Out & About #1085 | Work Continued, Caramel Honeycomb Cake Again + Mother's Day Lunch at The Keg

Modern technology has enabled products to arrive on our doorstep within a matter of days - or even minutes for items requested through UberEats. A seemingly perfect solution to keep consumerism alive, headaches arise when large purchases arrive when one is not at home to receive them, or when the item ordered is far weightier than fathomed.

With supposed corporate reimbursement, I finally splurged on a standing desk.
The only issue? I couldn't move it into my house.

Not only was the weighty box unable to be rolled or dragged, I could barely even lift it off the wall! Finally, after pulling my back and further injuring my wrist and shoulder, I succeeded in transferring it to a wheeled cart for temporary storage in the garage. For the time being, it would be safe from forecasted showers.
Later that evening, I received the gracious assistance of my neighbours, who not only swiftly lifted the table into the foyer, but even offered to assemble the desk for me! I would have gladly accepted, had I made space for the sizable piece of furniture. But alas, I'll admit I hadn't planned that far. Both my new monitors and new desk would reside in their respective boxes until such time I could purge an area for staging.

In the meantime, I'd undergo office preparations, readying my Honey Cakes with allergen information and container warnings.

​Unfortunately, not a soul would draw near the Honey Cakes. Had I not walked around with the tray in hand, offering them to various members of the floor, they'd not move an inch! This was a scene utterly unheard of at my previous workplace. Snacks, no matter the kind, were seen as exclusive - in other words, for consumption by distinct teams and not intended for sharing. This territorial nature was equal parts confusing and unattractive.

​As if distributing the cakes personally wasn't enough of a hassle, one colleague unashamedly insinuated an otherwise unnecessary remark.

After declining a honey cake, he followed up with "So you like baking? Do you bake often?", to which, of course, I answered in the affirmative. While conversations with non-bakers usually end here, he continued his interrogation.
"Do you have an Instagram page for it?"
I furrowed my brows, perplexed at the question.
"No?"
"Oh so you're not serious about it (baking)."
Immediately recoiling, I replied that I do capture photo evidence of my creations and log recipes into spreadsheets.
Of course, neither of these points mattered, for the man was determined to present his biased stance.
He announced that he knew "someone who posts and gets orders to make things", and slid the baker's social media feed in my direction. He then mentioned that they were neighbours, and he often receives baked goods as a result of proximity.

Beyond perplexed at this point, I attempted to understand the exchange, but ultimately could not.
What is the relationship between posting photos and being "serious" about a hobby that they enjoy?
For all he could be aware, I could be a hidden professional and never tell anyone, and never post a single photo. Furthermore, my distribution of the goods is merely for the purpose of sharing. Anyone who had ever sampled my creations prior would know that I could easily sell my products, but I had chose not to.

Politely declining a cake is absolutely fine.
Commentary that is neither nice nor relevant to the food at hand was unwarranted.
In the wise words of my former coworker, "take the cake and eat it fam."

​Beautiful blue skies and blossoming shrubs were observed on my way towards the mall.

​The main objective was scouring the closing sale assortment of Frank & Oak. Unfortunately, the shelves were practically empty at my time of arrival. As the staff chattered cheerfully without a single glance in my direction, I made my departure for other stops of interest.

​Simons was an unplanned detour, yet one that bestowed me with fabulous finds! The sale section led to the discovery of $9.99 knits and $19.99 blouses - all of which served as great options to expand my workwear wardrobe.

Once the damage was done, I headed next door to Saint Germain. An Iced Black Sesame Latte was procured.

The beverage had surfaced in my mind since sampling its hot variation after ochungg's wedding. Glad was I to declare that the iced edition at one dollar greater was equally delectable. To form the beverage, black sesame powder was blitzed with milk in a high-speed blender. This process produced a luxurious, frothy consistency with virtually no shards of ice.

​Many more meetings later, it was finally time to head home. Suffice to say, I was exhausted.

​Despite working well over my standard 8h work day since assuming the position, I was amongst the first to appear in the office the following day.

In place of a lunch walk was a brief trek to and from Square One, with the aim of relieving my eyes from extensive document and plan review.

​City-planted saplings atop lush stretches of sodded boulevard were definitely a sight to behold.

​The mall was peaceful during the early hours, allowing for unhurried perusal of window displays and speedy resolution of price adjustment matters from the previous day's Simons purchases.

​Somehow, my next walk would not ensue until the late hour of 2:30 PM. Meeting after meeting had left me bereft of a proper lunch break.

