Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi

My beautiful girls 🥰. It was a very busy Friday for us starting with Saitaoha getting a merit award. She is gradually getting more confident in her work, I hope this continues as I just want her to be confident and happy about herself.

And then it was dash off to work for another important event which thankfully went by quite quickly. I’m glad that R doesn’t work on Fridays because those are the days we try to squeeze in family commitments and medical appointments etc.

I was exhausted by the time the evening rolled around but it wasn’t ending yet. Off we went the whole family to Ah pa and my Australian swearing in ceremony!

Haha Ah pa is a full fledged Aussie now! So glad that we could do this together. I was also really pleased how well organised and lovely the event was, it made becoming Aussie together with Ah pa all the more meaningful. And it was great that most of the family were there. It means a lot to me that Ah pa’s home is with us where we can take care of him.

It was an eventful day, I was so so tired by the end of it I took a couple of painkillers and went to sleep straight away. At night I dreamt of my mah mah, she hardly comes into my dreams, maybe she was happy about Ah pa becoming an Australian too?

Please let the rainbows shine again.

Movie night with my sister’s family, Little Mermaid was nice and very nostalgic to watch. I’m glad R joined us because Disney wasn’t part of his childhood so he didn’t enjoy Disneyland as much when we visited years ago. I think he will like it much more when we go next time because he will have watched most Disney cartoons with the kids by then !

Sunday aftenoon corporate box seats at Netball wa with R. I wasn’t that keen to be go because Sunday is usually family day and also my bosses would all be there meaning networking which I’m terrible at. But I couldn’t say no to such a nice gesture and I’m glad we went because it was a really fun and nice experience.

Nice food and free flow drinks 🍹 but I mostly liked watching the game from the court side. It was a great game and West Coast Fever were very good, I would love to bring the girls one day.

I think the girls would have liked the porky balloon. A fun weekend, one where I finally felt I was on the road to recovery, let’s hope that’s the end of winter bugs for me but i know that’s wishful thinking since winter has only just begun 😬.

Kuljak island

Saitaomei and her award

Saitaomei is finally upped a couple of levels for swimming, poor girl has been stuck with the same teacher for ages and isn’t learning anything new. I hope they find her a 9am class soon though, I am not looking forward to waking up so early on Saturdays !

Immediately picked this up when I saw it at the library, it was a really good read! I already know the story but it was very well written, factual and brutal. It was funny reading about people that I know and have met as well, I think they were put in a good light so I’m oddly proud of them.

Welcome to Kuljak Island!

We made it back to Kuljak island after three months. I’ve been wanting to go back for a whole, it’s nice to bring the girls for some outdoor activity and goodness know I could do with some exercise too.

Aiyoh my kids are real princesses. Wanted to put them on a tree branch and Saitaoha said ‘but what if there are ants???’

Super happy to get a piggyback ride from papa. It’s nice that they’re still small enough to get a ride on papa’s back, sigh not looking forward to the day they’re too big for this.

Emo nemo. I think she was a little bit tired after all that walking.

Resting for a while, I told them it looked like they were waiting for the bus.

Saitaomei pointing out the trees to me. It was fun being out and about nature, there were huge dragonflies buzzing up and down and ducks bobbing in the river.

This way or that way?

We took the lower route of course but we’re lost for a short while, Saitaoha kept asking me to check my map on the phone haha., she knows her mum is terrible in directions.

Papa and his girls, we have a lot of fun together during the weekends. It was extra nice this week because R wasn’t working on Saturday.

These girls are not avid bush walkers at all. Saitaomei told me her favourite part of the bushwalk was when we rested and didn’t walk. Saitaoha said her favourite part was eating!

Huge jellyfish alert!

The weekend ended with double rainbows in the sky. I love it that we all saw it together during our walk home.

Taiwanese style braised beef noodles for dinner, something different for a change, think R enjoyed dinner.

Sigh another weekend bites the dust. I’m not looking forward to this working week but at least I know lovely weekends are still ahead of us.

Deck the halls with holly

The Christmas holidays have been nothing short of glorious. It’s been relaxing, fun and filled with family activities. The kids are having the best time ever because they get to hang out with their favourite cousins and Yee yees.

I finally baked the turkey which was brined for two days in the fridge.

