Eat Street Market, Hamilton

It's taken me a while to drag myself out for dinner on Friday - Normally I would love to hide myself at home for some quiet time as Friday is too hectic.  In fact, last night was a random dinner date. We headed to the Eat Street Market @ Hamilton to explore more international food! We reached there around 7.30pm and it was really crowded.  Finding a parking slot was a nightmare, S-parking was even terrible. We spent 10 minutes to properly park the car.

Pay your entry fee ($2) at the entrance, and there's the massive crowd welcoming you!

Pastry is always the default choice. So we had Spinach, cheese and mushroom pastry to start the adventure. Sad to say, it was average, nothing special. 

There was this cocktail bar at the end of the market. We ordered the "honey rider" which contains tequila, honey and mango puree. This 12 bucks deal was disappointing, it was like mango smoothies.

BBQ Pork Ribs is definitely the highlight of the market. $14 for two pork ribs which are served with coleslaws.  The sauce added some zint and it was like there's a party inside my mouth! They are crazy addictive..

Hungarian "THE LOT", which is the garlic bread topped with shredded cheddar cheese, tabouleh and sour cream.  The bread again let us down, it was soggy, probably because of the tabouleh salad.

Oh, we couldn't resist to get the spiral potato chips because it's twisted ($5).  Try chicken salt instead of normal table salt! To say that they were amazing would be an understatement, wandering around with a potato stick in hand - some people even asked where did we get that! :p

To conclude our food hunting night, we had our 'buy one get one free' Gelato at the city. Pistachio and Tiramisu are the best combination, as well as the pistachio and hazelnut! Had a nice chat along Queens Street Mall, enjoyed the breeze, but definitely not seeing drunk people falling over. Oh well, just because it was a Friday night.

If you are feel like having a dinner or a snack, or even dessert, this is the place to come! This is a real offbeat thing to do - really intriguing to see different types of food within a small area.

You gotta be kidding me?!

Every once in a while I recall that we used to shout, scream and laugh in 1A, 2A, 3A and 4S1, spent our not-too-leisurely mornings copying each others' homework, talking crap and eating breakfast. 

That sure was nice. 

Though it was quite a long time ago. When we were still 13, 14, 15 and 16 years old.

Now we are turning 20 or 21. Not expelling a loud: "You gotta be kidding me?!", but welcoming the years with open arms. 

Eventually, you guys make everything special.

In the space between the two classes, I have found acres of blessings. :')

Good night. 

一棵草也要坚强

一棵草也要坚强。

即便这棵草长在荆棘中。
即便你生存在沙漠里。

就算不能做到屹立不倒，也不要自己把自己推倒。

Buang Balik Lah!

Oh, I meant THROWBACK. :P Ello Ello!  It is the time of year when you should never forget your umbrella. Brisbane has been trying hard to adapt the new season - as we have to finally say hi to autumn!

Normally we enjoy the first four weeks of uni, but now there's no such thing called honeymoon period for this semester. Does this tell the difference between a first year uni and second year uni student? hmph.  Anyways, while struggling with assignments, reports, job etc, I'm glad that I am still alive. Sometimes when I feel like giving up, I remember God never gave up on me. 

:]]

-Throwback a.k.a Buang Balik- To remind myself how blessed I am. Despite of the heavy workloads, I was enjoying life :) To be specific, FOOD. blehh. 

Met up with these bunch of engineering friends, no Korean food this time, 'we went Japan'' / / Made some mini cheesecakes for sister's friend's birthday / / On a rainy day having lunch while I was walking around Wednesday Market / / A-finally-dinner-together Japanese meal with them after the lectures and tutorials marathon

一个冷不防

Week 4,  一个冷不防。

幸好我也一个冷不防地，把你记录了下来。

080314 - The Nook Caffe @ Jindalee

Week one of uni was busy, a little bit stressed out at the end of the week (just a little bit hey), so I decided to pamper myself with food. yayy, food. 

