The Cube

Two weeks ago as I was doing my laundry round like usual, the washer emitted some irregular sound and I realised the water was not drained out during the rinsing cycle. Um... not good. I'm not thrilled in hand washing my laundry, especially not in winter when most clothing are jumpers, hoodies, etc not to mention the cold water.

Long story short, I did have to hand wash one round of laundry and managed to get a mechanic in to look at my washer the week after. Turns out the culprit was the hair pin above, and yes this hair pin cost me $100. The irony was it has been ages since I used one of these pins. I used to when I bun my hair up but it definitely has been awhile since I last put my hair up in a bun.

So there - remember to check the pockets for foreign objects before putting them in the washer!


Side note: I so need a holiday!

It is now spring in the down under, it usually still hovers around low 20 degrees celsius at maximum temperature. Today, is the rare warm day, highest temperature forecasted at 28 degrees, at 3 pm. It is now sitting at 24 degrees, and time to bring out the shorts! ^^


Side note: Now I just need a barbecue grill!

...for tomorrow.

My maiden trial of making dumpling.. lol - so no dumpling hunting this year.


Side note: This self painting Rakuyaki in Karuizawa looks fun!

Ok.. maybe three, since all this crazy weeks started at Christmas period. Weekdays are work day in day out. Weekends are spent organising other all other things.

I am not running out of things to blog, in fact it is piling up but here's little snapshot of it.

Awesome glaciers at Mount Cook

After that I moved (again!) - still in Melbourne but different apartment and suburb. So there was a lot of packing, cleaning old place, cleaning new place, moving day, unpacking, dealing with real estate agents... as of now am still following up on my rental deposit, 2 months after I moved = ="

Then it was this... In fact, I moved, left 90% of the boxes unpacked and went home...

Lo Sang in Singapore, also in Malaysia

and then, more food... for Lunar/Chinese New Year

Then back to Melbourne, heaps of unpacking... and then this...

It was wow!

Anyways, there's this post because I am procrastinating... am suppose to study for an exam due next month. Apparently I think I have not done enough and now felt like I was voodoo-ed into signing up for an external exams. A lot of studying and memorising needed to save the $300 exams fee. It will be reimbursed if I pass. My colleagues are way more positive than me, because they said "It will be reimbursed when I pass"


Side note: Alright.. back to studying...

Source: Here

After slightly over 6 years, I've finally get to see this talented and charming musicman in person (albeit from a certain distance). Long story short, I was planning to one of his concert 6 years ago but the timing was not right.

Due to the lack of chinese based radio in Australia (at least to my knowledge), it was by pure chance that we stumbled upon his concert poster plastered above an entrance to a carpark in Chinatown on one of my walks with a friend. Fate :)

Little P has been most generous to be willing to keep me company to watch this long awaited concert. I am sure if you do a little search on the net, you will find numerous review and posting on Youtube so I won't write in detail, but it must be said that I love it. :)


Side note: Am still sorting those travel photos...

Part of Merri Creek... I think

 ... is a b*tch. Pardon my French, but it is. However in this case, it is a good b*tch, if there are good b*itches. You wonder what has that got to do with the serene looking stream photo. Allow me to explain.

I tried out the couch to 5k thingy in Sydney, and my usual go-to place to do this was none other than the Harbour Bridge. When I started out, to and fro the Harbour Bridge was just the right distance, and if I need to go further, I could go all the way towards the Opera House side, or continue towards the Royal Botanic Garden next to the Opera House.

I moved to Melbourne thereafter, and am fairly unfamiliar with this place. Note the present tense. One fine day, I was jogging (a very slow jog in my context) and stumbled upon this place above, to which I believe is part of the Merri Creek Trail and the river, is probably the Yarra River, if not Merri Creek.

