long time

Ok now i know i haven't exactly been very discipline at updating my blog but there seems to be so much life going on outdoors waiting to be experienced as opposed to being stuck infront of the computer.

For one, we had an awesome day at Bondi beach yesterday. It was the festival of the winds, which is basically a nice way of saying a "kite flying festival". I'm turning 34 (?) in 1 day and this is the first time I've actually flown a kite! Yes, my childhood didn't really comprise of kite flying activities cos I was too engrossed at mastering zero-point.

So imagine my thrill when I could join hundreds of kite flyers, young n old, on the beach, against the always fantastic bondi backdrop, setting the sky alight with amazing colors! I don't know what's more thrilling, the actual kite flying part or watching and being part of a moment where adults and kids alike, truly enjoying such a innocent and uncomplicated sort of happiness and joy of doing something as organic as flying a kite.

Aaaahhh one more reason to love Australia and God for letting me be here.

A for __________

Received a call from a client who's known to be rude & nasty. My caller id showed "Blocked Call" and when I picked up, I was immediately bombarded by a string of barking demands which left me a little confused.

This is how the conversation went:

A: Pearl, where's the report I asked for 2 weeks ago, what happen to...bark bark bark (for like a good 2 minutes)"

Me: Erm hello sorry but who is this?

A: What you mean who this is?! You mean you don't recognise my number??

Me: Erm sorry but no...(tried to explain it showed up as "blocked call" but got cut off with more barks)

A: This is An***!! You mean you don't have my number on your caller id?"

Me: Oh hi An***, of course i've your number in my phone but this call showed up as private number not sure why..."

(What I really wanted to say was: "Oh hi An***! Of course I've your number in my phone, in fact, it's top of my list since it's A for ARSEHOLE!", even my phone blocks out your existence!)

*grumble* why are singapore clients so rude?!

RIP

My basil plant was just buried in my trash can.

Cause of death:

Lethal combination of Pearl's un-green fingers & Frost Bite

Time Spent on Earth:

Short

Tribute:

It led a short but useful life, having graced many salads, soups, stews and sandwiches. It truly did add much flavor to life.

Dearly missed by:

Lemon thyme & Rosemary

RIP

Hanging out with our best friend

My favourite part of the weekend is when the sun's out and the skies crystal blue, we'll make it a point to take raindrop out to the beach for a walk. But before that we'll treat ourselves to a nice big (read: expensive) breakfast at the beach cafe. This is one luxury I really relish and it never fails to making it a perfect weekend. 

The funny thing is raindrop seems to know when the weekend has arrived cos she's usually in a especially good and excitable mood every saturday morning. I'm still scratching my head as to how she knows this, perhaps she can sense my excitement too.

Here're some pics:

Bondi beach walk

Cafe @ Tamarama beach

we had a good time watching some really hot bods (both guys n gals) playing beach volleyball. 

A respectable business?

I just saw an yahoo ad for a Financial Service Firm that read:

"What's your bank trying to sneak pass you this time? It's time for a bank that doesn't act like a bank"

I think this ad says alot about the state of the banking industry and profession right now. In the eyes of the majority, no longer does a bank represent respectability, trust & security in fact it seems it sits on the opposite end of the spectrum as far as these values are concern. 

Sad state of affairs? Perhaps but don't expect any sympathies from me.

One Fine Day

Today's was a perfect day. Woke up to sunny blue skies with light sea breeze and a happy waggy raindrop downstairs greeting me. Since it was the first morning raindrop's home, we decided to treat ourselves to a nice hearty breakfast at the nearby beach cafe. 

Raindrop sensed that we were gonna take her out so she dutifully waited at the door. She expertly & automatically jumped into the back of our land rover, popped her head out through the half open window & waited for her morning adventure to begin.

The cafe was already quite packed with couples, families and dogs even though it was only 8ish. The breakfast like most breakfast you get in sydney was super yummy. I had a nicely done eggs benedict topped with baked ham, hollandaise sauce & rosti. 

