UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

If you know me well enough, you'll know for a fact that I'm not one who tear that easily. It takes A LOT to make me tear in a movie or while watching a drama. Even when I feel hurt, I'll bottle up so much that it takes months before you see me cry my first tear again. But there's one thing that can make me cry like a hopeless idiot.

Father's love.

Whenever I watch anything that touches on a father's love, I'll start to tear. Just the other day at Yihui's farewell dinner, we were watching August Rush and there was a scene where Louis (the father) was playing the guitar with August (the son) without knowing August was his son. That brought back memories of the days where I used to dance up and down the house with Daddy. We looked no different from two mental freaks. But I loved it. I really did.

Just a while ago I finished an episode of Korean drama and in that episode, a 20yo girl's father just passed away. As she grieved over her father's death, I burst into tears, thinking what it'd be like without Daddy in my life. The thought alone brought millions of daggers stabbing through me. Ain't fun at all.

Then the recent things I've been going through with God's people. I had images of my Heavenly Father protecting me with His Eagle Wings. On His Eagle Wings were the weight of what those God's people have been doing to me. How He stayed strong to make sure those people's ignorance and superficial love did not touch me, let alone hurt. Just that thought alone made me cry for many nights. I can't even remember how many. These people made me feel so insignificant, so worthless. And yet here my Heavenly Father is, making me feel so loved, so precious.

I really hate the cold person I've become over the years. If you knew me just 2-3 years back, you'll even realise it took a lot for me to even laugh. It's only recently that I tried opening up to be a more happy person. Laughing part's been going smoothly. Crying part. Not so.

ANYWAYS! As promised, here comes more food haha. Two Saturdays ago, after the last UWA service, the zone decided to go Uncle Billy's for dinner AGAIN. Seriously. Janice and I then made last minute plans. It was so last minute we only decided where to eat when we'd dropped our passangers off outside Uncle Billy's. We're very loyal and faithful driver ahmads.

Where did we go? Famosa *winks*.Janice's minced pork noodles soup.

My minced pork noodle dry.

A small side chilli dumplings.

Fwuyohhh! The chilli dumpling was HOT STUFF. Like. FIRE. I literally got choked at first bite. Not 'cos I couldn't take the spiciness but because I was totally unprepared for it. Remember I once mentioned how Asian food in Australia is normally less spicy than what they should be? This one's not the case.

As for Janice's noodle soup, the taste of the soup was like true authentic hawker centre soup. Like those you get from chicken rice stalls. OR chicken macaroni soup. Sooo good. And my dried one? Speechless. Totally. Noodle's probably instant but who cares. The minced pork was marinated well and the gravy was totall tasty. Double t. Oh did I mention how the lu dan (egg) was full of flavour, even up till the yolk? Shame to those back home where only the surface of the egg white had taste and the rest tasted like normal chicken egg.

My day ended with a good cup of bubble tea from EasyWay and a catch up session with Aric.

So the next few days were. MugmugmugsleepmugmugmugsleepmugmugmuG. Starts with capital M, ends with capital G. And when exams were finally over (I wasn't actually jumping for joy but rather heiving a sigh of relief), my best makan kaki and I decided to head down to Cafe at the Hyatt for buffet.

Hyatt's website clearly mentioned their buffet will re-open early June 'cos they were under renovation. By the time my exams were over, it was LATE June so I confidently dragged my best makan kaki down. Furthermore their staff did not reply my email regarding when they were re-opening and whether or not I could make a booking.

When we finally stepped foot into Hyatt, we saw the buffet area still under renovation. Pissed, I went straight up to the counter and asked (nicely) if the buffet was open. The receptionist told me the buffet will only open early July. So I told them how I visited their website and was told they will open EARLY JUNE and I've even emailed their staff without receiving any reply. They apologized profusely and explained there were some delays in the renovations. That shouldn't be an excuse to the lack of website updates AND staff not replying my email but oh wells. Ain't the receptionists' fault. They'd better chance upon this blog and realise how inefficient they are. They deserve some minusing of points.

