Sydney New Year Firework

Happy New Year 2008!!!

A new year, without any resolutions as usual ;p

Just came back from watching the 9pm fireworks near rushcutter park. The 9pm is intended for kiddies so it was shorter and prob not as interesting. However, am too lazy to go out catch the 12am one, so will prob catch it from home..

The darling harbor bridge is decorated with just a lame looking hour glass. Plus it was too dark so i didnt bother to take much pictures, esp not with the street light being in the way (quite evidently seen in the shot below...)

Xmas Presents!

Yeah!!! Love my Xmas presents this year!!

My fav being the new ipod+radio Tivoli player of course. I love the bass and cripsy clear sound coming out of it...just a delight to the ears, not to mention sleek and chic design to boot!

Of course there's this wonderful water resistant picnic mat and portable bag of picnic set from Gwennie! I love the colours of the mat!!! Gwen has such good taste.. and had already used the functional mat the other day just chilling at the park (lazing in the greens reading my new book).

Then there is this thoughtful and lovely glove mitt all the way sent from Anna..it was so sweet and came as a complete surprise! It was so pretty I am having two thoughts about using it for cooking..so I guess I will only use it for baking where it risks being dirtied lesser.

Last but the least, the lovely candle holder from papaya. Its expensive but I rather love it and am such a proud owner of it!! :P

Aahhh.. such a lovely Xmas! Thanks to all for the lovely presents!

My first xmas eve meal at home after so long...

Christmas has once again come and gone in a flash! The first Christmas after many years away from sydney, that I finally didnt have to join the mad rush of passengers flying between airports. The first "stress -free" Christmas from packing and jostling to buy presents at the last minute.

So instead, it was a nice leisurely trip to the markets to grab and stock up some food over the festive hols since most shops are closed over christmas and most worthy restaurants are closed all the way till 8th-10th Jan 2008. Yeah, its almost like a shut down period all the way till early jan.

Christmas is huge in sydney. It is comparable to how chinese celebrate Chinese New year. The crazy mad rush, the over stocking of food, the rush to beat the shops closing... Its just christmas isnt it?

I had my first christmas eve dinner at home, instead of crappy airplane food after 5 years of flying. So to me it is every cause worth celebrating to!!! To mark this milestone, I treated myself to huge lobster and oysters !!! I didnt like bacon, so I decide to bake half of my fresh oyster with ham and cheese instead, while leaving the other half fresh. They tasted as good as it looks! ;p

The cooked lobster that was destined to be on my dinner plate on xmas eve, was large, meaty and juicy and sweet, worth every A$45 each. It was so fresh that I didnt want to eat it with other sauce except to dip it with self mixed of mayo and chilli sauce. I never knew it was possible but I was truely stuffed and bloated by the time i was through my whole lobster!


After that, it was a drive the next day to Newcastle for another christmas feast with the rest of the family. Meaty spring rolls, king bone pork etc.. If my tummy skin was to stretch any further from over eating, I will never be able to have it stretch back nicely without any marks! Of course, again, this marks another year of solo effort in resisting the shark fin soup that was (sad to say) made with mum's much love and hard work. Yet, my conscience of the poor sharks struggling to balance and live without its fin left me struggling with what was right and wrong.

Killing sharks was just as morally wrong as killing whales. So I made my choice to skip the shark fin soup and while 7 grown adult munch happily away before me, since I reckon I shouldnt impose my food beliefs on others, I shall only hope that one day this tasteless habit will stop.

After lunch, while everyone else fell into afternoon siesta, I was left in the company of 2 children watching "Dora the explorer". My plans for a quiet read on my new book was quickly shattered when Zacky boy discovered I was a good "playmate" to defend against his pillow "fight"...After 1 hour of non stop action, I call it quits, shooed him back to his mum in a FLASH when she was back from her snooze and by 10pm, I was totally knocked out.

Ok, next year christmas, I really got to stop this lazy boring cycle and do something different!

アンフェア - "Unfair"

Just finished the Japanese Series (アンフェア) "UNFAIR"..It's sooo good!! Each episode leaves u guessing and guessing, and when it think its over, something else pops up!

I just love watching Japanese investigative drama. It is just so good!!!! Tickle your brain abit while keeping u in suspense... Fantastic!!

Honey Pork Ribs

In my mum's last visiting trip, she had passed me some recipes she had compiled based on her trips to library. I have to admit this particular Honey ribs that I have tried is one of the best recipe I had tried and really liked. Easy and quick to prepare is understatement, but the fact that it tasted really good was another matter :) I did variations to the original recipe and am glad i did.

Ingredients
1. American Pork Ribs (in sydney) / Pork Spare ribs (in asia)
2. Extra Honey for blasting/ coating during drilling
3. 1 spoon of tomato sauce combined with 1 spoon of water

Seasoning
2 spoon of chinese rice wine ( Got this clear neutral smelling Taiwan rice wine version that doesnt have that strong funny smell like shaoxin or huatiao rice wine)
2 spoon of Hoisin sauce (or more depending on flavour intensity)
1 spoon of salt
1 teaspoon of olive oil
2 spoon of dark soy sauce ( or more depending on how darken you like your ribs)
2 spoon of honey

To cook.
1. Chop the rib rack into smaller pieces (about 2-3 ribs per section piece)
2.Marinate the pork ribs for at least an hour ( i prefer mine for 2 hours and more) and store in fridge
3. Preheat oven to 250 C. degrees
4. Place marinated ribs onto the foiled metal tray and grilled/oven bake it for 15mins or until it is dark brown.
5. brush and coat the ribs with extra honey., as well as extra remaining marinating sauce.
6. Brush with a tomato sauce mixture.
7. Bake/grill until cook (another 5mins or when the surface looks cripsy, not burnt)

Done!

My "horror"

Imagine my "horror" when I just looked at the toilet mirror a minute ago..

