Exploring Eastwood

I haven't been cooking lately, which means I need to eat-out during my lunch breaks at work. Instead of choosing 1 of the countless korean restaurants along the west side of Eastwood (where the office is located), I decided to explore google map to check out other restaurants in the east side of Eastwood. I decided to try this restaurant in the end:


It's around 12 minutes walk from my office to this restaurant. It's famous for its ramen, so I ordered Teriyaki chicken ramen $12.80.



There wasn't plenty of light in where I was sitting, so pls pardon the poor quality photo. In fact, is it just me or does it look like i've got soap bubbles in the ramen? lol~ Got my ramen within 10 minutes, a little longer than wht other japanese restaurants would normally take to serve out their dishes, but it's rather reasonable. But I soon realised that most of the online reviews were right: the food tastes good.... but they took ages to serve the dishes!! 2 middle-aged ladies at the next table had already finished their ramen before their gyoza was being served to them!! (=_=)

Eastwood town centre:


It's my first time exploring the east side of Eastwood... only to find that it's so much more developed than the side of eastwood where my office is located!! I didn't go into the small shopping centre but I caught a glimpse of woolworths and bing lee. The top 4 banks are also located in this town centre too! I couldn't resist a cold drink on a hot day, so I grabbed Easyway on my way back to the office :P

Railway tracks @ Eastwood station:


I can't wait to go back to the town centre again the next time I don't bring my lunch to work :P

On a separate occasion, I had this Nasi lemak from Jimmy's recipe @ TGV:


Personally, i think it could've tasted better. Huge mountain of rice, but they could've given more curry sauce and other stuffs at the side. Perhaps their Laksa are more yummy.

Korean grape candy that i've been looking for:


Somehow, i didn't enjoy eating it as much as before because it leaves an after-taste that makes me thirsty all the time.

Randoms

Sydney sky last week: massive cloud & rain on the left side of the picture, and clear blue sky on the right. The Spring season in Sydney has not officially arrived yet, with gale force wind weather warning issued for several days. The weather this week has turned for the better, but the wind and chill sometimes keep me hibernating at home.


Wesley Fair'09 in Pitt St on 8th October:

It was really packed and all sorts of merchandises were on sale. I was volunteering in the kids' entertainment department, where I learned how to make a dog-shaped balloon :)

The garlic I planted around a month ago:


Few mins ago as I tried to log in to twitter, this appeared:


This "Fail whale" was created by Yiying Lu who was featured in 7th October edition of the Central magazine (click here). I've been wanting to see it "live", so I couldn't resist taking a screen cap of it :p

Happy Birthday Dad!

When I came across this card design on Etsy, I seeked my sis' opinion and purchased it right away. This card managed to describe my dad best since he is working in the fashion industry. His obsession with fancy clothings, jeans, bags and shoes and his awesome attention to details has undoubtedly made fashion industry the right field of job for him. Of course there are many more things that he would love to try doing... if only he has the time to. And having been working to support his family ever since he was 12, he probably didn't have any options to explore his interests at all. I hope that one day i would be able to shoulder some of his burdens, so that he'll get to experience many more wonderful and great things out there that, thanks to him, I have been fortunate enough to experience them myself. Without him, I wouldn't be here and I wouldn't be whoever I am today. Happy Birthday Dad!!! Love you always!

Sunset

This photo was taken while I was walking towards the South Juniors community club across the road together with my housemate. It was nearly forming the colours of the rainbow but I couldn't capture it with my phone camera. I hope one day I would be able to enjoy the scene of sunrise + sunset from the beach.

I went to check out the gym and swimming pool in the community club. After so many years of procrastination, I think i'll finally sign up for a gym membership lol~ (though procrastination hasn't ended yet since i haven't actually signed up for it). Looking at so many people exercising in the gym made me feel so fat and inactive. In one day, i've probably moved less muscles than even handicapped people LOL~ I hope Ms.paperplanes & my other housemate (Ms.E) would sign up for the gym membership as well...so that I will be more motivated to go to the gym =P

Wheat bag for the cold winter

Just when i thought winter has ended and the sun has been shining brightly, the past few nights proved me wrong. I have already returned my heater to the landlord and without access to anything warmer than two layers of quilt, i decided to make myself a wheat bag. A certain nature of wheat makes it a good retainer of heat and cold, making it a perfect heat pad for sore neck/muscle and cold pad for bruises. I came across so many cute wheat bags online together with their free patterns, but since i don't have a sewing machine, I could only come up with a very simple wheat bag: a knee-high sock (perfectly brand new) filled with organic wheat and english rose pot pourri!

