Just 2 more sleeps.......

till we reunite as a little family unit again!!!! For the past 14 days, I dread the lonely times at home in the day and going to a cold and empty bed. Having my little angel help to lighten my days drastically.But still I miss him. Still can't believe its only 2 days more......So near yet so far....

It makes me most fulfilled as a cook and mother....

.......when my little daughter tells me," You are a good cook!" when what was served in front of her was just a plate of leftovers put together.

In the dark of the night.........

Its been 10 days since he left. I miss him so dearly.................

Tashy loved playing with the red dirt and was often covered in red dust by the end of the day.

It's about time that I blog sth about our trip up to St George with Pete, shouldn't I? Been a bit slack since we got back (what's new?)and also been away out camping the following week after we came back.


As part of our gift of appreciation, I made them (clockwise order) a fudgy chocolate log, passionfruit ricotta cheesecake and lemon truffles. I was relived to find out that Jake has got a sweet tooth and enjoyed these immersely. Amongst all these, I think the passionfruit cheesecake is the best. 'Cos Josh who usually dislike rich cheesecakes actually went back for seconds and thirds for this. Must be saying something abt this isn't it? =P



It was such a unique and completely different lifestyle outback. Its simply a pleasure to kick back a notch in life and just enjoy the sun and smell the flowers (if u don't choke on the multitude of red dust in the first place). We were staying at a cattle farm owned by Pete's cousin-in-law and cousin and their small family of 3 kids. They were such accomodating people who were generous with their time down to their house. Anything to make us feel right at home.

Pete teaching Josh how to use a rifle

Josh helping the kids to crack some macadamia nuts

Being on a cattle farm, we had beef (mind u, their own fresh organic, self butchered beef) for most of our meals besides for brekkie. Though I have never been a big fan of meat, especially red meat, I have to say that the beef that we had was absolutely sensational. My favorite meal there had to be the corned meat served with white sauce and roasted veggies on the side. Unlike the commercial preservative laden corned meat, this was preserved by just soaking in brine by their personal butcher.

The best meal ever: Corned meat with white sauce and roasted veggies. Yum! The meat was so tender that it just simply melt in your mouth. How I wish I have rice to go with it then. (yes yes, i'm such an asian....)

Pot Roast served with gravy and roasted veggies which was pretty tasty too.

We had grilled steaks and snags (aussie slang for sausages) one night and Pete and Josh got the largest slabs! It can barely fit into their plates! Josh had his done rare and my, the steak was so tender and juicy! And I gotta admit that that is how steak should be eaten.

Aside from the food, Pete's cousin in law, Jack, took the time to drive us around the property(which was huge!!) and gave the guys the privilege to shot some *roos (aussie slang for kangeroos) by taking them out spotlighting at night. Anyways these are just a few of the many stuff we did out at St George. Being my usual lazy self, I would just let the pics do the talking.

The guys helped Jack to master (round the sheep up to be sold) some sheep during our stay.

There were red dust and flies everywhere! And its not even summer yet. I dare not imagine the swarm of flies that hangs around the farms in the hot weather.

We explored part of the property on foot on the Lord's day.

Stopping to have some refreshign homemade yogurt on our way home.................

I want.......no no no......I NEED it.!

Someone must be up to some mischief up there by fiddling with the temperature gauge. We have just been away for just 4 days and Spring seems to have pushed itself into this last month of winter. Theoretically, this is (or was) supposed to be one of the coldest months of the year.Therefore it does not make sense that the average temp over the past few days are above 30 degrees Celsius.

Anyways, with the arrival of an inevitable heat wave that comes along with the "joys" of summer and having to carry an additional growing "load" (aka preggy bump) this year, my wants of getting my dream blender (refer to wish list) is increasingly becoming more of a need. I just am dying to make my own smoothies rather than paying 5 bucks for a Boost smoothie just to satisfy my constant craving for icy fruity drinks. If I were to put away $5 everytime I crave for a Boost juice, I prob be able to afford my dream blender halfway through summer. But can I go without.........would be quite a big problem....

Heaps to update but..........

