Long overdue post: Bye grandma

Back date to September 2015:

Sorry for the silent post for the past two month. Things were very crazy busy with the in-laws visit for three weeks. Ended up we needed two weeks of recovery as we all caught the cold from the niece. Then just as I was recovering. We received the news that Eric's grandma had a fall at home in hk, and broke her hip. So it was panicking time for his mum. Calling back daily to ckeck up on her, and worried about lots of what ifs. The doctors had to keep her on painkillers and in bed at the hospital as she was on many medication. Therefore it is very risky to operate. So they had to cut down her medication one by one, but that made her mental illness worse. 

Then three weeks ago, mum txted me saying my grandma (dad's mum) is in hospital (Malaysia). She felt an oppression and discomfort in her chest the whole night. And she could not sleep. So early in the morning on Thursday, she called my uncle, and he drove her to hospital. The doctors kept her in for observation. Everything seems fine. Grandpa and many relatives went to visit her. On Sunday, I called mum to check on grandma, and she said she's fine. Dad had spoken to her on Saturday and she's looking forward to going home. However on Monday morning, kor called me at 10 am, telling me that grandma had passed away on Sunday night. 

It was crazy after that. I was in shocked. I couldn't believe that grandma is gone. She's the youngest grandma I've ever known! She should be living to her ripe old age, not now?! 

I had to quickly rearrange patients, book air tickets, send emails.....

All so Eric and I could leave on Wednesday morning, going back to my hometown to say good bye for the final time. And the last time I step foot into Malaysia was to introduce Eric to my grandparents before we got married. 

The funeral was peaceful and calming. Lots of relatives from my grandpa and grandma family came to pay their final respects. It's like a big gathering. Distance relatives from KL came as well, driving down south after work. 

As for me, I spent a lot of time bonding and comforting my grandpa. He's devastated and also coming down with a cold. Acupuncture came in useful to help him with the discomfort, fatigue and him battling cold. But nothing can stop his heart aching for his wife that is gone. 

Eric had good time bonding with the many relatives at the funeral. Many people did not know him formally yet. He enjoys the many yummy Hakka food that our village is famous for. Trying out the food that I ate from my childhood days. Even his Chinese language improves tremendously over the five days there too!

Continue from 2016:

Sadly, a week after we got home from Malaysia, we received the news that Eric's grandma had passed away in HongKong, after catching an infection from surgery to fix her hip. It's quite sad all over, especially Eric's mum, whom can't be there to bid farewell for the last time.

The rest of 2015 passed with Eric studying really hard to catch up the few weeks of missing class from flying here n there for funerals, and me driving here n there for work. I landed myself in a job working with another IVF clinic, this time a bit further away at Parramatta. It involves early morning drives of 40 mins, waking up super early at 6am. This place is ethically much better than the previous clinic I worked in. And I've gotten to know many of the nurses and doctors there. They are quite friendly bunch of people. So far, quite a few patients had become pregnant, and a few of them are under herbal medicine strengthening phase. I hope that in the coming few months, I'll be getting a few good news. 

I'll end off here. I'm sorry for the MIA for the past few months. I'll hope to update more in the coming year.

Kcan

As good as new!

After spending $200 on a new windscreen, Tomato's windscreen is as good as new!

Here's a clearer photo of the damage done. 

Drive safe on the road everyone!

Kcan

Tomato got injured.

My Tomato has a cracked windscreen! >_<

It happened on the way to worked. While driving, this big pebble dropped straight down from the sky like shooting star. Followed by a loud 'piak', it landed at the bottom corner of the windscreen near the wipers. I'm like, where the hell did the pebble come from? No trees, no big trucks...

Sadly, the force of it made a two cm sized crack. I tried driving slowly over speed humps and avoid potholes. And when I got to the destination, the crack didn't expand. *phew!*

1.5 hours later, I came back to my car, to see this big long crack that grew out from the initial impact. >_<

Can you see it?

