what did you know, they ended up being fairly reasonably priced. According to an overhead advertising board. Ha.
After that, we wandered around some more, and looked for our 4th Uncle who's in the organising committee. We found him but he was talking to a bunch of other people in the same grey suit as him, so we waited a bit. Then, he was free and we got to exchange a few words with him.
Deciding that it was time to fill my stomach, we left by foot to go back to our 4th Uncle's shop. OH MERCIFUL HEAVENS, it was soooooooo hot, the sun was blazing on the back of your neck, do you even call this winter??!??!?! Ha, funny if someone got heatstroke in winter. It felt like we would, anyway. I felt like "-OVERHEAT- -OVERHEAT-" all the way. /inside joke.
After chilling out in the shop and checking out the grubs, we went to a Chiha Shabu Shabu place. $298 NTD till you're full. I chose the Miso hotpot and ate a whole lot of other stuff there.
After that, we ended up going to a Department Store's book clearance sale. There was a whole lot of random scattered book collections and such, and a lot of The Da Vinci Codes and a random Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (British ver). They had a selection of Mandarin, Japanese and English books, along with DVDs, CDs, overdue calendars and other random stationary.
I ended up not buying anything. We went home and that was pretty much what we did for the day. Phew~
Dec 13th 2008
Today, well, nothing happened so far. Ya, *nods head*. Though I did take an afternoon nap with my cousins since they sleep on the same bed, and I thought it was funny. I woke up a bit drugged, like last time, so I sat up in bed for a bit before getting off. That was fun though, sleeping in the same bed. Every night, the whole family sleeps together in the same bed because there's simply not enough space in Gran's apartment house.
We might go out tonight to that Taichung Animanga House though. Hehe, we shall see.
So, we did end up going to the Animanga house, and they were two of them as neighbours. How nice! I boguht a Katekyou Hitman Reborn! flask for a friend, and a Katekyou calendar as well. Total cost, $257+299=$556.
Saw some nice things there, gonna buy buy buy at the next chance, hohoho.
We went to a City Council place to get out Identity Cards done. It's like a mini-passport you can use within Taiwan only. The lady was real nice, we were able to get it done without Dad having to be there in person, partly because we had all the stamps and documents needed. Heh, lots of forms exchanged hands, were stamped, signed (when they say 'sign here', it actually means 'write you name here', not actually sign your name) and stampled again. While we waited our new cards got printed and laminated, much faster than NZ where you probably had to wait a few days. Yum.
Nice shiny new card, but I'm not gonna post a pic of it because of security issues and such.
Dec 12th 2008
Today was the first day of the Technology Exhibition that came from Taipei to Taichung. There was a money scramble at the opening ceremony but since I didn't know which gate it was I missed it. :< Acer, if I remember correctly. After consulting the stand people he left and went towards some other stand which I can't remember, and then Asus, ending with Vaio/Sony. I told him to look at Sony, because it was a exhibition and you'll never know, but he said that it'll be too expensive. And what did you know, they ended up being fairly reasonably priced. According to an overhead advertising board. Ha.
After that, we wandered around some more, and looked for our 4th Uncle who's in the organising committee. We found him but he was talking to a bunch of other people in the same grey suit as him, so we waited a bit. Then, he was free and we got to exchange a few words with him.
Deciding that it was time to fill my stomach, we left by foot to go back to our 4th Uncle's shop. OH MERCIFUL HEAVENS, it was soooooooo hot, the sun was blazing on the back of your neck, do you even call this winter??!??!?! Ha, funny if someone got heatstroke in winter. It felt like we would, anyway. I felt like "-OVERHEAT- -OVERHEAT-" all the way. /inside joke.
After chilling out in the shop and checking out the grubs, we went to a Chiha Shabu Shabu place. $298 NTD till you're full. I chose the Miso hotpot and ate a whole lot of other stuff there.
- 3 plates of fries with ketchup
- 2 waffle cones
- 1 butter in the middle egg cake
- 1 plate with a selection of shabu shabu ingredients
- 3 marshmallow dipped in chocolate on a stick (DIY chocolate fountains!)
- 1 small cup of hot chocolate
- OM NOM NOM
After that, we ended up going to a Department Store's book clearance sale. There was a whole lot of random scattered book collections and such, and a lot of The Da Vinci Codes and a random Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (British ver). They had a selection of Mandarin, Japanese and English books, along with DVDs, CDs, overdue calendars and other random stationary.
I ended up not buying anything. We went home and that was pretty much what we did for the day. Phew~
Dec 13th 2008
Today, well, nothing happened so far. Ya, *nods head*. Though I did take an afternoon nap with my cousins since they sleep on the same bed, and I thought it was funny. I woke up a bit drugged, like last time, so I sat up in bed for a bit before getting off. That was fun though, sleeping in the same bed. Every night, the whole family sleeps together in the same bed because there's simply not enough space in Gran's apartment house.
We might go out tonight to that Taichung Animanga House though. Hehe, we shall see.
So, we did end up going to the Animanga house, and they were two of them as neighbours. How nice! I boguht a Katekyou Hitman Reborn! flask for a friend, and a Katekyou calendar as well. Total cost, $257+299=$556.
Saw some nice things there, gonna buy buy buy at the next chance, hohoho.
Wednesday, 10 December 2008
Taiwan Days 12-13
Dec 9th 2008
I didn't do much today but I woke up at around 11am though. XD Filling in on my sleep from trip to Taipei. Lazed around the house and didn't so much.
Then in the afternoon our 3rd Uncle gave us a lift to Lan Tian Photo Shop to get our photos taken so we can get Identity Card thingies. Our 5th Auntie took us there though, and then afterwards our 3rd Uncle gave us a lift back as well. Originally, we intended to go to a nearer photo booth but they were closed so we ended up going to Lan Tian. Their shop is really old, you can tell by the sign outside and the building inside. Nice slice of history.
