Updates?

This week's Masterchef is the last week before the finals and frankly, I CANNOT WAIT!

A few reasons why I like watching this show:

1. It always makes me hungry, so having dinner while watching this show is what I look forward to nearly everyday (sad, but true :p)
2. It makes me want to cookcookcook/bakebakebake and has definitely pushed me to try a few things I would never have tried making (or even knew existed!)
3. It has taught me sooooo many new things about how to appreciate certain types of food and how they are prepared.

MMmmm! Basically, I do believe that Masterchef Australia is successfully educating the general Aussie public about what food really is about. Having said that, I have also realised that fine dining dishes ain't no walk in the park for your liver - so go slow on the expensive stuff!

This show has been HUGELY received by Aussie viewers and there are a few silly people trying to sneak a ride on its success. It drives me crazy! Just wanted to put it out there :p

On a seperate note, I woke up at 4.15am this morning to watch the FIFA World Cup final and I must say that I was just a tad bit disappointed by the fact that both teams had to resort to so much violence on the field in order to put adequate pressure on each other. And I thought the AFL and NRL here were bad! But all that aside, I was ecstatic that Fernando Torres played in the end, albeit for only about 10 minutes. It was all worth it after all. Viva Espana (♥Torres!)

Oh and on another seperate note, Wang Lee Hom has just released a song from his new album! I'm not sure what it means just yet, since it's in Mandarin and all, but I will and must obtain a translation soon. Squee!

Don't Get Punched in the Face :s

I went for a daytrip to Mt Buller yesterday (Tuesday) to snowboard. My trip to Hotham during the previous weekend wasn't enough. So 3 friends and I headed up yet another mountain in search of that adrenaline rush that only snowboarding down a steep slope and still having control of your board gives you. Well, drugs do that too - but this way is much safer... Or so I thought!

Decided to be a hero and try a run where the only way up is to ride a T-bar. For those who don't snowboard/ski, a T-bar is an upside-down T-shaped bar (duh!) that you are meant to hook onto your leg and it pulls you up the slope. I'd seen it numerous times at Mt Hotham but had decided that I'd rather just use a regular chairlift. This time, I had no choice. And 4 tries later, I was still stuck somewhere near the bottom of the slope - I kept falling down 1/4 of the way up. Nyeh. Luckily, there was a ski instructor who rode up with me on my 5th try and he helped me keep my balance and I managed to make it all the way to the top!! I was so relieved that I'd FINALLY reached the top and could now just take a regular chairlift when... (with my amazing luck)... a T-bar HIT ME in the face.

Yes, I was in pain... and shock. I fell to the ground clutching my nose (yes, second nose accident in a month!) and tried to will the pain away. Then I realised that my nose was bleeding all over my light blue ski jacket and WHITE ski pants. My friend who was standing a small distance aways thought that the blood on my pants was some sort of cloth pattern. Meh. I must admit, I did cry... and hyperventilate... But both the bleeding and hyperventilating stopped soon enough. And the best part was that I got to ride one of those snowmobile thingos with the paramedic dude who came to check on me.

So now, my left eye is swollen (the T-bar hit the left side of my face and my nose). But I'm just glad that nothing worse happened.

I went to get my left eye checked today and they gave me eyedrops to dilate my pupils so that they could see the back of my retina properly. The doctor told me that they stay dilated for about 3 hours or so after that. And as I walked back to my apartment, I understood why druggies wear sunnies even at night - I hadn't brought sunnies, so I had to look down with my eyes only 20% open to block out the excessive light. Note that it was a particularly gloomy day in Melbourne :p

The end verdict isn't too bad. My left eye should be alright once the swelling goes down - I look like I got punched realll bad :p The eye doctor person told me that my eye wasn't damaged (apparently my eyelid did it's job of protecting my eyeball :p). And now, I have yet another "What (Silly) Shobie Did" story to add to my collection.

Not planning to ride a t-bar EVER AGAIN.

And just for the record, I prefer Hotham over Buller anytime - better snow, better slopes :)

Australia vs Japan

My first real life football (soccer) match!! :)

Didn't really know what was going on... Spent most of the time laughing at the fouls and referee's antiques and the players' dress sense :p

But it was still fun.

Did the mexican wave ONCE... Missed it TWICE. Seriously, how was I supposed to know there was one going around the stadium (massive as it was) when I was busy keeping my eye on the ball?!?!

