My 3 year old niece, Lauren is a bit of a hoarder. She likes to walk around with tiny pink things in her hands.. doesn't have to be anything she can use, it just has to be tiny and small. She also loses track of where she puts these things a few times a day. Upon realising she's misplaced the tiny small useless thing, she would throw a tantrum and demand that you drop everything and find it for her. I go through the following scenario with her many many times already.
Lauren (with increasing pitch and volume) : I want it! I want it! I want it! I want it! I want it!
Me: Well I don't know where you've put it. Go find it yourself.
Lauren (with increasing pitch and volume) : I want it! I want it! I want it! I want it! I want it!
Lauren (with increasing pitch and volume) : I want it! I want it! I want it! I want it! I want it!
Lauren (with increasing pitch and volume) : I want it! I want it! I want it! I want it! I want it!
Me: You are going to find out sooner or later that you don't always get what you want in life.
She then became quiet for a few minutes. I thought, Ah ha! That shut her up... she then said:
Lauren (with a lot of sass) : Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa I don't think so!
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Last Day At Work!!
Two months flew by with superman-like speed. Before I knew it, it's time to bid adieu to all the lovely ladies I've been working with. My boss here took us out for a coffee yesterday to say farewell and we ended up having a drink at the Westin too. I'm such a lightweight I was feeling light-headed after ONE drink!! How useless is that? In my defence, I had an empty stomach and I haven't had a drink in aagges. Cocktail season is upon us though.
Anyway I did my usual and baked some cupcakes for the ladies here. Look how preeettty they are! The cupcake stand always bring the looks up a notch... even if it is a handicapped one. If you look carefully, you can see that it's propped up by yellow pages in the back. Heh! I got it from Monica for Christmas one year and broke one of the legs the first time I used it. It was a bit uneven so I tried to bend it a little bit... unsuccessfully. I do not know my own strength!
So I'm outta here and this time tomorrow, I will be in Melbourne enjoying all the cuddles and kisses from Lauren... or shrieks and tears. One or the other.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday, nellpo! I can't be bothered sifting through the millions of photos of you on facebook so this will have to do. Hope you had a good one....
PS: Did you eat half your birthday cake already????? Tsk tsk tsk...
Ooh La La Fancy Smancy French Cafe
So the day has finally arrived. Everyone rocked up to The French Cafe in their Sunday best. The Js were the last to arrive as they went to a friend's house-warming do first. Jayden took the opportunity to line his stomach with some bbq chicken wings first.
The Wiis..... Wong + Hii, geddit?
Mel and her date, The Joker.
Fiona and Gavin who demanded that we all dress up as he was going to wear a suit...
The pretty single ladies:
I pretended to take a photo of Viv as I wanted a decor shot but I felt like a real loser tourist for taking photos:
First up : Yummy crusty bread with lashings of butter:
We had the 6 course tasting menu and it took 4 hours. Luckily I am a great conversationalist and kept the ball rolling...................... man, it was painful. We Hiis are more the get-in-and-get-out kind of eaters. You have to be in a house full of growing kids. You dwaddle, you miss out!
The amuse bouche for the night was either:
Butternut Pumpkin Cappucino - smoked bacon, pumpkin custard, maple foam, hazelnut. To be honest, this was your typical nice pumpkin soup. Nice but nothing to jump up and down about.
or chicken liver parfait - nougatine cannelloni, feijoa relish, apple caramel. This was weird. I gave mine to Andrew to polish off. It was like eating pate + brandy snap + warm fruit. Yikes.
First course was either Slow Cooked Pork Belly (Seared scallops, cauliflower puree, black pudding crumbs, cider syrup, sprout leaves) or Japanese Inspired Tuna (dashi jelly, wasabi cream, avocado, sushi rice sorbet, seaweed cracker, tobiko).
Here is a shot of Jayden looking wistfully at someone else's pork belly:
The pork belly looking crispy:
The tuna dish was interesting - you have raw fish, vinegary seaweed, jelly, salty cracker AND cold creamy sorbet all in one dish. I liked it.
Second course was YUM. Sauteed langoustine tail - potato gnocchi, artichoke puree, crisp pancetta, black truffle, smoked bacon foam. I decided to risk my prawn allergy and it was worth it! Yum yum yum..
Third course I could have done without. Vegetarian I am not. Viv on the other hand, scoffed this down - including the little flower. Roasted french goat's cheese - caramelised onion, beetroot and fig tart, red wine syrup.
Main (4th) course was either Seared duck breast (sweet spices, steamed bok choy, kumara mash, jus of oranges) or Fresh market fish (crayfish, asparagus and pea risotto, fennel butter, crisp prosciutto, crayfish jus, snowpea shoots).
The duck was interesting because I'm used to my asian roast duck. The texture was more like a medium rare steak than a duck. It was very nice and the kumara mash was so sweet and creamy.