With tummies warm and filled with food, we took a long walk along the coast. Raindrop was really relaxed and happy which is a huge change from her usually nervous-self when she's outside. She even wanted to make friends with the other dogs around, amazing! I was so impressed and  tempted to let her off leash so she could run in the open fields but was worried she might run across the road. Guess i'll do that when she's more discipline outdoors. 

Since we had such a wonderful start to the day, a fitting end would be to prepare an equally awesome dinner, so we got busy in the kitchen and outdid ourselves with a roast beef with mash potatoes, salad and accompanied by a glass of cabernet merlot from our favorite vineyard. 

Ahhhh....i'm now tucked in bed feeling very satisfied =)

(i took a couple of pics but too lazy to upload them now....)

going down the checklist

I wrote in my earlier post, 20 reasons why I wanted to move to sydney. I'm happy to report that quite a few of the checklist are being fulfilled and becoming our way of life here:

1) My herb garden

I'm never one with green fingers but I do like the IDEA of having plants even though they don't survive very long under my torment, erm I mean, care.

However, I couldn't resist starting up a herb garden in our courtyard. (with a herb plant, in the event it starts to die on me, I can quickly snip up the leaves and use it to cook....well at least the plant won't die in vain) So far I've gotten myself a pot of Rosemary, Basil & Lemon Thyme. The scent from just touching the leaves is heavenly. My heart still gives little flutters of joy whenever I snip a few fresh herbs in the midst of cooking, there's just something really earthly & wholesome about it. 

Here's a pic of my modest herb garden:

basil and rosemary (notice Raindrop, in the corner of photo, sniffing at my basil plant. she's been taking little nips at it without me knowing)

Lemon Thyme

2) The best things in life are free (almost)

On weekends, we derive much pleasure from doing simple things like packing a simple lunch and having it by the rocks facing the sea, walking along the nearby beach, having a beer at the local pub or just fiddling around the house.

a simple lunch of chicken-salad sandwich with steaming hot cappuccino

nearby beach

our regular beer garden. booze's cheap there but food sucks.

3) Going to the flea markets & festivals

There's always something going on in Sydney. In fact every weekend, there's a whole 20+ page section of the Herald Tribute called the "Weekend" devoted to all the wonderful leisure & entertainment stuff going on that weekend. Eg. We went to the Surry Hills festival which happens annually in support for fringe activist advocating Eco-values, Organic-living, and some rather hocus-pocus stuff like "No-more dollies (basically anti-cloning)". 

Just today, we went to another festival called "Bark in the Park", basically a fair devoted to the pooches. There were all kinds of funny looking dogs, some normal looking ones dressed up to look funny. Like this one here:

Angel & Devil 

Of course there were perfectly normal looking humans & dogs like me & raindrop:

Official beginning

After lumbering around for almost 3 weeks since we got here, our life officially started on the 9th April. Nothing "officiates" it more than making 2 major commitments: Signing the lease on a House and Buying a Car, both on the same day.

It was a funny experience and eye-opener going through the process for both.

First, the house. We actually wanted to get the keys on Fri but we didn't have

 a document they wanted. The agent promised that we can officially hand over on a Monday morning when we bring the document. Come Monday, with document on hand, we're all excited abt getting the keys. Several calls later, we found out that the silly woman was on medical leave and for 2 days! Maybe after closing our "sale", she partied too hard over the weekend n she decided to give herself 2 days off at the beach.

Oh well, we thought since we were in no big rush and since we ARE in oz, gotta do as the aussies do, just chill. ( Also cos, they're usually so nice that it's hard to get mad at them)

So on the 9th, the agent finally came back to work (with a tan), we finally got the keys to our new home. Here's a sneak preview:

 

view from our courtyard

As for the car, the transaction was too simple: Handover a wad of cash, sign form and viola! the car's ours. And since buying a car in cash is totally unheard off in S'pore, I couldn't resist snapping a shot of the stack of cash we used for the car:

Raindrop

As promised, here's what raindrop's been up to since she arrived in sydney:

See video HERE .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l50S6uFCHrc

Raindrop & me locked up

Raindrop's other locked up neighbours

Raindrop quarreling with her neighbour (already!)

