All things Green

From Weeks 29-???

So recently, I visited a vegetarian yum cha restaurant recommended by J.L, my dear high school friend. In my mind, I was thinking... could this place be better than the one at Newtown? To be honest, I love vegetarian food, but never actually could be bothered to have it. They don't seem quite so worth it on the menu in restaurants, and I don't like paying for salads. Maybe it's because my aunt has a farm and we get fresh organic vegetables from her for free. Maybe it's because veggies really don't cost as much as meat, or the fact that most restaurants don't wash their salads before dishing them out to customers #fact.

SPEC: making Gyoza

For the whole week since I started watching Keizoku II: SPEC (Japanese drama with Toda Erika in it, if that means anything to you at all), I've been on an endless craving for gyoza. I've already arranged to have some on Monday with tt, but for some reason, it couldn't wait.

From Weeks 29-???

Copo cafe crossed off list

Some restaurants improve overtime, like TonTon at Regents Place. Others stay and keep their same level of skills, like Wagamama- always the same overpriced dodgy food, or Gumshara- always the same authentic ramen that's worth it despite the price raise. Then there are those that just goes backwards... like... Copo cafe =(

It's always unfortunate when that happens because it becomes a huge disappointment. I like revisiting places, and I tend to visit places that are reasonably good again, bringing different friends, tt, or even just having a chill out session by myself (and the kindle, of course). When a place is visited for the first time and leaves a good impression, it automatically joins the (mental) list of "place to revisit", where places like Wagamama are banned till further notice.

From Weeks 29-???

Dessert Train- The Star

So previously I mentioned a dessert train set up by Adriano Zumbo, made (in)famous by his appearances in Masterchef and the nightmarish recipes he dished out, including the croquembouche and V6 cake. Having been to his cafe in Balmain before it closed down, and then visiting his new "lab" in Rozelle, I was majorly disappointed. All the tarts were gone by noon, so all they were selling were macaroons. And one of the flavors was blue cheese. Needless to say, that tray of macaroons stayed full.

From The Star, Adriano Zumbo

Now he comes up with The Star, a cake shop and dessert train where you can dine in, located at the newly furbished area of Star casino... I wish they left the name alone, it was fine being called Star City, now they just made it "The Star"... which sounds less extravagant.

Trend: Kindle, Cafe= 幸せ！

Lack of updates despite it being holidays? Blame the kindle. I've got the Song of Ice and Fire series in there, by George R.R. Martin, as well as Murakami's 1Q84 trilogy inside, but I'm only on the third book (out of the 5) and haven't started Murakami yet. Am reading a lot faster though, since it's so convenient to just take out and read anytime. Plus, the battery is lasting amazingly long~ it's been 2 weeks and I haven't had to charge it. Yet.

From Weeks 29-???

Anyway, found this cute cafe called Tom n Toms Coffee. Started from after church, when a group of us went to Top Ryde City Centre, a shopping centre that was opened quite recently at North Ryde.

Coming Soon...

So the other day, I met up with a couple of friends from high school for a random catch up. I've been owing them a catch up session for ages and BT initiated a cake+catchup time, so when asked for places of suggestion, what better place for cake than Adriano Zumbo's new cake shop at "The Star" (terrible renaming of "Star City", they should have just left it alone...)

Interesting thing about Adriano's "The Star" is its concept dubbed the dessert train. Think sushi train, with conveyor belts, plates priced according to colours with transparent caps over them rotating round and round, customers surrounding the belt and picking plates off...

From The Star, Adriano Zumbo

Just a teaser. Post will be coming soon.

Sangria in the Afternoon

Random: I watched the movie "Contagion" and remembered a line which Dr. Sussmann said, "Blogging is not writing, it's just graffiti with punctuation". No doubt, lots of bloggers will take offense with that, some actually do put in lots of work and research, especially those blogging about their profession, what they are passionate about, and offer quite deep insight into the topic itself. Sometimes I wonder about graffiti artists too, there are many "secret" places in Sydney where graffiti artists spray their work and they are amazing pieces of creative artworks.

Blogging can be too I guess... but not this one! :D Anyway, I digress... though anyone who hasn't seen Contagion should really watch it. Outstanding movie, great plot, film score/music... they really knew how to use silence to heighten tension, overall an impressive movie. "In Time" on the other hand... was quite a disappointment.

From Weeks 29-???

Back to food! After the flurry of exams, assignments and work, there's finally time to sit down, edit photos, upload and blog. This is a test of memory, since most of the photos are from weeks back, but it's time to get back into the roll of blogging.