I went for a Saturday brunch with my usual food buddy! I'm so thankful there's someone out there sharing the same passion - our tastes are basically the same! (hmph, we eat everything anyways hahaha)

Brunch @ The Nook Caffe, Jindalee

The Nook Caffe Restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. We decided to try on their lunch menu cos it looks more tempting. (YES! Never forget to do research before a meal :P) 

We reached there around 11am and the kitchen was closed for lunch preparation. So we ordered our drinks first! I'm always on for cold drinks - especially during hot days. I can't wait to give winter a big welcoming hug, so that I can sip on my favourite flat white.

The Quenchers

Sorry guys I couldn't remember what's exactly in the drinks!

The waitress told us that it was made of crushed ice and fresh fruit syrups. It isn't too sweet so I love it!

Caprese Salad

 I love cheese and smoked salmon - so I ordered this Caprese Salad! I was quite surprised with that small portion but it was filling!  Also there is this guacamole that I love A LOT.

Caramelised pork belly

The scallops were really fresh and the salad topping was awesome! Didn't get to try the pork belly though. 

So that concluded my Week 1 of uni! Stepping into Week 3 tomorrow, mentally and physically tired, but I have faith in God. He will bring me through all the hard time. 2 quizzes next week! Bring it on!

含蓄的爱

唉～

一个笼罩在阴霾下的周末，而这阴霾正正横跨着世界的几座城市，悲哀的气氛慢慢扩散着。
像八爪鱼一样慢慢伸展它的触须，吞噬着无助的人类。

却同时也点醒了大家要珍惜当下，不要有太多的来不及。

当下，我好想抱抱我的爸妈。
但我没有，我把他们紧紧抓着，靠在一起拍了一张合照。

也许这就是我对父母含蓄的爱。
我不要来不及。

啊这个悲伤的周末。

愿，一切安好；
若不，至少让亲属家人悬在半空的心有个依靠吧。

My Top 3 Breakfast

Breakfast is the only thing that can drag me out of bed. Apparently for me, food appears to be more important than sleep!!! I must start my day with breakfast, else I will be super grumpy! Who can concentrate on work with an empty stomach, heh definitely not me :p

So here's my top 3 breakfast for my unidays!!! It's really easy and quick to prepare. But most importantly, it is healthy!

1. Oatmeal with fresh blueberries

Want some complex carbs? :)

Prep time: < 3 minutes

Ingredients: 2 tbsp of roll oats, 150-200ml milk, blueberries 

Oats are high in fibre and aids in digestion too! In fact, it is a filling food - never fails to keep me full for more than 4 hours.

If you like it more 'watery', add more milk! I prefer creamy one :D

Microwave it on medium heat for 30 seconds - 1 minutes and there you go! *Always keep an eye on it when it is in the microwave. You will never want to see that steamy milk cascading over your bowl and microwave! Yes, I have my horror story of milk boiling over to share, and I spent more than 15 minutes to clear up the mess :(

Served it with blueberries, sometimes I have nuts - pumpkin seeds/sunflower seeds/walnuts/almonds.

2. Eggs on spinach bed
Proteins on an extra boost of greens. 

Prep time: 5-10 minutes (depends on how you want your eggs to be served)
Ingredients: Handfuls of spinach, 2 eggs




This is awesome and super quick to make. Heat up the oil in a pan, sautee the spinach, crack the eggs into the pan. The cooking time is your own choice, I like my egg yolks to be runny so normally I leave them on the pan for 3-4 minutes on medium heat. The thing I love having this as breakfast is that I can do something else (like refill my water bottle/check student emails etc.) while preparing and I don't need to cut anything up!

Spinach contains approximately 25% of daily iron intake and it is really a gem in the green leafy vegetables kingdom.
Ohh, not to forget the pepper, I'm a pepper lover.
If I have a long morning before I get to eat my lunch, I will toast a mixed grain bread along with the eggs. Love dipping my toast in egg yolks!

