dee2x | Rant! Roar!

We dropped by the carwash yesterday. It was a cold, rainy day but heck – Bubbles II deserved a wash!

The most cost-efficient a.k.a. cheapest way to wash your car here is by doing it yourself at a coin-operated car wash. There are plenty here in Melbourne and you can do a really good job with 2 persons and $4. They provide all the equipment, and for a few coins, you can use it all and clean your own car easily. A hand car wash could cost you $14 or more. (Labour costs here are high!) Plus, you’re not allowed to wash your car at home. You have to use rainwater (or recycled water) because of the water shortage.

Step #1: Get into a Car Wash Bay
We drove Bubbles II into an empty bay.

Step #2: Degrease the Rims
The rims hadn’t been cleaned properly in a long long time. We sprayed on some specific de-greasers for the rims. Put in $1 for 80 seconds and rushhh!

Step #3: Soap Up the Car
Time to blast off the dirt and grime with a pressure soap spray gun. It’s plenty of fun shooting at the car. Hohoho. From experience, we start from the roof (much like starting your shower by washing your hair first). This costs us $1 and gives us 80 seconds of spray time.

Step #4: Foam and Scrub the Car
Scrub, scrub, scrub. Rub. Slush. Foam comes out of the brush and we foam up and scrub down Bubbles. This step takes the most effort because you gotta scrub hard to make sure all the dirt really comes off. We put in $1 and after 80 seconds of foam, we continue brushing anyway.

Step #5: Hosing the Car Down
Once you’re done scrubbing, we rinse off all the foam by spraying REALLY HIGH PRESSURED water all over. So much fun! Hehe. It’s like playing with a water gun. ^_^ As before, we start from the roof and work our way to each rim. I spent quite a bit of time hosing Bubbles, so we spent $2 and took almost 3 minutes to get her completely clean!

(No photos because the camera-woman was busy shooting water!)

Step #6: Dry the Car Off
We brought our own chamois cloth to wipe Bubbles dry after the wash.

(I forgot what most of the steps were called, so I looked it up online. Here’s my reference: http://bit.ly/JZf6E)

And here we are – less $5 and fifteen minutes later, just the three of us. (^_^) Some cleaner than others. Hehe.

I’m not sure what it is exactly. I think it’s a elektrik box, but it’s been made into a work of art – like many other random items strewn across the city. (^_^)

Took the photos with the iPhone while waiting to meet up with Dennis last Sunday in the city. I’ve always wanted to photograph this whenever we walk by because I love what’s written on it. All four sides of the box have been painted on with bright colors and meaningful words. ( plus the usual graffiti. )

It’s pretty iconic, I think everyone’s who’s been to Melbourne has probably seen it on the intersection of Bourke and Swanston. (^_^)

It’s smack right in the middle of winter, and especially windy today. And I mean reeeeaaaally gust-blasting windy.

And I wanted an ice-cream. Not just any ice-cream, but a scoop of yummie Movenpick ice-cream. I picked chocolate. And it had bits of reaal chocolate in it. Not too sweet with a rich and creamy texture, it was absolutely delicious.

Definitely worth the drop in body temperature for this little icy peace of heaven. It warmed my heart. Hehe.

On another note, Devin got stalked by a little man in red today. I’ll have to ask his mommie if the little cutie pie can appear on my blog, but for now… little red hood, meets giant black hood. lol.

the shoot // I had planned to get out and take some shots today, but we rushed out for our lunch appointment and left the LX3 at home. So, you make do with what you have – and the best cammie is the one that’s with you all the time. Hehe. All shots taken with the iPhone today. Unfortunately – it was way too windy to hit the docks for some scene shots.

I’ve just watched ( or rather listened ) to a pretty amazing, yet simple speech by Chase Jarvis entitled ‘The Consequences of Creativity‘ this afternoon. It got me thinking… I don’t do much creative anymore. The only time my right brain gets in motion is when I play a puzzle game, or learn Mandarin. That’s not really how I would have pictured me… I’ve got more than that!

I really looove taking photos, but it seems to have taken a backseat in life. There’s always an excuse – “I want 3GS” or “I don’t have my camera with me”. But something he said struck home – “The best camera is the one that’s with you”. And boy oh boy, does he take great photos with his iPhone 3G. http://twitpic.com/photos/chasejarvis

And that’s just what I’ll start with. I just got my twitpic account up and running, and I’m ready to twit a photo a day to get my creative juices flowing! Here’s my first shot of the day. I took it on the walk home.

It’s not exactly the greatest after a long day at work, but it’s a start. After all, it’s not the camera – it’s me. (^_^)

And I’m inspired.

p.s. Thanks Hex for sharing. (^_^)

Devin, myself, Ivy and Ryan went to the Docklands to try our hand out at sailing today!

It’s an event which is held as part of the Summer Fun in the City event by Melbourne city. We saw the signboard during dragon boat practice on Saturday and decided to come back on Sunday to give it a go!

Two of us got into a little single-seater yacht after a quick explanation of how sailing works – off we went! As you can see, it’s short enough for us both to put our feet up, and just big enough to put a person on each side. Devin’s side was the heavier side. Hehe.

