Find a way, or make one.

School today was really motivating. I finally feel like I'm on the pump if compared to a month ago when I was literally dreading to go to school. Did a facial, a body massage, an eyelash tint, eyebrow tint, eyebrow wax and lip wax. Don't wanna sound like I'm bragging but my clients were happy, gave really positive feedback and I managed to get 1 competency and 2 finals done. The teacher spoke to me personally and told me I would make a really good therapist and that she can see that I have a passion in beauty.

Which sounded strange to me... because I didn't know it. That I have a passion in it?

All I wanted to do is make sure people leave the salon happy with what they paid for, exactly how I myself would like if it was me paying the money. Isn't that what trades and services industry is all about? Anyway, the teacher was really motivating and was the one who pushed me to do my finals when I told her I'm not ready, assuring me that I'm 'more than ready' to do it and I should get it out of the way as soon as I can so that I'll finish the course in time.

Now I'm on the roll. I feel really determined to finish in time. Actually, being a kiasu asian, I hope I can finish before the time. Not necessarily confident, but I know I can do it if I really push myself. All I need to do, is go to school and do what I do best; which is doing the best I can.

Who knows? This could be something that can pay my bills in the future.

Nothing that’s worthwhile is ever easy

~Nicholas Sparks

This is going to be a full-on post about how my day went from shitty to yippee. I'm sorry if some of you may not understand what I'm talking about because it's all about what happened at school but just deal with it and pretend you do kthxloveya.

So I went to school really really early today because I know the earlybirds usually get to 'pick' what type of clients they want (I need it to finish all my competencies in order to graduate, latecomers get leftovers). I was the first to arrive in salon and I didn't see a teacher there which is unusual because usually the teachers are really early. So I started to set up the salon myself and then more students started to turn up and there's still no teacher.

And then a teacher came and told us the teacher who's suppose to be there is running late, but she'll delegate our clients for us in a while. I was only away for a while to put the linens in the cupboard, and I see the teacher asking other students what they need, instead of me first. I know technically nothing wrong but I can't help it but to feel really frustrated because I did wake up at 7.30, and rushed my ass off to catch an early train just to arrive early at school only because I thought I can get what I want. Turns out that's not the case.

FINE.

Then I went and clock on my attendance card. 

Before I talk about that, let me just say that I forgot to do laundry and only washed my uniform yesterday so it's still wet. So I came to school and took the spare uniform I had which I've kept in my locker. I admit, it's extremely crumpled, and it looks unpresentable. But there's nothing I can do about it. At least I'm at school and I have a uniform?

So I was trying to clock on, and the woman who was supposed to give me my card, didn't allow me only because my uniform looked really unpresentable. Not only did she send me away, she sent me away without telling me what I can do about it. I was seriously speechless.

So I came to school so freaking early, didn't get what I wanted, and now I'm not allowed to clock on and I have to be considered absent in school, but fact is I still have to stay in school and work on clients without getting an attendance?

Then another teacher came up to me and asked me to be a model for her Hot Stone Therapy class. Since I didn't get to experience it the last time I did the course, I thought it'd be a good opportunity to. At least having this opportunity made me feel like it's not a waste of time coming to school.

And then my friend insisted that I take her uniform, wear it and go clock on, and then switch back. So I did. And when I went up to the woman, she asked "Did you get the uniform from another girl?" 

What the fuck did she expect me to say? "No I saw it hanging down the corridor so I took it" OF COURSE IT'S ANOTHER GIRL'S UNIFORM SINCE YOU DIDN'T GIVE ME A SOLUTION, WHERE ELSE CAN I GET IT FROM.

Anyway. I said yes and she said "Good". And I casually asked her if there's an iron in the school that I can use. And she said "Yes but you know what you can do? Put your uniform into the dryer, and see if that'll straighten out the creases. Otherwise, I'll get you the iron."

WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T SHE SUGGEST THAT AT THE BEGINNING? WHY MAKE ME GET ANOTHER UNIFORM JUST SO THAT I CAN CLOCK ON?

Seriously, at that point I was beyond words. Then I went for a 10 minutes break with my friends. When I got back, the teacher told me because I was gone and the teacher who needed me as a model for Hot Stone Therapy needed someone immediately, another person went for it already. In other words, I couldn't be the model anymore.

Can the day just get anymore worse?

Then I was asked to be a model for a lash tint, brow tint and a brow wax which I did went for. I needed to unwind seriously. I was on the verge of erupting like Mount Fuji. The girl who practiced on me did a great job and she was really nice. It was overall enjoyable, thank goodness. 

I went back to salon to be told that my client who was supposed to come at 12.30, came way earlier so someone else did her facial already. But in return, I got a client at 2pm which is an eye brow wax and a facial. Not exactly what I needed but better than nothing.

After lunch, went back to salon and waited for her. Client arrived and turns out she booked in for an eyebrow wax AND an eyebrow tint. Wasted time just to clarify that, great. Eyebrow tint went ok. Eyebrow wax took me 30 minutes, which is double the supposed time. Well to justify that, I wanted to do a great job. 

Honestly, I'd rather take a longer time and do a great job that leaves a good impression in the client, than spend the allocated time and do a shitty or average job that the client won't even notice a thing. My client was really happy with what I did, so was I.

Anyway, I proceeded to facials. Usually after the skin analysis, students are supposed to call the teacher to have a check at the analysis before deciding what products to use. It was already 3.40, less than an hour to the closing of the salon. I went out to get the teacher and not only did she not want to check my analysis but move straight to giving me products (I have to decide the products myself), she said "Ee Von what's wrong with you today you took so long for eyebrow wax" or something along that line, trying to say I'm being too slow and I need to move quickly.

Honestly, I was frustrated already. And she didn't help at all. It only made me more frustrated than I already was. I know she didn't mean it negatively, I admit I was being slow, but I'm just doing my best. I don't care if I finish late and leave after the school/salon hours as long as the client leaves happily. If I was a client, that's the kind of treatment I'll be looking for too.

At the end of the facial treatment, not only did I manage to sell a product to the client, I think, I'm not entirely sure but I think, the client rebooked me for her next eyebrow tint, eyebrow wax and an advanced facial treatment, which was something I recommended her to do apart from the regular facial she had with me. She was asking me if she could have a feedback sheet so that she can write her review, which we don't normally do. Usually the teacher would speak with the clients personally, but because the school/salon was closing, I didn't bother, I didn't think my teacher would bother either. In the end, she prompted and spoke to my teacher and gave a really good feedback.

Now that... deserves a good pat on the back and made all the shitty incidents I had to go through worthwhile.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Torte

Yesterday we went over to Maggie's place to bake and boy was it a fruitful baking day! Our Chocolate Peanut Butter Torte was a success! Look how beautiful that sinful thing is in the picture! We used this recipe and I highly recommend it. If anyone's going to use the recipe, here are a couple of things that we've tweaked:

- For the remaining 1 cup of confectioner's sugar to be added into the peanut butter mixture, we reduced it to 1/2 cup because we like it not so sweet. We've tested recipes from this blogger and they do tend to turn out to be too sweet sometimes for our likings.
- We didn't have espresso/coffee powder so we didn't add any. Still tasted good.
- It called for Oreo cookies but we weren't sure if it was with the Oreo filling or not, and we weren't sure if it was 24 pairs of Oreo or 24 single Oreo cookies. We omitted the filling anyway and used 48 single Oreo cookies because when we started off with 24 single cookies, it felt insufficient to fill the base.

This recipe is super easy, but super sinful. It's basically cream cheese, heavy cream, peanut butter, peanuts, chocolate ganache, oreo cookies, chocolate chips and sugar. No flour, no baking agent. All you need to do is chill it for at least 4 hours. But it tastes SO GOOD. If you love peanut butter, you will DIE for this. Hahahah, ok maybe not. But it's seriously really addictive.

