I want to ride my bicycle ...Queen

In my quest to lead a somewhat healthy lifestyle in between the work, and the travel and the what's-so-not, I have started doing some evening routine.
It is still a WIP at this point - power walking or cycling. Quite pleased with myself today 11km's.
If only it actually becomes more of a habit rather than a chore. :)

Sydney, NSW - Mamak!!

Have been in Sydney for the past few days *work trip naturally* and to satisfy the cravings of some local cravings at Mamak. Some of the items on our menu - Sambal kangkung, Mee goreng, satay ayam

And for dessert - roti bom!

We also ordered 2 X teh o'ais limau and ayam goreng.

The things we do when we miss good local food....

An off away we go...

It has been close to a month since my last blog update and I do admit, I had WIFI access but blogging on an iPad is nearly close to impossible! Furthermore, it was pretty much go-go-go all the way so the last thing on my mind was blogging. Alas - reality hits and am back to the reality. 2nd day back to work and it is as if I have never left on a near 5 week break. Where did I go? Well, it was an awesome trip that took me across 3 continents and 6 countries. Destination 1 - Vancouver via LA.

The actual destination itself was Whistler, BC. Reason - snow activities i.e snowboarding. Problem was, as we landed in YVR - we heard our names paged on the intercom and was informed that even though we made it on flight, our baggage didn't! It was stopped in LAX by the TSA for random checks and was coming on a later flight which arrives at 5pm. It was 130pm. Thing was, as we were heading to Whistler - the next trip up to Whistler was at midnight - and with no spare warmer clothes, we were sooo screwed. But persevered we did and arrived at Whistler at 5 pm (caught the 230 bus up) and after a quick bite, waited for our bags and our adventures began.

We snagged ourselves some upgrades which meant we ditched cattle class and went slightly up-market to Premium Economy. It was simply a blast flying on Premium Economy with Qantas (this is not a paid post btw); you sit on the UPPER DECK of the A380 - *score*. The cherry on top of the cake was that we had the exit row seats which meant - plenty of leg room and the ease of roaming around without interrupting anyone :)

I could get used to this - and the flight starts with free beer/bubbly! We even got mistaken as newlyweds :))

View of LA as we head into LAX before rushing to catch the next leg to Vancouver (YVR)

People on the upper deck get away with heaps! We took the opportunity to walk down to Economy ~ I've always wanted to walk up onto the upper decks but on these A380's - the airports actually have their walkways set so that it brings you directly upstairs...

Flight path - nearly there - well, somewhat - 14 hr flight - and at this point we had 6 hrs 50 mins left. There is only as much movies and reading one can do before you start getting bored.

On our Air Alaska flight to YVR. Isnt that such a gorgeous view from above?

And fast forwarding to Day 1 - taking 1 of the gondola's up Whistler :)

From my kitchen .. Fruit mince pie pt 11

Well, this is the continuation from my kitchen escapades and making fruit pies from scratch.

I did not take too many pics of making the dough as I don't have a food processor at home hence it was a lot of hard work to kneed it to the correct consistency.

In short though, it was quite fun (and I made a lot of mess!)..




Things required for pastry - 4 cups plain flour, white sugar to sprinkle, 2 egg yolks, 1/2 cup icing sugar mix, 300 g chilled butter (chopped)

Place flour, icing sugar and butter and and process until it starts looking like bread crumbs. You then add in the egg yolks, a few drops of water until the dough starts coming together.

Roll dough on non stick baking paper and flour. Cut pastry into round disc and place on pan, prick base with fork.

(My first attempt of pastry -made it wayyy too thick so all it tasted was pastry - attempt FAIL)

I didn't have a pastry cutter so used a 1 cup measuring cup instead ;)

Top with mince filling from Pt 1, I didn't top the pies with pastry disc, instead opting for lines (less work). Sprinkle with white sugar and place in a preheated 180' oven for 30-35 mins.

Ok - this is the finished product. I must say, I quite liked it even though I did leave it in the oven for a bit longer. I will take it out after 20 mins in my fan oven. Overall, am quite pleased with my 1st attempt. I do know that I will be adding more rum the next time.. :)

From my kitchen .. Fruit mince pie pt 1

Since it is close to Christmas and all, BF has been having this massive thing for fruit mince pies "Like mum used to make" .. maybe its an English thing, maybe as it is still rather chilly in Melbourne?

Since I do have this extra time on my hands, I decided to keep my man happy and instead of using the premix mince filling and store bought tart, do the whole hop and make one from scratch! I did cut corners somewhat with the fruit mix tho, instead of buying individual items, I used fruit mix which is essentially the same thing but with bits of lemon in it.

Recipe to follow with pt2, but in the meantime...