3. Smoked salmon, cucumbers and toasted bread
If you see me holding this and running all the way to the bus stop, yes, I am late for class. :P

Prep time: < 2 minutes
Ingredients: Smoked Salmon, cucumber slices, bread

I don't like bread, like seriously, I dislike it because it has no flavour - like how i dislike rice. That is why I feel the need to add some flavour on my toasted bread. This is the easiest breakfast to prepare - toast the bread, cut the cucumbers, add a few slices of smoked salmon. That's it.

So yea, in conjunction with the first day of uni, I'm sharing this with you guys. Never skip breakfast yea, at least get something to eat before your class!

Off to bed, hitting the wall of fatigue today. I got caught in the rain this morning and still suffering from sorethroat (eating too much grapes over the weekend -.-)

Au revoir~

Back to Uni

Back to uni

with my reddie, caffeine insurance & essentials

Friend of merlo

Yes, I am friend of caffeine, best friend forever

These are necesario for my unidays.

Student diary from UQUnion - A mini encyclopedia

E.g "Tomatoes were first proven safe to eat in 28/9/1820)

Go Card - Always feel safe to sleep on the bus than in my car

I will probably miss this green card as it will be replaced soon :(

Red polka dots pencil case from Kinokuniya, Sydney

Playful polka dots trying to add a lil of wildness *roar

Open it, and get ready for Semester One, 2014

Sneak peek of my sem 1 timetable, hiak hiak I have no Monday blue, but Tuesday instead.

9 hours prac per week, bring it on, FOOD1001 practical classes should be fun.

Anything about food, I just can't resist muahahaa.

It is time to face the whole new semester after my 2 weeks holidays. -.- Feeling quite annoyed because I have not enjoyed my holidays to the max yet, but on a brighter note I'm excited to meet my uni-mates, and what's more, my bffs from Miri are now here with me. 

It's gonna be a good good night  sem. 

Yeh it's just feel so good. Good night. 

A little quick update

Finally done with my summer semester. I'm not going to do it end of this year because I have my holidays plan ready!

And I'll definitely celebrate my CNY 2015 in Malaysia. I promise. And I hope I won't break the promise. 

Anyways, just a quick little update. Flying off to Sydney tomorrow morning, have classes sign on on Monday and Tuesday (haih), getting my DSLR after the trip (yayyy) and welcome my loveliess. It will be real busy before semester one starts, but I'm ready for it! Bring it on.

And oh yea, preparing a secret project. Stay tuned. 

Have a blessed week ahead!

20 for 20

It was a random conversation that I came across with my friend.

"What's the feeling of being 20? Do you feel old?"
'Nah, I don't! It's like you're knocking the door of the another phase in your life. It is exciting, trust me.'

Approximately 5 months till I turn 20! Im gonna enjoy my last 5 months being 19 and to welcome my adulthood, I have a to-do list here! I love doing to-do list because I enjoy that great accomplishment when I tick off the list.

1. Following up the lecture recordings every night. Don't slack!
2. Pot-luck gathering with my lovelies once in a fortnight. (can't wait for them to arrive!!!)
3. Write more, letters or postcards. Oh, should write to my pen-pal! (haha, write to me now if you see this!)
4. Movie night every Friday - Friday night is a no-study night!
5. Workout workout workout I need more muscles.
6. Travel! Melbourne perhaps, for the coming Easter holidays.
7. Save up and get myself a DSLR/Compact System Camera for my 20th birthday present.
8. Try a new hobby: cycling, rock-climbing, painting or photography?
9. Watch X-men - Days of Future Past at the cinema on its release date 22 May 2014!
10. Reduce the time spent on the phone, especially whatsapp!
11. Read the bible
12. Start a skin care routine: In the past 19 years, I only apply moisturiser or lotion when my skin is super dry till it is peeling and cracking badly, normally during winter. Always get scolded by mom because of that! aiya, i'm super lazy to do all that.
13. Get a pair of leather boots
14. Kayak-ing?
15. Sunshine coast trip - I love beaches
16. Bake a perfect birthday cake
17. Try the movenpick ice cream in waffle cone (I've never tried that before!)
18. Write my diary every night, instead of once a week, trying to recall what have happened in the past
19. Movieworld, Wet n Wild, Dreamworld trip again
20. Unexpected birthday surprises for all the lovelies (So many crazy ideas in my mind now.)

