Hey Alex!

Woke up to wash my clothes... Remember the tap is still leaking like mad... Don't have the tools to fit the leak... So made a little toy to transfer the water straight to the sink...

Ice-cream box, a straw and some blu-tack!

Leaking tap...

Now the water leaks straight into the sink! Yeah I'm bored...

Stirling Lions Vs. Wanneroo City

Macedonia Park... Home of Stirling Lions... Entry fee... $8... Kill people set fire ah!!!

At half-time... The kids on the side jumped into play soccer on the pitch... The pitch is pretty damn good... No bare patches... Lovely beautiful grass...

They have no ball boys or other fancy stuffs... See those boys on the scoreboard? They were there to update the score... Everytime the ball went out of play... Someone would just kick it back in...

I have heard of drive-in movies... But drive-in football match is something new... Wee!

The crowd... Or lack thereof... Most of them are watching football... Drinking beer... And insulting the players... In Singapore we only get to watch football and insult the players... We need beer too!

Overall an interesting match which ended 2-1 to the home team. The Lions winning via a beautiful freekick just outside the box... The Lions held majority of possesion and were threatening right from the start...

I would rate the standard of play as lower then the S-League, but much more physically...

This photo is taken purely for Adeline Tong! Adeline! Your scrambled egg!

Earth Hour!

But first you see me making muffins

Before...

After...

Finally...

I don't eat a piece of steak everyday ok! Today I ate pasta...

Oh yeah... The title is Earth Hour... So here it is... Alex and Nadia enjoying a candlelight dinner... They have more then enough light as there were a big lightbulb taking photos of them... =P

Gone Drinking...

Went down to Metro City for Mambo Night... A nights out organised by the SSAs of Perth's University... It's a social event! All work and no play makes me a dumb boy...

You see that layer of fat? It's the only reason I didn't get drunk!

Metro City's male toilet... Notice the old school urinal you don't find in Singapore anymore...

The female of the species are special you know...

It's not as packed as it looks... There was more then enough walking space...

Magic mirror! Now we have 4!

Motivational dancers... They are trying to motivate the floor to move it! They were trying very hard...

It was hot... I was sweating... =P

I was damn lucky to somehow manage to get a ride home... Met this pair of RSAF guys... Was originally planning to continuing partying... But everything was closing... So they gave me a ride home... Thanks man! Or I would have been sleeping at the train station...

Roasted Chicken: Take 2!

Notice the updated roast pan... Placed the green veggy thing-a-ling-ling which I still can't spell properly directly under the chicken... And soaked them and the carrots in a combination of worchestershire sauce, olive oil, vegetable oil and butter...

Chicken is smeared in a sauce made of mustard, rosemary, thyme leave, oregano, black pepper and ground red chilli...


Final result! The roasted veggy is roasted this time... Not burnt! Not dry! Really oily... But I don't get fat so that's alright... The chicken is good... But I don't quite agree with the mustard base... Will try using BBQ sauce next time...

We are having Chicken Tonight!

Before...

After...

Finally... Roasted chicken with burnt vegetable and mac'n'cheese' on the side...

Verdict... Good chicken... Slightly dry skin... Burnt veggy... Surprising tasty... But DRY AND BURNT! Maybe I should have drown the veggy in broth and roast them together... As for the slightly dry chicken skin... Should have mixed the spices in a thick sauce and spread over the chicken instead of sprinkling them over the chicken and spraying olive oil over it... Lalala...

Another Dinner Post...

Cut involved here is the blade steak. A cut from the shoulder... Not very marbled... A well worked muscle... Pretty cheap too... But seriously... The meat has a very good feel in the mouth!

Also changed my steak cooking style... Instead of using high heat (which creates so much smoke... The house seems to be on fire!), decided to change to low heat cooking at a longer time! The meat turns out better then on high heat... Juicier too...

Weightlifting Coaching Course?!?

Did a weightlifting coaching course conducted by the Australian Weightlifting Federation over the weekend... Still feeling the course...

Prior to doing the course, have only done simple exercises, never tried any of those power-development exercises before, other then plyometrics...

