Chocolate Hazelnut Gateau
My pastry chef friend was gracious enough to entertain my whims and came over to teach me how to bake a nice gateau.
Dacquoise Layer - That's just a fancy hoity-toity way of saying meringue.
Hazelnut Butercake Layer - Stacked on top of the Dacquoise layer and glued to it with Nutella, the love of my life.
Chocolate Hazelnut Sponge - Stacked on top of the buttercake layer with a generous amount of creme Gianduja sandwiched between it.
Creme Gianduja - Just the cake covered with a generous layer of creme Gianduja, also known as chocolate hazelnut cream in plain English.
Chocolate Transfer - Chocolate squares with a paisley-ish swirl pattern transferred on as the decoration for the sides.
Piped Chocolate Butterfly - Butterfly as the centerpiece.
Sliced Cake - Final result.
I ate a total of 5 slices in 3 days. It was
divine.
Recipe is as follows:
IngredientsChocolate Hazelnut Sponge
40g cocoa powder
40g flour
40g melted butter
20g hazelnut meal
9 egg yolks
150 caster sugar
5 egg whites
Crème Gianduja
750g cream
200g dark chocolate
200g nutella
Chocolate Hazelnut Buttercake
200g eggs
200g butter
200g castor sugar
80g hazelnut meal
100g flour
40g cocoa powder
Dacquoise
3 egg whites
70g hazelnut meal
70g icing sugar
70g castor sugar
20g cooca powder
Extra Nutella to sandwich Dacquoise and buttercake together
Method:To make Chocolate Hazelnut Sponge:
1.Whip egg whites with 100g castor sugar until it reaches the soft peak stage. Set aside.
2.Whip egg yolks with 50g sugar until soft peak stage is achieved. Fold in sifted cocoa, flour and hazelnut meal
3.Fold in egg whites into the egg yolk mixture and add melted butter. To get a light cake, mix in 1/3 of the egg whites first before adding the rest of them into the cake. Some mixture can be mixed into the melted butter before adding the butter mixture into the batter.
4.Pour into 2 8-inch rings and bake at 160oC.
To make Chocolate Hazelnut Buttercake:
1.Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy using the creaming method.
2.Mix in eggs one at a time and fold through sifted flour, hazelnut meal and cocoa powder.
3.Pour into 2 8-inch rings and bake at 160oC.
To make Dacquoise:
1.Whip egg whites and castor sugar to stiff peaks.
2.Fold through icing sugar, cocoa powder and hazelnut meal.
3.Form into 2 8-inch round pieces. Bake at 160oC.
To make Crème Gianduja:
1.Heat up 150g of cream until boiling. Add in chocolate and whisk. Mix in the nutella.
2.Whip 600g of cream to medium peak.
3.Fold into ganache.
Assembly:
1.Put a layer of Dacquoise at the bottom.
2.Spread with Nutella.
3.Place buttercake on top of Nutella, followed by a generous amount of Crème Gianduja.
4.Top with a layer of Chocolate Hazelnut Sponge.
5.Cover entire cake with Crème Gianduja.
6.Decorate to taste
This recipe makes 2 8-inch round cakes.
Labels: Food
Fouetté, Pas de Chat, Pirouette
Went shopping with no intention of buying any shoes and came home with these:
Doesn't the second one look ridiculously ballet?
I adore them.
They're joining the big shoe family schooled, fed and mothered by Dental Girl.
Labels: Shopping
The Irony
I've been treating patients for the past year or so but I still can't get over the distaste of seeing a patient rinse their mouth.
Everytime I tell my patient to rinse, I turn away and wait for them to get over it. It's just disgusting.
Today I went to Ortho clinic where the patient came in after mandibular advancement surgery and hadn't brushed her teeth for
2 weeks. The demonstrator offered to brush her teeth for her.
Spent the entire session looking everywhere else.
I feel sick.
Labels: Dental School
Maternal Instincts?
I went to a pet shop today.
Every customer there was a pet owner (well,
duh). And I felt jealous.
I always wanted my pristine home and cashmere-throw-on-the-sofa life. And such a life isn't really synonymous with pets.
But just maybe -
maybe - a miniature long-haired daschund to keep me company wouldn't be such a bad idea.
Sigh.
Labels: Life
Chris Evans
Re-watched Fantastic Four yesterday to kill time.
Chris Evans is hot!
Going shopping now.
Labels: Hotties
Valentine Cookies
I baked cookies for the entire class for this year's Valentine's to amuse myself and also to spread some Valentine cheer to all those single people out there.
The picture of the wrapped one didn't come out too well, but basically each cookie was individually wrapped and the wooden stick was labelled with the person's name.
Yet more evidence of my overly free schedule.
Labels: Food
Acquaintances
You know sometimes you get introduced to someone in a party and a year later you bump into them, and all you can do is pretend not to know each other?
Such a person exists in my apartment. So far I've been bumping into the person 3-4 times a week. In the lift, outside the lift, outside the apartment, everywhere.
It's extremely awkward.
Perhaps I should renew the friendship.
Labels: Life
Dycal
I was in the pre-clinical lab and my demonstrator accidentally exposed the pulp of the tooth we were working on.