I just realised.... there I had been left walking around the supermarket and other stores in the last half hour, with the brown tell-tale nutella stain on my cheek near my mouth..

I had missed that spot in my hurry to post my cards!
DAMN!!!!! I hope people just thot that was a big mole on my face...

Service level in sydney.. in torns and tatters

I keep forgetting, how UNSERVICE oriented people in sydney can be. Enough of the "How are you" greetings when I enter a store or paying my stuff at the counter, can i expect real good service please?

Sales staff who promise to call never calls. From car aftersales, house movers, to David Jones salesmen, to sales from any retail store from major mall. The only people who will ever call you back are the housing agents, and that is only because THEY get to benefit from you if they make a sale by calling back. Otherwise, there is absolutely NO INCENTIVE for anyone one to do followup calls to their customers or potential customers.

I have been here for months now, and repeatedly, I am constantly being "promised" to be called back in several occasions such as : "when the new running short stock comes in.." (sport retail store sales rep) , " to confirm if there is another Tshirt in stock in other brances" (DJ store rep), "confirm if there is the white colour of the new car you bought" (VW sales rep), "when the new stock for the toothbrush holder arrives this week" (Household retail store sales rep) etc etc. The list goes on but the above examples are suffice to make my point. They NEVER ever call back. No matter where or who I made the purchase.

I heard they are paid average $28/per hour (i have yet to verify the fact but i am not surprised) for a shop girl. Yet their sales attitude is appalling. They don't care. I mean it. The people who work here have no pride, no ownership, calculative and only care about their "rights". For a person like me who has long "grown accustomed to decent customer service oriented business strategies" employed by most retails worth their salt, am left shocked, in disbelief in the lack of care in Sydney's service industry.

Take for today for example when I was in Coles to pick up a chicken and some eggs. It is 4pm, a non peak hour and hence I got into an empty counter lane with my basket place on the counter top. I have in hand 3 other grocery shopping bags and I was struggling to get my purse out of my bag singlehandedly. The woman behind the counter just stood there and did nothing. She just stood there. It didnt register to me what the issue was as I had a lot in my plate that instant. As i moved closer to her, she stared at me and snapped "Take it out of the basket". So THAT was the problem for her. I didnt "obediently" take the wrapped chicken and a carton of 6 eggs and placed it on the conveyor and hence she REFUSED to proactively served me. Instead, she rather watch me struggle, while she just stood there empty-handedly and FREE. It would be TOO MUCH to expect her to just help me take the groceries out of the basket and scan it for my payment. Agreeable that its a common habit here to unload your own groceries unlike in Singapore and HK where the cashier wouldnt mind if they pick it up from the basket, would it be unreasonable for the cashiers in sydney to cut some slack here? They simply would NOT do anything that they think isnt their job.

And mind you, I have to be careful if I should complain officially (hence my venting of frustration unofficially), the last thing I need is someone accusing me of picking on the indian lady at the counter...for "doing" her job - which is doing NOTHING to help me.

My take on Singapore taxi hike.

Am reading in disgust, about the news debate about the yet again another recent taxi price hike in Singapore. I think what irks me the most was ComfortDelgro's statement quoted from the newspaper that

" The latest round of fare hikes by ComfortDelgro, the biggest taxi operator here with a fleet of about 15,000 cabs, will bring our fares much closer to Hong Kong's. Hong Kong's taxi charges have often been perceived as a good benchmark."

Their arguement is that because HK taxi charges THAT price, hence it is reasonable for SIngapore taxi to charge the same amount. What utter crap!!!!

The MAIN difference and my main contention is that HK taxi are in ABUNDANT SUPPLY!!! That means that as a potential passenger, i NEVER EVER have to WAIT by the roadside for a cab feeling the heat (apart from the 4-4.30pm changing of taxi shift). The MAXIMUM amount of time spend on flagging a cab down ANYWHERE in Hong Kong apart from rural area is at tops 3mins. Most days, i get one almost instantly. There is always a red cab round the corner, there is always a stream of flowing taxis everywhere in major city and mall. Even at the worst time where taxi are changing shift, a decent taxi Q outside Times Square where i use to work, while the taxi Q may be empty, yet taxi would still be driving in at about 1 or 2 cabs per 3 min. So the line was essentially moving just albeit at a slower rate than usual. And if the taxi driver isnt sure about the destination, he can easily radio in and some other taxi drivers or the main control station will radio back with the QUICKEST and NON congested route to where i needed to go. And whereever there is a congestion at anywhere, I would hear taxi comrades "warning" other taxi drivers not to enter the area if avoidable. Thus, saving passengers like me much possible grief of being stranded in an unpleasant jam.

On the other hand, what do singapore taxi operator offers? A long fustrating wait of over 10-15mins, even if i am lucky to get through the booking system. At the roadside even of a more popular mature estate, I can count my lucky stars if I can flag one down within 10-20mins. There was once at Boat Quay (link), I couldnt see a cab for 30mins at 11pm, and have to wait for 5mins before i could get through a booking operator and another endless 10mins wait on the line for "an available" cab. In the end, a waiting empty cab honk me and asked me if i wanted to take his cab as his passenger "never showed up". However on condition that I had to pay the booking fee in place of the MIA passenger. Seeing that I had already wasted 45mins, what is $3 booking fee in comparison to another possible waiting on the line. Even though i hate to surrender to blackmail, yet I was in a fix. I always have a choice. To board and be done with it, or I could spend precious 10-20mins more waiting on the phone and at the roadside, not to mention my mobile bill $$$$ ticking away as i wait, plus i reason i had to pay that booking fee anyway for a cab i am calling. It was not a win win situation but I was in no position to argue nor bargain.. so its like rubbing salt to a wound when i read what Comfort Delgro had to say about the recent hike.

