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Tuesday, September 15
wo totally bu zenmeyang. totally
[spinning]: shameful metaphors - chevelle
Spurred on by confirmed market assignments and long term career planning, I have decided to learn Mandarin. Beijing Mandarin to be specific!
And well, I started my lessons via podcasts from Popupchinese.com yesterday, and not only are they educational, but they're highly entertaining too! So crocheting has taken a back seat for the time being. I tried to crochet and study at the same time. Alas, I do not posses l33t ninja skillz. fail.
Posted at 8:10 pm by niks
digital dreams
Friday, September 11
[spinning]: with teeth - nine inch nails
Breaks my heart to know that NIN will no longer be touring anymore. For the time being anyway, or at least I hope so. Did you know that there were in Singapore on the 10th of August? I mean, SINGAPORE. AT. FORT. CANNING. And I was way down south in Melbourne!!!! Ugh, how my heart hurts!!! *cries*
As a consolation though... Amilyn was nice enough to send me a postcard of their Fort Canning concert in Singapore. As a painful reminder of what I had missed. *cries more* But at least I had something right? Thanks Amilyn!! :D
My trip to the land down under was nothing short of awesome. I arrived in Brisbane after one of the worst flights I have ever been on (Thank you RBA), still wearing the dress I wore to Stephen and Lorene's wedding dinner, with caked on make up and greasy un-glam yet un-rockstar hair to be greeted by Sharon. We caught up over pizzas and thirst-quenching San Pellegrinos, and I changed and freshened up before we went to DFO. DFO was like a massive FOS and I was like 'OOOoooOOooo' every 3 seconds. Totally Kampung I know. lol. After that I was picked up by Honkie Tonk and we had bubble tea like we normally do back in Brunei.
Sooner than you can say 'mango popping balls', it was time to catch my flight to Melbourne. Checked in to the Stamford and was pleasantly surprised to learn that I had been upgraded to a 2 bedroom suite! 2 bedrooms, for 1 person! Haha. I had a huge place all too myself! By that time, I was too tired to do anything else, and I ordered room service and called it a day.
 
I spent the whole of Sunday wandering to Bridge Road and had one of the best breakfasts at a place called Two Monks Cafe. I walked to Bridge Road from where the hotel was, and it was pretty far, about 45 mins, almost gave up halfway coz I got lost in between the parks. But I trudged on, spurred on by the prospects of clothes and shoes at the famed Bridge Road.
I came back to the hotel empty handed. Except for a few items from the Body Shop Warehouse where I got some pretty good deals. Urgh, it was depressing, the shops closed at 5 and I wasn't anywhere near exploring all the shops! Oh well. The only thing that was open was Woolies, and I spent the night browsing the racks and cosmetics. Then I bought frozen dinners to microwave in the suite coz I was too tired (and sad) to eat out.
 
Next day was work day, and boy oh boy, was it TIRING. 6 appointments in 6 different offices, and we had to walk most of the way. The walking wasn't so bad, it was lugging that heavy laptop bag that was a pain. I finally invested in a small laptop trolley bad while I was Singapore (only $69 ! SALE!!! <3)
Boom. Somehow I had reached Sydney. More work and more walking. Phew! Whoever told you business trips are holidays is a LIAR! I actually lost my voice right after the event we hosted at the Lindt Chocolatier at Martin's Place! I talked so much and I hardly had time to grab a drink, lest have anything to eat! I did manage to sneak a mug of fantastic mocha and sinful macaron before the start of the event though!
I met up with Andykins, and we went to eat Korean food, and went cafe hunting in Sydney on a Friday night. THAT is an adventure all on its own since all we found were pubs, bars, more pubs, oh look a bar, and hey! oh crap another bar. After an hour or so of roaming Sydney CBD, we finally found Gloria Jeans where we promptly plonked our bums outside and spent the night listening to Muse's new single and talking about life, music and movies, and reminiscing about the old days.