I'm just simply tied for time!!!! I have tried out quite a few good recipes (okay, it only just one or two) in my kitchen and have been yearning to post it up. And for one of the recipes, due to the inavailability of freshly grated coconut, I even got when through the whole experience of cracking to grating the coconut flesh by myself. I got to say I was pretty proud of that bowl of freshly grated coconut after spending 3 hours on it. I will have to blog all about it one of these days.

The reason why I'm so tied for time is that I had been at work for the whole of today and will be tomorrow again. And besides that, we would be going off to St George with Pete this coming Thurs till next Mon staying with his uncle and aunt. And staying with others also mean we have to bring along something as a git of appreciation. So I decided that I should put my baking skills to use and make them some yummy goodies to enjoy while we are there. To know what I had planned to make, do keep in touch for next week's blogs. =) (pray that I would be faithful in posting it....=P)

Anyways, rembr that I mentioned about the gathering of Singaporeans at the Stamford plaza for a National day buffet lunch? The food served was mainly SG food such as beef and chicken rendang, mee goreng, curry veg, sambal egg etc . It was really good and had helped to ease some homesickness for SG foods even though I normally won't choose to have such food back home. At the end of that lunch session, I reckoned that I chatted more than I ate. It was nice to know a few more SG pple. But having survived pretty comfortably and contentedly without any SG contact at all in Brissy, I do not feel any inclination to meet up regularly with this group of pple. Not so sure if you might feel this way if u r in my shoes. Belonging to a church and being close to my in laws probably are the reasons for my lack of homesickness, i guess......

Okay okay for now......i really have to get on with my list of things to do today. You guys take care and see ya soonn.....

Boondall Wetlands

Jump to reach the skies!!!!

The sun was shining and the the skies were clear. I needed to bum up driving hours up (In order to sit for my learner's driving test, I gotta have 100 practise driving hours. I'm up to 65 hours, more than half way!!). So Josh hopped advised our faithful search site, Google and found this place. Off we went towards the north of Brisbane away from the bustling city. However, the wetlands did not turn out to be as serene and away from civilization as we imagined it to be. It was situated right next to the highway and it seems that no matter where we walk, the sound of zooming vehicles was unescapable. On the bright side, there were certain parts of the boardwalk where the scernery was just gorgeous and one of its kind. The main thing was that we had fun.......and I got more driving hours. =)

She enjoyed tromping around the overgrown grass to look for wild flowers

A flower known by the name of Pig Face. Supposed to be used as food and medicinal purposes by the Aborginals .

A type of plant that thrive on salt water.

The 2km boardwalk which lead us out to the wetlands.

We attempted to do a jumping shot with Tash which ended up with.............

Josh literally "giving her a hand " to help her along.

Exhausted after the jumping shot....lolz..

That's all for now folks.......oh yeah, Singapore's National day is coming up isn't it.....Hmmm....this have got to be the fourth consecutive year of me being away for it. I was never a big fan of it growing up except for looking forward to the parades which my Dad (being in the military then) was able to get free tickets every year. Now, I miss seeing the red and white flags hanging off HDBs and also the atmosphere on the day itself where most people would have a BBQ and a get together to take advantage of the holiday. However, this year might be a slightly different for us. Josh got to know a Singaporean guy, Mervin, in the reservist who had organized a national day buffet lunch at the Stanford (quite a nice hotel) where he had invited quite a number of Singaporeans to go along too. Will update on how that went too. Till then, ta ta.................

Centenary Rocks Festival'09

The girls with their fav baby animals

Just this past Saturday, there was a festival held at a park, River Rocks park, which is just 5 mins drive away from us. In the brochure that we received in our mailbox, there was supposedly to have free hotair balloon rides for everyone, live music, community and food stalls, African fireshow and fireworks at the end of the night.


Since we had nothing better to do with our time, we drove down to check this annual festival out. Tash and I were pleasantly surprised to find a baby animal petting area which admission was free. We spent practically a whole hour there with my SILs petting 3 weeks old lamb, chooks, ducks and piglets. I managed to catch hold of one of the 2 piglets which was so tough to get hold of as they often try to stuggle and jump out of anyone's reach. The piglet that I held was so worked up that it kept squealing the whole time I had it in my arms. It made Tash so upset that she kept insisting that I "put piggy down now!"