In fact, MANY of my HK colleagues who travel to singapore for work often complain to me and mock our CONSTANT "lack" of taxi supply and the almost non existent of cabs especially near midnight. My HK friend would proudly pull the comparison of ever flowing of taxis in his city and remind me of my own country's inadequate handling of taxi demand and supply.

Many taxi drivers in HK are also not well paid, and most have worse living standards than singapore. Our taxi drivers have (optional CPF of 2.5% interest with occasional govt dishing out bonus handout), and cheaper health care expenses in comparison to our HK peers with a pathetic 5% MPF contribution that is a form of investment and not a guaranteed fixed interest and returns like ours, so what are our taxi drivers complaining about? I am not convinced that average $3k is insufficient to get by in singapore, not luxurious for sure, but barely surviable is a long stretch as far as i am concerned.

Hence the theory that we should equate our taxi fares with HK is both unrealistic and unreasonable because your service and supply of taxi is unequal to begin with!

Isnt it sickening when vendors like Comfort Delgro can make such sweeping argument because the bulk of singaporeans has never lived in HK to counter argue with them? At the end of the day, its all about more profits and dividends, with little respite for frustrated customers like us.

To top off, peak hour our trains are often JAM PACK not to mention jostling with sweaty humid crowd. Our train system is also less desirable than HK. The average waiting time in HK is about 1-2 mins waiting time all time round. In peak hour, I am often pampered with a min train wait in HK. In singapore, I am often left waiting for 7mins wait at non peak and 2-3mins wait on average peak hours. Sometimes the train is so full at cityhall to the east that i have to miss 2trains to board another if I stop being nice and giving way, so the wait is no longer a minute wait even at peak hour in singapore. Singapore train is only better than sydney as far as i can say.

Much that I hate the noise and pollution and contamination of food in HK, I would always fondly and proudly remember their best transport in the countries I have travelled to -HK train and taxi and their mini bus system.

(PS: Btw, in HK taxi, "creative" Taxi drivers will also dish out their own calling cards to passengers hoping to convert them to regulars and in exchange, I get further 10 -15% discount off the travel fare in future if i ring them up to pick me up. Hence i get a PERSONAL service at a cheaper price. I wonder if taxi operators will allow that to catch on in singapore too?)

Rain rain rain...

Rain rain rain.

Has been nothing but flash flood, heavy downpour in sydney recently... so much for a hot summer for the beach people....

According to news, up to 50mm of rain has soaked parts of Sydney as a three-day weather front moves through coastal areas and the central tablelands of NSW.

As a result from all these unpredictable rainfall, I have to now stock up my fridge with lotsa meat for "one of those days" where I wont be able to shop since I wont want to face a hailstorm and rain rampage.

Meanwhile, i am just glad I have stock up on my crate of mango... its the mango season now and my god they are yummy!!!! A mango aday, with some vanilla icecream to go along, man this is decadent living ;p

Happy Birthday Bro!

Alamak! Just saw the date today... I forgot! That's what happen when you dun have calendar at home...and you dun need to track dates. Not good excuses.... darn!

Happy Belated birthday Big Bro!!! Hope it was a blast!

More new buys

Went shopping for more homeware stuff today. Bought the 2nd candle holder to complete the set, which caught my eyes some weeks ago.. happy! It kills me when things are not even when i think they shld be. OCD, yah i know..but hell, dun they look just pretty!!! Took my bath the other nite with the candles lit, sooooo theraputic, not to mention the apple mango scent is really nice...

Finally got myself a tea container too. Am tired of those leaving the bags in the original Twinning box and having my tea bags vulnerable to moths invasions...so I decided to pamper my kitchen and spruce it up a bit with a little nice porcelin tea container.

Prawn tofu

Made some steam prawn tofu... taste really yummy and so healthy... nothing beats chinese food, well...maybe apart from some jap food ;p

It's kind of a hassle to prepare so I dun do this dish very often. Depending on my mood, i kinda vary the receipe abit. However, its hard to get fresh waterchestnut easily so i replace it with carrot bits for the crunchiness...

Unless someone needs and ask for this recipe, too lazy to blog it tonite...

Santa being banned from saying Ho Ho Ho..

Talk about some Americans going overboard with their protest and "political correctness". The latest news today is that "Santa" has apparently been told not to use the famous phrase "Ho Ho Ho".

If you are bewildered like I am, yup, join the club. This whole "PC" thing is getting out of hand..The reason for the ban were because the phrase could "frighten children" and was too close to "ho" which is a US slang term for prostitute. If a child is frightened by Santa, I would reckon its more to do with the "big size" and the fact that the child is being handed to a beardy stranger than what he says. The arguement that a normal child is able to translate what "Ho Ho Ho" means apart from being associated with Santa cheery greetings is beyond me...

I'm a woman, I absolutely dun feel offended if santa goes Ho Ho Ho at me. Plus, he is saying "ho Ho Ho", NOT "You are a HO". Its a different usage of word isnt it? If we have to ban every one that has negative conotation, we might as well stop using the words "crack", "coke", "rubber", "bunny" etc, since all these words have alternative meanings to them. So honestly, all this useless dispute should be buried...

Incidentally...who cares what slang US uses for their hookers, afterall, its a local SLANG. If we were to avoid every single slang used in the WORLD, we prob might as well be using sign language to avoid agitating anyone with out words.

Like what one guy said on australian news interview, he said it best. "Its an AMERICAN slang, we are AUSTRALIANS, and so we can use any word we want!" I applaud that stand!

more news
1. Santa banned from Ho Ho Ho
2. Santa warned "Ho Ho Ho" is offensive to woman

New guests

Gwen has gone back sg... .. so i am back to solitude. Not that i mind the quiet lifestyle which is actually quite growing on me, but still, I do miss those "girlie" conversations. It just is different. Initially was planning for another trip in feb for her to come back but the flights are fully book! Looks like I have to plan my next catch up with the girls when i return next year.