Sorry for the blur photo. It's a very clear and reflective day. 

 I'm so sad. Need to pay $200 tomorrow to get it fixed. I think the crack must have grew as the windscreen got heated under the sun. (Big temperature difference) 

Looking back, at least it wasn't hit on the top of the screen. Can't imagine how the windscreen will break, or even hit me! =s

Kcan

Happy 端午节！

It's the time of the year again! And this is my favourite festival as I can eat my favourite rice dumplings! =D

Similar to last year, I decided to make these today as my way of pampering myself after a hectic day. Cooking is my way of relaxing you see...

So here's the ingredients all prepared and the bamboo leaves all washed. 

I wanted to make big dumplings this year, so the huge cut of the meat. I want to make it such that I can just have one good sized rice dumpling as my meal and be satisfied, instead of having many small ones and forgot about the calories it contain. =D

Wrapped and ready for cooking. I'm using the pressure cooker this time. It cut down the cooking time. 

Can't wait to eat it for dinner. *hungry*

Kcan

Photo blog: Promiss at the end of the road

Rainbow at the end of the road. And rainbow signifies God's promises to Noah and the world. Pray that the many sad news that we hear in the past weeks will ease, and more happy news will come.

This was taken yesterday on the way home from visiting patients. 

The winter has been gloomy with rain misting the sky at times. Guess that's why we could find the rainbow yesterday. =)

Hope your day was good.

Kcan

Home baking: red bean buns

I made some red bean paste two weeks ago on my day off work. I decided to make some red bean buns to eat as I miss having these yummy Asian buns, which I had almost on daily basis back in sg. 

So I took out my Bready, and kneed some dough out of it.  I made sure it's well kneed with the window panel effect. Eric helped me rise the dough in the nice warm winter sun, and it puffed up to nice and round balls.

While I was away, Eric glanced the top of the bread with milk, and let it baked in the oven.

 

And how beautiful it looks! The bread is soft and moist, just how I remembered it to be. =)

Let's see if I have some days off again this week to make more bread. Yum!

Kcan

Dos Senoritas Mexican restaurant

For our anniversary this year, we bought a voucher on Living Social, for Mexican crusine. This is the first time trying real Mexican dishes, apart from the usual attempts of home made nachos and burritos. 

Check out their website at http://dossenoritas.com.au

We wanted to eat there last month, but my cold means I had to delay and reschedule the date night with Eric. The voucher comes with three course Mexican meals. As I read the reviews on the internet, their servings were HUGE! So we only have the starters to share. This is steak quesadilla. The steak was nicely marinated and cooked to perfection. 

The cheese in there was melted and goes very well together with the sour cream, guacamole and salsa. 

It's so yummy, that I'm looking forward to the mains.

I ordered tacos combo meals, which comes with rice and beans.

I choose beef mince in my tacos, and it's not as yummy as the steak we had for the staters. Will choose the steak next time. 

The portion was huge, that I had difficulty finishing it.

Eric choose the  Supercheesygooeychimichanga burrito. It's filled with slow cooked pork, hand pulled, and mixed with cheese, sauce and wrapped in a burrito and Deep Fried! It also comes with extras cheese, rice and beans. 

We were stuffed to the brim!

So full that I think I needed to be rolled out like a ball.

As we were so full from the starters and mains, we decided to tell them that we can just have one serving of the churros dessert. I ended up only taking one bite from it. =( 

Must make a mental note not to overstuff myself next time. Always leave space for desserts. 

Overall, this place is a thumbs up!  Will come again.

Kcan

Down with a cold

Sorry for the no-response for the past four (!) weeks. I survived the worst storm in sydney, battle the ever changing weather, and treat people with all sorts of illments, from constipation, infertility, insomnia, knee pain, to common cold. And after that, I'm ready to wave the white flag and declare a rest day!