Here's a video showing a bunch of suaku getting super excited to unmould the torte and feeling proud of our achievement!

Made siu yok today but that shall go to another post =) Time to sleep now!

Greenhouse by Joost

 Greenhouse by Joost

This is a pop-up restaurant which is part of the current Melbourne Food and Wine Festival which happens every year in March. It is a temporary restaurant which will only run for 20 days. Joost is the (hot) man (ahem) behind the concept of Greenhouse. Wk was telling me how cool the concept is and yadda yadda and so, there we were today to finally check it out.

The first time we went there, there was a long queue as you can tell from the picture above. Waited for about 30 minutes only to be told that the restaurant is booked out for an event and only the bar (at the rooftop) will be opened for walk-ins.

Today we decided to go again and lucky us, we didn't have to wait.

As the name of the restaurant suggest, it is all about sustainability. All materials used to build it are either reclaimed, recycled or recyclable materials. The entire structure is mainly plywood, and Wk told me that inside the wall cavities, it's filled with straw/hay for insulation! How genius is that? The entrance is covered with the vertical garden, which you can easily read about it by clicking on the link. Lazy explain. They plant their own herbs (at the rooftop) and even Shiitake mushrooms! See the grid tower against the wall near the exit? This is upclose!

Everything... from the walls, chairs, even serving glasses and dishes. Read all about the facts here. Pretty amazing.

Cutleries are made of processed plantation timber, serving plates are terracotta pans.

Food's on the pricier side in my opinion but probably it's because they're all prepared with the freshest and organic ingredients. And besides, the chef that's cooking is apparently a celebrity chef. Matt Stone, I don't know who's that but he's quite cute hehe.

Clams, cider, sea lettuce

Maybe because I haven't had clams in a while but seriously, I loved every bit and juice of it. The clams were cooked beautifully, so succulent and the sauce/soup that came with it... yum. Ever clam I had, I used the shell to scoop up some of the sauce and have a sip. So good! And it's my first time having sea lettuce... some of it were really fibrous but it's packed with flavour, really interesting.

By the way, the clams were served in a base of a gas cylinder!

Spiced chicken, quinoa, yoghurt

When I first cut through the chicken, I could already see how moist and tender it is. Again, I thought it was perfectly cooked until I cut some more and blood started oozing out. Now I don't know if it's the way Australians eat their chicken (bloody?) but I grew up being told that chicken has to always be eaten fully cooked, no blood whatsoever unlike beef or lamb. So I had to return the chicken and they re-cooked it for us and as a person who cooks myself, I know when re-cook something it will never taste the same or as good anymore. It wasn't as bloody anymore but on the insides near the bones, you can easily tell it's still undercooked. And a part of the meat which is the breast, it was a tad bit dry and I suspect it's due to the re-cooking. What a shame. Otherwise, the flavour was actually pretty good. 

The quinoa was served cold with fried shallots (I think), lemon rind, parsley, mint, yoghurt and a sprinkle of some red spice I'm not sure what it is. Interesting since it's my first time having quinoa (a grain-like seed, healthier choice than rice). 

 Pumpkin, chickpea tagine, green chili yoghurt

Vegetarian dish and I love it. I never liked eating pumpkins but this one's really nice. I'm not sure what the sauce is... tasted like tomato to me. There's even red chili inside but is not spicy/heaty at all. 

That was it. We were planning to have desserts at the beginning but after the 3rd dish, we were feeling quite stuffed already so we skipped dessert.

Overall, it was an enjoyable experience. Food was ok, would have been awesome if the chicken was not bloody.

Post-meal touch up =P (Dunno why are my fingers looking so fat here...)

Did some Asian groceries after that, bought some of my favourite Rekoderlig Strawberry-Lime cider, came home, took a long nap, woke up and surfed the net while drinking cider (and looking ridiculously red with only 4% alcohol, blame the ridiculously low tolerance), then snuggled and watch telly.

