BIG

It’s been such a BIG week. Everything can change in a phonecall. An email. An hour.

It hasn’t been bad, in fact, I’ll say that everything that has happened so far has been unbelivably good.

But it’s kinda terrifying when it feels like your future has suddenly unravelled in front of you and suddenly you know where and what you’re heading for. I never realised that there was actually some comfort in the unknown.

Suddenly your life is just speeding ahead and the brakes don’t work anymore. So do you sink or swim?

I think I’m going to try floating . Wish me luck.

Life should be so simple …

but right now, it’s feels downright difficult. I’ve just received news that just makes me feel….arrrrgh.

I knew 2012 would be tough but really … this is something else.

Is it terrible that I just wish I could run away from all this? Forget being brave and facing challenges head on, surely it’s not that bad to just lie in bed and bring the covers over your head?

Only it’s too hot in summer to lie in bed. (T____T) Arrrgh.

 

Rosak

I finally splurged and bought a brand new laptop tonight. Those who know how non tech-savvy I am and how much I abhore spending money on electronic gadgets will recognise that this is a major milestone for me.

But… but…  it’s broken!!

The keyboard isn’t working properly   I don’t get it. This is suppose to be brand new! I haven’t even had the chance to spill something on it yet!

Motto of the story: I’m not meant to spend money on electronic goods. OR. This reflects my life at the moment, everything is broken.  Arrgh.

Kuching Day 3: Kueh Chap @ JinMing Cafe and road side burgers

I can’t believe it’s almost the end of Day 3 in Kuching. Time flies when you’re spending time with family

We had an early breakfast at Jin Ming cafe. My ah pa had the ultimate breakfast for champions in Kuching, the one and only kolo mee.

But we were really there for the kueh chap. Jo never ceases to amaze me with her wonderful rapport with the stall owners! The kueh chap aunty recognized Jo as her old favourite customer, was chatting to her like mad and telling her about her chinese new year opening hours.

I think we’ve really been overeating quite a bit, I’m not sure I can handle the 4 or 5 meals a day menu. But somehow it feels as if you should eat all you can while you’re in kuching to make up for the whole year of cravings to come. For lunch, we went for Jo’s rehearsal lunch/test lunch for the wedding . It was a full 9 course chinese dinner, we ended up bringing home most of the food coz we just couldn’t work through it. Here’s some samples for those who are attending the wedding, above is the pipa sesame chicken.

Dessert was this refreshing honey sea coconut longan dessert drink, very nice.

We gave up on going out and stayed home for a simple homecooked dinner. But even that was something special with my mum’s pan fried sambal fish, so good. But that wasn’t all! My brother brought us out for road side burgers for supper. What are road side burgers? Literally burgers sold by the roadside.

Looks wise they’re might be unassuming, but taste wise, these burgers are peppery, saucey, finger lickin good.Another good Kuching eats day.

Today we also went to visit my grandparents. It’s been a year since I last saw my gung gung and mahmah, sadly their health is deteriorating especially for my gung gung. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but his gaunt frame and sunken cheeks hit me really hard and I felt really upset when he couldn’t keep up a conversation with me. It was like we were both trying desperately to understand each other to no avail.I couldn’t do much but feed him an orange. I’m not sure he knew who I was.

Mah Mah was better, she remembered Jo and I. But she had memory lapses and we had to remind her a few times that Jan wasn’t coming home because she was having a baby. That’s when she would break out in happy smiles. She got up slowly and painfully from her chair, shuffled into her room and shut the door tightly. She doesn’t trust people to go into her room anymore. Then she came out, and pressed a red packet into Jo’s hands. It was a gold bracelet that she had been saving for Jo’s wedding. She forgets a lot of things but deep down inside, I don’t think she will ever forget us.

Mah Mah always sends us off from her house and my image of her is her, standing by the front porch of her house, waving madly and saying ‘bye bye! bye bye!’ while we wave from the open windows of our cars shouting ‘bye bye mah mah!’ Today we tried to tell her no to go out to the front porch because she walks so slowly and it’s obviously difficult for her nowadays. But she still insisted on walking out to the front porch. And she still waved to us, shouting ‘bye bye! bye bye!’

It made me feel really really sad.

2012

According to the Chinese zodiac, 2012 will be a very very bad year for me. I should probably only  step out of the house wearing garlic cloves or lucky charms all over my body. Actually I probably shouldn’t even step out of the house at all

But surprisingly, I am actually feeling very positive and optimistic about the New Year. It’s going to start off with such a big bang, I will be flying home in two weeks for Jo and HC’s wedding (feels like we’ve been gearing up for it forever), lots of friends and family will be flying in with some visiting Kuching for the first time , when I return, I will be attending my ‘graduation ceremony’, that’s kinda exciting too.

