AUD - SGD (update 1) Live rates at 2008.10.08 13:16:22 UTC 1.00 AUD = 0.968039 SGDCan someone please verify that AUD, VND and KRW are targeted for devaluation and will continue to fall over the next week? I can't seem to find any article on it but a source said that. Hmm.ed: reports are starting to surface.. AUD - SGD Live rates at 2008.10.06 22:40:22 UTC 1.00 AUD = 1.05325 SGDThanks to Lisa who pointed this out to me on Twitter. Will keep a watch on the rates these days to see if it will break the 1:1 barrier? Hey, good for export businesses in AU if the currency is smaller! Good if they stay around 1:1.2 or so..that would be ideal. Nothing more that that! Woot! Sunset over the Brisbane River Taken from the balcony. Seriously I still can't believe I'm just paying $140 a week for this. Cool breeze from the river, in the heat of summer = priceless. Weekend dinners Unatama Don with Takuan (pickled radish). It's a fusion of unagi and oyako don. Had it over brown rice which actually tasted better than white rice.Macro shot of the above.Gỏi Cuốn - Lunch tomorrow, packed some for lodgemates too. Filling: Asparagus, carrots, cucumber, vermicelli, prawn, pork slices, mint leavesThat's all. I doubt I'll make rice paper rolls again unless it's for a huge group of people. It's like popiah - way too much preparation time involved, so it's not worth it if I"m doing it just for myself. But it's so good.. yum. I love the taste of fresh mint.I am looking forward to school tomorrow. Should be a rather crazy, intense week again. 3 more weeks! Homefood Now I know what defines me better than Rice = Asian/Chinese which can be a very broad term because soon, rice don't really quite help the homesickness too. Especially with all the bogus Chinese Restaurants that have stir-fry everything with black bean sauce.So. Pandan == Singaporean/Malaysian for me.It is the smell of Pandan. My nyonya kueh, nasi lemak, even tangyuan. *tears*Most of all, Pandan Soy Milk is the instant homesick cure for me. You get soymilk everywhere but you can only get Pandan Soymilk (freshly made lah) back home (and Malaysia). That is also because for a very long time we're brought up on soymilk as a child because Grandma had a little factory that manufactured that and it was right across her house. :( Elvis Bro, MH and my latest craze has got to be Assam Fish. I can eat that every week. The maid used to cook this very often and for awhile we were very sick of it. This is karma I tell you, and now we fork $12.50 just for that damn dish instead! Stomachache. Again. Note to self: Fluffy white stuff on brown wholemeal bread cannot be flour...*wince* Replica Poster Prints found at Southbank Markets Was browsing through the Southbank Markets this evening and I couldn't believe my eyes that I saw Le Chat Noir poster! This is the cafe at Montmartre in France, where famous composers like Erik Satie and Debussy had played before. Obviously I had to buy it. I love how the colors generally compliment one another even though they are of different themes too.Specially bought the Donald Duck just because he seems to be yelping after getting bitten by a turtle and it reminds me of Muddy! And I love Mickey. :) PANDAN! I FINALLY FOUND PANDAN LEAVES AT SUNNYBANK! So happy! Same same but different Ah. Apparently North Germany and northern Germany is not the same thing. The former didn't exist in the 18th century.I'm getting so restless from writing this essay.. Food cravings. I'm missing the kind of er..cake..one usually have during Chinese New Year. It's like in pebble sizes, spongey and sweet.In hokkien my grandma calls it kueh neng goh. I know it's random but, does anyone know the English word for it? Opportunist! Oei Hong Leong bought 1 million AIG shares"Mr Oei bought in on the upswing and landed his parcel for US$1.80. By the close of trading they were more than double that - US$3.75. He had looked hard at the unfolding AIG crisis and calculated that the firm was just too big and important to be allowed to fail."Walao, win. But actually, $2 million isn't really a lot of money to him too. I think what is surprising is how quick the rebound for AIG share prices were.Pity that person who lost 1m in short selling though. I could never do short selling to profit. Why I'm definitely not lesbian material G: Okay. I want your honest opinion. How do I look?E: Hmm..You wanna get some control underwear?G: *mutters*E: OhshitIshouldsayshelooksgreat.. Southbank Brisvegas gets a wheel as well. Have you gotten your wheel yet? Croissant aux amandes From Chouquette, New Farm. In anticipation for this treat, I skipped breakfast, made myself walk instead of taking the bus and reached here only 3 hours later because I got distracted by all the other shops and little finds along the way. Flamboyant at New Farm. I was out on a mini photoshoot outing after class today and