It's a CO's Christmas

This is the year of Christmas 'orphans'!

those of us who have no family present/don't celebrate x'mas/hate buying presents/cannot be arsed to cook got together for a day of random goodness!

we were gonna go to Coogee but at the last minute we decided to check out 2 of the 5 secret beaches listed on Time Out (therefore no longer secret), as they are close to Hippo's place.

The first one was Lady Martin's beach, at the end of Wolseley Road, Point Piper. We drove round and round small winding roads but couldn't find the access road anywhere! Drive-by beaching FAIL!

Then we went to Milk beach in Vaucluse and thankfully we got there! We passed the much bigger Shark beach and there was a bit of a parking mayhem going on - including a car reversing into people standing/saving a carspot! Coogee would have been similar, so we avoided a lot of crap :D

Not bad eh? Would have looked stunning if it was sunny but then the tiny beach may have been packed.

It was fairly quiet. The wind picked up and it got a bit unpleasant as we were right out in the open, but then a group left and we moved to a  nice little alcove out of the wind! yay!

I'd busted my shoulders and felt like a stiff, creaking old thing and it took effort (and alot of groaning) to lie down/sit/get up etc. So I'm really proud of myself for running into the ocean for a dip before the rain came. The water was actually really really nice! the broken glass and bottles, not so great. Also cut both feet on oyster beds...revenge for me saying I want to eat them earlier! pain everywhere...bah!

after our bollywood marathon (Veer Zaara is NOT a happy movie! i don't care what anyone says!), we ventured out to superbowl for congee...that really hit the spot because it was a cold and rainy night. Hippo suggested DTF for dessert and Manda raised her hand for the bill straight away HAHAHA. Then she ran ahead complaining we're slowing her down XDDD. Once there we started with entrees (garlic cucumber, seaweed/tofu salad), then straight to sweet dumplings and mango pudding (more like a jelly) so we had our X'mas three-course meal HAHAHA.

Good times!

Tralalalalala

Here's my X'mas present to myself...yay baby!

after many long nights I've finally finished the beast...the shackle...

 ...the condensation of my wasted life haha

there was a bit of a drama - the printer left out a few pages!!! important pages like Thesis Certification and one page of the Table of Contents...the horror!

If I didn't have lunch with A&K and if K hadn't asked to see my thesis and if he didn't opened up 1 of the 2 theses with missing pages from the very start then...well it would have looked very very bad

i'm very grateful to my degree for allowing me to sleep so much for so many years

here I am signing off my theses, in my wood paneled office aka THE PUB

my thesis, titled 'Alcohol, cornerstone of societies. A study on its positive influence on the emotional and mental welfare of the disenchanted'

these good people never discouraged me from drinking, nor from only having one drink at a time

my supervisor is GOLD

IBIS MAN IS SPARKLY

actually i was trying to tell him he's got such a sparkling personality, but i was really trashed so i kept saying 'you're sparkly, but not like Edward'. HAHAHA

my baby is surrounded by good company XDDDD

oh god i now have a break from this for at least a few months!!!

*TEARS OF JOY*

La Candela

Marilyn kindly took us to her local, Jason's la candela, to celebrate getting a new job. Such a generous girl :)

Chrissy present from Marilyn - beautiful triple wrapped raspberry and lime tea from Taka tea garden, with large dried raspberries. I tried it today, it was very nice :)

tasting plate for 2 - $26

Not particularly exciting, but a good size for 4 people. The garlic prawns were good.

M's open prawn ravioli, a deceptively filling serving. I didn't hear raves about this dish though.

my blue swimmer crab risotto - this was very nice because it was a bit spicy, and i enjoyed the half-crab. ZT got the gnocchi with gorgonzola which was highly recommended by the waitress and it was very cheesy. I think he liked it. All the mains were around $20-$25

The only thing that marred the meal was the waitress. She had the unnerving habit of giving us practically 10 seconds to look at the main and dessert menus before coming back multiple times to take our orders...when it's clear that we were no where near ready...over-zealous I thought, but not when it came to clearing the table. I actually wrapped up all the crab shells in a napkin for her...yet she had to be told to take the 'parcel' away AFTER she had given us our coffees...and even after she brought the dessert, she still left my crab cracker and fork behind. WTF??? obviously being nice didn't help any...

anyway, it was a good dinner for me. I was upset at my job working on the death star, but after hearing about A&Z's jobs, and the completely controlling or retarded people they work with, like 'hey I just caused a huge disfiguring accident, but she'll be right!'...I've come to realise that it's actually more sad to have a potentially meaningful and stable job ruined by the people you work with. It gave me real appreciation of all the lovely storm troopers I work with, and the clarity to do away with useless emotions and just make a plan to get off the death star before it explodes...

