Little Cozy Corner

Here I am….FINALLY able to blog but sadly not from home yet. I’m at a CC and yes, it’s a little desperate and I guess it’s only because I’m on a search for a temp job that I’m at a CC now or else Ted wouldnt want me in here wasting $$ coz our network will HOPEFULLY [PLS PLS PLS!!! :praying:] be up and ready to use by next week. This blogging bit is merely me unloading all the posts I’ve beein hacking up back home.

Just coz I dont have access to my blog dont mean I didnt blog at all you know? Even if we didnt have a PC at home, I’d be writing my blog out! I guess this is the essence of a hardcore desperate and siao blogger! lol :tongue:

Now if you didn’t already noticed, my blog begins from the 19/9…that’s like 2 days after I arrived so it goes to show that you guys wont miss a thing about whats been happening to me at all after all. I’ll still be ‘blogging’ from home but the next time you read me, it will be another load of stuff of course. So pace yourselves, ya?

Today is Mummy’s birthday and she’s been busy since morning! I called her about 2 hours after I woke up [as we are 2 hours behind Malaysia time] and the house phone was busy for at least 1/2 hour!! Such a superstar Mum I’ve got. I dont blame her though, she’s a lovable woman although many [mostly Sis's & my friends are afraid of her] but she always called herself a ’sweet old lady’ which she no doubt is, might I add. :love: So Mummy, I know that I’m not there to celebrate this most blessed day but rest assured that I am indeed there with you in spirit and wishing that I was in Kulim with you so that I can have that baconless and hamless pizza Aunty Jayne is taking you to tonight. I hope you enjoy your pizza coz I know you miss it as do I. I love you. Mummmy!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY…..*muaks*

Now, remembering Mum’s birthday reminded me that I forgot to blog about one of the MOST important days of my life here in Sydney!!! I finally cooked for my baby….:grin: I OFFICIALLY cook a proper meal/dinner for 2 consisting of rice [What else you expect an Asian girl to cook in an ang moh country??], pork cooked in dark soy sauce with ginger+onions [Oooo....it was a miracle I tells you!] and pakchoy in oyster sauce and garlic. I know that it sounds like your TYPICAL chinese food and what nots but hell, to me….it was the most wonderful dish ever!! Not that Ted can’t cook - he can cook I tells ya! That man can cook…!!! BUT that first mouthful was so gastronomically orgasmic what I had to muffled it coz my mouth was full!! [Did that even make any sense at all???] It was just so satisfying….so full-filling, I can’t wait to cook rice again! Next on my list is nasi lemak and rendang. I got the coconut milk ready….just need to get the meat coz I got the rendang spices in a packet, all bought and set to go. I know nothing beats the real thing…as in getting it fresh from the market from the old lady who sells spices in a push cart but hey, you gotta work with what you have you know? Can you believe that I couldn’t find those small red onions you get in abundance in Malaysia, here?? I had to make do with the big onions which I think THEY think are the small onions - I just dont get it. *shrugs off the insanity* The red onions here are HUGE that they are twice the size of our big onions back home!!! SCARY LAR!!!

Anyway, I wish I could cook with the kuali I have back home. It’s different and difficult to cook with an electric one where you have to use plastic spatulas to cook with [stainless steel mar...plus $$ lor]. It’s VERY different and just feels so alien lar. I MISS MY KUALI!!! O well, I’m off to prepare some stuff for these temporary jobs I’ve been eyeing…wish me luck people!! I just need enough $$ to buy me a new digicam….get them so much cheaper back home plus, I can haggle and get more goodies and THAT’S the whole idea, innit? Ta-ta!

O O O O, before I forget….CONGRATULATION TO FRANK & AIDA!!! :dancing: :party: Finally, you got your baby….when is #2 coming? [Got this piece of news from an aunt who read my blog.]

Returning all 5 DVDs today and hope that I will get another 5…hehehehe, O how pampered I am! So this is just a short review of all the 5 I mentioned earlier.
1. Cube [Some American independant film whose actors I know not of]
A tale of paranoia and suspense, Cube is about an interlocking maze which moves every now and then. 6 people wake up in this maze and find that they are able to move inside the cubes but some are safe while other have booby-traps. They have to some how share their strengths to get through the maze and find a way out. To me, I felt like I was watching bits of Saw 1 & 2 but it wasnt as good, of course.

