monkeycrab's duh-ism

tudi in sydney: to the mountains and the fish market

2011-12-30T17:47:00.000+11:00

I took Tudi to the Blue Mountains where we did the touristy thing of taking pictures with the famous Three Sisters at Echo Point. We also went to find a few waterfalls only to be disappointed by the 'humongous' falls. Flower pot scones at the Wayzgoose Cafe in Leura were great as usual and the highlight of the trip up.

We also had a pig out session at the fish market where I overdid the sashimi thing to the extent I think I'll stay off them for a while. The half dozen oysters, on the contrary, weren't enough to go around because someone who claimed wouldn't touch the oysters ended up stealing 2 out of the lot!

tudi in sydney: at the beaches

2011-12-30T17:36:00.000+11:00

Going to the beaches is a must for any itinerary for visitors to Sydney. I took Tudi to three different beaches on three separate days - Maroubra, Bondi and Manly. The lazy bug is still here... no writing, please see pictures below.

tudi in sydney: hunter valley gardens

2011-12-30T17:11:00.001+11:00

One of the items on Tudi's itinerary in Sydney was to head up to Hunter Valley. Out of so many times I've been to the Hunter Region, this was my first visit to the Hunter Valley Gardens. My favourite was the Story Book Garden where we went up close and personal with some of my favourite characters like the Mad Hatter!

Again, I'm too lazy to write much so I'll just let the pictures do the talking. Next time you head to the Hunter, do set aside a few hours to explore the beautifully manicured gardens on top of your wine tasting tours if you haven't been there.

x'mas day

2011-12-26T16:09:00.001+11:00

We had the honour of having my favourite Tudi, pretty Vanisha and princess Summer over on X'mas day.

Tudi was tasked to make Jamie Oliver's tuscan salad and it turned out to be the best homemade tuscan salad we've ever had.

Pawpaw was in charge of the main course. He swapped the stuffed turkey for a stuffed chicken and made his own signature stuffing that was heavenly. The chicken skin got torn in the stuffing process hence the poor bird looks naked below.

I made dessert - pavlova with freshly whipped cream and fresh strawberries on top served with homemade berry compote on the side. I have to admit I cheated by buying a ready made base instead of baking it from scratch after I saw how cheaply it was selling for in Coles.

An obligatory group photo with our colourful party hats from the X'mas bonbons. Check out how intensely Summer was looking into the camera!

Following the sumptuous dinner, we settled comfortably onto the couches with our wine glasses and miscellaneous snacks for a quiet DVD night.

A simple affair and yet full of smiles. I feel blessed.

adriano zumbo

2011-12-24T15:46:00.001+11:00

I have never liked macarons until I tried the ones from Brunetti when I was last in Melbourne. I then checked around with my Sydneysider friends on where I should get my macaron fix back here and the unanimous recommendation was Adriano Zumbo.

Finally laid my hands on a box of Zumbo macarons and I must say I was pretty impressed by the range of exotic flavours available. However, I still declare Brunetti's macarons the better ones for their melt-in-the-mouth crusts.

checking out the new darling quarter

2011-11-29T16:28:00.001+11:00

The stretch after the Chinese Garden of Friendship leading up to IMAX around the Darling Harbour area had been under construction for the longest time. Then all of a sudden Darling Quarter appeared! I had the chance to discover it with shock when I attended a lunch appointment in the vicinity sometime late last year. When I went back again one evening for a stroll under the Jacaranda trees, I spotted these musicians playing delightful music. Nice area to dine in a casual alfresco environment! There's even a Fat Duck cafe that serves great gourmet sandwiches. Yums.

tell a story with your hands...

2011-11-22T16:21:00.000+11:00

outpost project at cockatoo island

2011-11-20T16:03:00.000+11:00

I finally dragged my lazy ass for a day trip to Cockatoo Island after wanting to visit for 5.5 years, thanks to a strategically planted poster in the neighbourhood publicising the Outpost Project.

I am too lazy to write much so just please enjoy the photos ya? :)

of the glorious sun

2011-11-18T19:32:00.002+11:00

I fell in love with these as I searched Etsy for all things yellow and sunflowers...

