Eternal Darkness

Friday, December 18, 2009

Ever since I cleared out my history of blog entries (the ones from millenniums ago when this blog first started... I was a stupid kid who wrote lyke dis), this makes the hundredth blog entry~ =D

So I was home for dinner most of the time either really late after working, or when I'm home during proper dinner time, no one will be home, so it's been maggie noodles for days on end. One fine day, my dad woke up from a refreshing sleep, and, feeling in a good mood, left with my mum to the Sydney Fish Markets. Their catch of the day?

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Three of these beauties! =D Alive and kicking~

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Not so alive anymore... I came home late that night because I had work, so they had the other two crabs without me, but they did leave me ONE whole crab to myself! ... well, not quite one, they stole the shell.

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I LOVE CRABS! Having one whole crab to myself for dinner (well, there were other "sides", like scallops.. =P ), it just made all those other nights of sad and lonely instant noodles dinners fade away.

We don't have this often at all ^^'' It's actually meant to celebrate my brother's birthday, which is coming up soon, and he loves seafood too. Oh, the yellow "mustard" which came out of the crab while cooking? Mixed it with plain rice and it made an awesome finish to dinner =D Why waste? That's the good part!

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Then, even though we just went to yum cha about 4, 5 days ago, we decided to go again, just for this- the fried taro dumpling, which I didn't manage to get last time. This time, we went as early as 10:40am or so (because yum cha is meant to be in the morning apparently), so we got all the freshest food~ and because there were so few people, the waitresses just ask what you want and they'll order it in the kitchen before bringing it fresh to the table~

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Chicken feet

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See! It MUST be a pair. Can't have one without the other, or it won't be called yum cha anymore.

We managed to get those dishes we didn't get that day =D

This week has just been Chinese food. A few days after yum cha, my parents brought us out to Aunt Jane's Kitchen in Carlingford for my brother's official birthday dinner (the crab was home-made, and, despite its extravagance, we usually have official birthday dinners outside).

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Tofu with prawn paste on top~ I don't know why, but rather than the tofu itself, I like picking on the veggies at the bottom. The prawn paste seems like the kind that will be on top of prawn toasts.. something I'd like to make soon =)

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Braised duck! Ignoring that awful bunch of parsley that's been used as garnish, this was really nice. Can't go wrong with duck! It HAS to be the best out of all the poultry. Chicken... too common and seen lots of disasters with it, turkey... is too dry. Quails are small and pigeons are too. And those two are hard to eat with all the bones.

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I'm not sure what type of fish this was, but this was another really good dish. There was a time when I really loved fish... and then I avoided it because I swallowed a bone and it was painfully stuck in my throat for a while. This one was bone-free!! They half-diced the flesh of the fish and dipped it in batter before frying it. Also came with yuba (beancurd...? I think that's what it's called in English) and soft tofu, the sauce was just right- not too salty.

We rarely ever go out for family dinners anymore, so even though in the past, we've had lots of these type of dinners where we go to a very typical Chinese restaurant and have a very typical Chinese dinner, it was especially enjoyable because we haven't actually done so in a long time.

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Tin Tong, "Taste of Shanghai"- first started off in Eastwood. My parents used to go there so often because they really liked it when it first opened. Then the standard dropped so low, they didn't go back for a while. They complained that not only was the food getting mediocre, the porcelain dishes they used were all cracked and stained, definitely not what you should use to serve food to customers. Decided to forgive and forget, so last time when my aunt came to stay over with my uncle, we headed over there for lunch before driving me to work. Must have changed to a new boss, there was a new menu, new signboards with new food, new cutlery and dishes, larger variety of desserts, etc. They were happy after that =)

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A new branch opened up in World Square, City, downstairs on the same level as the Asian supermarket, Breadtop and Coles. It's proving very popular. Ever since World Square opened, that shop changed about three times (that I can remember). First it was an Omelette place, where it specialised in many different kinds of omurice. Then it became a Vietnamese place, where it sold many types of fried rice, noodles, had big comfy chairs and authentic lemon tea (not bottled and 80% sugar). That closed not long after opening... maybe it became something else before this, but whatever business opens up there doesn't usually last very long at all. This one might be different- it seems popular enough to stay there for quite a while.

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For some reason, when I visit a restaurant for the first time, there's always some sort of accident that happens. Thank God it's a minor one this time ^^'' While the waitress was tearing our order from her notepad and placing it on the table, I was pouring tea... was too busy watching her and overfilled the teacup... =( someone must have cursed me with restaurant clumsiness (jk~ heck, I used to work in one!)

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There's the menu. It was taken upside-down, thus the weird perspective.

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Picture speaks for itself. XLB! Competing with DinTaiFung up two levels~ this is definitely cheaper I guess, but according to tt, the XLB is still best at Ashfield.

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Rice cake with shredded pork and cabbage. The table next to us were influenced and ordered the same dish a few seconds after ours came =D

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Pan-fried dumplings with pork and cabbage~ there were three choices, you could get different types of veggies with the pork, one being parsley (definite no!) and the other was spinach.

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Ja Jiang noodles. Tt really likes Ja Jiang noodles, but I prefer noodles with soup usually (if Chinese- wanton noodles, if Japanese- ramen, if Italian- I still prefer pasta with broth or a thick sauce) because dry noodles tend to taste.... well.. dry.

For now, I shall show off Latti, because she's so cute. It's been raining the whole day and it's cold outside, so she decided to spend the day indoors. Parcels come often to this house thanks to my brother ordering lots of stuff online, so we get lots of these big cardboard boxes, which we randomly put in the living room before throwing them out.

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She looks tiny~

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Grouchy cos I woke her up from her sleep and it's cold.

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ZZzz... Back to sleep.

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I'll blog about this some other time, but...! Lookie~ tt (I) won this from the machines! =D

Midnight :: 10:10 PM

~ 1 ice creams eaten today ~

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Fun-filled Friday!

Who would have thought that after one Friday, I'll be blogging again? Sydney is boring, but it's also huge. There are many other places just waiting to be explored~ or simply revisited!

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I went a little crazy editing my photos this time because my brother was teaching me stuff. I should get myself photoshop, but I still use paintshop pro =_= so there were a lot of things I couldn't figure out... thank God for a geeky brother =P Oh yea, the photo... it had been AGES since my last yum cha session, it's been so long I cannot even remember when the last time I had yum cha was, so when tt suggested yum cha at Regal, it took no hesitation to agree at all. This was 牛柏葉, unfortunately, I don't know the English for it... something like cow.. tripe? Intestine?