(Sorry everyone, a very backdated post)

I was down since last Monday (the day after Mother's Day). My suspicion was the hot pot we had with the in laws family. Eric's sis was unwell, and you know, hot pot requires you to share the 'love' around. So starting Monday, I felt a discomfort in my throat. (Sign 1 of bad things to come)

The throat discomfort just got worse as I had to use my voice to talk to patients, and I did have a hectic day. So by the evening, I had tonsillitis like pain in my throat. Fearing for the worst, I up dose on vitamin C and the Yin Qiao pills which is good for fighting sore throat. So that night, I went to bed with a bad burning throat, and I lie in bed with Eric needling me the sore throat points. I remembered it was a very difficult night to sleep as my throat was so sore, that I couldn't even swallow my own saliva. But by the time I woke up on Tuesday, the pain was gone! Yay!

However, the celebrations was short lived as I think my body was very battled by the infection. So after a whole day of work plus late finishing, the symptom worsened and I started coughing. My biggest fear. 

So my cough got better and then got worse, depending on my work schedule. Praise God that I had a few new patients during the past month, but it was also the time I craved for more rest. So on days that I finally had time off, I rest n slept. (Yes, not even cooking) At one stage, my coughing was so bad, that I actually lost my voice. And it took me a week and a half to get it back. >_<

Now I'm 90% better. Still gave the occasional cough to clear out the residue phlegm, and I have yet to reach my normal 'singing' voice. Haha. 

June marks the start of winter here in Australia. And on the first day of winter, we were welcomed by a big blast of icy cold wind from the Antarctica. It blanket the mountainous regions of Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney in blankets of snow. At home, we had to dug into the winter supplies of electric blankets, heaters and scarves. In sydney, we also have the record low of overnight temperature of 5 degC. Brrrr...

As I lie in bed now typing this, I do pray that everyone out there have a safe and warm roof over your heads and be healthy and well. =)

Good night!

Kcan

Sydney storm 2015!! (Back date 27 April 2015)

The internet connection is back!! ^_^

Oh how difficult it is to live without internet/phone connection for the last week.

As some of you all might have already knew, Sydney was hit by a once-in-a-decade 'mini cyclone' last week, starting on Sunday afternoon.

Sunday on the 19th, started Sunny, with cloudy afternoon. By evening, strong wind and rain starts pouring down. The wind was unsually strong. And through the night, wind just kept howling and rain just kept pouring. 

By Monday, the sky was overcast. Wind started lashing through the sky. With strong wind blowing the rain side ways. I had a patient that day around noon. I prayed that the sky will clear a 'patch' so I won't get too wet. My prayer was answered with getting just a drizzle! ^_^

But however, the rain and wind never stopped. Throughout the whole day, it just got stronger and stronger. Thank God thought it was the start of a new school term, most public schools had a day off. So there's not as many traffic on the road. If not there'd be more traffic accident.

The night was spent in my in-law's place, as the wind and rain made things difficult to travel between the houses. Plus we were worried that the neighbours's gum tree would start dropping big branches like previously. And guess what. Many trees along the street started falling!

This is the scene on Tuesday morning from my in-law's place. A tree across the road at the national park had collapsed right across the road. The SES (State emergency service people), came in their yellow ponchos, looked at the tree, and decided to just push it to the side. 

The weather was so cold and wet. Many places were flooded.

On Tuesday morning, Eric went over to take a look and see if there were any damage from the gum tree, but was surprised to see this sight.

The neighbours's pine tree has fallen!! (The gum tree still standing strong there) Eric went to the neighbours's to check if they needed any help. And only to realised that the parents had gone over to japan for holiday, while their 14 yo son is home alone!! We were quite worried that the tree was leaning onto the power line, and the whole front yard was flooded. It took Eric a whole day to get through to the energy company, to let them know and ask them to come and cut off the power to their house, for fear of electrocution when the power line break under the tree's weight.

Debris everywhere from the strong wind and rain.

