The Running Man

Scuba Diving in Cairns (Great Barrier Reef)

2008-06-26T00:07:00.005+10:00

Sometime in Jan/Feb of this year we went to Cairns to see the tropical far north Queensland. Due to unfortunate misunderstanding, I accidentally deleted all the Cairns photos (silly me). Needless to say we had great fun and good food (Cairns is very touristy and there are lots of Japanese everywhere...even an LV store! of course). However, we do have the most important pictures...those of us Scuba Diving. It was Lil's first time and considering she wasn't sure of the water...she did very well! and actually went down to depth with me. I am so proud of her... Anyway here is the proof...pls watch this space for future updates on the Cairns trip because I went back there in May this year...

There were so many good photos :P very sad to have lost them...but hopefully these photos capture the moment...haha

Perth, Singapore and Thailand Trip Part 3

2008-06-20T01:45:00.010+10:00

After a night of 'clubbing' we woke up again to meet up with a couple of Lil's friends who had come from HK...yupz you guessed it for Roti Prata right outside Thomson Rd (Roti Prata House), we had soooo much delicious food again... haha its all about eating :)

After that we went...yupz back to Vivo city for more shopping (Lil really loves the place and I can see myself going back there again...its like Orchard Rd all in one large shopping centre). After a day of hard shopping... Family dinner at SICC..

Chilli Crab again at a family lunch the following day at some chinese restaurant near Orchard

Good times..

Dinner at Adam Road markets...we really abused the AUD to order twice as much as any normal Singaporean :P Lil also just loves the A1 Nasi Lemak stall at Adam Road...had satays, stingray, char kway teow! so much!!!

The next day we left for Thailand to chill and eat and abuse the AUD even more! haha...because most of my readers have been to Thailand/Bkk about a trillion times I won't bore you with details of the trip except to post up some photos with comments:

We are in Thailand (Lil with a statute growing out from her head! :P silly joke bw us)

on ah xian's advice...we searched for Soi Polo Chicken...

which deserves a post of its own! see that Yish!

What we ordered

Do you see that chicken Yish!

Us with Soi Polo chicken

Suan Lam night market entertainment..

Our hotel - Grand Sukumvit!

Can you see the bathroom...its just glass :P

Us in our bathrobes

Lil in the morning.. :)

Random Bkk life on the streets...towards MBK

Massages at Healthland Spa! Never slept so well before... haha

One of our many breakfasts at our hotel

The staff making our omellets... Unfortunately this short getaway had to end and we headed back to Singapore after about 3 days in Bkk (it was only a short trip:P)

Lil and her Popiah (another one that she absolutely loves) for breakfast

Me busy organising some last minute meetings

Us at the famous Har mee place...somewhere along Arab St

The Har mee..oh so deilicious!

Lil met up with her friend who was moving to Indonesia :P...I think it was at Food Republic at Wisma

Met up with the old PwC gang for coffee...just as we were leaving SG :P Thanks guys for coming out to meet us!

one final Singapore meal at Adam Rd

One last peanut pancake for Lil

us at Thompson Plaza

Us at the airport...thanks to Maxy and Judee for coming to see us off (and the chicken rice)

Back in Perth, Australia...for mum's home cooking (pretty much the only home cooked food we have had in a couple of weeks :P) haha

Perth, Singapore and Thailand Trip 2007 (Pt 2)

2008-02-26T20:14:00.013+11:00

Hi all sorry for the long delay between my Part 1 and Part 2, the week got so busy for me here at the firm - affidavits to draft, client advices to put out, chronologies to amend, financial data to be analysed, it seems like there is a never ending 'to do' list now...oh well :p I cannot complain I suppose, its better than not doing anything and rotting away, now at least the day goes by so fast. So without further ado, here is the second part of our trip to the above-mentioned places... After leaving the sunny state of Western Australia, Lil and myself boarded a Tiger Airways flight from PER to SG, the cost A$500 return! now that includes taxes and I suppose since I was in Perth (for Suey's wedding) I'd might as well take advantage of the cheap flights. Now all I can say is that Tiger is really basic, but I suppose you get what you pay for :P. We touched down in Singapore at about 2am in the morning, hanged out at the airport for awhile (because no shops were open and I didn't want to disturb my aunty) eating BK (Lil just loved the huge omellete breakfast burger...we don't get that sort of BK stuff in Australia :P) The picture shows us on the free shuttle bus at the Budget Terminal (SG) heading towards T2 (where there was food at 2am in the morning).
After waiting for awhile, we headed off to my Aunty's place....then after dumping our stuff there we headed off for our first meal of the day...Roti Prata @ The Roti Prata House along Thompson Rd (Readers of my blog would know I just love Roti Prata and if I was given only one meal in SG...prata would be it!) Such a simple concept yet so delicious! :)
Lil tried an Egg Prata (her first time and found it was delicious..do you see that Yish?) while I had 2 Kusong + Teh Tarik. After breakfast (we would eat prata for breakfast at least 2 more times during our trip)...we headed off to my first destination...PwC!!! haha...yes it was strange going up to the 14th Floor again and seeing (those that were there in office or still at PwC) people, colleagues, secretaries, Bala, partners again...they all remembered me! (mainly coz of my aussie accent perhaps?). I even went to see my CM..now partner, Daniel Khoo and my partner OCK! they asked me about what I was doing now, etc and even told me to drop them an email next time I was coming back to SG so that they can arrange lunch :) ahhh...how sweet! After PwC (didn't have enough time to see all the floors and people...eg. GTS, Typing pool, etc :( sorry next time)..we headed off to a nearby SG attraction:
the merlion. We took our normal touristy photos there... Afterwhich, we headed off to...Orchard Rd for some traditional SG shopping along Orchard...stopping for somethine else that I missed (and Lil really wanted to try)..MOS Burger! specifically the rice burgers...yummm..yummm haha

of course a trip to SG wouldn't be complete...without a game of volleyball (when I was in SG I usually played this every Wed night :P)

The place has moved to another location and (sadly) the people I use to play with aren't there anymore or don't go as regularly...but thankfully Julz and Bren were still playing and jioed me for a game... played ok but didn't have my indoor shoes with me or my knee pads :P haha. After the volleyball game, as it is tradition...we went to eat a late night snack!
prawn paste fried chicken
some kway teow (recognise it Yish?)...
Thanks guys! Ok, now here are some of the other photos from this leg of the trip (with comments) especially the type of food I ate :P hahah
Chai Tao Kway lady
yum Yum...

Now Lil loved this for breakfast... fatty but so nice!
Mee rebus
nasi lemak...n
ow we had that much food just for breakfast (I suppose its coz its different mentality when you are earning A$ and use to paying easily A$10 per dish...what is S$2-3 per dish..haha...very bad on the waistline!).
Lil's favourite sign (from a marketers perspective) in SG..we went to Vivocity (my 1st time :P)
roti prata maker at Food Republic @ Vivo
Lil texting her friend to tell her how good the food is!
nasi kunning... yum yum
chicken wings... see that Yish?

Later that night we went to Mustafa to look for Lil's Saree (she had an indian wedding to attend back in Australia)...I must say that looking for Sarees was an interesting experience and you sorta got to know a little bit more about this indian wear (its more than just a robe you wrap yourself in :P) haha
Had prata again that morning... milo ping! me my uncle and cousins (the baby cousin is the latest addition)
cute huh :)
then we went back to Vivo! (it was huge and so many good bargains and shops that we both spent almost 2 whole days there..and still didn't finish every shop :P let me tell u...I think we both boosted the SG GDP by half a percent that trip :P haha). Later that night, we met up with friends at East Coast for...

Yupz...Singapore Chilli Crabs, Black Pepper Crabs and Oatmeal Prawns! my favourite! :) almost the entire reason why we came to Singapore for

After Dinner, we went to MOS...for some clubbing which I had missed...
Thanks Guys! :))

Perth, Singapore and Thailand Trip 2007 (Pt 1)

2008-02-18T18:08:00.021+11:00

Ok, after your persistent questions about why I wasn't blogging as much these days (mainly coz I have been busy with other stuff, volleyball, planning my next trips, generally got too much happening to catch up with the blogging duties)...I shall now update you all on my 'recent' trip to Perth, Singapore and Thailand in December 2007 (hahaha...Yish, better not look!). My lovely Lilian was coming with me! (it was our first overseas trip together so it should be a good 1). My reasoning for going to these places were: Perth - my good friend's wedding (Suey!!!) which I promised I would never miss :), and to visit my parents and bro with Lil, Singapore - see SG which I missed, especially the food and my SG friends (also used the Tiger air flight from PER-SG which is pretty cheap), and finally to Thailand because I wanted to just use my A$ to get a cheap flight...even cheaper :P haaha. So without further ado, here are some photos of the trip (there were numerous ones) with commentary where possible :)

Lil outside Perth airport...we arrived at about 10pm.

Next morning, I brought her to the fantastic Cottesloe Beach (see how white the sand is, and there is almost nobody about) to show her the comparison to Bondi beach in Sydney...she was impressed! :)

Met up with Andrew "The Playa" and Kevin "Techno Man" for breakfast at the famous (amongst locals) beachside restaurant..the Blue Duck.

Had the famous Eggs and Salmon benedict and the Blue Duck big breakfast (see that Yish?)

Seaside by the beach :)

Next day, we prepared for Suey's wedding (that photo was taken in our hotel room) ceremony at my university (a very scenic place where there is always lots of weddings every year)

Us with the bride (Tina) and groom (Adrian)

All of us either lived in the same neighbourhood, went to high school together, played basketball weekly together or went to uni together...a good bunch of friends and definitely worth me coming back to catch up with them, to celebrate Suey's wedding!

We separated from the main group... to take some fake 'wedding' photos of our own (where we thought the wedding photographer would set them up).. :P hehe

Next I took Lil to 'Kings Park' which is this massive nature park thats located overlooking Perth City.

Perth

Summer is coming! beautiful weather we had...

We got back to the hotel, just in time to rest ... and change for the wedding dinner that was on that night at Burswood Convention Centre (Lil looks fantastic in that blue dress)..again that photo was taken at the hotel where we stayed. Here are the photos from that wedding night..

Yish, can I just say...that the food was superb...top dollar...there was sharks fin, abalone, yabbies (mini cray fish), fresh fish...delicious...haha

Overall a fantastic night, and the newly weds looked very good and fantastic...wishing them all the best! they deserve it! :)...we both had tons of fun! and it was good to dress up formally once and awhile!

The next morning, we checked out and I brought Lil to Margaret River (this is the famous WA wine growing region, that also makes Simmo Ice-cream...delicious..with so many flavours!)

Sharing an ice-cream (I was more concerned about the ice-cream than the camera! :P haha)

Lil outside the doors of the Evans & Tate vineyard...

At a vineyard...

Lil with the West Australian flag 'growing out of her head'! haha ;)

This photo is for you Yish...we had this at one of the famous Vineyards ... Sandalford... its a beef wellington! a delicious piece of beef wrapped in a pastry...yummm... can you see it Yish?

Lil's dish, a quail (its on the RHS) and some pasta dish, also just as good...like eating a mini chicken! haha

We also went to Busselton beach! (again it was very empty haha)

us outside the Busselton Jetty (one of the longest in the South, at about 2km long!). Ok thats all for Perth (we went to more places, but then this blog would just be too long :P)...next stop: Singapore (please see Pt 2 above).

Good Neighbour Volleyball 2007

2008-02-04T16:56:00.001+11:00

Here are the details of the annual volleyball tournament I took part in (see my very very old post). This is my second year in the tournament and it was as usual tons of fun

Event: Annual "Good Neighbour" Volleyball Tournament

Location: Canberra, Australia

Dates: 24-25 November 2007

Team: Soba

Here are some of the photos from the event! enjoy :) Team Photo.

The end result...2 Wins, 2 Losses, 1 Draw

Missed out on getting to the QF :( oh well at least we had fun and it was a good bonding experience!

Apologies

2008-01-15T09:45:00.000+11:00

Apologies everyone for the total lack of updates (I now know what it feels like Yish), but I am in the middle of moving house hence don't have any internet at home. The only place with internet is in the office (which is now) and hence office internet is only meant to be used for work. Updates will be coming up soon...such as the Good Neighbour Volleyball tournament in Canberra last year, and our Perth, Singapore and Thailand trip! Best wishes for 2008 everyone! :)

Tilly as Fred Flintstone!

2007-12-05T01:32:00.000+11:00

As you know from my previous post, I went to my firm's Xmas party as Fred Flintstone. On Saturday, whilst I was cooking dinner (see previous post)...Lil had a little project to do, using my leftover materials and fabric from my costume...she made Tilly (Maz's cute dog) a costume...this is the end result...hahaha she looked sooo cute. We even surprised Maz's parents by dressing both Tilly and myself up as Fred Flintstone and appearing before them as a surprise hhaah...and they were definitely surprised and loved it...especially Tilly, all that extra attention and loving...pretty fortunate life she has... anyway here are more of the pictures...enjoy and say awwwwww... :P
so adorable!

3 Courses from Me

2007-12-05T00:47:00.000+11:00

On Saturday, it was terrible wet and overcast weather (which ruined our plans :P)...so I decided to spend the afternoon cooking a fine dining 3 course meal for Lil (which totally surprised her as she just thought I was cooking 'dinner'...pfff)...sorry Yish...got to see more pictures (but this time of what I cooked :P

Entre: 'Symphony of the Sea' - steamed fresh XL pacific oysters, fresh prawns, sambal squid with pineapple and sweet potatoe salad...this totally surprised Lil as she thought we were just having Oysters pfff... haha (sorry Yish...I know how much you like seafood)

Main 'Chicken Supreme' - a stack of japanese bread crumb fried chicken thigh fillet on a bed of baked potatoe and sweet potatoe with snake beans and a garlic and herb sauce with pineapple.

Dessert 'Almond Jelly with Mango' - all homemade by me! (Yish?)