To prevent the wheat from forming a big bulge at one end when i filled up the sock, I divided the sock into 4 compartments and sew a horizontal line across the black stripes (to conceal my poor sewing skills) after each 1/4 of the sock has been filled. Next, put it into the microwave and heat it up for 3 minutes together with a cup water to prevent the wheat from drying up. Voila! A scented wheat bag perfect for the cold nights!!


When I can get my hands on some fancy cloths, I will definitely make more of this!!! One thing to note: never leave it in the microwave oven unsupervised and 4 minutes maximum. Longer than 4 minutes might make the wheat bag too hot for comfort.

John west Tuna & Beans challenge

I received my John West Tuna & Beans few weeks ago in the Nuffnang welcome pack. I haven't managed to stretch my cooking imagination too far yet, so i decided to follow the recipe posted by Leigh in here and make my own variations:

- John West Tuna & Beans (Capsicum, sweet corn, red kidney beans & chilli)
- Turkey strips
- Ham
- Mozzarella cheese
- Leggo's pizza sauce sachets


Sneak peek while it's sizzling and baking in the oven:

Tadaa!!!


I wasn't so optimistic about the taste at first because i don't really like kidney beans. But as I opened the can, the smell of tuna & capsicum was so overwhelming that I don't even care about the kidney beans anymore!!! If i wasn't so focused on my hesitation towards the kidney beans at first, I would've used the spork and eat it out of the can right away!


Another highlight to this pizza is the Leggo's pizza sauce! It would make a beginner cook like me seem like a pizza master. It tasted just like those pizza paste from Domino's and other pizza stores. I will not hesitate to buy John West Tuna & Beans from Coles during my next grocery shopping, and I'll make more pizzas from the remaining 3 sachets of Leggo's pizza sauce and pizza bases!!!

Thanks Nuffnang for this delicious meal and Leigh for the creative ideas!!

Cookie Tiramisu

I've been craving for cold desserts since last night so tonight I decided to make this cookie tiramisu, taken from Ms.paperplane's blog here. It's still 2 hours away before I can eat it though... I didn't put the chocolate syrup on top like Ms. paperplanes did because it'll be smudged away when i covered it. Below is my poor attempt at decorating it with choco chips instead:
I hope it'll turn out as good as the one Ms.paperplanes made before!


Thank's Ms.paperplanes for the recipe!!!

Caramel pork with noodles

Another dish taken from the recipes+ magazine: Caramel pork with noodles! This was my first attempt at cooking a pork dish. My shoulder and arm still hurts from trying to cut the pork spare ribs into 2-3cm pieces using the unbelievable blunt knives at home.My cutter/pen-knife could have been sharper than those knives. It's really time to buy a knife-sharpener / new knife.


The noodle turned out pretty good...but I don't like the caramel pork even though my housemate said it was pretty okay. Perhaps it's my obsession with chicken in play. Another reminder for myself and fellow beginner-cooks out there: don't use frozen chunky vegetable mix in your cookings unless you really have to. They taste weird =P

Chicken & Rocket fettucine

This has to be one of the best home-made pasta that i've ever made!! I've always used simple ingredients including off-the-shelf tomato pasta sauce for nearly all the fettucine/spaghetti i've made in the past and I have to admit i'm getting bored of the taste. So I decided to give this recipe a go. This recipe was taken from the September'09 edition of recipes+ that my housemate bought and it was actually taken from the "Ready steady cook" cooking game show on channel 10. I haven't been following the show on tv but I really recommend buying the recipes+ magazine (it costs only AU$3.30!) and it's full of recipes that is beginner and wallet-friendly!!


It was originally "Turkey & Rocket Fettucine" but I substituted turkey with chicken because turkey's more expensive & I might overcook the turkey strips. It turned out really good nevertheless and my housemate even wanted to try cooking it in the future!!


The photo didn't do the fettucine much justice =P It tasted so much better than it looks.
Below is the recipe for Ms.paperplanes who plans to make it for her sweetheart when he comes back to Sydney and those of you who wanted to try the-best-home-made-fettucine-that-you'll-ever-taste lol~ :

Turkey & Rocket Fettucine

+ Top tip Don't overcook turkey strips, as they have very little fat and can dry out quickly. + If stir-fry strips are unavailable, use thinly sliced chicken breast fillets.