At night me, my 5th Auntie and cousin put the Xmas tree up and decorated it. It looks really pretty but my youngest cousin Anne kept putting on too much shiny tinsel and other decorations that the tree didn't look so pretty. :< Here are some photos.
A bit blurry, sorry. Tree with lights on.
Tree with tinsel overkill.
Dec 10th 2008
I woke up half and hour later than yesterday, hoho. Nothing interesting much to say except that my youngest cousin is no fun to play with at all. Even when I'm trying to watch Doraemon she takes the remote away and keeps flipping channels until your eyes are like @_@ all the time. Then she doesn't change the channel back when she should which results in me no being able to do anything about it because I don't want to seems like a bully. Then she doesn't eat properly like she should at meals and gives Gran a lot of trouble. Then, last night I wanted to do some colouring because I haven't done it in a long time she said that we should colour the same thing. I was like "nooooo... >_<" and ended up with her trying to colour the same Japoreon as me. Blah. No fun. It's no fun doing stuff with her.... man. I just watched the re-run of Doraemon at 7pm instead, ha. Did I spell Japoreon right? Alan watched Ah! My Goddess! on Animax at 8pm today - it showed 2 episodes in a row but it had no double language. D:
Mmmm.... Ferrero Rocher~
I didn't do much today but I woke up at around 11am though. XD Filling in on my sleep from trip to Taipei. Lazed around the house and didn't so much.
Then in the afternoon our 3rd Uncle gave us a lift to Lan Tian Photo Shop to get our photos taken so we can get Identity Card thingies. Our 5th Auntie took us there though, and then afterwards our 3rd Uncle gave us a lift back as well. Originally, we intended to go to a nearer photo booth but they were closed so we ended up going to Lan Tian. Their shop is really old, you can tell by the sign outside and the building inside. Nice slice of history.
At night me, my 5th Auntie and cousin put the Xmas tree up and decorated it. It looks really pretty but my youngest cousin Anne kept putting on too much shiny tinsel and other decorations that the tree didn't look so pretty. :< Here are some photos.
A bit blurry, sorry. Tree with lights on.
Tree with tinsel overkill.Dec 10th 2008
I woke up half and hour later than yesterday, hoho. Nothing interesting much to say except that my youngest cousin is no fun to play with at all. Even when I'm trying to watch Doraemon she takes the remote away and keeps flipping channels until your eyes are like @_@ all the time. Then she doesn't change the channel back when she should which results in me no being able to do anything about it because I don't want to seems like a bully. Then she doesn't eat properly like she should at meals and gives Gran a lot of trouble. Then, last night I wanted to do some colouring because I haven't done it in a long time she said that we should colour the same thing. I was like "nooooo... >_<" and ended up with her trying to colour the same Japoreon as me. Blah. No fun. It's no fun doing stuff with her.... man. I just watched the re-run of Doraemon at 7pm instead, ha. Did I spell Japoreon right? Alan watched Ah! My Goddess! on Animax at 8pm today - it showed 2 episodes in a row but it had no double language. D:
Mmmm.... Ferrero Rocher~
Monday, 1 December 2008
Taiwan Days 4-5
Dec 1st 2008
Today my 5th Auntie and Uncle took me out along with my cousins to a nearby stationary shop to buy stationary. I bought the red and blue Pilot erasable pens that my friends wanted and some for myself as well. :D
I also bought a self-customisable multi-colour pen of 3 that you can choose to put what colour you want in it. Along with lots of colours. 8D
My 5th Auntie also gave me 3 erasers that are super easy to rub. I remember one of my friends asking me to buy them one of those real easy to erase rubbers so I'll be giving them that. While in the store I also spotted writing card things (a big card that you put underneath the paper, and then write on the paper) with a Shakugan no Shana picture and a Rozen Maiden one. They were cheap so I scored one of each to give to my bro's friends who likes those series.
After we finished stationary shopping we stopped on our way at a 7-Eleven. My Auntie and Uncle bought coffee, my cousins some drinks and I a packet of Shao Man Tou snack. Only $15 NTD, way cheaper than NZ.
For lunch my 4th Uncle came to visit along with one of his sons - I can't remember which since he's changed so much. D: I gave him 2 blocks of Whittaker's kingsize chocolates and 2 more to 5th Uncle too. He also took some lip balm as a sample so he can sell some for profit. It was real noisy!
At night all of us went out to Yi Jhong Zhe night market and spent roughly an hour and a half walking around, buying food (hot dogs, ice cream, egg cakes, marinated nibbles), playing crane games and basketball shooter games. It was really fun and reminded me how much I missed night markets.
Dec 2nd 2008
Today I didn't do much except stayed home and watch 2 episodes of Telepathy Shoujo Ran while my Gran and 5th Auntie were taking their afternoon nap. We might do something tonight but I know my cousins are gonna be fighting to play for AOE on this lappy again. Hahaha!
My 3rd Uncle came and visited in the morning and I gave him 2 blocks of Whittaker's kingsize chocolate blocks. After he left, me, Gran and 5th Auntie had wong tong plus noodles for lunch. Phew~ I was so stuffed!
Today my 5th Auntie and Uncle took me out along with my cousins to a nearby stationary shop to buy stationary. I bought the red and blue Pilot erasable pens that my friends wanted and some for myself as well. :D
I also bought a self-customisable multi-colour pen of 3 that you can choose to put what colour you want in it. Along with lots of colours. 8D
My 5th Auntie also gave me 3 erasers that are super easy to rub. I remember one of my friends asking me to buy them one of those real easy to erase rubbers so I'll be giving them that. While in the store I also spotted writing card things (a big card that you put underneath the paper, and then write on the paper) with a Shakugan no Shana picture and a Rozen Maiden one. They were cheap so I scored one of each to give to my bro's friends who likes those series.