A day at Bondi Beach

2007-12-05T00:39:00.000+11:00

Isn't this a picture perfect scene?

Ebsworth Xmas Party

2007-12-03T01:00:00.000+11:00

Last Fri was my firm's annual Xmas party...the location: Australian Museum in Sydney, the theme: 'back in time'. Inspired by something, I wanted to be a caveman...Lil was also inspired by something and thought up going as Fred Flinstone! What made it even better was that Lil could sew...(and so can I :P) so it became our little project over 2 nights...to actually make my Fred Flintstone costume!. Anyway I will let the pictures tell the story...

The end result... Looking good eh...so well prepared, I went to the museum...and it was a big hit (where I could proudly tell/show-off to everyone that we made it together...needless to say every one of my colleagues were suitably impresed)

(in case you are guessing...he was dressed as a giant 'sperm' he really went back in time!)

there was plenty of alcohol that night...

Maz's Surprise Birthday Party

2007-12-03T00:23:00.000+11:00

On 10 Nov, Lil and myself planned a surprise birthday BBQ for her best friend...Maz. This was at a place we all know very well...Liberty Grove! We invited most of Maz's good friends and kept it a surprise from her (Maz thought we were going to play a game of tennis :P) Needless to say it was quite a surprise for her...and when we ran out to surprise her she still asked: "are you all here to play tennis too...(duh)" haha! After an entire week of rain rain rain...the heavens cleared up for perfect weather for a BBQ (as you can see in the background :P). Anyway here are some photos of the rest of the afternoon... it was a very memorable even (again) at Liberty Grove Bar and Grill :P

The chef/cook for the day...JB overseeing the chicken wings ... there was so much delicious bbq food (can you see it Yish??? I didn't take that many pictures because I can leave it up to your imagination Yish) ... there was chicken steaks, chicken shish kebabs, lamb cutlets, fresh prawns, french onion dips, hokkien noodle, potatoe salad, sambal squid... there was just soo much food!

After the main eating session, we all moved indoors for the cake cutting ceremony and to chill out

The gang...

After the chill out session...we went to play tennis...and errr...sleep?! haha..it was really that tiring a day!

Overall another good day...sorry for it being a little late :P as it is now in Dec and this happened in early Nov...but stayed tuned, I will continue to update it ... especially the recent GN tournament! :)

Liberty Grove Bar & Grill Opening
You haven't tasted a proper dip until you have tried Lillian's Damper Dip, the perfect appetiser to get the pallate going. The venue was open plan and rather spacious with clever improvisation and use of furniture... Head Chef Chui & Quek had prepared a masterful meat ensemble, and the wafted aroma of sweetly scented chilli chicken immediately captured the senses...the meat was sweet and tender.....and oh,,, who could forget the lamb chops, lightly marinated by Liberty Grove Bar & Grill's resident chef Quek....a rarefied experience as the meat slides off the edge of the cutlery with ease and oh the enjoyment as you wrap your lips around the treat.... Then came the Sambal Squid, the singaporean influence of chef Quek coming through in this delightful dish...cleverly encased in a marinated wrapping of exotic juices....Five Stars, A rousing success.... Anonymous Food Critic

Long Update

2007-11-13T00:45:00.000+11:00

Hi, sorry to all for not having written for such a long time (almost a month :P) but I have been really busy doing my College of Law exams :P yupz...its finally over and hopefully I would have passed my exams and can be admitted as a solicitor in the Supreme Court of NSW! How exciting. But despite having exams..that is not to say that I didn't do anything :P...haha...so now here is a quick update on whats been happening (cheating I know, but in the circumstances, its acceptable!)

Lil had a dinner date with her colleagues, of which I was kindly invited too...its was at Libertine restaurant (a French/Vietnamese fine dining place..nice decor and food was ok)...it was good to just see my Lil socialising (because usually its either with our friends or my friends when she is with me) and talking about subjects that are related to her (work, work gossip, work stories, etc haha). A very nice bunch of people and at least now when Lil tells me something, I can now put a face to the name :)

We also attended another Pot Luck dinner at the Loes (Maz)...what?! you may say...another pot luck dinner! haha... the only difference is that this time it was really really good food (sorry again Yish...let me know if this is disturbing you haha)...Here are some of the pictures for it...

Maz's mum, Farra (Maz's sister in law), Maz and Lil all in the kitchen...cooking haha...

Green Tea Smoked oysters (with cucumber, soya sauce and avocado)...a fantastic entree

Yum, Yum just look at those oysters, definitely better than any 5 star restaurant!

Lil arranging the oysters

We also had fresh salmon sushimi (it was Lil's idea to roll it up and make it into a fish pattern...sorry Yish...I know you must be reading this by now :P haha)

The salmon was so fresh (just got from the fish market that same day)...beautiful with wasabi and soy sauce

We also had fried tempura style prawns (with rice crumbs instead of bread crumbs...very nice)

We also had (homemade) Peking duck! Yes very sorry Yish ("KNS"!!! haha)...

my peking duck roll is ready for wrapping :P

maz, tilly and lil

tilly and lil

There were also other dishes (mainly vegetarian type dishes) but I solely took photos of those dishes I liked ahaha...overall a well balanced seafood type of dinner :P

fruit platter for dessert

I once again made my egg tarts (a huge hit, although I should get use to the varying heat of the oven)...so light and fresh

A perfect homemade egg tart with fruit

See that Yish?

Ok got more updates to come, which I will slowly upload...so watch this space!

More from Restaurant Liberty Grove

2007-10-28T19:22:00.000+11:00

Its Sunday, and due to studying..I have been forced to again stay indoors to study :P Lucky, the chef's at Restaurant Liberty Grove cooked up a worthy 3 course feast to keep my energies up and fill my stomach! As you can see, the chef himself is enjoying the meal! we have eaten well this past month :P *sorry Yish if you are reading this...haha! :)
Entree: Zuchinni soup...nice and thick with a good slice of bread

Mains: Lightly pan fried tuna steaks (with Japanese breadcrumbs) on a bed of Nicoise salad...absolutely tasty and couldn't tell that it was fish because of the meat...

Desserts: Tiramisu and Creme boule ice-cream! A nice sweet way to end the meal!
JB enjoying his 'creation' (he felt like creating something that very morning :P)
Look at that tuna steak! so soft, moist and slightly uncooked centre! Yum Yum...best tuna steak I have had in awhile :P and the aoli sauce worked wonders with the taste and the different texture of the tuna meat
Lil eagerly looking at the delicious soup

Homemade Sausage Rolls and Quiche

2007-10-21T23:33:00.000+10:00

Speaking of studying...on the Friday as I had to study, we didn't go anywhere and my Lil cooked for me dinner... her homemade sausage rolls (now these were actual Chorizo sausages, wrapped in a pastry, with fried onions, Ricotta cheese, and melted cheese on the top)...it was heavenly! :)

accompanied by a Spicy salad with avocado, sweet potatoe and chillis (and chips)

Dinner time!

Then last Sunday, both Maz and Lil came over to my place (whilst I was still studying of course :P) to cook lunch for me (actually it was Lil who did the cooking with Maz's help)

The dish this time was... Quiche! I study, the gals cook...ahhh yes...this is the way it should be ; ) haha...

The verdict...its was very very good :) finished off the entire portion in one sitting :) yummm...

Pot Luck with Friends

2007-10-21T22:43:00.000+10:00

Hi All, sorry for the very slow updates (or lack of) but I have been very busy with studying for my upcoming College of Law exams :P yeah these are my final exams before I (hopefully) will get admitted (to the bar) next year :) so gotta study. More interesting updates will come in the next couple of weeks ;) definitely....got lots of fun and exciting activites and events lined up :P haha. In the meantime, let me entertain you with a 'Pot Luck' dinner we had at Maz's house, about a month ago (yeah I know I have been slack with the uploadings). A Pot Luck is basically a gathering amongst friends where we all bring our own individually cooked dishes to share with everyone. Sorry yes its another food type of posts (to those readers who keep complaining about the standard of meals I have been eating lately :P...I cannot help that ;)

One of our 'chefs' JB...working on his entree in Maz's kitchen

Pictures of the food preparation...

So without further ado, here are some of the dishes that was cooked!

This was what JB cooked...mussels! in special thai green curry sauce and garnished with chillis and spring onion (it was finished off the fastest! because it was so delicious!) Another popular dish was...

Special glutinous (sticky) rice...cooked by one of my friends (or his mum :P...we suspect)...this was pretty much restaurant quality (because his mum was a cook at a restaurant :P perhaps)...but it was delicious as he bought a huge rice pot full of this rice, and it was gone by the end of the meal.

Another old favourite...Maz's pork belly...the skin was as crispy as ever and still very moist (plus the fact that it had just been cooked..so the oils and the tenderness was still there...) oh...can't get enough of this (maybe I should revert back to concentrating on main dishes instead of desserts...and this will be my first dish I will attempt ;)

You can see the empty plates and dishes on the table...an excellent dinner party :) There were other dishes too...a salad, and vegetarian pizza from memory...unfortunately didn't take pictures of them. After dinner..it was dessert time!

My dish...cheesecakes! These were homemade cheesecakes topped with blueberries, strawberries and peaches :) (as from previous posts, I had decided to concentrate on making desserts from now on....) However, not to be upstaged by my dessert...Lil also came up with her own dessert (each couple was meant to bring 1 dish each...but both me and Lil decided to be special and bring 1 dessert each..no competition :P) Lil's dish was...

Marshmellow Cake (or rather some kind of mango pudding type of cake with a mango jelly top...) it was an excellent and light dessert and immensely popular (especially amongst the gals in our group) Lil wins hands down with her dish :P

The group

After dinner, we all went upstairs to the entertainment room, for some karaoke and cards (poker)...:P

Tilly!

Overall it was a very good and fantastic night...even more so as we had cooked our own dinners and everyone was impressed with (no food poisoning reported hehe)...till the next time!

Fine Dining Surprises

2007-10-14T10:50:00.000+10:00

A couple of weekends ago, my Lil surprised me with a 'date' at the basketball :)...it was my team... the Perth Wildcats v West Sydney Razorbacks...now this was such a surprise for me (and so thoughtful, as you all know how much I just love basketball...even more than volleyball :P haha). Unfortunately, my Wildcats lost :P but oh well it was a good night to spend it with someone special ;)... anyway here are the pictures from that night...

After the game...with a heavy heart, we headed back home...only to find that my room-mate JB had cooked up another 3 course fine-dining meal (ala Restaurant Liberty Grove style...see previous post)!!! Whilst not as elaborate as the last time..this one was equally as delicious and fantastic! Here are the pics!
Entree - Mussels with thai green curry sauce!
Lil loves it! :)
Mains - Pork Belly with rice and some other exotic vegetables (it was an Asian themed fine dining meal)
Dessert - Green tea ice-cream (home-made!) with banana wrapped and fried in tofu skins with rockmelon and honeydew ;) A unique clash
and comination of flavours and textures
Lil is definitely enjoying desserts!
Kudos to the chef! (sorry the picture wasn't very good :P)

So overall it was a fantastic night with basketball action, with Lil, and a fine dining meal at the end cooked by my roomie to round it all up...I am thankful to have so many good people in my life :) So full!

Unbelievable Men's Volleyball Rally - UBC vs. Alberta

2007-10-11T20:44:00.001+10:00

Portugese Egg Tarts

2007-10-08T01:08:00.000+10:00

As part my dessert revolution (where I have decided to focus my cookings skills to desserts rather than main courses...temporarily :P)...tonight I have baked some...egg tarts! They are Lil's favourites and I brought some freshly (and I mean freshly made...still hot and fresh from the oven) made egg tarts over to her place :). What can I say...except its exactly how it is in the restaurants (other than it being slightly burnt :P)...the crust was nice and solid whilst the filling was still hot and very soft...not too sweet and yet not too solid or wattery...perfect! got the proportions just right...phew! I was pretty nervous about it...but it tasted great if I do say so myself :P haha...hot and fresh...nothing beats that (plus you will be amazed at how easy it is to make...a little time consuming tho). So here is my efforts :P

Lil and her family loved it!!!

WCE Bed Sheets

2007-10-08T00:59:00.000+10:00

On Sunday, after a game of badminton with my Lil, we went back home for lunch...after taking a shower, I walked to my room and found the door was closed, I walked in and...SURPRISE!!! Look at what my Lil had gotten for me (since she knew I only had one set of bed sheets...which I regularly washed :P) haha...its my favourite AFL team...the mighty Eagles!

I am just sooo lucky :))) I know its probably a little childish (to have bed sheets of your favourite sporting team)...but who cares! haha...its my room and what better thing to sleep on than your favourite sports team :) (see previous posts). All my sheets and pillows now are all matching! Thank you dear! I will be sleeping well tonight ;)

Wingman's Handbook

2007-10-06T08:32:00.000+10:00

I haven't done this for awhile, but I found this group on FB and thought it was pretty funny... apologies for the long post...but if you have time..

THE WINGMAN IS ARGUABLY THE NOBLEST CREATURE TO EVER STEP INTO A BARROOM!!
Who else, with cavalier disregard for his personal reputation, is so willing to throw himself upon the cruel mercies of a brazen man-hater, just so his buddy can hook up with a sorority girl with big gazongas?
Who else, with just a hint of a grimace, will selflessly dirty dance with a creature so hideous that no amount of hard liquor will wash the stain from his memory?
Who else, especially if he’s loaded to the gills, will stand in the deepest depths of hell just so a pal can climb up his back into hook-up heaven?
Whose sterling motto is, “You are going to so owe me”?None else but the wingman!

WHAT A WINGMAN DOES...And just as that brave (some say suicidally insane) Spartan king and his hundred warriors laid down their lives against a hundred thousand Persians, so will the wingman, with the right amount of prodding, recklessly lunge into battle against foes twice his size and half his intellect, fully knowing there is no way in hell that the night will end well.

