Photo blog: going back memory lane

Going to Canberra, is like going down memory lane for Eric and I. In this trip, we made an effort to stop by this special place. Eling forest winery. We unexpectledly stumbled across this place one week before our wedding two years ago. We were on way down to Canberra from sydney, taking pre-wedding photos. I was hungry and not want any fast food (in those rest stops). So I spotted this special place and we had the most wonderful meal plus photo opportunities!

Here it is! Righ by the Hume highway.

Entrance

We had our brunch at their cafe. This is Eric looking very smart for the wedding.

He chose pot pie which came with sweet potato fries ( OH MY, they are Sooooooo good!), and salads.

I chose chicken filo pie with salad.

Nicely flavoured fillings, compliment the relish at the side.

Both of us were very impressed with the sweet potato fries. This was the first time where the fries were not burnt! (I'm missing the fries just as I'm typing.)

And of course, we made it to the church for the wedding! It started at two pm. After the service, we went to our wedding venue with a couple of friends for catch up/dinner. It was just 10 mins away.

The history of Rose Cottage. We were married here in 2012.

We had pizzas there. Four large pizzas for six of us. 

The night was cooling, sitting under a sky of stars.

We stayed in Canberra for a night at our pastors home. 

The next day, we went to the morning service at our old church. It's held at a school ground. Look at the beautiful Sakura blossoms that welcomes us!

It was a very fine Sunday. Light breeze were blowing the petals in the air. 

I personally reckon these are much more spectacular than the Foriade flower festival. That were held in Canberra that weekend.

We decided to have our lunch before heading back to sydney. It's strange I know, but there where just so many food that we missed from Canberra! We decided on the laksa at belconnon markets, one of our frequent weekend lunch venue back in the days.

Yum!!

The price seems to have dropped! (Shocking) I guess the population in Canberra had been decreasing with the cut in public service. Rent and now food prices are dropping too!

It was a fun trip and I'm missing it now! :(

Kcan

Photo blog: Canberra trip again!

Over the weekend, Eric and I, sat on our Tomato, and off we went down South to Canberra! This has now almost became a tradition. We only drive down for weddings. 

So, whose the lucky couple this time?

It's Tim and Emily Mitchell!

I'll upload the beautiful sceneries for you all to see first.

I love the I drive south. So green and lots of space!

We set off from home at 8.30am after a long battle of getting Eric out of the house. (I was furious when Eric took 45mins(!!) in the bathroom. And we agreeded the night before to leave the house at 8am) We only manage to leave sydney at 9am, after dropping by the other house to pick up last min toiletries and stopping at the bakery to grab breakfast.

We went up n down the valleys.

And through the plains.

Oh I love these trees. Now, they look botak. However in autumn, their leaves will turn bright yellow, just like gold scales shinning in the sun. These trees are only found around the exit for Federal Highway, leading into Canberra. So these trees also reminded me I had 1/3 of the journey left. The whole journey takes about three and a half hours.

This time, we were surprised with a different scenery on the road.

Canola fields!!

So pretty!! Some cars couldn't resist and stop illegally at the side of the freeway, jump across the fence to take a closer look and of course snap photos. 

As it is spring time, all the trees and shrubs are blossoming. Like these wattles along the freeway, showing off their beautiful yellow flowers. Unfortunately, they are alo the source of hay fever in Canberra.

Happy week ahead!

Kcan

Photo blog: tagged

I was waking around the neighbourhood when I saw this cockatoo with an interesting tag on its body. 

It had a number tags on its wings! 

Well, I guess whoever had tagged the cockatoo must be glad that the bird had not only survived, but also sound a mate! (An Untagged cockatoo)

Kcan

The leaning tower at home!

We found out on Saturday that the hot water tank at MIL's had rusted and lifted itself up on the ground. And it had signs of small leaking. There are two hot water tank in the home. This tank only serves the bathroom which his sister uses, not the one which serves the kitchen and the rest of the taps. So as usual, they are not too concern about changing it immediately.

On Sunday, I think everyone were busy with their business, so no one remembered about the hot water tank, till Monday, when Eric noticed that the leaking seems worse. So he had the water mains to the tank turned off, and cut off the electrical supply to the heater. Following that, Eric did lots of calling around to the different hot water system guys to get quotes for replacing the hot water tank. His biggest fear was was that the 120L of water in the tank will leak all over the flour at the rumpus. 

However, as usual, their family members don't seem to be too overly concern or in hurry of changing it as, 'there is still another tank that could do the job'. So they just wanted to keep 'monitoring' it.

