aquarius

I recently watched a video by a landscape photographer recommending to return to the same location multiple times. So get use to seeing this view:

I did exaggerate the colours a bit in post, but this is the bluest sky I've been in Bath. My favourite part of the photo is how the floating leaves near the bottom evokes the look of stars.

my sleeping pill, my caffeine

Epic High and Nell are always great together:

avon

Joined a photowalk with UBath's photosoc, seems like it'll be a fun club to be part of:

I was pretty conflicted over the arrangement for the last photo, I prefer this arrangement better aesthetically (mass of leaves against blank sky) and thematically (the two subjects facing away from each other). But compositionally it makes sense to switch the two image around so the curve is leading into the middle instead of away. Oh wells, my photo, my preferences.

My mom came up with a great title for this: 动与静

kent

Another short walk, this time in a slight drizzle:

 Avon river

 streets

Green park

I agree that Bath's beauty is in its combination of architecture and landscape.

...

Some red tea for the raining weather. It sort of works out that I found a tea shop a couple days ago to buy a gaiwan locally, whereas I broke my glass bottle today so no more bringing tea to school :(

YS wu liang hong mao feng

The window ledge is the only place within my room with enough light for reasonable aperture / shutter / iso when it's cloudy out. It still took flash to more adequately light the tea leaves to show off its golden pieces.

coin

Yesterday was a cool, crisp, and grey day in Bath. I'm surprised that I find a day like this quite pleasant, it's the perfect weather for layering clothing and not having to worry about overblowing the sky in every photo. (But to be honest, the sky was overblown in all my photos because I believed the histogram over the live view. I feel so betrayed ._. )

Went on my first stroll around Bath up to the Royal Crescent and down to buy some Chinese groceries. While the streets in the city centre are very picturesque lined with bath stone houses, there's quite a lot of cars zooming around to get a tranquil atmospheric photo. So look the food I ate instead:

I was originally debating between here or Society Cafe, but decided on here after reading extensive blog posts by the owner. The barista there was helpful (and handsome) in choosing me one of their beans. This one is supposedly fruity and a bit floral, I didn't really get those notes but did notice the lack of bitterness. It was harsh (kinda spiky) feeling in the throat, which is weird. Will probably go back in a month since they rotate their selection.

Lunch is at The Scallop Shell, with the most adorable receipt box:

The chips were alright, fish is very light and tender, however the real standouts are the mushy peas and white bread. Yes I'm surprised by this sentence too.

Bread: makes more sense that they're from the Bertinet Bakery, which from my initial research about bath is the best bakery in town. It's soft when you first bite into it but actually has good structure to make subsequent bites substantial.

Mushy peas: it was so good that I asked the chef for the recipe, hopefully I am allowed to publish it here.

• Marrowfat peas and split peas 1:1
• Soak with baking soda 24hr
• Boil with water to cover 1" with bouillon
• Finish with salt pepper butter

The secret is the inclusion of the split peas which breakdown and thicken the dish. Am excited to make this, hopefully it keeps well in the fridge so I can just make a big batch. 

twist

Another Scandi store: Arket (under H&M group). The concept is affordable high quality pieces to wear for a long time, which I can definitely get behind. Hopefully the concept is true and not just marketing speak, I'm optimistic as they're transparent about a number of their suppliers and commissioned an optimized (for their target market) merino yarn.

jumper / cardigan / pumps

More knits to desire...and surprisingly a kitten heel pump that I like love. The color is also a huge reason why.

marmalade

There is an abundance of fruits (though unknown if the berries are edible) at my residence:

In other news, I'm slowly exploring the grocery store around Bath. So far I've yet to find gooseberry yogurt :(

kuroba

My going away present to myself: russian honey cake with a clover design obviously (this is the second closest I've gotten to H&C irl).

