The redness

Always wanted to play Halloween. Possibly the only "legitimate" time you can dress and act like a fool and no one will bat an eyelid. This year, as with the previous 18 years of my life, it's exams time at October end. BAH!

I DON'T CARE! I'M GOING TO MAKE A FOOL OF MYSELF IF ONLY IN MY ROOM!! AH!!!

The theme: Hollywood IT Girl Fashion Victim

The tools

Trying to portray how IT girls of today go all out to overdress, over-makeup, and look dumb.

This look dumber.

Post for the cameras sweetheart!

I am happy.

He's a fine lad

Wouldn't you want a son like that?

A whole lotta food

Exams time = cooking time.

Cooking is destressing. And the outcome of cooking is food. So what can be bad about it?

Enjoy.

Homemade tiramisu with strawberries and frozen yogurt. I didn't make this. I made sure I ate it though.

Seafood galore. Salmon, prawns, calamari, drizzled with butter garlic sauce accompanied by fresh salad and creamy mash.

Go ba, all go!!!

First JY left for Adelaide, now D went home. Go lah, go lah!

*sobs*

The yellow

Yesterday, I was making instant coffee as K was clearing the fridge in the kitchen. I "excuse me" to her and K said, "Oh! You want to take your milk?". I took out a bowl with yellow fluid, opened it, and sniffed.

Mmm! Smells nice.

I had intended to throw away the contents because it had been in the fridge for over a week. I asked K to smell it.

Me: Smells nice, doesn't it?

K looked at me in horror.

K: How come your milk is this colour, consistency, and has meat inside?!

I was bewildered. I had asked her to smell my leftover canned soup.

Crazy days

As the exams draw closer, and closer, I find myself wondering what I should blog about. Thinking back, it's quite strange. When I first started blogging, it was during my last sem at NUS. Technically, it was not "first started blogging" because I had a blog, named "Why" before Crappy came along. And Crappy has stayed quite long. Anyway.

I found that iced coffee is really nice. And I also just realised that coffee is cheaper in Australia than in Sg. More delicious too. Mostly. Had a sudden craving for iced coffee and have been seeking out the nice ones. Shit, all going straight to the hips. Zzzz...

Iced coffee and new york cheesecake at Freestyle

Iced coffee at Harbourtown

I highly recommend everyone to go to Fossil watch outlet when they visit Harbourtown. You can get wallets, bags, tops, and of course, watches there. And the watches are not limited to Fossil brand. You can get refurbished (previously flawed but have since been fixed) DKNY, D&G, Calvin Klein etc at discounted prices. And one year warranty too. Do check for battery and scratches though. An absolute dream for watch lovers. And don't be afraid to head into shops that don't look like they offer anything to your taste. You might be surprised. I got a Topshop bag at $17 in a shop that looks so blah outside. Woohoo! Ninewest having sales again.

I can't confirm a flight to get home. Until 22nd Jan 2007. Zzzz... ):

The tale

See those things back there?

Those are Jacaranda trees.

Once, when I was wet behind the ears in my first semester at UQ, I was given the warning. You see, there's a tale behind the awesomely purple trees. It was said that once the purple starts blooming, you should already be mugging for your assignments and exams.

If the flowers start falling, and you're still mucking around, good luck.

I risked my future to take this photo for you because if the darn purple falls onto you, the curse will make you fail your exams.

The only thing left to do now is reach for the sky. No, the stubby fingers are not mine.

What starts with "T" and serves emu, wallaby, boar, fish, and beef?

If a place serves "native" food, do you think they should call it "advanced cuisine"?

This question plagued me the whole time we were at Tukka.

You cannot steal the glass; they will know. D is in the background asking her friends whether she should have emu or fish? Haha!

The birthday girl decided she wanted to eat 野味 (something "wild") on her big day. So we can only obliged. And suffer a headache.

"Emu or wallaby? Which would make us more wild?" That will be a real handful.

Actually, P and I have been planning to go to Tukka for some time. Since you're here, you might as well try something different and something you cannot get at home. What is the most "exotic" food you have ever tried? I tried kangaroo, ostrich, deer, flying fox, crocodile, wild boar, and mosquito (the last one was a mistake. x_x) before this trip. And I want to add more to the list! Hmm, what is exotic is subjective ya. Just like everything. I like to eat kway chup, which I'm sure lots around the world will consider exotic. Not everyone eats pig orifices and chicken claws, albeit periodically. Delicious!