Birthday~

So I actually do feel a bit guilty for not updating this blog. I even missed my birthday, which many of my friends remembered and wished me well, so I shall express my thanks in a post~ =)

From Birthday

So firstly, my family~

Around the bend

Lack of activity in October due to finals... exams, assignments, lots of practices and writing and worrying~

But! It's almost all over~ tonight shall be a tiny post about these:

From Weeks 29-???

I actually forgot about them... they were from the Brisbane markets when I was there for the AMTA conference. I bought a packet of strawberry and a packet of cherry coated in dark chocolate with plans to give them away.

The strawberry packet only had 4 inside.

From Weeks 29-???

And I forgot all about them. When I dug them out from the floor of my room (currently strewed with papers, books, folders and sheet music), they didn't look that great anymore due to those few days of 30+ degrees hot weather, so... since they don't look presentable as gifts anymore, they automatically became my comfort food.

I expected these to taste funny... not to find fault in dark chocolate, but frozen-dried strawberries? Gotta say though, I was pleasantly surprised at how good they were. If I ever find them around Sydney, I'll get my friends a packet each =) Or, if you find them, tell me where I can get some too~

More excuses!

Probably will not be properly blogging for the next month or so, until I get all these assignments over and done with. Final semester PHWAITING!

From Weeks 29-???

But first, I gotta show off my new toy. Well, not toy, more like... new... tool...

Day 4: Origins of Stanley '95

Just kidding. I realised I didn't actually take any photos or do any sightseeing on day 4 because it was a full day conference. Was also dead tired that night after the conference, so it was practically back to apartment and sleep. Or attempt to do work, I forgot which.

So I thought I'd go back to Hong Kong and finally write up how Stanley got his name, since February =)

From Hong Kong Trip

This is the very first photo I took with Stanley. Not sure if I bothered very much with whiteness correction or cropping, this is from February... now that I look at it, I'm tempted to do stuff with it...

Day 3: Rise and sleep again

My finger throbbed with pain the whole of today. I spent ages inspecting it to see if it had any cuts or bruises or something that caused its pain, but found nothing.

Then I remembered. I burnt it against the frying pan this morning while frying an egg for my bacon and egg sandwich breakfast.

Anyway! On to Day 3, perhaps one of the more interesting days, but oh-so-tiring.

From Brisbane AMTA conference 2011

Decided, who needs more than 3 hours of sleep, and got up at the insane hour of 4am. No, scratch that, make it 3:30am.

Day 2: Brisbane

Day 2 started with breakfast~! Checked out of apartment and left luggage behind. Walked around nearby and found a rather populated cafe, decided it's safe to try, and it turned out to be really good.

From Brisbane AMTA conference 2011

Really liked how they used naan bread rather than toasts, and I absolutely loved the olive oil salsa.

Day 1: Sunshine Coast!

So last year I had a couple of posts dedicated to Melbourne because that was where the previous AMTA conference was held. This year, it was in Brisbane, so I headed up there. Unfortunately, next year I won't have anywhere new to go to- it's in Sydney!

From Brisbane AMTA conference 2011

The wonderful thing about Queensland is their transport. Definitely not as primitive as Sydney and its paper tickets. They use a "Go card", which works the same way the Octopus card in HK and in Singapore. Tap in when you get on the bus, tap out when you get off. I find myself fumbling for my card when I'm getting off because I forget about tapping off. How noob.

Just Chillin'

So it's been a week since I came back and things have been getting back to normal pretty quickly. Sure helps that I had a presentation to do the next day after touching down, it was a great way to sink right backinto reality.

From Brisbane AMTA conference 2011

Though I did get a couple of days to just chill out in the sun and splash around in waters.

=D going to do long entries next time when I have time....

Where sun rises at 5:20am

Was hit with a sudden wave of incredible tiredness, and proceeded to climb into bed for a sleep. 2 hours went by. All I dreamt about was playing the violin in a music therapy session with orchestral members playing cello and violins with me...

Woke up feeling like I just worked my arms off, yet it was such a good "dream" session that I wish I had it recorded so I can just use whatever I played as my composition and hand it in as is.

It's times like these when I wish I can keep a record of dreams in avi so I can rewatch them anytime.

On another note, I have returned from Brisbane's 37th Annual AMTA conference! :D

From Brisbane AMTA conference 2011

And have lots of pictures to blog about, but I really need to do some work for now.

Will be back!

Congratulations!

From Weeks 29-???