went to New Farm to find out if Chouquette was as good as bloggers raved (it is.). After my visit to the cafe I saw this interesting guy walking past the store so I hastily packed up and ran after him asking if I could take a picture of him. He seems to be very well acquainted with the neighbourhood. Wonder why he wears makeup more than I do.. I love his style. Asked him to strike a pose and he did this for me. Nice. :)Finally, a new addition to the stylish (and sometimes weird) people series! Century Egg & Minced Pork Congee Weather forecast said it was going to be a cool day again so I thought I would cook up some porridge for dinner. I wanted to stay in Uni a little later so I didn't want to come home and prepare dinner after a long day. This is why I love my crockpot. It takes care of the cooking for me while I'm out. I used to think that cooking at night is a chore and I would very much prefer to be served meals at the lodge but try having the same dish each week for a few months and sometimes we are given week-old leftovers. Eeks. Mom - my saving grace, was the one who talked me into moving out of the lodge and gave me tips on how to make life easier with careful planning of meals. Defrost meat a day before, use the crockpot, steam stuff, or just simple stirfrying. So far I've managed to get by without having to eat TV dinner packs. I thought it would be hard to get used to it but it seems like I'm eating a lot healthier, and I no longer sneeze so much which probably had something to do with the mould in the walls back at the lodge. I do miss the people there..but I get to see them once in awhile too. I remember living in melbourne I literally lived on fish fingers because it was so easy to cook - just pop it in the grill! I'm determined not to let that happen again. Heh. Anyway, on to the dish.. Cooked with brown rice which explains the slightly darker color. It's more tasty than white rice but it's more prone to burning. Dumped the ingredients of the dish into a crockpot before going to school and came back at 6pm to piping hot yummy congee. Housemate probably lowered the heat down for the crockpot because it was burned at the edges. Still, it's pretty yummy and the whole thing has turned into baby gooey goodness!My recipe : Put rice, hot water, century egg, seasoned minced pork and get on with life. Sorry..I don't really use measurements =/Thanks to frozen stock and a well-executed routine, everything was prepped under 20mins. Cooking time was 6-7hours. Gave away some to lodgemates who have to put up with the bad food. Poor folks. almost good enough for fail blog Here's some monday blues relief at the expense of my silliness. My weekend First semester was spent mainly on trying out everything and making as many friends as I could. This time round, I realise I've been spending more time with myself. Partly because school work is a lot more and difficult compared to the last semester, and also because I've had enough of being a social butterfly for now. I enjoy solitude, especially when I can clean up my place and embark on some culinary adventures. Admittedly, I'm not the best cook in my family and it doesn't help that I can never follow recipes but it's been pretty alright so far.Spent most of the weekend at home except for heading to the city for some grocery shopping in the Asian supermarket. Intensive pictures with a roundup of random stuff I've snapped over the weekend. Pity didn't take any picture of the chicken curry which was quite a hit with everyone. Didn't touch any work at all because I decided to take a break from working on my assignments after rushing through a whole batch of them last week.Mounted stretched fabric on wooden frames and hung them on the wall.Beige/Red/Gold kimono fabric with peoniesFlower and fan motif on dark green.Experimenting with Tea EggMy usual breakfast. Fruit and nut loaf from neighbourhood organic store which I scored at 50% off.Friday night's activity was cooking up a nice pot of pork bone stock(Partial) riverview from my place. Not too bad, it's very windy and at least we don't have buldings blocking us.Alright, it's back to Monday madness tomorrow.. Asian Barbie! Last saturday we got together and had a barbecue at the nearby park. Check out the blooming tree behind! In fact it was the only pretty pink tree (plum blossoms?) in the park but it's so pretty :) Room - another shot Click to view the rest of the pictures so busy it's crazy i'm not getting 7s for all my assessments but i'm still trying not to give up. School is definitely in full swing as assignments are due very soon and practical exam is in less than 2 months. I won't go into whining about them but it's a struggle to stay sane and on top of things.Sorry for not replying comments and all, i do keep track of replies but access to 'net as been self restrained for now (just too