As you can see from the video n photos, raindrop is surprisingly completely at ease with her new surroundings. Knowing her nervous nature, I really expected to see her huddled in the corner looking terrified but instead, she's there running around with tail wagging, excited and even man-ja. Incredible! 

And oh the pen you see in the photo is raindrop's home while she's at the quarantine station. It's like a small terrace "house" comprising of an indoor "bedroom" with a bed (yes literally a bed with blanket) and a outdoor courtyard with a automatic water cooler. She's even got a nanny who's assigned to take care of her. Very nice young lady who unfortunately had the privilege of learning that Raindrop bites (sometimes). 

I'm really relieved and happy to know that Raindrop's doing great. We're gonna visit her again on Friday. Can't wait!

What I've been up to

We've been out & about from mornings till late evenings since we got here. There always seems to be something we wanna do or have to do. So here's a pictorial summary (too long to write):

(1) Enjoying their lovingly made coffees at the many cute cafes. But it's getting to be a costly luxury so we've decided to invest in a good coffee machine once we've moved to a more permanent place. (i'm already eyeing a slick looking delonghi machine =P)

(2) Been Bio-ing Dogs. Met this Raindrop-look-alike waiting outside a pub while his Daddy's getting a beer inside. 

(3) Meet Samson, our friend's dog. Had a nice Bbq 

lunch at their house on Sunday. The food was so simply made yet so yummy. Had too much to eat and too much to drink as well. Between 4 of us, we had 

2 bottles of wine, a shot of tequlia, 2 mugs of homemade beer, tia maria, all this in the middle of a sunday afternoon! Much less to say, we slept really well that night and amazingly we weren't hung over the next day.

(4) Roamed around Chinatown getting our Asian food fix. We saw this long snaking Q from the shop to the street and were immediately curious. Turns out it was a shop selling PRATA and SATAY! Think it was started by a Malaysian, the prata made 

fresh, looked nice and fluffy. We're definitely gonna check it out one day. 

Ok la, it's not all fun and games here. We had to do serious and boring stuff like set up bank accounts, meet accountants n lawyers to get the company registered and work visa done, house hunting (which is becoming increasingly NOT fun), finish up a project here, meet up with some existing clients & partners.

Can't wait to find a place and really settle in so we can get business up and running. 

And oh, went to visit Raindrop at the Quarantine station on friday. She's doing surprisingly well! Will post an update on this once I've downloaded the photos i took of her =)

Super excited about getting her back soon. She's become more brave and I think she's gonna like it here. 

Shoot me

Ok I know this sounds pathetic but it's only been 6 days and I'm already having a serious case of intense longing for some tongue-numbing, gut wrenching jolt of super hot CHILLI. I don't care if it's sambal balachan (i'll just scream if i ever find this here) or fresh cut chilli padi or chicken rice chilli as long as it's tongue-numbing, gut wrenching jolt of chilli......er ok i said that already, think the dire lack of chilli is having it's effect on my brain.

Actually, there do sell chilli padi here. I almost died and gone to heaven when i saw those cute lil red things but believe it or not, I didn't buy it. 

2 reasons:

1. It's called Chilli Bullet.

My immediate thought was "Er, hot or not?"

2. It's FRigging 4 bucks for like 15 pieces!

So combine the sceptic in me and my singaporean sense of how much chilli padi should cost, i simply couldn't bring myself to get it.

This was 3 days ago but i confess right now, I'm seriously tempted to give in to this daylight robbery just to get my chilli fix. 

Then again, I think i'll wait till C comes then we go marketing at the Chinatown market where asian foodstuffs prices are alot more sane. I might just buy myself a chilli plant! 

Anyway this is gonna be one of the many boh-liao post you'll be reading here. The little details in life we take for granted: LIKE CHILLI!

Finally

Yes, having arrived in Sydney last nite, I've officially crossed the over to the new frontier.