The next day, Ganessan, a colleague, was sweet enough to take me out to Paddington, an upmarket neighbourhood with the famed Paddington Market, Which I called a Flea Market, only to be smacked by G and corrected "Oh DARLING, never EVER say that it's a FLEA market!!". I soon learned why... almost everything cost more that $100, save for a few tiny trinkets! But I did score a pair of John Lennon-esque sunnies for $15!! :D
 
And then it's off to Brisbane again to be picked up by the Bee in her Blue baby!!! Checked in to Royal on the Park and was upgraded to the Suite which was massive and had a 2 person jacuzzi bathtub! A real treat after the tiring work week. Had dinner at a cute Fish and Chips place called A Salt and Battery. Love love love the name! Went to Southbank to take touristy pictures. And pigged out on dessert at Freestyle after.
 
Met the best friend and her hubby the next day and we went back to DFO! Shopping!!! Bought shoes! Of course! :) Sab took tonnes of pictures and has them up on her FB. I love the pictures she took when that stupid machine stole my money. :D
My last night in Australia was spent spying on amourous Brisbanites at Kangaroo Point. It was highly entertaining. Thanks Bee & Cass! Lol
I had one week at home in Brunei and then it was off to Singapore again, where I spent a little too much as usual. ION Orchard is this confusing maze of shops! Came home to Brunei with new clothes (G2000 was on sale! <3), accessories and can you guess? :D SHOES!
Met up with Ron, who was kind enough to hold my umbrella for me while we stood in the rain and I smoked my cigarette. Aww, and they say chivalry is dead. Bahahahaha. I also met up with Kim, my old college friend from KL who I hadn't seen since i left KL. One night was not enough to catch up on everything!! :(
And now I'm back in Brunei after a short one night trip to KK for work. And I will stay put for another 3 weeks, till October where I'll be heading to BANGKOK!!!! Exciteeeeeeee!! After that, it's time to store away the luggage bags, coz I'll be home till the end of the year. No more crazy business trips and crazy schedules for the next 5 months! :D
I feel really blessed to be have the chance to travel to all these wonderful places, Berlin, Australia, Hanoi... I would never, on my own, be able to afford to go to these places. And to have everything paid for, airfare, hotels, food, transport. God has truly been amazing.
This has been such an exciting year. I remember this time last year, I was making the decision whether to stay in Events or move to Global Sales, and well, I'm glad I made the right choice. No regrets.
Even now, with our new boss, things are looking up. I am really learning alot already from him. And though I have almost zero free time, from working so much, I feel like I'm accomplishing something. The road's going to be tough, but I know that it's all going to be worth it at the end of the day. When I'm finally able to be confident and not always have to second-guess myself. :)
Posted at 9:02 am by niks
digital dreams
Monday, August 24
[spinning]: edgar - modeselektor
Ok, so i've about open up the 'new entry' page a bazillion times and still fail to post up a new entry. FAIL. So die die, I'm gonna post something today.
Hello world!
I'm alive and being a busy bee as usual! I'm off to Singapore on Thursday and I still have not recovered from my expedition down under.
I promise I will update as soon as I'm inspired. :D
Posted at 5:34 pm by niks
digital dreams
Friday, July 24
Posted at 11:34 am by niks
digital dreams
Friday, July 3
12 days of freedom starting tomorrow!!! Sleeping in everyday, relaxing, catching up on FFXII (currently stuck in the Great Crystal Sphere! *groan*), help the soon-to-be newlywed couple with furniture and home decor shopping, limteh outings, and movie marathons! Phew! Looks like I got quite a bit to do over the holidays.
I'm also determined to pick up at least one craft skill in my lifetime, and I'm inspired to pick up crocheting to make these little cuties!
They're called Amigurumi- and are super adorable to look at! Eventually, I hope I can crochet baby blankets too, as everyone seems to be getting preggers and having babies!!
I'm excited to get the crochet hooks and start doing the tiny ones. I was reading the pattern guides and almost gave up coz they were so confusing! But hurrah for youtube! I downloaded the How-To videos onto my phone so I can watch them while I learn!
Over the past couple of days, I've been developing an unhealthy obsession with Etsy. Oh crap, I feel like I want to buy everything! I've made 4 orders so far, but they were in little amounts less that B$20 including shipping. So... that's not too bad right? I ordered some vintage jewelry and baby stuff. Can't wait till the packages arrive! :D
I'll be internet free for the next 12 days, but will be on Twitter (of course!) and will tweet and post up twitpics of my amigurumi progress. :)
Till then! Stay safe and remember to wash those hands!!
