Tuesday, December 29, 2009
That time of the year again!
So it is: holidays, eating, drinking, shopping etc, how exciting! And most importantly, catching up with friends whom you haven't seen in ages.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Lex, who moved to Brisbane months ago to pursue his PhD. Welcome back to Melbourne Lex! A round of applause please. =)
Went to Kenzan (yet again), had my usual bento box (yet again). Oh well, too much of a good thing... is still a good thing!
***********
Comes Christmas' Eve, had a few of them over to my place for dinner.
A few days prior to that, was cracking my head what to cook. Obviously I wasn't interested in slaving myself in the kitchen for the whole day, so nothing too complicated yet visually appealing would be superb.
In the end, I was saved by my beloved Nigella Lawson in the form of one of her cookbooks - Nigella Express! Btw it was my birthday present from last year, thanks for giving it to me guys!
Tadah! My masterpiece - potato pancakes with smoked salmon canapes! Aren't they pretty? =)
And this was my first attempt, gosh I'm such a talented cook!
Just kidding of course, it doesn't require too much talent to conjure these delectable babies. It's only a matter of whisking, cooking and assembling. And voila! A lovely platter of canapes in no time.
See, that's one of the reasons I adore Nigella so much, she makes everything so easy! You could almost waltz through it and still manage to create something so delicious. Very important if you're throwing a party, believe me you don't want to appear too stressed over the food, that's just so unglamorous. (I even had ample time to do my makeup after the cooking)
Closer shot of my masterpiece, just because I'm proud of it! =) Btw I also cooked marinara pasta but forgot to take a shot of it.
This is totally random but does anyone watch 女人我最大? So I was watching it on YouTube earlier and this episode was about making simple party food. This guy was making something very similar to mine, so wicked! I suspect he must have his inspiration drawn from dear Nigella. Because potato pancakes aside, he also made a dessert which I've come across in one of Nigella's shows. Bravo! Great minds think alike.
The happy entourage.
Weichao's kung poh chicken (宫堡鸡丁). Well done!
Loving my Christmas spread? ^_^
Lex the designated bartender of the night, in the midst of making vodka lemon lime bitters.
And the poor 'butler' had to pick up the seeds after that, gua gua gua.
It's a feast!
Kings and queens! =) Happy us with our novelty gifts from the Christmas bon-bons. So what do we have here? Yoyo, miniature phone book and pen (do people still use this now with the advent of mobile phones?), keychain, bulldog clip (wtf?) and miniature poker cards. Oh well, I guess you don't call them novelty items for nothing.
Each bon-bon also came with a joke, a baffling joke to be precise, the kind of joke you're not sure whether to laugh or not. Byron even suggested to sue the company for such lame jokes! LOL
Champagne time. We were actually quite paranoid that we might get hit by the cork, so we stayed far away while Weichao 'bravely' popped the champagne. I know, we're such good friends.
But it was a false alarm after all. Nothing catastrophic happened. Check out the video if you like.
So it was a great night (it was mainly Byron talking half the time while we listened to his stories as if he's some kind of prophet, haha). Thanks for coming guys!
************
The next day, Christmas day. Didn't want to stay at home after church, so went to the city and caught up with Byron. Only one 'tiny' detail we overlooked - it was Christmas and most shops were closed, there was pratically nothing to do in the city!!
So there we were, two geniuses roaming aimlessly in a relatively dead Melbourne city. Definitely something to remember, never knew walking aimlessly could be so tiring! Having said that, one can never be too bored with Byron talking most of the time, hehe. Too bad I forgot to take photos of us to document our 'adventure' of the day.
************
On Boxing Day, Melbourne came to life again with all the crazy sales happening. Had you been to the ghost town-like city the day before as a tourist, you'd be so intrigued by this sudden change of vibe, mad shoppers everywhere!
Had lunch at this random Vietnamese restaurant somewhere in the city.
Wasn't too bad but reckon those at Springvale are much better.
Lex with his uber stylish hat, loving the feathers!
So I daresay I wasn't an impulsive shopper this Boxing Day (come to think of it, I was never one during previous Boxing Days), only bought a watch and it was 30% discount! *floating on cloud nine*
*************
Anyway, speaking of shopping, I was totally caught off guard by THIS.
So before I woke up yesterday, I was certain that I was only going to catch up with Brendan over lunch later in the day, UNTIL...
MY.LAPTOP.DIED.ON.ME!!!
Was turning on the laptop in the morning, unfortunately it wasn't turning on as usual. In fact, there were no signs of life. It was then I realised my loyal laptop of four years had died, how things changed so drastically within a night! (I was sure it was working well the night before)
Farewell my Acer, you were a trooper and you have served me well.
On a lighter note, bought a spanking new laptop from Dick Smith yesterday, Brendan scored me a pretty sweet deal too! So this is the story, was definitely not expecting to buy a new laptop before yesterday. But shits happen, what can you do? At least I have back-uped important documents on my external hardisk, so that's a relief. Not the songs though, damn! T_T How do I go about to retrieve the songs?
And yes, I'm now happily typing away from my new HP! =)
Had dinner at Pancake Parlour before catching the movie Old Dogs.
Anyone seen it yet? Very funny, I laughed so much that my jaws went numb! Apparently it has some very negative reviews, not sure why though. At least I enjoyed it.