Serves 4
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking: 15 minutes

375g fettucine
1 tablespoon olive oil
500g turkey stir-fry strips
1 medium brown onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
150g tub rocket pesto
1 cup cream
1/3 cup torn basil leaves, plus extra leaves, to garnish
Shaved parmesan, to serve

1. Cook pasta in plenty of boiling salted water for 10 - 12 minutes or until tender but firm to the bite. Drain; return to pan.

2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large frying pan over moderate heat. Cook turkey, in batches, for 1 - 2minutes or until seared. Transfer to a heatproof bowl. Add onion and garlic to pan; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until onion softens.

3. Return all turkey to pan with pesto and cream. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat; simmer; stirring occasionally, for 2 - 3 minutes or until sauce thickens slightly.

4. Add turkey mixture and torn basil to pasta; toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon into bowls. Serve at once, topped with parmesan and garnished with extra basil.

Apart from the meat substitution, I also left out the basil leaves since i'm not really a big fan of it...which is probably why the photo of my fettucine doesn't look that mouth-watering. Hehe.... And being a beginner in the kitchen, I couldn't figure out what rocket pesto looked like. I only came across this Rocket pesto on my 2nd grocery-shopping-trip:


Good luck to all of you pasta-lovers!!! You won't be disappointed~!!

Growing my own garlic

I've been wanting to try growing some garlic because it seems to be one of the easiest plant to grow. You'll just have to leave it in your pantry for one week, and you can already see a tiny shoot coming out of it. After picking some of the garlic cloves from my cooking, I put each one (pointy-side up) into an ice cream tub filled with some potting mix that I got from my friend. I covered the top loosely with the potting mix to give them some space.


Hopefully 2 weeks later, I would be able to see some tiny shoot =P

Nuffnang welcome pack

The first thing I saw when I woke up this morning was this:


I was sooooo excited because I've never received something this big through the mail before! Ms. paperplanes mentioned about this welcome pack to me before but I didn't expect to receive it this fast!! Inside this fabulous box are these goodies:

A thank-you note from Nuffnang together with Coles & Myer $10 Gift card.

And many more goodies from Coles Group & Myer Gift Cards, Redken, John West, Leggo’s, and Spring Valley!

I've been cooking a lot lately so i'm sure I will find John West's tuna & beans and Leggo's Italian beef casserole useful for my culinary adventure (^_^) As for Redken's hair products, they will definitely aid me in my attempt to find the perfect haircare products for my hair.

Just when I was brainstorming my ideas about the perfect way to spend my $10 Coles & Myer gift card in order to try my luck at turning $10 to $100, I found out that the Nuffnang Coles & Myer gift card competition is already closed!! *sobs* Nevertheless, I will still try my best to come up with my own way of spending that $10 gift card. Afterall, it's the adventure of discovering the ways in which I can utilise the $10 that matters.

I'd like to thank Nuffnang for the welcome pack, and Ms.paperplanes for introducing me to Nuffnang. Blogging has never been more fun!!

Nothing can ever be as quality-guaranteed as Japanese curry

Japanese curry for dinner tonight. This is probably the 6th time i've made it. The only variation i made was marinating the chicken before stir-frying it. I might've added a little too much water but it'll thicken over time. Hehe... yumm~

I've been addicted to croissants for the past few days. Apply strawberry jam and thick cream to every bite and sipping ice coffee during afternoon tea time has been my favourite luxury. I gotta watch my calorie intake though LOL~


After dinner, i tried to make chocolate chip biscotti since i've never tried making it before. I've already got all the ingredients from my previous baking trials (except choco chip, which i bought earlier in the arvo). However, i cut all the ingredients by half since it's my first time making it and I don't wanna let the extra ingredients go to waste. I'm not sure if this proves to be a smart choice eventually... coz the biscotti were not so successful. They were too dry and I didn't have the appropriate knife to cut the fragile loaf of biscotti, so they ended up quite crushed. Didn't wanna take a photo of failed products LOL~ The taste is still quite awesome, but i guess there are some things that you have to make in bulk.

Dinner tonight

Stir fry eggs with tomato & stir fry chicken with kimchi.

I got these recipes from my friend's mum. They were my new favourite home-made dishes. Whenever her mum comes to visit, i would always hope that she'll cook the egg dish coz i'm huge fan of eggs! However,my re-creation of those two dishes didn't turn out to be successful. I should've added more soy sauce to both dishes coz they tasted quite plain and there weren't enough flavour.

