Goodbye Auckland!

 

It has been 3weeks since I returned from Auckland. It was meant to be a home trip for Chinese New year but this was a trip to return for good. It was an extremely hard decision,  harder than when I first made the decision to go. Whenever I think of it I just can't control my tears. I am really at a lost and my heart broken  I really really miss Tony so much and I started to break down every night thinking of him. I hate myself for doing this to him, but I dunno what else to do...I wish someone can tell me and give me a perfect solution.

 

Back at home when I see my aging mum my heart feels for her and felt I made the right decision. .then the thought of Tony makes me feeling sad again ditching him all by himself....

 

I still text and call him as often as I can,  I wanted to do that every day..however the thought of him, the message I wrote, sent and received were packed full of emotional. Tear will start streaming nonstop. My emotional is hard to control..how can I let go (him). We have been together for 4years and stayed together for almost 3 years.  My love for him is deep and genuine. .it is only till now I realised how deep my love was for him. We have to part due to unforeseen situation and not because we no longer love one another. ..because of that it is not easy to let go. .

I am really breaking down slowly day by day. ... .I really miss you Tony and love you too. He is much a wonderful,  caring and lovely. I can't ask for more, he wanted me to be happy letting me go as we really have no choice. No word can describe how sorry I am and noone can understand what I am going through now. Tears are words heart can't say!

I love you Tony and really miss you!   You know  that and you will always be in my heart and forever!

 

Another chapter of my life is closed with fond memories, painful heartbreak and scar for life!

 

Hope I am given the strength to overcome this.....

Happy Call Pan Pressure Pan (Basic Pan)

I returned for a home trip on end May, before I went home I rang my mum asking her if she would like to have a Happy Call Pan (HCP) as I would like to order one online for her and hopefully it will be delivered during the time I was back in Singapore and I can demonstrate to her how to use before my trip back to Auckland. Mum is aware of this HCP, during my Chinese New Year's trip back, HCP has been advertised heavily in Singapore TV's advertisement. Mum and I do talk about it when the TV aired it,  both of us were not sure if it was really that fantastic as what they claimed on the TV so we did not get into it and buy one. Recently,my friends posted on Facebook (FB) on it and raved on how good it was, it stirred up my interest on it again, check with my FB contact them for more information and in their opinion it is a great pan to invest on; decided to get one for her howvever mum is about the weight of the pan as she is old and hands are weak, I did a check on the weight and found that a smaller one which is a basic one might be ideal for her. She agreeded to have one; I do not want to order something that she don't like and did not use that was why I need to ask her for opinion.

The HCP arrived shortly after I landed in Singapore. It came  directly from Korea. Well packed and came with a English Manual too. Why is this pan so popular: Convenient, shortens the cooking time with pressure retention technology; cook without oil; no oil splatters and greasy stains on cooking area - save time in cleaning up after cooking. 

I have extracted a video of this Happy Call Pan (HCP) which some called it Flip and Cook pan. As you simply just shake, flip and cook .

Description Use for foods with a lot of moisture or fat. eg. A steak, a barbecue, vegetables etc. 01 Functional pressure magnet Improving the pressure function of the pan. 02 Stainless steel handle holder Connecting the handles to the pan. 03 Silicon packing Preventing an escape of odor an smoke from pan. 04 Oil receiver Receiving oil or water flown down from the upper pan. 05 Grooved rim A grooved structure helps the pressure function of the pan by fitting the silicon packing into the groove. 06 Functional handle Ergonomic design to handle in comfort and in safe. 07 Spec 27cm wide, 23cm long, 6cm high and 1555g of weight.

When the HCP arrived, my mum bought a fish for me to experiment with it and also to demonstrate to her the use of the pan. Both of us felt that we should use some oil to cook the fish though it was advertsed that you can do without it. We were skeptical that the fish would not taste good if no oil was used. We cooked it with alittle bit of oil. It turned out to be good, crispy on the skin and moist inside. It was really no mess at all better than the traditional method of frying it on a open pan. It did taste better as it locked it the moisture inside the fish while remaining crisp outside. However, mum found the pan too small for her. Every day, mum has to cook for my sister's and my brother's families which including mum, my son and another brother which is 11 of them. She prepared the dishes for them and they will come and pick it up daily.  The pan will be way too small, she wanted me to bring it back to Auckland instead. I did suggest to her that in that case I should consider ordering a bigger pan for her; she was worried that with the food inside the pan it will be too heavy for her to flip. I shared the same concern as well. Her safety is the utmost prority. We scarpped the idea totally. I bought back the pan eventually. Now, I have jumped into Happy Call Pan's bandwagon and be a happy fan too!

