I'm not blue

Well... I finally touched down safely in Perth on Sunday 27th August.

The flight was pretty good. Uneventful (which is good). They showed a movie, R.V. Runaway Vacation during the first half of the 4-hour flight. I watched it while eating my lunch of pasta and meatballs.

I had a window seat, so after dozing on and off for a while and looked out at the wide expanse of clouds and a blue horizon. It was such such such a beautiful day. I spent at least good hour staring out the window, soaking in the beautiful coastlines and farmland stretched out before me... and pondering on what was awaiting me in Perth.

After the plane touched down, i switched on my mobile.... beep beep... there was a message waiting for me. It was from hubby... "I lost my wife and am locked out of the flat"... what could that possibly mean???

After unloading 5 boxes and 2 suitcases from the baggage carousel, I called hubby to investigate this mysterious message...

Horror of horrors! The key to our apartment was still in my pocket!!! Poor hubby!!!

Good thing we have kind and helpful friends. So he will spend the night at a friend's place and go down to see the property agent to get the spare key on Monday morning.

Sigh. So much for uneventful.

It's been a beautiful 3 days so far here in Perth.

The sky is blue
The weather is sunny
But I'm so blue
'Cos I miss my hubby

Hehehehe...That poem just popped into my head 2 seconds ago. But I'm not really blue although I do miss hubby.

There's plenty to occupy me at Diana's place. Diana's familiar chatter. Ronald's funny jokes. And there's also the cute and entertaining antics of little Christopher Ong.

@ Darling Harbour with my darling

Today was such a beautiful sunny day. We decided to walk around and enjoy the sunshine and to reminisce at one of my favourite places at Sydney: Darling Harbour


Hubby sitting back and getting comfortable for a short siesta in the sunshine







Me getting bored... hubby trying to think of ways to entertain me








Chasing the rabbit









Thumb wrestling









Dunno what we trying to do here









Sigh...









I will miss you hubby

Sign of spring

The daffodils are out!

Spring is nigh!

Yippee Hooray!

Best yum cha in Sydney (IMHO)

Today is the eve of my departure from Sydney to Perth. We spent the morning at Zilver for yum cha (dim sum) with friends KK&K.; I think this place serves the best dim sum in Sydney

I highly recommend their siu-mai, honey pork ribs, yau-char-kuai, green tea bun and especially their mango pancakes which taste just heavenly... mmmmmm... just thinking about it makes me swoon...
Hubby likes their pei-tan-juk too!

These are friends, KK&K;, who invited us out for a final yum cha session together...

The har-gao is not bad too!

We ended up eating too much (which is quite usual when eating dim sum) but feeling very happy and satisfied.



I look forward to another yum cha session at this place the next time we're in Sydney...

Some progress...

We are making some progress
Luggage all packed and boxes all sealed
Friends coming to pick us up tomorrow at 8am

Gi-normous Wantan Mee!

Look at that... so huge!!!

Cost around AUD8.00

Definitely enough for two of me

But the ideal portion size for hubby

Pressies for friends

Went shopping at Myer on Tuesday to get some gifts for various friends... including some for our connect group...

I had a lovely time on Tuesday night wrapping up the pressies. I'd forgotten how nice it felt to do a little craftwork... lovingly crafting each piece to make it looks as pretty as possible.

Hubby thought it seemed quite pointless to put this much effort on something that will be just torn up and discarded... but he diligently sat beside me and helped wrap some presents as well, so I can't complain. Gooood hubby... pat pat pat..... hehehehe

See the little flower I made at the corner of one of the boxes? Cute eh?

I comfort myself by imagining the recipients looking admiringly at the wrapping before painstakingly peeling it off carefully without tearing it.

Our current state: Frazzled

Our place looks like it's been struck by a tsunami...

Thought you could use some visual aid to help you picture our current state

It's very frazzling.

Clever me!

I didn't think that I would have anything to write about cooking nowadays because I didn't expect to attempt any interesting culinary experiments since I am basically bereft of all the seemingly basic kitchen equipment (I don't even have a microwave, fridge or even a kettle now!)

