the almost vegan cheesecake

This weekend was a pretty productive one in the kitchen. :) I remember how there was a period sometime towards the end of the year last year when I used to back practically every weekend because it was something cathartic and stress-relieving...but that was also when I was still a student and have weekends off to rest and supposedly study. Ohh the sheer luxury of a weekend off. Yes, it's the case that weekends now are no longer a guarantee for rest and that's probably one of the few things I miss about being a student. That, and the fact that as a student, if you aren't up to going for lessons, you really can just take a break for the day without any consequences to bear. But now, even taking sick leave is pretty impossible because there's the real concern of how everyone else left behind is going to have to take up your share of the workload. Moral of the story is, if you're a student, enjoy your days of insouciance and inconsequentiality.

So recently, I've started exploring a little more about a vegan diet, and by exploring, I really mean reading The Kind Diet , a book written by Alicia Silverstone (whom I used to have a huge girl crush on back in the days of Clueless)(I mean who didn't love her??) that is part memoir, part crash course in the nutritional aspects of a vegan diet, and also a recipe book with tons of recipes that look so delicious. After watching youtube interviews of her explaining about her decision to turn vegan and how she went about doing so, it definitely got me thinking about how this is a possible lifestyle that I might want to lean into in the future. Everything started with the book, Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer, that was the catalyst for my pescatarian diet change, and it seems that more and more I find myself thinking about the meaning of the choices I make when it comes to my diet. Like Foer mentioned in his book, he started exploring the topic because he wanted to be able to explain to his son (a new born at the time) why we eat the way we do, because not only do our choices reflect who we are but they affect our children in ways that we can't entirely control. And it does seem a little finicky to just say, oh I eat all kinds of meat but not dog meat because dogs are cute. It just seems insane how the food industries have been driven by the very fickle and subjective taste preferences of humans. I mean in a parallel universe, if humans weren't at the top of the food pyramid, it's plain sad to be at the mercy of some animal because of a random taste whim. But ok, this discussion could go on forever, and in the words of a dear carnivorous friend of mine, he'd just end it off by going, "Humans rule. 'nuff said", and go back to stuffing his face with pork ribs.

(Btw, I HIGHLY recommend reading Eating Animals. :) Just because Jonathan Safran Foer is one of my favorite writers and once you read that book, you'll at least get an inkling of how food gets from the farms to your plate. Essential knowledge if you care about what goes into your mouth.)

Last thursday, when I had the amazing good fortune of a random afternoon off, I decided to try out some recipes in The Kind Diet cookbook - namely the vegan berry cheesecake and the oatmeal-nuts-dried plum cookies. The vegan berry cheesecake looked so good in the photos and I was so excited to try out some new vegan ingredients, namely Earth Balance butter that is kinda expensive >< but I was really curious to see what it would look/taste like. Managed to get it at this incredible organic food store called Supernature at their Orchard Boulevard outlet and boy was it INCREDIBLE. They have racks and racks of organic items and I'm tempted to spend a proper afternoon there just browsing the aisles to see what's on offer.

Back to the Vegan Berry Cheesecake, recipe available HERE. 

PLUS POINTS - I really like how it makes use of silken tofu, which is definitely healthier than the usual whipping cream/truckloads of refined sugar/sour cream combination. But I couldn't actually find any non-dairy cream cheese (yeah, is there really such a thing?!) in the supermarkets so the cheesecake ended up being half vegan only.

MEH POINTS - All the while when I was working the ingredients for the cheesecake, the overaraching thought in my mind was that this would SMELL/TASTE SO MUCH BETTER with normal butter. When I had to melt the Earth Balance butter to mix the crushed graham crackers in, there was no delightfully sinful waft of molten butter that is typically the case with the delicious french beurre butter that I usually use. ;p Plus the recipe almost didn't work out because I really wasn't sure how the cake was supposed to look like after 45 min - 1 hour of baking in the oven. Some tips that I've now garnered from this experience is that:

1. You need to drain out as much water as possible from the silken tofu before incorporating it into the batter. I might no have been so careful with that, so in the end my batter kept bubbling slightly in the oven, which definitely affected the baking consistency. Most of the time it looked like the top layer was getting baked when the deeper portions were still molten.

