.Stepping Back.

This happened a while back - can't really recall the date but I remember it was sometime when the Weather was a little brighter, nicer and warmer in Melbourne (something that was a rare occasion nowadays). By pure coincidence, all the ladies weren't fasting due to personal reasons so we opted to head out to the beach and enjoy the sun! :)

Ladies waiting for the Tram to the beach: Misses T, P and A

It was a lovely day: the sun was nice and warm although the weather was spoilt a bit - upon our arrival on the beach, the wind picked up and it was cold. We went walking about the beach from one end to another before we were approached by a stranger who asked if she could take a photo with us... yeah, i know: weird, right? Turns out.. after taking a shot with us, she was approaching everyone else on the beach to do the same thing... it's funny how tourists are sometimes! He he..

.Ms A. enjoying the sun by the vegetarian cafe.

After concluding that the wind was too cold to allow us to enjoy our relaxing session facing the beach, we headed to try out this Vegetarian Cafe located by a balcony.... Discovery of the Week: Not all Vegetarian dishes are yucky. We ordered some tid-bits and coffee for some munchies and drinks. Good stuff.

.Yummy Vegetarian Dishes: (Top) Potato Chips & Gyoza, (Below) Spring Rolls & Pesto Riceballs.

Later that evening, there was a quick catch-up session with some mates at Minang Restaurant - unfortunately as we arrived late, I didn't have much time to take photos of the whole lot as I launched into having dinner with the lads outside in the cold weather.

However, I did manage to catch some photos after the dinner session when we went out for a quick coffee at MZ to spoil the new birthday boy with a "lap dance" from a belly dancer. Unfortunately we didn't get to do it as the birthday boy had to call it an early night and left... plus the belly dancer was too interested in keeping the patrons downstairs happy that she forgot to come upstairs :( Ah well, nonetheless it was good fun. :)

.Coffee at MZ: (Top) Mr.Korea and Ms P. (Bottom) Ms T & Ms. A.

Last but not least: I know it's a few days late but I just want to take this opportunity to wish
Mr. Silhouette a Happy Birthday!

.Birthday boy: Mr. Silhouette.

.2009 Sungkai Coburg.

It's a Sunday evening, precisely 30 mins left before dinner awaits as the day slowly glooms darker and the soft cold breeze starts kicking in. I've had 8 hours of sleep but I'm still feeling knackered - tried to get some shut eye but sadly that didn't work because the TV became too interesting.. haha...

Pictures from last night's dinner

Another dinner on another Saturday night hosted by another Bruneian family who was generous and kind enough to invite us to their loving home to join them for the break of fast (unfortunately this time I didn't have time to get a photo shoot of the hosting family). Dinner last night took place in Coburg, a nice big home situated 20mins from the city by train in the suburbs of Melbourne.

Some of the ladies during dinner

beautiful! A nice big suburb house with white high ceilings, spacious layout, big kitchen and best of all the patio - where we spent most of the night hanging out with friends on the kid's swing and the steps besides the BBQ station. It was a nice night to be hanging outside to enjoy the weather as it was neither a cold nor hot. Furthermore the evening cool breeze made it more enjoyable to sit and appreciate company.

Other Bruneian Students studying in Melbourne

As with the previous other dinners, there were lots of people and tons more food to be found: the main course meals were catered by a local Melbourne restaurant, Lazzat, and there were also a few things brought by some guests, mostly the desserts. The family also hosted a late night supper/sahur eating session where they jump started the bbq grill and proceeded to cook some of the most delicious lamb that I've tasted. Remembering the sweet, aromatic smell filling the air last night is starting to get me hungry again... hahaha

Ms. T & A enjoying the patio with Mr Awesome

The group last night also took the opporunity to organise a surprise advanced birthday wish to Mr.ArmyBand as well with a lovely cake from Brunetti. Sadly, I didn't get to try out most of the dessert as I found myself more focused towards taking photos and somehow forgot to try out some of the food on offer...ah well, there's always next time.

Mr ArmyBand & his wife with his surprise birthday cake

Officially as of today, it's plus/minus 7 days left of the Ramadan season and soon enough, we will be celebrating the much awaited and anticipated Eid Celebrations - something I'm looking forward to as I will be flying back home to celebrate it with my family! Just the thought of it is making me giddy with excitement!

For more photos: 2009 Coburg Sungkai

.2009 Flinders Sungkai.

Scenes from Thursday’s night dinner.