Me trying to calm the distressed piggy....

....which didn't really do much

Haha! Managed to snap a cute shot of the two escapees together

Moving from the petting farm, there were not really much that appeal since the rides cost money and none of the market stalls have any interesting things at all. In the end, we found ourselves just relaxing on the lush green field by the river on a nice clear day listening to live music that ranged from soft rock to celtic folk.

P.S judging from my pics, you prob have gathered that we enjoyed the petting farm most.....=p

What's for tea tonight, honey?

The Aussies like to call dinner as "tea". Why? I dunno.....Maybe an aussie or someone more familiar with the aussie culture can help me explain that. I din't feel like cooking tonight and having had a big salad lunch, I decided to put my sandwich maker into good use and whipped up some toasted sandwiches. I made up 3 varieties. All using different spreads. One with pesto, another with vegemite and the last with just a light spread of butter. Strangely enough, I actually really like the one with vegemite the most.


I can still remember how disgusting the taste of vegemite was when I first tasted it. Over the years, it was always Josh chucking in the bottle of glucky black goog into our shopping trolley ('cos i did not want to hold responsible for finishing that stuff).And to my surprise, each 400g bottle was emptied out faithfully within the span of a couple of months without fail. I have no idea how he did that but it seems like he was and still is consuming a fair bit per week.

It was only recently I decided to give this goog a fair go again just curious to find out again why is this "jam" so popular and to reaffirm to myself that I definitely am not wrong for turning my nose at it. It turned out that I was proven wrong. It's weird taste is starting to appeal to me so much so I actually sometimes feel like a vegemite toast. How strange is that?! Friends who had studied in aussie or being here for a period of time, have u ever felt this way before about vegemite?

A new look for the old......

Just last week, for a girl's 21st bdae, I made some Tim Tam truffles. Its a truffle that is often requested by my SILs. Bored with my own designs, I decided to jazz them up a bit by adding some of my gumpaste flowers and sprinkles.

The box that I made up for truffles. I would have used another colour for the ribbons but that's all I had. Still turned out fine.... =)

Inside the box

Made a few extras to give away and of course for my sweet tooth hubby and daughter. This is the perfect (if u ever ran out of gift ideas) for your special one, or just a thank you prezzie, or an anniversary gift or a "just becos" love gift.

Picnic Brunch at the Roma St Parklands

We had wholemeal spelt pancakes which we had in a variety of ways i.e lemon sugar, maple syrup with fresh strawberries, Nutella with strawberries etc....

Josh had lots of fun cooking these pancakes on the hotplates. Guess its something different from the usual steak or snags (sausages). We were practically starving by the time all the pancakes were cooked since it took a while to drive into the city, setting everything up and then getting the pancakes cooked. But boy, its well worth the wait. I can't wait to have another picnic brunch. Its so much better than eating greasy meat stuff.

As you can see, we like our pancakes done in different ways. Josh loves strawberries with his but Tash would just eat her berries first then her pancake (which is always smothered in butter) on its own. After our brunch, we took a walk around the parklands which showcased some really gorgeous flowers. What I love about the weather in Brissy is that be it winter or summer, there always is something beautiful in bloom.




These are known as Kangeroo claws. Interesting huh?

And thats Tashy being "coy" with the camera.....

Happenings in Jul

Yup, the 2 birthday gurlies chose to throw a 60's theme bdae party with the youth group. And what more, we all get to shop at St Vinnes (aka Salvation Army) and wear grandma's clothes! It was good fun though. =)

Before I neglect my bloggy again, let me put up some pics about what we had been up to for this month...........

My cute hubby with his all too tight shirt and jeans.

The kids had lots of fun dancing (sixties style *cringe* =P) to lots of 60's music throught the night.

As usual, Beck came as a hippie.....

