Katsu Curry

In order to start dieting, I need to purge my fridge of fatty goods first

Like cream, mascarpone cheese, white chocolate. And this means a feast. An unhealthy feast.

Last week I got sick, and on my sick bed I thought long and hard about the foods I want to eat. Strawberry tart with chocolate custard is one of them (of course, you know from one of the last posts, that morphed into strawberries with Oreos), as well as strawberry cake, spinach and cheese pizza, 红烧肉 and 葱油饼.

Last weekend I made pizza. Homemade pizza. Everything was homemade from the dough to the tomato paste. I look forward to making it again, as I want to perfect the dough and the spinach and cheese flavour.

Spinach, garlic and cheese; olive and mushroom, with homemade tomato paste

Then on Monday, Amanda and I went for a walk to Løvebjerg (the sad thing is, hanging out in supermarkets has become my favourite hobby these days, there is 4 in my vicinity...) and we found super cheap chicken thighs and beef mince. Since my arrival at Århus, I've only cooked actual raw meat once, and that was because Amy was handling the meat, I have an aversion to raw meat, but hey survival calls for meat, so I'll get over that. ANYWAYS...due to that haul, I made cheese burgers on Tuesday


Yesterday was strawberry cake day - I want to make it for Heeyul and Hyeri to thank them for helping/taking care of me that night I got more than a little drunk. But the official day will be next week; yesterday was the test session. Originally I was going to serve the cake/muffin/cupcake with white chocolate ganache, but the cake was already sweet enough without the super sweet and creamy ganache.

Hmm...I don't have photos of the two muffins. These are the ones that turned out more attractive but were deemed to be too sweet. Btw - doesn't it have the cutest colour? I made it with frozen strawberries.

So I feel super fat these days. And perhaps with just cause given I've caught myself with my fly down (um TMI?) more than once this week! I know that I gained weight during my July travels, and I doubt my menu and recent bout of sickness where I ate Strawberries with Oreos has helped. So I want to start eating healthier again, but not when I still have a bowl of white choc ganache, cream and mascarpone cheese [and I won't even count the two bars of butter (I have been rather obsessed with butter these days), cheddar and mozzarella I have stashed in my fridge]. Oh what to do? Cook more unhealthy food!! XD Today I made creamy chicken and mushroom pasta, then with the white choc ganache, more cake. keke. Now I only have the mascarpone cheese to worry about - what can I make with it?

Last but not least, I want to share my new baby with everyone. This is not the one that I wanted, but Denmark is so expensive and this was on sale for less than half price!

New Haircut

Went to Frisør Phuong to get my hair cut on Tuesday. Amanda's dorm mate (a local) said he has a good reputation for cutting Asian hair.

Maybe only in Denmark.

His methodology seem a bit outdated, I haven't had the razor been applied to my hair for 5 years, and never in the manner in which he employed.

锅盖头. Not happy Jan!!

Strawberries with Oreo and anything creamy ©

It combines two aphrodisiacs in one orgasmic bite.

I was totally craving strawberry tarts for the last couple of days, and I was seriously contemplating making them yesterday. Heck I even bought a punnet of strawberries and mascarpone. But due to my laziness and a fundamental lack of resources to make the tart shell, I ultimately decided to not go down the traditional tart path, and opted for a cheat's version.

Now I know people have been making these strawberries with cream on top of a plain biscuit thing for ages, but have it ever been tried upon an Oreo biscuit? I did a simple Google search and came up with no match, so I'll assume I'm the first and will copyright it here and now as I broadcast this culinary delight for the first time.

Strawberries with Oreo and anything creamy ©
1 serving makes 2

Ingredients
1 Oreo biscuit
1 strawberry
Mascarpone/whipped cream/custard

Method
(1) split the Oreo in half, make sure there are some icing on both sides
(2) spread on desired amount of the creamy thing you have/want
(3) top off with half a strawberry (depending on size)

Stepping back in time

This wasn't on my go-to list, but Naho wanted to go somewhere else rather than spend a full 5 days in Prague (which ultimately, was a good decision), so we included Budapest in our itinerary as well.

The moment I arrived, I felt as if I've stepped back a decade or two. To start off with, the train ticket seller didn't have their own computer, and they wrote everything! When we stepped outside of the train station, there was construction everywhere. Not to mention, as we walked to our accommodation, some of the clothing stores reminds me of the uncool clothing stores in China (they use the same models too). And when we finally got to our accommodation, the building reminded me of the place that my grandparents use to live.