ZOOOM, ZOOOOM. It was surprising fast, and taking corners really took us by surprise! We were almost drifting like race cars! Woohoo! Winds were really strong occasionally and we were zipping across the water at moments like those! Hehe. Almost capsized a couple of times when ‘turning’ or ‘cornering’ as I felt it. Luckily for us, our guide explained that it’s not really possible to capsize the yacht. The rudder below weights a good 65kg and balances off the top part of the boat very well. You won’t end up in the water unless you jump off.

Devin handled the yacht for the first half and hour. You have to pull the sails to catch the wind, and there’s a joystick that controls the rudder. I took the next half hour. It was fun!

At my command – we sailed into a group of swimming seagulls and sent them flying in all directions! MUAHAHAHAHA! Take that you squawking stalkers!

We had some beautiful views from our little yacht. Took some photos. This is our dock. It’s just by the Bolte Bridge.

Turn your head around and there’s a great view of Melbourne City from the water.

Here’s Ryan and Ivy enjoying their sail… slowly cruising by in their little yacht with a green sail.

There are the big luxury yachts all around too. You can see the Southern Star in the background. It’s a huge ferris wheel, newly opened in Melbourne.

After a good hour or so of sailing merrily about in the harbour, we were nice and relaxed. Sticking our feet and arms out of the little boat. This where I reckon’ we started to get nice and toasty. Devin’s arms and my knees were sunburnt. (>_<)

Time to head back to the pier as our bellies started to rumble in hunger. Ryan and Ivy got a head start, and I got a nice picture. Hehe. But anyway – the race was on!

We headed back, sailing at full speed! We trailed steadily behind for most of the journey back, but the wind was on our side as we took over in a sudden gust of wind! Woohoo! We docked first at the pier! Hehe. The little yacht #222 on the far left is our winning boat.

And here are the sailors of the day – all macho after their one hour experience out at the seas.

Me and Devin. Hehe.

After that – it was off to the city in search of food for the rumbling bellies. We went hunting for some Malaysian mamak food.

Hehehe. Saw a red bowling pin walking on the streets. It was funny! Had to run a little to catch up with it for the photo.

We had lunch at a restaurant called Bismi’s Gold An Fork. They had a weird signboard.

We went in, and on first impression – it didn’t look very inviting. The interior was dim and smelt slightly curry’ish. They had a counter like McDonalds or KFC and you had to order your food and take a number. Nothing at all like a mamak store back home in Malaysia but most importantly – the food was pretty good. It was too dark to take photos, but we tried the roti canai (plain and with egg) and nasi goreng and nasi briyani. Teh tarik was good too. It passes the test. Yum!

Ivy gives it her thumbs up! Me too! (^_^)

Today’s lunch was delicious.

Devin picked me up from work, and we headed over to Banff on in St Kilda’s to try out some gourmet pizzas. It’s a type of pizza with a light thin crust and uses delicious ‘gourmet’ ingredients on top – thus the name, gourmet pizza.

Devin ordered my recommendation of Squid, Chilli, Capers, Lemon, Garlic, Feta & Rocket. This is my favourite. I had it the last time I came here with some colleagues. Can you see the squid pieces?

And I ordered cheese, cheese and even more cheese. Four types of cheeses to be exact: Feta, Mozzarella, Goat Cheese, Parmesan with a couple of juicy Cherry Tomatoes.

Sigh, it was really good.

Perhaps a little too much cheese for a single person, but it would have been great to share.

Rated as super yumm. ^_^)/

It’s New Year’s Day!

My first New Year celebration that wasn’t in KL. I think it was Devin’s too, he’s usually in KL this time of the year as well. And now… as I blog, I’m parked in front of the TV, my notebook hooked up to it and I’m using it as a giant monitor. Shioks!

Hehe.

Last night, Kok Hoe and Mei Lee graciously invited us to their home for a pot luck New Year’s Eve dinner. Devin had to work, so it was just me.

A potluck… and Kok Hoe was going to prepare pasta. I thought to bring something that would go with that, and we decided to bring baked pumpkin, carrots and sweet potato – seasoned with Devin’s special recipe of home-grown rosemary, thyme and a bunch of other ‘secret’ stuff. I think he had some garlic in there.

We got it ready, and then he went to work. I set the oven and put it in for 30 minutes…. bake, bake, bake.

Tada! Here’s the end result which I carried over to Kok Hoe’s apartment down the road. I sneaked a few to snack on before going to Kok Hoe’s and it was DELICIOUS! I felt like I had eaten some juicy lamb…!

Other dishes of note for the night included a delicious home-made veggie pizza:

And cheese appetizer that tasted great but I can’t recall what it’s called.

And pasta with basil pesto, with a side of chicken or mushrooms.

This were all the dishes which arrived on time. And we started eating! Yum!

Kok Hoe served some Rosemount wine. It was pretty light in taste, and unusual in the sense that it was meant to be served on the rocks.

