Angelica's Blog

Bibimbaps at Bibaps (8th February 2012)

2012-02-08T12:49:00.001+11:00

On days that I feel the need to top up my vegetable intake, I would head to Bibaps in Berry Square food court to pick up a takeaway tofu bibimbap. Bibimbap (its literal translation from Korean meaning 'mixed rice') is a popular Korean dish and is served as a bowl of warm white rice topped with sauteed and seasoned vegetables, and usually accompanied with a raw egg and sliced beef - the meal is stirred together before eating. For $8, you can pick up a bibimbap from Bibaps that comes in a paper bowl with a plastic lid containing a bed of warm white rice topped with sauteed and seasoned shredded carrots, sliced mushrooms and zucchini, bean sprouts and chopped Asian greens, with meat choices of bulgogi (Korean-style beef), teriyaki chicken/fish, miso pork or tofu. Add-ons such as a fried egg or miso soup are available - I always go for brown rice option for an extra 50 cents. Two pieces of lightly pan-fried firm tofu garnished with a few slices of cut green and red chillies (I like it more for the spicy kick, not just the garnish) sat beautifully on top of my brown rice bibimbap, a few sprinkles of sesame seeds and drops of soy sauce to top it off. You also get the choice of a sauce packed separately to go with your bibimbap - these range from mild to hot and though I'm offered a sauce every time (and have tried a few), I much prefer my tofu bibimbap plain without sauces. It's very yummy as it is!

Besides bibimbaps, Bibaps also serve other takeaway meals such as lunch boxes, sushi, rice rolls, udon and salads. The staff are always friendly and welcoming, and though the stall crowds up during the lunchtime rush, there is often little wait time making Bibaps a great place to pick up a meal if you're in a hurry. Photos taken of Bibaps on my phone:

Lunchtime rush though there's hardly any waiting

My tofu bibimbap with miso sauce :)

Adult Mandarin Class Level 2 (Beginners 2) & Petaling Street (6th February 2012)

2012-02-06T22:50:00.000+11:00

After a chilled out 2.5 weeks away from Sydney, it's time for me to return to work and get back to the routines of life. No rest for the wicked, I pretty much delved into work on day one, dealing with the day-to-day issues and fixing new defects as they pop up for my project. It didn't feel like I've been away as long as I have - work was pretty much the same state where I left it. Oh but the gym! The 'post-holiday' workout my personal trainer Alison had me on was an absolute killer and my quad and hamstring muscles were in agony each step I took after my workout. Urgh...A good wake-up call for the body though - time to get back in shape! Fortunately all the holiday eating and drinking did not result in piling on a few extra kilos (phew!) so it's just getting my body used to the new workout.

Speaking of getting back to the swing of things, Australasian Centre of Chinese Studies (ACCS) had started their new term last week and both Jono and I have enrolled ourselves in the Adult Mandarin Class Level 2 (Beginners 2) - this is the next level after the class we did last term. I haven't seen anyone from our last class in Level 2 though - I wondered if they decided Mandarin was too hard and given up. Mandarin is said to be one of the 5 most difficult languages to attain proficiency in speaking and reading for the native English speaker and even I find it difficult despite already knowing some Mandarin. The way ACCS conducts the lessons makes learning Mandarin fun and interesting - I'm definitely learning and retaining a lot more characters in class this time round (I've done Mandarin classes when younger but could never remember characters without its corresponding pinyin). I'm glad Jono's still keen to learn the language and with both of us attending the same class, we get to learn and help each other out, making it a fun shared experience in itself :) Cost $325 for the 10-week class and we were very fortunate to have Christine as our teacher again - she's really lovely and humourous, and often incorporates simple games into our lessons. This week she got us to sing the Chinese version of the children's song "The More We Get Together", with me leading the singing as she caught me humming the tune to Jono when she was writing the lyrics in pinyin on the whiteboard. Eek, so embarrassing having to sing for the class but Jono so kindly joined in and we sung it together.

Our Mandarin class is normally on Saturdays but as we've made plans for the weekend, Jono and I swapped this week's class to the Monday session (there are 3 classes held each week teaching the same lesson and students can swap or attend additional classes if required). Class ended around 8pm and Jono suggested we head to Petaling Street for dinner, a Malaysian hawker food restaurant located on George St in Haymarket. The name Petaling Street takes reference to the Petaling Street in Malaysia which coincidentally is also located in Chinatown in Kuala Lumpur - a tourist spot, this street is notoriously known for cheap imitation branded clothing and accessories, pirated DVDs and CDs stalls as well as home to many restaurants and food stalls. With 5 branches in Melbourne, this chain restaurant recently opened their first branch in Sydney and in a mere few weeks have already attracted quite a clientele.

Entering the restaurant, we were greeted by one of the waitstaff who showed us to our table. The kitchen was in full view as we walked down the narrow walkway to the dining area - cooks busy at their wok stations cooking up a storm, roast chicken hanging on display, and several other kitchenhands chopping and peeling vegetables. The dining area was split in two floors (more seating downstairs below street level) and the tables were placed quite close to one another, making it feel rather congested like a typical hawker place in Malaysia. Waitstaff roamed around the narrow walkways serving customers, donned in uniform T-shirt and black pants, some wearing headsets with mics which are used to communicate with staff on the lower floor. Their menu was quite extensive with at least 50 items to choose from. I went for their Malaysian Preserved (Salted) Radish Steamed Fish (Whole Fish) from the specials board - not everyday would a Malaysian restaurant offer whole steamed fish on their menu so I'm taking the opportunity to order it. And at $14.80 for the meal (which was cheaper than I expected), it was a match made in heaven :) Jono ordered the Chicken Curry Laksa, and we had an Iced Grass Jelly and Honey Lemon (Hot) drink respectively. Photos taken at Petaling Street on my mobile:

Chicken curry laksa and Malaysian preserved salted radish steamed whole fish

Dining area (on the street level) with narrow walkways

My steamed fish appeared in less than 10 minutes after we ordered which was a surprise - normally it would take about 20 minutes to prepare the dish and Jono reckons the fish was pre-cooked and just zapped in the microwave on order. Hmm, if that was the case, I would expect the fish to taste a lot drier but it was still tender and moist. The fish was covered generously with fried garlic and preserved radish (don't think I'll be getting any more kisses from Jono tonight with my now garlic breathe :P), drenched in soy sauce and garnished with fresh parsley. Personally, I felt the meal was too much for one (and Jono couldn't help me with the fish when his own dinner was massive too) so I ended up eating most of the fish and only a few spoonfuls of rice - it was good and authentic but I really can't finish it all...Jono enjoyed his meal too, finishing most his laksa. Cost us $32 all up (the restaurant takes cash only) which was about right for such huge servings and a whole steamed fish. I'm keen to come back to try their other dishes - I've got my eye on the Hainanese chicken rice and those dishes made with marmite. I know what you're thinking: Marmite on pork ribs is just weird. But hey, it may turn out pretty awesome. Still to be sampled!

The Woolleys have arrived! (11th February 2012)

2012-01-11T23:00:00.000+11:00

The Woolleys are here! David, Cheryl and Michelle finally arrived in Sydney this evening - they have been in Sunshine Coast visiting Janet and family the last couple of days and now spending some time with us here in Sydney before everyone heads to Melbourne for the tennis. Their flight was delayed by an hour due to winds in Sydney, arriving at 7.30pm instead. I thought it was rather strange that winds were the cause of the delay - if it was in Wellington, it would be almost daily since Wellington is always windy!

This was the first time Jono and I had taken a car (we booked a GoGet stationwagon for the evening) to the airport to pick someone up and it took us awhile to figure out where to leave the car and locating the domestic arrival gate. There were hardly any signs to indicate where the arrivals area was and you couldn't actually get to the gate (most require a boarding pass and security checks). We ended up waiting for the family at the baggage collection area and shortly after their plane landed, they emerged from the security doors on the floor above (hmm, my guess is that's the only exit for all incoming domestic passengers). "Hello again!," I said to the family all smiles and this was followed by plenty of hugs. It's been almost 9 months since Jono and I saw his family in person so it was really great to see them again :)

After piling the bags and everyone into the stationwagon (good thing we got the stationwagon - it only just fit all 5 of us and the bags!), we headed off to Glebe to the Hesketh home where we were had a late dinner together. There was so much to talk about over wine and nibbles in the back garden, occasionally interrupted by the resident possum who decided to welcome the guests by pelleting its poo onto a nearby fan palm (fortunately none got into our food, drinks or us), or by the huge spider Michelle found crawling up the ledge where David was sitting by - it was bigger than my thumb and we think it might be a garden orbweaver. An exciting start to their Sydney holiday, I say!

Tim and Beryl were fabulous hosts as always, constantly keeping us hydrated (with alcohol, that is) and cooked up some wonderful grilled fish and salads. More chit-chat and laughter over dinner indoors and around 10.30pm, it was time for Jono, Michelle and I to head home. David and Cheryl were putting up at the Heskeths during their stay in Sydney while Michelle (and Mike who arrives on Friday) will be sleeping on the inflatable mattress in our living room (sorry guys, wished we had a spare room!). I've given the family a suggested itinerary of things they can do in Sydney - plenty to do to keep them busy :) Jono will be showing the family around during the day while I'm at work tomorrow. And we'll be celebrating David's birthday in the evening at a Brazilian churrascaria - hope he'll enjoy it!

Kammadhenu (7th January 2012)

2012-01-07T20:57:00.000+11:00

Having cooked dinner most days in the past 2 weeks (I worked from home during the Christmas and New Year period so had more time to cook), I suggested to Jono that we should take a break from cooking and headed out for dinner instead. It has been awhile since we last had Indian and browsing through our handy Entertainment Book, we found an Indian curry place called Kammadhenu located in Newtown. I think I know where we're going to tonight ;)

There are actually two Kammadhenu restaurants on King St though the one nearer to our apartment always looked closed (we've seen the place whenever we go to the gym or supermarket in Newtown and have never seen any life inside). We left home around 6pm and took a leisurely 20-minute walk to the other restaurant at 171 King St - I didn't mind the walk as the weather was quite nice plus the walking would help work up an appetite :) Given it's a Saturday, I called up the restaurant earlier to book us a table but they didn't take bookings for parties of two and suggested we walk in and try our luck. Fortunately for us, the place was quite empty when we arrived and we got ourselves a table by the glass windows so we could watch passersby while we dined.

Kammadhenu prides themselves as the best curry place in town serving Sri Lankan, South Indian and Malaysian cuisine. Jono and I have not yet found our regular Indian place in Sydney (we used to have a few we frequent in Wellington) and I'm quite keen to find out if Kammadhenu really serves great curries. Browsing through their extensive menu, we eventually settled for a Chicken Pepper Masala for me and Lamb Vindaloo for Jono, and shared an egg hopper, garlic roti and basmati rice plus a Chang beer each to go with our meals. "Look at their spice level choices at the bottom of the page," said Jono and I laughed when I saw it - medium, hot or good luck! Gee, I wonder how spicy would 'good luck' be...Interestingly, we weren't ask which spice level we wanted for our curries. Oh well, I guess we'll find out shortly when the food arrives! Photos taken at Kammadhenu:

Kammadhenu with its purple and yellow themed setting

Garlic roti, basmati rice, Chicken Pepper Masala,
egg hopper and Lamb Vindaloo

The egg hopper was interesting - popular for breakfast and/or dinner in South India and Sri Lanka, the egg hopper is a bowl-shaped thin pancake made from fermented rice flour with an egg broken in it as the pancake cooks. It has a neutral taste on its own and is usually eaten with a spicy condiment or curry. And speaking of curry, hmm, neither Jono or I were really impressed with our curries - the chicken pepper masala was ok (normal chicken masala with lots of cracked pepper) but the lamb vindaloo was terrible! It was nothing like vindaloo (by far the spiciest of all Indian curries I know of) and I think the cook had put too much vinegar in the curry, making it quite hard to digest. The garlic roti wasn't really great either. The roti itself was good but instead of using freshly mince garlic and cooking it with the roti, crushed garlic from a can was smeared on top of the roti - it was garlic overkill. Cost us $47.50 (after deducting the 25% voucher discount from the Entertainment Book) which was bit expensive for not-really-great food. Eyeing at other tables, I noticed most people ordering the dosai which looked quite huge (and impressive) for one. Perhaps we've ordered the wrong items this time round - will have to come back to try out the dosai next time.

Happy New Year! (1st January 2012)

2012-01-01T20:58:00.000+11:00

Ah, the first day of the new year and I wonder what 2012 holds for me. With two trips already booked in for the year, it's looking to be another fun-filled and exciting year ahead ;) I'm looking forward to the holiday break in Melbourne in two weeks' time - it's been 6 months since my last holiday and I'm long due for another!

With Jono at work on his normal shift on this statutory holiday, my day was like most Sundays, spent mostly on my own with the highlight of my day preparing dinner for my man. Fortunately for me, Jono's pretty easy when it comes to food (he's willing to try most things) so I get to attempt a different recipe each week :) When I have time, I like cooking and even more so when Jono enjoys and appreciates the wonderfully and lovingly prepared meal I've made at home. It's like a self-esteem booster that leaves me feeling happy and content. Is that how Mum feels when she cooks for Dad, I wonder...Jono's in for a treat tonight for I'm making Jamie Oliver's whole grilled trout for dinner! I have to say, I quite like Jamie's recipes - I've tried a few and they are pretty easy to make and tastes delicious. I've never cooked a whole fish on my own (have helped others) but it looked simple enough according to his recipe...

I made a trip to the Sydney Fish Market early afternoon in search of my trout and boy was the place buzzing with customers, mostly Asians, eating their cooked seafood meals at the shops. Only one of the retailers was selling fresh seafood; all others where closed. Lucky for me, De Costi's Seafoods had exactly what I wanted and for a decent price too - two whole rainbow trout (approximately 300g each) for around $10. Sweet!

Around 2pm on my way back to Town Hall train station walking along Pyrmont Bridge, I was startled when a loud alarm was sounded and it was announced that the bridge demonstration was about to occur. Huh? "Please stand behind the gates," continued the bridge operator on the speakers. What gates? What on earth is he talking about?! I noticed a mad scramble on both side of my peripheral vision as pedestrians headed up or down the bridge. Slightly ahead of me, I could see these two huge gates slowly closing up and quickly made my way over, standing behind the barrier. In the 9 months that I've lived in Sydney, never once had I been on the bridge when the bridge opening occurred (the demonstration) or knew that the bridge even opened up! It turns out that the bridge openings occur several times a day during the weekends and public holidays (and occasionally as required) on specific times. I had front seat views of the demonstration standing right behind the gate, watching the bridge open to allow a small sailboat through, its mast sticking out above the bridge. Cool! The Pyrmont Bridge, one of the world's oldest surviving electrically operated swingspan bridge, takes approximately 60 seconds to open completely to 83 degrees, allowing vessels between 7 - 14 metres in height to pass through. For taller ships, the Monorail beam also needs to be opened with the swingspan but this was not part of the demonstration today. Photos and a short clip of the bridge opening: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8070917@N05/sets/72157628752491001/detail/

Back home to chill out and around 7ish, it was time to prepare dinner. Eee, this feels so weird...slippery and slimy trout...The fish was all gutted, scaled and cleaned so all I had to do was to make incisions on both sides and stuff the cavities with lemon slices and chopped parsley, then grill it. For the Chinese, serving up a whole fish is a symbol of abundance and togetherness. The Chinese word for fish, 'yu', sounds similar to the word for surpluses which is why fish is often served during Chinese New Year and in banquets. Cheers to surpluses in the new year! Photo of our New Year's Day dinner:

And how was dinner, you ask? Delicious! :)

Hair makeover at SP Cotis Hair & Beauty (19th December 2011)

2011-12-19T21:17:00.000+11:00

Another rainy day here in Sydney - sigh, I moved from wet Wellington to what is supposed to be a sunnier city yet it seems to persistently rain here. I've not bought a new umbrella since the last one got binned and have been relying on the rain jacket I purchased in Sri Lanka to keep dry. Not working too well when it rains heavily :/ Like it or not, I needed to get (and get wet) to SP Cotis Hair & Beauty this evening as I've got a hair makeover appointment at 7pm. Just hope the rain would have stopped by the time I'm done at the salon!

Around 6.30pm, I arrived at the hair salon located on Clarence St. Shaking off most of the rain from my jacket and plastic bag covered backpack, I headed down the stairs to this basement shop. As I was early, I sat at the sofa and waited my turn, taking in the atmosphere of the place. Two hairdressers were busily tending to the four customers that were there - one getting a cut, another getting foils done and two others waiting for the hair highlight to 'process'. The salon was nothing like what I had expected. It was very basic, with no fancy design or furniture (the sofa I was sitting on probably came from the Salvation Army), making the place look more like a makeshift backstage area set up for movie sets. That said, I did only pay a mere $49 for a hair makeover which included a cut, half a head of foils, treatment, and a blow dry valued at $195 which I bought from Groupon - for the price, this setting seemed about right though if the salon was trying to promote themselves via Groupon, they may wish to zush up the place. It doesn't look very warm or inviting...Photo taken from the sofa of the salon:

Around 7pm, the female hairdresser called me and I made my way to one of the rattan chairs where she has set up her mobile workstation. The hair makeover started with half a head of foils and I was shown a colour book of highlights choices to choose from. This was the first time I'm having foils done and frankly have no idea what to expect. I opted for a natural brown chestnut tone as I didn't want the highlights to be too obvious (in case it didn't suit my jet black hair). "Yes, I think a natural brown would be good for your dark hair," agreed the hairdresser and she started working on my hair. The foils were to be inserted between my hair along the top half of my head - my hair was separated in parts and a piece of foil was used to separate strands of hair which would be lightened. A lightener (a mix of hydrogen peroxide and dye pigment) was then applied to the strands using an applicator brush and the hair woven so that the whole strand fits into the foil which is then folded to protect the hair and surrounding area during the 'processing' time. The 'processing time' is what determines how light the strands would be (longer time, lighter colour). The size of the strands also affects the end result - the thicker they are, the more streaky the look. Watching the hairdresser working on my foils, the size of the strands looked small so it should be okay. Six foils on my head (generally the number of foils for a half head treatment) and I was left to wait for the dye to set in.

Some 40 minutes later, the other hairdresser (I think he's the senior hairdresser and owner) came to get me for my hair wash. Hmm, I like the head massage...pity it was brief and I was back in my seat, hair still dripping wet for my hair cut. The hairdresser took off quite a lot of the weight (yup, I've got lots of hair) by using the slicing technique on my hair. Ah, my head's so much lighter now! It felt however like a slightly haphazardly and hurried cut, snip-snip here and there, and the cut was done in less than 10 minutes. I was the last customer of the day and it was pretty obvious they wanted me to be on my way soon. I had both the hairdressers blow drying my hair, one tugging on each side of my head, the full service of the makeover completed within an hour. Definitely lack the personal touch and oh, they don't make you coffee or tea either. As I got ready to leave the salon, the senior hairdresser was explaining to me in great length that person who last cut my hair did a crappy job, getting rid of the weight using the thinning scissors which reduces weight at the ends thus making the ends look dry when in actual fact, my hair is strong and healthy. Right, I see...duly noted...

So, verdict of my hair makeover? It wasn't much of a makeover in the sense the length and cut were almost similar to previous, only I have a few highlights this time. On closer inspection in the mirror at home, the highlights weren't the chestnut brown I had asked for but a golden hue. I wonder if 40 minutes was too long to leave my hair in the dye mix which was how I ended up with such a colour (FYI: hydrogen peroxide is pretty potent and if you leave the dye for too long, you can lose that whole foil of hair). I guess I'll have to live with it for now :/ SP Cotis Hair & Beauty is the second hair salon I've tried in Sydney (the first was Soul Art Hair in Newtown) and neither of them provided the services I desire. I'm partly to blame because I went to them due to their cheap deals - cheap doesn't always guarantee quality style and service. I sure miss my hairdresser Kim from Cathy Davys in Wellington. Kim may be expensive and often lectures me for not styling my hair, she does a brilliant job and I always walk out happy. I'll just have to continue on my search for the right hairdresser. Oh hairdresser, hairdresser, where art thou? Photo of my new highlights:

Jono's 30th birthday BBQ (16th December 2011)

2011-12-16T23:30:00.000+11:00

We're celebrating Jono's 30th birthday today!

As Jono's birthday falls on Boxing Day, we agreed that it was best to bring forward the birthday celebrations so that friends would be able to attend (hopefully not already taken off for the holidays). Jono decided that he would have a BBQ party at home for his birthday this year and we've been busy planning for the day with a long shopping list of things to buy. The most important item on the list was the BBQ which we only purchase a little over a week ago and tested it out last night to make sure it would work this evening. Yes, it works!

The early afternoon was spent shopping for ingredients and food needed for the BBQ (guests were told to bring their own meat and drinks while we provided bread, salad and other snacks). After some 3.5 hours out and about, we finally got home around 3pm for a quick lunch and then back to work, cleaning up the house and me making my well-loved orange sweet potato salad and butter cake.

It wasn't until around 5ish that we were done and managed to squeeze in a break from all the cooking and preparations to put up our Christmas tree. We bought it today from Big W (a large discount department chain store similar to Kmart and Target) in the suburb of Campsie while we were in the area doing our shopping. With Christmas just around the corner, we scored a pretty good deal for our tree - cost $19.50 for the 195cm artificial tree and about another $35 for baubles, tinsel and Christmas lights. Jono had put together the tree, fluffed the leaves and wired up the Christmas lights as I busied in the kitchen. "Wait for me so we can do the decorations together," I kept reminding him from the kitchen, hands oily from olive oil as I mixed up the cut sweet potatoes to bake in the oven. Putting up the decorations is the best part and I don't want to miss out! Plus it was our first Christmas tree so I definitely want us to decorate it together :)

"Ok, ok, I'm ready!" and we got a handful of the silver and gold baubles each and started hanging them on the tree. This is so much fun! Once the baubles were done, we draped on the red tinsel and silver bead garland - tree is looking good! Last but not least is the silver star that goes up the top of the tree. "Here you go, you can put it up," said Jono, giving me the star. "But I'm not tall enough to reach! " I exclaimed, one hand with star reaching for the top. Even on my tippie toes, I still cannot reach :( So Jono hoisted me up on to his shoulders and that gave me enough height to secure the star - success! Great teamwork! Yay, our Christmas tree is all done and looks very pretty with the multicoloured lights :)

Ken was the first to arrive around 6pm, pulling out his chef's knife, pastel and mortar, and other ingredients from his backpack. "I thought you said you were making sushi?" I asked warily. He literally took over most of my kitchen, making sushi and roasting herbs and pounding them to make a dry cumin rub for his Jira Chicken which was to go on the BBQ. I don't mind him overtaking my kitchen (ain't the first time), just not very keen on cleaning up after him. And he knows well that it gets to me when he messes up the kitchen - 6 weeks of living in our apartment was enough to establish that he was better at the cooking and me at the cleaning. I would just have to turn a blind eye and let him do his thing. Hopefully it won't be too much effort cleaning up later.

The Heskeths arrived soon after bringing with them a huge salad, followed by Natasha and Pavel, and Ken's friend Rini. Some of Jono's other colleagues were still at work and wouldn't turn up until after 8pm so we kicked off the BBQ around 7ish. With drinks in hand and a plate of food, we chatted and laughed over all sorts, moving between the balcony (where Jono was cooking the food) and indoors to talk to various people. Ken put on his chef's top that he brought when he took turn to man the BBQ, making him look as if he was the private chef we hired for the party! Dragos, Jon and Adrian made a brief appearance around 8.30pm for a few drinks but perhaps it's our location, everyone headed off by 10.30pm (which was quite early, I reckon). Still, it was really nice having friends come over and hoped they enjoyed their time at our place (FYI: this is the first time we hosted a party). This is the first of many BBQs to come this summer so we'll definitely be having friends over a lot more :)

With the last guest gone, Jono and I poured a glass of red wine each and sunk ourselves onto the sofa, sipping wine and admiring our Christmas tree. What a day it has been and I hope our birthday boy had fun this evening! Photos taken of the party:

Guests enjoying their wine and the food

The Masterchef and his kitchen hand?

Jono standing next to his early Christmas gift (the BBQ)

(l-r): Beryl, Jono, Natasha, Pavel and Tim

Our Christmas tree!

Malacca Straits & Bacino Bar (15th December 2011)

2011-12-15T13:24:00.000+11:00

My blog is seriously turning into a foodie blog the longer I live in Sydney - all my activities seem to involve food! So here's another post of my foodie adventures, this time at Malacca Straits located in the food court at the corner of Mount and Walker Streets in North Sydney. A small Malaysian and Thai food stall, they are by far the most popular stall in the food court with a continuous stream of customers during lunchtime. I arrived around 12ish and there was already a huge crowd standing around the stall, some ordering food at the counter and others lingering to collect their meals. Well, good food always attracts a crowd and I reckon their popularity actually makes the other stalls look bad, in turn attracting themselves even more customers!

With a range of cooked dishes to choose from their menu board as well as food from the smorgasbord, I decided to go for their weekly Thursday special, the Wah Tan Hor (broad rice noodles with fish cake, prawns, pieces of chicken and choy sum served in a thick egg gravy). I paid the $10 for my meal and was given a number, then shuffled my way to the pick-up area and patiently waited for my number to be called. I've had their Wah Tan Hor before and it was quite authentic plus they serve it with pickled green chillies which is a must for this dish. I have tried several other dishes at Malacca Straits such as the laksa and mee goreng, both very good and in generous servings. I brought Marcus (my team lead) who was visiting from NZ here for lunch one day and he too agreed the laksa was good (and we've both spent many years living in Malaysia and Singapore respectively). A highly recommended place to have a eat-in or takeaway Malaysian meal for lunch (I've not tried their Thai food but if their Malaysian food is this good, I'm sure the Thai food is excellent too) if you in the North Sydney area.

As I waited for my meal, I watched the staff busy at work serving the customers that keeps piling in. The stall had their kitchen located right behind the counter and in view, something you don't see often of small Asian food stalls as they tend to 'hide' the kitchen in the back. There were 4-5 chefs cooking non-stop at their individual stations and 4 other staff taking orders and serving customers - they were sharing a small space yet somehow managed to not bump into one another. Watching their team dynamics, they work very efficiently and still manage to have fun on the job, smiling and laughing together. That's exactly how teamwork should be, even during crunch time :)

"Can I have pickled green chillies please?" I asked the Thai lady who called out my number when my dish was ready and she gave me a huge spoonful of the chillies. Score! The Wah Tah Hor was good as usual, my only gripe was that the chillies were so chunky and huge though I suspect it wasn't home made and just came as is from a jar. Oh well, better than no pickled green chillies like most places in Wellington where I've had this dish. Photos taken at Malacca Straits:

In the queue to order my meal at Malacca Straits

Wah Tan Hor for lunch - yum!

I headed back to my office around 12.45pm and made a pit stop at Bacino Bar on Mount St for a mocha (cost $3) as a wee treat to myself (I hardly ever buy coffee at work). The cafe resembles a typical Italian espresso bar, small yet cosy, a few bar stools for people to sit about and wait for or enjoy their coffee and Italian snacks on site (or perhaps enjoy eyeing the cute guy working behind the barista machine...ahem...). The coffee is always good and often there would be a crowd blocking up the footpath in the morning though somehow there was no one waiting ahead of me this afternoon.

One of the regulars whom I have seen hanging around the shop almost daily was telling the barista how he should be more watchful of customers for he (the regular) saw a customer taking more change than supposed to during the morning coffee rush. "Look, I've got a photo of the man on my phone," exclaimed Mr Regular excitedly and showing it to the barista. Now to give you a bit more context, Bacino Bar has a trust policy where customers drop their money onto the tray on top of the barista machine and take back their change from the coins found on that same tray. Obviously this one customer has decided to abuse the system by taking advantage of the barista when he was working busily behind the machine. Tsk, tsk! The poor barista - when he heard the story, his smiled faded away, a look of frustration and disappointment on his face and went, "Really? The customer really did that?!" in disbelief. "We should have a Wall of Shame and put up photos of these petty thieves," said Mr Regular, and I laughed, piping in that perhaps what the barista should do is have a 'No Change' policy - if you put a $5 note on the tray, that coffee is going to cost you that much. "I like your idea," said Mr Regular, giving me a broad smile and thumbs up as I walked away with my coffee. Quite an interesting wee coffee talk to finish off my lunch break :)

Doodles Noodles (13th December 2011)

2011-12-13T16:10:00.001+11:00

Less than 2 weeks till Christmas! :)

Work seems to have slowed down though I find myself spending my days writing up documentation to no end. I don't mind the writing (obviously, if I already spend my non-working hours blogging which itself is a form of writing) but with days getting closer the Christmas, it just seems that my system (and everyone else's in the office) is slowing down for the holiday season. One by one, people on our floor have 'disappeared' to go on their well-deserved year end holidays. I however, have to hold out till mid-January and work through the holiday period in order to be able to take time off when the rest of the Woolleys are here. Jono and I won't be heading back to NZ to celebrate Christmas in Palmy this year so we'll have to do the family celebrations when the rest turn up - looking forward to their arrival and our trip to Melbourne!

Taking a break from work, I headed over to Doodles Noodles, a small Chinese eatery located on the lower ground floor of 90 Mount Street. I discovered this place one day when I was heading back to the office from the gym - crowds tend to get my attention and I couldn't help but noticed a fully-seated restaurant with a small crowd standing at the entrance. Not well visible from street level, you would need to walk down the stairs to find this brightly lit (yellow-hued and 'glowing') restaurant. I was probably the first eat-in customer for lunch arriving around 11.45am and ordered myself their highly popular wonton noodle soup (cost $8.50 and paid on order) with my choice of egg noodles (they have 4 noodle types to choose from). With only one chef and one waitress-cashier (I suspect they are a husband-and-wife team originally from Hong Kong), they serve mostly cooked dishes on order but also have a smorgasbord of food to chose from. I have tried some of their other dishes such as the laksa which was passable but oh, don't bother ordering their Char Keow Teow (that was how they spelt Char Kway Teow aka stir-fried broad rice noodles) - I had it once and it was nothing like what I have ever had before, too oily and tinted yellow from curry powder. Since when did Char Kway Teow have curry powder in it??! Though my Char Kway Teow experience was not great, I do have to give the chef credit for attempting it. With over 25 cooked dishes on the menu, you can't expect the chef to be an expert in every dish.

