Congratulations Rump Steak!

I hate keeping secrets! Well.....I don't know if it was exactly a SECRET, I didn't ask if I could tell, but I assumed I couldn't. (Unlike last time where I wasn't allowed to say a thing!!). So I was talking to Rump Steak the other day, and casually asked "So when are you getting married??" thinking I'll get the usual "Yeh right!". Except this time the reply was "Soon". *Gobsmacked look*

Yes! For those who don't know, Rumpy got engaged! And about time too! That Rump isn't getting any firmer! hehehe I'm sooo happy for Rump Steak and Jane! I was there when they met and being able to see them finally tie the knot really is something special. Well, I'm not going to SEE them tie the knot since its in Taiwan!! And considering I just paid for my holiday (Like paid for EVERYTHING) and I have no leave, I won't be going to Taiwan any time soon. And soon as in April! But I still demanded that I get an invite, not that I really need an invite to crash a wedding! MAUahAUha I always invite myself along to these events! Imagine my delight when I got this in the mail!

The Invite

The little groom moves when you slide the invite out!! How cute!! Hehehe

Congratulations Rump Steak and Jane! I wish you both the very best and plenty of kids! Cute chubby kids I'm going to call Rumpipy!! And I expect photos! LOTS OF PHOTOS!!

Cinbin's birthday

Well this was one birthday party I couldn't miss. Cinbin is as big as an alcoholic as me, and her birthday was bound to be an alcohol laden affair.

Punch anyone?

Or should we do some shots?

Of course, being a responsible adult, we should promote healthy balanced eating....

Fruit!!

We had finished about half a bowl of punch, multiple shots before dinner even began. And what was dinner? Steamboat! Luckily the weather was quite cool and perfect for some steamboating. The one thing I love when steamboating is balls. I love balls. Fish balls that is. And beef balls. And pork balls. But then with the range available now days, I'm not limited to just balls. I also love the tofu fish and the seaweed thingy. Basically anything cut out of a packet and dunked into the water. Don't get me wrong, I still like the beef, and the tofu, squid, pork blood jelly, prawns, fish etc etc, but I like my packaged balls. Which is what made the steamboat soooooooooooooooooo good this time!

MmMmm balls...

Wonga bok

Shaved lamb

Shaved beef

Steamboating in action

We made one vital mistake during the steamboat session. We were so busy stuffing our faces, we forgot that we had a cake......

Chocolate strawberry torte

Coconut macaroons for dessert


Happy Birthday Cinbin!

Up, up, up we go!!

Work has suddenly gotten a lot more interesting for me the past few weeks. I've taken on a much more technical role, and the fact that I am picking everything up at lightening speed has been recognised by all the managers and even by the techie developers. I'm even getting teased about turning me into a developer because "I'm naturally born for it". I've told them that if they try to turn me into a developer that I'll quit! I like the technical challenge, but I don't like the development part of it. I think its my destructive nature. Development is making something work. Whilst the "development" I'm doing is used to break something that works! hehehe

Either way, I am enjoying work more. I am getting challenged more, and as sad as it may sound, its satisfying the "Geek" within me. The thing I loved about my old job was that I can be a geek and it would be alright. I remember when firefox released a new version (From 0.5 to 0.6 or something like that), we would huddle around the computer and check out the new features etc. How geeky of me!!

Anyway, I had my appraisal the other week, and things went very, VERY well. Absolutely no complaints and lots of praises from the various managers I work with. They were very impressed by my performance and are happy that I've taken on a more technical role. Not because I didn't want to do it before, but there was no opportunity or support for me to show my technical side. Now that they've seen me flourish with the new challenge, this brought on a new topic during the appraisal. Promotion.

As I mentioned earlier that I've been categorised as an "Executive" and the next level up would be a Manager's position. Both my Manager's know that I am ambitious and they know that I would be working towards the next level in the organisation. The gist of it is, keep up with the work I've been doing, take more responsibility is training other people and hence training people, and hopefully in 12-18months time, we'll be talking about a promotion.