Somewhere at Digits Falls Trail

To be honest, I am still clueless about as to which trail I was jogging on, as there are Digits Falls Loop Trail, Yarra Bend Trail, Capital City Trail, etc around the same area. I could have been on part of trail A and move to trail B unknowingly. There were times when I happily jog on and realised that I have no idea how to get home, but still stubbornly refused to retrace my steps. A couple of times I fished out the phone to check on google map but it would lead me towards the main road but I would ignore it and trying to find my way in the middle of the reserve trails. There were also times where I would trail behind other people to find new routes, but those are not the best way as I am a slow jogger and I have absolutely no idea where they are going. Lady Luck must have higher tolerance towards silly people like me, because I always find my way home before dark. ^ ^

Anyway, I digress. Back to peer pressure. Despite enjoying my slow jog, there were many times when I was just plain lazy, slug by nature and would just roll at home. However when my friend told me she is going for a run, this peer pressure switch would be turn on, and I actually feel guilty for just ゴロゴロ (goro goro; idling) at home.

It's a b*tch in that sense, but it's actually to my own good, so it is a good b*tch. Don't you think so?


Side note: Note to self - stop buying yummy food to munch... = ="

Super duper home made yee sang

Ya ya.. I know one can make yee sang (鱼生) from scratch but reading the recipe and imagining all the shredding of veges.. I'm just not up to it.

It appears that yee sang (鱼生) is traditionally only eaten during new year in Malaysia and Singapore. After all the painstaking task of shredding vegetables thinly, it was mixed using chopsticks and saying auspicious sayings as one tosses it. The main item of yee sang is of course the sashimi. This serves as a great on tray, in fact it is a very refreshing Asian style salad.

Of course, pre new year dinner also has a lot of other dishes, each carries some auspicious names, along the lines of wealth, health, prosperity, etc.

My contribution is that measley little flourless orange cake. I last mentioned it was the hardest cake I ever made. I deem it hardest as thus far, it is the most time consuming cake I have ever made, considering it is not those last minute cake, due to time needed to boil oranges.

If we are lucky, there will be round two of yee sang this weekend ^ ^


Side note: Fingers crossed for visa!

Thought I'll break the monotonous of all travel posts with some other things.



Little P introduced me to this evil thing, and gave it a money back guaranteed seal. Said that if I don't like it, she would be glad to finish them up and refund me for it. Indeed I wasn't keen initially as I tried some chips on honey soy chicken flavour thingy in the past and I didn't like it. I didn't even finish the chips. Oh well, if something is not nutritious, it should at least taste good, isn't it? Lol.

Anyway, back to this baked not fried shapes - I finished it in 3 sitting (or should it spelled as seating?). The only consolation I could give myself is that at least it is baked, not fried. :D


 Side note: I'm peckish...especially on weekends...

Fruits from Little P

When I first came to Australia and brought fruits to visit people, I was told that people only bring fruits to visit sick people in hospital. Umm.. that was one of the first few things I was told. So it was rather funny when Little P came visiting with a bag of fruits, every time.

Don't get me wrong. I love them, they were all home grown, as organic as can be. Hehe, so I was one the lucky beneficiary of Little P's uncle's fruit trees. Though the persimmon there didnt quite like the fact that I didn't keep it together with an apple and banana. It was still quite sappy when I bite into it, even after I left it on the kitchen bench for close to 5 weeks. I was rather worry one day when I came back, it would get thrown away. LOL.

Oh.. if the picture isn't clear enough, it was a mandarin, persimmon and lemon (from left)


Side note: I wish the weekend is longer :(

Date pictures taken: July 2012

... on expiry date on food?

The pictures above were taken when I was cleaning the fridge and things in the kitchen. Those bottles were just there as ornaments, much to my friend's disapproval, I actually do consume them, albeit slowly. Taste wise, perfectly normal. No foul smell or strange texture.

How about you? What's your take? Do you discard them once it reached the expiry date? Or like me, so long it is still in good condition, consume them?


Side note: Hope the agent emails me by Monday!