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I tried looking up the English words for these and got a bit confused. I think it's because cows have so many different stomachs, so there's different tripes for the different stomachs. I think the previous one is the honeycomb tripe from the 2nd stomach, and this one is the book tripe, from the 3rd stomach. I don't know... don't think, just eat! They both taste really good, though I personally prefer the previous one... it's firmer... chewier... yum~

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Cheong fun, char siu inside. My favourite fillings are prawn or char siu for cheong fun =D Or, just plain, with chilli sauce, peanut sauce and hoisin sauce from the night markets! Cheong fun are surprisingly troublesome to make yourself, so it really saves a lot of time and effort just buying this...

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It's missing its partner! The har gao came, but where's the siu mai? We actually ordered it ages ago, but then the table in front of us managed to get it =_____= They must have misplaced it! Give us back our siu mai!! We actually ordered three dishes that we didn't see going around in the trolleys- cheong fun with a fried breadstick... (I really suck at writing English descriptions for these Asian delicacies...), siu mai, and fried taro with stuff inside. Sat there for about 20 minutes chatting and ordering other stuff. Flagged a waiter and verified the order again. He bent his head to listen, and left without saying a word or even so much as a nod. Tt asked, "Do you think he even heard us?" Waited more, ordered this. Verified order with a third waiter who came to refill tea. Waited...

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... got the cheong fun, noticed the table in front of us got one too. Noticed they also got the siu mai, but ours didn't come o O!! *point and exclaim in horror at the unfairness*.

Meanwhile, a group of Caucasians came and occupied a table behind us. Within seconds, trolleys came rushing by and dishes piled onto that table, with waitresses holding out steamers and plates, yabbering some vague description in broken English and setting it in front of them. It was such a sight- none of the dishes brought to their table were rejected until the table was brimming full of dishes. I guess that's the difference ^^'' Asians do tend to be pickier with what dishes they get with yum cha. That's the whole point of having such a wide variety to pick from right? We take about an hour to fill our table (heck, we never even filled our table- we chose a few, ate those few while waiting for others to come, and if they don't come before we finish, our table stayed empty =_=) whereas they took at most a minute to fill their table.

Another thing- why do they like to drink beer and wine in the afternoon... for lunch? The point of "yum cha" is to... drink tea right? ^^'' Anyway, I digress.

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What has been going around many times were chicken feet, more tripe and this... which we ate before I took a photo, because we were hungry waiting for our ordered food. It's... pork... bone... um, *gives up and switches back to Chinese* 排骨.

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Decided that we've had enough tea, and stayed long enough (we must have been there for a long time because most of the tables surrounding ours were emptying...), so we ordered a final dessert dish of mango pancake and left...

Without getting our siu mai and fried taro.

I guess most people will complain that this is bad customer service, and for the price of yum cha, this is unacceptable, but... (this is turning into a dangerously racist post... I should be careful...) Asian restaurants, cafes, and... yum cha places, tend to be like this. They'd just slap a menu down in front of you, stalk off, and come back a while later to take your order without cracking a smile or a word of greeting. I read negative reviews of Regal having bad service, with the carts whizzing past the table without stopping to give customers a chance to see what they can order and them leaving hungry because they didn't manage to order food. I guess that's why I'm thankful for tt, who flags waitresses and their carts down like there's no tomorrow =D Unfortunately, the carts all carry the same food and not what we wanted.. they must be thinking, damn these picky Asian punks. But!! that is what you're meant to do- flag them down. Even if they serve you rather unhappily and grouchily, they'll still end up serving you. This is normal for Chinese restaurants ^^''

So overall, the food was good, service was... meh... which was expected. Tt treated that meal (Thank You!) and thought the price was pretty good too, so it wasn't too bad of an experience~ plus, the time we took waiting for food, we had a chance to chat and look around at other people who were dining there too (that's always interesting), so it's all good.

After taking a short detour to quantronics for some psp enquiry, we started walking towards Townhall and caught sight of The Chocolate Room on Sussex Street. We pass by The Chocolate Room quite often, but never went in. It was either closed, or there was no one inside, which made us think it was probably closed. This time, we saw a few people inside, so~ in we went.

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Cute version of "DND" sign.

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If you can't read it, it says "a diet tip... eat a chocolate bar before each meal. it'll take the edge off your appetite, and you'll eat less". Not sure how plausible that is, sounds a bit off to me, but I did hear about the one where eating a twix bar is healthier than any other confectionary bars. Somehow, my entries on food seem to be getting more health conscious. Not that I'm on a diet or anything. If I'm ever forced to go on a diet, I highly doubt I'd survive a week. Give me my [unmelted] butter!

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I haven't seen this in a while. I know they serve hot chocolate like this up in the chocolate place in the Blue Mountains. Warm milk with a candle at the bottom to heat it up, and the chocolate buttons are placed into the milk to melt. It is then sipped up using the metal straw/spatula.

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This is called the "Chocolate Melting Pot"

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This is actually not a good idea at all.

1) When it arrives, the milk was filled too full- at just one or two buttons of chocolate, it overflows.

2) BUT... when you try to sip the milk so it'd stop overflowing, there's a very big chance that the milk is far too hot to be sipped up... especially through a METAL straw.

3) Not only will you scald your tongue, you'll be dropping that straw/spatula as fast as you can because as the milk travels up that metal rod, your fingers risk getting burnt too.

4) I was majorly tempted to blow out the candle, but then what of the rest of the chocolate buttons and the milk, which would be lukewarm and not hot enough to melt chocolate? Re-lighting the candle will be troublesome too- the candle is very short and placed deep inside.

Oh my gosh, I just realised I don't have a photo of tt's hazelnut.. something something milkshake! The Chocolate Room had quite a few interesting varieties for milkshakes, like kit kat, meringue, chilli, etc. Very... very... diabetically sweet.

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Their tasting plate. That small cup of hot chocolate was good.

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We got to choose our chocolates from their selection there. This is their heart-shaped passionfruit white chocolate and ganache.

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"Spark". Very well-named, because when you bite into it...

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you can feel your mouth crackling. They added popping candy inside =) My favourite item from their store.

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This was their Darjeeling chocolate.

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Doesn't look that special inside, but it has a very pleasant and subtle Darjeeling tea flavor. Quite nice~

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Some interior shots..

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It's actually a fairly quiet place, and I have never seen it full of people before... when we went there, there were a couple of tables filled, a man sitting by himself reading newspaper, a group of three youngsters chatting... that was about it. Quite a relaxing place to chill.

Just don't get the chocolate melting pot.

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Must end the day with Azuma's Patisserie. I still cannot spell that word without searching up the proper spelling for it... =_= They put out self-serve water in Sapporo beer glasses, but the water tasted quite weird...

