13 August 2013

Brekkie:

Overnight chilled oats w/almond milk, cinnamon & the rest of the peach "crisp"
(Wow, this was actually really good! I'm going to make overnight chilled oats more often!)

Snack:

Dates, chunks of "light" cheese, celery sticks

 Snack from La Belle Miette, Melbourne CBD, Melbourne, Australia:

Salted caramel macaron (ate half)
(The texture of this macaron actually reminds me of Laduree's in NYC! The flavour left a bit to be desired though. Intense caramel flavour, but no contrast whatsoever from the "salt". I'm not a fan of super sweet desserts though, so half of this macaron was already overwhelming.)

The inside.

Opera House macaron: coffee, caramel & chocolate macaron (ate half)
(The texture was the same as the previous one: crisp shell with a slightly chewy inside. Again, the flavour was disappointing. If I hadn't put these in the order that I had, I wouldn't have been able the tell the difference. The caramel flavour was so intense that it completely masked the chocolate and coffee flavours. Usually coffee flavours are quite strong, but I was actively seeking for that distinct java bitterness to no avail.)

The inside (took this picture later because I forgot).
(But you can see the insane amount of caramel in the middle and understand why I couldn't detect any of the other flavours.)

Violet & blueberry macaron (ate half)
(I think this one was my favourite so far. Light and sweet, but not overwhelmingly so when you only eat half. The violet flavour was very subtle, only overtaking the blueberry once the latter flavour disappeared.  I think part of the reason why was because there was a glob of blueberry jam in the middle. The only reason why I wasn't a fan of this macaron was because the cookie part wasn't fully ready; it was a bit too soft.)

The inside.

Earl grey chocolate macaron (ate half)
(Probably my favourite out of the four. The earl grey flavour immediately wormed its way to the forefront of my taste buds and once it ebbed, the chocolate came out with a bang. This was the only macaron out of the four that didn't overwhelm me in terms of flavour and sweetness. While the cookie was a bit on the soft side, the chocolate was a bit hard so I rather enjoyed the contrast and how the texture contributed to the taste.)

The inside.

Dinner from Om Vegetarian (on Collins), Melbourne, Australia:

Plain lassi, some kind of potato & carrot stew (2), lentil dhal (1.5), pickled something (didn't eat), rice, naan
(They ran out of mango lassi so I just got the plain lassi. Pretty sweet, but still tangy. It was really good with the naan. I'm not a big fan of rice in general, so I wasn't too keen on this mediocre one. The potato and carrot stew was very salty and didn't have the typical spices you'd expect in an Indian dish. I was very disappointed, but it was edible with the rice. The lentil dish, on the other hand, was alarming. I have never eaten something so salty in my entire life, besides salt itself. The only spice in  that dish must be salt because no matter how much I tried to dilute it w/water or rice, the saltiness still lingered in my throat. I seriously thought my blood pressure was going to spike dangerously after eating that. The best part of this meal was the naan, but even that wasn't the greatest naan I've had. I did go for seconds to see if my batch was just a one time occurrence of over-salt-tation, and I was relieved to find out that while the dishes were still quite salty, it was much more manageable than the first helping. Or perhaps my taste buds had adjusted.)

Snack from Maxim's Cakes and Pastries, Chinatown, Melbourne, Australia:

Egg tart (ate half)
(Apparently the best place to get egg tarts in Melbourne, but I disagree. The tart pastry was quite good, made in the French-esque style I've seen in most of the bakeries around here, but the custard part left something to be desired. This bakery really emphasised the egg in egg tart. I liked that it wasn't very sweet, but the egginess threw me off.)

Snack:

Green tea, other half of the egg tart

 Snack from Breadtop, Chinatown, Melbourne, Australia:

Chestnut roll (ate a bite)
(Didn't think I'd enjoy this, but it's good! I'm starting to be a fan of these chesnut desserts. The roll was soft and moist, which went nicely with the equally moist and sweet chesnut filling. There was enough filling for me to appreciate the chesnut flavour in each bite and enough bread to balance out the sweetness of  the filling.)

The inside.

Pineapple & red bean bun (ate a quarter)
(It wasn't as pineapple-y as I thought it would be and actually a bit coconut-y. The flavour of the pineapple was only on the top of the bun, making it very much like the typical Asian pineapple buns. I thought it would be pineapple and red bean filling, but this turned out to be a red bean filled pineapple bun.  I still enjoyed it though. Sweet, but not too overwhelming. The bun was soft while the red bean filling was a dense block of moist sweetness.)

The inside.