foggy morning: last day of the year

i woke up very early this morning, not because i'm a person with the habit of waking early, nor am i someone who likes the fresh morning air. it was because i simply couldn't carry on sleeping after catching only 2.5hrs of sleep. so i decided to get up and make myself some early breakfast. and it was then that i saw this scenery at the field right in front of the house.



i was like, wtf!!! what happen?! who threw smoke grenade?!



i thought it was just me seeing blur because of the insomnia or insufficient sleep. but then even when after i rubbed my eyes for a clearer look, things became clearer, yet not very clear. and it was after a while that my brain started to function properly and told me that it was just fog.



i quickly went to take my camera to take some shots of the field from the balcony. that's when i saw him, trying to start a nest.

i dunno if he's a wasp, hornet or super big flying ant.


i decided to move in closer for better shots.





this shot made me feel like i was in some kinda winter wonderland in a Europe forest where all was cold and foggy. but the time of the year now in Australia is SUMMER!!!




i must thank myself i was not staying in some ulu pandan place in Japan or Korea, famous for all the weird weird stuff that happens to people.

just imagine her in the morning, "gooooood moooorniiiing~~~ daarling."


as i was happily taking pictures, then i thought to myself, just what if one week ago i watched some unlabeled video and right after watching i receive weird ass phone call...?



then maybe.....





better not imagine so much.











Happy New Year! Party and drink in moderation. or else you might end up looking like.....

Ristorante de Munro

Ladies and gentlemen. welcome to Ristorante de Munro. located in the quiet suburb of St Lucia, Brisbane. today, Chef Louie (sounds like Italian name hor..) will be showing you how to cook, Pasta de lamb chops with truss tomato.


ok ok, let's be serious. actually i just wanna show my mum that:
1. i can cook my own dinner.
2. what i cook for my dinner.
3. that i'm not starving myself just because i can slim down or look slim.


firstly, the condiments. as you can see, we need mint sauce(also know as mint vinegar), a bottle of simple marinade spice, sesame oil and plum sauce.



next, ORGANIC pasta of your choice.



thaw the lamb forequarter chops prior to marination. lamb forequarter chops are chosen because of the high fat content as you can see in the picture, those thick white strips. when you bake it in the oven, fats will just melt and oooooze out as an oily puddle. marvellous.

ok, using the condiments above, add your own 'agaration' or desired amount to the lamb chops and leave for an hour to marinate.



next, we have feta cheese, greek. feta (typical) nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz), Carbohydrates 4g, Fat 21g and Protein 14g. slice and dice. use as much as you want.



2 eggs. beaten.



boil water.



add pasta when water is boiled. add salt just like all good recipes recommend, if you do not want your pasta to stick together.



place marinated lamb chops in baking tin and top with diced truss tomatoes. bake 150 degree celsius for about 30 mins. longer if your chops are thicker or larger; or if you want it to be more burnt.




once the pasta is cooked to your liking, drain away the water and throw in the diced/crumbed feta cheese for a few quick stirs. and then add pasta+feta into the bowl of beaten eggs. mix well. add pepper to taste. after the lamb chops are cooked, place on pasta. drizzle remaining oil/sauce onto pasta. serve.




voila!!




the verdict: with bright lighting, camera and snazzy close up shots, any tommy, dicky or harry can produce such great photos to make the food look professional and appealing to the taste buds. just as long as you do not let anyone taste it, no one will ever know if it's good or bad.


all right. that ends the high fat dinner i usually have. thanks for being such good audience. for those who expects, demands and wants me to cook for them when i go back. DREAM ON.


for those who knows Louie and are interested to know how he keeps his 'fit, slim and shapely' figure, please read on... ladies, please ready your pen and paper. here comes the best kept secret!








Unveiling..... Greeeeeeen Tea!

mix one teaspoon of tea leaves into 500-750ml of boiled water. drink EVERYDAY.
if it doesn't work for you, go home and blame your parents for lousy genes.

23rd December

i know it's kinda late to post about something before Christmas. but, who cares.