The Jersey Boys-Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons

On Friday, Tony popped up the question if I wanted to watch the Jersey Boys Show with him. He claimed that his friend Ray said that the show was awesome, Tony showed great interest in watching; actually this was not the first time he asked me just that I did not give him any answer. He said that the show was coming to an end, as I do not want him to miss out on this show I agreed to go with him though I absolutely got no idea what Jersey Boys was all about. Tony told me it was about Frankie Valli and the four seasons??? I stared at him blankly too, who are they too ??? He told me to google on my iPhone on their songs, he was sure that I would have heard their songs before. I heard the song "Big girls don't cry" and very well know this "Can't take my eyes off you" as it was a popular Beer's advertisement song in Singapore some years back so it does ring a bell however I did not know that it was one of Frankie Valli's greatest hits. We went on YouTube to listen to some of their songs, Tony just wanted me to be comfortable with this musical we were watching. It did arouse my interest on them, so I went to book the Sunday's show which was the last 2nd show. We managed to get good seats.

What a show! The music was really awesome, the cast was strong and polished, it was the music that the steals the show. I really enjoyed the music though there were some songs it was the first time I heard them. Somehow when the songs were played, there was a feeling of nostalgia. It was a fantastic performance by the Jersey Boys. Just to share a bit more on The Jersey Boys.

The Jersey Boys ia an award winning musical The Four Seasons. The story of how 4 blue-collar boys became one of the greatest successes in pop music history. They wrote their own songs, invented their own sounds and 175million records worldwide-all before they were thirty!

The Jersey Boys is the first time the behind-the-scenes story of Frankie Valli and the Four Sesaons has ever been told.

The Jersey Boys features 20 Four Seasons hit songs including “Sherry”, “big Girls Don’t Cry”, “Rag Doll”. “Oh What a night” , "My Eyes Adored You" and “Can’t Take My Eyes Off you”.

Winner of 54 International Awards. We were glad to be able to catch the last 2nd show in Auckland. Here I am sharing some of their greatest hits extracted from youtube with all of you. Sit back, relax and enjoy!

Oh What a Night

Sherry

My Eyes Adored You

New Hobby-Crochet

Winter is around the corner, while doing my winter shopping at Lynn Mall I saw a round scarf at Glassons;I like it alot but did not to buy it that day as I have been trying to control myself from impulsive. I wanted to give myself some time to think about it, although it was not an expensive stuff. I need to learn not to spend unnecessarily and try to live frugally.  A few weeks  later, I dropped by Lynn Mall's Glassons again realised they have ran out of the scarf that I like.  I really like that scarf, though I was disappointed. That night, I went online to check if there is any online shop that sells round scarf in New Zealand, by chance and saw this video posted by Love4Nails on how to crochet a round scarf. This tutorial is simple to understand for someone like me who is NEW into crochet though I do know how to knit. I have just completed my 3rd scarf, I still made some mistake since I am not perfect yet. I would like to share some of my mistakes with you so that you can learn from my mistakes. Please refer to my comments in  TURQUOISE.  My 1st scarf turned out to be twisted. I realised that after I completed it. Since it did not looked twisted when you put it on, I decided not to unpick it leave it as it is. The pattern of this scarf was very pretty and trendy and can't wait to start on my 2nd piece. The following day, I went to buy the yarns and started my 2nd piece which was a gift for my Thai sister, I knew that I have to be careful not to commit  the same mistake I had on the 1st scarf which may have gone wrong when joining the 180 chain together. I was extra careful not to have the chain twisted before joining somehow I did not get it right too. It was apparent only after the 3rd row, as a result I have to unpick 2 rows to the step where I have to join the chain together again. In fact, I have to unpick not just once but twice to get it right. This was the critical step so once you got it right nothing will go wrong from there onwards once it has been aligned.

Check out the video here if you wanted to crochet one too!

Below are uploader's comments:
Hello You Guys!!!

Happy Monday ~

Today we'll be working on how to make your very own crochet round scarf.

I purchased a 364 yds skein and for the 10 row scarf I used half which would be 182 yds. For the 20 row scarf I used the 364 yds.The crochet hook I used is a K101/2-6.50MM.

One thing I forgot to mention in my video is that once your done with the 180 stitch chain you'll bring the two ends together and; unite them turning them into one cirlcle. From here you'll begin the pattern, once you come all the way around with your patern, you'll have to bring the first row together. During this time before joining the first row you'll have to make sure that the first row is aligned perfectly all around before connecting the first row.  (My experience : My first scarf was twisted because I did not aligned them properly before connecting but my second one was PERFECT after 2 attempts to connect it without being twisted. You have to make sure that the 180 chains is not twisted, lay them on a flat  surface. I learnt from my mistake and would like to share)  You'll only have to do this one time after finishing your first row, the following row's will automatically be aligned. 