But then I had to crack my head to think of ways to finish the food in our larder (besides instant noodles).

I boiled the rest of the eggs (10 of them) and kept them aside for hubby and I to eat for breakfast over the next few days. Next I made a simple rock sugar syrup to go with the can of grass jelly... yummy indeed!

And then I pondered over the spaghetti and can of tomatoes. Then I had a sudden inspiration ala Surprise Chef. Earlier, I also had gone out to get a small slice of fetta cheese.

All I had left was a teeny tiny saucepan, a mini food processor and two teaspoons... I made a desperate attempt to create a culinary masterpiece...

I blended the tomatoes with some garlic, a dash of red wine vinegar and a pinch of salt. I cooked the spaghetti in batches, drained them and set them aside. And then I poured the tomato mixture into the saucepan and brought it to the boil.

I ladled the sauce over the spaghetti and served it in an elegant plastic take-away food container. Crumbled the fetta cheese over it with some chicken nuggets on the side (he nuggets I got from the deli and just popped into the oven for a few minutes).

Hubby's verdict? "The pasta tastes funny. Maybe too much garlic? But the nuggets are nice"

My verdict? I actually thought it was very tasty! I might cut down on the salt though because I had underestimated the saltiness of the fetta cheese... maybe also cut down on the garlic? Maybe only lar... because I love garlic... so I tend to go a bit crazy with it in cooking...

Yarmeeee!

Am I clever or what?

An ingenious party idea!

I had the most delicious dining experience at our friend Ange's housewarming party last night...

The theme was a Vietnamese rice paper roll party... hmmmm... so uhuh, what's that?

Well it's sort of a cross between a popiah party and steamboat dinner

Aaaaand...... I tell you, it's the most ingenious idea which I promised I would try if I ever have a gathering at my own home sweet home next time.
OK... let me show how it works... let the pictures tell the story...

All you need is to chop up all sorts of fresh produce and some meaty assortments like carrots, cucumber, capsicum, coriander, mint, pork roll, sliced beef etc... see the colourful spread on the table here?


And then you buy a pack of vietnamese paper rolls... which each guest dips in some water (to soften it), lays it out on his/her plate and proceeds to decorate it with various ingredients (just like making popiah). And then you roll it up like so... this is hubby's very expert attempt at the art of rice paper rolling...


Sometimes the roll may need a bit of touch up afterwards... hehehehe (this is our friend Grace arranging her roll with art and precision)


But in the end... it's all about having fun... being able to play with your food (somewhat)... and stuffing yourself silly










I had so much fun making the rolls, I was seriously torn with the decision of whether I should make another roll just for the fun of it... even though I was so so so so so FULL!

But I think this is truly a guilt-free menu... lots of vegies, no frying, no oily stuff, pure and simple... and refreshing!

I also chup the secret sauce recipe from Denis (the guy in the beanie)... you want it? Next time I share lar ok?

So much STUFF!!!

Weeeeell... last night the last of our "BIG" items was sold off... i.e. the sideboard, the vacuum cleaner and the microwave.... YEAAAAH!!!

Quite a relief... the fellow didn't even bargain and paid everything according to what I advertised it for.

So here we are... vaccum cleaner-less... and microwave-less... how will we survive???? somehow we will.... we are SURVIVORS!

But oh my... packing is hard! Why does it always seem that we don't have that much stuff but when we actually start packing you then realise how much stuff you REALLY have...

So far I have packed 5 boxes and 2 suitcases of STUFF. I am targetting to limit everything to a limit of not more than 6-7 boxes, 2 suitcases and 1 big duffle bag.

WHY ON EARTH DO WE NEED SO MUCH STUFF???

Oh yes... I just bought my plane ticket today. Initially I wanted to leave on August 24th, a Thursday. But today when I went online to the QANTAS website, I saw that they were having some promotional sale for Sydney-Perth flights starting on Sunday, 27th August. So I shall now be departing on August 27th at 10.00am, arriving in Perth on the same day at 1.30pm

The original Rain Man

Today on page 20 in the Sun Herald's Life section, I read a very very very intriguing article about the extraordinary Daniel Tammet who has a very rare condition called Synaesthesia.

