04 Oct 2008

The day started out with a movie date with Michelle & Mark at the Luna theatre, which was kinda old school, where you pick your own seats. Imp got free tickets for all of us to watch the screening of "Burn After Reading". Not to spoil the show for anyone, all I'm going to say is that Brad Pitt was damn funny in the movie, and I would pay to watch it.

After the movies, we were deciding if we should take the train to the Royal Show, but Brendan decided to just drive there since we were gonna drive the car to M&M's place to get some plants. So after a quick tour of M&M's place and a little discussion about their garden, we were off to find the Royal Show. And once we spotted the fair, we had to look for a parking spot, which Brendan found quite quickly and closeby.

The line at ticketing was short and I wondered if there weren't much people there, but I think we were actually the stragglers that came in late in the day considering the amount of people already tired and about to leave the show just as we entered.

Skipping the Chinese acrobat show that Brendan was a little intruiged by, we headed towards the centre of the fair when I spotted the animal exhibit and we headed straight in. First thing we saw were little baby goats that were curious enough to eat Brendan's jacket. The seem to try to out-climb each other on the blocks set out for them, entertaining us at the same time.

As we turned round the corner to get a view of the huge momma pig and her piglets, people were ogling at a bunch of eggs in an incubator. Wondering why eggs would be so interesting, I peeked over and caught sight of a little ostrich, which looked like it just escaped it own shell. The horrible gunky stuff it had on it's body wasn't a very nice sight, but a newly hatched chick is still a wonderful sight to behold.

Making a round through the exhibit, you realise that they seem to have brought in the biggest and smallest of farm animals here. And the small ones make the most noise, while the big ones just chill out in their own corners or are looking for some snacks. Amy would probably have a panic attack here.

Welcome To The World Newbie.

After the animals, it was time to go on my search for the Showbags - bags filled with products that are related to a certain brand/cartoon/theme. Looking at the showbags available the night before, I made a list of the bags I wanted to get and even cut out newspaper coupon to get some good deals. Yes, I came prepared and with a mission!

Displays Of The Stuff You Get In Each Bag

Other than showbags, none of which I wanted, this area held all the things I like, Food! Got some really good bargains, a pair of which will go into my salt & pepper ollection as the biggest and heaviest grinders I'll own (so far).

A Town Made Of Chocolate


Speed Vs. Reaction Time Game.... Don't Kill The Tomato


Poor Tomato....

The search for my showbags didn't end there, but it took a detour through the funfair area. Just before that, the food monster got hungry and needed a refill, and at the same time, we waited out the quick sprinkle of rain that threatened the whole afternoon. Then it was off to check out typical funfair games and rides... and still no sign of the showbags. *Sigh*

Onward To The Rides & Games!




Monster Gets Hungry Again

My camera died just as Imp and Brendan chose a crazy ride to go on and I forgot to take the pictures back with me. Anyway, after screaming her lungs out, the cold the rain brought in wasn't helping her breathe any better and she had to hurry us home. Good thing was, just as we reached the end, I found the whole cluster of showbags! And after warming up with some hot cobs of corn, she had a little more energy to spare for me to go around showbag shopping. Then the best thing of showbag hunting... we found a little gem in the corner with all the beautiful dogs and puppies that were contestants of the many competitions held at the show. And with the corner came pet-friendly showbags!

First Bag I Bought Thinking It Was The One In Mind For Amy


Most Fun Bag From Where Brendan Discovered A New Skill


Don't Euthanise Healthy Animals!!


Most Outstanding Bag That I Hunted The Whole Fair For


Something For Denise


The One I Intended To Get For Amy
The First Minute I Saw It Online


Most Reusable Bag


For Barkley

After ending my hunt, we went back home and decided to make a simple meal out of leftovers and instant noodles. Ending the night in front of the tv watching some movies that were playing.

Contented :D

03 Oct 2008

Today Imp didn't have class but needed to work at the guild, and she decided to let me have a look at the crazy place she works in. Before you head in to the guild, you'd think that the place was all prim and proper, all business and no play. Once you step pass the doors, you're greeted by the shocking amount of posters/artwork/photos that has replaced wallpaper. Almost every bit of space available has been plastered with something, except for one or two office doors, and the ceiling. The people here obviously love their photo-editing programs.

Wannabes


Very Entertaining Quotes


I Vote 'Serial Killers'


I Don't Mind The 3rd One For My Lot


Odd People Work Here

Imp got most of her necessary stuff done and it was time for her appointment at the school's salon. This salon's staff are cool. The lady who cut my sis' hair had at least 3 neon colours in her hair alone. Add on the tattoos, her clothes and piercings, she was one funky, bubbly, colour palette with razor-sharp snippers!

