Christmas in Melb

Hi darlings! Before I blog about MY TRIP TO GOLD COAST, shall wish ya'll a
Went for the Boxing Day SALE.

Didnt really get lotsa things tho... it's not that fantastic anyway! GUESS was having a massive 50% sale..... but I didnt really like GUESS very much. Nothing catches my eye and those higher end products ARE NOT HAVING ANY SALE!!!! T_____T

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The Gold Coast trip will be massive photos heavy... so, Christmas entry first k? For more photos, you may visit my FB link HERE!!!

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And so, my first Christmas in Melb!!! Eve, we had steamboat dinner with Ben & Aileen.

and on the actual day,

Lunch with Ben & Aileen, U Jeff & U Colin.. at OUR PLACE!!

First time hosting at my place.. so was kinda nervous.
Me preparing the Fried Chix Wings and Mushrooms w Cream Cheese & Moz. Cheese.
Cheers!
Thank goodness it was a potluck party... so not too bad!
Mee Siam - the cheat from Prima. But was gooood. :D Contributed by Ben & Aileen.

& the Christmas goodies. Contributed by U Jeff & U Colin

More photos!!

Presents!!

Yessss. There's a dog in the house.

NOOKY!!! She's a mixed Shitzshu (how do you spell it? Too lazy to check!!) + Poodle. & she looks like a Maltese!!

Sadly she's not mine but she's staying over for 4days 3 nights :D

p.s. Xuan & Yun dont be jealous!!

One of Aileen's gift

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After the presents opening, it's dessert time!!
Brought by U Jeff & U Colin.

The small little tart actually cost AUD3 each! I think it's overpriced. Too sweet for my liking. But not too bad for those classic Christmas treats. Not considering logcake of course!!

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More of Nooky's photo!!

We've decided to make her more Christmasy.
So adorable, right?!
It's like a Christmas gift to me too :]

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More of my Christmas gift!
From T2. This little pretty tea shop in Melb.

https://secure.t2tea.com.au/flash/main.html

Gift from Ben & Aileen. Thanks!

Yes I love tea. Kinda obvious to those who've kinda interacted w me knows that I always drink tea. Is for slimming purposes + I kinda grew to like the taste of tea too.

More of the concept pretty looking tea.
With a pretty mug too!!!

And my presents from U Jeff & U Colin.
Pretty Star Box :D With Milk Choc Truffles.

& ironically, they didnt know I go by the nickname 'Star'.

Guess I'm really meant to have the 'Star' nick. :]

Hurhur.

Earring from them tooo.
& a chocolatey recipe book.
THANKS!

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For those who've been following me on Twitter would have know about my intention for a 4gifts for BF this year.. because it's our 4th Christmas together!!

To 'kaypo' what was the 1st gift, click HERE.

2nd gift,

Crytal Studs!

I think it looks very pretty. Was contemplating if I should get then onyx one instead.. but the blingbling was bling-y enough.

The photo that I took actually doesnt do justice for the prety stud... so, I have decided to extract from the original website instead.

Bf's 3rd gift,
Polo tee from Tommy Hilfiger.I thought it was pretty than Lacoste & others that I've saw.. I kinda like the logo!

The 4th? Just a handmade Christmas card :P

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& my present from BF?
Loafers! from Milana! Made in Italy and he knew that I will love it :D
Pretty?

Similar to my old worn-out Geox but this is a tad more expensive.. so I must really take good care of it!!

YAY!

Foodie

Dear Everybody

My life's been pretty boring, revolving around school and home. I guess, probably my entries might have bore you to tears... shall still share some foodie photos anyway!

My attempt at baking

Hello Kitty Lava Cake

Did you see the two pointed ears?
Yea.. still gotta work on it to get the timing right.

The top layer, as you can see, chocolate are oozing out. Need to ensure that this mischievous chocolate ganache stays in the cake before we sink our dessert fork in.

Owww. Just wished that my successful recipe is with me right now! It's collecting dust back in Singapore!

Nevertheless, I had stopped making lava cakes for a while because of the macarons!!!

Will be trying out again tonight! Macarons, I mean. The failed one tasted good as well, accordingly to me & my bf. I guess the ganache covers the failed shell pieces. Just need to perfect it.

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The other day, was craving for

Muah Chee.
It's a yum except that its a little too soft.

Will try it out again!

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And my all time favourite healthy (quite)

BLACK SESAME PASTE!
with a dollop of the black sesame buttercream that I've created.

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Oh yes. The other day when we saw the basket clams at the Victoria Market, we were so delighted!!

Yay!

The Vongole Pasta! LOVELY.

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Lastly, would like to share with you my attempt at making

Portuguese Egg Tart
The bottom tart was slightly uncooked.. and glad to say, IM GONNA TRY IT AGAIN!!

because Bf loves it and he demanded for MOREEEE.

f.y.i. bf doesnt like egg tarts. he really really don't. so Surprise! Surprise!

