Choc-Caramel Brownies

On Tuesday I made some lovely and delicious brownies and I thought why not share it with you.
I got the recipe from Weight Watchers so you know I don't own the recipe, but it is easy to make and very yummy. I have pretty much copy the recipe but put my own words into explaining it with my amazing jokes and talent ;)

Ingredients

You will need:

100g Canola Spread/Margarine/Butter
75g dark eating chocolate
1/3 cup coca powder
1/3 cup skim milk
2/3 cup caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup self-raising flour
200g caramel-filled milk chocolate

First preheat your oven to 180C or 160C for fan-forced. Then lightly spray a 19 cm x 29 cm slice tin with oil and line base with baking paper. This will make it easier to lift out of the tin when cooling, also less to clean duh unless you have a dishwasher like me and then life is easier.

You then want to put the spread, dark chocolate (break them up into smaller pieces as it will be easier to melt), coca powder and milk into a small saucepan.

Stir over a low heat until smooth. Having the dark chocolate in small pieces makes it easier to break down easier.

Next transfer the chocoltey mixture to a large bowl and stir in sugar then let it cool for 10 minutes.

Add that sugar baby

Stir and let it sit ;)

After that 10 minute wait while you clean up that very messy kitchen with a heap of coca powder everywhere add those lightly beaten eggs.

Look at that skill, take picture and pour eggs in, legend right here

STIR

Stir the eggs in. Next stir in the sifted plain and self-raising flour. Make sure it is sifted into the bowl or sifted before putting it in the bowl, you don't want random flour balls in your brownies, don't worry mine does not have that.

Yeah look at that flour

Mix it, mix it good. So shiny

Now put that mixture into the tin and smooth it out.

I could literally just eat it now

Now you could just have plain brownies but that's boring. Using the caramel chocolate, break into pieces and pushed them into the mixture, try to use all the chocolate but I didn't as I ate some along the way, COME ON IT'S CABURY AND CHOCOLATE!

Again look at that camera skill, I'm just too good.

Now spread the mixture over the pieces so you can't see it and it's like a surprise.

I didn't do the best job at that, but you get the jist

Now into your preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until you stick a skewer in and it comes out clean.

More skills, but god it was hot oven.

While that is happening you could make a frosting but that may be an overload on chocolate  so maybe just clean so when your mum or whoever gets home, the kitchen is nice and clean and you know yummy brownies and a coffee waiting for her or whoever you are pleasing.

When it is done take it out and let it cool in the tin for 10 minutes.

COOLING

Then take it out of the tin and try not to break it, like I totally did not do and put it on a wire rack to cool more.

I totally did break it whoops again. but MORE COOLING

Then cut it into as many pieces you want and try to find those delicious surprises of caramel in there.

DELICIOUS

YUMMY

Now it is actually amazing and I have eaten too much, it is a bit crumbly and a tiny bit dry but oh well I made something and you can too.

I hope you like this kind of blog post, it was very different but I liked it, now that is a sign off from Chef Kadek and to normal Kadek.

***

Thanks Chef Kadek, so I am going to be taking these bad boys to Albury, New South Wales as I am going there for 5 days for swimming. If you want a more detail post on why, check out my best friend Shaylene's post on it HERE and then check out her blog coz it is amazing.

Don't worry I will be continuing my Japan Trip series when I get back as well as a post on my trip to Albury with hopefully a lot of pictures and outfits I wore, hopefully Shaylene will help me with that as I have chocolate orange and brownies :)

So I am going to leave it there, hopefully we see more of Chef Kadek in the future and I will see you when I get back

Catch you on the flip side

-KadekLouise xxx

Japan Trip 2013 Part 2

Disclaimer: I am not bragging at all, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and as I was in year 11 at the time, I had no other chance to go on an experience like this. This will be split into parts so they aren't as long so I hope you don't mind and hopefully I give you ideas on where to go in Japan if you are planning to go one day. Also some photos are taken on my iPod and some on my camera which is a Canon 600D SLR as well as other people from the trip's. Enjoy :) 

This is Part 2, please check out Part 1 HERE if you have not yet read it.

