Saturday, October 17, 2009

Sugar craving!

My breakfast today was chocolate. Before going to work, I decided I needed a sugar high (plus caffeine) to be chatty enough to do sales talking. My new job does give me good excuses...

I popped in David Jones confectionery section to get a few grams of lollies. Given that David Jones is Oz's poshest department store following Harrod's, I assumed that the confectionery would be of premium quality.

Check out this milk chocolate ginger:


I'm not a fan of ginger, and the idea of a candied one automatically warrants a recoil response. But curiosity got the better of me (doesn't it always) and I decided to gamble a few cents. Who knows, I could be discovering a hidden gem in the combination of chocolate and ginger! As soon as I got my small bag of goodies, I took a bite... nom nom nom... tasted regular creamy milk chocolate (below par, actually) and, lo and behold, super sweet hard jelly with strong ginger taste. I stared at the remaining piece in my hand (pictured above). The candy in the center is green and, upon close observation, you can see real ginger fiber. Without thinking twice, I chucked the rest in the nearest bin. My life is too precious to waste on fecking ginger anything.

Next, I tried my luck on milk chocolate pineapple. I like pineapple, but the combination never occurred to me before. I saw the hint of yellow underneath the chocolate coating and thought it must be the pineapple fruit. I was so sure I'd like it.


But the core turned out to be some sort of candy with marshmallowy consistency and there wasn't the tiniest suggestion of pineapple at all. While chewing, I had to recall what flavor of chocolate it was that I had on my hand. I ate the rest of the thing, if only because I thought the ginger chocolate made me develop a taste bud block and the pineapple flavor would come to me on the second bite. I should've chucked it in the bin as well.

Sizes of each chocolate

Needless to say, I was disappointed with David Jones. Call yourself posh! The lady on the counter contributed to the bad experience further. She kept assuming I was done with my selection of lollies even though I was obviously still deciding (too many to choose from! The pressure was killing me!) Then again, I suppose she was thinking, "What the hell are you buying chocolate here for when there's Max Brenner right behind me??" That's true. Silly me. Or I could've bought the handmade chocolates at David Jones' Food Hall, except I'd forgotten about it.

For comparison's sake, and fine, because I was dissatisfied, I tried the ones from The Nut Shop and Haigh's Chocolates, but more on that next time. Both are just a couple of steps from my shop so working there is definitely torture!
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Friday, October 16, 2009

The night I craved Pad Thai badly

...was the day I was planning to go to the Night Noodle Markets that's part of Sydney's month-long food festival.
I really love the idea of making international flags with food!

For two weeks (weeknights only), Hyde Park holds an Asian hawker market where people can choose from over twenty (my own count) stalls offering anything from Thai to Singaporean snacks and meals, and dine outdoors on tables scattered across the park (or choose to sit on the grass) whilst enjoying Asian-themed entertainment.

Banner at Hyde Park

I know, sounds fun right? I thought so too, which brought me there right after work last night. I was greeted with this:

The place looked packed by 6PM! (It starts at 5 and ends at 930PM).

This man was even sitting on the ground OUTSIDE the park!

Sample of what's happening at the back of the stalls: crew breaking their backs with giant woks! The queue in some stalls was ridiculous! Caucasians are definitely gaga over Asian food.

There was virtually no available table. I decided to just leave cos I wasn't willing to wait in line for food, and everyone was with someone anyway.

But all was not lost! I had forgotten that Ferrero seized the event to promote its new chocolate.

I want my chocolate, lady!

Can I have the whole jar instead? :D Yes this is a different lady. I cheated and got 2 samples! Mwahaha!
The only thing I took home. If you're curious, this is just dark chocolate version of the usual Ferrero. I prefer the milk chocolate because I felt it suited the signature make up of a Ferrero better (nutty, crunchy wafer coating with chocolate center). Or maybe I simply like my dark chocolate really bitter while the Rondnoir was quite sweet.

So I didn't get my Asian fare the way I wanted to. But I'm sure only 10% of the stalls was authentic anyway. Bitterness! Haha.

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