23rd December is 2 days prior to Christmas. and also the birthday of my brother.

i decided to go have a good dinner as a form of celebrating his birthday. ha ha....

went to this Japanese restaurant called 'Wagamama'.



i can't remember the exact name of this dish, but it's some grilled chicken in good sauce(slightly sweet) and vegetable. to me it feels like expensive 'mui fan'(绘饭).



and then there's sour plum wine.


this is sweet potato crisps. hand cut just so that you will feel like a king eating it. i think they just wanna utilize the labour they have in the kitchen. anyway, the sweet potatoes are cut to thin slices, fried and then served with wasabi mayonnaise.


this is sing yan's order, wagamama ramen. the soup is b-l-a-n-d. everything else tastes ok. looks like a very healthy dish to me.





these magnificent shots are taken by singyan while we were waiting for the citycat to get home. the view is southbank, the 摩天轮(i forget what it's called in english. almost wanted to describe as waterwheel and skyscraper) and griffith university.

New Year's and Resolutions

this time of the year again.





i wish...










in the next life...











i can date someone as beautiful, as gorgeous, lovely, pretty, smart and gentle.

as her.

Singapore’s My Blog's Hottest/Prettiest Girl of the Year 2008

be jealous. be very jealous.

Christmas: Wonderful Dinner

I want to dedicate this post to give my most heartfelt thanks to Alicia, Elaine and Jessica, for the most homely, heartwarming and wonderful Christmas dinner i had in 24 years of my life. nothing very fanciful, but i loved it to the max.

when i arrived, the table was made so so beautifully, i was really amazed. i must really give them the credit, you can see that they really took all the effort to make Christmas special.

the lovely ladies cooked roast turkey, mashed potatoes, roast kangaroo meat, brandy fish, teriyaki fish, mushroom soup, garlic bread, avocado milkshake, Simon made the salad, and Katherine provided us with wonderful yogurt dessert. me? i used all the effort i could muster to finish the food. so guilty to do nothing, i'm sorry.

first up, i have to say the turkey was fantastic. i heard it took more than 24 hours to thaw, and then you splash brandy and roast it in the oven for 1.25 hours. it was turkey breast. when i mention turkey breast, most probably people would think that it would taste rubberish and super dry. this was not the case, thy meat was so succulent, so juicy, so tasty and in all honesty, i would've mistaken it for some turkey thigh if you hadn't told me it was breast meat. lets move on to the kangaroo. it was my very first time tasting kangaroo, it kinda tasted like those beef rump extra well done; tougher. it wasn't about the cook, just that the texture of the meat was like that. i suppose kangaroos are better left in the zoos and outback, not on the dining table.

ok, the fish. what can i say, fish is fish. it was superb but some said it was a tad too salty. about the mashed potatoes, they mashed the mashed potatoes themselves! OMG. it had a smooth, buttery taste. simple but amazingly well done(i finished all of it). and then we come to the salad by courtesy of Simon. it had fruits, like grapes, blueberries, rockmelon and whole lot of veggies. and then 99% fat free dressing. the salad was finished mainly by the ladies, i had little part in it. last but not least, we come to the mushroom soup, garlic bread and avocado milkshake. i only can say that it was 我这一辈子吃过最好吃的蘑菇汤，蒜茸面包和鳄梨奶昔。简直无悔这一生。

a game of Bang! followed after dinner, and we had quite a fun time learning it from Simon, having all his patience teaching a full table of newbies. very interesting game i'd say.

from left: Simon, Jessica, me, Alicia, Elaine(standing) and Katherine.

again, i must say, thank you so very much for the dinner :)

of Love of Friends

“Without friends no-one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.” (Aristotle)

Three kinds of friendship

Aristotle begins by considering the question: how many kinds of friendship are there? As always, he proceeds in a very logical manner. Friendship is a form of love, he reasons. But not everything can be an object of love. We love only things that are useful, pleasant or good.

