The Reason We'll Be Eating Maggi Mee For Awhile

We've been sinfully indulgent this month. And I mean really sinful.

On the left would be my iPod Touch, which is supposed to be a very early birthday pressie (my birthday's actually in June). We've been looking around for quite a while now, checking out prices and all that. Thank God Harvey Norman was having a sale on their iPods a few weeks ago, and we managed to knock $100 off. 32GB is a LOT of music and video to indulge myself in :p

Methinks the hubby's green-eyed at my iPod Touch, because he got himself an iPhone the very next day! Tsk tsk tsk. Had to get it online, of course, because it's not out in Australia yet. It was unlocked too, which was good. And oh. My. Gaaawwwd. It is the most beautiful phone I've ever seen. The features are not as fancy as other mobile phones there are out there, but come on, an Apple-something is every geek's desire, no matter how small. Tee hee :p

This will SEVERELY cut down our dining outs for the next month. But really, these toys are so worth it.

I Don't Understand WTF

Can someone please, PLEASE, enlighten me on what the hell a semi-completed sentence which ends with the words "wtf" mean?! I keep reading it in blogs, and I really don't get it. The sentences just do not make sense.

I'm so cold wtf.

That is so weird wtf.

Blah blah blah whatever you wanna type here wtf.

I could go on. I'd rather not.

Is this some sort of cool way to express yourself now? Am I too old to actually understand this? Bugger if I am.

*scratches head*

Whatever lah. Wtf.

Twit Me!

Remember my on-off relationship with Twitter?

It's definitely on. Very on this time. In fact, it's so on, that I'm bloody addicted to telling the whole wide world as to what I'm currently doing, and quietly checking out what you are doing. I'm here, if you wanna follow me. Bear in mind, I'm very the boring.

Oh, and I can update from my *ahem ahem* iPod Touch (which I shall blog about soon) at anytime too. Tee hee. *cough* show off *cough*

Anyone else out there twit? Tweet?

I need more people to stalk lah.

I Have Not Forgotten About You

Update: This will be the last time I talk about you here. Goodbye.

There are times when I think of how you're doing, how you're getting on. No, I have not forgotten you. How could I, when you were a significant part of my life before?

Yet we do not write to each other, not anymore. We both know we were lying when we said we would keep in touch. Time apart from each other was what we so desperately needed but never had. This is good, very good.

I know you don't come here anymore. Too bad.

Because I'm going to prove you wrong. That I can and will be able to make it here on my own. In time you'll hear through the grapevine on how good I'm doing here. I will not succumb to the stereotype you assumed I will become. I will not give you that pleasure.

Still.

I have not forgotten about you.

Frustrations

I swear, if I hear one more "so how, found a job already ah?", I'll scream.

Seriously, that's all I hear about these days. And it's getting really frustrating. It's not like I'm not looking. I've had emails and calls of rejection, and believe you me, that did not make things all better. Quite the opposite, as a matter of fact.

I'm now thinking twice of uploading photos of the stuff I cooked or baked, simply because of the snarky comments I get (no, not from this blog. You guys have been lovely). Because I really do NOT need this.

"Wah ... the muffins look so nice. Aiya I think you better get a job soon, or else you'll turn into a housewife".

WHAT. THE. F**K.

Not that I'm contemplating the notion, but when has the word "housewife" become such a bad word? From Desperate Housewives, is it? I mean, even if I do go down that path, what business is it of anyone else's but my own?

So back off already. Please. I need support, not more added frustrations.

Pffft.

Daytime Telly, You're My Friend (Dan Lain Lain)

Being a bit of a lazy arse today, thus lumping all updates into one entry. We've also officially exceeded our broadband bandwidth, so the connection is worse than a bloody dial-up. Better to get all this out in a go before the bandwidth finally dies on me.
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After much deliberation, Tim and I have decided to not move out of our current shared abode until after his exams. It was actually my suggestion. Ironic, isn't it, since I was the one who was making so much fuss about it? What to do, one's got to be practical. At this point, with the bad home-buying market in Australia just now, it just isn't feasible for us to jump right into it. Even home rentals have gone up. Anyways, Tim does not need the distraction now, not before his exams. After the exams in August, then we'll see from there.

Please remind me of the practicality of our decision again if I do start moaning about it once more. I know I will. It isn't easy, y'know, what with us being newly-weds and all. Gah.

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On the job front - still nothing. Resumes have been sent out, and so far, it's been rejection after rejection. It's getting pretty frustrating. I'm placing all this into the Lord's hands. I have faith that He'll pull me through this.

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In order to fill up my time, I've been trying my hand at cooking and, for the very first time, baking. The last time I actually helped to bake something was 6 years ago, when I was still a university student, helping my housemate at baking cakes (gotta help if I wanna eat 'em).

Made a batch of 12 triple chocolate chip muffins yesterday. It came out just the way as I like my muffins, crispy on the front, and soft inside. Yum yum.

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I just love how dramatic Americans can be. But then again, hours and days of infomercials, Dr Phil and Oprah can do something funny to your mind. (o_O)

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I'm f**king hooked to f**king Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. You the man, yo!

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The long Easter weekend starts tomorrow (till Monday), and the weather forecast for the weekend's good. YAY! Not able to do any stay-over trips though because everything's fully booked. Reckon we'll do a day trip, like to Yarra Valley or something. See how lah.