A tree fell from the forest across the road.

The neighbour's fallen tree root. The root ball is quite shallow. Thank God that it did not damage any house. 

Kcan

You know winter is coming when...

I know winter is coming when day light savings ended on Easter Sunday. So now the eastern states of Australia is just two hours ahead to Perth, Siagapore, Malaysia, instead of three hours.

I know winter is coming when all the catalogues are showing pictures of winter clothes, boots, scarfs, fireplace for sale.

I know winter is coming when the leaves on the trees are turning yellow.

I know winter is coming when days ends earlier and darkness comes at 5.30 pm.

I know winter is coming when I start layering my clothes and will bring a jacket whenever I go out.

I know winter is coming when I'm getting cold feet again! 

I know winter is coming when my trusty Penguin heater is out to give me warmth again.

I know winter is coming when the temperature setting in Tomato is edging towards the red zone.

I know winter is coming when maximum temperatures is just overing around the early 20s deg C. 

And as all discontented people says: I wish for some sun today!

Kcan

Easter weekend.

Did anyone see the lunar eclipse on Saturday night? 

Over at my end, there were no chance of seeing it as our Easter Saturday was raining cats and dogs for the WHOLE day and night. 

That basically sums up the Good Friday and Easter, four day holiday over here. Cold and wet. What did I do?

On Friday, went to church for Good Friday service. It was already starting from Thursday night. The rain kept going after the Friday church service to Sunday morning. On Friday, as it was so gloomy after church service, we all went home. And that's the start of my YouTube marathon. (Hohoho)

Eric's sis was watching this China Master Chef like programmer. It's celebrity led cooking competition. And it's so addictive! We practically sat in front of the computer tv, watching this whole season episodes, oo-ing and ahh-ing at the different Chinese dishes they cook up. And I mean, 1 hour to make Ma Po Toufu with making the Toufu included in the one hour?! Wow!

The link is here. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BsQ1GC9lOos

(Warning, super hilarious, educational and addictive. Watch at your own risk) =p

I've found the ones with English subtitles.

So that's my rest of Friday and Saturday. *embarrassed*

On Sunday, we went to my friend's baptism at another church. After which we are invited to a lunch. They live in the apartments, which is kinda the rare sight in sydney. At 9 level, you have the horizon in front. 

We saw the moon rising on the horizon! (Sorry for the not very clear pic)

And at night, I started my food poisoning episodes. Basically visited the toilet numerous times, till I had to stop myself drinking anything, or I'll be passing it our right away. It's literally like detoxing. 

The puzzling thing was, Eric was fine, and we had the same food all day. What happened?

Our conclusion was: frozen ice. Eric was drinking soft drink, while I wanted just water. And the host put some ice cubes in my drink (which I usually don't). I'd say the hygiene of the place was not really great, and I could taste the fridge in the ice. =( 

Lesson learnt: ask for plain tap water. 

So my Easter Monday holiday was just lying around the sofa and visit the toilet day. Lol. 

I'm much better now. Thank you God for the speedy recovery and well rested/slacking Easter. 

Kcan

Photo blog: double yoke!

I was busy cracking eggs to make quiche for dinner, when I had this surprise find. Double egg yoke! 

I know it is not that rare in heavier 800g dozen eggs, but to find it in 700g dozen eggs, this is a first! The egg did felt heavier than the previous three that I crack.

Today is full of surprises. Hope you all have a wonderful day too!

Kcan

Fresh peas!

Eric bought a bag of fresh peas last week. Have you seen a fresh pea before? I have not till last week. And I have not tried eating a fresh pea prior too! All my peas are the frozen ones from the supermarket. 

As Eric was not sure what to do with them, he only bought about a kg of it, selling at a super discount of $2/kg! These peas are usually $7-9/kg in the markets.

So peel them open like this, and you can see the beautiful rows of peas, lying in there next to one another.