Be in for a long wait. I think here, they like to serve food together, so that everyone can eat and make merry together. Since all of us ordered different mains, we had quite a wait in front of us. Despite the unusual menu, the restaurant was almost full. I would recommend a reservation if you're going.

After waiting for some time, the waitress came to us with small dishes of appetisers. Just a bite or two. Were we in a French restaurant?

This is fish with rocket and blood orange sauce. Teeny, tiny. Just enough to tantalise the taste buds.

We wondered aloud why so little was served. Pardon us, for we are not used to "fine dining". Big, hearty meals are the way to go. Some people like to compare food with sex. The appetiser is like the foreplay, no? Just a little to get you excited and anticipate more. That's the ideal foreplay magazines like to describe anyway. Hahaha!

"More" came in the form of damper. It's bread with macadamia oil and some lemongrass-like dry drip. To be shared between two. Still quite little, but getting there. Oh, it wasn't served with the card; I put it there. Not quite edible.

After about 45 minutes, our mains arrived. We didn't quite eat like we should in a "western" restaurants. No entrees, no wines, no desserts. Haha... Just mains and ice water. Nice.

Let's guess the food shall we? Give you multiple choice: wallaby, organic beef, fish, emu, and boar.

A) Red and pink, what is this?

B) Orange and white, this is crisp.

C) Came in rolls, and it rolls.

D) One small slab, amazing sauce.

E) Small, small piece, worth the price?

Did you notice most of them are red meat? Hmm... I think they like to not cook it too thoroughly so you still get the natural juices. Hopefully not blood. Although some were quite apprehensive eating the food, we all finished what was on our plates. I like mine (D) and E. Maybe my taste buds not pro enough, because most of them tasted the same to me. x: The food at Tukka is not cheap. About $30 for a main and $15 and above for entrees. That said, I think you should give it a go. Something different, and really quite tasty. We were wondering why it needed all the additional cutlery. You know, the "this is not a steak knife, this is a butter knife.; this fork is for desserts, not mains", those kind of fanciful gear. Since this is native Australian, shouldn't everything be kept simple. The concept is quite contrasting actually.

Birthdays cannot be without cakes right? Technically, we didn't have cakes but with Freestyle, who needs cake!

My first time trying ice coffee at Freestyle and I LOVE it! I'm dreaming of it right now... Yum.................

We had the usual, sticky date pudding with caramel sauce. My absolute fave. I think I will suffer withdrawal when I go back to Singapore. And my pudding milk tea... Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

The birthday girl is in front and in black! Happy birthday, J!

Sugar high~

啊丽爸爸

Recently, when I feel stressed, I mutter "Ali Baba" several times.


Then, I still feel stressed.

What's up

Recently, I've been hurrying around doing school work. 7 assignments ain't easy and now I'm down to two (I think). The last semester of my schooling days and damn if it's not the worst.

Had to do a whole research (interviews, analysis and the works) to get a power 30%. As R would say, this is really 够力. Muahaha... But that's over and done with, so I'll just flick my hair and head for the next. Anyhoo, shan't bore you with my amazingly 够力 assignments, except for the fact that two presentations were pushed forward by 1-2 weeks. Zzzz...

I just saw this, and thought to myself: Hey you! You should record down the food stalls in your secondary school before your memory deteriorates to nothingness. By the way, can anyone enlighten me on why some websites like to have a static url despite you clicking on different links within the site? I never understand that because if word-of-mouth is so 够力 and not everything on the site will be 够力, shouldn't you let people link your really 够力 things to others they know so your site will be more popular? Hmmm... This is what TWO marketing courses do to me. Well. Food.

Stall 1: Drinks stall A
Not to be confused with Drink stall B for it sells iced milo! The must-have post-lesson drink. Some days it's good, others days it's diluted. But at 50c a glass (my time was quite some time ago), mai hiam si buay pai. Comes with the usual small tibits, such as biscuits. Ooooo! Hotdog bread! Yum! High in sodium and so very nice! 50c too! The milo and hotdog bread combo is the staple for those who were saving to buy their Sonia Rykiel/JPG/Chantal Thomass bags and wallets. Lian ah lian! Chao ah lian!