People who have Synaesthesia have this uncanny ability to perceive numbers and words in shapes and colours in their mind. They are likely to have amazing mathematical abilities, but some may suffer Autistic or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder tendencies.

This article I found online tells how Daniel Tammet is able to calculate 37 raised to the power of 4 in less than a minute (the answer is 1,874,161), and how he divided 13 by 97 up to 100 decimal places (the researchers had the answer only up to 32 decimal places). He can recite the number Pi to 22,500 decimal places, can speak nine languages and is able to learn a new one in just seven days.

I think the intriguing thing about him is because he is one of the very few of his kind who is able to explain and describe what actually goes on in his mind. It's a very beautiful thing to get a glimpse into this window of such a special person's mind.

Even with my deaf/hearing-impaired friend whom I met in Perth, I liked to ask her questions about how she can feel certain sounds and how she tries to make out the meaning of certain fuzzy sounds she hears around her.

Going further back, I remember an incident when I went out with dad to visit the Sabah Blind Society. We picked up one of the blind persons from his workplace and drove on together to the Blind Society's centre. I watched curiously as his hand moved along the leather seat linings as he chatted with dad about what car dad was driving and the technical details of the vehicle.

How profound it is to imagine how their perception is so diversely different from my own perception of my world. Isn't diversity of minds so amazing?

Anyway, back to this Daniel Tammet I was reading...

This fellow actually wrote a book called Born on a Blue Day. I just itching to get this book. But we are now not allowed to buy any new items which will add to our weight (every little bit adds up) until we are settled down at our new place in Perth. (Self control, Serene... Self control...)

I Googled this guy and his book and discovered that he keeps a blog (woohoo!). Check out these entries where he describes how he experiences words, how he perceives different colours and textures of the days of the week, and also talks about on being a Christian

After finishing the article, I closed my eyes and tried to imagine what colour my name "Serene" would look like. So far I just see the letters in black and white. I'll try again later and try concentrating harder and let you know the results...

'Tis the season to get married

Lately, I've come across many engagement/wedding announcements from my peers from secondary school...

It almost feels surreal... I look at the faces of these crazy girls I used to see every day at school years ago (only just a few years ago it seems).

Many of them have been living the ideal Sex and the City girls' life. Partying... Trying out different men as they would try out shoes... Working in high-flying careers... Or ekking out a living doing their dream job... And basically just having a good time...

And one by one... they meet The One. And then it seems almost instantly... we hear wind of another engagement... another wedding... another one of us has gone off to tie the nuptial knot. Then come the photos on Friendster or on their blogs/websites... (I love looking at people's wedding photos... it always gives me a warm mushy feeling inside to see the ear-to-ear smiles on the couple's faces)... Another happily every after is over and done.

I know it's not that simple. The reality is much more complex than that. No marriage will be perfect. No life can be 100% complete uninterrupted bliss.

I've met many Love at First Sight couples. And I'm always sceptical at he beginning. How can a lifelong love develop in such a short space of time. Doesn't love have to take a long time to grow and be nurtured?

But then I realised... although it's true that love needs constant care and feeding to keep the flame burning... doesn't it usually or always start with that initial Spark right at the beginning?

Even in a long friendship-growing-into-love situation... there will come a Moment... when everything suddenly becomes clear... and then you know, that you KNOW, that you KNOW, that you KNOW that this is it!

I like that scene in Yasmin Ahmad's movie Sepet: Orked asks "How long does it take to fall in love?", and Ah Loong replies "A moment".

Dunce at math

I used to be a terrible dunce at math. My dad (who had attempted to tutor me at math before) often became VERY disturbed after each tutoring session at my absolute ignorance of the basic principals of math.

Each father-daughter math tuition session was interjected by dad TRYING to be patient as he repeated his favourite math phrase "what you do on the left, do the same on the right, what you do upstairs, do the same downstairs"... and if it happened to be a extremely difficult sum for me, there was the usual "it's enough to make me vomit blood!" sputtering from dad's mouth.

