fuchsia fragments

This past week, I've been reviewing quotes! I've been asked questions... and and and I'm going to get my own accounts instead of feeling like a 'consultant'. WOOHOOO!!! Albeit, the reason behind this is because there has been a resignation. But it's not for another 6 weeks so there will be (hypothetically) plenty of time for a handover.

Got my first taste of late nightlife in Tokyo. We had a few drinks with some colleagues and then a colleague and I went on to another bar for one more drink. And it really was one more drink! Tried to get the boss to come along but not this time. Anyway, we were hanging around Roppongi and there were not-so-welcome touts on every corner on the streets in Roppongi. So not cool and I would personally never venture to that part of town in the evening on my own. Anyways, we went to a Brazilian bar which did all these different types of Capirinhas - all looked really good! It wasn't all that busy for a Wednesday night so we had a bar table to ourselves and had a good chat. Good thing I remember things cause it will help me with working with the team later on!

Thursday's language class was a bit boring this week. All the students were different except one girl which was strange to me. Maybe a lot of people rotate days... I think I'll just keep going on Thursday evenings until work commitments get in the way.

It is sale time in a lot of the shops! I got a massive haul at H&M on Saturday evening... wasn't a lot of items but the majority were less than half price. I need to build my wardrobe here so it was a GREAT start! Think I should also plan my weekends so I see more. I was in Ueno today (absolutely hated it) and then Ginza (much more refined). I didn't realise until reading up on it that Ueno is one of the most run-down areas of Central Tokyo and I could feel it. It was just crowded and dirty and not exactly pleasant. A bit like China or HK maybe?

I also started using my smoothie machine. It's so awesome!!! Except now my fridge feels overstocked cause of all the fresh fruit and veg I have in there for my week's supply of juice. I have a tiny tiny fridge... and also I made pasta so I have midweek meals. Speaking of housework, I have designated Sunday evening to be ironing night. I HATE IRONING. And the dryer makes your clothes extra wrinkly. NOT COOL. It would be wise to buy clothes that don't require ironing...

So looking forward to every challenge and experience over the next 5 months.

End of quarter lunch on Friday. Another lovely location but we really had to work for this one this time. Literally and figuratively - our new CEO wanted the know how we all could help improve the sales team and so we went round the table a few times. Lots to do before the DNA improves.

I am not trying to be snobbish but I'm a bit over (don't get me wrong) really good quality food on spotless plate is a bit boring. Wish we could do other things or make it more exciting somehow.

And oh dear... when too much red wine gets involved (at over $350 a pop...). It's a brand new ball game and we are so much closer when you get drunk with your boss. And you have to pretty much carry her back to your colleagues apartment and make sure she stays out of trouble. Not just my boss, but also one of the commercial directors. What a team we make...!!! It was hilarious yet so troubling at the same time. Way too many "I love you's" in the space of a couple of hours. I'd hate to think of the bill. And we left - on our own accord - but I'm pretty sure if it wasn't for the huge amount of money we spent, we would have been kicked out or banned for life...

Went to see Les Miserables last night with mummy and sissy. Ahh... what a good show it was even with all the unfortunate interruptions. A lot of people came in late and even though they were only permitted to enter after each Act, it was still quite disruptive. A poor guy fainted about 3 minutes from the end of the show... it even threw the actors off! There was a moment of pause. Simon Gleeson - theatrical genius. Just.. wow.

And today, back in the old denim with the apron tied on for a day of baking. It's hard to bake when its cold. Temperature affects everything. Made a huge batch of anzacs and danish butter cookies and a Black Sesame and Green Tea layered cake for my grandma's 97th birthday. 97!!!

I must be out of shape though, was so tired by the end of it. I just want to crawl up in my bed and snuggle and re-watch White Collar. I am also disgusted that I have spent so much money in the first week on the month already. And I want to buy all these books but now debating if I should wait a month. Cause I also just randomly spent a couple of grand on a weekend away in October - soooo needed. Ms S and I (and maybe Ms G!) are going to do the 12 Apostles walk with luxury spa retreat at the end of it. We can't wait.