IT USUALLY GOES DOWN LIKE THIS:
A male (the flight leader) spots an attractive female (the bombing target) across the bar. But alas, she is not alone. She is paired with a tragically less attractive friend (the cock blocker). And they seem quite close, so close that the BT is unlikely to abandon her CB for a guy she just met.The FL knows he’ll never be able to successfully complete his bombing run without proper air cover, and this is where the wingman comes into play. The wingman will engage the CB and pin her down long enough for the FL to finish his run, and hopefully bomb his target back to his bedroom.Of course, there’s much more to the task than distracting the CB while the FL makes his move. Wingman skills have been honed and passed down since someone decided women should be allowed into bars. Strategies have evolved and tactics have been polished to the point that the wingman has become a super-specialized warrior in the eternal Battle of the Sexes. And like all specialists, they’ve developed their own lingo.
WINGMAN JARGON...
Air superiority - when the flight team has established a comfortable conversation with the BT and CB.
BT - bombing target; the hot chick.
Banzai shot - much as kamikaze pilots were given a ceremonial shot of sake before being sealed in their cockpits, the flight leader should buy his wingman a shot prior to a mission.
Betty - an alliteration of Bombing Target.
Bogie - a friend of the BT that has not yet been identified as a CB.
CB - cock blocker; the hot girl’s troublesome friend and sworn enemy of the wingman. Also called a bandit.
Dogfight - dancing with a CB.
FL - Flight leader; also called the bombardier.
Flak - snide remarks made by a CB in an attempt to drive the flight team from the skies.
Flying blind - when the wingman indulges in so much in-flight refueling he jeopardizes the mission.
Getting pinged - initial eye contact with a BT.
In-flight refueling - when a wingman orders a flurry of shots to help him complete his mission.
Kamikaze mission - when the wingman is likely to end up in the clutches of the CB.
Landing gear - a wingman’s self-respect; if a FL asks his wingman to “leave his landing gear behind,” he’s preparing the wingman for a flak storm or kamikaze mission.
POW - Prisoner of a Warthog; to go home with a CB, the supreme sacrifice of a wingman.
Pig Alley - a play off of the Korean War’s infamous MIG Alley, this describes a BT swarming with CBs.
Shite leader - a would-be flight leader without the skills to complete the mission.
Shoot and scoot - an attempt to engage with more than one CB at a time.
Tailgunning - when the wingman disgracefully abandons his air cover duties and attempts his own bombing run on the BT.
Yank and bank - an attempt by the FL to maneuver the BT away from the wingman and CB for some one-on-one time.

KNOW YOUR COCK BLOCKERS...Before you tip that throttle and rocket off the runway, it’s best to know what you’re up against. There are three types of CBs, namely:
1.) Cinderella’s Sister: This semi-attractive woman is secretly jealous of her more alluring friend and won’t want to see her hook up because she’s tired of being the bridesmaid. She’s an easy target for flattery, especially if you compare her favorably with her friend. Tagline: “Doesn’t she have great breasts? Too bad they’re fake.”
2.) Den Mother: She’s such a wonderful, responsible, caring person that she feels the need to watch over her “wild” friend and keep all the naughty boys at length. She’s been honing her CB skills since high school and knows all the tricks, but can be cracked with a “you should really let your friend live her own life, she’s all grown up now” attack. Tagline: “Come on, Sweety, you’ve had enough to drink and it’s time to go home.”
3.) Brumhilda: Tempered by the hot fires of spite and bitterness, she dislikes men in general, either because she’s been denied their attention or due to past romantic difficulties. She is the most dangerous CB because no amount of charm can flatter her into letting your FL fly off into the sunset with her friend. Only the most skilled and dogged of wingmen can neutralize her, usually by pretending he’s gay and equally bitter. Tagline: “Hey you. Yeah, you, asshole. It’s girls’ night out. No men allowed. So why don’t you go play Hide and Go Fuck Yourself?”

POINTS TO REMEMBER... After the BT has been reconned, it’s always best if the wingman goes in first. If he wings in with the FL or after, it will smack off a setup.Once the wingman has successfully engaged the CB, the FL sweeps in, first making contact with the wingman, then turning his attention to the BT.The moment the conversation is rolling, the FL will want to focus fully on the BT, so the wingman should attempt to lure the CB to the dance floor, jukebox, pool table or bar. If the CB refuses to budge, the FL will attempt to “yank and bank” the BT well out of cock blocking range.
A good wingman will accept the fact that he will most likely have to remain with the CB for the rest of evening, because once he breaks off the attack, the CB will make a beeline to the BT and try to shoot down the FL.Keeping the CB pinned down is not always easy. The wingman must use all his charms to keep her entertained, he must listen to psyche-grating life-stories, he will learn the names of all her cats and all their wonderful little quirks. And if need be, he will feign romantic interest.
When closing time rolls around, a lesser wingman will wish his FL all the luck in the world and hightail it home. A good wingman, however, will carry on his mission even though it extends to someone’s domicile, knowing full well he will find himself deep in enemy airspace, and may be asked to make the ultimate sacrifice.

THE RISKS...It’s true that sometimes terrible things befall wingmen.Sometimes it’s as innocuous as enduring a dull conversation or getting a drink thrown in his face. Sometimes his public reputation becomes so mangled he can no longer fly in the same theater of operations.Sometimes he will get locked in so steep a dive he can’t pull up in time to save himself from crash landing in a CB’s bed. The experience can shatter him completely, taking him off the duty roster for weeks, sometimes months. Sometimes he never comes back.
Finally, worst of all, a wingman might go so far and so often into enemy territory that he will “go native,” and develop strange tastes in women.So if you find a good wingman, make sure the missions are worth his risk and sacrifice.
If the bombing run is successful, buy him a bottle of the good stuff, especially if he served as a POW.Keep him happy, serve as his wingman when he needs one, and hold onto him with an iron grip.

GOOD WINGMEN ARE AS RARE AS DIAMONDS!!!

So which one are you (assuming you are single)? haha...FL, BT, CB or WM???

Volleyball Finals

2007-10-03T21:47:00.000+10:00

Last Thurs, it was our volleyball finals...ok because of some scheduling changes, it was our semi finals, followed by finals (if we won the SF). This was the second time in 2 seasons the team I was playing for had made it to the finals series (see previous posts) It was held at Sydney Boys High again...and this time I had my Lil and Mr Chan with me as part of our cheer squad. Ok anyway back to the game...well we played pretty s#it during the regular season and was about 6th or 7th on the ladder...last week was our QF and we played I think the 5th or 3rd rank team...anyway we played well as a team (we always seem to step up and gel at the right time :P) and we won! So here we are again...a week later playing against the 1st team (the top team) and I can tell you that they were GOOD...not saying that because we were playing them, but they really were good...all are monster spikers of the ball and got massive hops. We would have our work cut out :P Well thankfully....we won! yeah it was a hard fought game especially since we had lost the first set but we came back and won the second set convincingly...it all came down to the decisive 3rd set (because it was SF it was still a 1 hr time limit or best of 5 sets whichever came earlier)...we were leading the 3rd set by about 2 points when the siren went...so we went thru to the Grand Final. Just. If this had been the finals and we had to play best of 5 sets...I don't know how the result would have gone :P

We ended up playing I think the 2nd ranked team...it was such a tough game (think we were just more tired than anything having played a tough 3 setter against the top team, whilst the 2nd team had a relatively easy game and could rest). We won the first set (just barely)...they won the second set (convincingly), but we dug deep and won the next two sets to win the Comp!!!! :) Ramen (our team name) has won back-to-back competitions (it was also quite late by the time we ended...having played a total of 7 sets during the day).

The victorious Ramen team of Winter 2007 season!

L-R: Hannah, Bart, Nicholas, Gregor, DQ, Nam, Peter...a great bunch of guys and teammates!

Pork Dinner

2007-10-02T00:55:00.000+10:00

As a follow on from my previous post about Restaurant Liberty Grove...this is what JB whipped up the following night for dinner (since we had leftover Roast Pork)

Believe me...it was fantastic with the roast pork still maintaining its moisture (from the natural oil of the pork) and full flavour (mixed with the rice and veges...it was devine!). The deep bowls (which Maz gave us as a present) also enhanced the presentation and indirectly the taste! :)

Restaurant Liberty Grove

2007-09-25T11:18:00.000+10:00

Usuallly I don't do this, but for this post I introducing a guest writer...Lil. Now because this post is dedicated to putting on a surprise for Lil (and Maz), rather than me describing how I planned the surprise (with invaluable help from JB as he prepared the entree and mains). Some background information about what is about to happen...inspired after watching Ratoulee (the movie about the French chef rat) I told JB of my idea of cooking a fine dining 3 course meal for the gals...namely Lil and Maz. With JB being a cook/chef, he naturally agreed even adding some bits of flair to the 'fine dining' meal (see photos) at where else, but our house at Liberty Grove! The date was set for Sunday 16 September 2007.

So without further ado here Lil's contribution to 'Restaurant Liberty Grove' :) haha...

As promised, Restaurant Liberty Grove deserves a post of its own.The night started with Maz and I being sent upstairs so that the boys can finish creating their dinner. Suddenly we heard "Dinner is ready!". I was already impressed that the boys had prepare dinner in time. Earlier in the day Darren asked to borrow table cloth from Maz, so I knew the boys were going to imitate a restaurant setting, but imagine our shock when we were greeted on the bottom of the stairs with JB in a black waiter's attire holding a menu welcoming us "madams" to Restaurant Liberty Grove.

"Oh my god" was said a couple of times as we turned into the 'restaurant' area. Then an image I will never forget. There Darren was in a complete chef's uniform including a professional chef's hat.
I couldn't stop laughing and spent a couple of minutes on the ground rolling around. Darren was trying to pull me up, but the more I looked at him the more I couldn't stop (Darren: Yes, I remember this...I was wondering if we were going to get to the dinner table :P haha, Lil's expression when she saw me was priceless...and so was her reaction afterwards)

As we finally composed ourselves, Darren filled our glasses with our favourite drinks that he researched from me earlier in the day. Maz had her Limonatta and I had my favourite sparkling mineral water. I taught Darren to put his hand behind his back like a real waiter and he did that for the rest of the night. Maz and I tried to decipher all the fancy words used in our printed menu, but I will explain what was so meticulously planned and prepared for us in my wording:

Entree: Baby octopus with curly lettuce and a chilli dressing - JB explained he used papaya to marinade and soften the octopus.
Mains: Pork belly roasted with stuffing served with grilled Fennel and Pear on a bed of mash parship - this dish was truly amazing.

The pork belly was so tasty, the meat was so tender and the cracking was so crispy.

Of the three pork belly dishes I've had in the past week I have to rate JB's pork belly as better than the Forbes & Burton and up there with Oscillate Wildly. I also loved the parship mash, it was so sweet and went so well with the savoury flavours of the pork.Dessert: Waifers and Vanilla Ice Cream served with raspberries and honey parfait sauce - my baby's baby.

Darren had put so much thought and effort in presentation. It looked so pretty and appetising. I'm not usually a sweets person but I loved every bite of it.

I might be accused of being bias but seeing food expert Maz polish it off as well meant it was definitely a YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM.In between all the courses, there was of course the usual photo taking Asian style, laughs and more attempts of intrepreting the menu.

But something happened between main and dessert. Must be a reaction to something we ate, but Maz and I got rowdy. One minute we were sitting admiring the setting, the next minute we were standing on the chairs belting out our lungs to the tunes of Eternal Flame, Aerosmith and You're Beautiful! Darren and JB stood in the kitchen dumbfounded and shaking their heads. A couple of statements "oh no... that's shocking... this is a proper restaurant..." and threats of being kicked out was to no avail.
Maz and I were acting like little kids, performing for the camera.Talk about performing for the camera, we made a video for JY as it was his birthday and he's recently moved to the UK . We had a full story line.

Maz is taking JY out for dinner for his birthday, they are greated by a waiter and the chef presents them a menu, then we all sing happy birthday to him and Maz blows out the candles on his behalf. Sounds complicated with different angles, switching scenes, lots of dialogue; but we're all professionals. One take was all we needed.JY later wrote us a thank you email and it made it all worthwhile and gratifying; his note also made me really miss our awesome foursome days. Wish he was at the dinner. I can imagine him doing some JT and 80's dance moves while Maz and I sang. Haha...

After dinner we watched a comedy "Monster in Law". It's about how a recently sacked mother is clinging onto her son. The son meets a girl and wants to marry her. The mother then goes through all these schemes to break them up (even almost killing her). It was so funny, light hearted. Perfect movie for a Sunday night. Then it was home time for some rest for a brand new week. Disclaimer: Despite the photographs, it was really JB who cooked the important dishes (the entree and mains)...so kudos (credit) must go to him for preparing and cooking such a delicious main course (he really spent lots of time and effort preparing it the night before)...making this fine dining dinner party a success! My role was more of a waiter, pastry chef (dessert maker) and restaurant manager (organising the fancy stuff and sending out the official "invites") haha.. a possible 2nd career after law??? :P

Credit must also be given to my Lil for having written up an excellent post, I think its quite an interesting way, describing an event from another person's (the person you are intending to surprise) perspective. In fact, as you will see in a future post (to be updated)...Restaurant Liberty Grove is going to be fully operational haha.. :). So anyway it was a good night for all (and we were awarded our 'one chefs hat' award by our two distinguished judges...even though they both stood on our chairs to sing :P haha) and what made it even more memorable was that the effort was there and well the gals played along with us (plus the food was excellent and so delectible as you can see from above...3 courses for next to nothing!).

Lantern Festival

2007-09-24T23:39:00.000+10:00

Last Friday night, we were invited by HY and Haz to go and celebrate mid-autumn festival (mooncake festival). Ok technically its not the day (its on this Tues)...but since we are all hardworking auditors and lawyers...it was brought forward to the Friday night. Many thanks to HY and Haz for bringing the mooncakes (from Singapore) and Wanyi for "organising" the day amongst all of us. The location was suggested by Eugene (a park nearby his house...but he was still the last to arrive :P haha...this park overlooked the city skyline and the harbour...very nice). The weather was good, and the moon about 3/4 full. What could be better? A little slice of the Singaporean tradition in a 'foreign' land (the turn out was quite good too so the atmosphere was there). We had mooncakes, drinks and played games

4 lovely ladies...