"Wonton noodle soup ready!" yelled the lady behind the counter in an obvious Chinese accent and high-pitched voice that hurts the ears. Ah yes, that's something you'll have to deal with eating here. Friendly as she may be, the lady boss has this habit of yelling out the dishes so customer would promptly pick them up from the counter (and to stop her persistent yelling). I went to collect my meal and found a seat indoors at one of the bar tables. Perhaps a business strategy for not keeping customers lingering around long after they have finished their meals so they can seat more incoming customers, these high chairs and bar tables are highly uncomfortable, especially for short-legged me :/

With a side serving of cut chillies in soy sauce and a few sprinkles of ground white pepper on my soup, lunch was ready! I can't say this is the best wonton noodle soup I've had but it's good enough for me - this is where I would go when I crave this dish. And they are pretty generous with the wontons too with a whole prawn in each of them (most places just mix bits of prawn into the mince pork filling). Photos taken of Doodles Noodles:

Doodles Noodles restaurant on Mount St
(somehow all the Ds have been ripped off...)

View of the counter and smorgasbord from my seat
(and the huge Fortune Cat beckoning 'give me your money')

My wonton noodle soup :)

Little Tokyo Sushi Bar (8th December 2011)

2011-12-08T12:52:00.000+11:00

After several failed attempts to catch up for our regular Thursday girls' lunch with Julie-Ann due to our crazy workloads, we finally caught up today for lunch and headed to Little Tokyo Sushi Bar located at the food court in Greenwood Plaza. Neither of us girls have been to this sushi place in North Sydney before - it looked pretty authentic so the food should be good.

It was still empty when we arrived at 12pm but the seats around the sushi train very quickly filled up within the next ten minutes. We were promptly seated and ordered ourselves a mug of green tea each to sip on as we decided on what sushi to have. The sushi were prepared right in front of us by the Japanese staff who wore plastic mouth guards similar to the ones seen worn by the kitchen staff at Chefs Gallery (for hygiene reasons). With a 2-tier sushi train, Little Tokyo has a decent selection, with a mix of sushi, sashimi and deep fried snacks to choose from. Hot meals are not served in-house but you can purchase takeaway hot meals from the smorgasbord.

As we shared our sushi, we caught up with the events in our lives, chatting about our holiday plans and upcoming travels. Wow, only another 2 weeks till Christmas and I'm glad Jono and I have got all our Christmas gifts for the family sorted. Julie-Ann still hasn't got around Christmas shopping yet - eek!

We sampled around 6 plates of food (plates range between $2.60 - $5.60 each and generally 2 pieces per plate) including a salmon sashimi and an assortment of other sushi. They have a monster-sized sushi we nicknamed 'The Bomb' because it was too big to even put a plastic casing over the plate to cover the sushi - it had a mix of tuna, salmon and possible teriyaki chicken with cream cheese, cucumber and lettuce. One piece of this is equivalent to two normal sized sushi! We also tried their seaweed sushi, a first for me as I've always avoided picking this whenever I'm at a sushi train. I had always thought it would be slimy and fishy but it tasted really nice, a bit of crunch and somewhat sweet. I think I may have found a new favourite sushi now - yum! Overall, I would say that the sushi served here is pretty good and reasonably priced, costing us around $28 all up. Boy is it good to have finally found a decent sushi place nearby the office. Andy's Sushi permanently struck off my list (except for their chicken noodle soup)! Photos taken at Little Tokyo Sushi Bar:

Little Tokyo Sushi Bar at the food court in Greenwood Plaza

The 2-tier sushi train

Hainanese chicken rice at May's Laksa House (7th December 2011)

2011-12-07T13:00:00.000+11:00

I've been craving a good Hainanese chicken rice and with the help of the internet found that one of the eateries that serves this dish is located in North Sydney, right behind my office - score! So around 11.45am, I headed to Berry Square to May's Laksa House to sample their highly reviewed Hainanese chicken rice. Will they trump the folks at Singapore Shiok! in Haymarket? Time to find out!

It was pretty quiet when I arrived - usually it gets quite busy during the lunch hour rush, customers shuffling along in the long queue to place their orders then gathering around the area to collect their meals. There was a tray of complimentary self-service prawn crackers at the counter, obviously a means to keep the customers happy while they waited. I wasn't exactly waiting but helped myself to a few too - yum :) The staff were friendly and young (in age). Loud funky music blared in the background making these young folk look energetic and having fun on the job.

My Hainanese chicken rice (cost $8.50) was ready in less than 10 minutes - my number was called and I went up to the counter to collect my meal. Mmm, looks and smells pretty good! The chicken was deboned and moist, topped with a variety of sauces, fried shallots and lots of spring onions with tomato and cucumber slices on the side. This has got to be the best Hainanese chicken rice I've had since living abroad - oh, you have no idea how happy I am to have finally found a decent Hainanese chicken rice! The soup was somewhat lukewarm but still delicious. I'm was most impressed with their chilli sauce, a right mixture of chillies, garlic, ginger and level of spice which made it an amazing complement to the dish (and made me miss the food back in Malaysia so much!). You can tell it was good - I polished off my plate pretty quickly, wishing the serving was a lot larger as I haven't had my fill :P Must come back again for the chicken rice soon! Photo of the dish taken on my phone:

Janus (26th November 2011)

2011-11-26T19:56:00.000+11:00

After our weekly Saturday Chinese class, Jono and I walked towards Darling Harbour to his office in Pyrmont to pick up a parcel, stopping to check out Darling Quarter, a newly built area in Darling Harbour. This area that once was a construction site is now home to an international range of fine dining restaurants and Sydney CBD's largest and newest free children's playground.

"How about a coffee at one of the cafes here?" suggested Jono and we ended up in Janus for two flat whites and a cake to share. Janus (named after the god of beginnings and transitions) is a classic Italian cafe and wine bar, modern and stylish in design and serves such beautiful cakes that it was so hard to decide which one to have. We finally settled for their green tea cake and placed our coffee order, then found ourselves a shaded table where we had a good view towards Tumbalong Park and the surrounds. It was a sunny day and Darling Quarter was filled with people both young and old - to the left were teenagers playing table tennis, and the far right, sounds of squeals and screams from children having fun at the playground at the watchful eye of their parents, and of course, the buzzing cafe and restaurants next to us. I couldn't help myself eyeing the waiters from Braza next door slicing meat from the skewers onto their customers' plates. Mmm, Brazilian churrasco...(salivates)...must come here one day...(more salivating)...

Both the cake and coffees were excellent - I love the light and refreshing taste of the green tea cake complemented with a small chocolate macaroon, chocolate mousse and caramelised candy. We were playfully feeding each other teaspoonfuls of the lovely dessert while chatting and sipping our coffees :) Photos taken at Janus:

View from our table at Janus in Darling Quarter

Waitresses busy at work at the counter

Me and our green tea cake :)

Flat white and green tea cake both beautifully presented

Close up shot of the cake

Cost us $17 for the coffees and tea which was a lot! Well, I suppose it was to be expected, given the location and the quality of the food and service. Still, it was a bit painful to know we paid that much for just coffees and cake :/

A quick stop at the playground where Jono and I competed who could hand pump the most amount of water at the playground - such hard work to get the pump going! One little kid sitting nearby was enjoying splashing himself with the water. Cute :)

We picked up Jono's parcel from the Google office then headed to Town Hall train station to catch the train home. It was total havoc today as the City Circle train line was closed for refurbishment over the weekend. With less available trains and too many people trying to use the public transport, getting on the train was a mission. And you think peak hour commuter traffic was bad - this was horrendous, with most carriages fully packed and commuters filling up the aisles. I think I'll be staying in tomorrow to avoid the crowd...

God's Ear (17th November 2011)

2011-11-17T22:30:00.000+11:00

Jono and I have not yet been to the theatre together in Sydney and decided to check out God's Ear by American playwright Jenny Schwartz that is on at the Reginald Theatre (Seymour Centre) from 10th November - 3rd December this evening in the suburb of Chippendale. Normally $27 per person, I got a 2-for-1 deal from livingsocial (another one of those discount voucher websites) - score! The tickets had to be redeemed beforehand so I had booked our seats over the phone and the tickets were sent to us in the same week.

We caught up at Redfern train station around 6.40pm then walked to The Duck Inn Pub And Kitchen on Rose Street in Chippendale, located just half a block away from the theatre for dinner. A discount voucher for dinner before the show was included in the mail with our tickets - for $26 per person, you got an entree and main each plus a guarantee from the restaurant that you would make it to the show, provided you turn up for dinner between 5 - 7pm. We were there on the dot at 7pm and they were still happy to serve us and guarantee we will make it in time. Phew! We had a corner table sitting on the long couches that runs along the four walls in the dining area with a beach house theme, lots of throw pillows littered on the couches, giving it a very homely and relaxed atmosphere. The place was busy with other theatre goers though service was prompt and friendly. I had the Salt N Pepper Squid for my entree and Pan Fried Atlantic Salmon with Warm Salad of Zucchini, Daikon, Soy & Honey Dressing for my main while Jono had the Chicken Liver Parfait with Onion Marmalade, Cornichons & Toasted Brioch for his entree and Seared Duck Breast with Steamed Bok Choi & Radish Salad with a Star Anise & Honey Jus for his main. We also shared a side of green beans and had a bottle of beer each. The food was good in general though we both thought the duck dish was way too salty. The beans were really yummy lightly buttered and sprinkled with toasted almonds. I reckon it'll be nice to come here in summer for brunch - they have a backyard for outdoor seating which looks very inviting :)

We left for the theatre just 10 minutes before the show started. This was our first time to the Seymour Centre located in the heart of the University of Sydney The place reminded me somewhat of Circa Theatre in Wellington and had 4 performance venues, one of them being the Reginald Theatre, a small, informal studio-style theatre that holds up to 200 people. We had seats near the aisle just 3 rows from the stage and the theatre was quite empty when the show started at 8pm (probably about 20 in the audience).

The play was 1.5 hours long and had no interval. It started off with conversations between Mel and Ted, a married couple whose son recently died. Their relationship was highly strained due to their recent loss, routine conversations were tedious and painfully (yet cleverly) filled with linguistic wordplay and repartee that pieces together into poetry. Both Jono and I were very impressed with the use of words, how so many different ones can be used to describe the same thing though I have to admit, after about the fifth round of such repetitious wordplay, it was rather tiresome and I couldn't wait for it to end so we could all move on. The couple has a young girl, Lanie (no kids in this production - it was an adult playing this character), who was caught up in her parent's grief, trying to get their attention and love which was not reciprocated - both parents were lost in their own world, the mother deeply spiraling down in depression while the father escapes by travelling for work lots. Everyday interactions turn surreal with interesting characters appearing in their lives - a transvestite stewardess, a woman in an airport bar who's allergic to anything organic, GI Joe and the Tooth Fairy (the last two characters were from Lanie's imagination). These characters brought some light and humour into the grimness from the grief. I liked the transvestite and GI Joe best, both characters uniquely different yet well-played by the same actor. In fact, the cast performed very well in their various roles. It's definitely a dark story and there was no clear happy ending. I left the theatre with a strange lingering feeling of emptiness and loss - I guess the play did provoke me somewhat thus causing me to feel this way. An interesting start to theatre shows in Sydney. More to come I'm sure!

Andy's Sushi (15th November 2011)

2011-11-15T12:32:00.000+11:00

I realised that I often blog about my foodie experiences but have never mentioned the places I go to for lunch around my office in North Sydney. Personally, I don't think I've fully explored all the lunch hot spots in the vicinity - I seem to always return to the same places for certain types of food/cuisine and when I've exhausted most of my lunch break at the gym, lunch tends to be something quick. Occasionally on my non-workout days, I would take time out to have a sit-down meal and today was one of those days. Hmm, I haven't had chicken noodle soup for a while...

Around 12pm, I headed to Andy's Sushi located less than 2 minutes walk from the MLC Building on Miller St where I work. A sushi chain found in most food courts, this shop was the place I frequented during the winter months for their chicken noodle soup (they have the beef option too). Cost $7 for a large bowl of rice noodles served over a bed of bean sprouts and basil drenched in a clear broth with a wedge of lemon on the side, and cut chillies and bean/hoisin sauce in small disposable plastic containers. It tastes almost similar to the Vietnamese pho ga though I think Pasteur on George St in Haymarket still serves the best pho in town. I'm not sure what it is, maybe it's the broth or the fact that the shredded chicken in my noodle soup is always overcooked. Still, this is the best I've had in North Sydney - I have tried a few pho places here but none of them were any good. You know what's ironic? I'm having Vietnamese chicken noodle soup in a Japanese sushi place that is served by Koreans (oh, trust me, I know they are Koreans - whenever the phone rings, they say 'An nyeong ha se yo' which means 'hello' in Korean).

Andy's Sushi primarily sells sushi rolls and for a cheap price of $5, you get 3 sushi rolls of your choice - if cut up, it probably makes about 12 sushi pieces which is enough to fill you up. Interestingly, the shop no longer cuts your sushi rolls on request due to hygiene reasons as per their bright yellow sign stuck by the counter (what hygiene reasons???). Highly popular with the folks in my building, the queues for sushi here can be up to five person deep though it moves along rather quickly. Personally, I wouldn't recommend the sushi rolls - in the many occasions that I've purchased the rolls, it often turns out sloppy and just doesn't taste or look very appealing. In fact, I always regret buying them for lunch as the more bites I take, the more I feel like throwing it up. True, it's a cheap lunch for $5 but I rather pay a bit more and get quality sushi from the other sushi places around the area. I'll just stick to my usual chicken noodle soup thanks...Photos taken at Andy's Sushi:

Sushi counter at Andy's Sushi

Chicken noodle soup

Girls' night out with Amanda and Anna (9th November 2011)

2011-11-09T21:05:00.000+11:00

With the boys still away in USA for their annual company offsite, the "Google widows" (as Jono calls it) decided to catch up for drinks and dinner this evening. Amanda, Anna and I (Natasha had other plans) met up outside the Castlereagh St entrance into Westfield Shopping Centre in the city after work around 5.30pm and headed up to Level 6 where Spiedo Restaurant & Bar was located. All 3 of us were subscribers of Time Out Sydney, an events magazine and website that sends weekly updates on what's happening in Sydney - occasionally on Wednesdays, they would send out a Time Out Shout where subscribers to the mailing list are entitled to free drinks and nibbles at the 'secret location' disclosed only on the day of the event. Yep, you guessed right - tonight's 'secret location' was Spiedo Restaurant & Bar!

I never knew there was a food court on Level 5 and fine dining restaurants on Level 6 in the shopping centre. Arriving at the top of the escalators on Level 6, we could see quite a crowd around this informal restaurant and bar. We beelined to the sign-in desk to hand in our email printouts (to proof you're a subscriber though they didn't really check and Amanda just gave them 3 copies of the same email she printed earlier) and was given 2 drink vouchers each which we could redeem for either a Prosecco (Italian sparkling wine) or beers (choice of Little Creatures or White Rabbit). Amanda and I both went for the Prosecco while Anna had the White Rabbit beer. "Amanda! That's SO naughty!" I exclaimed when she flashed her drink vouchers at me - she still had two vouchers AND a wine in hand! The bartender was busy tending to the many people that have crowded the bar to redeem their drinks and forgotten to collect Amanda's drink voucher so she played dumb and walked away. "What? He didn't ask me to hand it over," said Amanda with a sly smile and I rolled my eyes and laughed.

We found ourselves seats at one of the high tables, sitting alongside other Time Out subscribers, mostly work folk who managed to get off work early for the event. Canapés were served while we sipped our drinks though we never seemed to get to sample any as they disappeared before the waitstaff even got to our table. The restaurant is owned by chef Alessandro Pavoni and specialises in northern Italian cuisine. I thought it was quite clever to use Time Out as a means to promote themselves and though they had to provide free drinks and canapés between 5 - 7pm (first-come-first-serve until the tab finishes), I'm sure some of the subscribers continued on into the evening, possibly even dining in-house. Will have to come back here to try out the food - they serve a Lombardian long lunch every Sunday that includes a pasta, 5-hour spit roast of the day and a dessert for $49 which I'm keen to sample. 5-hour spit roast? Sold!

Us girls returned to the bar to claim our second drink, this time beers all round and headed back to our table, continuing our chit-chat. There was an older couple sitting in front of us and were in the spirit of sharing the olives they had ordered with us. We ended up chatting with them for the rest of our time at the restaurant - Ron is an English businessman and his partner Mae is from Hong Kong. They split their time living both in Sydney and Hong Kong making it quite hard to get to know new people and Mae was very eager to befriend us girls, asking for our contact details 10 minutes into the conversation. A bit abrupt but I can understand where that's coming from - it really isn't easy to make friends in Sydney, even for me. It takes time to build new relationships and after living here for 8 months, I'm still working on building my social network (and I'm glad I know a few more people now!). We swapped contacts details - who knows where that might take us? Ron and I had a good yarn about life back in Malaysia and Singapore (he lived there for a few years) - food, culture, quirks - we reminisced about our experiences there and had several good laughs too.

Amanda, Anna and I left the restaurant around 7pm in search of a sushi place for dinner and ended up at Sushi Hotaru located on Level 1 of The Galeries. Similar to Ichi-ban Boshi, this restaurant has a number system where you would right down your name and number of guests on the sheet on the clipboard at the reception desk, tear the number chit next to your name and wait for your number to be called. The place was quite packed when we arrived with several others waiting outside the eatery for their turn. Some 15 minutes later, we finally got a table though I thought it was rather crammed (and we aren't even big girls). All plates were $3.30 this evening and there was a good selection of sushi from the long conveyor-belt. It was interesting to watch freshly made sushi go through this UV light as it exits the kitchen, apparently to kill germs (really??) before it continues on the conveyor-belt to hungry patrons. What was really cool was that each table had an iPad mounted to the wall and you can select whatever you want from the menu and it'll be served to your table shortly. You can even call the waiter and ask for the bill using the touch screen! That's just awesome :) Cost us $56.50 all up for 16 plates of assorted sushi and tea which we thought was quite cheap.

We bid our goodbyes and headed home around 8.30pm. It was a nice evening spent with the girls and I look forward to more upcoming catch ups! I arrived home in time to catch Jono for a brief chat - I've not heard from over the last 2 days and it makes me so happy to talk to him, even if it's short. The poor guy had been working many late shifts and with the time difference, it makes it much harder for us to talk. Can't wait to see him on Sunday when he comes home - yay!

HYPOXI consultation and free trial (7th November 2011)

2011-11-07T13:22:00.000+11:00

I've been seeing this HYPOXI ad on the TV screens at Fitness First each time I've been to the gym for the past 2 weeks and I've to admit, I'm quite intrigued - said to be the best targeted fat loss and cellulite reduction treatment in the market without having to go under the knife, one can achieve their ideal figure within a matter of weeks. Over 350,000 people have used HYPOXI to transform their body, even British celebrities like Robbie Williams and Jordan (aka Katie Price). Personally, I'm a firm believer that to achieve your ideal body shape, it comes with hard work and discipline - regular exercise with a mix of cardio and weights AND watching what and how much you consume. To be able to achieve your goal in a mere 4 weeks by HYPOXI sounds a bit too good to be true...

As a Fitness First member, I was entitled to a free consultation and trial of HYPOXI - curious and somewhat dubious that this may yet be another one of those weight loss scams, I decided to check it out (and blog about it, of course). Fortunately for me, there was a HYPOXI centre located in North Sydney which was just 2 minutes walk from the office on Miller St - sweet! So around 11.30am, I headed down the block to the HYPOXI centre for my appointment.

The centre was fairly small - a couch at the waiting area, a lady on the phone at the reception desk, a changing room and four different HYPOXI machines (they reminded me of machines you would see in futuristic movies) with no customers in sight. The lady on the phone turned out to be the consultant I was seeing today and she was very informative, providing me with details on what HYPOXI does and how it works, and showed me an article that had before and after pictures of women who trialled various treatments to deal with their cellulite in the bum and thigh areas with HYPOXI reigning in results - all these information were given to me as part of my take-home information pack. I had to complete a form which required my personal details and a brief account of my medical history as well as my exercise routine and diet, if any. Of course, she also asked me where were my problem areas and how soon I would like to achieve my goals. "Tummy and waist...definitely the tummy," I said, gesturing at my problem area. My tummy is the most hated part of my body - regardless how hard I work out at the gym, I don't seem to see much improvement i.e. the rest of my body is pretty toned, just not the waist area. The lady explained that HYPOXI would definitely help me tone up my problem areas as it works to keep my heart rate within the 'fat burning zone' for the duration of my treatment (whereas my normal exercise routine would be working at a more intense heart rate), activates circulation of the skin and encourages removal of lymphatic fluids and toxins which breaks down cellulite and firms up the skin. Poor blood circulation is said to be a key reason why it's difficult to rid weight or reduce cellulite and for most women, this applies to the lower half of their body.

Prior to my appointment, I was advised to wear loose-fitting gym clothes such as a t-shirt, leggings/shorts (avoid firm Lycra tights), sneakers and bring along a towel and water. I was measured before the treatment - this is so if I chose to return to complete the full course of 12 sessions, they would have a base measure and able to track my progress. My consultant then got me to put on what looked like a space cadet skirt (think Jane Jetson from The Jetsons cartoon) made from the same material used in wetsuits, strapped on with a heart rate monitor on my chest and then climbed into the S120 machine, an upright capsule that acts similarly to a stationary bicycle trainer (yes, I have to cycle), except I'm locked waist down in the capsule. The vacuum-sealed chamber applies a steady combination of both positive and negative compressions during the cycle session, stimulating blood supply to the lower half of the body and accelerating lymphatic drainage. For this session, I was required to cycle for 35 minutes and keep my heart rate at 135 - the computerised screen showed me details of my session, including my current heart rate, revolutions per minute (RPM) and how much time I had left before completion. Cool!

Keeping a heart rate of 135 was a piece of cake though I was breaking out quite a sweat by the end of my session. While I peddled, sipped water and dabbed myself with the towel, I was watching TV - I was given a headset that was plugged into the flatscreen TV attached to the machine, watching an episode of Secret Diary of a Call Girl that happened to be on. Three sessions of HYPOXI treatments 30-40 minutes each per week for 4 weeks hardly seemed hard work compared to my normal exercise routine. There are claims that HYPOXI will reduce total circumference of the lower body 3 times faster than regular exercise and 90% improvement in cellulite. Though I can hardly see or feel any difference post my first session, I enjoyed the experience. It was effortless! Note that HYPOXI is not a substitute but a complement to your normal exercise regime. The treatment is targeted weight loss in the lower tummy, hips, bum and thighs so you can't just quit the gym and purely do HYPOXI. Instead, you would resume your exercise routine on non-treatment days. You are also required to maintain a healthy balanced diet, limit your consumption of alcohol, sugar and fat, and drink at least 2 litres of water a day. No participation in other fat burning or cardio exercise either as this will undo the benefits of the treatment - the HYPOXI session continues for a period between 3-6 hours after the treatment. During this time, you are also not allowed to eat carbohydrates (you want the body to continue to burn the newly metabolised fat, rather than using recently consumed energy that is much easier to access).

The full course of 12 sessions cost $690 ($590 for me as I am able to get a corporate rate) and you must carry out 3 sessions per week during the first 12-session programme. Most people only require one full course to get their results but you can continue on if you wish. I supposed if I had the spare cash, I would buy myself the full course just to see if it really gets me the body shape I desire. But for now, I think I'll have to stick to my existing routine. The new training programme my gym trainer Alison started me on will work my abdominal muscles and obliques a lot more and boy is it killing me - my muscles have not been worked this hard!

Menya Mappen Noodle Bar (again!), Breadtop & Emperor's Puffs (5th November 2011)

2011-11-05T16:15:00.000+11:00

Since there was not much in the house for me to whip up something for lunch, I decided to head into town for food. Ok, fine - I was just darn lazy to make something since Jono was away in California (and can't be bothered cooking for one) so around 12pm, I headed into town for lunch. You would not believe where I ended up - back in Menya Mappen Noodle Bar...in less than a week!! The thought of those slippery and chewy udon gets my tummy very excited. I literally followed my stomach to the noodle place!

There was a queue all the way outside the noodle shop when I arrived but it only took about 10 minutes before I got to the noodle station. This time I had the small Ontama Mentaiko Bukkake Udon (cost $5.90), a slight variation of the udon I had last Sunday. My udon was served hot (cold option also available) with a soft boiled egg but instead of a lemon wedge, I was given a spoonful of mentaiko i.e. cod roe butter, giving the udon dish a much creamier taste than the normal Ontama Bukkake Udon. I also picked up a serving of sansai vegetables from the cold shelf ($1) and miso soup ($1.50). I had to try the self-dispensing miso machine - it was so tempting to press the button :P The total cost me less than ten bucks making Menya Mappen one of the cheapest eats in town.

Mmm, I like this cold sansai vegetables though I have no idea what it's made up of. Sansai literally translates to 'mountain vegetables' and originally refers to wild vegetables that were not cultivated (it is said you can cultivate certain species today) - the pieces of white vegetable tasted a bit like bamboo shoot and one of the greens looked like cooked fern. The Ontama Mentaiko Bukkake Udon was also nice but I think I much preferred the original, less creamy version. Photos taken at Menya Mappen today: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8070917@N05/sets/72157628056257992/detail/

After lunch, I headed into World Square Shopping Centre to Rebel Sport to pick up a kickboard for swimming. Now that I've got a 10-trip swim pass at North Sydney Olympic Pool, I will need a kickboard that is often used in my swim programme. I stopped by at Breadtop to grab a few takeaway buns for later - a pork floss bun, and a twisted bun sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar (cost $2 each). I took a small piece of each just to try them out as I walked out to the main street. Yum, they tasted exactly like what I remembered! When I was growing up, Mum would often bring my brother and I to the local bakery to pick up after-school snacks and buns such as these were some of our favourites. Hmm, brings back lots of good memories of our afternoon tea sessions...Photos taken at Breadtop:

A variety of Asian breads, cakes and pastries sold at Breadtop

Breadtop outlet at World Square Shopping Centre

Pork floss bun

Twisted bun sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon

Next stop, the fresh vegetables and fruit market at Paddy's Market in Haymarket and then home. Since I was in Chinatown, I decided to pick up a takeaway dinner and headed to Eating World Food Court to the Indonesian food stall where I got myself a rice and 3 sides combo meal (cost $8). Another one of those places that sells food that makes me nostalgic - chicken curry, stir-fry mustard leaves, and fried bean curd with stir-fry vegetables on rice. Can't believe I'm already thinking of dinner when I've just had lunch :P

As I walked down Dixon St towards Paddy's Market, I noticed the queue for Emperor's Puff was particularly short this afternoon. Normally 10-15 people deep, there were only 2 families queuing up for this popular snack which you would purchase from this hole-in-wall shop owned by and located next door to Emperor's Garden Cake & Bakery. I've always been curious why people bother to queue for these little puffs - I never bothered to queue for it whenever I see so many customers waiting in line. Today must be my (and their) lucky day that I'll get to sample these puffs (and blog about them!).

It took about 10 minutes before I got to the front of the line. "Is this any good?" asked the woman behind me who was with her husband, both tourists. "Actually I don't know what the hype is either so queueing up to check it out - normally the queue is pretty long," I said and we continued on the conversation for the next couple of minutes. I was told off by the young lady selling the puffs on the other side of the window when she caught sight of my iPhone pointing towards her direction. "No photos! No photos!" she shouted, waving her arms in the air. Boo...all I wanted was to take a picture of the interesting contraption that makes the puffs :/ It was really cool to watch the machine as it cleverly squirted batter into the cast iron moulds which then progressed on to the heating element where the batter gets cooked to a perfect golden brown and finally, to the young lady working behind the window who is responsible for quickly removing the puffs and fill the insides with custard, the whole process working in a conveyor-like system. Cost 30 cents for one or $1 for 4 (I went for the latter option - one is not enough!) and the puffs were handed to me in a little paper bag and boy do they feel hot! Not wise to eat them immediately...

So was it any good? It was nice but not something I would see myself having on a regular basis. Biting through the soft doughnut-like exterior, you would instantly feel the warm custard oozing into your mouth giving the puff a sweet vanilla taste. If you've had kaya/coconut jam balls in South East Asia, this is pretty much the same except filled with custard. The puffs kind of made me think of Mum's famous cream puffs which has a custard filling but a different casing. I like Mum's cream puffs - they tend to disappear very quickly at dinner parties! Photos taken of my Emperor's Puff experience:

In the queue for Emperor's Puff on Dixon St in Chinatown

My bag of warm puffs

The golden puff filled with custard

After making several food stops today, I'm FINALLY heading home (I found some kangkung aka water spinach at the market - $2.50 for 2 large bunches!). Boy this warm weather is rather unbearable...the temperature has been sitting around the high 20s most of the week and it's not even summer yet! Despite growing up in Malaysia, I think my body has become accustomed to the Wellington cool weather and frankly, I kind of miss it when it's this hot in Sydney. I have no idea how I'm going to cope with the Australian summer...

Menya Mappen Noodle Bar (30th October 2011)

2011-10-30T17:12:00.001+11:00

I caught up with Ken around 11ish today at Town Hall for a coffee catch up before lunch - he had already decided where we were going for lunch at 9am when I received his text, some Japanese noodle place in the CBD. I rolled my eyes and smiled as I read his text. Ah Ken, such a foodie but I bet it must be a pretty good place to get him thinking about lunch BEFORE breakfast :P

We ended up grabbing a coffee at Starbucks on George St and chatted as we waited for his friend Cat to turn up (she was coming for lunch too). Did you know that Starbucks serve their coffee 'Short'?? This was the first I've seen the cup size which is smaller than the 'Tall' that is normally the smallest size you can get at most of the outlets. I suppose 'down-sizing' my caramel macchiato would suit me better - I've always felt the 'Tall' was a bit too much.

