Oblivion and Cass Art haul~

Hello!

It's been a while since I last updated. If you've been following UK weather, then you'll know that the last few days have been full of sunshine, which has made for a very happy me!

Today I left work early to go to Cass Art in Angel ~ they were having a 15% discount sale on everything in their store, including all of their already discounted stuff. A good friend of mine had raved about this store for a long time now, so I made sure to stock up on graphite, charcoal and coloured pencils.

Afterwards, we wandered about for a bit before coming to a Japanese restaurant called Tenshi. Having gone dry on sushi for a few weeks now, I knew I could not resist so we ordered a massive stack of very decently priced sushi and some skewers of grilled chicken. It's at this point that I usually order a main too, since sushi alone is not enough to fill me up on my current budget, but this time I had a mini brainwave and just ordered a bowl of rice, thinking - how have I only just figured this out?! T_T

Once we'd finished eating, we headed to the Vue which is just down the road - but far enough such that an "are we there yet?" was very much warranted - for an evening screening of Oblivion. My first thoughts were: oh, Tom Cruise, the crazy-scientologist-I-used-to-crush-on-back-in-the-day-before-I-realised-he-was-crazy, followed by WOW, cinematography! The visuals in this movie are absolutely breathtaking, and the orchestral music is very epic too. I really liked the sweeping camera-work, the wonderful shots of the planet, and all of the awesomely cool CGI tech.

I just wish the plot had been as strong as the visuals and had more substance. Don't get me wrong, the premise is pretty cool but I think the delivery could've been less of an info-dump and crafted in a less distracting way. There were quite a few things that did startle me i.e. plot hole - such as how the characters could function at such high altitudes without asphyxiating or freezing to death - there was one scene in particular that really got me - the obligatory strip scene.

I also thought that a lot of the intriguing concepts weren't developed enough or to my satisfaction, I really really wanted to know more about the sci-fi elements - can't say more for fear of spoilers - but I felt that that was the meat of the movie, and that was overlooked too much in favour of the personal journey approach. But oh well. I liked it nonetheless.

My friend said that he enjoyed the craftsmanship of The Host more so, and this is only surprising when I tell you that said friend is one hundred percent male...!

Anyways, it's getting late, so take care everyone~~

Yishi xxx

D.I.Y. Spa Evening~

Hellooo!!

I've always wanted to try to create my own spa experience at home, and with winter showing no sign of being vanquished, what better time to do so than now? After all, everyone has such busy schedules these days that we hardly ever have any time to ourselves - something we don't even think about doing all too often. But as my yoga teacher keeps on emphasizing, putting aside time to focus on yourself is so important for your mental well-being!

This is such a fun idea you can do for a girl's night in, or for something you can do with your significant other, all on a student budget~

So you've decided you want to have your own spa experience now?

The first thing to think about is where to hold the session. A lot of professional spa treatments involve lying down in a comfortable place, so a living room or a bedroom are good options. We chose a bedroom, and immediately set about cleaning it as there is definitely something to be said for the ancient art of feng shui, and given that some people believe that a person's room is a reflection of the state of their internal self, I do believe that an uncluttered space will make you feel more relaxed.

Next, you need to decide on what you are going to do:

Manicures/pedicures
Face masks
Massages
Steam treatments
Aromatherapy

And what you will need! We went to Chinatown and picked up some incense sticks for £1.50, and in MUJI we picked up a scented candle and a bottle of essential oil for ~£7 which turned out to be our only expenses for this night - not bad, given that I already had some massage oil lying around and a lavender scented comforter that was oh so soothing when it had been heated and was wrapped around my neck.

Recreating a luxury experience in your own home is all about the details - we wanted to feel like we were being treated so fluffy white towels and bathrobes were a must!

Other details included some preparation before we began - switching on the heating to warm up our space, and lighting an incense stick to infuse the room with a calm and relaxing scent. We also had a supply of green tea on tap, as well as a soothing soundtrack that was oh so kindly supplied to us by Youtube.

I wanted to try a face mask and prepared one by mashing a banana, some honey and a few drops of lemon juice, but never got round to trying it out that evening. In the morning, it ended up becoming a sticky black goo, something I will spare you from seeing!

As it was quite late in the night (half ten...eleven?) when we started, we only got round to massages and steam - for the steam, we had a bowl of hot water infused with a few drops of lemon essential oil that we used to unclog our pores. But next time, there will be more! :3

All in all, something a little out of the ordinary, and well worth the preparation!

Yishi xxx

London Chocolate Festival!

Hello everyone!

Today I dragged my housemate to the tenth London Chocolate Festival, a festival celebrating all things chocolate that is held at Southbank. 

Unfortunately, it started to snow really heavily on the way, so we had to wander around the festival collecting snowflakes on our clothes. When we got there, I realised that I'd been to Southbank before - this was where  Ping Pong was located, a restaurant that I'd visited years ago - so much for deja vu! (✿◠‿◠)

Anyway, here are some pretty pretty photos of the stalls:

We made it despite the "snowstorm"!

The first stall we saw was Hotel Chocolat so we ended up buying hot chocolate from them instead of a lesser known stall... >_<

Chocolate violins and scissors~

This stall sold cards with edible chocolate messages in them!

I bought some of this pretty pretty chocolate, but it looks too good to eat... :'(

We managed to get the last two tickets for a chocolate workshop with Damian Allsop who showed us how to make a dessert of Pacari Raw Chocolate, Green Tea Cake and Hot Fruit Gel.

The mirror was a nice touch for those of us sitting at the back~

We got to take part in some tastings too!

This is the green tea meringue mix~

Spreading the fruit gel~

The finished dessert for us to try!

We managed to catch the recipe:

Ganache~ 

1. Dissolve 10g agar in 1l water.
2. Once set, blend and add more water to thin the consistency into a custard or wallpaper paste.
3. Warm it up, then emulsify it with approximately 240g of melted 70% dark chocolate (the one Damian used is Picari chocolate). To do this, add a little bit at a time, then kind of scratch it in to make a shiny elastic mixture - like making a reverse mayo.
4. Leave for 4-5 hours to set. 

Green tea meringue~ 

1. Mix together water and green tea powder to form a paste.
2. Add an equal weight of dextrose, then 10% weight of egg white powder.
3. Blend together, then pipe and dehydrate in an oven at 50 degrees (can leave overnight to set). 

Puree~ 

1. Add carrageenan sea moss powder to blackcurrant puree - or agar (1:10 ratio).
2. Heat to 95 degrees in a big flat pot - thick puree bubbles before it boils.
3. Pour onto a tray to set.
Construct all parts with dark chocolate to look like the dessert in the photo!

So, thanks to this event, chocolate has now been ruined for me forever. I don't think that I can eat Cadbury's or Galaxy anymore, or even Hotel Chocolat without thinking about the awesome samples we got to try at the festival.

Souvenirs that we purchased. The ginger and lemongrass chocolate was to die for! And I'll be giving one of the fruity chocolates to my parents when I go home this Easter! ｡◕‿◕｡

Yishi xxx