Now let's continue with Day 5 and the day we got to finally meet our host families.

Day 5:
Today was the day, I was so nervous but we got to go on a shinkansen (bullet train) which is like plane on land and can get up to speed of 320 km/h. We were on our way to Susono which is also the sister city to Frankston where I live.

Our shinkansen

We were finally ready to set off, the whole trip only took an hour which is pretty impressive. When we got there we could see Mt Fuji from the station. And yes Susono is where Mt Fuji is and OMG it is huge. A bus was waiting for us to take us to Susono City Council to have some lunch and to meet the mayor.

Look Mt Fuji

When we got to the council we saw this little sign, it felt weird seeing it.

We then went into the council office after having lunch in the park across the road. We got greeted to Susono and then the mayor came in and talked a bit and then photos. Apparently it is an honour to meet him which was pretty cool.

We are 8,100km a part

Lunch they gave us

With the Mayor

Now as you can see from the photo we are wearing our uniform. So to explain now we had to wear our uniform everyday we went to the school which was good as we could be identified easily and bad as you got a lot of attention. We had a tour of the offices which was pretty boring but oh well again it was another privilege to have a tour.

It was now time to go to the school. The school is Tomioka Junior High School with the levels ranging from 7-9. We got greeted by a teacher who was in charge of us and went to our home room where we got given a little pack of itinerary and a snack.

Everything was delicious

Also we got the best greeting with signs, here are some photos.

Shoe holder for our outside shoes

A student actually did this

After knowing what we were doing for the next couple of days it was then off to have a tour of the school. The school was huge and with three levels and some levels turning into two levels. It was very confusing, we got a lot of cute hellos from the students as we walked through hallways and the ground.

We then got to meet our host student. My host student was named Tahira (たひら) and both of us likes One Direction and she is in year 9. We then went off to the classrooms, I was by myself with other people from the trip having another person and some were by their selves like me. We had to introduce ourselves to the class and then sat in the class for a bit. It was very different and a lot of Japanese was being said. Then we headed off as the class was going to sing for a competition well they were practicing. After I went back to the home room where we got more information with what was happening and to meet in the home room for a meeting and then join our host student with bukatsu (after school activities) if you wanted to but I don't think Tahira did one so that was good as I got to hang out in the home room.

It was then time to head home, so the parents came and got information as well and then it was time to go saying goodbye to everybody. The mum and little sister  came to the school to pick me and Tahira up. They only lived about a 5-10 minute walk from the school and I had a very old suitcase so it broke halfway but it survived the whole trip for Japan but when I got back to Australia it went straight into the bin.

Tahira's house was a two story house and pretty modern, I settled in and gave presents for the family, some Australian souvenirs as well as Vegemite, Tim Tams and Caramello Koalas. We then went shopping, food shopping that is and listened to One Direction and then got me some chopsticks. We returned home and had dinner which was stew and then I had a shower and watched Hugh Jackman on a Japanese show as the mum loved Hugh Jackman. She has good taste according to mum as my mum loves him as well. It was then for bed ready for the next full day at school.

Here is a photo of the room I stayed in.

I made myself comfortable, sorry about the mess

Day 6: (Sorry there is no photos)

First full day at a Japanese school. Breakfast I had toast with vegemite, the mum even tried it and said it was bitter and sour but still ate, I think she was being nice. Then it was off to school. I went into the home room and hugged everyone as we all talked about how the night was and what we did. It was time to get changed as we were doing a performance for the school. We were performing Possum Magic and I was Grandma Poss.

It was a very awkward moment when we walked into the gymnasium where the assembly was held. We were all in our costumes as we walked in the middle of the whole school as they cheered. We got on stage where there was a row of seats for us to sit on and the school sung to us and then we performed. It was horrible, I don't think they understood well but they still cheered at the end. The assembly ended and we went back to get changed and then we split into two groups to join some classes and help. At least we got to be with our group for this.

First off my group which was group b had humanity which the class just got everyone's names. Bree and I felt like stars as everyone came to our table, it was like giving them our autograph. Next we had English where we met Sam who was from Frankston like us but he looked so familiar it was not funny. But oh well I will never know where I have seen him before. The next three classes we had was English where we helped the students out with their English.