Cat arrived around 12.30pm and us three walked a few doors down to Skyview Plaza where Menya Mappen Noodle Bar was located (Jono and I have been to this plaza our first week in Sydney in search for an Optus store - the noodle bar had taken over the shop lot). A cosy little Japanese self-serve noodle shop with large wooden tables to accommodate communal seating, it reminded me of my highschool canteen and for a split second, I felt 16 again, memories from my past coming to mind. Similar to school, customers had to join in the queue where you would pick up your food and slowly shuffle along the line till you arrive at the payment counter, and only then would you find a seat. "Hey, we had better join the queue now," I said to the other two who were still yapping away deciding what to have and me eyeing the queue that keeps growing. I can see that this noodle shop has very good business, with near full capacity and a short turnaround time for seats (there's no time limit for each seating but perhaps communal seating somehow discourages patrons from sticking around for long after finishing their meal).

Frankly, I wasn't sure what I'm supposed to do since I've not been here before but decided it was easiest to follow what the person ahead of me was doing (there's actually a poster explaining how the system works at the entry into the queue but there wasn't enough time for me to read it before shuffling along). First stop, the glassed-in noodle station - this is where you would pick up a tray and order your noodle dish (choice of udon or soba dishes served hot or cold), watching your cake of noodles dropped into one of the several hanging baskets in a huge pot of bubbling hot water. Once cooked, the noodles is served to you in a bowl on your tray and you're ready to shuffle on to the 'extras' section: a variety of tempura-battered vegetables and meats, cold salads and condiments such as kimchi and sansai mountain vegetables, as well as miso soup, all for your self-serving pleasure. I went for the regular-sized hot version of the Ontama Bukkake Udon (they also have large servings) and a vegetable kakiage tempura. Oh and don't forget to garnish your bowl of noodle with chopped spring onion and tempura flakes (these are free) before the cashier tallies up your purchases - I gave my bowl a generously helping of it ;) Cost me $7.70 all up for udon and tempura which was amazingly cheap!

I found us a table for three underneath the corrugated iron roof (it's part of their interior design) and waited for Ken and Cat before digging in. Very excited to try my noodles! I ordered the Ontama Bukkake Udon because it looked peculiar, a simple-looking udon dish served in tsukedashi (a rich sauce-like soup made from fish stock and dried kelp), a wedge of lemon and an egg. Hmm, egg and lemon on udon - this has got to be a first for me. The egg looked as if it was poached but it was actually a soft-boiled egg cracked from its shell into your bowl. The yolk was still runny when I broke it! Strange a combination it may seem, it was delicious and I couldn't help myself slurping happily away on my bowl of slippery chewy udon like most other patrons (apparently slurping noodles enhances the noodle-eating experience and it's acceptable mannerism in Japan). Yum! The vegetable kakiage was a crazy tangled ball of thinly shredded vegetables deep-fried, crunchy with each bite - it was so huge that I had break up the ball into smaller pieces so I could dip it in my cup of tempura sauce! I'm glad I went for the regular size noodles. Can't imagine how I could fit a large bowl of noodles AND the tempura in my belly. Mmm, tummy happy :) How is it that Ken always manages to find cheap eats in town that taste good?

Us three chatted on and laughed as we enjoyed our respective meals. "This place is cool, with the 1950-60s movie posters," I said to Ken, looking at the vintage Japanese movie posters plastered on the walls. I highly recommend a trip to Menya Mappen if you've been here yet (note to self: must bring Jono here soon). Good food for cheap - can't beat that! Photos taken at Menya Mappen:

Customers enjoying their noodles at Menya Mappen Noodle Bar

My Ontama Bukkake Udon and side of vegetable kakiage tempura
with dipping sauce

Ken's tray of Curry Udon, tempura, sansai mountain vegetable
and can of Oolong tea

Melody Market & salsa at Cruise Bar (27th October 2011)

2011-10-28T08:00:00.000+11:00

Finally, I’m heading up toChatswood after work today to check out the night market! Ken’s been telling meabout the night market for some time but I’ve just never got around headingover. Jono and I had planned to meet Ken and Pip at the marketlast week but Jono was caught up at work so we didn’t make it. But we will thisweek!

Jono came to meet me atNorth Sydney train station and we took the train together over to Chatswoodwhich was about a 15-minute train ride from North Sydney.Chatswood Melody Market occurs everyThursday, rain or shine, from 10am till 9pm with stalls set up along the Corsoof Victoria Ave, selling a range of arts, crafts and fashion as well asfeaturing a variety of international cuisine. Exiting the train station, onewould be hit by the waft of appetizing smells coming from the food stalls – Ican hear my tummy rumbling already! Ken hasn’t arrived so we went into Westfield shopping centrefor a bit. Thursday is late night shopping with most shopsclosing around 9pm instead of the usual 5pm (if this was in Malaysia, itwould be late night shopping every day). Office workers still in work attirewere making the most of their weekday shop session while others like us seemed tomake the trip to Chatswood an activity in itself, doing some shopping andgrabbing a bite for dinner from the street stalls. Where is Ken anyway? I’m getting hungry…ding-ding!Oh, text from Ken – he’s here!

We caught up with Ken whowas waiting at the shopping centre exit into Victoria Ave, hand holding a box of whatlooked like food. “What is this?” I asked, pointing at his box that had 8 pingpong-sized balls. “Takoyaki - try one, it’s good but probably still hot inside,” warning Ken. Huh, you want me to use the toothpick to pick up the balland put the whole thing in my mouth?? I was still contemplating how I was goingto eat my takoyaki (a popular Japanese snack) but Jono was way ahead of me, chewing away mouth full. Ok, here goes…ohhhhhhhooo, HOT! It didn't help that it was quite large so I was struggling to hold the warm takoyaki in my mouth. Is there no better way to eat this? Ken purchased the takoyaki from Colotako, one of the Asian food stalls at MelodyMarket – these battered balls were filled with diced octopus (you can alsochoose prawn or crab flavours) and cooked in a special cast-iron pan with semi-sphericalmoulds. Drizzled with BBQ sauce and Japanese mayonnaise, and a sprinkle ofbonito flakes and finely chopped seaweed, these balls are soft and warm (thoughthe one I had was hot enough to burn my upper palate) and chewy inthe middle. An interesting mix of texture and very yummy, Ken tells us thetakoyaki made by this stall is quite authentic and that he would come toChatswood every Thursday just for it. Well, it must be really good then! Cost$7 for a box of 8 balls which is sufficient to make a meal for one person.

We finished up the takoyakiand went to join in the queue at Chorizo, a Spanish tapas stall that sold mainly garlic prawns and chorizos. Ken mentioned that he oftenseen long queues at this stall and wondered if the food was any good but couldn’tbe bothered waiting. Since we’re here, we may as well try it – Jono and Ijoined the line and got us a large garlic prawn and a chorizo roll while Kenheaded to Cane Juice to get a takeaway juice for us to share. Standing inline, I could see the cook busily pouring more frozen prawns onto the hotplateand drenching them in a thick garlicky marinade. The smell was just tantalizing! Food wasgiven on order and there were salsas and chillies you can add on to your meals.Jono got me to generously squirt the salsas while he stuffed a few chilliesinto the chorizo roll. This is going to be spicy!

We found ourselves a tablenext to the store and shared our purchases. Hmm, the food from Chorizo wasn’tas good as we thought – it was alright but not really worth long queuesfor (I rather queue for takoyaki). The sugarcane juice however waslovely. I’ve only ever had sugarcane juice on its own – this was mixed with abit of lemonade. I like! Sugarcane juice is such a flashback of the past forme. Street stalls selling sugarcane juice were popular when I was growing up inMalaysia.Often, it would be a Chinese man selling the drink and I can still hear thesound of the sugarcane being crushed through a small machine that I often wonderedif it would breakdown partway through juicing because it chugged so exhaustively.For as little as 50 cents, one can purchase a sizeable serving of the juice servedchilled in a takeaway plastic bag secured with raffia string on the top and astraw pierced into the bag for you to drink from. Not sure if such stalls arestill popular today, probably not so much since most people are concerned of hygiene and cleanliness of food (it is believed that the ice may be made of tap water which could make you ill if drunk). Photos taken at the market:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8070917@N05/sets/72157627916248101/detail/

Still feeling a bitpeckish, we decided to take a walk to see what else was there on Victoria Ave.Slight pity with the weather as it was overcast and not all the stalls were outtoday at the market. Walking down Victoria Ave, it was quite obvious that this suburb ishighly populated with Asians just from the number of Asian restaurants andshops on this main strip. Ken popped into Breadtop, a bakery thatspecializes in freshly baked Asian breads, cakes and pastries that has branchesall over the city. “This is what I grew up eating,” piped Ken as he picked up afew items. Me too! Pork floss buns, sausage bread rolls, donut twists withcinnamon and sugar, chiffon cake, egg tarts etc. I could hear Jono go ‘eee…’ indislike at some of them, especially the savoury ones. They may not sound verynice but they are delicious, really! Though I have no idea what Ken bought – I took abite of one that had a peculiar mix of pork floss, chives and savoury cream.Eee…tasted so odd…

We eventually ended up in CaféNew York forcoffees and a NY Cheesecake – we weren’t hungry enough to head into a restaurantand had plenty of time to kill before heading back to town forsalsa dancing at Cruise Bar. Over coffee and cake, Jono and I shared what we learnt in our Chineselessons with Ken, writing out Chinese characters and asking Ken if it made anysense in Kanji (Chinese characters used in modern Japanese writing system). Ken was able to identify most of the words thoughsome had totally different meanings which made us laugh so much :P

We left the café and headedinto town around 8pm, arriving at Cruise Bar at just the right time – not tooearly or late. Jono brought my dance shoes and a top for me to change into (the pink shirt I wore to work would blot every drop of sweat – not a good look). Thanks baby! Moreof Ken’s dancing gang turned up as the night progressed and we had many fundances with one another. Jono and I had several dances as well and I’m so proudof him – he has picked up the moves from his class and able to execute themwell and in time with the music. And now he’s out social dancing, even dancingwith Pip and Sarah! He’s still a little shy to ask other followers for a dance,worried he would bore them with his lack of moves – don’t worry so much aboutit. You have enough moves to make the dance fun and it’s only through dancingwith different people that you learn how to accommodate and tweak your leading.He’s doing so well and I’m having fun dancing with him too!

Jonoand I said our goodbyes and headed for home around 11.30pm. Feeling quite tiredbut very happy having spent a lovely evening with my amazing man and friends :)

North Sydney Olympic Pool (25th October 2011)

2011-10-25T14:29:00.000+11:00

Since Jono and I moved to Sydney 7.5 months ago (time flies!), I've not been back swimming on a regular basis and actually miss it quite a lot - it is a great way to forget about life's stresses because all I can think of is counting my swim strokes and breathe. It's pretty obvious when I'm thinking about a work issue or similar because you will see me stop mid-length and splutter; I lose count and take in a mouthful of water instead of breathing out. Plus the fact that Jono is keen to go diving this summer so I need to get use to being in the water again and continue to work on overcoming my water fear.

Day in day out, I pass by Milsons Point on my way to and fro work and have been eyeing the North Sydney Olympic Pool for months, reminding myself to check it out but just never got around to doing so. Well, today is the day - I finally decided to get my butt over for a swim during my lunch break. Around 11.30am, I headed to the train station to catch the train to Milsons Point located one stop away from North Sydney station. The weather has been stinking hot the last few days (it was 32 degrees yesterday and it's not even summer yet!) however it's not looking very nice outside at the moment, rather gloomy and the temperature has dropped back to mid-10s. I could feel the cold breeze coming from the harbour as I walked from the train station to the pool on Alfred Street South (about 5 minutes walk) - brr!

Cost $6.70 for a single pool visit and this entitles you to swim in both the 50-metre and/or 25-metre pool (the 50-metre pool is outdoors and has amazing views of Sydney Harbour Bridge and Luna Park). As this was my first visit to the pool, the guy at reception gave me free tokens to use the locker ($2 for a 25-metre locker) and shower (50 cents per token that buys you 3 minutes of hot water for the shower). Hmm, if I had to pay for the tokens, that's nearly 10 bucks just for a swim...pretty expensive...I'm glad it's free this time round so I can check out the place and decide if it's really worth coming here for a weekly swim.

In my swim gear and with my trusty swim programme from Swimplan (I've used Swimplan ever since I started swimming) in hand, I headed into the indoor 25-metre pool for my swim. Oh, this is nice - there were only three other people swimming in the lanes and I had the medium lane all to myself. Yes! Normally if I went swimming at Freyberg Pool in Wellington during lunchtime, it would be quite busy with traffic in the lanes so this is great :) The pool was 1.2 metres deep at its shallowest and only goes down to 1.3 metres at the other end.

Oh my god - the 750-metre swim was a killer! My arms and legs were feeling rather tired halfway through the swim programme swimming in freestyle. This is why you should never stop doing a sport or activity which requires physical movements for extended lengths of time - it hurts when you get back to it. But boy it felt good being in the water again, even if I would be damn sore tomorrow. I noticed there weren't any swim aids available for public use - turned out these are not provided but can be hired or purhcased from reception. Cost $3 to hire or $36 to buy a kick board (that's just absurd!). I'm bringing my own next time!

Oh yeah, about the showers - you've got to be comfortable baring it all in front of other women because it's a communal shower with no cubicles/dividers. One annoying thing about the female changing room is that the floor is always wet, leaving little to no dry space to stand on. I contemplated using the hair dryer to dry my feet before putting on my socks but there was another lady around so decided against it. I don't think I would feel comfortable with her staring at me drying my feet...

Besides the pools, there is also a gym and sauna on site and you can purchase a membership or multi-admission pass to make use of some or all of the facilities. I'll probably get the Adult Bulk Purchase 20 Visits swim pass on my next visit (cost $110 and has no expiry date). That will bring the cost of my swim down to $5.50 per visit and I might see if there's a shower at work I can use instead to save cost.

Around 1pm, I headed back to the train station to return to the office. I'm SO hungry now I can eat a cow! Swimming makes me ravenous!!

2-year anniversary dinner at 360 Bar and Dining (22nd October 2011)

2011-10-22T23:53:00.000+11:00

Today marks 2 years since Jono and I went on our first date. Time flies when you're having fun and I've definitely enjoyed another wonderful year with my amazing man :)

Anniversaries are a cause for celebration and tonight was no exception - I had booked us a table for a romantic dinner for two at 360 Bar and Dining located in Sydney Tower. Yes, it is a 360 revolving restaurant and you know how we have a thing for revolving restaurants, this being the third we've been to in the past 2 years (we went to one in Jaipur, India and then the Sky Tower, Auckland). And why not revolving restaurants? You get to enjoy the amazing city skyline as you dine. Sounds pretty good to me!

I had pre-booked our dinner sitting some 3 weeks ahead of time as this restaurant is a popular venue for special occasions and I didn't want us to miss out on our special day. The sitting sessions for dinner are between 5.30pm - 8.30pm and normally in 90-minute blocks. The earliest I could get us was a 7.30pm sitting (which was a bit later than I would have liked - I would much prefer a 6.30pm sitting so we got to see the Sydney skyline in both day and night) so around 6ish, we left home and headed to Westfield Shopping Centre on Pitt St where the entrance into the tower was located.

Hmm, how do we get to the restaurant? The lift indicated that the restaurant is on Level 4 but exiting the lift, all we got was another level of shops within the shopping centre. Another couple in the lift who were also heading the same direction were as puzzled as we were (they were dressed for a black tie event while Jono and I were smart casual, both acceptable dress codes for the restaurant). It turned out that the entrance to the tower was indeed located on Level 4 - there was a reception/bookings desk which was hidden in view from where we caught the lifts thus causing much confusion (perhaps they should put a sign at the lift exit to indicate that we needed to head into the foyer to find the reception area). There were several other people lining up making enquiries when we were there. "Booking for two for Angelica Tan," I said to the reception lady who then buzzed someone at the restaurant on the walkie-talkie to find out if our table was ready so we could head up. "Your table is ready. Please go through security on the left," said the lady with a smile and handed us a pass which we had to surrender to the burly security man guarding the lift entrance. Both Jono and I had to go through a metal detector (the security guard also inspected my handbag) before the guard sent us on our way to the restaurant.

A short 30-second ride up (the lift is fully enclosed with no glass panels to view the outside) to the restaurant arriving at Level 1 of the golden crown topping Sydney Tower, one is welcomed by the stylish dark wood furnishing and soft ambient lighting giving the place a luscious gold and chocolate tone - very warm and inviting. We were shown to our table which was by the windows - yes! I was informed when I made my booking that window tables were not guaranteed but every time I pull out the "it's our anniversary" card, it always works to my favour and I was almost certain we would get a table with a good view (well, I didn't have to 'lie' this time as it was indeed my anniversary). Jono and I were too busy looking at the amazing views from our table that we didn't even notice that we were revolving! Well, we soon realised it when a window beam came into view...

With their French-influenced modern Australian cuisine, guests have a choice of either the 2- or 3-course dinner from the a la carte menu (additional charges apply to certain items on the menu). We decided to splurge for the special occasion and went for the 3-course meal ($95 per person) which we got to choose an entrée, main and dessert each. Jono ordered the quail as his entrée and salmon for his main while I got the oysters as my entrée and went with Jono's suggestion to try the wagyu sirloin (cost an additional $30) for my main. For dessert, we opted for the 360 dessert tasting plate for two. We also ordered a glass of wine each (150ml per glass), a Drift Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough, NZ) for Jono and Ninth Island Pinot Noir (Tasmania) for me as well as a 1 litre bottle of still water to share. The cost of drinks were additional to the price of the 3-course dinner and boy do they charge an arm and a leg for wines here. We would have gotten a bottle to share but it was too expensive (the cheapest bottle was $42 and when you can get a decent bottle of wine for less than $20 outside, this feels a bit much).

While we waited for our entrées, our lovely French waitress who was serving our table this evening brought over a bread basket with two bread rolls and dipping plate of butter, sea salt flakes and olive oil-balsamic dip to go with the bread. I love olive oil-balsamic dip, especially when quality olive oil is used and I definitely agree with Jono that this dip uses good quality oil. Yum! Nibbling on our bread, we continued to enjoy the view, the day quite quickly turning night. It takes 70 minutes for one full revolution of the panoramic views of Sydney and beyond - it is said you can see the Blue Mountains from here but given Jono and I are still figuring out what suburb we are looking at and trying to load up Google Maps to confirm our findings with little joy due to lack of reception (you would think being this high up we would have great phone reception but no), we probably missed it.

Our entrées arrived shortly as did our wines. 150ml of wine to last us the whole sitting - hmm, have to somehow stretch it out...My 1/2 dozen Sydney rock oysters were served on a bed of ice with half a lemon and cider & seaweed vinegar on the side. I had never thought I would enjoy raw oysters so much until Wratty introduced it to me during our 7-day group tour in Tasmania - just a few drops of lemon juice on the half-shell oyster and slurp! Ok, I didn't actually slurp (that would probably gotten me stares even though that's how you should eat raw oysters) but instead used the cocktail fork to detach the oyster from its shell and picked up it with the fork then straight into my mouth. Mmm, absolutely divine...Personally, I prefer the lemon juice over the cider & seaweed vinegar with the oysters (the latter had too much zing). Jono's roasted quail served with white bean puree, french beans and hazelnut was also really nice. Quite impressed with the food and service so far - can't wait to find out how the rest of the courses rate.

Wagyu (pronounced 'wag-you' and literally translates to 'Japanese cow') is a breed of cattle that originated from Japan but is now widely breed in Australia with Australia being the largest producer of this special breed of cattle outside of Japan. Tales of the cows being massaged, fed beer /wine and played classical music are commonly told though I'm not sure how much truth there is to it (seriously? I don't even get pampered that much!). In Australia, these wagyu cattle are grain fed for the last 300-500 days of production. Known for its marbling characteristics (intramuscular fat deposits found in muscle fibres in the beef), tenderness and juiciness, wagyu beef is highly prized for its uncompromising quality - one should expect to pay a hefty price for your premium cut of beef, at over $1 per gram of meat. I repeat, PER GRAM. Ouch! I love a good steak but even that price scares me. In fact, I wasn't planning to get the wagyu sirloin but Jono said it was ok to put a dent on our credit card tonight. I had my 220g wagyu sirloin (400-day grain fed) cooked medium with a bordelaise sauce finish (a red wine based sauce) and choice of fries on the side (you can choose paris potato instead of fries). "Babe, I think I'm doomed - now that I've tried wagyu, I don't think I can ever turn back!" I told Jono after taking my first bite of the steak and cut a piece for him to sample. Oh, the meat just melts in your mouth in full flavour - I'm having steak orgasm! With a marble score of 9+, the steak was high in intramuscular fat (there were even little fatty bits served on top of the steak) - the higher the marble score (and 9+ is very high), the higher quality and with that comes higher cost. Jono's salmon fillet with roasted aubergine, fennel puree and radish salad though was also excellent became pretty average to me after I tried my steak. Oh dear, my steak cravings are going to cost me from now on...

I reckon somewhere between 180g-220g of wagyu beef is enough for me - anything beyond that would be too much for me to stomach. Though good for health as it is high in omega 3 fatty oils, too much of the fatty meat does make me feel slightly sick. I was quite glad our dessert came much later for I needed a bit time to digest. The weather seemed to have taken a drastic change, most of our pretty city night-lights now covered by a wave of fog that appeared all of a sudden.

We continue chatting and laughed reminiscing over the past year and all the wonderful things we've done together - travelling places, spending time with respective families and friends, the numerous events be have attended together, moving to Sydney - it's been a very eventful year! And we're still very much in love :)

Dessert finally turned up around 9.30pm and the shared platter consisted of a selection of all four desserts on their menu: brulée (vanilla bean crème brulée with strawberry salad), pear & pistachio (pistachio crème patisserie with Poire Williams marshmallow, sable and botrytis jelly), lemon (lemon posset, shortcake, baked meringue and raspberry) and chocolate (chocolate parfait, candied clementine, mandarin curd, chocolate & maple biscuit). Like the entrées and mains, the dessert too equally impressed me in both taste and presentation. Unfortunately we couldn't polish the platter as we were feeling full - it was still very good, however much we managed to indulge.

Cost us a whopping $212 (this is after taking 25% off the bill using the Entertainment card), the most expensive dinner we have had to date. Despite the cost, I would highly recommend coming to 360 Bar and Dining for your special occasion - we thoroughly enjoyed the experience and I'm sure you would too. Make sure you book early to avoid disappointment! Photos taken at 360 Bar and Dining:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8070917@N05/sets/72157627981338624/detail/

Ichi-ban Boshi (20th October 2011)

2011-10-20T22:34:00.000+11:00

Jono and I were meant to meet up with Ken andPip at the Chatswood night market this evening for dinner but ended up in Ichi-ban Boshi instead as Jono was held up at work (didn’tmake sense to head all the way to Chatswood at 8pm when the market closes at9pm). I’ve seen Ichi-ban Boshi on my visit to Kinokuniya Bookstore located onthe same floor in Galleries Victoria and Ken had previously mentioned that this placeserves good ramen too (why is it that my conversations with Ken alwaysinvolve food?) – Jono and I didn’t plan on coming here this evening but I feltlike Japanese and this was the nearest place Google Maps suggested for Japanesecuisine.

Jono came to meet me at the Market St entrance of QVB and we headed over to Galleries Victoria, taking the elevator to the 2nd floor where Ichi-ban Boshi was located. Wow, the restaurant was pretty much packed and there was a queue outside. I wonder how long it would take for us to get a table...There was no one manning the reception podium so how would the staff know who's turn it was to get a table? On closer inspection, we found that there was a sheet at the podium which customers needed to complete with their name, number of guests and whether or not you were willing to share your table - each row on the sheet is numbered and has boxes next to it for you to complete the required details as well as a corresponding tear-off number for you to hold on to. You must take the number as you will need to hand it over to the staff when your number is called. Ok, let's see...Angelica...2 people...no sharing of table...and rip this number off the sheet. And now we wait...

"80...anyone here with number 80?" called out the Japanese female waitstaff. Nope, not us, we're number 2 (I think they recycle the numbers once it gets to a certain point). After giving it a few more calls, she moved on to the next number. I guess some people put their names down but gave up the wait or went away thinking it would be awhile before their number gets called (the wait can be up to half an hour long but we only waited about 15 minutes). You snooze, you lose - person number 1 was a no-show too so we got bumped up the queue and got ourselves a table. Yay!

There isn't much ambience in the restaurant because it is not enclosed within the shop, making it a bit noisy. Waitstaff wearing headsets can be found busily roaming the restaurant floor, taking orders from the tables with PDAs. Jono got himself an iced chocolate and Tokyo Ramen Set while I got an iced lemon tea and the Tantanmen Ramen, both which were served rather quickly after we ordered. The Tokyo Ramen has a shoyu (soy sauce) based soup and came with 3 pieces of gyoza, rice, pickles and salad as part of the set meal. Mmm, the gyoza (Japanese style dumplings that are pan-fried on one side and steamed the other, and often served as a side dish in ramen restaurants) is good...My Tantanmen Ramen with its minced pork, half a boiled egg and choy sum in a hot and spicy soup was rather salty and the ramen somewhat overcooked. Oddly enough, with every helping I took, it left a weird aftertaste that I couldn't quite describe (a salty-bitter mix?). I'm not sure if this particular noodle dish was meant to taste like that. I asked Jono how was his noodles and he said it was ok, though I noticed he didn't polish his bowl, an indication to me that it probably wasn't that yummy (he did however, finish all the gyoza). Or perhaps it was just the fact that the servings here were massive - even I struggled to finish mine.

Cost us $36 all up for dinner which we had to pay in cash (the restaurant takes cash-only). I'm not sure what the hype is with this restaurant but I'm not fully convinced that they serve the best ramen in town, even if their noodles are made fresh in store. I probably need to have a chat with Ken to find out what was the dish that made him think the ramen here was amazing and come back to try it out, and see if it's any better. Photos taken at Ichi-ban Boshi this evening:

At the entrance of Ichi-ban Boshi waiting for our number to be called

Our iced chocolate and iced lemon tea

Tantanmen Ramen - ramen with minced pork, half a boiled egg
and choy sum in a hot and spicy soup

Ichi-ban Boshi's most popular ramen, Tokyo Ramen

Dinner with Su Wei at Chinta Ria (5th October 2011)

2011-10-05T19:47:00.000+11:00

Su Wei suggested a girls night out this evening so we decided to catch up for dinner at Chinta Ria located on the roof terrace of Cockle Bay Wharf - neither of us have been there and it's one of the many restaurants listed in the Entertainment Book which was how we came to decide our restaurant for tonight's dinner. Jono and I have been talking about going to Chinta Ria for quite some time - whenever we walk past the Pyrmont footbridge entrance, Jono never fails to remind me that the restaurant spells cinta (the Malay word for love) with a 'h'. "But c-i-n-t-a would be pronounced sin-ta," Jono would say just to annoy me. Trust me babe, I've never seen that word spelt with a 'h' and I grew up in Malaysia; the restaurant spelt it like how it reads phonetically, not how it is actually spelt in the Malay language.

Su Wei and I met up at QVB around 6pm then walked to the the restaurant together. Chinta Ria doesn't take dinner bookings so we were there when they had just opened to avoid the often seen queue outside the restaurant most evenings. The light scent of sandalwood incense beckons you to enter through the large wooden doors into the restaurant where you are then greeted by a huge Laughing Buddha. Coloured chairs stood out next to dark wood tables and the table was set with equally bright-coloured bowls and chopsticks on the side. The interior was cleverly decorated with ornaments and artwork from the various ethnic groups in Malaysia. "It's really cool," said Su Wei, and I nodded in agreement. I had been wondering why the restaurant was also called "The Temple of Love" - the architecture of the building does remind me somewhat of a Chinese temple (even more so with the smell of incense and the Buddha statue) but what signifies 'love'? Love for the food? If that is the case, we are at the right place then!

Su Wei ordered the Roti Kari (roti with a chicken curry) while I ordered the Curry Laksa (fine strands of vermicelli and soft Hokkien noodles, tossed with fried bean curd puff, slices of fish cake, chicken and sugar snap peas in a piquant spicy coconut curry soup) as our mains to share. I cannot believe this - Su Wei was already asking for the dessert menu before our mains were served! "I like the banana roti dessert," she said enthusiastically. Okay...that isn't really a Malaysian dessert, my dear. In fact, it's not easy to find a mamak stall in Malaysia that sells banana roti (better known as roti pisang in Malay) and even if you do, the roti is served with curry, not vanilla ice-cream. Sorry to disappoint but you are probably more likely to find banana roti served as a dessert in Western countries, like at Mamak in Haymarket.