Once she got her fringe done (seriously I don't get why people pay to get a bitty bit of their hair cut), we went around hunting for food. First we got to the main canteen where I got two cups of vegetable soup and some bread. Then we headed to the store that sold Asian stuff, got some sushi and some fresh spring rolls, not forgetting a bottle of Diet Coke with LIME !!! With all the discounts my sis got, this meal was waaaaaaaay cheap!

Then it was back to the guild to eat it all. Maybe it's just me, but if I was in that school, I'll probably live on soup and bread for quite a while. The soup was just yummy - thick enough without being goopy and well flavoured. Add to that the multigrain bread, that would have been perfect lightly toasted and buttered - 'Yummy Yummy Yummy I Got Love In My Tummy....'. Ok, so two cups of soup wouldn't actually fill me up, so it was onto the smoked salmon sushi. I didn't expect it to be that great but it managed to keep me happy 'cos they didn't spoil the thing by adding too much rubbish. That filled me up quite a bit and we headed to her office to hide and gossip.

Back in the office, she had some official work to do - signing some papers and re-assessing some rule book - before she could stop and gossip about stuff. During her work, I looked up and realised that there was a lone dried chilli hanging from the light. Apparently no one knows why it's there or who actually left it there in the first place. Maybe someone should write an article about it one day? Hmm....

Finishing her work and the spring rolls (those were yummy too - packed to the max with stuff, and with a lovely dipping sauce that was sweet, tangy and salty... all it needed was a hint of spice and perfection!) we headed to the grocers for some veggies for tonight's dinner. Then we hunted for some stupid store to pick up a radiator for Brendan. The stupid store called itself 'Radiators R Us' over the phone, but its store sign was something else. The guy wsn't too helpful either, and his directions were rather crappy. Forgot how Imp and I realised where we should head to, but we were just glad to get the radiator and head back.

Got a call from Uncle Shane just as we got back to the house, saying that he's gonna go visit his baby tonight, and asked if we wanted to go. Brendan was too tired to go (but was not tired enough to want to work on his car) and so we started roasting the lamb dinner before we headed out to the hospital, leaving Brendan to duty to take it out before he didn't get any to eat tonight.

Had a quick snack of the spicy mee goreng and headed to one of the hospitals somewhere in town. Once we found a parking space, we had to climb up the mountain to get to the main entrance of the hospital, which made us go round and round just to get to where we wanted as they close up certain areas after 6pm. Anyhoo, we finally get to the right place and see Grandaunt Nene & Uncle Shane in the waiting area with KarMei (baby's momma). Greetings and all done with, we take turns to have a look at baby Elias and I end up watching Uncle Shane change his son's diaper.

He Can't Stop Smiling... And He Looks Goofy

After all the fussing and crying, the diaper was changed and the happy dad was feeding his son, after which Elias gave a loud satisfied burp. Check out his head of hair and giant feet!

When KarMei got tired, we decided to all head back. Uncle Shane and Grandaunt Nene came with us and I was wondering how on earth we were going to fit into Imp's tiny car. Amazingly we did all fit in, but she nearly blew her engine when trying to get up the hill with Uncle Shane in the back seat. After we got all the burnt smell out of the car, the journey was rather pleasant all the way.

When we got back, Brendan was still fussing over his car and didn't stop until we called him in for dinner. Imp deboned the leg, which brought out the urge to act like Daisy. As the dinner was meant to be for my birthday, we thought that the wine Michelle & Mark gave as a present would be a great accompliment to the night's big feast. Simple, tasty and enjoyable... It was tv and bed after.

MMMMmmmmmm.....


Trying To Salvage Tomatoes

02 Oct 2008

It's my birthday and I'm up early once again, this time at 8.30a.m. Imp is up and getting ready to head to work, making herself some breakfast, and made some for me as well. Marmite is something I'm not crazy about, but having it with butter on toast is not too bad, especially if you have a big glass of juice to wash it down.

Beautiful.


Spring Arriving.

She leaves and I'm get ready to meet Michelle who has planned to take me out today long before I arrive in Australia. Right at 11, when she said she would be here, I hear a knock and open to find her all happy and smiley at the door bearing gifts. As I kinda rushed to get my things, I forget to even give her a hug. Anyway, hugs and exchanging of gifts done, we were off to some restaurant of her choice in Applecross. Later I found out it was the location where she wanted to hold her wedding, but had found a better location down south instead.