This is what I call a perfect Saturday!

15 March 2012

Went to Pappa Rich twice but ended up not eating there because on the first visit, we were quite late and the kitchen was closed. On the second visit, there was a long queue. Please, queue and wait just to eat Malaysian food? No thanks.

Anyway, I've finally tried the Ais Kacang from Laksa King! Doesn't taste like a Malaysian Ais Kacang but it was good. The ice shaving was really fine, it melted instantly in the mouth. You know how sometimes when the ice shaving is really coarse it just sits inside your mouth as ice bits? I hate it when it's like that. 

Yesterday at school we had a training with Dermalogica. It's my second training actually, the first being a facial skincare product training. Yesterday we were trained with the body products and the segmented skin care line. Never knew Dermalogica has such an extensive line of products! And they all look convincing and promising. It was only a 1 day thing though, I'm planning to participate in their workshops and more in depth training once I'm qualified.

Had a long day in salon today. Had a lady for Half Day in Beauty so I had to perform brow tint, brow wax, underarm wax, half leg wax and a pedicure on her. After lunch I had a client for facial. 

Long day but... I'm strangely liking it. There's something about being so swamped with duties that excites me. I don't know. It's a completely new thing (compared to what I used to be doing back in M'sia) which I hated at the beginning but I find myself adapting and accepting it now. The experience is just different but in a good way of course. What's going to happen to music? I have no idea...

Hari Buruh

Went to Laksa King again for dinner. It's only 1 stop away from a train station not too far from our place.

Tried their Assam Laksa. It was mehh, not impressive if you've tasted authentic Penang assam laksa (in Penang itself obviously). Flavour was alright but just not as good. I think they're better at their regular Laksa(s). Teh tarik was as always, fantastic. Wk had the Tomato Spare Ribs on Fried Rice and zomg it's SO good. It's such a simple dish with simple ingredients but the taste is super satisfying. Every spoon tastes like wok on flaming heat... if you know what I mean. The fried rice tasted exactly like from 'tai chao' and it goes so damn well with the tomato sauce. Highly recommend this. The next time I go to Laksa King I'll be sure to order myself a bowl of this goodness. And I'd love to try their Ais Kacang, saw a couple of orders and it looked so good!

Pappa Rich is opened in the city today, it took over Oldtown Kopitiam Mamak which didn't last very long. We're planning to drop by. Yesterday we were googling it just to see if they're opened yet and we saw their page on Urbanspoon and I even saw a review and ratings but the thing is it's written there Pappa Rich will only be opened on the 12th which is the day after (today), so how come there's a review and ratings when it's not even opened yet? And to add to the fishiness, the review is a positive one and apparently 5 voted and 100% like it.

Anyway, today Maggie went there and she said it's not impressive. I went back to Urbanspoon and check and guess what? 11 have voted, and only 45% like it! Which means nobody likes it! It's so obvious the previous voters are fake voters. There's a new review, it's not a very positive one, and 1 person actually agreed to that review lol.

Anyhow, we're going to drop by just because we're typical people like that, we like to join the crowd =P

Oh btw, it's Labour Day here in Victoria today so we're chillin' at home, taking our sweet time doing nothing. Btw I just remembered Labour Day is called Hari Buruh in Malaysia! Hahahah saying it now sounds a bit funny.

Story of peanut butter and I

Last weekend was spent being as couch-ridden as a couch potato. I was very unfortunately down with the flu. I like to rest on my couch more than my bed just because my couch is near the balcony where we like to keep the sliding door wide open so we get lots of light and air. It just feels a lot better than breathing in all the 'sick air'. So that's why it's couch-ridden instead of you know, bedridden.