"Huh, is THAT it?" I said to Su Wei when the roti dish arrived, eyes wide in amazement - it was a piece of roti and a small bowl of dipping sauce (was there even chicken in there?). This wasn't what I expected for $17. Jeez, that's daylight robbery! We could have the same dish 50 times in Malaysia!! Not impressed...My curry laksa turned up shortly and it was a surprisingly huge serving. We were about to finish off the last of the roti and move on to the laksa when the waiter came hurriedly to our table, apologising profusely for their mistake - it turned out they had served us an entrée version of the roti dish instead of the main we ordered. "We can replace it straightaway," gushed the waiter. Us girls looked at each other, then at the laksa - we obviously read each other's minds. There was no way we could fit the laksa AND another roti main so we opted for the bill to be corrected instead. Plus Su Wei was still keen to have dessert - we need to leave some room for them. Both the roti and laksa were alright. I still think Mamak serves the best roti in town and have not found THE laksa place yet. Unfortunately for Su Wei, Chinta Ria doesn't serve banana roti in their dessert menu so we settled for their pineapple fritters served with syrup and coconut ice-cream - mmm, coconut ice-cream is quite nice and very creamy :)

Considering the location, I would say the price is about right (cost us about $34 all up - we didn't use the Entertainment Book voucher in the end as it would only give us a very small discount) and the service was quite good, despite the mix-up. The restaurant was fully seated by the time we left around 7.30pm. Some of the patrons braved the cold and went for outdoor seating rather than join in the queue that was beginning to build up at the entrance. Will definitely have to come back with Jono another day to try their interesting-looking specials (I had a peek at what other people had on our way out) and experience 'the temple' himself. Photos taken at the restaurant:

Entrance into Chinta Ria - The Temple of Love

Multiracial ornaments and the huge Laughing Buddha

Curry Laksa and Roti

Su Wei giving the thumbs up for the pineapple fritters with syrup and coconut ice-cream

We had to cut short out evening as Amelia wasn't feeling well so Su Wei had to head home early. Still, it was lovely to catch up, as always - let's meet up again soon!

Salsa dancing at Cruise Bar (15th September 2011)

2011-09-15T23:30:00.000+10:00

Normally I would need a bit of encouragement to go out salsa dancing on a weeknight but tonight I've made my own decision to go and texted Ken to find out if he was heading over as well. I was feeling rather annoyed after attending work drinks at the client site - I was trying to network with the people in the project I've not met yet but the moment they learnt that I was working for their vendor, all conversations ceased and turned to me getting a nasty helping of their complaints on why this doesn't work or if I knew whether the defect has been fixed. Er, excuse me? First of all, I work in the Datamart team so am not across all defects raised (and for the record, my team is doing darn well and only have very few defects left opened) and secondly, why are we still discussing work at after-work drinks?? I gave up after an hour and left the party out of sheer frustration - this was not the first time it had happened and it really puts me off attending such social events knowing it only makes me feel terrible after. I just couldn't get through to anyone without eventually talking about work and was feeling like such a social retard. I didn't think my social skills were that bad - really??

A quick stop back home to change and grabbed a bite, I headed out to meet Ken at Cruise Bar around 8.30pm. This was my second time to the bar and it was still rather quiet when I arrived. Several groups of people were there for social drinks and the dance floor was dead with no dancers in sight. The regular Thursday salsa night was meant to start at 8.30pm but it wasn't till around 9pm that the DJ finally arrived and started playing Latin music. Photo of a very quiet Cruise Bar:

Ken and his mate Chizz arrived shortly, followed by his salsa gang members Sam and Laura. Introductions were made and I was able to hold a conversation and even got a few laughs out of our little group. So obviously I'm NOT a social retard but it is the people and/or environment I'm in that makes the difference. Sheesh! I'm feeling much better now being in good company :)

Sam, Laura, Ken and I kicked off the dancing being the first 2 couples to hit the dance floor. There were a lot less people tonight compared to the last time I was here. I found myself several Cuban dancers to dance with which was fun. In between my dances, I chatted with Chizz who was visiting Ken from Melbourne - Chizz is cool and has a great sense of humour, asking me lots of questions about dancing. He's a non-dancer but that might soon change after I told him it's a great way to meet girls in a fun and safe environment (you didn't hear that from me!).

Oh, there was an interesting character at Cruise tonight, an oldish Asian man whom both Ken and I thought was slightly creepy. Shriveled-looking yet dressed ghetto-style with lots of bling, the man loves showing off his shines leaving most followers to balk and unsure what to do next as he continues on slapping his foot on the floor dancing in his own world. Well, he's earned himself a nickname from me, Mr Octopus Arms, because he has the habit of moving his arms in that manner while dancing. Peacock Guy, Fishy Man, Chest Vibrator and now Octopus Arms - the nicknames don't stop, do they? :P

It's a pity tonight's a weeknight so I can't stay late and headed home by 10ish. Still, an hour of dancing helped me get over my earlier annoyance and boosted my self-confidence. Feeling much happier now! :)

Allergy testing (13th September 2011)

2011-09-13T20:00:00.000+10:00

Back in July, I went to see the GP about my constant break out of hives. I do get the odd allergic reaction to bug bites or grass when I've been out on walks but the recent series of break outs are just getting way out of hand - I'm living in the city for Christ sake! What could I possibly be allergic to??! Argh, my ears are red, my neck is red and so is my décolletage, arms and thighs - I can't stop scratching myself!

According to the GP, hives (skin rash of pale red, raised, itchy bumps aka wheals) tend to be cause by an allergic reaction which could be from medication, food or physical agents. "Perhaps you are allergic to Sydney," joked the doctor, who added further that it usually takes migrants a few years before they develop allergies to their new home country. True, I never was allergic to bug bites until 3 years into living in Wellington and in recent years, developed hives mostly during summer. But how do I explain this? There was nothing the doctor could do for me except provide a referral for an allergy test which in hope would give us some answers to my issue. I was told to take anti-histamine tablets whenever I find the itch too much to bear - pretty much what I've been doing so far. Interestingly, only the 180g anti-histamine tablets work for me AND they are the more expensive ones too!

Finally, after the 2-month wait for my appointment at North Shore Medical Centre in St Leonards, I took off work early today to see Dr Andrew Broadfoot, a specialist in immunology and allergy for an allergy test. On arrival to the building, there was no main reception area in sight and watching other passer-bys (most likely patients themselves), I followed their footsteps, looking for the name of the doctor I was seeing on the huge directory board and took the lift to the appropriate floor. Dr Broadfoot...location level 2...

Hmm, no reception area on Level 2 either...where do I go now? There was another directory board that indicated my doctor was in Suite 7 but I wasn't sure whether to open the closed door or not - the floor had several rooms/suites, all with closed doors and name plates of the doctors stuck outside. I could hear voices coming from the other side of the door which strangely sounded like there were more than 5 people in the consultation room. "The doctor can't possible be seeing that many people at a time," I thought to myself, and a mother and her daughter walked out. Ah, turned out the door opens into a reception and waiting area, as well as the consultation room. I reckon they could do better with a sign that says 'Please come in' on the door - at least that causes less confusion for first-timers seeing the doctor at this medical centre.

There were 3 other patients ahead of me who were here for various vaccinations and it took another 15 minutes before I was seen by the doctor. I did a bit of research prior to my visit about allergy testing to prepare myself for what to expect - the test conducted was the skin prick test, which was the most convenient (results within 20 minutes) and least expensive (well, it still cost me $350 for the consultation and testing) of the available methods for allergy testing. The doctor had trays of sterile lancets in a rectangle grid of 8, each dipped in an allergen extract and individual trays pressed onto an area on my forearm, a small prick made by each lancet through which allows a small amount of the allergens to enter the skin. The prick wasn't painful - it felt like toothpick pricks and wasn't deep enough to cause bleeding. Forty-eight individual allergens were tested on me; one was a positive control histamine (this is to ensure that the skin is reacting accordingly and we expect a reaction to the histamine), sixteen of them were inhalant allergens such as dustmite, domestic pets and plants, and the remaining were food allergens such as nuts, seafood and wheat. Both my forearms where covered with little red dots by the time the doctor completed the pricks!

Back to the waiting room for the next 20 minutes and some of the dots have turned into wheals (itchy but I was told I couldn't touch them). I'm allergic to something alright...Photo of my right forearm just 5 minutes post skin prick:

It was quite fascinating watching how my skin reacted to the allergens and to some extent, I was quite excited to find out what I'm allergic to. I was called back into the consultation room where the doctor discussed the results of the test with me, going through them one by one and cross-checking it with my medical history and previous allergic incidents. My skin was definitely reacting as supposed to because I had a wheal for the positive control histamine. I'm most allergic to dust mite (the wheal was 2-4mm in size indicating a moderate allergy) and also mildly allergic to horse, crustacean (that explains why my lips swell when I have too much crab, prawns or lobster), olive tree pollen, yeast, tomato and banana (though the doctor reckon the last three allergens gave false positive results since I haven't had issues when I consumed these food). Fortunately I'm not allergic to staple food like rice, egg and milk - it would be terrible if I was. Eating out would be a nightmare!

The doctor's advice for me was to avoid exposure to these allergens that I'm allergic to and carry anti-histamine tablets with me so I can take them as and when necessary. Though I walked out of the medical centre $350 poorer, I'm quite pleased that I do not have severe allergies and now know for a fact what exactly I'm allergic to. I don't know why parents do not have their kids go through an allergy test at a young age - it would prevent severe allergy attacks and help kids deal with their allergies early on than let them put up with it for years. If you suspect you may have allergies, it's still not too late to have one done - prevention is cure!

Roman Holiday: Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony (12th September 2011)

2011-09-12T22:30:00.000+10:00

As an Entertainment Book member, I'm often sent deals (in addition to the ones in the book) via email and one recent deal I received was a 2-for-1 A reserve ticket deal to Sydney Symphony's Roman Holiday: Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony (normally $95 per person for an A reserve ticket). "Keen to check it out?" I asked Jono. "Cool - looks good," was his response and so we sat together to have a look at the seating plan and purchased our tickets over the phone.

Jono and I met at Sydney Opera House at 6.30pm - this was the first time both of us were inside the iconic building and it was huge with a wide range of venues and facilities on site. There were so many people gathered outside the Concert Hall where the performance would be held this evening - Jono and I had a hard time finding each other in the midst of the crowd and it didn't help that the phone reception was pretty bad inside the building. I could hardly hear a word he was saying - it was so garbled and disconnected. We eventually managed to locate each other as I spotted him heading up the stairs. Jono had rushed over from work and not had any dinner so was having coffee and cake while waiting for me to turn up. He actually left our coffees (he ordered one for me too) and his cake in the care of an older gentlemen who was also having his coffee prior to the performance and sitting at the same long table while Jono came looking for me!

Around 6.45pm, we headed into the Concert Hall for the 7pm start. The Concert Hall is the largest venue inside the Sydney Opera House and it was pretty amazing - with high vaulted ceiling, brush box and white birch timber finishings, this venue is designed primarily for acoustic performances. We were seated right in the middle of the Circle Box upstairs and had a view of the whole orchestra. Probably a few rows further front would be better to get a closer look at the musicians but it was good enough for the cost we paid. View from our seats taken from my phone:

There were people who had seats behind the orchestra - I don't understand why people would bother sitting there. Ok, they may be cheap but to spend most of the time looking at the backs of the musicians, hmm, I think I would rather pay a bit more to get the front view.

The symphony started off with Mendelssohn's The Fair Melusine - Overture, a fairytale of enchantment, a mermaid and a broken promise composed into song, easing guests into an evening of classical music. This was then followed by the Horn Concerto No. 1 by Richard Strauss, featuring Ben Jacks on the horn who was performing without musical score but from memory. It was interesting to watch the horn player, how he controls the valves that routes air into the tubing to change the pitch and pulling parts of the horn apart to tip out bits of water - Jono assured me it was not saliva but water from condensation.

The performance took a 20-minute interval before resuming with Respighi's The Birds. In this suite, the orchestra mimics a series of bird calls - dove, hen, nightingale and cuckoo - all distinctly different yet its contrast perfectly performed in this baroque-inspired piece. And to close off the symphony, we again return to Mendelssohn, this time listening to Symphony No. 4, Italian, a picture postcard of a tourist's perspective of the life and culture in Italy.

I enjoyed our first symphony in Sydney though I agree with Jono that this was too pleasant (he prefers more 'dramatic' classical tunes). Roman Holiday only has 4 performances and we were quite fortunate to still get tickets to the final performance. Despite the audience's claps for an encore, the orchestra only responded with gracious bows and after about the third round of clapping and bowing, the audience gave up and started exiting the hall.

The symphony ended at 9pm and we headed over to Circular Quay to catch the train home. Feeling slightly peckish, Jono decided to get a combo meal from Hungry Jacks (Australia's equivalent of Burger King) located at the train station and was snacking on his fast food while we waited for the train. Urgh, it was rather yuck - I've had better Hungry Jacks than this elsewhere. We're definitely not getting Hungry Jacks from here again...

Lunch with Ken at The Meeting Point (11th September 2011)

2011-09-11T16:00:00.000+10:00

Ken and I caught up for lunch today at The Meeting Point (TMP), a Taiwanese restaurant located next to the tram stop on Hay Street in Chinatown. I've walked past the restaurant a couple of times and always been intrigued at what Taiwanese cuisine is like (other than bubble tea, that is). Plus the interior of the place looked rather inviting - traditional Chinese tea-house with dark wood décor for a modern twist.

Ken was already sipping on his iced coffee when I turned up. "This is for you guys," said Ken and he handed me a sealed bright yellow tin which I immediately knew what it was - a mooncake! Aw, thanks :) Mooncake or mid-autumn festival falls on the 12th of September this year and though not celebrated in such big scale as the Chinese New Year, it's the only time of the year that you can purchase mooncake (round or rectangular pastries with a thick filling of lotus seed paste and may contain the yolk of salted duck eggs and/or nuts) in abundance. The one Ken gave us was a plain mooncake (no yolk or nuts), exactly the type I like. Will have to cut it up into small wedges and have them with tea at home. And maybe admire the full moon as well ;)

After chatting for about 10 minutes or so and trying to get the attention of the waitress (it wasn't even that busy in the restaurant), I gave up and walked to the bar to get some menus. Flipping through the menu, Ken couldn't stop pipping up about how Japanese influenced the meals were. I have to agree - shabu-shabu (hot pot), bento and grilled skewers (similar to yakitori) are all part of the Japanese cuisine but TMP does serve an extensive selection of Taiwanese food, drinks and desserts as well. I settled for a Pearl Milk Tea (chewy tapioca balls added to milk tea) and Fried Chicken with Wine, Sesame Oil and Soy Sauce Bento Box from the specials board while Ken ordered the Taiwanese Style Cold Noodles and we shared an entrée of Jelly Fish Salad.

My drink and the salad turned up first followed by our mains. Mmm, the Jelly Fish Salad is yum! When Ken suggested it initially, I wasn't sure I would be helping myself to much (it's jellyfish!) but I ended up eating most of it. The gelatin-like texture can be a little daunting for some but it doesn't have much flavour on its own. Mixed with crunchy shredded cucumber and a chilli soy dressing and voilà - delicious! My main dish was also very good and I think it was the restaurant's version of sanbeiji (translated as "Three-Cup Chicken" because the sauce is made of a cup of rice wine, a cup of sesame oil, and a cup of soy sauce - it is said that a restaurant that cannot cook this dish is not a true Taiwanese restaurant) served bento-style. I did try some of Ken's cold noodles dish but I didn't like it as much as my own - I guess it was because cold noodles was not served commonly in Malaysia so I did not grow up accustomed to having a noodle dish that's not warm. The dish was served with lots of shredded fresh vegetables and cooked chicken drizzled with a generous serving of tangy sesame dressing on a bed of noodles. Oh, don't get me wrong, it was tasty and Ken seemed to be enjoying it. Photos of our food:

Jelly Fish Salad served with shredded cucumber
in dressing of oil, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and chilli

Fried Chicken with Wine, Sesame Oil and Soy Sauce Bento Box

Taiwanese Style Cold Noodles

Cost us $40.20 all up which wasn't too bad. We found out that this place also provided board games so that customers can spend the day here with friends reliving childhood games while sipping tea and snacking on nibbles. And I have some suspicion they have a karaoke room as well somewhere (I could hear some singing as we headed out of the restaurant). Definitely recommended if you fancy Taiwanese cuisine (well, Chinese food in general). I'll have to come back again with Jono next time!

Lunch with Ken at Emperor's Garden BBQ and Noodles (21st August 2011)

2011-08-21T17:23:00.001+10:00

Sundays are usually for sleep-ins and you will hardly find me getting up early for the sake of going to the market but since living with Ken and watching his passion for cooking, I think some of it has rubbed off on me and I've promised myself to be a better cook (more fresh ingredients, less instant stuff) so I can make yummy dinners for Jono and I at home. So up I was at 7.30am to get ready for a morning of food shopping and accompanied Jono to work, leaving him at the end of Pyrmont Bridge where he headed to his office while I went to my first stop of the day, Sydney Fish Market.

Fortunately I had my backpack with me - by the time I finished all my shops (fish market, Coles supermarket, Asian grocery store, Sydney's Paddy's Markets fresh vegetable and fruit section), I had a full backpack and two bags of groceries to carry. Hmm, I either need a bigger backpack or one of those shopping trolleys I see the older Chinese ladies drag around in the markets. There are so many things to buy but I don't have the ability to carry them all on my own! At least I got all the ingredients I need to make laksa for dinner tonight. Mmm, looking forward to it :)

Ken texted me partway through my shopping expedition and we caught up in Chinatown for lunch. We ended up in Emperor's Garden BBQ and Noodles on Thomas St, a restaurant owned by the same folks who own Emperor's Garden Cake & Bakery on Hay St (in fact, they own all the Emperor's Garden businesses in Chinatown). Ken and I have passed by the restaurant a couple of times, often stopping to stare at the window strung with glistening strips of BBQ pork, whole roast ducks and quails, soy chicken, chunks of roast pork and an assortment of cooked offal to choose from. So much to see and no way would you miss it if you were in the area. Entering the restaurant, we were immediately greeted by the friendly staff and showed to a table. It was still early for lunch (it was just 12pm) so only few tables were taken. The decor was as I expected, the typical look and feel of a mid-range Chinese restaurant like the ones in Malaysia with staff in uniform, white walls and neon red lights on the white ceiling.

We ordered Chinese tea and flipped through their much dog-eared menu to decide on what to have for lunch. "Look, pigeon on the specials board," I said to Ken and he immediately went, "Shall we?" with a gleeful smile. Camel last night, pigeon today - my crazy food adventures never end! We settled for the baked pigeon in BBQ sauce special, and minced chicken and salted fish fried rice to share. The idea of eating pigeon has never crossed my mind - eek, I can't believe I'm having it today! "I do not even want to discuss where the chef sourced them," I warned Ken as he began telling me we could possibly be eating one of the many 'rat with wings' from Central Station. Zip it, zip it, I don't want to hear any of it!

As we waited for our food, we caught up with the what has been happening over the past few weeks and I'm really happy to hear that Ken's move to Sydney has been very positive to date. He has made more friends than I have in his short 2 months in the new city - no fair! But I'm glad he has got a great bunch of friends who sounded like really cool people. I've heard so much about them and look forward to meet them in person soon :)

Ugh, they serve the head as well!!! Our dishes arrived promptly and the whole pigeon was quartered and served with its decapitated baked head in full view which was highly unappealing to me. Why do they need to include the head anyway? I don't think anyone eats it...Well, there was no mistake this was the bird we ordered:

Ken very kindly hid the head under a serviette so that I would actually have some of the pigeon - thank you! Hmm, tasted rather similar to quail actually...The pigeon was baked through with crispy skin and like the quail, it doesn't have a lot of meat so eating with hands was easiest to remove the meat and sparingly coat with the spiced salt. One pigeon was enough of a sampler for two and with the large fried rice we ordered, it was just right. Oh, and you can't go wrong with chicken and salted fish fried rice - it always taste good, regardless the restaurant! Cost us $37 all up for lunch ($22 just for the pigeon) which was pricey though I'm not sure if other Chinese restaurants in town serve pigeon on their menu. It's not everyday that I get to have pigeon for lunch!

Delhi 'O' Delhi (20th August 2011)

2011-08-20T05:30:00.000+10:00

After a day of chilling out at home, Jono and I decided to skip the cooking and headed out for dinner on King Street in Newtown around 6pm. We had planned to have Vietnamese but ended up in Delhi 'O' Delhi on Erskineville Road instead. Worked for me since I've not had Indian food for awhile and we haven't found a good Indian restaurant in Sydney yet. This might just be the one!

Delhi 'O' Delhi is a fine dining Indian restaurant and you can tell immediately from its sleek decor and smartly dressed waiters that this place is not "cheap eat". We didn't have a booking so was just trying our luck to see if they have a table - it was only 6.30pm and the place was pretty packed. "Is it ok if you sit outside?" asked the Indian waiter. Sure, why not? The weather in Sydney seems a lot milder these days (only need a light sweater when outdoors) and with the gas heaters outside, we should be warm enough.

We were ushered to our outdoor table for two and given the menu with complimentary poppadoms to nibble on as we decided on our meals. "Oh, they serve camel here!" I exclaimed as I looked through the list of mains to make my choice. Hmm, camel...I'm not sure about that...I think I had better stick to something more familiar...I wasn't game enough to try camel, afraid that it would taste gamey (and much like kangaroo which I do not like much). "What should I get? Duck, goat or camel?" Jono asked me. "Well, camel is something we haven't tried...but only if you really want to...," I replied. Jono was obviously game enough and ordered the Rajasthani Maas, the restaurant's unique camel dish slow-cooked in traditional haandi (deep, narrowed-mouth vessel used for cooking) with whole spices, Bengal gram flour and Kashmiri chillies. Eek, we are having camel!

Despite a full house and still catering for takeaway customers, our meals arrived promptly. Mmm, my Teyal Prawn (green prawns sauteed with fresh garlic, mustard seeds and tamarind coconut cream) was delicious! And Jono's camel dish was nice too and not at all what I expected the meat to taste like. Camel tasted very similar to goat, rather tough and it wasn't at all gamey. Frankly, we couldn't tell if it really was camel by looking at the diced meat and its taste (it could have been beef, for all we know) - we just had to trust the restaurant. Now we can add another wild food on our "have eaten" list and say we've had camel! We shared our curries as well as a bowl of basmati rice and yummy peshawari naan (naan filled with mixture of nuts and raisins), washing it down with the bottle of white wine we picked up on our way to the restaurant - yum! Photos of our dishes:

Rajasthani Maas (the camel dish)

Teyal Prawn

You know, this was the first time we've eaten out since we came back from USA and the serving size seemed to have shrunk dramatically. I thought "Huh, is that it?" when the meals were served but it was actually the normal serving size in Australia - I've just gotten used to having way too much on my plate in USA! And I'm quite happy to have the 'reduced' serving size - enough to keep my tummy happy and no need for a doggy bag! Cost us $47 including a corkage charge of $3 per person and 15% off the total bill with the use of the Entertainment Card. I would highly recommend that you secure a booking should you wish to come to this restaurant especially on Fridays and Saturdays. Though we managed to get a table on walk-in, it was obvious that the restaurant would like us to leave as soon as we finished (the waiters were highly efficient at clearing our table) so they could take on more business. Definitely worth a visit for good food and service!

We left for home around 9.30pm, stopping by at Gelato Blue on King St for a double scoop cone of pistachio and Toblerone ice cream for dessert as we walked home. Did you know that this place serves over 40 assorted gelato, sorbets and desserts and has upstairs seating as well for customers to chill out as they enjoy their sweet treats? I had thought it was just a shop that sells ice cream and nothing more since most times we've walked past, the place only had customers buying their ice creams to go. Hmm, reminds me of Kaffee Eis that Jono and I use to frequent in Wellington, just more funky and colourful in interior. Speaking of Kaffee Eis, I miss their pistachio ice cream!

Salsa Open Advanced Level 6 with Latin Motion (17th August 2011)

2011-08-17T21:23:00.000+10:00

After attending a class each from Levels 2 - 4 with Latin Motion, I decided perhaps it might be wise to aim higher and work my way down the levels since in my last 3 attempts, I have yet found a class that suited me. Instead of trying out Level 5 tonight, I skipped the level and went to the Open Advanced Level 6 class held at 6.30pm this evening at Space Bar on Liverpool St. Cost $20 for me as I'm still paying as a casual student. Might consider getting a term pass once I find the right class...

Advanced Level 6 was taught by Oliver Pineda (director and head instructor of Latin Motion AND 5 times world salsa champion) and Becky Lee whom I've met teaching the Level 4 class with Clement last term. It was a huge class of about 20 students, and surprisingly, more boys than girls - in Wellington, the higher level class you go, the less boys but it's the other way around in Sydney. Definitely a bonus for us followers because it means more advanced and experienced leads and less having to 'fight' with other female dancers or chase after leads just to get a dance.

I think I have found my class! The moves that Oliver and Becky taught tonight were more suited to my level - fresh new moves that challenged my dance skills yet still able to follow and carry them out. As this was an 'open' class, there is no progression or refresher of moves from week to week; each lesson starts with a brand new set of moves to learn for the evening. Becky's very good at ladies' styling and was showing the followers how to add in arm or hip movements into the moves, making the ladies' look cool and sexy. I've got lots more to learn in this area! Similar to the other Latin Motion classes, we swap dance partners often (with more guys around, it also means no rest for me!) and stopped every now and then for the instructors to give us a pop quiz about the moves or carry out a leader-follower test (this is where the leads lead quite similar moves that start the same but end differently; it's a good way to test the followers if they are really following or predicting the lead which if the latter, would be obvious as it stops the dance flow). Phew, I'm hardly catching my breath with the continuous dancing and the music keeps getting faster!

So happy that I finally found my class and looking forward to class next week :)

Salsa dancing at Coolabar (29th July 2011)

2011-07-30T09:37:00.297+10:00

I really shouldn't be heading out dancing when I've got an early flight tomorrow morning but since Ken's competing in the salsa heats at Coolabar tonight, I have to make an appearance to give my buddy moral support, plus take the opportunity to video him in action ;) I'm pretty much packed anyway, having started packing yesterday for my 2-week trip in California. So excited - I'm finally getting to see Jono in person! Yippee!!

Around 8.30pm, Ken and I caught the train and headed out to Coolabar on Pitt St. It was my second visit to this salsa venue and cost $13 entry fee, an additional $10 if you were taking part in the Jack n Jill dance competition. "Not me, just him," I said to the lady at the door when she tried to convince me to join in. I don't think I'm quite ready for it having only been back dancing for a few weeks...Tonight's salsa heat was the first of two heats and there were 5 others who have signed up by the time Ken put his name down. The heat is on!

Gosh, I never seem to get the opportunity to rest at Coolabar! Before I could sit down to take a breather, next comes another guy asking me for a dance. It's definitely a nice feeling to be asked so often and by various dance leads. Each guy has their own style and set of moves they would lead throughout a song - gives me plenty of variety and I get to learn new moves dancing with lots of leads as well. Adrian was very quick to come grab me for a dance whenever the opportunity arises and gave me another glow bangle this evening. "You look particularly happy tonight, smiling even more than usual," he said as we danced and before I could tell him why, he went "Of course you're happy - happy to see me and dance with me," and I rolled my eyes and laughed. He's always acting all full of himself just to be cheeky. Sorry to disappoint but you aren't the cause behind my plastered smile ;P More and more leads are recognising me in the Sydney salsa scene these days, several of the guys giving me a polite nod and smile as I passed by. "Hello you, my student," went Clement - I've only attended his class on Wednesday and now he remembers me. Eek!

Around 9.30pm, Clement got the DJ to turn down the volume to announce who's paired up with whom for the heats (Ken was paired up with a girl named Martina) and winners for the lucky draw. Ken and I had thought the numbered chits given to us on entry were for a free drink draw - turned out the draw was to be a judge for the heat which in return scores you a free drink. You wouldn't believe it but I got selected to be a judge! I told Clement I was Ken's friend and it would be unfair for me to judge but he said it didn't matter. "Just decide based on what here tells you," he said to the 6 selected judges (Adrian was one of them), lighting tapping his chest where the heart is. It was pretty straightforward judging - all we had to do was give them a score from 0-10 with 10 being the best. "But first, a round of drinks for all!" and he ushered us to the bar where we all got to choose up to $10 worth of drinks each. Hmm, isn't this going to impair our judgement? Hehe...

With a drink in one hand and a score sheet on a clipboard in another, the judges each found a spot on the edge of the dance floor to watch the dancers (we were free to move around the edge as we like). The first 3 randomly paired up couples stood in their allocated areas on the now emptied dance floor awaiting the DJ to play the song - I found myself a pillar which had a stand where I rested my camera to video Ken and still had a good view of the competing couples. The song began and I watched the dancers show off their moves. I'm impartial when it comes to judging and Ken being my buddy doesn't score him extra points - sorry man! The key thing I was looking for in these couples was connection, whether or not they were having fun dancing together. I've seen many dancers over the years who are literally dancing by themselves, with their fancy shines and styling, and not actually dancing with their partners; 'interacting' or making a connection with eye contact and body language is essential in dance and makes even the basic of moves beautiful to watch.

The next 3 couples stepped out to the dance floor and us judges continued on our task, finishing up by giving each couple a score. All the score sheets were handed over to Clement and social dancing resumed till the results were announced around 11pm. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed at the end result - I was expecting Ken and Martina to be runner-ups in the heat and the winning couple to be the one who were the actual runner-ups (this couple, though lack eye contact, would have wowed the crowd and other judges with their acrobatic moves so it was no surprise they would win). The couple that won the heat deserve credit for pulling out many fancy moves and styling but didn't score very high in my score sheet due to their lack of interaction with each other (it was like watching technical dancing without any emotion, the type of dance that loses my attention after the first few bars of the song). Oh well, I think Ken gave his best shot and kudos to him for taking part in the competition. Here's the video I took of him in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvyQLz8KuiQ

More social dancing and I had several fun dances with a few of my favourite leads who happened to around tonight - peacock dancer (I learnt his name is Idor), David (we only had one dance and it wasn't even salsa!) and a few other nameless leads (which is how they end up getting all sorts of nicknames so I could remember their faces better). Ken and I left around 12.15am to catch the last train home and I was in bed by 1.30am. And I've to be up at 6.30am!

Traditional Thai massage at Chaiyo Thai Massage (23rd July 2011)

2011-07-23T18:16:00.342+10:00

About a week or so ago, I was sent a massage deal via my email subscription of Sydney deals with Stardeals by Groupon Australia - for $49, the deal was a 90-minute traditional Thai massage which normally cost $120. Seemed like a good deal to me plus I hardly pamper myself with such treats - I deserve some TLC (not getting much of late) and to relieve muscle tension from working hard both in the office and at the gym. Buy!