Turkey goes in the oven.

Ta-dah!!

The breast could be more moist but otherwise it was pretty good! I even made the gravy from the drippings and ah pa approved.

We had such a good Christmas spread!

Everything tasted delicious 😋.

My Christmas log cake which was actually a chocolate Swiss roll in disguise. Cheese and crackers after dinner was pretty fabulous too.

Another look at the Christmas cake.

On Christmas Eve Saitaoha accompanied me to work for the first time. She was very excited and thrilled.

Look at that happy smile.

I think she really enjoyed herself that day.

Cousins enjoying Christmas lunch. They performed for us a Christmas song afterwards, cuteness overload.

We went for a picnic with our new friends, R and I are trying to expand our social circle.

It was a lovely day by the river, Saitaomei and Saitaoha had lots of fun running around in the grass. On days like these you are reminded how nice it is to live in Perth with its blue skies and sunny weather.

The grandchildren really enjoyed their Christmas gift from Gung Gung Mah Mah! I wish it could withstand adult weight, would have loved to go down the slide.

Celebrated my sister’s birthday, the children gave her flowers.

We brought two of them into the city today, Saitaoha is always happy when her cousins are around. She cries when they won’t hold her hand, such a silly billy.

Finally treated my parents to lunch of Bari Uma ramen. My father keeps paying for our meals, it was great that I could finally treat them to a meal. We had a fun day out in the city!

I think I will be sad when the holidays are over, and they almost are, but this time I don’t feel the blues as much because we’re going back to Kuching for Chinese New Year soon! Wah December- January really are the best months of the year.

City city

We headed into the city today with all the kids. I always feel a bit stressed at the thought of bringing both kids out, but I have lots of support so it always turns out much better than I imagined it to be. I guess I’m just a born worrywart.

My brother said local food that he misses the most is Kolo mee. Chicken rice is no.2 on his list so we headed to Tak Chee for a yummy chicken rice lunch. I used to go to Tak Chee a lot years ago, but then the service became snooty and I hated their cash only requirement so I stopped going. I’m pleased that their service was much better today but sadly it’s still cash only. R is going to cook chicken rice for the folks on Friday, I hope they will like our homemade version.

Saitaoha likes chicken rice too, all kids seem to love chicken rice, I guess because it’s so flavourful.

Another homecooked dinner, ah Ma made kiam chye duck soup for us, it’s my brother’s favourite soup, he likes it so much it even made it onto his wedding speech 😂. I helped with the veggies and a stir fry beef dish which they seemed to like. My sister bought Corica apple strudel for dessert, custard, cream, apples and puff pastry, what’s not to like? Ah Ma is not a sweet tooth (unlike the rest of us 😅) but she likes this strudel a lot!

Tomorrow ah Ma and I are going to cook bak kut teh, hopefully I’ll remember to take a picture this time. If I have time I would love to bake a pandan chiffon cake for my brother. Except I think he’s suffering from holiday overeating.

Aldi closes at 8pm so we had a mad dash to the supermarket at 7.45pm. Luckily we made it phew. R bought more tools (don’t know what he’s doing with a mitre saw ), I stocked up on milk, yoghurt, and my brother bought mineral water (seriously he’s so healthy I’m not sure we’re from the same family). It feels silly saying this but I felt so happy that I could go for a grocery run with my brother. I wish he lived in Perth. Sigh.

Rottnest Island

I’ve always had warm memories of Rottnest island. The last time I visited was many years ago when my sister and brother in law visited Perth for the first time. We had lots of fun then so were excited to go back again, this time with the whole family.

Mummy, I’m a bit scared of going to Rottnest, I can’t swim and neither can Mah Mah!

In the end this little bub and her grandparents didn’t even go near the beach but rested in the shade most of the time. I don’t think Rotto as the locals call it is suitable for the very young and elderly. Lots of hills and not much shade on the beach.

This girl though, had such a glorious day. She is such a water baby, ran into the pristine water in glee. Once she fell face first into the water before I could catch her, but she just headed back in after a momentary shock.

She enjoyed playing on the beach with her cousins so much. Here they are pouring water to fill the moat around the sand castle.

Clean white sand.

Pinky beach. So pretty.

