Tea

Today, as I was longing for a real tea instead of the prepackaged one you find in store, I suddenly remembered my parents had a Chinese porcelain tea set, certainly brought back by my uncle when he first moved to China. Despite my Chinese auntie's demonstration, nobody knew how to operate it apart from me, so it had been re-purposed as a pretty decoration for our guest room.

I don't really know what kind of tea set it's supposed to be. Even thought the brewing method is reminiscent of Gong fu cha, it is porcelain and using a Gaiwan instead of Yixing clay teapot. It also doesn't have a high collar cup as for Gung Fu style tasting. It does use the same wooden utensils though. Since this comes from Canton, it may be a local version. Seeing that the porcelain is full of defect and the thing is overall a retail-type product, I'd say it's an "at home" version of traditional tea set, easier to use and more versatile that the clay pot. I like clay pots better, but they're really permeable to tea and you pretty much have to own one for each kind of tea if you don't want it to bother your tasting session.

The thing is composed of a gaiwan, the center piece which is a pot with a lid and a saucer. It also have a small tea pot, a strainer and eight little cups. The bottom part is composed of a pierced lid and a large bowl since the brewing method often create an overflow. I used it to prepare a green wulong that I think was a late summer one, because it was pretty heavy and really "sugary", nothing like tart flavor of a spring tea.

As always you're supposed to heat up every part of the set, then make a first infusion to clean the tea before you can drink it.
Watch me mishandle that poor tea set.

As for Gong fu cha, I was able to do several infusion with it on a 2h30 time span. The only problem of that kind of infusion is how the set heat : my finger tips were tender and red after an hour using it. Could've been avoided easily but I'm still not comfortable using the wooden pieces, I find them too slippery. I can manage fine without theme as long as I'm alone, but serving a crowd without them would be incredibly wrong and painful. I guess I should practice a bit to be more graceful, but it's not my absolute priority here.

I missed having a real tea. It was a real treat.

Shameless leg pictures and weight loss journey

Hey guys.  I lose weight. A bunch. Let's see that.

Summer 2014

Early 2015

 It's been a year now since I began my weight loss journey. Not really consciously though. I had not so much trouble with my body image apart from my familly telling me I looked fat (as always). I just kind of stopped eating for a bit out of sheer stress mostly due to school, then went along with it.

In early 2014 I was dangerously nearing the 70kg (at 159cm !) and felt really tight in my FR42 sized shorts. The thing is, every dresses kept fitting because I've never been over 67cm waist at my very largest. Between april and june 2014, by just controlling my calorie intake I dropped 5kg, just in time for Japan Expo.

Summer came, and I have the weird habit of not really eating when it's hot. It makes me dizzy, so I usually just drink a lot and eat water-filled fruits. Makes me feels lighter. I'm really not good at handling heat and I'm easily dehydrated.
It was apparently not efficient enough though. After coming back from my family trip in Thailand were I indulged myself with local cha num (thai style sweet tea) and a lot of fried rice, I stumbled across a few pictures of me, flabby arms and stretch marks everywhere.
Big wake up call.

I made a bunch of decision on my daily diet : unsweetened tea (I mostly drink "savory" tea now), less pastries, less milk (I need to drink whole milk for health reason but it's really fatty), no sugary bits.


After a few months eating only cherry tomatoes, carrots and cucumber (which is really a stupid thing to do, but that's basically my summer time regular diet) and almost turning into a turtle, I tried to make a few other changes.

 I consulted a ton of different forums, websites, books etc to try and control my calorie intake and my macro-nutriments according to my height, weigh and minimal daily "sport" (30min walk/day).

Sticky rice and green tea, the snack made in heaven

I freed myself from schedules and norms on my daily diet. It doesn't mean I'm constantly eating, it means I just don't follow the "rules". I wake up super early in the morning but my classes are at mid-day, so instead of taking a sugary breakfast and then a snack before going to class, I just make a savory brunch, have a snack in the middle of the afternoon and then I dine with my roommate.

Asian brunch with homemade Vietnam's emblematic pho

 I also reduced my portions, using small plates and avoiding pilling up food in it.
Finally I usually allow myself more or less a fat/sugary thing per day, could it be some pastries, cream-based recipes, a bubble tea, cheese etc. That way I don't feel forced to diet. I'm not in a diet. I'm just tweaking my habits around a bit.

Asian brunch with vegan take on a traditional Thai dish : stir fried veggies with cashew nuts

 Needless to say that as I always did, I cook at home to avoid unnecessary chemicals, fat and too much salt.
I found a good cop out to my sugary craves in asian cuisine, since they usually have a sweet'n'sour tinge to it. Otherwise, red pepper and carrots are really sugary and refreshing.
Also, since last year I walk a lot, everywhere I can, and sometimes go for solo day-long city tour usually lasting between four to seven hours.
I've also been adding a bit of stretching and yoga exercises routine for flexibility and I'm trying to come up with an efficient twice a week full body workout, but whether I'll be able to keep to it or not, time will tell.