Demonstrator: Get some Dycal.
Me: *2 minutes later* Here.
Demonstrator: Have you mixed it?
Me: Mix?
Demonstrator: You know, Dycal is 2 components mixed into one.
Me: .........
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Needless to say my demonstrator was
not pleased with me.
This is even worse than putting the Tofflemire Band on the wrong way.
The
shame!Labels: Dental School
Birthday Cupcakes
Cupcakes are in vogue as birthday/wedding cakes these days. I baked this for my friend's 21st earlier today. In total, I made 100 mini cupcakes.
Made 3 flavours this time - chocolate, orange and strawberry. I think it was the decoration that semi-killed me, seeing that I chose to do hand-modeled roses. It was all worth it though, my friend loved it.
My Cupcake Production Line
Cupcakes Halfway Done
Cupcakes Boxed And Ready To Go
I'm absolutely exhausted right now.
Labels: Food
My Files
I used to have a whole shelf full of ugly files, similar to this one:
I got sick of my ugly files that were ugly-fying my shelf that I decided to give it a makeover by wrapping all of them and labelling them.
Incidentally, I always referred to everything related to root canal treatment as Endodontics. Then I realised there was such a thing as
Endodontology.
It started a frenzy of -ology postfixes for my files.
Periodontology, Prosthodontology, Orthodontology. Annoyingly, Growth Studies is just plain Growth Studies.
Yes, I'm too free and need to get a life. I know.
Labels: Obsessions
A Friend In Need...
A friend in need is a friend indeed.
For years whenever someone qouted that proverb, I thought about it in negative terms. I thought it meant that if someone needed you, then they'll call you a friend and ask for help. In other words, when they don't need you you're just white trash.
Pretty opposite to what the proverb actually means - that when you are in trouble, the person who helps you is a true friend.
What if I'm sick and tired of being the person people turn to when they need help, and sick of people who only call me their friend when they need help? Does that make me selfish and petty? A person who calculates her friendships?
On the other hand, do I just lie around like a doormat
waiting for the next person to call me up for help, and ditch me when the problem is solved?
That is the question.
Labels: Life
Flowers
I've never really been a big fan of flowers. What's the point of buying them when they're just going to rot and die?
However, lately, I've grown to like them. Bought a bunch of champagne carnations from the florist for a mere AUD3. According to the florist, it should be able to last 2-3 weeks. We shall see.
I put a vase of them out in the living room:
Kept a single stalk to brighten up my stationery corner of my table.
The next time I think I shall go for pink or red.
Labels: Obsessions
Irrational Fears?
I've finally managed to get myself down to the weight that I was when I was in First Year. This minor miracle finally achieved, the next step is to make sure I
stay this way.
I'm living in perpetual fear that I'll gain weight again and waste all the money I've spent on my numerous pairs of jeans.
That isn't stopping me from mindlessly eating chips and cookies like there's no tomorrow.
Must. Have. Self. Control.
Food of the day:
Half a plate of fat chips
One big cookie
One oreo biscuit
3 handfuls of Smith's chips
One bottle Diet Coke
One packet Indomee
Labels: Life
PreClinical Lab
The pre-clinical lab is killing me. I am sick and tired of trying to clean canals, obturate canals, wax up crowns, cut crown preps...you name it.
I was sitting at my area trying in vain to get my initial file 'to length'. Demonstrator came along.
Him: You look like you're having fun *smirk*
Me: Omg I can't take this anymore!!
Turns out he couldn't get it to length either. Apparently I must have packed in all the dentine chips into the apex due to my less than professional skill.
Later in the day I was waxing up my crown and the same endo demonstrator came up to me and smirked again.
Him: Looks like you enjoy waxing up crowns even better.
Gah! Cracking!!!
Labels: Dental School
The Humble Noticeboard
I'm on a decorating spree lately and I descended on my noticeboard with a vengeance.
Here's what my board looked like before:
I bought some material and wrapped it around the board, using thumb tacks to pin it to the back of the board (it's entirely cork). Then I bought plain wooden hearts, painted them pink and stuck them onto ordinary thumb tacks. The result?
Hung up a couple of bookmarks I had as well. Strangely, people always give me bookmarks that say "Love".
In love with my noticeboard.
Labels: Obsessions
Jacob Lim
I logged onto my Friendster account and saw a new message from a guy called Jacob Lim (Not real name).
I was startled. Jacob Lim was a 30-something year old man that I knew and didn't really like and had always been over-friendly. I frowned. I didn't even know 30-something year old men surfed Friendster!
I opened the message, which said "I would really like to know you more. Add me!"
Clicked on the picture and found out that it was actually a younger and more narcissistic Jacob Lim that was trying to add me. He had full body shorts with his shirt off, absolutely proud and in love with his body.
Laughed hysterically with relief.
Strange thing is that the real name of the two persons isn't all that common.
Life is funny sometimes.
P/S: IF any
real Jacob Lims are reading this, I apologize. I don't actually know any Jacob Lims in real life.
Labels: Life
Cheap Thrills
Went shopping yesterday evening to get rid of dentistry blues.