And then there’s the arrival of Baby niece, something the whole family has been looking forward to for months and months. Every time I think of Baby, my heart clutches a little bit and I already feel in love with her. Both Jo and I can’t talk about Baby without stars shimmering in our eyes and big silly grins plastered on our faces.  It is possible to love someone even though you’ve never met them yet!

I think for 2011, I attempted to step out of my comfort zone and reach for the sky, that’s an achievement of some sort right? I thought about writing New Year resolutions, but really, every year, and probably for the rest of my life I will have the same resolutions, to learn to appreciate life’s simple pleasures, to be a better person, to be happy.

So on 31 December 2011, New Year’s Eve, I can safely say, I feel happy and very very lucky. There’s so much to look forward to, and best of all, I have the most wonderful family and friends (boyfriend counted as family) to share my experiences with along the way. Thank you for supporting me and being there for me always.

Happy New Year everyone, wishing you all a fantastic and lovely 2012 ahead!!

Kuching Delights @ UWA Spring Feast 2011

We’re still recovering fromcelebrating the aftermath of the Pasar Malam + Spring Feast saga. Part of me just wants to forget the past few weeks (especially the burglary part) but I must admit that there were some really great moments and fond memories that I want to keep forever. Cheng asked for photos, so here they are:

Our supplies! For one month, my house resembled a warehouse. I literally had no furniture, my dining table was a chair and the floor was my seat. It slowly became a living room today, I’ve got some new furniture in which HC, Jo and Rich helped me to set up, so excited (^__^).

Last year we took more photos from the Curtin Pasar Malam, but this is the lone picture I have of our Curtin Pasar Malam signboard. I think this year we were definitely more prepared and experienced, but somehow the crowd was lacking and at times it was a quiet affair.

Skip Curtin Pasar Malam and it was preparing for UWA Spring Feast 2011. I always feel more sentimental about Spring Feast (since UWA is my alma mater) and enjoyed the whole process even more this year. The night before we even did our cooking in the uni’s cafeteria commercial kitchen, it was fantastic. I love commercial kitchens, the space,the professional stoves, the utensils, the cool rooms, everything.

I reckon HC baked the most beautiful batch of kuih bingka uni/tapioca cake in the commercial kitchen. It came out lovely and golden, Jo sold a pack to this young girl saying ‘I’m sure you’ll come back to buy our last pack once you’ve tried these!’ And guess what? The young girl returned and bought another pack!

Would you buy these from me?

I prepared less food for Spring Feast expecting a smaller crowd, but I did increase the variety and prepared the traditional staple of chicken curry and yellow rice. Surprisingly, despite it being sold all around Perth, it was still popular at the food stall.

Jo packed all these ayam masak merah boxes, she is the Queen of packaging.

You could tell who were the real foodie customers at the stall, the ones who actually picked up the ayam masak merah boxes and asked whether they could exchange it for one with more gravy. I agree that the best part about ayam masak merah is the sweet tomato gravy.

Our slightly cacat Spring Feast sign board! You’ll notice that there were more dishes on the menu. I will try new dishes next year and keep experimenting until I come up with the most popular dishes.

The little guild compound was our stall location. Compared to last year, it was less of a ‘hot’ spot and I think we missed out on a lot of action. Ah well, better luck next year.

Our prep area! This is where all the action happens and the chefs get busy when we shout orders such as ‘More laksa please!!’ ‘Running out of loh bak!’

Now to introduce you to the main characters of Kuching Delights:

Introducing my long suffering friend Jaso who still managed to flash a smile. See Jaso, this is why you stay in Geraldton during the month of October! Last year Jaso couldn’t make it to my stalls because he was in Gero, but this year, he was roped in to help at the stalls, he became the carrier of heavy boxes, the Maths teacher and the sweet talker. Thanks for your help Jas!

My favourite and most fun helper in the kitchen, Jo the Queen of Packaging a.k.a. fellow giggler, Coke drinker and yellow rice maker. (^___^) Hehe, it’s quite paiseh to say this but this is when you know you can really count on family and truly, I have the best sisters.

Can’t do without my trusty fellow chefs, HC and Rich. HC is also known as Tapioca Cake King, this year he was in charge of all the baking and I left everything to him while he churned out batch after batch of beautiful kuih bingka uni. Rich is the Laksa King and my valuable sous chef, I never ever think or worry about Sarawak Laksa because I know he will do the best job, he also somehow always manages to pack everything in my chest freezer through magical ‘jigsaw puzzle’ tricks. Both developed hefty muscles throughout this time and were my main movers. Poor guys.