What comes next is to welcome my SIL and her kids staying at my place. Zacky boy has turned out to be a relatively "tame" boy now but his sister is still that "terrible two" stage. She screams, she attempts to crawl over restaurant table, she yanks things out. Quite a stubborn girl actually. Hopefully its a stage she will pass...

Hailstorm in sydney

The weather has been sorta crazy this past week. It has been kinda stormy, rainy and it was even pouring hailstorm the day before!!!

It feels kinda weird, coming from singapore where we are relative free from all these natural phenomenon. It was initially still bright and cooling, next thing i know, it started to pour buckets of rain down without warning. The skyline also changed from blue to dark grey with twister like clouds connecting the sky to the distance sealine....

If that wasnt surprising enough, i looked out at the balcony and started seeing little white pellets of ice hitting my green balcony floor at the speed of someone firing a machine gun!!! So there i was, looking at the sky plonking icedrops on the building... I would seriously hate to be out there, or imagine what it can do to your car (dents!). Apparently those i saw are "nothing" in size, i could expect much bigger ones on bad days... eeee....

Catching up in facebook

Quite a number of old frens found me in facebook. If I had said it before, I am saying it again, facebook is super good and they deserve the slogan "Connecting People" much better than Nokia.

Was pretty amusing coz one chap added me as friend and for the life of me, i couldnt rem him offhand. I mean i recognise his pix as someone that I know I have seen before in Uni but i simply couldnt rem anything about him. So i had to apologetically confesss that I couldnt rem anything of our past exchanges in uni.

When he wrote back I had a laugh. Apparently he was from the same Computer Engineering batch as me, and that we share a few tutorials and also that he had always been copying my lab work and results etc because my sessions were before his. I laughed and wrote back, "Damn suddenly i found so many guys telling me they use to copy my lectures, tutorials and lab works etc and yet, I never rem any of those! I should have started a charging service! Not entreprenuer enough!!! :P"

Its amusing, how we always rem whom we copied our notes from, but never the people who copied from us.

Japanese Drama - Galileo

Apart from a pretty face who still cannot really act, I have no idea what the fuss about Taiwan Drama Serial Romantic Princess is...

The plot is boring, shallow and acting was lame. Jokes aint funny, no major storyline there... its mainly a series just aimed at teenagers who couldnt get enuff of their heart throb Wu Zun. The whole success of the show seem to weigh on Wu Zun which seem grossly unfair for a rather novice actor. He's a eye candy and looker alright but it just isnt enough to hold my attention...The script and shooting was so badly done that I couldnt bear to go on... utter waste of time.

So instead I moved on to good old Japanese drama - Galileo. If you havent catch on to this, you should jump onto the wagon immediately. At least the script writer DELIVEERS what they are being paid for, a PLOT. No matter that some may seem a little far fetched and convenient, its still a show that tickle your brain - like how does a guy die from sudden fire combustion on his head, or how a boy whose hindered window view can see a red car opposite the river. Its about a professor who doesnt believe in supernatural and helping the police solve the most "unseemingly" incidents (crime) with scientific explaination. I am up to watching episode 2 and I am glued! Its prob at episode 7 or 8 now in Japan.

Its good, and definitely worth my hour a week.

For other drama reviews, go to http://innerkaleidoscope.blogspot.com/

Music talk

Gave Gwen the extra mp3 music cd I have compiled from all my cd collections.

Its funny how some songs sounds damn good while you are driving and blasting away for the beat, and some for the chill when you are stuck behind the wheels in a jam.

Interestingly Yun growing up in Sydney had never heard of Indecent Obsession - Fixing a broken Heart, even though it was a huge hit in our highschool time Gwen said its prob a singapore thing..

I canx wait to head back to Singapore and sweep all the cds off the rack! I just do not like buying music online unless i hate the whole album. I am not sure if people realise that they are actually paying more for online music. Imagine A$99cents pers song vs a typical S$18 cd album (with abt 15 songs, plus the cd, plus the lyrics, plus the cover...), I will take the latter anytime...

Dinner at Pancakes at the rock (Sydney)

It was settled that we will drive to the Rocks and have dinner at "Pancakes at the Rock".
As we blast the music and driving thru town with windows down, it felt like a friday nite instead of thurs! The day was turning to dusk quite nicely with a pleasant blue/

Parking is horrendous. We found a lot after circling for good 15mins but this bloody australian white trailer trash bitch (with car plate YPY 344) cut us and drove straight into our lot even though we were there first signaling and giving space to the previous car to drive out! We wind down the window to politely tell her but she just brushed us off with "whatever" reply and gave us that slut face of hers. Gwen was furious and said to her that she had no driving ettique but obviously the other party didnt care. I simply just call her a fking bitch in her face before we drove off . Just cannot believe the nerves of some people! No wonder some people deserve the worst in life with such attitude of theirs. We bet they wont dare do that if we look just as trashy as them or if we were guys. However, being trained as professionals, we told Gwen to just go off and ignore such people. They will get their retributions (hopefully)...

Dinner was fabulous and the ribs were great! We had BBQ beef and Honey soya pork ribs, with a choc pancake (with choc icecream and strawberries) and macademian pancake to share...It was heavenly.....and not that expesnive either. came up to $27 per person for a really full meal!

The nite passes by soooo quickly. Apart from the small hitch with that white trash, the day had been otherwise perfect!

Major Retail Therapy

Today is pure retail therapy shopping! Last nite, gwen and I already took the catalogue and marked down the items we are going to look at and consider buying... it was so full of purpose! Poor Yun isnt a shopper by nature but she stuck around with us anyway. In the end, we spend 4 -5 hours in Bondi shoppng, with 90% on homeware stuff. Ha ha.

