Pie? Quiche? Frittata?

Salmon Pie/Quiche/Frittata thing served with garlic mash, brocolli and heaps of gravy!

Pineapple and Ginger upsidedown cake

MmmMmmm Hot pineapple and ginger upside down cake served with a dollop of ice cream during winter is oh so yummmmmm! Even if I do say so myself!

My childhood nightmare

Ever since I was a kid, I loved watching TV. Movies, TV series, chinese, english, romance, comedy, even horror. I loved TV! I remember watching WWF when I was 5, and bits of Freddy Kreuger when I was growing up. Violence and horror never scared me much. Of course I'll jump and hide during the movie, but afterwards, I never had a problem sleeping. Except for one cartoon movie. It was basically about a vampire rabbit that would go around sucking the colour out of fruit and vegetables. At the end of the movie, the village rejoices in destroying/chasing away the rabbit and all their fruit and vegetables returned to their normal colour. However, in the last 30seconds of the movie, they zoom into a stack of tomatoes at a vegetable stand, and there it was. A white tomato with all the redness sucked out.

I freaked. I ran into my parents room and hide in the corner crying my eyes out. My parents and brother and sisters were all working at the restaurant and I was home alone with my grandparents who had gone to bed. So it was just me and the fear of the returning vampire rabbit. I've been trying to find out what the movie was called ever since and every time I ask someone if they know the movie, they look at me if I was a nut falling out of a loopy fruit tree. Well now I know that I didn't make that story up! I know what haunted me as a kid! "Bunnicula, the Vampire Rabbit". I have GOT to get this cartoon on DVD! I still don't know why I was terrified of a vegetarian vampire bunny, but I was a kid, semi home alone, watching this at night. I know its a lame excuse...but now I can get closure! Anyone who sees this movie on tape/VCD/DVD let me know!!

We'll always have Mykonos

We've been back from our Trip for a good 6months and yet, we still can't forget Mykonos. Less than 2 months after we got back, we received an email from the travel agent we booked our Mykonos accomodation from. They were holding their first ever photo contest where the 1st prize was 7 nights accomodation in Mykonos and 2nd, 3rd and 4th prize was 3 nights free accomodation. On the very last night in Mykonos, the Italian guy leaned towards me and said "I'll see you next year". Was this a sign to enter? Does it matter? All we needed to do was enter photos taken from Greece in order to be eligable. And we have ALOT of photos from Greece. In fact, we have about 6Gigs worth of photos. And so it began......

I would open 5-6 browsers and simultaneously upload 5-6 photos at one go where each photo was over 2mb in size. Which meant I was bashing their server with over 10mbs of data at once, time after time after time. The contest closed on 28th February and the winner to was to be announced in the first week of March. So I checked the website. First thing in the morning. First thing when I get home from work. In the first week of March, I checked that website over 50times a night. I would sit infront of my computer and hit the refresh button every 2-5mins. I sent them emails asking them time and time again, when the winners would be announced. I was always an optimist, thinking they were just taking their time deciding. Moishii was forever the pessimist insisting its all one big scam where they get a whole bunch of photos to use on their brochures for free. I didn't care. I was grasping onto straws for hope. I had entered over 200 photos! I had to win! I just HAD TO!

I couldn't check the site at work because most of the plugins and scripts were blocked by our firewall. So I would call Moishii. He would be in the middle of a meeting, or he would desperately be trying to finish off some work to meet a deadline. It didn't matter. I would be on the other side of the phone screaming for him to check the website. We went to Hunter Valley for the weekend where we were a world away from any Internet Cafe. So what did we do? I would call my friend and ask my friend to check for us. I was desperate! It was Mykonos! It was fate calling us to enter! IT WAS MYKONOS!!!

Days passed, and then weeks. I still kept up my ritual. Check the website first thing in the morning, first thing when I get home, every time I walked into my room. I haven't rebooted my computer in over a month because I was forever checking that website. They eventually took the photo contest page down after 2 weeks. This must be it, they're going to announce it soon! A week later......nothing. ANOTHER week later, they changed the layout of their website. I start freaking out screaming that they're going to announce it soon. By this stage, Moishii was getting sick and tired of my phone calls, my screaming, my obsession and worst of all, my running out of Italian class during the breaks and heading towards the nearest computer to check the site. Even I was starting to give up hope......I had lost count of how many times I've emailed them......

I came home last Wednesday, walked into my bedroom and turned on my monitor. I scrolled down the page and barely noticed a tiny little link at the bottom of the page.

"Travel-Photo Contest Winners"

Oh my freakin god! ITS UP!!! I'm hyperventilating and shaking when I click on the link. My hands start sweating and my head starts spinning. The page loads up and the first thing I saw was a photo of a gorgeous sunset taken at the Athens Olympic Stadium. Damn bitch won first prize!!! Scrolled down a bit further...my heart sunk to the bottom of my stomache. 2nd prize was a panoramic photo taken by a biatch called "Christine" of an Island at night. How dare she enter a photo that won 2nd prize when we didn't?