As we got to the place, she informed me that it was formerly a mental institute that has been reformed into a museum, craft school, and restaurant. As we were a little early for lunch, we walked around and checked out the surroundings, which included a massive playground for kids. As we were starting to get cold, we decided to head indoors and check out the art exhibition that was held in one of the mental wards. The exhibition itself was a bit odd, but then again... aren't most arty farty stuff kinda odd? The way some of the pieces were placed were rather interesting, like that one chair right in-between two of the mental wards' doors. It looked just like a chair was placed there for the warden or something. Kinda creepy, kinda interesting, kinda strange.... arty farty. Another piece was a rocking horse that made a rustling noise when you stroked its back. The pieces were all for sale and the prices itself were a bit mental.

To The Right Of Me.


For Titanic Moments.


To The Left Of Me.






Hellooo... Anyone In There?

Once we were bored with the whole exhibit, which wasn't that big, we headed back to the restaurant to start filling our tummies. Michelle ordered a garlic bread and risotto, while I had a soup with shark & chips (ala fish & chips). She, being the kuat makan she is, then decides that she wants chips and I tell her to take mine, but she thinks it's not enough and goes to order another portion of it. So the garlic bread arrives and she tells me to take a piece, which I do but wait for my soup to arrive to enjoy it. The soup, however, takes about 10 minutes to arrive after the bread, which has already turned cold, but amazingly hasn't turned chewy. The celeriac soup sounded, and looked rather plain, but the flavours were quite interesting, especially with the addition of the tiger prawns. I was also glad to have saved the bread to mop up what the spoon left in the bowl.

Love The Idea.

The mains then take about 20 minutes to arrive, the service is a little slow but the food definitely makes up for it. The risotto looked rather plain, as if it wouldn't have much flavour in it, but looks are absolutely deceiving with this restaurant. The flavours of the prawns, which were really sweet, and carried the nice saltiness of the sea, were worked right into the risotto, flavouring the dish without having to add much more herbs. For myself, it was fish and chips, but with whaler shark instead of some normal white fish. The first bite reminded me of the battered shark chunks my grandmother would make when she got her hands on a good bit of shark. Along with the mains came the extra plate of chips she had ordered, and realised what a big mistake it was. Thinking that the portion of chips with my dish would be small, it turned out, I got a portion just as large as the one on the extra plate.

So just as we were about done, Imp calls to say she is on her way to meet us and we slow our pace down so she could help us polish off what we couldn't finish. The F1 driver arrives in no time and finishes most of the stuff we had, and ordered a beef carpaccio to satisfy her meat cravings. We end up talking a whole lot more, stuffing a few chips here and there, but ended up leaving about 3/4 of the plate chips. Then we were off to Leederville to get dessert, leaving us some time to digest what we've had earlier.

By the time we got to our destination, we all had enough space to stuff down Michelle's favourite chocolate fudge mousse. As she said she couldn't finish one all in one sitting, we decided taking 2 instead of 3, with 2 mini mousses so that I can try a bigger variety. Imp packed the last piece of the choc fudge mousse for Brendan before it was sold out and sat down. The choc fudge mousse was like a Nutella mousse on a Ferrero Rocher base. Heavenly without being too rich. MMMmmmmmmm...... Heaven. Let's not even bother about the other two tiny ones. The shop shouldn't even bother actually.

Once satisfied by desserts, we were off to check out some novelty shops. One shop had the most interesting things, bullet-shaped mints, bubble wrap keychains, condom paperclips among other stuff. We got some stuff from there, which included my birthday card from Imp. Then we head across the road to the record shop which housed a clothes store and some household decor knick knacks. Got a few more items from there and Imp was rushing to head home before traffic gets horrid... but we were a little too late.

Enjoying My Mouthful.

We get home and had a snack before Brendan gets home from work. Imp makes hot some leftovers and we leave him with a big glob of food to go take advantage of late-nite Thursdays. Imp head straight for the mall rushes right to the plus-size store she found a while ago. We spend about an hour at the store trying on tons of stuff and end up spending A LOT on new clothes just for me. After all that work, I needed a break and it was Imp's turn to shop and try something for herself. She heads to another store and gets a Grecian-looking dress and a pair of shoes which sorta matched. Then she was looking at clutches when I decide to get a black one for myself, got her to pay for it, and call it my birthday present. Heehee.