I hope you enjoy this tutorial and try these trendy scarf's out.

 

Blue (1st Scarf) and Pink (Gift for my Thai Sister)

3rd Scarf

Pakuranga's Saturday Night Market

If you are an Asian residing in Auckland and has never been to Pakuranga's Night Market, perhaps you should consider going this Sat with your family or friends. Came to know their existence through a Taiwanese Staff who was on work holiday visa at Love A Duck restaurant. Because she is Chinese, while waiting for my takeaway we chatted. She seems to know more about Auckland then me. Hahaha...maybe here in NZ is too boring that I have lost interest and I am resigned to fate that "it is what it is", nothing can change the fact that NZ is a boring and dull place lacks of activities. On my way home from my takeaway, the radio was also promoting this night market.  I shared with Tony about this night market when I got home. I shared with him that this night market was setup under a covered car park in Pakuranga's Westfield Shopping Mall. He was surprised and said that he will bring me there one of the Sat's night. And yes, we did. Of course, before arriving there Tony kept telling me to lower down my expectation, in case I was utterly disappointed.   The market turned fantastic-far exceeded my expectation. There were about 40 to 50 amazing food stalls cooking up tasty street snacks and delicacies at affordable prices. Bring along cash with you when you go as the stalls take only CASH. The big draw here was the food stalls as you can sample traditional snack from all over the world which some of it were only available here in the night market.  This night market is definitely worth visiting than the Chinatown in Ti Rakau (At Botany). The Chinatown in Botany was just a failure, except the food court. 

So far, we have visited the night market many times, I was too busy sampling the food that I did not have extra  hands to take some photos. On my last visit, I decided to take some photos as I wanted to share this fantastic night market with Aucklanders who may have ran out of ideas where to go on a Sat's night. This is definitely a great option for young and old. A big thumb up for the organisers, they did a good job for bringing Auckland to life on a Saturday's night.

 My advice to all: Have cash with you and do not shower before you go; you will feel greasy after the visit so shower after this visit. :)   

Video on Pakuranga's Night Market (extracted from YouTube)

Taiwanese Snack -Oyster's Omelette (Cooking in process)

You may want to check out at  their website : Pakuranga's Night Market

Saturday Night Market, Westfield Pakuraga, Cnr Ti Rakau Drive and Reeves Rd, Pakuranga.

Every Saturday's Night 6pm to Midnight

Rain or Shine (Sheltered under a Car Park)

Back from Perth

I was away to Perth with Tony for a 2 weeks holiday and was back last Saturday. I was too jet lagged to log in to my blog to do any updating. This trip was mentally exhausting and tired, it was too long and it turned out to be a bit of a nightmare. The only consolation was I got to see my son in Perth. I will try to update my Perth's trip once I have the time, probably after February, I am going back to Singapore tomorrow for Chinese New Year. I am so excited and happy, though I hate to step into the plane again. The flight journey is almost 11h 30min, I am flying back by Jetstar this time. The journey seems to be longer than flying back by Singapore Airlines (SQ), which SQ took about 10h. Anyway, it will be my last time flying long haul using Jetstar. See you soon, my Singapore!

Mc Donald-Chicken Scorcher

This evening, we went to Mc Donald to have our dinner as I wanted to try their Chicken Scorcher which is a spicy chicken patty as it reminded me of the Mc Spicy which we had back in Singapore. Just before we stepped into the restaurant Tony told me this "Do not have to high an expectation of the burger."

We placed our orders, when I opened up my burger.. A sense of disappointment set in and when I had the first bite..oh dear.. It was not spicy at all.. It was way far behind my expectation. I was very disappointed with it and I don't think I would try it again though it was for a limited period only.

I told myself I must have Singapore Mc Spicy when I go home in January. Singapore's Mc Donald has the best Mc Spicy..

Spring in Auckland 2011

Today, I would like to share some of the photos I have taken during last few weeks...the sight of Spring in Auckland during early October. The sight was so beautiful with flowers blooming everywhere. I was intrigued by the Cherry's blossom, the sight was awesome and breathtaking that I kept taking photos of it. The best time to visit NZ is definitely in Oct. Enjoy my snapshoots..



The flowers of this tree resembled "Tulips"

This is "White" Cherry Tree.

Close up of white cherry flowers

This is one of the plants in our yard. Round balls of flowers

Pink Cherry Trees at houses around our area.

