yeah that super bass

Watched the fireworks from a bridge last night. It was nice, but I was by myself (and scared I was going to get mugged).  Dinner last night was spent looking at people's costumes and wishing that for once, we would have a halloween party of some sort. I want to have a costume party where people actually put in the effort to dress up.  Hope this year's work xmas party is a themed one, and not just black tie!!

Visited Maggies tonight, and hit the Star afterwards (again, I know twice in one week?!). Didn't even make it to Zumbo's (again, it was why we were going there).  And yes, people lost money (again, lol).

So glad I'm not a gambler. I have no boundaries when I play games. I get competitive and want to win. In the process of winning, I will lose everything, and will then... not win. Doesn't make sense.

I'm tired. Why is there so much work to do when there is so much fun out there in the world that my friends live in.

I can't wait until everyone reaches work life.

Then, we will be even.

Counting down the days, weeks, months.

Happy Halloween y'all.

P.S. Can someone explain to me why people badmouth Nicki Minaj? I like super bass...

Adriano Zumbo Pattisier @ The Star

So after 2 failed attempts to go to the Star (long story), I finally got a chance to taste a Zumboran recently!  Adriano Zumbo opened up a small shop in the Star (formerly known as Star City).  Half the shop is still under renovation (the sit down area).  Our group just "ooh"ed and "ahh"ed at the decor, the variety of zumbarons and tasty tarts available.

mousetrap theme

I found that most of the desserts in the store were at really affordable prices. The tarts ranged from $6-$12 and the zumbarons are $2.50 each.

Zumbarons

Feeling poor, but rich at heart!

What we ordered:

Passionfruit Tart - This had the tangyness of a real passion fruit and the tart was lovely and crumbly.  That together with the vibrant colour of the actual dessert made it my FAVOURITE tart out of all the one we tried.

Whizz Fizz Tart - This was just lemon meringue with sherbert sitting on a layer of raspberry sauce and a crumbly base. YOM. They must have blow-torched it to make it look beautifully singed. Mm. Fresh raspberry on top!

Tastes Like Doris - Ok. This was crazy. Doris must have been an alcoholic.  I took a spoonful of this and choked. It was a whole spoonful of RUM. Ahaha, an innocent looking dessert, shiny chocolate coating, with orangey mousse and chocolate sponge. This was $12 I think. Looks beautiful.

Zumborans - I'm not a huge fan of macarons, but I love COLOUR! These are bitesized bursts of flavour.  Not your usual strawberry, chocolate or champagne (and I thought champagne was exotic..) macarons. NO! These were Watermelon, Corn with Mango, Lychee, Lime Mojito, Raspberry Caramel (my favourite!), Herby savoury ones (ahaha, everyone just screwed up their faces with disgust when we tried this), and many more!  Hot chocolate was spicy :( What a shock we all got!

I bought 3 tarts and 5 macarons, totalling $36ish. Splurgin'. I'm gonna regret this when I'm broke. But for now, I'll say it satisfied my curiosity, and I'll know what to get next time.

At least it was $36 well spent. The boys tried their luck at the craps table and lost $50 in less than a minute.  One of them had better luck playing roulette, breaking even (but not really, since they paid $2.50 in transaction fees to the atm outside).

Anyway. I don't encourage gambling. I only like to watch people win.

Overall, a very fun and colourful day!

 

Sugar Hit 2011 - Shangri La Hotel

So this year, a few of us decided to hit up the Lobby Lounge at Shangri La for their Sugar Hit desserts.  For $20, we got to sample 6 of their cakes (usually on offer) and a glass of Brown Brothers Sienna dessert wine.

I really don't like Lobby Lounge. The atmosphere felt quite pretentious, the staff were rude and I just don't like sitting in low sofa chairs when I'm eating. I like high chairs and tables (and better lighting).

The cakes on offer (first three from the right):

1. Whisky Candy Bar: This felt really rich - a slab of chocolate ganache (with scotch or whisky / can't tell) on a layer of crunchy biscuit. The highlight were the little chocolate coated crispy balls on top. They were like  mini maltesers!