​I strolled the Community Common speedily before hopping onto yet another meeting.

The space was rather inviting, with its vibrant, grassy pastures, flowering buds, and wide sidewalks.

​I also noticed the arrival of Lime by Uber bikes neatly strapped to nearby bike rings. The BIRD scooters had seemingly shifted out of the City Centre area.

At the late hour of 4 PM, I was due to head home. But instead, I settled for a Mango Pomelo Sago from CoCo to fuel the remaining OT hours of the day.

​The M City location had crafted their Taro Milk Tea to be blander than most outposts. Feedback could be assumed to align with the Mango Pomelo Sago of last summer.
​However, this year's formula had evolved drastically! The Mango Pomelo Sago Smoothie was spectacular!

​Indeed, as per the latest CoCo ad and promise, there was a greater presence of mango than before, along with a generous portion of toppings. I refrained from add-ins such as tapioca or jelly, as any more chewable elements would lead the drink to become a full meal.

​With my head throbbing uncontrollably into the evening hours, I resorted to work from home the following day.

​It was also in my best interests to book a massage for relief of neck and shoulder pain that had propagated upwards. Naturally, I did just that.

When I returned to the office on the final day of the work week, traffic volumes were essentially nonexistent. My place of work, on the other hand, housed a surprisingly high number of workers. While there were still plenty of desks available, the turnout was greater than any downtown space.

​Over lunch, I took advantage of The Rec Room's earlier Friday hours of operation, setting out to consolidate game tags and have a go at my usual assortment of arcade games.

Similar to the Roundhouse outpost, Square One had also upgraded to the 2023 Phoenix apparatus. Unfortunately, this meant that my AM Pass card no longer functioned without re-registration.

While external temperatures were blissfully breezy, the interior of the mall grew quite toasty after two rounds of Pump It Up!. Within The Food District was The Purple Bakeshop, who happened to celebrating the last day of their anniversary sale with 10% off all products.

​A sizable Halo Halo would have set me back $12.50, but ultimately rang it at $12.71 after tax with the ongoing promotion. Rather pleased was I to observe the plentiful portion of leche flan and oozing scoop of ube ice cream. Ube halaya had been smeared on the inside of the cup; young coconut threads rested in the upper third, while beans and assorted jellies at the bottom.

The layered concoction was admittedly tasty, yet overwhelming in terms of sugar content. It was also worth noting that the biodegradable spoon at the condiment bar failed to serve its fundamental function as a scooping device. Before even obtaining a bite of the ice cream, it bent at its midpoint, revealing indisputable flimsiness. I sneakily snuck a plastic spoon from the neighbouring retailer before continuing on my way.

​Passing more rosy blossoms, I returned to the office, where I grudgingly depleted the remainder of the sticky compilation. It was mandatory to keep the biodegradable spoon separated during periods of non-consumption, as immersion in the evaporated milk led to instant disintegration.

Saturday finally arrived, enabling kitchen experimentation to ensue. Creations of the weekend included:

1) Caramel Honeycomb Cake

​Since the previous weekend's overwhelming success, I contemplated the possibility of scaling the recipe. My test involve using two 6 in aluminum pans to determine whether surface area (ie. pan diameter) would impact the rise of the batter and the overall texture.

Volumetrically, the 10 in pan I had on hand would have accounted for 2.3x the volume of my 6 in cake pans. That said, the recipe did not make enough batter to fill the pan to the top. Papa Fung's recipe could be easily allocated between the pans without risk of spillage, though it was certain that one 6 in would have been insufficient.

Total - Bowl = Batter
1966 - 1008 = 958 g

Batter split between two pans:
958/2 = 459 g in each pan

Besides baking the cake in a different vessel, it is also important to note the following adjustments:

• Bake time reduction of 5-7 mins (though, really, I used about 10 minutes more due to my oven's constant temperature drops)
• Straining the batter before allowing to rest (as I previously strained after resting)

​Results were comparable to the first trial, wherein results exhibited a striking honeycomb structure and the added visual appeal of height, given the small, taller baking vessel.

Both times, I had been wary of burning the syrup, to the point where I had removed the saucepot prematurely last time. In this trial, I had patiently waited until all sugar crystals dissolved into a viscous, dark brown liquid until adding the warm water. When the aromas were perceived bitter and burnt, however, I panicked. Sampling the syrup solo summoned astringency. Yet, Papa Fung's depicted version appeared to adopt the same dark hue, so I proceeded. Suffice to say, the syrup was fine.