No need for filters when the beach is this beautiful and it’s such a gorgeous day.

She said Mummy and Saitaoha when she saw our shadows 😍.

Haha my sister took this photo and we kept laughing and saying it’s her Bond girl photo.

Bond girl refreshes herself with an ice lolly.

An encounter with the native quokka. We only saw two the whole time we were there, so no quokka selfie 😭.

Gung gung and mah mah were so nice to babysit Saitaomei the entire day whilst I played in the water with Saitaoha.

Colouring at the cafe before our return ferry ride. The ride back was so choppy, I was so glad when we arrived.

A lovely seafood dinner at Kailis, the evening sky was turning pink.

Baby knocks out on the way home.

A tiring but nice family day out.

Hangout Bar N Cafe @ Como, Jun@ Hay Street, Perth

A break from my holiday posts with some local content.

We had Sunday brunch at Hangout Bar N Cafe in Como a few weekends back. Even though it was busy, we managed to snag a table pretty quick without a booking. The cafe was surprisingly cozy with a fireplace, unfortunately we were seated near the door which meant chilly blasts of wind when patrons came in and out the cafe.

They have a wide range of coffees and flavoured hot chocolates ranging from tiramisu latte to green tea latte. I liked their fancy glasses.

Their Big and Tall ($20) breakfast which comes with a glass of fruit juice. This is one for the hungry and was a pretty good all rounder big breakfast.

Eggs benedict ($17), HC said all was tasty.

Jo’s honey glazed 1 inch bacon which came with poached eggs, avocado and habanero sauce ($17). The bacon was lovely but I’m not sure that the habanero sauce added to the dish.

Overall we enjoyed our brunch and will definitely return some day. They take bookings so that’s convenient too.

Hangout Bar N Cafe
20 Preston Street
Como, WA 6152
Tel: 08 9474 1914

Jason is back in town! Only for a short three weeks 😦 but beggars can’t be choosers. We only have him for another week before he returns to London. So tonight we met up with him for dinner at Jun. I’ve heard great things about Jun so was glad we finally got to go. The restaurant is hidden underground in a little alley, but word has gone out so it’s no longer a secret in the CBD and is always packed at lunch time.

I can never resist ordering zaru soba ($10) even though it’s a bit mad to have cold soba on a winter night. I had the yummy soba with a side of croquette ($8), very crunchy texture and I was suitably pleased with my choices.

R’s soba in soup ($10) he immediately regretted his choice after trying my zaru soba. It tasted alright but the texture of soba was lost in the hot soup.

The rest of the guys had set meals. This was Jason’s katsu chicken meal ($28) which came with side dishes, salad, pickles and miso. He let me try some of this chicken with was very crunchy and well fried.

Jo had the Jun yakitori set ($30). Jun is most well known for its yakitori and it was easy to see why because they were all very well done, grilled to perfection, moist and tasty.

HC’s teriyaki beef set ($28), he is a huge teriyaki beef bowl fan and really liked the beef here. I liked their side dishes of simmered pork stew, just something different from the normal salad.

Side dish of baby squid in butter soy sauce ($8), R thought it was great with just the right texture and I liked their butter and soy sauce which had the right amount of sticky sweetness.

While Jun’s prices are perhaps on the slightly higher end, I do admire their wide variety of authentic Japanese dishes on the menu, everything was faultless (except if perhaps the waitress was a bit more frequent with her green tea serving) and we had a fun winter night.

Baby Tristan really liked Jason and couldn’t stop smiling all night. Sigh, can’t blame the baby, I love being around Jason too. It always feels so comforting and familiar whenever Jaso is here and we always have such a nice time whether it’s squabbling with each other or having one of our D&Ms (an abbreviation taught by Jaso haha, it means deep and meaningful *face palm*).

Jun
568 Hay St
Perth, WA 6000
Tel : 08 9221 3339

The different colours of the Perth Council House at night. I doubt Perth will ever become a cosmopolitan city like London, Paris or even Sydney and Melbourne, but the gradual growth of Perth suits the boring ol’ me and it’s becoming more and more like home especially with the arrival of Jan and family. Looking forward to the rest of 2013 and beyond.

My favourite coffees in the CBD

The weekend started great this morning with a coffee at 868 Gourmet which is just a hop, skip and jump away from home.

