We had a really good time last night, although it was like being in a club full of screaming freshers
who had drunk too much and forgotten to put on most of their clothes. I think I am getting old!
El managed to pap her way around the room beautifully and now has more pictures than everyone else in Australia combined!!
Tonight I am cooking a Pea Risotto with Prawns, and I think a nice bottle of bubbles will go down with that. We are going to watch the fastest Indian ( sent by my pops) and relax.
I do hope you are all well, I am missing home hugely at the moment, it comes on like nausea one minute I'm fine the next my eyes have welled up as I think about something or other. Do you know we left 4 months ago today, in one way it feels like yesterday, and at the same time, a lifetime.
Love to you all
Leah and El
Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Monday, 16 February 2009
Well what a lovely weekend we have just had, filled with fun and laughter
Saturday Morning we headed into the big bad city for a spot of shopping and a bit of a mooch about, obviously a spot of breakfast and a nice glass of coffee ( I really miss mugs ) then we went to the beach and had a swim before going for the worst Italian food I have ever had.
Sunday was also lovely. we discovered from our local bar maid on Friday night that there was such a thing as Yum Cha. Now El and I had never heard of such a thing so were quite intrigued.
We went to Chapel street to the recommended Yum Cha restaurant... what a treat.
For those of you that are not clued up on Chinese cuisine here's the run down.
Not to be confused with Yamcha.
Yum cha
Yum cha hour in Hong Kong
Traditional Chinese:
飲茶
Simplified Chinese:
饮茶
Literal meaning:
drinking tea
Yum cha (飲茶) is a term in Cantonese which means "drink tea". It refers to the custom of eating small servings of different foods while sipping Chinese tea in Cantonese speaking areas of southern China. It is an integral part of the culinary culture of Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and Macau. In any city with a sizeable population of Cantonese people, to yum cha is a tradition on weekend mornings, and whole families gather to chat and eat dim sum and drink Chinese tea. Yum cha is also a morning ritual for the elderly to spend a good part of the morning after early morning exercise of tai chi or a walk. The tea is important, for it is said to help digest the rich foods. In the past, people went to a teahouse to yum cha, but Dim sum restaurants have been gaining overwhelming popularity of late
We sat in the most lovely little restaurant on raised beds with cushions and had the most amazingly tasty food and jasmine tea for a little under $25 for both of us. Any visitors will be treated to Yum Cha on me!!
Tonight we are off to Neighbours night, this is when stars from that ever popular TV show appear in the pub and serenade you !! El is so excited she may have actually exploded. I am slightly dubious of the evening ahead ... but I guess you've gotta do these things!
Love to you all
Leah and El
Saturday Morning we headed into the big bad city for a spot of shopping and a bit of a mooch about, obviously a spot of breakfast and a nice glass of coffee ( I really miss mugs ) then we went to the beach and had a swim before going for the worst Italian food I have ever had.
Sunday was also lovely. we discovered from our local bar maid on Friday night that there was such a thing as Yum Cha. Now El and I had never heard of such a thing so were quite intrigued.
We went to Chapel street to the recommended Yum Cha restaurant... what a treat.
For those of you that are not clued up on Chinese cuisine here's the run down.
Not to be confused with Yamcha.
Yum cha
Yum cha hour in Hong Kong
Traditional Chinese:
飲茶
Simplified Chinese:
饮茶
Literal meaning:
drinking tea
Yum cha (飲茶) is a term in Cantonese which means "drink tea". It refers to the custom of eating small servings of different foods while sipping Chinese tea in Cantonese speaking areas of southern China. It is an integral part of the culinary culture of Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and Macau. In any city with a sizeable population of Cantonese people, to yum cha is a tradition on weekend mornings, and whole families gather to chat and eat dim sum and drink Chinese tea. Yum cha is also a morning ritual for the elderly to spend a good part of the morning after early morning exercise of tai chi or a walk. The tea is important, for it is said to help digest the rich foods. In the past, people went to a teahouse to yum cha, but Dim sum restaurants have been gaining overwhelming popularity of late
We sat in the most lovely little restaurant on raised beds with cushions and had the most amazingly tasty food and jasmine tea for a little under $25 for both of us. Any visitors will be treated to Yum Cha on me!!
Tonight we are off to Neighbours night, this is when stars from that ever popular TV show appear in the pub and serenade you !! El is so excited she may have actually exploded. I am slightly dubious of the evening ahead ... but I guess you've gotta do these things!
Love to you all
Leah and El
Sunday, 8 February 2009
Victorian bush fires.
Yesterday was the hottest day in Victorian history temperatures were recorded at 48 degrees. Here hot days are usually followed by a cool change, I hoped with all my heart that it would rain, not because I was hot but because I wanted the peoples whose lives were being destroyed to stand a chance at keeping there homes and their lively hoods. The cool change came but probably hindered the cause. The fires in the state of Victoria are unstoppable. To date 84 people have lost their lives and over 700 homes have been burnt to the ground, 1000’s of people are gathering at emergency aid stations with nothing apart from the shirts on their back and the fires are still raging. I never watch the news, I find it too upsetting, but this is happening just hours from our home, some as close as London is to Brighton and today we learnt that Marysville has been totally wiped of the map, the entire township destroyed. Marysville is the small town where El and I stopped just 4 weeks ago to look at their local market, have lunch, visit the waterfalls and swim in that wonderful outdoor pool. To hear that it has been erased from the planet by fire which they believe deliberately started is just such a terrible tragedy. I am so angry, I am so saddened. They believe that it may take up to a week to distinguish the 16 separate fires currently raging. I do not have words to express how I feel I find myself in floods of tears at every news flash such total illogical destruction. It is an incredible reflection on the Australian people, already funds have been set up, helplines and donation lines. And the Government have set aside a huge chunk of money in such uncertain times to help try and restore the lives of all those who have been affected. If I had one wish today I would wish for a way to stop this, to control the fires, some currently 80km across the front line. Sadly there is no way. The firemen will work through the night for the 3rd day running, the hospitals will work overtime to deal with the victims and the poor people, the poor unfortunate people who have lost everything will awake tomorrow to try and assemble some sort of a life. What a cruel world we live in. Certainly I shall be counting my blessings this evening.