The Wong family a.k.a. Wong mummy, Jess and April and Calv (who wasn’t in the picture) who surely must curse the day they met me through Calv because they’ve never stopped helping me ever since. April was even roped in as the official helper this year and suffered many boring hours of helping to sell drinks. She was a great help and Calv’s mum as usual was our best supporter of the night. Thank you Wong family.

Most of the team! Thanks guys, couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you for letting me indulge in my little hobby and allowing me to learn new skills in the kitchen and the food arena. Now.. will you do it again with me next year???

You win some, you lose some

This year’s food fair felt less stressful and a lot more fun. Perhaps we were more prepared than last year. But somehow, business wasn’t as good this year (T_____T).

Still, I enjoyed the whole experience, it was tiring and Jo kept repeating the whole night ‘see whether you dare to do this again next year!’ I didn’t dare to tell her that I would probably do it again next year, and the year after that … It’s really exhausting and challenging, but at the end of the day, I always learn something new about food preparation,  cooking for the masses, food storage, food presentation, what sells and what doesn’t. It’s a little glimpse into the food business which is something I really want to venture into perhaps in my later years.

Then again, I know I wouldn’t have survived and it wouldn’t be all that much fun if I didn’t have the help and support of family and friends. Jo and HC have been fantastic as always and they really do make this whole crazy couple of weeks go by so much easier. Jo was really knackered and probably wanted to kill me at the end of the day, but I will remember us in hysterics at the ugly kuih packaging and making excuses for terrible food presentation.

Will probably have to leave the thank yous and the recap when Thursday is over. But so far, it’s been bittersweet good. Although Curtin’s affair is always bigger and somewhat better, I always feel somewhat nostalgic and sentimental about UWA’s Spring Feast having been involved in the event since my old uni days.  Fingers crossed that this Thursday turns out to be best food fair night ever.

If you’re in Perth and you have some time on a Thursday night, come by to UWA to say hi, and perhaps have a laksa or two

Mid Autumn Festival

One exam down … four more to go.

Lately life has been so busy and full on that I haven’t had time to catch up with family and friends. The the stolen hours here and there don’t seem to count because while I’m physically there, my soul is half empty with my mind wandering and stressing about exams and the million miscellaneous tasks that I’ve yet to do. So I apologise in advance for the unanswered emails, missed calls and half of me. I’m sure I’ll return to full strength in mid October?

It’s Mooncake Festival today. Usually we celebrate with dinner and a bit of lantern playing, moon gazing and tea drinking. This year’s a really lackluster affair although I did attempt to buy a box of mooncakes to share with Jo. We were able to sneak in a lunch together as well, so at least I did get to spend some time with family

For some reason, I am really missing Kuching and my family. I wish we could all be together this year. But rest assure when I cut up my lone mooncake tonight and look out at the moon, I will be thinking of my loved ones and wishing you well.

Happy Mid Autumn Festival everyone. 中秋节快乐.

Blur

I visited Matilda Bay today. When life is a blur, it helps to revisit old favourite places with some of my favourite people.

I have friends who aim to live and work in different cities around the world. While I admire their aspirations and dreams, I’m quite sure that’s not the life for me. Maybe I’m just too boring or gutless, but even in quiet ol’ Perth, I still wish life could just stay constant and at a standstill.

“I used to believe in forever, but forever’s too good to be true”
— A.A. Milne (Winnie-the-Pooh)

I guess I’m just not very exciting or brave at all.

Need Luck, lots of it

I’m sorry for the delay in posting up the Bali blogs. I’ve actually had Day 1 of the pictures in a draft post for the longest time, but everytime I get around to writing something, I stop and switch off the computer.

The past week has been so terrible, even worse than I imagined it would  be. I felt like every second of the day I was living and breathing in that terrible legal space and surrounded by th worst people imaginable. Seriously, some of my coursemates even named themselves ‘the Snakes’.  It was on my mind when I fell asleep  at night and I awoke every morning with dread and depression. When I wasn’t completely stressed out, I would question myself, why did I sign up for it, do I even need this, is this even a path I want to consider or take.

But that’s sort of in the past tense now. I’m not saying I anticipate this coming week to be better (thank god it sort of ends on Friday, this will be a major countdown). But towards the weekend, I reminded myself that this 2 weeks is just a really tiny part of my life, and when it’s over, I can look back and decide whether this is something I want to go through in my future career or life. It doesn’t have to be that huge or stress laden.

It helped that I took time out of that crazy cycle to indulge in normal activities.  There was eating out on a Friday night. Ramen on Saturday. Even taking time for some grocery shopping and doing a bit of cooking in the kitchen today helped to remind me that my life isn’t usually like the past week, and that there are simple pleasures in life.

So here’s wishing I survive till this Friday without killing anyone or suffering from a nervous breakdown (^__^).