Press on

Bit of flower to cheer you up,

to put a smile on your face...

just so that you can press on.

Something I found-

Don’t worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.

Don’t waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long and, in the end, it’s only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts. Don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.

And smile always.

My Longest Bus Ride Ever

I did not go to school today. As to why I did not attend lessons today, I have to explain events from yesterday. You see, Thursday, yesterday, I went over to E's house early afternoon to make her examination cake with her. A vanilla bavarois frozen-style. After that was completed, we took off to Adriano Zumbo for lunch, where we ate open sandwiches and pastries. We came home after to taste the bavarois. It was beautiful. Then we decided that we were too full for dinner. So I went to bed without dinner. The next morning, I woke to a very hungry stomach. My breakfast staple for the past week was fruits with yogurt. Therefore, as per normal, I prepared a huge bowl of ice-cold fruits with three large soup spoon of yogurt. And I went off to school.

On the bus, the moment I got on the bus, my stomach felt terrible. I need the toilet. Badly. The bus ride took about 20mins. It was the longest twenty minutes in the entire of my short life (I'm twenty-one this year). As the bus inch ever so slowly towards the school, my resolve to at least hang on till I reach the school erodes. At one point, I even thought I would not make it to the school, and I would die of embarrassment by doing it on the bus. ._. Thankfully, I did make it to school. I rushed to the toilet to do whatever was needed to relieve the pain in my stomach. Then I went home; to recover from my trauma. haha. Any excuse to skip school. The lesson I learnt: cold food and really empty stomach don't mix. I still feel uncomfortable now...

Sydney: A new chapter

When you see food like these appearing in my blog, it means I'm really back in Sydney.

After a year long break in Singapore (lazying around, working, learning a foreign language, meeting new people), I have returned to Sydney to complete my management course in Le Cordon Bleu. No running away this time.

I feel really comfortable now, in Sydney. No crying bouts, no homesickness. Strange, because I usually make a mess of myself during the first week of arrival. That fact I held out for nearly 3 weeks is an accomplishment. I guess now that I found direction, knowing what I want in life, I feel much more confident than the wondering, lost me when I first graduated from Superior Patisserie. Very focused now in my studies, which is absurdly easy compared to A-levels.... I plan to become one of the top students of my class, heh heh, one of the more realistic goals I made for the year. Part of my studies, an extra-curricular activity I made up myself, is to look for new pastry ideas- by eating lots and lots of pastry. See how fat I'll grow this time...

Just to show that I am not joking when I say I am very serious in my studies. These are the pastries that I have tried so far in my busy first month. Bottom left: Chocolate pistachio escargot. Right: Tart au citron.

Expect much more.

Happy New Year

Wake up to breakfast like that? I wouldn't mind.

Happy new year to all! My 2010 resolution is to slim down and stay slim while still enjoying the wonders the good food. What's yours?

A couple of things happened on the 31st. My oven of more than 10 years died, had a mini explosion which resulted in my having no electricity for the entire morning. Reason of death: exhaustion. I guessed I overworked the poor old fellow during Christmas. Rest in peace.

The other thing, my dog of almost 10 years went on a crazy fit just an hour before 2010. She tore up one of the living room pillows while we were out for dinner. Reason of outburst: loneliness and fear of fireworks. Dogs can smell gunpowder miles and miles away, and they don't like it.

My first 2010 gift: an oven. Thanks mum.

Why are you looking at me like this??

My first wisdom tooth extraction six months ago was a breeze. No pain whatsoever. Not even after the surgery, which includes the drilling, digging and jerking.

Why then does it hurt so much this time? Why does it have to swell?! Pain, I can deal with. But a huge sweet potato for a face?!

I'm listening to Man in the Mirror, by MJ, James Morrison, Wang Lee Hom. I like them all. :D

A New Page

After 1 month of uneasiness, 1 night of decisiveness; after many fears and wavers and 2 weeks in Sydney, I am back in Singapore again. Hi again. :)

The decision to return to Singapore wasn't an easy one, mainly because there was a firewall of opposition. Thankfully I hacked through it (going on the offensive by bawling my eyes out) and made it to home. (Less metaphorically, my mum and uncle, and many others, opposed to my coming back, giving reasons like: the economy is bad, best thing to do now is to study, or you are being immature, think again. The only person who supported was my father, which I am grateful for. The thing is, I was extremely uncomfortable there. It is not that my life in Sydney was terrible, no. I had great friends, friends who listened, who helped, who are sincere. I had good, caring, talented teachers and had the opportunity to learn from them. I had a comfortable place to live in, much better than most of my friends. Yet, I wasn't happy. Instead it was like this slow, creeping depression is setting in. I could be light, happy and laughing in the day, and mournfully sad in the night, like there would be a weight over my chest. Therefore, I knew that something was off. I needed to come home. I needed a break So I told my mum and got the go ahead to come back.)

Therefore, I have deferred from school for a year. Which means I will have a year in Singapore before resuming my studies in LCB, Sydney. During my stay here, I plan to find a job (hotels or patisseries), pick up driving and learn Japanese. I want to do one thing at a time and do it well. So no rushing or whatsoever.

Time to clean up and get back on track. Catch you guys later.