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Nyom.... their Piña colada cake~ Real pineapple slices with pineapple mousse and a sponge base. I love Azuma's cakes! And I still haven't tried their mont blanc, which seems to be there most of the days. This one was a new, never-seen-before one, which was why we chose this one. Mont Blanc, I shall come get you one day.

Christmas is approaching... I'm at a loss of what to get my parents.

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Dad wanted something like this, an LP thingie that can connect via USB and re-recorded into .wav and burnt onto discs that are more lasting. I asked him again today if he wanted this, which we saw at the sony shop for $299, and he said no =_= Talk about changing his mind quickly.

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My brother? I don't even need to think about HIS present. His birthday AND christmas presents are going to be cash- self requested. Well, he did give himself a present already... a Sony Alpha 550 (because his 350 was acting up a little... he did say I can borrow it to learn how to use though =D ) and I suspect he's a little broke after buying it ^^'' No surprise, looking at his collection of cameras and lenses =____=

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He also bought this: Eminence's Promise album, featuring music from Makoto Shinkai's movies (his movies include Byousoku 5cm and Voices of a Distant Star). I think most of them are composed by Tenmon. If you see clips of interviews with Makoto Shinkai, he has a cat that looks very much like Scary sitting on his tablet beside him. Super cute! =D The cat's name is Sayuri~ and!! -->Read this!!<--

Or if you can read Japanese, -->the original text<--, complete with pictures. Sayuri forgets Shinkai-san and when he came back after a year, she scratched him =(

Where was I? ._.

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Oh yeah, their album. I don't think they actually held a performance for this, or maybe they did in Japan, but seriously, if they performed this in Sydney, I WILL go see it no matter what! Tenmon writes awesome music that goes with Makoto Shinkai's beautiful artwork and animation... his movies are all really touching and thought-provoking too.

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I haven't gone through the whole cd yet, but it's sounding good so far. Quite a few piano solos though... would prefer more orchestrated pieces, or small ensembles... Eminence, come back to Sydney!!

Midnight :: 11:33 PM

~ 9 ice creams eaten today ~

Thursday, December 10, 2009

I suspect that after this entry, it will take a while before I accumulate enough material to blog again, though this "last" entry isn't all that spectacular either. The past two, three entries were the accumulation of... two months, haha.

From Z

Those people who visits Kinokuniya during lunchtimes will know- there is ALWAYS a huge queue for the Ichiban Boshi that is right outside Kino. The queues are always so absurdly long, it is impossible to get a seat in half an hour. Ever since Wagamama opened up just a level under Ichiban Boshi, I think many people have been lured into it at least once when they decide not to wait in queue for Ichiban Boshi...

... and then realise what a huge mistake it was... and never enter Wagamama ever again. I first went to Wagamama, the Galleries Victoria, when it first opened, with my sister and brother. Not only was it super expensive, the food was pretty bad. We tried their ramen, and our bowls were filled with bean sprouts more than anything else, the noodles itself was hardly anything special. For the price we paid, it was an outrage.

I haven't been back for years. Until this one day, when, once again, put off by the queue at Ichiban Boshi, we went into Wagamama. Tt was on a one-hour break from work, so time was an important factor. I temporarily forgot my previous many-years-accumulated apprehension of entering Wagamama... and went in.

Do not be fooled by the photo. It looks quite nice and all, but guess how much it was? $9.30 or was it $9.80? One of the two. Just for a few pieces of fried squid with a lime sauce. I saw the recipe for this in a finger food cookbook, and really, the ingredients would cost at the very most $4. If this was beef tataki, the ratio of proportion food versus cost might be more reasonable... but for this?! It's not like the squid undergoes special massage treatment and gets fed wine.. =_=

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Tt's vegetarian curry rice. Once again, presentation is good, but price was about $15. For a vegetarian dish of salad, battered and deep fried potato, sweet potato and what not.. and rice. Taste was mediocre too...

No wonder the queue for Ichiban Boshi is always long. Wagamama is daylight robbery in comparison! People who know me will know that I hold grudges for a long long time (I know =( it's not good, we all have to forgive and forget right?) and this one visit back was such a mistake, I will hold it against Wagamama for many years to come =_____=

There are so many Japanese restaurants that are more reasonably priced and taste better. We frequently visit the Bondi Junction Ichiban Boshi because 1) there are less people and usually, we could get a seat as soon as we walk in 2)the price is actually cheaper at the Bondi Junction chain as oppose to the one outside Kinokuniya. Expensive lease in the CBD area?

Then there's Ryo's Ramen, Gumshara and Menya as well.

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Menya's Tsukemen. It was much nicer than the one from Ramen Kan..

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Their hiyashi chuuka. I realy liked this one. The one at Ichiban Boshi had tomato, ginger (urgh), finely shredded eggs, cucumber and ham, whereas this one was a little more special with shredded meat, thick strips of eggs, sprouts, tomato, cucumber and shredded sweet tofu skin (and ginger that got picked out). Of course, the Menya one won, taste-wise and presentation-wise. The slightly sweet egg strips were thick and spongey, almost like cake~ XD and there are also other varieties of hiyashi chuuka, so I can see myself going back there a few times this summer~

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Headed to Allan's Music store for a quick look. In the past, I'd probably think this grand piano, along with its gigantic ribbon ^^'', would be a fabulous present. Now, rather than big, traditional grand pianos like this one, there are many slim electronic pianos with volume adjustments and those which you can plug headphones into. =D Those are definitely more useful. Was actually looking for a guitar that day, since I have to learn how to play it to pass my master course. Didn't buy one. I've learnt not to impulse-buy! Shall do more research before I get my guitar~

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Strange looking top-like wooden toy? No. This is similar to the signs given to us in Singapore during the meat buffet at Carnivor. Green for "yes please! More meat! Moreeeee!!" and red for "I'm so full, I can't talk, just leave us to digest in peace". This was at Braza, Leichhardt, a Brazilian meat buffet.

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Side dishes. They weren't self-serve like the one in Singapore, so whenever we wanted refills, we had to flag down a waitress. It wasn't too bad though, our waitress was pretty attentive and we could catch her attention most of the time. These are polenta chips, some other form of chips, and... banana fritters!! I was totally into the banana fritters and must have had at least 10 of those deep-fried-till-golden banana pieces....

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Salad, potato salad, rice.. and also some spices to put on top of the meat.

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There's the rice, and salsa... and a small dish filled with chilli. I tried one... and couldn't eat it. These tiny yellow or green chillis are dangerous!

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JL was sitting at the head of the table, so I passed my camera over to take photos.