Gwen decided to get the big carving holder but i passed it up. I decided to get another black and white floral and birdie textured print candle holder instead. Partially because i wasnt prepared to folk out $140 for a candle holder (when i am not working!), so I went for a cheap option of $15. I wanted a box for my linen sheets but again, the one at papaya cost $90, so I went to Target and got the $50 box instead :P At the same time, I grab 2 black patterned mugs at $3 each.

We browsed through other designer store and intially gwen was thinkin of buying a rubber 2-1 DND door hanger + stopper. But i stopped her coz i just dun think its very functional. Plus she wont be using DND since she is living on her own! Instead, in another shop, i spotted this really super unique Heels shapped door stopper at $15 and she loved it and grabbed it!

I saw a really cool bed side clock and was thinking of it... i think i will grab it tomorrow! Prob will also get more placemats, bedsheets and the candle holder...

After all the homeware stuff, we decide to go for clothings! However, before that, I still cannot find a nice linen water for ironing and its depressing. It frustrates me that I cannot find my Comfort Vaporesse Iron water here.. i should have brought a crate from HK and Singapore man... darn! This is the BEST iron water EVER! The nice lasting fragrance in my clothes, and also prevents limescales built up in my steam iron. No idea why it hasnt caught on for this fantastic product by Unilever! Plus its a fraction of the price compare to linen water from L'Occitane (A$21) and Wheels & Barrow.

Gwen bought lotsa stuff from Portsman andCue. I only got myself a nice white and lime green day dress from Guess. I didnt feel like buying more since I aint working... It was so nice to go shopping after a long dormant period:) Hoo hoo hoo.. We had to make many trips to the car to keep dropping our "harvests" off... In the end, parking cost us $16 which i decide to split half with Gwen since she is doing the driving and petrol (which aint cheap..)

Canx wait for dinner!

Homeware shopping is so fun!

After late lunch at Bronte, we went retail therapy...shopping at Bondi Junction.

Both of us are terrible.... our eyes always end up looking at those nice nice homeware stuff... pretty but not exactly cheap....

Gwenie is doing up her new bedroom loft unit in sg and so buying home decor is now one of her current passion. I am basically a person who just love furnishing and homeware shopping by nature, so I am happy to tag along and give inputs...

I took her to a few of my favorites, which is mainly Bed & Linen, Wheels & Barrow (http://www.wheelandbarrow.com.au) and my top bet, Papaya (http://www.papaya.com.au). We also pop by other stores which basically are concept shops and its just amazing at the diffrent things out there!!


We spend most of our time in Papaya and gwen was in love with the stuff there as well. Our eyes were busy, brains whizzing away and mentally checking out what to buy. Finally, both of us shortlisted the thing. At the end of the scouting trip, we both spotted the same item with intricate cravings and our eyes couldnt tear away from it. So we stood there for good 15mins discussin what we can do with it and thinking of where we can place it to decorate our place.


I had to grab my Apple Peach Active Air candles from Dusk (http://dusk.com.au/) before they closed and so we decided to get back to Papaya tomorrow, esp its late night shopping on thurs! I love this candle to bits because it simple smell so gorgeous! Even when I dun lit the wick, the candle on its own already has a very nice fragrance...Just the perfect thing in an enclose room.


When we went back to Papaya, it was already closed but we know we will be back! Meanwhile, its heading to Kingsford to buy our indonesia chicken rice and rendang beef. Dinner was hot spicy and the spiciness just reminds me of home! Gwennie really knows her food!!!

Chilling out, fish and chips

Didnt havent any plans so me and Gwenie drove around and ended up at Bronte beach because we were looking for fish and chips.

The weather was absolutely lovely after a few days of light spits of rain. So we packed and went down next to the beach front and have our fresh hot yummy barramundi fish fillet!

The sun was so nice though we forgot our sun screen and so we only gave ourselves an hour with the cool breeze blowing. It was absolutely relaxing, just beaching out and chit chatting while looking our at the blue sea...with many topless sun bathers...including a mama to be.

As We people watched, and came to same conclusion that its just not possible to do this in singapore. Firstly, our sea is crap, so not much view. Our sun is too hot and weather humid to be sitting comfortably. Thirdly, in sydney, no one stares or comment or gives u funny look regardless what u wear, or dont wear by the beach. Its just a very nice relaxed feeling that somehow is unattainable back home.

While sitting there, a few blokes walked past us and tried to say hello in mandarin. We smiled backand carry on chatting and they try to speak jap instead. Me and gwen just stared at each other and laughed away. Then we meddled with our auto timer shots and i discover my coke can is a very sturdy and good camera support in moments like this:P

I miss hanging out with frens.

Dinner at Masuya Japanese Hotpot (Sydney)

Gwen recommended this Japanese Hotpot restaurant Masuya at 12 O'connell Street. We had sashimi and oysters platter as well as chanko hotpot with seafood like crab, giant prawns, scallops, mussels etc.. Man, were we stuffed and bursting at the seam!!!!

When i was in the washroom, I was telling gwen..."I AM SOoooooo full!!, My tummy is now bursting and spilling out of my jeans!" This young lady came out of the cubicle and was laughing away at my comment. I couldnt help laughing.It was a good dinner! so full that I could barely walk!

Satay and prawn mee

Knowin how hopelessly lazy I am to explore sydney, Gwen decide to drive me around town and to sample the asian local food like satay, prawn mee, taiwan bubble tea etc. Its just so nice to have her company!

Due to the late night, i didnt wake her. So we headed out for late lunch at 4pm. Lunch was partially delayed as the rail had a derailment and so the train was late by half hour. Luckily we had so much to chat that the wait didnt really bother us. After we pick up the rented car, she drove me to North sydney for prawn mee (msia store) and it was good. Though i told her if would taste like mee siam if it is sour. We also had satay which is slightly different from singapore ones. For one its the fat and bigger version, and less charred.

