Twenty Eleven Reflection

Achievements:

1. Embarked on a new journey

I'm talking about moving over to Melbourne. Not sure if it's necessary to call this an achievement. At least I know I've escaped from doing things I'm not happy about and I decided to give my life a change for the price of familiarity.

Thank you all who came for the gatherings/to send me off ♡ That includes you too Cathy Moo! You must be hiding behind someone in one of those pictures hahaha.

2. Ended long distance relationship

This would most probably be one of the best things achieved this year. It may not seem like a huge accomplishment to others but for Wk and I, we've never been happier.

3. 9 years

On Christmas this year, it's been 9 and half years since we started dating. Gosh... we're so old! :P Hitting the decade omg. I'm so grateful to have met someone I can proudly say I can spend the rest of my life with. Someone who helped and will still help me grow (mentally, not sideways wtf...) and be better, someone who will always be there for me in any situation :)

4. Dyed my hair red

It's one of the 'must do before I die' which I can now happily tick off!

5. Distinctions

3 of my former violin students achieved Distinction in their violin exams! Well technically the credit goes to their new teacher but as their former teacher, I should be proud of them!

6. Topped Scores in Vege Samurai and Fruit Ninja!

I've never been able to top Wk's score in anything because well, he's a gamer and I'm not so it's only normal that he's better with games. But not these 2 apparently :P

I do realise that all these are actually not that substantial at all to be called achievements :P This post is not meant to be super serious anyway. So what if I haven't really achieved anything great? Life's too short to be whining over achievements.

I've learned to:

1. Cook better

I started being active in the kitchen when I was 15, it was more of a hobby thing but as the years passed, I got lazy and the skills just got rusty. Coming here, I don't have my grandma to cook for me anymore. Eating out is just too expensive. And I'm picky with food in terms of taste so in order to keep up to my standards, I'll have to cook and just learn to cook better. It gives a great sense of satisfaction once you hit the right taste and knowing you cooked it from scratch. 

2. Appreciate food

When I was home, I used to not eat whenever I think my grandma's cooking is not tasty and I would choose to eat out even when the food's prepared. I feel so terrible for being such an ungrateful grandaughter :( Having cooked for the past few months myself, I learned to appreciate how valuable everything is not just the food, but the effort to have something served up during dinner.

3. Eat healthy

It probably has to do with being the one cooking. I cook almost everyday that over time, I become more and more conscious about the things I put in my body. But I'm not a hardcore healthy eater. I'm just more aware and I would not find it time wasting to google on information about nutrition of specific foods. Afterall, you are what you eat. That being said, I still eat junk. In moderation of course.

4. Swim

I've always been afraid of water, never known how to swim and always wanted to learn. Fortunately, Wk used to swim when he was a kid and he is a confident swimmer. We go to a community centre 5 minutes walk away from our place to swim every 1-3 weeks depending on our schedule and so far, I'm able to do breaststroke and a little bit of freestyle already! 

5. Have self discipline in spending

Don't think there's much to say about this as I constantly mention how things are so expensive here in Melbourne. I used to be so frivolous in spending only because I've never had any serious commitments hahahah. Coming here, there's rent, there's monthly transportation fares, groceries, household, there's the money you need to save up for rainy days, there's bills... of course, there's that irresistable occasional shopping or eating out but I've learned to be more aware of what I actually need, what I only desire and NOT need, and to watch my expenditure closely. Speaking of eating out...

A collage of most of the food I've tired this year. Seems like a lot but most of it are from one same place. Told ya everything's expensive. If I were to eat out so often... pokai man.

6. Listen to Kpop

and swoon over cute Korean boys lol.

7. Keep in touch

... with my favourite people back in Malaysia. You know who you guys are :)

 

8. Be vain (as always), capture funny moments and have fun :D

Lol I was trying to depuff my eyes by pressing cold spoon on it.

You never regret the things you do but often, the things you didn't. There are so many things I wish I would have done or done better but I think there's no use living in regret. For the new year, I shall:

1. Get. A. Freaking. Job!
I have no excuse for this honestly. I procrastinate and I'm terribly good at it. Yes I am studying and I am aware that it is not an excuse at all because there's plenty of time for a part time job. Need. To. Get. Resume. Done!

