Sydney to Newie...

Yeah!!! We're in Sunny Sydney!!! Touched down on Thursday night.

We rented a car for one day and decided on a whim to drive up to Newcastle to visit Paul.

Here we go on the road once again...

Smiley driver


EVERY single time we go on a road trip, we end up going through a navigational nightmare (perhaps because I am the navigator?)

Arrrghhhh!!! We're LOST!!! And we can't seem to even get OUT of Sydney, much less get on the freeway to Newcastle...


Finally after going a few circles around Sydney, we made it OUT in one piece onto the Sydney-Newcastle freeway...

Stopped at McDonalds along the way... french fries and milkshakes always help to put a smile back on faces...


Here we are at Paul's student accomodation...


Typical student room... quite tidy lar... :)


Hehe... no need for those books anymore... bring on the game consoles!!!


Some assurance that our dear Paul isn't starving to death out here...


We went out to a nearby Chinese restaurant for some dim sum


We ordered deep fried squid... they gave us fried calamari *sian*


But their serving of pei dan juk was HUGE!


Overall a satisfying meal... enjoyed with good company and great time catching up

All in one day

Yesterday (Monday): I felt like I had a super busy but productive day.

The moment I opened my Outlook at my desk, I was bombarded with a flood of emails. We had just finished a major report last week, and my colleague was now on the way to Seattle to present it to the client. But now the client had come back to us demanding that we make some changes to the report and include more additional data. I was the only team member left (the other team member had gone on annual leave for 3 weeks).

So the whole morning and early afternoon, I was thrown into pulling out the additional data and analysis. Finally by 2.30pm I emailed out the updated report. So tired man… and I hadn't even eaten lunch, and I had another major report to finish in time for tomorrow's presentation.

So I decided to start work on the other report, and just eat my lunch at my desk while working. Thankfully I had the help of another junior… so we kept working and I stayed back just a little bit longer until 6pm - cannot stay late coz' I have a hungry hubby waiting for me at home.

Arrived home, started preparing dinner. Stir fry chicken, mixed veggies and cashew nuts. After dinner, clean kitchen and wash up. After that I had some way overdue ironing to do… running out of shirts to wear… then mended my black pants to wear for tomorrow's client presentation… then showered… then went online to do some banking, pay bills, read blogs J

And then finally to bed at 11pm.

All this in one day!

Eating leftovers

Leftovers from last night's cooking for dinner tonight.

Who prefers beer? Hubby or me?

Enjoying a nice cold beer.



Interestingly, hubby doesn't really like beer. I actually enjoy drinking beer more than he does. He doesn't exactly hate beer, he just prefers wine... and he finds the malty and bitter aftertaste weird.

Pleasantly surprised hubby

Saturday night... we had Ronald and Diana over for dinner. Actually I wanted to make it a dinner to celebrate the Duan Wu festival and eat some Bah Chang - but couldn't find any at the Chinese shop. Maybe next year I will make some at home instead.

Back in KK, this festival would be one of the times we would go to my grandmother's house to have dinner with the whole family... aunts, uncles, cousins - the whole lot. Each aunt would usually bring a dish to contribute to the meal, but my grandmother would always prepare some familiar traditional Hakka dishes...

1. Pak Cham Kai
2. Ngiong Tew Foo
3. Kiu Nyuk

So in the spirit of keeping old Chinese festival celebrations alive, I decided to cook a couple of these dishes... Pak Cham Kai and Ngiong Tew Foo.

I had cooked the Ngiong Tew Foo before, so this was no biggie. But for the Pak Cham Kai, I had to get the recipe from mum. Although the concept is similar to the Hainanese style... apparently there were some slight variations. I didn't follow the recipe 100% exactly though... the recipe said to leave the chicken to cook in the hot water for 3 hours... but I didn't have 3 hours, so I just left it simmering on very low flame for about an hour and a half... still turned out OK I think. Next time I will cook it for 3 hours and compare the results.

Hubby was at first a bit disappointed that I was going to cook Pak Cham Kai. Because he thought it would be similar to the Hainanese style, which he loathes (ironic, since he is Hainanese). But he was pleasantly surprised with the results and said it was really yummy! (thanks for the recipe again, mum!)

Afterwards we had the usual post-dinner chit chat while Christopher watched his favourite movie 'CARS' probably for the millionth time... but it was very amusing to watch him...



