europe - part four (moscow & berlin)

MOSCOW: Known to the locals as Москва́, this is the capital city of the Russian Federation. I planned and planned this trip, I mean I had the visa readied before I left Perth which seemed like an eon ago and had a Russian friend recommend me places to stay and places to visit... but yet nothing else seemed to be finalised till a few days beforehand. All the places that were probably better for my bank budget looked like they were a little further away from the city centre, so I decided to splurge (as a birthday treat to myself) and stayed in a small boutique hotel smack bang in the heart of the city. I'm so grateful I made that choice because with most of the touristy spots in the city centre, my inability to speak any Russian except for 'thank-you', 'yes' and 'no', plus my tendency to just get lost, well let's just say staying downtown was a very good thing. I was lucky to have seen the city as it started to snow, and boy did it look pretty!

Loved:
At the Kremlin, on top of the Ivan tower as it starts to snow.
The amazing collection of gems and other baubles at the Diamond Fund.
The metro stations... each one is different and they all look like ballrooms with some serious soviet designs on them.

BERLIN: The capital of Germany has gone through so much in the past century and the history of just the last 60 years is enough to make your head spin. The city is full of life and has got tonnes of very creative building designs. There was so much to see and so little time... well gotta make sure I still have things to see for my next visit.

Loved:
Catching up with my friends who I met in Munich.
The East Berlin pedestrian traffic lights.
The locals call the tall TV tower the 'disco ball asparagus'
Christmas markets opened!!!

Finally managed to upload pics from Munich: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=568812&id=859840586&l=f202b6c437

And here are the pics from Moscow & Berlin:
Moscow: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=572265&id=859840586&l=01aaded216
Berlin: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=572294&id=859840586&l=b7f333cf2f

travel update - toronto part two

Besides the wedding, I was able to catch up with my friends from my dip ed course, and friends I have known from my HK days. It was so good to see them all, especially in their now hometowns. I was also able to try out the local food haunts and did lots of window shopping... okay so i was able to squish in a little retail therapy too. Ice hockey has always been a game i have wanted to watch and a friend managed to get me an in to get a pair of tickets, so Kel and I went and watched the Toronto Maple Leafs play again the Atlanta Thrashers... unfortunately the game wasn't too spectacular with the Thrashers winning but we did witness some fights! awesome!

Other highlights for me in Toronto:
- drooling at T&T the huge asian supermarket... it's got everything asian!
- trying Kelly's famous chocolate fudge chunks with dried cherries cookies... delicious!
- dropping my contact lens down the sink drain and having to wait a day before I got some help rescuing the lens... Dan and Veronica came over for a hot pot and Dan opened up the sink's u-tube and fished the lens out!

I've uploaded more pics from my trip: my uni reunion; toronto part one; and toronto part two.

My massive Toronto thankyou: Kwun-Ye and Kelly who helped with the playlist; Kwun-Ye for lending me her phone charger cuz mine decided to conk out; Dan who helped rescue my contact lens from the sink drain pipe; Kim who was a big instigator of retail therapy; Kevin who kindly agreed to help work her sister's shift so that she can take me to the airport; Pat and Kel and Gully for putting up with me for the past week... thank you to the Kans, Pat and Kwun-Ye for speaking chinglish with me... & thank you guys, I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Toronto... hope to be back next year!

another month of posts - day twentysix

Christmas in July... it's quite a popular event here in Australia... it's a fantastic reason for people to enjoy each others company whilst eating and drinking... plus much better than doing nothing during winter. My work colleague organised the event at her house and we all brought a dish each and a kris kringle present. There were some of our current project staff and some older ones from last year and their partners, and it was lovely catching up with everyone outside of work. The food was really yummy... everyone's dish was just delicious! Special mention of the brandy butter... woah there was more brandy than butter in that thing! There was a quiz and prizes... man I was rotten with the quiz... found out that I didn't really know too much about Christmas. The kris kringle was great... I scored a LED flashlight (it's super bright! love it) And towards the end of the night, a few of us began a little attached to the tv as the last time trial of the Tour de France was being shown... such dedicated fans. Oh and as I was driving home with Megan and Rohan we saw a fox! woot woot.