2. Still keep in touch
... with my favourite people of course :)

3. Go home...
... during the holidays hopefully?

4. If I ever get to go home
I will eat and finish my grandma's cooking and never ever say no, I will help her cook, and I will cook for her. I miss my grandma so much :'(

5. Decide
Life has been full of uncertainties ever since I came here. First, it was visa issues. Now... something I don't wish to talk about so publicly. This year, I shall decide.

6. Still have self discipline in spending!
Definitely a must!

7. Blog more!
While looking through my archives, I realise in year 2009 and 2010, I have an average of 100 posts respectively. In 2011, THERE'S LESS THAN 50 HOMG! Oh what has age turned me into T_T Hopefully I'll get back into my blogging mojo and start publishing 10 posts a day hahahah! Of course not. But seriously, I should blog more. There's something about it that relaxes me. It's a good way to reflect on your past or yourself too.

8. Get a haircut, period.



Happy New Year 2012 everyone!

*This post was inspired by a blogger. But I'm pretty sure lots of bloggers would do a year end recap/self reflecting post so... if it sounds familiar, that's why :)

Christmas 2011

Christmas this year was fun! :D

Last year around Christmas I was at Gold Coast with Wk and his family. Didn't get to do much because weather was horrible there. It kept raining, sky was gloomy, the beach was windy and cold all the time. And we had sucky, overpriced Chinese food as well wtf. On Boxing Day we were at the amusement parks. Was fun but it wasn't really a true Boxing Day activity which supposedly is a shopping holiday where shops will have huge sales and will be crowded with people hunting for bargains.

Made pancakes for brunch because we wanted to use up our milk which was expiring. But guess what... the pancake mix was expired wtf. I knew it's expired before cooking but it's printed as "Best Before" not "Use Before" so I assumed it's fine to consume. Wasn't bad but didn't taste as good as it should be. Oh well. That's exactly why you should toss expired food away. Don't be a cheapo smartass like me. Anyway, to prove that it's fine to consume food that has passed the "Best Before" date... we didn't laosai.

Lazed in the house for a while before heading out to Maggie and Kai Mun's place to cook up our own 'Christmas dinner'. We bought 2 meats from the market the other day; pork and stuffed, rolled turkey intending to roast them. It turned out to be a little bit disastrous because after roasting the pork for a while, we realized the oven was smoking up which was quite an unusual thing for us to see so we panicked. We figured it was the oil so we had to reduce the heat. And we weren't sure about roasting stuff so the meat ended up way overcooked. But the baked veges were awesome! We placed it right underneath the meats to collect their 'juices'. Also, the pork crackling was super crunchy and nice!

The brown thing at the bottom left which looks quite shitty (pun unintended) is our homemade mushroom gravy. Tasted alright, made it just because every dish was dry.

After dinner, Kung Fu Hustle was playing on tv lol. And then a Christmas-related episode of Southpark which as all Southpark episodes are, is twisted, gory and disturbing. We stayed over her place because we've planned to get up early and hunt for bargains during Boxing Day sale. Woke up at 5.30am, got ready and went out to shop at about 6.30am. This is my first time doing such a thing... waking up early just to go shopping. Gotta say it's pretty exciting :P

We could have gone later but I'm so glad we had the determination and went out early. The crowd towards mid-morning was crazy! If I was there when the crowd was massive, I wouldn't even have the mood to browse and shop. We went into Zara with lots of people inside without needing to queue but by the time we walked out (probably 15 minutes after), there was a long queue already.

Quite a 'fruitful' shopping!

The item we bought which I'm most excited about is this Kenwood stick blender.

Doesn't it look so handsome? :D

I've been contemplating for a while whether to get a blender or a food processor. A blender is good for pureeing which is quite impossible for a food processor to do. But a food processor can chop, dice, and mince/ground which is impossible for a blender to do. Solution? A stick blender which comes with a mini food processor! With this, I can mince, chop, dice, shred, slice, ground, whisk, whip, mix, blend and puree! Best part is it's not too expensive and it doesn't take up too much space. It's 20% cheaper than retail and there's a $30 cash back on top of that so it was really worth it. It's only a little bit more expensive than all the other stick blenders out there but it has so much more useful functions to offer.

