I made profiteroles...

For a special friend =)

Brian's Farewell

A farewell dinner for Brian, we went to Gordon for dinner followed by our usual dessert for dinner. We wanted to go somewhere far.. so we ended up in Brighton. We didn't take as many pics as we hoped, and we forgot to take one with Andrew =( Sorry ~





Brian, I wish you all the best in Hong Kong =) I know you will succeed & enjoy working in Hong Kong very much!!

Balmoral Beach

I love pracising retirement lifestyle!!!! YAY !!!
Having a very very nice and relaxing 2.5 hr lunch at Balmoral Beach, absorbing as much Sydney sunshine as I missed in the last year... and will be missing in another 2weeks... I'll be sure to be there again !! (also to try their yummy mussells hehe)

Grey **

On a big green grassland, there's a little grey cloud sitting above my head. It's pouring rain and i'm all soaked. How I wish I can step away from the cloud and allow the sun to dry me up.

It started with a kiss

If your feeling a little lost or down right now

Because you constantly remind yourself that:
Someone loves you :)
Things will get better, I know it!
You can get through this, because you have the strength inside of you.
Don't forget who you are, what you love, and the people who care about you.

Drive to Wisemans Ferry

On a spontaneous sunny 27 degree Wednesday morning, clear blue skies, with my favourite Simpsons cloud's, not knowing where to go for lunch, we decided to go for a drive past Dural, to Wisemans Ferry. The drive was very scenic and very pleasant. One lane road, with tall green trees on both sides of the roads. There were also small houses and acres of land on both sides with cows and sheeps.

It felt so good to absorb the Sydney sunshine. Something that I have missed alot in Hong Kong. Sitting on the outdoor balcony in a small cafe in Wiseman Ferry, looking out to see crisp green still trees, yards of clean green grass with fresh cut grass smell (there was a guy downstairs mowing the lawn), it was so relaxing. It was like a picture from a painting. *I wish I had brought my camera!!*

Having a tender steak sandwich, rack of lamb, a bottle of white wine made the atmosphere so comfortable and relaxing. So sensational. The coffee and a chocolate bavarian for dessert just topped it off =) ** and of course, the great company I had **

I love Sydney. The slow'ness of how people work, the relaxing friendly smiles from people you don't know, beautiful sceneries just a drive away, just makes me remember why I love Sydney so much. I felt so happy today. I haven't felt like this for a very long time.

My Latte is injured AGAIN

Today my Latte had his first mobile grooming wash. The stooooopid mobile dog groomer man - while shaving his coat, cut his leg & shaved some hair off his balls... now he's limping =(

When the mobile groomer man asked me what his name was, I said "siw bak", the guy just looked at me and said "pardon?". Both my brother and I couldn't stop laughing.
Anyways.. to solve this problem, now that i'm back, we're naming him Latte.

The stooopid mobile dog groomer man.. i'm never going to call you again!!

First stop in Sydney

My first stop as soon as I got off the plane, went to see my best friend K and Penny!

Business class back to Sydney

I was so happy when the girl next to me in economy asked whether I would like to change seats with her boyfriend because they would like to sit with each other and he was sitting in business class.. hehe.. =)

see how spacious and how luxurious my flight back to Sydney was! hehe



Massage function on my comfy chair

My yummy lamb dinner

Dessert!

Breakfast - banana muffin
Plus creamy mushroom with egg and mash..
What a wonderful flight back to Sydney! hehee

I love this!!

Chinese New Year - Day 2

Today is the second day of Chinese New Year. I did something that sounds very weird. I went to my ex's house to "Bai Lin" with his mum. It's been about 6 years since we've broken up. His mum is one of those super nice and friendly mums who can just talk non stop. I remember one year when his mother came to Sydney, she bought me bags of clothes and bags. I haven't seen his mum for over 6 years, yet, when I saw her today, we hugged, smiled and still had that warm fuzzy feeling. She's asked me to her place for dinner, asked me for yumcha, however, I kept refusing because I felt abit awkward. Today, she asked me to go to visit her, at first I hesitated, but since I was leaving, I went. I thought it was going to be awkward. But it wasn't at all.