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I usually don't post people on my blog, but it's alright. P.S, if you don't want your photo on my blog, tell me and I'll remove it =P Man carving meat for JL. It's kinda different from Singapore because the knives were sharper in Singapore and we didn't need to assist them using tongs to grab the meat. And there was a self-serve counter of tea and coffee in Singapore, but not here. When it comes to meat buffet, having a self-serve counter of tea is important to aid in digesting ^^'' I still prefer Carnivor, but it's all the way in Singapore =(

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A blurry photo taken at the start of the grills.

Thank you to everyone who showed up for dinner that night =D

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AY, this was thoughtful and beautiful~

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B&G, you guys know me too well =P

This is what I mean by I celebrated my birthday at least 4 times this year... =D

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A very familiar food by now- tsukemen from Ichiban Boshi.

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Ben&Jerry! Yes, a branch opened up in Manly recently and I heard there were massive queues because they had free ice creams on their open day. I don't go to Manly often... maybe once every three years or so, haha, so I haven't had a chance to try their awesome ice cream yet, but this one was from a kosher convenient store at Rose Bay near where tt lives... I guess because it's imported from US, it was quite expensive (about $3.80 for a small little cup), but it was very nice =)

I went grocery shopping one day at Eastwood with family when I saw this:

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and it reminded me of my sister buying the exact same thing for my grandpa in Singapore. Except the price was SG$15.60... I guess if there's one thing I forgot to do in Singapore, it was to get boxes of this and gulp it down like there's no tomorrow.

Getting closer and closer to the present now... a photo taken yesterday at a walk in the Botanical Gardens..

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I never knew they had a pond filled with lily pads... wait, are they lily pads?

Today! Just a few hours ago~ I went over to FL's place and spent a couple of hours doing random things =D There was this thing that I needed her help with, and though it turned out... well, what was supposedly straight wasn't exactly straight, and I missed a step, but!! it was completed, and we went on to make lunch. Quiches!

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Looking exactly like the picture in the book! Haha, who are we kidding with this alien-looking thing. It puffed up alarmingly high in the oven and became quite deformed when it sank back down while cooling, and because FL didn't have a big pan, we used a muffin tray to make small quiches rather than a big one. Taste-wise, it was pretty good though =D

Then we had some random fun with oversized t-shirts. Those who have been to Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand or places where you can get cheap, one-size-fits-all clothes everywhere will know. Sometimes, because it's cheap, we get heaps of these shirts that look quite... well, cheap. And big.

FL got the idea from ->here<- and she blogged about the process ->here<-

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A generic looking oversized tshirt. I've already cut a strip from the bottom, whoops...

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Transformed! It takes only a few minutes and all you need is a pair of scissors! =D Magic? What you basically do is to cut strips of fabric from the bottom and tie up the sleeves and a "ribbon" that ties at the back. The two sites posted earlier has the proper tutorial for those interested or with time to waste ^^~

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FL posing with her t-shirt recon~

So after a fun-filled afternoon, I arrive back home to an empty house once again, chucked another globe of tea leaves in the pot, and with a cup of freshly brewed fragrant tea, I blog.

Midnight :: 7:39 PM

~ 6 ice creams eaten today ~

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Finished another day's worth of work. Though there are more people in the house now, since my auntie and uncle are staying over a night before heading back to their farm, they are all sleeping~ so I have yet another pot of tea in front of me, tea cup steaming with a freshly brewed cup of Chinese tea, all set for another blogging session with me and my computer =D

From Z

A while ago, my brother and dad took two days off. I just cancelled my second audition with UTS and since I've already called for a week off at work too, we had a very rare chance of going out as a family. We decided on a place near Katoomba called Leura. My brother wanted to go have a look at Everglades Garden- a place of about 14 acres, filled with beautiful flora and fauna. We stopped on the way at Windsor to have their famous fish and chips.

From Z

Their fish and chips are very well-known and it won the best Fish and Chips award back a few years. It is really the best you can get in Sydney. I've had some terrible encounters with fish and chips up in the Blue Mountains. Went there a few years back when we were still new to Australia, and let's just say it scarred us all for life. The fish was still frozen, cold and hard inside, while the outside battered skin was burnt. We requested tomato sauce, and the woman just squirted so much on top of everything, it was a soggy cold mess within seconds.

That's why we really only go to places that guarantee good fish and chips, like the fish market and this shop from Windsor.

From Z

My dad went to a nearby shopping centre and got us some drinks. Pomegranate and grape juice- the first time I ever try this. It's been a recent hit, pomegranate juice, because apparently it's really good for you (yes, another one of those "health" products to consume... they're everywhere these days). I used to like grape juice because being a silly kid, grape juice is the closest a child can get to red wine, and yes, being a kid, drinking grape juice feels more "grown-up"... *ahem* I shall stop embarrassing myself. The pomegranate leaves a very strange aftertaste... bitter... so it felt healthy enough. At least it was mixed with sweet grape juice. I don't think I'd like 100% pomegranate juice...

We actually arrived at Leura safely. That's actually quite a feat, because... I was the one driving *collective sigh of relief from everyone who knows what a bad driver I am* and I have never driven to Leura before, but imagine a green P plater travelling at max 100kph (or was it 90? I can't remember...) when the speed limit is 110... ^^''

So we arrived at Leura and parked right next to Everglades Garden. I must say, gps saved us all, because without it, we might still be stranded somewhere in the mountains ^^ This entry has been pretty text-heavy so far, but here, enjoy photos from the garden!

From Leura

A very straight path- on the left, a stone hedge, on the right, rose bushes

From Leura

A curious kookabura gazed at us. It stood quite close actually, cackling its evil laughter... they look cute, but on the first night of arriving in Australia back near a decade ago, I remember waking up to their laughter and wondering what the heck looms out there at night in Sydney.

From Leura

A green pond that was right in front of an art archive, which was unfortunately closed that day. There were ducks swimming in this pond when we were leaving later that day.

From Leura

Everglades Garden was decorated with many statues...

From Leura

and urns. This huge one was right in the middle of nowhere... but apparently in spring, there will be cherry blossoms around.

From Leura

Straight skinny trees.

From Leura

The house was nicely furnished, with tables set up for visitors to have tea and some food.

From Leura

Many really pretty flowers with different colours.

From Leura

Could see Blue Mountains from there actually... Katoomba...

From Leura

The god of Wine...

From Leura

I can imagine a scary movie being filmed here actually. It would be quite scary at night... 14 acres, anyone could be hiding in any corner, and this little cottage, which was probably just used as a shed, could contain various torture devices... =P Too much Higurashi.

From Leura

4 white petals, perfectly symmetrical, thus I name you the shuriken flower.

From Leura

They had a really pretty creek running through...

From Leura

And near the creek, a big field for special occasions like weddings. This banquet table looks like those from Asterix and Obelix comic books, where they catch wide boars and roast them over the fire before feasting on tables made from chunks of wood like this.

