Liquid we put on

Look at this pretty bottle! This is MOR's perfume oil which I got from a newsagent store (which also sells pretty home decor stuff and stationeries). It was my second visit to this newsagent, I didn't realise it carries MOR stuff. I've been eyeing at MOR's products because of their pretty packaging, but never tried any of its products before. 

This particular perfume is Snow Gardenia, and it smells much like jasmine mixed with something else. I love how it's sweet without being too strong. My only complain: it doesn't come in bigger bottle! Oh well, let's try to finish this one first :p

Let there be light...

This box came to me on Monday! Well, not really true. I had to go to South Melbourne PO to pick it up (after stalking it online). I hate my apartment's concierge for never ever receiving deliveries for me. And Freshwater's PO for closing down. Agh! That aside, I was really happy to finally got this surprisingly light box...which has this inside:

A Canon box...

With my much anticipated Speedlite in it!!

More unboxing pics :) It took me a while getting used to the setting and stuff (bad habit of 'reading the manuals later'), before I could take properly lit image...Like this one, my fave of the night.

I'm one happy human being!! :D :D :D This pic was taken in the same room as the unboxing pics, no touch up whatsoever :)

Really glad I chose to get the speedlite before a macro lens!

March in Melbourneland

Alrighty, I need to catch up with my blog posts :p There are a lot happening these past few weeks and I promised myself to post them here...but you know what happens next :)

To help me with my laziness, here's a lot of photos so I have to say less!

The Fish Feast
My friend (my ex-housemate's bf) came to my apartment with his big catch! My housemate cooked them into these delicious dishes: Deep fried fish with sweet and sour sauce, and fish curry! The deep fried one was particularly good, no bones involved 8) The curried one was rather hard (and taking ages) to eat, but yummy still.

Jimmy's Birthday: The Double Chocolate Torte
It was one of oikos member's, Jimmy's, birthday two weeks ago, and I baked a cake! The recipe was Smitten Kitchen's Double Chocolate Torte and I must say despite the length of time required to create this cake, it was the coolest chocolate cake I ever made :D The base is a dense, rich, moist chocolate cake, almost brownies like; and on top of it is a layer of thick, creamy and smooth chocolate mousse. The reception was good, the birthday guy loved it, Sal said it was too rich but the rest liked it (even Ko Iwan who got two leftover slices). The only thing I'm still trying to figure out: the strawberries taste got into a cake, making the cake black-forest-ish. You know, the sourness of cherries in black forest. But apart from that, even though mine is not as pretty as Smitten Kitchen's, I'm very happy with it!

 

Ade's Birthday
My ex-housemate in Sydney, Adeline, moved to Melbourne not long ago! And it was her birthday on March 9. Not knowing what to get for her, I went to the newly opened Candy Room, just accross my office <3 They have huge range of gift chocolate and jelly beans, including MnM in 20++ colours! My favorite was of course the rare pastel colours! I got her baby blue, baby pink, and white :) This store is my new to-go for confectioneries!

I WENT ROWING!!
Yes that's right, ROWING! It was a Labour Day weekend in Melbourne, pretty sunny warm Saturday, and WWJD 2 (my oikos) went for a mini-outing to Yarra Bend Park boathouse (or whatever the name was!). We chose the 'classic boat' (the other options were kayak or canoe), paid $11 per head for 1 hour ride (good deal I must say). My left thumb blistered severely from trying to work out how to row the boat BUT it was a definitely must try if you're here :) Want to go again!! Oh and they have the prettiest bbq spot too! Note to self: must go bbq there too.

Moomba Water festival
Okay, tons of photos from Moomba! It's the time of the year again :) I didn't go last year because of the crazy hail down here, but I did go once two years ago. Same old same old, but hey I went with new group of people :p Okay fireworks photos later. Too lazy to download it from my camera now x)

Phew! And that's it for now! Cramming is surely not a good idea, people!

Ken the manly girls toy

Hiya.

I was browsing through my friends' updates on facebook when I came across to this!

