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

You make me wanna...

It's 3.30am and I've been sitting here drooling over Usher's old and new MVs on YouTube.

My sister and I caught Usher in concert while I was home for a short holiday a few weeks ago.



Anyway, I accidentally clicked on one of his suuu-per old clips just now and almost choked on my instant soup when I saw Usher uhm, gyrating in the form of a scrawny teenager on my screen. Same big nose yes, but OMG so not sexy.

Yet the older he gets, the more sex appeal he oozes..

*recalls tudung-clad Malay girls in front of us screaming and swooning as he made love to the microphone stand on stage*



It's not fair, why do men look better the older they get, but women don't??

O.o

Whatever lah. Usher is still hotness.

Facebook photos of the rest of my awesome trip home [ here ].

Irony

Everything in my life is so stable right now, but I've never felt so uncertain about the future.

My perfect little world is nothing but a fragile little bubble, perched atop a toothpick, waiting to be popped.

A little love from Japan

This is Miho.

Miho is a pretty little handmade ceramic doll on a golden keychain. (I call her Miho cos she looks like one of my Japanese students called Miho!)



Miho is standing in a sea of tiny packets of delicious crispy peanut rice cakes, freshly made in a shop in a street in Tokyo before they were packaged.

Miho and the rice cakes had travelled all the way from Japan to Brisbane as thoughtful little souvenirs from Raymond, who was there for a holiday! :)

(No pictures of the TDF preserved scallops in equally tiny packets cos they're all gone. I WAN GO JAPAN. NAO. T_T)

Mobile uploads

More random shots from my phone!

Passionfruit freshly-picked from a colleague's mom's backyard...



My first ever passionfruit too! I've never seen bright yellow passionfruit like this before, and I expected it to be really sour too but it wasn't at all. It was just beautiful. Yum.

Went down to the Gold Coast weekend before the last and satisfied our hankering for our favourite dish at our favourite Korean restaurant, Arirang.



Dol-sot-something (can never remember the name, ergh.. but it's basically bulgogi beef drowned in cream cheese and mayo!)

Another one of my cozy little corner at work..



Last week Tanya and I brought the students to the Powerhouse for the World Press photo exhibition



Pictures say a thousand words...



... but the narratives that accompanied these images made them even more powerful.

This one really made an impact on me- It portrays the gruesome details we as consumers oversee/don't think about when we reach for those neatly packaged meat from the meat section at the supermarket



The last picture of the three lambs looking at their friends being skinned made me sad :(

This photo is of a mother helping her son out of bed.



You can't really see from this angle, but the poor guy has a humongous crater on the left side of his head. Part of his brain was blown away while serving as a soldier in the conflict in Iraq :(

This one looked like a painting!!!



It's an amazing underwater shot of a kingfisher snapping up its meal, its eyes closed with membrane-thin eyelids to protect them from the water.

Anyhoos.

Eddie's latest haul..

The super-bright-orange-heeled boots so many players are donning at the World Cup this year! The man acts like a kid in a candy store when he's at Rebel Sports :)

Eddie's also on a cooking frenzy this week... The spicy garlic butter prawns he whipped up for dinner on Monday was sooOOoo TDF I couldn't stop licking my plate clean

It was so hard to resist finishing up the portion I put aside for lunch at work the next day.

Mmm just looking at this picture is making me drool again. O.O

Friday Night Love

Skipped after-work drinks with colleagues today for some much needed chill-&-pamper time at home.

Just had my favourite sushi and some darn good strawberry tiramisu...



Blogging to Amel Larrieux now, planning to do my nails in a bit and spend some quality time with my book, after a nice long hot shower and a hot cuppa tea.

:)

Anyway, I got a pressie from two of my favourite (ex) students who graduated today.



I don't know what it's called but it's a beautiful decorative ornamental thingy they'd brought from Korea



It's especially meaningful to me because these two lovebirds met in my class and got together! ♥



Hung it on my notice board at work.

Who says school has to be boring? Magic does happen in classrooms :)

. . . . .

LONG WEEKEND HURRAH

World Cup partay @ FTP tonight!

Kitteh ♥ daddeh

Food lust

More photos of breakfast/lunch/dinner! (Sorry I just like taking photos of my food.)

Got meself a beef n' potato pie for breakfast last Thursday when I went to Michel's to get a birthday cake for one of my students.



Met up with Eddie in the city on Monday for a dinner date ;) Both of us had noodle cravings so we finally decided to go to Wagamama cos we've been wanting to try it out for ages.

Ordered the duck gyoza for starters, which sucked... Nothing compared to what we had in Sydney *disappointed*



Mains- Eddie ordered the house ramen which was kinda bland, but the grilled salmon ramen I had was pretty good!

Or maybe I was just hungry.



Dessert was banana katsu which was another disappointment. The banana was unripe and starchy, while the coconut ice-cream that accompanied it was only so-so.

Pricing was a little steep for the level of satisfaction we got, so looks like we won't be going back anytime soon.

Yesterday's lunch was café-grilled sandwich again- This time I had the roast chicken with caramelized pumpkin, pinenuts, greens and shaved parmesan. Too goood.



More food photos from our little getaway to Sydney last weekend! [ Click here ] for Facebook photos kthxbai.

Masquerade

Got my beautiful mask and dress laid out but I'm not sure if I wanna go to the party now



It's freezing outside and I'm too tired.

Would rather stay home in my pyjamas with a hot bowl of herbal chicken soup.

Kitteh in a Bag

Mobile uploads

Feeling much better now after taking a sickie yesterday and being back at work today. Work makes me happy :)

Anyway, random photos from my phone camera.

Cutest birthday gift from my sister, all the way from Perth!



JODIESAURUS sits on my desk at work and guards all my change for emergency junk food :P

Cuddly teddy bear from a sweet (ex) student..



I supervised a boomerang painting session a couple of weeks ago, and this is my shitty piece of work (as compared to some of the unbelievably beautiful ones the students produced)



Bought breakfast from the café next door last Friday- Peach, ginger and mango muffin + a cappucino.



The muffin from the café wasn't that great, but I l♥ve their gourmet sandwiches; my faves include the turkey/cranberry/brie sandwich, and today I had the roast beef bearnaise with shaved parmesan and semi-dried tomatoes. Toasted of course, to melt all that lovely gooey cheese!

Tempura udon for lunch..



The perks of working in the city :)

Guess who's been super clingy lately..



Kitteh can has warmth cos is colds nao!

And oh.

I bought it.



But no, not the Noe. Caved in to sensibility/practicality and got the Neverfull MM, main reason being that I have plenty of casual bags already but no work bag.

Wait for me my Noe, I will come for you.