It was then time for lunch with our host students. It was very awkward as they are given their lunch in class and had to serve it them selves, the teacher didn't do much, it was more the students running it and it was hard to know what they said as I do not know that much Japanese. It was an alright meal but I didn't eat much as I sat there silent and ate smiling at Tahira at times but then I went back to the home room which luckily it was down the hall. I sat next to Bree as she wasn't feeling well and helped her with a word find. That was when I had a panic attack and lost it when one of my teachers asked if I was alright as I was trying to stop myself from crying. It's the worse when someone asks you if you are alright coz I lost it after that.

I think it was home sickness and being alone in the class not having at least someone there that I could calm myself down, some people were fine by them self but I wasn't, I'm pretty confident with talking but being in another country it just hits harder. Luckily we got to spend sometime with just our group as we got to have a tour of Tomioka Primary School which on the same ground as the high school.

We also saw Sam there again. He was totes a babe he made mine and Josh's list of boys (This will be explained later). I also saw Tahira's sister there which was good. We then returned back to the home room and did some Shodo which is calligraphy. It was nice to be calm and collected with everyone. Literally everyone was quiet and concentrating on the Shodo.

It was then time to go back to the host students' classroom where I tried not to cry and then we went off as they sung again. I then went back to the home room where Bec and myself had some quality talking time, it was nice, you sometimes get sick on hearing Japanese sometime.

Then it was time to go home which I was not looking forward to as I felt like I was going to cry more but I kept it in until I went to bed. When we got home I got to meet Tahira's grandmother and she was nice. For dinner we had Okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake/savoury pancake) and it was amazing and beautiful. Then I got a call from one of my teachers seeing how I was as well as giving me a KD Card which I can use to ring my mum and the most nice thing is that I didn't have to pay them back which was really nice of them. I then tried to ring my mum but it didn't work which was poopy but at least my host mum knew that I was home sick, so did a pretty good job keeping my mind off it. We then had some snack food like chocolate and chips.

Before bed I had a shower and met the dad briefly as he works late and then I went to bed.

Day 7: (again no photos)
It was morning and the last day at the school. Walked to school for the final time and got to the school, went to the home room where we had another Shodo lesson. I tried to ring my mum again at the school but that still didn't work as well but my mum at the time was also on holidays on the Ghan.

And then back into our groups. We had sport first where the boys in our group went to the gym with the boys of the class we were with and the girls went to the baseball pitch where we just sat and watched. Then had some more English helping and then it was lunch time. Lunch again was alright but I kept to myself as usual and then walked quickly to the home room where we got to stay the period my group which was nice. Another but last English helping lesson and then back to the home room.

Now we were suppose to go to our host students room but I asked if i got to stay with the teachers which was good when they said okay or I was going to loose it in crying. So I hanged out with the teachers going to classes when Tahira found me and asked me to go with her, the teachers followed as I had that look of nooo. Nothing against the class, seriously I was happy with them but I had an anxiety attack whenever I was left alone, something weird in my brain. We followed her the music room where they sung just for me and gave me presents. I was going to cry, but happy tears. I thanked them and then left with the teachers still and got some cake and nibbles as it was one of the girls birthday.

We had cake and drinks and sung her happy birthday and got time to chill in the home room with some of our group and some of the host students until we had to leave. The next day was a whole day with the host family, the teachers checked up on me before they left to see if I was going to be alright and they would see me on Sunday.

We got back to the house where the Grandma was waiting for us as the mum was out. So I got changed and did some origami with her. Tahira was like a little translator for me, she did really well with English. We then left to go to a restaurant for dinner called Bella which was an Italian restaurant. The grandfather met us there and it was literally a feast what we had. Dishes kept coming out when we finished one, I think they were trying to be nice with all the food.