So yea, that's the 20 for my 20!  I'm gonna type it in Microsoft again later on, customise it with the tick-off boxes and paste it in front of my study desk! It's gonna be an exciting year and I'm looking forward to tick off the list one-by-one.

Back to studies! Wish me luck for tomorrow's stats exams. Writing a double sided cheat sheet isn't as easy as ABC, but I should be thankful that we are allowed to bring it in. At least I don't need to spend time on memorising stuffs.

Ciao~

Happy CNY Eve!

Ello Ello guys!  Happy Chinese New Year Eve!

It is my study week and my daily routine goes: wake up around 9am, breakfast, dramas for an hour, revision, lunch, gym, dinner, another 1 hour drama session, revision again (T.T) and sleep around 1-2am.

I am surprised by myself because normally I can't stay up late till 2am. Last year, I sleep around 10-11pm! What a big change throughout the summer semester aye.

A little update about life, I've been spamming my own Dayre but neglecting this site. :(

So yea, it's the CNY eve, finally! Although there's nothing to look forward to when I am here in Brisbane, at least I have my family accompanied. Oh well, i'm actually looking forward to the reunion dinner tonight, it's been so long since a big food feast. The last one was... three weeks ago the pre-CNY party? lol

It is funny like I have literally become the 'house property agent'.  I was helping three friends for their houses inspection since summer holidays and this morning, i received a text about house rentals from my coursemate. In fact it is my pleasure to help, visiting different houses/apartments are one of my hobbies. oh weird hobby, which is developed throughout years of helping my dad to inspect property.

I have a big discovery on Echo360 (it is the site where we can listen to all lecture recordings) - I can adjust the time to run 1-3 times faster! It makes me happier and less annoyed while listening to the recordings because I know time passes faster than it normally does. That simply means the suffering time is shorter.

Then I finally installed Spotify in my Mac! My friends used to persuade me to try it instead of keep buffering on YouTube last semester, but I refused to cos I love YouTube lol lol. Finally I have it in my lappie and I'm falling in love with Matt Wertz's voice.

- Apparently my little brother is too bored and trying to tickle me. -

I have to decide which camera to get! Sony Nex-5R, Sony Alpha 7 or the Panasonic Lumix GM-1. urghh. Who hates decision making?

lol this is another random post from Clare. I am typing this just like how I write my diary. I write it once a week and try my best to recall everything that I have done throughout the week. I wish I can go into details, but I can't. I can only remember what I eat (LOL?) and the weather.

And sometimes, my feelings of the day.

So i'm not too old aye?

Okay lah, bye for now! It's 2pm already and time for lunch! Also, I must finish week 6 lectopia by today. Too lazy to go to gym but have a strong urge to swim.

I have my tummy ready for nice food tonight!

Once again, Happy Chinese New Year in advance.

Lure on Latrobe @ Paddington

The summer is back. uhhh. 

Thank God I'm done with my summer courses assignments! And there comes my final exams in two weeks time. :( Clare has been slacking throughout the whole summer semester and she is now regretting while doing her last minute work -.- AGAIN, I am again doing last minute revision. 

I should never ever do that again next semester - the promise that I should not promise aye? 

Anyways, brunch / / Lure on Latrobe

It started with a random text: HEY I'M SO HUNGRY let's go for brunch.  Okay so on the sunny and windy Saturday we rocked up to Paddington with an empty tummy and camera.  Lure on Latrobe it is!  It rolls out a new menu in the beginning of the year and we decided to give it a go. 