Thursday night was our turn to host a small sungkai gathering with some good friends. As much as we wanted to throw a big gathering, unfortunately our place wasn't big enough to fit 20+ people :( It wasn’t a big crowd (I think T kinda expected more people to join us but sadly some of them didn’t make it) so in the end, we ended up with a LOT of food and drinks. Meh, it’s ok I suppose – it doesn’t bother me. At least consider the bright side: as a house, we don’t have to worry about what to cook or drink for the next few days! He he.

Dinner was a LOT: T baked us some good ole’ lasagna to indulge the garfields inside each one of us, whilst Deuce toasted the lovely garlic breads in the oven (after which we sprinkled cheese inside to melt into the breads), iYay cooked us some lovely hot mushroom soup to soothe the soul whilst P brought some homebaked mars bars goodies. Fearing it wasn’t enough (for I was SURE, there were a lot of people coming) I popped over to Coles to buy some ice-lollies for the whole lot. Mr.Awesome was coming over with a bucket of KFC. A LOT of food , right?

Number of estimated guests: 10
Number of actual guests: 8

T in the process of preparing the Lasagna

Now a difference of two less doesn’t appear to be such a big thing, however take note that the two missing guests were those with TALENTED NEVER-ENDING skills called eating and as for their remaining 2 friends who did show up: they were simply too shy to ask for more seconds. So yeah, we were left with TONS of food… it was a good thing Mr. Awesome showed up and didn’t buy the KFC (although he was bickering about it for a good while after, lol)

As we break fast

I’m quite pleased with myself in that I did manage to refrain myself from over indulging and stuffing my face with these heavenly-bad-for-your-hips goodies to the point where my stomach stretched. For dinner, I paced myself and ate enough… however I can’t really say the same thing about dessert– lol P, I SO blame you for that! Towards the end of the night, I was like an energizer bunny driven by a rush of sugar in my system (I refuse to provide anymore details on this matter… lol so fast forward to post-dessert)

Post dessert time: By this time everyone was feeling the drone of sleepiness from having a rich dinner. Whilst each person plopped themselves onto the couches, barely covered by blankets and comfortably watching Top Gear episodes on TV, I decided to really spend quality time with my new baby, who came to grace his presence in my life earlier that day at noon! Boy, was I one happy girl :) (I shall post more about this new baby later).

For more photos: 2009 Flinders Sungkai

.I hate Sundays.

Ladies LOVE to pose :)

Omg... I really hate Sundays, especially after two nights of craziness that involves good friends, good music, good food and the feeling of being young again (hahaha, no! I am NOT old). One day is NOT enough for recuperation.... !! Which is why I love Fridays and Saturdays: fridays being the start of a lovely weekend and Saturday as I know the next day I'm not required to go to work/school! Hahaha....

Friday night was a blast and I have to say it has been a while since I've done that, mostly because I haven't had the time and the opportunity. Looking forward to doing that again! I was introduced to a couple of.. actually TONS more new people (Cat, Danny, Vandy and more) who were just simply awesome - or as one of them would like to say: "i leak of awesomeness!!" These guys were simply off the wall! As soon as they stepped into the apartment, they were pretty much everywhere. One minute they're lying tummy flat on the floor, another minute one is sitting quietly on the edge of the sofa whilst the other is on the floor, then the next minute, they're up again and all over the place... (note to self: must child-proof apartment and pad the walls). As we were leaving, they (Cat and Danny) started running up and down the hallway playing SWAT team.

Time flew so fast that night but it doesn't mean that I didn't have fun. We were joined in by a few other friends as the night went on with B10 and TB, also not forgetting the usual gang. The next morning, after less than 4 hours of recuperation sleep I was up and away baking 2 batches of white chocolate brownies right after we finished our house inspection for potential buyers and investors. No sooner than that, I found myself busy getting ready before hopping onto a train to go to Frankston to join a few good friends for the break of fast in Frankston.

Last night's dinner was an invitation made by Nik and his family, where they also held a brief prayer session to bless the occasion. Last night coincidentally it was also his wife's birthday. So the gang snuck in a birthday cake in time to surprise her as well. She was so surprised and overjoyed that she teared up a bit (awwww...)

Happy Birthday Ka Nong

Top: Nick & his wife, the Birthday Gal
Bottom: Birthday Cake & Perth's renowned Apple Streudel

Dinner was great! It has been such a long time since I've had actual Bruneian food (I usually don't eat these kinds of food as I find it too rich sometimes but last night I was willing to make an exception). There was SO MUCH food around! Among the few: beef rendang, chicken curry, hati buyah, squid in kicap, shrimp, pandan chicken and plenty more!