Speaking of kids, my turn will probably not be long in coming. I think the 'fear' has dimished a lot as I've spent time thinking, talking and reading about the subject. The only thing holding me back now is probably getting organised about the whole thing... checking insurance coverage, health check up, getting finances in order etc.

We'll be attending the parenting course organised my our pastor in August... which should be good. Step by step lar, k?

So I've beat you to the punch... when you see me next time and want to ask me the burning "when" question, you know the answer already.

Pertimbangan

My BM is very cacat after years of lack of use, but I will attempt to describe the important events that have been happening in my life lately...

Beberapa bulan lalu, saya mula kerja dengan syarikat penyelidikan bisnes dan konsulting. Saya memang suka kerja ini dan ingin meneruskan pekerjaan dalam bidang ini. Tetapi sebenarnya saya tidak begitu gembira dengan gaji syarikat ini. Mereka memberikan pelbagai alasan untuk gaji ini. Contoh alasan yang diberikan termasuk kemahiran dan pengalaman saya tidak seratus peratus sesuai dengan projek-projek yang diambil oleh syarikat ini.

Oleh itu, saya pun mula cari pekerjaan lain dan hadir beberapa temuduga dengan syarikat-syarikat lain. Lagipun, situasi di syarikat ini pun tidak begitu gembira kerana beberapa orang telah meninggal untuk pergi kerja dengan syarikat lain.

Seluruh masa ini, saya masih terus kerja dengan penuh rajin dan teliti untuk membuktikan kebolehan saya.

Kelmarin... pengurus saya panggil saya untuk mesyuarat dengannya. Dia memberitahu saya bahawa pengarah kami telah membuat keputusan untuk menaikkan gaji saya sebanyak tiga puluh peratus!!! Saya sangat terkejut mendengar berita ini!

Saya memang amat gembira dengan keputusan ini. Tetapi sekarang saya juga rasa keliru dengan pertimbangan ini. Patutkah saya puas hati untuk terus kerja di syarikat ini? Adakah ini membuktikan pengurus dan pengarah saya tidak ikhlas terhadap pekerja mereka?

I miss Malaysian TV

Came across this old ads for Malaysian idol on youtube.com

(Yaaaa... I know lah, these ads are really old... been away from Malaysia too long already)







I found them highly amusing... or in other words... Super Farnee Man!!!

I think most NON-Malaysians will find it difficult to catch the humour in the last clip--maybe get a Malaysian buddy to help translate, k?

Cook: stir fry satay beef

The magical ingredients for the sauce:



Stir fry with beef, zuchinni, carrots and baby corn.



Super yum man! I'm gonna make this one of my specialties.

Get firmly grounded

On Tuesday night we were at Tim and Nelliyan's (friends at church who work at YWAM) place to hang out and play a round of Settlers of Catan

It was good fun! Haven't played this game in ages... Tim introduced us to the Cities and Knights expansion version, solid man! Really have to stay alert in this game... so many elements and dynamics to think about, keeps you on your toes!

Next gaming session we'll introduce them to our favourite: Citadels (woohoo!!!)



After the game, we chatted for a bit. I mentioned that I thought the guest preacher who came to our church on Sunday was really dynamic! He's from South Africa and is one of those excited preachers who jump around on the stage--quite entertaining to observe him too.

He preached on the text from Judges Chapter 14--the story of Samson and the lion. He used this passage to talk about how Samson overcame his lion and how he eventually found 'sweetness' in his struggle (because when he returned to the place where he killed the lion, he found a beehive in the lion's carcass).

Overall it sounded okay... I thought this was quite a different way of interpreting this text because when I first learnt this story in Sunday School, the focus was on how Samson disobeyed his parents to get a Philistine wife, and that he actually ate honey from a carcass which was a detestable thing to do according to Jewish laws. So I was quite blown away at first at the way this preacher presented this story.

However, Tim and Nelliyan were actually not fully comfortable with this preaching. Tim calls it "Little Bo Peep" preaching. Because basically a preacher takes a certain scripture and then expands on it so much that he draws out interpretations and conclusions which are out of context from the full picture.

It just reminded me how important it is to test any teaching against God's word, and also how important it is to have a firm grounding in the scriptures. There are so many different teachings out there... a lot of it is probably good... but there is always a danger that you may get swayed by certain fluffy preaching unless you are firmly grounded.

I think it is still good to get different perspectives and views... but in the end you need to see how it fits into the original scriptural context, as well as how it applies to my own life.