2. These tofu cheesecakes need time to harden up! They ain't going to be hard immediately when you take them out from the oven so give them time to harden as they cool off to room temperature + with refrigeration. I was soooo disappointed at first when I thought that the cheesecake was a gone case because when I took it out after an hour in the oven, it was still 70% molten beneath the surface. :( I was all ready to dump it but then I decided to stick it outside to cool off for about 1-2 hours, before I chucked it into the fridge, hoping that it would eventually harden up overnight. WHICH IT DID. So I suppose the point is, don't rush these cheesecakes. That said, for this one, the berries definitely saved the cake - both in terms of taste and looks. It's definitely not as rich as a typical non-vegan cheesecake because the tofu makes it so much lighter and softer, but it was pretty decent and felt healthier. Not too sure that I would make it again though because of the traumatic - why is it not hardening up!! response I had initially.



Ta-dah. :) I'm thinking the next cheesecake I'll try will definitely incorporate tofu again but with the other typical dairy products. I suppose at this stage, I'm not ready to go vegan in terms of my baking ingredients. I will definitely be aiming to replace the refined sugars with healthier alternatives like brown rice syrup and maple syrup but in terms of the essential ingredient - butter, I'm still going to be sticking with my french butter for the time being.




Another recipe I tried was the Oatmeal, Walnut and Dried Plum Cookies (RECIPE HERE. This was definitely more successful than the cheesecake in that I didn't have so many problems with it coming out of the oven. Only thing is that these really EXPAND in the oven! I should've kept the cookie dough portions to 1 teaspoon large portions rather than the tablespoon ones as listed in the recipe. ;p Because the larger ones ended up rather MASSIVE and were so weak that they broke easily when I tried lifting them off to the cooling rack. The smaller ones were just right and retained some crunchiness at the edges. Added in raisins as well to these cookies.

OOh boy, where did the night go? Time to listen to some music before bed. Here's a song that I simply adore now.

And don't you think the lead singer's voice is like silken tofu?

Good night. 
xoxo

The Kitchen Table Cafe and Bake

Finally, a Sunday of rest to look forward to tomorrow. :) I'm so grateful whenever there is a day off in the week. It just makes all the difference - that ONE day of rest. Not that it's enough (in the ideal world we'd all be working 3 days a week and resting the next 4 ;p) but the days are so much more manageable with that one day to break the tedium and drudgery. That said, I do miss brunch. 

One of the best parts of my NZ trip was checking out all these great cafes where we would sloth around, eat great food and plan our next destination. In general, traveling for food was something we all agreed on. The NZ trip was about the time when I was starting to make a change in my diet though - sort of the start of my attempts at eliminating meat from my diet. Yeshhh, it's been about 5 months now since I've started my pescatarian ways, since I've not been able to cut out seafood/eggs/dairy from my diet to become completely vegetarian. ;p Maybe it'll be the next step. But anyhow, I realized pretty quickly that a grad trip with friends is not the ideal time for a change of that scale. At first I persisted, but then in the end I realized it would be much harder for our resident chef to cater for 4 minced meat and melted cheese mushrooms + 1 muesli dish for breakfast... Still, NZ was probably the time when I started to really develop a liking for muesli. I love how it's simple, hearty and downright healthy most of the time. 

Here's a cafe we happened to pass by - The Kitchen Table Cafe and Bake, in Dunedin, NZ. I just remember it being a very cozy place with really yummy muesli that came in a ginormous serving size. MMFF.







Nothing quite as satisfying as smoked salmon with poached eggs and hollandaise sauce. I don't know how I'm ever going to be able to turn vegetarian because I can't quite foresee life without those flavours. GAH. 



The gorgeous bowl of muesli with a great variety of nuts strewn in. I love the combination of milk and a berry compote as well with muesli.  

LOL. My friend's bagel as it was the cheapest thing on the menu. Quite a decently sized one though. (And wouldn't you agree that toasted bread/dough is just about the best taste on earth? With butter that is.) 

The Kitchen Table Cafe and Bake 

111 Moray Place 

Dunedin Central 

Dunedin City 

And of course, the other place we had to visit was the Dunedin Railway Station - apparently THE most photographed site in the whole of NZ.





How badass are they? ;) 



Heh. I really don't remember us doing very much apart from walking around the town centre, called The Octagon, really quickly. It's a quiet, chill sort of place and the best find was probably that cafe - amazingly, because it was while we were in search of another one that we never found. I like drawing meaning and conclusions from instances such as this. Conclusions such as, 'expect the unexpected' or 'you might not find what you're looking for, but in the process, something better might settle right in front of you'. Obviously I ain't gonna be writer of fortune cookie prophecies any time soon. 

