Superb View

I was recently transferred to another division - and my new cubicle has a magnificient view! It was a blessing... and a reminder each day of His greatness and His creation! When I gaze out to the sky, I see His promises, His faithfulness and His strength in the midst of all my stress.

This is one part of Sydney's harbour... to the extreme right is the famous Harbour Bridge (will take a picture of it next time)... beautiful, eh? This is what I see everyday.... I have absolutely NO complains for now.... hehehehehhe.....



This is the scene on my left... some of the lower North Shore residential areas. Our apartment is somewhere at the top.

Happie Burfday to Me!

Yes, I am one year younger now - are you envious??? hehehe... want to know the secret to staying young???

Since a friend recommended Japanese 3 months ago, I have been crazy over it - well, I don't fancy Japanese back in KL but it is different here in Sydney... it is like as if i found a new love!!
So, naturally, WM took me for a really nice Japanese dinner to celebrate my birthday. We went to this nice, cosy Japanese restaurant in Neutral Bay and I was actually quite surprised with their food! It was yummylicious!!

We started off with my "must-have" Soft Shell crab... it was tender - so perfect!



This place is really famous for their Japanese noodles - they make them everyday and they're really fresh! We had a green tea soba to share, with a combination of some sauce and wasabe - the mix was excellent!

We had some leftover sauce from the soba and the waitress recommended us to mix it with buckwheat soup (in the red teapot) - apparently, it is very nutritious. We also had Sake (in the glass cups) - it was my first time - very crisy and clear taste.

Sake came in the bamboo thingy (whatever you call it la!)... it was quite cute and I thought to myself "Hey, can I take this home with me?"

This is Japanese pancake - with prawns! So nice, man! The stuff on top is dried cuttlefish strips.

This dish was ordered by WM. It is Wagyu Beef sushi - perfecto! So so nice... yes, Wagyu beef comes from moo-moo cows who are massaged by humans and they do nothing but eat and sleep! Thus, when they don't exercise, their meat is very tender, soft and juicy! Wagyu beef is extremely precious and pricey in KL but not so in Sydney! I think it is due to the stiff competition/rivalry between Wagyu moo-moo cows and the Oz ones!! hahahaha....

I was surprised when my fav dessert came with sparklers!!! The waitress wished me Happie Burfday and I was hoping she could sing me the Japanese version of the burfday song!! hehehe..

My favourite dessert - Zenzai - green tea ice cream with glutinous rice balls and sweet red beans!! It is such a heavenly mix - ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..... gone are the days of tiramisu!

Satisfaction guaranteed!!

Purple!

Jacaranda trees are everywhere! Aren't they gorgeous? We see lots of purple patches all across Sydney... These were taken 2 days ago, just outside St. Andrews Cathedral, next to Town Hall.

Love-Love

Now, this is what i call sleepy love - WM says he likes my blog and he enjoys it!! :)
Nite-Nite........................................

E or no E

We were in RTA this morning to sit for the Knowledge Test to get the Learner's Licence... it is all Malaysia's fault that the Msian Driving Licence is not recognized here!! We are now required to sit thru the entire process before getting a Driving Licence.
As we were registering for the test, I was told that my first name printed on the visa was different from my passport. Due to that, I was not allowed to take the test. That was the beginning of it all... i was told to either change my name (from the Birth & Death Registry) - remove E totally OR to sort out the inconsistency with Immigration. By then, i was so so so annoyed. We left and WM was not satisfied with their explanation. If there was a problem with the name, I would not have entered the country at all... Anyway, why should i change my name for a lousy driving licence... NO WAY!!!!! So, off we went to Immigration. Thank God that my visa was OK and there was no problem at all - they claimed that RTA was dumb@!!!! Immigration was nice enough to reproduce my visa to reflect the required first name.... We went back to RTA and I told them off this time round... after which, i finally sat for the test and.... scored 100%!!!!!! :)
Now... the real thing begins... will go for several sessions and then sit for the Driving Test.... I am so not looking forward to this.... no longer can I drive like a true blooded Msian!!

Walk, Walk, Walk

For the first time in my entire life, I did something that I thought I could not do......

As Sydney approaches summer, we have longer days and the sun only sets at about 8pm. The weather is beautiful - mild heat, cool winds, purple jacaranda trees are everywhere! Just last week, WM suggested that we should walk home - which many Aussies tend to do during good days. We have some friends who jog home for more than 10km after work or they go to the gym during lunchtime... basically, the people here are sports/exercise fanatics!

Anyway, I thought it was a great idea since we hardly exercise except for our weekend walks to Balmoral Beach or to buy groceries in Spit Junction. So, yesterday we packed our Nike shoes and I was excited about the walk. I made sure work was completed by 5.30pm and the weather was perfect!! Instead of taking the pre-planned route, we decided to do otherwise - we went through some hilly areas across North Sydney and the view was spectacular!! OK ok ok... i did complain as there were some challenging hikes, up the hills... i was like "oh my goodness, when will we ever reach home??!?!".... anyway, after 30mins of walking uphill, we were back on our usual route - i was so so relieved!! All in all, it was a 7km walk and it took us 1 hour to get home but the exercise was really good... and i thought it was impossible!!hehehe...
WM is very "semangat" now - so, we'll be doing this twice/3 times a week. It feels good man... coming from someone (me la!!) who worked across from KLCC and did not walk across to Isetan and instead drove in to KLCC.... hahahahaha.... what a change!!

Canberra - the Fatt Mou city!!!

We were in Canberra last month for the Floriade 2007... the garden was beautiful... i wished i had such a view behind my house!! However, Canberra was not so happening - in fact, it was boring!! Super "fatt mou"...

Anyway, the highlights were these beautiful creation of God! Enjoy!!

7 going to 8

Hmmm... we're on our 8th month since arriving in Sydney. Time flies... we have sort of settled down now - getting on with work and life here. It has been relatively easy going and i think we are more sane now. Found time to do so many things that we always wanted to do in KL but never had the time. Everything is so calm and serene here.... it is both good and bad.... good because I have time for self-indulgence (hahaha!!!)... bad because I risk being "fatt mou" (oxford chinese dictionary=grow green fungus) in the midst of this slow paced life!! I really miss the adrenaline in KL... the smoky air, traffic jam, rush hour, pasar malam, roti canai, roti pisang, glorious durians, KLCC, Mid Valley, 1 Utama... sigh!!! But then again, i have discovered so much here in Sydney. It is a beautiful city (but i still think Melbourne is the best for its character as a city) with lovely bays and beaches.. both the Opera House and the Harbour bridge are what i call "optical illusions" - perfect from a distance but not so when near. Shopping is not too bad but i still cannot tahan the fashion here... i just cannot bring myself to wear both skinny tights and skirt at the same time! And my goodness, the shoes here are so ugly and expensive! Thank God i shipped all my shoes here!! hahaha... When i get to KL, i know exactly what to do... I'll be back before you know it! :)

Hunny finally...

Welcome to my little world... filled with God's love and grace!