So my best makan kaki and I grudgingly used Hyatt's toilet (already there so might as well) and left. Took us a while to decide on which other buffet to go (I wanted Burswood she wanted Monterey's at Sheraton) and we finally decided Monterey's.

Hello my best makan kaki! Haha okok, she's Mummy.

Fresh-but-not-so-fresh-compared-to-Hyatt's seafood.

The salad section that I didn't touch at all. The huge lump of sashimi looked too. Weird.

Bread rolls and turkish bread.

A mixture of salad and other stuff like sushi.

Clockwise from prawns, turkish bread, bread roll, sushi.

Their prawns were not bad. Huge mistake to have added the dressing ontop of the prawns before peeling them. Became pretty messy. Turkish bread and bread roll were over-toasted. Turkish bread became too crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. I like my turkish bread soft and chewy. Bread roll was pretty hard in general. Sushi? Don't talk about it. I'll take it as it's not their specialty.

Live cooking? Pumpkin soup, tom yum soup, roast pork with apple sauce and chicken satay.

Me: "Hi, um, could I take a picture of you?"
Chef: "Yep, sure!" *awkward smile*

I think. My 400D is kinda. Intimidating.

Roasted pork.

HELLVA SALTY! Sliced too thick. Skin was. Killing my teeth. Sorry, chef, no credits for you.

Their mains.

Not a very wide variety I'd say. There were lamb, fish, pasta and, the nearest you're looking at, RATATOUILLE! I knew how ratatouille taste like so I daren't risk it. I do eat my veges but I'm not a huge fan of vegetable stew.

Top: chicken satay. Top left: spinach and fetta pasta. Middle: malay baked chicken. Middle right: saffron rice. Bottom left: T-bone lamb with sweet potato mash and mint sauce. Bottom right: fish with i-forgot-what sauce.

Chicken satay? Tasted merely like pan fried chicken with satay sauce. Pasta was not bad. You can tell I purposely scooped up a lot of fetta cheese lumps. Hohoho. Malay baked chicken? Since WHEN was there such a thing called malay baked chicken. But oh wells. It was one of the best. Tasted no different from chicken curry minus the spice. Saffron rice was the best, especially with the malay baked chicken's gravy. T-bone lamb was too tough. Didn't really enjoy the mash. Fish was over-cooked (flaky). I never liked having fish at buffets 'cos 9 out of 10 times the fish will be overcooked. This one failed to prove me wrong.

Before I could detach my butt from my seat to get what I've LONG been waiting for (desserts), Mummy stopped me and said I DIE ALSO MUST TRY their pumpkin soup. And so I did, while she went to try the tom yum soup.The tom yum instant noodle tastes better than this. I can't believe it.

Pumpkin soup.

And so, indeed, the pumpkin soup was lovely. Nice and smooth. But. Something was just missing. It just wasn't as good as Uncle Kheng Joo's pumpkin soup. Mummy and I sat there thinking for quite a while and we concluded. There wasn't enough fragrance. Maybe the lack of freshness I don't know. But it's still good. Just didn't like how everything was already mixed. Uncle Kheng Joo let us add cream on our own to our liking.

So when I was done with the soup, I started my dessert attack.

Start of dessert kingdom (not that big to start with, as compared to Hyatt's).

Cheese platter. Didn't touch it.

Cake, strawberries, chocolate mousse (didn't touch).

Chocolate mousse cake!!!!! *droooools*

Tower of petit fours, or, chef's patisseries. It was SO TALL. Good thing they were repeated. If not I'd be doing anything to get to the top.

Strawberry panna cotta and more chocolate mousse.

More petit fours.

Sticky date pudding. So hideous.

Ice cream and TOPPING HAVEN!

