Kitchen Venture #9: Brownies by Donna Hay

Alright, so I didn't technically bake this but I did buy the premix by Donna Hay! One of our snacks during the Harry Potter marathon we did earlier in the month. Brownies!!! All girls/guys love a good chocolatey brownie no?

Pink edible icing not included...

Shiyu baked this while I helped vacuum the house. Wasn't difficult and time-consuming at all. The instructions were clear on the pale blue box and you need only provide your own butter and eggs. Chocolate chunks were provided too! At abt AUD7 a box, I would say YUMS.

Photos credits: mayydiaries.blogspot.com

It may not look too pretty here because we didnt actually use a proper cake tin. However, I LOVE THE IDEA of adding chocolate chunks to the brownie becauseit is gooey and melts in your mouth as you bite into the chewey chocolatey brownie. The top layer was wonderfully crisp and the inside of the brownie moist and chewy. I love the smell wafting through the house as it bakes. Salivating and I know I couldn't stop eating them. Shiyu had to cut them into smaller pieces because I could NOT stop.

So even if you didn't have the premix help from the dessert angel aka Donna Hay, but would like to have a lovely twist to your ordinary brownie, chocolate chunks are IT. Once your batter and mixture are all done, just chuck about 500g of big chocolate squares into that and stir, scoop the mixture into your tin and make sure the choc chunks are evenly spread out throughout, within or above. Makes for a yummy gooey surprise ;)

Till my next kitchen venture, Mayy xo

Mayy's Closet #63

Been staring down my clothes for sale page on fb so much so that I haven't been blogging about clothes. Alittle guilty that I neglect this but seriously, my mental wellbeing isn't at its peak. ANYWAY, the body's and brain's refusal to do any form of work for these couple of days have brought me to recover my backlog posts.

This outfit today focuses on the skirt I got from Supre and paired with two simple tops. A short summer skirt but perfect for brightening wintery blues.

I got this pink and white tartan/checkered like skirt from Supre last year and only got round to wearing them this year in June. I have had a soft spot of tartan and am still looking for the perfect red/blue checkered shirt. The skirt is of a thick sort of rough material that you can feel the different lines weaving through the pattern. Now, dont be silly. I know it is short, but I wore stockings and boots for winter.

Paired with my dark denimblue ruffled shouldered long sleeve top from Cotton On Body, it is sort of a more relaxed fit given how the top is meant for sleeping. But hey! Just like how Peter Alexander thinks, no one said we can't go out in peejays. Especially cute ones.

Love the colour so much, has that painted feel to it.

And of course, a basic classic black turtleneck NEVER goes wrong with knee high suede black boots.

Here's a close up of the skirt, isn't it pretty?! It wasn't like a bargain on my part but I just wanted it!

Photos credits: mayydiaries.blogspot.com

So what do you think of the skirt and the outfits? Yay or nay? Perfect for a dinner date or an afternoon lunch date with the girls?

Till my next closet raid, Mayy xo

M's Food Find #63

A whole heap of apologies for the neglect here! I don't even have the time to upload all my photos from the past couple of weeks. Dont you worry, I am doing it now. So while it's transferring, let me blog more about food. The clothes and shoes can wait.

Winter is the time for hot coffee and hot chocolate and everything warm. So after dimsum one day with colleagues down in Northbridge, Jeanette requested to drop by a little cafe off Fitzgerald street in North Perth.

What a quaint little street, so chic and chill. I love the chill factor and the relaxed feeling when I stepped into the little cafe. It may look small on the outside but it actually can fit quite a lot of people.

32 Angove St

North Perth 6006 WA

They also have a couple other stores at Maylands (45 8th Avenue) and Subiaco (1 Denis Street).

I would seriously want to buy one of those envirocups! So cute!!! But I just didn't spend enough time in the cafe as we only stopped for a takeaway. Rest assured I will be back, since it blew me away in the short time there.

Jeanette raved about the hot chocolate and coffee.

And those cakes were so tempting that I had to cave in for a small sweet treat in the form of a...

Photos credits: mayydiaries.blogspot.com

MARS BAR macaroon!!! They weren't tiny either at AUD3.50, so well worth the size and flavour. Even though the main taste was chocolate, the nutty aftertaste was pretty fulfilling. The cupcakes had quite good reviews online and I am dying for some now! They also serve brekkie (YUMS) and light lunch plates like sandwiches.

I can so imagine myself enjoying a sunday brekkie or brunch there and just chilling out for abit. Big sighs, so looking forward to october when I submit this thing. And if you are working and have the weekends off unlike a student, pop over for a beautiful relaxed day ahead of you...