We did all the homeware/kitchenware browsing and shopping before going to clothes. Clothing wise there wasn't anything impressively cheap in my opinion. I wasn't in the mood to shop for clothes anyway because by the time we get to seeing clothes, the crowd was already creeping in and to look at things with 16123761 other people and looking at the line in changing room, it's just a turn off. Wk got a casual blazer from his favourite brand which he has been eyeing on for some time. 

After dim sum brunch, we headed to Chapel Street because we wanted to look at Topshop. Before getting to Topshop we were browsing at Country Road. There was nothing in the store which I wanted and I was standing at a corner waiting for Maggie to pay for her stuff when I saw this bunch of clothes of mixed styles all hanged randomly. It probably was the bunch of clothes which people tried and the store assistant didn't put them back to where they should be yet. I casually flipped and saw this blazer of a size I thought would fit me. Tried it on... and I regretted trying. 

Its a soft blazer with drooping pockets, it was perfect fit and I loved it T_T and I could use but I don't need another blazer. It was selling at half its original price which was still expensive even with an additional 25% members discount IMO. I love how versatile it looks as you can wear it in both formal or casual ways. Then Wk decided to get it for me T____T virtual tears of joy hahaha.

Along with some bath mats and bowls, that pretty much sums up our Boxing Day. Technically, we went out at 6.30am, had brunch at 11, went back to shop and dropped the shopping bags at Maggie's apartment, chilled for about 30 minutes, then went to Chapel Street. Went back and chilled for about 2 hours then went for dinner before coming back home. We were sooo tired that as soon as we got home, we went to bed straight. Did all the unpacking today. Initially we wanted to put Maggie's idea into use by chopping up a whole bunch of garlic using my brand new blender and use it today as well as store it in the freezer for future use but that didn't happen cos we had to finish up some leftover food before they go bad lol.

How was everyone's Christmas?

On turning 20 something

Do I look like a Korean? =D I thought they look quite cute so I asked for a pair of powerless geeky glasses from Korea when Maggie travelled. 

So we went to Squires Loft Steakhouse on my birthday. But we didn't have steak cos we wanted to eat their lamb scotch fillet which I ate once and really liked, and their pork spare ribs which Maggie recommended. Both were really good! If you wanna have some nicely done red meat, Squires Loft will not disappoint. However, I think Meat & Wine Co. makes better chips so I'd say if you were to pick either baked potato or chips, get baked potato. The chips are forgettable. Their meats are good enough on their own so you can do with our without their sauce, which you'll have to pay for anyway. Also tried the baked mushroom and feta,  quite similar to gratin. Quite nice but quite salty.

I wore this Topshop Fit & Flare Tunic, it's black but it has multicoloured metallic fibre all over which is not visible in this picture. And wore my new heels which almost killed my feet. We boarded on the wrong tram which went the wrong way so we had to get down to catch another tram. But we waited really long and there wasn't any tram and we were running late for our reservation so we decided to walk there. Freaking 1 kilometre. IN THOSE 4 INCHES HEELS. I was cursing and cursing and cursing, and then Wk decided to buy me bag to shut me up lmao.

Got some presents from some amazing friends! =D

When I was at Kit with my friends I was telling them how good this body scrub smelled and I was about to get it but because it was kinda pricey for a body scrub, I decided to put it in my wishlist. One of them got it for me! Aaaaaah it smells so good! Smells like caramel + maple syrup!

Yes an apron! One day my friend asked me if I wear an apron when I cook. I told her I wanted to get an apron but because aprons here are not cheap, I have to put it on hold. (I know, nothing is cheap in Melbourne) And they got one for me! And this apron is so freaking cute ok! It comes with a hand towel with velcro loop, and there's a velcro hook on the apron. So you can actually attach/detach the hand towel to/from the apron. How handy! You can't see it in the picture, but the piece of cloth I'm holding out, that's the hand towel. So when your hand's filthy, just wipe it on the hand towel. No need to dirty the entire apron. I don't know what you can put in an apron pocket... a mobile phone maybe hahahaha.