I was furious by this time. That is until I saw Moishii. Thats right. Right beneath the gorgeous sunset and the beautiful night panoramic photo was Moishii standing on a flight of stairs, arms stretched out like he was about to take a flying leap off the damn thing whilst flapping his arms! My eyes start to blur and my head starts spinning. Have I been sniffing magic mushrooms again? Is that Moishii on the website? I look to the left of the page and there it was. My name splashed next to the photo. Wait, maybe it was ANOTHER Lily.......who was also from Sydney.......who had a bozo looking friend like Moishii.......who also went to Rhodes. OH MY FRICKIN GOD I WON!!!!!!!!! I WON!!!!!!!! I WON I WON I WON!!!! I flew off my chair and threw myself onto my bed looking for my handbag. I rummaged through my bag trying to find my mobile and ended up tipping EVERYTHING onto the ground. I managed to find my mobile and called Moishii up only to get his voicemail. I don't remember exactly what message I left, but I think it was something along the lines of "CALL ME BACK AS SOON AS YOU GET THIS!!! ITS URGENT!!!". Less than 5mins later Moishii called back thinking I was in the process of getting mugged or raped. All he could hear of the phone was "WE WON!!! WE WON!!!!! WE WONNNNNN!!!!!!!! AHAHAHAHAH WE WONNNNNNN!!!!!!!!! OMG WE WON!!!!!!!!!". Now I've pulled this trick on him before and he didn't believe me, and he didn't believe me this time....but 30seconds of my hysterical laughing and screaming, he jumped on the net to see for himself. His comment ? "WHY THE FUCK DID YOU ENTER MY PHOTO!? I LOOK RIDICULOUS!!!!"

Moishii.....honey......what are the chances that they are going to make a life size cardboard cut out of you and stick you outside every single office they have? Or they're going to put you on the cover of their brochures? HAHAHAHA Its like, gorgeous sunset, romatic night shot of an island, and then theres Moishii. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

For those who want to see for themselves......the link is here

and here: http://www.windmillstravel.com/article.php?id=244

Bollywood Style!

The day started slowly and the day progressed even slower. Every minute that ticked by seemed like an eternity. When is it going to be 5 o'clock everyone said. For those who were going to the party, work stopped around 4:15pm and everyone slowwwwwwwwly started packing up so they could get ready for the party. Not some people. There were a few girls in the toilet who had been getting ready since 3:30pm if not earlier. At 4:45, I just threw everything down, grabbed my stuff and hid in a meeting room. Slowly on by one, the girls joined me and emptied all their bags of jewellery and makeup all over the table. It felt like the Year 12 formal all over again with a bunch of giggling girls accessorizing each other and doing each others makeup. There were 4 of us who needed to dress in a Saree. By the time all 4 of us were dressed, it was already 6:30. Holy crap! We took almost 2 hours to get ready! No wonder the other girls started at 3:30! Our manager, who wasn't even going to the party, stayed back with us to help us get ready otherwise we would've missed the whole party! She was basically the accessories coordinator and made sure we were all dolled up bollywood style. And the result?

We trundled down from Wynyard to Wharf8 in our Sarees and everyone was staring and cars were honking. When we walked into Wharf8, we were gobsmacked by all the colour, noise, food and decorations. Right outside the entrance was a set of camels all dolled up, we were greeted by a woman in a saree who gave all of the girls Bindis. A woman walked by holding an alligator whilst another woman had a Python. There were a few tents by the side of the warehouse with benches filled with indian food. There was the most gorgeous grilled curry prawns, samosas, philo triangles and all these other things I couldn't name! They all tasted amazing! They even had a guy with a little vindaloo stand for those feeling adventureous.


We left everything at the cloak room and immediately hit the food. This is when they threw open a huge set of doors revealing another room with cushy seats piled high with pillows, a huge stage, a HUGE cocktail bar with rows and rows of premade Lychee Martinis, Watermelon Cosmopolitans, the usual beer and wine and bottles and bottles and bottles of Moet Champagne. OMG! I was going to hit the bar when I realised the dancing competition was going to start. I sculled a drink and shoved my way to the front and found myself a small spot to bust a few bollywood moves that we had learnt during class. The dancers came on stage and started their performance. We were supposed to join in at one stage, but they cut the music and then enters the head of our division on a huge seat decorated with gold and velvet and an elephant head made of fresh flowers. They push him to the side of the stage and the judging begins. We bust into choreographed bollywood dance and joined in during the chorus by throwing in a few freestyle moves. In the end, one of my workmates won first prize!

With that out of the way, we found MORE stands with more food and we piled our plates up high with rice and noodles, various curries and chutneys with papadums whilst enjoying our cocktails. The waitresses were roaming around with platters of grilled swordfish, chicken, french lamb cutlets and again, other things I can't name but tasted awesome. It was at this time, someone came running up to me yelling that they were doing tattoos in the first room we were in. We made a mad dash towards that area when a few of my workmates stopped me. We had made an agreement that if we wanted to get tattoos, we would stop each other. You know, this was like the agreement me and Moishii made in Istanbul where we weren't going to get off the bus in the middle of a highway at 9pm at night. So of course, 5mins later I have a henna tattoo on my arm. Not even a spray on one! A Henna tattoo!! This is going to last for weeks!


