Sweet (& Sour) Irony

Just a miscellaneous post. Simon and I take turns making dinner for each other. One night, Simon made a delicious Chinese beef stir-fry with perfect, fluffy rice.




On another night, we decide to have rice again. I am in charge this time. So, as any self-preserving, patriotic person of Chinese descent would do, I buy Uncle Ben's style rice. It's microwaveable! I, however, decided against microwaving and opted for good ol' fashion boiling. I ended up burning the rice to a crisp (Did I miss the memo? You're supposed to stir the rice?).

So, it appears that Simon, the non-Asian one in the relationship, is actually the sole Asian in the relationship. My Mum and Dad should be very proud.....or should probably disown me.

Keeping it real.

Jess

P.S. In my defence, I grew up with a rice cooker. No need for all of this stirring nonsense.

Home Run

So here are just a few pictures of Simon's neighbourhood.

These flowers are always in full bloom above Simon's driveway.

This cat is always on the driveway when I head out. I guess she's like a guard cat, only she purrs calmly when you walk by, a far cry from the threatening, wet-your-pants barks of a guard dog. I guess that's her style. Sly.

This is my favourite house on the street.

However, this will not be our neighbourhood for much longer because we have found a new house! It happened just a few days ago. However, I'll save the details of our arduous house hunting until I get caught up on posts. But I am extremely excited to have finally found a little place to call our own. Now all we need is a brand new Aston Martin to park in our driveway. I am gladly accepting donations now.

Keeping it real.

Jess

Ain't No Mountain High Enough Baby

Okay, so my last post claimed that I was going to start blogging immediately. That wasn't necessarily a lie, just a temporal misjudgment. To be honest, it's been a bit hectic here for the past few weeks and I haven't really had a chance to give quality time to Mr. Blog. Things have been rolling over here. A rolling stone gathers no moss, right? Well then, I'm moss-free at the moment. I have much to update you guys on, but I guess I have to go in order, don't I?

I'll blog about what happened after I landed here and we'll go from there.

A few days after I landed in Brisbane, Simon and I decided to take a little walk (or hike) down memory lane. On our first date, Simon took me up to Mount Cootha, which is this mountain in the middle of the suburbs that offers fantastic views of the Brisbane skyline. We decided that it would be fitting to go back there on our first date since I arrived in Brisbane.

Simon filling up on gas, which by the way, is extremely expensive here. About $1.30/litre!

We decided to take a little hike through the trails that are offered in and around Mount Cootha. We walked a fair bit until we hit a sign that stated there was about 1 km left before we could reach the end. It wouldn't have taken us too long to finish the trail, but it was getting dark. Plus, we were lazy and wanted ice cream.

It was very nice taking a little hike up there. It reminded me of just how naturally pleasing and beautifully preserved Australia can be....and how it is still home to many creepy crawly creatures. Yes, that's the technical term.

Keeping it real.

Jess

Back in Business...again

Wow.

It's been a long time hasn't it? Well, what has happened since my last post... (in a nutshell)

1. I left Australia and moved back to Toronto
2. I begrudingly started my final year of hell at the University of Toronto
3. A special someone came to Canada for Christmas
4. I saw a cute squirrel
5. I had a lovely dinner at an Italian restaurant called Modo
6. I learned how to moonwalk
7. I screamed "Good Riddance!" to UofT after my last exam as an undergrad and moonwalked my way out the door
8. I saw Snakes On A Plane
9. I packed up my life into two suitcases, one carry-on backpack, one purse, all of the pockets in my pants, and any other nook and cranny I could find and hopped on a plane back to Australia.
10. And finally, I'm starting to blog again!

My blog will probably be less writing-intensive nowadays and more photo-intensive seeing how I won't be doing as much touristy stuff anymore. It'll just be a site where you guys can see what's going on Down Under and what new and exciting things I'm seeing/eating/doing/creating/killing/poking/inventing/drinking/uncovering.

As most of you already know, I moved over here for a particular reason. He's a dark and handsome fella. His name is Tim. Tim Tam. He is this scrumptious chocolate cookie wafer with delectably creamy filling enveloped in a smooth blanket of chocolate. He is why I am back in Australia. Him, sunshine, beaches, friendly people, the laidback attitude, rugby, the accent...that's about it. I can't think of any other reason why I'm back.

Oh, maybe Simon. But only maybe.

My plan is to just relax for a while before I really get into the nitty-gritty, like looking for a job, finding a new place, and paying bills! I'll start taking on big-people responsibilities in a few weeks. Or if I have my way and money starts growing on trees, in a few months! In the meantime, I'll go swimming.

Anyway, I'm glad to be back doing what I love: writing about things that make you laugh, things that make you go "huh?", things that make you go "yum", things that make you go "wow", and things that just make up what life is really about. I hope you enjoy the blog this time around. I like to think of it as a means to make the world a smaller place by allowing us to stay in touch and leave comments for each other. Sound like a plan?

Alright, let the blogging begin!

Over and out.

Jess

P.S. That photo might not look like it has any relevance to this post. Oh, but it does. Doesn't that kid (me when I was younger and cuter) look like she's ready for anything? She's got her diaper securely in place, her bib tightly fastened, and a popsicle in hand. Looks like she can take on the world. As am I now.