After we finished stationary shopping we stopped on our way at a 7-Eleven. My Auntie and Uncle bought coffee, my cousins some drinks and I a packet of Shao Man Tou snack. Only $15 NTD, way cheaper than NZ.
For lunch my 4th Uncle came to visit along with one of his sons - I can't remember which since he's changed so much. D: I gave him 2 blocks of Whittaker's kingsize chocolates and 2 more to 5th Uncle too. He also took some lip balm as a sample so he can sell some for profit. It was real noisy!
At night all of us went out to Yi Jhong Zhe night market and spent roughly an hour and a half walking around, buying food (hot dogs, ice cream, egg cakes, marinated nibbles), playing crane games and basketball shooter games. It was really fun and reminded me how much I missed night markets.
Dec 2nd 2008
Today I didn't do much except stayed home and watch 2 episodes of Telepathy Shoujo Ran while my Gran and 5th Auntie were taking their afternoon nap. We might do something tonight but I know my cousins are gonna be fighting to play for AOE on this lappy again. Hahaha!
My 3rd Uncle came and visited in the morning and I gave him 2 blocks of Whittaker's kingsize chocolate blocks. After he left, me, Gran and 5th Auntie had wong tong plus noodles for lunch. Phew~ I was so stuffed!
Saturday, 29 November 2008
Taiwan Days 1-3
Wow. It's the 3rd day that I've set my foot on Taiwan soil, but I keep thinking it's the 2nd full day instead of 3, because on the first day I got home, took a shower, and slept.
Nov 27th 2008 - Nov 30th 2008
I'm currently living at my granny's house, and I miss my shower box. T_T
They use a bathtub with a shower head, and the room can't seem to get heated up because of the inconvenient-to-open window. DX
Whenever I get out I shiver, because it's so cold. I have to rub myself down real quick or I'll get a cold, or something. D:
Can't complain though. But I do miss my house.
Everything I've seen these past 3 days are so... nostalgic. Everything comes back to me one by one as I see the sights I used to see every time I come back. Including the drain covers, the crowded streets, THE SCOOTERS THREADING THROUGH THE CARS, the pot plants crammed outside the houses, the convenience stores you can find every 100m or so (lol), the TV stations.... etc. Ahhhhh..... *tears*
Also, the snack foods, the fast internet, the the the... everything. TT^TT
It's good to see my Granny. She has short hair instead of her old curly hairstyle now. She's also... so much more older. :<
My 5th Auntie has gotten prettier from the last time I remember. My cousins (5th Auntie's kids) are 11, 9, and 7. 2 older boys, and a little girl. They've gotten so much bigger, too. D:
I realised that I'd forgotten to bring the portable hardrive back..... but thank goodness I loaded the July Shinbans on D:\ on this lappy. However, I still have to find a time to watch them. Preferably when my Granny goes to sleep in the afternoons and my cousins aren't hogging this lappy playing AOE II Conquerors. Lol.
I miss my J-music already.... but I don't want them asking me why all my music are J, so I'll just have to learn to survive without it for the meanwhile. Or until I figure something out.
My bro joins me on the 4th. Mmm. Then we're all gonna go get a haircut together, my fringe keeps poking me in the eyes, it's annoying.
OH YEAH, my cousins and 5th Uncle and Auntie plays MAPLESTORY XDDDDDDD. In Taiwan they have these chip reader cards to prevent hacking and fraud for most online games. I saw my 5th Auntie's account, it's a cleric lvl 162. Lol. Awesome.
My cousins play a lot of mini games on the internet... I feel sorry for them somewhat because they're still noobish. D: It's a bit sad calling them that but yeah, I was like that too when I was young.
I think that's it so far. I bought a whole lot of snack foods like, Guai Gaui, Kinder Surprise, APPLE BREAD, Ferro Rocher, Caramel Milk Candy, Yakult, PUDDING.... and lots more is due to be bought. MWAHAHAHHAHA.
Ahhhhhh... stuff that you can't get anywhere except Taiwan. Also, I saw a wig shop on my way to Granny's from the airport, it's near her house. I might chance a go at that shop to buy a wig for my Rena cosplay.... I hope.
OK, that's it for me now.
There's Keroro Gunsou on Cartoon Network, Sat, 12-12:30pm, I thinks. Also Ranma 1/2, Ninja Hatori, along with other many anime that are so nostalgic as well. ^o^
Mwah! End it here I thinks.
EDIT: I forgot to add that on my second day back (first full day) my 2nd Uncle took us all out to eat at a Korean shop. Maaaaan~ it was delicious but I was so stuffed as well! I can never eat much for the first meal of the day!
Nov 27th 2008 - Nov 30th 2008
I'm currently living at my granny's house, and I miss my shower box. T_T
They use a bathtub with a shower head, and the room can't seem to get heated up because of the inconvenient-to-open window. DX
Whenever I get out I shiver, because it's so cold. I have to rub myself down real quick or I'll get a cold, or something. D:
Can't complain though. But I do miss my house.