From Leura

Dead tree carvings by a well-known artist... I forgot who...

From Leura

From Z

The place where the creek flows down into was absolutely beautiful. A waterfall with a strangely reflective rock over it that gleamed and rippled, reflecting the waters below. When we went, there were very few visitors as it was a weekday, so we spent quite a while in front of this waterfall all by ourselves, with my brother snapping away with his dslr.

I didn't post all photos taken, but it's in my picasa album, just click on any random photo and it'll take you there.

From Leura

My mocha. We got hungry after the visit to the gardens and stopped by a random cafe for something quick.

From Leura

Turns out they had very interesting cakes on display. Ok, so it doesn't look that great, I suspect someone had already dug into it before I manage to get a shot of it *cough, icie*, but this was more than just an apple tart. It had some sort of flower flavor added to it, but for the life of me, I cannot recall.

From Leura

It's been too long. All I remember was that they weren't the usual berry pie you see or make.

From Leura

This looks like a raspberry cheesecake.. it probably is one.

From Leura

A very very rich chocolate pie~ all of them came with a scoop of ice cream and double cream, and even though we really only came in for something quick, it was so filling, we couldn't have lunch or much dinner afterwards.

My dad was meant to drive us back, but after 10 minutes, he parked to the roadside, got out and made me drive instead. =_____=

From Z

Lobster! I cannot get over my obsession with lobsters and crabs. I really feel sorry for people who are allergic to them. I know someone who... can eat a little of it, but will get skin irritations and swollen eyes afterwards, and it has led to something more serious before... T T poor thing! Which makes me think, if I had that allergy right now, would I put my life on the line for something as delicious as lobsters and crabs...? Are they really... to die for? Hm...

From Z

This was at the Sydney fish markets btw. Soft shell crabs!! At $3.30 each, these were pretty cheap, though I still think the soft shell crabs from Ryo's Ramen, Crows Nest were better. Still! To be able to eat the whole crab, its meat along with all the yellow... um... stuff... *googles* ... apparently, this yellow stuff in crabs are colloquially known as crab "mustard", or the more technical term, the hepatopancreas. I've never known the English term for it since I usually eat crabs with people who refer to this yellow liquid as "gou" (Cantonese). Apparently, Westerners avoid eating it because it increases the risk of cancer, as do everything else in this world, but we Asians see it as a delicacy =P Anyway, digressing here, to be able to the eat whole crab without the fuss of removing shells is pure bliss~

From Z

There was an event at Martin Place where this big Christmas tree gets officially lighted up~ there were heaps of people there that Thursday afternoon, with bands and choirs putting on shows of Christmas carols.

From Z

There were fireworks when the tree was lighted up, but since I don't know much about photography, I ended up taking photos of light streaks instead.

From Z

And that, is the tree lighted up, while everyone else is staring up ahead where the fireworks were going.

That day, I went and bought something on impulse...

From Z

A purple psp. I confess, the main reason why this thing even caught my eye was because it's purple. Damn Sony and their "girls play psp too, let's make it purple to tempt them" motto for this lilac purple psp... I end up falling right into their trap and getting it...

... thinking that I could play ps1 games on it. Unfortunately, there are no cfw out for firmware ver 5.7 =______= so I shall have to wait till they crack it. One day. Sometime soon hopefully. At the moment, it's sitting in tt's house. Seriously, Sony might have failed if they didn't have minions like tt whispering into my ears

about all the wonderful rpg a psp can play =P

I realise this entry isn't really as focused on food as it has been, but then there are so many food blogs out there already.. I beg to differ, because this is really just another page off my (online) diary =D and shows my life does NOT just revolve around food... because it really doesn't.

From Z

... yea, there's more to my life than food. Really.

(sorry, just HAD to repost my soft shell crabs... I could really do with one right now...)

Midnight :: 1:23 AM

~ 7 ice creams eaten today ~

Sunday, December 06, 2009

Having finished work and going home to an empty house, I guess it's time to sit down, sip some tea and... start blogging as though I have a life. Since I have a big pot of tea sitting right in front of me, this might just be a super long post... long enough to update this blog right up to the present~

The tea I'm drinking now is actually from Singapore. My sister bought a sachet with many pearls of tea and this is one of them:

From Y

Dried, it's just a big ball of tea leaves.

From Y

Infused in water, the outer leaves drop off, revealing a bright pink flower! It's a very fragrant tea too.

From Y

Now I'm ready to blog. The very pretty teacup set was given by J&M when I celebrated my birthday again for the hundredth time ^^~ they said it's because I seem to enjoy high tea (though I've only been to high tea once, and that was with my high school friends too, where we sat for hours on end chatting and never really getting to the top tier of scones), so now I can be sad and have high tea by myself at home =P shan't be emo, I'll just use it as a teacup.

From Z

Sheraton Four Point buffet- round 2!

From Z

It's basically a seafood buffet, but after looking at some pictures from Las Vegas and the buffet at Wynn Hotel, my standard for a "good" buffet has gone up =( I have been craving to go to Las Vegas for a while now... not to gamble of course, because I'm too poor and I'd rather spend the money eating. They have such nice-looking hotels and buffets there, it's like a food paradise.

From Z

Lots of fresh sashimi and smoked salmon at Sheraton Four Point though~ apparently, salmon is really good for the skin (ladies, take note~) same with avocado. Unlike the coenzyme q10 or whatever it was in the last post, salmon and avocado are actually proven to be very healthy for you, so next time, opt for a salmon/avo sushi roll for lunch maybe? ^^

From Z

Dessert never fails to make people happy!

After coming back from Singapore, we were craving Singaporean food so badly, we went around Sydney actively searching for typical Singaporean/ Malaysian food. Came across a few, some were disappointing, some were OK, but still, I guess the best is still homemade...

From Z

Nasi lemak from Mamak's. This was pretty good actually, the ikan bilis were crispy, but look at the miserably small puddle of chilli sauce. Would have loved a little more chilli to go with all that rice. We ordered a plain nasi lemak, but for a little extra, you could also order beef, chicken or seafood rendang to go with it.

From Z

This was Mamak's rojak. I don't know what sort of rojak it is, I'm guessing it's mamak style... but the ones we had in Singapore were totally different, so this was quite a major disappointment. We were after the dark brown (made out of tamarind and prawn paste) rojak with fruits and cucumbers... this was just weird, can't say it tasted very good either... =(

From Z

This is Nasi Lemak No.2 from Makan Alice, Thornleigh. Went there after work on afternoon for lunch and it was quite nice. Came with chicken or beef rendang, and I chose chicken, tt chose beef... and it's quite obvious that beef rendang tasted nicer =P It was good, and cheaper than Mamak's, but for some reason, I didn't feel too well afterwards. Not sure if this was the culprit, but I'll definitely think twice before going back.

