Toys

I remembered those words from Sheng when he gave me the gift during my 1st year in Tassie. "It reminds me of you when I see it". What an honour!! Aren't all God's children referred as sheeps.. and He being the chief Shepherd looks and tend after His flocks.. What an amazing kind Shepherd we have!!

Sheng... Though I bought it along with me and put it on my bed.. It did not receive much attention from me.. hahaa.. Sorry about that.. I am just not a very soft toy person..
But at least it gets to sleep beside me .. :P

By the way, the lamb isn't supposed to look that depressed.... or maybe it is.. hahaha..

Next.. ... This sneaky little fellow sneaked into my luggage without me knowing it... and the culprit gulity of it is still back in Singapore.....

No... I am not referring to Mas...

It's Stephanie..... Thanks for the carebear even though I already knew you care!

Doesn't it look happy on the rainbow..?? (eh.. almost a rainbow la..)

Not some random gloves

My studies in Australia had gotten me alot of gifts and I mean physical gifts. And since I've never featured any of the gifts before, I thought why not start a series of post on the gifts I've received thus far.. So pls be patient if your gift have not been featured, for it is a matter of time before they appear on this blog...


First to be featured.... Something that kept my hands warm and nice and really make a difference in my life over here in Tassie..

Gloves from kiat.. ... Yeah.. ..

My first thought were... "

Oooo.. Such girly gloves..".. But they do the job well

and I am not very "man" either..

.. So why not?? Hahaha..

A mouse A mouse

A mouse, a mouse... I saw a mouse in my house... Eeekks... It was running around the rubbish area. The next moment, it was hiding behind the kitchen cabinets. All my housemates were out and I had the liberty to scream and jump for all I care. I tried shaking all the cabinets and making as much noise as I can do scare the mouse out of its hiding place. As result, the little rascal went behind the stove instead, leaving me no choice but to shake the stove. This time round, no amount of shaking seem to budge the animal anymore.
After breaking the news to my housemates, all of us started searching frantically as though a "mouse-hunting" squad was mobilised. We even contemplate on the thoughts of bringing in our neighbour's cat.. Mew!! Anyway, after a futile search, we went back to our rooms. It was not long after Bernice started screaming again. This time round, the mouse was trying to squeeze itself under the recliner chair. The creature looks half-dead for what reason I am not sure. Sherry picked up the mouse with a magazine, place the rodent under the tree and piled layers of leaves on top of it. Hopefully, it will rest in peace.

Morning star

Its a refreshing and nostalgic moment to be able to see the "candle" again. I've learnt this terminology from my friends.... The hobby that got me crazy, and infact had contributed to my interests in genetics. It is one of the rare few non-carnivorous plants that I will keep. Yyuuppp! I am referring to the "Morning glory".

The candle:

In it's full glory...
Oh.. How I marvel at His creation... Standing in the presence of the morning sun.. In the midst of all odds, this warm-seeking creation strives to survive and survives to strive. Before you think that all these possibilities is attributed to its little strength. Think again.. There is something "BIG" behind its existence...
A cheap and viable investment.. a mini hot house...
Lettuce seedlings to feed the 2 "herbivorous" at home.
Guess what seedling is this?Ans: Broccoli

Banana fiesta

No signs of bananas in sight??? Well....They had been converted into an array of banana confectionary.. This time round, all my housemates were involved in the baking process. As usual, I am the instructor and they are the chef... In order to be time-efficient, we had to spilt up our work mah... so we decided to make 2 items or more at one time.

The first dish: Banana muffins

Wait a minute, these isn't the first dish.. Our first dish was suppose to be Steamed banana cake but it turned out badly cause I mis-read the amount of oil needed from 37g to 378...Yes.. Imagine eating a piece of cake soaked with oil.. Well.. That was exactly my housemate's expression when he first tasted the oil-soaked cake.. (We threw it away of course)

2nd dish: Banana crumble pie.. (My favourite) I personally find it nicer than apple crumble..
Not satisfied with the morning results, we re-made the steamed banana cake... This time round with the right proportion of oil... It turned out to be really nice and tasted abit like "Huat queh"..

The 4th dish was Gourmet banana muffins. In case you are wondering why it is called gourmet banana muffins. We added raisins, cinnamon powder, shredded coconut to the recipe.. It tasted like those you get from some posh cafe.... i.e Starbucks

Well.... All these were made to last for 3 days but 3/4 of it didn't survive over a day. The rest got whalloped up the next day. Teehee...

Food fair

It was the Malaysian Students Association's turn to hold a food fair last night and my housemates and I were invited to set up a stall. Since it is ANZAC day today and there are no classes for us, we decided to give our budding entrepreneur spirit a go.. Our menu includes Goreng pisang, Vietnamese Rice Roll, Prawn Crackers, Chili tapoica crackers and Kueh Kodok. We bought a whopping 13kg of bananas for only $10.. : ) Just in case, you are wondering what's Kueh Kodok.. Check out the website!!