Everything I've seen these past 3 days are so... nostalgic. Everything comes back to me one by one as I see the sights I used to see every time I come back. Including the drain covers, the crowded streets, THE SCOOTERS THREADING THROUGH THE CARS, the pot plants crammed outside the houses, the convenience stores you can find every 100m or so (lol), the TV stations.... etc. Ahhhhh..... *tears*
Also, the snack foods, the fast internet, the the the... everything. TT^TT
It's good to see my Granny. She has short hair instead of her old curly hairstyle now. She's also... so much more older. :<
My 5th Auntie has gotten prettier from the last time I remember. My cousins (5th Auntie's kids) are 11, 9, and 7. 2 older boys, and a little girl. They've gotten so much bigger, too. D:
I realised that I'd forgotten to bring the portable hardrive back..... but thank goodness I loaded the July Shinbans on D:\ on this lappy. However, I still have to find a time to watch them. Preferably when my Granny goes to sleep in the afternoons and my cousins aren't hogging this lappy playing AOE II Conquerors. Lol.
I miss my J-music already.... but I don't want them asking me why all my music are J, so I'll just have to learn to survive without it for the meanwhile. Or until I figure something out.
My bro joins me on the 4th. Mmm. Then we're all gonna go get a haircut together, my fringe keeps poking me in the eyes, it's annoying.
OH YEAH, my cousins and 5th Uncle and Auntie plays MAPLESTORY XDDDDDDD. In Taiwan they have these chip reader cards to prevent hacking and fraud for most online games. I saw my 5th Auntie's account, it's a cleric lvl 162. Lol. Awesome.
My cousins play a lot of mini games on the internet... I feel sorry for them somewhat because they're still noobish. D: It's a bit sad calling them that but yeah, I was like that too when I was young.
I think that's it so far. I bought a whole lot of snack foods like, Guai Gaui, Kinder Surprise, APPLE BREAD, Ferro Rocher, Caramel Milk Candy, Yakult, PUDDING.... and lots more is due to be bought. MWAHAHAHHAHA.
Ahhhhhh... stuff that you can't get anywhere except Taiwan. Also, I saw a wig shop on my way to Granny's from the airport, it's near her house. I might chance a go at that shop to buy a wig for my Rena cosplay.... I hope.
OK, that's it for me now.
There's Keroro Gunsou on Cartoon Network, Sat, 12-12:30pm, I thinks. Also Ranma 1/2, Ninja Hatori, along with other many anime that are so nostalgic as well. ^o^
Mwah! End it here I thinks.
EDIT: I forgot to add that on my second day back (first full day) my 2nd Uncle took us all out to eat at a Korean shop. Maaaaan~ it was delicious but I was so stuffed as well! I can never eat much for the first meal of the day!
Saturday, 22 November 2008
When I read this on Rumbel's main website.....
I just totally died inside. D: I can't believe it.... no more uncut versions of Soul Eater..... I just hope some other group decides to pick up the uncut version... T_T
I feel like growing taller the Zetsubou way.... noooooooooooooooooooooo..... I can't believe it.... I want to refuse to believe it.... wahahahhahaha~ *wails and bawls*
Looks like I can get the regular prime time slot version now.... DX
So, the time of judgement is upon us and we received a total of 3 C&D (Cease and Desist) letters from FUNimation concerning Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn!, Soul Eater and D. Gray-Man.
The phenomena that have henceforth occured are listed below:
- The Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn! Famiglia suddenly found themselves being raided by the Millefiore.
- Excalibur was let loose and took over the Soul Eater team who weren't able to resist.
- The DGM group ran out of Innocence and the Earl was victorious.
So, that's it ^^;
I just totally died inside. D: I can't believe it.... no more uncut versions of Soul Eater..... I just hope some other group decides to pick up the uncut version... T_T
I feel like growing taller the Zetsubou way.... noooooooooooooooooooooo..... I can't believe it.... I want to refuse to believe it.... wahahahhahaha~ *wails and bawls*
Looks like I can get the regular prime time slot version now.... DX
Saturday, 8 November 2008
Taro Bread Buns
Well, let's just say that I was browsing this website yesterday and I found a yummy looking recipe that mum wanted me to make.
So that aside, I've started mixing and kneading the dough. But for some reason, the dough was quite hard to and firm even though I added some extra water. It was hard work kneading it, and I managed to get the gluten development somewhere like medium, before the lactic acid in my muscles couldn't take it anymore. So now it's under the bright sun, yeast reproducing and fermenting. :)
We haven't had a sunny day like this ages, so why not take advantage of it? Today's also Election Day in NZ, my parents are going to vote for National while my bro (he's 18 this year) is going to vote for Act. I'm not 18 yet so I can't vote. But even if I could, I wouldn't know who to vote for.
I still have yet to cook the frozen taro that's sitting in the fridge.....
I took lots of photos so I'll post some of them up now. :)
Since my mum's got a cold, so her throat's not feeling so good, I cut the sugar back 20 grams.
I decided not to glaze the buns with eggy milk.... it was too much of a hassle.
Ingredients:
Add in the dry ingredients
Dry ingredients combined
Add in the egg and water
So that aside, I've started mixing and kneading the dough. But for some reason, the dough was quite hard to and firm even though I added some extra water. It was hard work kneading it, and I managed to get the gluten development somewhere like medium, before the lactic acid in my muscles couldn't take it anymore. So now it's under the bright sun, yeast reproducing and fermenting. :)
We haven't had a sunny day like this ages, so why not take advantage of it? Today's also Election Day in NZ, my parents are going to vote for National while my bro (he's 18 this year) is going to vote for Act. I'm not 18 yet so I can't vote. But even if I could, I wouldn't know who to vote for.
I still have yet to cook the frozen taro that's sitting in the fridge.....
I took lots of photos so I'll post some of them up now. :)
Since my mum's got a cold, so her throat's not feeling so good, I cut the sugar back 20 grams.
I decided not to glaze the buns with eggy milk.... it was too much of a hassle.
Ingredients:
- 180g water
- 1/2 tablespoon yeast
- 320g bread flour
- 80g cake flour
- 80g sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon milk powder
- 1 egg
- 40g butter (room temperature)
- In a clean bowl mix your flour together. Add the yeast, sugar, salt and milk powder to the flour and mix well until evenly distributed.