Stall 2: Beige plate economic rice
One of the two economic rice stalls in Beatty. The usual stuff you get. Huge servings for below $2. Eat until the rice comes out from your nose. Curry here not bad. And has lots of fried food. The stall Jamie Oliver would want to change. Healthy diet it is not.

Stall 3: Noodle stall
Super long queue at this one. Sells prawn noodles, fish ball noodles, Hokkien noodles and some other noodles. The prawn noodles and Hokkien noodles are the best. I used to smack on tonnes of chilli in the prawn noodles until the soup turned red. My friends were amazed and slightly disgusted when they first saw me doing that. By secondary 4, most were smacking along beside me. Sadly, the uncle selling the noodles got knocked down while cycling on the road and passed away. He was never a very nice and amiable fellow, but he cooked good noodles. Hokkien noodles must add tonnes of lime juice. And chilli of course.

Stall 4: Vegetarian stall
I think it sells boring stuff like pasta (just add pasta sauce to boiled pasta variety) and vegetarian pizza. A little more western than others and more expensive, considering it barely fills you up. Would love to know what's there now.

Stall 5: Fruits stall
Perhaps this was there because MOE says so. Don't recall many people buying drinks from there. Probably because it's twice the price of milo. Sweet, sweet milo.

Stall 6: Red plate economic rice
DELICIOUS!!! Super long queue! By secondary 4, you can see my WHOLE class queuing there to snap up the fried chicken. The aunties there once disclosed to us that she had to sell in secrecy because the uncle in stall 7 not happy about them selling DELICIOUS friend chicken when he was selling chicken noodles. Anyway, on Saturdays, when we have Guides, we sometimes go earlier to drink their porridge. P would take liberate amounts of fried shallots. I feel sad for the aunties because their shallots were freshly cut and fried by them. Not the tasteless pale ones that are sold in packets. Maybe the aunties remember P as the girl-whom-they-hid-their-fried-shallots-from.

Stall 7: X noodle stall
Cannot figure out what the uncle sells. He's the one who complained about the fried chicken in stall 6. Most eat there only because it's the shortest queue. I feel quite sorry for the uncle and sometimes lent him support by bravely eating whatever he was selling. I think there was some wantons, some noodles, some sweet brown gravy, and a couple of spring onions.

Stall 8: Malay economic rice stall
In my 4 years in Beatty, I only ate there once. So. Next!

Stall 9: Malay stall
Auntie there quite haughty wor! But BEST mee soto I ever have. Mai siao siao. Always see a long queue, possibly also because there are limited options for the muslim community. Nasi lemak also nice though nothing elaborate. I wonder how she did it.

Stall 10: Drinks stall B
I think this is the stall that sells Cherry. And one of those transparent drinks with flavours.

I wonder what's in Beatty now. I think some of my friends tried to go back to visit the teachers (and the food) and got turned away by the security guards. Nowadays, to get into a school, I think you need a visitor pass. Good and safe for the kids but not really helping in cultivating a tradition of being grateful to your educators.

I want to eat the fried chicken.

I call this my wishlist

Decipher it.

Hint: Click the pic for more hints

Pop one

Don't you wish you can?

We made smoothie... Mmmmm...

I'm good enough to tell you where to shop

Personal preference!

Adelaide 2006 - Day 6 (260906)

My last night in Adelaide was happening ok! Runty and Woolloo made an appearance!

Supposed to be rabbit but turned cockroach!

Cheekie doing her come-hither pose.

Can you resist not scratching her belly?

A right proper madame she is.

Why she looks so sad here? I swear she loves me!

Last day in Adelaide, we need to make time for last minute shopping right? Today is the mad dash for souvenirs. There's nothing very special in Adelaide, which cannot be found in Brisbane. Or so I thought.

We need to start off the day with a good hearty meal! Dim sum at "Ding Hao".

Do you like your dim sum fried? Or do you like your dim sum fried?

Luckily we went there at about 11am. Because a few minutes later, there was a long queue for table. We ate lots man. The usual "ha gao", "xiu mai", yam puffs, "hum sui kok", "lor mai fan", "char siew bao", "feng zhua", and best of all, MANGO PUDDING!!! I adore mango pudding and the one I had was really good! You can give the bao and xiu mai a miss though.

We hopped over to Central Market next. It sells fresh food that seemed to be cheaper.

Pretty fruits and vegetables. I get real nightmares involving me toppling over everything. Horror, horror!

