Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Double Eek!

We woke up this morning to find our mousetrap was successful - a mouse had been caught. No longer than my index finger, it was tiny.

I left the Husband to dispose of the mouse while I took Angus out for a walk. When I got back, the Husband told me about how when he chucked the mouse into the bin, he realised it was still alive when it scuttled deeper into the bin bag. He thought he saw the mouse only using it's front legs, his hind legs seemingly paralysed. How horrible.

I was adamant that if the mouse was still alive after injuries sustained from the mousetrap, a quick death must ensue. It really is the most decent thing to do, as opposed to have it slowly die :(

I came home in the evening by myself, and lo and behold, the mousetrap had caught yet another mouse (egad!!). This time, the mouse was clearly still alive, and so I could not bear to leave it there in the mousetrap until the Husband came home.

I summoned all the nerves I had, and released the mouse from the trap into a couple of plastic bags double-bagged (shrieking in the process). How incredibly traumatic, I proceeded to smack it against a metal surface 20-30 times until I was certain it could not be anything but dead.

When I was finished, my hands were trembling and my heart was pounding. So stressful and traumatic :(

Rest in peace, little mouse!

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Eek!!

We have had a visitor recently - a little mouse who has decided to stay. We think it's been living in/behind/around the stove/oven unit, and this has caused us to be nervous everytime we walk towards the unit.

We contemplated using rat poison but decided against it, as Angus might help himself to a dead poisoned mouse out in the garden.

So we've gone the old fashioned way - a mousetrap with peanut butter as bait.

Fingers crossed that we'll get it asap!

We were just talking about what we ought to do if the mouse trap traps the mouse, but doesn't kill it. The decent thing to do would be to kill it quickly, though the Husband did contemplate on various alternatives, which I think are cruel as they all result in a slow death.

What a disturbing bedtime topic of conversation.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Grammar funnies

"Grammar is the difference between knowing your shit and knowing you're shit. Get it right".

"Grammar, spelling and punctuation is the difference between "Helping your friend, Jack, off a horse" to "Helping your friend jack off a horse".

Monday, February 13, 2012

God and Costco

People call me "The Costco Queen", a title I was bestowed, for frequent enthusiastic expounding of the wonders of Costco. I love it, and never hesitate talking about what an amazing place it is to anyone and everyone ("You can buy cheese, milk AND a garden shed, all under one roof!"). I am happy to invite people to come along anytime for a visit (as you need a membership or be a member's guest to visit).
When it comes to God the Creator though, I uhmm, ahh and hesitate before I choose to speak.

For years I had struggled with my lack of ability to "evangelise" - I always thought I was somewhat afraid of what people may think, or just wasn't "gifted" in that way.

Maybe it's still the above, but I think I've identified my main problem:

Costco (along with the other things I get excited about, such as Apple gadgets and Food) are easy to talk about and easy to encourage others to jump on the bandwagon because they are all GOODS and/or SERVICES. Goods and services which give immediate, instant, tangible gratification. The "benefit" or "Pros" of a particular product or service is addressed and experienced immediately.

Food immediately TASTES good; Apple gadgets look and feel technologically sexy; and Costco - you can buy 1.5 dozen of free-range eggs AND 1kg of whole-egg mayonnaise for less than $10.00 (after you buy your washing machine and get your hearing checked, all under one roof!)

But God isn't an instant bandaid who fixes all your problems or Santa Claus who gives you all you want or Mr Costco who will sell it to you at a heavily discounted price, and you'd receive instant gratification.

He's Someone I have a relationship with. He is Someone I am learning to have a conversation with, and journey with daily.

It's like you meet someone who eventually becomes your husband/wife. You get to know them little-by-little; you date; and eventually discover that he is the one you want to spend the rest of your life with.

Now imagine if it was your Mum who first introduced this same man to you, and immediately pounds it into you that "You are to be wed to this man!". No wonder speed-dating or shotgun weddings with God tend not to work. They may, don't get me wrong - I am a testimony of that. But there are certainly problems that are likely to arise.

So - don't worry about what your mum/auntie/cousin/neighbour says- Start dating!

"May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance" [2 Thessalonians 3:5]

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Twas a Happy Birthday!

A few weeks back, I celebrated my last "twentysomething" birthday. And what a week it was! It ended up being a four-day celebration, with friends and family spoiling me with food, and gracing me with their company!

The first night of celebration was spent at Cutler & Co, a two-hatted restaurant. I was keen to sample (read: wolf down) their suckling pig and we thought my birthday would be a special-enough an event to make a visit. I couldn't get a table for the evening of my birthday, so we settled for the day before my birthday.

Pre-birthday dinner [at] Cutler & Co

I decided to take my birthday as annual leave, as I could not bear the thought of being stuck inside at work on my birth-day (My husband would tell you I'm BIG on birthdays). The Husband uhmmed-and-aahed, but decided to take the day off as well (I wasn't expecting him to, but well done, well done *clap clap*).

I had already decided to (with or without The Husband) spend the day in the city; thankfully the weather was brilliant! Sunny, but not hot - days like this I love living in this city!