I always want to take the best out of anything, so I'll end by saying something positive about the preacher: Even though his teaching may have gone out of context in some parts of the text (he could have used a different passage that was more relevant actually), it was a very good message about overcoming our lions. It really touched the heart of a lot of people who were going through struggles and were able to release it to God during the ministry time.

Walk by the river

Monday was a public holiday in WA. It was such a nice day, hubby and I decided to go out for a walk by the river.

Nice to have a day like this as a break from the cold weather we've been having...



This was one of the parks we used to pak tor together last time...



Just something about walking in a park on wintry evenings that just draws people together. I know we weren't the only ones who used to frequent places like this... ahem!

Instilling same values in kids

This week is officially the last session for our Marriage Enrichment Course.

It's been quite an extended course - 12 sessions but held over the past few months. Because it was paused over certain busy holiday periods, plus we only have it once a fortnight anyway.

We had a pot bless before our final wrap up session to share what was the most significant thing we learnt in this course.

So our Mondays are free again.

But our pastor said that they might soon be starting another course on Parenting, which I will be keen to attend. I feel there is so much to parenting that I still don't know about. I guess I could just dive straight into it and still survive, because so many have gone before me and lived to tell the tale.

I think the most important thing I want to learn about good parenting is how to instill the right values in my children.

I always find it interesting to see how different kids from the same set of parents can turn out so completely different from one another. Classic example is my two brothers and I. Not only we look completely different from each other (no one can ever guess that we are related) but our personalities and temperaments are vastly differently as well.


(My brothers and I -- like I said, we look totally different from each other)

Which is perfectly okay of course. I would definitely want each of my kids to be unique and different in their own special way. God specially crafted each one of us as a unique individual after all.

However...

Values is another issue.

I've seen how different kids from the same set of parents grow up to have a completely different set of values. And I personally know one case where one sibling went off in a totally different direction to do something completely wrong from the values that his other siblings hold on on to. It's quite a sad case.

Of course many people argue and say that values are not only formed from childhood but are also a product of having different peers and experiences in life. Which is also true. But on the other hand, one can choose his/her peers to a certain degree. And one can choose his/her response to experiences. These are decisions which are made based on the kind of values the individual holds. Which again comes back to the basic values and principles which are formed from very early in life.

One can argue this and go back and forth continuously... it's almost like a chicken and egg issue... but I hope you catch a little of what I'm trying to say here... and can nod your head slightly if you can follow (somewhat) of the direction I'm heading toward.


(Age old debate: Which came first? The chicken or the egg?)

Anyway, hubby and I were talking this over before bed. And one interesting conclusion we came to was this:

Most parents tend to have different standards for different kids. For example, in hubby's case he remembers that when he was very young, he wasn't allowed to watch TV at night. After his bath and dinner, he had to do his homework and study, and then go straight to bed. But when he got a little older, he was given a bit more liberty and allowed to stay up a little later to watch TV. But as for his siblings, although they were younger, instead of following the same rules/standards their older brother had when he was their age, they were allowed to stay up late to watch TV with the rest of the family. This is a very simple example, but I think it does illustrate the point.

Certain rules and standards are sometimes applied based on age and maturity. So taking the example of hubby's childhood, technically the same rule of no TV at night should apply to ALL the other siblings until (let's say) they were perhaps more mature to watch certain programmes that air later at night. This should be the ideal case. But of course in reality, circumstances can differ and that's why there are no hard and fast rules to this. But it's something to think about.

MacSerene

Woke up this morning with a craving for Bacon and Egg McMuffin. But today being a public holiday in WA, I wasn't sure if the Golden Arches were open today...

So after lazing about in bed, I popped out to our nearby IGA Supermarket for some muffins. I knew we already had bacon, egg and cheese...

Which I put together to make...



Gorgeous!

(P.S. hubby liked it so much, he ate two!!! Indulge just this once lar, k?)

Craving for... Craving Thoughts...

Our new cafe is now open for business!

(Where? Where? In Singapore lar... at 200 Upper Thomson Road)

It's a GREAT chill out place... here are some pics, doesn't it look FANTASTIC?



Nice hor?



Nice leh...



Please visit, k? (just look for either Mabel or Robin)

If not for the amazing ambience... then definitely at least to try out one of these...

Monster breakfast... fua! solid man!


And the delectable desserts...