 

My reaction to all this was: if something is broken, why not fix immediately? This seems to be norm for their family. Like the tap leaking, what to do? Easy, don't use it. So the leaking tap is still there now and it's still not fixed. And it was and continues to inconvenient everyone who uses 'that' toilet. *rolled eyes*

Anyhow, I think it was like an answer to the prayer today, when the tank finally TILTED! *hohoho*

I was working on my work stuff when I heard a bang somewhere in the house, just like the hammering on the plumbing when you turn off the tap too quickly. So asked Eric if he had heard it. He said no. But my hunch was that something was not right. I 'ordered' him to go check things out, especially that tank downstairs. 

And behold, I heard a big 'OH S**T' from downstairs. 

Fumbling downstairs, thinking the tank must have leaked  or what, I saw the tank looking like this.

And the copper pipes around it had snap, holding on by only one other small pipe and the electrical cables.

So the panicking Eric called up one of the guys he called up yesterday for quotes and get them to come soon. And within an hour, they came with the brand new tank! *yay*

What happened??

Well, it rusted with age. The bottom of the tank was convex in shape, therefore it can stand flat on the ground. But with age, rusting occurs as the sacrificing anode was eaten up. And therefore, rust started building up at the bottom of the convex side of the tank. And as the rust kept building up and the tank got exposed to the changing hot n cold water, the convex shape went belly up and became concave! Causing it to be lifted up and tilt like a leaning tower. 

The guy tilt the tank over, and we can see the extend of the rust below and how it had became budging on the bottom. No wonder it can't stay up straight anymore!

And so who is the new hot water tank in the family?

It's none other than the new stainless steal hot water tank!

Stainless steel means it will less likely rust like a normal water tank.

So all good now. His sis can enjoy hot water shower in her bathroom again while we can not need to worry of a leaking water tank for at least 10 years. =)

Kcan

Photo blog: out door concert

It was a pleasant surprise today while walking back to our car after lunch. I heard music coming out from the concourse, and decided to kaypo a bit. It's a performance by the Sydney wind symphony. Apart from the drummer lady, everyone is playing a wind instrument. 

We took a sit on one of the cushions they put down on the steps. It's so comfy and thoughtful of them to put the cushions out. It's rare to hear orchestra playing without any microphone amplify the sounds. Closing my eyes, the music was enough to makes me felt as if I'm at one of those European countries, walking through the historic buildings and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

This was all part of the Spring festival organized by the council.  =)

I hope they will have another performance next week, so I can just enjoy the music and have a picnic there. 

Kcan

Photo post: Aussie pavlova!

Before I get into the photo blog...today is the first day in three months that I don't need it wake up at 6am on Saturday! Yay! Love the sleep in. =D

Ok, back to the photo.

Do you know that Pavlova is an Australian dessert? It is similar to a meringue, and the name was named after a famous ballerina. The soft light meringue was like the agile and delicate ballerina. Pavlova was usually topped with fruits and cream.

This was my first ever try on making a meringue. As usual, my egg white beating skills was not very good. My pavlova sank as you can see above. I think I had also baked it on 20 degC too high temperature. So the golden bronze colour, instead of white. But any how, after I put on the decorating fruits, it's all good!

Tada! Haha, looks like a sank boat. LOL. I didn't have the cream, so it looks quite plain. Unlike store bought ones, this is a reduced sugar version, as I did not use the full amount of sugar for making the pavlova. =)

It's a nice try, will have to improve my egg beating skills. 

Any tips on that?

Good night!

Kcan

Moon cake

I know, moon cake festival had come and gone. And since I've only had my moon cake late, I can still post it up here!

This is the moon cake I ask Eric to buy for me, all the way from the city bakery store. I liked it because it used to have winter melon seeds in the paste. But they did not add it this year!! >_<

I was sooooooo disappointed. 

Where's the gua zi? =(

Despite that, the moon cake is still yummy. A lot less sweet than the one MIL received as a gift from a friend. 

I think I will still continue to buy from this shop as they makes it fresh from the shop every year from Australian ingredients. Compared to the 'big brands' and commercial ones from overseas, I think these will be much fresher without the preservatives. 

But please add the gua zi next time! 

Kcan

Hot in the press

Jeng Jeng Jeng! Here's our newest brochure, hot out from the press!

This is our pregnancy care brochure which we will be distributing to the Calm Birth class. 

We hope that many expecting mothers will find them useful. =)

Kcan

Special guest visiting!

Look look who's here for a drop by!

It's my dear Didi! (Aka younger brother)

He's here from Sunday to yesterday! Four days in total. 

It was a great time it catch up and for him to know more about our lives as a practitioner, student, part time renovator, and church goer. 