Thankfully, it did not end with me being doomed to be a dunce at math forevermore. I caught on eventually.

But today a friend sent me these abominations:







So dad should really be very thankful that I never demonstrated any stupidity as bad as this! (If I did, I don't know how both of us would have survived)

Surviving on the bare minimum

Soooo... for the past week, we've started the arduous process of packing and selling of our things. Try imagining the place looking both messy and bare at the same time.

Let me just paint you a somewhat unstructured picture of what's been happening lately...

Our apartment is looking like the early days when we just moved in with hardly anything. Early last week, we started putting up ads to sell of our furniture and appliances. I advertised it as "MOVING SALE - NEED TO SELL OF EVERYTHING!"

We started receiving numerous enquiries almost immediately. Seems like there's also a lot of people moving to Sydney from somewhere else.

Saturday was the busiest day. We had one couple who just migrated to Sydney from Beijing who pretty much wanted to buy everything. They arrived with nothing and were moving into their apartment that day itself and wanted to cart of everything on the spot (they had hired a truck and movers ready to transport the things).

They basically cleaned us out... our bed, coffee table, dining table, chairs, fridge, washing machine, bed... then they saw our futon couch... I was reluctant to sell it because I wanted to hold on to it for us to sleep on until the very last day... so I named a much higher price hoping they would refuse... but instead they jumped on it... I glanced at hubby and understood the look on his face... "we'll manage somehow" (anyway we still had the blow-up mattress we borrowed from our friend for when Sam, Paul and JM were staying with us).

So we closed the deal and by the end of the afternoon, we were left bereft of most of our belongings.

We were left in a funny situation because we had two boxes of ice-cream and no fridge. Plus I was worried how we'd manage with just one blow-up mattress between the two of us. It was starting to sound mighty uncomfortable. We then decided to take a walk around the neighbourhood and bring along an ice-cream each to enjoy, and also to take the trash out.

This was when we encountered an amazing experience of God's provision.

We took the lift down to the basement where the rubbish bin area was located. Then something caught our eye. We saw a load of furniture left near the bin area (not in the bins itself)... it seems someone else in our building must be moving out and couldn't sell of the items and had to get rid of them somehow. There were some tables, chairs and a queen-size mattress. Hubby suggested that we consider taking the mattress.

I was dubious at first at sleeping on a strange mattress. Who knows why they were throwing it away. Was it safe to sleep on it? So I went to inspect it closely. It was a little old, but there didn't seem to be any funny smells and no apparent stains on it. So I gave the OKAY and hubby lugged it upstairs.

After we returned from our walk, I proceeded to vacuum the whole mattress and laid out two layers of flannel blankets on top of it before putting on the sheets. We slept very comfortably that night. I said to hubby what a good thing it was we found the mattress because I couldn't imagine sleeping on the cold hard floor for rest of the weeks we had left.

We spent the rest of the weekend eating frozen pies and melted ice-cream. The ice-cream wasn't so bad. It was magnum ice-cream, so the chocolate coating stayed solid, so all you had to do was nibble off a bit of the chocolate and slurp up the cream inside. I think hubby thoroughly enjoyed eating the ice-cream this way. He has a thing for semi-melted ice-cream and always liked to let his ice-cream soften and melt before eating it.

We had to finish up bits abd pieces of food from the fridge... a small pack of frozen vegies, bacon, sausages, some green curry paste. So hubby, struck with a sudden inspiration, whipped up a meal of green-curry fried rice. There was enough to last us two days. At first hubby was worried that it wouldn't keep without a fridge. But I was certain that it would keep a couple of days. After all our grannies used to keep cooked dishes for a whole day inside those funny larder/cupboards with fly-netting. Plus the weather was a lot colder here. I was right. We had enough leftover for lunch on Monday. And the fried rice was really good too... clever hubby!