Theres alot of be done in the next 12-18months, but I don't think its unachievable. Its a real shift in mind focus to ALWAYS try and take charge where possible. I guess I do get lazy and sometimes I'm just happy to do my 9-5 job and go home at the end of the day. Theres going to be some sacrifices, but I think it'll be worth it. I've already started the whole training other people thing and its abit harder than what I was used to previously. Some of the people I am working with don't have a computer science background, which I guess is the challenge that my managers have put towards me. We'll see what happens in the next year or so hey. In the meantime, I'm just waiting for May to come along!

MAUhaUahaHAUhaAU

3 months late

No I'm not pregnant. We finally managed to rebook our jet boat ride after 3 months delay. The forecast was for thunderstorms Friday and Saturday, and knowing our luck, it wouldn't surprise us if it started hailing as well. But strangely enough, the world was on our side for a change. It was a hot and sunny day, beautiful weather to be at Manly beach. We parked our car at the wharf and headed over to Max Brenners for a Coffee before doing our Jet boat ride. No photos here because we basically locked everything in the car and only had some dosh on us. Well, I didn't have anything on me. I gave a $10 note for Moishii to carry for me in case of an emergency, but I had no wallet, no mobile, no camera, not even my trusty lip gloss. You basically can't carry anything onto the boat, and I wasn't about to leave my belongings with complete strangers.

After having our coffee, we walk on over to the little jetty owned by Epic Surf Adventures and don our life jackets. We had to read a terms and conditions saying we can't sue if we die (No duh). They provided docs for us to wear as it provided a good grip on the floor of the boat. We left everything we had behind, including Moishii's car keys, just in case they got wet from the salt water.

We hop onto the boat where we end up straddling these seats like it was a horse. They have handle bars that you grip onto to stop yourself from flying off the boat. I wasn't too nervous until one of the operators said to the driver "You've got the heavy ones in the front, this is gonna be a rough ride". Basically, 2 massive rugby player like guys were sitting in the front seats.....which means when we slam into the water, we REALLY slam into the water.


So off we went, it was great having the sea wind in your face. The sights of manly were wizzing past us and I was having a great time until we hit our first wave. At this point, I am SOOOO glad I'm not a guy. I wouldn't be having kids if my manly jewels were getting crushed like that every time we hit a wave. The jet boat had 100cc of horse power meaning we were air born for quite a bit of the ride. We made stops every now and then before we actually got out in the wide open sea. Then we started to get hit by the water. Don't get me wrong. I knew I was going to get wet. I was expecting a few splashes like those rides at the easter show. No....this wasn't anything like it. We were hit face on by massive waves. I was riding blind in one eye for a good 5 mins because the sea water was dripping into my eye from my drenched hair. You also can't sit for about 75% of the ride. Well, you could sit, but you end up crushing your little babies (If you were a guy). So you basically have to stand in a squat position whilst gripping onto the handle bars for the whole ride. That way it lets your knees absorb the impact when you jet goes flying out of the water and come crashing back into the water. Its the best thigh workout you'll ever do!!

By the time we got back to shore, we were soaked to the bone. I'm not talking about a bit of our clothes getting wet, I'm talking about wringing buckets water out of my clothes. We were so drenched, we couldn't put our shoes back on. So here we were, in 30 degree heat, holding our shoes and dripping wet, running barefoot through Manly wharf in search for a shower. We finally spotted one on the other side of the beach. I ran up to the shower, dumped my belongs and stood fully clothed under the water. I was showering, in my clothes, in public. Not that it made a difference since I couldn't get anymore wet!

We stood and dripped dried for about 5 mins only to realise we could stand here for 2 hours and we'll still be dripping. So we ran back to the car park barefoot only to stop before we walked into the car park to put our socks onto our soaking wet feet (I may be drenched, but I refused to walk through the car park barefooted).

Luckily we were going to a party later that night, and the plan was to shower at my work before heading off. And since we were going to my work, I bought a weeks worth of gym clothes and my volleyball gear with me. I grabbed a towel and some old gym sweats and ran into the car park toilets to change. I even managed to rinse some more salt water from my clothes.