Anyway when I was younger I was taught that 'flu' is runny nose. Lol of course it's not. Flu stands for influenza, which is caused by a type of virus that comes in specific season - according to information on the net, it's late fall to spring. Common symptoms include severe headache (hate hate hate), exhaustion, muscle aches and fever - exactly what I had. The virus spreads really easily and it is really common. The doctor told me there has been many cases already this time around and it's easy to get it when your immune system is weakened - happens usually when you're stressed because it depletes Vitamin C which helps in boosting your immune system. Smoking does it too.

I went to school yesterday eventhough I wasn't feeling completely alright but because I had to get some things settled in school I dragged myself out anyway. I requested for early leave because I decided to see a doctor later that afternoon, which was how I found out I had this viral infection but the thing is it was already my 4th day with it, I wasn't feeling as crappy anymore. I just went to the doctor for a peace of mind and I wanted to get the doctor's prescription for some drug anyway. 

The doctor said it is highly contagious and advised me to stay home and rest for a few days until I am completely recovered before I go out and see the world. So he gave me 3 days sick leave WOHOOO! And when I was at school earlier one of the teachers told me "Hmm let's hope it's not contagious" which I actually took offence at at first because hey, I'm sick here instead of showing concern you're telling me about being contagious? Ugh. But oops. Looks like I am contagious hahah.

And the funny thing is for the past few days of being sick I was guessing that it's a mild food poisoning eventhough there's no vomiting and diarrhea... Ok truth is I've been eating expired peanut butter. I know, people are going to tell me "WTF why do you eat expired food?!" I tell you why!

There's a jar of crunchy peanut butter which is expired, and a jar of smooth peanut butter which is not expired. I hate smooth peanut butter, only bought it for baking purposes but I loooove my peanut butter! So I decided to eat the expired one. Also because I have this mindset that if it says "Best Before", means it's ok to eat after the expiry date. If it's "Use Before" like milk or cream, means it's NOT ok to eat after the expiry date.

So for the past few days I was mentally beating myself thinking that it's the PB. After visiting the doctor's yesterday, looks like it's not the PB's fault :)

Anywaaaaay. I've already thrown that expired PB out already before anybody come telling me I shouldn't eat expired food.

Yesterday while we were doing some Asian grocery shopping, I almost couldn't believe my eyes when I saw some Teluk Intan Heong Peng!

Let's hope it's good! I super hate heong peng(s?) that are soft.

When we saw the biscuits Wk immediately asked me hesitantly how I usually eat them. I looked at him and said "On it's own lah what else" and he told me he used to eat it with guess what?

CONDENSED MILK! 

Ew?? Heong peng is sweet on its own I don't understand how could people eat it with condensed milk lor! But anyway he insisted to get a can of condensed milk so that he can eat with it or he won't buy the heong peng wtfffff.

 

These are apparently the famous Apple Strudel from Perth!

The first apple strudel I've tried was from Frutti, it's a cafe in Panmour area, near Delta tuition centre. Students always hang out around there before/after or even during (ponteng) class. Speaking from experience hahahaa.  They claimed their apple strudel was from Australia but back then I didn't know what an apple strudel was and I didn't give a shit so I just tried. It was disgusting. The pastry was soggy, the custard was too much and bleghh, didn't taste any apples. That was probably the first and last I've ever had apple strudels.

On Monday Kai Mun gave us this long block of apple strudel which he brought back all the way from Perth when he traveled there. It is apparently really really famous and good, from this pastry shop called Corica. Tried it the moment he brought back and at that time I was actually still pretty sick to be eating dessert but from the looks of it, I couldn't resist. I had to have a slice. It was so good! I can imagine it being 10 times nicer if we could eat it fresh.

There's a good balance of custard and pastry. The custard is really good, it's what a good custard should taste or smell like. The level of sweetness is just nice. Pastry was not crunchy anymore since it's not fresh but it's still nice and light, not soggy! My favourite part? The fine sugar crusted layer of pastry at the top. Overall everything was just a pleasure to eat. You take a mouthful but everything's light and fragrant, not cloyingly sweet or dense.