The Kueh Kodok and Goreng Pisang were very well received.. (It was my idea.. hahaha) and we made a total profit of approximately $80 with quite a fair bit of bananas left over..

We thinking of what to do with the bananas... ?? Banana cake? Banana muffin, Banana lassi, Banana Milk shake, Chocolate Banana cake, Steam banana cake, Banana crumble.. and etc... There are many options... but we can only afford to choose a few of them...

Till then.. Taa..

Testimony

I have a testimony for today and I'm going to write it in a way how our younger youth testify during cell. :)

" I went to the city today to cut my hair. I went into this salon and found out that it was fully booked, so I had to go to another salon. My friend was with me and he introduced this particular salon to me. I went into the salon and saw that they were having discount. I want to thank God that I managed to save money by cutting hair in the second salon and that I wouldn't have gone into the second salon if the first salon wasn't fully booked. Ehem".

Well....... Testimony aside....
Remember the diving course which I mentioned about? Well... Something really bad cropped up and I can't help to murmur on my blog.. Eh... Well.. We went to the dive instructor's house today and found that he had decided to fail us... Wait a minute! Did I get it wrongly? No!!
We signed up for "Open water Diver course" initally and paid the amount in accordance to the level. You know different level of certification demands different level of fee. For example, you pay $200 for your Grade 8 Piano exam and expect a Grade 8 cert right? It is that either you fail it and don't get any cert..... Will you expect to get a grade 1 cert for it? No right?

Well... The instructor had told us that we've passed the diving course and would be certified as qualified "Open water divers". Guess what we found out? He gave us a "Padi scuba diver" cert instead, which in the first place is of lower value and have many requirements tagging with it. Which means I am unable to dive with my friends and can only dive in the presence of an instructor. Such a smart ass! When questioned on the change of level of certification, he gave a whole junk of excuses which simply didn't tally at all. For example, he said that one of my friend did not managed to do her mask removal test properly, which he did not fail her on the spot. Next, he said that we need assistance to swim back on shore and that he had to give us a hand. Which was not true, cause I was floating with my "inflated life jacket" and was having a nice time swimming back to the shore. And he came along and said that he will give me a hand.. So why not, if you would like to tow me... I am more than happy to conserved my energy.

Anyway.. we ended up in a heating arguement over the phone, with him promising that he will give us a free upgrade to a "open water diver" cert, IF we improve our swimming ability. Siao right..?? If we can't swim, he shouldn't have allowed us to go into the open water in the first place. Well... SO much for the murmur.. I have decided to leave it to the Lord to vindicate us, even though I feel like tearing his posters away from the campus.

Well.. vengence belongs to the Lord..So I shan't.

Diving course

I know this is going to stir up some issues, some positive, some negative. It really took me alot of courage and determination to do it. It is something which I could never imagine myself doing. Pushing beyond my physical and medical limits, I took up the courage to sign up for my very first diving course.
Diving had always been something out of bound to asthmatic personnel and there were no exceptions this time round. There were many difficulties and obstacles throughout the course.
The first obstacle was to swim 6 laps which may sound like "chicken feet" to many people, but not to this guy who had not been swimming for more than a lap during the last 4 years. I was struggling during my 2nd lap and was about to give up. The instructor was kind enough to give me an exemption of 1 lap, hence I only did 5 laps. Thank God for His favour!
Next was the need for a doctor certification on my asthmatic condition. Yet time was pressing against me and I couldn't afford the time to see a doctor for it. The instructor was pretty hard on it initially but relented in the end after I told him that I am confident of going through it.
The last obstacle was of course a result of the open water dive itself. I was having difficulties equalizing during my first dive and the instructor was about to give up on me. He suggested that some people are just not meant to dive.. :(
Nevertheless, I was determined and wanted to give it a try again. Thanks to Sarah's tip on equalizing, I finally managed to do it during my 2nd dive. This time round, I felt like I am part of the ocean.. Hehehe. Even though I may suffer from panic attacks during the dive, the sea life seemingly reminded me of God's control over each and everyone of us. The fishes work not for their food, yet the Lord feeds and look after them, what more about me. Praises started to pour out within my heart as I swim past His creations.
All in all, the dive was pretty good and I have learnt throughout the 2 days in Bicheno. Sorry guys for not being able to post any photos on my underwater adventure as I don't have the appropriate gear for it.






Apart from diving, we also visited Red Bill Beach. The dusk lighted skies were simply amazing. Don't you agree?













Fishing was next in line. I was hoping to catch some squids as that was the exact location where I caught my squids last November. However, it seems that it isn't the right season for squiding. Since there were no squids to be caught, I threw in my plastic lures and caught a mackerel within 3 seconds. Yes... It was within 3 seconds and that ended up as part of our dinner for the night. The fish was so delicious that Sarah asked whether I added any sugar to it. Hahaha..








