White Walls

Top Op Shop | Jeans Op Shop/DIY | Shoes Sportsgirl

When I think of jeans, it's always been skinny jeans, I don't remember my first pair of skinny jeans or when I made the switch, but I think it must been somewhere between the end of primary school to the start of high school. I believed they were more flattering than the flared jeans I've been wearing until then. So when I was randomly browsing on TopShop a few weeks ago, these Mommy Spotty jeans caught my eye. It was mainly the spots detail that made me fall in love with the jeans. I know these style of jeans aren't flattering unless you're tall and skinny, but somehow I badly wanted them. But spending around $70 on a pair of 'novelty' jeans isn't exactly in my budget, so I had a brilliant idea that I could DIY them. Finding a pair of high waist-ed jeans in op shops that fit me was surprisingly quick and very cheap! Next was buying some fabric paint and brushes and I was good to go. It took me about more than week for me to actually settle down and paint them. I'm pretty happy with the end result even though my circles aren't even and the paint did bleed outside of the stencil, but from afar they still looked good. Now I have a pair of spotty jeans for a fraction of the TopShop price. I actually liked the look of these jeans style on me, and they are super comfy and not restricting at all! I cannot wait to buy some more tops from the op shops that I can turn into cropped tops to style with these jeans. Hmmm thinking about them, makes me want to wear them right now even though I'm at home and it's late. Spots just make everything better! I have to make the most of out these jeans before the weather starts warming up. 

three times twenty

My friends (two of them, and one of them is a set of twins) had celebrated a birthday last week. I wanted to surprise them at midnight with a cake and got the rest of the group to join in. To make life easier, the three of them happened to be living in the same house, with the fourth housemate also being part of the friendship group. Generally the birthday people sleep quite early but Amy was still up as it got closer to midnight. Worried that our surprise may be ruined, we decided to wait until after midnight so they wouldn't suspect anything.
For the cake, I decided to make a triple chocolate mousse cake, which I had prepared the day before. Generally I'm not very adventurous with my cakes, only around birthdays that I put in the effort, but I love a simple vanilla or chocolate with butter cream or whipped cream, simple but so satisfying. This was the first time trying the cake and I did not want to fail because I hate wasting not only food but also time. The first layer is a dense flourless chocolate cake which had to be baked first. I followed the recipe exactly and when I had left it out of the oven to cool down, I found it was still gooey inside. By this stage I couldn't put it back into the oven otherwise it would cook uneven. I just prayed that it would set in the fridge overnight, or at least the outer edges which was cooked would be enough to support the cake. The layer is dark chocolate mousse, and boy this part was very fun to lick the spoon and bowl afterwards, although I did end up feeling a bit sick from consuming all that chocolate! I poured the mousse, and left it in the fridge to set overnight. The next day, I made a simple whipped cream layer on top because I didn't want to do the white chocolate mousse layer which would have taken a lot more time, and involved using gelatin which I haven't used before. The first batch of whipped cream, ended up being curdled even though I specifically whipped it by hand so that I wouldn't over whip it. However the problem was easily solved because I whipped up another batch of cream to spread the top of the over whipped and the cake looked amazing again. For the decorations, I just melted some cooking chocolate and did the writings and random drawings. I was very happy with the look of the final product, I know this cake was relatively straight forward to make, but it's always nice when something turns out alright. I was so worried cutting into the cake that middle has set yet, but fortunately it had, and it looks amazing! The taste was also delicious, very chocolate and creamy and just melted in your mouth. I would have eaten the whole thing, if it weren't my diet! Oh dear, I just ended up writing a lot more about the cake than the actual surprise bit.
Anywho, we all met up outside and waited for Harkiran to let us in. She has the most comical silent walk ever, she uses her whole body with exaggerated arm movements and everything. We couldn't help but burst out silent laughing! Rosa was holding the cake and we decided that she should come in later with the cake, while the rest of us went into the house and shouted "Happy Birthday" to draw the birthday triplets from their rooms. Luckily they were surprised and hadn't suspected anything, goal accomplished. Then Rosa walked in with the cake and we sang 'Happy Birthday'. We took some photos with my camera and the handy remote, before digging into the cake. It was an awesome night, I'm glad they were surprised and happy that my cake was a success.

