fuchsia fragments

Finally some time to clear some stuff off my desk at home!

Yesterday, went for a drive - literally - to Newcastle and back. Was very lucky to not be caught by the highway patrol. Lovely day for a drive though, beautiful weather and a bit of a family thing. But nothing exciting. Got stuck in massive amounts of traffic before hitting the highway. Stopped at maccas and got a minion toy (lol) and drove some more to newcastle. Didn't even stop by the waterfront or anything. Was dropping off my cousins brother-in-law to his new homestay for uni. Twas all.

Today, had hot pot at carl's new place. Jayden is so cute! Anyways was really good to just sit around. 

Got home around 4.. and have been spending the afternoon catching up on doing all those mundane tasks that well, need doing. Still not up to my tax return yet though... haha. that might be another few weeks away.

My hayfever seems to get worse and worse every year. My nose is always runny / blocked and makes me feel so dazed. Can't. handle. it. Am pretty sure the over-the-counter antihistamines aren't working too well. Not even spring yet! :(

Organising my time for the next couple of months. Weekends seem to be filling up quick!

Catherine and I planned our latest foodie date lonnnnng before SMH decided to publish this article on Chur! GoodFoodUnder30...

Anyways, turns out we got there awesome timing because they ran out of burgers! Haha, it seems that whereever we go, people tend to follow.

It was a really awesome night.

We got to sit at the bar right in front of the kitchen where they were making all the food and got to watch first hand how they run the kitchen (tiny space that it was) and how they all worked together. amazing stuff. would love to do it one day? Except we kept looking at the guy who must have been like an apprentice chef, and he kept doing stuff wrong. hehehehehe. cute.

Got to see Warren in action too. That was pretty cool. He even personally served our scallop and mussel fritters. Soooooo good. So was the burger. And the macadamia tart with whiskey ice cream. Yes, it works together well! Sweet potato fries were a little soggy though. I think it's quite hard to get right.

Anyways, was an amazing dining experience. That little corner has gone through a lot. Assiette was great, affordable fine dining. But Chur Burger...? I WILL BE BACK!

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??

So finally getting some time in with the person who is supposed to be training me. But I think it was more so because he got a massive kick up the back side from the higher higher order. CFO and FC and his new controller had a meeting today. Yep.. it was serious.

I think also because he is taking 2 weeks that wasn't initially planned off. Some are lucky just to jet off to Paris but I think its because his father is sick so not great news for him.

However, I don't exactly appreciate being told he's staying an additional week in sydney and his wife and daughter are flying out first because he has to be "here to train me". Not once did I say anything along those lines. If this is a business decision made by the higher order, then so be it but kind of unfair to let that unleash on me.

Lucky he's fairly easy to have a conversation with. Although he is very very nosy and wants to know about every conversation I've had with all our other colleagues. Err, what?

I'm going to assume he means well but maybe things are getting lost in translation...

Week 2 in North Sydney... check! It's still as boring as can be. Although did go for a walk one lunch this week... the area is so steep!

Had a pretty easy week to be honest. Everyone was extremely busy with quarter-end (headless chickens...) and well, didn't get as much training time as I wanted. So will have to be extra diligent next week.

Tonight was grandma's 95th birthday dinner! We went to our new-usual in Caringbah. But again, the food took its time coming... almost 4 hours tonight before we finished. Had the usual suspects... pipis, lobster, fish and this awesome fried tofu thing. so good. Perfect for those on a no-carb diet!

Dessert was like a full meal it itself. I think we had a 4-course dessert! So there was my lovely green tea and red bean mousse cake (to which to waiters were like.. "where'd you buy that??"), special birthday steamed buns with lotus paste, fruit and red bean soup. But I couldn't have any of it.

:( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(

I did sneak in a taste of the cake though. It was really good if everyone around me says so. hahaha. modest... the waiters even kept a few pieces for themselves!! (Cause it was a big cake and a few of us didn't make it tonight)

Pretty good night - got to watch the lions vs. wallabies game at the same time. Disappointing finish but can't have everything...

I have to get up early tomorrow. WHO GETS UP EARLY ON A SUNDAY??! To paint the ceiling in my apartment. Why why why why why. Can't hack this being a landlord shiattttt.... hahaha. Would someone rent the place already!!!

Not great that it was wet weather all week for my first week.

But first week went well. Beginning to settle in and starting to learn some new things which is awesome. Not overly full on and taking it step by step.

And it has made me appreciate the last 30 months more so that I did previously. As much as it was frustrating, that environment and having full control and free reign of the finance process enabled limitless learning and hands on learning and somewhere where you could take on the complete function without barriers and levels upon level of approvals.

Something that I have and have not missed. Deadline here must definitely be met and abide by - they have a soft close however once a ledger has been closed, it is completely and officially closed for the month. No exceptions! Something that probably is more relaxed in a smaller company.

Anyways, very cool company culture. Hot desks if you want to, open plan layout, juice, soda and mineral water in the fridge, nespresso machines, zoo passes, CASUAL FRIDAYS!, 9 am starts, 5 pm finish... happy days. Pizza fridays, evening drinks, yoga, boxing, people who actually clean the kitchen, awesome meeting rooms... yeah, I'm pretty excited!

Rain has made today one of the most boring days in a while. :( No baking...

One more sleep!

Can't say I'm pleased about this wet weather but it was wet weather when I interviewed. Maybe it's a sign...

Anyways, so today marks the end of my two week break. I did quite a bit. Probably (always) could do more.

Pretty much chillaxed today. Went to visit the organic market in Marrickville today. Seems like there is already someone else selling baked goods but we will see. Que sera sera. But wet weather isn't the best for market research...

I got my new Ikea shelf installed pretty much all by myself. My sister helped in the initial stages but faded away. Who says girls can't assemble things. Matches perfectly with my existing ones which is awesome and there was just enough space next to the corner near the stairs for it. Woohoo! Now if only I could get rid of what I see as "rubbish" but obviously someone else's "treasure" and that space would be perfect.

At least, for the time being, i can say that there is enough space to store everything. Neatly, organised and labelled. Yay for being organised!