Till my next food find, Mayy xo

M's Food Find #62

Been craving for sweets the past week before, so during the Freo snack attack trip I made sure to grab one of my favourite things around!

ORGANIC DONUTS within the markets itself, near the fruits and veg area.

They have three different kinds available, the original cinnamon sugar ones being the most basic. A real dark chocolate filled one shaped like a little bomb/football. Super cute and I know friends who are FANS of this particular one. The donuts are all very generously filled with chocolate or very generously filled with the fragrant sweet cinnamon sugar. I am drooling already...

Photos credits: mayydiaries.blogspot.com

For me personally, I absolutely adore the blackberry jam donut. It comes warm and the blackberry jam is perfectly sweet with a tinge of berry sourness. Feels so fresh! And I love a warm jam filling. The organic donut itself is very yummy and not chewy and reeks of oil. Fresh is the word I am going to use again here. And the donut itself is soft and I want to use the word, crunchy BUT yeah... hope you know what I mean.

REGARDLESS, when you are in Freo, this donut stand is one place you gotta make a pitstop at. I LOVE THEM DONUTS, krispy kremes what?

Till my next food find, Mayy xo

Today, Mayy...

I know I havent been blogging but downloading annual reports give me the shits! hahaha. Will be back soon ok? And lots of new food places to tell you guys about, especially my Rockpool visit! To say that there will be a lot of photos is an understatement really.

In the meantime, stay tuned and my clothes page is having discounts at the moment! Hop on over you. =)

Mayy's Closet UP FOR SALE!

http://www.facebook.com/brian.istic#!/pages/Mayys-Closet/233869983301379

Hellooooo, I have been away long enough as it has been busy with the family coming round and uni starting this week. Oh, not to forget setting up my personal page on facebook for my clothes for sale! Do visit the page and like it. There are some amazing stuff on sale and all in excellent condition. Some not even worn yet, can you believe it? I do need to stop buying clothes for awhile...

Help me cure my shopaholism problem ladies. You won't be disappointed in scoring some bargains!

Till my next closet raid, Mayy xo

Shoestopper #42

After all these excessive eating in real life and blogging about food, I think some exercise may be in order... Well, even if it's just blogging about shoes. HEH. Makes not much sense.

Photo credits: mayydiaries.blogspot.com

Rubi flats are really made for the walking. I have had so many colours and designs in this particular style! They go so easily with most outfits, very easy to slip on and off when you are in a rush. They look good most of the time and definitely don't make you look sloppy. Even when you want to look sloppy. Dainty and feminine with the rounded toe.

No surprises on why I bought this copper bronze metal colour. It is actually because of the blue interior! One of my favourite colours, it is irresistable. Too bad I wear it out already due to frequent wearing. Sighs and the fact that it got wet from heavy rain. Sure they don't last too long but they are also cheap! Makes you feel alot less guilty for buying many of them at a go or on different days ;)

Till my next shoe-stopping experience, Mayy xo

M's Food Find #61

Another VERY backlogged post. Lunch ages ago (about two weeks back at least). We had a mini road trip before we arrived at this one. Steven brought us to a dodgy (looking) hawaiian/jap place which we all veto-ed. Wanted to go to another Jap place but it was closed. So we headed to where this was located in Melville, across Subaru and Honda and next to Utopia.

Wanted to head to another restaurant but gave this a try. Guess everyone really wanted Japanese!

Nishi used to have bad reviews but apparently change of management. It was pretty empty but a handful of customers. Granted we were there a wee bit later compared to normal lunch times.



Ranboll? Rainbow?

I took photos with my phone so I can't seem to upload properly rotated ones... Anyway, they have a lunch menu so this was one of the sets. Chicken karaage. Looks abit dark the frying, maybe not fresh oil?

Beef bulgolgi set. Personally, I FROWN UPON Japanese places which also serve Korean dishes. It just seems to tell me it is not authentically Japanese. Points lost already for me here.

Salmon sushi roll was properly done and proportioned so B for effort. The colour of the sashimi looked proper too. Taking it up to a B+ or A- even. But bulgolgi kicked it down to B+.

Agedashi tofu and teriyaki beef set. Nothing fancy but I guess value for money!

Photos credits: mayydiaries.blogspot.com
And lastly my order of chirashi set. Nearly my standard order at any new Jap place I go to here. My constant quest to find good sashimi and best way to find out is through chirashi. I would say not the worst chirashi Ive had here in Perth but also nothing to crow about. The salmon pieces were abit too thin and the crab pieces with that mayo bit is just not chirashi like. I love sushi rice always so thats a salvaging point.

Overall, I felt this place serve up sub-par food for higher than average prices. During the time I was there, there was only ONE waitress doing everything from taking orders to cashier to delivering food. Oh boy, let's just say thank goodness no major disaster happened. Would I go back? Highly doubt it.

