Of food and fishing

Two of my favourite things to do on a weekend!

I love sleeping in and then having the time to whip up a lovely hearty Sunday brunch..



Fresh Angus beef sausages with parsley and roast garlic, wilted spinach, sauteed mushrooms, sunny-side-up egg, pan-grilled truss tomato, baked beans, and garlic butter prawns. Mmhmm. x)

Also made cucur udang (prawn fritters), which certainly looked more presentable than the burnt lumps of cucur pisang (mashed banana fritters) I made the previous day.



All washed down with a couple of Nudies :)



I love Nudies but this green concoction of juice + spirulina/green tea/wheat grass/passion flower was perhaps a little too ambitious for my taste buds.


Kitteh spies over neighbourhood

After cleaning up the mess in the kitchen, we decided to head to Shorncliffe... The tide was coming in and because it was a Sunday evening, the jetty was pretty much deserted and we had a great time fishing in the company of an amiable geophysicist who kept us entertained with his jokes and muses.

The wind died down, the moon was bright, and it was a beautiful starry night. ★ The water was so clear (even at night) that we could see little puffies and schools of pike swimming around!

Something huge took on Eddie's bait but alas, he lost it in the midst of fighting it. He thinks it was probably a shark judging from the way it ran (stingrays don't run- they suction themselves to the seabed and stubbornly refuse to budge), and the way the line seemed to have been cut clean with serrated teeth.

I caught a variety of smaller fish, but this was the only one we brought home:



It certainly satiated my cravings for fresh bream! I just can't quite describe the taste of fish which had been alive minutes before it hit the fryer...



Even Mariah could not resist, we had to pry her away from the plate haha.

More fishing photos on Facebook [ here ].

Great end to another great weekend, I can't wait for the next one to come around!

Out and about

Had originally planned to go to the museum today, but slept the whole morning away after last night's excitement.

Decided to go to Southbank for lunch anyway, and settled for fish n'chips @ Decks.

Wanted to take a photo of this dad and little boy looking at the menu, when his gorgeous little girl who was running around excitedly got into the picture :)



Weather was beautiful! It was quite cool but the sun was out.



Ibis sulking in the background because we wouldn't give him food...



... because we had cuter company!

OHAI



Ducky is greedy but not easily fooled.

Dessert- Hazelnut chocolate-filled banana from the market

I don't like chocolate but I must say it somehow goes really well with banana!

Wanted to catch a movie but there wasn't anything good showing at the cinema at the time.

What's a good movie to watch these days??

Murphy's Law

We were on our way to (the other) Spot X when Eddie realized he had forgotten his gaff.

When we got there I told him that Murphy's Law is going to happen- The day he forgets his gaff will be the day he gets a big fish.


Gangstaahhh

Sure enough, it was EXACTLY what happened... except I was the one who caught the fish.

It was the fiestiest thing I've ever hooked up. I fought till my arms were numb and felt like dislocating! It was a battle of who would give in to exhaustion first, and finally the fish lost. I gasped when I saw the beautiful shimmery silver scales emerge to the surface as I reeled it in because damn, IT WAS THE BIGGEST FISH I'VE EVER CAUGHT!! :D

Now the only thing between me and the fish was a stupid railing, like so-


I couldn't haul the fish over the railing because it was way too big for my light line and little rod, so I yelled for Eddie (who was fishing further up) to give me a hand, and he came running.

Since we had no gaff, he tried to bring up the fish with his hands through the railings (with gloves of course- Jews have big mouths full of tiny sharp teeth!). The moment the fish felt fingers down its throat it started thrashing with full-force again and Eddie being Eddie, not wanting to hurt the fish by being rough, let go to try to get a better grip.

THEN THE LINE SNAPPED #$^&*$@#%.

We watched in horror as Mr. Jew started drifting away (it wasn't swimming cos it was probably still stunned). Eddie made a mad dash after the fish, squeezed his upper body between the taut railing wires and lunged. He managed to grab at it but the fish, suddenly realizing it was free of the line, easily slipped through his grasp and with a final flick of its tail, said goodbye and disappeared into the water.

:(

Eddie's devastated and depressed because he thinks it's his fault that I didn't get to take a picture with my fish. I'm disappointed too but I'm more concerned about the poor fishie's wellbeing because I'm upset we didn't get to get if off the hook before releasing it; I hope it's okay and that it can still eat and survive with a permanent piercing (a 1/0 jighead + banana prawn soft plastic) hanging in its mouth!

Sigh.

Oh well, plenty more fish in the sea... *attempts to cheer self up*

EKKA public holiday

No plans to go to the EKKA at all- Overpriced, overcrowded, and too many germs.

Here's what we did instead!

Spoilt ourselves with a nice simple homecooked dinner last night..



Juicy, oven-baked lamb cutlets sprinkled with rosemary and drizzled with red wine/garlic gravy, with a side of squash + zucchini and potato mash with a generous dash of freshly-cracked Sarawak black pepper (I LOVE my pepper!)

Baked an apricot and yoghurt cake this morning..



Served with apricot halves and mango + apricot yoghurt



We basically bummed at home all day because it was gloomy the whole bloody day and it didn't stop raining the night before, which ruined our plans of going night-fishing.

So when the sun finally peeked out in the late afternoon, Eddie and I grinned at each other. B-)

However we had some unexpected company just as we were about to step out, and to cut the story short, there wasn't very much sunlight left when we finally got out of the house.

It was low tide at Spot X (which translates as "no fish"). In addition we were there for only about half an hour? The only time I got a bite was when I was reaching for my camera to capture the beautiful peachy-pink sunset hues reflected on the water O.o



I was totally unexpecting it and it didn't even occur to me that I had to strike to sink the hook so bummer, I lost the fish :( Slimy evidence on the line told us it was a catfish, and as much as I wanted to stay longer, it was starting to get too dark so we had to pack up.

Oh well. At least I got some nice photos :)



Hope everyone had a good day off.

Selamat buka puasa to all my Muslim friends!

This little piggy...

Mooncake festival is almost here again!

Eddie and I love these piggies that are made with the stuff mooncake skin is made of, and stuffed with bean paste.



Mmm. Can't wait to sink my teeth into a four-yolk mooncake.

Hello it's August!

Today was about as good as a Saturday could get :)

Slept in this morning (LOVE not having to wake up at 6.30am :D). Had a hankering for nachos (even though we had stuffed ourselves sick with Mexican food @ Montezuma's last night), so we went to Dos Amigos for lunch.


Margaritas, nachos, Eddie and his deep-fried jalapeño

The nachos was by far the most SINFUL thing I've ever eaten... The plate was swimming with so much sour cream and sauce and cheese and beans and guacamole that I couldn't even see the corn chips!

We felt so blissed out after lunch that we stopped by Perrin Park on the way home, took out our camping chairs (which I conveniently had in my boot), and sat down in the middle of the park to soak up the lovely sunshine.



Eddie snoozed off!

After half an hour or so, I dropped Eddie home before heading to West End to watch the girls play in the AUG futsal tournament.

They did well and I'm proud of them! :D I half wish I were playing too but I'm glad I'm not cos I'm waaaay too out of shape to run.

Alright I'm off to edit more futsal photos. Am now munching on the slice of yummy blueberry cake Jane brought this morning when she dropped by to pick up some books.

Ma Baker is now in Brissy!!!

Leaving you with photos of kitteh taking full advantage of the heater...

OHAI

Kthxbai! Snore.

Oh, nom..

I love handmade jewellery.

And I clearly have a fetish for kitschy handmade jewellery that ressemble FOOD.



Can't wait for these yummy little things to arrive in the mailbox :D