There are, then, three corresponding kinds of friendship. In friendships of utility we love people because they are useful to us. In friendships of pleasure we love people because we find them pleasant. And in perfect friendship we love people for themselves, because we perceive them to be good.

Utility-based friendship

Aristotle says, “Those who love each other for their utility [usefulness] do not love each other for themselves, but in virtue of some good which they get from each other.” This is the least perfect form of friendship, because the love involved is ultimately self-directed. If I love you for what I can get from you, it is really myself that I love.

Friendships of this type are quickly dissolved. Once they outlive their usefulness, the friendship ends. Because, says Aristotle, “They were lovers not of each other but of profit.”

Friendships of utility are (by definition) useful; they are an essential part of life. But they can easily lead to bitterness once they outlive their usefulness. One problem is that when people use each other for their own interests, they are likely to feel let down when they don’t get everything they expect. And it is those expectations of man that leads to disappointment. Idealisation can be poisonous at times.

A deeper, and potentially more damaging, problem arises when one of the people involved misunderstands the nature of the friendship. If I think you love me for my character, and then find that you love me only because I am useful to you, I will become angry and upset.

“Most differences arise between friends when they are not friends in the spirit in which they think they are,” says Aristotle.

Are work-friends real friends?

Not all friendships of utility are exploitative. In his book The Philosophy of Friendship Mark Vernon points out that most workplace friendships are utility-based.

The thing that unites us with our workmates is a set of common goals, which we must pull together to achieve. It’s only natural that some camaraderie will ensue, and this is a good thing. Our workplace friendships make us more productive, and make our work more enjoyable.

But these friendships tend to be rather shallow. We all know how embarrassing it is to bump into a colleague at the supermarket. Even if we’re on good terms with them in the workplace, we find we have little to say to them outside of it.

We also know how quickly workmates are forgotten once they move to a new job. We may have enjoyed their company day-in day-out for years. But once they’ve gone, it’s as though they never existed.

This is because most workplace friendships are ultimately determined by their utility. What unites us is our work, not our characters. And, in the words of Aristotle, “When the motive of the friendship is done away, the friendship is dissolved, in as much as it existed only for the ends in question.”

Avoiding the pitfalls

It is wise simply to accept friendships of utility for what they are. There’s little point bemoaning their shallowness if it’s in their nature to be shallow. For more meaningful friendships, we must look elsewhere…

“Those who wish well to their friends for their sake are most truly friends.” (Aristotle)

In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle goes on to examine two other kinds of friendship: friendships of pleasure, and perfect friendship.

Friendships of pleasure

In friendships of pleasure we love people because we find their company pleasant. Aristotle gives the example of people who are always cracking jokes and making us laugh. “It is not for their character that men love ready-witted people, but because they find them pleasant,” he says.

Pleasure also lies at the heart of friendships between people who share hobbies and interests. If you play golf, and have lots of golf-partners who are, in a sense, friends. But you know very little about them, and they know very little about you. Your friendship is based solely on the pleasure you derive from playing sport together.

Friendships of pleasure have a lot in common with friendships of utility. Both are ultimately rather selfish, and both are quickly dissolved.

But the key feature of utility-based and pleasure-based friendships is that they are incidental. They are formed by chance rather than by choice. I have no special affinity with my workmates; I just happen to work with them. And it’s no big deal if you lose one of your golf partners; you simply find yourself another one. “For it is not as being the man he is that the loved person is loved, but as providing some good or pleasure,” says Aristotle.

Perfect friendship

In perfect friendship we love people not merely because they are useful or pleasant, but because of their character. We love them for who they are.

“Perfect friendship is the friendship of men who are good, and alike in virtue… [and who] wish well to each other. Now those who wish well to their friends for their sake are most truly friends; for they do this by reason of their own nature and not incidentally.” (Aristotle)

Perfect friendship isn’t tinged with selfishness in the way that utility-based and pleasure-based friendships are. It has as much to do with giving as receiving. Unsurprisingly, such friendships are rare and take time to develop. “A wish for friendship may arise quickly, but friendship does not,” says Aristotle.

