One fine saturday

Perfect with sunlight and warm breeze.

Perfect for dressing up in florals and going out without a destination in mind.
As usual I take every opportunity to put on my colour lenses and be all happy.

After all colour lenses mask the effect of additional weight (I truly believe so).

We drove all the way to Collingwood for a Japanese breakfast place discovered by WenJi. It was quit a long drive and all for a nice Japanese breakfast. I was really intrigued as you see a lot of Japanese restaurants but none specialising in breakfast! Immediately I was having flashbacks on the yummylicious breakfast we had in Hakone last year!

The cafe is called CIBI. Nested in between of what must be warehouses (?), CIBI is easily miss-able. In fact there is no big signboards, just a humble little standing board. But, people bustle in and out of this place.

It took us some time to get a table as they do not accept bookings there. Once in there, I realised that it is actually a Japanese+Western fusion cafe. You see a few Australians serving the tables while a few Japanese ladies tend to the kitchen.

They offer a range of teas and naturally I chose one of their green teas.

Quirky ornaments adorn the whole shop. In fact there is an art gallery consisting or glassware/porcelain/ traditional Japanese toys atttached to the cafe.

An excited pro-Japanese cuisine Alice Springs inhabitant.

Puffer fish.

See in real life I do laugh like this. Wah the first very 'ladylike' picture of me!! Even for that very milisecond I was a lady!

It was almost like a girl's day out - just almost.

A day before Alice Springs was on his itinerary.

This is the Traditional Japanese Breakfast.

Isn't it lovely? Although not in little bowls and containers or a tray, they small portions and variety definitely reminded me of Hakone.

The salmon was amazing, really really amazing. In fact, one of the best I have ever had. The omelette was great too and I love my Japanese omelettes.

Ray ordered a Tofu Burger in Teriyaki sauce and it was the bomb! The bun was crispy but chewy in a good way and before you think of the tofu being bland as compared to a huge-ass chunk of beef or fried chicken, let me tell you that it was not but in fact bursting with flavour. Definitely a must-try!

CIBI is a good place to just hang out and talk with friends. The casual and easygoing vibe they offer really makes a difference. I am contemplating to bring my Lowena to CIBI instead of Mart130 for breakfast hmmmm.

So much so that we made a trip to Alexandra Gardens for a second round of catch up.

This is what happens when you think the sun equates warmth in Melbourne. You under-dress and suffer and risk appearing un-macho.

Parks and gardens are always lovely on a sunny day. What makes it lovelier must be french fries, chocolate cakes and scones.

A half eaten florentine biscuit was momentarily forgotten as conversations continued on. . .

There is something devilish about how sharing food makes you eat more.

According to Jess, something seems very wrong in this picture. Pay attention to the extensive number of hearts. And for the ease of everyone's mind and justice to Ray, the phone is mine.

In my defense, I am usually a very nice girlfriend and Ray was smiling.

Friends I have, taking pictures of me like that.

Guess for the rest of my life I will just have to take pictures of myself :(

Ducks and eels swimming under the sun.

Autumn is definitely approaching :)

A whole table of Iphone freaks.

It was a normal and mundane day. But what I would give to live it all over again :)

Lakes Entrance

This marked the begining of our journey to Lakes Entrance.

"An artistic picture" (according to Ray) of "Malaysian Chipsmore" (according to me).


I realised that will be what happens when I hand him my camera.

Because after 1030393439 years I finally had a chance to drive an AUTO car and really drive Ray somewhere in return.

You know how I complained last time that he never took decent pictures of me? Well, I think he decided to prove otherwise, or maybe rebel.

#1 Macro shot of my hair.

#2 Not enough? Macro shot of my goosebumps.

#3 Still not enough? Un-macro shot of my injection mark.

Have I justified my reason to complain, ladies and gentlemen?

And to think that I take absolutely amazing pictures of him! Like this one in the Fish and Chips store in Lakes Entrance. How did he repay me?

With this. Grrrrrrrr.

