NSW 2013: The Rocks

So I did zip around the alleys of The Rocks like a local. Well, because we stayed in the quaint neighborhood.

If not because of the opportunity, we were like many, have walked past without realising the history and significance hidden in its walls. In my previous trip, I enjoyed the ever colourful The Rocks Markets, one of Sydney's greatest; I lost my manner when I gulped down the pork rib in Pancakes on the Rocks. Admittedly, I had little knowledge about The Rocks.

But not after my second trip to Sydney. The Rocks is not just a tourist and leisure destination, it is where Sydney began.

NSW 2013: The Rocks Cottage

I admit, I was attracted very much by its tastefully furnished interior. I wanted to experience the living in there so much that I shifted my itinerary, just to have this terrace house booked and tasted a living in The Rocks. 

One of the great things about travel is that it gives us a chance to be a creative planner of living in faraway land(s). At the same time, ensuring impact of the change is exciting (to the little ones). I wanted to visit South Coast of NSW for the first few days of our trip to Sydney, then return to and roam around Sydney until the every last day of the trip. But because the lovely house was only available during the first few days of our trip, I swapped the two major parts of the plan just to get the opportunity to stay over in the convict heritage and explore the historical neighbourhood. My excel spreadsheet (the itinerary) was a mess for a while.

So, there we were in The Rocks Cottage. The Rocks Cottage is part of the original Argyle Street shops from 1863 and the terrace house have been renovated to heritage standards and comfortably furnished. "It is a gorgeous property, everything literally at your doorstep", according to Desiree, the property agent who I liaised with (via email) to secure my booking of the house for 4 nights. This is a 4-bedrooms terrace house actually. But because I only needed 3 bedrooms for 5 adults and 2 children, she charged me A$375 per night, excluded the bedding (A$100) and cleaning fees(A$150). It was a good deal, frankly, and everyone had no complain to stay there... except the whirling staircase, kind of, for the young and the old.

And Desiree was right, its locality is very close proximity to Circular Quay (being one of Sydney's most significant public spaces). Everyday we stepped out from the the house, strolled and admired old charm and historic houses, pubs, cafes and restaurants in the area, passed by Observatory Hill, The Rocks Visitors Centre, towards the Museum of Contemporary Art and finally Circular Quay. The girls didn't complain a word about walking everyday and night. For the record, this was the very first time for us staying in the heart of a city. It was pretty extraordinary. 

NSW 2013: Koolewong Foreshore Reserve

This is Koolewong Foreshore Reserve, overlooking at the calm water of Brisbane Water. The expanse of blue amid the untamed green, together with some boats moored quietly there, it formed a picturesque landscape. It is incredibly beautiful!

You can see more about Koolewong Foreshore Reserve here.

It was a surprise found when we drove our way to Woy Woy Fishermen's Wharf for our late lunch. As you can see from the map below, Keelowong Foreshore located between West Gosford and Woy Woy along a stretch of waterfront on Brisbane Water Drive. The scenery caught our attention while SC was driving along Brisbane Water Drive. He made an impromptu decision to park at one of the car park area. The girls were asking, "Why are we stopping here?"

No reason, just felt nice to find a place to stretch out. The tranquil blue reminded me of the glorious blue horizon in Busselton and why I wanted to re-visit Australia again. I love the expanse of blue.

And lucky us, we got to pass by the foreshore twice.

NSW 2013: Our Adventure Began

Did you see alligators? Lazing around the pond...

We were in Australian Reptile Park and Wildlife Sanctuary, about an hour drive north of Sydney. It was not in my planned itinerary, my aunt highly recommended it. We were staying over at her place in one suburb of northern Sydney. I kept the day free to wander the suburb where my aunt and her family are staying, while she and her family at work and in school. But, she thought that it made sense for us to go further north on our own, ie Central Coast for a day trip.

It was 3 in the afternoon when we reached at the entrance of the Park. We were told that the Park is closed at 5pm and because of only two hours of visiting the park, we got a special rate for the tickets. Apparently most shows or guided tourswere no more available for us too.

As such, there were not many visitors, the ambiance became quiet and pretty (ahem) spooky for us, especially where top trees reduced the sun light penetrating in the bushland and there was only us, no other people could be seen. The chirping of insects and birds were sure added injected the fun to explore the park.

The Post Travel Syndrome

We were away from the tropical for 11 days, including two days of sitting in the plane, gluing our eyes to small screen, with mum's gentle reminder to off the screen (once or twice) and rest their eyes. 

