Spring Carnival: Derby Day

It's the Spring Racing Carnival season here and the entire Melbourne has dolled up for the season. Fascinators and hats can be seen in all the window displays in the city.

As part of a work function, I went to the races for the first time yesterday. AAMI Derby Day to be exact. This race day has a traditional black and white theme; more classic than colourful. I spent hours over the past weekend looking for a fascinator from Myer. There were thousands to choose from. I didn't want one that was too big and getting a hat was wayyy too expensive (they cost around 250-300 dollars).

Days before Derby Day, all everyone could talk about was the terrible weather that was about to hit Melbourne. "One months rain in 24 hours" That is A LOT of rain for Melbourne in one day. Considering that the races is an outdoor event, the bosses made sure that Vitality got geared up for the day. They made sure there were enough marquees to cover our booked lots at the races. Considering what we were going to be dressed in, it would be terrible if we were drenched in our stilettos.

The first race started at 11 on a Saturday morning. It was meant to rain the night before and all Saturday morning. When I woke up, I looked out the window and realized it wasn't raining. I thought to myself, wishing that there might be a chance the weather would be better than what we expected. We are in Melbourne after all. We made it to the races by train and got to our lots just as it started to drizzle. An hour later, the rain started to pour. Not just rain but heavy 'Malaysia-like' rain. Such a terrible day for the races. By the afternoon, the temperature dropped and the ladies started to take their coats out of the car. Even the suits were not enough for the men.

Nonetheless, it was a great day. Rain and all. Everyone had plenty to drink and after a few glasses of champagne, wine, beer and food, the rain did not bother us much anymore.

I managed to take some pictures.

The Marketing Team




See what the rain did...


Some of the boys


After plenty of drinks on the train home


Yours truly

Till the next one,
Have a great 'Movember', boys start sprouting your moustaches!

A Graduate's Update

Firstly, I sincerely apologize for the lack of posts. I've been so very busy with the new job, my graduation ceremony, my mom and sister's visit that I barely have time to catch up on my tv series, let alone update this place with pictures and what-not. Nonetheless, there's no excuse, so this is gonna be an all-in-one post.

It's been two months since I started my new job. Wonderful working environment, friendly colleagues, and good location. I've managed to pick up most of the things that I need to work on, and I've been busy, which is a good thing. The days pass faster and the weekend comes around quickly. I'm not saying that I don't like my job. It's great. I get to do what I want to, mostly in the field that I studied. Market research, competitor analysis, new product development. On top of that, it deals with food, healthy food to be precise, so I'll never go hungry at work. There's always fruits in the fruit bowl at the receptionist's desk, bars (protein, wholegrain with fruits) and chocolates in the marketing room and birthday cakes every other month when someone celebrates their birthday. Despite how fun work is, everyone looks forward to weekends. Best part of all, not having to wake up early!

In other news, I'm finally a graduate. 19th May 2010. My 30 seconds of fame. She read out my name. Walked onto the stage. Accepted the piece of paper. Walked off. Done. Four years of studying for that. I know, so cliche rite? We all study for ages, literally, since we were four and all we look forward to is that 30 seconds where we receive our piece of paper. Heck, people even print their own pieces of paper now, some even get them over the internet for a couple of hundred dollars. Nonetheless, I'm very grateful of my piece of paper. The sleepless nights, the countless research readings and finally, the 150 page research paper that came to be. Thinking back at the year that was, I knew I could have done so much more to that paper, but now I know, that moving forward, if I do have a chance to do another long-ass piece, I'd work like hell. But until that day comes, I'm happy going to work and getting the pay cheque at the end of the month. For now, nothing beats spending money and being independent!