Hope everyone had a great Christmas, here's to another year filled with happiness and laughter! =)
So it is: holidays, eating, drinking, shopping etc, how exciting! And most importantly, catching up with friends whom you haven't seen in ages.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Lex, who moved to Brisbane months ago to pursue his PhD. Welcome back to Melbourne Lex! A round of applause please. =)
Went to Kenzan (yet again), had my usual bento box (yet again). Oh well, too much of a good thing... is still a good thing!***********
Comes Christmas' Eve, had a few of them over to my place for dinner.
A few days prior to that, was cracking my head what to cook. Obviously I wasn't interested in slaving myself in the kitchen for the whole day, so nothing too complicated yet visually appealing would be superb.
In the end, I was saved by my beloved Nigella Lawson in the form of one of her cookbooks - Nigella Express! Btw it was my birthday present from last year, thanks for giving it to me guys!
Tadah! My masterpiece - potato pancakes with smoked salmon canapes! Aren't they pretty? =)And this was my first attempt, gosh I'm such a talented cook!
Just kidding of course, it doesn't require too much talent to conjure these delectable babies. It's only a matter of whisking, cooking and assembling. And voila! A lovely platter of canapes in no time.
See, that's one of the reasons I adore Nigella so much, she makes everything so easy! You could almost waltz through it and still manage to create something so delicious. Very important if you're throwing a party, believe me you don't want to appear too stressed over the food, that's just so unglamorous. (I even had ample time to do my makeup after the cooking)
Closer shot of my masterpiece, just because I'm proud of it! =) Btw I also cooked marinara pasta but forgot to take a shot of it.This is totally random but does anyone watch 女人我最大? So I was watching it on YouTube earlier and this episode was about making simple party food. This guy was making something very similar to mine, so wicked! I suspect he must have his inspiration drawn from dear Nigella. Because potato pancakes aside, he also made a dessert which I've come across in one of Nigella's shows. Bravo! Great minds think alike.
The happy entourage.
Weichao's kung poh chicken (宫堡鸡丁). Well done!
Loving my Christmas spread? ^_^
Lex the designated bartender of the night, in the midst of making vodka lemon lime bitters.
And the poor 'butler' had to pick up the seeds after that, gua gua gua.
It's a feast!
Kings and queens! =) Happy us with our novelty gifts from the Christmas bon-bons. So what do we have here? Yoyo, miniature phone book and pen (do people still use this now with the advent of mobile phones?), keychain, bulldog clip (wtf?) and miniature poker cards. Oh well, I guess you don't call them novelty items for nothing.Each bon-bon also came with a joke, a baffling joke to be precise, the kind of joke you're not sure whether to laugh or not. Byron even suggested to sue the company for such lame jokes! LOL
Champagne time. We were actually quite paranoid that we might get hit by the cork, so we stayed far away while Weichao 'bravely' popped the champagne. I know, we're such good friends.But it was a false alarm after all. Nothing catastrophic happened. Check out the video if you like.
So it was a great night (it was mainly Byron talking half the time while we listened to his stories as if he's some kind of prophet, haha). Thanks for coming guys!
************
The next day, Christmas day. Didn't want to stay at home after church, so went to the city and caught up with Byron. Only one 'tiny' detail we overlooked - it was Christmas and most shops were closed, there was pratically nothing to do in the city!!
So there we were, two geniuses roaming aimlessly in a relatively dead Melbourne city. Definitely something to remember, never knew walking aimlessly could be so tiring! Having said that, one can never be too bored with Byron talking most of the time, hehe. Too bad I forgot to take photos of us to document our 'adventure' of the day.
************
On Boxing Day, Melbourne came to life again with all the crazy sales happening. Had you been to the ghost town-like city the day before as a tourist, you'd be so intrigued by this sudden change of vibe, mad shoppers everywhere!
Had lunch at this random Vietnamese restaurant somewhere in the city.
Wasn't too bad but reckon those at Springvale are much better.
Lex with his uber stylish hat, loving the feathers!So I daresay I wasn't an impulsive shopper this Boxing Day (come to think of it, I was never one during previous Boxing Days), only bought a watch and it was 30% discount! *floating on cloud nine*
*************
Anyway, speaking of shopping, I was totally caught off guard by THIS.
So before I woke up yesterday, I was certain that I was only going to catch up with Brendan over lunch later in the day, UNTIL...
MY.LAPTOP.DIED.ON.ME!!!
Was turning on the laptop in the morning, unfortunately it wasn't turning on as usual. In fact, there were no signs of life. It was then I realised my loyal laptop of four years had died, how things changed so drastically within a night! (I was sure it was working well the night before)
Farewell my Acer, you were a trooper and you have served me well.
On a lighter note, bought a spanking new laptop from Dick Smith yesterday, Brendan scored me a pretty sweet deal too! So this is the story, was definitely not expecting to buy a new laptop before yesterday. But shits happen, what can you do? At least I have back-uped important documents on my external hardisk, so that's a relief. Not the songs though, damn! T_T How do I go about to retrieve the songs?
And yes, I'm now happily typing away from my new HP! =)
Had dinner at Pancake Parlour before catching the movie Old Dogs.
Anyone seen it yet? Very funny, I laughed so much that my jaws went numb! Apparently it has some very negative reviews, not sure why though. At least I enjoyed it.Hope everyone had a great Christmas, here's to another year filled with happiness and laughter! =)
Labels: fun time, shopping, special occasions
♥ When you think of happiness, I hope you think of me.
12:06 PM
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12:06 PM