When the satay came, it was just served in sticks and sauce. I looked at gwen and asked, "what happened to the cucumber and raw onions?" Gwen said "Hmmm, dont think they served it like that in sydney."

I stared at the satay for a good min and said "i think I will try asking anyway... no harm asking"

So i went to the lady and asked her in cantonese if she has any spare sliced cucumbers. The lady paused for a while and went to kitchen, back with a half bowl of fresh cucumbers. As i received it with my delighted face, she asked me "are u malaysian??" I smiled and said no "Singaporean" She nodded smiled as if it made perfect sense.

As me and gwen started eating our satay, I told gwen:

"Its amazing isnt it? One can tell where you are from, from the way you eat. Guess only Asians will actually eat it with cucumbers and onions, the australians would not know the "right" way to eat this.." Gwen laughed in agreement.

HB said that nite "Didnt you ask for the kueh Tu pa (rice cake as well)". I laughed. Now THAT would be really greedy!!

Overdue Reunion!

Been over the moon this week because Gwen is here with me!!! My BFF since high school and everyone has been wondering what had happen to her since her move to sydney many years back. It has been pretty amazing considering we lost touch for several years and we just reunited in facebook recently. So it was a timely reunion as I get to catch her in time for her trip here!

I was so excited about her arrival that I could hardly slept well the nite before. The first day she landed and reach my place about 8.30am++, we talked and talked non stop till 2pm. We would have gone on if my tummy didnt start growling from hunger! So we made a trip to Bondi for sandwich and to do my post stuff. There was so much catching up to do that we barely stop chatting and it was close to 2am when we finally retire.

Its so nice to be back with my gf!!! Time flies and good friends are like vintage wine, the older we are, the better they get!

A super unplesant car incident

Had a very feeble attempt at fishing over the weekend. I should say, my one and only 1 min attempt, which obviously yield no catch! The granites in the water keep snagging our line and we gave up pretty quickly. I just hope no fishes will go for the prawn bait, with the hook still attached to it with the broken line.

However, the highlight that marked the day, wasnt the fishing experience but rather my car experience.

Drove around with LL and decided to stop at Swansea. We had to stop at the petrol service stop to purchase the fishing license ( A$6 for 3 days per person). I had a very unpleasant 5 mins experience of being trapped in the car, which by the way is no joke and now i understand why people can die in there.

LL stopped the car, got out and habitually took the key out and slam the door shut. I was just putting his bag back to the back seat when the all the doors in the car went auto lock and I realise that I was stucked! LL by then was already 3/4 away from the car and obviously did not hear me. He obviously didnt bother to look back since he didnt think I was following. At that moment, it didnt occur to me to hit the horn either because he was suppose to be back like a min after asking directions, nor was I to know how hellish it would be for the following.

I was perfectly alrite until the fking car alarm went off. Apparently this stupid smart car not only auto lock the car, it has a bloody sensor that someone was still in the car, without the car key. So here i was trapped in the car, in the stinking sun shining in without shades, all the windows wind up, and everyone at the petrol station was staring at me, wondering WHY i didnt turn off the alarm which i couldnt.

Now what really was making me boil was both the unbelievably stiffling high noon heat and lack of air in the car, as well as cursing LL with the most "colourful swearing words" at that instant for his blatant stupidity. I spotted him inside the air conditioned area Q'ing up with the car alarm still going off. Everyone around, including the woman that was standing in line behind him heard the alarm and looked out, everyone EXCEPT him. That pisses me off even more. The 5 mins wait felt like eternity in hell...

It was getting increasingly stuffy and unbearable in the car. Damn!

When LL finally walked out of the petrol supermarket, he was still walking fking slowly with a frown on his face, prob wondering why i didnt deactivate the car. When he finally unlock the car, i opened my door in the split second for fresh cool air, before turning around to blast at him. Which of course was the question "WHY THE FUCK DID YOU TAKE THE KEYS FOR and LOCKING ME IN!" Apparently even HE didnt realise the car has an auto lock function which stops anyone inside from unwinding the window as well. That;s what happen when a man doesnt read instruction manual from his new car..

Anycase, I didnt die. Not that I would since i prob would have fking horned and get somone to break the windows if he doesnt return in the next 10mins. Now, that would have been a really expensive fishing expedition.

Sea Sculptures at Bondi Beach

Spent the whole day at the beach yesterday… checking out the annual sea sculptures at Bondi to Tamara Beach.

The morning begun in a frantic chaos...As i told stan over late lunch, i must have fulfilled the daily 1km dash quota to and fro between my apartment and station from my usual forgetfulness...but hey at least i remembered his anime this time! Though i was smart enuff not to carry the grater with me to pass to him ;p

The weather has been fab this whole week after weeks of rain. The sea was incredibly blue and definitely heating up. I love the smell of the sea whereas Stan commented “Smells like dead fish”. i was like “WHAT!! This is NOT dead dish!! This is the smell of seaweed!!” Stan was like oh yah.

It was an “intensive” day as we moved from one sculpture to another at the pace of a snail with its home on its back. Come to think of it, the whole trail was done mostly in silence with each of us focused in the different works and taking shots. I think any conversations would have been excessive and distracting.

Of course the only time i thought was funny to say anything was when i was mocking his seemingly atrraction to the flies. As repeated outings (statistics) have shown, I told stan it was truly handy to have him ard because he attracted all the flies away from me :P I have officially labelled him “THE FLIES MAGNET”. It was really funny coz the flies were like swarming all over his face, resting on his bag and back. And i was standing next to him the whole time without even realising there was any flies as they left me completely alone. Stan was totally flabberghasted and annoyed and he couldnt comprehend why they left me alone and attack him. I said “Prob coz I have my perfume on” “WHAT BRAND ARE YOU USING!!!” “Hugo?” I replied. “That’s IT! I AM SPRAYING HUGO perfume next time!!! Which one! I will buy it and use it!! Quick tell me!!!” I laughed so hard…

The 15mins coastal walk ended up to be an over 3hours outdoor excursion for us. There were simply so much to see and the works were amazing!