Harry Potter

The theme of friendship runs strongly through J. K Rowling’s Harry Potter books. The relationship between Harry, Ron and Hermione provides a good example of Aristotle’s perfect friendship in action.

A number of incidental circumstances initially bring the three Hogwarts pupils together. For example, they are all put into the same house, Gryffindor. But it is character rather than circumstances that binds them together. They are all brave, fiercely loyal, and share a highly developed sense of justice and fairness.

It is the mutual recognition of one another’s goodness that makes their friendship so special and enduring, and makes them willing to risk even their lives for one another.

quoting André Comte-Sponville: “Our lives – private and public, domestic and professional – have value only in proportion to the love we invest in them and find in them.” This is certainly borne out in Harry Potter’s experience.

I recently watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Harry goes through some very difficult times in this film. Only the support of his friends prevents him from sinking into despair. At the climax of the film, nothing less than love and friendship can provide him with strength of will to continue the fight against Voldemort.

A hierarchy of friendship

Clearly there is a hierarchy of friendship, with utility-based friendships at the bottom, perfect friendship at the top, and pleasure-based friendships in-between. Each type of friendship is necessary, and each adds a certain amount value to our lives.

But perfect friendship is what we really desire. Or perhaps the word ‘perfect’ is misleading. After all, nothing’s perfect. But in any case, we want friendships that go beyond utility and pleasure. We want true friends, good friends, real friends, friends who will stick by us and love us for ourselves…

But how are such friendships formed?

“What we ordinarily call friends and friendships are nothing but acquaintanceships and familiarities formed by some chance or convenience … [But] in the friendship I speak of, our souls mingle and blend with each other so completely that they efface the seams that joined them.” (Montaigne)

C. S Lewis on Friendship

According to the philosopher, theologian and writer C. S. Lewis, Friendship arises out of Companionship.

Companionship is the feeling of closeness that comes about whenever people work together, play together or pursue common goals. You see it all the time: office-workers chatting during the lunch-break; football-players enjoying a drink after a game; church-goers picnicking on a Sunday afternoon…

Companionship and Friendship are not the same. “[Companionship] is often called Friendship,” says Lewis, “and many people when they speak of their ‘friends’ mean only their companions. But it is not Friendship in the sense I wish to give the word.”

There is no doubt that companionship is a good thing; and companions are friends, of a sort. But they are friends with a small ‘f’ - no substitute for the intimate friends we all want and need.

Although Companionship is not Friendship, it is Friendship’s source. C. S. Lewis calls it ‘the matrix of Friendship’. Our closest and dearest friends start out as mere companions – but then something sets them apart.

“Friendship arises out of mere Companionship when two or more of the companions discover that they have in common some insight or interest… which the others do not share and which, till that moment, each believed to be his own unique treasure (or burden). The typical expression of opening friendship would be something like, “What? You too? I thought I was the only one.” (C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves)

With characteristic insight, C. S. Lewis observes, “The man who agrees with us that some question, little regarded by others, is of great importance, can be our friend. He need not agree with us about the answer.”

Making friends

Dale Carnegie’s 1936 book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, has sold millions of copies worldwide. Its success shows just how important friends are. It’s a good book, which offers sound, practical advice. But its techniques have more to do with Companionship than Friendship.

In The Four Loves, after describing how Friendships arise through shared insights, C. S. Lewis adds, “That is why those pathetic people who simply ‘want friends’ can never make any. The very condition of having Friends is that we should want something else besides Friends.”

His point is valid. True friendship requires that people ‘see the same truth’. There has to be something for the friendship to be about.

Aristotle says, “The wish for friendship arises quickly; friendship does not.” It cannot be forced. But it will develop naturally, given time and the right conditions.

There is no magic formula for ‘winning friends’ – not real friends, anyway. Friendship would be impoverished if there were. Perhaps the best advice is simply to lead a full life, cultivate interests, and treat people with consideration and respect. Friendship will follow.