Ken given the 'Bieber' treatment 

 

You should check the article out it's pretty smart :) But aww I played with my Ken a lot when I was younger. I had one with that plastic hair and the other one the 'Surfer Dude' with cool hair 8)

But I didn't play my Barbies the girly way. I didn't change their clothes or brush their hair that often. My Barbies (that includes Kelly, Ken, and the other ones in the Barbie family) went on an adventure, rode on a giant dog and stranded on an unknown island. I broke (didn't remember this though) one of my Ken's leg so he's like this cool survior. Didn't play with the other dude that much, he's like an extra. I liked the cycling Barbie a lot since she has good joints (not the rubber ones :/) and was very posable.

But blah. I put them in the highest cabinet in my room long time ago and they haven't seen the sunlight since. 

an update

 

Too lazy to blog. But here's a photo. Taken after watching No Strings Attached. 

So another year went by...

Hi people, I know it's been a while since my last update, but to be honest, I don't feel like writing anything lately.

My internet back home (yes I'm home, in Indo) sucks and there's no way to post anything to my blog without having to wait for ages. And that's if I'm lucky enough not getting disconnected. It's that bad believe me.

It's a new year with nothing new to begin with, same old plain holiday back in my hometown. I did brought DVDs to kill time but hey my holiday is 2 month-ish.

Oh ok so you are asking how did I manage to write this since I have no internet connection? Well, I typed it in Writeroom and then copied and pasted it to my blog editor. Tricky. Speaking of Writeroom, it's a neat little app that turn your whole Mac screen as a typing area. No bouncing Skype icon to distract you from typing (it hid your dock!). This is a great app for any student who are trying to do an assignment, I figured.

So what's new?

My loyal companion for 12 years, my dog, Eagle died as 2010 ended. I can't believe that I've had him for more than half of my life :') He was 12 years old, a fairly old age for a small dog breed. My house is weird without him being in it!

He was 2 weeks old when I first visited his breeder's place. At just as big as my two palms combined, he chewed on a shoe which was literally bigger than him. I remembered his fur being all white at that age. When he came into my house, he already had his brown spots.

He was naughty, greedy, always panting, lazy, peeing inside the house, but I love how he always followed me around. Scratched on my door begging to be let in. Waving one of his front paws asking to be petted. Sat with both of his front feet waving asking for attention. Put his paw on my feet. Rolled on his back asking me to rub his tummy. Whimpered in his cage asking to be let out. Sniffed. Licked. Wagged his tail.

Even when he was really sick he still tried to walk into my room to find me. And wagged his tail still when called.

Boy, there are just so many things about him that I will miss! This place will just never be the same :'(

I miss having a dog already! And I know it won't happen until I-don't-know-when.

Communication Shutdown, 1 Nov 2010

I'm joining Communication Shutdown 2010!

What this means is no facebook nor twitter for the day!

What for? Donation goes to raise fund and awareness for autism.

This is gonna be a challenge for moi but o well I will survive hey!

Visit the website, join the move :)

More information here!

when a random-past-memory strikes :)

Something reallllyyyy random came up to me when I was showering this eveninng! :)

When I was a 5th or 6th grader, I joined my school's camp. It wasn't really what I was expected tho, since the "camp site" was actually a huuuge plain field somewhere in the suburb. Aside from my primary school, there were few other schools who joined this camp. It was more like sleeping-outside-in-a-tent-with-few-hundred-other-primary-schoolers kind of thing. All I can remember of the camp site was rows and rooows of tents. Each tent was separated by a metre distance. And the bathroom was horrible.

Anyway. I think my school was the only private school out in the camp site. The other schools were public schools, and not to be mean, some were reallyyy from the kampung part of my city.

I don't remember much of the camp activities, except that during one showering session, one of my friend took me and couple other girls to shower in her relative's house which wasn't far away :p

And here's the part that struck me just now.

As we spent 2 days there, we got to know some students from other schools. On the last day, we exchanged contacts; address and home phone number. Note: no mobile yet. There was this super proactive girl who asked for everyone's address and numbers, I can't remember her name or face though.

Few days after the camp, I could hardly remember any of them. But one fated day, when my door bell rang, my maid came to my room to get me. She said that a bunch of kids were waiting outside, wanting to meet me. Me being me, I didn't really want to spend awkward moment with kids I didn't really know. So I didn't greet them, and I asked my maid to tell them that I wasn't home! :p

They, howeverrr, insisted to get some photos of me. It's a bit creepy if I remember it now =.= Yeah, they asked for my photos! Annoyed, I grabbed any passport photos of myself I could find and handed them to my maid :D The kids are never to be heard of from then. Lol. Oh except a phone-call that I rejected. Hehe.

