never trust a skinny cook

remarks the flatmate as i hover hawkishly around the oven checking on my veggie pizza. i've been weaned off a carnivorous diet and am currently welcoming the occasional vegetarian pizza into my life. the topping for tonight was pumpkin and mushroom slices roasted with herbs over a cottage cheese base. phew. that was a mouthful. the pizza turned out to be surprisingly yummy - all factors considered - that it was homemade. looks like we'll be saving lots of money now that we're ok with re-creating the soul food cafe experience at home.

10:03:57 hrs


it's getting quite pricey to be eating out so often, seeing as how i need to start saving to buy my humble beach hut! reality has clamped in jaws on the disturbing need to conserve as much cash as is humanly possible for a girl (who needs her creature comforts, and a quick fix from time to time) to be able to afford city-living. the truth is, that [the flatmate and] i have signed a lease extension, resigned to the fate of enduring a further 4 months in the 'burbs. we're understandably bitter, as, who wants to miss out on the city crowds, jams, traffic and expected delays of public transport during the overlapping days of the commonwealth games, the 11th melbourne grand prix and afl playoffs?

10:29:02 hrs


i can already imagine reading walter benjamin's the arcades project from cover to cover in a single sitting while waiting for the many-times-delayed pakenham/cranbourne-bound train. and spending nearly as much time circling the city grid in a vain attempt for a car space allowing me to park for more than 2 hours at a go, so i can have a proper discussion with my supervisors without having to worry about incurring a AUD50 fine for a chalk-mark on my car's tyre. yeah, say it with me: house-hunting in feb's a bitch. but there's always june; lovely bits of affordable accomodation for poor design students when the other international students have settled in, and are preparing for exams. i'll find my perfect little warehouse apartment yet, with a loft for my bed and books. til then, pancakes (also homemade) help sweeten the wait.

13:37:43 hrs


the flatmate waxes her new skimboard to sly's 所以 playing from her laptop (she's belting it out too). many a lazy afternoon have been spent at the beach these past few weeks. and i'd be lying if i said the words skin cancer haven't flashed dangerously in my mind more than twenty times.

we're really living out the summer this time 'round. it's good to be more familiar with a place so some real inhabiting can be done. this year's melbourne seems a lot kinder than i remembered at the same time a year back. for one, the surroundings aren't as alienating, nor the people as awkward as i had thought them to be. being a tourist is different from being an international student - a guest or a paying customer at someone else's country. the locals treat you differently somehow, once they know. but the hosts are a friendly bunch. our transition hasn't been an easy time, but it's been much better.

16:56:33 hrs


our horrible yobbo drug-and-alcohol-abusing neighbours who terrorised us the whole of last year have been replaced by 2 nice asian girls. probably doing some boring-but-proper pharmaceutical/business/accounting course at monash uni. we talked yesterday. now i'll never be afraid to step outside my own door on a saturday night again, for fear of having a microwave oven chucked at my head. our apartment in the 'burbs has become a safer place just by having those neighbours move out. to celebrate, i made icecube coffee at home the other day. it used to be my favourite item on the menu of this cafe back in serangoon gardens, before they closed down. but it got featured on chubby hubby and i had this unbearable craving for it again.

18:23:20 hrs


barbecues! if god didn't invent them, i probably would've. or someone, y'know. and barbecued squid would definitely have been on my list. i had these really good ones in taiwan, so naturally, i've been having this urge for consuming mouthwateringly good barbecued squid over here. it's pretty simple, really, just a matter of lemon juice, seasalt and pepper. and squid is surprisingly cheap too! it's one of those foods that ought to stay on the grill much longer than any of the others. several rounds of honey-soy chicken wings, aubergines, zucchini and greek sausages can pass over the grill before i get a taste of the squid. and the wait is well worth it. just like finding good accomodation.

21:04:56 hrs


and with the apple i've been buying in bulk, an apple pie became a necessary means of using them up. i've already made applesauce a week ago, and still the apples remain! the recipe was not deceptively simple: it really was! and being the alcoholic i am, vodka-infused grapes had to be added because hey! i'm the [skinny] cook over here, and i decide! not have to eat something someone else has prepared!