Here's to a restful Sunday! 
xoxo 

Of sashimi and sky blue lakes

Yet another very very belated post. Incase you were wondering, I'm still here. I've just been sinking in the quagmire that is work. Some days are good and some days are plain bad. But most days are tiring. Usually the only thing I think of when I wake up in the morning on weekdays is the time when I can come back home to sleep. But inevitably, after work, there's a sudden spurt of energy, and I'm so much more awake to do stuff - ANYTHING FUN - that keeps me up later than I should be up to at night... and then the entire cycle starts again. Ever felt that way? ;/ 

I haven't been able to blog very much because whenever there's free time, it's usually spent - eating/sleeping/reading/surfing the net, in that order. (oooh and of course, thinking about where and what to eat, and when to sleep). I'm pretty sure I was something akin to a sloth in my previous life. Either a sloth or a very very lazy dog. I don't see how people can be bored when there's no work. I'm sure everyone has that one friend who always complains of boredom within days of the school holidays starting. Yeah, I can't understand those creatures either. But for me, there always seems to be so much to do and too little free time to do it all. I know it's all to do with prioritising and rest should definitely come up the top of the list... but sometimes I get carried away with going out and doing things that are a little more exciting though I know my body needs the rest. Am warming up to the idea that my body really just can't take the stress after awhile and 36 hours or so of no sleep is probably my limit. Why we need to subject our bodies to that sort of pressure in this line of work is beyond me. But so many have gone through it, survived, and lived to tell the tale. So I need to be able to pull through and survive too. 

Before I lose myself in a very tangential ramble, it's probably better that I lift my spirits and go back to some photos from New Zealand. ;) Still a bunch more that I've been dying to post because these are all places I highly recommend you check out if you ever get to go to the South Island. Just a few more posts, I promise, and then it'll be on to more recent things! 

So here we go - possibly one of the prettiest places I've been to. EVER.



Lake Tekapo - just driving by was one of the best parts of the trip! I think we were on our way in our caravan to a hot spring where we would be staying the night... but this was another place in our guide book that was recommended and MAN, was it worth it. You NEED to check out this place if you're in the vicinity (and by that, I mean the entire country of NZ) -- Mt Cook Alpine Salmon farm. It's famous for its sashimi which I presume is exceedingly fresh catch from the salmon farm that's created by the hydro canal fed by Lake Tekapo. We were stark raving ravenous when we were on our way. On hindsight, it's probably because we knew we were going to be feasting on some terrific salmon sashimi so we didn't eat much for breakfast and that ride in the caravan was probably the longest/most excruciating one that we passed...playing bridge. It was hilarious because we were driving by all these great sights, like Maori artwork on rocks (something to that extent), but we looked out of the window for a second, then returned to chanting, "SA-SHI-MI! SA-SHI-MI!", before turning back to our game of bridge to quell the hunger in our bellies. 





:D I love the lighting in this photo! It was just about 5pm in the evening and the sun was setting. Many fond memories of this place because it was so dang gorgeous. And naturally so! 



OOHHHHHHHH YEAHH. Cold, thick, juicy slices of fresh salmon sashimi. We probably cleared this in...50seconds? Felt that way. ;) 




And within the span of about half an hour, the sun set, changing the colours of the landscape every few minutes. It was gorgeous. And the colours of these photos aren't edited in any way at all. :) I found that most of the NZ landscape shots didn't really need brightening/editing at all because of its sheer natural beauty. 

Sigh. Ok, I feel a lot more contented just having re-lived a few moments of that trip through these photos. 

Now, time for bed and work tomorrow. At least it's a half day on Saturday. I'm grateful for whatever I can get. 

xoxo 

Lake Matheson Cafe

SO HAPPY to have finished work early today. And by early, I mean getting home before 7pm. This 2 weeks since coming back from Montreal has been HARSH. I guess it's always going to be rough returning back to work/reality after a holiday but these 2 weeks were plain tiring. After an epic-ly hideous call, I ignored my body's screams/pleas for sleep and went out instead for dinner with a bestie whom I hadn't caught up with in ages. After that, the viral flu set in. Plain miserable to be sick. But then you realize that the body really can be a lot smarter than the brain. There's probably still a huge sleep debt that needs to be paid off but for now, I feel happy and energized enough to look through more NZ photos. :)

One of my favorite places that we went to in NZ was Lake Matheson Cake. This was near Fox Glacier where we did a SICK morning of ice climbing (never again! I was that close to keeling over. NEVERRRR AGAIN). We'd read in Lonely Planet that this cafe was a great place to head to for breakfast followed by a walk by the lake but due to drizzly weather and foggy skies, we ended up only making it for breakfast and not the lake. :p Didn't bother us much though. The beautiful cafe was more than enough eye candy and we were some of the only customers there. What a feeling to be in such a place of beauty with SO FEW PEOPLE AROUND after being so used to negotiating jam-packed crowds in any cafe remotely promising the potential of quiet space.



