Napoleon Cake from a friend

Got a nice surprise today after coming home from work. Hubby brought something back from work and told me "oh Adrian passed something to you from Sarah" I was so excited as I try to figure out what it could be? Dumpling? cake? biscuits? It was actually Napoleon cake (I think this is what it is called?). It was home made and consists of layers of pastry and cream and fruits. It was yummy and I took a couple of picture before it is all devoured ^_^

Meaning of Christmas

Christmas is coming! Yes, it's now less than a month away from Christmas. Shopping centres are beautifully decorated with Christmas decorations and even with the fear of a potential recession due to current global financial market meltdown, department stores still bustled with people and activity.

Myers popular yearly Christmas window display theme is "How Santa Really Works". Needless to say, long queue forms outside the window everyday especially at lunch time, everyone wants to take a peek at it! Though the art work was really nice and very detailed too (see the photos below), let's not forget what Christmas really means.







For many, it means holiday, a break from work. To some, celebration and partying and food and alcohol. Yet some people see it as a time for gifts and spending time with fanily. No doubt all this are activities we do during this holiday season, but the real meaning of Christmas is the birth of Jesus Christ.

One of David Meece's song say of this quite well:

We Were The Reason

David Meece

As little childrenWe would dream of Christmas morn

Of all the gifts and toysWe knew we’d find

But we never realized a baby born one blessed night

Gave us the greatest gift of our lives

We were the reasonThat He gave His life

We were the reasonThat He suffered and died

To a world that was lostHe gave all He could give

To show us the reason to live

As the years went by we learned more about gifts

The giving of ourselves and what that means

On a dark and cloudy dayA man hung crying in the rain

All because of love, all because of love

I’ve finally found the reason for living

It’s in giving every part of my heart to Him

In all that I do every word that I say

I’ll be giving my all just for Him, for Him
He is my reason to live

Volunteering (World Vision) at Richmond

One of the great initiatives my company is involved in is giving to the community. And of the ways this is done is by giving staff one day volunteering leave per calendar year. Staff can use this one day paid leave to assist any charitable/non profit organisations. This is the second time I utilise this leave, and both times I have chosen World Vision as the organisation i would help.

The previous time I volunteered, it was at Burwood East but this is now being handled by a financial organisation's back office processing at Richmond, where I used to work. Hence I took this opportunity to catch up with Suleka and also saw many familiar faces ... it was great!

The work involves is really very simple - it involves mail opening, sorting the action slips depending on what the child sponsor has elected. For example, donation $5 or over, by cheque or credit card, cash (Yes! some poeple actually send in CASH). Sadly there are also those who willingly donated but they forgot to write credit card details or expiry date! Some poeple also advised changes of address, emails etc so it definitely requires attention to details when sorting the slips. As Christmas is appraching, there are heaps of mails coming in, especially those Xmas cards from sponsor to the child. Some people also send in their photos, personal letters, additional gifts like stickers etc. It is very touching to see the personal touch, and the generousity of the Australian people.

Stack of sorted Xmas card, I think I handled at least 1,500 letters yesterday!


Met many nice people in the processing centre, Federico from Philipines and Priya from Sri Lanka, thanks for making me so at home there. I enjoyed the chats while sorting the mails!

This is truly a great experience, doing something different to my normal work. I am trully encouraged just knowing that there are so many generous giver out there who give to a great cause - sponsoring needy children, provising practical help (money goes to support their living, education, immunisation etc).

If you are not currently sponsoring any child, would you please consider?

Tools of trade - staple machne, letter opener, pen and highlighter and you are set to go!

Processing Centre at Richmond (picture below). It was quiet in the morning as most of these macines are for processing cheques and vouchers, and the operators work afternoon shift till night.

Girls lunch at Ambrosia

If it wasn't for the girls lunch, Berwick remains one of the suburbs considered "out of reach" on my travel radar. Whenever Cranbourne, Berwick and Hallam is mentioned what come to mind first is always "so far away-leh". It was good go out of my comfort zone and break that "false impression" as it is really not far especially with East Link. It only takes under 35 minutes or so (we got lost on the way so it took a bit longer to get there today). Unfortunately Juliana wasn't able to join us today ... well there's always next time! In fact the next girls days out would be Warrandyte Market Day in December.

The place selected for our gathering this time is Ambrosia café-bar-foodstore at Berwick. Actually this is our second choice, the fist being Eighty One. Maybe it's meant to be, Eighty One wasn't opened for lunch on Saturday, so we ended up with Ambrosia.

This nice cafe-bar-foodstore was hidden in the residential area in Berwick. It's still probably a well kept secret - but with it's delicious food, reasonable prices, professional services and open, friendly atmosphere, it probably won't be a secret for too long =)

We started with Tapas plate with a selection of Chef's choice favourite which includes:
** little chicken meat balls with tomato concasse
** Sri Lankan spicy pan roll filled with beef mince
** lemon pepper & sea salt calamari
** delicious dips & flat bread
** chorizo sausage with roasted peppers

It was yummy ... but maybe a little less than we expected in terms of quantity...



