Present from the boys - pea pod cushions, because of the pea pod keyring i posted on my blog many moons ago. I actually used one at the restaurant hahaha. It was very comfy :)

it's funny what people remember; Des bought me the same keyring from Japan because of that post (although it kinda doesn't make sense)...he also got me the bubblewrap keyring for my b'day which is actually about 100x more awesome for those obsessive-compulsive/nervous times :)

released

this poor young girl hurt her head, so she had to go into care. she recovered and was brought back to the place where she was found

here she is peeking out of the release cage



"baroo?"

sometimes it's possible to just open the cage and the flying-fox would find its own way out, but this girl needed some encouragement. She's amazingly placid for a wild animal.



she's hanging on the fingers of the carer, and checking out her environs

after a while she flapped her wings and was gone; she flew well :)

Azuma Kushiyaki

I've been wanting to go to Azuma Kushiyaki for a while but never suggested it to anyone as I thought it would be quite pricey. So I was surprised and pleased when Amanda suggested it for dinner.

it's a very comfortable space, dark wood paneling, muted colours, and I love these two paintings

our table was a bit too close to the next table though...Amanda and I were silently waiting for the very annoying couple to leave. The diners after them were much more soft spoken, so they probably found us annoying haha.



the ceramic plate and cup and the interesting chopstick rest were nice additions to the visual feast



Special - grilled eggplant with chicken mince and miso $9.80

It's not a particularly exciting dish, and the eggplant wasn't as moist as I'd expected.



Azuma's famous seared tuna salad as featured on Food Safari $15.00

Very surprised by how much radish, shallot, and ponzu vinaigrette this dish had. If you're not a fan of any of the ingredients then you might struggle with this. It's not that the flavours didn't suit the very meaty seared tuna...it's just a bit of an overkill



assorted kushiyaki skewer $14.80
with green tea salt, Japanese pepper and curry salt

The 'baby beef' tenderloin was so tender and melt in the mouth, it's destined to be ordered again (next time i'm just going to have beer and skewers). The chicken thigh skewer was another highlight. The prawn was fresh and flavoursome but I wish we got the wild scallops with soy and home made garlic oil instead (these two are alternated). Amanda wondered who would order okra, with its slimy strings...well the people next to us did haha. The pale chicken breast skewer with pickled plum mayo was my least favourite because it didn't have the juicy, grilled taste to it.



'Japanese risotto' or Zosui, with salmon $15.00

I'm not sure what possessed Amanda to order this, may be it was the name? it turned out to be soupy rice with egg and salmon, although considering I was on buscopan this was surely a blessing to my stomach, and it was very comforting indeed. I'm not knocking the dish because I actually love mixing rice with soup. I just don't know about having it at a restaurant, that's all.

There was a strange mix of Christmas carols and Japanese enka throughout the meal. Only when we got up to pay did we realise there's a man with a guitar tucked away in a corner near the door!

Anyway, prices were much more reasonable than I thought, so hopefully I will be back soon :)

cake and hot drink set, $9.50

The dessert menu at AK was uninspiring and if you want to have a look at what's on the assorted dessert platter you have to go next door to the affiliated Azuma Patisserie anyway. There are nice comfy chairs there, prices are lower, plus you can order green tea soft serve if you like...so personally I'd go the Azuma Patisserie anytime.

The place has improved dramatically since it opened a few months ago. Now there's a cake and hot drink set with loose leaf tea. My soba-cha is caffeine free as it's flavoured with roasted buckwheat kernels. The wait staff also brought hot water over for refills.

As soon as we opened up the chocolate fondant we asked for it to be warmed again to get the gooey consistency in the middle. Once that's done it was rich and beautiful. Amanda decimated the chestnut cake which is a good option for people who don't want the range of chocolate cakes on offer. I'm just sad they don't have small cheesecakes as they are baked on site!

cuties

buff-banded rail...looking a bit surprised, but i think it was just eating something



first time feeding a pup. this one is ~ 9 weeks old and on 4 feeds a day

it could drink 10 ml in a minute, and takes up to 2 syringes in one feed



after feeding she tried to squirm away from the 'mummy roll', and i had to stop her from falling off my knees. Then i got a whiff...you know that moment when you realise it's time to pass the baby back to his/her mum or dad?

turns out she'd done an explosive poo hahaha, and had to have her wings cleaned; here she is getting her butt wiped XDDD

another cutey on the mummy roll, the tooth brush is for grooming...so cute~~~!

bitton gourmet

Another Sunday, another brunch, this time at the bitton gourmet cafe.

bitton gourmet was part of the 'let's do brunch' program of the Sydney International Food Fest, and IMO, offered the most generous and delicious-sounding brunch out of all the participating cafes. I didn't get my act together to have brunch then, but I kept the name in the memory bank.