The flavours of the fish main was very asian inspired and tasted much like something Mum could have cooked... probably tasted better too.... ;)
5th dish was green apple sorbet - apple compote, butterscotch, pain d’epices. I loved this. Tart and tangy coupled with the warm custardy apple compote *smack lips*.
Last but not least, the 6th dish was the soft-centred chocolate pudding - warm malted milk, toffee cream, apricot puree, pistachio ice cream, cocoa tuille. So so so so rich... definitely a chocoholic's dream... i felt sick after polishing this off.
Glad we didn't go for the 11 course.
The service was exceptional and the waiter spoke with a cute (though hard to understand) French accent. I did my best to flirt with him/them but didn't get any phone numbers..... oh well... It was an excellent night. Great food, great company. Thanks, Mel and the Joker.
Girls' Day Out + Andrew
In honour of the girls getting married at the beginning of the year, Viv's birthday and me being my awesome self, Mel and Andrew shouted us all to dinner at The French Cafe on Saturday night. Since everyone was up, I thought we should all go and see a girlie movie. But Fiona the hypochondrianc had an eye appointment and the Js were lazy buggers who were oversleeping in Hamilton. So Mel, Viv, Andrew the honorary girl and I rocked up to the 12.30 session of 500 Days of Summer in Sylvia Park. Suffice to say Mel now has another new toy boy to youtube and google about... she is such a hussy that one. Tommy is like 20 years younger than you!
Anyway, go see it... it's a quirky boy meets girl, girl is ambivalent about boy, boy lurrrvvves girl type of movie. It has been getting consistently good reviews too if you are like someone I know and read up on movies on rotten tomatoes first. Get a life, Ah Here!
Andrew cried so that just shows how good the movie was... ok, maybe I made that up.
Anyway, go see it... it's a quirky boy meets girl, girl is ambivalent about boy, boy lurrrvvves girl type of movie. It has been getting consistently good reviews too if you are like someone I know and read up on movies on rotten tomatoes first. Get a life, Ah Here!
Andrew cried so that just shows how good the movie was... ok, maybe I made that up.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋節快樂!
The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake and I luuuuuuurve mooncake so this is one of my favourite Chinese festivals.
As with every Chinese festival, there's a legend attached to the significance of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Once upon a time, the earth had ten suns. They burned the crops and people were suffering. A man called Houyi decided to shoot down nine suns and leave one for the benefit of the people. After he shot down the suns, he was treated as a hero. He had a beautiful wife named Chang'e and they lived happily together. As a reward for his heroism, the Emperor of the Immortals gave Houyi two pills, each of which granted eternal life as a reward for shooting down the suns - one was for Houyi and the other for his wife. Houyi was to wait until New Years Day, on which he and Chang'e were supposed to eat the pills together. Chang’e put the pill in her jewelry box for safekeeping. But Peng, one of Houyi’s apprentices, discovered their secret and decided to steal the pill. Peng sneaked into Chang’e’s room and forced her to give him the pill. Chang’e knew she couldn't fight Peng so she ate the pill herself. However, after eating it alone, she began to float. Unable to come back to earth, she took flight and flew far, far away. She did not want to leave her husband so she stopped at the moon, which is the body closest to Earth. After Houyi found out what happened, he was very angry and heartbroken. He looked up into the night and called Chang’e’s name. He discovered that inside the moon there was a lady’s shadow that look like Chang’e, so he ran and ran and tried to reach the moon. He failed due to the wind. Chang'e now lives on the moon and has the Jade Rabbit who pounds medicine and makes elixirs for the gods, for company.
As for why we eat mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival, legend has it is to commemorate the uprising in China against the Mongol rulers of the Yuan Dynasty (1280–1368) in the 14th century. As group gatherings were banned, it was impossible to make plans for a rebellion. Noting that the Mongols did not eat mooncakes, the advisor to the Chinese rebel leader Zhu Yuan Zhang came up with the idea of timing the rebellion to coincide with the Mid-Autumn Festival. He sought permission to distribute thousands of moon cakes to the Chinese residents in the city to bless the longevity of the Mongol emperor. Inside each cake however, was inserted a piece of paper with the message: "Kill the Mongols on the 15th day of the 8th month" (八月十五殺韃子). On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attacked and overthrew the government. What followed was the establishment of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), under Zhu's ruling. Henceforth, the Mid-Autumn Festival was celebrated with moon cakes.
Anyway the point of this entry is : I LOVE MOONCAKES and I've had heaps in the last 2 weeks. Everyone in my family knows I have a thing for mooncakes (ok, all things sweet) so they've been enabling me by giving me all sorts of mooncakes. I had to taste them all for the sake of my blog!!
Viv was my hand model so you can see how small the mooncake was.
It was only ok.. didn't taste like pineapple at all and the crunchy bits were a bit weird. Meh..
I also had a couple of the traditional baked ones. This was another old established Hong Kong brand..