Just fell in love with the floor to ceiling glass windows and the clean lines of these wooden chairs and tables.





Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon. Some flavour combinations are so good you wonder how people came up with them in the first place.



Typical English Breakfast with hash. YUM.







MMMM MUESLI! This was SO GOOD. I think this was the time when I fell in love with muesli and yoghurt drizzled with honey. It's such a simple thing to whip up for breakfast and really fills the tummy but I suppose it's something I would only do on a holiday or if I were on leave. You just need to have the patience and the mood for a slow, leisurely breakfast in order to truly enjoy something like this. On a daily basis, sleep > breakfast anytime.





I would gladly pay for a holiday and go overseas if only to bury myself in an oasis of tranquility. Some people prefer getting out and bonding with nature but for me, I just like a quiet cafe with good food, good company and a good view. 

So here: 

Lake Matheson Cafe 

PO Box 86, Fox Glacier New Zealand 

Trust me on this ;)

Arrowtown

Why, hello there. It's been quite awhile hasn't it! Gosh, the last time I posted I'd envisioned myself posting and sharing photos a little bit more frequently but the past month has whizzed by. I think it's good though, when work goes by quickly. ;p In a way I'm looking forward to the end of this first year of work but there have been so many times during this posting that I've sat back and thought that man, things are going really well at the moment. It's definitely not as stressful as other upcoming postings and I actually do get most Sundays off so... there's so much to be grateful for and to enjoy at the moment. Am hoping I'll always keep feeling that way. 

I just got back from my very first leave since starting work! X) It was such a great trip - to Montreal! A lot of my friends wonder why on earth I would travel to the other end of the earth (nearly, quite literally) for not even 2 weeks (sigh, leave limited to a maximum of 7 days not inclusive of weekends) but seriously, there are always so many reasons to go to Montreal. This time, the MAJOR push factor was the Osheaga music festival with its insane line-up of bands. ;) But ok I'm getting ahead of myself. Before sharing the Montreal photos I feel the compulsive need to at least finish up those from New Zealand. I know you're probably thinking, you just traveled again?! But there are a few things I believe in living for ;) - food, music, travel... amongst other things.

So here's another place to recommend if you ever decide to head to NZ's South Island for a holiday - the gorgeous Arrowtown! 



Aren't the colours just incredible? We'd heard that this was THE place to go to to experience the beautiful autumn foliage and it's a very short drive away from Queenstown, the main town that we did all our crazy adventure sports at.



It's places like these that always make me wish SG had 4 seasons in a year. 4 chances to take a new set of photos with the changing environment each time...4 chances to update your wardrobe... 



This town is peaceful, quiet...perfect for a day trip if you're looking to find some tranquility/to be near nature. Probably a place that I wouldn't mind retiring in. On the left is the picture of the town library. Took this while we were on a walking tour that was supposed to be able the trees in Arrowtown. I kid you not. The title of the talk that we spotted on the brochure was sth akin to An Introduction to the Arrowtown Trees. For some reason at the time we thought it would be a good way to see some Arrowtown sights and learn a little about the place... we didn't last more than 10 minutes into the walk. I'm still hoping they didn't notice us leaving but it was probably a very obvious sight - the only 5 Chinese people in the crowd surreptitiously sneaking off when the group walked on to the next tree.

 
 

Couldn't help notice that there were so many picture-perfect bits in Arrowtown. Plus, the flowers were gorgeousss. It was all I could do to not stop at almost every single one to take a photo.