Choosing the main meal is a bit of time consuming exercise as there were too many choices, from light meals like pizzas, pastas, risotto, salad, burger, to main such as steak and salmon fillet etc. They all look mouth watering. Tania chose pizza with tandoori chicken, corn, mozzarella, with rocket & yoghurt raita. Suleka set her heart on for pizza with mince lamb and goat cheese and I picked fettuccini with scallop, prawn, mussels & fresh fish with tomato & garlic.
























There seems to be endless things to talk about, after all we probably haven't met up for 4 months now?? So i guess the only way is to stay on for dessert and coffee (what a perfect excuse! hehe)

There was a wide selection of desserts. We decided on Affagato: vanilla ice cream served with Baileys liqueur & espresso coffee, Toblerone Cheesecake and sticky date pudding.

Toblerone Cheesecake, Affogato and Sticky Date Pudding





















(opps sorry no photo for sticky date pudding too, the photo turned out blurr sigh*)
We thoroughly enjoyed our meal and
I particularly enjoyed the most divine toblerone cheesecake and sticky date pudding ...

"It Started With A Kiss" & Kuih Seri Muka"?? Huh ... what's the connection!??

It has been while since I last posted my cooking experiment. This doesn't seem fitting since one of the purpose of this blog was to share my cooking adventure. Well, I haven't been making anything interesting lately, and sometimes I am just too lazy to bring out my camera to shoot. And another reason behind is ..... yes .... it is .... well, blame it on the Taiwanese drama series!


















I was hooked on the "It Started With A Kiss"ISWAK (惡作劇之吻). This is series based on Japanese Manga. Just realised that the sequel "They Kissed Again"TKA (惡作劇2吻) is out so have been hooked on and watching it online .... I think I am now becoming an addict to this romance/comedy series.


















Hoping there'll be part3 but unfortunately the author Kaoru Tada has passes away and the ending of part2 "They kissed again" is also the end of the original Manga (with additional scenes in fact). Maybe they would consider using ISWAK & TKA fanatic's imaginary part 3 (恶作剧狂想) ?

Opps here I go again ... deviating from the main theme of my posting and talking about ISWAK ... where was I again? Oh yes was goign to say that I was having this craving for Nyonya Kuih last week. Found this Kuih Seri Muka recipe on Lily's Wai Sek Hong and I knew I just have to make it. The difficulty was the control of the heat in steaming, As I use electric stove at home, heat control has always been an issue - it's more difficult than gas cooking. Even after taking special care with Lily's advise to steam on very low heat to avoid "mountains and valleys" forming on the surface of the custard, I still ended up with a not-so-even surface.

Well, at least it tasted GOOD! Here is a picture of it, and for recipe please go to Lily's blog as I followed her recipe completely except I didn't have rice flour at home and replaced it with corn flour.

David's TOP GUN adventure

When David first shared with me the exciting news about winning the prize at the CA (Computer Associates) expo for an introductory jet flight experience, I was excited and worried at the same time. Me, a worrier by nature and not being an extreme sports person, immediately think of all that could possibly go wrong with such a flight. (Well the BAC StrikeMaster, nicknamed Blunty by the Royal New Zealand Airforce, was known to have problem in the main wing structure and was retired by the RNZAF in 1994 and also gounded by the Ecuador at one stage)

Well, last Saturday finally came around and with much anticipation we drove about 90 minutes to Ballarat airport. Surprisingly I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be, perhaps David's excitement was contagious! We even played the top gun CD in the car loudly!

The clouds cleared and the sun was shining when we arrived at Ballarat airport Hangar 5. The StrikeMaster just landed with a passenger as we report to the office. It is much noisier and bigger than i remember it (seen it before at the airshow). What follows afterwards was a series of preparation including briefing about safety, watching a video about emergency procedures ~ yay really helpful in bringing back all my fears and worries :(
(Just kidding hahaha)

Then it got exciting as David put on the flight suit, slim line parachute and fighter pilot helmet. Boy he did look like a Top Gun about to embark on a mission! While all that were happening, I kept myself busy with video recording, determined to capture every bit of this thrilling experience! Darren, the pilot was introduced to us, and everything was set to go - there was one last little step left .... signing the WAIVER! This is when you sign your life away!

Well one more important routine before boarding the Strike Master, that is ..... posing for photos!!


While the flight took off the runway and making the aerobatic maneuvers (barrel roll, Derry turns, Wing over and loops) in the sky above me, all i could hear was the noise and the tiny shape of what looked like a bird! The jet must be something like 10,000 feet above me!

20 minutes was up before I finished chatting with the next lucky person who was going for the adventure after David. Needless to say, David enjoyed the ride immensely. He was blown away by the experience and highly recommend it to anyone who are hesitating about taking this adventure.

To reward my hard work (yes very hard work of videoing and patiently going through the suspense with him LOL), we had a little feast at the Europa Cafe in Ballarat city centre. hmmm, yummy chicken and pumpkin risotto, freshly squeezed apple, pineapple and pear juice and earl grey tea (for me) settled my complaining tummy and refreshed us before head back to Melbourne.



Exhausted by the excitement and a busy week of overtime work and day light saving kicking in, I hit the sack before 10pm that night - contended of all we have accomplished that week.