Lotus seed paste with double egg yolk.... mmmmm yum yum cholesterol...
Viv bought some locally made cold skin mooncakes from the taiwanese bakery in Greenlane.. a mango one which I didn't take pics of... that was nice and mangoey. This radioactive green mooncake is a pandan flavoured cold skin mooncake with a single egg yolk. It smelt fragrant because of the pandan.
Jenn and Jayden came up from Hamilton for our French Cafe dinner (separate post to come) and brought us a huge box of taiwanese style mooncakes...
Three flavours, four each to a box - taro, mung beans and red bean.
All in the name of science... lined up and ready to be tasted...
Insides shot:
The taro was my favourite and the mung bean was my least favourite as it was a bit dry and powdery. The red bean is normal... I'm taking one to work tomorrow as one of my numerous snacks... hehe..
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone!
As with every Chinese festival, there's a legend attached to the significance of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Once upon a time, the earth had ten suns. They burned the crops and people were suffering. A man called Houyi decided to shoot down nine suns and leave one for the benefit of the people. After he shot down the suns, he was treated as a hero. He had a beautiful wife named Chang'e and they lived happily together. As a reward for his heroism, the Emperor of the Immortals gave Houyi two pills, each of which granted eternal life as a reward for shooting down the suns - one was for Houyi and the other for his wife. Houyi was to wait until New Years Day, on which he and Chang'e were supposed to eat the pills together. Chang’e put the pill in her jewelry box for safekeeping. But Peng, one of Houyi’s apprentices, discovered their secret and decided to steal the pill. Peng sneaked into Chang’e’s room and forced her to give him the pill. Chang’e knew she couldn't fight Peng so she ate the pill herself. However, after eating it alone, she began to float. Unable to come back to earth, she took flight and flew far, far away. She did not want to leave her husband so she stopped at the moon, which is the body closest to Earth. After Houyi found out what happened, he was very angry and heartbroken. He looked up into the night and called Chang’e’s name. He discovered that inside the moon there was a lady’s shadow that look like Chang’e, so he ran and ran and tried to reach the moon. He failed due to the wind. Chang'e now lives on the moon and has the Jade Rabbit who pounds medicine and makes elixirs for the gods, for company.
As for why we eat mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival, legend has it is to commemorate the uprising in China against the Mongol rulers of the Yuan Dynasty (1280–1368) in the 14th century. As group gatherings were banned, it was impossible to make plans for a rebellion. Noting that the Mongols did not eat mooncakes, the advisor to the Chinese rebel leader Zhu Yuan Zhang came up with the idea of timing the rebellion to coincide with the Mid-Autumn Festival. He sought permission to distribute thousands of moon cakes to the Chinese residents in the city to bless the longevity of the Mongol emperor. Inside each cake however, was inserted a piece of paper with the message: "Kill the Mongols on the 15th day of the 8th month" (八月十五殺韃子). On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attacked and overthrew the government. What followed was the establishment of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), under Zhu's ruling. Henceforth, the Mid-Autumn Festival was celebrated with moon cakes.
Anyway the point of this entry is : I LOVE MOONCAKES and I've had heaps in the last 2 weeks. Everyone in my family knows I have a thing for mooncakes (ok, all things sweet) so they've been enabling me by giving me all sorts of mooncakes. I had to taste them all for the sake of my blog!!
There are 2 types of mooncakes - traditional version with the baked pastry and the modern version with the cold outer skin. The usual fillings are red bean and lotus seed paste with or without salted egg. The newer fillings are taro, pandan, chocolate, etc.. you name it and they have it.
I went to Tofu Shop and bought a twin pack mini mooncakes by Maxim Hong Kong - cold skin mooncakes called Pineapple Crunch, ie the filling is made of pineapple paste with crunchy chocolate bits (we think it's cocoa puffs). I was also given a small padded bag to keep the mooncakes cool I assumed. Score!
Viv was my hand model so you can see how small the mooncake was.
It was only ok.. didn't taste like pineapple at all and the crunchy bits were a bit weird. Meh..
I also had a couple of the traditional baked ones. This was another old established Hong Kong brand..
Lotus seed paste with double egg yolk.... mmmmm yum yum cholesterol...
Viv bought some locally made cold skin mooncakes from the taiwanese bakery in Greenlane.. a mango one which I didn't take pics of... that was nice and mangoey. This radioactive green mooncake is a pandan flavoured cold skin mooncake with a single egg yolk. It smelt fragrant because of the pandan.
Jenn and Jayden came up from Hamilton for our French Cafe dinner (separate post to come) and brought us a huge box of taiwanese style mooncakes...
Three flavours, four each to a box - taro, mung beans and red bean.
All in the name of science... lined up and ready to be tasted...
Insides shot:
The taro was my favourite and the mung bean was my least favourite as it was a bit dry and powdery. The red bean is normal... I'm taking one to work tomorrow as one of my numerous snacks... hehe..
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone!
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