I thought the recipe was very intimidating...but was not too difficult actually. It is time consuming, took me about 3 hours of active time to make. The beginning and ending steps are much easier with an assistant. Some changes to the recipe / my own notes:

• Don't let the caramel mixture cool too much before adding the eggs; the warmer the liquids, the easier it is incorporating the flour (aka less of an arm workout)
• A 9" lid is the secret to shaping the biscuits into perfect circles. While the dough is still between the two sheets of parchment paper, press the lid lightly onto the stack to mark where you'll be cutting. Then peel off the top sheet and firmly press down on the lid to cut the dough. Having the light marking ensures that there won't be gaps around the edges since it's moderately difficult to roll the dough large enough. 
• The biscuits baked unevenly for me, there were many large bubbles even after docking the dough. I then very, very aggressively docked the remaining dough, but it was not very effective in preventing the bubbles. 
• I accidentally bought half the required sour cream and double the condensed milk ha ha... so I made the frosting in that ratio. It worked out well in terms of texture and softening, although tastes too sweet for me. 
• How does one coat the sides in crumb? I grabbed a handful of crumbs and pressed them onto the sides, but this got really messy. 

Overall this is the favourite cake that I've made. 

pins

& brought to you by ADAM.GC PRO. I ought to declutter my font folder, I don't use like 95% of them.

Great article analyzing the font of A Lange watches. I tried in vain to find free versions of Engravers (normal version) and Versailles.

nutmeg

Yesterday's dinner: miso rosemary beans and wholesome mahshi. If you ignore the salads on my cooking list for reasons of colder weather and lack of good cheese, I've almost completed my list! This progress is far superior than any new years resolution I've attempted.

 a giant sprig is photogenic but annoying to separate and actually eat

I really like the flavour of the stuffing mix, the seasoning is half cinnamon, ~quarter all spice and ~quarter black pepper, plus tomato paste. The cooked cilantro is surprisingly nice, I haven't considered adding herbs before cooking. I'm almost down to make my own tomato paste with backyard tomatoes if I had more time. This would also be good deconstructed.

deer bone

I haven't posted something unrelated to food in a while...

Hope STHLM is my current obsession, thank you to a redditor who mentioned this brand on /r/ffa. It's like Acne but more wearable.

Items I'd buy if I had income...and am sure about sizing:

trench - back details and large collars
pants: slim / regular / loose - why are tapered pants so hard to find?
sweater - would prefer a narrow bottom rib tho
boots: ankle / chelsea - loving them more Acne Jensen and Everlane's chelsea respectively

...

Also been trying to find nice sweaters from UK / EU based shops, candidates so far include MaisonCashmere and Pure Collection.

transcribe

Another day of cooking and prepping to leave. It's quite bothersome that information about the arrival / orientation week process is scattered over multiple sources, especially the split between faculty & department events and student organized activities. Also missing how awesome Skule's frosh handbook is.

Onto food:
Ugly looking but very tasty rosemary shortbread cookies:

Before taking a bite, I thought these were the least successful item I've baked. The dough was incredibly dry (be skeptical, I have a sample size of exactly this one shortbread) and would not hold its shape. I deviated from instructions to roll it into a log -> freeze -> slice, but the frozen dough just crumbled as I sliced it, so I ended up needing to smosh the crumbs together. Not sure how I can improve this next time...add a tiny bit of water? Will try other recipes to see if this dough is actually an outlier.

...

Pesto pizza rolls:

Stretching a pizza dough is hard, but these are forgiving of uneven thickness.

But the results are super fluffy rolls *u*
I was also momentarily confused as to where the cheese within the rolls went, but I think they melted and was absorbed by the dough? Is that how it works..?
...

Bonus birthday noodles that I forgot to post:

stem

While making the apple weekend cake yesterday, I used up the last of the white sugar. This is a (not quite) tremendous set back to my list of baked goods I intended to make. So today features just a tomato soup plus some garlic bread.

how do chefs/food bloggers swirl in pesto so nicely?!

This is very simple to make and actually perfect for my situation as my mom planted a ton of larger tomatoes this year. Also uses basil and thyme which I also have an abundance of.

I ate it more as a dip for bread:

...

More bonus flower pictures, this time I made a bouquet for myself:

so hard to think of an interesting composition for flowers...

I tried to deliberately position the flowers and leaves, but don't remember much from the ikebana book I read. That book plus this chabana thread is creating a fledgling interest in me about flower arrangement.

bees

Day 1: garden pasta and apple weekend cake

 featuring radish leaves, basil, and cherry tomatoes from the backyard 

Pesto pasta topped with tomatoes is so much easier than tomato sauce with basil. Although according to my mom cooking tomatoes make its nutrients more bioavailable. 

The apple to cake ratio is more like my chocolate chip cookie's chocolate to cookie ratio, aka a looooot. Its good for you :D

...

Bonus photos of my non-edible favourite part of the backyard: