Perth Royal Show & some oysters

It's almost the end of the year, how time flies! A couple of weeks ago, Jo and I went to Perth Royal Show again. This year's show was a bit of a downer because the weather was really crummy and it was showering all afternoon.


Jo and I went on the bumper car rides, very fun but we were all bruised and knocked up afterwards. Last year we bought a Barbie showbag for Sabrina (came with Barbie cap, hairband, bag, notebook etc.) but this year we were too cheapskate, so Sabrina has no presents this Christmas *evil grin*.


This is Spotty, our balloon dog. Our only purchase and best purchase at the show (only $5). It was such an attention getter and followed Jo like a real dog as she led it by the string. Lots of kids and parents ran up to Jo to ask her where she bought it from.


Who says dogs don't fly? It was a very windy afternoon.


Even though it was freezing, we still stayed till 9pm for the fireworks show. Can you spot Jo in the picture?


Before Hads left for New York, we met up for a seafood dinner at Oyster Bar. This is where Jo wants to bring Ah Ma for oysters when she next visits Perth. $12 for a dozen so that's $1 each, pretty good deal right?


Jo and her signature 'V' sign.


Hads getting ready to dig in.


Both of them had the Surf and Turf which was a giant steak with half a lobster tail on mash.


Mine was a trio of grilled snapper with prawns and scallops with asparagus and citrus sauce. To tell the truth, the dishes weren't that great. So next time when we go to the Oyster Bar we're going to stick with what they know best, oysters!

Christmas is just around the corner and we're going to be home soon! (^__^)

Spring in the Air

I've been experimenting with hokkien noodles this past week. My chicken and mushroom hokkien noodles are vinegar-y, a little spicy and salty.
This is Perth version taogeh mee! Speaking of taogeh mee, I miss Aunty lao deng kolo kway tiaw.


It's still quite cold in Perth, chilly mornings but at least the sun's out! This is our favourite bay in Perth, also called Matilda Bay. It's right opposite UWA so we used to go there for walks and bbqs. Although I now live quite far away from the university, I still visit the bay every now and then. Next time when the whole family visits, we'll organise an Aussie bbq there ok?

Everyone cheer coz the weekend's here! (^________^)

Lunch bentos

This is just to show Ah Ma that her bento boxes haven't gone to waste. Jo and I have been receiving compliments about our cute bento boxes. We really enjoy bringing home cooked food for lunch, much much better than store bought stuff.


I think we bought this bento box in Vivo city? One of those 2 dollar shops that Ah ma loves. You can pop chopsticks and other utensils on the top but I usually just bring plastic forks.


Tang chu spareribs with mixed vege and rice. I drizzled some of the sauce on top of the rice.


This is another bento box from the 2 dollar shop. Microwavable and very handy.


Crispy Nestum chicken with half boiled egg and rice. I love half boiled eggs which are firm yet still runny.


This set should be from Takashimaya, it's good for bigger portioned lunches and comes with chopsticks. The clips at the side are really user friendly too. Jo has the pink set while mine is red.


The bento boxes come with matching bento bags! Jo has the light pink bag and I have a red one. I love the words ' Let's have lunch! It's always a pleasure to eat lunch'.


This is tomorrow's lunch, unagi on a bed of chopped cucumbers with rice. Did you notice the Y(^ ^)Y smiley face that I tried to draw with unagi sauce?

I love bento lunches!!

Meme

I was tagged by Jan, so here goes!

1. Last movie you saw in a cinema?

Batman: The Dark Knight. I enjoyed Batman Begins so was interested to see whether The Dark Knight with Heath Ledger as Joker would live up to the hype. News of Heath Ledger's death was huge in Australia since Heath was from Perth! The movie was sooo long, 2.5 - 3 hours long I think. Very dramatic and definitely not the usual comic movie i.e. X Men, Ironman (which I loved). I thought Heath was really very good as the Joker, very twisted, scary (when he licked his lips *shudder*) and yet human. I couldn't quite decide whether I liked the movie, but I kept thinking about it till the next day so I guess that's a yes?

2. What book are you reading?

My office lunchtime reading is the latest copy of Reader's Digest. But the last book I read was The Fengshui Detective by Nury Vittachi which is very funny and easy reading. It's about CF Wong a 50+ Chinese Fengshui master who is located in Singapore, CF is forced to take on a 17 year old personal assistant who's an Aussie girl, both of them solve crime mysteries together with the use of fengshui. He tries to learn English from her 'it'll be a piece of cake' 'you want a piece of cake?' and he speaks a mixture of Cantonese 'mo ban fatt' , Malay ' teruk lah!' and solves crimes in locations like Hongkong, KL and even Sarawak!

There's a whole series of these Fengshui detective books but I can't find them in Australia, must try to look for them in Taiwan or Singapore.

