fuchsia fragments

/ sarcasm

Although to be fair, it has been a very very long week! I have (for once), started work BEFORE 9 everyday this week and have been in the office since before 8 today!! Reminds me of those recruiting days...

The reason for being so early is that we have colleagues from Singapore over for training and analysis. pretty full on days but glad my involvement was minimal and mainly restricted to the first two!

So last night, the team were taken out to dinner by global (this is a very rare occasion so we took the chance while we could). We went to this local teppanyaki place. It was actually quite fun even though it was a massive rip off. Masuya was 100 times better and costed less per person!

And now in the office before 8 cause the guys have to complete this survey thing that i dont as a C-user. But i got invited for breakfast so why not??? LOL.

Not sure if its worth it though! Could have slept in another hour... humm....

It's been a big week for me. Emotionally and physically and the wine fairy this afternoon could not have come sooner!

Finally get a few minutes this weekend to sit down with my laptop and just chill.

Brunch with two of my favorites in one of my favorite locations in sydney. Surry Hills! Chur & Rueben Hills. Was good although felt a little bit strange to be dressed up in such a low-key haunt. Don't think the coffee @ Rueben was all that great. Missing the one from Le Monde. Salted Caramel Milkshake and Milo Milkshake from Chur was yummy albeit a touch expensive. I still think the beef burger is the best at Chur. Although maybe next time (won't be for a while), might give the lamb one a go. Mmm. Have some new places on my list to go to!


Yesterday was Amanda & Andrew's wedding. Expected it to be a bit bigger... but it was quite a small wedding. Personally, I would never pick a place where it is in such a public location that people can just walk, sit, picnic, sunbathe, cycle and run in the background and around. Kind of ruins the moment. Not to mention the ferry horns, trains on the bridge and (just our luck) a helicopter flying over. Made it difficult to hear the vows. Nonetheless, it was definitely a beautiful backdrop and a lovely ceremony. Thank goodness it was short and sweet.


That left us with enough time to slowly make our way to the reception. We stopped at mega-tourist-ripoff Guylian cafe on the way (Janice's choice, not mine as I think I still prefer Lindt). $4.80 for a coffee? $10 for a milkshake? $16 for a tart? Come on please... the only decent and not overly expensive looking thing on the menu was this Iced Caramel Long Black. It was actually not too bad. Wasn't sweet at all... and well-priced at $5.50.

When you don't talk about something, and it doesn't cross your mind then nothing happens.

But as soon as it comes up in conversation, its like the wavelengths or something communicate with each other and things begin to happen.

Occurrence Number 1: Recruitment
I haven't had a recruiter call me for months now. And was just discussing this last night and whether we should be updating or maintaining our linkedin profiles, talking about which are the better recruiters etc. And what do you know? I get a call from a recruiter today to see 'where i was at'. Pfft. Only when it suits them. Where were YOU when i was looking for a role?

Occurrence Number 2: Business Development
So, safe to say that this is something that is actually within my control. I get that if nothing happens, that's more than likely my fault. But it only takes one phone call, one email or one conversation to change your path. Again, we were just talking about it last night not just for myself on how to get my name out there but also for PR and nick since they both also had ABNs for different reasons (here also was the conversation about loss-loss or made-losss). That conversation happening this afternoon. One of the EAs had a pretty difficult time sourcing some goodies for afternoon tea. Ended up paying $80 for 18 cupcakes and she wasn't happy that they tried to charge her for a bag (plus that she had to go pick them up, etc). And i and my boss were like... i could do it!!! Whipped out the iPad with my photos and BAM!! Done deal! with BOTH EA's. Yep, that's how you do deals.

Feeling like I have taken a step in a positive direction! I'm going to Myer to celebrate by buying myself 2 baking books this afternoon!

The hottest new Greek restaurant to hit Sydney. Lovely ambience, service was either rushed or we were ignored. Awesome wine list and great menu and food was pretty good at very affordable prices (think Jamie's, Fratelli Fresh or Belgian Beer Cafe).

Who knew melting moments and a giant slice if Japonaise cake could get me another fairy godmother. Feeling so loved when my boss was like, make sure you introduce any potential boyfriends to me so I can check that they pass muster first! HAHAHA. Too bad baking is a domestic skill that you don't really discuss?

Anyways, glad got to share it with people at work.