Another awesome gift from some of my friends - kitchen organisers from kikki.k! More about it later. I always keep recipes, plan my meals and have a shopping list whenever I do grocery shopping. And they got me a recipe organizer, magnetic meal planner and magnetic shopping list! My friends know me inside out ♡♡♡ I used to print a schedule to plan my meals and stick it on the fridge with scotch tape. I also have a regular shopping list pad but it's not magnetic. Now not only do I not need to print, I don't even need to stick. It's magnetic, and the shopping list is right next to it. Handy maximus!

 

I was looking for a new pencil case so about 2 weeks ago I decided to pop into kikki.k and have a look, and I fell in love with these 2 items. The charcoal felt pencil case and the 2012 Botaniska planner. Which then Wk decided to buy them for me for my birthday! =D Look at the emoticons which indicate mood and weather of the day, how cute!

kikki.k is a Swedish lable which designs stationaries and home/office objects. Think ikea design (Swedish too) but in stationary forms. Er... no flat-packing though lol. Their designs are basically simple, elegant and thoughtful. It's one of my favourite places to go to whenever I need stationaries or organisers.

On the same day after our dinner, my parents called me and wished me too. My dad said, "all the best blessing. happy birthday . sour 1st sweet later.owe u a present" lol =')

If any contributor of the presents are reading this, once again thank you! xoxo

Quarter of a century

Does anyone absolutely hate it when you get uneven eyelids? I do. Check out my regrowths. It's as though I dip-dyed/ombre-d my hair. Mine's better. It's FREE! But takes almsot one year for 'results' to show lol.

Hahahahah this picture. I was cooking while Wk was playing Plants VS Zombies. It was kinda chilly that day so he wrapped himself with the throw, which looked really funny so I took a picture. I literally squtted and laughed really hard when I looked at this picture. Oh yeah if anyone's wondering, that's a TV slash PC monitor screen.

Fruit Ninja is dabombdiggity! It's a game in iPhone, super addictive at first but I got bored when nobody could beat my highscore, except myself *proud*. 

Another one which I really like (and am really good at *proud*) is Vege Samurai. This was my last best score, before they supposedly 'upgraded' the game, screwed up the audio and the control system.

***

I've been through birthdays for so many years I think I'm too old to be excited over it already hahah. Tomorrow I'm turning a year older. My usual friends and my family are not with me this year but I'm still grateful that I won't have to be alone. Wk's taking me to a steakhouse for dinner tomorrow. Perfect timing to wear my newly bought Topshop dress.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Hey there smexy

Omgggggg this GIF is making me crazy. This hot thing is not only cute, when he sings... *melts*.

I don't know what I was looking at in Youtube yesterday but I found a video of a young Charice belting out big songs like a boss. Then one video led to another... and I found one where she was in Korea singing the Aladdin song with this Korean guy who has crazy platinum blonde hair. And I thought "Heh. Some Kpop guy. Let's hope he doesn't embarass himself singing with Charice" but then...

 

I was in awe because well, I know I shouldn't be thinking this way but I can't help but to think that he wouldn't be able to even pronounce properly! When he sang, I thought this guy must be an American born Korean or something but no. He's pure Korean, who just happens to love learning and picks up language really fast. He can even speak a little bit of Mandarin.

And then after some ahem 'research', I found out he's from this Korean band called Super Junior (famous for their notorious "Sorry Sorry" song). I do not care for Kpop boys mainly because I do not understand a word they sing, their music isn't my cup of tea and I do not find them attractive AT FIRST. But I have heard of Super Junior even before discovering this guy. What I didn't know is how good some Korean guys can sing. And they have these 'charm' that works slowly. The more you look at them, the more charming they get lol.

I'm not sure if this is an unfortunate thing or not because I don't really give a shit, but this guy has had double eyelid surgery done before. I've seen his before surgery picture. Omg cannot make it at all ahahahahahah. But it's ok. Now he's all cute and charming and when he sings I just cannot stop smiling.

Ok enough of this silly fangirl post.