First weekend of the second half of the year and it is a gooooood one! As much White Collar that I can fit in around my days and nights (yes, I am in love with Matt Bomer). And wine, giggles, junk food and the annual Rusty Chef Cook off. Amazing day. And thanks to Veeda, we pretty much had a free comic show in the evening.

I want to reiterate that I would never voluntarily move further west because the traffic on the weekend is just horrendous. Given, I was going from South to North but bumper to bumper traffic. So not cool. So not worth it.

Anyways, it was late lunchtime by the time I got there with my cake and bag of ice and we got stuck right into it. 3 teams, 3 colours. A taste test to name the most ingredients let my team take the lead early on and pick the protein: pork cutlets! The second team got a whole chicken and the third team got veal roast. Hahaha.

The rule was we had to use the protein, the limited spices available, a few staple ingredients and the ingredients designated to our Orange box (carrots, pumpkin, sweet potato, dried apricots and oranges).

Came up with sweet potato puree with a orange zest and apricot crumbed cutlet and pumpkin and kale ratatouille. It was soooo good!!!!! Although I will admit that we probably needed more texture - like sweet potato crisps (or pork crackling... which didn't work in an hour) to make the dish come together more. And it was the winning dish... beating the next team by an average of 0.3 points. Yay!

I think we all did a variation of very similar dishes to suit the protein - team yellow did shallot fried chicken with tomato relish and green salad and team red did roast veal with mashed potato and strawberry and mint salad. I think we all ran out of salt towards the end so some of the dishes were a bit bland. Tons of fun though, cause we were all drinking and playing boardgames and taking turns to do everything. And then we facetimed Janny for her birthday and ate her cake that I made. Delish.

Tiring day though, to cook and drink and laugh. Tough life. Haha. Veeda is the funniest when she is drunk (and we all knew that years ago). We played her charades game - everyone had to put three names into a hat and then we took turns guessing. We are so original. There were 3 'Terminators/ Arnold S', 2 Chris Pratt and a whole heap of Avengers characters. Too funny.

Christmas in July next... helllllooooo Turducken!!!!!

Our boss is away this week. So his boss flew all the way from Singapore to babysit us! Jokes... I think it was just timing. No Krug this time although I do like Mark's honesty when he's around. Much respect for the man. Doesn't play the hardcore political game (at least not to your face).

It's been a busy 4 day week with Thursday and Friday being unusually busy! But I did manage to squeeze in a boozy lunch with our illustrious new CFO and my fav legal person at the Greens (owned by the same people who did the Grounds). And then the afternoon was shoe shopping! A bit of a team building / downtime for the ladies in the team.

I think we embarrassed ourselves in Christian Louboutin. Ha ha ha with one colleague saying 'We need to find the UGLIEST shoes in the store!' *cringe* But it was for a competition at work. And good fun.

Cocktails at Zeta Bar was awesome too.. just sitting there for a few hours and sipping cocktails. I'm there! The Singapore Mule was delicious and spicy and the same time. We had enough time to discuss non-work and work related topics. And how important development is. I totally agree... the aim is UP!

Had to go home and try and sober up to bake my cake. I wanted to ice it too but I was just way too tired. Legs felt like lead and I was seriously lucky that I didn’t forget any ingredients or use salt instead of sugar… now will have to be super duper efficient tonight to make up for it.

My first night ever out in Darlinghurst. And I call myself a local home owner of the area...

My two favourite white girls (haha, clear distinction I'm using tonight) and I went to our usual catch-up cuisine, Chinese @ Fu Manchu. And drinks in protest of V-day (and to celebrate my becoming perm and Sarah getting accepted to do a Masters!!!)

