for laksa, i will

so. my attempt at cooking laksa failed when i was getting the ingredients. went to the wet market, couldn't find everything i needed because i didn't know what they were called in chinese. ended up cooking laksa with a couple of missing ingredients. and the prawns! the prawns! they're so tiny! i didn't think they'd be such a hassle to eat. well, truth is, what im eating now kinda tastes like laksa, but the texture's a bit more like hokkien mee. zzz. i shall try again tonight or tmr. elisa shall be diligent in learning to cook this well for the sake of a kopitiam dream.

i believe i can fly

people talk about having freedom once they've graduated. i dont think anyone really feels that - or maybe im the only one who disagrees. most of the time we are free from one playing ground onyl to enter another playing ground with its whole new set of requirements and rules to the game. i personally really enjoyed uni, really enjoyed being a student. didn't enjoy all my classes or subjects, but still, uni life was super. i felt the freedom after my last exam, more because i was already ready to close the uni chapter of my life, and earnestly looking to enter the next phase. not that it'd be easier than uni, definitely not. not because of prestige, or money even. there's certainly no prestige or money in what i'll be carving out next year. carving out. hmm. i think it's about time i get used to the idea of championing something new.

finale

here's where having OCD helps :)

arrow living

i dare say that preparing for the Arrow Management and Staff christmas party was probably one of the most memorable parts of the year, or even my time here in melbourne. even if i hadn't helped out, seeing the place transform alone would have been inspiring. ALL IN 5 DAYS.

of course this took 6 months of planning (or rather, the garden did). the eventual decor for the party was conceived and birthed in 5 days, because of last minute changes to the original plan.

Day 1. Friday - we started with the giant leaf decals which i cut out while eugene and jean went to ikea to look for drapes for the ceiling (but found nothing appropriate).

Day 2. Saturday - Jean and i went for breakfast at brunswick street. we were going to eat in at babka's. but Jean wanted to..

1) bring home a broken tree and

2) do a taste test on almond crossiants.

so we ended up taking away a crossiant from babka's, and getting another one from baker d. Chirico.

Baker D Chirico - we decided this had a beautiful shape and texture

Babka's: flattened shape, slightly better flavour.

i would still just go to baker d chirico.. because it's just a stone's throw from where i live hahaha. imma get one tmr morning. woohooo!

Jean loves street art and took pictures os some. amazing work huh? this is quite disrespectful though, because the aboriginal people of Australia believe that photographs like this.. even paintings.. will capture the person's soul.

we only got to eat the crossiants after we brought the tree back to arrow though. so here's jean with 2 saws borrowed from a workroom. she managed to persuade jonlee to drive us back to brunswick to saw off branches to take home.

now she's happy. LOL

we spent a couple of hours stripping leaves off the branches and filled up a whole giant bin. lunch ime came and we had left overs from Trinity COllege Valedictory dinner. CHECK IT OUT. ok only 1 picture.

there was way too uch going on at arrow by the time we finished lunch, so we only continued at night and worked till 2am, putting up the branches and decorating the bare arms with christmas baubles and laminated bamboo leaves

i've lost track of the days. i also had to scoot off to help juls, sam and chris with nick and phebe's wedding video.

Monday morning. hard work begins at 7.30am. transporting HEAPS of rock and earth from the ground floor to the 10th.

the planting of the first shrubs. ok the first edible green. that's an olive tree and the other one is something else. i still hae yet to learn my spices and veggies.

GAHHHH blogger's not letting me publish more pictures! many of them would beon fb anyway so check that out under shing's album.

on a random note, isnt this the cutest can tab ever?

one of the other things i did after the exams was uhm. ok so i rescued these roses from being rejected. and i decided to share them with strangers before they dried or wilted. it was scary - just the thought of going up to a stranger and making his/her day.. so i only took 3 out that day. ended up giving them to people i knew. gah. bron win doreen and eugene. haha. HEY but even those, i thought through.

alright. i've got a heap of things to work on tonight. i dont think i'll be able to get too much done considering it's already 1am and i'll be meeting aimee tmr morning, taking my family to the country. kthxbai