kyle XY

managed to stumble on this bbc/abc tv series on you tube.

finished all 3 seasons in a seemingly continuous session. now, i can go do other things (e.g. sleep, go to the stores). i thought my eyes were going to fall off. not sure how the gamers get so good at just staring at the computer screen for so long. hmm...

but the tv series was really good though. 1st season is about this science engineered 16 year old teenaged boy who gets adopted by this loving family and he discovers the world with his innocent kind nature. every episode in the 1st season made me smile. loved episode 2 when he can't sleep and explores the need for rest and routine.

2nd season is abt the 2nd 16 year old teenaged girl who gets manipulated right from the start and is not nurtured and we see how that 2nd teenager turns out. so yes, the ever-present question about nature vs nurture. the teenaged girl brings along all the angst of adolescence that is very complicated to deal with if you hadn't had earlier years to hunt for an identity.

so lessons learnt, for me: 1) be kind. sometimes a kind smile or a kind look is what someone else needs; 2) being ordinary is not necessarily a bad thing. we hold the fort while we wait for someone extraordinary to provide the propellant for change. of course we can be the extra-ordinary one too, but if we are not, no need for despair. 3) often we don't treasure the ordinary/ normal things that happen. they are memories too. and we can make them happy and extraordinary ones. 4) there were more lessons, i can't remember all my realisations.

didn't like season 3 too much because there was too much complexity and deceit, that were although very smart, changes our kind protanganist to someone harden by the brutality of life. to be constantly hunted is a very undesirable position to be.

hmm... i think i got abit too attached to the characters. loved all of the characters. the family, kyle, and even jessi.

ongoing culinary adventure: lemon meringue tarts

i think my blog is turning into a cooking blog... haa...

i had intended to make this a few weeks ago, but could not find the tartlets in Coles. finally bought it yesterday and used lemon curd that i had bought from margaret river providence.

S came over to catch up w K and I today, so i had an excuse to make it for dessert :)

recipe from the June 2009 Woolworths Fresh magazine

my end product. i think i didn't put enough sugar into my meringue, so it tasted more marshmallow-ish than meringue-ish... oops... it was not bad anyway...

My first attempt at making kueh

Bought this cookbook in singapore re vegetarian dim sums. written by this chef in malaysia.

was flipping through this book and found a recipe for this sweet potato kueh...
found glutinous rice flour in the asian grocer in geelong! (couldn't find it in laguna in melbourne)...




so i ended up w a whole tupperware of kueh... they never bother to tell you how much u were making... there are 2 layers in this tupperware

a close up... K thinks it tastes almost like the real singaporean/ malaysian thing! yeah!
i thought it was not too bad for a first attempt...

You tube videos of Il Divo: they've got great vocals

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVzkjXffAuU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myTzrtr46dI&feature=related

Perth continued: Xanadu wines

so of course we can't make a trip to Margaret river and NOT go to a winery... so we picked xanadu winery... http://www.xanaduwines.com/ we picked xanadu winery bec we happened upon a page in the perth entertainment book and had a quick look at the menu. it looked like it had vegetarian food.

the vegetarian main: it had unique flavours

the pumpkin and potato samosas... very nice...

and of course, dessert. and of course, my blog always has to have a picture of me with my food..

Perth continued: Margaret River

So we belatedly decided to rent a car and drive down to Margaret River bec K wanted to see this 'longest pier' in WA.
the pier at Busselton... except it was closed for renovations! darn. we could only walk 250m of it.









we stayed overnight at the Margaret River Hotel. we booked it 1/2 hour before checking in at the tourist centre at Margaret river. the tourist information was amazing.








we went to jewel cave to do a cave walk. it was amazing inside. limestone formations abound. we were the only 2 ppl inside the cave (+ the guide of course, which totals 3!) it was quiet and allowed us to appreciate the magnificience of the whole cave. the guide said we had walked about 509 steps as we went around the cave. the guide at one point turned off all the lights in the cave and let us experienced ultimate darkness. cool..

Perth continued: Rottnest Island.

Finally persuaded JW to go with us outdoors! She hadn't been to Rottnest Island either. so the 3 of us took off on a ferry to the island. the ferry left at about 8.45am and got there at about 10.15am. got abit rocky from fremantle --> Rottnest.

us with the bicycles. JW and K hadn't ridden for a long time. we cycled for about 2hours. ah well... i thought we could have gone on for longer.










The lighthouse in the middle of the island. and because it was at the 'highest' point, of course i had to climb up to the hill and have a look at the view the hill had to offer.











the infamous quokkas. ( i think i spelt it right). we only saw 1... yes, singular. K and JW decided to get off the island at 2pm. i thought we could have walked more or cycled more or just sat there and bask in the sun more. ah well... the lure of the city was more powerful than my desire to be with nature.





i was more impressed with this huge peacock. it was nonchalantly strutting around the tourists.