 

At the end of the day I dropped 15kg, my waist is now around 58cm (just under 23inches), my taste buds are way finer than ever, I feel lighter and prettier and way less pudgy. Lately my legs have toned up a lot, even though they still retain their heavy top they're now way leaner. The only down side is that I dropped the baby face a bit, which I liked a lot, but since I'm orienting myself on a bit more goth style it's all good I suppose. Oh and since I dropped both in waist and bust, most of my lolita dresses are too big and I hate altering my clothes to an unexpected extend. But what's life eh ?

15 kg in less than a year. Yep. I'd like to lose a bit more on the leg area but that seems to be difficult. Forever thunder thighs I guess.

Your very definition of thunder thighs

Edit : after a two weeks of heavier workout (2x1h intense dance/week + 5x15min stretching/week) I can see direct effects on both my stamina and flexibility. I keep myself motivated with cute sport clothes. Way to go, me.

Chinese New Year

Last week, it was Chinese New Year's celebration in Chinatown. I took a lot of pictures, so enjoy !

 And that's was our New Year lunch. I originally did dumpling but they turned overcooked (apparently I steamed them too long and they were all broke) so we baught a few dumplings, pork brioche and pork paté, and I made fried rice with dried pork on it. Yumy !

Sweet autumn

I wanted so bad to wear my new VM hat but I had really absolutly no idea how. I want some VM ops/jsks in darker color ways to got with it t.t Anyway, I decided to go once more for something a little bit gothic (and I totally need to buy an elegant cross, this one is too bulky).

Je voulais vraiment porter mon nouveau chapeau Victorian Maiden mais je n'avais absolument aucune idée de tenue. Je veux des op/jsk vm de couleur foncées pour aller avec t.t Enfin, j'ai décidé de faire encore une fois une tenue un peu gothic (et j'ai vraiment besoin d'un nouveau chapelet, cette croix est juste trop grosse).

Hat : Victorian Maiden
Blouse: Axes Femme
Dress : 69th department

The other day I made some carrot cake. It was my first time, and actually turned out good. Here is my recipe :

L'autre jour j'ai fait un gâteau à la carotte. C'est la première fois que j'en faisais et j'ai été surprise que ça soit aussi bon. Voilà la recette que j'utilise :

Carrot and hazelnut cake with tchaï tea

2 somewhat large carrotes (not too large or they will not be sweet enought)

65g of hazelnut (it as powder in the original recipe, but I used fragments and it was good)

100g of brown sugar

100g of flour

75g of butter (you'll have to melt it a little)

1 egg

1/2 sachet (bag ?) of baking powder

1,5 tbsp of milk

Optional : 1/2 teasp of cinnamon.

Wash the carrots, peel it and grate it. Put it on a large bowl with hazelnuts, flour, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon. Then, blend the egg, melted butter and milk in. Bake it half an hour at 180°C.

 2 carottes asses grandes (pas trop non plus, sinon elles ne seront pas assez sucrées)

65g de noisettes (dans la recette il y a marqué en poudre, mais concassées ça marche aussi, c'est bon)

100g de sucre roux

100gr de farine

75gr de beurre (il faudra le faire fondre un peu)

1 oeuf

1/2 sachet de levure chimique

1,5 cuillère à soupe de lait

Optionnel : 1/2 cuillère à soupe de cannelle.

Rincer les carottes, les éplucher et les râper fines. Les placer dans un saladier avec les noisettes, la farine, le sucre, la levure chimique et la cannelle. Ajouter l'oeuf, le lait et le beurre et mélanger. Cuire 30 minutes environ au four à 180°C.

You can keep it nearly a week I think, it's slightly orange and really match the autumn/beginning of christmas time. As I didn't use cinnamon in mine (didn't have cinnamon at my appartment), I made some tchaï tea to go with it, any spiced tea will do I think. Someone also advised me to try sweet chestnut tea, I don't have any but you could give a try.

On peut le garder environ une semaine je pense, il est légèrement orange et s'accorde très bien avec l'automne/le début de la saison de Noël. Comme je n'ai pas utilisé de cannelle dans ma recette (je n'en avais pas chez moi), j'ai fais en accompagnement un thé tchaï, et je pense que n'importe quel thé aux épices irait. Quelqu'un m'a aussi conseillé le thé à la châtaigne, je n'ai jamais goûté mais je compte sur vous pour essayer !

And my last d_l post : http://daily-lolita.livejournal.com/5766673.html

Et mon dernier post sur d_l :

Package unboxing and dream item !

I finally recieved my three package, containing kimono accessories and a birthday present to myself.
I didn't take a picture of everything (I'm steaming the obi belt and nagajuban right now), but here a some anyway.

