singapore adventures

So I have finally had some actual downtown in Phuket and I decided to update you all on my adventures so far – it will also help me write down the goings on before I forget them all when I get home.

Any who – going back nearly one and a half weeks I was heading off to Melbourne airport for the beginning of a very long start to my holiday. My flight boarded on time – so it was a good start. Unfortunately it didn’t go so well after that. We were stuck on the tarmac for another one a half hours, due to a luggage discrepancy - this meant that the luggage needed to be recounted, apparently a long and arduous task. Once we got up in the air the flight went as planned, well until our landing. Due to our earlier delay, we were now competing with other planes to land, we  had to circle up to 5 times, adding another hour and a half more to the trip. Tired, hungry and ready to stretch my legs I finally got off the plane, nearly 10 hours later and met up with my family for an evening out for japanese food – yum!

The next day we walked around the city center, getting lost quite a few times (whoops!) and headed over to the new Marina Bay Sands resort – to take a look at the crazy boat hotel.

Unfortunately it was a bit of a gloomy day – but the views were amazing!

The next day my mum and I headed to a house in Singapore to complete a half day cooking course – we were feeling touristy! It was hosted in the lady’s house, so it was quite homey, and she had an outdoor kitchen at the back.

We learned to cook three dishes for the day:

 

Onde onde – described as pandan green coloured dough with liquid palm sugar filling rolled in coconut – or in other words – deliciousness in a mouthful.

Then came the popiah:

a kind of fresh spring roll, also absolutely amazingly delicious.

And then, last but not least, the noodles:

We left the cooking course feeling very bloated, but very delighted with the results. We got to leave with the recipes, so I am going to have to attempt some of these at home (if I can find the ingredients). If you ever are in Singapore and feel like cooking up a storm, you can check out her website here: Cookery Magic.

The next day was strictly set aside for the Singapore Zoo! Now I know a lot of people are iffy about Zoos, but the Singapore Zoo does an amazing job – all the animals are in great enclosures, all as close to their natural habitat as possible. They also have a great range of animals that I haven’t seen anywhere else.

The beautiful white tiger stole my heart – he was just gorgeous.

The next day we headed off to Phuket and that drew the end to the Singapore portion of my holiday.  More to come on my Phuket adventures…

away with the family

So the past few days I have been in truly relax mode with family over in Perth. This has involved lazy mornings, mid-day naps and just generally being pampered by the parents, and my doting younger brother.

As I am sure the rest of you are busy preparing for tomorrow, or enjoying christmas eve festivities, so I will be succinct with just a few photos from the past days:

enjoying the beautiful beaches, which I miss greatly in Melbourne

having fun in the pool with my brother and my new underwater camera

enjoying a board game with the family

delicious breakfast near the coast

playing with my friends new kitten!

We are currently just finishing off the final preparations for our lunch tomorrow. We try to get as much done before hand to keep the kitchen stress to a minimum. I will try to capture as much as possible tomorrow to let you know how it goes.

Until then – hope you all have a fabulous Christmas – make sure you eat plenty and be merry!

a pinch and a punch…

…first day of the month,  and the first day of summer. To try to get into the summer cheery mood I decided to list what there is to look forward to in the coming months – hopefully focusing on these will be getting me out my current blah slump.