2) Pandan Honeycomb Cake

Having located the recipe sourced from my first (and only) attempt at the Vietnamese household treat, I decided to construct the cake while waiting for the Caramel Honeycomb batter to rest.

​All the ingredients were readily available, except for the tapioca starch. Thus, I swapped in the closest substitute: wheat starch.
Only much later did I realize that not all starches were equal.

Wheat starch was not gluten-free, which led the resulting product to be stiff and unpleasant in texture. Its centre was indicative of an overmixed batter, even when I barely mixed it at all! Alas, while I had succeeded in achieving the signature structure of Vietnamese Honeycomb Cake, the consistency was hardly desirable. The exterior was fragrant, crisp, and buttery, but the cross-section featured telling knife marks. Microwaving would not reinstate plushness.

Through this trial, it was confirmed that wheat starch and tapioca starch could not be used interchangeably in this recipe.

For record, The Beth Kitchen's recipe was converted to metric measurements as follows, with pandan leaves, water, and food colouring swapped for two teaspoons of pandan extract:

Ingredients:

• 200 ml coconut milk
• 7 large eggs
•  ̶3̶ ̶t̶b̶s̶p̶  42 g melted unsalted butter, melted
• 240 g tapioca starch *
•  ̶2̶ ̶t̶b̶s̶p̶ 18 g rice flour
•  ̶1̶ ̶1̶/̶4̶ ̶c̶u̶p̶ 225 g sugar
• pinch of salt
• 2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp starch

​The rest of the weekend comprised of menial - but nevertheless necessary - tasks.

From investigating the availability of 3-season tires to Loblaws/Costco runs to returning empties at The Beer Store, the majority of the day had been, regrettably, consumed by the ceaseless ordeal of "adulting".

With the arrival of Mother's Day came another visit to The Keg.

An incredulous amount of diners filled the space for lunch - most notably in the form of large parties up to eight patrons. We had been seated at a four-person table near the fireplace, which was a refreshing change from the usual booth.

​A steaming sourdough ciabatta with whipped butter commenced the meal. The complimentary roll had assumed one of our favourite items from the last visit, and we were glad to have received yet another exemplary portion this time around.

​I took to a glass of Ogier Rosé, while a Lobster Bisque was shared at the table. Alcohol varieties varied between the drink menus stationed at the table, and it was only upon asking the waitress that I learned of the post-tariff update: American bottles originating from California had been eliminated from the selection, and rightfully so!

​The Rosé was fruity, as its description had indicated, but also exceptionally dry. The Lobster Bisque was a delightful starter, embracing moderate brininess (likely from forming a broth with the shells of lobster and other shellfish, velvety creaminess (from added fats and possibly cream), and a vibrant shade of pinkish orange.

​Mains consisted of a 10 oz. Prime Rib Keg Classic and a Honey Mustard Oven Roasted Salmon.

The former, which had been my pick, would see frizzled onions swapped for a Loaded Baked Potato and the choice of Mixed Greens salad, sans vinaigrette. Despite relishing in the sweet tenderness of roasted beets and scrumptious baked potato, the Prime Rib exhibited a tougher consistency that expected. Known to be extremely tender, there was a higher presence of sinewy tendons and fatty edges than in the Prime Rib Sandwich I had chosen during the previous visit. The jus contributed minimal impact, while the horseradish quite the opposite - even the teensiest smidge resulted in teary eyes and uncontrollable coughing.

​As for the Honey Mustard Oven Roasted Salmon, I was informed of perfect plushness and comprehensive permeation of honey mustard flavours. Sautéed Mushrooms, which had been substituted in place of Garlic Mashed Potatoes, also left a memorable impression: The pieces were aromatic and toothsome, retaining suppleness and the signature earthiness of mushrooms without compromising on textural contrast.

​The Banana Coconut Pudding from the restaurant's Spring Features menu had assumed an item of interest even prior to arrival. Unfortunately, the next batch was not anticipated for another thirty minutes. Given that our dining window had been exceeded, the server subtly guided us in the direction of an alternative, though my heart yearned for no other.

​We concluded the meal without dessert, then headed to the nearby LCBO for a bottle of Inniskillin Pinot Grigio. For the first time in ages, proof of identification was not required! 

​Beautiful pink blossoms and gloriously sunny weather would welcome us on our route home.

​Pleasant external conditions are a rare sighting in the GTA. I had dressed to the occasion, but retired early on the account of outstanding chores and office preparation activities.

​The new job hasn't exactly grown easier with time, but at least the dreams of stress have halted for the time being.