Canon Ixus 870IS

I got an early Christmas present from Keith yesterday. A Canon Ixus 870IS. Yay! I've been wanting to upgrade my Olympus digital camera so this is a perfect present. Hopefully it will inspire me to take more photos. Anyway, I would like to wish my family and friends a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year! :)

Angela Hewitt in concert

Sometime in October, I had the pleasure of attending a piano recital by Angela Hewitt, a famous Canadian pianist specializing in Bach's music. She played Preludes and Fugues Book I and II over two days. I never did like playing preludes and fugue as a child because my piano teacher would make me play the same pieces over and over again for one whole year in order to prepare me for my piano exams. I did pass with flying colours but I always viewed Bach pieces as practising for exams and not playing for pleasure. However, give me Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky and I will be sight reading their pieces gleefully.

Now that many years have passed and I don't play the piano any longer, I've started to appreciate some of Bach's music. This has also got to do with Keith's love for Bach so I've been surrounded by Bach's music at home and in the car nearly everyday. Thank goodness I've changed my view on Bach now. I find his music calming, soothing, simple and easy on the ear. It makes me want to pick up my piano playing skills again.

Anyway, here are photos of the piano recital held at Melbourne Uni. Also, some photos of me while waiting for the recital to start. We got there an hour early.

Cherry blossoms

Who would have thought that I would have cherry blossom trees growing in my own front yard! You guess it, I was excited when I woke up one morning to find them in full bloom. It's only been a year living at our new place so I never knew what the two plants were until one fine day in spring. Too bad, their lifespan is exceedingly short. Only lasted about 2 weeks or so. Here's what I snapped in a hurry, it looks better in real life! Pardon the unruly lawn :P

My 33rd Birthday

I have been away from my blog for sooooo long that I feel awkward in here! Don't know where to start or what to type. Anyway, I figured that blogging about my birthday would be a good start.

I organized to have the day off work and had the pleasure of sleeping in. Went for lunch with a friend and had a great time. Came home and watched dvds. Yes, I have been watching lots of dvds. Am currently into Gilmore Girls and there's season 1-7, each season containing 22 episodes! Yes, that's where I've been wasting my precious time.

Anyway, waited for Keith to finish work and went for a nice dinner at Fisherman's Pier in Geelong. The restaurant has gorgeous views overlooking the bay. The meal was surprisingly good for Geelong standards. I received a bouquet of red roses from Keith because I'd been complaining about how he's never bought me flowers before. Thanks dear! :P Maybe from now on, I'll start complaining about how he's never bought me bling blings! Lol.

Here's photos of my gorgeous flowers and dinner :)

My Entree - Tasting Plate of 5 consisting of oyster, prawn, ravioli with lobster filling, salmon with soba noodles and tomato gazpacho.
Keith's Entree - Goat cheese souffle baked with a nut crust, salad of rocket leaves, walnut and grilled pearMy Mains - Snapper fillet, creamy mash, scallops and lobster bisque
Keith's mains - Barramundi fillet, parsnip puree, crispy fried prawns, asparagus with port reductionSide dish - Best tasting garlic and rosemary fried potatoes I've ever had White chocolate and hazelnut bombe alaska with raspberry sorbet3 ways with passionfruit - souffle, ice cream and natural

Tessalaar Tulip Festival 2008

We were puppysitting two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, Willow and Chester on the weekend of 20th Sept so I came up with the idea of visiting the Tessalaar Tulip Festival in Silvan, Mt Dandenong as it would be a nice treat for both the pups too. The journey took 1 hr 30 mins, luckily the pups were well behaved and sat quietly in the car.

It rained before we got there so the grounds were very muddy and wet. Our shoes were covered with mud and I got little paw prints of mud all over my black jeans too when the pups tried to jump up for a cuddle. They seemed to love walking into puddles of water and getting themselves dirty. Luckily our car seats are leather so it was easy wiping the mud off. The pups weren't too happy when we got home as they went straight into the bath tub and got a good scrubbing hehe.

The theme at the tulip festival was Dutch so we got to sample all kinds of Dutch food. My favourite is still the mini pancakes called Dutch Poffertjes with dusting of icing sugar and maple syrup. Simply delicious. The tulips were very pretty at Tessalaar but I felt that the Araluen Tulip Festival in Perth which I went to 4 years ago wins hands down.

Now for photos, photos, photos! :)

Beef braised with Guinness

I had a day off and decided to experiment with Neil Perry's recipe of beef braised with Guinness. I was totally caught off guard when paying for the Guinness at Woolies because the cashier had asked me for my ID. What the heck?

Anyway, the recipe turned out great and even got a nod of approval from masterchef Keith :P Here are photos of my dish served with mash potatoes.

A New Beginning, A New Celebration!!!

I am sooooooooooo happy tonight I feel like I could climb up Mount Everest this very second. I just received the best piece of news tonight. After such a longggggggggggg, longgggggggggggg wait I finally got my Australian PR. Yipeeeeeeeeee! I don't think I'll be getting much sleep tonight but who cares. Keith will be taking me out to a nice place for dinner tomorrow to celebrate this significant journey and milestone in my life.

I also just bought a Nintendo DS Lite this morning. Guess it'll be a little pressie to myself for this joyous occasion and something to remind me of. 02/09/2008 - what a beautiful date! :) Spring also just started yesterday so it certainly is a joyous season :) Cheers!

Handbag Holder and Handbag Organizer

I bought a handbag holder and handbag organizer from the internet. I find it extremely useful and well priced too. The handbag holder is a small round metal thing which can be extended to become a hook. It keeps your handbag off dirty floors especially when you go to a restaurant and have no place or empty seat to put your handbag on.

The handbag organizer is another excellent idea especially when you are searching for something. No more rummaging through your bag trying to get an item out. With the handbag organizer you get to organize your stuff into separate compartments within easy eyesight and reach.

Black Forest Cake, Cherry Zabaglione, Chocolate Granache

This is Keith's Black Forest Cake with Cherry Zabaglione and Chocolate Granache that he made for the cake making competition organized by Overclockers Forum Australia.

Ingredients
Making the chocolate cake mix. Melting chocolate and butter over a double boiler.
Flour added
Egg whites beaten to stiff peak and folded into cake mixture.
Cake tin in the oven.
Cooking the cherries with the cherry liqueur.
Start of the cherry zabaglione. 6 egg yolks. To follow: caster sugar, cherry liqueur.
Cherry filling finished.
Chocolate cake out of the oven.
Cherry zabaglione being made on double boiler.
Cake cut in half ready to receive filling. More cherry liqueur sprinkled on chocolate cake.
Cherry zabaglione goes on cake.
Cherry mixture goes on cake.
Chocolate granache under construction Melt dark chocolate and mix cream in.
Finished chocolate granache.
Chocolate granache spread on cake.
Finished cake.

Here is a picture of the cake being served. Luckily we had some guests over for lunch the next day .

Where was I when the cake was artfully done? Sick in bed! haha. So, this is basically Keith's post on the overclockers forum which I conveniently sought permission from to post on my blog. How did Keith go in the competition? He came out 2nd! Yay!