Some are really full to the brim, while some are still young. Like the ones below, they are the baby peas.

The peas that are big and fat to the brim have a slight bitter taste when eaten fresh. While the baby peas are sweet. However, the bitterness in the peas will be gone after cooking, leaving just the nice sweet taste.

Does this look like those expensive Japanese melons? Haha

Here's all the peas all peeled and ready for cooking! There's so much pods 'wasted'. We had them composted. For every pea pods, will have about 1/4 pods weight, and 3/4 pea weight.

I just had them boiled in salty water, and then seasoned them with some salt and pepper.  It taste really sweet, and I like it how it's slightly crunchy. =)

Kcan

Zeus Street Greek restaurant.

We are invited to Eric's uni friends gathering on Thursday evening. It was a random last minute decision by his friends. Since it was sort of my day off from work, and Eric's last day of uni for the week, we said yes!

There's this Greek restaurant along the road to one of my patient's house. It looks like a shop front built connecting to the house at the back. And according to Eric's sis whom drive pass this road everyday to and from work, it is always busy. 

Zeus street Greek is the name of the restaurant. http://zeusstreetgreek.com.au

We tried their signature souvlaki-pitas on the menu.

We ordered their signature lamb wrap and pork wrap. I preferred the taste of the slow cook pork wrap, where the meat goes well with the salads than the lamb. 

Eric hasn't met his uni friends for the last three years. Thus it was a nice get together. And I like how Eric can talk to them about things which is always a news for me as they knew him longer than I did.

We chat and munch over the sides which came after the mains. 

I like the egg roe dip, which taste like salmon dip. The most flavorsome out of the three dips. 

The houlomi cheese was cold when I gotten to try it. Taste like over cooked hard cheese/tofu, but it has a nice fragrance. I think it will taste nicer when hot. The calamari was yum! Love the thin coating and not overlooked of the calamari. Well seasoned too!

The pita bread was the same which was used for the wraps. Crispy and goes well with the egg roe dip. 

Overall, I enjoy the food here. It's quite affortable and nice ambience for catch up.

Would recommend coming again.

Kcan

Nasi Ulam

This is a belated post.

About a week before cny, I decided to try making a Peranakan dish, Nasi Ulam. I've not tried before, but it have heard that it is a famous Peranakan dish with lots of fresh herbs. Fresh veges and herbs are in abundance during the summer time, so why not give it a try?

I didn't buy many herbs as I only thought of this dish 'last min'. (hohoho) So I dug up all the different herbs from the garden and 'salad' veges in my fridge.

I 'followed' the recipe from this website: http://www.sunshinekelly.com/2013/06/nasi-ulam-nyonya-nyonya-herbs-rice-for.html

Of course I change here n there due to the herbs availability.

So I got here: Baby Cos lettuce, Coriander, Lemon Grass (garden), Basil (garden) and Dill.

I pounded some dried prawns and then stir-fry them in oil to fragrance.
I mix all the chopped up herbs and fried dried prawns into a big bowl of cooked rice (must cool down slightly first). I also added bean sprouts at the end to give the nice crunch. Seasoned with Salt, black pepper.

And Tada! My own Nasi Ulam. I also topped it off with some fried anchovies. This healthy and fresh salad rice is sure to entice the taste buds, especially on a hot summer day.
My MIL and family loves the freshness of the herbs all mixed in there. Looking forward to making it again before the cold weather comes.

Njoy!

kcan

Cny dinners

I love food. Simple home cooked food usually makes me happy, while restaurant meals usually makes me less appreciative of food. Maybe because I know I can eat yummier food at a lesser cost? Haha.

These are two meals I had over the cny period at home. 

On one of the Monday, I accompanied Eric to uni for his one hr lecture. Then after class, we went to the sydney fish market and got ourselves a whole salmon. It's a lot cheaper to get salmon whole at $15.90/kg than just fillet in supermarkets at $25.90/kg. We had it fillet on one side and sashimi on the other side. 