My ratings : 2/5

2. The Vanishing [Starring Jeff Bridges, Kiefer Sutherland, Sandra Bullock & Nancy Travis]
Having a rather impressive string of actors in here, you’d think that this is one helluva movie but I thought it was mediocre. The story is about how a man loses his gf and all traces of her literally vanishes. He goes on a journey to track her down and even after many years of searching, he still cannot find her until her abductor reveals himself. I guess the thrill of this movie would be to find out what happen to the gf. It was the only thing that kept me wanting to watch till the end. Jeff Bridges really held his character well here.

My ratings : 2/5
*No gore or blood splashing in this movie….so sad lar.

3. Twisted [Starring Ashley Judd, Samuel L. Jackson & Andy Garcia]
I really enjoyed this thriller! It actually kept me in suspense and although it hardly had any gore or blood, the suspense was more than enough. The story is about a cop (the cute but sexy Ashley Judd) who goes on a trail and investigates a string of murders which all have one thing in common : her. The plots gets more and more twisted as her partner (Andy Garcia) begins acting weird and the police commissioner (Samuel L. Jackson) is asked to remove her from the investigation as she is the prime suspect. You gotta to watch this, it’s nail-biting suspense and have it saucy scenes here n there. *snigger snigger*

My ratings : 4/5

4. Instinct [Starring Anthony Hopkins & Cuba Gooding Jr.]
I was really looking forward to this movie but I was rather disappointed. Although Anthony Hopkin’s acting was splendid as usual, I found the movie too slow for me. This psychological thriller is a journey of Dr. Theo Caulder (Cuba Gooding Jr.) trying to make out and find out the truth from a deranged anthropologist Dr. Ethan Powell. Set in a prison for the criminally insane, the movie has several layers and I guess if you’re into thriller with lots of talking, you’ll enjoy this one.

My ratings : 2/5

5. Hypnotic [Goran Visnjic of E.R, Mirando Otto & Shirley Henderson]
I LOVED THIS!! It’s sick and mind boggling. Although the starting was a little slow but once it picks up pace, I found it eerie and well, ‘hypnotic’. The movie revolves around the life of a hypnotherapist, Dr. Michael Strother (Goran Visnjic) who with his gift of being able to get flashes from his patients mind. While treating a detective for her smoking habit her get a vision of a small girl floating below the surface of a stream and suddenly finds himself in pursuit of a ritualistic killer who believes that he has found the secret of immorality. The key in this movie is the small girl who has been struck dumb due to the trauma, she has the clues and clues are her weird visions. All I can say is, wATCH THIS!

My ratings : 4/5

More reviews next week.

I finally cooked my own dinner last nite. A ‘proper’ one you could say….all this time I was surviving on sandwiches mostly. I saw this weird thing at the supermarket and it attracted me. It’s called gnocchi [Pronouced with a silent 'g']. It’s a type of pasta if I’m not mistaken but it’s base is potato. Ted doesnt like it but I thought, ‘If I dont try it, I wouldnt know for sure, right?’ so I insisted and we bought it.

SO last night I finally got to cook it. I did have a recipe with me BUT I didnt have most of the ingredients so I made a sauce up myself. I love meat, I’m a meat-eater/lover so I decided that my sauce MUST have meat and thus, I added a bowl full of mince beef together with diced onions, tomatoes, mushrooms and pork leg shaves, I stir fried them in a pot. The smell was GREAT and when I added in other spices for taste like herbs and paparika, it was simply heavenly! By the time I got my gnocchi to raise to the top and drained them off, dinner was ready to be served. I just poured my ’sauce’ on top and it chow time!

I enjoyed the cooking bit - thank goodness the fire alarm didnt go off coz I had a lot of smoke going on in the kitchen but I have come to a conclusion. I do not like gnocchi. I should have listened to Ted and now I know how similar our tastes in food is - it’s scary but safe for me since I’m not too good at choosing ang moh foods. You cannot eat gnocchi on it’s own. It’s got a weird texture and like potatoes, it’s starchy and rather bland. It needs to be eaten with a topping or some sauce. I coulndt finish my gnocchi so I ate up all the meat and threw the gnocchi away. I still have half a pack left and I’ve decided that I’m gonna cook it goreng style. Maybe it will be better if I cooked it Asian style…..what say you?