Love to you all.
Love to you all.
Thursday, 5 February 2009
Catch up
Hello everyone,
Gosh I've been a little slack haven't I!
Well here's the update.
It has finally cooled down - I am understanding to your plight having seen some wonderful photo's on face book and those that were sent to me. How amazing to have so much snow. I could have cried ... I am sure you were all soon tired of it and wished for a sense of normality. I have certainly found such joy in the return of sleeping with a duvet that I shall never again frown upon nice average weather, and just to be sure that I am doing my bit for climate change I am unplugging all my electrical goods overnight from this day forward.
Lets look at the week gone by.
Sunday 1st - El and I spent at the beach, went for a swim and sat and read it was glorious, not too hot and the wind was refreshing - turns out it was also an excellent partner in crime to sun burn as my skin became pinker and pinker without me even breaking a sweat!
The we wondered back to the local pub and watched the opening parade of the St Kilda festival, One of El's bosses friends who lives locally popped down to join us for a beer and we sat for the best part of the afternoon with a couple of jugs of Carlton draft and enjoyed the festivities.
El went to explore Cantini gardens and look at the live music, I went home to ice my face!
Monday was dull, and you know the feeling only too well - Tuesday was also pretty pathetic ..The best thing about Tuesday is that we went our for some rather tasty food and a nice bottle of wine. we sat outside and as the leaves fell down from the trees into my pasta I really could have believed I was in England on a fine Autumn day it was a beautiful night.
Yesterday after work, we booked our holiday house. We have some friends coming to stay in Feb and we have booked a lovely place in Apollo Bay for 3 nights so we can BBQ to our hearts content and swim, surf and be happy. El is currently at the beach, reading her Jeffery Deaver ( I can't prise the thing out of her hand for love nor money ) and no doubt swimming about. I am working overtime so 45 mins and I will go and join her. First I'm going to pop to the book shop. Have I told you about the book shop?? ... It is amazing, they will order anything.. dangerous!
I have been very busy writing a list and I'm off to place some orders this evening. I've also got to collect the new Deaver I ordered for El tonight because she only had about 15 pages left this morning!
So that's that, not a lot of exciting stuff, This weekend we have the St Kilda festival and there is also a country music festival just out of town which takes my fancy ( I have no idea why ) but I'm fairly certain that El will look at me as if I have lost my mind if I even dared to suggest it ( maybe that's a good thing! ) We are also going to tidy the flat ( again ) apart from that not much planned. I will post again soon, we have some photos to pop on as well
Take care and stay warm
Lots of love
Leah and El
Gosh I've been a little slack haven't I!
Well here's the update.
It has finally cooled down - I am understanding to your plight having seen some wonderful photo's on face book and those that were sent to me. How amazing to have so much snow. I could have cried ... I am sure you were all soon tired of it and wished for a sense of normality. I have certainly found such joy in the return of sleeping with a duvet that I shall never again frown upon nice average weather, and just to be sure that I am doing my bit for climate change I am unplugging all my electrical goods overnight from this day forward.
Lets look at the week gone by.
Sunday 1st - El and I spent at the beach, went for a swim and sat and read it was glorious, not too hot and the wind was refreshing - turns out it was also an excellent partner in crime to sun burn as my skin became pinker and pinker without me even breaking a sweat!
The we wondered back to the local pub and watched the opening parade of the St Kilda festival, One of El's bosses friends who lives locally popped down to join us for a beer and we sat for the best part of the afternoon with a couple of jugs of Carlton draft and enjoyed the festivities.
El went to explore Cantini gardens and look at the live music, I went home to ice my face!
Monday was dull, and you know the feeling only too well - Tuesday was also pretty pathetic ..The best thing about Tuesday is that we went our for some rather tasty food and a nice bottle of wine. we sat outside and as the leaves fell down from the trees into my pasta I really could have believed I was in England on a fine Autumn day it was a beautiful night.
Yesterday after work, we booked our holiday house. We have some friends coming to stay in Feb and we have booked a lovely place in Apollo Bay for 3 nights so we can BBQ to our hearts content and swim, surf and be happy. El is currently at the beach, reading her Jeffery Deaver ( I can't prise the thing out of her hand for love nor money ) and no doubt swimming about. I am working overtime so 45 mins and I will go and join her. First I'm going to pop to the book shop. Have I told you about the book shop?? ... It is amazing, they will order anything.. dangerous!
I have been very busy writing a list and I'm off to place some orders this evening. I've also got to collect the new Deaver I ordered for El tonight because she only had about 15 pages left this morning!
So that's that, not a lot of exciting stuff, This weekend we have the St Kilda festival and there is also a country music festival just out of town which takes my fancy ( I have no idea why ) but I'm fairly certain that El will look at me as if I have lost my mind if I even dared to suggest it ( maybe that's a good thing! ) We are also going to tidy the flat ( again ) apart from that not much planned. I will post again soon, we have some photos to pop on as well
Take care and stay warm
Lots of love
Leah and El
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