Quite a large group of us...more people came later on :P including Maxy!

Baked Cheesecake

2007-09-24T23:23:00.000+10:00

Inspired by a muffin cook book I saw lying around...I decided to temporarily change my focus from main courses to desserts...specifically baked cheesecakes! (armed with my trusty muffin tray which I had just bought for my 'project'). Here is the result!

Something which I packed for Lil and her mum (one of my fans ;)

Got strawberries as decorations

A success! I can now make cheesecake (good practice for any pot lucks coming up :P) it was delicious if I do say so myself...not too sweet and not like those 'pure' white type of cheesecakes that you can get at the shops..its more akin to those Japanese type cheesecakes that is light and fluffy and not too sweet :)

Best Vietnamese Pork Rolls (in Sydney)

2007-09-21T20:19:00.000+10:00

Last Sunday, we went to pick up Leo from the airport (yes he is coming back to live and work in Sydney...good times are back again...see my previous posts). Anyway as his flight was at 12.50pm we went with Nicky to Mascot for supposedly the "best Vietnamese Pork Rolls" in Sydney. Here is the evidence of the line waiting outside the modest shop (you can see my Lil waiting in line whilst I take a picture...she is in pink). It was meant to be the best and since we had some time to waste, we gave it a go (at Nicky's suggestion who lives in the area). The price? only $3.50 per roll! great value! and you can also have chicken as well...accompanied with all the salads and vietnamese sauce :P... People who were lined up bought multiples (more than 2) not just singles...even me and Lil bought 3 to share between us (as I wanted to try both the Pork and the Chicken roll). Even the local fire department stops by to buy rolls (lots of them...probably for the whole fire station in Mascot)..no kidding, this fire engine was parked just around the corner from the store. As the sign in the picture above suggests..yupz they bake their own rolls! oh the smell of freshly baked bread, so soft and fresh...just adds to the taste of the rolls...

Lil wanted to ask the firemen whether she could sit inside the truck (we saw one of the firemen who was waiting by the truck, offer a young kid

This is the Pork Roll (unfortunately you cannot see the Pork, but it was substantial and hidden amongst the veges)..trust me...it was really really good! :) May have just found another place where we can pick up a good lunch :P

Mr Chan and Nicky enjoying the Pork Buns... yumm...I am getting hungry just blogging about it...its really that good...all who visit Sydney should line up (its quite fast) and try it (its like the Harris de Wheels Hot Dogs...a must try in Sydney)

Relaxing after lunch :P

Leo's Back

2007-09-21T00:29:00.001+10:00

Yo Yo Yo...guess who is back in S-town?...thats right Mr Chan, the Big L, "Lock up your sisters, daughters, girlfriends, mothers" Chan! Storm!!! aka. Mr Leo Chan (he is probably going to ask me to remove this post soon :P haha). But no the Leo I mentioned to you in previous posts (the guy who helped me tremendously during those very early and miserable months whilst I was first in Sydney...is back!). He didn't enjoy the uni course he was doing and now he is back in S-town working for another bank :P. Oh and I also owe so much to him for actually actively 'forcing' or convincing me to go out and join his vball group (which eventually became my friends) and play vball (which eventually became my sport in Sydney...as you can see :P). So I owe much to Mr Chan (also got to watch him with the ladies... ;) haha). Anyway on Sunday, we went to the airport to pick him up with his stuff...and like any celebrity that arrives, we brought our trusty camera to capture the moments (Nicky also went with us to pick him up) - like Tom Cruise/Brad Pitt arriving...we were the paparazi! haha ...

Mr Chan collecting his stuff

You can see why we call him Storm?? (his arms are called Thunder and Lightning)

Nicky + Leo is reunited!

See the mohawk!

We finally arrive at Nicky's...where Leo was going to be staying for a few days :)

Those bags weight a ton! Lucky thunder and lightning are nearby ;P hahaha

The 3 boys...

Us at Nicky's house :)...all smiles.. and for good reason too! :) All the best Mr Chan!

Tez's Farewell

2007-09-18T19:09:00.000+10:00

It seems to be the season for farewells :( On Saturday, it was our friend, Terrence's farewell. He is going to HK to work and be with his gf (awww....how sweet :P) Wishing him all the best in his new job (as a HK house-husband - cook, clean, look after the kids, knit, play MJ haah)....and we hope he gets use to the 12-14 hour work days :P Here are some photos from a lovely/beautiful/sunny Sydney day (perfect weather)... plus as you can see from the picture above, the location was perfect (Newport Arms hotel - in the Northern Beaches of Sydney).

Sorry for the lack of writing, but there is really nothing much to write about, except to show the company I was with, the weather, the location (always good with a cold beer too as it was a bar). Good weather + Location + Beer + Friends + Purpose = excellent.

Aiwei's Farewell

2007-09-17T20:52:00.000+10:00

Hello Aiwei! :) How is Singapore? Hope you enjoyed yourself whilst in Sydney and had unforgetable memories and experiences of your time working here! Take care and see you back in S'pore sometime :) All the best! (Singapore Chilli Crabs are calling! :P yummm...AMK? ECP?)

The PwC crew in Sydney (except for me!!!)

J Serve!

2007-09-17T19:55:00.000+10:00

Taken at Newcastle Beach on 070907 by Maz.

Newcastle APEC Trip

2007-09-12T23:56:00.000+10:00

Last Friday, thanks to George W Bush and the APEC conference it was declared a public holiday for the Sydney CBD (translation: it was a long weekend because of APEC). So to take advantage of this new found freedom, Maz, Lil, Tez and myself went up to Newcastle to meet up with EZ, Kel and Ronnie. Yupz its another road trip up north :P. We were also going to meet up with the PwC secondees (Wanyi, Gin and Lizi) who were coincidentally also up north for the long weekend :) Lets all give thanks to APEC! haha... Anyway to start the morning off Maz invited us over for a cooked breakfast (thanks Maz!) of salmon omelette, bacon, and toast (yummy). Here is a picture of the 3 cooks in action (actually it was mostly the gals who did all the cooking) haha... We needed the energy for the long drive ahead haha... the weather didn't look too good unfortunately, but that didn't dampen our spirits or optimism for a good day out for this 'unplanned' long weekend. By reason of background to my overseas friends, the Fri was declared a public holiday (see previous blog) by the NSW government because Sydney became Fortress Sydney during that weekend when the APEC leaders were here (closed train stations, closed roads, 1000+ policemen, etc) so it was pretty much a lock down, they even built a 5km 3m high fence around the Opera House (the site of the conference).. ruining a beautiful landmark temporarily :P. So thats the background for why we got a long weekend! Anyway here are some of the picture that we took whilst waiting for breakfast to be ready...
Me making coffee/latte
Lil manning the bacon and fried tomatoes
Maz with her eggs

Tilly (Maz's dog...very cute, but a little fat ;P)

Tilly waiting for food :P

After a huge breakfast, we headed off...thinking it those who were going away for the weekend, would have already left earlier...how wrong we were, it seems that most of Sydney were thinking the same thing (it was such a jam along the freeway leading out of Sydney, we spent about an hour just to travel 15km as per the odometer :P shocking!). Anyway we had lots of time to take photos and chill whilst in the car (Maz was driving the way up). We left at about 11pm...and got to Newcastle at about 1.30pm...an extra hour of driving. The other gals had better luck having left Sydney much earlier :P oh well at least it was a cool and enjoyable drive up. After a couple of hours in the car, we finally reached Newcastle, where we linked up with the rest of the Newcastle people and the PwC gals for lunch (finally).

Us (the PwC secondees...whom you may have recognised as having gone on the Aug ski trip with us...they are very adventurous and good for them! to experience and enjoy Australia whilst they are here) at the 'fish market' area of Newcastle, where we unfortunately arrived too late for Fish & Chips...but had to settle for about 2.5kg of Fresh Tiger Prawns and Chips :P oh well it was late anyway haha... After the 'lunch' we went to Newcastle beach for beach volleyball! haha...yes there are beach volleyball courts in Newcastle, and with it been a weekday (well Newcastle doesn't count as part of the CBD so the APEC holiday doesn't apply to them :P oh well too bad haha)...so we had the whole court to ourselves, played a little 6 v 6...and I think the PwC gals enjoyed themselves ;) (my friends all enjoy volleyball anyway and play regularly). So anyway here are some photos from the beach...

See how deserted the beach was? (just glad that the weather is much much better than before and the sun finally came out...) too bad we weren't in our beach gear :P (as every1 was expecting rain haha). Anyway after the volleyball game, we all went for coffee + drink in one of the more happening streets of Newcastle (I forgot the name of it...I know it starts with a "D") where all the shops and cafes are (a bit like a Subiaco, or Bondi)

After coffee and a good long chat...we went for dinner at a Thai place

Still not done with Newcastle, we still went for Salsa class at the University of Newcastle (ahhh..being a uni student again and mixing it with the 'younger' kids..haha). In the end, since I learnt Salsa, I ended up being sorta like the teacher to some of my friends (only teaching them basic stuff...like single turns) hahah...ahhh good fun, and I also learnt very basic Merigue which is very cool, especially since I had a willing partner in Lil ;) who danced with me :)

After a hard night of dancing haha...we headed back to Sydney :) tired but happy having known we didn't waste our free public holiday thanks to APEC!

Oscillate Wildly

2007-09-11T21:25:00.000+10:00

Last Saturday, due to a prior family arrangement, Lil, myself, Maz and JB went to a very popular fine dining place in Newtown (it was so popular that there is a 2-3 month waiting list if you wanted to eat on a Saturday night). So it was through our "good fortune" that we were called in to replace Maz's parents at Oscillate Wildly (yes I know its a strange name :P). I guess the reason for the popularity of the place is that they offered a 3 course (entree, main and dessert) for only $55 (which by Sydney fine dining standards is an absolute steal)...not to mention the food was also of top fine dining standard...evidenced by the fact that it was only recently offered one chef's hat in the latest Sydney Good Food Guide (meaning that it is going to raise its prices soon due to the higher standard of cooking that it now is certified to have :P). Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo of the menu hence my description of what we each ate is pretty simplistic. Well I will let the picture tell the story :P haha... So anyway here are some of the pictures taken from that night :)
Me and Lil

Our other 2 dinner companions...

Potatoe salad (side dish)
Lamb Entree
Grilled Octopus
Scallops with goat cheese
Veal consome
Barramundi with Lobster bisque (foamed)

Pork Belly Venison Snapper Apricot cake with Pumpkin ice-cream

Chocolate fondant with honey ice-cream

A group photo of us at dessert. The 3 "gangsters" (in an allyway on our way to the car)

After dinner, we went to watch the movie 'Ratatouille' (spelling?)...an excellent show, that was co-incidentally about...fine dining! ahhh...inspired by Remy! you can imagine the feeling we had whilst watching the show having just come from a fine dining resturant....its a unique sort of feeling and pretty much enhanced the an already excellent movie. It was a nice ending to an excellent night of fine dining and chatting with friends (with plenty of laughter thrown in...) *we were imitating each other with sayings or phrases that we always used, but never noticed :P haha...

Excellent Volleyball Pics

2007-09-07T00:15:00.001+10:00

Hi All,
Last Monday, one of my volleyball team-mate's friend Wayne came to our game with his trusty SLR...here are some excellent shots from the game :)

Those legs are mine :)...I remember that "kill" (spike) well

Shut down..

Focused

Spike off the block = kill.

Geoff at the block

Geoff and Fiona

Ahhh good times and good memories...cannot wait for next season to start again :)

Snipers on Roof

2007-09-06T10:43:00.000+10:00

A picture tells a thousand words...

So is this Iraq, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka? No...its the place of the 2000 Olympic Games...Sydney! Yes here are some pictures (unverified) taken of a roof top of one of the buildings near the Opera House (the site of this year's APEC conference). Hmmm...so if you are walking around the CBD on the weekend (crazy?) have a look up and you might just see someone looking down :P

Q's Birthday

2007-09-06T00:46:00.000+10:00

Last Saturday, the gang went down to Circular Quay (where the Sydney Opera House is) to celebrate Quyhn's birthday (she is 25?). The party was pretty tame by Sydney standards...just some quiet drinks amongst friends (randoms) of Q's and ourselves. We, meaning myself, Lil, Maz, Ez, Jono, Nicky and BP (not the usual crew that I usually go out with...so it was good for a change to see and talk to different people)...know what I mean? I mean its not often Jono and Ez go out. We all met at Spice I Am for their famous basil and spicy pork belly (yummmm..) and other Thai curries...then headed off to the famous Circular Quay for coffee and to also waste some time with the camera whilst waiting for the party to start :). So anyway here are some photos we took of the night (sorry got nothing much to write about...it was quite a normal night for me and the gang)

Lil and her best friend Maz with the Harbour Bridge as the background.

The famous Opera House at night

Maz with the Harbour Bridge

Look! there is a palm tree growing out of my head! haha... immature I know :P

Don't need to fight over me...errr...Ez and Lil haha...

Is it a bird?, is it a plane? no we are looking for the snipers on the rooftops (APEC conference)

Don't need to fight over me :P

Star gazing...together.

Ruined a good photo :P

I cannot believe the stuff that is coming out of Ez's mouth...

Maz with a flat white.

BP getting his fair share of attention :P

Hey I need my massage too! haha

Nicky getting in on the action...

The only photo with the birthday gal (in green)

Lil and Ez

An intelligent conversation :P The Shawshankers!