Among the petit fours, there were lemon and poppy seed cake, cheesecake, chocolate jaffa cake, cream puff, chocolate mud cake, carrot cake, banana cake, chocolate tart and I don't know the last. Probably just some normal cake. AND the huge slice was apricot spice cake.

Lemon and poppy seed was second best. SUPER FRAGRANT and nice and moist and spongy and the same time. Cheesecake had enough cheesiness in it. Chocolate jaffa cake was awesome. Dark chocolate with orange. Devilishly sweet. CREAM PUFF WAS THE BEST! Nice and soft puff, with nice and smooth cream. MmmMmm. Chocolate mud cake was not bad. Carrot cake was not fragrant enough. Banana cake TASTED EVERY BIT ARTIFICIAL. The icing, the cake. Probably only the dried banana was genuinely banana. Chocolate tart was good. The crust was nice. The normal cake was normal. Haha. The apricot spice cake? I did not understand why they had this combination. Didn't quite fancy it. Was a tad too dry as well.

Top: chocolate eclair. Right: another cream puff. Left: strawberry panna cotta.

Hmm. Apparently Mummy loves chocolate eclairs. She said I used to love them. I can still remember that haha but I outgrew the love for chocolate. Forgot to ask her what the eclair was like. And the strawberry panna cotta? Not smooth enough. Tasted no different from strawberry yoghurt. Disappointment.

Top: chocolate mousse cake. Bottom: sticky date pudding.

THE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CAKE WAS PROBABLY THE BEST DESSERT OF THE SPREAD! I thought it was cheesecake so I happily took a slice only to realise it was chocolate mousse cake. But it was SO good. There wasn't too much chocolate and neither was there too much mousse. Just right! Loved the crust too! Sticky date pudding was quite a disappointment though. They were all cut up already and too dry. I think the problem was because it's on constant re-heating. A tad too sweet too.

IIIIICE CREEEAAAM!!!!!!!!!!

I had snickers and pistachio ice cream. And a massive amount of hundreds and thousands. Back then, more than 10 years ago, back in Singapore, ice cream toppings were completely FREE. Then one day they decided to start to charge. And parents refused to pay for toppings. So since it's free here, what's there to miss? MOOOORE!

We got served coffee as well (they also served tea but we chose coffee). We both had an individual filter mug! Hohoho coffee was good and smooth.

Nice and neat. Maybe 'cos there're not many customers. Not a good sign, I'd say.

After paying, we went to the toilet (Mummy's hobby =P).Mirrors.

More mirrors. Btw, why'd they have so many sinks? I think there were still 2-3 more beside me that were not in the picture.

MORE MIRROR! Reflections of reflections of reflections of mirrors. Wtcrap.

After lunch, we walked from Sheraton into the city centre to help digest a bit of the food. Wanted to get a 3 mobile plan but I didn't bring enough documents so we didn't get our top-most-priortized thing done. Ended up shopping T_T my moneyyyyy.

After a while I got so thirsty (I swear it's the roast pork) so I bought a cup of boost. That cup of boost really made me wanna explode.

Thursday we were back in the city again. We drove down this time. Parked at Harbour Town and took a free bus (yellow cat) down to city centre. Got my 3 mobile plan done (AND MY NEW PHONE SAMSUNG F330 WHITE!) and went back to Harbour Town. Tried to shop but couldn't really find anything I fancied. Not even shoes. OH but I bought a dress from Jayjays. So happy!

Had coffee at The Coffee Club.My strawberry muesli muffin.

For the first time ever, my muffin was served with butter. Tasted really good, actually! I like how it's not too spongy, and not too cake-y. Just nice, perfecto. Moist and light at the same time. I just don't know how to explain. Go try it yourselve.

Long machiatto with hazelnut syrup.

Finally I found a cafe whose syrup isn't too sweet. Tiamo's and Oriel's syrups were SO SWEET they almost drowned the coffee taste. For this, however, I could still taste the strong and smooth coffee. Mummy enjoyed her cappuccino as well. Four thumbs up.

