catching up

Realised I haven't done my obligatory it's-the-end-of-semester-and-I'm-procrastinating-on-final-assignments post, so here it is. A compilation of things I've yet to tell/show you (in no order).



Trying Menya Mappen with W



New kitties ♥



Redyed hair myself!



Got my Jeffrey Campbell Skates



Comfiest heels ever due to the padded sole



Flavoured teas as a study aid



Evidence I went to...



Jurassic Lounge!

Which pretty much sums up my semester. Can't wait for the holidays! I'm the only holding myself up by procrastinating though. As soon as I finished this last assignment I'm done so off I go :)

A rant

So, I've jumped back on the fitness "bandwagon" as my birthday was approaching and it provided the motivation to get my life back into gear. I wanted to start my new year on a positive note and what better way than to have thrown myself back into the momentum? I'm not aiming for anything hardcore, just a healthy, happy lifestyle, which in theory, should equal a healthy, happier me. It's going well, thus far since I'm easing my way back into it. Can't wait to push myself harder!

What's really on my mind though, is two things, as I re-submerge myself into the land of online fitness: 1) thinspo and 2) eating as "fueling".

I have pretty much made piece with tumblr (although I'm still adverse to the mindless reblogging of uncredited images—copyright infringement, people!), but the thinspo that exists there is horrible! Even "advocates" of doing it the "healthy way" seem to reblog images of sickly skeletal girls. It makes me sad that that this "ideal" is continuously perpetuated there given that reblogging acts as a form of endorsement, as well as normalising it as an "ideal". One tumblr that focuses on before and after images features malnourished bodies as the "after", and a user commenting subtly about this was told that that their comment was besides the point. That being said, there is a wealth of information and inspiration out there on tumblr. However all of that information has to be organised to become knowledge, and it's worrying how some minds may process it...

I understand that diet is essential to health and fitness, and that apparently for weight loss the emphasis is 80% on diet and the remaining 20% on exercise etc. However, the idea that is being reinforced by my floating through cyberspace is that eating is only a means of fueling one's body. Okay, yep, I get that. We need to eat food to live. I also get that there are a lot of unhealthy foods. But why take the joy out of eating? Perhaps this is a cultural thing, or even just an individual thing given my background, but I was raised to appreciate and enjoy food. Not just eating, but the entire process whether I be actively involved in the preparation or not. Paraphrasing a quote that rings true to me: If you don't look enjoy/look forward to eating there must be something wrong with you.

That's not meant as an attack on anyone, but my belief is that since we only have one life, and eating makes up a significant part of that life, we should enjoy it! I'm not endorsing binge eating or unhealthy eating, but I believe that even if you're a celiac, vegan who won't eat anything artificial, you can still enjoy the foods that you can/choose to eat. It's all about mentality. I understand that some people have time limitations or strict dietary requirements for health reasons etc. but even just sparing a few minutes a week to eat a meal that you take a moment to actually consciously enjoy, and I'm not just talking about treating yourself to something sinful. Take the time to consciously enjoy food, whether it be the taste, texture, freshness, company or even pride in yourself or appreciation and love for someone else who put in the time and effort to make it. I'm not saying that advocates of the "food as fuel" mindset don't do this, but I feel that the way that this approach comes across even just by the wording makes me cringe. We are not cars, people.

@_@

Things I have learnt these past few days:
1. Cityrail will make an effort to track down lost items if you report it
2. I may not be cut out for this Project 365 thing
3. The wor tip and Shanghai buns at New Shanghai in Ashfield are more than delicious!



If you ever see this drink in your Asian supermarket/shop do yourself a favour and grab yourself a can! It's ahhh-mazing! D actually had a sip before I did and made some sort of exclamation that I can't seem to remember and I was like "Whaaa-whaaat? Good? Bad?" But no, it's craaazy good! Why? It's like... better than fanta orange soda with these little tiny pieces of orange jelly. Sooooo yummy!

I actually picked it because of the cute orange faces. I noticed the one on the left first, but when I saw the face on the right its fate was sealed.



Notice a resemblance? Apparently I have a penchant for kekeke pervy faced critters.

monstarrr of the shopping & the ice creamz om nom nom!

Mid semester break is here so I'm free for two weeks. Yay! To celebrate , Jaz and I hit Ben & Jerrys (my third time this week...). We ended up trying a grand total of five flavours: New York Super Fudge(?), Chocolate Macadamia, Sweet Creme and Cookies(?), Peanut Cookieburra and Strawberry Cheesecake.


Forgot to take one before we dug in...