I had called up Chaiyo Thai Massage to secure a booking and headed to Haymarket around 2pm today for my appointment. Located on busy George St, I walked up the stairs to the first floor to the massage centre. Hmm, not sure about some of the shops in the Haymarket area - some looked really dodgy and I wasn't quite sure what to expect of this place that had 2 burly-looking Thai men at the reception desk. On presentation of my voucher, I was escorted up the narrow staircase to the second floor where the massage room was located by another Thai fellow donned in company uniform (baggy pants and top) and had a short ponytail on the top of his head much like a mini coconut tree. I tried not to laugh watching it go 'do-ing, do-ing' as he took each step up the flight of stairs :P He showed me to a large room that was sectioned by pink curtains into 4 compartments - my compartment had a firm mattress on the floor and rolled up towels, pillow and cushion, as well as a neatly folded set of clothes on the side. "Please change into these clothes," he said politely then drew the curtains shut to give me privacy and left the room. With Thai massage, you are required to wear loose and comfortable clothing so it wasn't surprising that I had to change. The clothes were obviously a 'one size fits all' - an oversized polo and baggy pants which I couldn't work out how to tie it on my waist (and that was the only way to make the pants stay up). "Are you ready?" asked a female staff from behind the curtains and I was still fumbling with the pants. Argh! "Ok, ready!" I replied and tied the pants as best I could (please stay on!).

A chubby little Thai lady greeted me and my 90-minute massage session began, starting with a 15-minute foot massage. The masseuse had my feet left soaking in portable foot spa with lukewarm tea-colored water 10 minutes before returning to scrub my feet with an electric brush (it's like brushing your feet with an electric toothbrush but 3 times the size - tickles!), wiped them dry and massaged my feet respectively. This is nice :)

Back to my compartment for the full body massage, I was told to lie tummy down and the Thai lady put her hands to work. Oo, nice...very nice...oo...ow, ow, ow...I flitted between pleasure and pain as she massaged my body, my shoulders hurting the most. Oh yeah, I've got plenty of knots there and it hurts each time she puts pressure on my sore spot. During the course of the massage, the masseuse changed between using her hands to using her forearm like a rolling pin. There were times when she would climbed on top of me, walking with her knees up and down my body, putting pressure which care. "Are you ok?" she would asked me every so often. I can still bear it! I was also put into many yoga-like positions, stretching parts of my body. There was definitely a certain flow of procedures that was performed - the masseuse would work on the whole back part of my body before getting me to turn around the work the front side. I was given a face massage and more rhythmic pressure massages and stretches, occasionally hearing a 'click' when I'm put in positions for a back crack. One thing that the masseuse didn't do that I fear most of traditional Thai massage was the head crack - performed correctly, it loosens up the neck but when not, it could be fatal. I guess this move is no longer allowed in Thai massage these days exactly for such reason.

At the end of my massage, I got changed and returned to the reception desk where the Thai lady gave me a cup of warm tea. This was really lovely and my back doesn't feel so tight now - I'm glad I bought the deal :) If you've not tried traditional Thai massage, I recommend you give Chaiyo a try. You can choose a 30-minute session instead of 90 minutes just to try it out. They also provide other services such as oil massages, or massages that focus on the foot or head and face only. And for those keen to learn traditional massage, you can sign up for short courses with them too.

Salsa Level 2 with Latin Motion (18th July 2011)

2011-07-18T21:53:00.000+10:00

I recently learnt that salsa dance school Latin Motion had relocated to St Peters and conveniently less than 5 minutes walk from the St Peters train station. Sweet - no excuses NOT to head over to classes and brush up on my dance skills! I contacted the school last week to get some idea of which class to attend given my dance level and was told to try the Level 2 class (Linear salsa) to see if it was the appropriate level for me. I headed to the 6.45pm class after work this evening, arriving about 15 minutes early to sort out registration and payment. Cost me $20 for the class - that's bloody expensive for a normal class! The most I've paid in Wellington was $12 but $20?! I had better make the most of my $20 tonight...

Class began promptly at 6.45pm and was taught by teachers Johnny and Isabel. It was a small class of about 15 students and as usual, more women than men in the class. I have to say I was surprised that this venue was the home of Latin Motion - it has only 1 main studio and though comfortably fitted the class tonight, it wasn't large enough for salsa dance parties; I had expected 2-3 studios at least. The class itself was well-taught with Johnny and Isabel breaking down the dance steps for guys and girls respectively, giving us time to practice the moves individually before coupling us up, boys changing dance partners every couple of songs so all the girls had a turn. The moves was however quite easy for me so was merely a quick refresher of what I already knew - Level 2 is more suited for someone who has learnt the basic Linear moves and wanting to learn new moves to add on to their repertoire. Most of the class picked up the moves taught tonight and just needed more practice to make the moves look fluid. Hmm, I'll have to ring up the school tomorrow about trying out the Level 3 class instead...

Ajisen Ramen & Sydney Fish Market (16th July 2011)

2011-07-16T21:18:00.003+10:00

Ken has never been to the fish market to date and I thought given he's into cooking and a foodie, he would enjoy a trip to the market just to see what is available so suggested we head over this afternoon. We caught up at Central Station around 12.30pm and headed into Chinatown for lunch. Ken felt like having ramen and we ended up in Ajisen Ramen, a Japanese ramen noodle chain restaurant that specialises in ramen with tonkatsu-based soup (pork soup). I've read a couple of reviews of this chain restaurant and mostly unfavourable but since Ken was keen to try it out, I agreed (though not hopeful it would be a great experience) and we headed into the restaurant located on Hay Street. The place was rather empty though the staff didn't take notice of us - we helped ourselves to an empty table and went to the counter to grab the menu since no one attended to us. Not scoring any brownie points with me so far...

Looking at the menu that had 2 pages dedicated to just ramen varieties, it was an obvious choice to try their specialty (they do have bento boxes and rice dishes as well). I ordered the original Ajisen ramen while Ken had a combination ramen that looked similar to mine with the addition of kaarage (deep fried chicken) and we also got a side dish of fried squid to share. Our meals arrived promptly and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Served in a deep bowl with ladle and chopsticks provided, my ramen came in a light creamy broth with thinly sliced chashu (Japanese roast pork), half a stewed boiled egg, sliced spring onion and cloud ear fungus. "What's that your putting into you soup?" I asked watching Ken as he grabbed a bottle from the condiment rack and sprinkled some of its granuled contents into his soup. "Fried garlic - it's nice," he said and offered me the bottle. Hmm, fried garlic in soup...maybe just a bit...ooo, YUM! It gave the soup a delicious flavour and though quite garlicky, I didn't care - more! Ken though the ramen wasn't too bad saying he has had worse and that this turned out to be a nice lunch. That's pretty positive hearing it from someone who has had the real deal in Japan and actually knows what's good and not. We agreed the fried squid was pretty average (wouldn't recommend it). Cost us $32 all up for our meals which was a bit costly but worth the experience trying it out for ourselves.

Left the restaurant around 1.30pm and headed to Sydney's Paddy's Markets to pick up some fresh fruit and vegetable before heading off to the fish market. A quick stop at Emperor's Garden Cake and Bakery around the corner to pick up a turnip cake (a Chinese dish made from shredded radish and plain rice flour). Cost me $9.80 for a 20-inch round pre-cooked cake - keen to see if it's anything like what we have in Malaysia and believe it or not, we have it for breakfast and/or supper! All I have to do it cut it up into slices and pan fry them before eating. This was our second visit to the bakery (our first was with Su Wei which was how I learnt that the shop sold turnip cake) that sold an assortment of Asian cakes and pastries - it was always busy, especially the long queue for their famous Emperor Puffs, miniature custard puffs baked fresh daily on an automated contraption viewable from the shop window. Definitely have to come back to get the puffs another day when I have more time. Curious to know what all the hype is about!

We walked to the fish market with our purchases in our backpacks. It was about a 30-minute walk from Haymarket, Ken asking me "Are we there yet?" every so often just to annoy me. Walking is something Ken probably didn't do much living in Auckland but me being a former Wellingtonian, walking is second nature though after all the dancing last night, I am beginning to feel it in my legs too...We finally arrived at the fish market around 2.30pm and boy was Ken happily excited to see the amazing selection of seafood available at the market. We went to several of the seafood retailers and picked up some marlin and swordfish steaks as well as salmon sausages for dinner. Salmon sausages? Now that's a first for me! Expensive as it was $3 per sausage but we were curious what it would taste like so bought it anyway. The whole place was buzzing with tourists and locals buying fresh seafood or enjoying a delicious seafood meal on site. "You'll have to come back here some day for lunch," I told Ken and he nodded in agreement. Jono and I really enjoyed our lunch when we came here a couple of months back. Fresh, yummy and affordable!

"This is awesome - makes me happy," said Ken smiling as we headed to the train station for home. See, I told you that you'll like it here :) The rest of the day was spent at home doing chores and resting our tired legs from all the walking. Ken panfried the fish and made a simple oil-based pasta for dinner while I made us an orange carrot cake for dessert. The pasta and fish steaks were absolutely delicious and so was the salmon sausage (oh, it was GOOD!). I'm in food heaven!! Photos from our fun foodie day: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8070917@N05/sets/72157627129381317/detail/

Girls' night out & salsa dancing at Coolabar (15th July 2011)

2011-07-16T08:33:00.276+10:00

2 more weeks till I see my baby Jono - yay!

JAK had organised a girls' night out this evening after work with me and her gfs to watch movie Bridesmaids and dinner in town. Around 5.30pm, JAK and I took the train from North Sydney to Town Hall to meet the others. We were early so went to The Star Bar (formerly Planet Hollywood) for a drink. The bar was much like a sports bar and still quite empty at this time of the evening. Nothing very spectacular about the place except they have a 5pm - 11pm happy hour where new schooners (refers to a glass of 285ml beer on tap), house spirits and wines cost only $3.50 each. Seriously?! Our drinks of vodka lime and beer was only $8 bucks, a bit more expensive but still under ten bucks! $3.50 drinks is dirt cheap. This is the place to go to if you want to get smashed - I'm not surprised it's popular with poor uni students and party-goers most nights!

JAK and I caught up on what's been happening in our lives and around 6.30pm, we headed over to Events Cinemas across the street to collect the tickets she had purchased online (cost $19.10 each). Thank god she bought the tickets in advance because there was such a long queue at the ticketing counter, with the majority of patrons buying tickets to the newly released Harry Potter movie - we skipped the queue and headed straight to the ticket collection counter which was way shorter. Pam and Sandy met up with us shortly and us four headed into the cinema to watch the 6.50pm screening of Bridesmaids. I hadn't read much about the movie except it was by the producers of movie Knocked Up which I didn't really like. The movie turned out to be really funny with grossed out gags and some crude scenes - no surprise to see guys enjoying the movie in the cinema as well. It's similar to the movie Hangover but a female version and I enjoyed it much more than Knocked Up, that's for sure.

The movie ended at 9.10pm and I already had 3 missed calls from Chefs Gallery about my 9pm dinner booking. Yikes! Hope they'll still seat us! We rushed down to Bathurst St around the corner to where the restaurant was located and fortunately our table was still available and we were shortly seated for dinner. Jono and I had walked past the restaurant several times and often seen long queues - we always said we would come one day by but haven't done so to date. Chefs Gallery has a similar flair to Din Tai Fung, dark wood furniture, contemporary Chinese cuisine and a glassed-in kitchen where you can watch all the action (if you want front row seats to all the action, take the bench seats). And like Din Tai Fung, the kitchen staff wore a mouth guard (Din Tai Fung's kitchen staff wore surgical masks), a small plastic shield worn on the chin and strapped onto the ears, covering the mouth area. I'm not sure why such measures are needed - hygienic? Probably, but I feel indifferent whether they wear a mouth guard, surgical mask or nothing at all. Though I hope that their hands are clean when in the kitchen preparing food...

Us girls went through the menu and picked out several dishes to share. Even the choice of food served looked similar to Din Tai Fung! We ordered Fluffy Chinese roti with pork floss (a combination of handmade roti sprinkled with pork floss), handmade egg and spinach tofu lightly pan-fried and topped with preserved radish, vegetarian spring rolls served with a sweet chilli tomato salsa, seared scallops served with a garlic and oil free vinaigrette dressing (comes out in a beautiful glass dish - the small version has 5 scallops), sweet and tangy diced chilli chicken tossed with handmade noodles, work fried medium grain rice with 3 kinds of eggs (chicken, salted duck and century eggs) and drinks of beer, wine and tea. Most of the dishes were delicious but my favourite was the fried rice - the salted duck and century eggs were diced up so finely and gave a nice flavour to the simple dish. Handmade noodles being the signature dish of the restaurant, I would suggest NOT getting the noodles we got tonight as it was pretty average (kind of like sweet and sour chicken on noodles and does no justice to the handmade noodles). Oh, and you'll know when the kitchen is closed for the night because the automatic blinds by the glass windows comes down, much like a theatre show. Cost us approximately $100 all up less 25% off the total bill with the use of my Entertainment Book voucher which was good value for money. I'll have to bring Jono here when he gets back so he can sample the fried rice and other yummy dishes :)

Thanks JAK for organising the night out - it was good fun! We left the restaurant around 10.30pm and I said my goodbyes to the girls before walking over to Coolabar on Pitt St to meet Ken who was there dancing salsa. This would be the 4th salsa place we've checked out together over the last 3 weeks (Ken's been to a couple more during weeknights) - I'm really clocking up my dance card since Ken turned up (and Jono's away)! Cost $13 cover charge to enter the bar that reminded me of the old Latinos Bar in Wellington, with a bar area on one end of the venue and dance floor on the other. Ample of dance space tonight compared to the packed Pumphouse Bar and I recognised a few leads I had danced with from last Friday. One of the guys remembered me and gave me a smile and nod as I passed him to drop off my bag and changed shoes. Ooo, getting recognised - we've obviously been around enough that people are beginning to remember us!

I had one dance before the DJ stopped the music and called out dancers who have put their name in a hat for the Jack and Jill dance competition. How it works is this: participants pay to join the heats which can be salsa, bachata or zouk, depending on which heat it is (tonight's heat was bachata) and the couples are put together based on names pulled out from the hat on the night so you never know exactly who you would be paired up with. 6 couples showed off their best bachata moves on the dance floor, the winners of each set (2 sets of 3 couples) clearly visible and overshadowing the rest of the couples. There are several more heats in the coming weeks before the final competition vying for the prize money of $1500. Dancing resumed shortly with 2 songs each of salsa, bachata and zouk played consecutively. I had A LOT of dances tonight, hardly much time to chat with Ken who was mostly seen sitting this evening (he looked tired) - every time I was about to exit the dance floor, another lead grabs my hand and I'm back dancing. Oh, and you wouldn't believe who asked me to dance again tonight - the guy who gave me the glow bangle last week! This time he pulled out a glow bangle from his pocket and put it on my right wrist before we started dancing - I laughed and asked him if this was how he marked which female he has danced with. "Not just any girl, special ones only," he responded with a broad smile. He was a funny guy who acts as if full of himself, saying things like "Ah, I see you have been practicing for me - your moves have improved" or "It's a salsa song - must be your lucky day to dance salsa with me" and I cracked up laughing at his silly comments :)

Ken and I left around 12am for home - he looked really exhausted and I didn't want to hold him up so packed up and left with him even though I felt energised and could dance a bit longer. "Hey Cinderella, where are you going?" said glow bangle man who saw me changing my shoes. I learnt his name was Adrian (he probably told me previously but I couldn't hear it over the loud music) and had a brief chat before saying goodbye and headed off. On our way out, I saw David who was on the phone - damn, would have loved to have a few dances with him tonight! Oh well, next time...It was a good night out spent with friends - I feel I'm beginning to build on my social network in Sydney which is great!

Dinner at Wagamama & salsa dancing at Pumphouse Bar (8th July 2011)

2011-07-09T09:42:00.005+10:00

Ken, Su Wei and I decided to head out salsa dancing together this evening so met up outside Queen Victoria Building (QVB) near Town Hall station around 7pm for dinner prior to hitting the dance floor. Ken wanted to have Japanese tonight and searching for Japanese restaurants in the area on my iPhone, Wagamama came up in my search results. "Oh yes, let's go to Wagamama," said Ken happily. But Wagamama is NOT Japanese and that's coming from a half-Japanese! "Works for me," smirked Ken and I rolled my eyes as the three of us made our way to The Galaries Victoria (TGV) where the pan-Asian restaurant was located.

On arrival, we had to wait in the queue to be seated. For your information, Wagamama is a restaurant chain and all its branches has roughly the same look and feel - informal setting in the style of a modern Japanese ramen bar, the menu and staff friendliness are pretty consistent. The wait took about 10 minutes and we were shortly ushered to our seats at one end of one of the many the long tables in the restaurant. Looking through the menu a couple of times, I stuck to my usual order of chilli chicken ramen whenever I dine at Wagamama (how unadventurous!). We ordered a main each, a pot of genmaicha tea (combination of roasted rice and green tea leaves, giving the tea a smooth nutty flavour) and entrees of chilli squid (lightly fried chilli squid served with lime dipping sauce) and sweet potato kusabi (hand-cut chips served with basil and wasabi mayo) to share. Hmm, the ramen was not as tasty as I remembered (or maybe I'm just biased to pho these days) and the entrees were alright though all three of us were surprised what the kusabi turned out to be - thinly sliced deep-fried chips (we were expecting chunky cut chips) and it flops over your chopsticks when you pick up a chip (not crispy). Cost $60.50 all up for our dinner after taking 25% off the total bill (yes, another Entertainment Book voucher). I can't really see myself frequenting this place to be honest. The food ain't that great for its price and kind of makes me feel I've just been to an overpriced Asian McDonalds.

We left the restaurant around 8pm and headed to Pumphouse Bar at Darling Harbour. Once a month on a Friday, the bar holds a salsa night with dancing starting from 9pm till 1am. We were early - there were still diners having their evening meal and though the dance floor has been cleared in preparation for dancing, it was empty. We decided to head in anyway since we were here and Ken got us a round of drinks as we waited for the party to begin. Cost us $15 each in cover charge and we found ourselves a corner on the leather couch where we piled up our belongings and changed to our dance shoes.

The Pumphouse bar is a 2-storey heritage building that was built in 1890 as a pumping station and used as part of Sydney's power infrastructure before the use of electricity. Today, you can come here to enjoy a tapas dinner and sample their wide selection of imported and local hand crafted beers, including the Thunderbolt beer that is exclusively brewed for this bar (which I was not aware of until the writing of this blog post). The DJ began to play Latin tunes around 9pm and more people turned up, most changing into dance shoes shortly on arrival, a clear indication that they were here for the same reason we were - dance salsa. Ken took turns dancing with me and Su Wei, then he left in search of his Linear dancers while I hung back with Su Wei to check out the salsa leads on the dance floor. Hmm, no Cuban dancers in sight so far :/ Oh well, hopefully some will turn up soon...Most of the male leads were Linear dancers who seem to enjoy pulling out fancy moves, many I have forgotten or not learnt - dancing with them would be 'torture' for both of us, the lead frustrated at my inability to follow, and me unable to just enjoy the dance so I just sat and watched while Ken and Su Wei hit the dance floor (Ken and Su Wei are predominantly Linear dancers). Definitely a lot more advance dancers in the scene tonight and for some peculiar reason, I felt my confidence somehow deflated, as if I wasn't good enough for the already now packed dance floor. Hmm, maybe it's time to revisit my Linear skills with classes...

Ken came by to check on me and said he would ask around to see if there were Cuban dancers and send them my way. At some point, the DJ accompanied Ken to see me and he (the DJ) asked me to follow him upstairs where he would put on some Cuban songs and then dance with me. Sweet! Thanks Ken! I followed Mr DJ up a flight of stairs and found more dancers twirling in the small dance space on the 2nd floor. Mr DJ busied himself with his music and I was left waiting, unsure if he was still planning to dance with me as promised. As I waited over the next 2 songs, I had the opportunity to look down into the main dance floor and watched the dancers. "You, you and you...," I marked these Cuban leads with an invisible 'X'. Yes, finally found a few guys to dance with! Mr DJ was still doing his thing so I decided to give up waiting and turned to head downstairs when an older man grabbed my hand and started dancing with me. He was a Linear dancer and had a habit of going 'ba, bam, bam...bam, bam, ba, bam, bam', chanting out his beats, usually good enough to throw me off my steps as it conflicts with the beat of the music but he got it right so it was ok. We had a couple of dances and it seemed that he wasn't going to let me leave the dance floor, continuing on as the next song started so I had to make a run for it when the current song came to an end. Didn't get very far for I was stopped by another dancer for a dance. And he turned out to be a Cuban dancer - awesome! Well-built guy who occasionally gives you a smile, he was great to dance with though has an interesting style of his own which reminded me a lot of some bird dance - chest puffed out and movements lead head first then body follows. "Peacock dancer," I thought to myself, chuckling silently. I'm SO naughty :P

I headed back downstairs and caught up with Su Wei and Ken, only to find another former Wellington salsa dancer, Vincent, standing behind them (and they didn't even know Vincent was there until they wondered who I was waving at behind them and turned around). Our little salsa contingent from Wellington is growing! Photo of Vincent, Su Wei and me:

The dancing continued, this time on the main dance floor and one guy I danced with looked so much like Scott! Ken, Su Wei and I all agreed, and though he was a Linear dancer, he was still fun to dance with. Oh, but there was a guy who kept coming back to ask me and Su Wei for a dance - he was weak at leading yet wanted to lead complicated Linear moves and tells you off if you did not carry out the move correctly. It was just not enjoyable dancing with him but yet he kept coming back! Su Wei and I literally ran as far as we could or grabbed another dancer when we saw him coming our way (and he wouldn't take no for an answer). It is THAT bad. I also rocked up to my marked men and had at least one dance each. The skinny guy with the fedora had a big smile on his face and was highly impressed with my ability to turn so much - he made me laugh when he pulled off a hat pass in between his moves, putting the fedora on me, and stealing it back when the opportunity came up. Funny :) I had a couple more dances with 'peacock dancer' and I was sure I started to mimic his dance moves unconsciously so we moved in unison (...squawk, squawk...bird dance...). One guy who came to dance with me wore a glow bangle and put the glow bangle on me instead at the start of the dance which was a strange but sweet at the same time. I got a glow bangle :)

Ken and I left for home at 12.15am. God, I'm shattered and my feet hurt, even more so thanks to an Asian chick who stubbed me on my right foot on the dance floor (and yet she still had the cheek to glare at me for her mistake!). A quick pit stop at Hungry Jacks on George St for Ken to pick up a late night snack and then we headed to Town Hall train station where we caught the train home. Finally in bed at 2am after a shower. So tired...

29th July 2011 - PS: Here's a short clip with footage of me dancing with the guy who gave me the glow bangle (his name is Adrian and his friend wasn't convinced he had rhythm and could dance so took the video as proof). Rather dark but I'm sure you can work out my silhouette if you follow the glow ;)

Real Insurance Australia TV commercial shoot (5th July 2011)

2011-07-05T21:17:00.072+10:00

I was somewhat skeptical of Rosey's Talents Consultants when I first joined the agency, unsure if they were a proper casting agency or just a scam but since they had me on their books, I have been contacted on several occasions for castings and today, they had booked me on a job as an extra role in a TV commercial. I wasn't given much detail of what I had to do except the time and location of the shoot, and that I had to wear black pants or 3/4 black skirt (a top will be provided to me on set). Right, well, I guess I'll find out more when I get there!

The location of the shoot was in The Precinct Studio in Rozelle and was a day long shoot that started at 9am. Having not been to Rozelle before, I decided to take a taxi to the studio so that I didn't have to stress about how I was going to swap trains/buses and then walk to get there on time. The taxi ride took about 20 minutes with a bit of traffic congestion along the way and cost me around $35. On arrival, I was greeted by crew member Rachel who showed me to the waiting room where the other extras were chilling out - 5 of us, a mix of men and women, we broke the ice pretty quickly and learnt that we were all from the same agency. Casey, Louise, Brendan, Patrick and I spent most of the day getting to know one another and shared our experiences in the acting and modelling industry, keeping each other company in between shoots. We were all fairly new with the agency and this was our first job with the exception of Brendan who was on his second (though if we compared experience in the industry, I probably have the most having been in the industry for 5 years in NZ). Oh, and I was the only Asian on set - yes, I do feel quite special haha :P

Everyone was given a Real Insurance Australia company t-shirt (my was one size too large and made me look a tad nerdy) and we were told that we would be playing employees at the insurance company's call centre. Cool, I've never played the role of someone working in a call centre before! It was an indoor studio shoot today and the set was already set up to look like a call centre, lighting and video equipment overshadowing the set. One by one we were called to the dressing room get our make-up and hair done by the make-up artists - my make-up was a simple and fresh look, and hair tied up in a ponytail. "You've got the most gorgeous lips and so much hair!" complimented the head make-up lady. Ah yes, I get that every time a professional make-up artist or hairdresser tends to me. Part of me often feels sorry for these people have to deal with my stubborn volume of hair, coming back to tuck away stray ends or adding more hairspray to keep them in place. There were 5 other actors in the dressing room who came from various agencies - they were the featured actors and each had a speaking role in the commercial.

As with all of my extra roles, I spent most of my time waiting around until called on set for the shoot. I came prepared with a book, snacks and water, and a jersey to keep warm. Refreshments of tea/coffee, fruits, water, soft drinks, biscuits, cake and chocolate were provided throughout the day and we just helped ourselves to them as we please. Around 11am, I was called in for the shoot (the extras were called in a different times) - finally some work! I was told to take my allocated seat in front of a computer screen and keyboard, and was given a set of headsets to wear (FYI - none of these equipment were actually connected). My role, like all the other extras, was to pretend I was talking with a smile to a customer making enquiries on the phone, moving my mouth as if talking but muted. The commercial was to be broadcast in all the local TV networks and were shot in 30-, 60- and 90-second lengths. Kellie, one of the actors, was telling us she could feel her cheeks vibrating as she smiled and talked - I'm not surprised when we have to repeat the script so many times. Even I was getting tired having a one-way conversation with the blank screen - was just running out of things to talk about!

The crew, actors and extras took a break around 2pm for lunch and was back on set again within the hour, shooting the rest of the scenes. A lot more sitting around having hot drinks and reading books or chit-chatting, and being on set as and when required. The shoot was meant to end at 5pm but overran and didn't wrap up till 8.50pm. One of the male actors did not even get filmed until the last 2 hours - the poor guy was waiting for his turn the whole day! The final scene was a group shot of everyone seated in our makeshift desks, this time actually talking out loud since our voices weren't recorded - oh, the funny things some of us said and everyone was trying to keep it together in our professional call centre manner and not break into laughter while still being filmed. And it's a wrap!

Though it ended up being a really long day, I enjoyed my first experience working in the Sydney acting and modelling industry - the people I worked with today were all very polite and appreciative making the experience fun and enjoyable. Here is the commercial we made that has a glimpse of me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M642b6pyaFw

Sydney's Paddy's Markets & Salsa Caliente (3rd July 2011)

2011-07-03T23:54:00.001+10:00

Today's the end of week 1 that Jono has been away. Even though we have kept in contact regularly, it just isn't the same - I want him to be physically here so I can snuggle up to him in bed instead of making a huge cocoon with the duvet to keep warm! And I want my hugs, my kisses and cuddles!! Sigh, I just miss him so much :,( 4 more weeks till I see him!

Got up at 8.30am, had breakfast and headed out with Ken to Sydney's Paddy's Markets in Haymarket to buy fresh fruit and vegetables for the week. We came prepared this time with a day pack each so it would be easier to carry our purchases home. I haven't been doing much cooking since Ken stayed over - he has been making all our dinners and filling up my pantry and fridge with food items (his way of paying back for us letting him stay in our living room) so I left the shopping decisions to him and just tagged along as we moved from one stall to another. It was interesting to watch Ken as he picked up items and eyes lit up with excitement - I could sense he was thinking of all the possible dishes he could make and being someone who enjoys cooking, it brings him joy. We walked around the market once to get a feel of the prices (stalls selling the same fruit or veggies may not necessary have the same quality and/or price) before beginning our shop. Eggplant, kai lan (aka Chinese broccoli), persimmons, mandarins, mushrooms, eggs, avocado etc. filled our packs. We also went to the meat section to see what they had and Ken asked the Asian lady working behind the butcher counter if they sold beef tongue (he's obviously got some recipe in mind). Apparently they do but he needed to order it in advance. Eee, tongue of a cow...doesn't sound very appealing to me..."Oh, you'll see - I'll have to make the dish for you guys when Jono is back," responded Ken, explaining to me that a cow's tongue is huge so no point cooking the dish when there was only two of us. Ok, I suppose I could try a bit to see what it's like...Photos taken at the market: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8070917@N05/sets/72157627026368039/detail/

Stopped by at Pasteur, my favourite pho (Vietnamese rice noodle soup) place in town on the way home around 12pm for lunch. I had my regular pho ga (chicken noodle soup) while Ken ordered their special beef pho which had beef tendons and beef balls in addition to thinly sliced beef. Always crowded and filled with customers, it's great for a quick cheap meal but not a place you would linger for long. Photo of the busy restaurant and my lunch:

Home to put away the shopping and rest, then out again at around 2.15pm - Ken headed up north for a house viewing while I went into town to find a new pair of ankle boots to replace my old pair which I managed to chip of a corner of its heel dancing on Friday.

Ken convinced me to go out salsa dancing again this evening, this time at Docks Hotel in Darling Harbour. "But I'm really tired..." I whined but he wouldn't give up. Fine, I'll come but we'll have to leave early this time since it's Sunday. Docks Hotel turned out to be a bar/lounge and bistro located by the waterfront with Salsa Caliente (the name of the salsa dancing event) occuring every Sunday from 8.30pm till late and it was free of charge. We arrived around 8ish and El Moro (Cuban salsa instructor and performer) had already started his class only to our disappointment that it was a beginner's salsa lesson instead of the bachata lesson as advertised on the web. Bummer! Ken bought us beers (we tried the Bluetongue, an Australian beer I've been meaning to try - quite nice, light and crisp) so we sipped and chatted as we watch the class go on for the next hour. A majority of the participants were new to the dance and it reminded me of what I probably looked like when I first started learning salsa - the look of uncertainty, unsure of what I was doing, trying to be co-ordinated and still be in time with the beat. But it was good to know that there were new people joining the dance scene - I've not seen anyone here that I saw on Friday.