Another odd thing is, I actually went there with his ex-wife! His ex-wife is one that was with him when he cheated on me. At that time, 6 years ago, I really didn't like her. I thought she was a mega biaaatch for stealing my boyfriend, but funny enough, today, we're actually very good friends. In the last year, we've become very close friends and we both have supported each other through many ups and downs. Today, she, like me 6 years ago, has been cheated on. I feel sad for her, but i'm glad she's finally let go and is moving on and letting other guys in her life.

Today, we sat around a table with his mum and 2 younger brothers, talking and laughing without him. I never ever thought that this scene would ever happen again. I remember this year when his grandma passed away, I wanted to ring and send my condolences to his mum, but I never got the chance to ask for her number.

Took pics today, but can't upload them till i'm back in Syd. 4 more days =)
Will definitely upload them so you can put a face to who i'm talking about.

Happy Year of the Rat

Here's to wish all my family and friends a Happy and healthy year of the Rat. May this year bring you much much happiness, joy and great health!!
Lots of love
xxoo

Taiwan - Taipei holiday journal

Friday 25th January - cold, cloudy & raining
Depart HK at 11.30 and got to Taipei at 1.30. The flight was about one hour and twenty minutes. The tour consisted of approximately 30 people and we took up 14 of the 30 people. The first stop was to "9 fun" - about one and a half hours drive by coach. It consists of a market laneway, with lots of little food and snacks shops. They also had little gift shops. We had afternoon there where we ordered some cuttlefish balls, fook kin fish balls dry mix noodles, tofu with preserved egg with a special sweet sauce. There we bought back some peanuts & wasabi peanuts.

Then we went to dinner and had a traditional taiwanese dinner. It seemed abit plain because it was just veges, fish, tofu - but their deep fried tofu was very yummy with sweet sauce to dip. Crunchy on the outside and mega soft and smooth on the inside.

After dinner, we went to 101 shopping centre. This is a tall building in Taiwan - where they set off the fireworks on New Years. We went to the supermarket on the lowest level to buy taiwanese fruit. Apparently, taiwanese people are smart growers and they mix their fruits. Eg. Apple banana, strawberry orange. I tried to apple banana, it was very different. Pink on the inside - nice~


Saturday 26th January - cold, cloudy & raining
Morning call was at 7am. We went to Taiwan Memorial Hall to look at old statues and famous chinese ancestors. We were then taken to our usual pearl selling places. You can imagine the ones that the tour guides HAVE to take you to, and whatever you buy, they receive some sort of commission. They were telling us how eating pearl powder will make your skin better, cure diseases, get rid of acne, make your bones stronger, make your eyes look more radiant..the list goes on. After sitting there for 2 hours listening to the power of this powder, we finally got to go to lunch. We went to Miramar shopping centre where there was a huge ferris wheel. All the kids went on it and it was fun.

We had lunch there too - I had a tomato noodle with chicken & egg on a hot plate and mum ordered xiao long bao. Yummm!

After that, we went to a spa spring resort at Burgary Hotel. It was so nice. The water coming down strongly with pressure felt so good on the shoulders. We went to the outdoor hot spring which was 40 degrees!!
After being there for 2 hours, we got dropped off at "Sai moon ding" where it's like a shopping market and food stalls. We didn't go home with the tour guide and made our way eating through the streets and shopped till 11pm.

Sunday 28th January - cold, cloudy & raining
Wake up call at 7am again. This morning we struggled because it was super COLD!! Breakfast was crappy at the hotel. All they gave us was congee and fried noodles and toast with jam. It was all you can eat, but how much of that can you eat?
We went to the National Palace Museu. It is famous for its finest collection of Chinese art and culture in the world. They old over 650,000 pieces.
Our next stop was a famous tea hotel, where we tried some really nice green and oolong tea. After spending some time there and washing our hands with oolong tea leaves (believe it or not, it made my hand super ULTRA soft!! hehe), we got dropped off at "Si Lum" night market where we had lots of yummy goods. I had a deep fried chicken with cheese and bacon inside, mum had a kebab stick full of chicken bums. It was GROSSS!!



