Sorry for the lack of updates, I was holidaying in the UAE, Türkiye, & Greece for the last 3 weeks. I will have more pictures and my wonderful experiences uploaded here by next week.

I have an important Tuesday appointment. Yes, a job interview to attend to. So need to prioritise things.

Meantime, just a few pictures... and just for you. :)

The most rewarding thing: knowing 2 really great friends in Izmir.

And, going to Athens in Greece was a lifelong dream comes true... for me. :)

Riding a camel in Safari Desert in Dubai was an experience. But meeting up with an old friend, Anton (my hairstylist guy in Sri Lanka) was the highlight in Dubai.

Just had such a fabulous week.

We invited Rasika over to Singapore for his birthday.

I am sure he will remember this experience for a long long time.

Missing him already... :(

Attempted my very first Angel's Hair with Mussels in White Wine. Not particularly proud of it but it was still pretty good.
Note to self: Need more tomatoes, add a little tomato paste to thicken and flavour the white wine.

We celebrated Mum's 60th early, mainly because Alan would not be able to take leave till Feb/Mar 2010 due to his project opening in Dec 2009.

We have a group from Sunshine Coast, and another group from Newcastle. It was really nice to catch up with our families & friends.

That day was also Ita's birthday... so we had a double celebration too.
Happy Birthday Ita! :)

Alan's relieved from his work commitment. We met up with our families & friends, & headed off to Watsons Bay for the day. Took a ferry ride, and this is the picture I like best - us with the beautiful & special ladies.

Look at the view, nothing beats that for me. Sydney city skylines, Opera House & Harbour Bridge.

And, we stayed somewhere flashy... the penthouse on 51st level at Meriton on Pitt Street.
Oh... I can't help myself but snap a self-pic with AMP Tower in the background.

Alan & I were went to Sydney from 6-14 Sept; almost immediately after our Bangkok trip. Alan slept barely 4 hours at home before boarding SQ flight. My flight was another 12 hours, so did a bit of housework, taking care of the garden, etc.

As Alan was going to be busy with his work, I wasn't planning on tagging along. But there was an important event that I couldn't miss. Mum's 60th! I missed her 50th party, as Alan & I just knew each other then. So, I wasn't going to miss her 60th. Alan thought it would be a nice surprise for Mum, so I didn't update or broadcast about my visit.
I caught up with Mim, a dear friend that I will never fail to meet each time I visit Sydney. Also, another special pal, Omer. Strangely, we have constantly kept in touch after I left work in Australia. After all these years, I must say this friendship is unique.
Another surprise though, I called Chos - an old friend from Adelaide who relocated to Melbourne for many years. Couldn't believe he had just relocated again to Sydney, only a week ago. So, we met up for a drink & another day for a meal. It was good to see Chos.
As I got myself a Prepaid SIM from http://www.three.com.au/, I got to chat almost everyday with Matt. Three Network would have to be the best at the moment, I must say. Value & flexibility of the credit usage. I was able to surf the Internet & update Facebook at a touch of a button.

I think watching Alan on TV (Seven Network, Sunrise) was also like the coolest thing. I snapped a picture & posted it on Facebook too. He was promoting the event on the morning TV show, LIVE at the venue. Really cool.
We stayed at The Sebel Pier One, in Sydney. It was just a stone's throw from Alan's old workplace down at The Rocks. Wow... it has been a while.
Now, I couldn't wait to catch up with our families & friends. I miss everyone very much, especially Mary. There is something about Mary. :P

We were in Bangkok from 28 Aug - 5 Sept. Alan was attending a Forum & doing some judging work. I tagged along, as we had some R&R time to ourselves before the event.

Alan & I met up with Chi & Kung (Taiwan) again, this time we arranged to meet in Bangkok. Chi & I planned this for a long while, couple of months back. And, I reserved a table for us at The Vertigo at Banyan Tree.

Absolutely fabulous to meet Chi & Kung again! :)

I was saying to Mom that I couldn't find lemongrass at the market with roots to grow them in the pot. Interestingly, I place these 4 in the plastic bag & viola... roots in just 7 days. I have planted them & hopefully they will grow well. So needed to make the lemongrass drink every now and then. The leaves add better flavour & colour to the drink.

How often do we get food samples & trial samples these days?

I got a sachet of (3-in-1) latte in our letterbox, and I was so eager to make the latte immediately. Then, I thought... nah... keep it when I go travelling.

And how often do you have Wagyu beef patties in your fridge? Samples, maybe not.

Well, I have been spoilt with Wagyu beef burger for the last few days. I don't think I will crave for BigMac or Whopper anytime too soon. :)

Oh... did I get to show you the new plant I adopted?
It was abandoned, & looked really bad. I cleaned it up (alot) & it is now in our courtyard. Good shade with a bit of sunlight.

New experiments today...
I've tried several times to make soya bean curd but it was the first time I could get it to curd quite nicely. Still not the best though.

Also, I made chocolate muffins. I made this in 20 minutes, & didn't add salt & half the amount of sugar. It turned out all right... Again, still not the best though.

Pictures of Bodhi's girl, Leesa - adopted by Gayan who is like a brother to me.

Finally, another Kaffir so that I can make my Otah Otah, curry & Tom Kha Gai...

Bought this pot of basil from Whampoa market too, couldn't imagine I used to have half a garden full of basil & now... only ONE pot.