Some exchange students from Denmark also dropped by and bought some of our tableware, cutlery and utentils. I let them take our can opener before I realised that I still had two unopened cans of food. However because every decent guy should be equipped with a swiss army knife, there was nothing to fear. So thanks to hubby's trusty knife, we were able to enjoy canned peaches for dessert on Tuesday and luncheon meat for dinner on Wednesday.

This whole experience just goes to prove, that you really truly don't need a lot to survive... and that human beings are on the whole very adaptable creatures... and to treat every new and usual experience as an adventure!

Also, today's verse of the day in my sidebar is Luke 12:6-7 (Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows)... Jehovah Jireh always provides!

I am a statistic

It's census season here in Australia.

Over the past week, census officers have been going around to drop off orange coloured form booklets which is COMPULSARY for every person residing in Australia to complete.

It's quite interesting that here, all the information filled out must related specifically to our location and situation as of a particular date - the 8th of August 2006. It's like they want to get a snapshot of the nation all at one time on this one day. So in the form, we need to fill out details of not just who lives at that address, but also of any other person who happens to be at our house on that evening. Imagine if someone is having a party that night... what complications that will have... because the form has only enough space for details of up to 6 people.

They even have a government ad showing on TV, telling everyone about census night and urging everyone to participate in this and be a part of history... helping the government by providing essential data for planning of things like infrastructure and education for the FUTURE. The future is a big thing after all. It's good to think long-term. I wouldn't trust a government that doesn't think that way. Unfortunately even here in Australia, sometimes you do wonder if they really are thinking long-term.

I remember in Malaysia... they held the national census every 5 years I think... (or maybe it was 10 years because national statistics in Malaysia always seem to be out of date... I used to find it very difficult to obtain up to date data for my research projects back at my Singapore job). In Malaysia, we called it BANCI! hehehehe... I'm so proud that I can still remember this profound Malay term.

During Banci time, they would also show advertisement on TV informing everyone about this... and I'm pretty sure that they had an official Banci song accompanying this advertisement. Malaysia has songs for just about EVERYTHING! Besides the numerous patriotic songs... there was a song about A.I.D.S.... about I.T. or Informarsi Teknologi... about racial harmony... about cleanliness... about road safety... about living a healthy lifestyle... and even about Dengue Fever... (I'm dead serious!)

What is it with the songs? Do they really make the message more effective in some way? Or could it be just some other ploy to throw away some money toward some government officer's struggling musician brother who needs a quick buck...

I don't remember any government ad in Singapore or Australia that is accompanied by some cheesy song in the background. Just give us the information as plainly and simply as possible... okaaay you can add in some gory images of mangled bodies in some speeding car accident... and yes also the scary close up images of tar-infested-smoke-filled lungs... but that's about it. No need to add in another silly jingle... we don't need another earworm

Cooking: the art of preparing food

Food is very important to me.

And the art of preparing it is becoming increasingly more important too.

This blog is peppered with recipes and stories of my attempts at being a culinary genius.

Recently, I recalled one time my mother showing me a little file or exercise book with some note scribblings and magazine/newspaper recipe cutouts, and telling me that these were my recipes. I remembered feeling quite touched that she had collected this recipes for me. But at the same time I felt somewhat unworthy then because I had not been cooking at all when I was still living in Singapore then (instant noodles do not count).

But now in Australia, the kitchen has become a very important place to me..... I stand there every day to prepare basic daily meals, recalling all the little basic cooking skills my mother ground into me. Not that I had any difficulty in remembering them, but I just felt nostalgic on the mother and daughter bond formed in this ritual of passing on these knowledge and skills. Like how to measure water when cooking rice using your finger. How to smash open a garlic clove with the side of a knife (I discovered that not many Australians knew how to do this). And how to add a pinch of sugar when stir-frying some Chinese veg to take off the slight bitter edge some Chinese greens might have.

Maybe food and cooking is something that grows on you. Without realising it, I've found myself cutting out recipes from newspapers and the back of cereal boxes. In this modern technological age, I've even used my mobile phone camera to quickly snap recipes from magazines at the newsagency. *hee hee*

These are the basic exchanges every girl (or son) should have with her mother. It's more than just teaching basic survival skills. But it's passing on a part of your heritage from one generation to another.