How wet could we be you ask?

Wet enough for your shirt to go see through and not a patch of dry material was left.

Colour of the shirt when its dry

Us in our classy gym clothes

After our harrowing life and death experience, we were famished and dying of thirst. (Gulping down mouthfuls of sea water does that to you). I turned and asked Moishii what did he want to eat. He looked around and said "Well.....theres that wood and stone thing.....". Before he could even finish talking, I was storming across the street for food. This is a no nonsense situation.

10mins later we've ordered and we're gulping down our first of many drinks:


Our pizzas arrive and it looks like we've never eaten in our lives:

Spinach, haloumi cheese and pesto pizza

Salami, wild mushrooms and bocconcini pizza

We felt a lot better after getting some food into us. And we were really glad we didn't eat before the ride, because it would've gone all over the guy's head infront of me. We were too tired to leave and so we stayed for another coffee or two.....

We eventually managed to drag our sorry and wet asses back to the car when the rain came. We drive back towards the city and park at my office where we dump half of the stuff in my office and the other half went with us to the locker rooms. After having a nice long and hot shower, I meet up with Moishii and head back to my office to work on our trip and popped a few boroccas. We managed to get our itinerary sorted out and even booked our accommodation in Milan. We got ready and started heading off to Marco's Party at the Belgian Beer Cafe on York St. Wait, did you just say York St? Yeh I caught that bit too. This is when I question Moishii as to whether its the BELGIAN Beer Cafe, or the BAVARIAN Bier Cafe as they're 2 completely different things. The email invite I got was for the BELGIAN Beer Cafe, which was why we parked at my work, but Moishii was told it was on York St.

A quick phone call and we confirmed that it was the BAVARIAN Bier Cafe. So we hopped back into the car and drove to my other office car park and found ourselves there in under 5 mins. This is when we found out that the reason a lot of people were piking on the party wasn't just because of the rain, it was also because Marco went around telling everyone he booked for the BULGARIAN Beer Cafe! He's one step away from telling people he booked the Bvlgari Beer Cafe!

After a lot of confusion, people started rocking up and the beer started flowing. I finally got to try my Lychee Beer (after my mango beer of course) and it was alright. I prefer my mango beer though, but I'm going to try their chocolate, pineapple and raspberry ones one day.

I ordered the chicken schnitzel with the sauteed potatoes for dinner.


Luckily the mains weren't too big because I was getting mighty full on beer. Lots of beer. And I even got a few free ones here and there.

Mmmmm That looks like a cappuccino...

Then the 2 meters of shots came out......

And things went pretty much down hill after that.....


Here's a taste of whats to come...



I'm not going to explain any of these photos, because Moishii will.....eventually......on Insaneness. Because it truely belongs in Insaneness.....

==============================

On a completely different note, ever since I've bought my camera in late 2004/early 2005, I have taken over TEN THOUSAND PHOTOS!!! 10,000!!!! I have taken so many photos, my camera has reset the counts on naming the photo files! I'm back on picture 00001,jpg!

Chinta Ria

Its been awhile since we've had a catch up with the old CBA gang, so after hundred of emails, numerous phone calls, we finally settled on Chinta Ria. I have walked past Chinta Ria so many times, but have never had the chance to go for dinner. After grabbing a drink at Pontoon, we went upstairs to try and snag a table for dinner. Chinta Ria doesn't accept dinner bookings, and we'll be rocking up with a pram, so the earlier the better. Infact, we were so early, there was only one other table there.

I loved the decor of the restaurant! Its colourful and vibrant, and theres a MASSIVE bucket of free prawn chips at the front door! I also noticed this was one of the Malaysian restaurant that featured in SBS's The Food Safari. I think it was the colourful bowls that gave it away.

