Me!bourne

Yay I'm back from 2 happy happy weeks in Melbourne. Mainly coz I got to spend some time with the family :)

First we had reunion dinner on Chinese New Year's eve at Chinatown. There were celebrations there with lion dances at nearly every turn and firecrackers going off about every 10 minutes. Our dinner was at Kum Den Cantonese Restaurant, tucked inconspicuosly in a narrow alleyway in Chinatown. Yeah, my mom picked it because it said "Cantonese" (with us being Canto and all). But I think also because there werent any Hainanese restaurants around (her being one) lol.

Then the next day we had italian at Lygon Street. OMG I AM SO MAD I WANT TO HURT SOMEONE! Lies! Lies! Lies! Whoever said there is great Italian food at Lygon is lying! The experiences I had there was enough to put me off eating Italian on Lygon forever (sadly, this means missing out on the good Italian restaurants, if any =_=)

The first experience was after I got bullied into a restaurant by a bald Italian(?)  man. Basically some old bald dude with a heavy Italian accent which after a while i realised could most likely be put on. Oh and nearly every restaurant on Lygon has some bully outside their restaurant trying to harrass you into their restaurant while you're trying very hard to decide between the dozens and dozens of Italian restaurants which make up Lygon Street. So yeah. It had the word "Spagheteria" in its name so I thought they probably make decent pasta. Heck, which Italian restaurant doesnt? And they had Spaghetti alla Vongole on the menu! I was dancing in my seat. HAH! Big effing dissapointment. First the pasta was completeyl tasteless, they didnt use ANY salt. And I couldnt taste any hint of wine at all! And the second bit! Omg i want to cry ok. They completely chargrilled my clams into oblivion. I was so lookign forward to nice juicy bits of clam meat in white wine, and all i got were dried, burnt, black little crisps of what were clams, all shrunk into the size of half a pea. WTfreakingF.

Just so you know on a scale of 1-10 i rate it -100000. Michelangelo's back home did it so much better *drools while remembering*. But yeah. Next time we tried another place that did NOT have a big bully standing outside. Pasta was a tad better. Not the best, in fact very mediocre standard, but compared to the disastrous evening before it was way better. We ate with gusto. Oh, and the fettucine was amazingly chewy. Yum.

The next day we moved the Micchus into her new apartment. There I saw familiar face, some guy from SMDU. But he clearly ddn't recognise me. I don't expect him to anyway lol. Rented a car and then we went to Phillip Island. There we saw a koala upclose (it was crossing our path and we went as near as we could without getting into swipe-range), then we went to the penguin parade and saw the peguins! And now was baby season so there were so many fluffy, fat brown baby chicks!!! Or penguinlets, as i like to call them. So cuuuuuuute!! One small one was waddling around waiting for mommy penguin to come back and it waddled all the way up to me!! Just a short wire fence stopping it from hopping into my shoe. I was very tempted to reach out and grab the ball of brown fluff and take it home with me.

Met up with my cousins and took them out for dinner. Then met them 2 days later when we invited them to our place and cooked them dinner. I made carbonara the way it shud be made (without cream >.> *fussy*) and mom pan fried some lamb. Mmm yummy.

Then after a few days loitering around with my parents while Micchy was at orientation (we discovered Richmond, land of Ikea and various Vietnamese goodies... omg beef noodles! *slurp*) it was time for them to say byebye. We spent the day at Richmond, decided we liked one Pho shop better than another, then made our way to the Docklands where I heard from the my cosuin that a Japanese festival was being held. We got there and saw people dressed in yukata. Instantly regretted not bringing mine over to Oz. I heard the Tanko Bushi song being played in the background and quickly grabbed Micchy and we rushed towards the dancing people and joined the line. Ahh.. its been 4 years since my last Bon Odori. I can still do the Tanko Bushi with ease but then they played the Tokyo Ondou and that really tested my rusty bon-dancing skills. The third song was one I never heard of before, but it was very cute. I remember parts where it goes "pon-pon-ponchararin" with rolling hand movements. Google tells me the song is called Tsukiyo no Ponchararin (click for video! its from NHK's Okaa-san to Isshou program). Oh, and again saw the SMDU guy there, camera in tow. Then after 3 days (this morning in fact) it was my turn to bid a tearful farewell to Micchy.

So I got back this morning into my tiny tiny room. Micchy's place is 3 times bigger. I miss Melbourne, the big room space, the countless asian faces (makes me feel at home lol), the city feel, the food. I miss Micchy. But at least I dont feel homesick anymore. I had my 2 weeks of fun. Now i have to get started on real work. Hello assignments. Hello prac. Hello 2010.

You know you've eaten too much Indoemie Mi Goreng when...

... it smells like Mi Goreng.

Yup. I've been having Mi Goreng for dinner for the past few nights in a row. What dietitian??

i don't wanna cry alone

I'm back in Newcastle.

The holidays have been good, but too short. Maybe its for the best, because any longer back home would make me reaaaaallly homesick.

As if I wasnt home sick enough now as it is.

I'm busy unpacking all the stuff i got out of storage and as I unpack I realised I haven;t heard the voices of my family since Friday night when just a few days ago I was at home arguing with my mom, being loud with my sister and cracking jokes with my dad. Oh the noise and warm family laughter. And now the sudden cold silence in my room, with me alone.