PS: By the way, this is my 500th post. Wah.

Malaysian Dreamgirl? Meh.

I just finished watching the first episode of Malaysian Dreamgirl. I couldn't bring myself to watch any more episodes because it just disgusted me at how shallow the people were.

Especially the judges. Ugh.

But then again, it IS a modeling competition, so whatever.

Okay. What's next?

Heatwave and Flip-Flops

I did the unthinkable yesterday. I actually walked to the Chadstone shopping centre (it was a 30-minute walk one way) in the midst of a heatwave. Yesterday's temperature was marked at 38C.

What the hell was I thinking?!

Thank goodness I had a bottle of water with me, or else I would have collapsed in dehydration. That, and lots of SPF.

Anyhoos, I walked two hours non-stop in these, and not a single blister or sore on my feet. They are even better than my Reeboks (bok bok bok bok bok ...)!

There ya go, my super oleng ciplak Croc slippers (as if I would actually wear those heinous shoes!), which I bought for RM10.90 at Carrefour.

Moral of the story? You just gotta love 'em pirates :p

Nothing to Say

What's the point of updating when there's nothing going on to talk about in the first place?

Can't be telling you the stuff I cooked on a daily basis now, can I? (By the way, my cooking gave Tim and I diarrhea the other day. Yep, I finally managed to poison my husband)

Sigh.

Gotta get out of this funk soon.

Steak Dinner

I've always wanted to try cooking steaks, mainly because it's a challenge to get the meat cooked just right. A few days ago, I suddenly had a craving for steaks, and being the cheap arse that I am, instead of eating out, I thought I'd make it at home instead.

And what a fun time cooking it was. And for those of you wondering *ahem ahem*, I made all this from scratch. No pre-made sauces :p

I took the classic steak recipe from the Australia Table magazine (March 2008 edition), and the rosemary-roasted potatoes from the Cook With Jamie (Oliver). It's so good to finally have my own kitchen!

Classic Steak

Ingredients
2 tbsp barbeque sauce (I used HP)
1 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce (I used Lea & Perrins)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
150g steaks (I used sirloin; fillets would also taste great)
1/2 cup chicken stock

Method
1. Combine barbeque sauce, Worcestershire sauce and garlic in a shallow bowl.
2. Add steak and turn to coat.
3. Season steaks with crushed salt and black pepper.
4. Leave to marinate for a couple of hours.
5. Heat a lightly oiled (I used olive oil) chargrill or frying pan on high.
6. Reserving as much marinade as you can, cook steaks for 2-3 minutes each side for rare, or until cooked to your liking.
7. Combine reserved marinade and stock in a small saucepan on high.
8. Bring to boil and simmer for 2-3 minutes, until slightly reduced.
9. Drizzle steaks with sauce, and serve immediately.

Rosemary-Roasted Potatoes

Ingredients
Waxy potatoes, peeled or scrubbed and cut into 1" cubes
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Rosemary (fresh sprig with leaves picked. I used dried rosemary though, which tasted just as good)
Olive oil
5 cloves of garlic, skin on and smashed

Method
1. Preheat your oven to 220C/425F/gas 7.
2. Place potato cubes in a large pan of cold, salted water and bring to boil.
3. Drain them immediately in a colander and allow them to steam for a couple of minutes until they dry out a bit.
4. Heat some olive oil in a roasting tray.
5. Add the garlic cloves and potatoes.
6. Season and toss together until well coated.
7. Place in the over for about 20-25 minutes, shaking the tray every so often, until the potatoes are golden and crispy.


As for the vegetables, I'd much rather steam the broccoli and carrots, but seeing that I don't have a proper steamer, I just boiled them, and splashed some extra virgin olive oil and crushed black pepper on them.

I really loved how the potatoes turned out - crispy and delicious. Should have put it longer in the oven though, to give it nicer golden-brown. Oh well, there's always a next time, no?

Transitions

Alas, all good things must come to an end. Blogging, I mean.

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You thought I was going to stop blogging altogether, didn't you?

Nah, not yet :p

I'm currently checking out proper web hosts to host my three blogs. Blogger has served me well for the past 2.5 years, but I reckon it's time to upgrade to Wordpress. I'm still on the lookout for good deals though; discussed with some lovely bloggers out there for their recommendations. Will be taking all their suggestions into consideration.

With that in mind, I was going through my daily blog reads today, and I came across a post by Johncow.com (funny blog, that one), which gave a link to a free web host, My5GB.com. So I figured I'd play around with it, FTP-ed the Wordpress installation files, yadda yadda yadda, and whaddya know, I now have proper Wordpress blog! :p

I'm thinking of porting my wedding blog over to that one, just for fun, since the wedding blog's pretty private and generate little traffic. This will give me a good opportunity to learn up on Wordpress and all that. I'm not worried about mucking that up, because I have all the blogs properly backed up anyway.

Oooooh .... project! :p

Saja

"Err ... what's the occasion?"

"Saja."

"What did you do wrong??"

"Aiya, saja lah. Cannot meh?"

My favourite flowers from the husband. Gotta stop being paranoid so early in the marriage :p

Sweet, so sweet *mmmmmmmm*.