Ate some super salty and MSG-laden chips (that tasted awesome nonetheless!). Put myself in the best situation to catch the swine flu... :s One stadium with 70,000 people - at the rate Victoria's going, there must have been a few people with the flu there... Don't want to get QUARANTINED!

Heard the Australian Boys' Choir perform before the match started. Sadly, not many of the other spectators shared my enthusiasm for that performance :( Boo. But they sang my favourite Aussie song, "I Still Call Australia Home"!! ♥ ♥ ♥

Saw Tim Cahill (the 'star' of the Aussie team) score 2 goals - according to my more football-savvy (I fall under the 'football noob' category :p) friends, they weren't exactly awesome goals... But then, both teams had chosen to rest some of their best players.

I've decided that I like Mark Schwarzer!! He made some pretty cool saves :)
(though I think he looks better from afar rather than up close... :p)

That's all for now.

Nyeh.

The crowd at the MCG

Australia scoring their first goal!

Some Aussie fans letting off flares after Australia's first goal... :s

*The pics shown here were taken by my friend, Tai Jia*

I've become a fan of the Australian Masterchef series that's been showing on Channel 10 for the past 3 weeks and it makes me want to be able to cook as well as the contestants and chefs in the show!!! I've always been a huge fan of cooking shows and watching this show has shown me that ordinary people (even 'kids' my age!!) can come up with awesome looking and tasting dishes. I always get the urge to raid my 'pantry' for ingredients to come up with my own (hopefully not-too-awful) culinary inventions. Some have been good... Some were... pretty awful :p

Of course, I don't dream of owning a restaurant of my own... I would melt/disintegrate (oh wow! btw, I didn't know that this blogger thing had a spell-check which corrects my spelling :p) from all the pressure!! And then there's the reality check - that I'm not anywhere as good as those people in Masterchef. But it doesn't keep me from trying to up my game :p Try and try again, right? And if all fails, CHEAT. Hehe. Though I'm not sure how to cheat with cooking... (Use ready-made/pre-mixed ingredients??)

And just for those interested to know, my trusted internet source for good, tried and tested (and therefore reliable) recipes is www.taste.com.au :) :) It's got loads of recipes from all the Aussie magazines and cooking shows and has reviews by people who've tried them. Do check it out when you can!!

And I also need to mention that almost ALL of my friends have become foodies overnight!! Cool, but a weird coincidence :p

Pilates or MacBook???

THIS

OR

THIS?

I'm supposed to be finishing my assignment now... But it can wait :p
For awhile at least.

I just got off the phone with Sher Reen and am very excited that the thought of taking pilates classes!! (Reading Women's Health kinda makes you want to do pilates and go jogging :p)

But I also want to save up my money that I'll be earning this semester for a new MacBook... My current laptop is slowly dying.

Howww???

I really want to do pilates....
(But then what about my MacBook???)

Boo-hoo.

The Day Nadal Won and Federer Cried

:(
I couldn't decide who to support from the start. Nadal had fought so hard for his place in the finals but surely Federer deserved to reclaim the title that he'd last won in 2007?

Then came the match....

I watched the first set and half of the second set before heading out for dinner where I was constantly updated about the progress of the match by sms. We finished eating and rushed down to Chilli's in time to see Nadal play the winning point and roll on the ground in elation.

Yeah, what a match (I missed 3/5 of it).

And then I got home in time to see Nadal giving his little speech on the makeshift podium and Federer all teary-eyed in the background :(

I really don't know whether to feel happy for Nadal or sad for Federer... Maybe both?

It was IESS's Poker Night yesterday and what I feared might be a huge flop turned out to be quite a success after all :D I was the raffle tickets seller person girl thingo :p It was quite a fun job except I had to be totally and obviously 2-faced by telling everyone they had a really good chance of winning the 2 iPod shuffles we were giving away. Bad karma be gone!!!
All in all, it turned out to be a good night, I made a few new friends and became better acquainted with some not so new ones. I feel good!

