Christmas Day Seafood Feast!

Placeholder for Singapore Chilli Crab, Scallop and Oyster with Asian Dressing. Recipe will follow soon.

Chairman's Hat

Placeholder for Chairman's Hat. Recipe will follow soon.

Lamb Shakes and Garlic and Sun-dried Tomato Couscous

Placeholder for Lamb Shakes and Garlic and Sun-dried Tomato Couscous. Recipe will follow soon.

Prawn and Ricotta Ravioli

I waited for almost two years to finally use this pasta machine since I bought it. It immediately became my favourite toy in the kitchen. There is so much fun making pasta!
Placeholder for prawn and ricotta ravioli. Recipe will follow soon.

Glass Noodle Salad

Placeholder for glass noodle salad. Recipe will follow soon.

Birthday!

Birthday breakfast in bed! Life can't be better. Thanks to my best friend and my life partner Nick Luya for bringing so much happiness to my life and making me a better person!

The exciting ferry ride! I was almost blown away by the wind! But so much fun!

We had a long walk along the water in Teneriffe. I am just simply amazed by the beauty of Brisbane.

Omg! That was another year gone past. I am still trying to remember the birthday I had last year. The whole year was just a bit of blur. Yeh, so many things happened within the past 12 months. We moved out of our first apartment "shit box / oven" on Annandale St, moved into the beautiful terrance on Ferris St; I finally took Nick to Shanghai and met my dad, I got a job with Avanade, We got engaged, the next thing I know, we moved here! I still remember the first day after I moved up. Nick had to stay behind for another couple days to wrap up his work there. Luke picked me up from the airport. We dropped Flo in the empty house and went to IKEA, bought a queen bed and mattress. He dropped me off at the shop down the road. I managed to carry 6 bags of junk food / cleaning products/ shampoo/ dog food etc home all by myself. It was like the longest walk ever (although it turned out it was only 3 blocks walk, the bags were just extremely heavy). I put up the bed by myself after it was delivered in the afternoon. Had some chips for dinner. Hot water system was broken in the rental house. I had cold shower. Called Nick, cried to sleep with Flo in this empty house. I hated it so much on that day. I kept telling myself it was such a stupid idea of moving up here. I screamed at Nick multiple times blaming on him for suggesting moving up here (although I was actually the one made the decision that we are moving up here). It was just such a horrible day. Not having Nick being next to me scares me so much. Thank God the next day everything got better. The plumber came to fix the hot water system at 6am. I started my first day at Avanade at 9am. I got home with some fish&chips, shared it with Flo and had a nice warm shower. I still had to leave all the lights in the house on because I was too scared to sleep alone. I was terribly missing Nick and the cats. Everything just got better and better since we moved up.  We both love the new jobs we got here. We bought our second dog Milly. We bought a house. Everything has just turned out the way we always wanted. I never thought that I would never love a city as much as I love Sydney ( more precisely, just Annandale, the Ferris St. I hated Sydney with passion. But I loved the 6 months living on Ferris St at Annandale. It was just the best memory I had in Sydney.) Brisbane is just such a beautiful city with so many friendly people. Full of surprise. I can't be even happier. Anyway, another year ahead of me. Not sure what's gonna happen before my next birthday comes. I am just gonna wait and see.

Comfy Soup Noodle with Poached Chicken, Shitaki Mushroom and Asparagus

Placeholder for "comfy" soup noodle with poached chicken, shitaki mushroom and asparagus. Recipe will follow soon.

Asparagus, Poached Egg, Mushroom, Avocado, Pine Nuts with White Sauce on Baguette

Placeholder for asparagus, poached egg, mushroom, avocado, pine nuts, with white sauce on baguette. Recipe will follow soon.

BBQ Chicken Pizza with Feta Cheese

Placeholder for BBQ chicken pizza with feta cheese. Recipe will follow soon.

Chicken Green Curry

Placeholder for Thai chicken green curry. Recipe will follow soon.

Salmon on Sweet Potato Mash and Asparagus with a Touch of Mint

Placeholder for salmon on sweet potato mash and asparagus with a touch of mint. Recipe will follow soon.

Combination Pad Thai

Placeholder for combination Pad Thai. Recipe will follow soon.

Meatball Linguine

Placeholder for meatball linguine. Recipe will follow soon.

Gold Coast

We finally had a chance to go to the Gold Coast since we moved up here. We watched Penny finished 25kms marathon. We are super proud of her!

Milly!

About 3 months old...
About 4 months old...
Only 2 months old!!!

Meet our new little girl Milly! (and Flo...)

Nick's Mexican Chicken Wrap

First meal cooked since we moved up to Brisbane. Placeholder for Nick's chicken wrap- supposed to be Mexico style. Recipe will follow soon.

We are ENGAGED!

We took Flo for a walk in her / my/ our favourite park.
This is the exact spot Nick proposed to me! The picture was taken right after he proposed! The view was just simply breathtaking! And it was literally the most romantic moment in my life. I have never been so happy before!

Nick took me to my ( as well as 'our') favourite park - Blackwattle Bay this morning. He told me he would like to walk Flo with me in our favourite park for the last time before we move to Brisbane. We can all watch the sunrise there together. Then we walked to my favourite bench in the park while watching the sun just about to rise, Nick proposed to me. It was such a great surprise. I was overwhelmed by joy and totally speechless at that moment. I remember walking home that morning, holding my hand up to show everyone walked past me my ring.

I love you Nicky Bear, with my heart and my soul. I am so excited to spend the rest my whole life with you. xoxo

Four of Us!

Ali hiding in the wine box
Crosby sleeping in Flo's crate

Sunday Brunch

We had Nick's workmates over for brunch today. It was quite an experience to cook for 5 people.

Chorizo Bacon Baked Eggs

I got the idea from a bistro ( Clover Cafe, Annandale, NSW. It was called Bake Egg.) we used to go all the time in Sydney. I played around a bit, changed a few ingredients and made this dish very clarable.

For ingredients, you will need:

• Half onion, finely chopped
• One rasher of bacon, finely diced - alternatively, get the diced bacon from the Deli section in Coles, they are good too ( get about 100 g)
• One good quality of Chorizo, slice it to about 7mm thickness
• Half capsicum, roughly sliced
• Couple mushroom, roughly sliced
• 5-6 eggs - leave two to the end and whisk the rest with a pinch of salt and pepper 
• Half can of diced tomato
• 1 tsp of tomato paste
• Paprika
• Salt, pepper and olive oil

Pre-heat the oven to 120'C.
Heat 1tsp olive oil in a frying pan. Cook diced onion till it just starts to turn golden and soft. Add bacon and chorizo and cook them till both have nice crispy, almost a bit smokey look. Pour half can of dice tomato into the mixture. Cook till it start to bubble. Add tomato paste, capsicum and mushroom. Give it a good stir to make the sauce absorb the richness of tomato paste. Cook till capsicum and mushroom just about to get soft. Spoon the mixture into two shallow ceramic pots ( I am not sure the exact name. It's a type of Spanish kitchenware. Sort of like a shallow pot). Pour the whisked eggs equally into both ceramic pots.  Pop them into the oven for about 7 mins. Take both of them out and crack another egg on top of each of them. Try not to make a mess. Dust some paprika. Pop the back into the oven for another 5 mins. 
Serve it while it's still hot with a slice of toast.

Sweet Chilli Crispy Potato Strips

Placeholder for my dad's sweet chilli crispy potato strips. Recipe will follow soon.

Curry Chicken and Egg

Placeholder for curry chicken and egg. Recipe will follow soon.