One Pan Bacon & Organic Eggs with Wood Fired Bread and Spicy Tomato Sauce

The tomato sauce wasn't spicy at all, and I wish it had some kick to it. At least We all agreed the bread was great - crunchy yet so soft and fluffy...mmmm...



i had a forkful of the Omelette with Organic Ham off the Bone, Gruyere Cheese and Mushrooms...tasted REALLLY good (that's the spicy tomato sauce on the plate; it's fresh with tomato pulp but just very mild in flavour)



massive club sandwich...Lionel had problem eating this



French Toast à la Bitton with Fresh Fruits & Orange Jelly - this was a win, even Lionel was impressed. The jelly was thick and granular, and tasted of honey. Reminded me of kaya actually.

French Crêpes with Strawberry & Vanilla Jam



we were seated in the back and it was HOT. I think that roof did nothing but concentrate heat.

The inside of the cafe and the al fresco area right out front were a lot cooler





was surprised by how nice, leafy and quiet the 'triangle' is in Alexandria. no wonder it's the most coveted area in this suburb. the streets were wide and clean, and street parking doesn't seem to be a problem here...could I end up here? who knows. I'm going to keep looking.

baked

Finally, a work perk! i actually won this in a draw!

Half price ticket to Homebake. My payment goes to Habitat for Humanity, building shelter for the homeless. Sweet.



12 hours of music, i got there just in time to hear Eskimo Joe's last song - black fingernail, red wine. Much prefer outdoor concerts for the laid back atmosphere and the ability to wander between diff stages. I also think outdoor concerts just sound better.



SIA at the dome stage. She has a great voice.



my babies flying out to hilltop hoods.

they flew over the trees bordering the domain, instead of straight over the domain; there was a lot of milling about and i was a bit worried but what i can i do :P

another 'work' concern...what's the grass gonna look like after this? LOL



damn the long queue

on a side note, a bottle of water cost $5, and you get $1 back when you return the bottle to the recycling station...great idea, if I was told beforehand? Saw a couple of people collecting bottles and cans...with the amount of litter at this bogan fest, they probably got their ticket money back XD

Not a big fan of Jet, so I did a bit of shopping hehe...then back for Powderfinger just for nostalgic reasons. They did play some great old songs like My Happiness, Love your way, but the new ones don't sound half bad.


writing this has led me to things bogans like, as ruining festivals is just one of the many funny posts. Similar to stuff white people like but even more enjoyable. Now for someone to expand that list of "you're asian if you..."!!

Maayaa is one!

Api and Kumaran have moved into their spanking new home, which only took 6 months to build! It's very spacious, and has a nice entertainment deck out the back. Her mum greeted me warmly when I arrived but I soon noticed I was the only non Sri-lankan person there (as a fellow sghs girl had to leave). I smiled at other guests but that was the extent of my socialising. There's a "men's room" off the living room; literally all the men were sitting in there. It felt slightly awkward and I wondered how long I'd stay.

what an awesome cake!
what's the significance of the elephant, i asked
errr...nothing said Api. Maayaa likes ducks actually, so she put some duckies on the cake too XD



all the young 'uns gather for a photo

followed by song and dance performances which I cannot upload. Bloody blogger!

Api's dance students did a dance accompanied by her on cymbal like instruments. I felt like I was on Family Feast!

there was even a poem for Maayaa...



placid little Maayaa...she didn't whinge or cry once...until around 11 pm coz she got hungry.
unlike most babies, Maayaa has the same sleeping pattern as adults



the most awesome hopper production line in the garage



these freshly made hoppers were super tasty, and I felt like I was on Food Safari LOL.

the edges were crispy and almost buttery, the centre soft and fluffy and great with chutney and coconut sambal...there were also egg hoppers, with a runny egg in the middle of the hopper.

at one point I met Paw aka dude, who had survived his PhD and now teaches at uni...I enjoyed his tales of trial and tribulation - they made me feel so much better. Really. I was also incredibly amused by his attempt to 'free willy'....in fact I was quite impressed with his focus as he lifted 'willy' to safety LOL.

Willy couldn't get into the tray proffered by Api...he made a hard landing on a flatter tray and lost all his legs. He was last seen in the arms of Paw, covered in foil. FB tells me he's being fed to postgrads tomorrow. ROFL.

I found out that the party was for family friends...and there would be a party for relos and more family friends the next day. WTF...there were so many people there already. Now I can see why Api turned out to be a superwoman :P

even

Friday morning at Bronte