Food represents your heritage after all.

It think would be sad if a Chinese doesn't even know how to prepare and appreciate a basic meal of steamed white rice, fried fish with soy sauce, and stir-fried choy sum with oyster sauce.

Another one of my hubby's quirks

My Significant Other has a particular quirky habit.

He's really into games and puzzles.

I'm not blogging about this to box him up or label him in anyway (hubby abhors such things which may lead to stereotyping). I'm simply trying to put down my thoughts, get things in perspective and possibly try to understand him better... or maybe I'm just rambling.

Sometimes after ending a long business meeting with some issues yet to be resolved, he'd open a mini puzzle game on his computer screen to do some electronic battling...... finally drawing a sigh of contentment after he has beaten his electronic opponent... (as if a way of disentangling the unresolved issues off his mind).

Also, sometimes before starting work on some database systems project, he'll open a little computer sudoku puzzle and proceed to work through it...... and after finally solving it, he'd straighten up and get down to business... (maybe some kind of warm-up exercise to get the brain juices flowing?).

And of course there's the daily sudoku puzzle in the newspaper which he'll work through on the train home from work...... finishing off the last row of numbers as he sets down his bag after arriving home... (he seems to revel in continuous mental stimulation).

And every now and again, there's nothing like a good classic military campaign computer game on an idylic Saturday afternoon (for him, not me).

Seems like this is just a hobby.

Hobbies can be a personal project (such as collecting stamps or doing woodwork - hubby already collects coins and notes)...... or a way to appreciate things (such as art or nature)...... or perhaps an obsession a.ka. addiction......

Apparently this is more than just a plain hobby.

It's a way of dealing with boredom... dealing with stress... decompressing after a busy day... warming-up before beginning a task... winding-down after a difficult task... or just a time-filler.

I suppose I might never be able to completely comprehend the deep satisfaction such a person gets from solving a deeply engrossing puzzle.

(Apparently my mum seems to have a somewhat similar habit... perhaps she does it more as a way to kill time rather than as a "decompressant"... anyway she might have something to say).

Whatever it is. It's his thing. It doesn't make him a bad person. Maybe it's a phase, or maybe it's just the way his brain works with the stimulation and all..... I don't know...... everyone has some quirky thing about them...... perhaps this is his.

My quirk? Ask the Significant Other.

The results are out...

I just got a call from the manager in Perth, aaaaaaaaand...... the results of my 3-hour test have come back!

The first thing the manager said was "my gosh, you're a nutcase!", to which I replied "I see, and you guys like nutcases I suppose". "Yes, we do actually" said he... *chuckles*

So what do the results say about me...

Well in terms of my Verbal Reasoning, I'm in the top 11th percentile

And in terms of my Abstract Reasoning, I'm in the top 6th percentile


Remember the 318 questions? These were suppose to profile my Temperament;

So here's what the test said...

• I am very flexible but at the same time have a keen eye for detail
• I have a very structured and sequential approach in tackling tasks
• I plan out my activities and follow through
• I tend to be very analytical, objective and logical
• I am a dedicated and committed person
• I am a quiet achiever "who will get the job done without too much fuss"

On the flipside...

• I have a tendency to overanalyse things, which may lead to procrastination
• I am very methodical and would work at my own pace, sometimes lacking a sense urgency for certain tasks

Some other comments that came up...

• I would prefer autonomy and independence at work
• The test profiled me as being somewhat reserved - which the manager found surprising and instead disagreed as he found me very engaging, warm and friendly
• The test also profiled me as someone who would tend to avoid difficult situations / avoid confrontation - which the manager also disagreed on as he thought I was a very assertive person who was not afraid to state her views and opinions

So the next step is to have a look at the letter of offer and confirm my starting date for work. WooHoo!!!

Enjoying a glass of red wine with hubby to celebrate!

I was poring over the results of the test... but hubby said not to box myself up based on the test results... it's probably only 70% accurate at the most anyway...

Cheers!