Alone, yet not so alone..

It's been awhile huh? Well, I confess, I've spent so much time watching dramas that I think I neglected a lot of stuff lately, and I think I should focus on bringing myself back on track.. xD

First, a bit of an update of myself.. Lab has started.. (Like thank God).. Unfortunately though, everything I've done feels like a complete waste to me at the moment.. Hope things will be better soon.. On the other hand, did I tell you that I've joined the gym? I'm taking body pump, body combat, polefit and zumba classes now.. Not all of them at once of course, but I try to go for 2-4 classes per week (mostly 2 classes >.< ).. Anyway, these classes are way fun than I thought it would be! And it gets easier after time, so do try it out if you are keen on going but afraid you will suck at it.. :P

Logo of the gym classes I join, well, except polefit.. heh

My new Samsung Galaxy Note 4 <3 <3 <3

And then few days ago I somehow dropped my Huawei Ascend Mate 6.1 again and the battery connector broke AGAIN! So I had no phone to use.. I tried looking for repair shops here but all they fix are iPhone screens and Samsung screens.. :|  In the end I decided to get a new phone.. Was considering between my dream phone (Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and a more affordable LG G3, and in the end, I chose my dream phone over something more practical.. :P ) I am now super broke and cannot even afford to eat out at all.. :c

While I do have friends here now, sometimes, I will still need to do things on my own.. Not that I'm complaining, I'm just saying.. haha.. Went to do groceries on my own this week.. It wasn't as bad.. But I got conned by the cashier who charged me for $2.98/kg nectarine when I actually bought $0.99/kg yellow peaches :@ Its a turned out to be a difference of nearly $4 and I didn't realise it until I got home!!!! :@ :@ :@

Dahlah pokai kan? Kena donate lagi.. #@$^

Anyway, what to do? Too late to regret now.. Just treat it as a donation lar.. :(

Oh and, I nearly forgot, bus stops here are pretty cooling even though the sun is hot and biting! The breeze is nice.. The bus efficiency is better than in Malaysia, but on weekend it tend to be a little slow and that's why I had ample time to take a shot of companion (my grocery bag) at the bus stop while waiting patiently for Bus Man.. :)

Grocery companion for the week 

Until next time!

Getting rid of that chicken / poultry smell!

Not sure if my post makes any sense to any of you, but recently I purchased a chicken thigh at the butcher and it stank of poultry smell! :~ Let me clarify that the meat is perfectly fresh, the meat has not gone bad, its just that typical poultry smell you get when you go to the butcher, except, you'd never realise that meat could actually smell that bad when it has been bought home!

Anyway, I just washed the meat as usual and cooked it as usual. The moment the meat entered the pan, I almost threw it away into the bin. Why? Because the smell intensified! Anyway, I tried to  cover it with adding cheese and garlic, but it was completely hopeless. In the end, I think it smelled like dog food from home. o_O

So after that meal (yes, I ate that dog food smelling meal. A meal is still a meal right? And I'm on a tight budget here.), I realised that I need to get rid of this stench before I make soup with chicken thigh next. So I googled, and called mum, and used my creativity and in the end this is what I came up with.

Ways to remove chicken/poultry smell

1. Wash and remove all unwanted portion. You can even slice them up if you want, I did that. And place them in a bowl. Pour hot water over it to rinse it and then wash them under running water.
2. Wash and remove all unwanted portion. Rub salt onto meat and leave for a few minutes before rinsing the salt of under running water.
3. Wash and remove all unwanted portion. Squeeze lemon juice onto meat and rub it around and leave for a few minutes before rinsing it under water.
4. Wash and remove all unwanted portion. Pour a mixture of 1/3 white vinegar and 2/3 water onto the meat and again leave for a few minutes before rinsing under water.

You may choose to combine more than one method or just do either one of it depending on if you still find it smelly after the step.

Hope it works for you! Good luck! :)

Until next time!

Grocery Purchasing Experience

First week here, I was with mum, all I need to worry about was setting up a bank account, finding a place to live, how the transportation work, meeting my supervisor, sorting out all the documentations for uni and for my scholarship and finding the best place to shop because, the price of groceries here can be insane!! (well, at least for a Malaysian!)     xD

Next, I had to ensure that mum will not only spend time here with me to suffer while I did all these stuff, and made sure I brought here to some places to visit as well. I'll post this up one day. haha..

When she left, I was miserable, as you guys already know, so I dealt with my misery by spending time watching Korean dramas, movies and calling home! I even had enough time to make a table on the groceries I have bought so that I could be more price savvy in the future!! Anyway, the point of my blog post today is to actually share with you on my grocery purchasing experience.

So here goes,

First 2 weeks alone:
Think I bought 1 bunch of Choy sum, a zuccini cucumber, some bacon and a mince meat. And I thought, ok, should be able to last me a week, what with all the rice, spaghetti and stuff mum bought me. And I was wrong! I lasted 2 weeks! Thanks to the cyclone Marcia that made sure I stretched my food supply at home!

Cyclone Marcia as pictured from abc.net.au

And so I realised, damn it, I cannot just buy food enough for a week. I need to make sure it last longer!

Another thing I learnt, when you reach home, do not ever just throw all your meat purchase in the freezer, it will kill you to separate them later. Separate them into different freezer bags and store them (buy biodegradable ones if you are concern about eco-friendliness!)

These are the freezer bags I bought from Coles

*Side note: did you know, if you googled frozen bag, all you get is Frozen cartoon imprinted back packs?!

Third week alone:
So at the end of the second week, I went crazy shopping for groceries! I think I went grocery shopping like 3 times and I bought like $80 worth of groceries. And here was the next problem, halfway into the third week, I realised that food didn't have much flavour even though I tried to put lots of salt (which apparently I am failing at, because I'm used to putting teaspoons of salt not shaking it out of a tiny bottle with tiny holes!), and I only have garlic!! Also I realised, mince meat isn't enough and I would need to buy real meat.

So when I ate this the other day, it felt heavenly!! This is roasted pork with steamed vegetables and roasted potatoes

So here's my summary of my post if you didn't realise what I was trying to say:

1. Buy more vegetables, they last far longer in the fridge than you think it would.
2. Try to buy fruits in varying degrees of ripeness so that you won't have to stuff all that fruit down your throat when its all on the verge of over-ripping or spoiling.
3. Make sure you buy more ingredients (garlic, ginger, onions, chilli, pepper and etc) otherwise, food is just bland.
4. Buy more meat! It last for a month or so in the freezer, so that you don't have to keep hunting for meat!
5. Separate the meat!!!! I cannot stress this enough!
6. Rice can last quite long in the fridge as well. (Damn, I'm getting good with storing and eating leftovers.. o_O )

Things I am currently learning:

1. Counting the amount of shakes I need to do to add the right amount of salt to each dish.
2. Boiling less water when making soup (I'm just too greedy when it comes to soup. >.< )
3. Planning on learning how to use an oven.
4. The multiple uses of yoghurt! Did you know it taste good with rice?

Until next time!