Ok, so this isn't wine or champagne, but Congratulations to one of my best friends on her engagement! :D The first in our (not so) little group of high school friends!

Oh, and happy moon festival too!

XD

Tradition?

A bit of a sentimental post, this one will be, because I just read my sister's blog post about Mid Autumn Festival (Moon cakes!) and how her husband's family organised a traditional lantern get together. Of course, growing up in Singapore, we get the traditions of walking around the neighborhood with lanterns and eating moon cake, dripping wax from burning candles into water and watching it solidify into pretty dots.

Unfortunately, in Sydney, we've pretty much outgrown those traditions too. It's not about whether we're Gen Y or Gen X, it's about where we are... my parents did buy a couple of boxes of moon cakes, and we did hang some small lanterns up. Otherwise... hm...

From Weeks 29-???

They say that once you move from one country to another, you adapt to their culture in ways like speaking their language and dressing like the locals, but one thing that doesn't get lost is the food. I still like my Asian soy milk (and yes it tastes very different to the ones you get in Western supermarkets, I wonder what the difference is).

From Weeks 29-???

Pigs' ears seasoned with chili and sesame oil.

From Weeks 29-???

This was actually Shanghai food, their stir-fry noodles with peanuts, chili and diced chicken. Amazing flavors, I love how they use a good amount of oil, but not for the sake of making it unhealthy- it's to fry the chili and peanuts till they are aromatic.

From Weeks 29-???

Didn't like this too much. There was the tongue-numbing kind of spices in the soup... and while I appreciate the way it's been made, it's not for me. Still, the food is absolutely great and there are two branches of this Shanghainese restaurant- "Tin Tong" that I know of: one in Eastwood and one at the bottom level of World Square. I'd go there for XLB anyday XD

From Weeks 29-???

Ending with a strawberry mille feuille from Azuma. Not very traditional, but we had it with Hoji Cha! :D

Sakura~~

From Weeks 29-???

I can have my own hanami in Sydney too.

From Weeks 29-???

It is indeed spring, the season of hay fever. Somehow I notice heaps of people sneezing this year... am unaffected thus far, fingers crossed.

From Weeks 29-???

These were just taken a few houses down the road from mine when I walk to the bus stop. Sky was cloudless just two days ago, but it seems like winter is back in town. For the time being.

Loads of work to do!

Belle Saveur- Beautiful Flavor

From Weeks 29-???

It's already spring, but this update will be a backlog from winter. Every season, Nordoff-Robbins (music therapy centre) holds a charity function called the Cafe series, where one is invited to fine delicacies and live music on a fine Sunday afternoon. It started in autumn just this year, also held in the same location: Belle Saveur Patisserie on 551 High Street, Penrith.

Away... away....

From Weeks 29-???

Lack of update? Because I haven't been anywhere! =( It's really sad, but the above photo was taken 2 weeks ago. Between then and now, it's just been... nothing. Oh, the interior decorations of Cafe BOM is really interesting... lots of Victorian-style furniture and clocks... all for sale.

From Weeks 29-???

Cafe BOM one Sunday afternoon of lazing. High school friends have a meet-up session every Saturday night at this same cafe, but my Saturdays have been filled up... sorry guys.

From Weeks 29-???

And yes, the photo in "hanging on the wall" is of this little ball of tea leaves that unfurls into a blossoming plant at the bottom of the teapot. The great thing about Cafe BOM is the self-service of cold or hot water.

That just means I can be the annoying type of customer who sits forever in a cafe and get refills for the teapot without having to ask the staff for it. Self service! Though... the staff there are so nice, even though I've been refilling it myself, whenever they see it near empty, they'll offer to refill it for me.

Cafe BOM is just opposite the train station, Korean exit. Good place to hang out for coffee/tea and snacks like waffles.

Picture blog

From Weeks 29-???

From Weeks 29-???

From Weeks 29-???

From Weeks 29-???

From Weeks 29-???

*sniff sniff*

*Cough cough*

From Weeks 26-28, 2011

Am sick, so this blog is looking very very sad with no updates. I'll have to try to find some time after this damn fever goes down, but for now, the backlog of photos just keeps increasing. Feel sorry for me and enjoy the picture of wattle coffee from Cafe Ish for now~

In Pain

Have not been blogging recently due to lack of commitment and... pain. Have a sneaking suspicion that the wisdom tooth growing out from my bottom left jaw is an impacted wisdom tooth. In other words, it's pushing sideways against the molar next to it, causing massive troubles like headaches and worst of all, pain when I eat D: Yes, shock horror, I can't even enjoy food anymore without feeling constant pain on the left side of my head.