After all that, shops were starting to close and we had to get dinner from the food court. Imp chose to get dinner for both of them from a Asian stall. I was hesitant at first, but after looking at the roasted meat, I couldn't resist the roast meat noodles... noodle-bin that I am. Although the soup was a little too sweet, the meats - soy sauce chicken, roasted duck and roasted pork - were done to perfection. Now I wonder what the char siew is like... not one of my faves but I might give it a go if I have another chance.

01 Oct 2008

Though it might not mean a thing over here, I'm guessing everyone back home are enjoying their day off from work, possibly busy stuffing their faces. Well so am I. I woke up at the unearthly time, 5.30a.m., to the sun beginning to rise, though I can't see crap beyond the fences around the house. After showering, I get out to the kitchen and decided to clear the mess up cos it was beginning to irritate me (I think I'm getting a bit of OCD). Then took a break to watch tv and do some knitting, and out comes Imp, late for work. She grumbled that I had nothing better but do dishes at 7 in the morning, which was rather true, and asked if I wanted some toast. I decided to just eat my leftover pasta and that was a great way to break fast.

She then goes to wake Brendan up, who, due to the rain, doesn't have to work... which is good and bad. Good cos I at least have someone to hang out with while waiting for Imp to end work. Bad cos he loses like $200 a day in pay, and it's forecasted to rain for the next 2 days as well. Poor boy.

They leave together, Brendan sending in his car for repairs, while Imp head to work, and then drives her car back. He starts putting away dishes and cleaning the kitchen counter... then he starts vacuuming the house. He doesn't seem to do a really good job of it, and I only realised why when he mentioned that he hates having to mop the house. I thought mopping up this house would be easier than in the cafe, and decided to stop knitting and give him a hand with that. So within the hour, we were done mopping and getting any sticky stuff off the floor, and watched a show about rock formation and plate movements while the floor dried. Then it was back to vacuuming up the bits that the mop couldn't pick up.

Once that was done, he was out with his new 2nd-hand laptop and was looking for games. After hearing that his laptop can't take the game he loves, he starts getting hungry and I got no idea why he just doesn't ask if I wanna go out to have something, but keeps asking if I'm hungry. Not knowing if he wants to go out or make something to eat, I kept quiet until I realise that he wants to go grab a burger. Poor boy must be starving, cos he drove like a mad man to the nearest shopping area.

After having burgers at Hungry Jacks, a.k.a. Burger King, we went to look for some games, and then he popped in to check out dumb bells to pass some time before we had to go get Imp. Then after loading her into the back, we were off to get some Citronella plants but they only had one. There was an offer for strawberry plants and I offered to get them, but they didn't have enough planters and they scrapped the idea. Then we were off to get pots from another store after putting in an order for another 5 Citronellas. I got a feeling the next time I come, I'll see a Citronella hedge.

Another nursery and they had the pots Imp wanted. The plants here seem more expensive, but they had bigger-sized and a larger range of plants. Filling half the boot with the pots, we then head to the supermarket for groceries as they really needed to fill up their pantry, and Imp decided to get something for my birthday dinner. Right next to the supermarket was a fruit and veg store, run by some Asians, and I think I've never seen rock melons that cheap in my life. The were going at 2 whole melons for $3, and the lady gave me 2 halves for a dollar. Well all cut and ready to just scoop and eat... why not? I'm gonna have melon bowls to eat out of soon!

Back to the house, and I'm packing the stuff away while Imp re-pots the citronella. I'm finding fungus-ridden tomatoes and pumpkin, and wonder what else is rotting in there, only to find a tub of cheese that has bubble-blowing cheese and gooey liquid. YAK! So got rid of those and a questionable nasi goreng, and now the fridge is full of fresh veggies, juice, and a huge hunk of lamb. Then Imp received a call from Shane, and I answered it with his first line being "Hey had it this morning." And no one could figure out what he was talking about and finally he gave up and said, "My kid was born this morning.". Grumpy old man couldn't just say that in the first place. Well... welcome to the world Elias.

Monster gets hungry again and Imp has decided to make her tuna pasta bake and a salad - ingredients which she rattled off but I didn't care cos I'd eat it unless it had fresh milk. I was waiting to watch 'Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares' on tv, but was dozing off, even while the 2 of them were having dinner. I think I'm getting to be like a granny? Caught myself dozing off and got up and head to bed instead. They were both a bit shocked but realised that I did wake at 5.30 in the morning, and so asked if I wanted to eat the stuff. I told them to leave it out as I'd probably wake up when I'm hungry and I'd have it then. Imp asked if I wanted her to wake me to watch the show, and I told her that if she can't, try to record it for me, at the same time testing out the DVD set.

She came in to see if I could get up, but I was toooo tired still....

ZZZZZzzzzzz