1. Christmas. Now I get into Christmas in a big way, it is by far my favourite holiday; mostly due to the fact that involves a whole lot of food and seeing my family. My mum and I start planning quite early what we will be included in our lunch feast, and we have nearly got it finalised (I will post our lunch menu once finished if any of you would like to see). I also love planning, buying and wrapping all my presents – and am happy to say I have officially finished my Christmas shopping – yay!
2. Back to uni. I just got my offer accepted to study next year, so I will be hitting the books again for the first time in three years. The course is via distance education so I will be keeping my day job – but that does mean I am going to have to be highly self motivated and learn how to properly manage my time between work, study and social activities.
3. Thailand holiday. After being back at work for two weeks after Christmas I will be jet setting off again to Singapore and Thailand for a two-week summer holiday. I am really looking forward to some time away, as I haven’t been on a proper holiday (taking out trips back to Perth) for nearly two years. I am not the sit on the beach and relax for two weeks type (my pale skin makes it impossible for me to do so) so I am planning lots of activities to keep me entertained (kayak adventures, cooking courses and flying foxes – yay!)
4. A new start in fitness. I have been going to Boot Camp now for over 18 weeks and I am still really enjoying it. I am likely to continue next year (after I am back from holidays) but if I want to run a half marathon by October and I am going to have to step it up. Thankfully a new gym is opening in January close to home that is also on my way to and from work. The days that I am not boot camping I hope to head to the gym and work on my long distance running, and maybe join in on a few of the boxing classes also.
5. New floors. If you have been a long time follower you will know that quite a while back I had a water leakage issue in my laundry that caused water damage to my floor boards that extended quite far into my entire downstairs area. I have had the laundry fixed, and replaced the floorboards with tiles to prevent future issues, but all the damaged floorboards in the living, dining and kitchen area have remained whilst working through insurance processes and tradesmen quotes. I am hoping to finally have them fixed in the coming months, which will mean I can put doors back on my laundry (the damaged floorboards prevent them from being on), for the first time in two years!

 What are you looking forward to this summer? Any holidays planned?

25 before 25

Today I turn 24! In amongst my small celebrations, it also marks the beginning of my 25 before 25 list. Some items have carried through from my previous list (some have been left behind), and some are all new challenges. I am still stuck on what to put for number 25 (it was going to be finish a crossword, but I completed that one too early) – let me know if you have any thoughts on what I should add.