So what’s it like being a housewife without kids in a new unit, in a new country? Actually, it’s quite tough. I thought I’d be bored to death and although I sometimes am, most of the time I just dont know what to do. If you’re in your own home, you’d know how to do the housework and all but when you’re in a unit where there is a limit to necessity and things are just done differently here [What's the difference between a tea towel and a hand towel?], I find it hard to cope with. Call ulu or ignorant but I live life very simply.

Q : What’s the difference between a tea towel and a hand towel?
A : Tea towels are for drying your plates and a hand towel is self explainatory.

Back home, the towel you find in my kitchen does ALL. Ok, maybe not ALL but at least I dont normally dry my plates, I leave them on the rack to dry off and so to me, the kitchen towel = hand towel. Or simply put, a towel is a towel you use to dry things off, not SPECIFIC things, you know? This is just ONE Of those things I need to get used to. I could go on and on and on but haiz….I dont wanna whine and look/sound so pitiful although I sometimes really am. Ted’s out to work most of the time and so I’m left alone at home to fend for myself. [Do I pitiful enough here?] I mooch around cleaning up what I can and know how to and the rest of the time, I’m flipping channels OR watching DVDs. It’s a VERY good idea to rent DVDs on Tuesdays, they go for like AUS1 per DVD but the old movies lar, some of which I have yet to watch so I’m banking in on this to catch up.

So, I’ve already rented 5 :-

1. Cube [Some American independant film whose actors I know not of]
2. The Vanishing [Starring Jeff Bridges, Kiefer Sutherland, Sandra Bullock & Nancy Travis]
3. Twisted [Starring Ashley Judd, Samuel L. Jackson & Andy Garcia]
4. Instinct [Starring Anthony Hopkins & Cuba Gooding Jr.]
5. Hypnotic [Goran Visnjic of E.R, Mirando Otto & Shirley Henderson]

Will write reviews on this coz, all I got is time. [When o, when will the internet be up?]

It’s my birthday!!! Yes, I’ve reached a ‘certain’ age where birthdays dont really matter anymore BUT it does make a difference if certain people forget about it. Heh…:) I dont know about you but the one thing I realise is that the minute you hit 21….the years that follow just seem to roll down hill and before you know it, you’ll be out there celebrating your half a decade of living in a crazy world and still surviving it. Thank God for Bill GATES!

As I said, birthdays seems to just roll by after I hit 21 myself and as the years go by, they become more and more insignificant [Que to Ted to ignore this whole bit.] to me but I’m glad that this will not be so for at least one person. [Smiles sweetly at Ted ~ urging him to take note of this.] If you do not yet know, I’m writing from our new unit and one of it’s policies are - NO PETS ALLOWED! Now, isnt that just being a little TOO insensitive? Don’t these people know I need to have animals around me? That I need to pull my pup’s ears everynow and then and then chase after them like a madwoman with a huge black plastic bag, scaring the bejeebers out of them? But NO, the owners dont understand that so, no pets in the unit for me. Bye-bye to all those cute puppies I’ve been seeing in Westfield Pet Shops [I think I might pop by and ask if there are any vacancies....just for time being at least.] also, Ted’s allergic to fur. [BAH!!!] So my gentle giant of a HUSBAND decided to do the next best thing for me for my birthday….he got me a…..

BIRD FEEDER!!!! :dancing: Yes, you read right. It’s a beautiful copper bird feeder with a container to put in the bird seeds which he also got me and we have assembled it and it’s now nicely placed on our balcony. All I need now are birds to come and eat so that it completes the whole deal. The magnificence of working around the system - if you can’t have them IN the unit, then have them OUTSIDE the unit. Heh…. I r one VERY VERY happy gurl! Looks very nice outside by the balcony which incidentally is outside our bedroom which means that once the stupid birds figure out that I’ve giving them food, we’ll have chirpings in the morning. Sweet….I just hope I dont get no crows hanging around….I’d hate to have to pick up the crap they always seem to have with them, most of the time it’s icky stuff like chicken innards or something rotten like that. GAH!

Anyways, off to stare at the weird man outside my balcony….he seems to be talking to himself. At least it’s one form of entertainment for me. Heh.