autumn

(picture: Sandgate Road, Blackburn South 05/09)

autumn is beautiful in melbourne.
there is something about it that soothe the mind when one sees leaves dropping in droves or see a road or pathway that's littered with beautifully brown leaves. some times we get beautiful sunshine during the day that makes getting outdoor something to look forward to. a run, walk the dog or just hang out by the park are simple pleasures that autumn brings.

autumn is beautiful in melbourne.

there is something about it that soothe the mind.....except if you are tasked to clean up the backyard.

food fit for the empress

may 10 is designated mother's day worldwide. i readily agree* to take over the kitchen for the day so my better half can have a little `take it easy' day with her.

i have no problem cooking. in fact, someone once told me that real man cooks. i couldn't agree more. early in our married life, i was the one who ruled the kitchen (besides being the breadwinner; and taking charge of laundry, ironing, general house cleaning and fixing the light bulb) i am pretty adeptable since i have lived out from my family at an early age. whipping up 3 meals a day is at the tip of my finger. in fact, when i was an undergrad, i temp at the university club house as a kitchen helper. in 2 months, i learnt how to debone a cooked chicken cleanly, down to the wings. when i showed off that skill to my mother at home, she was very impressed with me. the chef there even let me handle the kitchen knives once in a while, which is a big deal. i could go on but i better stop here, less i am accused of boasting.

it was not until about 3 years ago, when my wife first laid hand on the game,`クッキング ママ, kukkingu mama' (cooking mama) on her nds lite that she started cultivating an interest in cooking. when she mastered and outcooked everyone in`cooking mama: world kitchen', she decided to try her hand in cooking for real. her interests in cooking grew from there. and there is no looking back since that day. i too hung up my apron soon after to concentrate on my day job.

i realized that 3 years can unlearn many things that you thought were 2nd nature to you. i found out the hard way on mother's day yesterday. for a start, i nearly sliced off my own finger as i attempted to `speed chop' the onions. i blamed the tool. the knife wasn't sharp enough. then i chickened out trying to chop the chicken wings in pieces. i feared parts of my hand will be amongst the pieces of meat in the simmering chicken curry pot. i resorted to using a scissor to cut the chicken to parts. i learnt this from the singapore hawker stalls. it worked to my relief even if though the chicken is raw.

critically, things turns out well. my reputation within the family remain intact. i won by a split decision** when i ask my family members to vote if the food were top notch.

for the curious soul, this is what i prepared (clockwise in the enclosed picture):

1. golden crisp salmon strips (commonly known as salmon battered in tapioca flour and deepfried)

2. special sauce sauteed leafy green with scampi champignon (layman calls it stirred fried kailan with leftover mushroom/prawn from the fridge)

3. golden l'oignon oeuf (you are probably more familiar with fried omelette with onion)

4. lechon udang kering (or `hay bee hiam' with pork. poor man's dish found mainly in malaysia/singapore)

5. golden authentic kari ayam pedas malaysia*** (most just called it chicken curry)

better not drool....

* no choice

** my youngest 4.5 year old girl splits the votes to my favor. this after i agree to include her disney's princess food mat in the picture

***thanks, prima deli!

house hunting

it didn't seemed like a long time ago that we were house hunting. when we first arrived back in november 08, we spent a good 2 weeks looking for a rental place to call our own for at least the year. it was slightly daunting times then as we were newbies in the country. we weren't sure of how things will pan out. we were glad we managed to find a place we liked in blackburn south.

not long after, we began looking at houses for sale. we were prompted by a friend who thought it will be a good idea to get use to the way house sales are conducted here in australia. back in singapore, we never really moved from our first home, a hdb apartment we owned since 1997. to me, moving house in singapore is almost an oxymoron; singapore is not big enough (at least for me) to want to move to someplace `closer' (work or otherwise). we are pretty much 30-45mins from anywhere in singapore when we drive. most times, shorter. secondly, most homes are 99 year lease, we don't own the place anyway, and if we want to buy a freehold or 999 year lease, we have to fork out significantly more. thirdly, i personally get turn off by the total amount of loan interests that i need to fork out. for the most part, i will be working to pay the bank. if i could, i do not like to owe anyone money, much less the banks. paying via my cpf then is perfect. i don't fork out a cent more from my take home pay. but mostly, i don't make enough money to buy my singapore `dream home'. i prefer to live within my means and enjoy smaller luxuries than to keep up with the joneses.

so, `getting into the market', as house agent here told me; is something new to me. for the last 4 months or so, we spent some saturdays driving to open houses; mostly to understand what to look out for, pitfalls to avoid and the processes of house purchase. in fact, i did make an offer of a house i pretty fancy (then), but my offer was deemed too low. it was recently sold to an `investor'. i learnt that you also need to `walk the talk' when you want to make an offer of a house. when i told the agent, "ok, i will offer $x00k for this property.", he looked at me and for 20 seconds, time stood still. he then politely told me that in order to show that my intent is serious, i need to write a cheque of `a couple of thousand dollars', to show that i am sincere. of course, i did not have my cheque book with me, which made my offer amateurish and insincere. now, i am more controlled. i don't `anyhow' make offers anymore.

and there are these `things to avoid and looked out for' that my mother insists that i look out for when i view the house. at times, i want to tear my hair out as we may have tick off successfully the 98 points that she laid out, then #99 didn't pass the `feng shui' test. house numbers are important, obviously, inauspicious numbers like 4, 13 (never mind 13 is my favourite and lucky number), 24 and thousand other house numbers that i need to avoid. other key things to look out for are: the house frontage cannot face the lamp post, kitchen cannot be at the front end of the house, toilet seating needs to face away from the entrance door, etc., etc. and 99 other conditions. well, it probably narrows down your choice of probable house to consider to................zero. all planets need to be aligned for this to happen. that said, i do take into considerations what my mom said as i personally believe in some of those things. if you can avoid it, why not? however, i am also realistic enough to know that in a mature suburb like where we are at, it will be pretty darn hard to look for that `perfect' house. so, we will cross out some of the conditional listings if necessary. i am more concern that i can afford the place.

