First X'mas in OZ

Cookies and ...


... Cream, Ice Cream

Can't help it, but all my entries now are again somehow related to food, especially good food. By the look of it, I'm 99% sure that Go and Shee Yun will love the homemade Berrylicious choc ice-cream; on the contrary, Ma would be disgusted.

This is the first Christmas I spent in Australia even though I have been here for almost 8 years altogether. It is just like another public holiday or Sunday where nothing is open and for the whole week there was hardly any traffic during peak time. I brought teerdi and ern to our Christmas bilingual service which hosted some special programs. In the afternoon, I was in coma for 4 sweet hours which were very much needed. We had our dinner at home specially prepared by chef teerdi and no beer (what the!) but luckily dessert master ern made us the Swensen's ice cream equivalent.

One major event that the Melburnians look forward to for Christmas is the Carols by Candlelight, which is telecast live on TV. It is an Australian Christmas tradition where people gather at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl to sing carols by candlelight. I didn't regret not joining the crowd because it was just way too crowded and I'll do fine with just watching the TV. Most audience without seatings brought rugs along to sit on. The event featured an orchestra; Australian singers, people from the entertainment industry and TV hosts took turn to lead the audience singing carols. With the audience holding candles and singing carols, it did create a true, warm Christmas ambience.

* More photos in my Facebook

冬至

It was a fine Saturday afternoon when someone (that would be me) realized this day, 22 Dec, signifies the "start of winter". As Chinese, we ought to somehow celebrate this day even though OZ is at the southern hemisphere where winter is still another 6 months from now. 22 Dec is also the day with the longest period of daylight, known as the Winter Solstice.

We decided to make 汤圆 from scratch. As we hunt for our ingredients in Box Hill market, we accidentally came across a stall that sells nice 奶皇包 and 莲蓉包. Box Hill was so crowded with Chinese that it felt like KL or HK in some way. We had a hard time finding the glutinous flour as there were only a few packs left and they were covered with the overloaded goods next to it. Eventually we were all satisfied with the main ingredients including some pandan-flavoured green colouring as well as the pink colouring.

We started kneading the flour, added the colourings and molded them into different shapes and objects. I did one with spiderman head (photo below), a dice with fallen dots (numbers), Ern did a pyramid while NH molded a white object-not-to-be-named. But most of the 汤圆 I made were stuffed with crushed peanuts and sugar.


Important ingredients in making 汤圆: Glutinous flour, gula melaka, peanuts, sugar, water, ginger, colouring and the dough kneading skill


There are two ways of serving 汤圆, one with the ginger + gula melaka soup, and the other served dry sprinkled with chopped peanuts and sugar. The latter seems to be a variation of Mochi 麻糬, only it is not as sticky. Perhaps we will try making a different type filled with sesame paste and/or using black sesame soup for 元宵 i.e. first full moon after Chinese New Year. Maria will then again have the honour of tasting our experimental products which we believe will again be better than the frozen, ready-made 汤圆 she got from the Asian supermarkets.

TT Tournament

Right when the work at the E/// company has begun to become dull and routine, our new team lead took the initiative to reform and build up everyone's momentum by organizing the first table tennis tournament. The Herron Government does have a unique way to gain support, well, at least from me who has a weak spot on table tennis. I started playing ping pong excessively when I started my first job in A company where I could play to the wee hours i.e. when the sports complex closes. Now I'm again drawn to this game but due to extreme pressure and limited break time, lunch hour is the only time to play. I wonder if I could be a school rep if I learned ping pong from young. I could have spent most of my teen life playing and ignoring the piano and school books, who knows?

The TT tournament began the week prior to Christmas. The first round was a short and easy get together with individual groups. The final, however, involved the entire project team during the company's Christmas lunch. Some people (like me) were too "kiasu" they played over lunch and missed the food. Time tends to tick quicker whenever I'm holding the bat.

To get to the final round, one has to defeat 5 person in a 11-point game. I was lucky enough to beat 4 and entered the semi-final where I was smashed cruelly by the unbeatable champion. No disgrace, at least he wasn't using his left hand which he did to his earlier opponents and still beat them painfully.


I was at my best when I played Ben. It was a close match and he serves well. It would be a much harder match if I wasn't being tipped off



To my surprise, there were actually some crouching tigers and hidden dragons. They are typical jades that lack polishing. The tournament ended in 2.5 hours. The winners get movie tickets while the losers get their spirits lifted for the next smaller scale tournament for doubles.


The unbeatable champ (chimp?) from India earnestly waiting for his chance to defeat his opponent, the TT legend from Sri Lanka, Mr Shaminda de Silva

How did the fish end up?

The end of story of the big snapper with its tail brutally chopped off

The iron chef of S.E. suburb posing with a gentle smile and innocent look. Who knows she might be up to another thousand ways to torture the fish next

Chef assistant looking serious and pitiful at his master's victim who once brought everyone happiness and excitement during the Hastings fishing trip

Contestant #1: Will the use of Ma Ling luncheon meat take down the Iron Chef's crown?

Contestant #2 with her famous Oyako-don. She tried hard, but that led her nowhere in her cooking profession. She's back to her other profession in organising k-sesions

Contestant #3 had no pressure at all being watched knowing that she didn't have even a slight chance of winning with SPAM king around (literally, just behind)

Sweet & Sour Fish looking like a square pizza

Fish, chef and the losers

Summer in OZ

Pier @ Altona Beach

Relaxing at the beach @ 8:10pm

夕阳无限好 @ 8:12pm

The official summer started last Sat but I felt like it was already upon us way long ago. The 37C heat about 2-3 weeks ago had definitely prepared us for the drought. Luckily, the warm welcome was accompanied by a day of thunderstorm that drew a line of rainbow in the sky in the evening on my drive home today. Air definitely feels fresher and Melburnians will be happy to have their car half-cleaned by the downpour.