3. Favourite board game?

Pictionary too, just like Jan! I still remember playing with my siblings back in Kuching, was it Darren who was trying to draw the nail polish and he kept saying 'that nail pricker thing, nail pricker!'

4. Favourite magazine?

Is Reader's Digest a magazine? Probably not. I don't read magazines anymore since I decided they were a waste of money.

5. Favourite smells?

The smell of freshly baked bread/pastries. The 'washed' air after a thunderstorm.

6. Favourite sounds?

Big band sound. Piano. I like Ah Pa playing the organ on Sunday mornings.

7. Worst feeling in the world?

Looking in the mirror and feeling a deep sense of self loathing.

8. First thing you think of when you wake?

'Another ten minutes' *hit snooze button*

9. Favourite fast food place?

Mcdonalds or Maccas. I normally crave KFC but KFC in Australia gives me stomachache!

10. Future child’s name?

Never thought about it.

11. Finish this statement - “If I had a lot of money…….”

I would distribute it to my parents and siblings. Then buy a house in Perth.

12. Do you drive fast?

Only during go karting. I don't drive but I'm a coward so I think my car would move at 20km/hr.

13. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?

Yes, Baby (bear with one eye) has been with me for almost 2o years.

14. Storms - cool or scary?

Cool. Especially if you are safe at home, tucked in bed or on the couch with a nice cup of Milo and a good book.

15. What was your first car?

Toyota Yaris, but never driven before.

16. Favourite drink?

Iced milk tea. Hongkong style dong lai cha, Malaysian teh si peng and Taiwan bubble tea with no bubbles.

17. Finish this statement - “If I had the time, I would………”

learn a new language, study Masters, travel home, cook more, read more, exercise more.

18. Do you eat the stems on broccoli?

People don't eat steams on broccoli??

19. If you could dye your hair any colour what would it be?

Light brown with highlights.

20. Name all the different cities in which you have lived.

Kuching, Perth, Canberra.

21. Favourite sport to watch?

Football, gymnastics, diving.

22. One nice thing about the person who sent this to you.

How about two or three? Highly intelligent, very creative and a knack of making things beautiful.

23. What’s under your bed?

Boxes of clothes, accessories, documents.

24. Would you like to be born as yourself again?

Yes and no. I wouldn't mind being beautiful.

25. Morning person or night owl?

Night owl.

26. Over easy or sunny side up?

Sunny side up with a yolk that bursts when you prick it with a fork.

27. Favourite place to relax?

Matilda bay in Perth. At home in bed.

28. Favourite ice-cream flavour?

Don't really like ice cream only soft cones especially the twisted chocolate and vanilla ones.

I tag:

Darren

and I don't know who else lah!

Bye bye window seat

It's been a long time since I last blogged. Since then, I have been very very busy at work. Sometimes in a good way, a lot of times, not in such a good way.

Our entire branch is moving to a different part of the building as part of the department restructure. As my boss puts it ' I think we drew the short straw on the relocation area'. The thing that pissed me off the most was losing my great window seat.
I will miss the angry and impatient taxi drivers. Also the crazy woman who yells at our building every other week. The blue skies and squally storms. But I think most of all I will miss R who is the nicest colleague in the building and the very first colleague I was introduced to. I will miss him telling me his family stories, about his kids ' they're at a beautiful age, beautiful .. but sometimes.. you have to keep telling youself you wanted them'. I will miss watching him consume huge amounts of white chocolate freddos whenever he's stressed. Sigh.

My new cubby hole reminds me of scenes from 'the office'. Far far away from the windows. Even the window seats in that part of the building aren't good, they face the wall. But at least it feels quite cosy and private. And I have lots of places to pin things up and nice shelves.

So I'm going to make the most of a bad move and 'decorate' my place with things from home. I'm thinking postcards from family and friends , cards, photos.


Change of subject. This is the tuna, tomato and basil pasta that Jo and I had for dinner a few nights ago before I fell sick. Oh yes, another thing, my eyes have improved! My doctor is so pleased with the results (improved vision, not much haziness, normal eye pressure) that I don't need to return for anymore visits!

Hooray. I can see again. (^____^) And it's finally the weekend, so hopefully I can throw off that horrid cold by the weekend and be fit to start over again.

Jo's birthday celebration

I am so lazy! It's been a week past Jo's birthday and I have yet to blog about it.


The birthday girl!


Jo chose Ciao Italia for her birthday dinner, a very popular and very tiny Italian restaurant in South Perth.


Some food pictures. Jo's order of the day, her favourite Risotto Marinara, maybe it was the long wait but the risotto was really nice.


My Scaloppine Marsala was great, I don't know what they put in the marsala sauce, but it was buttery, creamy and sweet at the same time.
Ciao Italia style birthday celebration. Blaring music, waiters with sparklers and tiramisu!