Nasi Lemak No.3 doesn't have photos. It was homemade by Uncle Robbie's wife at a Christmas dinner for the Wednesday night badminton team. Verdict? It was really good! Really spicy, really authentic, and she's a really good cook. We had satay sticks that night (I had about 5), and Uncle Robbie put on a show with his wok skills making char kway teow. I had a go after him... of course, I'm no pro with the wok (heck, we don't even own a wok at home... and we call ourselves Asians T T) but it was still edible! No one's complained of food poisoning... yet...

So I think after that, our food hunting for Singaporean food kinda died off as we sank back into reality of being back in (the hole of a) Sydney...

I can't remember which day this was, but we were wandering around Hornsby Westfield and went into T2. They actually have a cafe as well as a store for T2 there, and the cafe has high tea... which we didn't go for. Instead, tt wanted something sweet... like... Turkish Delight.

From Z

Whenever someone mentions turkish delight, the book of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" automatically comes into mind, when Edmund asks the White Witch for a box of turkish delight and becomes enchanted by her evil magic into betraying his siblings. I never really liked the sweet after reading the story.

From Z

This thing was what we were given as our "table number".

From Z

It's been so long, I cannot remember what we ordered. They were both strange concoctions. One being passionfruit, orange and some other stuff added to it to make it absolutely alien-tasting, the other was strawberry and some kind of flower flavored... interesting flavors and blends, but they don't work.

From Z

Flowers and strawberries look nice in a drink though.

From Z

This might look familiar. I posted it through my phone a couple of months ago, when JT from work bought this for me =) I told her I wanted to make rojak when I came back from Singapore and she gave me a recipe for it along with some hard to find ingredients (JT, you're so sweet~ thanks!) Sad to say, we tried once and it was a horrific failure... funny, because JT was talking about how she is currently living with a difficult housemate who would come and cough into her food when she's preparing meals in the kitchen. Suggested she should just make rojak, or something that smells similarly foul with the shrimp paste, and see if the housemate dares come into the kitchen to disturb her ^^~

From Z

This was from a Chinese restaurant called "Ming Hai" that tt took me to randomly. Food was mediocre, their claypot rice was quite nice, but... they do use msg, and we were both not feeling too well afterwards (no, it's not cos we ate too much~! It's the food, honestly!), so I actually prefer the cheap and fast Chinese meals from Tim Tim House. Going to be a bit skeptical of random Asian restaurants from now on... they're not exactly known for good hygiene too...

From Z

Dessert break- mocha from Lindt cafe. At the first few sips, this mocha tastes heavenly- possibly the best mocha you've ever tasted. As you continue past the halfway mark of the glass, you start feeling like it's never going to finish. I guess this is the typical scenario where "too much of something good makes it bad". It would have been perfect in just a smaller glass, but I guess with iced mocha, it always comes in a tall glass like this... I'm usually good with sweet stuff, but it's simply too rich and too much.

Lunch at another day saw us sitting at Roll+ (Roll Plus is next to Arisun, China Town). It's a small izakaya that's pretty close to Kasumi and Kura. Tt has something against Kura, so whenever I suggest going to Kura for lunch, I get dragged into Roll+ instead.

From Z

Their gyoza with sweet chilli sauce.

From Z

Their bento are slightly on the expensive side for lunch, but it's big and it's actually quite worth it. Their sashimi salmon slices are hugeeee. I think because I keep suggesting Kura and we keep ending up in Roll+ that the waitress there even knows which table we will sit at. (I don't care, we ARE going into Kura next time!)

Then there was the Sydney event, Sugar Hit, where a number of places sold dessert plates for $20, which comes with a glass of wine. Unfortunately, we didn't see far enough to book in advance and didn't manage to try many at all.

From Z

This was at Sheraton on the Park. We were actually going to take a look at the Noodle Night Market, but it was quite badly organised. There were massive queues going from each stall and people were lining up amongst the tables. There weren't nearly enough tables either, and I think people will be queuing up way past 8 for their food, even though the night markets were technically meant to finish at 8. We did manage to get free Ferrero Rondnoirs though- the dark chocolate ferrero rocher. As we decided against buying from the food stalls for noodles, we headed to Sheraton on the Park and had some hot chocolate and tea before the Sugar Hit.

From Z

Warm chocolate molten cake. Inside is liquid chocolate~

From Z

Been having lots of blueberries lately because it's blueberry season and it's quite cheap for a punnet... though with blueberries, the cheapest it can get is about $3.50 each... it's full of antioxidants! It's actually kinda rare to see food that's naturally blue, but they are super healthy~!

From Z

Ah, this place! I feel kinda obligated to advertise for this restaurant because they were so nice =) This was at "Miso", a Japanese restaurant at World Square, known for its crispy-on-the-outside, juicy-on-the-inside katsu.

From Z

Nyotan's katsu set. Miso soup bowls are really smooth on the side because of its lacquer, so when I picked mine up... I kinda... spilt it everywhere ^^'' thank goodness there was a tray with all the food, so most of the miso were caught on the tray, some went onto my bag which was thankfully on my lap, so none got on me (poor bag had to go for a wash though) and the staff there replaced not only my tray, but also gave me another bowl of miso soup~ for free. That, is what I call good service. They were all apologetic towards me, even though it was entirely my clumsy fault, to the point where I started to feel bad... so I shall highly recommend this restaurant, because not only is there good food, there is also good customer service =D

I realise this is a very random blog post, because nothing is in order, but this is a "fast-forward" post so I can get back to the present while catching up on all those places missed. Went to Campsie one evening for a family dinner.

From Z

"First Taste" at Campsie. I just had some trouble spelling "Campsie" because I forgot what the restaurant name was and had to ask my dad, and I didn't know how to spell "Campsie"! Was it "Campsey" or "Camsey" =_= googlemaps to the rescue! I wasn't actually hungry that day and was getting a sore throat- first sign of the flu... so my dad ordered something light for me.

From Z

This was my mum's seafood clay pot.

From Z

Eel clay pot for my brother~

Then one Wednesday, I had a catch-up session with JC. I haven't seen that girl in months. We were actually scheduled to graduate on the same day, except I ditched her and chose not to go for my graduation... ^^'' I'm sorry.

From Z

Lunch at Musashi. Blurry photo... whoops.

From Z

We scored free green tea ice cream because the first 50 customers get it~ and we were greedy and also had their tofu panacotta, which JC recommended. It was actually really nice and the mango puree on top went well with the otherwise bland tofu pudding.

