Work/Life Balance Regime

Believe me when I tell you I don't have any exercise regime to stay fit and healthy. For the past 21 years, the only forms of exercise I had was a little netball in school and college and walking from Point A to Point B for classes, climbing some stairs, walking to my car park...... and that's about it.



Until about 2 weeks back, I realized that my tummy is beginning to show an unsightly bulge. Oh the horror!! Who can I blame since I've been eating quite generously from the pizzas I had in Perth to the street food in Bangkok and not forgetting the wholesome meals at work (2 days of chicken chops in a row!), and then just recently 3 days of buffet lunch at PJ Hilton for some workshop (I'm telling you, my company really feeds us employees well!).



I'm a stingy when it comes to spending money to keep fit. I've never thought of even joining the GYM craze for obvious reasons- 1) Membership fee every month! 2) I'm lazy 3) Repeat #1 & #2
My favourite in-denial excuse would be... I am not that fat what. But reality is, being thin doesn't mean being healthy. That's what I always tell people when they come up to me and say, "You so thin! So nice!"



Yeah, "I so thin" but it's dangerous cos I won't know if I am diabetic or high cholestrol or high blood pressure etc. It's nice to be able to eat and eat and eat but still stay slim but it's not nice when the health issues kick in. Lucky for me, I'm still slim and healthy but that doesn't equate to being fit.

p/s: I have very low stamina.



I know I'm abit late when it comes to disciplining myself to exercise weekly but hey at least I'm trying to do so and considering that this wasn't even in my new year's resolutions, I'm giving myself a big pat on the back for the initiative! Heh.



I bought a pair of Nike Free 3.0 (Women) @ RM349 meant for running. It's designed to be light weighted, as though you're wearing nothing at all. I'm liking it so far for the simple design and striking colors but most importantly the comfort. I have never owned any Nikes before, the ones I had were normally hand-me-down by my sister or what I call "sharing is caring" hehe.



My Work/Life Balance regime will consist of 20 sit-ups daily and about an hour of weekend jogging by the lovely park in my neighbourhood. I'm looking forward and determined to improve my stamina and reduce the unsightly tummy in 6 months time.



But lest you worry, food posts will not diminish!

This is a community message by Live to Eat or Eat to Live and not a Nike endorsement post. TQ.

Cocktails and Farewells

Here's a compilation of photos of cocktails I had/tried in the Perth bars. I visited Minq's @ Burswood Casino and Broken Hill Hotel's Bar. The Chocolate Cocktails are really yummy, the one at Minq's uses Godiva chocolate while the one at Broken Hill Hotel uses Toblerone. The cocktails in Perth is not too expensive, some drinks starting from $17 (±RM42). Well of course that is if you don't convert lah... I think I spent about ±$80 (±RM196) on drinks :S


Mojito @ Minq's


Chocolate Martini @ Minq's


Cosmopolitan @ Minq's
(inspired by watching too much Sex & The City, Fang thinks it tastes horrible heh)


Diamond Martini @ Broken Hill Hotel
because diamonds are a girl's best friend...


Strawberry Truffle @ Broken Hill Hotel


Chocolate Cocktail (w Toblerone) @ Broken Hill Hotel

The thing that fascinates me about cocktails are how different combination of liquors and non alcoholic liquids can produce different flavours. Also if you really do observe how bartenders work their magic, it makes the drinks more interesting. The outcome of every concoction (ie. taste, presentation, color) is an art itself. Ooooh, cocktails are also known to have funky names too.

Cheers!



Goodbye Perth........!!!

A Tour Through Perth Parks

Breathtaking view of Perth City from Kings Park

The Mat Sallehs and Ang Mohs are known to have a liking for parks, trees, sunshine, and lying on the grass contemplating about life. So when in Rome, do as the Romans do, but it was a case of doing what the Australians do when I was in Perth.


Bush Tree

Strolling the parks... Lying around... Watching sunset... Enjoying life...



Fang and family took me up Kings Park, the most popular park in Perth. I don't see why it is not popular- it's up on a hill where one can overlook the city, the river and the brewery.


Two roads diverged in a yellow wood...

Doesn't this picture reminds you of Robert Frost's poem- The Road Less Travelled? I would copy and paste the whole poem here but this is not the focus of today's story :)



Kings Park is a really really nice place to just chill and relax. While us Asians would run and hide at every point the sun shines on us, you have to give it to the Whites for being able to sun bake and still chill under the heat. These kids were having such a wonderful time rolling down the hill! I was tempted to do the same too....



Due to its strategic location of being up the hill, Kings Park is a popular venue for wedding receptions and sorts. When we were there, a wedding party was taking place at the gazebo. There were also people taking graduation photos, having picnics, reading a book, or making out but in a considerable manner :p



Smack in the middle of the park is the ANZAC Memorial Tower to honour those who perished during the war. There is a significant plague bearing the phrase, "LEST WE FORGET".



And if you do, there's always the names of those who perished to remind you that the freedom and democracy the Australians have today is not the sacrifice of one man, but many many men.
/cue for sad song playing



Perhaps this is what makes Kings Park immensely popular among locals and tourists alike- the spectacular breathtaking view of Perth City. I think it will be even more beautiful at night with the lights on.





On another evening, I was brought to Mill Point to watch sunset. We went to a nearby Dome and grabbed ourselves some coffee and juices, sat by the river and watched sunset.



It was such a wonderful thing to do. Spending quality time doing quality activities (ie. doing nothing = free & carefree mind), sounds like The Ideal Job to me. Pictured in the foreground is Denise, Fang & Hua's friend who tells us the funniest stories by translating them to BM!