- Beat the egg in a separate container/bowl before adding to the dry ingredients. Add your water slowly and mix to form a dough.
- When you have mixed all the ingredients and cannot see any more flour, add your butter in now. Continue kneading until high gluten development.
- Place your dough at a warm place (around 28℃) and let it rise for 2 and a half hours.
- Punch the dough down and remove from the bowl.
- Divide into 12 pieces, each should be around 60 grams each. Mould the dough pieces into a round shape.
- Roll it out with a rolling pin to a oblong shape. Spread the mashed taro on it.
- Roll the taro-dough slab up rightly, and cut in the middle, but not completely through. Squash it flat so it has a nice spiral purple-dough pattern.
- Brush with eggy milk (or omit) and sprinkle with sliced almonds.
- Leave for second proofing at 38℃ for about 55 minutes.
- Bake at 190℃ for 15-20 minutes.
Ingredients
Cake flour/weak flour/soft flour
Bread flour/strong flour/hard flour
Flour combined
Flour combined
Add in the dry ingredients
Dry ingredients combined
Add in the egg and water
Formed a dough
Add in the slab of butter
All ingredients combined and kneaded
Dough ready to rise
Outside under the sun rising
The taro packet 
Back of the package
Mashed taro (with sugar and butter)
The dough in 12 pieces
Roll it out!
Spread the taro mash up
Roll it into a swirl...
Cut it in half, but not completely through
Squashy
All ready for second proofing
Wow~ mouth watering!
Dekita!!!! Dad got sneaky and ate one already!
Outside under the sun rising
The taro packet 
Back of the package
Mashed taro (with sugar and butter)
The dough in 12 pieces
Roll it out!
Spread the taro mash up
Roll it into a swirl...
Cut it in half, but not completely through
Squashy
All ready for second proofing
Wow~ mouth watering!
Dekita!!!! Dad got sneaky and ate one already!
Thursday, 6 November 2008
Dorayaki take 2
So, I felt like making Dorayakis again since last time they didn't come out very good. :< Here's the one I used this time.
I had only a little honey left in the bottle so I decided to use it all even though it was a bit much. The resulting dorayaki came out a little sweeter than preferred, but that's OK.
Since I didn't feel like mixing the cornflour and flour together to make cake flour.... I just used normal flour instead.
Ingredients:
I had only a little honey left in the bottle so I decided to use it all even though it was a bit much. The resulting dorayaki came out a little sweeter than preferred, but that's OK.
Since I didn't feel like mixing the cornflour and flour together to make cake flour.... I just used normal flour instead.
Ingredients:
- 2 eggs
- 100g sugar
- 2 1/2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon salad oil
- 1 1/3 teaspoons baking soda
- 150g cake flour/normal flour
- 40-60ml water
- Whip the eggs in a clean bowl. Remember to whip the batter a bit to incorporate the ingredients between each ingredient addition. Add the ingredients in the following order:
Sugar, honey, salad oil then baking soda. - Sift half of the flour and whip into the batter, until smooth. Sift in the rest of the flour and whip until smooth again.
- If the dough is tight and/or hard, add a little water to loosen/relax it.
- Rest for 15 minutes in the refrigerator.
- Turn on your stove to medium and place a non-stick pan to heat up. The Tefal range is very useful for telling you when it's hot! Turn the heat down to low when the pan is nice and hot.
- Pour a bit of the batter in the pan. Remember to stop the batter on the edge of the bowl dripping all over the place.
- DO NOT TOUCH THE DORAYAKI UNTIL BUBBLES APPEAR ON ITS SURFACE. This is because if you do, the uncooked batter will get on your spatula, and the side won't brown nicely. :<
- Flip the dorayaki when bubbles appear. I repeat, DO NOT TOUCH THE DORAYAKI AGAIN until a minute or two. It won't brown nicely if you're impatient.
- Lift the dorayaki out of the pan and place on a plate to cool. It's ready to eat! Serve with a dab of butter and maple/golden syrup. Yum!
Tuesday, 28 October 2008
YUS DIGITAL CAMERA
YAAAAAAAAAY! We finally went shopping on Sunday for a digital camera and we decided on the Sony Cybershot package that Noel Lemmings was offering for about $250. It was the Labour Weekend sale... and it came on Monday! (Labour Day). But unfortunately, I was at AuckGeddon for the whole day and unable to bring it to take photos of the awesome cosplayers this year. :<
This also means that I can start taking photos of my baking!!! WOOT! YEAH! HOORAY!
So! Armageddon is a pulp expo held here in NZ, it's the nearest thing to a con.
www.pulpexpo.com for more information.
Anyways, I entered the cosplay competition for the first time, with my Reimu costume since I couldn't get my Rena costume done. D:
When I was lining up to go on stage for the performance..... I actually experience butterflies for the first time! Well, the music for my skit kinda failed like 3 times before I got it right - it wasn't my cellphone that I was using. But when I did it properly, people cheered and clapped. However, I didn't really notice it because I was so nervous! Later, I watch a YT video of myself - I heard one of my friends shouting "ALICE!!!!! WHOOOOOO!!!", or something along those lines.
Here's the vid:
http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=JvDqvAcVPcw
About 4:30 minutes in.
I also got Crispin Freeman to write "All hail Brittania!" on the autograph card! ^o^
Ok, piccies of my loot!
http://s49.photobucket.com/albums/f256/RollEXE/Auckgeddon 08/
Go browse at your leisure!
I think that's about it... I spent quite a lot on those two days... (Sat and Mon).
