Sixty Years
Monday January 26, 2015
I've been up in Auckland to celebrate my father's 60th birthday. What a milestone! Of course, food was involved; we went to Sun World in Newmarket for Peking duck, prawn balls, long-life noodles, steamed orange roughy, deep-fried tofu and some seasonal vegetables. Always a good time there. We topped the night with a deliciously rich and moist chocolate cake, though dad was adamant that there was to be no public singing.
The weekend didn't start well though. I was in the concept art room at work saying my goodbyes to Joel on Friday night when a dried ghost pepper chili was being handed around. After everyone had taken their bite, I took mine (after scooping out about twenty seeds) but oh boy I was full of regret. I immediately began hiccuping, and had to rush for some ice cream and milk. Still having troubles, I took some antacids and managed to calm down for a while, but had troubles walking for more than 50 metres at a time. I eventually made it to St Johns for a bit, then we headed to the night markets once I was feeling much better, but I lost track of time and had to run off to catch my flight. Unfortunately, since I had booked with Jetstar, they were super unforgiving about check-in and I ended up missing my flight by ten minutes.
Sulking, I left the airport and watched as the stupid plane took off from the runway. Jerks.
I took the next flight to Auckland in the morning, for only a $50 penalty, but once I was at home, everything was pretty much back to normal. I grabbed some Wendy's, did some shopping at West City and dozed off in the afternoon before dinner at Sun World. All's well that ends well.
On Sunday, I was at KCC early to join the music team for the first time in many, many years. So good playing with the guys again, plenty of dynamics and passion in the music. The sermon was pretty ace as well, we had a guest speaker who did a spectacular live painting on stage after the message. After church, we were at Musashi in New Lynn for some soft-shelled crab and then I was back home to help with dinner preparations for that night.
Today was pretty cruisy, we were supposed to meet for some Smash Bros but those plans fell through and I ended up just sitting at home playing Pokemon on my 3DS. We went over to my sister's house to celebrate my nephew's fourth birthday with a family afternoon tea before heading to the airport (early) for my flight back to Wellington. Good times.
Posted by Jeremy at 9:06am on Monday January 26, 2015 :: 0 comments :: 
Melbourne
Monday January 5, 2015
I'm finally back at home in Wellington after a 10 hour journey with Mike and Phil down State Highway 1 from Auckland yesterday. The past week has been amazing, having spent most of it exploring Melbourne and sampling some of the delicious things the city had to offer.
Last Monday, we took the train from Wallan to the Southern Cross Station, then took a tram to Southbank where we dumped all our belongings in our apartment just across from the Crown Casino Complex. We met up with the others from KCC at a Vietnamese restaurant called Rice Paper on Swanston Street, then walked around the expensive Emporium before heading back for a break. We struggled to find a suitable place for dinner that night - several popular places were booked out or unavailable over Christmas and New Years, but eventually we settled for a place called Gingerboy, which served contemporary South-East Asian cuisine. On our way back home, I got some Nitrogen-frozen gelato from this place called The Lab, but it wasn't really anything special.
On Tuesday, I said my goodbyes to the KCC gang and went to Ants and Jo's place in the center of town. I rushed to meet Dave and we set off on a foodie tour of Melbourne! Dave showed me a few places that had his art on display, which was super cool. I don't remember where half of these places were as I was still trying to get my bearings, but we did end up at the Queen Victoria markets. Rows and rows of fresh fruit and vegetables on display, bustling with people seeking the best bargains and shop keepers yelling (aggressively?) about their produce. Awesome stuff! We got some fresh fruit juice and some American style donuts, and continued on to the deli meats and cheese section before heading down to QV for some lunch at a Japanese place called Don Don. The tour continued to the Old Melbourne Gaol, Melbourne Museum and the Carlton Gardens, Lygon Street (for some pretty good gelato and an amazing dessert shop called Brunetti) and Federation Square and ACMI. Great to catch up with you Dave, and thanks for the awesome guided tour! I went out with Ants, Jo, Ben and Jill for dinner at Red Spice QV before having a quick tipple at Cookie Beer Hall. Big day!
I decided I needed a bit of time to myself, so on Wednesday, New Year's Eve, I went solo around the city, visiting the Lindt Cafe, Melbourne Central, Chinatown, Christmas Square (appropriately decked out for the season), Hosier Lane (with all the street art), Birrarung Marr Park on the way to Rod Laver, MCG and the Royal Botanic Gardens, the Shrine of Remembrance and back up to Southbank. There was a lot of walking but the sun was brilliant and pleasant. Being solo meant I could easily get a seat at some of the more popular establishments, namely the two big ones on my list - Chin Chin, a famous South-East Asian eatery on Flinders Lane, and Om Nom, a dessert restaurant in the Adelphi Hotel. Fantastic experiences there, be sure to see the write ups on my Food Blog! I ended the day back at Ants and Jo's with a good old Australian barbeque, but the night's festivities had just begun.
The five of us made our way to Federation Square, where hundreds and thousands of people had packed the area, hoping to usher in the New Year with a bang. The atmosphere was awesome, and despite it being totally crammed (people had brought along prams and babies - what the hell?), it was pretty great to be in such an exciting place. When the countdown hit zero, fireworks from all around the city's buildings shot into the sky, synchronised with each other. Fantastic stuff! So much better than those Auckland fireworks. We ended the New Year celebrations clubbing at the Irish Times Pub, right around the corner from home.
New Year's Day was a slow start, with a delicious champagne brunch in the late morning as we slowly roused from a night of lights and sound. I followed Ben and Jill for a walk around town but ended up splitting from them at Melbourne Central. As I walked down to Southbank, I casually strolled by Rice Paper, the restaurant from the first day in town. When I looked inside, who should I see but my KCC crew, having a late lunch there. I followed them back home for a bit, and headed out again to the game arcades to watch them claim their 2000 tokens. I said my goodbyes and trekked to the Eureka Tower for some stunning 360 degree views of the city. Melbourne's pretty cool like that - almost all the tall buildings are localised to the inner city, leaving the urban sprawl visible for miles. The weather was stunning and it was such an awesome view of the whole area.
I rushed over to the Queen Victoria Market area to meet up with Andy at Coconut House, a Malaysian place famous for their laksa. Good stuff - Melbourne's definitely got standard in this respect, with some of my family members back in Malaysia commenting on how good the laksa looked. We continued on to Dessert Story, where I got a mango pomelo sago pudding for myself and Andy proceeded to order a two-person mango shaved ice dessert for himself. We went back to his place to play some Smash Bros for a bit, then I left to see the Gas Brigade Fireballs shooting out on the riverbank by the Crown Casino.
On the day I left Melbourne, the forecast said it would be a whopping 38C - apparently this is like a hairdryer continuously in your face. I would have liked to experience this phenomenal heat just once, but unfortunately I had a plane to catch at 9.30am. I was walking around the airport hungrily when I spotted my last chance to have a chicken parma - so I took it. It was okay. Would have probably been better at a proper place that wasn't the airport, but at least it's another checkbox I can check. I met up with John, who was also on the same flight and we headed to the departure gate. However, on the way, I spotted a piano in the middle of the shopping area, and after checking to see there were no restrictions, I sat on the stool and started my rendition of Let it Go on a baby grand piano in the middle of Melbourne Airport. And that was awesome. I began to build confidence as the momentum of the song followed through to its climax, and a small family sitting nearby burst into applause at the end of the song. What a wonderful way to finish my time in Melbourne!
Posted by Jeremy at 10:34am on Monday January 5, 2015 :: 0 comments ::