Needless to say, it was a wonderful trip. Despite a lousy improvised decision of putting three elderly and two kiddos at Double Bay Wharf in the dark(it was after 6pm), under the rain, waiting for the next (and possible very last for the day) ferry to bring us back to Circular Quay, every part of the trip was tremendously awesome! 

And now that we are back to the reality of routine and tension, I am having withdrawal syndrome from the awesome trip. 

I don't remember I had this kind of syndrome before. 

May 2013: Oh Mum's Happy Day

I forgotten how I stumbled upon her blog.

But I could proudly tell you I am a regular visitor to her blog since then.

One year after another.

From different continents to same city.

From having one child to two.

Her photos never fail to put  a smile on me.

Her writing gives me strength to pick myself up fast from the mundane life.

Sometime, interestingly provoking.

I am one lucky reader benefits so much from her.

Photo credit: Rachel; Scrapbook credit: Maya de Groot

I met Rachel of http://4malmal.com/ last Saturday.

Finally.

It was my happy day.

But because of her family and her are leaving the tropical, again, very soon. 

I almost said "Nice to meet you" and "Farewell" at the same time, literally.

Fortunately, "All the best" came out from my mouth instead.
It is from the bottom of my heart.

And I scrapbook a little, to wish her, 

Bon Voyage.

Arrowroot Pork Rib Soup

Another yummy soup often shows up and makes the girls happy during dinner:

Arrowroot Pork Rib Soup.

Ingredient: 
1 Arrowroot (about 450-500g)
200-300g pork rib
1200ml water (or slightly more for longer hours of boiling)

Seasoning:
Salt to taste before you serve.

Showing how you should peel the skin.

Method:

1. Wash and peel the skin of arrowroot. 
2 .Cut the arrowroot into chunks. 
3. Bring a pot of water to boil. Once it is boil, put the ingredients into the boiling water. Bring to a boil and simmer for at least 2 hours.

I don't usually have 2 hours consecutively for boiling the soup especially during weekdays. But having a Thermos Shuttle Chef helps me tons!

I usually chop off the tuber into two for easy peeling purpose. 

Note: 
According to my mother, this soup is a good source to expel dampness but not cooling. It is important to boil this soup for minimum 2 hours. My mum gave me one reason of dissolving its negative tonic of it but when I google to learn more, it is actually more of it needs longer time to bring out the starchiness of arrowroot. 

Arrowroot in the western world is well-known for its edible starch from the rhizomes (rootstock) of arrowroot plant. Here, we are talking about the tuber, commonly known as 粉葛 (fěn gé). Often, it is easy to be mistaken as yam bean, or commonly known as mangkuang 沙葛 (sha ge) at first glance. In my opinion, arrowroot looks tougher, usually more like a tree trunk than yam bean. 

Arrowroot has no flovour or smell, but

after boiled, it has a slightly nutty sweet taste. Apparently, young tubers have the best flavour, older ones are fibrous. Frankly, I don't know how to choose a young tuber. I always try to look for a small (=young?) tuber, as we are a small family and I don't really need to boil big pot of soup. What I learn from years of boiling this soup is that, this is rather idiot-proof recipe. I never get a bad pot of soup, only sweeter, or sweet.

However, I do learn that it is important to choose an arrowroot that is easy to peel off the skin, the smoother look of the tuber, the better to peel the skin.

You can read more on the health benefit of arrowroot here. According to Chinese diet, arrowroot benefits the spleen, stimulates the secretion of body fluid and strengthen immune system.

In such a hot weather these days, this is one of the best soup to serve!


Linking up with

Exclusive Baking Class at Munch Ministry

Saturdays are usually family day and supposedly a day to be chauffeur and maid fully attend to the kiddos' needs. They have swimming and wushu classes. Thereafter we would proceed to park (or library/mall if it rains) till the sun down. Bumper to bumper, exhaustion.

Photo Credit: Adeline of The Accidental Mom Blogger

But one Saturday, I sneaked out early and quietly (Bomber would not let me to leave her behind) to attend a baking class at Civil Service Club, hosted by Munch Ministry. This is another event in conjunction of SMB's One Celebration. We were to learn to make Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes.

I love the opportunity given here: learn baking from a seasoned baker, one who I admire at- Pauline. I known her when I chanced upon the playgroup that was led by her back in 2008. Jiejie and I have many fond memory of being part of the playgroup. Few of us mums even learnt sewing from her previously.

Yes, she is an amazing women with tons of inspirations!

Maybe that's why I came out a big idea to lug a stranger-to-me and heavy DSLR, just so I could made friendly connection between the two of us. By trying and errorring on the aperture and the shutter of the camera, I would be a better photographer, well, better than the day before. A tad bit?