Poor Lori :P haha

The boy band leaving the building... I like BP's actions

We left the 'party' at about 3am...went to Maz's place where Ez put his physio skills to good use and gave massages (BP...thoroughly enjoyed it haha)...can see that Ez is a true professional. We also had instant noodles + spam (delicious after a long night out of drinking and clubbing haha...ok ... well not much clubbing but drinking then)

Resturant Assiette

2007-08-30T22:46:00.000+10:00

Last Friday, we went to a nice fine dining resturant ... Assiette @ Surry Hills. It was our 6 month aniversary... so I decided to surprise Lil and take her out to a nice fine dining restruant. Assiette was recommended by one of my work colleagues (yes I did do some research). Anyway that night it was raining, but thankfully it did substantially lessen when we arrived at the location and we were greeted by this non-discript signage...which hid this very quaint resturant... other than the food, the pricing was pretty reasonable - we chose to go for the 10 course (yes that is ten courses!) for $90 per person (that is absolutely excellent value for Sydney fine dining :). The atmosphere was nice and quiet...exacdtly how it should be for that special dinner. Yes and being Asian, I had to also bring my camera along...here are the pictures
the smallish resturant where all the wonderful creations you are about to see are created...small staff...individually created dishes cooked to order :) The menu for the degustation course was

So here is what we had that night...
1. Seasonal Oyster with Vietnamese dressing and baby coriander - quiet an ok starter dish, the vietnamese dressing (whatever that is) put an interesting flavour to the oyster.
2. Smoked salmon terrine with picked cucumber, beetroot sorbet and beetroot caviar - the best part about this dish was the beetroot sorbet... have u ever tasted beetroot ice-cream? sounds gross doesn't it...but actually there is quite a unique and refreshing flavour...certainly bodes well with the saltyness of the salmon
3. Cured venison loin with waldorf salad, walnut puree and fresh summer truffles - very well cured venison (deer meat) could really taste the venison

Lil seemed to enjoy this one :)

4. Seared scallops with cauliflower puree, cauliflower beignets and Pedro Ximinez

5. Pancetta wrapped prawn with crab and lobster risotto - one of my favourites, and the lobster risotto was soaked in lobster flavour...like a bisque but the risotto standard

Myself enjoying every inch of the prawn :)

6. Roasted fillet of barramundi with parsnip, sauce matelote, smoked eel cromeski and horseradish - liked the eel a lot...flavour was very strong...contrast to the soft simple barramundi

7. Mushroom powdered veal fillet with gnocchi, asparagus, veal sweetbreads and crepe foam - at last meat!

8. Selected cheese (blue) with honeyed walnuts

9. Vanilla pannacotta with strawberry jelly and strawberry and mint salad

10. Chocolate tart with truffle and honey ice cream - I loved this dessert, this is where you really needed the ice-cream and its unique honey taste to actually combine with the richness of the chocolate tart. Its like very very strong dark chocolate and only the ice-cream makes it a great combination of sweetness but at differing ends of the scale :P

So that was the end of a good night for us...the meal took about 2-2.5 hours...pretty good considering it was for 10 courses and the resturant was fully packed. It gets my recommendation, next up another challenge!

Lamb Shanks

2007-08-30T00:34:00.001+10:00

Another 5 star resturant?? No...it was cooked by ME! for Lil on Wednesday night :) after over 2 hours of cooking...the above is what you get...Lambshanks! (ie. the leg part of the lamb) so delicious and flavoursome with red wine and rosemary jus, baked rosemary potatoe and buttered corn on the cob...stewed for over 2 hrs till the meat literally fell off the bone :P yum yum...(can see the heat of the shanks). Till my next 'project' haha...think I will try a dessert :P

Thredbo 07

2007-08-26T01:20:00.000+10:00

Ok...its another snowboarding trip to the snow (final one) :P only this time its with 10 other people including my dear Lil...and its to Thredbo (another ski field in NSW) rather than Perisher. The people who went this time are: Me, Lil, PT, Jo (a new couple), Mich, Yish, Joey, Iva, Wanyi, Gin, and Lizi...yup you got it right...there are 9 girls going and only 2 guys :P needless to say this was going to be a slow slow trip... The photo on the right shows the traditional photo before the road trip outside a truck stop on the way to Canberra on Friday night (we went to the snow on the weekend of 18 and 19 August). So anyway here is what we did...please refer to slide show below and youtube video in previous post for the details :) So here we are at the snow store where we are renting our snowboards and skis, you can see PT and Joey (background) in the picture. Can you see the massive amount of cool snowboards there...sigh...so many different designs...so tempted to get myself my own snowboard haha...
Here is a picture of us with my trusty Sapien snowboard (the same one...the 1 with the Lion design...soooo cool) which is the one I borrowed last time...I instantly saw that when in the shop :)
We spent one night in Canberra...to rest from the long long drive up from Sydney. We left Canberra at 5am to head for the snow shop to hire our gear and then headed off to the accomodation place to drop off some luggage. Then it was off to Thredbo! Here is the plan (warning...complicated :P), we were to meet up with Iva and Joey in Canberra and drive down together. We were also to meet Mich, Yish and Lizi at Berridale (as they drove up from Melbourne...a 7-8 hr drive..respect!). Anyway like all plans...they often don't go to plan..haha...due to some adventures by the Melbourne people (let them tell it to you and how they ran out of fuel in Thredbo) we arrived kinda late at the snowfields, but oh well it was still pretty good snowboarding and skiing :P Here is a picture of Gin and Wanyi looking fresh and awake and read to ski the day away. I was also looking forward to the day, not only because I was going to be snowboarding with Lil but also because I was going to catch up with Suey and Tina (yes you guys got a mention on my blog as promised..haha)! These are friends from Perth who are up in NSW for a dental "conference" (tax deductible of course) grrrr....
Me with Suey and Tina (its been ages since I last saw them...and I am going back to Perth for their wedding in Dec!! can't wait!)
My Lil coming down Merrits (snow run)...she is pretty good and steady...we pretty much explored all the slopes and she is about the same standard as myself so she was an excellent companion! :)
Lil doing an advertisement for 'Burton' snowboards haha...don't know what sort of ad it is tho haha
Us at the bottom of Eagles Nest (which you can somewhat see in the background)...one of the highest peaks on the mountain :)
us doing the traditional snow pose haha...

The pictures above shows the breathtaking speed my Lil is travelling haha! :)
For those who have gone snowboarding or skied before...they would know that after the event you are just so so hungry. Like the first hardcore snowtrip, I booked a table at the pub type resturant next door. The picture on the left shows the entire group + Anthony and some of his work colleagues (who joined us for dinner since they were also in the same accomodation place and had gone to Perisher for the weekend). We were all soooo hungry and just ravenous for hot food :) Anyway it was a pretty decent feed...and here are some pictures

The pictures above show what we had for dinner...a gourmet beef pie and some lamb shanks yumm! (doesn't beat the Tyranosaurus Rex Ribs I had last time...because the previous owners went out of business :P haha) Good tucker! After a very filling dinner we all went back to our rooms.... to play drinking games! haha...good times good times and quite fun times with all the various games (poor Mich! haha). It was good to be surrounded by the familiar sounds of Singlish, Mandarin and just general Singaporean accents (for once its Lil that is outnumbered haha). Tired, full, we headed back to our own rooms...for a good nights sleep
The next morning (the final day :( ) we headed off again for the snowfields (now its relatively quite 'late' in the season...so as you can see from the above picture, there was actually grass and sun shining....compare it with my previous post and the amount of powder present as compared to this one haha...
We met up with Suey and Tina again for lunch at the highest cafe in the Southern Hemisphere...Eagles Nest! A picture of us at the cafe having a coffee (we are at the snow! we should be snowboarding...haha) As you can see from the apparantly warm weather...winter is nearly over :P no more snowfalls fo now...
Here is a picture of Mich (on her bum...) haha... she was very brave ...always keep getting up and going down the slope no matter how many times she fell...respect Mich...and well done for completing that final run and managing to stop without falling down! its quite an achievement for a first timer! haha Another pic
A picture of the 3 new PwC secondees (guess who they are out of the 4 on the chairlift behind us) haha...
My Lil ready to go!

Now unfortunately, all good things must come to an end...and it did for this season's snow trip ... we all left the fields early to beat the traffic and head off in out seperate directions :) Overall a very fun trip and looking forward to it next winter haha...

Lilian snowboarding @ Thredbo

2007-08-21T20:27:00.000+10:00

Watch this space for my update on the latest trip to Thredbo...with my Lil, PT, Jo and the gals from PwC Singapore (ie. secondees) including those from Melbourne (ah Mich and Yish!). Here is a video of Lil going down the "Walkabout" run in Thredbo (she is in the middle of the picture) going nice and slow...and didn't fall...so proud :)

I have still got it (haha)

2007-08-17T00:04:00.000+10:00

Sorry for the lack of regular updates, but I have been busy with...work work work (and oh yeah also got to co-ordinate another large ski trip to Thredbo this weekend :P...11 people coming from Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra!!!). So let me begin by describing my weekend (not the most exciting of weekends :P). My weekend actually started on Friday night when I met up with the gang for farewell drinks at James Squire, this was for JY who was leaving to work in the UK (very exciting). Unfortunately, I don't have pictures, but they will be up soon, once I get them off my friends. The next morning...Lil and myself met up with Mich and the rest of the PwC gang (including the 3 new secondees from Singapore) for brunch at the Sydney Fish Markets. Now no matter how many times I have eaten here...it doesn't get boring, in fact my selections is always the same :P haha...still fresh and delicious. Mich, is visiting from Melbourne (actually she is on an audit job here in Sydney)

Are you looking at those oysters, prawns and sushimi Yish??? haha...that is just some of the things we ate at the Fish market

Fish market sign

Finally saw Maxy, Eugene, Aiwei, HY and Haz (have not seen them for a long long time) good to catch up :)

After the fish markets, we seperated (Lil and myself) from the main group whilst the rest went to play some golf. We went shopping in the city, its been a long time since we went shopping together, and Lil did pick up some pretty good bargains ;) as I noticed all girls tend to do...haha. Anyway we were on our way back to the car when we stumbled upon a lovely little shop selling....cupcakes! all different sorts, honeycomb, lemon meriange, strawberry, etc (its a little expensive tho @ $3.50 per cupcake) but the they just look so good and fresh that Lil and myself just couldn't resist getting a couple to share for afternoon tea! :) the variety was just awesome and I don't know if its the cupcakes or the lighting in the place, but they all just looked so decadent and smelt terrific...yum yum...quite a gem of a find :)

A small sample of what is available...

Honey-comb and Lemon meriange cupcakes

Lil is just waiting...to eat :P haha...

That night, on my recommendation....we all met at Ryo's Noodles for those delicious ramen (as mentioned in my previous blog). Here are some pictures of us all enjoying that ramen with the thick stock (yum...just writing about this..makes me feel hungry for ramen now haha)

After Ryo's we went to a nearby cafe for coffee (the weather was not too cold and it was good atmosphere). Both Maxy, Eugene and Mich were very funny and enjoyed talking rubbish (Lil couldn't stop laughing) haha... We went back home to sleep pretty early because the following morning I had...

The Sun Herald City-to-Surf! Yes this is an annual event and this year it was completely packed...so packed that organisers had to reject late applicants. In total there was over 60,000 participants all running/walking the 14 km from Sydney CBD to Bondi Beach...I ran the entire way (proud to say...hey I have not been doing any running for ages so to get up and just start runnign 14km is an effort :P)...my time is about 85-90mins...which was pretty much my goal :P now you can just imagine what would happen if I trained a little hehe... Felt such a sense of accomplishment after the run and you get that good feeling after a long and tiring workout. Little did I know that the pain and cramps would come later (usually a result of using muscles that has not been used for sooooo long :P) haha...

Later in the afternoon, we went to have coffee with Maz and JY, this was to give him the going away presents we had gotten for him (he is going to UK to work and leaving Maz in Aust...at least until March 08)...

JY and Maz reading our "husband" card that we got for him ;)

One of the 'presents' (humourous) we got for him...notice the resemblence ;) haha

the 'real' present that we got for JY (see that smile?) so that he remembers his aussie roots and knows which team to support in the world cup (rugby) haha...

After a tearful (by the gals) goodbye and hug to JY (only played tennis and basketball with him once in the time I have known him) we bid our goodbyes (for the time being)...then as part of our socialising weekend, we went to meet Leo (who is also here as a visitor from Melbourne) for dinner...at Roso Pomodello somewhere near Balmain :P delicious gourmet pizzas (see doublecooked website in link on right for pictures and description ;)

Chewy and Leo

Thumbs up ....

Lil enjoying the Nutella pizza...at least a bottle of nutella went into that pizza....so deliciously sweet and sinful...just look at that hazelnut jam

Nutella pizza ... unforgetable

3 deserts - gelato, tiramisu, boulee?

The group of us...

So after all that, tired and very full (and very sore still from the C2S) the weekend was finally over :( sadly...now onto the next adventure!

Good Neighbour 2006 Video

2007-08-15T07:48:00.000+10:00

Hi All, here is a video of last years good neighbour tournament (volleyball) that I went to with the rest of the team. Watch it and enjoy. Its pretty good memories and lots of familiar faces :)

Friday Drinks

2007-08-08T20:50:00.000+10:00

Having some office drinks and hot food with colleagues...chill time @ the firm :)

Ryo's Noodles

2007-08-08T20:04:00.001+10:00

We have just been introduced to a new ramen place...that would put such places such as Ramenkan to shame! :P Yes I am serious...this place absolutely sells the best Ramen in Sydney (East Coast of Australia, Australia, place other than Japan???) and believe me the accolades are well deserved. Its this small ramen place in Crows Nest and everything on the walls (ie. menus) is in Japanese :P. It seems to be a very small scale operation, with a small staff levels. Ok besides the original decor and the authentic atmosphere ...what is truely amazing is the Ramen...specifically the stock. I don't know what they do, but have you ever had soup thats soooo thick that you actually have to ask them to 'water it down' a little just so you could drink it. No its not like jelly or stiff or anything...but its just thick with flavour and very solid. Must have been cooking over hours with lots of TLC :)...Just FYI, I had the pork miso ramen, and Lil, JY, Maz had the spicy ramen...they also have chicken flavoured ramen. They do have rice dishes, but it is for the Ramen that people come here for. I have been told that they only make a limited amount per day, and once its finished..thats it...closed. Can be at 7pm, 8pm or 9pm...once its gone its over for the day. Here are the rest of the pictures from that night...