Step 1 - Dice fruit (currants, sultanas, glazed cherries, cored and peeled Granny Smith apple)

Step 2 - Mix following ingredients with diced fruit (brown sugar, breakfast marmalade, rum or brandy *I used dark rum*)

Step 3 - Let the well mixed fruit soak for 2 days....

to be continued...

Playing tourist VIC - Tesselaar Tulip Festival

Well I haven't been blogging as I have been too busy - BUSY PLAYING TOURIST!!
Lol, the problem with living someplace is that we tend to get lazy and go with the usual phrase " I'll do it next time, it is not going to run away". Unfortunately, that is not true. Seasons change, ppl change, heck, there might be a mishap * touch wood* and where does that leave us? Regrets.

I have decided that I will not take life for granted, I WILL go and try new things, I WILL go and DO new stuff ~ however mundane, trivial or silly ~ it is all for fun. After all, I am not getting younger by the day.

As such, after years of putting it off - this year Mel and I played tourist and headed to the annual tulip festival in Silvan, VIC. It runs for around 4 weeks and this yr it was on September 16th to October 17th 2010. There is a cover of $18 (Concession $15, Under 16 free). There is usually a theme run to go with the week and when we went it was the Irish Week!

The trip itself was gorgeous as Silvan is on the foot of the Dandenong ranges so it is green, leafy and calming. Silvan itself is well known for its nurseries and fruit farms so I did enjoy my mini road trip.

Will leave with pics till the next playing tourist series :)

Lunch?

I must say, my blog really hasn't any specific direction when it comes to contents. It is neither a food blog, fashion or travel specific is it?

Random musings and updates sounds more like it..

Today's update is that - I had Char Kuey Teow for lunch ..leftovers from last night. :)

Falls Creek, VIC *Fun Trip* - Sept 2010

After all of the stress at work, we (BF & I and 2 mates) decided to do a weekend away and catch the last bits of snow for this season.

With the recent spate of rain (and the recent road closure due to floods), things could have been quite dicey if it wasn't for the very gorgeous *unexpected* weather over the weekend.

Not to say that there wasn't much drama involved. The drive Friday evening was marred somewhat at Mt Beauty. We were on a 4WD and seeing that we were staying overnight, needed alpine fuel in order to not get diesel freeze up. Getting there at 8pm - all of the service stations *yes, all 2 of em* were SHUT! OMG! On a Friday night! During school holiday times! We weren't the only ones stranded there however, there were 3 other groups also contemplating where to go. After some investigations, we had to traipse back to Bright that added another 1 1/2 hrs our trip, so by 1030pm, you had 4 very tired and very grumpy travellers.

It was all well worth it though, the next day turned out simply lovely. And we decided not to rush, took it easy and - well, will let the pictures speak for itself.

All pics taken from my Nokia phone hence the low quality.

My weekend?

I am too busy playing Wii to blog... hehehhehe....

Blog ..What Blog?

I know that I am not hacked out to become a blogger..

A dedicated blogger thinks of what is to be blogged next.

A dedicated blogger updates on a VERY regular basis.

A dedicated blogger takes pictures at every opportunity just show it "perks up" the blog.

No - I am not a dedicated blogger. :)

p/s: I am doing this while watching a pre-recorded episode of Gossip Girl as I do not have time to watch my fav shows when it is actually being aired :p

MTV's The City

I am in love love LOVE with the City.. and especially with Erin Kaplan who is the Director of PR for Elle magazine ~ and all of this at 26 yrs!

I am in awe.. she might be portrayed as a complete b**ch on the show but you can see that she is the only one has any sense of professionalism and work ethics. Yes, I KNOW its a TV show but hell, its a dog eat dog world innit?

Who cares about Olivia Palermo - its all about Erin!

Food cravings - Ayam Masak Merah (Red Cooked Chicken)

1. Pre cooked chicken that had been marinated in tumeric and salt

2. Simmering sauce so the sauce thickens..


3. Adding in the pre-cooked chicken

4. Adding in additional onions for the crunchy feel.

So I have been having cravings for Malaysian food recently and seeing that you cant get true blue Malaysian food unless one cooks it yourself, I decided to bite the bullet and try my own version of ayam masak merah. Admittingly, my original choice was to make ayam padprik but I didnt have the right ingredients in the pantry so opted for Plan B instead.

Ok - so here was what was in ...