Close up of Pink Cherry Flower



Forever New

Oh dear.. I am so in love with this label "Forever New".Last Sunday, we went for a movie at St Luke's shopping mall after the movie we decided to walk around the mall. Very naturally when we saw this "Forever New", we walked in without fail. The collection is very so appealing and always attracts a lot of ladies like me, and even Tony to pop in to have a look at what's their latest collection.

Tony picked a Silk Oriental Kimono for me while a Jersey Stripe Maxi caught my eyes. Added 3 new pieces to my "Forever New" Collection. In total, now I have 9 pieces from this label and soon my wardrobe will transform into mini "Forever New" collection.  

Arataki Visitor Centre

Last Sunday, the weather was beautiful. Tony wanted to get out of the house to enjoy some sun it has been awhile since we last had a good weather. I suggested to go to The Rainforest Express which is located in the heart of Waitakere and it is about 15mins away from our place. 300metres before the rainforest express, there is a sign erected on the left of the road telling us that it was approaching...however after driving past the 300m mark for almost 1km we arrived at the Arataki Visitor Centre. There was no sight of the so called The Rainforest Express. On the way back, we saw another sign saying we are 300m away from The Rainforest Express...the only turn off at the 300m is at "Jacobson's Depot"...which is actually where the train departs, which we came to realise after we returned home and check on internet. There is no mention of this Rainforest Express at the entrance of Jacobson's Depot at all and was very disappointing. Can't imagine if you are a tourist and is on a self drive trip..driving to find this attraction! :(

Though we were disappointed, we did have a tour at Arataki Visitor Centre to enjoy some beautiful scenaries.

Gifts from Hawaii

This year I was unable to join Tony to Hawaii due to work commitment, it was so sad for both of us we enjoyed travelling together. The trip to Hawaii was to get some inspiration for next season collection. We worked well together. It was so thoughtful of him to get me gifts and also not forgetting Wallace. I felt so pampered by this man. He is the first man that really appreciate me and never fail to surprise me..He always has me in his mind and this time not forgetting Wallace too.

A Red Tshirt for Wallace



Coach's Poppy Montage Layla

 

A lovely True Religion's Cap for this Summer



Estee Lauder's Gift Set with my favourite Night Repair Serum



Short Getaway to Sydney

I have  been away from 7th Sept to 9th Sept to Sydney for business trip, looking at some prints collection for next season swimwear collection. It was a short and hectic trip we arrived at Wednesday's evening and leaving on Friday's afternoon...just in time to watch the Ruby World Cup Opening Ceremony. It was a Big event for the Kiwis', it does not stirred up any interest in me at all. Ruby is just another boring sport. Thank goodness, I managed to have some time for some shopping else I will be very unhappy just because we need to come back for the ruby thingy.

We stayed at David's apartemnt during our stay in Sydney. During our 1st morning, I managed to capture a photo of 2 Kookaburra. According to Dave, the Kookanurra comes and sits on their balcony every day. They are so tame though they sitting about half a metre away from me.

This trip, we visited the new Westfield Mall at Sydney Tower and others malls in the vicinity- like Queens Victoria Building after our business appointment. As the weather on Thursday became very warm in the afternoon, so Tony got me some summer's clothing and shoes to change into. It was cold when we left in the morning, the weather changed drastically. We had about 3hours of shopping on Thursday and 3hours on Friday just before we departed Sydney. Though it was 6 hours of shopping in total, I managed to get a pair of shoes, a skirt, 2 tops and a tunic and Tony rewarded himself with a Ipad 2. Not a bad trip afterall though it was super short..at least it was rewarding in term of shopping!

My Shopping Loots

Satay

On 27th August,which was last Sat, we had a party at home. I suggested to Tony to order some Satay for the party on top of those regular food we were having-Ham and Beef. It will be served an entree. I came across this caterer on the internet while trying to locate a Muslim Restaurant to serve Mee Soto. Satay is a dish of marinated, skewered and grilled meat, served with peanut sauce. Satay is available almost anywhere in Asian countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. It is usually serve with a spicy peanut sauce, slices of onions and cucumbers, and ketupat (rice cakes). I was lucky to be able to find satay here in Auckland. This is the website which I ordered my satay, it was really authentic and were well received by our guests. They have Beef, Lamb and Chicken Satay, as Muslim do not eat Pork so they do not have Pork Satay. This caterer/owner Azhar is a Muslim. If you have ever tried Satay before in Asian countries and would love to sample some in NZ, I would strongly recommend you to get from New Zealand Malay Satay. Great and friendly service provided by Azhar. Delicious and authentic satay, the meats (beef and chicken) were succulent, full of flavour. It was really great to be able to find nice satay here just like the way I had it in Singapore. We will definitely order from him again.

Beef and Chicken Satay with Ketupat (Rice Cakes)

Peanut Sauce