goodbye melbourne, hello sydney!

I will be off to Sydney for a week:)

Will keep you guys updated once I get back.

Enjoy the holidays!*I know I will:)*

beautiful melbourne

The magnificent Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton Gardens was completed in 1880 for Melbourne’s first International Exhibition in the late nineteenth century. Melbourne was a prosperous city basking in the wealth from the richest gold rush in the world.

Today, the Royal Exhibition Building flourishes as one of the world's oldest exhibition pavilions, symbolising the great 19th century international exhibition movement, and on 1 July 2004 became the first building in Australia to achieve world heritage listing.


The magnificent interior, the paintings on the dome is the original painting and no touch up work has been done.





The picture shows how the flag on the peak of the Royal Exhibition Museum was erected when it was to first open.


The list shows the important events dating back as far as the opening of the Royal exhibition till 2001, which includes the opening of the Australian parliament on the 9th of May 1901.


Behind the Royal Exhibition Museum is the Melbourne Museum which contains collections stretching from evolution to aborigine arts and disputes.


As I was leaving the Carlton Gardens,




A stroll in a nearby park called...

"The shrine of remembrance" was build in remembrance of those who served and those who died in the Great War of 1914-1918 and armed conflicts and peacekeeping duties since.






The view from the balcony of the shrine of remembrance during sunset



More on the park...

The garden surrounding the shrine...



A beautiful day even during the cold winter...

desserts

holiday + boredom + winter = increase in appetite = cravings for dessert *blame it on the weather*

First up, a dessert called 'boh kiap' *a hainanese dessert* which dough is made out of flour and water.

The dough is kneaded until the texture becomes just right.

The fun part begins when the dough is rubbed between the hands to make the distinctive shape and is then dropped into the boiling pot of water, ginger and sugar.

If you do get bored of the original shape, you can always diversify by making circles or like yih wen who decided to make squares, triangular and rectangular shapes *all depending on your creativity*

*I made a dough man before but everything fell apart as soon as it hit the boiling water, my failed attempt*

Next up, 'taufu fah'.*gasp*....*i know what you're thinking, taufu fah??!!??seriously??!!??*

It's actually from a packet, everything pre-mixed, no hard labour like grinding the soy beans required.

All that is needed is a whisk and a lot of patience.


Ta dah! taufu fah..made is australia:) It's quite good but nothing beats kimberly road's in penang.

Chocolate chip and almond muffin

A friend of mine helped make the dough *fyi: she's a real chef*

Ingredients: choc chips, choc powder, honey, almond chips, water, egg, butter, self-raising flour...

As you can see below, we made 2 batches, can you spot the difference?


For hungry eyes *ahem* trained eyes,

The first batch *circled ones* have less EVERYTHING (almonds and choc chips)...

"Save the best for the last"


*I had 5 muffins within 1 hour* I feel so freaking FAT now, and I'm tempted to get another one*

'I blame it on the weather, damn winter!*lolx

wedding bells

To my dearest sister,


You may never know how much you mean to me,

Thank you for being there for me,

Thank you for being my sister,

I am eternally grateful for everything you have done for me,

And now with your special day just around the corner,

Be it as I may not be there on your wedding day,

But know this, my spirit will be there with you

To celebrate that joyous day,



May your love be modern enough to survive the times and old-fashioned enough to last forever,

To love, laughter and happily ever after...

Congratulations...

Love,

Your lil' sis

moments

have you ever had comfortable silence with someone you could talk forever to?

just to sit together, enjoying each other's company,

it didn't matter where we were,

only who we were with,

just being in the moment, truly enjoying each second

being in present, letting go of the past

when the world didn't matter,

when we could truly be us for that one moment in time,

i miss those rare moments...

when the world was square

It seems like ages ago...

When the world seemed so simple,

It was just you and me,

And you said 'Together, we'll turn the world upside down'

Nothing else mattered because we thought we could do it all,

Slowly and painfully,

We learn that it is not that easy,

Nothing ever is,

Can we still turn the world upside down together?

You and me...

seasons change

Would you rather be the first day of Spring or the last day of winter?

Spring,



Winter,