I wouldn't mind any of these handcrafted-with-love goodies for X'mas. Check out my wishlist here to see where you can get the above or for more suggestions on what you can fill my X'mas sock with. *wink*

creating symmetrical clones of me

2011-11-15T21:05:00.008+11:00

From original pic...

to this...

surfers

2011-11-15T19:39:00.002+11:00

I frequent Maroubra beach because Pawpaw loves the surf there. I've tried on a few occasions to capture some great surf action while lazing on the beach but this is the best I could get thus far with my 90-300mm lens. Gotta try harder and also to get a better vantage point.

jumpsuits and playsuits

2011-11-13T21:31:00.003+11:00

I bought this blue ASOS jersey split leg jumpsuit a couple months ago and absolutely love it. At only $21 due to a special additional 10% discount on a particular weekend, this must be one of my best ASOS buys ever. It can be worn casually with flat sandals or to a semi-formal occasion with a pair of classy heels because of those extremely high slits that reach up to just under the butt cheeks.

It was only with this recent purchase that I learnt the difference between playsuits and jumpsuits. More browsing on the web followed where I added more of them to the wishlist.

ASOS Halterneck Denim Jumpsuit

Left: ASOS Gothic Rose Jumpsuit
Right: Khaki Cotton Halter Jumpsuit Hippie Trousers by yystudio on Etsy

Left: ASOS Floral Culotte Jumpsuit
Right: Miss Sixty Tie Front Linen Playsuit

Left: Vila Chiffon Floral Midi Culotte Jumpsuit
Right: Sister Jane Apron Shorts Playsuit

it's remembrance day...

2011-11-11T17:21:00.005+11:00

Lest we forget.

*Photo taken at Gallipoli on exactly this day last year.

the boy and the girl's happy house

2011-11-10T20:08:00.002+11:00

My virgin longstitch project was from a dummy proof kit of the girl with the balloons. I was then inspired to create a boy to keep the girl company and to also make a happy place of love for them. So ta-dah! Here's my latest completed set exclusively designed by yours truly.

A close-up look at the happy love-home for the cute couple. I searched high and low for those flower buttons which I think greatly enhanced the piece!

bag, shoes and dresses

2011-11-09T17:39:00.003+11:00

As I go through my wardrobe time after time to try and decide what to keep and what to get rid of, I find myself feeling really sad every time I add an item to the 'To Clear' pile. So much time has been wasted in transferring these items to and from the pile all because I really can't bear to part with A SINGLE ITEM! All of them are so under-utilised and in such perfect condition that I can keep them for a lifetime. Darn the space constraints and the urge to buy more and more.

After much deliberation, on top of the books to sell, I have listed the below items on Gumtree. Would appreciate if anyone who sees this page can help to spread the word so all lovelies can find loving owners.

I have 2 more suitcases of stuff to sort out, photograph, take measurements and to list online... so more to come...

Nine West Oriental Style Shoulder Bag - click here to view details

Vintage style wine red chunky heels - click here to view details

Dresses left to right: (click on each item to view details)
Left - Esprit floral dress
Middle - Beautiful brand new retro style tube dress
Right - Colourful Striped Retro Dress

book sale!!!

2011-11-08T16:32:00.008+11:00

Bad news! The bookshelf I picked up about 2 years back is so full it's in danger of toppling over!

The good news is: I'm having a mega book sale right now, right here to try and get rid of some of my extremely loved, well-taken-care-of and near-new condition books to make way for new reads.

Here's a list of the great books on sale. You can click on each of them to get directed to a synopsis of the book. Strictly for self collection only at Alexandria or Mascot (or any nearby suburbs within a 2km radius). Please email me if you are interested or have any enquiries. Please help to spread the word too so I may find loving owners for my babies soon okay?