On another occasion,

We had tea at Becky and Justin's place (the newlyweds) one Sat and we had so much fun making DIY sushi and catching up with each other.

Lydia Coleborne made a real yum strabwerry mousse for Tashy (and the adults, a port flavoured chocolate mousse) which definitely was the highlight of the evening for her (as u can see here).

More pics to come when I get back from work tonight. =) Ciaoz...

Another Grubby Grub

Yes, we are going to have another bub joining our growing brood! I'm sure some of you had gathered it from another blog, facebook .......So how are we feeling? More excited than we were when we were expecting Tashy. Guess we, being more experienced parents, know what to expect and are more relax this time around. And even though we got around to seeing the doc earlier this time, we only done our very first ultrasound on this baby just this week (way past the first scan which was supposed to be done in the 12th week). The main reason of us seeing the doc earlier this time is so that I can apply to be in the balloting system to get amongst hundreds of women who would like to get into the only Birth centre (run by midwives only) in Brissy.

So why is this Birth centre so popular? Firstly, this place fully encourages any mother to have her baby in the most natural way possible without any medical intervention. Secondly, there is a wide range of natural pain relief options avaliable such as the hot tube, the birthing ball, the birthing stool, hot showers etc. Thirdly, instead of seeing a gynaecologist, the mothers get to know a group of midwives during the pregnancy and would have a midwife from the group assisting during the labour. Fourthly, the mother get to have a whole room where she would be able to labour and then stay for the next 24 hours after she had her baby all to herself. She can have her family to sleep the night with her (either on the queen size bed provided or a sofa coach nearby), have visitors any time etc. Fiftly, amongst the hundreds that balloted for the opportunity to get into the Birthing Centre, only 40 women are chosen for each month. And I do thank God for providing me with a spot. Last but not least, being in Australia which is a social welfare country, all the services provided by the Birthing centre is absolutely freee!!!!

Of course, women that did not get their spot at the Birthing Centre will go into the public system which I have heard quite a few good reviews about. So no one is left out at all.

Enough said of this birthing stuff, from the scan, this grub is about 19 weeks along. Everything seems good with he/her. No, we didn't find out the gender. Just so to keep it as a surprise for us at the very end. Interestingly, the sonographer reckons that from all the asian babies she had scanned, this bub look nothing like an asian baby at all. Guess we might be getting another Higgs baby again. Or maybe not......................we'll see.....................

If only money fall from the sky......

I am officially exhausted and sick of working. I have worked a total of 14 hours for the past two days and there is still 6 hours more to go tomorrow!!!! And I have spend 13 of those hours on my feet running around serving and washing up in the kitchen. I have no idea how you guys out there can work 5 days straight and still be able to go back for more after 2 rest days. Now I see why God had planned my life in such a way that there really is no need for me to work full time. Oh Lord, may positive thoughts stay and tide me over for another day of work......

Lake Moogerah bootcamp day

Lake Moogerah

For a family day out, we drove westward to Lake Moogerah for a nice picnic (which Tashy was more excited about than us) and to spend most of the avro at a Christian netball camp organized for girls age 8-12 years by a lady from our church.

Very happy to be having a picnic with mum and dad

We had a roasted chicken, rocket and spinach leaves, boccocini and strawberry wrap for lunch. Yum!

Josh was actually invited to run five 20minutes bootcamp as an elective for these girl on their first day of camp. And in that short 20mins, he managed to that strict army guy making the girls run up and down the field, doing push ups, sit ups, lunges etc.

My dashing militant husband

It was interesting to watch how comfortable he is with these girls and his casual interaction with them before and after the session. Most guys his age would probably be a bit overwhelmed having giggly shrieking girls like everywhere. And what more spend 2 hours of his afternoon with them. Guess growing up with 7 girls did make a big difference.

Believe me, the girls started laughing as they ran along


but towards the end of the session, none had the energy to even talk!

Tashy did enjoy doing bootcamp with daddy too for at least the first session of it.


She was running with the girls and imitating Josh doing all the different exercises.

It worn her out so much so that she was knocked out as soon as she got to her car seat!