We actually didn't mean to eat so much, seeing as we'd just had a picnic involving two types of cake... but unfortunately we found a hair in our first serve of ice cream, so they nicely let us choose another. Due to our sugar high (to the point where I thought it best to wait outside for them lest they think we were scamming them due to my inability to control my laughter—even now I don't know what I was laughing about) we only chose two flavours this time around.


Two happy chappies! :D!

I also splurged whilst waiting for my two lovely ladies to finish class...


New Dress on sale for $20 (Dotti)


Pink Nail Polish


Line up of new Lip Products


Wearing Maybelline 'Are you Reddy?' (blotted a few times! It's so bright!) & my first ever pair of Pink Circle Lenses

I've been lemming a bright, but pastel-ish/candy pink creme nail polish for a loooong time. D keeps talking me into putting it (and everything else) on the backburner because I'm trying to save money. I really shouldn't have gone to Priceline without him; I blew a lot of cash D: Wore the nail polish (called 'Wedded Bliss' umm whaaaat?) to work the past two nights and no chips so far so yay? I also ended up with a dress, which should be nice for going out. Now I just need an occasion... It replaced my lemming for a pink chiffon skirt with a cat print because it just did not sit right! Made you look like a puffer fish down below :(

Birthday Picnic and more!

One of my dear friends turned 21 today so we set out to surprise her! This involved a yummy indoor picnic, due to the overcast weather, but we didn't let that dampen our spirits! I used it as an excuse to actually use my camera, since I'm so fail at whipping it out to take snaps.


Picnic: Chickpea Salad, Mince Pasta, Salmon and Avocado Sandwiches (homemade bread!)

After the nomfest I went a little crazy with the camera (I actually ended up taking 90+ photos today!) documenting integral moments such as shot-by-shot presentation of the gifts and the like. I was outshone by Feishien though with her Instax Camera!


Feishien holding the snap of me and the Birthday Girl

We then headed to Capitol to take Sticker Photos. We hadn't done it in such a long time, being poor students and also being somewhat time-poor, at least in the being able to see each other without schedule clashes sense of things... Our poses weren't that super since we were rusty, or rather, we never really had that down pat in the first place. Oh well, it was fun! Will the novelty ever wear off?



Lastly, we headed to Passionflower for ice cream, which is conveniently on the level below. Sticker photos + ice cream is seriously a winning combination. The Birthday Girl had apparently never been before so what better time to introduce her than now? I hope she enjoyed it! She was overwhelmed by the selection and the quality is amazing. Next week we're set to try Ben and Jerry's to celebrate the mid semester break, so we'll see how it compares...


Super Duper Brownie


Nomming the brownies!


Macro shot!


Giant Iced Green Tea


Sugar Coma :P

I'm back... with food!

It seems all I ever do is go on announced/unacknowledged hiatuses and post about food, but I'm back (with food) so put on a happy face!


C:

Today is my brother's birthday (Happy Birthday, bro!) and when asked what kind of cake he wanted me to make him he said, "apple pie". So yes, technically not a cake, but still delicious so who cares? I take it as a compliment that he likes my apple pie that much.


Horribly blurry, but nonetheless delicious, innards

It was actually my first time making a real pie, since I usually just make very time consuming, rustic, hand pies. I guess I need more practice since I didn't really plan it out so the edges didn't really join the top properly, but whatever. I also baked pandan and coconut chiffon cupcakes on the weekend, but didn't get around to taking any photos :(

One day I'll try and share why food is so important to me.

Pizza

Last night my brother and I made pizza dough from scratch. Apologies for crappy phone pics!


The blur = my broooo hahaha rolling out our un-traditional (not circular) pizza dough


My bro's pizza


Miiiine!

They were giant and were a hit even though they totally were not 'thin and crispy' as the recipe said it would be (see here: Thin and Crispy Pizza Bases), but hey, no one died! Also my dad ate a lot and he never eats a lot of pizza! The toppings were fetta (our first time trying, but my brother and mum decided they don't like), green olives and pepperoni. Yum!

biennale 2010, food and friends

Today I spent $20 on food. That might not sound like a lot to you, but I'm frugal, a student, and unemployed (according to Centrelink who don't want to be down with me). Nonetheless, who can put a price on long overdue, much needed, catch up with two of your favourite girls?

A photo would be appropriate here, but I fail at being camera happy. Hopefully I can pinch one off Kat later.

We went to check out the Biennale, but only managed to view the Museum of Contemporary Art's segment. Our unanimous favourite was the two artworks by Penny Siopsis, so if you're up there, check it out! I was a little disappointed though, as the MCA lacked interaction, which I always look forward to. It's those pieces that I find linger in my mind most as favourites, especially in the past Biennales. D and I are planning to give Cockatoo Island a go on Tuesday, so hopefully my need to be physically engaged is satisfied there.