Decor

Spicy Ramen - hot & spicy :)

Pork Ramen...I don't know if you can see it from the picture but can you see the "browness" of the stock??? trust me...this was very thick. Oh and they also are not stingy with their ingredients (ie. in places like Ramenkan and Ichiban Boshi where they give you 1 piece of meat...here its quite substantial) Yum!

Our dinner companions...

Us :)

Fantasy Premier League

2007-07-30T23:27:00.000+10:00

Hi All,

In light of the upcoming EPL season, I have created a private fantasy league within http://fantasy.premierleague.com/
(called: 'PowerofEstoppel' league)

Simply, go to the site, register (Free), set up a fantasy team (team name, uniform, etc), pick your players out of a set budget (anyone...Lampard, Distin, Robinson, etc). Then go to the 'Leagues' selection, and join a private league...Enter the code: 286929-84211

Its lots of fun and sure to keep you entertained weekly after every game, and you can transfer your players around to compete just amongst ourselves! Points are awarded for factors such as goals, assists, saves, bonus points, etc

You have until the start of the EPL season (11 Aug) to register and get started, because after that you will be behind everyone else who may have already registered

--> Please pass this onto anyone else you know who is interested in the EPL and playing the fantasy premier league.

Happy Playing...

Fish Market

2007-07-29T20:36:00.001+10:00

Today, Lil and myself went to the Sydney Fish Markets with JY and Maz. This was after our epic tennis game the night before, when we all suddenly felt the need for fresh oysters, salmon sushimi, kingfish sushimi, calamari and of course...fresh tiger prawns (yum yum!). Having already blog about this sort of experience (won't bore you all too much, except to say that the day was perfect and the food excellent..as usual :P), I decided to focus my attention on taking some random 'artistic' (ok...attempt at artistic) photos using the serpia setting on my camera *this was also due to the fact that Maz and JY were about 40 mins late so whilst saving a seat..needed something to do :P haha...enjoy your weekend!

The boats being moored by the harbour...

Lil looking for Maz and JY

Me....just thinking about where are they??? I am hungry!! haha

Mother and son sitting by the grass waiting

Those poor fish

Fresh tigers!

Me and JY

Lil and Maz...best of friends : )

Wimbleton 2

2007-07-29T09:38:00.000+10:00

We just finished our annual Liberty Grove Open :P between Maz + JY v Me + Lil. It was an epic contest that was tightly contested. In the end, it was held to be a draw between the competing couples :) haha...but it was good to have a run and some exercise in winter ;P

Perisher Weekend

2007-07-25T19:37:00.000+10:00

Last weekend, Dorothy, Jo, Pete and myself went on a 'hardcore' snowboarding and skiing weekend @ Perisher Blue. The snow is exceptionally good in Australia this year (very strange) and well it just proved too irresistible to the snow hounds like us :). The picture on the left shows us in the traditional pre-road trip pose in front of Pete's 4WD. The plan was that we were to leave on Friday night, drive to Berridale (about 4 hrs away) stay overnight there, then drive to Perisher (another hour away) on Saturday morning. We would then ski/board on Sat and Sunday and leave on Sunday evening and head back to Sydney. That is the hardcoreness of it all haha :). Here are some of the pictures from the trip...

The two lovely ladies seating behind with our gear that we picked up in Cooma

This was what we saw on the drive to Perisher...can you see the snow (even before we reached the snow fields..told you it was good ;) haha...

Finally we reach Perisher Blue resort!

The traditional pose with our boards and skis in the car park (can see a similar one in my prev post in July 2006)

The 4 of us on the chairlifts.

Me near Gunnedah with my board...just look at all that snow! I literally sank in! haha...nice and soft...

The setting sun on the slopes means its time to go home (but not before another run down!)

Our accomodation was simple and basic, but comfortable and warm. Thanks to the gals (whom brought alcohol hehe) we played some drinking games during the night and had pizza for dinner. Plus there was a tv in the room and I managed to catch my WC Eagles game (which they won). Tired, Full, Sore and a little drunk, but happy we all slept very well till the next day when we headed back to the ski fields...

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end...and we had to leave at the end of the day for the long drive back up to Sydney. Tired but happy...it was a good weekend and the snow was everything that I'd expected. Will be back next month, so watch out for my next post! :)

Netrix Weekend in Bilpin

2007-07-24T00:19:00.000+10:00

Sorry for the lateness of this post :P. Last weekend (13-15 Jul), it was the winter version of the traditional Netrix volleyball weekend away. From my previous post, we went to Culberra beach for a fun filled weekend of beach volleyball almost everyday. This time it was a winter 'bushwalking' type of stay at this lovely bed and breakfast which we rented out in its entirety (as there was a total of 18 of us going! with 2 dogs). It being winter, it was very cold especially the nights but there was a log fire every night and good food/snacks thanks to the girls. Please refer to the slide show below and comments for the summary of the trip :P. Here are some of the photos of what we did, especially the group photos :) A roaring log fire was a definite essential on the trip...lots of sleeping was done too due to the weather.

After arriving on Fri night, setting up the various air mattresses (there were 18 of us after all...so needed extra beds), playing with the dogs, and sleeping...we set off for our bushwalking later on Sat afternoon (breakfast of bacon, eggs and blue berry pancakes was provided as part of the home stay ;)

Here is a picture of the group of us (including Noodle and Charcoal - the cutest dogs ever) and the two kids. Another shot of us...
After a very 'exhausting' bushwalk (we walked for about 2 hrs...didn't really see much of nature) we went back to the house for dinner. Which the gals kindly prepared for us ;) haha...see the amount of food for the night! There was a griller inside the house so we had lots of BBQ meat.. ahhh nothing beats a good BBQ when the weather is cold, and thanks to Fiona for bringing the aged (tenderised) meat from her workplace ;)
Nothing beats a cold beer during and after a hot BBQ steak! Cheers to all!!! After dinner, we played some team building games...

There was also a surprise for me after dinner and the games...and that was...it was also a surprise birthday party for myself and one of the young gals (Winona)
You can see what was going to happen :P haha...me and the Birthday gal...little cutie!
At last the proper cake and candles!
The group of us with the birthday boy and gal ;)
Me with my 'birthday' present(s) ;)
The next day we stayed on in the house just doing nothing but snacking, talking and playing with the dogs (at least the kids were). Just chillin on a Sunday afternoon with a log fire going and surrounded by friends. It has been a good weekend for me and Lil and it was sad that the next day was a Monday :( and it was back to work. A great effort by Karen and JLo for being the organising committee behind it all and it was such a big success. Cannot wait for the next Netrix trip (this time in the summer) when its back to the warmth, babes in bikinis, beach and beach vball again! haha...cannot wait :P good times good times...

My first Court Appearance

2007-07-17T15:30:00.001+10:00

Today is the day at 2.45pm was when I went to Court (by myself) and stood before a Registrar (something like a lower level judge but with almost all the powers of a judge except the power of arrest) to consent to some orders being made. Ok, I won't exaggerate and say that it was a complicated or hard case, it was really quite simple. But there is no doubting the nervousness I felt and the anxiety that was there as this was my first actual court appearance! There are court procedures to follow (such as bowing to the court, where to sit, when to stand, how to address the Registrar, etc) and I only learnt about them this week :P in theory but never in practice. Nervous times, nervous times (especially since I have heard horror stories about some registrars telling people off and scolding young inexperienced lawyers like myself for not following proper procedure or protocol :() Thankfully, that didn't happen to me (most of the talking was done by the solicitor on the other side...haha) and court was adjourned :) Another priceless experience and it won't be my last court appearance :P haha

Krispy Kreme turns 70!

2007-07-17T11:12:00.000+10:00

My 2nd "Present"

2007-07-13T15:44:00.000+10:00

Its finally here! Yeah :) I am now mobile in Sydney!

My Birthday

2007-07-12T20:39:00.000+10:00

On Wednesday, it was my birthday (thank you for all your well wishes my friends). Another birthday right?! NO! it was the most memorable and fantastic birthdays I have ever had :)!!! No exaggeration. Have never felt so spoilt and loved before...all orchestrated by my dear Lil :). My birthday actually started a day earlier, where on Tues I had an unexpected surprise @ work... And inside this box... Cupcakes!!! all freshly made (I shared it around with my office colleagues and could proudly tell them who gave them to me!) and very light and fresh...each of the 'symbols' or decorations at the top of the cupcakes symbolises what sort of cupcake it is...eg. the carrot = carrot cupcake, green = choc mint cupcake, etc. Delicious! Thinking that was enough surprises for a day that wasn't even my birthday...when I got home...
A Chinese feast! (Oysters, Peeled Prawns, Roast Pork, Peking Duck, Veges...and Marissa even bought Sharks Fin Soup home!!!)
There was so much food! and it was the type of food you would eat at a 5 star hotel or resturant. My dear Lil and Maz both organised this one, and we all (including Ant, Marissa and JB) had a good times just relaxing and feasting on the feast prepared!
The chefs and the assitant :P
JY even made an appearance at my place :). Thinking that that was it and that tomorrow (Wed) when its my actual birthday there would be nothing much on except for dinner with Lil...I was wrong....
Yup...my dear also delivered birthday baloons to my work, now everyone knew it was my birthday (which was her idea :P haha)
New decorations for my office :)
Surrounded by balloons!
Us :).
Such a (very) unexpected surprise :P...it really made me very happy and was looking forward to dinner just with Lil that night. Thinking we were going to someplace simple....I was again very wrong. We went to Astral @ Star City (menu: http://www.astralrestaurant.com.au/menus/Tasting.pdf) where we had a very very (I mean very expensive degestation menu...ie tasting menu where you could try the best of everything). Here is what we had (with description) according to the menu...

THE CHEF’S CANAPE

CAULIFLOWER velouté with QLD scallop
FLIGHT OF SEAFOOD oyster with yuzu & hazelnut emulsion, Petrossian caviar, tuna tartare

SCAMPI tartare, grain mustard, macadamia nut, cherry

CRAB tortellini, vichy carrots, carrot air
DUCK confit duck cigar, roast autumn fruits & vegetables
ROCK LOBSTER tartine, white onion purée
WAGYU BEEF watercress & potato purée, garlic & pernod butter, bone marrow custard,’Jerez’ jus

CHEESE Brillat Savarin
APPLE 3 WAYS smoking pre dessert
PEANUT BUTTER & jelly ice cream sandwich

Tea, coffee & handmade petits fours

A truely gastronomical experience (was so full after all that) with my taste buds being assaulted by the myraid of flavours, textures and taste. My favourite was the Wagyu beef (which is the best best and most expensive forms of beef money can buy...as the cows are treated like kings so as they can produce the best meat...no rib eyes here!) accompanied with the bone marrow (bet you have never tasted a well cooked bone marrow dish right...well this was really divine..can really tell that its bone marrow, but it was just so delicious! :). Another memorable experience was that I actually got to taste real caviar! I don't know much about the types of caviar and whether 'Petrossian' caviar was the best...but it didn't matter...it was my first time and the taste was well not what I would have thought of mere 'fish eggs' (sturgeon to be precise). It was served with a quail egg and a mother of pearl spoon (something other than metal or silver because that would react with the caviar and hence ruin the taste..as we were informed by the waitress)..the spoon is at the bottom left of the picture. The taste..well it was like a super fish ball...just explodes with fish flavour once in your mouth...but is not overpowering and make ur mouth smell of fish. Its hard to describe..but its definitely something I can get use to hhaaha...

Me and my caviar! Lil and her lobster and truffle (which is one of the rarest fungus available...hence like caviar..very expensive!). Now it was also interesting eating the truffle...couldn't really say much about it except that it had a unique taste (its cut into very thin slices because of its rarity and costs :P).

The pictures above do not do justice to the food we had (apologies, but I didn't bring my camera with me...see how much of a surprise it was!..and had to resort to using my hp camera :P). The view (of Darling Harbour and Sydney City skyline)was also very picturesque and really did set the mood. It was a fantastic birthday celebrations (and Lil also had a couple of presents for me too :) and I feel so spoilt :P and it was unforgetable, especially for the company :).

Thank you Lil!!! You have really made my special day...truely special and showered with attention and affection. Looking forward to next year (and your birthday!) haha...

2007-07-10T12:14:00.001+10:00

I am looking at a large volume of documents relating to a case in Singapore...there is so much familiar names there..Admiralty Road, Woodlands Ring Road, etc (where some of the companies are located)...even my PwC building at Cross St is mentioned numerous times ;) Sigh...all this familiarity = homesickness? oh well...soon I hope to be back :)

Sydney Swans v Fremantle Dockers

2007-07-08T22:30:00.000+10:00

Today, we went to watch a football game with a group of friends...the Swans v Dockers at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). Yes, in case you were wondering...it was cold, and raining (typical Sydney winter weather :P). I was supporting the Dockers (usually I am a West Coast Eagles fan...but since the Dockers were from W.Australia and the Swans are the Swans...I supported the Dockers :P). Here are some of the photos for the day

And the result? Well unfortunately, the Dockers played like the weather...crap! They lost by 28 points (oh well what to expect from the Dockers). Fortunately, I placed a bet against the Dockers, so at least I was compensated in the monetary sense :) Got something out of it haha... next time ;)

Melbourne Boys come to Town

2007-07-07T17:31:00.000+10:00

WARNING: Lock up your sisters, gfs, mothers (and yes I think every female in Sydney)!!! Because the Melbourne Boys have come to town!!! Leo, Wally, Yiken, Allan, and Tristan have invaded Sydney! ;)* This was the warning that was flying around various office emails on (last) Fri afternoon when the boyz from Melb came. Actually Leo came a little earlier to visit all the 'famous' and memorable (eating) places around Sydney, with the boys coming on Fri for a weekend of partying...and party we did haha... Please refer to the slide show below for the photos taken of the entire weekend. In brief, this is what happened for that weekend :)...
Played volleyball on Thurs :)
After the game (this was the game the week before our grand finals)...we headed off to the famous RamenKan Japanese resturant...a really hidden 'hole in the wall' resturant, selling the best tasting ramen in Sydney (in our opinion), of course haha...