Am I fine, you ask? Yep, I'm good. No voodoo or whatsoever...hahaa...

if money doesn't matter

Okay, so this is a super-random-post I typed while waiting for the clock to strike 11 pm :) The question's been haunting me for the past two days, so I might as well tell you what I wanna do if money doesn't matter...

The question itself, I think, is in the context where; money doesn't matter to me, imagining I have enough or too much that I don't need to work anymore, lol.

So, what if...money doesn't matter?


If money doesn't matter,
I'll travel far and long


To countries you hesitate to go to,
To nations as poor as you can imagine


I hope I can dance with the people
I wish they will sing along


In my dreams they will
In reality, who knows


There are people
who don't know what does "I'm full" means


And I won't understand what they mean
If they ever say "I'm happy"


I want to take pictures of their faces
I want to bring home their emotions


I want to share it to the world
And to those who are living in comfort


I'll let you know how lucky you are
And if you're not thankful, how foolish you are


If a picture says a thousand words
Let mine move a thousand hearts


Let their smiles tear your heart apart
And their tears break it to pieces


There are hopes I keep in secret
'Cos I don't dare to dream them


But if money doesn't matter,
I hope you'll join me hand in hand


Amen

where's my sunshine after the rain?

Seriously, Melbourne's spring is a joke. It's 9°C and (according to my weather forecast widget!) it feels like 3°C! Yesterday was the worst tho. It started raining from I-don't-know-how-early. Well I woke up at 8am and it was stormy. Felt like going back to sleep, but remembering the bills that I have to pay, I dragged my self out of my (cozy) bed.

It doesn't stop there. For the whole day, it rained, storm sweeped the whole city, anddd yes, hail storm. A.k.a ice cubes fell from the sky. It wasn't as bad as previous hail storm, but it happened few times yesterday.

When I went out later in the evening, rubbish bins around Southbank (and anywhere in the city, later I found out) were filled with umbrellas - broken ones - that I had to take this pic:

I got to stay at home for almost the whole day - small thing of which I'm really thankful of :D Cleaned my room, did laundry...*exhales*

Fingers crossed for better weather tomorrow! :)

On a random note, I can't stop eating this chocolate-button-thingie. Grrrrrr. I need more exercise! Been playing basketball and badminton for few times last 2 weeks and sweating feels goood 8D

On another random note, my internet connection is hopelessss. Tried using my berry as a modem, it worked faster =.= The BIS kept dropping when I did so, though. So I stopped. *sigh*

Fingers crossed for better internet connection tomorrow! :(

cyah! xo

you should be dancing in joy

Don't give me that look.

I know I haven't posted anything here since like forever ago, I've been very lazy, I know. 

But yeah, I have things to report as always :D

I'm feeling sleep-deprived. Of too much having fun. Err, not really. It all started 2 weeks ago. My Church is busy preparing for the coming xmas celebration, and as a part of the committee, yes I'm pretty busy too. I spent my whole weekend working for the photoshoot, and gosh it sucks a looot of my time and energy. Starting from sleeping at nearly 5 am on Friday - I mean Saturday - and spending the rest of Saturday (read: morning til late) preparing the photoshoot, and it was quite late when we finally got to snap some pics. Blame the wind that destroyed our outdoor studio, that we had to move everything to R's place at Docklands. That spells 3 times Southbank - Docklands drive for E.

At the end of that day, however, we were really satisfied :) And the photos? You bet, they were awesome. The teaser is up, the poster is coming this Sunday, and all is well. I love you guys for being so into this event! :)

Another random note is, I sprained my leg playing basketball last week. I had to wear brace for few days, and that reminds me of high school times. I sprained my ankle back then and it was swollen and ugly and bruising and blue. It's not that bad this time, I just couldn't play basketball again for the rest of last week.

Aaanddd I lost my apartment keys. That includes my fob. It's gone just like that! I mean if it fell from my bag, couldn't I at least heard it? Hmm. Weird, yeah.

I will be going back on Dec 1, and frankly, I can't wait! How I miss Indo food! And my Mr Von Chelsea and my home and my fam and and yes, I miss you, the guy in the iron man tees :)

xo

Blood and needle

Hello world!

As always, I've been to lazy to write new post here :3

Last week was my second time donating blood in Melbourne, my third time in total! 