Hi to mum, hi to men in black (glasses), sorry to be back. :P

End.

Home

Home sweet home. Tired, relieved and fat, and feeling inexplicably happy.

Eating at home makes one feels lazy. More so than eating out because this laziness feels so right.

I am home.

North Sydney

Yesterday, a great many things happened. A great many painful yet delightful things happened.

Stella and I were invited to dinner at Roneel and Naomi's (our very lovely ex-neighbours) new apartment. And as you all know, I can't chew very well. Correction. I can't chew at all. To the end of Friday night, I was more of swallowing than chewing. It was my saddest night ever. The original pot luck plan with the whole class was scraped. I was left to eat broccoli porridge that night. (I caught a cold too. I am pathetic.) Stella was kind enough to make (and eat!) with me porridge so soft that I can easily swallow without chewing. Eew, but thank you.

Therefore, I am determined to at least turn up for dinner the following night. I was practically growing mold at home. I made up my mind to -die die also must- visit the dentist. And, I did it. Saturday morning, I went dentist hunting. The first dentist I found was closed for some seminar meeting. The second dentist I found said they had their last patient already. But I was desperate, see. I begged the receptionist to give squeeze me in. Kind woman. She did and I got my appointment. Hooray!

Not so hooray is the dentist informed me that all 4 of my wisdom tooth are bloody sprouting at the same time. And 1 got infected by some food particles (i didn't brush my teeth?! heehee, yeah, i don't sometimes when i feel too lazy) which caused it to swell like nobody's business. The solution? The dentist gave my 3 options: lance it, slice it or cut it. haha, what a joke.They all mean the same thing don't they.

Dentist: I am going to lance it. Don't worry, you won't feel much pain since you are already in so much pain. And my knife is very sharp. Don't worry.

Is that supposed to sound comforting?

In the end, the dentist did slice into my gum to let the blood and pus bleed out. And I am to keep rinsing my mouth with the not-so-good-tasting listerine every 2-3 hours. Well, at least I get to have a decent dinner now.

After dentist, I traveled down to North Sydney to meet Naomi and Stella. Off to Lavender bay we go! North Sydney is a beautiful place.

See the bridge there? You can walk on top of it for around $150. Good thrill huh? Plus the view you get, priceless.

Ofcourse, we can't leave without pasting our faces with views even if it means completely blocking them. haha.

Naomi and I. There's an small engagement party going on behind us.

Stella and Naomi.

Sight-seeing wrapped up, Naomi brought us to Aldi- the super good value store- to do our household material and grocery shopping. We bought tons! at a mere $40+. I was sooo happy!

Roneel with Naomi in their American style kitchen. A small and cozy little corner. :D

Cabernet merlot.

Roneel was the chef for tonight. He whipped up a 3 course meal which includes: Stir-fried spaghetti!

Veggie soup with little franks.

And a simple eggy green salad to go along.

I am having a hard time to chew past all these food but I managed. :D

My paparazzi moment!

We went for a walk after dinner. The night views they have over there are fantastic. I didn't take any pictures though because of my stupid high iso function which I have no control over. Came back for dessert: Bavarian Gateau and home-made green tea ice-cream. Went home at 11.40pm with two boxes of homeware. (Naomi gave them to us. thank you!) :D

End.

Welcome to my humble abode. =D

Okay, here it is. My current address. heehee. Welcome.

That's the door with the shoe rack. Shoe rack costs 30 bucks. Discounted since we took the display piece. Chairs were given to us by our neighbours. We had them over for desserts one day, and had them kneeling like Japanese. haha. Naomi was alright. (She is Japanese after all.) But Roneel was twisting and wriggling through out. The next thing we knew, we've got chairs. haha. They are pretty good people.

The living area. Originally, we didn't have any chairs in our place. Even now, we hardly use chairs. We sit there for lunch, dinner, computer etc.

Table, for bigger stuff that we can't do in the kitchen. Our kitchen is really puny. Cookies anyone?

Ah, the puny kitchen. One already is a crowd. Fridge is brand-new. We bought it at 500, including delivery. We decided that we need a good sized fridge since we will need to store alot of things. Creams, cakes, breads, puddings. There's the stove also, with grill and oven function.

Pass the kitchen, you'll see the toilet. One toilet for us both to share. No conflicts at the moment. Note the zebra shower curtains, cute yeah? 20 bucks. We laid a yoga mat on the floor to encourage more toilet activity. Previously, we only use the toilet when the need is urgent. cause the floor is really icy cold. It keeps you hopping . Washing machine, we got it third hand at 100 bucks. It's a bargain. 4kg load. Delivery at 60 bucks. What the hell right.My room. I sleep on an air bed, pretty comfortable. Shelf and storage box are all from Ikea. And I fixed them all by myself. (with a little help here and there from Stella. :D)

Front view of the shelf. It has good storage huh.

Wardrobe. Probably the most expensive piece of furniture in the room. Costs 200 bucks.

A necessity. :)

So whadya think? :D

End.

The Natas Fair 29.02.08

Yes!! We're going to Japan! haha. It's going to be hard work planning the trip but it is going to be so worth it. We bought the air tickets at 795 per person. Will be flying to Fukuoka first via Thailand, return from Osaka. It's going to be an eleven day trip. And I can't wait for it!