“Was a good day eh” i remarked to Stan as we were slowly making our way back to Bondi
“Yeah it was good” Stan said
“Glad you are on leave and came with me” I said.
“Yeah glad I am on leave!”
It was truly a good day.

As we climbed up the stairs with the sun setting behind us, Stan commented
“I smell Toast”
“Yeah.” I replied.

He just reminded me how hungry i was getting. It was 6pm.

***(we continue to walk)***

The smell continues to toy with our senses in the next silent minute. In sudden unison we said
“Burnt Toast!!!” and laughed. Didnt know why but it was just funny at that tired moment.

As we ended up on the bus back, both stan and I were exhausted. I told him “It felt as if we just finished the most intensive 4hr exam paper!” He laughed and agreed.

As I was washing up that nite, it was with much satisfaction that i have landed myself with a brown nose (despite the sun screen) and a white watch band on my wrist.

Happy!

Chi Ba Boom, a nickname for life

Talk about “creative” nicknames… I never expected that some would stick like superglue.

I used to have this really super good back in highschool. Her hair use to get to her. She HAD the most natural frizz and lotsa hair so she would have try to tie it down in case “it looked like lion’s mane” as she used to say..Not remembering why , but probably partly cheekiness and out of pure affection, i started calling her “Chi Ba Boom!!” ard in school. (as u would describe an explosion sound for her hair). I never knew that it would would be how my other frens rem her as....:P

When we got reunited in facebook yesterday, she was telling me yesterday, about how embarrased she was when she was walking in orchard tunnel and someone yelled amongst the crowd, “Are u xxx CHI BA BOOM?” She coolly replied “yes i’m xx but no longer chi ba boom..” (Thank god for rebonding!)

“I never thought my past would come back and haunt me!” she told me jokingly.
I laughed till i was out of air. All the fun years in convent came flooding back!!

I think my dear old fren would prob groan and have a fit today if she knew that another IJ girl just asked me this morning.. “Is that xxx CHI BA BOOM?” :P

English Music: "From where you are" -Lifehouse

I absolutely love this new song from lifehouse to bits.... its such a soothing yet emotive tune. Totally rocks man!!!!

Unfortunately it is only just released in states TODAY so i still cannot get it from iTunes yet in australia store. Fk. No idea why they are so retard. Alas for now...i can only content with YOUTUBE video play to tide me over... hope u folks like it as much as i do too!

(Dwnload)

PS: I finally lay my hands on the song like after 7 months now -april 08..horray!)

Lyrics - "From Where You Are" by Jason Wade, Lifehouse
From Where You Are
By Jason Wade, Lifehouse

So far away from where you are
The miles have torn us way apart
And I miss you
Yeah I miss you

So far away from where you are
And standing underneath the stars
And I wish you
Were here

I miss the years that were erased
I miss the way the sunshine would light up your face
I miss all the little things
I never thought that they’d mean everything to me
Yeah I miss
And I wish you
Were here

I feel the beating of your heart
I see the shadows of your face
Just know that wherever you are
Yeah I miss you
And I wish you were here

I miss the years that were erased
I miss the ways the sunshine would light up your face
I miss all the little things
I never thought that they'd mean everything to me

Yeah I miss you
And I wish you
Were here

So far from where you are
These miles have torn us way apart
And I miss you
Yeah I miss you
Yeah I wish you
Were here

Recipe Brinjal with Minced Pork

One of the beauty of cooking while not working, is that u have the luxury of time to explore for a novice like me. I can finally understand why my mum use to sit in the kitchen taking hours pouring over her recipe book for ideas before cooking dinner.

As anyone who has used a recipe book will know that all recipes need tweaking (even the best ones), simply to customise it closer to our taste (the way we rem how our mum cook it)... And my advice, invest in a REALLY GOOD cook book that has most of the recipes that you will actually cook. Not just nice pictures to stare at.

So last nite when I was pondering seriously what to cook (ran out of meat options after the last few days of dinner marathon), I flip a few pages and went to the supermart for "hope for the best idea". I stumble across brinjal and I thought "what the hell, let's give it a try". Brinjal is something alien to cook, though i rem my mum cooked it with very hot chilli sauce back then.

So i ventured into what may be "Brinjal with minced meat" non-spice version of mine.

Recipe steps

1. Cut up the 3 mid size brinjal (eggplant) into slices and soak them in little salt water. (slightly thinner than mac donald nuggut thickness for each slice. any thicker will take longer to cook and become soggy)

2. Prepare 2 cloves of smashed garlic, 4 cloves of minced garlic, 3 pieces of slice of ginger.

3. Heat up 1 tablespoon of oil, throw in the smashed whole garlics, and add the drained brinjals into the wok and stir fry till soft with high heat. Remove from wok

4. Add another 2 tablesppon of oil to clean wok. Add minced garlic, sliced ginger, few pieces of deseeded finely sliced red chilli (if its those thai mini hot chilli, add maybe accordingly of level of spice tolerance) and stir till garlic is slight brown. (like wat 30secs)

5. Add one and half teaspoon black pepper sauce mixed with 2 tablespoon of water to wok.

6. Add in 120-150 gram of minced pork and stir fry together.

7. Add sauce ingredients (1 tablespoon of light soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon of roasted sesame oil, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon chinese wine, 1 teaspoon of corn starch flour, half cup of chicken stock)

8. When the minced pork looks almost cooked and change in colour, throw in the cooked brinjal to blend with flavour. Stir fry for another few mins and when pork is cook, its done!

