.Behind Closed Doors.

.Thought of the Day: Beauty is Art and the face is a canvas by which to draw upon.

.Burwood BBQ.

Click. Click. Click. Finally, on goes the bbq. The sudden rush of heat was a welcoming comfort by all as the bbq began to emit noises of crackles and pops. Looking up to the grey heavens, the sun... or whatever the fading ball of light was... was begining to set and soon enough the skies darkened. Cold was creeping its way to the back gardens of this quiet house nestled in Burwood. Not long after, rain came.

However, don't be fooled by the misery of darkened, wet weather for there is the comfort of friends and food to remedy even the most coldest of hearts.

This happened last Sunday in Burwood, where Ms DT, SG, DG and myself were invited for a bbq dinner at Poland's house. Initially I had thought it was going to be a huge bbq get together with tons of people expected to arrive. However it wasn't until heading over there that I found out it was just us.

Dinner was great - one of the best that I've had in the longest of time and we were fed so well that I was full up well throughout the night. Not going to say much else as my mind has suddenly gone blank on me. But I would like to leave you with this picture that I found slightly humorous and thought perhaps I'd share it with you:

Its open for interpretation. lol.

.More photos: Burwood BBQ.

.RIP buddy.

Woke up to saddening news today: I have lost a friend.

In a place where my world was lit by the burning lights of friendship, amongst the motionless flames, one has finally flickered and blacked out for good.

I never took the opportunity to get to know him well, but that doesn't mean to say I never once appreciated the sincere warmth of his friendship.

Of all the people I have come to know in my life, I can truly say that Mike is definitely one that stands out from the crowd. He is one of those rare, sincere people that are extremely hard to come by.

With all he meets, he was unpretentious in nature, genuine in gesture and always joyful in moods. Unlike many I have come to know after leaving Toronto, his friendship was always honest and given to you regardless of who you are, how you are and what you have done.

He stepped into my life during the first years of UTSC: he was my neighbour. I still have a fond memory of first year's thanksgiving dinner and I can still recall how the house was roaring and rumbling with unstoppable laughter as soon as he walked past my front door.

Mike truly lived his life: made every opportunity the most that he could and to the best of his ability. He was always positive and had an amazing love for life.

Mike, you are definitely one of the greatest people I have ever met in my life, despite the shortness of time. Wish I had gotten to know you better.

RIP Mike Nassar. May Peace be with You.

.Diary and A Pot Pie.

Finally had bought myself a journal yesterday in dire hopes that it may help cure my sudden twitch to begin penning again. Now I'm not sure if most of you had this habit as kids, but growing up I always had the habitual tendency to pen my thoughts down onto paper.

So today, with a few mates, we scrounged through the streets of Melbourne in vain search of a good-quality journal book which I hope wasn't a long, dreadful experience for my dear friends.... and after hours upon end, I finally found one. I have to say: I'm so thankful to have good close friends that were patient enough to wait around while I tread back and forth in moments of indecisiveness and uncertainty. Yeah, I have a nasty tendency to be indecisive...

Thankfully, in the nick of time and patience, I had made my decision and without hesitation proceeded with the transaction which now allowed me to now own this lovely journal - which I hope will be filled with pleasant thoughts and memories.

Onto another topic: Pot pie!

After my successful production of individual minced pot pie in Bundoora with Mr. Rockband precisely a week ago, I had made my mind to create another delectable dish to cure the dreary hearts of June's winter weather: Meatball Pot Pie.

At first, I have to admit I was quite hesitant to how the resulting taste of the meatball pot pie would be. This is because I actually don't have any recipe for it and hadn't a clue on how the meatball should taste or be cooked! So... i decided: aw, heck with it... i'm just going to play around with the ingredients and do it by random.

So I quickly gathered all the ingredients that I knew of and attempted to "work my magic". In the end I'm glad to say that I had managed to pull it off with flying colours. Served for dinner, it was meatball pot pie accompanied with fresh uber green, mediterranean salad served with sundried tomato dressing.

Perhaps I may come off as gloating, but I can't help but be happy with this dish: my own version of honey-mustard meatballs with piping hot potatoes and crunchy carrots. As you cut down into the pie, you can see the steam swirling up into the air followed by a sweet-rustic aroma of the meatballs in tomato sauce. And nothing comes better than a serving of your bestest, freshest mediterranean salad with its tangy sundried tomato dressing.

MmmMMmmmmMMMMMmmm!!!! This is definitely one for the recipe books!

.Docklands on Fire.

Before anything: No! Docklands was not on fire!

Took these photos sometime at the end of last month, where Mr. Rockband and I had attended the launch of Melbourne's winter event: Ignite@Docklands. It's a free event, meant for all in Melbourne to come out from hiding and enjoy the heat that the city of Melbourne has to offer in Docklands. There so many to be seen with a vast array of fire and light-themed performances such as fire-fueled music shows, shadow puppetry and interactive pyramid vortexes of lights and sounds.