Paddington is a great place with beautiful scenery and good food. It definitely provides a feast for the senses!  Check out my previous brunch @Paddington here: Anouk Cafe

Firstly, beverages to wet the whistle!!! It wasn't a hot day but we were craving for cold drinks.  Summer coffee and Mango Smoothies are refreshing to wake us up.  Initially I wanted to order Iced Coffee with no ice cream, but the waiter recommended me this summer coffee, which is basically the iced drip cold coffee with skimmed milk.

Oh the staffs are super approachable and treat customers like their friends!

 We were asked to wait for a couple more minutes when they were getting ready for lunch menu. Both of us had opted for a healthier version!

Rootveg and Slow Roasted Lamb Salad. 

I have my heart set on this plate of salad, oh well, I love salad.
The roasted pumpkin and sweet potato can fuel you up; the roasted lamb was smothered in the sweet and tangy mint yoghurt dressing and hey! there's my favourite chickpeas :p

Slow Roasted Lamb and Baked Atlantic Salmon Salad. 

I reckon salmon is the most versatile fish to work with in the kitchen, one can simply baked a perfect salmon after trials and errors.  I personally think that this atlantic salmon was over baked - I like a thick band of light pink in the middle, ahaha, I love sashimi, I could have them RAW. roarrr.

It is a great lunch deal! You get to choose two salads for a small salad plate at a price of $16 while three salads for large salad plate at $20.

Truly satisfying. Definitely worth a revisit!

A Sunday well-spent brings a week of content!

It was a normal Sunday to be thankful with. Normally my Sunday is the day for God, friends, family and dramas!

But today was a special one. A Sunday well-spent brings a week of content!

First of all, the day started quite badly.  It was the pair of heels that I wore to Sunday service this morning.  It hurts my feet and I looked so clumsy and awkward while walking. I should never wear heels anymore.

Second, it was so embarrassing that my index finger started bleeding while I was playing bass guitar during praise and worship this morning at Sunday Service. LOL at myself, like seriously! It's because the wound I had few weeks ago has not yet fully recovered.  Thank God I managed to finish the whole session! All glory to God.

Then I had lunch with my family.  My grandma and two sisters.  A funny conversation that we had in the cafe and we laughed out loud - still can't believe my grandma can be so humorous lol lol

And I baked the Matcha Chiffon Cake with red bean.  It was my first attempt on Chiffon Cake - I've never tried to bake it because according to my mother, it is very challenging to bake a perfect chiffon cake! My sister and I decided to take the challenge since we had nothing to do, but we left a mess in the kitchen.  Following steps by steps till the moment before we needed to fold in the egg whites, we realised that we forgot the most important ingredient - BUTTER! #!(*$(#$)$(%__!#$@(*#$!@*&$(*%@(#  My sister was pissed off by my carelessness. haha no wonder the mixture looked like dough lah! Okay, at least we got a not-so-perfectly baked chiffon cake at the end. it doesn't look photogenic, but definitely nice to taste :p

THEN I GOT A HEART ATTACK. I have a paper review due at 8am tomorrow morning, that weighs 10% of my overall grade.  I couldn't log into the course resource page to upload my file! Apparently everyone's having the same problem and the lecturer has eventually extended the deadline. Good or bad, nah, don't judge it lol.

A few minutes later, I had to make my decision on my courses in Semester One 2014 and arrange my timetable as well! Guys! Help me, should I do a course which is assignment based, that has no any lectures, tutorials or prac classes. What I need to do is to write three research reports and work under supervision of an academic staff!  No lectures?!!! Sounds so tempting to me, but three research reports which add up to 10,000 words don't sound too good lol. While the another course, I have 2 hours lectures and 3 hours practical classes every week! What should I do? :(

Sigh.

After that I lied on my couch and fall asleep till an incoming FaceTime call. It interrupted my afternoon nap, I grumpily threw my phone to my sister and continued sleeping.  Bah bah, I guess this was when I started feeling grumpy.  Somemore I woke up by a sudden starvation - time for dinner!