Hello December

Feels unreal looking at how time passed so quickly. Feels like it was just yesterday when I first came to Melbourne, feels like it was just yesterday when I cried and bid everyone goodbye, leaving my family and my closest friends behind in the airport as I took the steps to be here. Hey, it has been 9 months now.

It was my mom's birthday on the 30th last month. I called home with Skype and unfortunately the webcam in the other side could not work so it was a 1 way video but we did manage to have a chat. Yesterday, the 1st of December was my sister's birthday. I wished her on Facebook and we laughed about how my dad actually sent her a Happy Birthday SMS in the midnight. It was funny because my dad is not an SMS type of person, neither is he the type who wishes people during birthdays lol. 

Been doing nothing much lately except for fully utilizing the internet and the kitchen - what I do best hahaha. 

Asian Style Lamb Cutlets

In my previous post I talked about buying these cutlets and how expensive they were. The recipe I used was actually good, really loved the marinade and sauce except that I could not figure out how to cook the lamb well enough. I did not want it overcooked but it ended up being very undercooked. I followed the instructions really carefully especially the cooking time but maybe my pan was not heating up properly. What a shame. The sauce was mainly dark soy sauce, vinegar, Szechuan peppercorn and others which I do not remember. I shall try making it again but no way am I buying 16 pieces of lamb cutlets the next time.

Steamed Toothfish

I also talked about buying these fish cutlets which resembled codfish very much. It actually tasted exactly like codfish too! So our initial guessing was correct, this could most probably be codfish with another name here. I steamed the fish then drizzled soy sauce over the top but I have discovered another way to make the sauce a lot more tasty. Will talk about that next time. The fish tasted obviously good but the only let down was I slightly overcooked it and I did not check if the scales were properly removed before steaming it. Not that I am a fan of eating fish skin anyway but it is really annoying to find fish scale in your mouth. I did not see this fish in the market last weekend so I am guessing it is a seasonal/catch of the day thing.

Bah Kut Teh

Not sure if anyone remembers me saying this but I have never been a fan of Bah Kut Teh and this is coming from someone who grew up in Klang hahaha. I've never eaten so many times of BKT in a year until I came to Melbourne, frankly. The only time I would eat BKT in Malaysia is after visiting my grandfather's grave during Cheng Meng cos my uncles and aunties would come down to Klang from Subang and having BKT is like a tradition already. It is actually not a very healthy choice of meal but I cannot deny how easy it is to prepare it. Just get the BKT packed herbs, boil water and throw everything in it. One pot wonder.

Son In Law Eggs

When I first saw this on Masterchef, I was intrigued. How does an egg have a hard-boiled white but soft-boiled, runny yolk?! Whatmore, the egg was deep-fried! I personally dislike eating hard-boiled eggs except for the tea leaf, herbal ones. Even with that, I always throw the yolk away because I absolutely detest that powdery texture and that weird taste (sulfur) in my mouth. After a few tries and finally succeeding in getting my eggs cooked just the way I like (hard whites, soft yolk), I attempted to make this Thai dish and can I proudly say it was delish?? =D I might make a whole post about this cos there's so many things I discovered while making this. 

Pineapple Fried Rice

Hooray for making my own pineapple boat =D But it's so freaking difficult to eat from it so we ended up transferring the rice into a proper plate hahahaha. Using fresh pineapples to cook tastes so much better than using the canned ones. Fresh ones have that tanginess to it, canned ones are just full of sugar syrup.

Lamb Shank

This one is not a new thing. I have cooked this so many times but this time, I am most happy with the outcome. I used my shallow, non-stick pan to slow cook the shanks. This gives a much more even heating instead of stacking the shanks on top of each other in a deep pot. They usually come out not the texture I like (so soft it falls off its bone) but this time, it was perfect. Also made some garlic mash which turned out pretty good too.

Tonight I will be making Katsudon, a Japanese rice bowl dish with deep fried pork cutlet, egg and sauce. 