From Z

Completed with strawberries and whipped cream =D

Keeping with the dessert trend, Nyotan and I have been going to Azuma patisserie fairly often for their cakes and house blend tea. They have really pretty and interesting cakes on display which changes each time we go, so don't be surprised if you don't see the same cakes there as these:

From Z

We got attracted by the colours =) Presentation does matter when it comes to food. It's a berry and mango mousse cake with a thin layer of sponge in between, decorated with various fruits on top. The two flavors went really well together. (Just a random note- I see all these Asian aunties buying multiple boxes of mango jelly powder recently... and by multiple, I mean more than 15 boxes. I got talking with one of them and as I thought, it was for making mango pudding. There's this awesome recipe which I wrote down as a small kid and it seems all the aunties know it too. It requires mango jelly crystals, cream, carnation milk and some other ingredients I can't remember. This auntie bought ALL the boxes of mango jelly we had in the store!! Apparently, mango flavored jelly crystals are quite hard to find... I agree, I could only find it from Bi-Lo last time...)

From Z

This was Azuma's strawberry shortcake. It was really really nice. The sweetened cream, the slices of strawberries, the sponge cake... altogether, it was so nice, we want to attempt making it ourselves. Haha.

From Z

See what I mean by going to Roll+ all the time till the waitress recognises us? This is their soft shell crab sushi~

Since the weather has been pretty hot lately (it is summer now- officially~ summer during Christmas, talk about being in the mood for celebrating Christmas...), one can't help but feel it's too warm to have hot food, which is why you don't. You get cold food- like hiyashi chuuka. There's actually a really good hiyashi chuuka sauce recipe on youtube, from a channel called "cooking with dog" (no, they don't use dog as an ingredient...) along with other recipes. Recipe for the sauce: 100mL hot water with 1/2tsp chicken powder stock and 2 tbp raw sugar dissolved in it, then add 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp vinegar, 1 tbsp lemon juice, and then finally, dash of sesame oil. Chill, and pour it over dry cold noodles. I've been making the sauce in record time and pouring it over instant noodles for lunch during those hot spring/summer days. Works well =D

From Z

This was from Ichiban Boshi, the chain that is at Bondi Junction. Came with mustard and mayonnaise- very traditional Japanese style with the egg, tomato, ham and cucumber.

From Z

To compare, we went on another day to Ramen Kan, the one next to Oportos in China Town, where you have to take the elevator up... and it's a really easy to miss entrance. This was their soft shell crab salad~

From Z

Their tsukemen... which I have to say, loses to Menya. More on that one later.

From Z

Their hiyashi chuuka differed from the traditional one because this one came with karaage. Verdict? Pretty good =)

From Z

This random... rather horrid looking mess... was a new creation from New Zealand Natural Ice cream. It's called.. I forgot, some misspelt form of "sushi"... and it's meant to look like sushi, but is actually ice cream. I don't know... it came rather unprofessionally packaged in a takeaway box, looking quite out of shaped despite coming straight out of the freezer, and the taste just doesn't work. The "seaweed", they used something similar to the Uncle Toby's rollups, and the ice cream, they used flavours like choc chip and cookies/cream, with jam in the "centre", but 1) the flavours of the ice cream gets totally owned by the sweet and sour wrapping, 2) it looks horrible and 3) the jam, ice cream AND wrapper don't go well at all together.

After that, there was the premier and start of the 13th Japanese film festival. One of my brother's colleagues gave him free passes to the premier and the movie, so~

From Z

Free finger food and drinks, compliments of Azuma restaurant. Wine, beer, sparkling water or OJ?~

The movie, "The Handsome Suit" was a comedy- entertaining, with lots of well-known supermodels and actors/actresses in it. The story is... maybe a little lame and predictable, but it's a very light-hearted movie that is good to laugh at after a long day at work. It has a good moral too =P I'd recommend it.

I ran out of tea. People are in the house and I no longer have the peace and quiet to blog. My cat just scared the living daylights out of me by running out from a dark room which I was just going into >____< bad Scary... (yes, that's her name... "Scary") Soo... I shall conclude the rest of the entry some other time. Ice cream? =D

Midnight :: 10:50 PM

~ 9 ice creams eaten today ~

Thursday, December 03, 2009

Being all lonely by myself at home this hot Thursday afternoon, it's time to fast forward blogging back to the present after these 10 days of Singapore entries. However, it seems I managed to miss out on this place we tried right before going to Singapore. My brother, tt and I went to Kasumi Izakaya on the day before our flight to Singapore because he saw reviews on the izakaya dishing out... Nagashi Soumen!! As the weather was already getting hot during that time (it was only the start of spring!!), we figured it'd be as good a time as any to chill with some soft noodles flowing in a bath of cool water.

From 2009-09-08-1845-15

Their menu offers many interesting dishes, like this roulette takoyaki, where one ball of takoyaki is filled with chilli. My brother and tt aren't very adventurous, so we didn't order that =P

From 2009-09-08-1845-15

Interior is cosy, izakaya-styled. Apparently, Kasumi isn't very good when it comes to lunchtimes, but at night, it gets crowded pretty quickly. We went there quite early that day, so there were still some empty tables. None when we were half way through our meal though.

From 2009-09-08-1845-15

This, is what we came for, their Nagashi Soumen. It's basically a water slide for thin noodles, and it's not just because it's fun for people to catch the noodles with chopsticks as it's swimming around, it also loosens the noodles and washes away the excess flour, creating a smoother texture. When it is dipped into the soumen sauce, one can slurp up the noodles easily. As it is actually considered polite to slurp noodles with as much noise as you can generate while doing so in Japan, my brother managed to practice his slurping skills there that night.

From 2009-09-08-1845-15

They had a wide variety of mocktails, cocktails and other assorted drinks.

From 2009-09-08-1845-15

It's been so many months ago that I've forgotten what we ordered. I think one was something like lime bitters and the other was mango... icee...?

From 2009-09-08-1845-15

They also had this CoEnzymeQ10 drink, which is obviously targeted towards ladies, because it's meant to promote healthier, smoother skin. The dessert that has zero calories with CoEnzymeQ10 too... don't know whether to believe it or not, it's just like how ramen has collagen in it that's meant to create smoother skin as well... maybe it's all just false advertising, but I don't think anyone can be bothered proving it. Still, if it doesn't kill you, no harm trying.

From 2009-09-08-1845-15

Our food arrives! A basket of fried salmon skin. This was good. It sounds rather distasteful and unappetising, but it actually just tasted like chips.

From 2009-09-08-1845-15

Their mochi cheese balls... my gosh, this tastes as sinful as it sounds.