Melbourne Spring Fashion Week

Spring is here yay! For hay fever sufferer like me this is not too good but there are consolation eg longer day and shorter night, warmer weather and of course the Melbourne Spring Fashion Week. This is the fashion event of Spring, featuring all the hottest designers, labels, styles and retailers in and around Melbourne. A true showcase of all the beauty, fashion and style that is Melbourne this season. There are over 100 free and ticketed public events that celebrate the arrival of the Spring-Summer 2008-09 fashion season.












I attended one of the glamorous Official Evening Parades at the Melbourne Town Hall with a girlfriend. This is my first so was very excited. The show did not disappoint, and the goodies in the show bag is an added surprise for the ladies, from things that make us look good from the inside (TEABAH organic tea leafs, Ducle expresso ground coffee) to things making us look good from the outside (Kevin Murphy shampoo, Kayser stripe stocking, Napoleon nail polish & lipgloss, LA Clinica skin products, Shoobits designer shoe accessory and more).



Taking photos with my little Lumix at the show poses a little bit of challenge but I managed to take a few. Designers brands such as Dhini, Frisonifinetti, Gail Sorronda, James Cameron, Jessie Hill, Leopold are displayed in the pictures below.

Lest We Forget

This is the second ANZAC Day dawn service my husband and I attended.
Being Asians, we found ourselves the minority at the dawn service which is perfectly reasonable given that ANZAC Day is commemorated by Australia and New Zealand on 25 April every year to honour members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I.

However, what motivated us was the sense of belongingness. As migrants to Australia for more than 15 years, we have adopted this beautiful country as our own. I felt almost compelled and obligated to know more about ANZAC Day and as understanding increases, so is the sense of gratitude towards those men/women who served the country to protect the freedom we enjoy today.
We attended the dawn service held at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne (Victoria’s largest and most visited war memorial and is probably Melbourne’s most recognised landmark). Departing home about 3:30am, the air was cold but the walk to the Shrine from Fawkner Park (there's where we parked the car) warmed us up very quickly and the sense of anticipation quicken our footsteps as we met many others walking towards the same direction on the way.
As we reached the Shrine, there was already a big crowd. The crowd huddled together and rugged up in scarfs, hats and gloves. Some smoked, some even laid out a picnic rug and brought foldable chairs, determined to get a good "seat" to hear the speech.
It was later reported that an estimated 35,000 people braving the cold to mark the 93rd anniversary of Australian and New Zealand troops landing at Gallipoli at the Shrine of Remembrance. What is even more encouraging is the fact that it was attended by veterans, as well as young families and children of all ages.

An important question to ponder ...

And the question is .... what is Leadership? Ya i know on hearing this, some are probably yawning and thinking - what a boring question. But wait! If you think about it, most of us are doing it, maybe without the title but are influencing and "leading" in some ways. Well the reason of this question is due to attending a 2-day course on Leadership Essentials. The course has been stimulating, eye and mind opening and created a lot more reflective thinking and discussion than i thought it would do to me.

Numerous definitions of Leadership can be found in books, internet etc but the main themes are around "influencing" and "vison". I won't bored you here with the definitions and all the details learnt from the course but hopefully it makes you a bit curious and want to find out further. In the course we watched a short interview with Ricardo Semler and i was so inspired by him, his thinking. Read more about his unconventional leadership and corporate work practices, it's very inspiring.

A Special Treat : Flourless Chocolate Cake

Hooray! Special treat from my best friend Esther celebrating my Big day in advance. What can i say - it is really sweet :) Thanks Esther.
It's one of my favourite cakes and she made it so well, with beautiful star icing. But good food should always be shared with friends, so we did!

Home Made Soup

Down with a cold and flu. Staying home feeling sick and bored. Lost appetite for food but suddenly the penny dropped - how about home made, heart warming soup?! ... so today i decided to make some chinese soup with chokoes and carrots and lean pork. Hmm it sure tastes good and it is not only good for the body but for the soul! Soup is such comfort food in winter or when one is sick :)















The ingredients are simple:
approx 400g of pork muscle or pork gravy
2 carrors, roughly sliced
2 small Chokoes, skin and sliced
1 dried fig (optional, it adds to the sweetness of the soup)

Method:
1. Briefly blanch pork in boiling water in a pot
2. Remove water from pot, add in carrots, chokoes, 1 dried fig & 4 cups of water
3. Bring to boil and then turn down heat, simmer with low heat for about 1 hour
4. Turn off heat completely and reheat on low heat for another half an hour before serving. (I have found that the letting the soup sit for awhile allows the flavours to really come out)
5. Garnish with chopped spring onion before serving.

I did not add any salt as it is very tasty as it is and is good for one's health. You can use pork spare ribs, pork bones or pork gravy to make this soup, it all depends on your preference. I prefer pork gravy/pork muscle because they are lean. You can eat the meat but in my case most of it always go to Yuski .... Homemade soup can be very simple, my recipe is not complicated at all but it has all the natural nutrients and is very healthy.

Yuski has been accompanying me while i am recovering at home, so i took a couple of his pictures too, thanks Yuski for cheering me up! kiss kiss ;p