  

Looking back, that trip really was such good fun. There was a particular Samsung ringtong that we used as our alarm every morning - it's the gentle sound of running water coupled with a soothing melodious melody in the background. Whenever I heard that ringtone at work I'm immediately transported back to the early mornings when we'd hear that ringtone, enjoy it for awhile...then unanimously ignore it (all except for the poor person who had to switch it off heheh). Ok that's all for tonight...off to sleep. Feeling jet-lagged already. I'm SO relieved that the next two days are public holidays - time to catch up with friends, editing/developing photos and sleeeeep. XD xoxo

kaleidoscopic

ZZZ. Kinda tired. I often find myself in this dilemma - when there's time, to sleep or to go out and DO STUFF? More often than not, I end up choosing the latter, especially post-call when I'm actually really tired but there's still that buzz of adrenaline that propels me to do something that I really want to do but only end up half enjoying because I get too fatigued by the end of it. ;p That was quite a long sentence. But essentially, whenever I have free time I keep thinking it's too precious to waste on sleep. But after awhile when the sleep debt builds up, I start to realize that nothing is really that fun when you're too tired to enjoy it.

Most times now my idea of fun is just doing something extremely low-energy. Something that requires minimal effort but accords me a whole lot of inner peace and comfort. Reading for one, is pretty much top on my list now. :) As is scrolling through Instagram and Facebook. Things that you only require your hands/eyes/fingers to move while the rest of your body can remain ensconced on your bed of fluffy pillows and blanket, remaining absolutely motionless.

In other news, here are a couple more photos from my NZ trip :) If you're ever in Christchurch in the South Island, I would highly recommend going to this great cafe - Addington Coffee Co-op. It was a recommendation in our Lonely Planet guidebook (which is really quite impressive because we managed to get a lot of great places from that book) and our very first brunch stop on our very first morning in NZ. Momentous indeed. I just remember us being REALLY hungry and bounding out of our rental car because we were so excited for some food.



The boys and our new friend, the random elephant we found on the table. ;p I like places like these where you never know what you might find. Of course, after the initial novelty of taking photos with the elephant toy, we started asking questions like, to whom does this belong to and... more importantly, where has it been and...WHO HAS TOUCHED IT BEFORE. After that it was outta sight, outta mind.  

BRUNCH. :D The food was so good in our hungry hippo tummies. There's something about the combination of spinach + smoked salmon + eggs benedict + hollandaise sauce that makes it such a winner. Technically it should be pretty easy to cook/assemble once you get the whole poached egg technique down to pat right? But everyone just ends up going to a cafe/restaurant for it. Nonetheless, it's a dish I dream of whipping up next time for a homemade brunch over the weekend. 

Another piece of latte art for the road. And Yisheng over on the right, who always looks like a million dollars, with our elephant friend (before we started questioning its origins). 

Addington Coffee Co-op 

297 Lincoln Rd Addington, 

Christchurch 8024, New Zealand 

+64 3-943 1662

Another reason to love this place is for its great service and comfortable atmosphere. The owner (I presume) was so friendly. He simply came along and struck up a conversation with us, giving us a couple of recommendations for places to go to by car. I suppose this sort of casual bantering among strangers is not uncommon in places that are known for the friendliness of its inhabitants like NZ or Aussie but it's always a nice refreshing change from the culture back in SG. 

Yet another place that I LOVED -- Wanaka. It was a place we stopped at for a mere 2 hours or so on the way from Christchurch to...Fox Glacier? But I totally fell in love with the small-town charm and tranquility of this place. It was just by the lake, Lake Wanaka, and while it was quite a quaint and peaceful place, there was a mini farmer's market out in a park where a school marching band was practising... so much life bubbling beneath its quiet exterior.  It's the kind of place I would consider retiring to. ;)



The amazing 30 apples (at least it seemed that way to us!) for $10 deal from a very friendly Malaysian seller at the mini farmer's market. Those apples were petite but so sweet and juicy and we all got free samples before caving in to that deal. At first we had a whole bunch of ideas for the apples (and I even considered making an apple crumble ;p but of course it never quite materialized once we realized the limitations of our Campervan style journey) and it was fun, having an apple readily available every day within reach. But after awhile it was just like, where are all these apples coming from! 



<3 I do like these photo. A lot. X) And I've no idea what I did but somehow the colours just turned out just the way I like them. I think it's the Wanaka color palette. 