Finally at 9.30pm, the class ended and social dancing began. Ken and I had the first dance together and then split up in our hunt for other dancers. I didn't dance as much this time partly because most of the leads were absolute beginners and I couldn't sight any Cuban dancers on the dance floor. As I stood by the bar watching out for potential leads, a young Brazilian guy (hmm, maybe early 20s?) came to grab my hand for a dance. "I'm not very good at salsa," he said, giving me a smile that showed his braces. He was actually easy to dance with and had his own groove. "Wow, you dance very well. Where do you come from?" he continued, a question both Ken and I seem to get a lot dancing in Sydney salsa scene. And so we chatted while dancing and I stayed on for another dance. He started asking where I was living and if I was keen to come out dancing with him elsewhere, subsequently asking for my phone number. Hmm, a bit weird when I hardly know him so I ignored his requests casually with a smile and continued dancing. When he started to lightly stroke my arm at the end of the dance, alarm bells started ringing in my head - this ain't no salsa move; the guy was hitting on me! It was further confirmed when his next question was if I had a bf! And yes I do!! He wasn't convinced and followed me to the bar, asking if I had my phone handy so he could give me his number (apparently his phone battery is dead) so I had to excuse myself and rushed to Ken who was on the other side of the dance floor for cover. Help! I retold the incident to Ken who very kindly put an arm on my shoulder and I think the Brazilian chap got the gist, even if Ken was faking it. Phew!

We continued on dancing with other people (I had a guy who goes 'yeah' and nodded his head each time I completed a turn which made me felt weirdly uncomfortable) and around 10pm, headed to the train station for home. Hmm, salsa dancing on Sundays is not quite ideal when we have to head off 30 minutes into actual dance time. But at least we now know where to dance salsa on a Sunday!

Freeze Flash Mob & World Press Photo 2011 (2nd July 2011)

2011-07-02T22:58:00.400+10:00

Ow, ow, ow...my whole body woke up today in aches after last night's salsa dancing at Vivaz. Can't believe my body ain't coping with 2 hours of dancing despite me working out at the gym regularly. Obviously working different muscles plus the fact I've not been out dancing this hard for a while. Haha, I'm not the only one that's complaining of muscle aches this morning - Ken feels the same! I guess that just means we'll have to go dancing more often so our bodies will get used to dancing for hours again :)

After having breakfast at home and around 11am, Ken and I headed out to Darling Harbour where me and other flash mob participants had to meet Natalie, director of online ladies fashion store ColourDujour, for our briefing on the promotional stunt we were carrying for her company this afternoon. This was an unpaid job I found on StarNow and the 'freeze' stunt sounded like good fun so I applied to participant in the event. I was one of about 20 volunteers who gathered outside Sydney Exhibition Centre around 12.30pm for the briefing on how and where the stunt would occur. The stunt required everyone to have at least 2 layers of clothes on, taking the top layer off and stripping down to singlet and shorts, swimwear or undies, and then 'freeze' in a pose of our desire for 90 seconds. Yes, I knew about the stripping part as we were all informed prior to the event though several last minute volunteers had no idea what they were getting themselves into. No nudity allowed since we were performing the stunt in a public place and participants were also given the choice to opt out from being featured in the promotional video.

To be honest, stripping to my bra and undies is not something I feel too comfortable doing in public (strangely, bikini is ok and my Brazilian bikini probably covers less than my bra and undies) which gives me even more reason to partake in this stunt where I get to push my own boundaries but within a 'safe' environment ('safe' environment because I'm not doing it alone). As it got closer to our 1pm 'show-time', I could feel myself feeling nervous and a voice in my head going "this is for real - I am stripping in public!". Gulp!

Everyone headed towards the Spiral Fountain by the harbour where the stunt was to take place. Volunteers were chatting away animately about their poses and once we arrived at our destination, we spread ourselves about a metre apart and waited for the signal to begin. Natalie and her crew started off by taking their top layers off and the rest of us followed suit. I did my cute burlesque 'oh-o' look with my butt stuck out :P Part of me wondered if the others too stripped down to my level or if I was the only one in bra and undies. Well, too late to back out now!

Why is it taking so long to end? My jaw and hands were beginning to tremble as the seconds ticked by and it felt as if I have been 'freezing' for a long time. Fortunately the weather was sunny and warm which made the 'freeze' pleasant. We certainly caught attention of people passing by, some stopping to take photos and wondering what on earth we were doing. When the 90 seconds was up, we put our clothes back on and dispersed. And that was it - job well done!

Ken was invited to participate but he much preferred to keep an eye on me from afar. Photos he took of the stunt:

Here's the YouTube promotional video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-rMxzCWsao

It was great fun and I'm glad I did it - now I can say I've stripped in public! ;P

Ken and I then made our way to the Circular Quay, making a pit stop at New Zealand Natural near Town Hall train station to pick up smoothies and sushi for lunch. Yum, fruit smoothie - just what my body needed (oh damn, brain freeze!)...We were headed to the State Library of New South Wales on Macquarie Street for the World Press Photo 2011 exhibition that begins today. I have been to the World Press Photo exhibitions in Wellington for the past two years and it is an exhibition not to be missed. Pity Jono's away and won't be back in time to see the exhibition (the exhibition is on from 2nd - 24th July) - he would have enjoyed coming along to see the photos.

The exhibition is free of charge and held on the 1st floor of the library. We took the entrance that led us to the Sydney Morning Herald Photos 1440 exhibition so had a look around at the interesting prints taken by the newspaper's photographers from 2010 till present. Most of the photos captures a particular moment in time and thus the name 1440 which signifies the 1440 minutes in a day. We continued on to the World Press Photo 2011 exhibition and as usual, many of the press photos will shock and stir you. The winning photos this year was a portrait shot of Bibi Aisha, an 18-year-old Afghan girl who was mutilated (ears and nose sliced off) as punishment for fleeing her abusive husband. How horrific is must have been for her, to be severely punished for her husband's wrongdoings in such cruel and inhumane methods! There were also many photos of disaster-hit countries such as the earthquakes in Haiti and China, where dead bodies were thrown in a pile like broken dolls. I always feel thankful my life is nothing like the lives of the people in the photos whenever I attend this annual exhibition. A series of photos that brought a smile to my face was of two Bolivian ladies who were best friends in life but best enemies in the freestyle wrestling ring aka lucha libre - it was interesting to learn that they fight wearing traditional skirts and bowler hats of the indigenous tribes and fight in WWF-like.

We left the library around 3pm for home. I think we've had quite a productive day though I really would like to put my legs up for the rest of the day...

Edward Gant's Amazing Feats of Loneliness & salsa dancing at Vivaz (1st July 2011)

2011-07-02T12:04:00.001+10:00

This was the first weekend without Jono around and it sure feels weird not having made any plans for the weekend with him. We have been chatting online briefly each day which was nice but I would really like to hear his voice and see him too. With the time difference, it is quite difficult to have a proper conversation with him especially when we only have a 2-hour window when we are both online and it's usually during work hours, making it even worse :/ Perhaps we'll be able to have a Skype call over the weekend...

My colleague, Julie-Ann (everyone calls her JAK, which are her initials) came to see me about an hour before I knocked off work to ask me if I wanted to join her and friends to the theatre tonight - she mentioned about she was going to a play during our weekly girls' lunch yesterday but her partner wasn't feeling well so now she has a spare ticket and asked me if I wanted to come along. Sure, I haven't made plans for the evening so happy to join in!

Around 5.30pm, JAK and I went to meet Mark at the lobby of our building and took a taxi over to Walsh Bay where the theatre was located. Mark, an Englishman who has migrated to Australia, is an ardent theatre fan and buys several tickets in advance without knowing much of the play or how many people would come along - risky but from what I gathered, he's a social butterfly and usually has no issues finding enough company to the plays. He had organised pre-show dinner for the group at Firefly, a cosy wine and tapas bar by the waterfront in Walsh Bay. Sandy, JAK's gf came to join us as well, sharing 2 bottles of red wine plus a selection of tapas from the menu - Quattro formaggi rustic pizza, lamb and pork meatballs, grilled haloumi with watermelon, mint & almond, Pino's organic sweet pork chorizo, salad of shaved beetroot, goat curd, pinenuts & garlic crouton, and 6 hour beef bourgignon with garlic mash - a feast for the taste buds as each of the tapas had its own distinct flavour. We chatted and laughed over our meal, sharing our experiences of travelling and living abroad which seemed to be our common ground among other things. JAK was also secretly trying to hook Mark and Sandy up, and they seem to be getting along well so far :)

Around 7.30pm, we settled our bill (cost us $50 each - ouch!) and headed over the Sydney Theatre Company located around the corner to collect our tickets for play Edward Gant's Amazing Feats of Loneliness. Sydney Theatre Company is a premiere theatre company in Australia and where famous actors such as Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving and Geoffrey Rush have played a part in the theatre's productions. I had plans to come see the play but didn't know that if you were under 30, the ticket cost less than half the normal price (I paid $30 instead of the normal adult price of $73 for this play). In fact, this applies to all shows in the theatre. Darn, Jono and I should have checked out what was on and made use of the offer - will have to make a point to see more shows at this theatre before we hit the big 3-0 this year!

We headed towards Wharf 1 theatre where the play was held and split into two groups, me seated with JAK, and Sandy with Mark. "Ooo, look, they are talking and smiling," said JAK, elbowing me so I would look down towards where Mark and Sandy were seated. Looking good! The theatre kind of reminded me of Circa Theatre in Wellington and surprisingly for a Friday evening, it was only two-thirds full. The show started at 8pm and was 1 hour and 40 minutes long with no interval. It featured 4 actors, one of them playing the character of Edward Gant (a ringmaster-like moustached man with a protruding tummy who wore tights, a top hat and uses a walking stick) and his troupe of performers who together was putting up a show to entertain playing various characters and fascinate their audience (us, in this case) with tragic stories of human loneliness. The first story was of a pimple-faced Spanish girl Sanzonetta, who was so ugly people repel at the sight of her but whose pimple when popped produced pearls. A naive young girl, she was exploited by her evil sister (played dramatically by a male actor dressed in a flamenco costume), 'harvesting' and selling the pearls, even stealing the man Sanzonetta loved. It all ended tragically with the lover realising Sanzonetta was still around and running off with her, only to follow in the footsteps of the evil sister, 'harvesting' Sanzonetta's pearls and eventually leaving her for an oyster (yes, highly bizarre but this was how it was potrayed). There was a part were the evil sister barged into Sanzonetta's lover's house, trying to win the man back by giving him her pearl (she grew a massive pimple on the head) but when she squeezed it, all that came out was yellow puss (eew, yellow bits of stuff flew across the stage in the 'explosion'!) and caused her permanently brain damage and eventual death.

The next story was of Edgar, a man who lost his love and travelled the world in search of a medicine man to cure his grief. Medicine man was played by the same guy in the flamenco dress and he was brilliantly funny, speaking in an Indian accent and bobbing his turban head. Sadly nothing could cure the Edgar's grief even though medicine man tried by cutting out part of Edgar's brain and then stuck a cork back in the opened wound to stop the bleeding. The third story was of a poet who couldn't remember his lines and was interrupted by a teddy (an actor wearing a teddy bear costume) wanting 'imaginary' tea and cake. Partway through this act, the actor who played the poet decided to call it quits and rebel against Edward Gant. In all the commotion of shouting at his boss, the other two actors appeared from behind their huge teddy heads, lost and unsure whether to follow the mutiny or stick to their orders. The situation was strained but Edward put an end to it all by killing himself, pulling a cork from his head (so was he Edgar??!). Sometimes grotesque, other times hilarious, it was very imaginative and a rather magical experience even though the play itself didn't quite make sense, especially it's abrupt ending. But that's the thing with theatre - not every play makes sense. I enjoyed my first theatre experience in Sydney though and thanks JAK for inviting me along!

Around 9.45pm, the group walked towards The Rocks where I said my goodbye to meet Ken at Vivaz on George Street for salsa dancing. This was another first for me today, to dance salsa in a Sydney salsa club. I have not done so to date! Band Club Havana Band was playing and the place looked rather crowded when I arrived. Vivaz is a restaurant and nightclub, and on Fridays and Saturdays, Latin bands entertain patrons while dancers fill the dance floor. Unfortunately I had spent all my cash on dinner and the theatre ticket so didn't have any cash left for the $10 cover charge :/ Ken had left to a nearby pub for a drink so I had to wait for him to turn up to pay for me to get in. Frankly, I wasn't prepared for dancing - I was still wearing my work clothes and wore boots but gave it my best shot anyway. Oh my god, it has been such a long time since I last danced! "You still got it," said Ken after our first dance. Aww, that's sweet, thanks :)

Club Havana Band was playing many salsa songs that we knew and it was fun to be back dancing again. Ken and I had a few dance together then split up looking for other people to dance with. I stood by the bar, checking out the dance floor for potential leads - it was amusing to find myself in 'hunting' mode, seeking out Cuban dance leads and making a beeline toward them when the current song comes to an end, asking them for the next dance. Over time, I have come to realise that if I wanted my 'awesome' dance (fun and relaxed, sexy groove and occasional new but still able to follow moves), the probability of a desired lead coming to me is less likely than me seeking him out and I have no issues asking a man for a dance. I had lots of fun dancing with Sri Lankan guy David who despite knowing few moves was a pleasure to dance with and wasn't shy of dancing close, grooving to the music - we dance several times throughout the evening and I gathered he is a regular dancer in the local salsa scene. Several of the guys who asked me for a dance where beginners and it was highly amusing to watch their 'oh-o' expressions when they found out I could dance after the first bar of the song, confidence slightly faltered. Oops... :P One bald-headed man made me laugh every time he does the shoulder shimmy - I could feel his whole upper body vibrate as we pull apart and continued dancing. It always gets me in giggles :) Almost everyone I danced with asked me where I came from (several also complimented on my dancing which is always lovely to hear) and it turned out Ken got the same too. Hmm, I bet these dancers have sniffed out that we were new in the dance scene (what I term 'new blood'). I like 'new blood' on the dance floor and thrive on 'sucking' their dance souls. I'm such a dance vampiress hehe...

Ken and I left around 12.30pm in time to catch the last train home. God, our legs were killing us! But we had a great time on the dance floor, dancing for a solid 2 hours. And I still love dancing, even though I know it's going to cause me grief tomorrow, muscle aches and all. Home by 1am absolutely knackered - bed time!

Lunch with Su Wei & Ken at Din Tai Fung (26th June 2011)

2011-06-26T22:12:00.000+10:00

Jono leaves for San Francisco today for work and I won't be seeing him for the next 5 weeks till I fly over to meet up at the end of July! Have been feeling somewhat sad the last couple of days knowing my baby will be away for so long (this would be the longest time he is gone) and even though we can easily keep in touch with today's modern technology (phone, email, Skype etc.), it just doesn't feel the same not having him around physically. But I'm excited for him because he gets to work at the Google HQ, an opportunity most of us IT folk can only dream of. Working in Silicon Valley, home to some of the world's largest technology corporations - how awesome is that? I'm jealous but very happy for him :) I hope the next 5 weeks will fly by quickly and I'll get to see him in person soon. Looking forward to my 2-week holiday in San Francisco and the surrounding areas - about time for a break from work!

Was up at 6am to get ready and have breakfast before accompanying Jono to the airport. Ken was really sweet to get up as well and made us mushroom and cheese omelettes - thanks Ken! The taxi came to pick us up at 7.30am and we arrived at the airport about 15 minutes later to join a long queue of passengers checking in to their Air New Zealand flights. I'm unsure if the queue was because everyone was trying to get on Air New Zealand flights since most other airlines have cancelled their flights due to the volcanic ash cloud but it was a ridiculously long wait, leaving Jono only 45 minutes to go through customs and rush off to his gate. Lots of kisses and hugs as we bid farewell (no, I did not cry this time, really) - have a safe flight and let me know when you arrive at San Fran! Will miss my baby dearly :(

Took a taxi home and was out again with Ken around 10.30am to World Square Shopping Centre where he purchased a cheap prepaid mobile and SIM card from the Optus store. Having an Australian mobile number now would make it very handy to get in touch with him (his NZ mobile phone and number didn't work here) and also with his job hunt. We had some time to spare before meeting Su Wei for lunch so went to check out the Asian supermarket, Miracle Supermarkets. We were rather like kids, in all our Asianness, highly excited to see products we grew up eating and are familiar with in the supermarket. You can even purchase fresh vegetables and meat, as well as baked buns and other Asian pastries in store. "Oh, look, they have those soft shell crab things - let's get some on the way home," piped Ken as we walked past the cooked food area. Hmm, baby crabs marinated in a chill sauce...I wonder what it would taste like...

Headed upstairs to Din Tai Fung restaurant where we were meeting Su Wei for lunch around 11.30am. Su Wei was running late so Ken and I got in the queue for a table. I really wanted to check out this restaurant because the guys at Google keeps raving about the place whenever I'm out with them. Su Wei's heard the same from her friends and since we both have not been there, we decided to give it a go just to see what all the hype was about. Din Tai Fung is a world renowned Taiwanese restaurant that specialises in 'xiao long bao', aka soup dumplings. The restaurant name rings a bell and I think my rellies had taken me to the Malaysian branch on one of my visits to Kuala Lumpur several years ago...

We were given a numbered buzzer and an order sheet to fill in while we waited to be buzzed. It was rather strange that we had to pre-order our food without seeing an actual menu (no coloured pictures of dishes as reference). Oh well, I guess we have to try our luck. Definitely getting the 'xiao long bao'...tick...what about dan dan noodles or rice dishes...The three of us quickly skimmed the list and filled up the form before handing it together with the buzzer to the maitre'd and followed her to our table. The restaurant was very busy but unfortunately they do not accept bookings so you have to queue for a table. Surprisingly, the service was quite prompt and soon our table was filled with an assortment of food: 'xiao long bao', shrimp & pork 'shao mai' (similar to the soup dumpling except there's an extra shrimp on the top, making the dumpling look like the shape of a sea anemone), Shanghainese style Drunken Chicken (chicken drumstick deboned and marinated in a blend of Chinese rice wine), pork bun, Dan Dan Noodles (noodles in sesame paste sauce), Crumbed Chicken served with fried medium grain rice (Taiwanese style rice), and Steamed Taro Dumpling and Steamed Mini Taro Buns for a sweet finish. Both Su Wei and I also had their Lychee Mint Juice which was a smoothie in a vile green colour topped with a fresh lychee - sweet but refreshing :) Cost us $81.90 total which was rather expensive. The food and service was good though I'm not sure it's that amazing as hyped out to be...

Ken was keen to know where the local fresh produce market was and Su Wei brought us to Sydney's Paddy's Market in Haymarket where fresh produce was sold from Wednesday to Sunday from 9am till 5pm. I did not know there was a fresh produce market here - I had always thought it was a place that sold Australian souvenirs! There were so many stalls selling vegetables and fruits, and the price was much cheaper than what we usually get from the supermarket plus there was plenty of variety too (they even have durians for sale!). Ken and I only picked up a few items for dinner as we weren't prepared for a big shop. Hmm, I'll probably have to invest in a vegetable trolley so I can come here on my own on Sunday mornings while Jono's at work and easily carry the purchase home.

Ken and I walked Su Wei to Central Station and said our goodbyes then headed back to World Square Shopping Centre to Coles to pick up a few more items for dinner and bought a small container of the baby crabs (cost $3.50) from the Asian supermarket before taking the train home. The rest of the day was spent chilling out indoors snacking on the baby crabs (crunchy mini crabs in a tangy sweet chilli marinade) and working on our laptops. Photo of the baby crabs:

Feels like crunching on scorpions when I chew on the mini pincers (not that I've had scorpions before)...

Cockatoo Island (25th June 2011)

2011-06-25T19:32:00.440+10:00

"Ah, so nice to have other people make me breakfast," smiled Ken while Jono and I busied ourselves in the kitchen, taking turns to cook pancakes. We were all up around 9am and decided to have breakfast at home - nice mug of plunger coffee each to go with our pancakes drizzled with maple syrup (REAL maple syrup - I've got a part Canadian in the household, remember?). I don't mind the cooking since it was a Saturday and I didn't have to go to work. Plus I enjoy being in the kitchen with Jono preparing food together - fun activity in itself while sharing the effort :)

After breakfast and rounding up the boys to get ready to head out, we finally left home around 11am for Circular Quay where we bought ferry tickets from Sydney Ferries at Wharf 5 to Cockatoo Island (cost us $10.60 return ticket per person). We had just missed the ferry and the next one wasn't till 11.52am so we took a short stroll along Opera Quays to the Sydney Opera House to kill time. It was a beautiful sunny day with a light breeze - Sydneysiders and tourists out enjoying their day by the harbour, and plenty of activity on the water too!

We stopped to pick up takeaway lunch from a cafe on the way back to Wharf 5 only to end up running to catch our ferry and watched it leave without us. Argh, shouldn't have got my tuna sandwich toasted! Now we'll have to wait for the next ferry grr...All the stress and rush for nothing :< Jono found out that there was another ferry leaving in 10 minutes from Wharf 4 and asked the staff on duty if we could catch that ferry instead. Fortunately the staff were understanding and let us through the ticket barrier on presentation of our existing tickets without extra charge. Great job, Jono!

Finally, at 12.10pm, we were on board the ferry to Cockatoo Island. The journey took about half an hour with the ferry stopping several times including Balmain to drop off and pick up passengers along the way. We took our seats on the outdoor deck upstairs, eating our lunch (sadly my tuna sandwich was not any better toasted - yuck) and enjoying the amazing views of Sydney Harbour. I just love cruising on a boat!

Cockatoo Island is the largest island in Sydney Harbour and was Australia's biggest shipyard during the twentieth century. It was also formerly an imperial prison and its prison buildings are listed under the UNESCO's World Heritage list. I had briefly read about this island awhile ago and thought it would be interesting to check it out which was why the mini excursion to the island today (Jono and I had planned to come here last weekend but it was quite windy so decided to postpone the trip). As we approached the island, I was having second thoughts about bringing the boys along with me - all I could see were what looked like large warehouses and not quite the tourist destination I had envisaged. Oh well, we are here so let's see what it's all about...

On arrival at Parramatta Wharf, we were given a brochure with information of the island which included a self-guided tour map. A quick pit stop to grab some coffees from The Canteen (the only cafe on the island) just around the corner from the information centre, we began our walk on the lower part of the island. Walking through Mann Street into the Industrial Precinct, we stopped to check out the empty warehouses which during the island's shipbuilding heyday were filled with the sound of machinery and men at work - today, these warehouses are virtually silent with remains of large machinery to give us an idea of the scale of shipbuilding. There is also a Volunteer Conservation Workshop where volunteers help restore vital pieces of the island's history including its old, rusting machinery.

We continued on past The Dockyard, where its last major work was the maintenance and refit of the Navy's Oberon class submarines (this included the HMAS Onslow that Jono and I visited at the Australian National Maritime Museum sometime ago). If you plan to shortcut across the island, the Dogleg Tunnel takes you from The Dockyard all the way back to where the cafe is. Doubled as a bomb shelter during WWII, it now contains a soundscape that is both captivating and strangely eerie as you walk along a long wooden-beamed tunnel. There was a dark room near the exit which had a projector playing a video clip of a man running down the tunnel. I must say I felt a bit scared watching the video in a room that was pitch black and hearing the sound of heavy breathing - I couldn't see Ken or Jono at all! I think it's time we head out to where the light is...We then walked past the campground (you can hire the tents available and camp overnight at a cost) towards the lookout, looking at the many cranes left on Cockatoo Island and its magnificent brick chimney stack where it once generated electricity for the island.

A steep walk up Burma Road (named after the 1,150km WWII supply road which winds through the mountain range linking Burma with China) that connects the bottom of the island to the top (the upper island aka The Plateau), here you will find the convict-built remains of prison barracks, a military guardhouse (that doubled as a fort), and official residences. At one time, 500 convicts were held in these barracks - all crammed into dark cells gasping for air. And if prisoners decided to revolt, the guards could lock themselves in the guardhouse and fire out through the numbered embrasures.

The Plateau is a great vantage point of the surrounding harbour and city skyscrapers, and is also where you will find the tennis court and holiday houses, both of which can be hired. In fact, you can also hire parts of the warehouse for private events, workshops or conventions. It would be quite cool to have a private party on the island and/or have everyone camp overnight! There were also two exhibitions currently on from 4th June till 31 July on the upper island - A Different Time: The Expedition Photographs Of Herbert Basedow (black-and-white photos taken during Basedow's expedition in central and northern Australia, many of which feature the lives of the local Aboriginal people he met), and Lidcombe Design On Cockatoo Island (an interior design exhibition that visually displays the potential reuse of Cockatoo Island ranging from housing to restaurants).

The whole walk around the island takes about 90 minutes with plenty of time to wander. Frankly speaking, I enjoyed the ferry journey a lot more than visiting the island itself. Surprisingly, many of the visitors today where families with young children - I wonder what would kids find interesting in a small island like this...It was somewhat interesting to learn about the history of Cockatoo Island though I wouldn't recommend it as a tourist spot, especially if you're on a tight schedule visiting Sydney. Photos taken at Cockatoo Island: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8070917@N05/sets/72157626934180781/detail/

We took the 2.44pm ferry back to Circular Quay and then the train home in time to catch Michelle and Mike on the family Skype call before they headed out to dinner. Ken went to the nearby supermarket to pick up ingredients for dinner (he's cooking for us tonight) - I think he should be able to make his way home on his own okay on his second day in Sydney...

We had a chilled out evening, Jono packing his bag for his flight to USA tomorrow and Ken busy making sushi for dinner. Despite the limited ingredients Ken could find, he managed to improvise and made us all a yummy meal. Everyone had to make their own sushi, flattening the rice on small square nori sheets and adding fillings of our choice - avocado, salmon, teriyaki chicken, tomato in mayo, and tamago (sushi omellette). Messy but yum!

Hmm, last evening with Jono before he goes away to San Francisco for 6 weeks. I miss him already :( I'll be heading over at the end of his 5th week and spend the final week that he would be working doing touristy things in San Francisco on my own. The following week will be spent together travelling to places such as Napa Valley and Yosemite National Park. Looking forward to my upcoming holiday!

Ken moves to Sydney (24th June 2011)

2011-06-24T22:33:00.261+10:00

Ken arrives in Sydney today - finally, he's coming here! He was meant to arrive last Friday but had postponed his flight a week later. Ken's coming to Sydney is not for a short visit; like us, he has packed up all his belongings for a permanent move to Sydney. Good for me because I will now have another friend in the same city! :) He will be staying with us for the first couple of weeks while job hunting and getting his bearings of the city. I know what it's like moving to a new country on my own and not knowing anyone - not the greatest feeling when you have so much to worry about from where to stay to looking for work. The least we could do as friends is put him up for the mean time (even though he'll be sleeping on an inflatable mattress in our living room) while he concentrates on getting a job (the job part, not much we can do for him). Hopefully he will find one as quickly as I did and soon he'll be one his way to setting up his new life in the big smoke.

I rushed home from work to meet Jono and found that Ken still hasn't turned up. Jono had booked a table for 4 at 6.30pm tonight at our favourite Thai place, Thai Pothong - Claus was in town for the day so we were catching up with him as well over dinner before his flight back to Melbourne. Both he and Ken were running late so we had to move our dinner booking to 7pm. Hmm, 6.40pm and still no Ken. He was meant to be here by now and I can't get through to his NZ mobile number...Jono and I decided that he would go meet Claus at the restaurant while I waited for Ken at home. And I'm glad Jono and Claus had started with dinner as Ken didn't turn up till 7.30pm! Turned out his flight was delayed and the queues through customs etc. took so long with the sudden mass of arriving passengers (probably because airlines are back up and running today - many flights were cancelled due to the volcanic ash cloud). Plus his taxi driver got a bit lost finding our place - I had the feeling that it might be the case when I saw a taxi driving up and down our street slowly, as if looking for the street number, and soon enough got a phone call from Ken that they couldn't find our place (he called me using the taxi driver's mobile). Poor Ken literally dropped his bags at the apartment and then had to walk about 20 minutes to the restaurant with me. Would have let him rested a bit but we were terribly late for dinner and I was SO hungry!

By the time we arrived at the restaurant, Jono and Claus were pretty much done with their dinners. I was picking on their leftovers (the boys ate too many starters while waiting for me and Ken so couldn't finish their mains) while I waited for my Red Duck Curry (mild boneless duck red curry with lychees, pineapples, tomatoes and sweet basil) - mmm, their Steamed Mixed Seafood always reminds me of otak-otak in Malaysia. Yum! I can see Ken enjoys it as much as I do, picking on whatever remains we can scoop out from the dish and having it with rice. The Red Duck Curry was also lovely and the lychees were a nice complement to the curry. In fact, most of the dishes we've tried here are delicious and so is the service (ok, so maybe they aren't so prompt with bringing out our beers but they are very prompt at serving you rice at your table). Cost us $175.15 for the table which included starters, mains and beers.

It was nice to catch up with Claus even though it was brief. He left us for the airport around 8.45pm and the rest of us settled our bill and headed out in search for Corridor bar on King St. During Ben's visit to Sydney, we tried to go in to this wine and cocktail bar only to be told they were closed...AT 12AM! Who closes this early on a Saturday night??? Apparently they do!