click on images for more pics

another month of posts - day seventeen

It's officially started for the year... that is my annual knitting season has begun. I picked up some wool from the shops on the weekend and I dug out the needles and away I've been going. It's been very therapeutic doing a little knitting while watching tv. I like to knit but I have to admit it's limited skills... I only know how to knit scarves which can be pretty boring. Can someone please teach me how to knit other things? How does one do all the fancy cabling, scalloping, circular stuff with the 3 needles? Still so much to learn!

pic from chinatsu.wordpress.com

another month of posts - day sixteen

Just wondering... Is there a proper way to stay warm in winter? How much heating should one use? Is it justifiable to heat the room until it feels like you're on a tropical island? I reckon it's a pain in the neck to layer on clothes as I usually end up unable to move my arms properly etc... but at the same time I am saving electricity and gas... sigh decisions decisions.

another month of posts - day seven

The weather has been pretty cold recently but I have been pretty impressed and amazed with the selection of flowers that have been available... some of the spring blossoms have already sprung up and are appearing in the shops like the daffodils (normally a late July/ early August bloomer) and ranunculus. And at home, we received a bouquet of cabbage flowers the other day... they are adorable! I'm not sure if they are the ornamental cabbages or ones you can eat them, but they look incredible. Back to the cold weather... the temperature drop has made me crave hot food and drinks... is it bad to have more than one coffee a day? well more the question of can I justify spending money on more than a coffee a day? have I become hooked onto this magical work kickstarter? (I have a creeping suspicion that the answer is a yes) As I have been dreaming about soups, I have been investigating how to make different soups, reading cooking magazines, surfing cooking websites, tv shows, checking out different restaurants etc... my weak observation: Chinese soups are much more broth-ier than Western-styled soups. I will now have to do some taste testing and some trial and error in the kitchen...

Currently loving:
- 打邊爐 steamboat (don't think I typed the correct characters) but I am loving dipping all my food into the boiling hot broth and eating it with an egg, some 沙茶醬 (satay/sacha sauce), 麻油 (sesame oil), 辣椒 (chilli)
- my electric blanket... mmm toasty

another month of posts - day one

I have decided to give blogging for another month a shot. I found that it was actually rather stimulating for me to just jot down stuff... and feel free to provide feedback.

Winter has arrived and the reality of just how bitingly cold it can be especially getting up early in the morning getting ready for work, walking out to the main road to wait for the bus, etc has never seemed more confronting. And there's the funny balance of wearing too much and wearing too little.. wear too little and you'll end up catching a cold, but if you wear too much you'll start sweating especially in a stuffy and enclosed space ie on the train plus you'll feel like an encased sausage/michellin man/giant marshmallow. Hmm I digress... I've been really enjoying catching public transport to work recently... I use it 3-4 times at week now. It's been much more economical, fuel, money and time-wise. I'm really liking the fact I get to read to and from work, not have to stop start in traffic; wonder if I'm going to get stuck in a jam to get to work; worry about finding a car park with the lack of parking around my work area; and having to wait in queue then wrangle with the new parking machines which often do not accept money or spit out the ticket meanwhile trying to resolve the ticket obtaining situation as soon as possible as there are another half a dozen fellow agitated-and-disgruntled-with-the-parking-machine customers also awaiting to have a go at wrangling with the bloody machine. I'm also really liking that I get to take in the surroundings as I walk past... I've been intrigued by the deciduous trees changing into their vibrant colours then shedding their leaves... and the beautiful textures and patterns they create as they pile on the ground... simply breathtaking.

sprout playing with the leaves outside church + the tree that captured my attention at the mount lawley golf club

ps: this is my 150th post! wow can't believe this blog has sustained and lasted this long.
pps: labels or no labels? still deciding.