We love the tiramisu at Ciao Italia, it manages to be creamy, fresh and not overly rich at the same time.


Greedy Jo, she asked ' is that it? that's my birthday cake?!'


Luckily that was not it. Back home, we brought out her mango cake.


It was a delicious sponge cake with bits of mango in between the layers.


Gift unwrapping, Jo's favourite part of her birthday (^___^)

Sundays at Freo Markets are about ...

Yummy bowls of soft pork ramen. Piping hot tako balls with flying bonito flakes. Watching Jo trying to juggle between her corn on the cob and double twist soft cone. Pretty flowers for the house. I'm so sad the weekend's over. (T_____T)

Kok Kok Ayam

It's nice that Jo and I are taking turns cooking, sometimes it's nice to come home at the end of a work day and think 'oh, it's my day off'. But truly, most of the time I really enjoy cooking. Since Jo has been cooking so much Chinese food lately, I decided to go western when it was my turn to cook today.

Chicken with white wine cream sauce pasta and lots of parsley. My favourite and fast becoming Jo's favourite too. She actually requested for more parsley today! I'm sure I will be able to convert her into a coriander lover soon.

We're eating so much chicken that we're going to turn into chickens pretty soon.

Everything is Possible

Today I cooked Ah Ma's famous Fried Sharksfin with Fake Sharksfin. Jo and I (deprived lah) enjoyed it every much even though I almost melted in the kitchen. I put lots and lots of bamboo shoots so it was super crunchy and the carrot strips gave it a slightly sweet flavour. Ahhhh...
And guest what I received in the mail yesterday??



Thank you thank you thank you Jan. I really love it. I think the message is most inspiring. Planning to only wear it on special occasions and every time I feel I need a bit of support or courage. (^___^)

I returned from my eye checkup today. Good and bad news. My wounds are slowly healing due to the medicated eyedrops, but because my eyedrops are so strong, my eye pressure is now too high. Sigh. So we have to stop the medication and try to get my pressure back to normal.

I'm going back on Tuesday. I think the positive side is, everything is under control and fixable. So nothing to worry about ok?

Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to seeing a sharp and clear world again. Afterall, everything is possible right?

Jo's First Dish!

Jo has started cooking! We've decided to spilt dinner duties this year, she's taking Mondays and Wednesdays while I'm cooking on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Weekends are free for all (^___^)

I advised her to start easy and cook some stir fries. But instead she asked Jaya for a recipe and decided to cook Butter Chicken. I was anticipating lovely Indian Butter Chicken when I came home, but instead she was cooking chinese style Butter Chicken instead, shallow fried with KFC powder then coated with a sauce made out of condensed milk and butter.

The chicken was good, tender and crispy. But one problem. Gillian was helping Jo in the chicken and taking out the 'condensed milk' when she said ' this isn't condensed milk, it's mayonaise!'
She mistook the mayo jar for condensed milk and unfortunately we didn't have any condensed milk at home. So I suggested that she change the sauce to a basic sweet and sour sauce instead.


Tadah, Jo's first Tomato Chicken garnished with crunchy sesame seeds and chopped spring onions.


I prepared a mixed vegetable dish to go with it.

It was a nice dinner and a great first try from Jo. I am anticipating more yummy dishes to come, congratulations!

Hot Summer Days

Hot summer days are only nice when you have Korean watermelon ice lollies! in the dridge.

Summer salads

J
A mango chicken salad that I had over the weekend.

o's back in town, haha, now I have someone to moan about the heat with. It's 38 and above every day for the coming week, we're literally melting here.

I'm blogging from home! The internet connection is a bit wonky but at least we're online. More next time!F

Long Ma Jing Shen ....

long ma jing shen long ma jing shen long ma long ma long ma long ma long ma jiiiiiing shen .......

Haha, I even miss those horrible cny jingles!

Guess what I had for reunion dinner?


Lots and lots of fish! Guarantee this year will Nian Nian You Yu. Hahaha.

Ok the promised house photos.

First, the front door. I think Jo will have a little trouble parking but ... practice makes perfect!


The living room. Quite big and spacious with clean tiled floor. We will have our bright rugs out soon.

I like the kitchen except no gas stove! (T____T) Don't like electric stove for cooking. But I love the space plus there's a pantry room at the side, good storage space.


The laundry room.


Bathroom. The toilet is next door. I got us a very pretty sakura themed shower curtain.


Jo's room. A bit small but there's a big built in wardrobe which is good. I don't know why I didn't take a photo of my room which is essentially the same as Jo's but a little bigger.

We also have an outdoor verandah which is big enough for a small bbq party and a storage shed for all our junk.


Ok, just a random picture I took the other day at Cottlesloe beach. It's summer!