I'll commence the monumental moment by paying homage to the ever-persistent topic of interest: Food.
Ultimately, the seasoning blend had yielded a pleasant sweet-spicy-savoury profile, but seeds were simply too rigid to digest with their casing intact.
The week would also see yet another (!) trial at Tangzhong Pai Bao. As foreshadowed, this time I'd be replicating the very much successful Whole Wheat Tangzhong Loaf by swapping whole wheat bread flour for all-purpose. The process was predicted to be nearly identical, but, in reality, was not.
Generally speaking, the dough was far too wet. Whilst angrily scraping down the sides of the bowl, I debating whether this turnout had been caused by AP flour instead of Whole Wheat, which usually retains more liquid within.
Final ingredient quantities are as follows:
- 580 + 60 = 640 g AP flour
- 60 g sugar
- 12 g salt
- 10 g dry yeast
- 10 g milk powder
- 260 g water
- 1 egg
- Tangzhong (40 g AP flour + 200 g water)
- 68 g unsalted butter, softened
- egg wash (1 egg yolk + half & half cream)
During the lunch peak, the food court was fumy and atrociously stuffy. I proceeded with my snack- and toiletry-centric stopover at Shoppers, then headed north towards the basement level Urban Eatery. Along the way, I passed a promotional booth for Cold Foam. From my less-than-stellar experience from stevia-sweetened soft drinks, I skipped the queue entirely.
April showers do bring May flowers after all! reverberated through my mind.
One Zo would no longer be found on the ground level next to the elevators; it had been replaced by another similar bubble tea establishment, and a phone store across.
The ideal rundown was to swing by Centennial Park first, followed by Sherway Gardens, and finally The Cups' newest location in the Mississauga Chinese Centre. Mother Nature was less than cooperative however, and grey skies persisted for majority of the day, with just a few instances of sun to conjure false hope.
My primary goal had to be replenish the tea tree oil inventory whilst making use of two $5 CF Shop! Cards obtained from CAMP Cube. Unfortunately, not a single The Body Shop location had restocked my product of desire, for the US-based warehouses had temporarily closed due to the chain's intent to file for bankruptcy. A Mandarin & Bergamot edition was acquired in the meantime, as I've depleted all three bottles of tea tree in the meantime.
There, we'd participate in three rounds of time-based games to earn stars (stickers). Following completion, a frosted sugar cookie, kitchen towel, exclusive apron, and keepsake photo would be bestowed upon us.
The IKEA corner shelf was as unstable as I had expected it to be, and the surface had already grown dusty in spite of its measly seven-day period of use.
The screen was slightly grimy and the interface somewhat annoying in that the back button would always revert back to the home screen. Dissimilar to other self-operated photobooths was the simplicity in layout - there would be no stickers, no drawing, and no printing delays. In addition, one could opt to use a handheld shutter remote instead of an automatic ten-second countdown. That said, the shutter itself was rather finnicky, jamming and continually capturing photos at our mercy. Its location wasn't exactly straightforward either, being affixed to the side of the machine using a magnet.
Two pieces of Hodo Kwaja were priced at $2.99 plus tax, which was admittedly steep given that an entire container retails for $6-$7 at Galleria or 6 pieces for $3.75 at Hodo Kwaja in Koreatown.
We took to a duo of Original Red Bean and Red Bean Paste & Butter. The surface indentations were prominent compared to the typical portions and their exterior crisper. Though, it remains uncertain whether this was due to toasting before serving. Besides its distinct warmth and initial crunchiness, the Original Red Bean was pretty standard in all aspects. In contrast, the Red Bean Paste & Butter edition was served cold, likely to preserve the slab of salted butter within. I presume the pairing to originate from Japanese anko toast, but the butter masked the red bean as opposed to complementing it. Thankfully, the quantity of butter was just adequate in rendering a creamy aftertaste but steered clear of evoking feelings of satiation.
At the very least, the shop seems to have grasped a better handle of the milky shaved ice. Unlike the previous week's Mango Bingsoo in a cup, the icy shards had adopted an airier texture and were alternated with creamy, cocoa powder-topped layers. Coffee syup was discovered at the bottom of the bowl, offering toasty aromas without unwarranted late night caffeine intake.
Members of staff scurried to clean off tables in between the departure of customers, young and old. In their haste, however, they had omitted sticky patches along the edge of the table and on the patent leather chairs. Majority of the team revealed evident inexperience, but were openly friendly and earnest.
Out of the corner of my eye, Gol's Lanzhou Noodle's red logo caught my attention. As with The Cups, the eatery was also offering a 10% promotion as part of soft opening promotions.