Sales are on in Melbourne to get rid of winter stock and although I was only out for 2 hours I managed to get 2 really good deals. Not bad.
Pilgrim Osaka Obi DressI tried it on and fell in love with it. Flipped the tag over. AUD149.95 down to AUD39.95!!! I clutched hold of the dress harder and went to the counter to pay when the salesperson informed me there was an
additional 30% discount on top of the discounted price. So I got the dress for ~AUD28! Happiness...
I took the photo sitting down because my bed is too near to the mirror in my room to stand. I'm so happy I bought those red shoes during the holidays - now I have a dress to match it.
Seduce Buoy BlueWent to Seduce and didn't really see anything I liked. Then I saw a girl trying on this top that I really liked. The photo doesn't do it justice because I only took a front shot. The back is similar but plunges lower and the overall effect is really nice (that's my opinion anyway). It was on 70% sale so I paid like... AUD30+ for something that was AUD110!
I love sales. Must shop more.
"It we were a movie, you'd be the right guy and I'd be the best friend that you'd fall in love with." - Hannah MontanaLabels: Shopping
Meals
I've been cooking most of my meals since I got back to Melbourne.
There are several reasons for this, such as:
1. Cooking at home lets me attempt to control my portions and healthiness of my food.
2. It's cheaper. Enough said.
3. I get to experiment with new recipes.
One of the new experiments that I tried was this banana coconut dessert. Apparently it's supposed to be a Vietnamese dessert but I don't know it.
It's actually a very simple recipe, just bananas in coconut milk sweetened with sugar, heated in a saucepan until the banana gets soft and almost caramel-ish. Very nice.
Another of my cooking attemps is this chicken mushroom risotto.
Turned out quite well. Happy with the results.
Off to do more home improvement projects.
Labels: Food
Mini Cupcakes
Baked these as a trial for the real thing - my friend's 21st birthday
cake stack of cupcakes.
Aren't they pretty?
Didn't do anything fancy today because honestly couldn't be bothered. Just wanted to learn the ratios.
Incidentally, been pigging out lately. Ate a small bag of Starburst Fruitfuls (my favourite!) in two days - right after I managed to squeeze into my smallest pair of jeans.
Am determined to stay away from the confectionery/chocolate/junk aisle from now on.
Labels: Food
Shoes
Me and my housemate love shoes.
This is what our shoe area looks like.
I love shoes.
Labels: Obsessions
Coconut Ice
I've been asking for favours left, right and centre since I got back to Melbourne that I decided to make a batch of sweets for all the nice people who helped me out and were gracious enough to put up with my seemingly never ending demands.
The recipe is essentially really easy but the kneading to get everything even was sheer torture. I used an old pasta jar to put the candies in. I think I'm And yes, the font used to print everything is Angelina.
Happy with the results.
Labels: Food
Pencil Holder
I bought several foodstuff that came in cans and decided to make use of them instead of just throwing them away. This is probably because lately I've been feeling that I should a friend of nature and try to be more conservative. Also because I want to have maximum amusement with minimum amount of money spent.
I ended up with this:
I basically washed the can out and peeled off the label, then cut a nice wrapping paper and wrapped it around the can, securing it with double sided tape. Then I tied a bow around it.
Really happy with the result.
Angelina
I've been printing labels for my stack of boxes that contain my bags.
My new favourite font is this:
Isn't it pretty? It looks just right for all my boxes - being handwriting-ish without actually being handwriting.
Going to label my files next.
Labels: Obsessions
House Elf
I feel like a house elf.
I woke up to the sound of the buzzer indicating that the delivery man for a table that my housemate ordered from Ikea had arrived. Got the package and set to work assembling the table. It took us 2 hours, mainly because there were like a billion screws to screw in.
Cooked and ate lunch and proceded to clean out the entire living room including throwing out all the boxes that held my stuff, vacuuming the entire living room, reinstalling the tv, changing the sofa cover and throwing out all the unnecessary stuff.
Uninstalled the lousy dining table and installed a nicer one.
Cleaned the bathroom and kitchen. In fact, cleaned everything period.
Cooked dinner and made up a list of
more things to do tomorrow.
Whoever said weekends were lazy easy days?
Labels: Life
Vitamin C
I'm addicted to this vitamin.
It tastes so good I struggle to eat only
one a day.
Labels: Health
My New Room
It's been almost a week since I've got back to Melbourne and things are finally beginning to settle down somewhat. My room is pretty much in order and now I just amuse myself by doing some small craft projects etc, which I will be posting pictures of later.
Here's a picture of a corner of my room which leads to the balcony. I stole that lamp and flowers from the living room...heh.
Other than that, had a crappy chair in clinic today. First the demonstrator came 10 minutes late. Then my EMS scaler refused to work (another 5-10 minutes wasted trying to figure it out). Then the light blew (!!!) I gave up and started scaling with no light and I've come to conclude that no light is a terrible thing.
Good news is that for the first time in my life I didn't have to retake impressions of my patient as I got them good at my first attempt. Of course, it may be because it was the nurse who mixed the alginate for me. *shrug*
Off to draw up the design for my patient's new dentures.
Labels: Life