We strut back showing off our tattoos when someone yelled that the Camels is in the side room. Side room? OMG THERES ANOTHER PARTY ROOM! We walked out the side door into a huge tent that was again, decorated with plush cushions and chairs, candles, ANOTHER bar and more food. And then there was the camels.


The best dressed costume was also getting judge at that moment so we roamed back into the main room where they got the contestants to strut their stuff. And guess what? Big Al was there! The big boss! OMG! And he really put in the effort to get dressed up! Well, maybe his PA put in the effort, but they all looked spectacular.

Not just any chicken....a TANDOORI chicken

After the judging, the dancers came back out for another performance.





All of a sudden, the hot Brazillian guy ripped his top off and jumped off the stage topless whilst running in my direction. Of course I was ready to pounce when all of a sudden I heard multiple explosions. Confetti and streamers were flying through the room as ANOTHER set of doors get thrown open and the entire group of dancers lept off the stage and into the new room where they had a massive dance floor. Bollywood music was pumping through the speakers and we jumped right in with the full "twisting the light bulb and patting the dog" moves with alot of twirling and bouncing. Of course, I grabbed a few good pictures as well.......




We eventually left the dance floor and headed to ANOTHER bar they had set up in the dance room. How many are there? I've lost count!! Loaded up on Moet, we headed back to the other room only to be greeted by trays and trays of rich, dense chocolate fudgey brownies with bowls of fresh raspberry dipping sauce. There were benches of ice cream by the side, but as I learned from a previous party, alcohol and ice cream does NOT mix. We decided to spend the rest of the night outside in the tent since that bar there was fairly empty. This is when I noticed those huge bongs. Well, not bongs. But those water pipe things they had all over Turkey which I never got to try. Well, heres my chance. I've never smoked before in my life. NEVER. I've never even tried a cigarette as a teenager. But apparently these things are nicotine free and its flavoured tabacco (Sweet grape or apple). Lets just say that I would never become a full time smoker. I spent a good 15mins afterwards coughing the crap back out.

I eventually thought it was time to go when I walked towards the bar to try and get a glass of water for a girl I found passed out and the 2 bartenders immediately grabbed a bottle of Moet ready to top up my glass. When I said I just wanted water, they went all bug-eyed and went "NO CHAMPAGNE?????". Yep. Definately time to go. I walked back towards Wynyard with my workmate so we could flag down a Taxi. I saw a whole bunch of Taxis coming off the bridge and started waving them down. This taxi, which didn't have his lights on, screeched to a halt right infront of me. Ok........I got into the Taxi and realised why he braked so suddenly to pick me up. He was Indian. And I was Asian. In a Saree....The text ride ended with the guy insisting that he wanted a photo of me cos he loved my Saree that much. Somehow I managed to crawl my way back into my room some time after midnight. God what a party.....

All Wrapped up

I have a company party coming up this Friday. The theme is Bollywood and the prize for best dressed is 2 Business class return Airfares to Christchurch or Auckland. Up until Friday last week, I thought I had a month to get my costume......until I got the reminder email and I panicked. So what did I do? I rocked up to Liverpool on Saturday to buy my own Saree. The first store I went into, the conversation went something like this:

Me: Hi, do you have any cheap Sarees?

Her: How "cheap" is "cheap"?

Me: $30-$40.

She directed me back to the store, and at first, I thought she was going to throw me out for insulting her with that price. That is until I see a rack of soft chiffon Saris drapped on a rack. I pawed through the rack, the whole time screaming in my head "OMG ITS HIDEOUS!! OMG! BRIGHT PINK? ORANGE? WHAT THE HELL? LIME GREEN!!!". I did the polite "Oh...these are quite nice..." thing and I was about to give up and move to another shop when I saw a light pinky apricot colour trying to break through the crowd of screaming flourescent pinks/green/yellows. I pulled it off the rack and loved it immediately. It was a pinky apricot Saree with a deeper pink border. Theres embroided flowers and glittery bits scattered through the saree, and the best thing was, it was within my budget!

10mins later, I walk out of the store all light headed from the incense clutching my new Saree in my hands. I bought a top which I got my mum to alter for me for $4 and my entire outfit costs under $40! I spent the whole of last night trying to tie the saree myself and I did a pretty darn good job. Infact, when I went to the company paid Saree tying class today, they were very impressed by my saree tying skills! Now I've got my saree all ready, prepleated and pinned, I'm all set for Friday! I was tempted to get a few henna tattoos, but they usually last for over 2 weeks so I might settle for an airbrushed tattoo instead. I'm DEFINATELY bringing the camera this time.

All I ever do is hear people rave about this party. Now I've heard of all the All Staff party, and it sounded spectactular, but apparently our Group party is even bigger and better! Previous parties involved the "Roaring 20s", a "Moulin Rouge" party where they brought in the actual movie set and served long island teas in chinese tea cups and pots, a Russian themed one where they had a Vodka bar. This Bollywood party is going to go off! Even just the few people I saw at the saree tying class, all I saw was a sea of colours and glitter! There will be photographers and video cameras on the night to capture every moment! I'll post up the photos after Friday.