One of my favorite photos of the boys. :)) I can't help but laugh/smile endearingly whenever I see this. It's so THEM. I'm always so glad when I'm able to capture a moment which isn't just about people in a particular place in time, but also brings with it the characters/personalities of the people inside brimming forth. If you knew them, you'd know what i mean. ;) 

Time to chill on my bed before going to sleep. If there's one thing that I really like about working now (if anything), it's that at night, I don't have to study. And that time is perfect for reading. I haven't read for leisure in such a long time but I love being able to cuddle up at night with a book. There really is always a silver lining somewhere. 

xoxo 

grateful for

I can't quite believe how fast time has gone by. So many things have happened in the short span of these two months. My final exams as a student have finally been surmounted. ;p Sadly, there are more exams to come in the next few years but at least this great burdensome one is over and I'll worry about the next ones when the time comes. Work has started and although I'm starting with a relatively 'slack' rotation, it can be so. dang. tiring. Weekends aren't even guaranteed rest days and I'm always pleasantly surprised when I can leave work while the sun is still up(!). I suppose if you expect very little out of things, you'll always be pleasantly surprised.

Today has been one of the most restful days yet. :D One blissful Sunday of no work. I woke up earlier than usual, read Hector and The Search for Lost Time (I do like the Hector series of books quite a bit; it's written in that simplistic sort of way that I know is meant to be able to capture both the child + adult reader but has more meaning for the adult reader)(and at the level my brain is functioning now, I tend to absorb simple things a lot easier Xp), snoozed a little in bed, tucked in beneath my comforters, enjoying the rhythmic breeze of cold air from the air-conditioner beating gently against my face, woke up, read a couple more chapters, snoozed again... until I finally felt rested enough to wake up. :) I've never been a huge fan of the saying, 'you're only know true happiness if you've experienced true sorrow' or something akin to that because I'm not one for much suffering. But there is so much truth in that statement. Days off from work have taken on a quality so sweet and so tantalising - not something I felt until I started work.

One thing I've started doing since I started work is writing a little post on Facebook - a little pinch of gratitude for something that happened in the day that I would like to put out to the giant cosmic world. I try to do so almost daily - sometimes I forget, either because I'm too tired to remember or because I'm too busy enjoying my free time outside :D (always swinging between extremes here)(the same way now I'm always either ravenously hungry or excessively replete). Perhaps some people might find it lame, but I think it helps put things into perspective. I have a plan - at the end of the work year, I would've gathered 300 odd lines of gratitude, and I'll print them all out onto tiny slips of paper and make a collage out of it to frame on my wall. Something of a reminder of what most people in my field find is there most trying year of all.

I remember on my first day of work, waking up a little earlier than expected because of those dreadful nerves. And I remember thinking to myself... I'm so grateful that I had the most incredible break ever. I had pretty much the most awesome grad trip(s) with people I love and adore and it was an accumulation of experiences that are wonderful enough to keep me buoyed through hard times for the rest of the year.

One of the places I was able to go to was New Zealand. It was my first time there and I went with a group of my favorite classmates who are so fun, spontaneous and downright crazy that it was the perfect adventure of a lifetime. There are way too many photos I snapped of us there and I'm trying to come up with a more logical way of showing them over the next few posts but here's a little teaser of our time there. :D

Yeah. So I did travel with 4 other guys. But these guys are the most harmless bunch of dudes ever. ;p (And through not helping me undo and re-make my caravan bed so that they would have space to play bridge in the car in the daytime, they never let me forget that I was their bro!)

A kea we met along the way! There was a sign that said DO NOT FEED THE KEA or it will attack your car. And we were like really??? But then... it descended upon our car. More photos next time. ;p



NZ was just full of these random scenic spots! Sometimes we would stop by and take a look around and snap some photos. But other times... especially when the wind blew, we just hopped down for a few minutes and scampered back up into the car.



One thing I LOVE about NZ would have to be all these long quiet highways that stretch on for miles and miles with NO OTHER CAR ahead or behind! There were a couple of times when we just stopped by the road, did a couple of random jump shots RIGHT SMACK in the middle of the road (photographic evidence here).









Adrenaline junkies we are. Mario style! XD 



And this badass Fox Glacier cow with a heart shaped birthmark on its forehead was too cool to not capture. I ended up having to walk reaally close to the fence and was a little worried because these cows were pretty huge and seemed to be edging closer... but like so much of NZ, it was a part of nature in its tranquility.

Alrighty then, time for something else now. The one good thing about starting work is not having to worry about studying on days off (FOR NOW ><) so that definitely frees up time for other things. Haven't had the energy to bake very much but I have had the craving to just read as much as I can now to catch up on some great books. Currently on my reading list is, "Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul" (just because while my heart lies with independent cafes, I have to say Starbucks really got me through my exams and my first few calls in hospital ;p) and... The Little Prince, which is probably about time.

xoxo (I have a feeling the next post won't be too far down the road!)