Indo So Far with Approaching Melbourne

As you all know (or not), I went back to Indonesia for 3 weeks!
I am still in Indonesia, spending my last few days before flying back to Melbourne.
I just realised that I have not finished my culinary tour yet, there are still more to eat in my list, just for Jogjakarta!

One answer to that problem here, and this answer is not solving but just on checking why 3 weeks is not enough, is that I spent 1 week out of my 3 weeks in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I shopped a lot, ate a lot and saw a lot. I spent about RM2000 there, equal to almost AUD700. If only I stayed in city centre, I would have spent MUCH more! But to cut costs, I stayed in my sister's apartment, yay me for not paying any accommodation.

My luggage now is filled with FOOD! And of course I got some souvenirs but they are not to be compared with the number of FOOD in my suitcase, hah! There are still places I want to visit and food I want to eat, but I know that my time will be up and all I want to do is spending my remaining time for my family.

My holiday was a short one and I might not be coming back to Indonesia for the next few years as I need to build up my leave for months in Europe. <3 Oh and I am planning to go backpacking to Japan too! Ah, so much in my travel list.

I will post more about my culinary trip, and pictures of course, when I get back to Melbourne.

And for now, ciao!

Metropol Weekend with Parisian and Vietnamese Tereat

Last Saturday was great for me.
I finished work a bit late hence had a really late lunch.

I went to East Richmond Station with my brother for my favorite macaron store, La Belle Miette. Didn't know they had a branch there, which is actually their kitchen!

We arrived at around 4.30pm, just 30 minutes from their closing time. Unfortunately we missed their limited edition macarons and madeleines. But that didn't sadden us at all. We indulged 4 macarons and 4 financiers, two of the financiers were complementory, and two cups of black coffee from their pop up cafe.

I had heaps of chats and laugh with the store owner and barrista there. Yup, we decided to chill out there until their closing time, it was only half an hour anyway!

Then we continued our culinary journey by walking to Victoria Street, which turned out to be about 5 blocks away! Luckily we was not in rush at all.

Victoria Street was like a grocery shop and restaurant heaven, literally. We took our time entering each shops. My brother suddenly had a sudden craving for dr. Pepper, a cherry flavored carbonated drink, so we tried to look for it.

We went a look at their new Woolworths and it was really cozy. We also went into Daiso, cheap Japanese goods store.

Then after all that walking, we decided to have early dinner at 6.30pm. We had this Vietnamese sizzling pancake and broken rice with pork chop at Tho Tho Bar and Restaurant. And believe me, it wasn't expensive at all!

After such delightful dinner, we went to our friends house in the city. They decided to drink and here comes the game. No details needed here, I guess.

We reached home at 3am, slept anf woke up ar 11am. I cooked some western breakfast of chips, bacon and eggs. Then we decided to make some croquettes. It turned out good!

We closed the weekend eith grocery shopping and chilling out at home the rest of the Sunday.

Thai Spicy Pork Belly

I made thai spicy pork belly on Wednesday. My brother and I browsed cokking books on Sunday and the recipe captivated him. I decided that we need to give it a go. It was a huge success! I even managed to make soup out of the stock! But one thing to be sure, it was too spicy for both of us to handle.... I'll post the recipe next time, either here or in Facebook. For now, please enjoy the picture. ;p

Mung Bean Porridge?

Had a lazing morning and afternoon at home. Tried to fix my thai green curry and it tasted better, even if it's still not to what I expected.

Then I tidied up my brother and my room a bit. It looked more spacious now. :)

And then, I tried to make some mung bean porridge, aka bubut kacang ijo in Indonesian. I'm not too sure if I can call it that. I just tried to make it without recipe at all. But it turned out well, my housemates and my brother like it. Maybe I'll make some more for tommorow's breakfast. ^^

It's Now March 2012

Can't believe time flies that fast, March, 2012!
Maybe when I blinked, it will be April already!

First week of March, let's see.....
I had a good start, especially this Saturday, March 3rd.
Had an all-you-can-eat Indonesian beef ribs at a soft opening of an Indonesian restaurant.
I went there with my brother and my housemate. I am sure I ate the least rice, but that doesn't mean that I was actually satisfied, I wanted more but perhaps everyone else had too much rice and they did not want another serving of ribs, too bad. If only I had no shame, I would have ordered another serving, haha...