I also managed to get tickets to see FAME The Musical which was in Melbourne for 8 weeks. I brought my mom and sis to watch it too and it was quite good. Not as great as the one I saw 8 years ago in KL, but for an Australian production, it was good. Produced by the same guy who did Wicked The Musical, John Frost did a good job and Kelly Abbey choreographed amazing dance steps for the entire musical. I'm a fan of these things, so I'm quite happy with it. Next up in line, Marry Poppins, The Musical. They are running out of tickets, so I'm trying to get the best seats I can get. And that's in October.

And the best part of the past month, my mom and sister's visit to Melbourne! It was the best week ever, coming back from work and having family at home. Mom's cooking was awesome, soups and stews. She even made extra food for me for the week so I wouldn't have to do much cooking after she left. I planned a whole list of tourist attractions for them to visit, but obviously, thanks to the late nights and even later mornings, they only managed to visit a couple. We managed to catch the Titanic Exhibition at the Melbourne Museum. That was a good one, bringing us back a hundred years to the time where the ship was built and reminding us how she set sailed and never arrived at her destination. They made the exhibition a little exciting by giving each of us a passenger card. We'd have a description of the person who boarded the Titanic, who they boarded with and the reason why they went on that ship. At the end of the exhibition, there was a board with all the names of the passengers, who survived and who didn't. My mom and sister had passengers from first class and I was from a second class cabin, and to our surprise, all three of us survived the tragic incident (but then again, we were all women passengers, so we had a higher chance of surviving!).

Mom and Jess also managed to visit a couple of other places, Melbourne Aquarium, Melbourne Zoo, Melbourne Museum, DFO South Wharf for the usual shopping, Shrine of Remembrance, Eureka Skydeck88 and the Edge Experience. They came to see where I work and said hie to some of my colleagues.

It was a week that went way too quickly and I can't wait till they visit me again.

(I typed this entry about two weeks ago,only posting it up today. I know, stale news again.)

Until the next one with more pictures,
Stay warm as winter's here!

Easter Sunday Feast!

I mentioned that I'd update more often and I'm keeping to my word (so far). Today is Easter Sunday and we've got a feast planned for the weekend. Yesterday, Thong (my housemate) made vietnamese dinner. We had vietnamese pancakes, beef salad and prawns. All vietnamese by a vietnamese. And it was yummy.

And today, it was my turn.
So, I made tacos, cauliflower gratin and Caramel Apples. Sounds yummy ey? IT IS :)

For the tacos, we just bought the mix, beef, taco shells and taco sauce. I chopped onions, tomatoes, lettuce and cabbage for the toppings.


After that, I fried 500grams of minced beef in a pan. Once it starts to brown, I added 3/4 cups of water and the seasoning mix for tacos. Fried for a further 10 minutes and it's done. Looks something like this.


We bought a couple of sauces too. Sour cream, nachos sauce and taco sauce.

For nachos, I laid it on a baking tray, sprinkled tasty cheese on top and popped it into the oven to bake and melt the cheese. This is how it ended up.


Moving along, I made Cauliflower gratin cause I thought we'd needed some veges after so much meat. So I bought one large cauliflower and broke it up into bite size florets. Then I boiled it in water for a couple off minutes till it cooks. I transferred it out into a bowl of iced water to cool it completely. Then I let it dry.

Melted butter into a saucepan, whisked flour into it and cooked it over medium heat, stirring.

It becomes this thick dry mixture. I remove it from the heat and then gradually whisk in milk until it becomes smooth. I stir it over low heat till it bubbles and thickens. Then I put in a cup of tasty cheese until it melts and becomes very smooth. I add a little salt and pepper to season.

I put the cauliflower into a baking dish and then I drizzle the sauce evenly over the cauliflower. I sprinkle tasty cheese over and bake for 15-20 minutes.



After baking, this is what cauliflower gratin looks like. Yummy.


The best part of making a meal: Dessert. Sweet, tasty, yummy.