2.  Chocolate & Cherry Tart: The first thing I ate off this tart was the cherry and wow, I was knocked out of my senses by the alcohol (kirsch? it tastes like the cherries on the black forest cakes) infused in the actual cherry.  The chocolate tart itself was nice, smooth and the tart was crumbly (the way I like it :D )

3.  Chocolate Bavarois: YUM! This was a chocolate mousse  sitting on a layer of sponge cake (with.. chocolate stripes?).  There was a plastic pipette filled with raspberry sauce stuck in the cake, and I think you had to squeeze the tube to inject the berry goodness into the heart of the mousse before digging in. This was lovely, I loved the seedless berry sauce!  The mousse was smooth, light and fluffy!



4. Gianduja Macaron: Have no idea what gianduja is, but this tasted a bit nutty. I'm not a huge fan of macarons (though my friend who has travelled the world says she doesn't know why its such a huge thing here because Sydney made macarons have nothing on the ones made in Paris), so this was just ok.

5.  Pistachio Slice: I read on some other food blog that this is white chocolate + pistachio, but I don't remember thinking "mm, pistachio.. mmm chocolate". I just assumed it was some sort of .. cream?   This is why I should post these straight after eating. My memory gets a little foggy after a week.  I remember this tasted really fresh and pistachio-y. Really strong pistachio flavour. Quite refreshing!

6.  Gateau Opera Slice: Woohoo! Layers and layers of chocolate, cream and crispy wafer buscuit!  It was iced with a layer of smooth velvetty chocolate and topped off with a gold leaf (you might be able to see that in the photo).  I like this combination of smooth, crispy, soft, spongey textures. It was like a party in my mouth!

Brown Brothers Sienna: This nice and fruit/grapey.  I love my reds and rose, and this was sorta like a cross between I guess.  A very sweet red!

Overall, very satisfied. 

I'm thinking about going to the Intercon!

p.u.m.p.e.d

The past few weeks I have:

• eaten dessert at Azuma
• eaten dessert at the Shangri La Hotel
• eaten desserts from Adriano Zumbo's
• eaten at Taste of Shanghai more than 4 times
• explored the new park at Darling Harbour
• watched a musical
• had a coffee (or two, or three) everyday
• worked overtime everyday (except days when I'm at uni)
• done all my hw for uni
• been partaying
• all my law readings
• not shopped online at all
• unfortunately not spent as much time at home.

Nearly annual leave time! Yay. After I get this pesky audit out of the way, I'll be eating/singing/dancing/studying my heart out at any time of day.

Check out my upcoming schedule!

That's like 2 weeks of no work.  PAID leave.

For the first time in my life, I feel like I'm an all-rounder! 


maaaaaake me your radioo, and turn me up when you feel low, this melodeee was meant for you
just sing along to my radio!

I love this song. I thought it was stuck in my head for the past few hours, but I just realised I'm listening to my iPod and its playing on repeat!  Oops..


ANYWAY. Tomorrow, I have work for 3 hours, then I have to head down to the Opera House to hop on a water taxi to get on a private boat.  Then it's a 4 hour cruise around the harbour with a bunch of hearty accountants from one of my jobs.

After that, I'm headed to a farewell party. My 2 favouritest people from work are leaving for a 10 week holiday around SE Asia. I'm so devo. But this got me thinking about my farewell. I'm leaving soonish. Lol March - not really. Currently, the last one of the cadets to finish up.  Next year, I'm hoping I get a chance to take part in a vaccie program in a different division - advisory or tax just to taste the grass on the other side.

NURRHURRHURRHURR ALMOST CHRISTMAS SEASON. I went to buy icecream from Woolies today (got a free icecream scoop- hurrah!) and saw the the xmas decorations.  It's getting close to work party season. Yay. Yay. Yay. And end of uni! And start of BEACHYPEACHY

Sheeple

These few days have been gone whizzing by. 

The weather is shitty again.

My parents keep warning me about befriending people at work.

"Don't add them on facebook!"

"Don't go out with them on the weekend!"

"Don't trust everything they say!"

I hate it when they say that. Have a bit of faith. If you treat people the way you want to be treated by them, it can't go that badly right?

Parents usually know best... but sometimes.. sometimes it's just weird and wrong.

I can see why you wouldn't add everyone from work on facebook.  But if you don''t treat people genuinely, how will they grow to trust you? How miserable your work life would be at work!

Sigh. I wish someone paid me to exercise. That would be a good incentive.

Sitting infront of a computer all day and night is not healthy.

Ah. Breaktime over. Back to work.

Sadface.

PS. I've taken an ENTIRE week off before exams just to chillax and get my sleeping patterns right. Psyched!