Email: monkey.crab[at]yahoo.com

Selling by the set:
- The Sandman Series Vols 1 - 4 by Neil Gaiman: $40
- The Left Hand of God & The Last Four Things by Paul Hoffman: $8
- Books 1 and 2 of Becca Fitzpatrick's Hush, Hush series: Hush, Hush and Crescendo: $6
- The complete Twilight series (4 books) and the Official Illustrated Guide by Stephanie Meyer: $20

Individual books: $2 each
- Diana: Her True Story in her Own Words by Andrew Morton
- The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett
- Why I Live at the P.O. by Eudora Welty
- Australian Short Stories - various authors

Individual books: $3 each
- Ferney by James Long
- Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
- Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
- The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
- The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
- Promise of the Wolves by Dorothy Hearst
- The Stars' Tennis Balls by Stephen Fry
- The Golden Nineties by Lisa Mason

Individual books: $4 each
- The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde by Neil McKenna
- Magician by Raymond E Feist (2 books in 1: Apprentice and Master)
- Mistress of the Empire by Raymond Feist and Janny Wurts (Book III of The Empire Trilogy)
- Maalika by Valerie Browning and John Little
- Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin
- Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
- Nine Lives by William Dalrymple
- Procession of the Dead by Darren Shan

Individual books: $5 each (they are big books!)
- The Passage by Justin Cronin
- Helen of Troy by Margaret George
- The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

my very mild halloween

2011-11-02T17:17:00.000+11:00

I missed out on the girls' Moulin Rouge halloween last year and tried to make up for it this year, but without spending too much. In the end, my only investment was a grand total of $11.50 on a pair of black wings and dramatic false eye lashes which I failed to put on due to my lack of eye make up experience. I even had an epic fail moment when I couldn't even put on eyeliner and eyeshadow so I had to give up on my plans of appearing with dramatic gothic make up!

Here's my black angel of death outfit where I simply wore a blank tank top with my only pair of leather hot shorts, with laced up combat-looking black boots and miscellaneous black jewellery that I can find in my closet. When I whatsapped these pics to Tudi, she said I looked more like a baby death angel. Not fierce enough! And I look like I'm playing scissors, paper, stone with myself in the pic below. Haha.

Here's with some chilli red lipstick on to make up for the lack of gothic eye make up face and trying to give a deathly stare. I love my black wings but wished they could be bigger, like... human height... that'd be cool.

Then while we were enjoying some red wine at home before departing for the real party, Pawpaw suggested we do some scary vampirish shots and went to put on some scary music and dimmed the lights. The shots still turned out with a very low scare factor. Boo.

Here, I tried to tackle my first victim - a doll.

And so we started the fight of the century.

Even though I had the upper hand for a while...

That bloody doll still thrashed me!!! I'm a very dead angel here. LOL

Then we were off to Argyle to meet the rest of the otherworldly gang where I failed to take any pics. Here are 2 shots I stole off their FB pages (:P) - a cute Munchkin, a cool pirate and a sexy genie.

No pics of the 2 boring IT guys who went as mortals!

flowers and fruits

2011-10-28T19:17:00.000+11:00

I've been making my own fruity/floral tea concoctions at home and absolutely love the nightly (almost) fragrant-cup-of-tea-in-hand-while-watching-tv experience.

Current favourite is bael fruit + dried longan + chamomile mix. Second favourite is honey fig + dried pear + chrysanthemum and next on the list is honeysuckle + rose + chamomile. And I always add a teaspoon of Manuka honey to sweeten it up a bit.

my personal lime pixie

2011-10-24T16:58:00.000+11:00

Santa came early for me this year and brought me my own electric lime pixie!

Love love love my first cuppa!

rainbow balloon

2011-10-19T18:38:00.003+11:00

Here's my second self-designed longstitch project. Learning from the first experience - the girl with the umbrella, I kept the design simple this round but experimented with brighter colours and different stitching directions - vertical + horizontal + diagonal.

Here's the sketch on the drawing board. The placement of the various elements - the hot air balloon, the sun and the clouds, and the colours all mean something to me. However, I actually thought of placing the balloon upside down only after I've started it, so I just let it be. A pity the idea came a tad too late. Remember the inside cover page design I did on my latest journal? So this longstitch design is part of my entire inner world thoughts and feelings.

Drawing transferred onto the blank canvas. I'm still trying to find a more suitable canvas with slightly bigger holes... preferably 2mm by 2mm openings.

And now the finished product. I like how the vertical, horizontal and diagonal stitches make the picture more 'pop-up'.