Monday 29th January - cold, cloudy & raining
Today was our "free" day. We woke up around 10am, checked out at 12pm. We went to the famous "Din Tai Fung" - for it's famous xiao long bau, vege bau, meat bau, dry mix & soupy noodles, sticky rice - sweet and salty, fried rice with deep fried pork and yummy dumplings. It was the best meal!!

Hate

I hate hate hate men that cheat !!!

To me "hate" is a very strong word and I've never used it on anyone. Not on any people i've ever met throughout my life, no matter how mean they were to me, not on anything. I may have "disliked" people or "disliked" things but in very rare circumstances "hate". I may have used that word once or twice on things that I have come across and have all of a sudden gotten really pissy about.

I can now say that there is one thing I hate: men that cheat.

It's happened to me in the past, it's happened to my friends and it's happened again. I always say that I can never forgive those who cheat. If it can be done once, it can always be done again. I have also seen sitations where it happened multiple times. I really really don't understand why relationships cannot be done the right way.

I have "a" girlfriend who I know cheats on her boyfriends, and for some reason, has this sort of satisfaction - which I can't seem to understand. She knows it's not right and my views on her cheating - but babes, i'm not talking about you so please don't get offended.

I can't believe i'm feeling this way...

After packing away 30 kilos for my brother to bring back to Sydney and after posting back 2 x 20 kilo boxes back home, i'm starting to feel sad. I'm feeling sad because I realised i'm going to miss Hong Kong.

I'm going to miss the busy'ness of this place.
I'm going to miss all my workmates who have been really supportive to me and some of which, have actually become "friends".
I'm going to miss my friends who have relocated from Sydney to HK and some really good friends that I have also met in HK.
I'm going to miss the yummy foods they have here...
despite all the whinging about how I dont like HK, I think my year in Hong Kong, I can honestly say, I gained a tonne.

It may not be a place where I would like to live for a long time, but it's definitely a place where I no longer mind being..

Slowly as I pack away my things, saying goodbye to my workmates, having final catch up sessions with friends, I feel a tinge of sadness.
I realised I leaving more behind than I thought.

Circling back to Sydney!!!

After all the tossing and throwing, I've finally made up my mind to go back to Sydney. For several reasons of course - which most of you already know why.

There's many many things for me to look forward to:
A new job, better opportunities.. bigger space... =)
My favourite shops: Review, Sheike, Mollini, Kookai.. and of course, the list goes on.
My favourite foods: Banana bread from Gloria Jeans, carrot cakes from Muffin Break, Cinnimon doughnuts from Doughnut King.. Red Rock chips which I am already craving for..
Looking forward to absorbing Sydney sunshine and fresh air..driving my black Civic.. seeing my best friend and my God daughter..
and of course, some special people too!
So much to look forward to.. I'm already counting down!!!

We're in 2008 !!!

First day of 2008 ~ What are my new year resolutions this year?

1. Try to loose weight without NOT eating my favourite foods - aim 5 kilos.
2. Once I go back to Sydney, MUST go swimming 3 times a week AND join either dancing, gym or yoga classes - NO exceptions
3. Find a new job
4. Finish off my CFP.. one more subject to go!!
5. Shop less... spend less on things I really don't need - of cos, there are always exceptions =)
6. Do my yearly detox
7. Go skydiving!!!

Mm.. that's all I can think of right now.. i'm extremely looking forward to a fresh new start to 2008 !!!

NYE 2007

This is our NYE celebration cake! As the clocked ticked over to 2008, we cut this yummy chocolate mousse cake!!

My NYE in HK is very memoriable. Being with my closest & bestest friends, eating a bucket of KFC, followed by snacks & fruit along with famous fortune teller Ms Mak, telling us our 2008 predictions. Apparently, 2008 is going to be a better year for me than 2007.. let's see if it's true!!!

Peninsula Afternoon Tea

After lining up and waiting for one and a half hours, we managed to get a table, sit down and enjoy Peninsula's Afternoon Tea set. Being able to chat, watch the girls behind us snap away like crazy, with the same un-smiling pose for all the zillions of shots they took, the wait didn't seem as long as it really was... our stomaches however, was grumbling for the yummy food.

Can you see the scones on the bottom plate? The raisin scones were scrumptious!! The best scones I've had in Hong Kong (with cream & strawberry jam too) YUMMM =)