Happy Birthday Jesus! and Merry Christmas everybody!

I had a great Christmas. It was a day full of eating and eating and eating. After church, went with friends for Yum Cha. Then after that, went to my cousin’s place for dinner. I forgot to take pictures of the yum cha. So the following pictures are from the Christmas dinner. Very impressive I tell you! Please forgive me for the photo colours. I took it all with my new Samsung F480. As you can see, the colours are not vibrant enough.

The Banquet

Pumpkin Soup

Finger food – duck something. Very nice!

Root vegetables salad – consist of potato, carrot, beetroot, parsnip.

Crayfish salad, loved the salad dressing!

Leg of lamb, tender and succulent..mmm…

And, I forgot to take a picture of the dessert. It was mudcake with ice cream. There is another type of lamb, even more tender and juicy.

Apple lemon tea

Hope you all had a great Christmas as well!

Ya.. my title sounds very vain…  but I don’t care, cause it’s my BIRTHDAY!!! LOL!!!

Everybody, meet my new baby!

The Samsung F480, a Pink Samsung F480, to be exact, it’s Coral Pink!

It is also clothed with a Pink Leather casing!

and one of the best feature… My new baby has a camera to capture smiles … aww….

This is the first time I have such a fancy coloured mobile! (Not that I owned many mobile phones before)

And it even comes with Pink accessories!… <3…loves…

I never change my mobile unless it goes kaput.

For I think the last 5 years or so, my Samsung X430 has served me well.

No, it didn’t go kaput on me, it’s still very much alive. If I didn’t get this new F480, I would have gladly continue using it until it’s time is up.

So why did I get a new phone? Cause my awesome hubby gave it to me as by Bday present!… <3

Before you start thinking, “wah seh man, this phone so expensive…”.

He got this phone for free! His current contract with the provider is ending. So to renew, he can get a new mobile. So why not?

SMS message 3 days ago:

Mat: Honey, I got the Samsung F480 for you. It’s pink in colour. Black no more. (Funny he can’t wait until my birthday to surprise me)
Me: What?! Nice or not the pink colour?! Can’t wait for the next stock? (In my mind, I was imagining a shocking pink F480)
Mat: It’s not bright pink. Quite nice actually.
Me:… Waiting anxiously to get home to see it.

I LOVE IT!!!! GASP!!! I love the colour!!!!

You can customize the desktop! There’s no keypad. Fully touch screen.

Ya, got alot more phones out there which is touch screen (I know what you’re all thinking… especially the iPhone eh?)

FYI…. I’M A SAMSUNG FAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whee~!

There are 3 alarm clocks in the house. Don’t ask me why, ask Mathias. He is the one who sets it all. And the problem is, he wakes up even before all the 3 alarm clock rings. Sometimes he even leaves the house before the last alarm clock rings.

Lately, there has been a 4th alarm clock.

This alarm clock started mid spring, and we can’t just turn it off by hitting an off switch. No amount of shouting or swearing could turn this alarm clock off.

The only way to turn this alarm clock off is to scare it.

Everybody… meet our 4th alarm clock:

I think if it did not notice me coming so close, it would have gone on longer. It is always the same pigeon. Trust me, this is actually the 4th video attempt we took, and it’s always the same bird.

This rooster wannabe will come nearly every morning onto our window sill, and start “crowing” (actually the right word is cooing), non stop, even to the point of annoyance. There was one time I kept grumbling and shouting at the rooster wannabe to go away, go wake someone else up, and it will still be there taking it’s sweet time “crowing”.

Mathias thinks it’s a male. Reason: Only roosters crow.

I think it’s a male too. Reason: Trying to attract female pigeons.

After a minute or so of “crowing”, it will fly off to the next victim’s window sill, and start waking that person up.

Sometimes you feel like doing something to the bird, like this (right at the end of the video):

My hubby’s birthday yesterday! (He still looks young btw, doesn’t look his age *grinning with pride*… lol)

The celebration started a day early on Sunday. After church, I took him to a Lebanese restaurant called Mezza Lebanese Grill. Unfortunately, we forgot to take pictures!!!!!! ARGH……. how could I forget! Could have used his hp camera to take >.< The food was satisfyingly good and interesting. From the name of the restaurant, “grill”, you would be expecting alot of meat. So ya, we ate alot of meat. Too much meat I think. Lots of lamb and chicken. Mathias noticed there wasn’t any beef in the menu.

After a very satisfying Lebanese lunch, went to get a triple scoop gelato, and happily licked it while walking home… hand in hand :”>. Took us 20 minutes to walk home.

And yesterday…. I made him Panna Cotta. This must be one of the easiest desserts ever! But it’s terribly fattening. It’s just a mixture of milk and cream, and add some gelatin to make it like jelly.

Panna Cotta

And, I also made him some scones. Dead easy!

Eat with strawberry jam and cream… YUM!

Scones

And for dinner… it’s almost like vege burger. Too much meat the day before, so better add in lots of greens and fiber! Mat loves beetroot in his burger… I think he’s turning oz.

Vege Burger… almost… because there was a little bit of minced meat.