I got 6 apples which were cut into wedges. I put sugar into the saucepan and the sir it until it dissolves. This one was really tricky. I have never made caramelised apples before. So I didn't know how it should look like. After the sugar dissolved and became pale golden, I took it away from the heat. I think I was supposed to let it cool a little but I poured in the thickened cream immediately. It just spoiled everything. My caramel hardened and got stuck at the bottom of the saucepan. Terrible. I was like whattttttttttt? Shitttttttttttt!!! Determined to make it work, I put that into the sink and started a new one. This time, it had to get it right. Because I only had enough cream to make a second one. I dissolved the sugar and everything went well. Then after I took it away from the heat, I made sure I poured in the cream carefully. Very slowly. Little by little. And it worked! Thank goodness. After that, it was easy. Add vanilla extract, cinnamon stick and apples. Cook until apples are tender.



After that, I let it cool while we were having dinner. To make it superbly yummy, make sure you have ice-cream and chocolate shavings.




It was a really good easter feast. After this weekend, it's all work for me. Here are more pictures.

the chef and her work!

Till the next massive cookout,
I hope ya'll had a great Easter too =)

p/s: I gained an hour today cause daylight saving ended. I'm now two hours ahead from home.

Jean's Graduation!!

Jean's back in Malaysia and she posted up her graduation pictures on her fb.
I just had to steal it and re-post it here, cause she looks great in a graduation gown.


Her hood was a bright yellow. and her graduation bear had the same coloured hood too!

jean in her new hair-do, yellow hood and me with a bad-hair-day

definitely deserves a thumbs-up!

jean, vicky and unidentified friend. (i don't know her)


Looking at her graduation pictures, I can't wait till my ceremony. It's on the 19th of May. Another month an a half to go. But so so so so excited about it. Mom and sis are coming too!! Looking at the pictures, I must note down to get a haircut before my graduation..


Till the next one,
Have a good week cause easter's around the corner.
Whee to public holidays (cause I start work in exactly 6 days!)

TGIF

I'm not technically enjoying it now, (about it being a friday) but I know come april, I'd be loving my Fridays cause it's a sign that the weekend is near!
Time flies and it's a Friday again.
Updates for the week:

Jean graduated! Wheee... On Thursday at 10am at Union Hall, Bundoora (sounds like a wedding announcement). I wish I could have been in the hall to see her receive her scroll, but I HAD to teach/work. But we got a couple of pictures together before the ceremony and I'll post em up as soon as I get them from her.

In more not-so-exciting news, Jean's leaving for Malaysia this afternoon. She's on her way to the airport now for her flight at 5pm later. I wish she didn't have to go back. Melbourne feels different without her around. Nevertheless, fingers crossed that she'll be back here in July.

Just a couple more updates about my new job:
I start on the 6th of April, after the long Easter weekend. Working hours: 8.30-5.30 with an hour of lunch in between. That's not too bad. But come winter, it'll be freezing at 7 in the morning when I have to leave for work. I'm so very very excited about the new job. There's loads to do and loads to learn there so I'm really looking forward to it. The job AND the money of course.

Since I'm not technically working full-time yet (I only teach at uni twice a week), I've been trying to keep up with my "tv-freak' label. Since last year, I haven't had time to watch the tv shows that I used to. One Tree Hill, Gossip Girls, Grey's Anatomy and Friends (again) just to name a few. So since I have some time on my hands, I've decided that I better start watching now or I'd be seasons behind everyone else. Since DVDs are only a dollar on Tuesdays (movie days), I've been renting movies and the all-time-fav Gossip Girls and How I Met Your Mother.
I know I watch alot of tv, but hey, life's short and when you've got extra time on your hands, there's no harm in watching a couple hours of tv. =D

Just in case you think I watch too much tv and I'll become stupid/dumb sooner than you think, I still read. Just finished an old book "Just Friends" by Robyn Sisman. Starting on 'Can you hear the nightbird call' by Anita Rau Badami in a bit. Any suggestions for a good book?

Till the next one,
Have a fun/exciting weekend out
and have a safe flight jean. will miss you.