1. Run a half marathon. I am starting off with a massive challenge. To be honest I think this is going to be really difficult to achieve, but if I aim for the Melbourne Marathon in October next year, I have almost a year to get prepared for it. I used to run cross-country in high school, so I know I can run long distances, but a half marathon is something I haven’t even attempted before, with my longest run ever being 12kms.  About half way through my year I should endeavour to compete in a 10-15k run to build up to the half marathon, but this date is yet to be decided.
2. Read two books a month (in total 24 books). Now this proved an issue challenge in my 24 before 24, so I have upped the game this time round – two books a month. I am not going to be too strict on whether I get the exact two books in each month – but as long as it is 24 before the year is over I will be happy.
3. Cook at least two recipes from every cookbook I own (and blog about them). I think anyone who loves food will confess to having quite a few cookbooks that they haven’t even opened (let alone cooked from), and I am no different. This challenge will get me looking through those cookbooks that haven’t been opened and years, and actually try some of the recipes inside – who knows what wonders I will discover.
4. Host a miniature dinner party. Those around me know I have a slight obsession with all miniature sized food. So, to celebrate this fact, I would like to host a dinner party at my house where all the food is in miniature. (miniature burgers will definitely make an appearance on the menu)
5. Completely revamp my work wardrobe. As with my previous posts on the work capsule wardrobe, I would like to pursue this and get my wardrobe to a stage where I am not perplexed what to wear every morning.
6. Start a dedicated cooking/eating blog. I haven’t thought about what exactly yet, but I have been getting back into food in a big way and would like to chronicle this journey somehow. I hope to also improve my skills at food photography through this process.
7. Fill all the walls in my house with art that I love. I am pretty close to achieving this one, but I still think it is important. I do still have a few tricky walls in my house that need some art love – I have some plans in the works but I’d like to get this ticked off.
8. Make beautifully decorated cupcakes. This is another rollover from my 24 before 24 – I would love to attempt to make cupcakes that could mirror what you see in beautiful bakery windows. Nothing as fancy as miniature figurines on the top of them – but just beautifully iced and presented. Bonus points awarded if they are miniature.
9. Pay off all my credit cards, and get in a comfortable financial position. Due to some unfortunate instances with roommates etc, I have been put in the red in regards to my finances. I would like to not only have no debt (other than my mortgage and HECS) but also have a safety pool of money for those unforseen events that have a habit of popping up.
10. and to help with the above Keep to a budget. In my 24 before 24 I completed half of a budget by inputting all my incomes and expenses, but I didn’t get as far as creating a budget which I was to stick month to month. I’d like to set a budget which will hopefully get me to a better position sooner, and stop unnecessary spending.
11. Go in for a professional bra fitting. I have ashamedly never done so and I’d love to be properly fitted for a bra. Bra shopping in general is something I usually loathe, so maybe taking the guessing out of it and getting professional help will make this a more pleasant experience.
12. Become a market regular. The Preston markets near me have a fantastic range of fruit, vegies, meat, and deli items, and the prices are a lot better than your local supermarket, so I really have no excuse not to make this a regular part of my weekly food shop. Out of convenience I have always just done a one-stop-shop at Woolworths, but as I am getting more into my cooking and food I need to make the effort to get fresher produce to make those meals extra tasty.
13. Eat at a hatted restaurant. The Age Good Food Guide rates Melbourne restaurants, and the very best receive ‘hats’. The hats range from one to three, and only four Melbourne Restaurants have gained the three chef hats. In order to expand my food experiences outside of my Cheap Eats, I’d like to once eat at a hatted restaurant. Whether it be one hat or three it should be tasty either way.
14. Make gnocchi and ravioli from scratch. Both are dishes that I love, and I have heard that the home-made versions are infinitely better – so it is on the list to conquer. Also, both can be frozen, so I can make them in bulk and enjoy them for months to come.
15. Play a board game – or even better have a games night. Where have all the board games gone? I can’t remember the last time I played one, and it makes me quiet sad that the kids these days (wow I sound old!) don’t really play board games. My preferred games would have to be Monopoly or Pictionary, but I will also accept Cluedo (did someone say Colonel Mustard, dibs!), Game of Life or Balderdash for this challenge.  Now just to find someone who wants to play with me…
16. Create edible gifts for my colleagues and friends for Christmas.  I have always had a vision of having beautifully packaged edible gifts to hand out for Christmas, see here for inspiration. I won’t have long to get cracking on this one (can’t believe Christmas is in just over a month) but fingers crossed I can get it done.
17. Plan an overseas holiday. This was also on my 24 before 24 list, and I crossed it off (Thailand holiday in Jan – yay!) however I am an avid traveller and I think this should be a constant requirement each year. Not sure what will be next on the agenda (there is still so much left to see) but my initial thoughts are maybe the US, or Africa…
18. Speaking of Africa – Visit Weribee open range zoo: I love zoos, mostly because I love animals and our zoos in Australia have them in very good habitats. I am yet to visit the open range zoo though, and from their website it looks like they have an amazing array of animals and adventures you can get up to there, the Slumber Safari in particular looks awesome!
19. Start a stock portfolio. I get the Barefoot Investors email updates every week, and often he talks about the advantages of having a stock portfolio, especially over other forms of investment.  Even if the total value of the portfolio is less than 1k I think it will be a good starting point for me.
20.  Visit the drive in theatre. Strangely enough I live very close to a drive in theatre, and have done for over two years, and I still haven’t gone. I have never been to a movie through a drive in so it seems like a good opportunity to go back into the past just for one night. (I think they have a retro diner on site also…)
21. Grow my hair to my waist. My hair currently sits just at my bra strap, given a year of growing (and refraining from cutting) I should get the longest parts of my hair to my waist.
22. See more of Victoria. I have now lived in Melbourne for just under 3 years and I haven’t seen much past the city.  I have been to the Dandenong’s and on half of Great Ocean Road – but I’d like to cross off Daylesford, Mornington Peninsula and Phillip Island.
23. Organise something for my 25 birthday. A quarter of a century, it seems like a long time but it has gone like a flash (so far anyway). To continue on with this years birthday celebrations I want to make sure my birthday is celebrated again next year.
24. Dine alone. When I was backpacking across Europe often I would be left without travelling partners for a night or so, not wanting to eat only supermarket food for the night I would venture out and end up dining alone. It certainly was a new experience, but in a foreign country it wasn’t as intimidating as I have now found it being back in Australia. I think I just need to get over myself and take the opportunity now and then to go out a meal alone, whether it be a brunch, lunch or dinner, take a book and enjoy some amazing food on my own.
25. ???