much work) so please understand...On a more positive note, i am loving my new place. At least now I come home and make myself a decent meal, watch trash tv for 30mins and have a short chat with Gen, the housemate.Had wholemeal penne with vegetarian pasta sauce. Nice. I promise pictures for the new done-up place will be posted soon! hi and bye Too busy moving and staying on top of school to blog. Seriously. For once in my life I've been updating so rarely simply because I am trying hard to keep up with the real world.When I move over, I won't have internet. Am going to try it out and see how long I can go on cold turkey but honestly I just think I'm too lazy to go sign myself up for it heh. someone should write the book "re-morphing the men's mind" too. Book advises women to 'be sexy and obey men'The Re-education Of The Female, by first-time author Dante Moore, advises women to follow their man's orders. Despite the chauvinist opinions, copies have been flying off the shelves in the US.One piece of advice reads: "Here's a little secret, ladies. Men never really ask for anything. They command. And believe me, what you won't do, ten broads around the corner will." Mr Moore, a 33-year-old computer engineer, who has never married, continues: "The fatter you get, the more you decrease your potential single-man pool. Let me give you an example."When you go to the grocery store to shop, do you pick out the nastiest-looking, most rotten, smelliest fruit or meat you can find?"Oh you don't? Why not? It's the same with men when they see baby-elephant-sized, out-of-shape women."Mr Moore, who has an 11-year-old son from a previous relationship and has a girlfriend, says he has never found true love. He insists all he wants to do is help women because he loves women. He grew up in a house with his mother, two sisters, two aunts and two female cousins.Dr Gilda Carle, US feminist and TV therapist, has questioned Mr Moore's advice however. She said: "He's never found the one, fallen in love and got married, so what make him an expert?"Frankly, I would like to get any woman who has ever dated him on my therapist's couch." QBE Riverfire Taken from Kangaroo Point. It was a cool but very windy night. I guess this marks the start of Spring too. Well worth the effort to get parking and brave the crowds, click on pic to see the rest of the set. jackass some weird pranksters threw eggs at random people on the streets yesterday night. Joe goofing around after class Joe is my theory tutor and he's a PhD composition candidate in UQ too. He used to be classmates with Shah and that's how I got to know him! Oh yeah, he's obviously a pianist too :)Aw. Wish I could play like this! Working on it. Seriously! self portrait I love to touch my forehead when I'm working on assignments. Thus the terrible breakout around my temples. eeps. The Perception Personality Image Test Your result for The Perception Personality Image Test...HFDS - The CoachHumanity, Foreground, Detail, and ShapeYou perceive the world with particular attention to humanity. You focus on what's in front of you (the foreground) and how that is affected by the details of life. You are also particularly drawn towards the shapes around you. Because of the value you place on humanity, you tend to seek out other people and get energized by being around others. You like to deal directly with whatever comes your way without dealing with speculating possibilities or outcomes you can't control. You are highly focused on specific goals or tasks and find meaning in life by pursuing those goals. You prefer a structured environment within which to live and you like things to be predictable.Take The Perception Personality Image Test at HelloQuizzyI'm not too sure about the predictable life bit.. but I think generally it's very similar to the Myers-Briggs result which is ENFJ. It's almost time. Jacaranda in New farm ParkRoses in full bloomsSpringtime, I can feel it already! Can't wait for October to roll over when all the flowers are blooming. *beam* The rose garden! Yay! No more freezing mornings! :) Aggression http://www.psychologytoday.com/rss/pto-19920701-000012.htmlInterestingly, this was something I learnt in Social Psychology 2 weeks ago. See! It's so Dr Phil! We talked about some experiments conducted though and violent TV has yielded very disturbing results for children in the long run. i don't know why some parents say just let the kid watch anything or do anything. If there are factors within their control, shouldn't they take charge instead..?I'm just so brain dead from writing my psychology lab report which I really think it's quite bs. As much as I enjoy social psychology because it's quite a no brainer but trying to sound serious and having reliable empirical studies to work on is simply impossible.Seriously prefer cognitive psychology much more to social..