The excitement didn't really hit me till I was on the plane and having nothing to do, i had alot of time to daydream & dwell on this new chapter.

Today's my first day here and maybe because I'm fighting a flu and maybe because the apartment's too comfortable, I've not gone out or done much yet. I'm staying at a really nice studio apartment along bondi road, just 10mins walk to bondi beach. The owners are a young couple who are currently holidaying in India. It's amazing how they've kept the place so clean and neat, it looks better than some of the service apartments I've stayed in! 

I guess it's alot less dusty n humid here but still, it's been one day and "signs" of my mess around are already quite apparent =) and I've not even unpacked yet! 

Gonna see some houses for rent tomorrow morning and probably head to the beach after. Can't wait to take my favourite bondi to tamarama beach walk, am determined to lose at least 2 dress sizes while i'm here. 

Well, now that I'm finally here I just have 2 things to worry about. Raindrop and Business. 

Everytime I think about this 2, my mind goes into a frenzy. I'm gonna church to pray for both haha, need divine intervention. Coincidentally, there's a church just 2 mins away so really no excuse not to go. The best part is i made a wrong turn and stumbled upon it so I think it's a unmistakable invitation back to church. 

Ok that's it for now, will keep updating my adventures in the land of OZ.

Klee

I was writing a long raving post about the cocktail bar Klee 2 days ago but got wiped out when the blog page crash on me &!*#$^!(!

So here's the long-short of it: 

Go try it! The drinks are amazing and deceivingly healthy. The experience very novel & fun.

Ever since Klee, all cocktails pale in comparison.

And oh, go with a girlfriend. You get more attention from the bartender that way =)

The next frontier

In less than 19 days I'm about to embark on the greatest adventure of my life or at least that's how i feel. I've been dreaming about this for the longest time but now that it's really happening i'm both excited and afraid. In fact, for the past few days I've been bouncing from one extreme emotion to another, one of immense anticipation and excitement and the other, fearful & anxious about the unknown.

I really hope once I've cross the threshold, things will just fall in place and work well for everyone who has a stake in this. I hope next year this time, I'll look back and be amused with the anxiety my silly mind put me through. 

Well the big plus side about this move is my 2 darlings will be with me and I'm sure we'll have a wonderful time exploring a new life, a new place together. 

I'm thankful that I've been able to experience so much diversity, adventures and fulfillment in my life. I'm thankful that I'm never content with the mutiny of routine that many people I know have grudgingly embraced for fear of "trying something new". Finally, I'm most thankful that God has blessed me with the courage and faith that He will always be by my side, smoothening out my journey for me. Even where there're obstacles, it's just Him playing prank and working in his usual mysterious ways. 

So guys, stay tuned and find out what happens once I've taken my leap of faith on the 19th =)

Fleur de sel

My swedish neighbour at portsdown just came back from a trip home and got us a jar of fleur de sel. (It's terribly sweet of them cos we sorta off handedly mention once that we find really good salt in Singapore overly expensive.)

I couldn't hide my glee when I got that lil pot of goodness and couldn't wait to try it out on a good recipe that just relies on good salt. I stumbled upon a roast chicken recipe from chubby hubby and it couldn't be more perfect. This recipe was so simple that I was initially doubtful. It only calls for good lug of olive oil, the best salt and some fresh thyme leaves but it was perfect to give my fleur de sel a good test drive. 

I gave a 1.5kg chicken a good rub down with the salt, left it in the fridge overnight and popped it in the oven for dinner the next day. (i was really careful not to waste a single grain of this rather expensive salt) 

The chicken came out AWESOME! The salt gave the juicy meat a tangy sweet savoury note, with the scent n flavours of fresh thyme....*drool* And oh, i threw in some whole garlic cloves at the side cos I know C loves roasted garlic. 

 It was my best roast chicken yet and it was so friggin simple. A perfect lazy tuesday night dinner meal. 