And then came the latest addition to our dinner party – last, but not least, the salmon, prawns and some fruit slices. As expected, the salmon with capers was delicious.

Dessert was a little unexpected, but very welcome indeed. A little taste of home, kuih talam – made without the pandan leaves. It was good, but a little too sweet for me.

After dinner, we adjourned to Kok Hoe’s Wii and started off with a little Wii Play, moving into Wii Sports with bowling and tennis and then came MARIO KART. I brought our Wii remotes and driving wheels so that four persons could play. (^_^) They look so serious… as they concentrated on racing away with their little steering wheels. VROOOMM!

At about 11:30pm, we walked out to Princes Bridge in front of Flinders Station for the countdown and watch the fireworks. We took the tram (which was free! hurray!) and arrived at our destination with 5 minutes to spare! A few moments later, the fireworks show began! It wasn’t well designed or grand, but the experience of having fireworks exploding all around us was incredible. I couldn’t decide where to look first or second, or third! It was amazing! (And smoky too).

Took some photos with my iPhone.

It was pretty crowded, but we still had lots of space to stand comfortably and the view was good. Once it was over, exactly 10 minutes later, we walked home – which was a lot nearer than where most people parked their cars.

Back at Kok Hoe’s apartment – the race was ON! Tension was high, and as you can see, the drivers had gotten closer to their cars on screen.

I picked up Devin from work at 2:30am, and we went back to Kok Hoe’s place to celebrate New Year, Malaysian time! And then, we continued racing. Racing, racing, racing.

What a way to start the New Year of 2009. Racing in! (^_^)

My New Year’s resolution this year is pretty simple, I’m going to look forward to everything that I do and experience, in a bright and positive manner everyday.

Ganbatte! Here’s to us all achieving our New Year resolutions!

Had a deliciously wonderful lunch at my aunt’s place on Christmas Day.

(And we decided to test out the iPhone’s camera capabilities to the max with the new software we purchased. It was on sale at $1.19 and with our additional 25% off, $0.90 looked like a reasonable amount.)

When we got there, my aunt was all set to sear the lamb on her BBQ grill outside the house. As explained by the chef – it’s to lock in the juices of the lamb so that it stays moist and juicy while it roasts.

It was a delicious looking piece of meat – tied with twine and a couple of sticks of home-grown rosemary.

Once the lamb was ready – we loaded it into the nice big oven.

Already roasting nicely in the oven was the chicken with carrots and garlic, and on another dish – cut pumpkin and sweet potato slices. My mouth started watering again. Yumm, I love roasted pumpkins!

While waiting, Devin and I shared a home-grown strawberry from my aunt’s garden. It was the one and only, and it tasted nice and sweet.

(As you can see, close-ups of food are not coming out well.) (>_<)

After our little snack, my aunt began cooking her starter dish, mushroom linguine.
Firstly, chopped onion, garlic and roasted garlic are put into the pan.

Followed by 3 squares of good butter.

The smell of this was unbelievably good. Then came my favourite ingredient – mushrooms!

The most flavourful mushroom is the dried porcinis which are added last. Super-yum.
And we let the mushrooms cook and simmer.

In the meantime, some asparagus is dunked in huge pot of boiling water for 3 minutes. I used my iPhone timer to help keep track!

After the 3 minutes, the asparagus is quickly soaked in a bucket of ice water. I forgot why we do that. Hmm…

And then, the roasted chicken and pumpkin and sweet potatoes are ready! They are taken out of the oven and smells amazing too! The meats are set aside to rest.

My stomach rumbles and I snack on fresh hand-picked cherries to keep me going. It’s a non-stop session of eats and eats and drinks!

The linguine was boiled for ten minutes and once it’s ready, it’s stirred in with the mushrooms. Some
green stuff is sprinkled on top which makes it looks prettier. (^_^)

Didn’t look hard to cook right? I’m going to try it at home myself. It tasted reaaaaaally good, and it was just a starter.

After the starters, it was back to the kitchen and to prepare and serve the rest of the food.

REALLY GOOD SALAD dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The cherry tomatoes and veggies are home-grown. This is a shot before it gets tossed with the dressing. Sigh…. I can still taste the tomatoes. IT’S REALLY GOOD.

And the roasted chicken and lamb were cut to serve by professionals.

My aunt went back outside to stir-fry the asparagus with prawns. Something Asian in the mix, and just as delicious a dish.

Here’s all the food in a single shot. We had really good champagne to go with the lunch as well.

Dessert came later, but I didn’t manage an attractive shot of it – so no pictures. It was good too.

We ate and chatted till it was time to go and we ZOOMED home just in time for Devin to get to work.
Thanks to my aunt’s family for their wonderful hospitality and good food. It was our first Christmas away from home and it was a good one!

There were pressies too! A bottle of very good wine, good quality olive oil and balsamic vinegar so I could make my own salads. Plus Lindt chocolates! Took this photo when I got home.

(So, what do you think of the iPhone’s picture quality? For me, the photos were alright, but less likely to come out unclear since the software takes away the need to ‘press on the phone’ to take a photo. Still felt like a downgrade from my k810i. )