Caught up with my reciprocal bridesmaid (ie. I was hers and she was mine!) for brunch at Hardware Societe. She was going on holidays the very next day so we thought a catch-up would be great. Ah - the life of the stay-at-home-mums/dads..... Anyway, the catch-up was appreciated, however marred by a telephone call by the stupid builder (Thanks Porter Davis for ruining my birthday!) to inform us that we would have to fork out an additional $6000 for this-and-that. A hilarious incident with my birthday present ensued, which lightened up the mood, at the expense of the integrity of my dear friend at David Jones.



We slowly made our way (enjoying the sun!) to the National Gallery of Victoria, to both St Kilda Road and Fed Square sites. Spent quite a few hours at the gallery; it's amazing how much art can be seen and appreciated for free!!

Part of the "10 Ways to Look at the Past" exhibition [at] National Gallery of Victoria

The time finally came for us to head over to Chin Chin to try and get a table, but was told at 5:45pm that it was going to be a long wait, so we hung out at Go Go Bar downstairs. Eventually we were joined by one of our favouritest couples, and we gobbled/comsumed/inhaled whatever Chin Chin could offer us.

"We are soooo, like, kewl", 'cos we hang out [at] Chin Chin 

The next day, me and my work colleagues, with our partners, and our doggies, made our way to the Abbostford Convent, where the Suppermarket was held. There was a live band, food stalls, and other stalls selling what-not.We had decided to go out that evening in celebration of my birthday as well as my other colleague's, whose birthday was only 5 days after mine.

 Suppermarket [at] Abbotsford Convent
The next day, a dear friend shouted me lunch at Albert Street Food & Wine Bar in Brunswick. I don't  catch up often enough with her, so each time we do meet up, the time is treasured.

Albert Street Food & Wine Bar [at] Brunswick
The Husband had organised this little lunch date for me, so he could spend the day shopping and preparing a magnificent Chinese seafood dinner feast that night for me and a group of friends.On the menu were Charlie, Coco and Cameron:

Angus curious about the temporary pets...

The Seafood Feast! [at] home

Thus concluded my birthday almost-week long celebration. Many thanks to The Husband of Husbands (inside joke) for cooking up such an incredible spread and being an even more incredible husband.

I think back on my birthday, of the people I have journeyed and shared life with for at least a decade or two and realise once again I am so incredibly blessed with incredible relationships.






Photo albums, scrapbooks, yearbooks

To me, the Bible is kinda like someone's photo album, scrapbook, and yearbook.

You can browse through the Obama's baby photo album with interest. You might say, "oh, what a cute little bubby boy was he!" but not like it would be of any personal relevance to you.

But it's entirely different when the photo album, scrapbook or yearbook holds the stories of someone you love and actually have a relationship with.

You then no longer just browse with lukewarm interest, but instead peruse it carefully, as the stories would help you know and understand the one you love just that bit more.

You could still have a relationship with the one you love, even without looking into the photo album.

But curiousity piques- the more you get to know the one you love in the present, the more you desire to know about his stories.


Sunday, February 5, 2012

Fence is up!







We've never been so excited to see a patch of dirt, and some temporary fencing!

Hopefully this means we'll start our build next week!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Farewell, Food-Outs!

I was first adamant that I wasn't going to have a blog solely dedicated to food. I mean, c'mon, I have a life that is NOT just about food!

I began to blog about eating out on this blog, but soon realised that this personal blog, where I'm meant to post about my personal journey, was being FILLED and overrun with FOOD posts! Clearly my little hobby was turning to a slight obsession.

So alas, the time had come for me to choose to compartmentalise my (mild) obsession with talking about food into its own blog.

So I welcome you to bid adieu to the Food-Out label, and hop over to visit I came, I saw, I ate (http://veni-vidi-voro.blogspot.com)!

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Baby manual


FOOD-OUT: Sichuan House [at] Melbourne CBD


The Husband often talks about the places he'd go for lunch with his colleagues but when we go to dinner we often just end up at some same old place. Which results in me going, "eee, you never take me anywhere...". But yesterday we finally made plans to go to this Sichuan House that he had been raving on about.




The interior is nothing to shout about- there was still a Christmas Tree-looking decoration on the wall, with a "fook" (good luck) sign (for lunar new year) stuck in the middle of the Xmas tree. Not exactly artistic nor impressive.

There was a bit of a commotion when we arrived about 7pm- the credit terminal was down, so people had no choice but to pay cash, to the stress and horror of the Aunty who looked like the owner. We were able to be seated immediately but the queue soon became incredibly long.




The first page of the menu had a "spicyness" legend- note "tongue burning hot"!!

We (despite being Asian) could only stomach mild and moderate chilli, so steered away from "tongue burning hot". I also had to insist that we ordered 1 dish that wasn't red and orange in colour.




The sole "chilli-less" dish (as according to their "spicy-ness" legend on the menu) was yummy. Slivers of pork tossed with a mix of veggies. Loved the crunch of the tea tree mushroom.




Omigawd this was eye-rollingly good. Like an Asian, ultra-intense version of the eggplant chip- crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, tossed in some sticky-sweet chilli sauce. A must-order. Rated "mild chilli".




Rated "moderate chilli", I managed this dish just fine. But I must admit, I did pick through the bits, careful not to eat any dried chilli. Also another yummilicious dish!! Loved the roasted peanuts in there too- they balanced the tenderness of the chicken just fine. Yum yum!


Overall judgment?



Looking very much forward to the next visit!

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