I first heard of this C25K (Couch to 5K) program from my Japanese classmate. She seems to have "lubang" about things, like how she heard about home stay from Australia Japan Society. Anyway, this program is has been designed to get just about anyone from the couch to running 5 kilometers or 30 minutes in just 9 weeks.

So, one fine day, the thought that I don't think I could complete a stress ECG make me think I should work my heart a little more. Not that there is any reason for me to undergo any stress ECG but I can't help thinking I probably could only last the first few minutes. How wrong I was. I found out that I can't even last a minute.

Reason being, the program started off run 5 minutes warm up, run 30 seconds, walk 45 seconds, run 45 seconds, walk 60 seconds, run 60 seconds, walk 90 seconds (repeat 3 times), then 5 minutes cool down. I remember panting like a doggie then and boy, one minute can be so long when you run. = ="

I thought to myself that if this thing really work, I'll blog it up :P ... hence this post. I actually bought an app, apparently there were a couple of them but somehow when I looked it up, I actually missed the one with the exact name "Couch to 5K" and actually got this one instead - Ease into 5K. Must be mata sepet. Somehow instead of 5K in 9 weeks, it actually fits it into 8 weeks.

I must say I was surprised it worked, considering I was panting like a doggie when I first started, and that was running for 30-60 seconds. In fact, I was worry that I would fail to continue the program, so I ran in my usual walking sneakers. I actually don't own any trainers/sports shoes after throwing away the old one in Europe. I told myself that if I can run 5km at the end of it, I would buy a pair of running shoes for the sake of the knees.... in a way, I have to earn it. Besides, if I stuck to it for 8 weeks, it would be a shame to go back to square one. A shopaholic friend said usually people will buy all the necessary gears (shoes, running attires, etc) to motivate them to exercise. But... I know myself better, just in case I hangat-hangat tahi ayam.


My colleague said no problem in spotting me from a mile away

Little P said, "Get a good pair of shoes but good shoes are expensive. Then again, knee cap surgery is even more expensive." Morbid.. but true, can't argue with that. So, my reward was the above Nike Lunarglide+ 3 Red/Silver. My very first red colour shoes. Thought I'll get something other than black and I don't quite fancy the black/purple ones.

I'm still pretty much a couch potato, I think... but maybe now am a couch potato who can run 5K. :)
Also am actually thinking I'll try to run further and longer now that I've got proper shoes.


Side note: Now I need VBA for Dummies...

The last many posts fall under the "Travel" category. Let's do something a little different, after all this was started as a personal blog. Anyway, I have a soft spot for jacket. I saw one that I like in Zara when I went back to Malaysia a couple of months ago, unfortunately it was a little big and I looked a little like dumpling when I put it on. So, I didn't bring it home despite it was on sale. Green in colour with detachable fleece inside.


See... it's nice isn't it. The jacket ok.. don't look at the legs.
Picture source: Zara (Malaysia) website

Anyway, I saw it again in the shop, here in Sydney. It was a little more pricey compared to when I first saw it in Malaysia :( but I was tempted... but they don't have my size. I didn't asked but all on display are M size. Oh well, I guess it is telling me that I shouldn't spent on it... reason being... I just realized that I have more jackets than I have skirts or dresses. Same number if I add up both skirts and dresses. Hmm.. Here's what I already had... :P


(L) Jacket from Supre; (R) Denim jacket from G-Star


(L) Leather jacket from Just Jeans; (R) ASOS duffle coat with hood


(L) Winter jacket from Hunt; (R) Jacket from G-Star


(L) Trench coat from Giordano; (R) A&F Hoodie


(L) Esprit Jacket; (R) Work jacket from Padini


Hoodie from Target :P

Actually I do wear them quite often, except the winter jacket from Hunt as it is a little too thick for winter in Sydney. I practically wore the leather jacket and black jacket from G-Star the whole of last winter, hence I bought the ASOS jacket so that I dont over-abuse my G-Star jacket. :P

Looking at it, they are all black or dark blue, I should've picked up some in other colours :p


Side note: Alright.. back to work