fuchsia fragments

i also tried out the italian meringue recipe for macarons. they worked really well in the oven! but the shells were really crispy and i'm not sure if its supposed to be like that or not... i know that they soften up in the fridge over 24-48 hours but never have had shells that hard before! will have to keep trying. and testing. which means more samples...


Another super fast weekend over. What's happening to time??

where'd the weekend go?!

Lovely lovely saturday.

a mini stgghs reunion at bicentennial park for mandy's birthday. lots of sun and not too much wind although it did get fresh as the afternoon went by.

highlights:
- taking 2 hours to get the hot coals going to cook the food
- donna and i hiking around the grass and finding no waterhole
- not being allowed to go to the bathroom because cake time was in 5 minutes... turned out to be in 20
- wanting to roll down the grassy hill
- parking mine and cherry's car in one and a half spaces. completely boxed myself in!
- really bad coffee from the cafe
- seeing green and not recognising nature...
- being epicly asian and squatting, washing our hands with spring water, scrubbing the bbq with leaves ?!

after we said goodbye, donna and i had planned to go out for dinner. cherry and vivian decided to join so it became a 3-car tag into the city. i am an awesome anchor driver (not my usual place and i'm usually the one in front!)

apparently had my bitchface on. so donna said as she looked at me in the rear view mirror.

anyway, did the two a massive favour since traffic was pretty heavy and me having the balls to cut lanes and let them through and stop all the cars behind us. hahahahaha female asian drivers FTW! (although i still stand by the fact that i am not that much of an asian driver)

we ended up at surry hills:
- cocktails and pork belly meat balls at Mr. Fox. yummmmmmmy and they gave us free popcorn so we stayed a little longer (ok, i lie, we just stayed).
- took some fail instax [cherry]
- and then cherry left
- visited the new kurtosh which is famous for a hungarian style chimney cake. really really good coffee. and they sell their slabs of cakes by weight. interesting concept and i loved the ambience. i even took photos because i want my cafe to one day be similar to this!!!
- stayed there until donna had to go pick up her dad
- came home, was pretty tired...

we decided to plan more events as some will see from fb! good times coming up. <3 p="p">
i made choc chip cookies today. zero effort.

and then procrastinated the rest of my afternoon away thinking about business cards and website designs. wish it was just all done for me...

and then sister got me addicted to the show Cake Boss.

where/when am i supposed to find the time to study?!

this year's last non-holiday long weekend gone :(

glad we went out on saturday, shame about the weather for the rest of the weekend. prevented us from straying too far.

sooo cleaned out the pantry and mum found this sunbeam burr grinder that she bought 4 years ago. so i attempted to make light of the situation that we buy a lot of shit that we don't use and was like, 'you must've known 4 years ago we were going to buy the coffee machine this year!!!'.

so now we can have freshly ground coffee from whole coffee beans like a real home-style cafe. =D

and thennnn...

strangest thing. she found my fondue set that i was looking for last week. the one that the girls bought me for my birthday a few years back.

AND...

she found these legit cappuccino cups with saucers and i was moaning all weekend that we need to buy a few for our new machine.

all these things... so coincidental!

to caffeine.

i suffered withdrawal symptoms whilst studying.

and i had to have 3 coffees - 2 hot, 1 iced - to curb those symptoms today.

and also to keep me awake and to energize my braincells which, by the way, are now beyond fried.

a 3 hour exam and then 4 hours of going through, sifting, softing and answering the most urgent of urgent of over 100+ emails over a span of 3 days is not fun. especially when ur phone doesn't stop ringing either.

i felt like i hadn't been to work in weeks not just 2.5 days!

however, i am now FREE~

exciting
exciting
exciting

so much i want to do too! YAY~

and and and i got a wizz fizz via express post today! im so special =D

i had a meat pie and pizza this weekend... and steak and chips at sizzler last night. yummo. oh and did i mention the ricotta cheesecake? although i do half believe that i will stick a finger down my throat and regurgitate it all back up.

i hate what has become of target. im disappointed in the people who i thought were friends. im disappointed in what the store has turned out to be. and im bitterly disappointed in the fact that if they are management, they will take advantage of you - no matter the cost including ur HSC and uni exams. SCREW URSELVES DUMB F*CKS WHAT DO YOU THINK IS MORE IMPORTANT.

no wonder i can't (ever) find the will to go back (again).

on a brighter note, i had a catch up dinner with a couple of really good tarjay mates. at sizzler!!! hahaha haven't been there in years! expensive for what you got but it was about the company. (janice didn't seem to think so...) but i'm always of the belief that its not where you eat, its who you're eating with. besides, we (after her insistence) went to D2Ds for dessert (although, it would have been included in the price we paid at sizzler... but nooo, she didnt like the dessert there).

yeah, i get annoyed at people who pay a decent about for a buffet... and then decide to leave to go and have dessert elsewhere eventhough dessert including coffee and tea is included at the buffet. a big WTF for me. because:
1. its one night
2. its a waste of money when u've technically already paid for dessert
3. its a bit of a drive from sizzler back to bevo (locally speaking)

so proud to see amanda and mon grow up so much. been through so much and still overcome it all :-)

havent opened my textbooks this weekend. so many chores to finish. had to go places. worry about other things.

and i get really annoyed when you ask for my advice. so i give it to you. but you don't want to listen. if you don't want to listen, then please don't ask. and if you think you are so smart, then you can figure it out by yourself. and its not that i don't want to be supportive, its the fact that you've asked for my help and then you say you don't need it. make up your mind.

it gets old - really fast. and it annoys me. a lot.

and i WON!

what a bizarre but fulfilling day it was.

i had breakfast with someone i hadn't talked to in 3 years at a new local cafe that was pretty good. pretty yummy smoked salmon, mushroom and ricotta omelette. coffee was so-so but at least it was hot enough! talked about a lot of old times and all the things in between.

then, i decided to go via westfield to pick a fight. turns out i was too eager, so i went home to do it over the phone.

and after a 40 minute wait - didn't really mind being on hold for so long - but it just fuelled my enthusiasm to get what i wanted, i was put through to someone who could help me.