What the cookbook doesnt tell me, is that minced pork absorbed water very quickly. So keep a look out. If u like gravy based, prob add more chicken stock, if u prefer dry version, the half cup will do and need not bother with the corn flour really. Plus, cook book version was using hot bean paste which i didnt have, so i improvised and swop it with black pepper sauce in a bottle instead.

Also, during the stir fry portion of the minced pork, actually we can taste it and add sugar or salt, or water to dilute the taste, to suit our own preference. I guess if they include all these in the cook book, it will be really thick huh..

A relaxing day at bronte coastal

Craved for fish and chips today, so headed out to bronte beach again.

Brought my ipod and sketch pad along for doodling. As i sat in the greens in the breeze basking in the mild sun, and out facing the deep blue sea, and light blue skies. It was absolutely sublime.

In between, a mummy sat her twins before me and started playing with them. From the back. the twins looked absolute angelic and adorable, sitting quietly on the green looking around them wonderously. Funny how we all started out this way and yet branches off differently.

Headed off the eastern coastal walk along the cemetry. It was an amazing view and the breeze was so gentle that it was almost inviting for one to jump in. Of course that wasnt what i had in mind.

Oyster sauce Bean sprouts with capsicums

If I have started work in sydney, I prob will never cook bean sprouts because those sold near my place are never pre-plucked, meaning they come with both "head" and "roots". So its really a chore to remove the roots before cooking. Takes about half hour to clear the lot that serves a bowl. I missed HK and singapore where I can just pay more and buy those already been clean and neatly plucked in a pack. Guess labor is too expensive in Australia here.

Australian's bean sprout are however very good quality. Unlike those in Singapore that starts to "water" within 5 mins and becomes soft when u throw them in the wok, those here stays really crunchy still and doesnt have that strong "bean sprout" taste in them. Plus they are much longer in length and firmer.

My fav version of beansprouts of late is to mixed them with capsicums. The flavours really blend well together and plus capsicums are good for us.

Recipe

1. prepare 1 average bowl of beansprouts plucked

2. Cut a quarter portion from each coloured capsicums (red/ green/ yellow) (or lesser up to taste)

3. Sliced the quarter portions of capsicums into thin strips

4. Prepare 1 tablespoon of minced garlic and finely cut ginger. Stiry fry together with olive oil.

5. Throw in capsicums and stir fry with a tablespoon of light soy sauce for 3 mins

6. Throw in beansprouts (plus sliced button mushrooms if desired)

7. Add 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce, and pinch of salt, sugar and pepper for taste.

8. Stir fry for another 4-6 mins (depending on your preferred level of crunchiness of sprout)

Done.

Why Capsicum Are Good To Eat
• Red capsicums have very high levels of vitamin C - 1 capsicum has enough vitamin C to meet the daily needs of 10 people and yellow and green capsicums have nearly as much
• The red varieties are also rich in beta carotene which the body converts to vitamin A
• One red capsicum contains about 2 teaspoons of natural sugar, making them much more popular for flavour. Yellow capsicums have almost as much natural sugar, but the green variety have little sugar and so taste a little more bitter
• All varieties are free of fat and are low in kilojoules - red capsicums have 135kJ/100g, yellow have 115kJ/100g and green have 65kJ/100g

Never saw this coming...

I swear i never saw this day coming....

I was having late lunch with Stan, and being that I didnt want a big meal spoiling my dinner... we agree to head to the foodcourt area and share some bites.

Stan left it to me to pick my choice, being that I am the fussier one.. I told him I felt like fastfood. I havent had fastfood for ages. Its not a craving, it was a simple solution which I thought then would be a quick and done deal.

I "hunted" for Macs. To my dismay, it was a small takeaway counter with some pathetic seats nearby. That I can do. So two of us, stood before counter and look up. A min silence, then I "screamed" my indigance!

"This is fucking rip off!" I said as i stared at the board menu.
Silence from Stan.
"Are they fucking crazy?!!! $7 for nuggests??" I said again.
We looked at each other, and our feet naturally gravitated away and Stan pointed to KFC next door.

Again, we stood side by side and stared at the menu board.

"Ok, this looks more decently priced!" I said.
"Same lah" Stan said.
"But its freaking $7 for nuggets for macs! This is at least a choice of $2 plus" I said
"That one meal mah" stan said
"Still I am not shelving good A$7 for MACS! That's like what? $10 bucks in sg!"
Stan said "ya lor"
"So how" I said
Silence from Stan
"3 chicken wings, not enough to share" Stan viewed when he continued to stare at the board.
"Ya. 3 chickens each too much" I said, also staring at the board
A min silence ensued...
"Let's go check out Hungry Jacks"
It sounded like a brillant idea to both (or at least i thot so)

So we detoured to the other end round the escalator and stared at the menu board.
"Why on earth will they have 7 piece nuggets?" I said.
"Yah lor. So weird" Stan laughed.
"But at least the price is more decent here" I said.
"So how to share like that? How? What do u think? " I added
"Onion rings?" Stan ventured.
"Yah and a coke. Sounds good" I replied.
"Ok. DOne deal. the most, we have 3.5 nuggets each. Better than $7 for macs nuggets" I commented again.
Stan laughed and we Q.

Minutes later, as we were munching on the rings at the table, a thought crossed my head and i told him...

"Stan... (*Silent Pause. Only chewing sound*).... you know....I cannot believe what we just did. Did we actually just had to choose between fast food chains?"

*Pause*

"I never thought I will live a day to think, that we will be fucking comparing fast food prices!!" I groaned in sudden realisation.

*Laughters followed... *

I have descended to the lowest depth of my Singaporean "cheapo-ness".
Oh how I have fallen!!!

PS: Stan had the 4th nugget! 3.5 was wishful thinking on my part....