Stomach Tied In Knots

My friend had a housewarming a week ago, and there was so much food! The house was so nice and modern, wish I could live there! Each person brought a plate of food to share. Of course I have the mindset that I have to do more, because sushi isn't enough, I wanted to make pretzels as well. The preparation and cooking time took a lot longer than I had anticipated. This happens all the time, I underestimate the time my cooking time, because I'm have this false belief that I work quickly and efficiently in the kitchen. Honestly, I like to think that it's because I have to clean up as I go along because I don't like the mess.
It was lovely seeing everyone together, being surrounded by good food was an awesome perk. There was Hainan Chicken (which my friend kept insisting was dry, but I thought it was yummy and moist), korean-style fried fried, chicken and potato sitr fry, quiche, chickpea curry, dumpings and what I had brought along. For those who have had my previous pretzels, which were pretty good but still quite bread-like, these ones were so much better, rivaling or maybe even better than the ones they make in store. The texture wasn't bread but very soft and slightly chewy instead, as a soft pretzel should be. The secret was to add some gluten flour for the extra protein, which makes the dough more elastic and have a better texture. I'm not sure if it's exactly the gluten flour, but that was the main addition I made to the recipe. So a little tip on those wanting to bake bread, use flour with high protein content. I had to stop myself from eating a lot of the pretzels! There were savory and dessert ones: cinnamon sugar and plain salted ones. Well that's enough bragging about my pretzels, but seriously they were so good! For dessert, we had some cake and icecream, and I decided to mash up some cookies into the ice cream, but I so needed the extra carbs, fat and sugar.

We spent the rest of the night looking up random things on the internet, showing every one our final hip hop performance. Oh gosh, I have absolutely no swag at all, I looked quite mechanical during the few I was doing the moves right, and it looked so much worse when I did the wrong moves. Luckily I was at the back, and the girls at the front who are amazing stole the performance anyways. 

Little Monsters

Shirt Op Shop | Pants Random Asian Store | Shoes Op Shop | Jewelry Lovisa 

Guess who's been waking up super early to go for runs in the morning? Yes, me, I was shocked too. I'm surprised that I've been keeping this up for a couple of weeks. However the early mornings and no nap during the day, makes me very tired towards the end of the day and I have no energy to study. The weeks have been going by very quickly and the workload is just piling up. There is so much content we are learning everyday, and I have no idea how I am going to catch up! So this weekend, I have to stop procrastinating and get the job done. 

Yesterday, there was a talk by a vascular surgeon and an oral-maxo surgeon, both very intimidating people professional-wise, considering their achievements. While I know I'm not the smartest person, I would still like to have accomplished something or have a specific area of academic interest that I'm good at or specialize in. I get very jealous whenever I meet people who have specialized in a particular field because they found something that they love doing, and all my lecturers are very accomplished ( I have no idea why they would work at Griffith). Sometimes I think being a dentist isn't enough, I just want to be more but seeing as I'm struggling as it is, and the state of my current grades, I doubt I can specialize after I graduate. For some reason, I know that even if I tried my best, it still wouldn't be good enough. It's not a self-doubt or self-deprecating thing, I just think it's the truth, I'm just one of those people who will only get by. While I have other hobbies such as crafts, DIY, and baking, I don't think I particularly excel in any of those areas, sure I'm better than some but not as good as most. That was a pestering thought I've been having lately, I want to be at a point where I genuinely feel like I'm proud of myself. I know I should be feeling proud, but I just don't feel it. While on the subject of my studies, guess who has to an extra- and intra-oral exam on their clinic partner this week? Yes I'm dreading it too, I like my personal space and it dangerously violated when someone touches my face and looks in my mouth, or worse I would have to perform the same procedures on him. Get ready for some awkward and embarrassing times, on my end. 

The weather has been warmly up quite suddenly, so it gave me the perfect opportunity to wear to printed pants which are light and comfortable. I'm not a fan of paisley print, but this one was okay because it had more floral. The bright colour and interesting pattern drew me to these pants, because I like to dress interestingly with bold colours, it just makes the day a little better. I really like this necklace, the geometric shape is very cool, and the two tone gold and dark silver, makes it unique looking (even though I did buy it from a chain store). I wish my shirt had a collar, the necklace would have sat better coming down from a collar. I'm just enjoying the awesome weather lately, before spring and summer comes around and I'll be sweating like I'm melting again.