From 2009-09-08-1845-15

Of course, you can never tell from its deep-fried-till-golden-brown exterior...

From 2009-09-08-1845-15

Inside is filled with gooey cheese. The crispy yet chewy mochi on the outside goes so well with the liquid cheese, you can literally feel the oil oozing out as you bite into it. Feeling sick? To hell with dieting!~ =P "Don't think, just eat"!

From 2009-09-08-1845-15

Some random interior lighting and bamboo sticks. I guess if a fight broke out in the izakaya, they could use these sticks as weapons to whip everyone's behinds.

From 2009-09-08-1845-15

Monjayaki!! It's kinda like okoniyamki, except slightly runnier and gooier... (is that a word?)

From 2009-09-08-1845-15

We got our own stove to cook it in.

From 2009-09-08-1845-15

Spatula fun-ness~

From 2009-09-08-1845-15

While waiting for the monjayaki to cook, we had some eggplant with miso. I know quite a few people who dislike eggplants due to its mushy and soft texture, but when cooked right, it is so good. I remember I used to hate it too, my dad will only cook it in the stir-fried form with other stuff that tasted so bad, I threw tantrums as a kid and refuse to eat it. Avoided all eggplants until I went to Uchi Lounge and had their miso eggplant... and then to Wasaby for their mochi eggplant... those two had the best eggplant dishes in my memory~ this... unfortunately I don't remember how this one tasted, so it must have been not as good.

From 2009-09-08-1845-15

Tada!! The soumen machine arrives!! Unfortunately, we didn't get the slide, but they did say the slide wasn't as fun because rather than going round and round like this one, it just slides down and... that's it. Still~ slide looks more spectacular!!

From 2009-09-08-1845-15

The lights dimmed down and I had to use flash. The noodles are swimming! At first, we didn't know how much noodles to put and added too much, so it kinda clogged up the vents that made the water swirl. Took out some and the noodles were free to swim~

From 2009-09-08-1845-15

A stack of noodles and the soumen sauce~

It was actually really refreshing to have cold soumen noodles, which is why this summer, I'll be having lots of hiyashi chuuka (cold noodles in a light citrus sauce with various toppings) and hopefully another round of cold soumen noodles. Can foresee this will be one hot summer... =(

Seeing as I have plenty of time before a dinner party tonight, I might update this entry again with more recent happenings~ for now, I shall go have some food. Oh yea, for those who want to try the soumen, I actually haven't seen it anywhere else other than Kasumi Izakaya. It's right next to Kura, near China Town at Harbour Street, open for dinner from 6pm till past midnight... quite late I'd think, it IS an izakaya after all...

Midnight :: 3:22 PM

~ 5 ice creams eaten today ~

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Day 10~ was the last day of our trip to Singapore, and it was technically really only half day because we had a flight to catch at about... 6pm or so. We shall miss the cheap and delicious food in Singapore, miss my sister and M, miss the holiday mood, though not the humidity and definitely not the heat.

From Singapore

Breakfast! Consisted of nasi lemak... I've forgotten how much it was already, but I think it was $1.60... something absurd like that.

From Singapore

We also got their laksa, another insanely cheap dish they had there. This was breakfast, mind you. It's almost like eating curry for breakfast. Not that there's anything wrong with that~

From Singapore

Hidden within the banana leaves are the goodness of nasi lemak. We had the biscuits the day before, the real thing the next.

From Singapore

Lunch was at a Chinese restaurant at Marine Parade- the shopping centre opposite where tt was staying. Their turtle herbal jelly with a little glass jar of honey.

From Singapore

!! We didn't go to Din Tai Fung in Singapore!!! But it's ok, still had xlb! =D

From Singapore

Their very healthy double boiled pork bone and veggie soup. We really needed something light after the laksa and nasi lemak for breakfast ^^''

That day, tt and I had time to wander around the shopping centre ourselves, where we did some present shopping for my sister and M. They've been such good "hosts", taking days off to spend time with us, bringing us to all these places and good recommendations. It was funny how my sister had a list of places and M had his own list, and they are so different. One list consists of cool, hip places to go to such as places to chill and relax or shop, whereas the other consists of good, cheap and delicious food places, so thanks to the two of them, we managed to go to a wide range of places and try plenty of different things. We took this time to get some presents for them and had such fun writing and drawing the card. Hope they liked it =P

From Singapore

Our last meal in Singapore- Yong tau foo (stuffed bean curd). I haven't been back to Singapore for so long, I've completely forgotten how to even order this! There are all these varieties of vegetables, fishballs and stuffed tofu, where you pick the ones you want into a bowl. I chose stuffed bittergourd,tofu, veggies, ladies fingers and... I can't remember ^^''

From Singapore

You then hand the bowl over to the person, request noodles, hor fun or just plain, and she'll boil up the broth, cook your items and spoon it back into the bowl, along with soup and noodles. It's really healthy because the broth was boiled with yellow beans~

From Singapore

Innards!

From Singapore

M had fried chicken and satay, except it looks more like a big turkey's thigh than chicken... so huge...

And thus concludes our Singapore trip =(

Random snippets:

One might think Singapore's the land of cheap food and cheap... everything. Not quite. We walked into a supermarket and...

From Singapore

$6.25 for muesli bars.

From Singapore

$7.40 for cereals.

From Singapore

$5.60 for pancake mix?!?! I can make 200 pancakes for the same price out of raw ingredients!!!

So if you think about it, eating out is actually cheaper than buying raw ingredients and making your own food. The food from hawker centres are unbelievably cheap and good. Not too sure about hygiene, but "don't think, just eat".

I've been trying to find the photo we took when we went to a "maid cafe", but I can't find it anywhere- it must have been in my sister's memory card. Yes, we did try to go to a maid cafe, except the term "maid" in Singapore holds a very different meaning to the Japanese. There are, in fact, plenty of maids in Singapore and there are agencies which you could go to for hiring maids, where you can choose maids to cook for you, clean for you, take care of kids for you, etc. The Japanese version of maids is cute, docile and submissive young Japanese girls in Victorian styled aprons and frilly dresses saying "Irasshaimase, goshujin sama" and feeding you cakes, candies, playing scissors paper stone with you and "punishing" you by giving you a slap or making you drink a diarrhoea-inducing concoction- while making you pay for being in her cute company the whole time.

So imagine a blend. You take the appearance of typical maids you get in Singapore, along with some stolen elements from the Japanese maids... like badly pronounced "Irasshaimase, goshujin sama"... yea.... that was what we saw. Thank goodness we didn't give them a chance to burn a hole in our wallets- we ran in the other direction, barely keeping a straight face.

Midnight :: 7:12 PM

~ 2 ice creams eaten today ~