The coffee was quite strong and a little too hot but I still enjoyed it.

They use 5 senses beans at 868 which is my preferred roaster.

Before working in the city, my favourite beverage in the world would probably be the Hongkong style milk tea. Actually, I still love my milk teas and chinese teas , but coffee is a firm favourite as well.  There’s lots I miss about being in the city, sometimes it is dicovering a quiet, empty lane hidden in the middle of the hustle and bustle.

The mix of old and new buildings.

Checking out the latest restaurants, cafes and shops popping up all over the city. This new coffee shop Basilica opened up during my last week at work in the city along with other shops all located in close vicinity to the impressive BHP Billiton skyscraper. I did try Basilica coffee before I left but it wasn’t fantastic.

I knew that I wanted to do a post on my favourite coffees in the city before leaving. So with Jo’s borrowed camera in hand,  I had a coffee every day for the entire week!

Tartine was my most frequented coffee joint in the city  since it opened up right below my office building about a year ago. This place not only serves consistently good coffee (they use 5 senses) but have lovely belgian hot chocolates too. The tarts and pastries here are also delectable, with our favourite being their white chocolate and macadamia muffins plus their light brownies.

The team at  Tartine are always cheery and passionate about their coffee as you can tell by their handwritten smileys on the takeaway cup. Everytime a coffee spills over the top, the barista will say ‘the coffee’s excited to see you!’ The only downside to Tartine, the prices are on the higher side with a large coffee going for $5.50, but to be fair, their large coffees are really quite large!

Tartine
72 St Georges Tce
Perth

I’ve blogged many times about Velvet and how much I love the coffees at this place. This cafe is what started my love affair with coffee. I still remember my then manager saying ‘there’s this lovely little cafe nearby…’ . Velvet is so popular with the office crowd that the downside is the long wait (around 10 – 15 mins) during rush hour. A normal sight in the morning along King Street is the line of patient caffeine loving folks queing out of the cafe. But trust me, it is worth the wait.

No matter how busy they are, I can’t really remember a coffee that I’ve had here which hasn’t been good, velvety (pun intended) with gorgeous chocolate notes (they use 5 senses too) at the end. Every time I forget how good a nicely made coffee is, I have a hit of Velvet and my mind just goes ‘ahhh… now I remember’. The coffee prices here have been slowly creeping up too (as is the whole of Perth) with a regular (which is actually quite a small cup) going for $4.20. The service is not particularly friendly but quick and efficient. I only wished they were open on weekends SIGH.

Velvet Espresso
172 St Georges Ter Shop 5
Perth, WA 6000

Before Tartine opened up, this was also one of my usual haunts. The guys at Ristretto Espresso take their coffee very very seriously., they source and roast their own beans.  Located in the alley of a small arcade, this place is really a ‘hole in the wall’ and not one for a cafe ambience. They have their own fans as well (another branch in Howard Street) and it can be a little wait during peak hours.

Their coffee prices are also on the higher side but at least you won’t be getting burnt milk here, coffees are strong, smooth and best of all, consistent.

Ristretto Espresso
160 Central Arcade
160 St Georges Terrace
Perth WA 6000

Greenhouse created a stir in Perth when it opened a few years ago. It was lauded for its innovative design, recycling greenhouse theme. Not to mention the up and coming chef Matt Stone with his award winning menu. But that was back in its hey day, nowadays I hear Greenhouse is still largely popular but the service standards has dropped incredibly.

Luckily, the coffees here ($4 for regular if I remember correcly) are still consistently good (they use Fiori beans hence a more intense, stronger flavour) and I found myself trekking to Greenhouse quite often despite it being further down the Terrace from my workplace.They also have nice looking savoury muffins and tarts on offer during breakfast and best of all, remains open during the weekends, woohoo!

Greenhouse
100 St Georges Terrace
Perth WA 6000

I left the best for the last (^____^). The one and only Lowdown. I have to admit, I er.. kinda prefer Velvet coffees *small voice* over Lowdown coffees only because Lowdown uses Fiori beans and I’ve always been partial towards 5 senses which are more mild on my tastebuds. BUT… Lowdown makes the best Fiori coffees in town because their coffees are always excellent, strong and creamy (and the boys make gorgeous latte art too).