That night we went out with my cell. Was quite upset with the way they planned it. Oh wells. Mummy and I caught Speed Racer (Sherry please don't start slamming me with a lecture. I got this feeling you don't like that movie.). Starting was a bit draggy. Especially the negotiation part. The races were @o@! If one day humans can actually invent automobiles like those in the movie, I'll earn enough income to get one. The engines were so cool! They'd better not be auto.

Friday morning. Subiaco fruit market.

Mummy had chicken chop rice I think. From the vietnamese stall again.

Was one of their today's specials. The lady boss saw Mummy again and so the serving was. Madness. Mummy and I squirmed at the egg haha Mummy and I are hard-boiled-egg-ers.

My marinated mince gozleme from the gozleme stall. Still as good as ever!

Joined Jeremy's cell for movie that night. Kungfu Panda (OK, Sherry, don't slam another lecture). I FOUND IT TOTALLY HILARIOUS. It's not a movie you should expect a lot from. It's a movie you should go for fellowship, for relaxation, for a good laugh. True, some parts were quite lame but it was so lame I couldn't take it I laughed.

Saturday. More shopping. Mummy and I followed Allison, Jim, Jacq, Let, Steph to Koorong. I bought a CD! According to Jim it was quite an old CD but I wanted a few songs in there so I just bought it anyways. Also claimed my free coffee haha. Oh and on the way there, in the bus, Allison was saying how she want to make chicken wings. Then...

Jim: "How to make chicken wings?"
Allison: "You don't MAKE chicken wings, Jim, you KILL the chicken."

Wtcrap. Lol.

After Koorong, we took a train back to the city to shop. Helped Allison find a green wallet as a present for Yihui. Oh that reminds me. Allison, please tell me how much I have to pay you lol. We got the wallet at Strandbags! Decided not to get the red floral wallet yet. If I can't find a better wallet in Sydney, I'll get this.

Later that night there was Yihui's farewell+birthday dinner at her place. Dinner was great. So was the fellowship. Althought that day was the last straw for me. Can't remember how many times I broke down. In the toilet, in front of Mummy, Allison and Yihui, after I got home. I even wanted to go home alone just to avoid the crowd I didn't wanna follow. That bad.

Sunday. Service. Sat with Mark. Glad you sat with me, paps. I really wouldn't know what will happen to me if you weren't there. Next week, k, next week. I'll test drive ur soarer and have lunch with you. Sorry I last minute fly your kite hehe.

After church I sent Yihui off at the airport. Lost my appetite for a day. Not 'cos Yihui was going but 'cos. Ya. Haha. But I'm gonna miss Yihui that's without doubt. I'll miss her super tight-until-no-breath hug. =(

Later that night we had ushers' dinner. At Little Caesar's at Mundaring! Kinda got lost on the way there lol and I got quite impatient. ANYWAYS. It was SUPER ULTIMATE CRAZILY BRAIN-FREEZINGLY COLD!Wilson didn't take much effort to build that steam. Everyone was steaming throughout the dinner. Talk -steam- eat -steam- breathe -steam- everything -steam-. I mean. Condensation.

Birthday ma*ahemboyahem*n.

The people who went. Including Rachel and Yaushu who got cropped out of the pictures heh sorry!

Top: quattro formagi. Bottom: some satay chicken thing.

Jane's addiction. Some garlic prawn pizza.

QUATTRO FORMAGIIIII!!!!!!!!!!

The max.

Apple strudel!

Eskimo Joe!!!!!

I only have one sentence to say. "They've lived up to their name." They were named the best pizza IN THE WORLD once. Forgot which year it was. No doubt their pizzas were SUPERB! Thin curst, fresh ingredients, not too oily (Broadway and Chelsea Pizza are like oil drippers or something). I even took away an apple struddel pizza. Too good to be true man. Having gone all the way down, suffering in the cold, I had to bring something back for Mummy lol.

That's about it. My week. More to come. I just had another buffet today ;).

signing off~DE XIN