Three Of Us

finally!!! made a visit to auction rooms today with pei yan and shen ting for brunch. auction rooms is one of the top brunch places in melbourne, and i couldn't agree any more. it is located at north melbourne (a few kilometers away from the city), and we definitely had a good walk there. the weather doesn't tire you out at all!

mochas and skinny latte. i don't like coffee, so the closest i'll ever get to caffeine is mocha. i really enjoyed mine as it was neither too sweet nor bitter. since i know nuts about coffee, i shan't comment. but i do know that coffee lovers love the coffee here!

we ordered 3 dishes - 2 savoury and 1 sweet. roasted pork belly wrapped in egg crepes served with poached eggs, beef sandwich with cheese and spinach, and apple walnut french toast. food was delicious, we had no leftovers. however, i felt that the food was rather pricey, approximately 18 bucks per dish. nevertheless, i like how they change their menu frequently. definitely a must go!

i love these two girls. pei yan and shen ting are my brother's friends from trinity and we usually meet when wernie is around. but this time, i wanted to spend time with them alone. hence, we kept him in the dark. :) i really like how we can get along so well despite the 3 year age gap, and how both of them treat me as an elder sister and come to me for advices. they are such sweet girls.

amazing how friendships just form like that.

BBQ at KEW

so i spent my afternoon yesterday with my brother and my aunt jenny who lives here in kew. it was nice traveling out to the suburbs and experiencing the daily lifestyle of the locals for just a few hours. i would definitely grab hold of the opportunity to live in a nice house in the suburbs if it ever presents itself. melbourne is such a lovely place (excluding the crazy weather)!

it was forecasted to rain, thankfully it didn't. so we stuck to the original plan. in fact, weather was brilliant! :) we had our bbq in a nature reserve park in kew along the yarra river. really nice to be out in the green once in awhile, to escape the hustle and bustle of melbourne city.

aussie summer salad with japanese dressing, fresh salmon slices, buttered mushrooms, vegetables pancake, and beef balls. simple yet absolutely filling and delicious. :)

thereafter, we went to her house for afternoon tea. we had little cupcakes that i bought for her and vanilla ice cream with gula melaka sago. yummy, reminded me of my chinese new year kampung days when i was still a kid. i love her housing estate! all the houses have similar contemporary minimalistic designs. it is not small yet not big, just the right size for a family of four.

bought plenty of boxes and big bags... time to pack and shift out of my apartment. arrgghh, i really hate packing and moving. :(

SUN-DAY

adrienne invited me to join her and li-shen for brunch at the st kilda galleon. i've known them since trinity college, and today was actually my longest time spent with them. it is so sad how my four years in melbourne is finally coming to an end. we have just started to form closer bonds with more people, and now, we have to part. what are the odds of seeing them again? especially my non-singaporean friends.

we had to wait for approximately 20 minutes, the place was packed!! it was worthwhile as our food and drinks were delicious. a really good recommendation by adrienne! check out adrienne's food blog here, she's currently ranked #2 on urbanspoon in melbourne. :) can't wait for her to go back to KL and do more food reviews there!

another thing i'll miss about melbourne is their sunday markets. every stall sells really unique items. plus point is, they are mostly handmade. i bought a really pretty fresh water pearl bracelet for 15 aussie, i love it. should have bought more as gifts for friends...

thank god for such a great weather, it was sunny yet cooling. we spent the rest of the afternoon chilling by the beach. chit-chatting, taking pictures, people watching, and eating frozen yoghurt. time flew by unknowingly. i had great fun though it was such a simple day out!

stay tuned, more fun to come. i love melbourne. :)

Party With Tea

where do i ever begin? i have been away from this site for almost 2 months, and countless of things have happened in many aspects of my life. family, love life, friendship, studies, etc. will try my best to post as many pictures up since i'm having ultimate freedom for quite a bit of time. yes, i've finished my 3 years of university education (hopefully)!

why this picture of hotel windsor?

just two days ago (i know, i skipped tons of events), rachel held a mini birthday party at hotel windsor for high tea. this girl has finally turned 20, and look how tai-tai-ish she looks! rachel tjong, i love you. :)

i have always enjoyed high tea. sipping on tea and munching on sandwiches, scones and little sweet things, is the best combination for a ladies get-together. the round table we had was a little too big though.

$60 per person. i found it a little expensive though we couldn't finish all the food. the scones at the tearooms located in national gallery of victoria is better than windsor's. however, i really enjoyed their flora teas, very fragrant! also, their little cakes and macarons were delicious.

what's a birthday occasion without pictures!! i like how the three of us wore similar shade dresses with black heels coincidentally.

that's not all, we all love polaroids! we just kept snapping away.

the seven of us who were there to celebrate rachel's birthday. dress code was - colourful sundresses. i think we definitely lived up to the theme.

i am in love with these photos. looks like a sportsgirl advertisement?

Manchester Press

i have been delaying my wednesday brunch trip with ben to manchester press for the longest time. all my fault for not being able to wake up early!! anyhow, i couldn't postpone it any further, as next week's the last week of school and thereafter, swot vac. we went there yesterday!

it didn't feel that long ago when i first set foot in melbourne. 4 years just whisked by me, and i'll be graduating in less than 2 months. this is really the last and final lap of the race that i've been running for years. i'm going to try my best and finish it off on a high note!

BLT bagel - bacon, lettuce and tomato. not really a big fan of those 3 ingredients, hence i didn't fancy it. but i'm sure i heard kenneth saying, "this is damn good, nom nom nom nom nom!" for at least 5 times!

salmon bagel - they were so generous with the smoked salmon and cream. definitely worth the money. too jelat, ben and ting shared it.

PB&J bagel - peanut butter and jelly, with bananas, nuts and candy bits. I LOVE THIS. i cannot fault anything. everything goes perfectly together, especially with my hot chocolate. yuummyy!!

strawberry custard tart - a definite must try if you happen to visit. on top of the filling bagels we had, we ordered 3 of those tarts to share among us 4. the pastry's soft, and the custard's smooth and not too thick.

this was what we went there for - their famous coffee art! this totally inspired us to go for a barrister and coffee art 2 day course after exams.

gawdd, i love melbourne.

Spring has Sprung!

Grampians

love these film shots taken by kenneth. ♥ ♥ ♥

so during the september holidays, we all went to grampians for a day trip. to be honest, i didn't expect that so much climbing/hiking would be involved. hence, the super inappropriate attire. nevertheless, i still managed to hike to the top without getting injured. of course, it wouldn't be possible without help from the boys. it was dangerous!

we had a picnic on a huge rock right beside a waterfall for lunch. the experience was amazing! we were munching on sandwiches, potato salad, cupcakes, grape and cheese crackers, while sipping red wine right in the middle of nature. this is the life.

we were literally freezing in the cold, no joke. but we persevered and sat on the rocks for almost an hour waiting for sunset... it was worth it.

isn't this beautiful!!! it totally reminded us of the movie, jurassic park. to me, that was the best part of the day. absolute silence, breathtaking view, great company, and the freshest air. ahhh!

by nightfall, we started to make our way back to the city. it was a long long drive, and as usual everyone was well asleep. after an hour nap, we all woke up to a stunning night sky.

i have never seen so many stars in my life! the photos don't do them justice. i was really in awe. i couldn't take my eyes off them. we could actually see the milky way, how cool is that! really unforgettable. :)