Then we went to Glen Ferrie to Crampler store, it is a bag's brand fyi.
Each of us bought ONE! But I had the best deal, 70% OFF! From $80 into $24, how good is that?
Doesn't mean that it is the best one, I had my eye on one bag but it will rip a $100 bill from my pocket and that's a big No-No.

After having enough fun in the store, we went to City, each of us shopped around a bit then sat down in Max Brenner's Chocolate Melbourne Central to wait for Church mass at 6pm. Believe me, I was really disappointed with the service there. I had to wait for more than 30 minutes for my drinks to be served, which I didn't mind actually as I had 2 hours to spare... BUT! It took them more than half an hour to serve a glass of water! Might take them longer but one of my friend just went to the counter and asked for the water himself. THEN! (Yup, it's not finished) My croissant came just few minutes after I ordered. I told the waitress that I wanted my croissant to come together with the drinks, in which I have to repeat to this waitress that seemed like the supervisor. Yet she replied, "Oh, I can take it back now and bring it later if you want, but it will be the same." with such unpleasant way of talking. I went speechless for a few seconds. A bit of secret, she is Indonesian, almost all of the staffs working there at that time are Indonesian, and I decided not to argue with this stupid waitress and just accepted my croissant that time, but don't expect me to come back with a lot of orders! I might be only ordering just ONE thing if my friends insist to go there, which I'd rather not of course.

After church, we headed to this new ramen store called "Kokoro", which means heart, in Lonsdale Street near the corner of Russel Street. First impression, everyone there is Japanese, so I expected good ramen from the kitchen. It was a bit pricey and the soup was overpowered by the stock, I can't say I didn't enjoy it but it was not that good either as it left me with unpleasant sensation and I had to buy a milk tea to cure it.

My brother said that he was tired, so I headed home ahead with him and took the 9.02 train. I was hoping that the rain, or rather drizzle, would stop when we reached the station. It turned out that I was wrong, it was still drizzles but it became worse. I was too lazy to open my umbrella and just walk in the rain. And stupid me now I paid the price by having a cold.

Now it's already Sunday evening, I am expecting good things from the coming week.
Well, fingers crossed on that!

Approaching March

Today is already the 2nd last day of February.
Time sure flied really fast this time.
I can't believe my TR application has been lodged, if only I had straight 8, it would have been PR application, damn that speaking!
Oh well, can't really complain too much now, eh?

My brother has already started his College!
I don't know but I might be more excited than he is, haha.
He bought books, looking for clubs to join, etc etc.

I do hope March will get better, and of course for the rest of the year. :)

It's 2012

Oh gosh, I decided to open my blog after such a long time and saw "Last post 23rd Dec, 2011."
Can't blame anything, I didn't have enough commitment.

After my last post, I had been busy with preparing my mental for IELTS, this is the first time I took IELTS with high target but wasn't sure if I'll achieve it. What? Of course, what would you expect from a minimum score of 8 in each band?!?! Well, some of my friends said that I'll be able to get it but I'm not sure myself, maybe not this one, I was pretty sure I messed up my speaking. I think I need to rebuild my confidence once more, to the right amount, not too much and not less than required.

Setting IELTS aside, now's the time for me to look for a new job, a decent full-time office job! I've been applying for several vacancies up to now, some rejections and heaps of silent reply. Well, to be expected of the job market nowadays. I've been hearing about the tough job hunt experiences from my friends for quite some time so I'm not surprised with what I am experiencing now. But still, it's a little bit sad, eh?

My parents have been nagging me to take Masters instead, but of course I still want to work first. On top of everything, I wish I can apply my PR ASAP. My agent said that this is the last chance for fresh graduate to be able to lodge a PR application. Starting July 1, 2012, people can still lodge their PR application but DIMIA will review applications one by one and invite applicants they think will suit more to get the PR! That means that fresh graduates without experiences will stand no chance for the PR.

I've got until this month to look for a job.
I've got until June to get my IELTS.

I wish everything will go well, fingers crossed and keep trying!