My first time was during high school, where PMI (Palang Merah Indonesia!) people came to collect our blood...That sounds like a vampire story, hmm. Anyway. The nurse (?) who pierced me with a giant needle and suck my blood told me that my blood flow was really reaaally slow and asked whether or not I exercise regularly. Geez, I was still in the basketball team at that time!! D:

Weird, I didn't mind giving blood in my school's old and dark and damp clinic, laying on the dodgy bed with few more students. That would creep me out now.

The good thing back then, we got boiled egg, chocolate bread and milk, and also vitamin for a day! Plus,  I got to skip some classes...xD You know, I think some students gave blood just for the sake of skipping classes.

Last year was my first time donating blood here. I came with my church group, around 10-ish people? The facility here is incomparable with the one I saw before, of course! 

My blood type is O+. The majority of the people on earth has O+ blood type. I'm like, the most common type of person living. My bf's AB+. The rarest blood type in the whole world. Like, 2% of our population is AB+. The Red Cross staffs called him regularly to ask if he's available to give blood. Me, on the other side, joke around with my friends that Red Cross won't need me since there are too many O+ people living. 

If you give blood here, sometimes you will receive a letter showing 3 people whose lives you saved. My bf got 6 people saved. Since my last donation, I haven't got any letter. Maybe they gave my blood to lab-pigs or the Cullens. Hmmm.

But few days after the joke, Red Cross heard me. A girl called my cell (which I almost ignored, having past unpleasant experiences with useless sales n promotion calls), asking me if I wanna give blood again. Waahh! So I said yes.

I forgot that the Blood Donation Centre has moved. I had to went around asking people where the new one is =.= Lucky it is still quite close to my apartment. 

The guy who took my blood was not an Aussie bloke. He has a rather unique name, and spoke reaaallly softly. I could hardly understand what he said. So gentle too, in an almost creepy way. 

You know, from my two blood-donating experiences here, I can say that the nurse who took my blood back in high school was wrong. Eight minutes. I gave 440 ml in 8 minutes. My blood flow isn't slow!!! And I don't even exercise here...Answering the questions and checking and waiting took longer than giving blood itself. 

There will be blood donation event again in my church on 12 July, check out the link below for a video that our Media ministry did! I had lotsa fun making this vid heheehhh

Place of Joy's Blood Donation Ad

Definitions of blood donation on the Web:

• A blood donation occurs when a healthy person voluntarily has blood drawn. The blood is used for transfusions or made into medications by a process called fractionation.

Slow day is the best.

Alright, today's a day off, and I'm loving it. I made green tea jelly, topped with red bean paste *leftover from green tea swiss roll and red bean rice balls*. Turns out nice and wiggly and bouncy, a tad bitter tho *read tips below*. I'm feeling nice today so I'm sharing the recipe :D

green tea jelly with red bean paste

from Okashi by Keiko Ishida

Ingridients:
15g Kuzu powder*
200g Room temperature water
100g Hot water
8g Green tea powder
200g Soy bean milk
4g Agar-agar powder
90g Agave syrup**

Red bean paste****:
100g Red beans (azuki), washed and drained
50g Beet sugar***
A pinch salt

1. Combine kuzu powder and 2 tbsp water in a small bowl and mix well. In a separate bowl, gradually add hot water to green tea powder white stirring until completely dissolver.
2. Combine soy bean milk, remaining room temperature water, agar-agar powder and kuzu mixture in a small saucepan and bring to a complete boil while stirring continuously. Add agave syrup and green tea mixture and mix well. Remove from heat and strain.
3. Pour mixture into jelly moulds and chill in the refrigerator until jelly has set.
4. Make red bean paste. Boil red beans in a pot of water, then drain and transfer to a saucepan.
5. Pour enough water to cover beans. Simmer over low heat for about 1 hour, skimming off scum that rises to the surface. When beans are soft, remove from heat and drain.
6. Return beans to saucepan and add beet sugar. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes. Add salt and mix well. Remove from heat and spread paste on a tray to cool.
7. If you're having hard time unmoulding the jelly, place some hot water in a bowl. Put jelly mould into hot water, then remove immediately and unmould jelly onto a serving plate. I used a silicone 12-cup muffin mould and unmoulding the jelly was easy-peasy. Serve, with red bean paste on the side.