The bar was crammed with patrons and true to its name, the setting felt very much like hanging out in the corridor of a flat, giving it a chilled out vibe. You can choose to sit near the bar watching people pass by, the cocktail lounge upstairs or the outdoor deck. Jono and I each had a cocktail (Jono got a Plum Pisco Sour while I had a Rosetta cocktail that had a black tea base), and Ken tried a pint of Little Creatures beer. Cost us $40.50 all up for drinks which was expensive but to be expected (cocktails are never cheap unless you make your own at home). Cheers to Ken for starting a new chapter of his life in Sydney!

We made our way up to the cocktail lounge and chatted over our drinks. Hmm, my cocktail sure tasted a lot like drinking chilled tea except it had alcohol in it. In our chit-chat, we found out that this was Ken's first time in Sydney. Well, there are definitely heaps of things to do and see here in Sydney and you'll have plenty of time discovering places - we are still finding new places to eat, see or do in the city every week!

We headed home around 10pm and helped Ken set up his bed for the night. "Hey Ken, can you come and feel if this is firm enough?" said Jono, who was referring to the inflatable mattress but we all cracked up laughing at what he just said. Ah, our inflatable mattress - such an innocent household item that triggers the most inappropriate conversations hehe :P

Volunteering at the Sydney Film Festival (19th June 2011)

2011-06-19T22:06:00.000+10:00

After my stint last year at the New Zealand International Film Festival in Wellington, I wasn't planning to volunteer at another film festival and not getting to see much of Jono or time to myself over the course of the event. And yet I signed myself up to volunteer at the Sydney Film Festival on their website when they first announced the dates of the event! Well, I've been in Sydney for about 3 months now and I'm feeling quite settled into the routines of work and life and thought, it's probably about time to get involved in the local arts and culture scene like I have been back in Wellington. The Sydney Film Festival was the first event that happened to pop up in my radar :) The festival runs for 2 weeks from the 8th - 19th of June showcasing 161 films from 42 countries - many of the films have sold out so you've to be in quick!

A week prior to the festival, volunteers gathered at Dendy Cinemas on Opera Quays for the induction where we where given a pack consisting of a volunteer shirt which we got to keep at the end of the festival, pass, handbook with important information you need to know about being a volunteer at the event as well as a festival programme booklet. Several festival staff including the festival director each gave a briefing on what the festival is about, what their roles are and answered any questions the volunteers had, most of which I'm aware of since I've worked in similar events in the past.

I was quite surprised that there was no minimum amount of shifts a volunteer had to do - I only had 2 shifts, both on Sundays and each was 4.5 hours long. My first shift was at Dendy Cinemas on Opera Quays where I worked with volunteer co-ordinator Emily and 3 other girls. The cinema reminded me a lot of Penthouse Cinema in Wellington where they were less mainstream and screened a lot more festival movies. Emily gave us a briefing of our tasks and I ended up being one of two girls handing out voting slips and counting votes at the end of a screening (films over 40 minutes in length screened are subject to an audience vote), while the other pair had to scan audience tickets with a handheld barcode scanner (some of the scanners are able to scan mobile tickets too) upon entry to the cinema. There was no ushering or cleaning tasks required of us. We had only 1 cinema screening the festival films so it was an easy job managing the patrons. I obviously have the 'I'm here to help' face because I kept getting random people coming up to me to tell me things such as "There wasn't any toilet paper in the women's toilets" or "The movie was too loud" and none of them were even here for the festival films!

Each of the volunteer had a 30-minute break for lunch and we also received a staff discount when purchasing drinks and food from the candy bar. My mochaccino only cost me $1 - sweet! It was somewhat disappointing to learn that volunteers do not get a chance to watch the movie while they are on duty (in the Wellington film festival, seats were booked out for volunteers so when we have completed our tasks, we could slip in to watch the movie) and that we only got our complimentary ticket after completion of each shift. Under normal circumstances, I would say it's only fair that one receives the reward at the end of completing their task. However, in this instance, giving us complimentary tickets this late into the festival leaves volunteers no opportunity to make use of them since most films would be sold out. I was fortunate enough to swap my complimentary ticket from this shift for film Even the Rain, which was a Spanish film about a filmmaker (played by Gael Garcia Bernal) who went to Bolivia to shoot his film in the midst of protests during the 2000 Cochabamba water crisis. A stirring yet heartwarming part-fact-part-fiction movie giving audiences a glimpse of what it was like during the protests by the Bolivians fighting against the water shortage caused by a multinational.

Oh, you wouldn't believe who I bumped into at Dendy Cinemas - Janice! She was in a rush to another festival film at a different location but it was still lovely to see her as I've not seen her since our catch up in April!

My second shift was on the final day of the festival, this time at Event Cinemas on George Street. I wasn't feeling my best having a puffy left eye thanks to a darn drain fly (those tiny annoying bugs you find in your bathroom) that decided to kill itself by flying straight for my eye. It has been 2 days now and the swelling and itching still persist. Hmm, might have to go see a doctor after this shift...

There were 6 girls including me on this shift. Volunteer co-ordinator Bronwyn had a totally different approach to managing us, pretty much letting us run the whole show on our own - I'm not sure if it was because it was the last day of the festival or that she assumed we knew what to do, it was rather unprofessional to let us self-manage when some of us had never worked in this venue before. There were 2 cinemas screening about the same time making it challenging to co-ordinate patrons so that they queued up for the appropriate cinemas. I ended up being the primary person scanning the tickets, and also had to count votes for ones of the films. At one point Bronwyn came and took my scanner off me towards the cinema to scan some tickets (patrons probably came through another entrance) and took off, forgetting that I still have last minute patrons waiting impatiently for me to scan their tickets so I had to chase after her just to get the scanner. Sheesh!

Volunteers on the final day of the festival were invited to attend the festival after party instead of given a complimentary ticket. I'm going to pass since my eye is still not good and it's a Sunday. All in all, volunteering at the film festival was an experience in itself though there's room to make the volunteering experience an even better one - there is much they can learn from the Wellington organisers, that's for sure.

Drunken Geisha (5th June 2011)

2011-06-05T21:19:00.228+10:00

The weekend has been pretty quiet - most of Saturday was spent chilling out at home, and while Jono was at work on Sunday, I spent most of my day doing household chores and catching up with sorting out photos from our recent activities. Having spent most of my weekend at home, I suggested we go out for dinner at Drunken Geisha on Harris St in Pyrmont, located not too far from Jono's work. Gets me out of the house, even just for a bit. Plus, we got to check out a restaurant we've not been before in Sydney!

I headed over to Google to meet Jono around 6ish and we walked about 3 blocks uphill to Harris St where the contemporary Malaysian-Singaporean restaurant was situated. We didn't expect Pyrmont to be this hilly! To be honest, I'm not sure why the place was named Drunken Geisha for it has nothing to do with the type of cuisine at all (I had thought it was a Japanese restaurant at first until I looked it up on the internet). Stylish design with plenty of dark wood and low lighting, this small restaurant was wedged in the middle of a stretch of townhouses which have mostly been converted to restaurants. As we approached the glass windows to check out the menu, the young waiter came to the door to greet us and ushered us to our table. Hmm, the have belacan kangkung (water spinach stir fried with chilli shrimp paste) - my mouth is watering just thinking about the dish! It's one of my favourite Malaysian dishes!! Can we order some of this, please? :)

We ended up with our table filled with a roti, their signature dish beef rendang (Malay spiced coconut beef), kapitan chicken curry (nonya style dry curry), belacan kangkung (yes!) and a pot of rice to share, and drinks of teh tarik and chin chow (black grass jelly with syrup). The food in general was nice but pricey (most dishes are above $15 and my kbelacan kangkung was $10.90 - ouch!) though I can't comment much about the kapitan chicken curry as I don't think I've had this dish growing up in Malaysia so unsure if it tasted as it should. We definitely ordered way too much food and literally had to doggy bag most of the kapitan chicken curry. I wasn't very impressed with the teh tarik when it came out a chilled drink - instead of 'pulled' hot tea, we could hear the young waiter busily shaking the prepared tea and ice in a shaker from behind the bar. Shaken tea IS NOT teh tarik!

I have to say my favourite dish tonight was the belacan kangkung - I could have just this dish and rice for dinner and be perfectly happy! "Sure you don't want anymore water spinach?" I asked Jono and he smiled, saying he has had enough. More for me then - yum, yum!! Jono was watching me with amusement as I polished off the plate and asked me why Malaysians enjoy stinky food. "There's the durian, the food we saw at the street stall in Malacca, and now this," he continued and I shrugged. I'm not sure why but I guess we were introduced to such food when we were young and just grew up loving them. Come to think of it, there are several Malaysian delicacies that can be quite stinky...

Cost us $42.25 all up inclusive of 25% off the bill (voucher from the Entertainment Book). I would recommend trying the place out if you are in the neighbourhood, perhaps even coming by on a Saturday so you can also try their Hainanese chicken rice that is only served on Saturdays.

We left the restaurant around 8pm for home, making a quick stop at the nearby grocery store to pick up milk and cereal. Ah, Jono and his scooter - he's like a little kid, zipping ahead of me on his scooter with the groceries hanging in its bags on his handle bar, stopping occasionally so I would catch up and then zipping off again. Go on, run along now! I can't be bothered running after him for he's just too fast and I'm too full...

Corelli's Cafe Gallery (21st May 2011)

2011-05-21T21:43:00.027+10:00

Jono and I decided to skip cooking tonight and headed over to one of the restaurants on King St in Newtown for dinner instead. A quick browse in the Entertainment Book and we found several vouchers for restaurants in the area, Corelli's Cafe Gallery being one of them. We have walked past this cafe every time we go to the supermarket or gym in Newtown and it's always very busy. Curious, we decided to give them a go, and even at 7pm, the tables both indoors and outside were nearly filled.

We found ourselves a table indoors in this bohemian-looking cafe and scanned the menu as well as specials' board to decide on our order. Jono went for their barramundi salad with mango salsa while I ordered the sirloin steak with mash and peppercorn sauce. Cost us $17.90 for both mains as we had a 1-for-1 main voucher from the Entertainment Book and Jono had to go up to the counter to place our order as table servie was pretty slow. There were only three staff working (one chef and two wait staff) and with a full house, it was about a 20-minute wait before we got our meals served. The food itself was pretty average (my steak was tough and lacked flavour) though the servings were huge. Perhaps the cafe did much better in cafe meals for breakfast and lunch than their dinner...

We decided to get dessert and coffee before we headed home - cost us $15.90 for two flat whites and a coffee and sticky date pudding with ice cream. The pudding was light and very nice (better than our mains!) but the coffee! Oh my god. We have been warned by our Wellingtonian friends that the coffee in Sydney is terrible (by Wellingtonians' standards - we do have very good cafes in the capital city) and we didn't believe them till now - the coffee was just bad and terribly bitter. Jono didn't even want to touch his coffee after the first sip, a real indication that the coffee was really bad. We were not particularly impressed with our mains and now such coffee? I'm not sure we'll be coming back here anytime soon...can't quite understand how the cafe manages to still attract so many customers...Photos taken at Corelli's Cafe Gallery on my phone:

Corelli's Cafe Gallery is ALWAYS this busy...

Barramundi salad with mango salsa & Sirloin steak with mash
and peppercorn sauce

Sticky date pudding with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream
& flat whites for dessert

Sydney Youth Orchestras - Sun & Ice (28th April 2011)

2011-04-28T22:13:00.004+10:00

I had won a double pass via What's On City of Sydney to Sydney Youth Orchestras (SYO) Sun & Ice concert, the second of four concerts of SYO's Flagship Concert Series held at Sydney Town Hall. The Sun & Ice concert was on this evening so Jono and I met up outside the historic sandstone landmark around 6.30pm for the 7pm start - the crowd was already building up inside for this one night only concert. Neither Jono nor I have been to an orchestra in Sydney so this would be an interesting first experience for us :)

On collection of our tickets (normally $45 per person) and the purchase of a programme ($5), we headed into the Centennial Hall (the main hall) to find ourselves a seat. The walls and ceilings in the hall were beautifully designed in Victorian architecture, with its focal point, the Sydney Town Hall Grand Organ, the world's largest pipe organ with tubular pneumatic action. Oh, I would love to see and hear the organ being played! But it would have to be another time as the concert tonight doesn't include the grand instrument. Photo inside the hall taken on my mobile:

Almost half the stall seats downstairs were filled and surprisingly, many were families with young children. I think it is great that parents are exposing their kids to classical music at this early age though I wondered if these kids would really appreciate it - watching several of the parents trying to get their kids to stay in their seats, I cringed at the thought that a child may wail, scream or even run about mid-concert which would kill the experience for everyone. Perhaps they are better off left with the babysitter until they are old enough to withstand at least an hour of not moving about or making any noise. The concert hasn't even started and the little girl in front of us was already fast asleep on daddy's lap!

The concert, conducted by Mac McBride, began with Toru Takemitsu's A flock descends into the pentagonal garden, a piece that felt rather dream-like with fantasy and nightmare in the mix and sounding rather peculiar. This was followed by Sibelius' Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47, featuring Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO)'s violinist Satu Vanska. Vanska did amazingly as a soloist, an impressive performance with her performing all three movements by heart. I couldn't help but notice each time there was a break when she wasn't playing, she would be puffing her cheeks as she breathes, shifting and resting the cloth on the chinrest of her violin, or looking on the ground or beyond the horizon as if deep in thought in her own world. With that many notes to remember, I too would be in my own world, concentrating on the music and the upcoming parts to play. Definitely a concerto for a violin virtuoso!

"I can't believe those two sitting next to us were eating during the concert," I said to Jono during the interval. Ok, having a kid running up and down the aisle was bad enough but the smell of a kebab lingering as we listened to the concert? That really made me wonder what type of Sydneysiders come to such events. And how is it that they were even allowed to eat in the concert???

We stayed in the hall checking emails and playing games on our respective mobile devices during the interval (such geeks!) and about 20 minutes later, the concert continued with the final work Symphony No. 6 in B minor by Shostakovich. This was probably my favourite of the works presented this evening - energetic and dramatic in a melodious gallop.

Our first orchestra experience had been interesting and I reckon we would be checking out more classical music events in Sydney as we continue to discover our new city. Perhaps one in Opera House next time!

Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life 1990 - 2005 (16th April 2011)

2011-04-16T17:26:00.000+10:00

Most weekends have been spent exploring the city and today, Jono and I made a trip to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) located at The Rocks to see the exhibition Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life 1990 - 2005 that was running till the 26th of April. It was our first visit to the MCA and we were very fortunate to be able to see this exhibition for free (normally $15 for adults) - with Jono's job comes many perks and one of them is free entry to MCA. All Jono has to do is to book out the number of passes he requires for the day with the Google office receptionist and flash the pass on entry to museum. How cool is that? I'm very lucky to have a partner that works for Google because I get to enjoy some of the perks too :)

Annie Leibovitz is a famous American photographer and this exhibition showcases 192 of her works over a period of more than 15 years - these works included portraits of public figures such as politicians, actors, filmmakers and musicians, as well as several landscape works and other unpublished personal photographs. Among those public figures she had photographed included well-known celebrities such as Demi Moore (heavily pregnant and nude), Nicole Kidman, Johnny Depp and Kate Moss (Moss was nude while Depp was fully clothed lying in between Moss' legs covering her abdomen), Cindy Crawford (holding a python wrapped around her semi-nude body), John Lennon and Yoko Ono (this photo was shot the day of Lennon's death), and The Trumps (Donald Trump sitting in his expensive car while wife Melania is pregnant, wearing a bikini and high heels standing on the stairs leading into their private jet). These photos were just amazing, capturing the essence of her subjects with artistic flair yet candid, filled with expression and life.

There was a section of the exhibition that was dedicated to her personal photographs, scenes from her life, her parents and extended family, as well as the birth and childhood of her 3 children. We were surprised to learn that Annie gave birth to her eldest daughter, Sarah, at age 51, and her twins born to a surrogate mother 4 years later. Frankly I find having kids in your fifties much too late but I guess if you're loaded, you can still provide them with a good life, even if you can't keep up with them physically. Another interesting thing we discovered was that Annie had a lover, novelist Susan Sontag, whom she had never lived with in the same residence yet both lived in an apartment within view of each other's. The exhibition featured photos of their lives together, including several on Sontag's deathbed (she died at 71 from complications from myelodysplastic syndrome).

All in all a highly recommend exhibition for those of you who are interested in photography or celebrities - only 10 more days before it's over so hurry over or you might just miss this touring exhibition!

First day in our new home! (14th March 2011)

2011-03-14T23:28:00.000+11:00

Jono was up at 7am and I continued to snooze for a bit while he got ready for his first day at work. A brand new week in Sydney and we're officially moving into our new home in Erskineville today! Jono headed off to work shortly and with the remaining bags, I went to the reception at Regis to settle our bills around 8.30am. I was left with only $50 in my bank account after paying for our stay at serviced apartment ($1000 for the week). Ouch... Interestingly, we weren't charged for internet usage in the room so I kept mum about it and proceeded to leave the building with our belongings. Photos taken of the service apartment we rented:

Our serviced apartment at Regis

We had a kitchenette which was really small and not ideal for cooking

View from the apartment

I headed over to Central station and caught the train to St Peters - though we live in Erskineville, our apartment is actually closer to the St Peters train station. It took quite a bit of effort carrying two day-packs and a trolley up the flights of stairs. I wonder how the disabled and old would manage getting to and from the platforms at St Peters station when there aren't any lifts or escalators...A short 10 minute walk and I was at the apartment, arriving around 9.30am. I was panic-stricken for a split second when my key wouldn't work on the lock of our door - phew, thank god it worked! I have the IKEA delivery turning up today and have to be able to get into the apartment!! I stayed in most of the day, putting our stuff away and just enjoying the peace and quiet of the place. Hmm, I like our new home - it's smallish but good enough for two and once we have the place set up, it'll be nice and cosy :)

The IKEA delivery truck turned up at 1pm. I was told by the deliverymen that our apartment was 50 metres away from the road thus they cannot carry all the items up to the apartment as it was against the company policy (the distance from truck to residence has to be under 50 metres). "We'll have to leave it by the footpath," he continued. WTF?! How do you expect me to carry the bed, dining set, study desk, sofa etc on my own??? And it looks as if it would rain soon! They weren't at all helpful with the situation, adding further that I could call a friend to help move the furniture. ARGH!!!!! I eventually sorted out the problem by calling the apartment caretaker to find out if I could have the truck drive up the footpath to the entrance of the apartment and thankfully he said that was no problem. Great! Finally we can get the furniture to the apartment - sheesh, what drama!

I quick stop at Annie's Place Cafe located at the end of our street by Mitchell Road for a takeaway falafel kebab and coffee, and then the rest of my day was spent putting together most of the IKEA items we bought. Jono turned up with Indian takeaways for dinner at 7pm and bought toilet paper too (the latter, very important). We ate sitting on the floor while we continued to fix up the furniture and caught up on Jono's first day at work. He enjoyed the induction day and proceeded to show me what he was given: a Macbook Air (work laptop), a sturdy backpack and a Noogler (new Googler) propeller cap. All meals were provided for staff (they have an on-site cafe and if the cafe was closed, they could charge their meal on the company credit card) and there were many other perks including free entry to museums and attractions. Google also pays for our medical insurance (yes, it's for the Googlers and their family members so as Jono's partner, mine is paid for as well) and subsidises up to $70 for our monthly internet expenses. I like it that they take good care of their staff and their family members as well. It is a very awesome company to work for, that's for sure (I wished I work there too)!

I enjoyed putting together our IKEA furniture though my hands and arms were pretty sore after working hard the whole day trying to complete as many pieces of furniture as I could. I got Jono to check all the screws to make sure they were tightly secured and we worked together to set up the bigger items like the sofa, study desk and bed. Finally got to sleep around 11.30pm, tired but happy. Ah, our first home, just us :)

Day 6 in Sydney: Trip to IKEA (13th March 2011)

2011-03-13T21:30:00.000+11:00

Today was another early start for us, getting up at 8am for a day of shopping for the house. Neither of us has started work but already spending so much on our first week in Sydney!

Beryl and Tim told us over dinner the other night that there was an IKEA in Supa Centre Moore Park (IKEA, to us, is the place to buy cool furniture and household items at an affordable price) so we walked to the suburb of Surry Hills to catch the bus to Kensington where the mall was located. Cost $3.30 each for a one-way prepaid ticket on bus M20 (the bus is on a route that is prepay only i.e. tickets must be purchased prior to boarding - the driver has no cash). This was our first bus experience in Sydney and it was crazy - the driver was driving the bendy-bus pretty fast and we were swaying jerkily as we rode on. Is he even driving within the legal speed??

We arrived at Supa Centre around 11am but there was no IKEA to be found. It turned out that the Heskeths had gotten Freedom Furniture mixed up with IKEA; IKEA was in another suburb called Rhodes which was a lot further west than where we were. Hmm, we should have checked before we headed out...We had a look around the shops in the mall, mostly selling furniture and a variety of household items, and ended up in Bing Lee, a consumer electronics chain store that has branches based in New South Wales (NSW). What we thought was quite interesting about the store was that you could negotiate the price and because we were purchasing big ticket items such as the washing machine and refrigerator, the lady staff who serviced us was giving quotes for anything we showed a slight interest in - she really wanted her sales bonus, reeling us in with all the discounts she could give us. We spent about $2,000 all up - a top loader washing machine, a sleek stainless steel refrigerator, microwave, vacuum cleaner and iron - it was quite a good deal. And it included delivery and unpacking as well which we definitely require. Yay, we'll have a fridge on Tuesday when they deliver!

If you think that was the end of our shopping expedition, well you're wrong. It was just the beginning - as our place came unfurnished, we have to purchase our own furniture too so we continued our hunt for IKEA in Rhodes. We caught the bus back to Surry Hills from Kensington, then took the train from Central to Rhodes in search for Rhodes Shopping Centre where IKEA was located.

IKEA is a world renowned company that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture and home accessories, and it is a store I have always enjoyed spending the afternoon in whenever I visited my extended family in Kuala Lumpur with Mum during school holidays - Mum likes their innovative and user-friendly products which are affordable yet look like they would cost lots. It was a novelty because we do not have an IKEA in my home town. For me, I loved being in the different showrooms - it was like playing house except there were other people doing the same as well (there might be another couple or person sitting on the lounge sofa 'pretending' like it's their living room to get a feel of the product). Still, I enjoyed checking out each room and just soaked in the feeling of what it would be like if this was my bedroom/kitchen/lounge when I grow up. Oh, I've definitely growned up a lot since then and now my dreams are turning to reality :)

It was about lunchtime when we arrived so took a break from shopping for lunch at Sumo Salad at the food court. Sumo Salad is an Australian food franchise that is part of this new wave of healthy food served fast and offers a 'design your own' made-to-order salads as well as selection of gourmet salads, wraps and soups to choose from. I went for a Pesto Chicken Express Medium Salad while Jono ordered a Vietnamese Grilled Chicken Salad where he got to choose his own ingredients. I can see why the company has reference to sumo - the servings were HUGE! Cost us $20.90 all up which also included a 450ml bottle of water and small snack.

Ok, now that we have refuelled, time toget back to business. I cannot believe there is only one IKEA in the wholeof NSW and it's so far from the city (the train ride took almost half an hour).It was quite horrific being in here - it was SO crowded and felt like the wholeof Sydney hasdecided to turn up on the same day to shop! We spent several hours in the'forest', the first few rounds just to check out what was available and whatsuited our apartment then back again with pencil and paper (these are free andfound on stands scattered around the store - measuring tapes are available too)to jot down the product name and number. Trust me, you WILL need these later.We agreed there were way too many things we needed to get so got only the bigitems - bed and mattress, dining set, sofa, side chairs and bedsidetables. We will have to make another trip the coming weekend to pick up morestuff.

Part of the fun of IKEA is that you get tobe warehouse person in the enormous warehouse because you have tocarry your own items to check out using the industrial-size trolleys (we neededtwo!) and/or the large IKEA bags. Thisis where those product names and numbers will come handy as you snake along theaisles to find the correct match. And then you get to take your new purchaseshome and assemble them yourself (this is why the cost of the product is muchlower because you have to do most of the labour) - it's like being a kid again,using screwdrivers and L-keys to secure the parts. I love it!

Boy was I tired come5pm when we finally left. Furniture shopping is hard work - my feet are sorefrom all the walking! Fortunately we didn't have to carry our purchases home;there was a deal on today where if we bought a particular brand of mattress,the delivery fee would be waived. We took the opportunity to source out asuitable mattress of the brand and had it plus the rest of our furnituredelivered to us tomorrow afternoon, saving ourselves $90 and the pain of havingto carry these heavy items to the door. Total spend at IKEA today was around$1500. Ouch, we singed $3,500 in one day...

Back at Regis at 6pm and we went to Chon Siam for dinner, a cosy little Thai restaurant just round the corner on Campbell St a few doors away from Chilli Cha Cha and the Thai grocery store (we obviously live near the part of Haymarket that is popular with the Thai community). Cost us $25.80 for my Tom Yum soup with rice and Jono's Thai Green Curry as well as beers. Oh yeah, I need a beer after working so hard today...ahhhhh...this is good... We stayed in the rest of the evening and had an early night - Jono starts work tomorrow and I've got a busy day checking out of the serviced apartment and dealing with the delivery of our IKEA stuff. A brand new and exiting week ahead :)

Day 5 in Sydney: Move to our new home (12th March 2011)

2011-03-12T19:00:00.000+11:00

Got up at 9am and headed out for breakfast at North Espresso Bar on Goulburn St near Regis. Cost $24.50 for our coffees, muesli for Jono and eggs on toast for me. Hmm, not sure what it is with scramble eggs but it often makes me feel a bit sick after eating them...maybe I should have had muesli instead...It was a fairly quiet start to a Saturday morning and there were hardly anyone walking about - I guess we were in the business district end of town so most places were closed during the weekend.

Our plan today was to move most of our luggage to our apartment - Jono starts work on Monday, the same day we would be checking out of Regis so I'm pretty much on my own; we needed to move most of our belongings today so I that have only our day packs to carry home on Monday. Around 10.30am, we piled up our items into a taxi and got the driver to take us to Glebe to pick up items Beryl and Tim have put aside for us - some bedding, cutlery, bowls and mugs, a pot and a pan - just a few basics to get us started. I cannot believe the Chinese taxi driver has no idea how to get to our destination in Glebe and he was flipping this thick book of Sydney suburban maps to find the location! Wow, that's just ancient - I've not seen taxi drivers using physical maps these days. Everyone's using GPS! We ended up directing the poor fellow to the Heskeths home using our smartphone. Do we get a discount on the fare for doing your job?

Cost us $45.39 for the taxi ride. We have SO much stuff to carry - we didn't have a box to carry the items we collected from Beryl and Tim so had to leave them on the footpath and made multiple trips back and forth to pick them up and walk to the entrance of our apartment block. Working up a sweat! The rest of the morning was spent unpacking and making a list of things we needed to purchase for our home. Yes, we definitely need a fridge and a washing machine...yep, microwave, kettle, toaster...and the list goes on. It's so nice to have our own place - we have a lot more space to store our belongings than our previous flat. I even have my own separate section of the built-in cupboard that we have in our room. No need to share hanging space with Jono any more :P

Around 1.30pm, we left the apartment and headed back to town. Darn, just missed the train! It's going to take another half an hour or so before the next one arrives :/ Oh well, might as well grab lunch around here then. We went to check out Jetts' Coffee And Delights near St Peters station for light lunch of quiche, tandoori samosa and chilled juices. The owner was really friendly and chatty, and boy was it good to be indoors with air-conditioning - the weather was so warm today! As we were about to pay and leave, we found out that they take only cash so Jono left me at the cafe while he went to find an ATM to withdraw money. How annoying! Shops that take cash only really should have a sign on the door that states so, warning prospective customer in advance. We really need to get into the habit of having cash with us from now on - this is Sydney, not Wellington any more.

As we left Central station, we noticed huge lines of young 20-somethings cramming themselves onto buses at the bus stop across the street from the station. Not sure where these people were headed to but it was for some Futuremusic festival. Look at the mess they have created, littering all over the place while waiting for the bus:

Total havoc!

Back to Regis to chill out and around 5.15pm, we walked to Coles in World Square Shopping Centre. After eating out almost every meal since we got here, Jono suggested we cook instead this evening. Hmm, cooking ended up being a lot more effort with our lack of kitchen utensils and tiny kitchenette in the studio. I can't wait till we officially move and set up our apartment - we have a proper kitchen and gas stove too :) The rest of the evening was a quiet stay-in, watching TV and eating mint chocolate chip ice cream we picked up from the supermarket. Yum!

Day 4 in Sydney: We have a home & I've got a job! (11th March 2011)

2011-03-11T22:00:00.000+11:00

Was up at 8.30am and headed out by 10am to the bank to collect our Visa debit cards and a bank cheque for $3000 issued - this was for the bond and a month's rent in advance for our new place, almost half the amount we transferred to Australia! Eeks, I had better find a job fast at our current rate of spending. We aren't planning to transfer more funds over unless absolutely necessary.

Back at Regis for final prep for my interview and around 11.30am, we headed out, me taking the train from Central to North Sydney for the interview while Jono walked to the Google office where he was having introductions and lunch with his immediate team. Cost me $4.40 return ticket and it was easy to find my way second time around, arriving well ahead of time.

Ok, I feel terribly overdressed for my interview - my interviewer (same guy as in the first interview) turned up in t-shirt and 3/4 pants and I was wearing a work shirt, pants and jacket. As usual, he was fussing about his coffee and I refrained myself from rolling my eyes, patiently waiting for him to get ready. The interview this time included the HR manager who was based in NZ so the interview was conducted via conference call. It was weird talking into the phone (we were on speaker mode), answering questions about my personality and whether I worked well in a team environment etc. As strange as my interviews with this company has been, I thought it went alright even if it only took 20 minutes. I was told that I was one of three applicants that was short-listed for a second interview for the permanent role and I would find out the outcome by Monday. Well, let's see what happens - if it doesn't work out, I'll have to start actively looking for work next week.