And I woke up this morning, skipped my morning lecture and I'm still feeling good!!! Except it's beginning to get cloudy outside... Gggrrr. Stupid rain clouds. Disappear! Yeah, wishful thinking :p

*SMILE*
:D :D :D

My First Day in Perth

I like Perth, even though it's a little boring for some people. I have half my family there and that's what makes it fun :D My cousins can drive now, and have their own cars. I get fed well. And my parents have flown over too - which means that I don't have to spend my own money :p

I watched the AFL match at the Subioco Oval - West Coast Eagles vs the Brisbane Lions. It was pretty interesting to see everyone dressed up in their Eagles jerseys and scarfs and caps, carrying their Eagles flags to wave during the game. Even I had a scarf to wear (my family in Perth are devout Eagles supporters:p) Some bits of the game were exciting, but some parts were quite boring. My sister and I even accidentally cheered for the Lions once (and got scolded by my 11 year old cousin) *blush!*

At night, we chilled at my uncle's place and then went out to Fremantle for some gelato. It was pretty good! Comparable to the Melbourne gelato :D

More updates coming soon. Stay tuned!!

Ling just got her Wii and my shoulder hurts a lot from all the arm swinging action :p

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Gosh, what a night (or should I say morning?) its been!

Well, it all started with the Federer-Djokovic semis clash which ended with Djokovic beating poor Roger in straight sets. I was shocked!! And what's worse was that I couldn't decide whether I should be feeling sad for Federer or elated for Djokovic. Hence, 'mis-event' number 1.

Then there was the dinner by my old choir to thank all the students, teachers and parents for their support in helping her open her choral academy. Food was good, company even better... then came the lucky draw... :s The highlight of draw being 2 Triumph gifts. There were about 30 odd people at the dinner and about 30 prizes to be given away at the lucky draw. And there I sat waiting for my name to be called out. The odds were pretty much 100% that I would win something, it was just a matter of when. Once all the other gifts had been given away, it was Triumph gift time... Yours truly won the gift pack which included a, very loudly publicised, g-string. No, not the kind that is metal and found on string instruments. This was a g-string. And to top it off, I was sitting with my parents when my name was called! 'Mis-event' number 2.

After the dinner, we (my parents and I) had to pick my sister up from her friend's birthday party at Starhill and we arrived about 1 hour too early. So we conveniently sat down at the lobby of the Marriot and waited patiently... Not so much a 'mis-event' as the previous 2, but one nonetheless. ('Mis-event' number 3)

So finally, my sister and her friend (whom we were giving a lift back) left the party and we were finally headed home!!! Now would be a good time to mention that my dad's brain shuts down at about 11 pm most days and it was already nearly 12 am when we accidentally jumped a red light. And it wasn't even a big red light, it was a teeny weeny pedestrian red light. And note that it wasn't done intentionally as my dad's brain had most certainly stopped working regularly by then. So we thought, "okay, we'll just keep going since we didn't notice that the light was red" but no... A few seconds later, a police patrol car came up behind us and signalled for us to pull over. 'Mis-event' number 4 - we got fined for 'jumping a red light'. Gah!!

So there... my whole line of unfortunate (I used the prefix 'mis', a little lazy word shortcut of mine) events. But what an experience it was :D

Oh and I'm actually a Federer fan. He's a really good player (and a nice person... lol, like I've met him). Just becoming slightly boring because he wins all the time ;)

Nadal Lost :(

I've been rooting for Nadal to get to the finals of the Aussie Open and beat Federer and win the title. But it was obviously not meant to be :(

Random French dude, Tsonga had to spoil it all. And it wasn't even a close match! Nadal lost in straight sets, 2-6, 3-6, 2-6. Imagine how painful it was for me to watch the match. It wasn't that Nadal played badly. He was actually playing pretty well but Tsonga was just too good. I'm so sad.

Oh well... There's always next year. I'll be rooting for Nadal again!

On the bright side.... Tsonga may be good enough to steal the title from Federer... only I don't want the guy who beat Nadal to win the Open. What a dilemma :p Imagine the stress the players must be under.

And Tsonga needs to brush up on his English. I could see him struggling to find the right words when he was being interviewed after the match. I'm so mean :D (and still trying to decide how much to dislike him - hate is too strong a word)

Perhaps Nadal will win Wimbledon? (Hope he defends his French Open title :s)

Can't Wait for the AUSSIE OPEN!!! Who will win??

Tomorrow is the day! The first day of the Aussie Open in Melbourne. Roger Federer has won the men's singles title 3 times already and is a favourite to win the title again. As much as I like his tennis, I find it pretty boring that he keeps winning all the time! So whoever it is who makes it to the finals against RF, I'll be rooting for that guy.

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are favourites to reach the final round. I really, really hope that Nadal reaches the finals and wins! Its going to be very exciting.

Click here for more info and live game updates.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Nadal goes all the way!!