I went in cosplay on Monday, for the competition as well. One girl who was cosplaying as someone from Silent Hill (she could jerk like a zombie thing properly!) said something like: "OMG, ARE YOU REIMU?!?! *Insert convo here* TOUHOU IS LIKE, MY CRACK!!!!"
Which was awesome. Then another girl was like: "Hey... aren't you from... Touhou?"
Which makes the tally two! Awesome!
I also attended H!ACP on Sat night..... we had glowsticks and jumping around and dancing and games and lots of cool stuff and had a hell of a night! It was so fun!
I got to meet Kelchup and Sockpanda from the forums, they were so nice! 8D
I miss them already..... TT^TT
Ok, that's it for tonight, gotta go sleep now!
This also means that I can start taking photos of my baking!!! WOOT! YEAH! HOORAY!
So! Armageddon is a pulp expo held here in NZ, it's the nearest thing to a con.
www.pulpexpo.com for more information.
Anyways, I entered the cosplay competition for the first time, with my Reimu costume since I couldn't get my Rena costume done. D:
When I was lining up to go on stage for the performance..... I actually experience butterflies for the first time! Well, the music for my skit kinda failed like 3 times before I got it right - it wasn't my cellphone that I was using. But when I did it properly, people cheered and clapped. However, I didn't really notice it because I was so nervous! Later, I watch a YT video of myself - I heard one of my friends shouting "ALICE!!!!! WHOOOOOO!!!", or something along those lines.
Here's the vid:
http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=JvDqvAcVPcw
About 4:30 minutes in.
I also got Crispin Freeman to write "All hail Brittania!" on the autograph card! ^o^
Ok, piccies of my loot!
http://s49.photobucket.com/albums/f256/RollEXE/Auckgeddon 08/
Go browse at your leisure!
I think that's about it... I spent quite a lot on those two days... (Sat and Mon).
I went in cosplay on Monday, for the competition as well. One girl who was cosplaying as someone from Silent Hill (she could jerk like a zombie thing properly!) said something like: "OMG, ARE YOU REIMU?!?! *Insert convo here* TOUHOU IS LIKE, MY CRACK!!!!"
Which was awesome. Then another girl was like: "Hey... aren't you from... Touhou?"
Which makes the tally two! Awesome!
I also attended H!ACP on Sat night..... we had glowsticks and jumping around and dancing and games and lots of cool stuff and had a hell of a night! It was so fun!
I got to meet Kelchup and Sockpanda from the forums, they were so nice! 8D
I miss them already..... TT^TT
Ok, that's it for tonight, gotta go sleep now!
Monday, 13 October 2008
Lemon Chiffon Cupcake!
Whooo! I baked some chiffon cake yesterday and today and put them in cupcakes instead. They turned out pretty well! Except that when it cools the top sags down so it doesn't look lovely and puffy like when it comes out of the oven. :(
The recipe is the same as Milo Chiffon Cake from Happy Home Baking, but I modified it. ;D
I omitted the cream of tartar since I didn't have any.
Ingredients:
(Makes about 24 cupcakes)
Method:
The recipe is the same as Milo Chiffon Cake from Happy Home Baking, but I modified it. ;D
I omitted the cream of tartar since I didn't have any.
Ingredients:
(Makes about 24 cupcakes)
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1-2 tablespoons lemon zest
- 80ml hot water
- 8 egg yolks
- 70g caster sugar
- 80ml olive oil
- 160g self-raising flour
- 8 egg whites
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 100g caster sugar
Method:
- Squeeze the juice out of the lemon into a bowl, taking care to take the pips out. Peel the lemon zest now and add it into the juice if you wish. Sieve flour and set aside.
- Separate egg yolks/whites and bring to room temperature.
- Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl until sugar just dissolved. Add in lemon juice, zest, water and oil. Whisk till combined. Sieve over the flour and fold gently with a spatula until flour is fully incorporated into the batter.
- In a clean, dry mixing bowl, whisk egg whites and cream of tartar with an electric mixer until mixture becomes frothy and foamy. Add in the sugar in 3 separate additions while beating at high speed till stiff peaks form.
- Add the egg white foam into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended.
- Pour batter into separate (large) muffin cups. Bake in pre-heated oven at 170C for 25 ~ 30mins or until the cake surface turns golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and let it cool.
Friday, 10 October 2008
Temaki Sushi
Wow! I felt like making something today so I proposed that I make sushi for lunch! Having whipped up random ingredients from the fridge, and leftover rice from last night, I looked up real quickly on how to make Temaki sushi.
Well, to be honest, my first one was too big since I didn't cut the nori because I didn't know how big it was supposed to be. But for my second and third ones I cut the nori in half and rolled them up with bits stuffed inside. :D
It actually worked! They had a pointy butt and cone shape. But after a while they started looking like rolled pices of nori instead of cones. Awww..... but somehow I grasped the angle you were supposed to roll them and they got prettier!
Mmmm! They sure tasted nice!
Ingredients:
Method:
I followed this video here.
http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-temaki
The carrots - grab a peeler and peel the carrot length ways. Try to keep the peels as long as possible. Keep peeling until you are forced to cut the rest of the carrot.
Put them on a plate, sprinkle some salt and sushi vinegar, mix them well abd leave to marinate for a few minutes.
Cucumber - chop it into long strips, removing the pips in the middle beforehand. Chop the strips in half if it is too long.
Our gherkins came in a can so they were already chopped up nicely!
Following the video, I applied the ingredients in this order:
Well, to be honest, my first one was too big since I didn't cut the nori because I didn't know how big it was supposed to be. But for my second and third ones I cut the nori in half and rolled them up with bits stuffed inside. :D
It actually worked! They had a pointy butt and cone shape. But after a while they started looking like rolled pices of nori instead of cones. Awww..... but somehow I grasped the angle you were supposed to roll them and they got prettier!