Phew – I am tired just reading over them all! But at least this time around I will have the full year to complete them and  I promise to update you on any of the above as I try to make my way through them – fingers crossed I can get close to the full 25.

Have you created a life list? What is included on yours? Any thoughts on what I should put for number 25?

UPDATED: I have decided on my #25 – Begin studying for a new degree. I have been in my field now for just on three years and I am not convinced that it is for me – so to give myself more options in the future I would like to get a few more qualifications under my belt. It is likely going to be studying a degree via distance education, which will require a lot of discipline on my end, but I think I can do.

perth: day one

Last night I headed to the airport for my flight from Melbourne to Perth and I couldn’t be more excited – four days off, at least over 2o degree weather each day, and catching up with family and friends (with a 4k run in the middle there somewhere). The flight on the way over was without issue, and for the first time in a long time, I didn’t bring my laptop with me, so I managed to finish my August book in one sitting (Time Traveller’s Wife - highly recommended read).

This morning I awoke at the crack of dawn (well 630ish), still being on Melbourne time, but it was comforting staying in bed whilst thinking I would usually be at work! The morning was busy with things to get checked off my to do’s – I got a much needed trim of my hair at my old favourite hairdresser, grabbed all the bits I need for my City 2 Surf run here on Sunday, and managed to pop in Floreat to get a book for my flight home (Catch-22) and grab a bite to eat. I had insisted to Mum before I came over that I would like to visit Delish for Lunch – they have the most amazing range of sandwiches, and one particular toastie that I just love:

my amazing Tex Mex Chix toastie – not exactly sure what is in it (I think chicken, avocado, cheddar, cream cheese and some sort of tex mex flavouring)

mum’s beef and caramelised onions sandwich

and james’ (couldn’t be patient enough for me to take a snap first) chicken and avocado sandwich.

I am sure there are many places that have popped up in Perth since my absence with better food – but this food just reminds me of when I lived here, so it is always a required re-visit.

After the delicious lunch, a much-needed nap was taken (how come you always sleep so easily on holidays) and the rest of the day was spent relaxing at home before another requested meal – fish and chips from my local fish and chip shop. Good fish and chips is just something I haven’t found in Melbourne, probably as I live in the North, so it is another must eat when I am back home.

Today is likely to be catching up with friends – but we’ll just see how the day turns out.

thinking of summer

As I am sure many of you are already doing, my thoughts have begun to wander into summer fashions. The short burst of beautiful weather we had here in Melbourne last week really gave me a taste of what is to come, and what winter was missing.

Although it is still tentative, it is looking like I might be venturing over to Thailand in January next year – and this has prompted me to think of my potential summer outfits, more specifically what bathers will I wear? Now, when I lived in Perth I had a multitude of different swim suits, buying a new pair nearly every year – however due to the lack of water time in Melbourne, my choices have been dwindling, and now I am left with only one good (well wearable – and by wearable I mean not somewhat see through due to constant wear in chlorine) pair of bathers. Noting that the summer sales are about to launch in the northern hemisphere, what better time than to investigate purchasing a new pair. Below are a few of that I am currently choosing from:

asos: motel leopard triangle bikini top

asos: mix and match double loop strap bikini top

Victoria Secret: sequined striped triangle top

I will let you know what I eventually choose.

heading out west

Tonight I am heading back home for a long weekend and I can’t wait! Although I’ll be getting in at midnight Perth time (three am Melbourne time) I imagine I will be full of energy, just excited to be back home. Although I have been in Melbourne two years now, and have even bought my own house here, I still call Perth home, maybe more because it’s where all my family is.  The weekend is fairly unplanned as the thing I love best about going home is just relaxing at our house, and being around my brother and parents.  Although some must do’s for when I go home to Perth include:

• Buying some Biltong from the South African shop. Not many South African expats seem to make it over to Melbourne, which results in a severe lack of good Biltong here – Perth has heaps of good South African stores so I will definitely be chowing down all I can eat whilst I am there
• Eating Fish & Chips – no fish & chips in Melbourne have yet to come close to the deliciousness of the fish at our local fish and chip shop back in Perth
• Visit Shoe Show – I am sure I just haven’t found the equivalent yet in Melbourne, but Shoe Show in Perth is a chain of stores that carry brand name shoes (think I Love Billy to Tony Bianco) for cheaper prices. It is always good to pop in there when I am in Perth and see if any good bargains are to be had
• Head to Edo in Subiaco for a Chicken Katsu Bento Box – best chicken katsu I’ve ever had! And so reasonably priced, I highly recommend you pop in and grab any one of their bento boxes for a lunch or a takeaway dinner.
• Visit Karrinyup shopping centre – I worked in this shopping centre for over 3  years whilst at Uni, and love to pop in to see what has changed. It also has a really great range of shops now, so perfect for a quick shop and coffee with mum!

Now a lot of my must dos seem to centre around food – but I suppose that is just how most of my life is – I certainly live to eat, not eat to live! I’ll have some updates on how my Perth adventures go over the weekend soon.

the end of 2010

The past two weeks of my holiday have gone by so quickly. After 8 wonderful days of Christmas and family back in Perth, I have been home starting on all the jobs I hope to complete before heading back to work in a week.

Whilst in Perth, mum, my brother and I headed to the Golf Club for a scrumptious breakfast.

I had my usual eggs Benedict

Mum had poached eggs with bacon

James had pancakes with miniature hash browns (yum!)

We had also planned a black/white/silver christmas theme this year, so Mum and I made a tablecloth to match:

Actual Christmas day was a scorcher! So we had to move lunch indoors – our menu however worked well in the heat, with all cold meats and lots of salads! I was too busy eating Christmas lunch however to remember to take a photo – sorry! It was however all delicious! Especially the Ham with pears and the rolled beef with salsa verde – yum!! I was quite upset that I headed back to Melbourne the next day so I wasn’t able to enjoy all the leftover yummyness.

Back at home now I have been trying to finish off some odd jobs around the home – I managed to head to Ikea and buy frames for my photos I had printed a few weeks ago, and they are now hanging on the wall on the stairs.

(excuse the bad lighting)

That brings us to last night – new years eve. Phil and I had planned to go to Little Creatures dining hall for new years eve – however we missed the line which said you needed to book a spot on their faux grass lawn – we gave them a ring early in the day, however they were fully booked out. So after some brainstorming we came to the conclusion that we’d do dinner and then drinks back at home – to avoid excessive money spending and crowds. We headed to dinner at Kanda in Ivanhoe and indulged in:

Tokyo nuggets – seafood and potato

Spicy salmon sushi – raw salmon with avocado, cucumber and spicy mayo

Tonkatsu – yum!

So it was a quiet, but definitely enjoyable beginning to 2011. Hope you all had fantastic nights and good luck for the new  year!!

the holiday to-do list

So in a few days I am heading off to Perth to spend Christmas at home – yay! But I will be returning back soon after Christmas and I will have approximately two weeks before I am back to work. It seems like the perfect time to get started on some house projects. So far my list of to-do’s around the house consists of:

• Get wall paint chip and match colour at bunnings. Paint over damaged and discoloured sections of the walls

A few spots on my walls need a touch up – either from some moving marks or just general wear – however I don’t have the original paint colour. I am hoping I can remove a small paint chip from my wall (potentially for inside a cupboard) to get the colour identified at Bunnings and then touch up the small areas with some fresh paint.

• Frame and hang all artwork

I think everyone has something that is leaning against a wall waiting to be hung. I have a few at the moment – most recently waiting are my photo posters that arrived in the mail yesterday!

• Paint black Europe frames white

I have some already framed and hung photos from my first trip to Europe – however the frames are black, which are just too dark in my house – I’d like to paint the frames white to give them a fresher look (and to avoid having to buy all new frames!) 