Eric's family loves eating sashimi salmon. As his dad was here, it's the perfect time for him to enjoy. So we had the sashimi side first, eating it over dinner. 

The next day, for lunch I used the left over sashimi, left over rice added some vinegar solution (like sushi rice), topped with seaweed flakes. Yummm! Tasted just like the salmon chirashi sold in shops!

Seasoned with wasabi and soy sauce. Yumm!

And then on another night, we went out for cny dinner with his family friends at this seafood restaurant. The food portion were huge. So there's boxes of left overs. Especially the dish with crab and vermicelli. There were half a dish left over! (Eric's family are not lovers of crab meat as it needs patience and skills to open the shell. Plus for the dish that day, the vermicelli was under flavored and cooked)

The next day, I was home alone after work, preparing my next day's lesson, while the rest of the family had dinner at another's cny dinner. So for my dinner, I had the leftovers from the restaurant. Poor crab, no one touched the dish at all, while the veges and prawns were all eaten up during lunch time by my in-laws. 

For my veges, I added my home grown organic sweet potato leaves!

Add water to simmer and salt for taste. 

Tada!

This is the biggest crab craw I've ever eaten. It's so huge!!

Worth taking a picture. 

Nicely peeled, eaten like a lolly pop. 

Burp! 

I think over the cny period, with all the seafood and many dinners one after the other, our cholesterol level had gone up pretty high. Time to exercise them off!

Kcan

Milkshake!

Milkshake has been in the house for almost 4.5 months now. He has grown sooooo much bigger. He's still a scary cat. Easily startled and loves hiding in small tight corners. 

He has his cheeky moments. Like walking into areas he's not suppose to, and testing our patience in doing tricks. 

He loves food. But since we left him at Grace's boss house over the cny trip holiday, he developed an expensive taste for food. (They spoil him with food) and the other day, after accidentally taste some roast duck meat (MIL shredding duck meat for noodles stir fry, and accidentally drop three pieces on the floor), he refused to eat his usual cat food! >_<

Milkshake being comforted on top of Eric's tummy. 

If milkshake is a dog, he'll look like this!

His usual hiding spot. 

Milkshake looking at his Ferraro ball. 

That's his favourite toy. Basically is just a long string with many layers of Ferraro Roche wrapper wrapped into a ball at the end. He loves chasing it and chewing/peeling it layer by layer. 

Look how big he has grown!

Kcan

Cny trip part 3

This is the caravan park where we stayed overnight, in the town of Nowra. 

It comes with basic kitchen cooking facilities, enough for us to do our dinner and breakfast cooking. Cooking equipments, plates and cups are all provided. 

It has two rooms and a shared toilet. 

The queen bedroom. Comes with linen. 

The three single beds on the other room. Only one bed comes with linen in the singles room. We brought our sleeping beds to use. 

The communial BBQ and swimming area outside the accommodation. 

The next day after checking out from the caravan park, we head towards the coast, 1 hour away. Searching for oysters!

And we found it!

We were lucky as this oysters shed only just reopened for three weeks, since closing last March!

This is the fourth generation family business. 

Their oysters had won prices at the Easter show!

Their work place. We bought four dozen of unopened oysters, one dozen of opened oysters to eat on the spot, and 1 jar of brined oysters. 

All those in bags are those peopled had pre booked!

This is the best oysters farm I've been to. The quality of the oysters are fat and juicy, with creamy sweet taste. Beats any oysters at fish markets, or even our previous favourite oysters farm in Batesman bay. 

Look at the fat plump meat!

I had a fun time opening the rest of the oysters at home, for family and friends. Some good skills which hopefully can land me a part-time job at the oysters farm? =p

After this, we tried heading to two more farms for vege/fruits. But sadly, the farms had closed down! So we drove home with just oysters and apples as our harvest for the trip. 

Kcan