We watched sunset :)



Final post on Perth tomorrow!

East Perth and Little Moorish Restaurant

I have a feeling I can complete this whole Perth chapter end of this week. Heheh, so here's today's story...



On my final day, my host family brought me to Eastbrook Terrace @ East Perth. The weather was rather chilly that evening which was quite nice... having a scarf around you (something I can only do when I'm in the office- super cold! What's Earth Hour, again? :p) and a spectacular view of the East Perth riverside. Again, needless for me to say, the sky was really beautiful :)


To see the world in the end of a tunnel

There are quite a number of cafes along the riverside and since my host family has been so hospitable to me (ie. free accomodation, transportation, meals, entertainment etc) I made them allow me to buy them dinner on my final day. We walked around the area looking for a suitable cafe for the 'farewell' meal.



We picked Little Moorish Restaurant for the occassion. Little Moorish specializes in Moroccan-North African cuisines. The Moors is the name given by the Europeans to the people from Morocco of mixed Arab and Berber descent who invaded Spain, Portugal, Sicily and Provence.



What's not to love about water bottles like this....


Vegetarian Tapas Plate- $27
Cinnamon pumpkin dip, tarragon haloumi tahini and dhukah yoghurt, Zaalouk dip, potato cakes on couscous tabouleh and turkish bread


Bisteeya- $29
Moroccan delight with cinnamon flavoured chicken and almond in crisp egg brushed pastry garnished with fresh pastry garnished with fresh orange and lettuce served with honey orange and mint sauce


Essaaouira Salmon- $32
Seared pink salmon fillet served on nicoise salad of green beans, tomato, kalamata olives, egg and potato with olive oil and lemon chermoula sauce

The food is pretty good to be honest, especially the Bisteeya which everyone gave their thumbs up. The orange sauce complemented the pastry enveloping the cinnamon flavoured chicken and stuffings. The salmon was very fresh and has a little sourish flavour to it due to the lemon sauce. Overall, dinner was very enjoyable and I'm glad I had a wonderful 'final' meal in Perth. Price wise, it's expensive! But I keep telling myself, "Don't convert, don't convert...." Well it's delicious anyway, so it's money well spent!





As we were having our meal, the sun began to set and by the time we were done, it was already dark. The riverside is really beautiful with all the lights on creating reflections on the water. It'll be really nice to have an after meal stroll, appreciating the lights and sights that East Perth has to offer at night.


Supposed to be artistic photo

Fang asked me to pose for a picture with the lamp post. Hmmm... I look like I'm searching for the light in life or a jakun Malaysian who've never seen a lamp post -_-


Little Moorish Restaurant
Suite 4/10
Eastbrook Terrace (Lake side)
East Perth, WA 6004
www.littlemoorish.com.au

Shopping Streets

When I did my pre-trip research on places of interest in Perth, Hay Street was listed as one of the shopping places. Though I wasn't exactly on a shopping trip, as compared to Bangkok, it doesn't really hurt to see what 'shopping' is like for the Australians right?

There are individual shopping malls in every suburbs (ie. Garden City Mall, Westfield Carousel, Broadway Fair, Belmont Forum) but Hay St and Murray St are two very long streets, connected to each other and dedicated for shopping at Perth City. Firstly, I like the concept of their shopping street here. Both streets are closed to traffic and the streets are very wide for pedestrians/ people to walk about and there are also benches for people to rest. It also provides a platform for buskers to strut their stuff.



There are several arcades that run off either Murray Street Mall or the Hay Street Mall, such as the Carillon Arcade. There are two main departmental stores- David Jones and Myers. The former is a very atasan place so the stuff there are quite expensive needless to say. We had our lunch at Carillon Foodcourt and we went for Japanese.





Fang had a bento set while I had the beef rice. Nothing fantastic, the beef portion was generous but a tad too stiff :(



We went hopping from store to store but stuff here are not that affordable compared to Harbourtown. Then again, Harbourtown is like the factory outlet mall so I guess it definitely has to be cheaper than the city. While we were strolling along the wide street, this building caught my attention. It's not surprising though since it is sandwiched between other modern shopping malls.



Just like how they have a Chinatown at Northbridge, here's a British town at Perth City. To be precise, it's known as London Court. The setting and architecture is of the English influence but ironically, things sold here are Australian stuff, so it's not exactly very attractive after all.



I like this picture though :D



Well, there was a particular shop that sold British confectionary... I felt like a little kid in a candy store awed by the amount and variety of chocolates, candies, cookies and biscuits. I spotted Jaffa Cakes and immediately bought it as Eiling loves them (see I so sayang you) even though it costed me $6.95 (about RM17) only to find out that in London, you can get it for £1 (about RM5.30). Sighs, kena conned triple-fold!



The emblem reminds me of the England football jersey.



I also saw a Scientology Church! Maybe we can find Tom Cruise here. Heehee. However, shopping here is not too great IMHO as everything is so pricey :(



Statues and sculptures are a common sight but this one is particularly interesting. Perhaps it is done on purpose for ladies to have a chance to pose a picture looking at you-know-where in broad daylight :p Well since it is done intentionally, I've got to reciprocate the intention by staring at you-know-where for the picture right!



Australian cops doing their patrolling on bikes and in shorts. So cute! Now can you imagine our polis doing the same?? Huge belly, wearing shorts, trying to balance the bicycle......... and probably firing water cannons to disperse the crowd at Petaling Street? Heh, interesting.