This is getting really enjoyable! I already have some ideas on my next creation. As I'm still in the experimental stage, I'm thinking of doing something along the lines of shadows and silhouettes or stick figures. We'll see how it turns out. Back to the drawing board for now.

di and rajiv's wedding

2011-10-17T19:34:00.004+11:00

I had the privilege of being invited to Di and Rajiv's wedding at Emu Plains. It was to be my first time attending a wedding in Sydney and I was awed by the simple yet so filled-with-love ceremony that I thoroughly enjoyed myself and went home full of warm fuzzy feelings.

I kind of regret changing my mind on lugging my big dSLR with my telephoto lens to the event and hence missed out on adequately capturing some of these heartwarming scenes. Nevertheless, my compact Sony still managed to catch a few of these moments. Below are some of my favourites.

Click here to view all other photos taken on my humble point and shoot.

should i get a pair of tom fords?

2011-10-15T19:13:00.000+11:00

I've been looking for a pair of spectacle frames that suit me so I can ditch the contacts once I get home from work to allow my eyes to rest earlier. Currently I wear my contacts all the time except for when I'm in bed ready to sleep.

I have not come across any frames that I absolutely love until I tried on this pair of Tom Fords courtesy of a fellow guest at a wedding I recently attended. I love love love them! Should I go get a pair made?

all things japanese

2011-10-10T21:31:00.004+11:00

Got an invitation to a housewarming party where the theme was "All Things Japanese". I had in mind to turn up as Lightning from FF XIII and suggested for Pawpaw to dress up as Ichigo in his bankai costume carrying his Zangetsu. However, unless I made those costumes from scratch myself, it was 1) impossible to find the right costumes and 2) too costly to buy just for one party. My back-up plan was a sexy French maid costume I saw in a Hot Dollar shop but even that was $40!

In the end, I combed through my wardrobe and put together a Japanese school girl outfit with only a $15 expense on a tight fitting shirt. The nerdy glasses were a present from Angel J; the short black skirt was something I've had since my late teens and I remember I used to wear it very often for clubbing; the simple black jacket is work wear; the tie, knee high socks and Converse shoes were borrowed from Pawpaw (don't ask me why he has those socks!)

Pawpaw didn't want to spend a single cent but reckoned he looked Japanesey enough... =_="

I only bothered to take photos of people or animals that had on costumes... here we have a French maid and a ninja dog (is that one of Kakashi Sensei's ninja dogs?!)!

A Geisha and a ninja (and a lady in a simple kimono behind the ninja)!

Beautiful dog in a fierce dragon costume with the word 'Japan' on it.

The hostess cooked lots of yummy Japanese food: sushi with assorted fillings, miso soup, fried noodles and Japanese curry. Love love love it!

After-dinner entertainment was the xBox where I got addicted to the Fruit Ninja game.

Look at my super fast movements! LOL

And my arms got extremely sore the next day.

What shall I dress up as for Halloween????????

stitch and sew

2011-10-08T18:57:00.004+11:00

A random impulse pick-up at a Spotlight store turned into an obssession with longstitch projects. Seeing how I have so much wool and thread and needles etc all over the place now, I needed to get some proper housing for them.

So I got this nana-looking sewing box for $10 at a Lincraft sale. I actually really like the pale lilac colour and the embroidered flowers (they look like sunflowers!) on the lid.

Sitting by the large french windows in the reading corner of my room with the sun streaming in, a cup of hot chamomile and honey tea in my hands while I get my sewing kit out to resume my current unfinished project with soft soothing music in the background, I feel like I'm some kind of upper class gentlewoman from the 1800s. LOL

After finishing my first longstitch piece from a purchased kit that included the design, canvas and wool, I thought I'd design my own pieces from the second project onwards. So I started out sketching on the drawing board and finally got a chance to use my favourite Faber-Castells for some colouring exercise! Happy like mad. The tedious part was then transferring the sketch onto the sewing canvas and putting the stitches in.

And here's the completed project (left most is the piece from the kit and the centrepiece was something I got at an artisan market a few years back). Although it looks decent from a distance, I am personally really disappointed with some of the details - lesson learnt: due to the small sized canvas, it's best to keep the design simple without too much facial details. And if you'd noticed, I had wanted to put my signature (I practised it for a long time ok!) on it but eventually did away with it as it was too tedious to sew it on.

I already have my next sketch ready to be transformed into another masterpiece. ^_^

strawberry milk bars...

2011-10-05T18:26:00.000+11:00

... seen at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Bangkok.