*brings in my negotiation skills*

so was talking to the lady about upgrading my handset... and i went from staying on my old cap with a $20 per month handset payment (this is apparently the only thing they can offer for current customers in forms of a loyalty discount - i.e., can only upgrade you with a discount on your current cap) to:
~ no cancellation fee
~ $50 bonus credit (up from $25) on your next bill
~ upgrade to the new $49 cap for the iphone 4
~ delivery fee for the new phone waived.
~ phone to be deilvered within 3 weeks

quite satisfied with that! and wasn't too hard to negotiate.

and this arvo, spent outdoors with my dogs and our lawn. oh who knew you could fee so content cutting grass.

happy anniversary too. :)

Monday:

A million + 1 things to do at work. And spent most of the day on the phone to dear old Bob. They say it takes 14 times for something to become a habit. I called Bob at least 20 times today. And at times, I don't even know where all my hours, minutes and seconds go.

Dinner in bevo tonight. 3rd rock. For some strange reason, we decided to slip D2Ds. And just as we're seated at 3rd rock, Gools walks past. And we all freeze and stare at each other through the glass. He comes in to say Hello quickly. Turns out him and his other gay half were having dinner at D2Ds. So randomly coincidental! So we went to have coffee with them afterwards. Good times. Hilarious memories.


Tuesday:

I'm still wondering where all my time has gone. Come into work and I'm told I get to take either of the company cars out for a spin. =D

A lots of chinese whispers going on... very unimpressive.

I got the Prius cause we had a client meeting in Epping today. Good ride - after you figure out how to drive it. I think the meeting went well. We sold quite a few impressive value-adds. And its great to finally put a face to the voice.

The drive back into the city was stop-start. slow and tiring. So i played a lot with the controls on the car. :)

Assiette. Degustation. Tuna, thumbs up. Rabbit, thumbs down. And banana mousse and peanut brittle, hands down a winner.

So tired by the end. Wasn't sure how I would make it to Wednesday at the time.


Wednesday:

Still had the 5 am wake up. Still went to the gym. Functioned on coffee the morning. Was in limbo by early afternoon. Luckily, my TL was away on jury duty! Had time to catch up. As per the recent-usual, left the office late.

The only dine-at-home night of the week. And it was good food. Some time with the relos.


Thursday:

A day off! Feels like a lifetime since i had one. And what a gorgeous day albeit windy it was. I adore the South Coast.

Woronora Dam. Gerrigong. Bald Hill. Stanwell. Thirroul. Kiama. Kangaroo Valley. Moss Vale.

Fresh air, amazing drives and beautiful scenery. Cows, a blowhole and coastal towns.

A day to unwind and forget about the city life. Felt like a condensed sea change.

And dinner at my favourite chinese restaurant - Crown Dragon@ my favourite club. A new benchmark is set. And it smashes the old one.


Friday:

Finally, it's arrived! And the 13th too. Time to say goodbye to the relos. at 5am. So many ppl i know r jetting out today. I can't count them all on the fingers of one hand.

Half yearly review time. All good and on track.

Chinese whispers comes back to bite certain people in the arse. My team are getting along so well compared to others. Truths come out. The old vs. the new. I learnt some things that i didn't know about the company and more importantly, the people.

Friday drinkies. Non-alcoholic and just the one. Perfect way to unwind.

We all had somewhere to be so called it in early.

Had the best eating-out experience all week. Sahara. Burwood. Absolutely smashing Turkish cuisine - tabouli, shish, lamb, kebabs, salad, baklava - nom nom nom. And we ordered just the right amount. Unlike the table next to us. Wasters! Hilarious how we were checking them out the whole time. tehehehehe.

Inception. A combination of Juno, Titanic and 3rd Rock from the Sun. Pretty good. Not quite sure if its rave worthy.


Saturday Saturday:

Wasn't meant to be a sleep in. Because i was up at 7. really. I just decided to snuggle into my conforters. Another day in the backyard. Spent some time risking my life with an L-plater. Jan came over for a bit.

And another amazing dinner at Crown. Can't say no to free meals.

So much for getting things done.

And tomorrow is another partying day.

Good times.

coffee can be ur saviour - especially when its freezing in the office. so ducked down to lindt cafe to pick up a coffee n choccie. mmm.

seems like there a bug going around work too. falling one by one. felt a bit under the weather today initially.

*needs more work clothes*

had coffee and cake at ellas with val and her brother and grandma. that was fun. haha then i rocked up to work. and said i was back yadda yadda. and was given four shifts for next week. yay. found out what happened. found out whos becoming my new manager. will be interesting.

went to visit grandma today. she was happy to see me of course. and little baby brian was in the middle of pooing - again. then he got bathed. and fell asleep in my arms. =)

and i am seriously thinking about adopting a new dog. preferably a puppy.

weather turned out hot and we wished we'd gone to the beach sometime in between. but we didn't. just had lunch and walked around.

we were supposed to have coffee. but we couldn't digest it. so we had water instead. lol.

spent most of my money on food. -_-

went to sticky. got these packets of rock candies for hk.

walking around shopping centres is tiring.

tomorrow is yum cha and k and partay. =D

2 more days in oz. =(