Neuron by Roxy Paine
Currently on display outside of the MCA as part of the Biennale of Sydney 2010

We hit two cafes today. I won't name the first one as it wasn't a worthwhile experience, although not terrible. It should be renamed Bird Cafe though as it's more appropriate, and it should be noted that the birds weren't really the problem...

The second isn't really a cafe, but La Renaissance Patisserie Francaise. There was a line just to enter and just after we were seated, people started having to wait for tables. This was at around 2pm, but then again it was a Sunday. The prices are a little high for my liking, but then again I have to wrap my head around the fact that it's in a tourist area... I'd been meaning to go for awhile because of the macarons, which I'd once had an obsession for, but seeing as they're $2.50 each, I passed in favour of...



Chocolate Eclair with Chocolate Pastry Cream ($5.50 eat in)



Lemon Tart, Macarons (Strawberry?, China Jasmine Green Tea, Pistachio), Chocolate Eclair

It was all well-received, washed down with flavoured lemonades ('diablo' with choice of mint, strawberry or grenadine syrups) and flavoured mineral water (Perrier with mint, strawberry or grenadine syrups). Looking at these photos makes me want another eclair... I just showed D and it seems I'll be returning for seconds on Tuesday >:D

love letters and crossdressing "alien" gingerbread men

Yippee! Looks like photobucket is being good to me so I better take my chance to update. Even though Easter means a four day weekend, I'm a bit busy as with the next two weeks I have no days off, meaning I have to get to the city (and beyond!) every single day, and guess what? Cityrail has decided there'll be no trains from my local station for that entire fortnight! Bravo!

Whilst I'm dripping with sarcasm, remember the Agent 99 Cat Beanie? Yeah, I decided to fork out as a reward for hitting all my deadlines and ended up trekking to five different General Pants stores to no avail! More than half of them didn't realise what I was talking about too... Good work, GP.

On a good note, I've got myself an interview for a voluntary internship on Tuesday, so fingers crossed for me! Aand a future self-motivated project possibly in the works. Go Little Miss Motivated!

I hope you're all having a good Easter and that you've enjoyed a lot of choc!



Lone Chocolate Egg from D♥
He totally ninja-ed it into my bag along with a Vivi mag!



Random "Love" Pockys meant for D, but I kind of accidentally ate one...



D's surviving Love Pocky. I swear it will make it to him, filled out with embarrasing pet names and all!



Trip down memory lane! Am I dumb for not knowing that egg rolls are also known as love letters until now?



Perfect snack ♥
Random fact: I got to reference Vitasoy in an essay! Check this cute art exhibition: Banana: A Chinese American Experience



Gingy crossdressing wearing my new favourite skirt (thanks, Gmarket!)
Haha my mum totally came in and was like "Whaaat? Why is he wearing your skirt?"
"Uh... he's camping. It's a sleeping bag." >.>
"He can wear some of my clothes. They're kids clothes."
Okay, mum... ♥

Wonderful Chicken? Sounds like a super hero? More like a super villain...

Today my family went on an outing to Carlingford to get something for my bro's computer. However, apparently the place is closed from the 25th to the 6th, although I swear it said the 4th. Whatever, we're going back on Thursday and apparently I'm to drive there... Eek!

Anyway, we made the most if it and hit the Asian grocery store there and my bro went crazy with chip-buying, so we ended up getting half a dozen packs of Asian chips. I bought two packs of these "Donut Chips" as the packaging was super cute! Once we got home we couldn't wait to try them and opened three packs...


Cutie Donut "Chips"

I was hoping these would be cute little donut biscuits, but I guess my hopes were too high... They tasted alright. A bit like a mix between that Corn Pops cereal and Cheerios, but major disappointment! I'd bought two packs in hopes that they were good and to give The Boy the other packet, even though we're junk food detoxing this month... but they're crap so whatever.


Wonderful Chicken

My bro opened his first packet and we were both excited because c'mon it's wonderful chicken! But no. We were let down greatly. However, I was amused by its nugget-like appearance. Tasted baaad even though it apparently has MSG in it. Pfft! I thought MSG was meant make things taste good?


Fried Chicken

Our third attempt to console our tastebuds after our two disappointments... my bro opens the pack and exclaims, "OH NOOOO! IT'S ANOTHER WONDERFUL CHICKEN!!!" Cue me cracking up for ten minutes straight, then on and off for another fifteen, gasping "wonderful chicken" between breaths. And alas, it was another "wonderful" chicken, in all its artifical chicken nugget wannabe form. Tasted just as horrible too.

So there you have it, Wonderful Chicken is not your friend. We've agreed to chuck these out on the way to work as we don't want to put this crap in our bodies. Ewww!