Ok here's the photo from chubby hubby's site. Mine didn't come up as brown n pretty, i still don't know how to get my chicken to that even goldish brown color. Mine always ends up charred in some parts n not very brown in the others. But oh well, bet it was just as  yummy =)

Gross & Rotten

It was a Friday and I wanted to dish up a good load of high carbo and high fat meal in anticipation of Con's home-coming after leaving for a very last min trip to Bkk. 

After starving myself off carbo for almost 2 weeks, I was literally smacking my lips dreaming up the most carbo-ladden meal I could whip up. 

Unfortunately, as it was a last minute meal and I had very little hope for getting sufficiently fresh ingredients at my nearby supermarket so I decided upon a simple but yummy dish of Aglio Olio. All I needed was a good dose of Bacon & green beans. Bacon as you know is preserved so high chance i should be able to get them decently "fresh" right? Green beans are hardy veg and have long shelf life so it should be easy preasy. 

So off I headed to Colds Storage.

Here's what I found:

The white stuff you see on the green beans is not light reflection but a serious case of  white fungus like mold growing on it. The bacon was a gross greyish brown color. I couldn't resist snapping the pork ribs, which was again that gross sickly brownish color of rotting meat!

While I know Singapore's food stuff are all mostly imported so one cannot expect "fresh-off-the-farm" quality but is it TOO much to expect at least not being sold ROTTEN food? 

This is not the first time I've had such a appalling & disappointing experience with Colds Storage. Just a few weeks back, we were unfortunate to have bought a completely rotten watermelon. Have you ever smelt a rotten watermelon before? OMG, I still feel nauseous recalling that godawful scent. The irony of it was, we were really cheesed off so called Colds Storage to complain. They got their staff to hand deliver another watermelon to us. That watermelon when cut open was equally rotten! We thought this was their idea of a sick joke and called them to thank for sending us another rotten fruit. In response, they were kind enough to apologise and sent us ANOTHER rotten watermelon! 

Suffice to say, I've not had watermelon since then.

Anyway back to my carbo-ladden aglio olio, I did still manage to whip it up but had to gingerly pick thru a packet of green beans for edible ones and had to buy a imported pack of bacon. 

The dish was yummy enough to put me back into a good mood. 

As for COlds Storage, I've written in to NEA. NEA apparently has recently set up a "hotline" for you to call if you encounter less than fresh foods being sold. For them to have a dedicated hotline, there must be alot of unhappy & equally grossed out customers out there.

Snap out of it

I really gotta snap out of my Lembek mode. Ever since Christmas I've been on a super-holiday-don't-feel-like-working mood.

Didn't help that the 5 days cruise on the Royal Caribbean was too damn relaxing. Been a long time since I spent 5 straight days of no internet, no calls and literally not really needing my brain (other than the few times i had to beat conrad at Chua Dai Ji). The moment you board the ship, everything is taken care of. You don't need to think about what to do to entertain yourself, don't need to think about where and what to eat, don't need to think about where to go. We didn't even disembark the ship when it was in KL, mostly because the taxi fare to the city was a total rip off! The taxi drivers charged a flat fee of US$65 to get to town! 

Anyway, we did get off at Phuket. I think we're the only ones on the ship that didn't get any sand in our shoes...that's cos we didn't even step on the beach! All we did was going to a real hideaway spa on a hill (in case got tsunami again), had a 2 hour long luxurious massage, drank freshly made pineapple juice on the villa's veranda, after that we headed for a early dinner. Again ontop of a hill overlooking the sea, watched the sunset and had the most lovely (but in very tiny portions) thai food dinner. Oh yeah, I didn't bother shopping at the pasar malam. The prices were really ridiculous for cheap looking, poor quality stuff. Imagine, a long sun dress that looks like something you can get at This Fashion for 30 bucks was selling at $70 there! The particular dress I picked out was literally falling apart at it's seams.

This was officially our first real vacation together. Even though we travelled extensively in the past, none of it really qualified as a real vacation since we usually had to get work over n done with first. But for this cruise, we made it a point of not talking or even thinking about work.

Ok now we gotta make it a point to really snap out of it and get in gear for business to resume...soon....after chinese new year....sooon.