I headed back to our accommodation to meet Jono and he accompanied me over to Chilli Cha Cha for lunch before we headed to Erskineville to meet property agent Sarah of Park Properties to sign our tenancy agreement and collect the keys to our new home. I can't believe we are parting with three grand today - THREE GRAND!

While we waited for Sarah to review the documentation, Hayden rang me to say I've been offered the job. Oh my god! That's great!! The offer however was not what I expected - the base salary was lower than market rate (dollar for dollar, it was similar to what I got in my last job which is bad when living costs in Sydney is much higher) and because the branch in Sydney is new, there are no benefits or bonus schemes in place. Oh...The recruiter assured me they were in the process of doing so and that there would be a salary review in 6 months time. Hmm, the role does sound pretty interesting with plenty of opportunity to grow and build on my current skills...I decided to accept the job (even though disappointed that Hayden told me the job would be within my salary expectation only to be told it wasn't when the job was offered) - I needed a foot in the door in the Australian job market and hopefully the pay cut wouldn't cripple me financially and/or affect my current lifestyle. "Come by the office on Monday and we can sort out the contract," said Hayden. Right, so that's it - I don't have to worry about looking for a job any more. Yay! Work starts the following Monday with an induction session the Friday prior - yep, it's all happening very quickly. Wow, I couldn't believe how smoothly our move has been so far. We pretty much got everything sorted in 4 days! :)

We popped by our new place to go through the inspection list which we are to return to the property agent within the week, noting down damages if any. You know, this is our first home for just the two of us. I can't help grinning - we have our own place! It's going to be awesome :) We've already lived together for almost a year so this was just another step in our relationship, living on our own, in addition to the move to Australia, of course. View of our apartment block:

We headed back to the city around 6pm. Dinner this evening was at Paddy Maguires Irish pub in Haymarket. The pub was buzzing and crowded with people who were gathered for Friday after-work drinks. We managed to secure a table outdoors and had pub food of Beef Nachos (with beans, salsa, sour cream and guacamole), Steak Sandwich (with lettuce, tomato, caramelised onion, BBQ sauce on ciabatta bread and fries) and beers as we watched passerbys from a variety of nationalities make a beeline into the pubs and restaurants in the area. Cost us $44.50 for our meals which tasted like what you would expect in a pub (not particularly good or bad).

Back at Regis to chill out for the rest of the evening only to learn that a 9.0 magnitude earthquake had hit Japan earlier today, causing a 6-metre high tsunami which swept away homes and vehicles, and flooding buildings as it moved inland from the eastern coastline of the country. Christchurch has had a bad series of earthquakes in the last 6 months and now this? I don't know what's happening to our beautiful Earth but this is all very scary and sad to me :'( We were lost for words watching the news on TV and see how quickly the tsunami destroyed towns. Poor Japan...

Day 3 in Sydney: Sydney Fish Market & dinner with Jono's godparents (10th March 2011)

2011-03-10T23:00:00.000+11:00

We had an early start this morning with a property viewing in the suburb of Erskineville at 8.30am so was up at 7.30am for breakfast. We headed to Central Station to catch the train to Erskineville ($6.40 return per person) and as it was rush hour, we were flooded by Sydneysiders (term you use to call inhabitants of Sydney) exiting the station heading to work. Patience definitely required as we shuffled and dodged the throngs of people that looked like they were on a mission and would rugby tackle anyone who stood in their way. Quite a scary sight, if you ask me. Photo of a quiet platform at Central Station where we waited for our train:

At Central Station waiting for our train

We hopped off at the Erskineville station (about a 12-minute ride from Central) and walked down Erskineville Road to Cafe Sofia where we picked up coffees before continuing on to the property viewing. That's just ridiculous - we couldn't pay for our coffees with EFTPOS because the transaction was less than $20! I could put through a 50 cent transaction on my EFTPOS in NZ but there was no way I could do so here in Sydney. Argh, this is really annoying, having to carry cash on hand all the time!

The property we viewed was really lovely - it was an unfurnished 1-bedroom place in a newish apartment located about 3 blocks away from St Peters train station and the main shopping strip of Newtown (the apartment was located by the borders of suburbs St Peters and Newtown). It was by far the nicest place we've viewed to date and though the rent is a bit steep ($495 a week, which worked out to be the same as what we had been paying for our flat in Wellington but it would cover rent for the whole 3-bedroom flat instead of just our room), we decided to put down the $500 deposit to secure the place while we got the rest of the paperwork completed in the mean time. It seems properties for lease in this city are managed by property agents and if one was interested in the property, you have to put down a deposit together with an application form which the property agents will review (a deposit doesn't necessarily guarantee you the place). The application form required rather extensive information from all tenants - we each had to fill out an application form, provide references, proof of identity, address and employment. There was another younger chap (probably an international student) who attended the same viewing and he seemed really keen. I hope we would find out the outcome of our application soon - they couldn't possibly reject us because only one of us has a job. Plus Jono's going to be working for Google. That has to be enough to guarantee our ability to cover the rent and also provide a character reference.

Around 11am, we took the train back to Central and walked over to Blackwattle Bay in the suburb of Pyrmont to check out the famous Sydney Fish Market, the largest fish market of its kind in the southern hemisphere. Daily wholesale seafood auctions are held for local seafood retailers (I believe this happens early in the morning) and common folk like you and me can also purchase a wide variety of seafood from the fresh seafood retail shops for a much cheaper price than your neighbourhood seafood retailer or the supermarket - you may wish to walk around to get an idea of price from the different shops before buying as prices do vary. Definitely a place I can see myself frequenting to buy fresh seafood once we have our own place and able to do our own cooking. I highly recommend a visit to the fish market, even if you have no plans to shop. Jono and I ended up at Doyles At Sydney Fish Markets Bistro, Bar & Grill for lunch where we shared a BBQ Seafood Plate (with calamari, prawns, scallops, fish & chips) and the lobster tail special for $47.60, as well as two Hahn Super Dry beers to complement our delicious, succulent cooked seafood. Oh, I'm in food heaven - we need to come back for lunch again soon! Not surprising that Asian tour buses were 'dumping' their tour groups here during lunchtime - fresh oysters, sashimi and/or cooked seafood - a sure hit with the Asians :P Photos taken at the fish market:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8070917@N05/sets/72157626830686324/detail/

After a full belly of yummy food, we decided to skip the next property viewing on our list today and headed back to our accommodation for a siesta. We took a slight detour to Pyrmont Bay where Jono showed me the Google office. The office was located on two floors of the Accenture building which Jono doesn't have access to just yet so we could only view the place from the outside. Still, it was cool being in the lobby and seeing the the company logo on the wall. Photos taken while we were at Pyrmont Bay:

Wharf at Pyrmont Bay

The Accenture building where Google is located

Photo of Jono with his company logo at the lobby

Either I really ate too much earlier or it is just the humid weather but I'm feeling really sleepy...Took a short nap and was woken up by the phone ringing, the first call was from the recruiter informing me that I have a second interview on tomorrow (so the interviewer WAS interested in my skills and experience!) and the second was from the property agent - our application for the apartment was successful. Yay! We are SO close to getting everything on our to-do list sorted :)

Jono's godparents invited us over to their home in suburb Glebe for dinner tonight. Tim and Beryl had left NZ for Sydney shortly after Jono was born so they never really got to see Jono growing up in person. Dinner tonight would be quite interesting as it would be the first time in a long while that both parties will meet - I'm sure there would be plenty of catching up to do, getting to know each other all over again.

We took the Light Rail over to Glebe around 6.30pm. Cost us $5.90 per person for a return ticket and unlike the CityRail trains which require purchasing a ticket prior to getting onto the platform, all you needed to do was pay the on-board conductor for your ticket. You do not need to seek out the conductor - he/she will come to you. There were not many people on board today so I guess it was quite easy for the conductor to tell who has paid and who hasn't. It was interesting to watch how the conductor marked our tram ticket - he stroked the thermal paper ticket with his fingernail and the line indicates you have one ride left. Huh, much easier than using a clipper, I suppose. Brr, chillly in here with the AC cranked up...

The Heskeths home was a beautiful townhouse with an exterior that deceives the eyes - the 2-storey house looked narrow and tall from the main entrance but it actually extends quite far in and has a backyard as well as a garage for two car at the other end. We dined al fresco in the bakyard which was lovely with the current warm weather (though Beryl had to light a mosquito coil under the table, a sight I've become unfamiliar with since living in NZ - I used to have to light one near my feet when I did the dishes in the kitchen at my parent's place), sipping our wines and enjoying the grilled fish Tim cooked on the barbecue accompanied with steam vegetables and kumara mash Beryl prepared. It was really nice to spend the evening with them, listening to Jono's childhood stories as he brought his godparents up to speed with the events in his life and vice versa, learning more about Tim and Beryl. This would be a start to many more catch ups now that we are all living in the same city :)

We finally left for home around 10pm, Beryl and Tim showing us a shortcut back to the tram station - was really lovely to meet you guys and let's catch up again soon!

Day 2 in Sydney: Interview and afternoon tea at the Chinese Garden of Friendship (9th March 2011)

2011-03-10T08:21:00.000+11:00

Was up at 7am for breakfast in the studio apartment (cereal and milk we picked up on our way home last night - we have a bar fridge and some kitchen items provided) and got ready for my interview. Gee, it has been over 3 years that I last had to go for an interview. I'm actually feeling quite nervous! I've done my due diligence, doing as much research as I can last night on this company though frankly, there was hardly any information found on the internet (only 3 short paragraphs on the company website which doesn't fully explain what the company does and search results returned only brief details of which clients they have worked with). Oh well, tough luck - I'll just have to wing it.

Jono is just awesome :) He accompanied me to see the recruiter on George St and then took the train together from Wynyard to North Sydney (return fare $4.40 per person) for my interview. Was really nice of him to come along for support as well as make sure I got to the interview on time. Thank god for smartphones - it sure makes life a lot easier with GPS access! We were able to locate 100 Miller St where the interview was held on the iPhone quite easily.

While Jono waited at the lobby, I headed up to the 33rd floor to meet us with my interviewer. I was early so the receptionist got me to take a seat at the waiting area. Wow, the view from the windows were amazing - you could see the Sydney Harbour Bridge with skyscrapers on both ends and boats of varying shapes and sizes moving in perfect harmony in the busy harbour waters. Hmm, I wouldn't mind having an office in this building - great views, immaculate interior design and it seemed rather busy with people zipping in and out of meeting rooms. They have 4 receptionists at the front desk - it must be a huge company if they needed that many.

"That was quick - how did it go?" asked Jono when I returned to meet him about 20 minutes later. I thought it went well and the role of Management Information (MI) Analyst sounded like very interesting with potential for career development in the area I would like to build on. My interviewer turned out to be a man around my age who happened to also be a Kiwi from Wellington. A part of me wondered if he was really interested in talking to me about the role. Why? Well, for starters, he kept forgetting where we got to in the interview when the receptionist popped in and out with his coffee order, making me feel slightly uncomfortable if he was really concerned about the coffee or eyeing up the receptionist's short skirt. And as the interview progressed, he never really asked me what I could bring into his organisation but more of why I moved here (he was quite keen to hear the story of how Jono got the job at Google) and why I changed jobs from being an administrator to IT - it was all very informal. Towards the end of the interview, I was told that the team I would be joining (if successful, of course) was a newly formed team in the company and that the Senior MI Analyst I would be working with had just been hired the week before. "There's a second interview, this time with the HR manager, if I get through the first round," I said to Jono as we headed back to the train station. Fingers crossed and hopefully we'll know the outcome of the interview soon.

Around 11am, we took the train back to the city and headed to the Apple Store on George St to get me a replacement phone casing for my iPhone 3GS. Oh my god, it was SO busy, even on a weekday! 3 floors of Apple products to try out and/or buy and there were even a group of people taking a course on iPad functionalities (these courses would suit my folks who aren't tech savvy but use flash toys). It was just cool being in the Apple Store, its sleek design complimenting its products, walking up and down the thick glass stairs and looking out onto George Street from inside - it felt like I was in a huge glass cube!

At 12.45pm, we walked to Chilli Cha Cha Thai restaurant located around the corner from our apartment for lunch. I had the Chicken Cashew Nut Stir-fry with rice while Jono ordered the Chicken Pad Thai, both costing us $9.90 inclusive of a free drink each (this is part of their lunch specials deal). The food was great and the iced tea I ordered tasted exactly like the 'teh peng' (iced milk tea sweetened with condensed milk) served in Malaysia. Ah, flashback of the past for me, even if it was too sweet for my palate...

We continued on our exploration of the city after lunch and took a walk towards Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre in Darling Harbour, stumbling upon a beautiful Chinese garden next to Tumbalong Park. We decided to check it out and for $11, we got an admission and afternoon tea combo ticket each to visit The Chinese Garden of Friendship. The garden is modeled after the typical private gardens from the Shang dynasty (ca. 1600 BCE – 1046 BCE) and was designed by Guangzhou, Sydney's Chinese sister city, symbolizing the bond between China and Australia. Unlike Western-style gardens, there are no planted flowerbeds or manicured lawns but instead has aspects of nature recreated in artfully designed landscapes that features waterfalls, mountains, lakes and forests. We went on a journey discovering the many parts of the garden, walking through the serpentine walkways, stopping every now and then to admire the exotic plants, sculptures, landscape and observing the the animals that live within the grounds - Eastern Water Dragons basking in the sun on large rocks, cranes taking shelter under willow trees and plenty of hungry koi in the lakes waiting for visitors to feed them with pieces of bread. Hidden stone pathways led into private courtyards and traditional pagoda-style pavilions. We even found a few Westerners donned in traditional Chinese costumes which you can hire from the costume shop on site and have photos taken in them.

It was nice feeling being here, so tranquil and you somehow feel rested, as if you have been zapped to another world, all worries and stress in your present life miraculously disappeared. Our last stop in our self-tour was at The Teahouse where we had our afternoon tea - a choice of either English tea with scones or Chinese tea with dim sum was available with our tickets and since there were two of us, we each got one to share. A great way to end our visit in the garden and I highly recommend getting the combo ticket when you come visit. And make sure you take your time to unwind and take in the surroundings - there is no need to rush. Photos taken at the Chinese Garden of Friendship: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8070917@N05/sets/72157626725257029/detail/

We took a brief rest at the apartment before our property viewings late afternoon. Neither were suitable (poor location and design) and boy, did we do a lot of walking today, visiting the garden and then to suburbs Ultimo and Chippendale for the viewings. My legs are sore!

Dinner tonight was at Sushi Roll in World Square at the ground floor of World Tower (a 230 metre skyscraper located at Liverpool St). Cost us $47.50 for the sushi train dinner and beers which we thought was a bit steep. Back to the apartment around 8pm and Jono made me guide us home without the use of the GPS. Ah, success - we got home without the GPS! Starting to get some idea of directions in this city ;)

Day 1 in Sydney (8th March 2011)

2011-03-08T21:12:00.000+11:00

Was up at 4am to get ready for our 4.20am taxi pick-up. Oh my god - look at our huge bags! We pretty much packed our whole lives into 4 check-in bags (and a carry-on each as well). Yep, that's all we are bring across the Tasman and no, we don't have any boxes for shipment for the move. Not bad, huh?

You must be wondering how on earth we could pull off bringing 2 check-in bags each on an economy seat fare with Air New Zealand. Well, Jono did a bit of research and it turned out that the 2nd check-in bag only cost an additional $50 and you can pack it up to 23kgs - works out a lot cheaper than shipping the 2nd bag over. I was surprised that we could use the self check-in kiosk to pay for the extra cost and get tags for all the bags - most airlines would require you to pay at the check-in counter. Sweet!

"It's over 23kgs - you need to repack your items," said the Air New Zealand female ground staff that was stationed at the bag drop-off area. Even though our total weight of the bags per person did not exceed 46kgs (23kgs x 2), the lady was adamant that each bag had to be under 23kgs. Argh! We had to reshuffle our items and weighed the bags again - so rushed!

Around 5am, we finally sorted out the baggage drop-off and paid our departure taxes. We can now take a breather from all the rushing and packing from the last couple of days. Aaa...We sat around the airport lounge munching on muesli bars that I packed for us (we got cheap seats for $356.20 for two one-way tickets to Sydney so food wasn't provided) before going through customs, then headed to 'The Rock' (this is the newly expanded international terminal) for flat whites at Mojo. This is probably our last good coffee for a long while since everyone in Wellington keeps telling us that the coffee in Sydney is terrible :(

Left Wellington at 6.30am and arrived in Sydney at 8am. The queue to exit the terminal was ridiculously long - you needed to snake around the baggage collection area till you find the end of the queue. We were in no rush so it didn't matter but I highly doubt travellers who were here on business would be able to attend a 9am meeting on time (and there were quite a few of them too, dressed in business suits and looking rather flustered). Hah, and if you think the queue is over once you got out of the airport, you are wrong. To get a taxi, you had to join another long queue at the sheltered taxi rank where a supervisor was busily directing people to the next available taxi. We were directed to a taxi van given the amount of luggage we had and at 9am, we finally left the airport and headed into the city to Regis On Castlereagh where we would be staying for the week.

Cost us $51.20 for the 45-minute taxi ride. Unfortunately our serviced apartment wasn't ready so we left our luggage bags at reception and headed out to explore our new city. I can't believe I'm finally here, back in Sydney after some 21 years (I came here for a holiday with Mum when I was 8). Took me this long and one Jono later to move to Australia - I guess my last 3 attempts to move to Australia didn't work out because it just wasn't meant to be. But I'm here now and ready to start a brand new chapter in life! I'm really glad I'm not doing it on my own this time round but have Jono with me :) It's going to be exciting, rediscovering Sydney as an adult! And it's a warm 27 degrees too - loving the weather already ;)

We took a walk towards the city's famous Darling Harbour and ended up in the food court in Harbourside Shopping Centre, Darling Harbour's one-stop location for shopping, leisure and dining by the waterfront. It was only 10.30am but we were famished so had an early lunch (technically not early as it would have been 12.30pm in NZ). What a pain - you can't buy a meal under $15 on your credit card so we had to withdraw cash from Jono's NZ credit card to pay for lunch. We didn't carry much Australian dollars since we had transferred a lump sum to our bank in Australia which we set up before we came over and were due to collect our bank cards later today. Still, you would think most places would accept credit cards...

Back to Regis On Castlereagh to check in and took a nap till around 12.30pm, showered and then headed out again to the bank located a couple of blocks away from where we stayed. To be honest, our accommodation didn't turn out as nice as what we saw on their website. We had an oldish-looking studio apartment that needed a bit more TLC and revamp. It was pretty basic with enough space for us to unpack our bags, a tiny kitchen (self-catering), bathroom and no laundry facility. It was next to the railway tracks and there was a construction site around the corner - even with the AC cranked up and living on the 11th floor, we could still hear the sound of drilling coming from downstairs. I sure hope we'll find our own place soon! I've been asking friends who live Sydney for advice on where to find rental properties and which areas to live in (avoid the west side and Redfern, I was told) and it seems the site everyone uses is Domain. Need to start our search when we get back later!

"Hello?" I answered my mobile phone which was still connected to my NZ number. Who would be calling me from Australia?? Turned out it was the recruiter from M&T Resources (M&T stands for Management & Technology) calling me up to confirm an interview tomorrow morning. What?! I've only landed a few hours ago and now I've got an interview to attend??? Wow, is the job market in Sydney really THAT competitive? I had a Skype interview for a database analyst position yesterday (the day BEFORE I arrived in Sydney and I clearly told the interviewer I would arrive today) and now this. I don't even know where the heck the interview location is - I've just got here! "Don't worry, I'll give you directions to North Sydney when you come see me tomorrow," assured Hayden Lines, the recruiter whom I've spoken to over a week ago when he first contacted me after reviewing my CV for a data warehouse position he had advertised on SEEK. Babe, I've got an interview tomorrow - I need you to coming along with me so I won't get lost on my own in this big city!

Finally left Regis at 1.30pm and headed to National Australia Bank (NAB) on Liverpool St to meet banking consultant Vinod. NAB is one of the four largest financial institution in Australia and we chose them purely because we were able to open a bank account while living overseas, simply filling up an online form. Our funds were transferred across last week when we received our bank account numbers and all we needed to do now in order to access the money is provide the bank with proof of identity and our bank cards would be issued to us on the spot. The account type we got was called NAB Classic Banking (equivalent to the transaction or cheque account in NZ banks though here, the cheque account is redundant and they use the savings account instead i.e. you need to select the SAV button when using the bank card at ATMs and on EFTPOS machines) which doesn't incur any monthly fee, regardless how we bank (use of another bank's ATM, international transaction and overdraft fees still applies). We learnt from Vinod that we could also get a Visa Debit card with our accounts so requested for the additional cards ordered in for us. This will come in handy should we need to purchase items online, even if we first need available funds in the bank (this is a debit card so no funds = no zap). Oh, and it has this payWave facility so you only need to 'wave' the card on the contactless reader for purchases under $100 and the transaction is complete - no pins or signature required. How cool is that!

Left the bank and went in search for an Optus store to get ourselves new SIM cards for our phones. Cost us $30 each for a pre-paid starter pack which included $30 credit, unlimited SMS and 500MB data that expires in 30 days. Sounds like a pretty good deal for only $30 per month :) Ok, so we now have new mobile numbers and the GPS on our phones are working - yes! I'll need this when job-hunting while Jono's at work.

We stopped by at e-Bluetooth Internet Cafe on Liverpool St on the way back to Regis to sort out a few things online and then popped in to have coffee and cake at LoveBite. A chic cafe that is quite empty at 3.45pm (whereas when we passed by this morning, it was packed and had a queue from the counter onto the footpath). Cost us $10.50 for our shared cake and two flat whites - the coffee isn't that bad as everyone warned us. Perhaps a tad too much water but was still alright and drinkable.

Back at the studio apartment and we started looking for houses on Domain, noting down viewing times and locations for properties that seem to meet our criteria - minimum 1-bedroom place with internal laundry, under $500 per week, near the city and easy commute to work - looks like we have quite a few to check out this week. Broadband internet was available via Ethernet cable in our studio for $10 a day which was reasonably cheap.

Cheryl gave us a Lonely Planet Sydney (City Travel Guide) as a gift for our move so we used it to decide where to have dinner this evening. We settled for Vietnamese and around 7.30pm, we went in search for the restaurant that was supposedly located on Thomas St (about 4 blocks from we are staying) in Haymarket. After two trips up and down the street and still no luck finding the place, we ended up in a Vietnamese restaurant on George St named Pasteur. Definitely not a place of ambience with the noise, slippery floors, white fluorescent lighting and tables packed up so closely to maximise the number of customers in the restaurant. However, it was quite busy and bowls of pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) and plates of basil and bean sprouts kept coming out from the kitchen. "Shall we try it?" I asked Jono and we decided to give it a go. Busy should mean good food, right?

For $27 (they take cash only), we had a large beef noodle soup for Jono, a small chicken noodle soup for me and 2 glasses of coconut juice (Chinese tea was complimentary). Mmm, the soup was YUM! It was just like the one Claus took us to in Melbourne last year. I don't care if the place looks terrible - the pho is great and I'm sure we'll be coming back here quite often!

Walking back to our apartment, we saw several restaurants in the vicinity that were packed and had insane queues outside (the queues were blocking the footpath). Seriously, the food is THAT awesome that it is worth the wait?? I think it'll take me a while to adjust to the idea of queuing like that for food, and just the sheer amount of people living in this city. I've gone from a capital city in NZ to a city that has the same population as the whole of NZ - it is going to take quite a lot of getting use to...

You know, given it's only our first day in Sydney, I have to say we've been very productive and got a lot of important things sorted out today. Hopefully I'll secure a job soon - it is my biggest worry, coming to Sydney with no job (I did start my job hunt once I handed in my resignation) and even though Jono is happy to support me while I'm looking for a job, I wouldn't want it to be dependant on him financially for too long. Well, let's see what comes out of my interview tomorrow. Eeks, I can't believe I have an interview tomorrow!

Last weekend in New Zealand (5th - 6th March 2011)

2011-03-07T08:06:00.000+11:00

Time flies and it's now the our last weekend in NZ. Still quite a lot of packing to do, sorting out what goes back to Steve (Steve used to flat with Jono and left a lot of his furniture and kitchen items with us when he went overseas) and transporting them in our cars over to Steve's new flat in Thorndon, which items are to be dropped off at the Salvation Army and which ones to pack up for storage in Palmerston North, and of course, deciding what needs to go with us to Sydney. And in between all the sorting and multiple trips here and there, we also had TradeMe buyers dropping in throughout most of Saturday to collect their purchases from us. It was insane!

Around 5pm, we finally stopped working and sank ourselves into the sofa in the lounge. Oh my god, I'm exhausted...I can't move anymore...but we can't stop here...it's our farewell drinks tonight...We took a short nap on the sofa and was back up and got ready to head out to our party. A quick stop at Kapai on Courtenay Place for a healthy dinner and around 7pm, we walked over to Hashigo Zake to meet up with our friends.

Hah, as I expected, we were the first to arrive! Well, we were the hosts of the party so should turn up ahead of everyone anyway. I had contacted Hashigo Zake to book out an area for our party as well as ordered platters in advance ($180 for 3 platters of mixed nibbles to be brought out throughout the night). Signs "The lounge is reserved from 7pm for Jonathan & Angelica" were put up on the tables in the lounge area which was great though we got several evil looks from other patrons for hogging the entire area when there's only two of us sipping our beer. Some didn't give a damn about the signs and sat down anyway. Hmm, they can stay for now but when more of our friends turn up, they had better move...grr...

Friends and work colleagues from both our social networks started to pour in as the night continued, stopping for a drink or two and gave us their well wishes for our new adventures in Sydney. It was really nice to catch up with everyone before we headed off and sorry if I didn't get to spend more time with each of you as I would have liked - too many friends to catch up with in just one night! Do keep in touch and come visit us in Sydney soon! Photos taken at our farewell drinks: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8070917@N05/sets/72157626631261583/detail/

Sunday was yet another day of moving, this time with David's help to bring the remaining furniture and storage boxes up to Palmerston North on the trailer we rented from the corner gas station in Palmy when we were there last weekend. Gee, how is it that we have so much stuff?! I would have a lot more if it wasn't because I intended to leave NZ in 2007 and moved several times within Wellington since I returned - it was a tedious effort to move my stuff that I swore never to build up crap again. Still, I'm guilty for a few boxes to be brought up to the Woolleys home for storage :/

Wow, our room looks so empty...With the queen-sized bed dismantled and packed into the trailer, the only remains were our luggage bags and pile of clothes to be reorganised into them on Monday. This is it - we are moving to Sydney!

The rest of the day was spent up in Palmy, unpacking the trailer and putting our stuff away (mostly stored in Jono's room) before heading out to dinner with Jono's parents and their family friends at Rendezvous Restaurant in Fitzherbert that Cheryl had organised. Was so nice to catch up with the extended family - Tony & Mary, Graeme & Diane, Janet, Hossien & Nazi were all present tonight. And Cheryl even got us a farewell card and has been secretly going round the table for each person to sign. Thanks everyone for your well wishes - we'll miss you all heaps! Keep in touch and please come visit us in Sydney!! Photos taken by Janet:

Me and Jono all smiles for the camera

Cheryl and Mary

Graham and Diane

Jono and his mum

One more day back in Wellington to finish up the last of our packing and cleaning up the flat, a few hours sleep in our sleeping bags and then an early departure to the airport for Sydney on Tuesday morning. Oh, and we'll be dropping my car off too with my work colleague Anne and her partner Vincent - yes, they bought over my lovely Yaris (s0 sad I have to part with it - I really like my little blue zippy car!). But it cannot come with us to Sydney so has to go :/ But I'm sure Anne and Vincent will enjoy the car as much as I did :)

Sydney here we come!

Last day of work at Telecom (4th March 2011)

2011-03-04T21:13:00.000+11:00

Mother Nature really knows how to encourage me to leave Wellington by giving us such terrible weather leading up to the move to Sydney – it’s pouring with rain outside with gusty winds, AGAIN!

Today’s my last day of work at Telecom. I can’t believe I’ve actually been in Wellington for the last 3.5 years; I had all intention to make a short trip back to Wellington in 2007 to pick up the rest of my belongings and move to Melbourne but ended up staying on this long because I got offered a job with Telecom. It was a great opportunity for me as I got to move into an IT-based role which is more in line with my degree, and in the process gained new skills and experience which I’m hoping will quickly secure me a job in Sydney. Eek, I’m jobless effective tomorrow!

With Telecom’s recent cost-cutting policies, the company wasn’t throwing me a farewell party like they had done for my former colleagues so we had to improvise and had a small morning tea instead. I bought an orange ricotta cake from Moore Wilsons (cost $37) for the team, and Phil and Peter chipped in some cookies (the unofficial new policy is that the teams pool money for their departing team member but with only me, Hamish and Phil in our immediate team, I can’t expect them to fork out the full cost of the morning tea so bought my own cake). Around 9.30am, everyone gathered in the kitchen for the morning tea with Chris kicking it off with his farewell speech. The team pooled together money to get me a leaving card and gifts – a mug (every person who leaves the team gets one), a keychain with shape of New Zealand and a long-sleeved top with Maori designs, all to remind me of my roots in NZ. Chris insisted I unwrap the mug and show it to the team. It had a map of Australia but instead of having names of the cities and towns, it was replaced with a list of all possible hazards and disasters one could encounter in Australia: floods, baby-eating dingoes, stingrays, sharks, box jellyfish etc. We all cracked up laughing as I read them out loud! Really have to hand it to Chris and the team leads for coming out with the list for the mug – it’s brilliant :) Thanks everyone for the gifts and card!

My last day was very cruisy, mainly tidying things up and clearing my desk. Several of us headed down to the pub for a few drinks after work before saying our final goodbyes. I’ve enjoyed working with everyone and will definitely miss being in their company. Please do keep in touch and you’ll never know, we might end up working together again in the near future! Like Chris said, those who left somehow ends up back in the team ;)