When my workplace moved further down the Terrace, my first thought was ‘oh no,further away from Lowdown’. When I was contemplating going back to my old workplace, my first thought was ‘yes! daily Lowdown coffees!’ So why do I love this place so much? It’s the groovy barista brothers whom are not overly cheery but friendly,polite and just so charming. They make the effort of remember every customer’s name, call out ‘thank you xxx’ before handing the customer their coffee with a gentle smile. Good service goes such a long way.

It’s also their affordable prices, despite being so popular ( downside is the long wait but hey, at least they pump out lovely music over their radio), their prices have never gone up and a regular coffee is $3.50. And such good coffee too SIGH. Plus, their baked muffins are a treat, I love it that they don’t serve the normal apple and cinnamon, but have lovely combinations like lemon and ricotta muffins, dark chocolate and pear muffins. their muffins are always served warm (why don’t Perth cafes do that nowadays?) and have a slight crunch on the exterior but are moist and light on the inside.

Just thinking of Lowdown makes me feel so sad that I’m no longer in the CBD. If only they opened a branch in East Perth or even on the weekends, I would willingly trek into the city every weekend for a Lowdown hit. I’m just glad I was there to witness the arrival and the rise of Lowdown, they deserve the accolades. This is quality coffee and quality service at its best.

Lowdown Espresso
Shop 16a Cloisters Arcade
865 Hay Street

WA Day long weekend and R’s birthday

We have to wait till October for the next long weekend (T________T). I really do think that the WA government should spread out the public holidays a bit better throughout the year, a grey, gloomy and extra wet winter is bad enough without having any public holidays to look forward too. SIGH.

Anyway, here are some pictures from the WA Day long weekend which also happened to be R’s birthday, such good timing.

I did quite a bit of cooking over the weekend, these were my mini vegetarian pohpiahs.

Sio baos for my farewell morning tea at work. My colleagues liked them but the pregnant Jo loved them. I even had to ‘dapao’ some from my morning tea to take home for her even though I had packed her half a dozen a few days earlier.

Hippo Creek Meat and Wine was R’s birthday dinner venue. Actually we had many birthday meals throughout the weekend. Any reason for a feast 🙂

This is called the Lion’s Kill. Can you guess why? Under the slab of bbq ribs was 350 gm of Black Angus sirloin steak. The restaurant was loud and festive, not a romantic place for two but great for a crowd of friends. The food was pretty good too.

Long weekends aren’t complete without Freo outings. I don’t think we predicted that we would be heading back so soon when Shirley and her friends came to town!

For HC, a long weekend means fishing solitude by the Sardine jetty. Well, not really solitude since we were all there being pests and generally doing everything but fishing.

It was a beautiful day, a complete contrast from the crappy weather that we’ve been facing for the past couple of weeks.

Can’t end a birthday post without a picture of the birthday boy with his birthday cake. It was a good birthday and a nice long weekend.

Queen Bday long weekend

It was the long awaited long weekend. Happily,it was as glorious as anticipated, only as usual, it blew by in a flash, SIGH. I can’t believe it’s all over. Now it’s the long countdown to Christmas (T___T)

During the week, we had a morning tea to raise funds for guide dogs for the blind. I promised to bake a batch of ‘pupcakes’ for the morning tea, so lemon cupcakes it was.

I had lots of lemons leftover, so baked a batch of lemon ricotta muffins for home consumption.

Back to the long weekend, Saturday was our Freo fishing day. It started with ramen at Dosukoi in the Fremantle markets, also known as the first ramen that I really liked in Perth. Back in those days, Dosukoi was not well known and it was easy to get seats any time of the day. But nowadays, even though we were there early, we still had to wait half an hour for seats in this little ramen gem. But it was worth the wait (^___^).

Then it was time to indulge in HC’s favourite past time, fishing! The weather was gorgeous, the ocean was beautiful, in fact, the only thing lacking was err.. the fish.

The serious fishermen. You can always spot the serious fishers.

Real fishermen come fully geared with caps, hats, proper shoes (for climbing around the rocks), have all the fishing gear including rods, buckets, bait and the most importantly, a giant tub of sunscreen.