On Fri, when the Melb boys came, we went to the Privilege bar... where it was happy hour (5-9pm) and all drinks are only $3!!!! Yes it was time to drink cheaply and have fun...

After drinking it up at Privilege, and a quick dinner, we started off bar hoping haha... One of the more popular bars in Sydney, is Marble Bar

At Marble Bar, we met up with JY and some friends...amongst the packed crowd :) the Sydney night club scene is only so small haha...

After a very very late wake-up, we all met together at the famous 'Spice I am' a popular Thai eatery in Surry Hills. This place is pretty good and the food pretty authentic (and spicy as the name suggests haha)...excellent food and highly recommended. Specifically it is famous for...

Pork Belly...delicious...and slighly spicy :) a little fatty tho, but then again...all things good are always very unhealthy (sigh)

We even had time that lazy Saturday afternoon to watch Transformers....a good movie (Lil didn't enjoy it as she thought it was such a guy movie :P...geez...women! its transformers!!!) More than meets the Eye! ;)

After the movie, we all met up for some fine dining at a Sydney resturant (Forveaux)...the food was quite good...but nothing spectacular :P here are some of the pictures of what we had and the people...

After that excellent dinner (it was one of those where you were surrounded by good friends, wine, good food, good conversation and laughs :) we headed off to Hotel Chambers for another clubbing night! (it was my second night in a row :P since Fri)

Championship Volleyball!

2007-07-06T00:52:00.000+10:00

We are the champions!!! Yes, after a long and hard season, we (team Ramen) have won the A Grade volleyball finals at UTS :). It was not without difficulty however, with our opponents winning the first 2 sets (25-22, 25-18) in the best of 5 sets. However, to our credit and determination (and a magical game from Bart) we won the next 3 sets (18-25, 20-25 and 11-15)!!! Our prize? A keg of beer...haha...victory never tasted so good ;)
Cheers to Ramen! and this is for you Leo (Number 83 lived up to its reputation)! wish you were here :P

My friend's team also won their finals (B-grade 1) so it was good news for everyone..haha :)

Ant's Birthday

2007-07-05T00:54:00.000+10:00

On 4 July (Wednesday), it was Ant's birthday! Its easy to remember his birthday because he is 1 week older than me :). Our celebrations was a simple affair of just us (his room-mates and gfs), a cake and presents (need I say more haha). Anyway other than the birthday boy himself, the cake is the most interesting (its a Philippine type of cake, made by JB's mother in Queensland and was hand carried over to Sydney by JB on Mon)...its called something like "Boombie" or "Boodie" cake (looks like tapioca cake). Refer to the pictures below. The taste was unique and so was the texture (very solid I must say...) but overall very delicious! At the end of the cake, we all had very blue teeth...haha

The best part of course, is the opening of the presents...here is the birthday boy surrounded by his two helpers carrying the presents he got...hope he likes it and find it useful (practicality :P).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANTHONY!!!!

Wonders of Photoshop magic

2007-07-04T23:10:00.000+10:00

With the magic of photoshop and patience (thanks to Lil)..can you spot the difference between the two photos? (hint: focus on me ;) haha...

Random Lunch Pic

2007-07-03T09:48:00.000+10:00

The above two pictures are just random pics taken after volleyball training on Sunday. Leo: you didn't get to go to our traditional vietnamese place for lunch :(. See that pork chop rice with egg and broken rice that PT has..yummm...and the Beef Pho...hmmm....quite a large turnout and a relaxing day to unwind after a couple of hours of training

The B****s Mobile

2007-07-03T09:46:00.000+10:00

My friend just got a new car, this was her license plate...

She didn't realise it until after she got it home :P haha...you can now guess what her nickname is now ;)

Dinner Setting

2007-06-25T23:40:00.000+10:00

What do you think about this photo? the lighting, placement of dishes and cups, atmosphere?? ;)

Hurricanes (Inside this time...)

2007-06-25T22:24:00.000+10:00

Saturday, was the day. It was the day when finally I get to go inside Hurricanes to eat their famous ribs. Previously, due to immense popularity (see previous previous posts where we had to settle for the take-away ribs), bookings were impossible to get. However this time, thanks to the foresight of Maz, we booked early (this was for a party of 4 people...which would be almost impossible to get)...I am not exaggerating! :P she called up the resturant on Monday for a Saturday night booking...and the only time available was: 6pm...wow...I mean usually if you call any regular-good resturant at the start of the week, you would expect you would get prime dinner times (7-8pm) ;P but seriously, we only had 6pm available (its a horror to book for 4+ people...need at least a month in advance~). The reason for the long waiting list to get in (and popularity) is...

Look at those humoungous ribs!!! the plate is oval...and the ribs just huge...I ordered a baked potatoe (which you can see above the plate) and can be used as a scale to see the size of the ribs. Whilst we were eating, there was always a queue at the door, and the waiters/waitress are always ushering people out (so that the tables are freed). We only had an hour an a half (yes a time limit is given :P...luckily the food came out quickly) to eat :P and it was tough...with my stomach sooo full of meat! :P

Bibs are needed...obviously for the girls :P hahahaha....
Ok, so I need 1 too :P haha...

Look at that meat falling off the bone...and there was a lots of it :P ohhh...and with glazed with that sweet sauce...heavenly!
Maz is slowly picking through it...
Lil is enjoying it (Maz and Lil shared 1 rack...and still can't finish it)
JY and myself, before eating...looking neat and clean
The gals...looking very distinct :P

My Poster...

2007-06-19T21:18:00.000+10:00

After about a month of playing around with photoshop and my photo collection, I have sent off and today received from the printers...my collage poster of my experiences from 2004-2007. Although you may not be able to see it clearly...its quite large when printed (50x70cm) and now sits proudly in my room :) Mission accomplished!

Retail Therapy...

2007-06-19T00:04:00.000+10:00

Nothing much happened last weekend, except that on Fri Lil cooked for me...

'Bangers' (Sausage - we chose Chorizo sausages...nice and spicy!) & Mash with corn, mushrooms and peas covered with onion gravy :) delicious! Kudos goes all to Lil, she did this all herself whilst I showered, surfed the net, watched tv, haha...

Quiche - Lil made this using the leftover Chorizo sausages and it was for my lunch the following day (since I was stuck at home studying :( )...again another success! JB and myself ate very well for our lunch that Saturday.

On Sunday, we went to the city to do some shopping, my first ever shopping 'spree' (haha) in Sydney...don't want to look at my credit card statement for nxt month :P. The items purchased:

1) Lacoste formal shoes - for the fine dining and clubbing experiences (I thought it was time for an upgrade of my current shoe selections);

2) Puma casual shoes - something that I can wear with my jeans instead of my sports shoe :P at least its looks more 'formal' and classy haha;

3) Columbia Titanium Soft-shell jacket - for the impending snow holiday/trip and the cold & wet Sydney winter coming up (this was something I have always had my eye on ;)

Different Sides of the same story..

2007-06-15T11:25:00.000+10:00

Something happened on the train this morning on my way to work which I thought I should recount.
I was waiting at the train platform waiting for my train when this 'bum' walked past. Now I say 'bum' because he certainly did look like 1 :P...very old looking clothes, not groomed, had a face like it was no stranger to alcohol, old, didn't looked like he showered recently (you get my meaning). Anyway, this being Sydney I was weary of him as he ambled past me (thinking he might ask me for money or something like that), but nothing happened and the train came. We boarded, he was in the same carriage as me (and I was still being weary of him and held my backpack close to me). He sat down in the seat facing me, and there was already this asian lady there (maybe Korean or Jap) looking very prim and proper. You should have seen the speed in which that lady just got up and walked to another carriage (even tho the seat she was sitting on had more than enough space for 3 people). At that moment I thought (of the lady): Geez...could you have made it anymore obvious?! and poor guy (yes I did feel sorry for him, as its not a nice feeling when you know that total strangers cannot bear to sit near you, and would rather try to find a seat elsewhere on a busy train - coz of your appearance when you have done nothing wrong). Now I can honestly say that if I was in that lady's shoes (and he sat next to me), I wouldn't have just gotten up and sat somewhere else (coz maybe I am a guy I suppose), but I would have definitely kept a tighter hold of my bag (not too obvious of course).
During the short 10 min train ride, I had time to observe him (as he was sitting directly opposite me) and also noted that no one sat next to him (although there were 2 perfectly good seats on either side of him) male or females who boarded...they'd rather stand :P. He didn't cause any trouble and I felt sorry for this old man as he looked quite harmless and lonely (thats my impression from my observation). Anyway what happened next was quite touching and really highlighted the mindset of some people especially the Aussies. There was this lady who sat next to me, who was bringing her young daughter (maybe 5-7yo) to school...she got up and asked the old man about his foot (he had a bandage on a hole in his shoe - hence the reason for his ambling along) and with her daughter (who standing with her), she asked if he had money to go to see a doctor for his foot...then without any response, she gave him money and left the train at her stop :P. Felt touched by this mother's generosity and kindness...she had her young daughter with her..and being a mother you know how protective they can get...but yet she still approached this guy and wanted to know his well-being :)
At the next stop, the old man got up to go to the entrance...and because of his foot (I assume) he nearly fell over..there was this Aussie guy in a suit next to me and he sprang forward and assisted this old man (not like old old, but kinda elderly) off the train :P awww...
I am just hoping he uses the money the mother gave him for food, accomodation, or medicine :P
Two different ways of thinking and two different sides...

Now if that old man was in Singapore (or any other Asian country)...would anyone have approached him and offered him help?? hmmm...

Snow Season @ Rhodes

2007-06-15T10:46:00.000+10:00

Last night on a spur of the moment decision (after my game of volleyball...so had plenty of energy and adrenaline still running), I decided to take out all my snowboarding gear (I'd also bought a pair of new Columbia gloves today :P) from the suitcase and put it on. Since I had already gotten my jacket out I thought I'd might as well take out the ski pants, beanie and goggles as well (Sydney is very very cold now especially at my place...) and put them all on. I even got my room-mate, JB to get his gear as well and put it on too (he must have thought I was crazy with nothing to do...well he still did it...ha...thanks to my powers of persuasion!). So to remember that memorable event (rather silly 1 tho :P haha) we posed for a photo, and I am now posting that on my blog ;) *Sigh...cannot wait for snow season to start and the snow trip(s) in August.
By request: here is a similar photo taken almost a year ago when the Perth boys came up for a hardcore snowboarding weekend from Perth :) Similar story...

then we kept back our gear :P

Nice Pic

2007-06-15T10:38:00.000+10:00

Am so happy that things worked out in the end :)

I miss Melbourne...

2007-06-12T14:55:00.000+10:00

I am back from my Melbourne long weekend. What an adventure and experience! and definitely such a more happier trip than last time I was in Melbourne :) back in Aug last year(due to other circumstances not related to Melbourne :P) and this time I went with friends and met up with friends (Melbournians) who were locals there :). Plus we also rented a car for the long weekend so mobility wasn't a problem (and had TomTom...so neither one of us needed to read maps...). Although Melbourne streets (especially city centre) is a little confusing with the tram lines, hook turns and numerous roads that deviate everywhere...So happy :) Here are some of the highlights of the trip...Special mention: the weather. For the entire 3 days of the trip...there was no rain (only cold days and nights...but at least its dry), and for Melbourne that is totally unheard of haha...so we were lucky (in Sydney...it was flooding!). I did take tons of photos, so take a look at the slide show (with captions) at the bottom of this post

Fri night

Went to watch my AFL team...the West Coast Eagles v Essendon Bombers. Along the way had supposedly (according to Lil) the best chips in Melbourne..."Lord of the Fries" (now I can hear Mich groan about this haha...) but its quite decent (probably due to the fries uniqueness and the different sauces that came with it) :) and not bad...Now unlike my previous posts...this time, the Eagles lost by 1 point :( so sad...especially since I went with 8 friends whom were mostly all Essendon supporters and really gave me s#it after the game (see the pure arrogance of Ess supporters haha). Other than that to watch footie in Victoria is always an enjoyable experience as Victorians are much more passionate than Sydney supporters :P. Lord of the Fries Perfect for a cold Melb night!

Oh well...the result didn't go my way, but at least it was a good night and we all had fun, and after the game we then went to one of the clubs in Melbourne (music was good, plenty of Asian chixs around, atmosphere was nice) unfortunately, Lil and myself weren't dressed for clubbing (we were in our Eagles jerseys) and we had to give it a miss after a drink or too :P. We went back to our serviced apartment at Southbank for instant noodles + canned steak and mushrooms (delicious considering the cold cold cold weather)

The Crowd

Saturday
This was the day when we were supposed to pick up Alicia from the airport (she flew a day later than us) and go shopping. However, due to the all-powerful ceramic gods...Lish missed her flight because she 'drank' too much the night/morning before :P (suspect that her drink may have been spiked as she is usually a good drinker :P..gotta becareful especially if you are female) (Does that bring back memories Mich?? :P haha is it me? but that is 2 trips in a row now when another party has missed their flight :P). So she had to purchase another flight to Melb since the missed flight was non-refundable :( now that is dedication! Having woken up especially early (hard considering the night before) to fetch Lish from the airport, we both went back for a quick nap. Later that morning we caught up with Cindy at a nice breakfast place in Fitzroy, called Madam Sousou...this place's decor was distinctively French. Quite nice and relaxed, and can definitely see all the 'beautiful' Melbourne people around haha... Corn Fritter Sausage Omellete 3 of Us Decor of Mdm SouSou

Chillin... Looking forward...