I broke down crying. Heck I'm crying while typing this. Its funny how you'd think you'd get used to it after 3 years studying abroad but I still cry every time at the airport. I still cry on the plane to Australia. And I still cry when I'm alone in my room for the first week or so.

I miss arguing with my mom. I miss my house. I miss watering my basil plant. I miss waking up to loud Johhny Jr's music blaring from my sister's room. I miss chasing my neighbours cats. I miss hiding behind the door and "greeting" (read: jumping out and yelling) my dad when he gets home from work. I even miss his loud thunderous farts. I miss watching TVB dramas with them. I miss family times together. And most of all I miss their voices. 

Its getting hard to see what I'm typing through all these tears. I cant wait to see them again in 5 days. 5 freakign days. It feels like eternity.

Time to wipe away my tears and get back to cleaning my room. :(

The stress is making me feel like taking a dump. *toddles off to the toilet*

I've Just Seen a Face

First off: I PASSED!!!! Hello 4th year!!! Please be kind to me :)

Anyways, regarding the title of the post, I met someone. Briefly. It was during an event my parents were invited to. Me and Micchy went shopping while they did their mingling (in other words we weren't invited, LOL). But after our yummy dinner (satisfied my Pasta alla Vongole craving), we went shopping and started to rceive phonecalls from my mom at an increasingly annoying frequency and urgency. Apparently "someone" wanted to meet us. But because the place she was at was sooooo boomingly noisy, Micchy had to shout into the phone like a mad person and people in the departmental store were throwing weird looks at us.

So we, in a slightly sour mood, begrudglingly trudged our way to the place. We got there and got introduced to this lady and her sons. Ahhhh no wonder....

Sadly, the place was really too noisy for any real conversation to take place. I could barely hear his name when we shook our hands. (Plus my mood was so sour it was probably plastered over my face... dammit!). I didnt know much about him at the time but later I found out he was a family member of a very important person, meaning in a fews years time he would be a very imprtant person himself too O_O. I cant really remeber his face as I didnt want to stare and be rude, but I do remember him being very nice and polite (his bro too).

AAAAAAHH why must I be a total asshat at the worst times????? I shouldve put on makeup that day and remove my tatty toenail polish!!! AAAARGH fate was good enough to throw me the oppurtunity to meet him once.... and I totally blew it. ;____;..... 

*headdesk* I will probably end up and old maid, surrounded with cats. Boo.

Pedo-dedo-deddle-dooo~

I just got back from Cameron Highlands..

It was a quick trip for my family along with my dad's high school classmates (2 of them made it up all the way from Singapore and Penang o_o)

And i can't stop obsessing about this boy! *dammit* He's a my dad's classmate's nephew. Nothing new, I've obsessed and cyberstalked people I've met on trips before...

Only this kid is a kid =_=. Like, 14 or 16 at the most. *Slaps self* Must...not...corrupt...images...of his... innocent... bodyface... >.<

AAAAARGH WTF IS HIS NAME SO I CAN CYBERSTALK GAAAAAAAHH!!!!!!!!!!!

Sobsobsob... its times like these i feel being 21 = being old. I wanna be 16 all over again. Come back teenage angsty years~~~!!!

effing eff....

fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck

my exam is tommorrow and i don't feel prepared enough.... simply coz i haven't been preparing enough *headdesk*

i've been attempting to study since last Wednesday and yet i find a million and one ways to procrastinate! *why hello, i'm doing it this very minute!*

plsplsplspls lemme pass i need to pass i want to be tossed into the unforgiving jaws of clinical placements already dammit!!

on a side note, i had my first Calypso mango tonight (i probably had them before but never noticed the name, but as mango season is creeping up with so many types and price variety i started paying more attention). Calypsos are amazing. The flesh was bright yellow which made my skin crawl a little coz i associate bright lemon yellow with sour sour SOUR. But surprisingly, despite the color, the flesh was firm (did not reduce to watery mango pulp while i was butchering it with a shitty knife), and sweet with a lovely aroma! Plus my teeth were fibre free. Unlike my frustrating teeth picking experiences with Kensington Prides (which was delicously sweet only after semi decomposing in my referigerator omg i cant spell fridge =_=). Can't decide between them or my beloved R2E2's. I think the price difference should make the winner. I'll weigh them next time :D

Effing pea shoots

Argh I'm never buying pea shoots or atempting to make wraps for lunch EVER again.

I tried making "healthy" wholemeal lavash bread wraps for lunch with avocado, lean turkey breast slices, cherry tomatoes and PEA SHOOTS.

The wraps don't last very long, within 2 hours I'm starving =_=.

And the pea shoots. So damn difficult to chew ok! The second time I made the wraps I tried cutting them into half their lengths. Made no fucking difference.

Because I couldn't bite them off as i was I was biting into the wraps, I ended up swallowing the goddamn stalks whole. And we all know what happens when you dont chew stringy bits of veggies well. Fast forward 9 hours later and there I am in the toilet pulling strands of goddamn pea shoots out of my ass!! FML!

Its not as if I didnt try to chew, honest to God I tried my hardest. But the more I chewed and chewed and chewed the result I got after 5 minutes of continuous chewing of a mouthfull of pea shoots and I got this fibrous ball of stringy stuff that is beyond human mastication, which I had to force down with a gulp of water.

Moral of the story. Leave the pea shoots to the cows. Unless you've got four stomachs or don't mind pulling stringy bits out of your ass from time to time.