Notes
* I had no luck finding kuzu powder, so I used cornstarch instead. I believe kuzu powder is superior for this recipe but I also heard that it's more pricey, and hard to find here. Some sites said you can substitute it with arrow root or potato starch.
** Agave syrup is thinner and sweeter than honey. I used honey, which makes my jelly a tad too bitter. You can try adding sugar.
*** I used castor sugar instead. Worked fine.
**** Red bean paste takes long to make, but it's a must in this recipe. The bitterness and smoothness of the green tea jelly and the sweetness, nuttiness and creaminess of red bean paste complements each other! You can make red bean paste ahead of time. Store it in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks in the fridge or up to 2 months in the freezer
Another important note; don't use only a chunk of red bean paste like shown in my photos. Use a spoonful, or two spoonful. You want more, trust me.

Now, what are you waiting for? Dig right in!
Oh I forgot, you're still preparing your red bean paste and waiting for the jelly to set! Muahahaha omnomnomnom

Happy birthday to the Queen! Yep, the Australians are celebrating the Queen's birthday, and even tho I don't, I'm happy that today is a public holiday.

So you might notice that I've revamped my blog! I loved the previous template, but I wanted a more personalized one, so here we are! I spent the whole afternoon doodling and resizing pics o.O

Other than sitting in front of my laptop, I managed to make some red bean rice balls...I'm sure most of you won't have any idea, so here's a photo:

They look and taste like mochi! Why only 5, you ask? Because it's hard to mold this thing! The dough sticks to my finger and quite hard to wash off, so I gave up at 5.

I got the recipe from Okashi, my favorite baking book to date :)

I have a lot of red bean paste leftover from another recipe, I don't know what to do with it! I will make a batch of green tea jelly *which calls for red bean paste for a side* but I doubt it will need that much red bean paste. Humm.

Aah but I'll have to wait until Wednesday until I can bake or cook something else. Holiday's over! :(

Anyway, Nadia asked me to draw a character for my church's news, so I came up with this. She's to be called Joy. My church is Place of Joy (POJ) and the newsletter's called Joy Cast. Joyjoyjoy. People, meet Joy! xD Funny cos I have a niece named Joy :p

It was a really quick drawing, and I haven't managed to color her. The news is BW so this will do for now hey.

Always Enough - Casting Crowns

Always Enough

Casting Crowns

In  a dry and weary land
LORD You are the rain
In a sea of shattered ones
Your love comes rushing in
You hold the world within Your hands
And see each tear that falls
Through every fire and every storm
You're Always Enough
Always Enough

Your love is peace to the broken
Faith for the widow
Hope for the orphan
Strength for the weak

Your love is the anthem of nations

Rings out through the ages
And You're Always Enough for me

In the watches of the night
LORD You are my song
Hope is in the morning light
Your love shines like the dawn

You keep my heart in perfect peace
My life is in Your hands
When confusion hides my way
You're Always Enough
Always Enough

Your love is peace to the broken
Faith for the widow
Hope for the orphan
Strength for the weak

Your love is the anthem of nations
Rings out through the ages
And You're Always Enough for me

I rejoice for my for my Saviour reigns 

I rejoice for He lives in me
God on high, He has set me free and
Worthy is the LORD

Loving this song!

hello, June!

Oh wow it's June! It's halfway through 2010, how fast is that!
I have no time for long paragraphs since it's 10.55 PM here in Melbourne and it means skype-time is nearing, so here are some of my favorite happenings in May :)

1. Melbourne Zombie Shuffle
Photographer haven!

2. Rosemary's Bday
It was at Sante in Crown Casino. Dressing up once in a while is fun :p Not a really flattering photo, but it's the only one where I can see my outfit head to toe :p

3. Red Velvet Cupcakes
It was a big hit in my office's Master Baker competition :p It scores me first place and a heart-shaped fondue set! I made chocolate-coated cake balls from the leftovers but I finished them too quickly for any pics to be taken :p

4. Combined oikos!
My cell group (called 'Oikos' in my church) split to two groups since we had too many members, but we had a combined one because Tiff, our previous leader came for a visit x) we had a huge 34 people cell group!

5. Universal Pizza
This was taken this afternoon @Universal. I always love the chicken schnitzel and parma there :3 Tiff is leaving tomr so we're hanging out today.