.Scenes from Ignite @ Docklands.

Bracing the blastering cold and jostling through the crowd, Mr Rockband and I got there in time to set up gear and catch the eye-opening performances called the Pyrophone Juggarnaut: which basically was a massive organ instrument, shaped in the form of a ship, that was played by igniting fire under or around the organ pipes. Sounds were also complimented with addictive, rhytmatic sounds of percussions.

.The Fire-Horn in Pyrophone Juggarnaut.

An interesting note I found from another blogger:
"Pyrophone Juggernaut is the world’s largest hand-operated multi-octave fire organ it is also fuelled by fire, and is made from stainless steel, copper and aluminium industrial salvage."

.Percussion in Pyrophone Juggarnaut.

The one thing I loved about the show was the huge blast ending that just boomed fire up into the air and shook the very ground we were standing on - you could briefly hear the window panels wobbling. I have to say that standing in the cold, amidst the crowd, the sudden intense heat blown up into the air felt so good and welcoming.

.Fire-Blazed Organs.

After the Pyrophone Juggarnaut show, there was a long dramatic, intense and splendid fireworks show. Bright colours shoot up into the heavens, against the darken background of the deep blue night skies and fill up every watcher's eyes with wonder. Strays of light burst into fiery flowers, reflections mirrored onto the harbour's waters.

.Fireworks by the Harbour's Water.

Faces exploded into smiles and amazement as the whole experienced was intensified by the accompanying music drawn from various artists, and also a dramatic opera/orchestra symphony piece.

.Me Love Music.

Weather: Uber-cold and mega-gloomy
Song: How do you do by Roxette

It's funny how quickly your mood changes (for better or for worse) when you immerse yourself with music. Sometimes when I'm feeling the blues and I can't stand it, I drown my sorrows with really, really, REALLY loud music. lol. It really helps lift my spirits up... especially when it's a real upbeat tune.

It feels so good that it makes me want to jump up and dance the whole night away. It does! It helps, trust me... try it out... but remember to listen to upbeat songs... not those depressing heavy metal emo shit that screams and moans about hatred, misery and suicide.... like.. whoa... take a chill pill please?

I had a sudden urge to return back to the clear blank canvases of a journal and start writing again. I don't know why. Maybe I'm trying to tell myself that I'm in need of some release? Speaking of which, I had just changed my msn status to saying that I was in need of some new songs... Miraculously just as I checked my email a few mins ago, I had received a mail from YouSendIt.com with a link to a music file by Jason Mraz.

Have to say I'm quite hesitant to click on it... as I don't know who sent me this file. Looks a bit dodgy... hmmm... I wonder if it's legit... and if it is, who could've sent it? Oh no! it's the case of the mysterious music link! *tan tan TA!!!*.... lol, dramatic much?

Note:
Don't mind me. Adrenaline, it seems, has plagued my system due to the lack of Zzzzz's.

.Crunch Time.

As of late, I haven't been able to luxuriously spend time on the triple w. and consequently, it has affected my blogging habits. School is now over, and exam times are in.... so for many of us students, no more fun and games: it's crunch time.

So what has happened since my last entry? A lot, I should say

Tonight... or rather, I should say last night, I had just returned home from a dinner hosted by two sisters who recently have come to be good friends of mine. A sumptuous dinner for twelve good friends with dishes compromised of lamb - yup, pretty much everything was lamb-based. Except one plate serving of chicken made especially for our dear poultry-lover friend, Mr. Poker.

Dinner got on a bit later than expect... ok, maybe a bit is an understatement... we were nearly 2 hours behind our original time frame. lol. So while there were loud clatterings and sizzling melodies swimming from the kitchen, some of the others decided to entertain themselves with JENGAAA!!!!

Lamb dishes of various sorts were placed onto the dinner table, to name some from the top of my head: bbq-lamb chops, lamb pot pie and a roasted whole lamb leg. These were accompanied by several side dishes: baked ciabatta bread with dippings, mashed potatoes, fresh green garden salad, garlic bread and plenty more.

It was nice to see everyone ending the dinner with filled pot bellies and a huge smile stretched across their faces, glowing with contentment.

This dinner was actually a last-minute get together for Ms Dimples, whom I affectionately call kaka bubus (literal translation: sister with holes - for obvious reasons). She shall be returning back to Brunei next week for her mid-term holidays, lucky woman!

Chocolate and Sugar-induced motivation hit the girls somewhere later that night... with plenty of marshmellow and ferrero rocher leftovers, we used chocolate brownie frosting as glue and ended up making our very own marshmellow man! Doesn't he look so sexy? lol.