It is the weekend! I will be off planning for next week's meals as well as what to get from the market. I have learned that it really helps me to save more money as well as eating healthy when I plan my meals ahead. At least I keep track of how many times in a week I eat my red meats, seafood, etc. And I also get to make sure I use up all the things I buy instead of leaving them to go bad. Planning last minute is like impulsive shopping. It always result in getting ingredients I use that one time and never end up finish using it before it turns bad. When you plan ahead of what to cook, you take into consideration of what you still have in your kitchen and that helps you to spend your money more wisely. Buying produce from the market is usually cheaper and fresher. You also get to plan and pack your lunch. Eating out in the city ALWAYS cost a bomb. Always. We usually only do it once every 1 or 2 weekends. My friend suggested me something which I found to be really insightful in terms of eating healthy: keep at least one day in the week free of meat, in other words go vegetarian because that allows the liver to not work as hard, processesing all the protein we consume.

Tomorrow night we will be heading to this place called Ibuki for Japanese dining with Wk's friends. Hopefully we will get to go swimming this weekend, did not do it last weekend because we woke up late and after running errands, it was getting late. Wk was saying that he might have to work this weekend... which means we might not be able to swim and I might have to go to the market alone =( not fun lugging groceries ok.

Anyway. How is everyone spending their weekend? =)

Freestyler

I'm not being obsessed with my weight here but can I just say, swimming is freaking awesome? This has not happened once so I'm pretty sure it's not a coincidence. Yesterday before we went swimming, I weighed myself. After swimming, I weighed again and I lost 700gms! And it's not just water weight that I lost, I lost that 700gms for real! I weighed myself again some time through out the day yesterday and that 700gms came back. But then I weighed again this morning and that 700gms is gone. Isn't it amazing?? We were damn sure about swimming again today but sadly that didn't happen because we were loitering in the city for too long and it was getting late when we came back. 

Talking about swimming, I've been making good progress! =D I can now do freestyle yay! It's not completely perfect though... I still feel like I'm not doing it right somehow. Oh well maybe it's just me. Whenever I do things, I rather not do it than to get it done half-arsed. Which is why I am quite determined to fix and perfect it. I remember the first day I went swimming here in the community centre, I couldn't even do half a lap. Yesterday was our 5th time and I'm doing laps already =) Well half the credit goes to my determination and the will to learn, half goes to my swimming instructor who's been very motivating and really patient with me hehe.

Today I had to accompany Wk to his project's site in Moreland. He had to take some pictures for his work stuff.

Nah this is Moreland lol. While he was doing his thing, I was reading up recipes and see if there's anything special to make for the week. So aunty ahhaha.

There's nothing much in the place we were at. Houses, a hospital, parks and more houses. It's so quiet. The thing I really like about the houses here is the very low fences, or sometimes none and you can see into the compound. It just gives a very sociable, friendly vibe. Some houses have really beautiful gardens. There was one house with light pink walls, and there's white roses planted around the fence. When we were walking towards the train station, an old man with a walker in one of the houses said hello to us. I think he wanted to have a chat but we just kept walking and smiled and said have a nice day cos we had to get to the market before it closes. Sorry old man =(

The houses in Malaysia have walls and gates at least 5 feet tall - otherwise it's like inviting robbers into your house. Sometimes taller or made of complete concrete if the neighbours don't like each other lol. Gardening is possible but with the humid weather and sun all year round, flowers don't really survive well. And if you say hello to a stranger, they'll look at you all weird and walk away. Or if there're some crazy dogs in the compound, it'll bark at you so hard as though it's going to kill you if it ever comes out of that gate.

Bought 16 pieces of lamb cutlets. So freaking expensive man... and the french trimming is not even clean. The dish that I'm planning to cook better be good. Found something really similar to codfish - steamed codfish is my favourite! We found this fish called toothfish which we suspect might just be codfish but with a different name here. It's so expensive, more expensive than a yellow fin, sushi grade tuna. But it's always good to have fish once a week. It better be good as well.

Okie. Time to make tomorrow's lunch! Thinking of maybe a fruit salad... since I bought some mangoes and strawberries. Oooh cherries are in season now! Time for a good Black Forest attempt =)

Since this post is full of random things Imma add one more randomness. When I was younger, I was a huge fan of this song - Freestyler by Bombfunk MC.

Still am a fan!