• Move some items into the overhead bedroom storage

So it turns out, after living in my house for a year, I have discovered that the doors above my bedroom wardrobe (which are ridiculously high up) open to a storage space – I thought they were fake doors for appearance sake. This has opened up a world of storage for those items that don’t need constant access, i.e. Christmas trees and golf bags. I will have to buy a ladder before I can access it, but I am in need of one any way – especially with my high ceilings and those cobwebs beginning to form…

• Get tiling quote

I had a little mishap in the first few months of my new house – the washing machine pipes weren’t perfectly tight, which resulted in a slow leaking of water in my under stair laundry area. This in turn has caused massive warping in my wood floors. I don’t quite have the funds yet to repair my floor (which will be most of the downstairs area) however I’d like to replace the wood in the laundry section with tiles, as to avoid this ever happening again.

• Clean under the outside stairs and sort out plants

The area under my outside stairs is only accessible my un-screwing the stairs themselves. A massive amount of dirt, dust and even a leftover watering can from the previous tenant is hiding under there and it needs a good clean. I will also need to reorganise all my plants as the current pots aren’t quite working for them.

• Build Cleaning Kit

My current cleaning kit is homed in a Woolworths green bag and consists of all sorts of chemicals and sprays. I would like to re-look at what is actually needed and try to create as many natural and DIY cleaning materials as possible to add to the kit. Some new sponges and clothes (especially dusting ones) might be needed also.

• Put together recipe cards

I have been slowly typing up some of my most used recipes – however what to do with them now is still stumping me. I need to create some sort of hard copy version, as to keep my laptop out of the kitchen.

• Create house shopping list

I constantly feel like I need to be buying more and more things for my house – however I have noticed that this urge to buy often ends up with me having stuff I don’t need, which just creates clutter in an already small space. I’d like to put together a list of the things I actually need – as to avoid the buying for buying sake. 

• Massive declutter of all rooms

I would love to have less ‘stuff’. Looking around my house I have so many unnecessary things. I am hoping the Christmas break will give me the time to buckle down and work through some of the mountains of things that are really no longer needed.

I am hoping that some (if not all) of this list will be achievable in the 14 days I will have off – and maybe some relaxing could be squeezed in there.

mt buller adventure

Due to a friend of Jane’s pulling out, I had the opportunity to join her on a short winter trip up to Mt Buller on the weekend. We headed off on Friday evening (after a very frustrating late day at work) and got on the road at around 7:50pm. The trip up was quite uneventful, a pretty straightforward 3 hour drive until you reach the mountain, then its a mountain taxi up to the town. We stayed at Buller Backpackers, which had an amazing central location – however the standard of the accommodation wasn’t great. Compared to some of the hostels I have stayed at all over the world, this certainly didn’t rank up there. We were in a four share room with an en suite, which sounds perfect, however the room was tiny, the bathroom was grotty and the rooms were not at all soundproof (which when the main inhabitants are likely to be out drinking to all hours doesn’t make for a great nights sleep). We got into bed at around 1130 that evening and tried to sleep for the day ahead.

The next morning we headed out to get ourselves organised – I required skis, boots and poles, as well as some goggles and a beanie type thing. Once this was all gathered and I had kitted up in my old ski gear (thank god it still fit – just) we headed to the ski lifts. I had feared that my knowledge of how to ski would have disappeared, but luckily it came back slowly. I quickly remembered how weak my ankles are (thanks netball) and how easily the left one wouldn’t listen and follow the right. Amazingly I made it down the mountain to the next ski lift without too many dramas. We headed to the very top of the mountain where we were greeted with heavy winds and since we in the clouds, visibility was poor. I have heard Australia doesn’t have the best snow -but Jane and I made the most of it and had some fun anyway.

The second day brought rain and more wind (but no snow) – so we didn’t stay out quite as long before heading back to the town to make the journey back home (the aching in the legs may have been a factor also). All in all it certainly wasn’t the best snow I’d seen, but for a 3 hour drive away I was impressed!