After breakfast, we went to the airport to pick up Lish, it was about 1pm then so the day was passing by very quickly. My original plan was to pick up Lish at the airport in the morning, then go the the city for our only day of concentrated shopping, however due to the missed flight, we had to settle for a concentrated couple of hours of Melbourne shopping (shops closed at 5pm). Shopping was sooo good :P sigh, bought a pair of Ben Sherman jeans (picked out by Lil...good spotting/taste Lil!) @ 40% sale discount!!! bargain! fits well and looks casual hehe...with winter coming will definitely be wearing more jeans :P. Lil didn't get anything as she was accompanying me whilst Lish went and hit $500 + worth of shopping in an hour!!! Amazing! that girl can really shop..haha. And of course what shopping in Melbourne is not complete without a stop-over at the famous Koko Black...for a dark hot chocolate (believe me, it really helps with the cold cold Melbourne weather)...ohh....so deliciously rich...melted chocolate (not powder!)...puts all the other 'hot chocolates' to shame really :P.

At KB, Lish bought about $130+ worth of chocolates! luckily they were for friends back in Sydney...yes they are that good!

Poor DQ :P Us outside KB Yummm.. KB Hot Chocolate

Tired and hungry we headed back and picked up Mich and Leo and headed for our 10 course Lebanese fine dining @ Ablas! (chosen by Leo...well done!) The food was ok and it was an interesting experience to have experienced the full Lebanese culture and I have never eaten sooo much lamb before (we must have eaten at least an entire lamb that night...seriously.). Price was pretty reasonable too...$45 for the 10 courses - but it felt sooo much more and the servings were huge (warning: should only attempt this if you have big eaters or have a very strong craving for lamb..haha). Please refer to slide show below for more pictures of Ablas and the rest of the trip...

After a very full dinner, Mich went back to pack for her bro's arrival and the rest of us went to Wally's apartment to pick-up the rest of the guys for a night of clubbing! Yes finally get to experience the Melbourne clubbing experience of which I have heard much about :) Went to a Club called the Boulevard. There were tons of people (mostly Asian I saw), and they were all looking cool and pretty (so we fitted in perfectly ;_ haha). Leo booked a table and a bottle of (cheap) vodka...danced (with Lil of course :P) and drank some-more :). We ended the night at about 3am, got back and had instant noodles *delicious*...slept at 4...A fun night!

Cold!!! Brave Girls..

Sunday

We woke up (with a slight headache for myself :P) pretty early that morning, had McD breafast and went to meet Mich and her bro and friend for the road trip up Mornington Peninsula. We stopped by a place called the Church (literally this use to be a church) for lunch and then went to a vineyard for tasting :P (Mornington has numerous wineyards in the region much like Hunter Valley :P). However, after one wineyard, the gals decided to head back to Melbourne city for more shopping (and Lil to get some flat shoes for the partying tonight :P - a priority).
Again we found ourselves in Melbourne city again, this time with about an hour worth of concentrated shoppint, the gals went their own ways (to find their girly things :P) and I went my own way to find my own things :P (I wasn't successful as really nothing caught my eye :P). Despite the limited time, the gals still managed to buy stuff! amazing...it was pretty much see and buy (and Lil did manage to get her shoes). We even had time to have a sit-down hot chocolate/ice-coffee/chocolate affocato @ Koko Black!!! yeah couldn't resist it :P. We went home and had time for a quick 1 hour rest before going out to meet Leo and Wally for dinner and clubbing/bar-hopping.

For dinner we went to eat at Mirkas @ Tolano Hotel in St Kilda. Now this use to be owned by a 'famous' Aussie TV chef (like Jamie Oliver) however, he lost the resturant due to some legal dispute (thats when we lawyers come in! haha). Anyway a picture speaks a thousand words, and the food was absolutely delicious! (watch for reviews on the d0ublecooked blog soon! - Leo). I had the Ox Fillet with chips (not Ox tail, but an entire chucky Ox fillet...never had it before and it was a little different to beef and more tender...yumm!). We ordered Oysters, Mains, Desert, a bottle of red wine, and Coffee and each only paid about $70 pp...good value considering its a Melb fine-dining resturant and we had wine :) Oysters Ox Fillet with Fries Pork Cutlet ChateauBriand

Later that night, we picked up Yiken and went to explore the Melbourne alleyways...or more specifically the 'hidden' bars (this is also something that Melb is famous for) am so glad we went with Melb locals otherwise would never have found the place and stuck to the mainstream (sucky) local places. We went to 2 bars (since it was a sunday night and most bars would have been closed) Essentially these places didn't let me down...exactly as I imagined, hidden away, with comfy chill out chairs and sofas, a wide assortment of alcohol and capable bar staff, good/unique decor, good chillin music at a good volume, plenty of beautiful people (which the boys seem to know personally...this is Melb after all and I suppose the bar scene is pretty small :P). Let the pictures tell the story...

Enter a door in an alleyway..

Monday

Ahh...:*( our last final hours in Melbourne. We were supposed to check-out at 10am, but due to our activities the night before (and other nights ;) we woke up at 10.30am! luckily managed to secure a late checkout - 11am, woke up Lish...didn't get a chance to do my hair properly (which explains the funky new hair-do I am sporting :P in these pictures) haha...thankfully we packed the night before :P. We then headed out to Waverley (in the suburbs) to meet up with Leo and the rest of the boys for Yum-cha (as all Melb city yum cha sux and is overpriced!!!) at their local place. We got a little lost (no fault of TomTom :P) but eventually managed to pick up Mr Chan and meet the rest of the guys at their Yum-cha resturant. Being a public holiday, it appeared that all the Asians in the Waverley area wanted Yum-Cha at that place (its an Asian area I am told)...so that is always a good sign. Not having had breakfast (due to our quick departure from Melb city) we were all starving... The food didn't disappoint and as I am told by Lil and Lish (being the independent Yum-cha experts) it was quite good!

Sadly, after lunch we all had to depart our separate ways, with Yiken giving a fond "farewell, this is not goodbye only see you later" speech on behalf of the Melb boys that really tugged our heart strings :*) haha... We said our thanks and goodbyes to Leo and the rest of the boys, promising to catch-up and continue the dining/party/clubbing when they came to Sydney at the end of the month :) haha...Party is On! its Sydney's turn now...

Drove to the airport (tired and exhausted) and caught the plane back to Sydney...

Thank you to all who made this trip possible, and sooo much fun fun fun!!! A totally memorable experience! Looking forward to my next trip to Melb in the near future (for longer this time...)

Balmain Weekend

2007-06-07T10:29:00.000+10:00

On Saturday, Lil took me to Balmain for breakfast (it was her idea :) where they apparantly served the best potatoe hash browns around :). The place was Balmain Town Hall (the pictures above show the inside of it...very errr...publike look, but it was clean and neat). We sat upstairs over looking the road. Our purpose...yes you can see it in the picture on the left (that roundish fried thing...is the potato hash brown). Now unfortunately, according to Lil, it has changed as it use to be much nicer, now having never tried the original one...this one tasted quite nice. Lil had the vegetable big breakfast (with nice mushrooms, eggs, tomatoe, hash brown, chutney and spinache!), whilst I had the super big breakfast (see photo below) with bacon, eggs, tomatoe, sausage, hash brown, chutney and bread...yummm

After a very filling breakfast, we decided to walk around Balmain (since I have never been to it before but have heard of it..its well known for its numerous cafes and eating places). The atmosphere is very relaxed and I cannot describe it but it felt very Bondi like...meaning the 'locals' you see there have that certain 'air' about them (nothing bad or anything...just feels different from other Sydney suburbs). Oh and there were tons of people walking their dogs too...we spent about an hour walking around and looking the shops (good for digestion) and saw no less than 20 dogs. These weren't ugly dogs (hence the reference to Bondi) too...all the very very cute terriers, poodles, other cute breeds. Needless to say, Lil stopped at almost every opportunity to admire the dogs and reiterate the need to get a cute dog :P (which I again stated that I won't look after..haha)
Whilst walking we stumbled upon Balmain markets, which is just a small set-up with numerous small stalls selling all sorts of home-made, second-hand, etc trinkets and other items. Just had a wonder thru there (you can see Lil's head at the bottom of the picture ;)
One of the many 'residents' of Balmain, they are all very well behaved also (in addition to being cute)...must have gone to some private dog school as a prerequisite for living in Balmain. We saw quite a few dogs just left outside the cafe/bar/resturant without a leash...and they are like so well behaved...just don't bark or chase after anyone :) haha...nothing much happened after we walked along the main street of Balmain, just chilled thats all :P
Later that night I played a 3 hr game of volleyball :) a nice way to end an uneventful Saturday :)

The next day, I went for volleyball training at Marrickville with the Netrix crew...it was our biggest turnout yet...about 12 people and thankfully instead of doing any actual training...we played volleyball games (since we had enough people for 2 teams) it was all fun fun fun...if only all trainings could be like that haha :)

As usual for lunch (do you remember Leo?) we went to the 'traditional' Vietnamese resturant which served some pretty delicious foods...

Fried Chicken + Tomatoe Rice
Pork Chop + Broken Rice + Shredded Pork
PT and myself (eagerly waiting for the food..so hungry :P)

Gab, Jul and Franco
After Lunch, I started training Lil on the basics of volleyball (as instructed by Maz..haha)...she's pretty decent for a first-timer (hey even I am a first-timer and really in no position to coach haha...maybe you could give us some pointers Leo!). You should see the bruises on Lil's arm...a sure sign of a beginner (luckily I told her to wear a long sleeved shirt to at least absorb the impact on her arms :). Anyway, after volleyball lessons 2, we met up with Bradley (actually he called me to help him carry some stuff...muscle power!) at Ikea. Bradley was looking for a new study table and chair (and help in the assembly of it...although I think on that point we offered to go back with him to help him with the assembly haha). Here is a picture of him (with the cute Ikea yellow bag looking at the pots and pans there :) haha. After some deliberation between both Lilian and Bradley we decided on a suitable table and colour for his room (I was recommending the baby pink coloured chair) so that it stood out...but he went for the dull wooden coloured chair :P) Wouldn't you agree, that in a normal bedroom, a hot/baby pink chair would standout and be something different?? haha...* I don't know...maybe I am just entering a phase where the colours can be outrageous and just not 'blend' in with the rest of the furniture :P haha...better not let me decorate your house!
What'cha looking at???
After a fantastic assembly effort by the 3 of us..we headed off to Ashfield for some steamboat with Maz and Terrence. Now the last time I had ma la (spelling?) was in Singapore and thankfully there is still this sort of steamboat in Sydney (to ragtaggers: I cannot wait to come back to Singapore possibly in Dec and eat this sort of thing at Bugis!).
This is the after picture (I was too hungry and didn't really have time to take the before picture with all the ingredients for the steamboat - but there was quite a lot :P) Just look at that deadly red colour of the chilli type soup, the other half was the beef one and after our meal...the soup was absolutely delicious and flavoursome with all the previous ingredients having been cooked in it. An excellent stock!

Full + Contentment = Happy :)

Please see below for the slide show:

Watch out for updates on my Melbourne trip soon :)

New Office

2007-06-07T10:23:00.000+10:00

On Monday, I changed (switched) offices with another solicitor (because she had run out of room in her office - and I had plenty of that :P)...previously I was in the middle of the building only looking out onto the work floor. Now my view is...

You can just see my reflection in the glass window :P. Now I get to watch a couple of free soccer games everyday at about lunchtime (because the field that you see there in front of the brown building is actually a soccer field! teams play everyday). Directly behind me is the Opera House and Sydney harbour. Very relaxing and surreal to just look out on a sunny day at the people, cars, boats all moving about :)

Graduate Interviews

2007-06-01T15:07:00.000+10:00

Ok as an add on to my previous post regarding graduate CV reviewing, this week I have been involved in taking part in graduate interviews. Haha...I find it funny that its less than 6 months when I was in the "hot seat" answering questions about my life, CV, future direction, etc that I am now in a position where my input would have a bearing on some young (21-22 yo) lawyer's career. Ah ha...finally I get to be the one who asks the "so what where your most challenging moments, or what are your 3 strengths and weaknesses" (typical interview questions which I have always hated). Surprisingly however, EE's interviews was much more relaxed and was like a discussion about the candidate's CV and acomplishments. Having taken part in 3 interviews this week, I would have to say that a candidate's first impression on us is important as well as his/her demeanour. The strange thing is that the candidate I interviewed today, finished high school in 1986! (ie. he was a mature age student...) so it was like totally weird having to ask this guy questions (when he finished highschool whilst I was only 7 yo). It was a good experience and difficult decisions have to be made :)

Nothing much

2007-05-30T10:02:00.000+10:00

Nothing much has been happening lately for me to update it in my blog...think its now the quiet season for me just before heading off to Melbourne next weekend (which is a long weekend) ;). I guess you could say that it has settled down now into normal'cy (at least until my next adventure)...cannot really remember what I did last week (it was gone so fast and all a blur ;)...know I played volleyball on Saturday night, hmmmm....oh yeah watched almost the entire season 5 of 24 (thanks to Lil who was content just to keep me company and hang around the house), played some basketball at my place...

oh yeah! had dinner with Lil and her family at this Chinese resturant (had Singapore chilli crabs) in Kingsford...quality wise it wasn't that good (I should have known better :P) and the crabs were small and average...the mung tao was good tho with the sauce. However, just wait till I bring Lil to Jumbo seafood at ECP in Singapore later this year...haha...then I will show her what the real Singapore chilli crab should taste like :)

Other than meeting her family, playing sport and watching tv-series on my computer, that was pretty much it for the weekend. No plans yet for this coming weekend (except been called into play volleyball on Sat night again with training on Sunday morning)...see where that takes us :P haha