But nevermind. Seafood basket was grrrrreat. So everything was forgiven.

According to Ray, seafood in Lakes Entrance is super. So the plan was to start off casual with fish and chips, and end glamourously with a fancy seafood dinner. In between all the eating action would be fishing and paddle boating.

The sun was shining bright and warm despite it being a bit wet earlier.

It was even warm enough for us to share an ice-cream.

And bright enough for me to appear half a shade fairer under natural sunlight!

And then we stepped out of the car to see.

Gloominessssssssssssss.

It was quite a damper. In the end, we did not end up doing an fishing or paddle boating - no one was able to. Luckily, Lakes Entrance offers quite a beautiful and tranquil scene. We ended up just walking aroung and taking in the scenery.

There were really graceful swans along the shore. . .

. . . until the started scavenging for food in the sewage pipe.

The worst part was the patchy rains. We were walking whenever the sun shone and looking for shelter whenever the rain took over.

One of our shelters. Bridges like this remind me of Sandakan :)

Now for the big surprise!

Voila. Right after we stepped out of what must have been our 3rd shelter.

Different from the tranquility offered by the gloomy skies, Lakes Entrance was then looking serene. Really really beautiful.

Walking along the bridge, one can't help but be mesmerised by the instantaneous change of colour of the water - from grey to blue (reflecting the weather).

Just after the bridge, there is a beach. I love beaches over here.

The millions steps before us.

The sunset was gorgeous. See my orange face haha. It was not fake tan gone bad, I swear.

Ready for the gorgeousness of sunset at Lakes Entrance? Go!

I just love looking at the colourful reflections of the clouds on the water surface. Swwwooooooon.

The night was cold and windy so I was reaaaaaallllly looking forward to the glamorous fancy seafood dinner as aptly described by Ray way early before the trip.

BUT. Every single seafood restaurant was booked out. We were literally walking from door to door asking for a tiny table for two - but to no avail sniff sniff - sniff both as in sobbing and snivelling from the cold.

In the end we went to a random cafe and had erm, supposingly-cheap-but-not lousy cafe dinner. But it was a good laugh.

The next morning we went to this place called Buchan Caves. Located just a good 20 minutes drive away from Lakes Entrance, these are limestone caves filled with stalagtites and stalagmites and underground rivers carved by the nature through the flow of time.

Lemme tell you, it was amazing. Makes you really appreciate the creations of nature and the beauty of it.

Shimmery fairy dust.

In the dark, they really look like a hill of fairy dust. Tempts one to make a wish.

Not willing to give up on his planned glamourous seafood dinner end to this trip, Ray went back to Ferryman's Seafood Cafe for the meal he deserves!

And ooh la la was it good. Behold.

Two dishes I forgot the name to. Sigh. Anyway, it was awesome - fresh, crunchy seafood bursting with flavour!

And here are the jelly fish waving us goodbye and till we meet again, Lakes Entrance!

Family album

Let me show you some fmily portraits.

#1 So tiny (vertically, sadly not horizontally) that I can fit with space to spare into one teeny picture.

#2 This is me going out of my room with a new bag - fringed and given my Melsuemanda for my birthday.

#3 These are my greeeeeeeeeen eyes and near the door knob is the Shiro doll SerLey made for Xmas!

Okay time for some realy family portrait where the subject is not me alone.

#4 Everyday is a struggle where play mimicks fight and the other way around.

#5 This, again, can be a show of affection or rebellion. A much-too passionate kiss perhaps.

#6 Shiro leaves a piece of him everywhere round me. A hair - even on my office seat. A lick - all over my necklace. A scratch mark - from way back when.

#7 The naughtiest dog in the world (this could be the initiation of a wrestle) or the manja-est dog in the world (this could also be the initiation of a major clinging closely to you session)?

#8 So it turned out to be a manja session. HE loves lurking around all over you and for you to snuggle him . . . and make you go all 'AWWWWWW'. . .

#9 . . . and then the lying close to you keeping you warm acting all cottonball-y. . .