We then headed back to the grandparents house for a while and played some games and I wasn't expecting it but the Grandma gave me a present, it was so nice. The mum came and picked us up. When we got back I tried to ring my mum again and I got through woooo. It was so good to hear her voice, it calmed me down a lot. But I found out when I got back that she was drinking when I rang her. Anyway when I rang her she was watching the footy, which was Hawthorn versus Geelong, and we don't have a good record since 2008 with Geelong when we beat them in the Grand Final so I told her I didn't want to hear the score at that moment. (Day  9 I will tell you the result). I then went off to bed after talking to mum in a way better mood after the anxiety attacks at school and missing home.

If you are wondering I still had a good time at the school and being with the host family.

I lied here is a photo of Tahira and I at the restaurant that night.

And that is the end of Part 2, the school days of being Susono. Sorry for the lack of photos, I didn't take any at the school as you saw I was a mess so my mind was somewhere else always thinking of the worse, also sorry for a lot writing. I hope you like this again if you have not read Part 1 click HERE.

Part 3 will be up soon.

Please comment what you think of this series.

Catch you on the flip side

-KadekLouise xxx

Japan Trip 2013 Part 1

Disclaimer: I am not bragging at all, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and as I was in year 11 at the time, I had no other chance to go on an experience like this. This will be split into parts so they aren't as long so I hope you don't mind and hopefully I give you ideas on where to go in Japan if you are planning to go one day. Also some photos are taken on my iPod and some on my camera which is a Canon 600D SLR as well as other people from the trip's. Enjoy :) 


On September 14th of 2013 I headed off to Japan with my school for 2 weeks with spending 5 days with a host family and returning on the 28th of September. The year level ranged from year 9 to year 11 and we were accompanied by 3 Japanese teachers.

Day 1:

It was that day, of course I could not sleep at all, I was way to excited. We didn't have to be there until 12pm but being me and mum we wanted to get there early as you never know with Melbourne traffic. SO Maccas for breaky and off we went. We were the first ones there and slowly everyone turned up. We checked in and it was time to go. A big hug to mum and we went through customs.

The Gang

We had our first drama with one of my friend's not being able to go because something went wrong with her passport, so she had to join us later. We went to the gate and waited to board. We boarded at 3:45pm, so glad I got a window seat. We got to change seats with our group luckily and if you are wondering we were on Singapore Arline and OMG they are amazing. We got hot towels, TV's on the back of the seats and decent leg room. I am not the best with sleeping on a plane, but not a lot of people got sleep as our first stop over was in Singapore.

View from the window

Bree the weirdo

We made it to Singapore and the first thing we all found out that there was wifi and sat down and did that. I did have a massive headache so took panadol and Bree and I went and had a look around the airport.

We found Karp

More Karp

It was then to hop back on the plane and head to JAPAN! For that flight I mostly slept with the occasional checking where we were.

Day 2:
We had finally landed in Japan and it was a bit humid. We got our luggage and headed to go get out JR pass so we could ride trains in Japan and lasted the 14 days we were there and cost a lot of money. So the first stop I went to was Starbucks where I got a Green Tea (Macha) Frappuccino because it was green but it tasted like heaven and that started the obsession (you'll see why later). We went on a train to go to our hotel in Tokyo.

When we got there we dropped our stuff off and bought what we needed with us as it was only 12:30pm and we had the whole day in front of us. Our plan that day was to go to Harajuku and Meiji Shrine.
We headed off catching a train and went to Harajuku.

We didn't end up seeing any Cosplays it could be coz it was raining but a muggy rain. Everyone was literally bugged and wanted to go back to the hotel to sleep but instead we went to Meiji Shrine which was actually beautiful.

Meiji Shrine

Luck Wall

After that we headed off to Harajuku  famous and popular lane to shop and eat. I ended up buying a little hat and two bow tie hair ties. We then headed back to the hotel and headed off to dream land. I shared a room with my friend Bree and Bec when she came. We had tatami rooms and it was surprisingly comfortable.
I also got a blood nose that night in the shower and that was a first in a while, so I had to call out to Bree to get tissues, don't worry I had a towel on when she gave them to me and then remember that I could of just gotten toilet paper. The photos below are of the room.