So there! A very fattening BLESSED birthday to my hubby!

With Love…

Went cycling yesterday. Came back, not with sore leg muscles, but a sore butt!!!!! Bicycle chair too hard. Maybe I should get one of those gel cushions? hmm….

Daylight savings ended yesterday. We got 1 hour less of sleep yesterday. So we’re 3 hours different now, not 2.

Last Saturday, Mat brought me to my first ever live soccer match. It was the final match between

vs

Which team we support you ask? Well… Melbourne Victory of course. We’re in Melbourne and it’s in home ground, and we were surrounded by Melbourne Victory fans… you get the picture.

We decided to go and support because one of the players, Rodrigo Vargas, in Melbourne Victory goes to our church.

The match was held in Telstra Dome/Etihad Stadium.

The crowd outside the stadium

I have never been to a live soccer match, mainly because I’m no soccer fan. But Mathias has been to a few soccer matches, and he tells me the atmosphere in a real live match is really really exciting. Well… I was about to find out.

This stadium can take 56,000 plus spectators. We entered the stadium pretty early, 1 hour before the match. As you can see, the stadium was not filled up yet.

But 1 hour later, look…

About 53,000 plus seats were taken up.

We bought the cheapest ticket of course . I had to pay $35 for mine, and Mat only had to pay $20, because student price. We went with 4 other friends. 2 of them couldn’t get seats next to us. Before we entered the stadium, we were given these huge ass hands!… which some partners later found out it was a total nuisance….. poke, poke, poke, poke……

It would have been better if we got seats in the middle of the stadium, rather than at the corner… but the view was still great. We could see everything.

When the players came into the field, we cheered.

Singing of the national anthem:

The kick start?… forgive me if I have my terms wrong

One thing which I found really really interesting… watching the fans. Their support for the team is amazing, with their singing, and chanting, and cheering, and stomping, and swearing…. yeah… they actually chanted swear words to the opposite team. We tried to follow what they were singing and cheering and all, except for the swearing. I shall not tell you what word they said, in case of bad influence!

There was a man sitting next to me, it was really interesting to hear what he had to say when the game was on. The referee of the match was not exactly very good, even I as a non soccer person can see that… really!… anyways, whenever the referee did a wrong decision, the guy beside me will shout, “Somebody, shoot the referee!”. It was hilarious. And the people at the back commentating on the game. The people in front, singing and waving the team flag. The atmosphere was indeed really really exciting!

There was interesting events as well. There was a fight…

Then there was an injury….

Then there was a goal…

Well, actually picture above is we’re celebrating the victory of Melbourne Victory. When they striked a goal, Mat and I was jumping up and down and cheering our voices out. Our 2 friends sitting with us, just sat there still contemplating whether to stand up and cheer or not -_-

Overall, the game is not as fast paced as the European football matches. But I really enjoyed the night. Thanks to my husband for giving me the experience!

Melbourne Victory won 1-0

Happy Chinese New Year everybody!

Xin Nian Kuai Le!

Hong Pao shi mei you,

char siew pao jiu you!

I made Char Siew Pao on Saturday, and it was a success. 90% like mum’s. Not quite there yet, but with a little more practice, I think I can get there.

This year is the first time ever we celebrated CNY eve with just the 2 of us. We had tom yam steamboat.

I know what you guys are thinking. Can finish the food meh? As with all steamboat meals, of course can’t finish. But CNY right… have to have left over food right?

I don’t recommend that we do this often, as in, celebrating tuan yuan fan alone. Not only because your husband will eat like this…

CNY just doesn’t feel the same without your family.

Luckily it wasn’t all bad. On first day CNY, cousin invited us over for BBQ!

He’s a pro now at BBQing. He even took the effort to go YouTube to find CNY songs and blasted it around the house.

Once again, Happy Chinese New Year to all.

Happy New Year 2009 everybody!

On 2007’s new year’s eve, Mathias and I was watching fireworks at Docklands. It was hot and dry, temperature of 30 plus degrees that night. And then you have to squeeze with the crowds, and trying to avoid drunkards. And the fireworks in Melbourne wasn’t even that spectacular.

New year’s eve 2008, we decided to stay at home. Coldest December in 7 years, last night’s temperature of 17C. Ate ice cream at the comfort of our home. And best of all, we watched fireworks in Sydney!

We flew to Sydney?

Noooo…..

Watched it LIVE on tele…

… in pyjamas, crowd free, sweat free, no pushing and squeezing in trams on the way back home…

Syiok Sendiri

I wish you all good health,
Peace within your heart,
Wisdom to choose priorities,
Happiness and Joy,
And Blessings for the New year!

*Hugs and Kisses*

I celebrated my birthday yesterday rather than today!

My birthday present came just in time… well, one day early, it’s ok… YIPPEE!! It’s a quilling set!

And after that, pampered myself with a haircut.
*blink blink blink blink blink*

My head feels so light now with most of my hair chopped off.

And to top it off, my husband cooked me a Lebanese cuisine. Extremely delicious!

Ahh~… I’m a happy girl