Sigh...i'll make sure to write down the recipe from her mum next time.

First post: sweet and sour day

My friend who recently got into a car accident, invited me and Anne for Yum Cha @ South juniors today because her mum wants to thank us for being there with her in the hospital. The perfect sunny weather & Yum Cha gave me a false impression that it's Sunday today because we normally go to Yum Cha during weekends only. It wasn't until 4.30pm when me, Anne and Evelyn were walking to Maroubra Junction to buy groceries that I realised today's TUESDAY and I have to an afternoon shift of volunteer work tomorrow!!

The walk to and fro maroubra junction was tiring me out... which can only mean one thing: I lack exercise!!! (=_=") Anne got a $10 Coles gift card from nuffnang for putting their ads on her blog, and if she can come up with a creative way on how she spends that amount of money, she might win a $100 voucher from nuffnang. This triggered the ($_$) side of me, especially since i'm unemployed at the moment. So I might come up with another blog, with duplicate postings from this lj since i can't embed 3rd party advertisers on livejournal. This is a pity because I've already established my network in livejournal. My friends are not really avid blog readers so i doubt anyone would ever visit my blog much =P

I dropped by my friend's house again for dinner and got her easyway along the way. I was rushing to catch the 7.27pm 303 bus at UNSW, so i rushed and ran as fast as my stamina could allow me to. However, when i was waiting at the UNSW bus stop, not only was the bus late for 12 minutes, but it didn't even stop!!! There's no way the bus driver could've missed our signals since there were quite a few students trying to hail the bus to stop (it's peak classes-finish hour). It went right past without any signs of slowing down. Some of the students were stunned. One of them decided to take a cab few minutes later. If there are other alternative buses that we could've catched, we wouldn't be so dumb-founded. It's the fact that bus 303 has very different bus routes compared to the rest of the buses that stop @ uni, coupled with the fact that it only comes ONCE EVERY HOUR. It's not my first bad encounter with Sydney buses, it's just that I was really annoyed this time around to do something about it. So i called the sydney buses 131500 to report this matter to them. I bet it would take another million numbers of phone call complaints before they would do something about it, but at least i'm now adding to the counter.

When I was having dinner at my friend's house, 2 police officers dropped by to grab her accountsof the car accident. I have to say they weren't the friendliest kind of human beings, let alone "police officers". The female police officer was so rude and I'm 99.9% sure that she has discrimination towards Asians. 2 minutes into the conversation and she asked my friend (who graduated high school and obtained her bachelor degree in New Zealand, graduated from Master of Commerce in Sydney and is currently working for one of the largest insurance companies): "Can you read English?". For goodness sake, has the conversation between them so far been in Chinese language? She latter argued that it's a procedure that she has to go through whenever she's trying to record down accounts of accidents from all parties. Ok she made her point and I really believed it back then, so i remained silent and decided to listen in to the rest of the conversation without any misconceptions about her. But throughout the remaining conversation, she didn't show any patience or empathy at all. Whatever my friend told her about the accounts of the accident, she couldn't stop hinting that whatever my friend said was all lies. "So did you really see it or not?" " Did you know what kind of poles you hit?" "Can you please describe the pole to me?" "How many centimeters away was the truck away from you". WTF? Who in their right mind would remember such specific details when they had a feeling that they won't be able to live through the car accident? She latter revealed that witness accounts from 2 pedestrians and the truck driver were against whatever my friend was saying. So? This doesn't give her the right to talk to my friend like that. That's what police officers are for aren't they? to investigate the matter further and find out the truth, as well as leaving your personal judgements out of the conversation. Aren't evidences what they care about the most? Some of you might argue that they're just doing their jobs, and that i'm overprotective over my friend. But even if the same thing happens to a stranger, I would've sympathised the one who's being questioned as well. Apparently the same thing happened to my friend's boyfriend before. He got beaten up by some guys at the petrol station and police officers who questioned him back then decided to ignore the blood flowing down his forehead and pressed on with the questionings in even more gruesome attitude. I guess the discrimination that Australians have towards Asians still exist afterall.

To conclude this entry on a sweeter note, here's the lolly-cake that me and my friend recently made again:


My friend brought over the colourful fruit puffs from New Zealand since they don't sell it here in Sydney. There are some other alternatives of course, but the fruit puffs are what make them taste unique (^_^) It's not as sweet as the one i made before so it's perfect even for people who doesn't have sweet tooth.