I am trying to grow my own lemongrass... most of the lemongrass sold at the market have the roots taken off, I am trying my luck here.

I have successfully separated the Laksa plants to a few more pots... but honestly, how often do I have laksa?

Got this new Orchid from Whampoa market 2 weeks ago, it was for Mom's birthday...
The slight hint of pink caught our eyes immediately.

We celebrated Mom's birthday at our place, the first party with our family. We did not have a housewarming, so this was the first time we all got together at our place.

I prepared most of the food, well... at least 80 percent of the food. Some of the items we had were:

Vietnamese Rice Roll (Pork)

Vietnamese Pho (Chicken or Pork)

Chicken kebab

Grilled Prawns

Grilled Mushrooms

Sausages

Satays (Mutton & Chicken)

BBQ Chicken Thai-style (Gai Yang)

BBQ Crabs

Otah Otah

Thai Mango Salad

Lemongrass Drink

And of course, the Mandarin & Passionfruit Cake topped with fresh fruits that Alan made specially for Mom.

Angel's Hair with Wagyu Beef.
Alan had a party last night & there's a huge tub of macademia pesto (3kg) sitting in our fridge.
I believe it is now left 1 kg, I should consider transferring to a smaller tub. :P

Made this Wagyu steak for dinner, had fries & salad to go along... it was pretty good.
I think this was also the first time I made a black pepper sauce, and it was really good too. :)

Yup, my best friend from Melbourne visited me this whole week and I have been extremely happy. I have not seen Matthew for almost 8 years, and having him here in Singapore was very special to me.
Matt's been a very special friend to me, I would forever be grateful that he took me in so unconditionally for 2 weeks when I was 'homeless' in Adelaide. I moved out of Keswick & had not found another place to stay & my term had already started. Not only did he put me up, he also had to put up with my nonsense of telling him off for spending his money on the TONS of CDs that he just kept buying; the amount of fizzy drinks (Coke) that he consumed daily; the food that he ate (lack of); etc. Yes, he put up with my nonsense. He truly deserves the BFF title (Best Friends Forever).

(Below) Here's an old picture of us - 8 years ago, when I visited him in Melbourne. I stayed with him for a week. (YES, he put up with my nonsense again!!)

Matt: Thank you for being there for me, accepting me for who I am, & for treasuring this friendship. ==> This picture specially for you. Miss you heaps. :(

Ranil rang me up saying that he would be leaving on 31 July, it was quite sudden but I guess it was a good opportunity that he would get the chance to see his brother, Eranga who would be returning to the Maldives after the accident.

I was unable to catch up with him on 30 & 31 July, so I arranged to give him a farewell dinner & to show him where Eranga would be working. And also, hopefully Ranil would also get the chance to come to Singapore to work at Sentosa in the construction industry.

Good luck Ranil, hope to see you here in Singapore again. Hopefully, you will find a job in Singapore then.

A pleasant surprise when I received a call from Sarah in the morning asking if we could meet. Sarah & I go way way back, we were classmates since Secondary 1, and we have remained the best of friends. I was delighted to see her, and of course her new look - after getting her LASIK done a few weeks ago.
It was about 11am, and I wasn't sure why I was so keen to make pancakes but we did. I showed her how easy it was to put all the ingredients together. We were supposed to have lunch, but we ended up eating the pancakes. Sarah asked if I would normally have pancakes for lunch... LOL... I didn't think about it till that evening, it was quite funny actually.

I hope to catch up with Sarah again, this time for a proper meal. :)

Eranga's brother, Ranil visited Singapore on 4 July. I didn't know of his visit till Eranga updated us. Bad news from Eranga, he was burnt while working preparing breakfast at the resort in Maldives. Gas leak was the cause of the accident, and thus he has returned back home to Sri Lanka to seek treatment. His face was burnt & covered, and both his hands were burnt as well. I hope he recovers fast.

Anyway, I caught up with Ranil & took him out to eat his first McDonalds at Plaza Singapura. Unfortunately, Ranil was another victims scammed into paying hefty sum of money to an Agent who promised him work in Singapore.

In any case, it was nice to catch up with Ranil & to extend the hospitality that he & his family showered upon us when we were in Negombo.

Alan & I went to The Helping Hands & bought a high bar table with marble top, and a couple of high chairs for our verandah in the bedroom. We were hungry, and walked to the Hougang (Kovan) market. I couldn't resist but bought 2 packets of Wee Brothers Nasi Lemak (for myself) & a cup of Selegie Soya Beans drink. Two of my favourites.
Alan had duck rice & iced-coffee.

Sri Lanka - A Land Like No Other
It is now been marketed as:
Sri Lanka - Small Miracle

To me, it will forever & truly be a land like no other.

Still haven't been easy to cope with not having Bodhi with us here in Singapore.

2 very personal & special attachments from Sri Lanka: Bodhi & Rasika. Miss them so much :(

I think I have made Laksa most frequently since coming back to Singapore, I don't remember making that in Sri Lanka actually. And the reason for making it regularly is because I have a big tub of Laksa paste to use up, I mean industrial size that is kept in the fridge. It's really easy to make too, just a couple of spoons of laksa paste to boiling water, then add coconut milk... and that's it.

Note: If you use chicken broth, the Laksa has more flavour and depth.