The first dive during the 2nd day was fantastic. I saw a huge eagle ray with a wing span of approximately 2m long. It was swimming right infront of us. Apart from that, there were also many shoaling fish and smaller stingrays. Our instructor picked up 2 abalones and had them for his dinner. We were actually hoping that he could give us one (cause we spotted the second one and told him about it) but he did not. :P

The 2nd dive was at Pirate's Cove, Cole's bay. Sadly, the water was way too cold for us, forcing us to end our dive much earlier. Nevertheless, the three of us were very willing to do so due to over-exhaustion from the previous dives.

Most importantly of all, I am a certified open water diver now.. Yipee.. ! Not that I will go diving any time soon but rather being able to achieve something through Christ who strengthens me.. :)

Last but not least, the three of us in our cuckoo diving suits. Wahaha...

George Town Tasmania

George Town, Tasmania....

Apples

I reckon these are the last few batches of apples before the weather turn cold. Previous batches were badly infested by moths and were barely edible. I am guessing that the past few weeks of cold weather had caused the moth population to die down gradually. The apples had definitely became redder over the weeks. Kwan took back some to try a few days ago.. I am looking at making some apple crumble pie soon.. :) Hmmm. Yummy..

Oysters

How many actually know that the sedentary oysters you ate were once motile???

Here's a video of the Pacific oysters at the veliger stage (oyster larvae)which I took during my work experience at "Shellfish" culture" last year.



Next question, how many truly enjoy eating oysters raw? Do you actually know what goes into your mouth? And what do you think makes it an aphrodisiac food item?



ANS: Well...Just before you enjoy that cup of raw oyster with lemon during your buffet next time. Pause for a moment and recollect your thoughts on what gave that unique creamy taste.. Look carefully and you will notice that the bulk of the oyster is made out of Gonads, which are literally made out of sperms and eggs. Hence, I believe that's the reason why it is considered an aprhodisiac food.. Hmmmm..

Racists or not

My sister, Karen finds the clip on "Arabia night" racists... which I don't.. A mosque comes with a moon and a star on top of the dome.. Basic building structure in Arab comes with that anyway. Just before you make any comments... Kindly recalled the cartoon "Aladdin" by Walt Disney, didn't the genie stamped on the buildings? Was Walt Disney sued?? or did anyone sees any racism issues regarding it?



What do you think my friends??

Click Here to take survey

Shark!!!

Fishing is a skill you would want to acquire in Tasmania. Why?? Simply because there aren't much things to do and fishing is one of the most enjoyable hobby you can get in Tassie..
For example... Look at my friend, Seki... His few hours of effort reaped him a "Port Jackson Shark". Not bad for a hobby isn't it??



It was released back to the waters at the end.. :)

Sand dunes fun

Just a little bit more on the "sand dunes fun" Well... you can't blame us for having fun at the 2nd largest sand dunes in Australia. :p


A silly clip by me.. :p (taken by Bernice)
* Clip removed..

Baking

In the midst of one's busy schedule, one needs to learn how to take some time off doing something therapeutic right?? Well.. as for me, my choice was to bake something.

Digging out my old F & N recipe book, I was abit apprehensive on what could come out of the oven. My first attempt was to make "Scones".. Scones with jam and earl grey tea makes perfect afternoon treats for anyone. Seriously, a bite of the scones with apricot jam and a sip of the earl grey tea will send your senses skywards.

With the help of my housemate, Bernice, we present to you "Scones with dried fruits (Bernice had the honour of having the hands on experience. I just instructed her on what to do)

"



My next attempt was to make "Victorian Sandwich cake". Well.. I know the name sounds fancy.. but actually its nothing hard or complicated. I was abit too over-confident on the method to used. I took the appropriate proportion of eggs to sugar and started whisking everything up. It was not till Bernice's question on when we should add the butter. It struck me cause I thought this was whisking method and no butter is needed. Oops.. Thank God, the recipe allows for U-turn and I immediately changed the original recipe (creaming method) to whisking.

Presenting to you.. Victorian sandwich





Taaa..

Cps

Slowly, and surely, I am building up my carnivorous plants collection. Yeah.. what do you expect?? I have been keeping them back in Singapore, ordering them from Melbourne twice per year. Using all my bursary money on them and you were expecting me not to keep them while I am here. Nah.. :P

For those loyal readers, you might recognize this plant. Yeah..Its the Venus fly trap "Big Mouth" which I got last year. It is the first carnivorous plant I've in Tassie and it had been through dormancy during winter and rise from the soil. Very soon, it will be entering dormancy soon. This time round, I will repot it and spilt it up. * Notice the young shoots around it??


New plants:

Sarracenia Flava f. red throat




Sarracenia purpurea sp.


Drosera filiformis


Drosera binata var. multifida


Drosera aliciae and Drosera capensis f. green and red.



Some non-carnivorous plants:

Lupin seedlings


Lithops


Lavender