Initially, I thought that I had to suffer and wallop all the egg tarts on my own. I had already drastically reduced this recipe of 30 egg tarts to 6. And its not a wise idea to bake in a house of two. UNLESS IM REAL SKINNY. :(

lemme me skinny, please?

Food, again

wheeeee.

I am in a superb good mood today because am pleased with my results :)

Did much much much better as compared to my Temasek Poly years... you probably wont expect that of me.

BUT I DID IT!

oh well. there's a long way to goooo. so, at least it keeps me going.

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Even though I'm in a joyous mood,

Im still lazy to blog.

Managed to give my lappie desktop a new uplift, in which i will post it up later.

Anyway,

Like sooo ee-ling.. its a post about food again. like it or not.

Firstly,

I would like to say that.. not all cheap brand-less product sucks.

Like this housebrand maple syrup that I have purchased:

Cheapest among the others but boy is it yummy~!

it's like 99.9999% similiar to McDonald's maple syrup and im SURPRISED.

It's nicer than this Japanese expensive brand (whats that name again?) that my family always buy back in SG.

They have this "100% satisfaction guarantee.. money back guarantee" sorta thing. but I guess I dont have to use it.

I admit I was skeptical about it initially & I was like 99% sure that I will have to go get a refund... have decided to give it a try anyway! Am a poor student you see..

The maple syrup complement very well with my fluffy pancakes.

Homemade!
I came to a conclusion that the cooking technique and size really matters.

The bigger version (like McDonald's size) tasted much better than the mini ones.

This recipe is a keeper! Will probably modify to perfect it.

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And yup.

Yesterday's dinner.

Kinda perfected the crispiness of the chickenwings.

Except that the other day I didnt marinate it long enough so not that salty.

Will test it out again - a longer marination period... if not I'm sad to say.. increase the sodium! D:

Nevertheless it's still tasty :D~~~

And its my own creation!! :)
And the cold pasta salad.
Slurppp.

And the healthy greeens.

As you can see.. I am busy playing in the kitchen during the holidays.

It's fun!

Blablablabla

Melb is 3 hours ahead of SG time.. just yesterday.

And it just kept slipping out of my mind. Previously was 2 hours ahead.

They call it "Daylight Savings"

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Had lunch at 4pm D: and I thought it was 3pm. (ya woke up late because been sleeping at 6am :P)

Had dinner at 8.30pm and I thought it was 7.30pm

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Sorry for the lack of entries...

TV

occupied my time.

was busy eating up the internet bandwidth and drowning in drama serials.

(ya aussie do not have UNLIMITED internet bandwidth unlike SG.)

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Yay.

The first drama serial which broke the ice is...
KEVIN!

(ok apart from him, this is a pretty good drama to catch!)

Opps. Sorry.. it's actually called

Last One Standing.

dont ask me what is it in Chinese because I have got no idea.

Even my English-bred bf is addicted to it to!

There's English subtitles.. if not i probably will not be able to understand to :P

Feel so sad when it was at the last episode :(

For now, am currently watching

Full House.
actually I intended for All In
but apparently I kept thinking that it is Full House..

I only know the drama serial that I wanted to watch has Song Hye Gyo in it.

but

I just couldnt remember the title.

And Full House appeared first when I did a search online for drama serial with her in it.

Nevertheless

Am mid-way through the drama and its quite ok. Not too dumb. So am still watching it.

And no.

I do not like that Rain actor.
though the drama subsided my dislike for him..

(previously I saw him acting cool in commercial and stuff like that which irks me. OPPS. Sorry Rain fans!)

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Anyhow,

I still prefer HK Drama Serial. YAY!

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Previously I had mentioned about real blog posts.. like more real photos.

But,

Im stuck with dramas. Let me finish them first yea?

Just a sneak preview:

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Now, its time for some lil real photos

Foooood :P

The scallop which I had for dinner just now.

Baked breaded scallop.
Had prepared Teriyaki Beef for bf..

Photo was so badly taken.. though the beef Teriyaki was yummy.

Had decided not to post it up.

And yuppp. I didnt use the COMMERCIAL Teriyaki sauce. it's all freshly made by me!!

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The Chicken + Scallop Risotto for lunch.
The smoke made the photo blurry.

Didnt want to put it up at first... but had got no other photos..

It was pretty tasty... and bf likes it too :)

Was kinda 'za-pa-lang' as I just added the ingredients that I thought was supposed to be inside.

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The

Mango Chutney chicken with Butter garlic rice and Carrots + Spinach

We had the other time.

^^

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To end this foodie part, have decided to post something healthy.

Baked Veggie

we had just now for dinner.

Yay. been playing around in the kitchen. :D

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A lil update.

Our phone is here!

The UNLOCKED version.

Will update when I do remember and when I've got the time ok?

As for now... I am still deciding where I should paste my

HMMMM.

Have decided to bling up my phone with Swarovski Crystals too ^^

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That's all. Miss me!