I was loitering around and then I followed my nose to The Coffee Bean shop! Oh my! I saw chocolate covered coffee beans and thought that would be the perfect gift for PY. And myself! I regret not getting more man! Because we really adore them! I also grabbed a hot chocolate mix for D. It looked suspiciously light so I thought it wouldn't be very chocolatey. Only got one. And guess what?! It's heavenly!!! Deceptive little bugger. Send me more!!! I also saw quite a number of people getting freshly-grounded coffee powder there. Oh my! I want!!!

Today, the sky is very interesting.

Looks like the clouds have been fluffy until someone came along and spread them out.

There is a free bus service that goes around the city of Adelaide. For the past 5 days, we went about on foot because you get to see more that way. Now the tourist mentality kicked in and we hopped onto on of these brightly colours buses to go into the city to take the bus.

It looks just like any other bus on the inside though.

I have conquered the city in terms of shopping. Twice. Nothing terribly exciting. I saw this shop with a very interesting name; Acoustic Stomach. Bought a pouch. The one in The Parade looked like it sells clothes as well, so it was time to go down The Parade! Shopping!!!

Besides, I found the elusive Saint Cinnamon scrolls, which PY absolutely adores. They used to have it in Singapore but that closed down. I just happened to see this one in Adelaide. Alas! The owner, a super nice elderly man said he did not make the rolls today. He told us that he was slowly stopping production because it just wasn't getting popular enough. I felt really sad for him because he was such a generous man. When I told me I was going to get the scrolls for a friend and that I was returning to Brisbane today, he offered to give me a frozen one for free. I wanted to pay him but he was cool about it. He even packed it into a lovely box for me and told me how to heat it up. My heart goes out to him. Hope he will do better selling his ice-cream.

JY! Go to his shop and eat ice-cream everyday!!!

Sadly, I couldn't find anything to buy at The Parade. BLAH! What last-minute shopping?! Couldn't resist trying to act natural for the camera though.

I realise now why my optometrist friend was very shocked when he examined my eyes. My eyeballs are really flat. Almost no curve at all. All this time I have been wearing contacts and I didn't know that I have to get measured for the curvature so I can find a pair of lens that would be more comfortable. Do you know that?

I like this shop from Day 1.

Drive through dry cleaning. Try saying that as fast as you can.

We walked through the drive through. Somebody looks angry!

We didn't forget grabbing Cheekie for our camera-whoring session too. Look! She loves it! She's smiling!

I think Cheekie knew I was going away. Previously, when we left the house, she never tried to follow us. This time however, when I was going to the airport, she stood in between us and the door. Awwwww... JY is probably screaming now when she sees this. "She just wanted to go for a walk!" She's just jealous because Cheekie never greets her when we go home. It's always WY, C, and me who received her attention. :P Cheekie even went out of the house when we opened the door. How can you forget such a fabulous dog? ):

Adelaide Airport is new. The sun is shining, my bags are packed. I hate to fly but I got to go.

We took the bus there.

Even more last minute shopping once I checked in my bag. I wanted to get a product from the Duty-Free shop, but it had a stupid policy; you can only purchase if you are flying international. I mean I understand that it was duty-free, but at least have a sign that says that you can make a purchase only if you are going onto an international flight. Wasted my time for nothing! I spent 15 minutes looking at the thing I wanted to buy! "Honey, I cannot sell you anything." Pui! Don't waste people's time and tell them that earlier!

I was flying by Virgin Blue, which doesn't provide food in the fare. You can purchase food from them though. Just like the budget airlines. I decided that eating on the ground was more fun. But there was nothing much to eat in the airport. Settled from Cibo cafe, which I thought was only available in Adelaide. Saw one here in Brisbane recently. Italian hot chocolate!!! Mmm...

It was time for me to board the plane. We had to say goodbye. Nothing dramatic, just a hug, a pat on the back, and a few well wishes. JY will be lonely without me to explore places with her. Our UQ night escapades were legendary in the house of Campus Lodge. Headed for UQ at 3am to get Coke and chips. Called out to D on our way back and freaked her out. Blinded possums with numerous photos. Climbed onto structures just for that photo that will eventually be blurred because my camera's night mode sucks.

Luckily, the seat beside me on the plane was empty. Time to stretch my legs and start working on my project. My holiday was over!