ROADTRIP! From long ago

APEC started in sydney on friday and due to the traffic restrictions at the circular quay area, everyone in sydney gets friday off. Yeah! Long weekend! So we decided to go for a drive just to get out of the city. And of course we have to start the day with a hearty breaky. Tammy got this blueberry pancake recipe from the news paper, so here it is. It was fantastic. Very very filling too. After breaky, we went home to let the dogs out and also collect all our necessary entertainment (PSP, DS, Comics, Books, Food, Water etc). Today's driver = Des.

Our first destination was set at Coledale. No particular reason except that there was a nice bridge near Pam's place i wanted to revisit. But we overshot the exit and went all the way to Wollongong instead. By then it was already time for lunch. But first things first, to take photos to send to Jeff by phone, just to let him know what he is missing out: the beach, and the good food at Ellie's Cafe right next to the beach. Food took a while to come, but was very good. Their pasta special (des ordered) was quite different, spicy, very nice. Bollywood Pizza (Alan)-great tandoori chicken, and mine Linguine Carbonara, sounds boring but great.

After lunch, it started to rain again, so we did not go onto the beach. Started to drive towards Coledale, where the rain was even heavier. And finally, we reached the bridge but it was too cloudy and the rain just kept coming down. We waited for the rain to subside a little, then went onto the bridge, but that did not last too long. After this, time to go home. And this it when we saw the highlight of the drive. We saw two rainbows. One was faint, the other was bright and brilliant. Alan basically slept through it, but i took a couple of picts. So that was it. Our long APEC weekend.

Blurry Vege Lasagna

Last saturday, we went to Hurtsville again for the afternoon tea special at one of the Hong kong cafes. $6 for a big bowl of noodle soup with a cup of tea of choice. Pretty good except that we had it late at 3 something in the afternoon, so everyone was stuffed with food and so we decided to get tammy to teach me how to make a vege only lasagna. And here it is, all vege, not meat, pumpkin, eggplant, mushroom, onions and spinach. we made two big ones and the veges took me about 2 hours to slice and grill etc. Tiring. And 50 mins in the lousy oven of ours and its done! Vege Lasagna! Its was good :o) But i dont think i want to spend so much time again making it. Buying it is probably a better option.

Californication= BOOBIES

We just finished the first three episodes of Californication and i think the best description one could give would be, as Des said...." lots of boobies" (with a huge smile)......
In a world where Hank Moody (David Duchovny) is an sexy beast, irresistible to any and every woman he meets. So far he almost always fornicates with at least 3 women in each of the episodes. Of course there are other people in the show who gets to have sex, but i will not reveal anything here. All in all.... it is about Boobies.

30: Job, Art, food, blood moons

It has been a while since i updated, and almost 2 months since i've become the 30s people. Nothing much has changed though, being 30. But i guess having a job is great. A stable income, no need to worry about finishing experiments for thesis, and i guess most importantly the job i have has been pretty good. My boss, has not been demanding, but very understanding about why thing are not moving forward. At one point, i had to ask her if she had more work for me to do cos i was bored. Overall, being 30 and working is great.

I've been looking to buy more art for my collection, but have not found too many available for purchase that is within my reach. But i did score one piece by Wayne England, just a simple small painting of a green gem for US$50 shipped. Looks great on the wall. Another artist i was able to contact is Lars grant-west. He has done many pieces with dinosaurs in them, fantasy/national geographic and currently has 2 pieces for sale. Sigh..... decisions has to be made soon. sigh.....

I have had quite a lot of different things to eat lately, good thing i have not gotten fatter yet. I've been driving past this charcoal bbq place, La Parrilada, on parramatta road and finally decided to go yesterday. ALL you can eat MEAT! for $20. Over than being very salty, i thought everything was pretty good. Definitely too much meat for me. After dinner, we went to the sydney park to join the rest of Newtowners in blood moon tan, there were quite a few people there, with their dogs too, but too bad no chanting druids or naked women dancing around a camp fire.

Happy Birthday to ME!

It is my big, HUGE three-O today. Hmm... everything feels the same. So this is how 30 feels like. Something for the younger people to look forward too. Thanks everyone. Maybe it will feel different when we meet up on friday to eat and drink a little. see u then.

Day 6: Bye bye Mount Fuji. Hello Tokyo!

Amazing everyone woke up after all the singing and drinking, all my aunts were up at about 430am. Try plucking the sun out of the sky before it goes up? Play with the clouds and support the mountain. hehe... just bored. U can get bored staring at the mountaing for about 5 hours. The mountain changes colour with the sunrise, very nice.

Well, we had to leave at some point. Now off to Tokyo and on the way, drop off to a mountain with very hot springs with lots of sulfur that can cook eggs black!

And or course rest station yummy food

We reached Tokyo city quite late. So our only stop was the famous Temple.

And after all the walking and shopping. dinner. Yakitori, Anago, Uni-don. Yum....

And that is the end of the whole trip. no more photos. sigh... will definitely come back to tokyo for more.

Day 5: Mount Fuji

We stayed here after the trip to kurobe dam. It is a beautiful place, also on top of a small mountain with a great view and the little chapel. Supposedly, u can see mount fuji, based on that little map.

Since the main attraction/tour site has been completed, there is nothing much to do but enjoy the ride, eat and SHOP! Yes. with all the aunts on the bus, there is nothing else we can do but to go to factory outlets. But not just the normal outlet. fantastic outlet area which looks great. U can picnic, bring your doggies, you can even cycle around here.

They have quite ok food, and beautiful 'pan'. Green tea pan, and 'ringo' pan. yeah!

Now ... off to our next hotel. And on the way we saw mount Fuji! pretty. I think we probably snapped 10+ photos just of the mountain in the bus. We reached the hotel about 4pm. the exterior of the hotel wasnt too interesting, but take a look at the room we've got. We got one whole floor to ourselves, with three rooms.

The entrance to the floor from the lift. Our bedroom, the livingroom, which has a direct view of Mount Fuji.

Corridor, the other room and the mahjong room

The Bathroom with the view. and of course the amazing aunts!

then it was dinner time. It was suppose to be a buffet, which serves a wide a variety of asian food. and the large crabs from japan. Free Flow! But that is not the highlight.

We got the special from the restaurant (cos we know the people there), the Japanese Melon smells amazing, and really does just melts in your mouth without much chewing. We also got a plate of japanese beef. We were assured that it does not lose out to Kobe beef, and it was fantastic. so so tender. Wagyu beef step aside- you are too tough!

Now for a little after dinner taiwanese sport. Karaoke and tango! Everyone came to our room/floor and 'exercised' a little. then ate more japanese strawberry, which taste exactly like the bubblegum flavours. Now i know where the strawberry flavour came from. Yep. that was it for the day. Shopping. Food. View. Singing. Drinks.