Top: Time to eat
Bottom: Some of the Frankston/City Ladies

I also got to try Perth's renowned Apple Streudel (which Shm was nice enough to buy and bring back from his brief holiday in Perth last week). It was not bad: basically it was sort of a like cold pastry sandwich with sweetened custard and slices of apple in the middle. It was definitely a full-house and I also got to know a few new Bruneian faces in frankston as well as those living in other areas in Melbourne. Awesome weekend! Thank you guys for the invite!

For more Photos: 2009 Frankston Sungkai

Sungkai at Yallambie

Feeling a little knackered at the moment due to the lack of Zzzzzz! Seriously, I should be catching up on some major beauty sleep tonight but... after a quick glance at the clock, I can't say that I'm actually going to get it... hahahaha...

Had gone to bed at 4 in the morning last night for god knows what... I can't really remember for some reason - Actually... I think it was because we were doing last minute clean-ups after arriving home at 2 in the morning (late night coffee with the boys and Nz at Lincontrro). Tt wntd us out of the apartment by 12 so we had to ensure the house was clean and ready for the property agent who was hosting an open house inspection later on that day.

Between 12pm and 4pm, it was all hustle and bustle as I try to manage window shopping, baking and getting ready for tonight's dinner event at the same time. Oh well, it's safe to say I managed through it all, darting from Southern Cross to Coles to Yallambie in a span of 4-5 hours.

Tonight's event was co-hosted by two families living in Yallambie. Both husbands are here to study music with the Australian Armed Forces Band and have bought along their family to live with them here in Melbourne.

Top: The two families hosting the one of many Sungkai for Ramadan dinners.
Bottom: A few of the lovely ladies present for the event

The event was certainly a good one: lots of good food, lots of good friends, tons of laughter and tons more photos! (oh yeah!) I was fortunate enough to have Mn lend me his flash gun for the night and I got to try it out for fun - which was certainly a good thing as recently I had just purchased my very own flash unit from ebay. So tonight was a good crash course to flash photography!

Some of the desserts from tonight's dinner

Tons of food (of different types) were to be found that night. Not surprisingly the dessert section was almost cleaned out, but that doesn't mean to say that the main course wasn't good. Dear god, I have to say it has been SUCH a long time since I've had food cooked Brunei-style. Now I really can't wait to go home and spend time in Brunei for Eid celebrations!

After the break of fast, words of prayer were said to bless the holy month

It was certainly a good get together with plenty of laughter, which is one of the things I always look forward to when I know I have dinner with my Bruneian friends and I'm very appreciative of the support they provide to you when you're in need of one. The close-supportive family-oriented units are very helpful to you, particularly if you are alone and away from home.

Some more of the faces from tonight's events.
I was quite pleased that I had ended up with 300+ photos.
To view more, check them out here: 08.29.09 - Yallambie Sungkai

.Regreso.

Yup folks, I'm back - for how long? I can't really say. lol. You may have notice some subtle changes I've made towards the layout of my blog. Well actually no, I've made a dramatic change... hahaha... I've changed EVERYTHING on it. Solely based on reasons of boredom and plus, previously I was simply following crappy advices and feedbacks from only one person. I never realised how crappy and confusing the previous layout was. So now, i'm opting for simple. He he. Will it be better this time? I don't know, time can only tell.

So what have I been up to as of late?

Tons and tons of things. I think it's a pity though, that in the past two months, I've only blogged twice when so much has happened. Hopefully within these next few days/weeks/months, I may be able to show off what I've missed blogging. Hehehe... So start off...

Perhaps I'll just start with the first day of Fasting month: more specifically the opening of fast. For those not familiar with this fasting season. Every year in the Muslim calender, there is a holy month whereby muslims will not eat or drink from sunrise to sunset. It is also important during this holy month for muslims to practice good behaviour or at least attempt to be morally good. I suppose you can see it as a character-building experience: you reflect upon yourself and discover a few things about yourself that you never really knew until then.



This was taken on the first night of ramadan. A few close friends had planned this dinner weeks ahead to celebrate the start of ramadan with good friend and good company. We had steamboat that night, or in some places, they call it hot pot. With a huge array of seafoods (shellfish, shrimps/prawn, fish cakes, veggies, mushrooms, etc) cooked in one of two soup broths: spicy tom yum or chicken. Dinner was finished off with another huge selection of desserts: banana-toffee crumble thingy (lol sorry i forgot the name), chocolate rice crispies, hot molten brownies and lots more... lol

We were spoilt for choices. Dinner didn't end until 2 in the morning as we each took our time to eat and enjoy the food. Dear god, that being said... it was safe to say none of us felt the hunger pangs the next day during our fast!!