We went and picked a main dish each leaving room for alcohol and dessert. I'm glad we've got our priorities right! hehehe

Lamb red curry - $22

Beef Rendang - $22

Nasi Goreng - $15

Vegetarian Noodles - $15.50

Assam fish - $24.50

Banana Fritter (Minus the ice cream)

Mango Sorbet

Sago Pudding with Coconut milk and palm sugar

The curries were quite standard and might I say, a tad dry. It was still went quite nice with the boiled rice we ordered. The Nasi Goreng was light and not oily at all. Noodles were nice, but a bit too much dark soya sauce for my liking. But the Assam Fish was my favourite dish. The sauce was light and tangy, and given a choice, I would've slurped down the sauce like it was Tom Yum Goong.

However, all of that was upstaged the minute my Sago Pudding came out. It is so simple, let sooooooo moreish! It was cooling and soothing. Perfect after a hot curry. The palm sugar was aromatic and not too sweet. I scraped every last bit out of the bowl!

We had a wonderful night out with good food, and even better company. My only complaint would be the staff at Chinta Ria tried to basically kick us out by giving us the bill at the same time that our dessert arrived. I know they're busy, and I know we were occupying a table for 8 with only 5 people (Plus a baby making it 6). But we didn't ask for the bigger table, we arrived early to avoid the hassle of trying to get a table with enough room to fit a pram and they offered us a large table when the place was still early. But once the place started getting packed, they quickly changed their tune. That was the only incident that marred a beautiful night out. We still had a great time nonetheless.

It's time to start organising the next outing!

Chinta Ria
Roof Terrace of Cockle Bay Wharf
201 Sussex St
Sydney, 2000
Ph: (02) 9264 3211
Fax: (02) 9264 1411

http://www.chintaria.com

Tropfest 2007

A last minute decision to go to Tropfest meant I wasn't as prepared as I was for the Symphony. I was glad I could make it considering last years dismal efforts (We rocked up, sat down for 30mins, ate our sandwiches and left before the screening even started because of the rain!). Because it was CNY, I was at home most of the morning with the meet and greet of the relos. I didn't get a chance to go to the shops, so at 1:30pm, I rummaged through the fridge and pantry to see what I could knock up. Moishii had the wine organised, only when we were on our way out to the city that one bottle is nothing. I can drink the whole bottle before he could open the second one.

We made a quick pit stop at Camperdown cellars and picked up another 2 bottles of wine. We park at my work and walk up Martin Place only to get distract by the Lindt cafe. We quickly duck in and grab a coffee each and some Strawberry Delice. After dropping all our stuff off at the Domain, we sat down and enjoyed our coffee before even pulling out the picnic rug. Once we had our spots marked, out came the food.

Moishii brought some delicious home made mixed cheese pide:

Whilst I managed to find enough stuff to knock up a few dishes in the 2 hours I had to cook and entertain at the same time:

Roast chicken and olive pasta

Baked stuffed mushrooms with a sweet chilli glaze

Mixed berry financiers

The view before it got packed

15mins after getting there, we cracked open the first bottle of wine. Infact, SOME people was so desperate for alcohol, they threw half of their coffee away!

MmMmm wine......

Moishii's lonely picnic basket

About 2 hours late was Matt and Laura, who rocked up with some bread and alcohol. (I made it clear that I wasn't catering for anyone else!) We had finished all our food by then, so Matt quickly tried to catch up by drinking double the alcohol. Actually, I didn't post the photo up because Matt is being a knob.....I posted the photo up because.....well......click on the photo and have a look at the enlargement. See anything? hehehe

The Domain quickly got packed out. Not as packed at Symphony in the Domain, but I wouldn't run through the park naked anytime soon...

Some of the short films were really good. My favourite would've been a toss up between "Road Rage" and "The Von". Luckily they both got into the top 3!! Some of the other films.....well......I thought it was just me until I turned to Moishii and said:

Me: "Is it me, or is this movie quite shit?"
Moishii: "Its quite shit."
Me: "And it doesn't make sense..."
Moishii: "Nah, I don't get it either."

Maybe it was us not paying attention, maybe it was too arty-farty for me. Or maybe, it was just quite shit. Either way, we had a wonderful day out. Its been awhile since the both of us has had a good drinking session. I think Gold Coast would've been the last decent piss-up. Lets see if I can organise another one of these days.....