The course was conducted by Lyn Jones, with assistance from Jack Walls, Geish Hori, Mike Newton and AAHH!!!!! I forgot his name... Oh well... Overall a great course and a wonderful learning experience... A real eye-opener into the world of Olympic weightlifting and weightlifters... Went through the routine, learning squats, deadlifts, snatch progression exercises, clean progression exercises, jerk progression exercises, power snatch, power clean, and finally it all add up into doing the full snatch and the full clean and jerk... At the end of the course, Lyn Jones reminded me that the first Olympic medal for Singapore was won in weightlifting by Tan Howe Liang...

My techniques are not too correct, as a matter of fact, pretty wrong most of the time, but 2 days of training won't make me a good lifter or coach... Practice is the word here...

And to kick it off, I spent an hour observing a strength and conditioning session for some rugby boys... Should be making my way down to Midland on wednesday to see the weightlifting club in operation, and hopefully I can train and improve my techniques there too...

Oh yeah... MIDLAND IS DAMN FAR FROM JOONDALUP!!! Can somone please buy me a car? Or a bicycle? =X

Also interviewed for a job at the local Sizzler... PLEASE HIRE ME!!! I WANNA BUY A BICYCLE SO I CAN CYCLE TO MIDLAND!!!

I baked Cookies!

So must make a blog entry!

Mixing it up...

First batch before baking... The package said "Will make 8 cookies"... But I only have 6...

Now I understand...

Second batch! Smarter this time...

6 medium cookies... 6 small ones... And 1 that is a little too big...

Ready to bake premix from White Wings... Lol...

Flour on nose...

This is my dinner...

I liked it alot... Honey glazed chicken with carrots and that green veggy which name I forgot how to spell at this very moment!

One Month in Perth!

Spent 1 month in Perth so far... Loving every minute of it not spent in class... =P

Went down to Niche Bar at Leederville for Alex and Nadia's birthday gathering... Had 5 beers... 1 Little Creature (Thanks Alex!), 1 Peroni, 1 Corona (Thanks Nadia!), 1 Beck's and 1 Tiger... Don't really like beer, but bottles are easier to hold then any glass! And beer had a mild effect on me...

Went to the beach today... Sunset Coast's animal exercise beach... It's a very dangerous beach! Dog shit every where! Moko is extremely terrified of the big dogs (She's tiny...)... Beautiful clean beach (other then the dog poops!)... Clean water (Any stretch of beach in Perth is better then Sentosa... I can see my feet in the water in this beach... I can barely see 30cm away in Singapore's beach!)...

Got my Video-Ezy membership card... Now I can borrow DVDs without bothering Alex... Which means I will potentially borrow more DVDs because Perth is boring... =P Which means my wallet will potentially have less cash in it...


Daisy in garden... Quite nice so I took a photo... It's a daisy right? Right?

Made Laksa to "celebrate" my first month in Perth... Brought Prima taste laksa pre-mix from Woolworths... They were on offer! $3 a pack! Which is really cheap... Normally retails for $5 even in Singapore...

Tau pok in laksa gravy...

Laksa Noodle...

End product... Only took 1 photo... The photo turns out back... But I was so excited... I turned my attention to eating the laksa after taking one photo... Too bad no hum...

Oh and... This blog is called 'A Year Without Laksa' not because I think I won't have laksa for a year... But because I think it's catchy!!! Before I get into Perth... I already know I have access to Laksa!!!

The Post with the Food!

Our host cooked dinner today...

Alex stirring up a storm...

Finished product... It's a spicy tomato based sauce... Topped with basil leaves and cheese... Lovely really...

Alex and Nadia with pasta and wine... Chile 2005 Shiraz... I don't know wine... But it's spicy! Spicy red wine!

Apple and berries pie by Nadia...

Topped with ice cream...

Thanks for the great meal!

The Post with the Flowers!

Decided to take a few photos of the flowers in Alex's yard and post it here...

Roses...

Dandelion... They grew themselves... Nobody plants them!

Funny purplish flowers near the garage...

Next time I will take photos of the herbs garden...

Sunday is Dim Sumday...

Today is Dim Sumday... Went down to the city with Weipeng, Gladys and an old friend of Weipeng for dim sum at Northbridge... Roy, the Singapore Student Association President told us the dim sum in Perth is better then Singapore... And I have to say... It's quite true...

This is Nadia, the better half of our landlord... She baked a herb loaf and treated us to it... It's sticky, chewy and very dense... The aroma of the herb is so strong... I could smell it outside the house when she was baking it...

My sunday lunch... Bacon and egg... Added salt to bacon... Not the smartest thing to do... For I ended up with a very salty omelette...