Whereas the not serious fishers can be seen clambering around the rocks, taking silly pictures, splashing around the water, looking for crabs, clams, abalone, everything but fish. Hahahaha.

Introducing … the not serious fishermen.

Gerry and his little crab. Don’t worry, we put the crab back in the waters.

It was interesting witnessing HC’s love for fishing. He was so patient with all of us the whole day, helping us fools to cast our rods, hook the bait and teaching us different fishing techniques. We had a lovely time, driving to different locations around Fremantle,  basking in the sun, enjoying the gorgeous view and each other’s company.

Hooray for the ultimate fisher HC.

The three stooges by the pier.

Cooking our catch of the day at the end of the night.

All of us had our own dishes, HC with his yummy lemon chicken, Gerry’s tom yum soup, signature garlic prawns and clams, Richard’s pan fried herring, I dealt with the easy dishes of scrambled tomato omelette and braised kailan. It was the perfect seafood dinner to end the day.

It was a fantastic fishing day and long weekend 🙂

Hom’s 3 day tour of Perth

Gerry’s good friend and fellow hometown-er Hom flew in from Brisbane for a whirlwind visit to Perth. He stayed at our place over the weekend and we thoroughly enjoyed his lovely company. What happens when you drop in for a short weekend?

A bbq party is called at very short notice, thanks to Wendy and Jason for being great hosts and Calv for being the main chef of the night (^__^).

Richard gets to show off his kungfu moves on Wii. Notice Xinchen laughing in the corner? His poor opponent was Ah Tim who didn’t know what hit him.

Group photo, notice Fabie the poodle  between Jason and Wendy? The cute puppy is Wendy’s new baby.

We woke up early enough to make it to Freo. It was a beautiful day, clear skies and sunny. I like all these pictures, Hom and Gerry look so happy and truly, we did have a great time.

No weekend is complete without coffee, or iced mochas for the boys.

We didn’t stop there, no Freo trip is complete without fish and chips, this time we skipped the famous (but in my opinion not so great) Cicerello’s and had Kailis Brother fish and chips instead.

We stopped by the beautiful Cottlesloe beach for some picture taking. This is Hom’s favourite pose, it was such a sunny day that he had to shade his eyes for lots of photos.

We joked that our eyes were too small, so the guys tried to pry their eyes open with their fingers, don’t think it helped much (^__^).

I don’t know how we managed to squeeze in King’s Park but we did, it’s a must go in any Perth visit to admire Perth’s city skyline and the river views.

We found a cute green frog lying amongst the grass in King’s Park. It seemed to be enjoying the late evening sun.

Gerry says except for planes in the sky and vehicles on the roads, China men eat anything with two legs in the sky and four legs on the ground. So he ate the frog (T____T).

After a long day, we were all tired and not keen to head out again for dinner. Instead we roasted chickens and vegetables in the oven and  tossed up a prawn, crab and avocado salad. It was nice and simple, I predict lots of roast dinners in the future.

Last night in Perth was dinner at The Garden, the fairly new pub in Leederville which Gerry has been pestering us to go to for the longest time. It was very quiet because it was a Monday night but the pub was gorgeous and the menu was interesting. You would think that after a day in Swan Valley the boys would be sick of wine but no, we had a bottle of red which was quite lovely.

See how happy Gerry is that we went to The Garden? It was such a fun dinner with lots of laughter and silly conversation, sigh, I hope Hom comes back to Perth sometime soon.

A hop and skip away to the famous Little Caesar’s pizzeria for the Sam Caramello dessert pizza with bananas,caramel sauce and macadamias. Then it was time to go home and bid Hom goodbye. I want to visit Gerry and Hom’s hometown in Guangzhou now, I reckon it would be very very fun.

Back to dreary and boring homecooked dinners but at least my cooking mojo is back! This week’s theme is called ‘using up the leftover ingredients from the barbeque’. This was stir fried sweet chilli prawns on an omelette.

My first attempt at Terung Balado (Indonesian spicy eggplant dish with belacan) which we always eat at Manise, not quite the same but tasty all the same. And I finally used the belacan that I brought all the way back from Kuching! My whole house smells of belacan(shrimp paste) now, but I like it.

Ok, hopefully the rest of the week flies by and it’s the weekend again.