So until that is fixed, I shall leave blogging for future times, because looking at food right now... is painful.

How to relax

Just came back from a massive day of placement. It was a really full-on day with sessions running back to back and there was hardly time to even get a drink. Now it's time to put my feet up and... get blogging.

From Weeks 26-28, 2011

Been a while since I actually blogged properly. My parents' birthday came and went, my sister and BIL's visit from Singapore... came and went. Now it's almost back to uni and it's time to really settle and think about *gasp* the future after graduating.

More birthdays!

From Weeks 26-28, 2011

:D Congrats, marmie.

And, something exciting happened today!

From Weeks 26-28, 2011

Chicken laid her first egg~!

From Weeks 26-28, 2011

Compare it to a normal sized egg, it's tiny and pale, just like her. It was the brown one who laid it btw XD

Papa Leung

From Weeks 26-28, 2011

Happy birthday!

Food from Spore

Souvenir from sis and BIL. Yay! They also bought me chicken rice paper... But no chicken rice. They said to make my own and to wrap it in the paper. T T

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Hunter Valley II

To finish off Hunter Valley (and there really isn't much more to update about), let's talk about the town itself. We went to Pokolbin, Lovedale, and... some other ones, and we'd just stop on the side of the road to take photos whenever we find something interesting.

From Weeks 26-28, 2011

Like this bright blue hut.

Door closes, another flings wide

So recently I've been thinking about big decisions for the future, like what happens after graduation, what career path to take, while also deciding how I should un-clutter my current war zone of a lifestyle. Decided some things that need to be dropped (one being SBS unfortunately, it requires too much commitment and extra time which I don't have), some that are worth keeping, but as for the future, it's looking as misty as it ever was.

Just when I was about to simplify things and drop it all, go on holiday or something, I received an email telling me I won!! I'm being funded to go to the Brisbane AMTA Conference this year~ so guess that's my mini "holiday", yay :D Cannot wait! It's always exciting to win something ^^~

From Weeks 26-28, 2011

Auditory Cheesecake

It's almost the end of the first month of winter~ and yes, I'm actually feeling sad that winter is slowly passing by because winter is so beautiful. So we had a few days of heavy rain, but afterwards, like today, the sun comes out and it's not stinking hot, but cool breezes and clear blue skies. One of the reasons why Sydney is truly so beautiful.

From Weeks 26-28, 2011

It's hard to find time to just chill and relax these days, and slowly my Sundays are getting taken up as well =( but I guess with life, just take it as it comes, enjoy time off when it comes, and work when work comes.

Theme: Green

Just a short entry before I head off to work. Today's theme is green, which I don't particularly like, but I guess apple or grass green is alright.... Realllllly light green is ok too.

So it's a green tea latte, avocado sandwich and the green covered Good Cafe Guide 2011. Lots of interesting cafes in there, might be worth it to try some of them, even though coffee, to me, is more to stay awake than a luxury...

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Starry Starry night~

Having to wake up at different hours every morning, it was only inevitable that one day, I'll wake up at the wrong time. Doesn't help that my alarm clock is actually one hour too fast, or that sometimes my mum will come mess around my room and somehow loosen the plug of my projector clock, resetting it to 12:00 at a random time.

I guess the good thing was, I woke up an hour earlier rather than later, and I woke my dad up (he drives me sometimes in the morning, depending on where I'm going). When I said it was time to go, he was puzzled and asked, "why isn't the sun rising?" =________=

Anyway, short post due to sleepiness~ it's a Ramen entry.

From Weeks 21-25, 2011

Yep, this is Ryo's ramen~ Tokyo style.

Guessing Game!

Where is this place? :D

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Theme: Purple

From Weeks 21-25, 2011

Today's theme is purple~ anyone who knows me just a little will know that purple is my favourite colour. I wonder why people have favourite colours... just like how some people attribute colours to days... those people are considered special, but I like to think it's really just subjective, like how I attribute "green" to "bird poo", and "purple" to... well, simply being beautiful.

Snails, Duck, Kangaroo, Sheep~

It's the start of yet another week... even though it's a public holiday for most people today in Australia, this one had to go to work =(

From Weeks 21-25, 2011

But over the weekend, namely on Sunday, I went to Paris~~~ *delusional @_@~*. Went to somewhere interesting after teaching Sunday School. We made some really cool Iris Folding stuff :D Promised a friend we'd go for lunch this Sunday, so I had to ditch the original plans of going to Cronulla and busking on the beach.