Long day today too... 6 p.m. conference call... but I guess people on the other side of the world had to wake up super early too. All part of being in the global network.

Just finished watching the last episode of TITSII... does anyone else think it was rushed??? A lot of holes in the story that I think they glossed over!

It's been a few months coming, and can't really say it was something that I was really looking forward to doing. Especially when it meant I had to get up as early as a weekday and travel to Ultimo for a TAFE course. One that I had initially enrolled to do online but was told that it didn't meet NSW Authority requirements unfortunately... a little surprised that the class size was limited to 15. Since it was a theory-based class, thought they'd easily accommodate more (and therefore, I could have done this in the August class instead since that was full). The instructor was quite funny - but I think a lot of the people didn't get her rather awkward jokes. But it made the day a little more bearable.

What was horrible was that there were no trains and I hadn't even thought about driving. MISTAKE! It was fine in the morning since no one goes to the city at 7:30 a.m. on a Saturday but it was horrible in the afternoon. It was warm as well so people stunk. There were a lot of people at Central waiting for a bus and it was literally like the end of the world the way people were pushing and shoving against each other. I ended up having to stand the whole way and the guy in front of me reeked. :-( There wasn't any aircon and the windows were all sealed so it was really really painful.

That pretty much sucked my energy for the day (kudos to the single origin roaster coffee from Mecca across the road from TAFE in the morning). Although the cuppa was more than my daily $3 and it wasn't as good, it made my day. So did Donna and the picture of her holding a Giant Whisk looking thing the way King Triton held his trident.



Had always wanted to do a bit of personal baking this weekend. Today was the perfect day for it. . . have been asked by colleagues to make a cake which, despite its name, is actually from France. Japonaise Cake. Basically layers of meringue with light and fluffy coffee buttercream layers and finished off with toasted flaked almonds. Its actually quite fiddly and time consuming but it comes up really yummy. I think my meringue layers are still super crunchy so hopefully they'll soften up a little to become more chewy before people taste-test!

I also have for the longest time wanted to make melting moments but by piping them through a bag rather than just rolling and squishing. They look infinitely better piped! Mine were probably on the edge of over-golden but I think the thickness was perfect, not too thick and not too thin. Made Passionfruit with a hint of Lemon Buttercream to sandwich them together. And I even put a few on them in a nice box for gifts. :)

The next time I have an afternoon free (maybe next next time since I need to really think about doing my tax return now...), I'm gonna have a crack at making Salted Caramel Banoffee Pie... FROM SCRATCH. Like I do everything else. But who will eat it?

Read this article that was on all medias this morning about a guy and a girl who were kidnapped in Somalia and held captive for 15 months. I couldn't help but this how stupid, naive and unprepared they were to think that they could become 'famous' by seeking new stories from one of the most dangerous places in the world. But hey... YOLO??!! Not my kind of adventure... although I would love to read their memoirs.

Last weekend of August and winter and HELLO SPRINGTIME!

I spent Saturday in the west. Not like inner-west but the west-west. Even drove past the new Wet n Wild theme park being built. All the way to Blacktown. It's pretty far! Especially with the traffic through Homebush. :-( So I told the guys that they'd used up their/my Blacktown quota for the year. HAHAHAHAHA. But i feel touched that they wanted to come back all the way to Bevo to have dinner. That new Japanese BBQ Manmaruya restaurant... shit. Expensive and expensive.

Pancakes on the Rocks? FREAKING AWESOME!! Did not have to wait long at all despite the line outside.

Then we were tossing up between movie and drinks. Drinks at the one and only Bevo hotel. LoL. Drinks won only because Prince Chris had to go home to pack for his HK trip in the morning. And we couldn't agree on a movie. So watched them play some pool and chatted a bit.

Sunday was family day with Dad at IKEA. Okay, so I wanted to go to IKEA to get new draws for my wardrobe. But me and my awesome measuring skills (or lack thereof) meant that the draws don't fit front ways. FAIL. So they're in sideways which is a bit of a bitch to get stuff but it beats the old draws that use to always fall on my feet. And these have wheels which is pretty cool. So spent a good few hours spring cleaning my wardrobe. YAY. But still have the same amount of stuff in there...

Also bought Dad a tabletop for Father's Day. WHOOHOO cheapest Father's Day Gift ever!!!