Service. So-so. Got two orders wrong. Didn't serve our wine quickly enough and overcharged us.
Food. Average. My mum makes better dumplings. And we got 4 for $12. She could have made 40 for that price. With a better chilli oil too.
Wine. Awesome. Rose. So smooth and buttery and completely drinkable.

Pre-drinks at the Passage. I have walked down this street so many times house hunting and visiting my place but I have never noticed this cute little bar perched on Victoria Street. Delightful place, small, cosy and just the right amount of things on the menu. A little beauty.

We're going to go to Dubbo and Taronga because of my free passes and because we want to. Random but its going to be awesome.

Stopping by Messina before home was also awesome. Long queue though but always worth it!

That is always the motto to live by. But especially this week.

Work hard. Very hard. Play even harder.

Been a tough week in the office: in before 8, out after 6. Auditors, Year end, Year end, Year end. A lot of work to be done within the 5 days of closing. It was tough, stressful and tensions were increasing by the minute.

We got there. But we did miss the deadline for postings. Which meant we had to go all the way up top to request permission. And the repercussions? The blame game.

SSC manager speaks to LCA. LCA speaks to local controller. Local controller speaks to local finance. Local finance say there isn't enough support for CoE. And so the story goes. Round and round. So much for Team One, One voice... everyone at the end of the day is there for themself.

But we were fortunate enough to have Ivo from Singapore who is also my ICM colleague in the regional team visit us. He's crashing at my other colleagues and we took him out Thursday and tonight. Two amazing nights. Never knew how pretty Sydney was until you walk around with non-locals.

Thursday: Kiwi, European (he's from Prague but works in SIN) and me. Darling Harbour, Cockle Bay, King St Wharf. Got to see some of the Sydney Festival, Cargo Bar, fries, happy hour, a koala at the wildlife world and Meat and Wine Co. Amazing company and such a beautiful carefree night. Wish we had more of those... random too. We let Ivo pick the place. But it was after we said 'we're going to xx. Ivo, where do you want to go?' ;)

Friday: Kiwi, Mr Prague, Serbian, Turkey and me. Chinatown, Baxter's Inn, Zeta Bar and O Bar. Awesome awesome night. Even though I met 2 of those people on the night! I wasn't drunk, probably not even tipsy but the drinks were amazing (Apple & whiskey... and sunshine punch. More please). The conversations were stimulating. It's "Left-ten-ant" not "loo-ten-ant"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The view at O Bar was amazing. We kept trying to see if we could see SAP! Glad i took them there! Late night/morning for shizzle but so worth it. I haven't had one in so long and was so overdue. Thanks to my sister and Albert for coming to pick me up. Additional bonus.

Friday Funny #1: *Amanda in reference to our two boys tonight*

"OMG, you two are like neighbours [one from Czech, one from Germany]. You can totally speak European to each other!!!"

Friday Funny #2: *@ O Bar to the waiter*

Amanda: "Do you guys [in ref to the bar] spin like every hour or so like really quickly?"
Waiter: "Yeah we sure do, we spin all day. In fact, we're spinning now"
Amanda: *squeals in excitement* *everyone else is embarrassed*

I think we're finishing off with the Grounds tomorrow. But will be a rush for me. Cake to make, supplies to pick up and then gonna drop Ivo off at the airport on my way home. CNY dinner and more cake making.

2014 is starting to ramp up! Bring it...!

welcomed some interstate and singapore colleagues this week for training... which inevitably meant that a bunch of us girls went out one night on the drink. fun times. although probably not the best idea to have a bottle of wine plus each on a wednesday night. struggled a little through a very shitty thursday!! well worth it i think!

jan and i went to watch The Hunger Games last night.

it was good but i felt like it was one of those movies you come out of and just analyze and analyze and analyze. like Bladerunner.

and children killing children? why?!

domestic duties today = washing nessie and getting soaked and cleaning the fish tank.

then i shall study :)