Sure enough, it was a lousy idea. One third of the time I was busy adjusting the setting, another one third was monkeying around like a naughty student in the class (like I was once behaved such), the remaining one third on the lesson. Greedy me!

[Photo Credits (L-R): Liza of Mother of Xander and Munch Ministry]

But then again, as you can see, bloggers work pretty hard and I am just catching up.

The class started with Pauline demonstrate the very first part of making the cake: How egg yolk mixture are done. Pauline delightfully told us that Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes is not originally from Hokkaido, Japan. It's merely because the recipe using the milk from Hokkaido. Nonetheless, during the class, we used ordinary milk from New Zealand.

One of the mom blogger was quick enough to try baking another batch of cakes with the milk from Hokkaido(after the baking class), and she said,

"The chiffon cakes were extra milky and creamy and after baking the chiffon cakes, the milky scent was present with every bite."   - Jasmine from scissorspaperstoneblog.com

That is surely entice me to try this recipe with Hokkaido milk!

Back to the class, Pauline shared few other great tips in the class besides walking us through the recipe. For example, the egg white used for making meringue, which is the main foundation of a chiffon cake, is not supposedly have any drop of egg yolk. Another great reminder I got from Pauline is that, once all the batter are scooped into liners/tray, before putting it into the oven, knock it to get rid of the bubble trapped inside the batter.

Lastly, Louisa taught us making the filling and piping into the cupcakes.

After the first part of demonstration, we began the hands-on. We were to team-up in two. Double the ingredients, double the joy of working together for our cupcakes. Liza was my partner. And, together with Jennifer, we had more than baking fun. 

In the class, most of us encountered problem with the separation of egg yolk and egg white. So were Liza and I. Firstly we had more than 1 messy egg yolks, Then we got confused with number of remaining eggs we needed to crack to match the total number of egg yolks and egg whites. Remember double the ingredients? We needed 6 eggs for making the right among of cupcakes for two mothers to bring home individually. Apparently 6 is a big number and easily to lost count.
Thank goodness there were cracked egg shells laying on our table to count on. We were convinced that one of us added extra egg when one of the egg yolks found its way to to mess with the egg white. Obviously, Liza and I had too much laughs.

You have gotto to read the best way to separate egg yolk and egg white from my partner, Liza:

"You can buy the fanciest egg separating gadget available but nothing beats using your hands to wiggle the yolk in your palm while the whites ooze away through your finger tips."

We then pay more attention into our cake-making. It was great to learn and work with a partner. You get to discuss, analyse and execute about the recipe, humorously.   

Inevitably, I had a great time, laughing, battering, piping, photographing. Though, most of the photos I took were pretty poor quality. Rachel of Catch 40 Winks gave me some quick tips, apparently try and error is not  the only way to learn photography. ^^|

But at least the cupcakes were perfectly done! It is light and delectable, I gulped down not just one but two at the end of the class. Yum yum!

Well, I'm a cake person.

I let my girl try the cake as supper that night. Judging from my fussy eater's response, I am encouraged to bake these cakes again.

Hopefully, I find the milk from Hokkaido too;).

For similar recipes, hop over to Munch Ministry's link. More of our SMB's individual's story can be found here. If you have intention to host a party or team building event over baking/cooking class like ours, ask Munch Minstry at munchministrylwp@gmail.com.

Thank you Louisa and Pauline for hosting this for us, SMB.

Quick, Simple Beetroot Soup

I cook, most of the time. And most of them are simple and quick to prepare. Here is one of my favourite soup and the girls like it very much.

Ingredient: 
1 Beetroot (about 290-300g)
200-300g lean pork meat or chicken breast meat
900ml-1000ml water

Seasoning:
Salt to taste, but I always skip this. It's yummy without any!

Note: 
Do remember not to rinse or rinse minimally the beetroot after you peel off the skin and cut, as it will wash away the colour, as well as the nutritious.

Method:
All you need to do is put the meat and the beetroot into the boiling water. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 30 mins (sometime, I did it like 20 mins).

You can easily get beetroot from FairPrice nearby. Usually I would get a dollar price (plus minus) of it. I mean I would not get too big or too small of a beetroot, the price tag is a good guide to me to cook a pot of soup for a family of 4.

According to lovebeetroot.co.uk, the benefits of drinking beetroot juice is to boost stamina and make muscles work more efficiently to reducing blood pressure. But due to its bloody red hue colour, I never try to drink the juice. Probably my mum had read my mind, she taught me this recipes. And I slowly learn to eat the cooked beetroot.