and suddenly, 6 months passed. our house hunting shifted a gear up for a few reasons. for starter, the australian government may revise the first home ownership scheme subsidy which stands at a$14k now. we hope to still enjoy it before it may be taken away. secondly, we didn't think that the property market will `collapse' as we had hoped earlier with all the poor economic climate and the gloomy news we read. the market in melbourne is pretty resilient in holding its prices. so, if we can find something that is within our budget and a place that we like, we might as well take the plunge. thirdly, i was told that in autumn, house price can sometimes be as damp as the weather. when spring comes and flower blooms, property prices may actually edge up as the property will look prettier with all the flowers surrounding the property. i actually believe that logic.

wish us luck!

springvale

we don't go there often but springvale's stock is fast rising with my wife. springvale is like footscray. there is a heavily populated vietnamese community there, and like any other vietnamese community you go to, you find abundant of excellant pho eating house, bakeries and asian groceries around.

if west melbournian craves for vietnamese pho, they will head for footscray. and i reckon eastern folks like us will drive to springvale. for us, it is about a 10km drive away. so when we go, we willl like to do a few things at one go.

my impression of springvale is that it is probably a milder version of footscray. it is more family oriented and less crowded. the only reason i said so is because when we were in footscray last december; i was slightly taken aback because two tattoo-ed, thuggish-looking vietnamese kids started leaning against my car and litting up ciggies seconds after i parked it. i have not even gotten out of my car then. i weren't sure how to react but decided to walk away pretending i didn't take notice of them. i was not sure if i would be gunned down if i voiced my displeasure at their antics.

i cannot recalled the pho shop we went to but it is on the main mall, springvale central. there are many other pho shops there but being newbies in the area, we weren't sure which one to patronize. in the end, we took the easy way out. we headed to the pho shop that is most crowded.

when my better half sipped the last drop of the pho soup base, she promptly declared it is the BEST pho she had in australia. and she had her fair share of phos in australia in the years we visited the country. hence, her declaration carried a lot of weight because she doesn't give praise easily. for instance, in all our years of courtship and marriage, not once she called me `hey, good looking' although i have had compliments elsewhere. i also knew at an instance that this shop will enjoy good business because my wife will make it a point to bring all her singapore friends and relatives to this joint. i promptly walked to the cashier and asked the owner if they have those `get 10 stamps, get 1 free pho' booklet like what starbucks or coffeebean joints offer. alas, they did not. and i think they don't need to judging from the queues we see.

we can also get good croissant and buns at springvale. and for us, no trip is complete unless we stock up our fridge with veggies, poultries and fishes.

i discovered springvale also offer probably the cheapest haircut in all of australia. $12 for a trim by vietnamese hair professionals. this will be on my `to do' list in my next trip to springvale. like the pho, i will also look out for the shop with the longest queue.

before and after: a first look

conventional wisdom and comments from friends we had so far are that we will probably `balloon' up once we settle. reasons being? cold weather will trigger increased food intake and also the relatively relaxed lifestyle are the main push factors.

well, i happen to have pictures of my kids snapped 6 months ago and as recently as march 09. let's see if we can conclude after almost 6 months living here....

here are my take using my kids as a reference point (picture on the left is 6 months old):

mingwei, i guess, lost a little weight though he is still on the heavy side. his double chin line diminished in his latest photograph. hooray!


shiqi probably put on some weight despite her tennis and swimming lessons.


shimun probably is fleshier on her cheek as well though she is still thin in appearence.


final verdict? probably too early to tell but the boy did seemed like shedding some weight but the girls are on the up.

cecilia lost weight by the way and i am holding steady. that's because she works too hard being on her own most of the time. for me, since i still travel around often, i can't tell. i do hope by being able to avoid singapore food, i can actually trim down slightly.

let's check back at end of nov 09!

swimming

previously, mingwei and shiqi have swim lessons offered by chongfu primary school. they claimed to be swimmers but the reality is, everytime they took to the pool, they struggle. if i were a lifeguard, i would be half pressed to know if they were actually swimming strugglingly (is there such a word?) or begging to be saved. that's how `good' they are.
so, one of the things that is top on our list when we moved down under is to enrol the children into swim classes. personally, i think it is a great life skill to acquire.
we managed to enrol mingwei and shiqi in but unfortunately shimun couldn't get a spot in as the class in her age group was predictably full. she is on wait list.
every saturday morning, we head to nunawading aqualink centre for their classes. the centre is an impressive roof covered, heated pool with many other facilities. there is also a gym there if you want to sweat it out. however, where we are at where we have great reserves parks, i wonder if there is a need to do the threadmill. it is a lot more refreshing running outdoors.
the lesson lasted barely 40mins but because of the small number of students per group, they get good and personalized attention.
i can see that they improved leaps and bounds after a few lessons.

强风和大雨

talking/writing about the weather is boring. it's a poor conversation starter; however i thought that i'll document this since melbourne is notorious for her unpredictable weather.
this was actually a few weeks ago. we had back-to-back strong winds and `almost' torrential rain. i am not sure if this is unusual given the dry conditions we have been acustomed to in the last few months.
obviously the `heavy' rain pales in comparision to what we get in singapore but it did rained enough for me to fill 3 buckets full of water that i used later to wash the cars and water the plant. it helped refill the 500l rainwater tank outside our place that we use to watering the garden.
(to best enjoy the video, plug in your 5.1 surround speakers into your notebook/desktop and turn up the volume for maximum impact)