#10 . . . showering you with attention and affection like how he has no other in the world. . .

#11 . . . only to bring you back to reality by acting mischievious, forcing you to pin him down!

#12 Time we spend together is usually eventful (tiring).

#13 And why do I still love him like mad? Look how short he is hahaha.

I have a soft spot for those lacking in this department.

Flipping the pages

Okay this will a random post as I have a million tots running through my tiny mind.

***

Lowena: I wanna go Philadelphia Island!!

Me: Where is that. . . is it here in Melbourne?

Lowena: To see penguins!

Me: Oh. You. Mean. Philip. Island.

Was reminded of this when I was preparing some Philadelphia Cream Cheese to make my cheese cake.

Was further reminded me of a very important person who is probably looking after all of us from up above.

***

Kah Ci Kah Ci. Lok Gu Lok Gu.

The pet names for me and my sister when we were little.

How special that only both of us had pet names.

How funny that we even wanted to name our fashion line 'KachiLoku' in the future.

How amazing memories flow back just like that.

How sad that no one calls us by this anymore.

***

It has been a while since I have really listened to music.

Guess I am just not as young/hip/up-to-date as when I still felt young (!) sighhhhhh. Times like this I am glad I have my old favourite with me - GLAY.

Here's a secret: I wanted my first concert to be Glay's so I have been holding off all other concerts.

But this is so ambitious and quite impossible - firstly, cost; secondly, geographical barrier; thirdly, language barrier; finally, getting the tickets!

Believe me, I pushed for it the last time I went to Japan.

So the other day I was walking home from gym in the drizzle. A bit of rain, gloomy skies, alone, slight chill in the air, Glay music only to my ears - what better time to emo I ask you.

Hence, I began thinking - why must I think it is impossible to go to their concert? I think so only because I am not putting effort into trying to force my way into their lives haha, I mean, concert. I am 100% sure I will be beyond excited and it will long live as one of the highlights in my life. So why not?

The conclusion is: I cannot find a reason not to.

So here 2010 - let me Glay it.

***

Everything beautiful starts from the inside.

Agreed.

Thus, it is very important to have beautiful lingerie on in order to have the motivation to dress up pretty, make up nicely and work that fitness into your body.

***

I usually can't wait for the weekdays to be over. Then there is the dilemma that the faster the weekends come, the sooner I will turn 24. So how?

But now I really don't hope for the weekend to come so soon :-(

For Sunday will see me and Shiro being stuck with each other again while the third musketeer jets off to Alice Springs.

***

Masterchef is a devil.

Not only am I watching it every single night (I am rooting for Adam and Philip!!!!!), I am cooking/baing up a storm almost every day.

Let's take today as an example, I made:-

Herbal soup with chicken drumstick

Kangkung and prawns in chilli sauce

Luncheon meat with omelette (this is ciplak haha)

White fungus soup with red dates

Japanese Cotton Cheese Cake

There goes my no sugar diet wooooooooooopppppppssss!

***

I just realised that one of my colleagues has the most beautfiul skin I have ever seen - pearly white, smooth, glowing and pinkish.

I really wanted to ask her about her secret. As far as I could kepo, I only found out she is a vegetarian. And vegetarian I know I cannot be.

There was this one time I went to a vegetarian restaurant with friends and after a hearty meal, I did not feel a thing in my stomach. Which is very much weird as I really did eat a lot!

A mystery I never could understand!

***

I miss my Mum, Dad, YiMa and Choo Choo.

Not my Sister - she is coming soon and that means trouble, noise, money going out. Sigh, I really don't love her, why must she come over?

***

Can you ever imagine yourself buying a handbag up in the thousand-dollars range or more? Frankly I cannot.

Why why why?

And for someone so imaginative - I have tried hard and long trying to imagine the moment I do so but I just couldn't! I shall try to dream it out tonight just to see how it would feel like. Chanel, mama's coming to you tonight.

***

I still don't know what Ray is playing in Oblivion.

***

Hmmm good night.