DINNER? DINNERRRR?! Tell me what should I have for my dinner.  Had nothing left in the fridge except those unhealthy food and I didn't really want to eat them after the unhealthy lunch this afternoon.  This boosted up my grumpiness level and KABOOMM, I ended up shutting myself in my own room and watched 天才冲冲冲.

HAHAHA, it was definitely the best decision I've ever made throughout the day. It successfully cheered me up.  Meanwhile, the random twitter tag by my friend made a bright smile on my face too.

Last but not least, I made a house inspection for my friends and heyyyy that is a really nice property.  I wish they can get that property as it is really near to my place - PARTY'S ON! Fingers crossed.

So la, overall it is a great day, I'm sipping my peppermint tea to get rid of that unpleasant stomach bloatedness. I hate PMS, I hope this hatred will not develop to a mental illness.

It was yesterday, I guess my friend sensed my grumpiness while I was chatting with him. Then he sent me this.

You have PMS and a handgun. *Hands up* I surrender. 

LOL LOL LOL.

Okay, done for today.  Normally I will do this on my dayre cos it's much more convenient to type on my phone, but there's too much to say today! Too much ranting is bad for my soul, so I should stop now. I'm pretty sure I will have a great week ahead even though i have to countdown to my finals.

For those going to back to their hometown for Chinese New Year, Happy Chinese New Year in advance!

The Perfect Match - Cupcakes and Cream Cheese

2 more weeks to Chinese New Year; 3 weeks to the summer course final exams; 4 weeks till family trip to Sydney; 6 weeks until my mystery trip ( :p ); 7 more weeks until our Year 2 uni! Sounds pretty interesting right? :D

Another post about food for you guys again, I have no shame. 

Red Velvet Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting

After the storm, the weather went better, but this arvo, the sudden heat in the air made me crave for comforting food. uhhh, I guess the 'binge-eating' week is coming soon, lol lol. To control my appetite and to prevent myself from sabotaging my new years resolution (feeling guilty after eating out yesterday and today!), I scanned through my old photos in my camera, got them transferred to my laptop.. muahhaha. It did successfully outsmart my desserts craving. 

And I decided to blog now while waiting for my lecture recording to finish loading. (My house internet has gone insane since yesterday, it took me forever to upload/download everything)

It was about a month ago when I baked this red velvet cupcakes. I was tossing between baking a super rich cheesecake or the super cutey cupcakes. It was a battle I had and finally I had a lightbulb moment - what about cupcakes with cream cheese frosting? 

After discussing with my sister, we decided to go for Red Velvet Cupcakes. Awesome. 

 Just in case you don't know I really dislike dry and crumbly baked cakes, and that is why I heart cheese (They never get dry). I did some research online and found this recipe really nice ---> Recipe

The recipe includes coffee, which makes the cakes more moist.  Since I had no instant coffee at home but this caffe americano capsule, I made a cup of coffee by using the nescafe coffee machine!

 I wanna keep the coffee taste down so I chucked in more cocoa powder. My sister hates coffee, ahh.

 Apart from the coffee, the apple cider vinegar takes its role to moisturise the cakes too!

They are super mini cupcakes lol, I couldn't find any larger cupcakes liners. 

 I played around with cream cheese, sugar, heavy cream and colourings while waiting for the cupcakes to cool down. hah, I'm terrible in piping frosting onto the cupcakes. At the end I left the kitchen in a mess. hehe.

Oh hello!

Decadent-tasting Super moist Red Velvet Cupcakes!

Needless to say, a cup of earl grey tea is surely needed to pair up with this adorable cupcake.

That's all! I might need to get myself a panadol pill to stop this headache that I have since morning. Growing older now I need more sleep - 5 hours ain't enough! and Monday Blue tomorrow awwww. 

Good night! Have a really blessed week ahead, Cheeeeerrrs!