Buddy...what can I say? Not much to say, other than it reminded me of the Shanghai I left, not that it a bad thing. Budapest certainly has its own beauty.

Group photo from Buda/Pest overlooking the Danube (I think) and Pest/Buda

The Best Preserved City

I've heard many good things about Prague before I came - mostly how beautiful it is. And it didn't disappoint either. It was a treat to just wander along the meandering streets admiring the buildings that have withstood the test of time. The food was also hearty and very affordable!

The highlights of Prague definitely had to have been rowing on the Vltava River and clubbing til the wee hours of the morning. The rowing was Kengo's idea, and initially Heeyul and Kengo rowed us. But I was itching to have a go too, it looked so fun!! At first both Naho and I rowed, but I was way too strong for her, so I kicked her off the rower's seat and assumed captain's position!! It was tiring to row, but so very very fun!! I groaned so unwomanly though, like a woman in labour! I think during that moment I realised that I'm not ready to be a woman/lady yet (#I'm not a girl~ Not yet a woman~ All I need is time~ A moment that is mine~ While I'm in between#). I still very much enjoy being a care-free girl/tomboy without a care for womanly appearance/behaviour. Anyways, I'm so happy to report that in the days ensuing I suffered from no aching muscles, which must mean that I'm strong and fit!!

I like this photo. Behind me, you can see Naho, perched perfectly at the bow of the boat like a real lady. Do I detect a touch of passive aggression there? No, not at all! I only have the greatest respect for Naho-san, and I wish I could be more like her with her good behaviour. 唉！做日本女人不容易哦！

Me emasculating the boys - yet they look quite pleased :P

I don't know where I heard this, but apparently Prague is quite renowned for its nightlife. We went to the Karlovy Lázně, the biggest club in Central Europe. It has five storeys and each level is a different musical style. The dance floor was like a ditch or an unfilled swimming pool, and there were many people dancing at the edge, which was a fine view that Heeyul particularly enjoyed :P Anyways...a lot of people and very high even until the early morning. The funny part of the story was how we walked in the rain without umbrellas for an hour looking for the club, and of course, we also had to walk back to our accommodation in the rain, AND how none of us brought any money so we had to look for ATMs to withdraw cash.

Wet and oily from rain and sweat

Other good memories of the journey:

• getting a compartment to ourselves during the Berlin-Prague leg of our journey, putting our MP3s on speaker phone and singing along
• Naho and I getting a private room on the first night due to an error in the reservation, then Kengo falling asleep on our floor, instead of going to his dorm, after one too many funkily flavoured beers [think banana, sour cherry, nettle (I thought it tasted like eucalyptus), coffee]
  

The Happiest Place in the Happiest Country

I don't know anyone who didn't play with Lego as a child. I certainly spent many happy hours building, taking down and rebuilding those bricks. I still remember how I stumbled across the toy. I was out with my grandma in a department store. I don't know what attracted me to the tiny box but I was determined to have it. Grandma was more than hesitant to get it, given it was a toy we had never encountered before, and more importantly, it was 60RMB for a tiny box!! But me, being the pampered princess that I was, pressured and pressured until Grandma relented. And it snowballed from there: my cousin and I had so much fun with that tiny box that soon she bought a larger box; then a little later my parents bought me a big box from Australia.

So it's no exaggeration to say that I was looking forward to the Legoland excursion with great anticipation. I was going to have more fun than on the swings at Den Gamle By. To be perfectly honest, it didn't unleash that huge burst of excitment of the Den Gamle By swings did, but it certainly did evoke much happy nostalgia.

Legoland wasn't how I expected...although I didn't know what to expect in the first place. I suppose it's just like any other fun park albeit with a younger target audience (let's not get started on the amount of toddlers there were) and with a lot of models (animals, houses, people, Egyptian mummies) built out of Lego. There were many rollercoaster rides that took inspiration from the Lego series previously released, but they mostly were not very scary. But still, all in all, it was a great day. Perfect place to unleash and reconnect with your inner child. It nearly meets my elevated expectations for funness: 9.5/10

The place has a real aquarium with real sharks, manta rays and Lego scuba divers and submarines

Kengo wasting his money. He also wanted us to get our faces painted like gorillas
It's a Lego lion!!