INGREDIENTS :

Chicken - I used chicken breast cut into pieces but chicken thigh would do too (skinless)
2 tbsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp salt
Cooking oil - I used olive oil
1 cup red onions chopped
2 tbsp ginger grated
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 can tomato puree
½-1 cup or to taste chili paste - I had some packet sambal sauce but have since got sambal olek
3 tbsp chili sauce (or as to taste)
1 cup tomato ketchup - I used Heinz
2 tbsp dark sweet soy sauce - Kicap pekat
1 large onion, cut into rings
½ tbsp sugar
salt to taste
2 cups water
3-4 kaffir lime leaves

How to cook:

Coat chicken pieces with turmeric powder and salt - keep aside for 1/2 hr
Heat wok, add oil to fry chicken. Fry chicken in batches till light golden brown, drain and set.
Pour off all but 4 tbsp of oil, add red onions, ginger, garlic, stir-fry a few seconds, add chili paste and stir-fry 1-2 mins
Add chili sauce, tomato puree, tomato ketchup, dark sweet soy sauce, sugar and salt to taste. Then stir-fry 1 min
Add kaffir lime leaves, 2 cups water, bring to a rapid boil, immediately reduce heat to med, simmer uncovered 10 mins
Add chicken, stir well to coat evenly with sauce
Bring to a boil again, then reduce heat to low, cover, simmer slowly for about 25-35 mins
Add onion rings, simmer 3-5 mins, onions rings should have a slight crunch
Serve with rice

Walla!!

Bride thoughts

Seeing that I have less than a month left - hmmm.... I think if I was to have a Bridezilla moment - it would have happened a long time ago.

As of yet - no dramas yet! (my parents aka the wedding planners would beg to differ however)

Ring around a rosie

I am so sad..

Lol - well, maybe not "sad" in the truest sense of word but my blog- world pretty much revolves around:

1. My work trips
2. My holidays a.k.a travels
3. Everyday reflections

Anyone who reads this (for the 3 random readers who pop by occasionally) would think that I don't do much with life!

Putting on my dancing shoes

I went out with a fellow migrant mate and her boy on Sat and over hot pot and drinks, we were discussing how lazy things have been since moving here to Melbourne.

Perhaps it is the lifestyle thing where most everything shuts down at 5pm and all you want to do is go home and veg (or head to gym for those who are keen). I can still remember the energy I had back in KL - after heading to gym after work, then head out for dinner and only be home at around 11pm or so - and this is done nightly! An age thing? Hmm.. I dunno - I still FEEL young, not too much creaky bones yet - its just sheer laziness I reckon.

Well, things will change - I have been wanting to take up some fun energetic activity and apart from the body combat class at gym on Thurs nights, the Tues pub poker night, and the start on the golf lessons on Sat mornings - hopefully this would get my ass into gear and out of the slump of being a coach potato on weekdays.

Does anyone want to take up Ceroc classes on Wed? Its at Smith St, Fitzroy. The more the merrier hey!

Holiday snaps - Japan 2009

Just figured its time for me to upload some of my favourite snaps from last months snow bound trip in Japan.

We opted out of Tokyo this time around, seeing that we spent the yr before in the city. Moreover, some of our mates kept raving about the excellent ski conditions in Japan and BF was simply itching to try it out esp as the snow conditions here are rather more icy than powdery most times.

As we only had a week to spare, we decided to stick to the main island of Honshu rather than go up to Hokkaido which would have mean at least another wasted day. After weighing our options, the destination was Hakuba which was in the location of the 1998 Winter Olympics.

I'll get into the details of how and what we did over there but in the meantime - my snaps are below!

Me doing my "thang"

After a bruising week, we decided to take a day trip to relax and we went to Matsumoto. This is the main tourist attraction and the Matsumoto Castle also known as "Crow Castle" due to its dark exterior.



Snow all around seeing that we had a gala choice of 12 ski resorts to pick!

Imagine waking up to this every morning.Yes - this was the view from our bedroom - we stayed in a B & B which was a lot more personal.

Mt Fuji - that towers over Tokyo scape - as taken from the bullet train (shinkansen) on the way to Nagano.

Beating the heat wave

Konnichiwa!

Yeah, its my last night here in Hakuba and despite the falling overs and the numerous black and blues all over my legs - this getaway has not only been fun but a blessing in disguise! The over 40'C heatwave that hit Melbourne this week... well - we beat it lol!

More details and pics when we head back to Melbourne.

Barcelona, Spain

I'm going here! So excited, tickets have been booked and paid for and all its awaiting are the departure dates and I am off!

Side note: It has always been my dream to go to Spain someday. It was suppose to be with my girls last yr but somehow or another, it did not work out. After all, trying to organise 4 ppl from 3 countries to meet in another country ain't easy. BF remembering my disappointment from last yr suggested a side trip to Barcelona whilst we are in England and I jumped at the opp.. :)

Also planning to go for a Barca match at Nou Camp.

Winter wonderland - VIC snowfields Aug 2008

I'll let the pics do the talking this time. No action shots but as am going up to the snowfields again this weekend, will try to snap some.