Will blog in the next few days about the food we had over the last four days. 

Thank you for your visit Didi! 

Kcan

Kidney soupy!

As I'm still in my 'confinement' month, I had been cooking some nourishing soups and dishes to help my body strengthen. One of them is my favourite Pork offals soup. Back in my childhood days, mum would cook this every month on Saturday for lunch. 

Why Saturday lunch?

Because that is the day off for mum from work and also last day for the butcher to sell fresh meat. So mum would go market early in the morning to get the ingredients from the butcher uncle. Talking about that butcher, we had been buying from him all the thirteen years we had been in Singapore. I wonder if he had retired? My dad's favourite offals are small intestine, liver and kidney. Therefore these were the main ingredients in the soup, together with lean meat. 

As for me, I don't fancy the tough chewy small intestine. My favourite is the kidney. Yum!! 

How do you prepare the raw kidney?

Here's a photo of it!

Nicely soaking in the fresh water after doing the prep work on it.

Well, prepping the fresh kidney takes time. But it is essential so as to get nice yummy taste without the urine smell. 

Yes, kidney filters the urine. So it is important to cleaning them well.

Firstly, cut them horizontally to exposed the filtration unit. (Right kidney)  The part we eat is the cortex of the kidney. So slowly and gently, I have to slice away the filter system to expose the cortex of the kidney. (Left kidney is half done) See those white veins like structure on the left kidney? Those are the filtration tubules that needs to be trim away as well.

After it was all done, gently criss cross the inner surface of the cortex like a sotong, and the slice them into the slice you want for cooking. 

The kidney slices now had to be soak in fresh water to help diffuse out the remaining urine smell in the cortex. I usually kept rinsing and change the water 6-7 times, till the water remains clear. (Like in the first photo)

I had been putting in pork meat, kidney and liver for my soup. It was especially good to have nice warm soup that nourishes the blood and kidney in the cold rainy day. I do hope that the wild weather will ease in the coming week.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Kcan

My not so fancy afternoon tea

I am not a big fan of cheese. Over here, ppl love cheese as it's quite gourmet and fancy to serve. So in many gatherings or teas, people will have cheese platters of all sort out, with smoke or preserved meats or preserved pickles with a wafer at the side.

Well true, I did not grow up eating them. However, if you look at it from a health point of view, I see lots of preservatives in pickles, which tends to be high in salt, nitrates and other what not. These are things I'd tell all my cancer patients to avoid at all cost. And especially cheeses. They have mould in or around them to help mature the cheese. Do you know the white coating around a camerbert or Bre cheese is the same family as panadol? I know how 'yummy' it can be and how classy one feels while eating it. However, as a TCM doctor, I just see them as a block of phlegm, for they cause build up of phlegm and mucus in people who are already vulnerable. Not sure but have you noticed ppl who loves eating cheeses often have nasal problems? 

Anyhow, it took a lot of convincing for me to like cheese. But someone did! My pastor back in Canberra once gave me a block of cheese and some quince jam as his way of expressing his gratitude for giving him acupuncture. This cheese was not just any ordinary Bre or Camenbert cheese. It is the Danish cheese! 

We search high n low all over sydney, but it is only sold in two IGA supermarket in Canberra!

On our last trip down, we bought 6 blocks. We only manage to finish two before we knew that we were pregnant and had to stopped eating it. But now, I'm back to it!

Why I only like eating this cheese? Well, it is already soft ripen. Which means you can just open the pack n eat. While those you get from the supermarkets, there is a ripening period where you have to wait for the cheese to mature. So does not means that you can buy n use immediately. But many ppl at gatherings just simply buy n plonk it onto a plate n serve. N when it is not ripen, it just taste like chewing on a piece of melted plastic. Many of the white fungus costing were also quite thick n had an overpowering taste of bitterness. The more it made me feel like chewing a soft plastic, smeared with panadol powder. >_<

But this cheese had the best taste and flavor, which we had not found a replacement yet. I reckon there are quite a few Danish community in Canberra, which leads to them being the only importer of this cheese. =( have to stock up whenever we go down.

I had to control myself not over indulge or I will have the phlegm build up again. So here is my simple afternoon tea. Cheap style.

Aldi 'ritz' crackers, a slice of the Danish Camenbert cheese and Aldi strawberry jam!

The combination of the jam and cheese goes so well together! Just like the quince jam and cheese!

Eric found the combination of jam and Camenbert cheese reminded him of the Dominos pizza limited edition of cranberry sauce chicken and Camenbert pizza. 

That is my afternoon snack. Don't worry, you won't see me serving cheese and strawberry jam on parties. I'd rather bake spring roll. =p

Kcan