Most importantly, she helped to add one soup recipe in the what-to-cook-tonight compartment of my brain, it easy to extract out when I walk pass aisles of food in supermarket without any clue.

Best is, when I am in good mood, I cook dishes with some other colours to create a visually happy dinner.

Bon Appetite!

[If you want to challenge your self, try this!]


Linking up with

Style Essence Grooming Session

Time flies, the Singapore Mom Bloggers that I joined last year has turn one, last month. 

The founder, Rachel, took an initiative to plan physical events for all busy mom bloggers to get together for some enriching and fun activities. The first event was a grooming session, just for the mothers, In collaborated with Florinda from Style Essence.

Thanks to sponsors Style Essence and dinner by The Shepherd’s pie.

It was timely, I needed some few hours of me-time. Meeting friends, learning things as well as giving the girls and the hubby some "happy hours".

The workshop was mainly cover overall grooming and skincare. Florinda began the session by measuring our body to determine body types: hour glass, pear, apple or column. We then given an useful card to remind ourselves of the clothing styles that suites one's shape. (I held my breath and managed to get 'hourglass', otherwise I'll be column;p). She shared with us on colour analysis of our skin tone, so that we know if we are more suitable to 'warm' or 'cool' undertones. Well, this one can not cheat, I'm warm;). She also touched on the comparison on how pattern of stripes, big or small polka dot, even big or small flowery print of the clothing has a visual impact on oneself.

Me, before makeover.

R to L: Adora, Pamela, Adeline, Regina, Susan & Florinda.

We then moved on to skincare part. Flo highlighted the important of good skincare. I was happy to learn everything about it all over again and  got to get my hands worked on the face: from removing make-up, to cleansing, to put on the mask half of our face, up to putting the moisturiser and later make-up our face.

Most tips and information shared were basic and helpful, but I forgot about it over the years, especially after motherhood, like I was asking what is the eyeliner for? Eyebrow or eyes? So confusing! But truly laughed out loud. I am one of those frumpy mum during weekends. If not because of work, I continue the rhythm of t-shirt, shorts and slippers walk out of the house. Not surprise, right? My face was yellowish once, according to my mum. I conveniently forget about my self when kids are around me, I have hundred and one things to do for the day, see?

Anyway, through the hands on session with Mary Kay product, I learnt and re-learnt. Flo shared that when I do cleaning, my fingers movement should be moving upwards on the face, to open up the pores; when applying moisturiser, sun-block and what not, the fingers should be in a circular downwards movement, just to close the pores.

We went (almost) wild during hands-on. Learning from each other and laughing at each other at the same time. I was (almost) lost in the middle of following the instruction from Flo, thank goodness Adora was sitting next to me, I basically followed her, until the end of the workshop, even took a fire-red lipstick. On the other hand, Liza was pretty fun to be next with.

Needless to say, the product of Mary Kay is fabulous! You can see how did I transform after the session. I practically love both the cleanser and the mask which helps to clean, pamper my skin and leave it brighter and refreshing.

It is probably a habit for us to take out the camera and snap away for some highlight.
In the end, we were being snapped this time!

The workshop was ending with few beautiful shots of us. You can tell, we had a wonderful session!

Clockwise from top left: Trainer Bernadette, Susan, Sandra, Regina, Adeline, Madeline, me, Trainer Florinda, Adora, Pamela, Liza, Estella and Jiahui.

Seriously, it is good to have a me-time once in a while. This is sure one that I am highly recommending, you get to learn so much more about your self, at the same time finding some sanity, for being away from child(ren). 

Some of the mom bloggers are doing GiveawayS as Style Essence is offering complimentary workshop passes worth $150. All you need to do is simply follow the instruction stated in the blog post (terms and conditions apply):
- Mummy Moo: until 12 Apr 2013
- The Accidental Mom Blogger: until 12 Apr 2013
- The Whimsical Mommy Adventures: until 13 Apr 2013
- Mum's the Word:  until 14 Apr 2013
- Sanses: until 14 Apr 2013

- So Oddly Dream Like: until 14 Apr 2013

- Mummy Ed: until 14 Apr 2013

- Evespiration: until 14 Apr 2013

- Quirky Affairs: until 14 Apr 2013
- Our Journey with AJ: until 15 Apr 2013

- MadPsychMum: until 15 Apr 2013

- The Gingerbread Mum: until 15 Apr 2013.

Hop over! You may be the lucky winner for the pass. Good Luck!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Disclaimer: This is an event by invitation and I received no monetary compensation for this post. All opinions are entirely my own.