*AmiPics from Style-Ish
Posted at 3:39 pm by niks
digital dreams
Thursday, July 2
I decided to clean out my tool bag a couple of nights ago, after talking with my old college friend about some crazy kitchen stories. I haven't touched my tools in a long time, and when I took them out and spread them out on the table, i held each one lovingly, remembering my own adventures in the kitchen. Each one had its own story to tell.
What was left in the bag, was only half of what I had owned, the other half I hope are at mum's place. And it saddened me that I only had 2 knives left! These were my pride and joy - my original babies. I will forever have a thing for sharp knives.
I spent a lot of time baking bread when I was in college. Chef Tan and I were the only ones who took baking seriously and I would spend my extra hours kneading dough and dumping huge amounts of flour into the industrial mixer. A lot of my tools, like the 2 scrapers (bottom left corner), spatulas (top right corner), and circular dough cutter served my bread making purposes. There's nothing quite like the art of baking bread. People say that baking pastries and baking bread are the same thing. What a misconception!!! Bread making is an exact science, that can be tweaked after laborious hours experimenting for the right temperature, the right amount of sugar or salt, the right angle for the razor blade to achieve the perfect grin, how many ice cubes goes into the oven, do you use a stone plate oven, or a combi oven, basket or no basket? Each baker has his or her own tricks, her own formula. If there's one thing I miss about cooking, it's baking. I miss the smell of fresh bread out of the oven, and waiting eagerly for the dough to ferment to yield one of nature's most simple delicacies.
The two ring moulds were mostly used for presentation purposes, for moulding appetizers and getting that stacked height that was all the rage years ago. The cloth filter was used for the pain staking consommé process. All that trouble for a crystal clear broth! I remember doing a smoked tomato consommé, which involved smoking plum tomatoes over smoldering wood chips and tea leaves on a hot plate, then turning it into soup with the mirepoix mixture and finely minced chicken breasts, and using egg whites to clarify the soup. We had to then continuously skim the floating crap out of the soup and eventually remove all the stuff that we had added and what is left is just tomato water. Then begins the tedious process of sieving the broth through layers and layers of cloth filter, ladle by ladle to achieve the crystal clear consommé. It looked like water, because for some reason, the liquid loses colour after the filtering process - the end result is sometimes called an 'essence'. Add some gelatin and you get a gelée!
The needle like instrument is called a trussing needle, used for tying up the roast meat and poultry so they hold their shape. Which is why some steaks are unnaturally round and whole roast chickens always look so plump and 'together'. I don't know if you can actually use a trussing needle for sewing, but I imagine that it's sharp enough to go through some pretty heavy fabric. The syringe was used for adding flavoured 'oils' to soups. I had a special tube with a extra fine nozzle for doing dots or lines on plated items. My favourite base was a balsamic reduction with its dark colour and syrup like consistency.
Now, let me tell you about my babies. The smallest being my most treasured - the paring knife. I used it for almost everything. This was also the most frequently stolen item in the kitchen as someone else's paring knife was always in a 'better' condition than your own. So to prevent paring knife theft - I engraved my initials on to my set of knives. Problem solved. No one dared to touch my knives, or they risked losing an appendage. The knife set comes with a butcher knife (4th from the bottom right), a flexible fish knife, two chef's knives (one big and one smaller one), and a paring knife. Of course, over time, this collection has grown to include all sorts of speciality knives - a bread knife, and a tourning knife for the dreaded tournée potatoes/carrots.
I've always dreamed of owning a set of GLOBAL knives, well knowned for being the sharpest knives on the block, these bad babies can cost about a 1000 bucks each, depending on the size. Apparently they are forged using the same metal alloys as samurai swords, resulting in a super light weight sharp ass blade. If you don't possess ninja-like knife skills - I guarantee that you WILL definitely hurt yourself.
And who can forget the mandoline? Goddamn, these contraptions are like thumb death traps. I think almost each one us had suffered thumb injuries due to the blasted thing. Ours had no hand guards. -_-' Alas, we had no choice but to use it to get paper thin slices and uniformed julienned pommes frites.
I cleaned each of the tools carefully and put them back in my bag. Hopefully, I will get the chance to use them again just like I did, years ago.
Posted at 10:11 am by niks
digital dreams
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no copyrights claimed for most images used. images gleaned from various internet treasure chests
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