Day 3:
We got up to find out that there was a Typhoon on it's way. So we had to borrow umbrellas from the hotel and we were off. It was still humid but pouring down with rain and very wind, some people's umbrellas already broke but mine survived the whole day. The first place we went to was Shinjuku where we went into a high end shopping center called Time Square. The only reason we went there was to stay away from the Typhoon and also there was like no one in there.

View from the top

We looked around heaps until we found Tokyu Hands where I spent a bit of money there, especially in the stationary level. We had lunch and then we were off to Studio Ghibli Museum. 

We went in and it was amazing. I brought some little souvenirs and saw some awesome as drawings of some of my favourite Studio Ghibli movies including, My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle and Kiki's Delivery Service. As you can kind of tell I had my hair in two little buns, just trying to fit in though it took ages to do.

WOOOOO

Front Gates

Soot balls

TOTORO

Next we went to Shibuya for a bit of shopping and amazing views from Satrbucks ;)

We got some free time so first stop was, you guessed it STARBUCKS. Needed my fix of green tea frapp.

Hachiko, the dog that kept loyal to his owner even after the owner's death.

Then looked at the same building with all the CD's, DVD's and games they had. As well as the amazing view of the famous Shibyua crossing.

Not the best picture

We checked out 109 a popular shopping mall and all I did was cry coz of how small the clothing was but it was still amazing to see the style they have.

The women's 109

There was so many people when it started to get dark.

Bright lights

After that we headed back to Ueno Station and headed back to the hotel ready for more walking, there is a lot of walking we do and the weather actually died down.

Day 4:
The day began with a bento box breakfast which we had this hotel everyday, very traditional. Got ready to go for a walk in the park and look at some of the beautiful temples they had around.

Becki, favourite picture I have taken of someone

The temples were amazing and the park so beautiful.

There weren't many people out, most walking to work.

The many paths there were take a walk around the park

We were walking through the park and didn't notice this little vending machine blended into the bamboo fence. If you are wondering vending machines are big in Japan, you can get drink, ice cream, food, and other wacky things in the vending machine but we only saw drink and ice cream vending machines.

Bree and I, Ermaaagerd we are in Japan

We then went off to a market, Ameyaykocho where there were cute little market stalls but I didn't buy anything,

SO many vending machines

The one that many people brought from the vending machines was, Grape Fanta which was so amazing and the best thing about the vending machines was the prices were low and cheap. Water was usually only 100 yen equaling to $1 or lower Australian money.

A group of us then found a game arcade and spent most time we had there. It was funny seeing everyone loosing money on them, but the claw machines were more ridiculous than the ones in Australia, you literally couldn't pick up anything unless you had skills.

 Next we caught a train to Asakusa to see another Temple and have a bit of a shop in the market and have lunch.

The Golden Poop, have no idea what it is

Again the temple was amazingly beautiful and we met a student teacher who was from here, there as well.

Such a beautiful temple

We had some free time, so we went for a bit of a shop, brought some more presents and souvenirs. It was then time for lunch and we went to Denny's. Bree, Josh, Nick and I had french toast, pancakes and wedges and it was the best idea we had on the trip, best meal.

Next we went Akihabara and woah that is one electronic place didn't buy anything but was nice to look around ended up in Maccas (McDonalds) as I was so thirsty.

Next we went to Sky Deck Observation as we couldn't the last day because of the Typhoon.

It was pretty tall as you can see from mine and Bree's necks hahah

We got to see a beautiful sunset from the top.

We then were off back to Ueno station to have dinner. A group of us went to a cute little cafe and had spiders (coke and ice cream), a lot of people got iced coffee thinking it was coke, that was funny and had toasted cheese and ham sandwiches which were delicious and I may have had two but I was hungry. After we had Danish Pandas which were amazing.

PANDA

Bec finally turned up and we all mobbed her. It was a relief that she still got to come in time for going to the Host families but it was a shame that she missed out on Tokyo. We went back to the hotel to pack for a big day tomorrow of going to Susono and to see our host families.

And that's where I am going to leave Part 1 which was all in Tokyo, I hope you enjoyed and Part 2 will be up soon. Please comment what you think.

Catch you on the flip side

-KadekLouise xxx