Wahou blurred pic, sorry. Kimono accessories (also known as "komono")

Dreeeeeeam hat from Victorian Maiden !

Yes this one in black. I had to go trought a shopping service to buy it new from VM, but it totally worth it, I love it to death !

Have some picture of me trying my new kimono accessories and kimono vest (michiyuki)

Obi tied in taiko musubi (what a pain to make x.x)

Black and red michiyuki and VM hat

I look forward to make an interesting lolita coordinate featuring my brand new beloved hat, so stay tuned for more clothes.

Bonus : Carrot and hazelnut cake with tchaï tea

Are you hungry right now ?

Is there another thing I like more than fashion ? I'm not sure. Something I like as much as fashion ? Yes ! I really like cooking. I'm not sure if I'm good at it or not, but as my roomate (who is quite difficult when it comes to eat anything) seems to enjoy it, it must be at least ok. I tend to try a lot of different things, traditionnal european cooking, asian food and sometimes african or american things. Thanks to my wonderful appartment location, I can find anything I need to cook asian food, so we enjoy as much japanese, chinese and vietnamese food we can.

Es-ce qu'il y a quelquechose que j'aime plus que les vêtements ? Je ne pense pas. Autant que les vêtements ? Oui ! J'adore cuisiner. Je ne sais pas si je douée ou pas, mais ma coloc (qui est particulièrement difficile à propos de nourriture) à l'air d'apprécier, donc ça doit être au moins potable. J'essaye de tester beaucoup de choses différentes, de la cuisine européenne traditionnelle, de la cuisine asiatique et même parfois des petites choses venant d'afrique ou d'amérique (même si je connais moins). Grâce à mon appartement très heureusement placé, je peux trouver tout ce dont j'ai besoin pour cuisiner asiatique, et nous pouvons profiter de plats japonais, chinois et vietnamiens.

So I'll try to share my recipes and my culinary experience here (I've already started with my wonderful tea tasting experience). Here are two of my last recipes :

Donc je vais essayer de partager mes recettes et mes expériences culinaires ici (ce que j'ai déjà commencé à faire avec cette magnifique dégustation de thé chinois). Voilà deux de mes dernières recettes :

Pork ramen

1 l of water
2 tbsp of white miso (you can add more if you want it to be strongly flavoured)
1 teasp of dashi (same goes as well)
Carrots (you can add a lot of other vegetables)
Tofu
Udon pasta
Ham

Heat the water on medium fire and add miso and dashi. Boil it down. Add the carrots, let it cook on medium-high fire so they soften a little bit. Add the ham, boil it a little. Medium fire, add big dice of tofu (or it'll break into little pieces) and let it cook again a little bit.
Boil the udon pasta in another pot, following the instruction on the bow (mine are fresh udon, so I boil it two or three minute directly in the bouillon).
Put pasta in a bowl then cover with bouillon.
You can also have it with a hard boiled egg cuted in half on the top.

Ramen au porc

1 l d'eau
2 cuillère à soupe de miso blanc (on peut en ajouter si on aime le bouillon fort)
1 cuillère à café de dashi (pareil)
Carottes (on peut ajouter plein d'autres légumes)
Tofu
Udon
Jambon blanc

Faire chauffer l'eau à feu moyen et ajouter le miso puis le dashi en remuant. Porter à ébullition. Ajouter les carottes et laisser cuire sur feu moyen-fort pour qu'elles mollissent juste un peu. Ajouter le jambon, porter à ébullition de manière rapide. Sur feu moyen, ajouter le tofu coupé en gros morceaux (sinon il se cassera pendant la cuisson) et le laisser cuire un peu pour qu'il aspire la saveur du miso.
Faire bouillire les udon dans une autre casserole en suivant les instructions sur le paquet (les miennes sont fraîches, donc je les fait directement bouillir deux-trois minutes dans le bouillon des ramen).
Dresser dans un bol en y plaçant les pâtes puis en recouvrant de bouillon.
On peut aussi le servir avec un oeuf dur coupé en deux sur le dessus.

Making my own bread without baker's yeast. I will not give you the recipe right now because it turned out a little bit too soft and dense, more like a cake thant an actual bread, even if it really taste bread. It's based on lactic ferment found in yoghurt, and I think "natural" or organic yoghurt would work better, so I have to try.

Faire son propre pain sans levure boulangère. Je ne donnerais pas la recette maintenant puisque je viens de tester et que le pain est sorti avec une mie plus compacte que prévu, avec une consistance proche de celle du gâteau, alors même qu'il à un gout et une croûte de pain. Cette recette est basée sur le principe du ferment lactique qu'on trouve dans les yaourts, et je pense qu'un yaourt blanc plus "naturel" ou bio marchera mieux, donc je réessayerais avant de vous donner une recette définitive.

I hope you liked this article !
J'espère que vous avez apprécié !