Mmmm! They sure tasted nice!
Ingredients:
- Nori sheets
- Rice (medium grain)
- Sushi Seasoning Vingear
- Cucumber
- Carrot(s)
- Pickled gherkins
- Pork Floss
- Salt
Method:
I followed this video here.
http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-temaki
The carrots - grab a peeler and peel the carrot length ways. Try to keep the peels as long as possible. Keep peeling until you are forced to cut the rest of the carrot.
Put them on a plate, sprinkle some salt and sushi vinegar, mix them well abd leave to marinate for a few minutes.
Cucumber - chop it into long strips, removing the pips in the middle beforehand. Chop the strips in half if it is too long.
Our gherkins came in a can so they were already chopped up nicely!
Following the video, I applied the ingredients in this order:
- Put rice on nori.
- Sprinkled pork floss on rice.
- Put the cucumber strips and carrot peels in a diagonally direction on top of the pork floss.
- Added gherkins on the side of the cucumber and carrots.
- Roll 'em up!
Wednesday, 3 September 2008
Banana Chiffon Cake
Guess what? I decided to try make the banana version of chiffon since the bananas are nice and ripe!
Recipe taken from Happy Home Baking (again!).
I would suggest for the egg whites, beat them until they start to get stiff, and then add cream of tartar or some substitute like lemon or vinegar.
Mine didn't become stiff. I think it's because I used balsamic vinegar, I guess. :(
You might to cut back on the sugar a bit, if you're not too fond of sweet things, or you have a lighter preference.
I use caster sugar for the whites and raw sugar for the yolks. It's healthier. :)
Ingredients:
Method:
Recipe taken from Happy Home Baking (again!).
I would suggest for the egg whites, beat them until they start to get stiff, and then add cream of tartar or some substitute like lemon or vinegar.
Mine didn't become stiff. I think it's because I used balsamic vinegar, I guess. :(
You might to cut back on the sugar a bit, if you're not too fond of sweet things, or you have a lighter preference.
I use caster sugar for the whites and raw sugar for the yolks. It's healthier. :)
Ingredients:
- 6 egg yolks
- 75g caster sugar
- 1/4 & 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 90ml cooking oil/olive oil
- 255g banana puree
- 3/4 teaspoon banana/vanilla essence
- 165g plain flour
- 1/4 & 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- 6 egg whites
- 3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 150g caster sugar
Method:
- Sieve together flour and baking soda, set aside. Mash banana, set aside.
- Separate egg yolks/whites and bring to room temperature.
- Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl until sugar is just dissolved. Add in salt, oil, essence and mashed banana. Whisk till combined. Sieve over the flour mixture and fold gently with a spatula until flour is fully incorporated into the batter.
- In a clean, dry mixing bowl, whisk egg whites and cream of tartar with an electric mixer until mixture becomes frothy and foamy. Add in the sugar in 3 separate additions while beating at high speed till stiff peaks form.
- Add the egg white foam into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended.
- Pour batter into 26cm tube pan (do not grease the pan). Spread and smooth the batter evenly with a spatula. Bang the pan gently on a work surface several times to release the air bubbles trapped in the batter.
- Bake for 25 ~ 30mins at 170oC, or until the cake surface turns golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and invert the pan immediately. Let it cool completely before unmoulding.
Sunday, 31 August 2008
Milky Loaf
I tried making Milky Loaf from Happy Home Baking's blog today. Since I don't have a bread machine I did it all by hand.
I didn't bother to make sure the egg was exactly 70g, but I picked an egg out of the what we had available that weighed nearest to 70g.
Since I don't like using caster sugar, I used raw sugar instead. Healthier too.
I used the block butter that's cheaper than the spreadable ones. :) However that means that it's salted. Since I only use salted butter instead of unsalted ones, the stuff I make turns out to be delicious nonetheless. Today I opened up a different brand of butter, RollingMeadow. It's so much smother and easier to cut than Classic Farm Butter. Hahahha.... I'm going to buy that brand from now on.
My mum uses Himalayan Rock Salt in cooking, so I use it for baking. It has much better texture and flavour than average table salt. Mmmm.....
Since we don't buy fresh milk (it goes off faster than we can drink it), I used milk powder instead. There's not much difference, really.
I had two 23.5cm x 13cm x 6cm loaf pans, so I cut my dough pieces into 6.
Ingredients:
I didn't bother to make sure the egg was exactly 70g, but I picked an egg out of the what we had available that weighed nearest to 70g.
Since I don't like using caster sugar, I used raw sugar instead. Healthier too.
I used the block butter that's cheaper than the spreadable ones. :) However that means that it's salted. Since I only use salted butter instead of unsalted ones, the stuff I make turns out to be delicious nonetheless. Today I opened up a different brand of butter, RollingMeadow. It's so much smother and easier to cut than Classic Farm Butter. Hahahha.... I'm going to buy that brand from now on.
My mum uses Himalayan Rock Salt in cooking, so I use it for baking. It has much better texture and flavour than average table salt. Mmmm.....
Since we don't buy fresh milk (it goes off faster than we can drink it), I used milk powder instead. There's not much difference, really.
I had two 23.5cm x 13cm x 6cm loaf pans, so I cut my dough pieces into 6.
Ingredients:
- 290g fresh milk
- 70g egg
- 50g (caster) sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup bread flour/high grade flour
- 8g yeast
- 80g (unsalted) butter
- Mix milk and egg into a mixing bowl, followed by sugar, salt, bread flour and yeast. Mix evenly until you have a dough, take it out and on a clean, flat floured surface, knead for 10 minutes.
- Add the butter into the dough, and knead for a further 15~20 minutes.
- Flour the mixing bowl you had before, put the dough in, and cover with a damp cloth. Let it rise for an hour or so, or until double in size.
- Remove the dough onto a clean, flat floured surface. Punch out the gas, and knead very gently for a bit, until most of the gas is out.
- Cute your dough int 3 or 6 equal pieces, depending on the size(s) of your loaf pan. Roll into a round ball, and let it 'relax' for 15 minutes. This is so the dough will be easier to roll out and be shaped.
- On a lightly floured surface, flatten one piece of dough and roll out into a long oval shape. Roll up the dough swiss-roll style. Do the same for the remaining doughs.
- Flatten the rolled-up dough and roll out again into a long rectangular shape. Roll it up tightly, and roll it as much as you can (one revolution wise), swiss-roll style for the second time. Do the same for the remaining doughs.
- Place the doughs in lightly greased/non-stick bread tin/pan. Let the doughs proof for the second time, until it fills up 80% of the tin/pan. Cover it with a damp cloth, or Gladwrap.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 180-190C for 30-35 minutes.
- Take the bread out of the pan immediately when removed from the oven. Let it cool completely before slicing.
Saturday, 30 August 2008
No Digital Camera ):
My family doesn't have a digital camera... even though I've bugged them for aaaaaaaaaaaages.
That's why I don't have pictures for any of the stuff I bake... awwwwwww.
If you could recommend a digital camera that's really good and suitable, and at a nice price too, please tell me and I'll try get my mum to buy one. :D
That's why I don't have pictures for any of the stuff I bake... awwwwwww.
If you could recommend a digital camera that's really good and suitable, and at a nice price too, please tell me and I'll try get my mum to buy one. :D
Thursday, 28 August 2008
Mantou!
Ingredients:
Last night I prepared some poolish for mantou (steamed buns) that I was going to try and make today.
Unfortunately, we don't have a recipe on the amount of flour and water, so me and my mum improvised.
First, we spread a whole lot of floor on the bench, and chucked our poolish on top.
Knead knead.
Added more flour and made a little well in it, where we poured the water in (yeast and some sugar was dissolved first).
Knead knead, until it was a ball of dough.
Now, for the sugars!!! Add raw sugar to taste, and some brown sugar in the middle of the dough (make a hole first). Knead until the colour is evenly spread out.
Keep adding brown sugar until the dough's a nice caramel colour.
Now, for the muscle training part. :/
Knead, knead, knead, until the lactic acid in your muscle builds up.
You have to knead until it's quite soft.
Set aside, cover with a damp cloth and let it rise for 4 hours, or until double.
------
After our dough almost raised the roof, We spread a WHOLE LOT of flour on the bench again.
Now, for more kneading!!! Yaaaaay!!!
Knead until high gluten has developed. You can test this by using the "window pane" method. Click here for an explanation and photos.
Roll the dough into a fat, long snake.
Cut it into sections, depending on how big you want your mantou to be.
I made some square ones and round ones and rolled up ones. :)
Now, set it aside to proof for another 20-30 mins or so. You may cover it with a damp cloth if you wish.
I haven't steamed it yet, I'm typing this as it's proofing. I'll finish it when we've steamed it!!!
--------
Mum steamed the mantous in a zhinrong... the round bamboo basket things.
They came out BIIIIIIIIIIG and lovely. Big yeast holes. I think I put too much yeast in... next time I'll reduce it to 1 teaspoon. Hopefully it won't have so much holes next time.
- Flour (all-purpose)
- Water
- Warm water
- Raw sugar
- Brown sugar (the unrefined one)
- 1 teaspoon Yeast
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup warm water
- 3/4 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon yeast
Last night I prepared some poolish for mantou (steamed buns) that I was going to try and make today.
Unfortunately, we don't have a recipe on the amount of flour and water, so me and my mum improvised.
First, we spread a whole lot of floor on the bench, and chucked our poolish on top.
Knead knead.
Added more flour and made a little well in it, where we poured the water in (yeast and some sugar was dissolved first).
Knead knead, until it was a ball of dough.
Now, for the sugars!!! Add raw sugar to taste, and some brown sugar in the middle of the dough (make a hole first). Knead until the colour is evenly spread out.
Keep adding brown sugar until the dough's a nice caramel colour.
Now, for the muscle training part. :/
Knead, knead, knead, until the lactic acid in your muscle builds up.
You have to knead until it's quite soft.
Set aside, cover with a damp cloth and let it rise for 4 hours, or until double.
------
After our dough almost raised the roof, We spread a WHOLE LOT of flour on the bench again.
Now, for more kneading!!! Yaaaaay!!!
Knead until high gluten has developed. You can test this by using the "window pane" method. Click here for an explanation and photos.
Roll the dough into a fat, long snake.
Cut it into sections, depending on how big you want your mantou to be.
I made some square ones and round ones and rolled up ones. :)
Now, set it aside to proof for another 20-30 mins or so. You may cover it with a damp cloth if you wish.
I haven't steamed it yet, I'm typing this as it's proofing. I'll finish it when we've steamed it!!!
--------
Mum steamed the mantous in a zhinrong... the round bamboo basket things.
They came out BIIIIIIIIIIG and lovely. Big yeast holes. I think I put too much yeast in... next time I'll reduce it to 1 teaspoon. Hopefully it won't have so much holes next time.
Sunday, 17 August 2008
I got a Blogger!
Nothing to say except to say that I got a Blogger..... finally after much hesitation.
Hope I can fill this blog up with interesting things... but I gotta think about what to put in first. ^_^
That's it for now!
Hope I can fill this blog up with interesting things... but I gotta think about what to put in first. ^_^
That's it for now!
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