Till my next food find, Mayy xo

Prints Ten

Remember the little tennis lovin' from the post titled Love-All? Well, here's another tennis related one! Another reason I loved tennis was the witty lines Nike came up with all the time for their tennis teeshirts. All the nice prints and words, even if the cut of the shirts are not for me. This is one of them...

Cupid!

Photos credits: mayydiaries.blogspot.com

And how true is that eh? ;)

M's Food Find #60

Continuing with our Freo snack attacks, this was one of Anna's and my pitstop after nachos. Crepes at the French stall within the markets itself. Always long queues and crowds, similar to apparently the best Ramen stall in Perth (though I haven't tried).

Lots of choices: both savoury and sweet! You can even customise your own crepes. Love that option ;)

Open concept kitchen with a chef and her lightning fast hands. Super pro!




Nutella's gotta be popular, look at the many gigantic tubs!





I did say lightning fast didnt I? You also have a choice of eating in or taking away. It is better to eat in if you are going for a nice savoury one. Reminds me of roti prata/murtabak, a popular indian pancake.

All the wonderful smells wafting through...

Anna ordered the nutella and ice cream one, super sinful and good.


Photos credits: mayydiaries.blogspot.com

It looks very limp here because its only lemon sugar and cinnamon. I love the cinnamon bits but the lemon is WAYYY too sour for me. But I love the fresh hot/warm crepe. So soft and fluffy in its own way. Definitely worth the wait. Can't wait to go back for it and try some other flavours again.

Tell me which is YOUR favourite one? Do you customise your own?

Till my next food find, Mayy xo

Mayy's Closet #62

How did your weekend go? Hope y'all had a better one than I did! Although I think I had a pretty good one. In terms of luck and blessings. Saturday night was spent with the girls once again at their place, this time watching part 1 of Deathly Hallows. Yummy food cooked by Shiyu and Anna both! Sunday was spent dropping off clothes for sale to this girl living pretty far away but I really wanted to sell so yeah. After that, met up with Brandon and Jian Hann at Northbridge for dimsum at Golden Century. The biggest thing happened to me there...but let's just say there are really some kind souls in the world out there and I am very very blessed to come across one. So be kind y'all! Karma karma karma.

Alright, back to clothes. Now that I have set up my own personal page, Mayy's Closet and waiting on new clothes to arrive so I can post them up, I find myself spending more time on fb. Quite distracting to my uni work I would say. UH OH. But at the same time, I am pushing myself to really look at my wardrobe and say which ones NEED to go and which can stay. Here is a top that will be staying for a very long while....

This black butterfly-sleeved top is from the brand Moolala which can be purchased from City Beach. I got it in Harbourtown for about AUD29? I was hesitating back then but I knew I had to despite the slightly high price tag.

I love the simplicity and comfiness of the style and material. Perfect for summer, spring, autumn and I wore it in winter. Slightly wrong weather but yeah. Ive had it for about a year now before I wore it for the first time. I know I know, I really don't know what's wrong with me ok.

Photos credits: mayydiaries.blogspot.com

Love the pink and grey painting like feathers as the design front. Think the whole idea here is to portray like a bird or something, with wings! Can you see it?

Till my next closet raid, Mayy xo

M's Food Find #59

Honestly, this was one of those days where its deceivingly sunny. But its super cold out. By the way, more food coming your way right now. Just a little snack here.

Our little Fremantle weekend spontaneous trip landed us with hungry tumtums and snack attacks all the way. This is one of our pitstops: The Mexican Kitchen, right along the main strip nearby Monk and Dome.

Really kitschy and colourful decor. Perfect for a cocktail or two on a Sunday afternoon.

Service was pretty good given how we only ordered one item to share and they still treated us alright. I know places where they would literally show their unhappiness.









The Chicken Nachos! Chicken shredded strips were hidden in the middle of it all and we asked for extra cheese. If you are not a fan of olives like a few of us were, I would suggest telling them upfront when ordering you don't want it. I mean it just saves the trouble of having to pick your way through!

Photos credits: mayydiaries.blogspot.com

The nachos were still crunchy and everything was very very generously topped. For AUD24, its a tad expensive but we shared. The next table had this particular order with paella and some melted cheesy thing which looks SUPER good. And the steak on a hot plate with wraps provided smells yummy. I love all the hands on approach.

However, you head down to Freo once in awhile for those who do not live closeby, there are just so many other better choices out there... Nothing to rave about except the unique decor. Would I return? Hmmmmm, hawwwwwwww, don't reckon so. Maybe the slightly rude racist family on the next table tarred the experience.

Till my next food find, Mayy xo