Tastebuds: Hot fudge cake, Dim sum and SNOW! - Cal's willy-wonka dream world

It's snowing in Bristol!!!

I heard it's a really rare occurence so this is really cool! Apparently, it hasn't snowed in YEARS! Look at this!!!

The look from the path leading to my residence (block on the right... The red brick wall at the periphery of the picture)

While it's a beautiful sight, it's also ridiculously cold and freezing. Having a high fever amidst all this ain't doing me any good either! But still, there's no denying that it is absolutely gorgeous.

Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside just looking at this shot.

I've seen snow before but I've never walked while it was snowing. I must say, everything that movies/cartoons/TV shows you about the magic of snow is all true! There is something so serenely beautiful and poetic about snowfall. Sure, it's a pain to walk through coz it's freezing, but just standing amidst the whirl of snowflakes and feeling each light speck melt on your cheek is something more fairytale-like than I could have ever imagined.

I love snow.

Okay! Snow aside, another thing that never fails to lift my spirits is food!

I was looking through my camera and discovered shots of my favourite dim sum which I took a while back in December when I was in Hong Kong for the new year; just realised that I haven't gotten round to sharing them!

View of the Hong Kong harbourfront from Noel's friend's apartment in Kowloon on New Year's eve. Gorgeous huh?

Friends in Hong Kong.

I've been dying to have a dim sum meal with Noel at Maxim's in Hong Kong's City Hall @ Central. But for some reason or another, we never seem to be able to get a table until one fine Sunday morning.... (you guys are going to think I'm such a loser) When we went to the restaurant at 9am - it's opening hour.

Disclaimer: I admit that the dim sum's not mindblowingly delicious but I just love the concept. The novelty hasn't died yet. You see, the dim sum is servedthe traditional way - i.e. off trolleys that nice old ladies wheel round the large restaurant floor while yelling the names of the food on their trolley. It's like a rowdy, entetaining, posh (it's not too cheap but not expensive either) market.... Sorta.

Anyway, it's GOOD. and Fun. Which makes it good fun! (Wow Cal... The fever's frying your brains up like scramble eggs huh?)

I love it when I'm ill! I see everything through fuzzy bacteria-feverish eyes!

Wheeeeee~~~~~~~~~~~~

The food.

Cantonese chicken rice.

This was sooo rich and flavourful Noel and I adored every bite we took. the rice was fragrant and fluffy, infused with a sesame oil + soy sauce dressing and the chicken was just tender and juicy. Not over cooked nor bland in taste. This was amazingly good.

Char siew bao! Need I say more! I miss you bao! I look forward to the next time I get to sink me teeth into you~. Muahahaha

Egg tarts! Sadly, not very good. In fact, it was downright horrible. Ugh....

Oh oh! Discovered another lurking food picture! Okay, this is going to look a lil' grotesque, but it's a Hong Kong waffle (at least that's the closest description I can give). To translate it literally, it's called "Chicken Egg Boy".... Weird name but it's really like a standard waffle. And the best part about it is that you buy it off one of the roadside stalls that you see. It's a bit disconcerting for those of you who are particular about hygiene, but I guarantee you that this is not only SAFE but scrumptiously good!

Try it. You MUST!

So, the one I'm showcasing was a special for that week/day. I think they were trying out a new recipe and seeing if it'd be popular. This one has black sesame seeds (which I LOVE to bits) and coconut shavings mixed in the batter.

I tore some of it open in the bag to get this shot! Look gross doesn't it? Haha!

One thing I love about my house in Hong Kong is that we're smack in the middle of Causeway Bay, the shopping/food district. So it's great knowing that all I have to do is take the elevator down from my home and walk out to the store across the road, buy it and gobble it up.

Not to mention, Haagen Daz is also round the corner from my house. (Omg. Am I not the luckiest girl in the world?!?!)

Noel and I used to have a monthly tradition of having a chocolate fondue on one of our nights out.... And we didn't miss up on the opportunity to try their x'mas special!!!!

White/Dark chocolate fondue delight!

Look at this baby!

This was the perfect dessert for Noel and I 'coz Noel hates dark chocolate but loves white chocolate (which I can never understand why. Lol), whilst I lovedark but hate white! So it's perfect! And the spread of dippables was good too! I mean fresh fruits, baby scoops of ice cream and biscotti.

A girl couldn't ask for more. I should marry the Haagen Daz stall located near my home in HK. I should, but I think I'd become a fat tub of wobbly blubber if I ever married an establishment like that.

Just see how happy we looked after eating.

P.S. See the scarf round Noel's neck? I knitted that for him for x'mas! And yes, I taught myself by watching Youtube videos. No, I'm not lying. Try it! It can be done! I did it! =D

Ah, I miss Noel + Hong Kong.

And we also had this delicious pizza at Daddyo's.

It was a gorgeous piece of art. I think we ordered meat lovers + additional topping of mushrooms. Finished it all in 15 mins flat, we did.

I love Daddyo's.

But I must say that the pizza there ain't half as good as the ones I've been having in UK/Europe. Especially the italian place round the corner from Woon's place in London (I will get round to furnishing pics of the amazing food we have there one day)

Speaking of London, I was there for the weekend and Woon took me out to lunch on Friday, where I had a crazy hot fudge cake.

And I don't mean crazy in the good sense.

The first bite sends shivers down your spine, not from sheer ecstacy but from repulsion of how sweet it is. It was like stuffing your cheeks full of caster sugar and having it melt slowly in your mouth, while imagining a large fraction of your life melting away and your heart going into cardiac arrest from the sheer magnitude of the chocolate.

There are good chocolate cakes and then there are good chocolate cakes.

Sadly, this made it into neither - I couldn't bring myself to finish it and I'm a chocolate lover.

Yup, it was that bad.

I mean for all it's worth, it was well made but just too much for me. (Plus it came with whip cream.... 10 points penalty for that!) Oh and on top of the fudge cake was more toffee fudge.... Did I say eating this was going to kill you? Well, it will... Eventually.

Was walking around Leicester Square hoping to get tickets for Wicked but I got there late and there weren't any tickets left. Ah well. So I didn't get to watch Wicked (or Chicago, or Hairspray or Mamma Mia or Les Miserables or Twelfth Night) but I did by pass a frozen yogurt store! Just check out the window display!