ragingyoghurt

Category Archives: trip

0

some things that were eaten in tasmania, where it’s 12° in summer and where people drive *old* minis, were: a slice of pink cake, a wagon wheel, and a lamb roast with such accompanying vegetables as roasted parsnip and crumbed cauliflower. also: large flavorsome strawberries, small tart apricots, and yummy yummy cherries. a lamington filled with cream and jam. a venison pie. a baked apricot custard slice. an esmerelda, which is a ball of dessicated coconut covered in hard toffee. a dark chocolate cup, filled with berries and covered in double cream.

why o why are the old people of tasmania so damn grouchy? because they lack the teeth to eat nothing but porridge?

posted by ragingyoghurt on 17 January 2004 at 5:08 pm
permalink | filed under cake, grumble, snacks, trip

0

so. the day of the chocolate. back story: having been cheated out of the max brenner chocolate bar experience while nellie was upon us several months ago, the twinkies, reunited and powerful once again in singapore, cleverly steered a mos burger lunch date towards a max brenner chocolate dessert.

o so innocent. chocolate drinks were chosen, chocolate cheesecake was summoned. ten minutes after the imbibing began, the chocolate hit the bloodstream and we were undone. there were lights going off in our heads, which felt soft and floppy on our necks. we could not stop giggling. the chocolate bar was empty but for us that afternoon; who knows what madness ensues when it's packed out with the pre-post-theatre crowd. in any case, the two shopgirls hung back a safe distance. we were INSANE with chocolate.

lunch-and-dessert-date excused herself mid-hot chocolate to return to work, but we later received word that she had died… well, not quite died, but the sugar allergy she’d had since childhood and kept hidden from us, kicked in and incapacitated her for two days. the twinkies ended up finishing cake and beverages, indulged in some therepeutic lolling, and then propelled ourselves forward to wreak havoc on the city.

posted by ragingyoghurt on 17 January 2004 at 4:19 pm
permalink | filed under chocolate, nellie, trip

0

happily, this morning i awoke in my own bed. it feels like i have been away for a very long time, even though it has really only been twenty days.

back in my childhood bed in the family home in singapore, my first couple of nights were graced between the hours of two and four by a swarm of mosquitoes descending on my extremities (including ‘head’). soon i was no longer distinguishable from the hapless heartland kids with the scabbies dotted up and down their legs. the midnight feasts only stopped when i moved into my good mother’s bedroom, where she sleeps, gently snoring, after meditating — sitting bolt upright on a cushion, facing the wall, in air conditioned comfort. sleeping in an air conditioned room makes me feel unwell.

and then several nights in a tent in tasmania, before a last night in a damp-smelling room above a pub. not that reassuring quiet dankness of moss-covered forest undergrowth, but the funky odour that makes you suspect something has gone wrong with the plumbing in the attached bathroom. damp-smelling rooms make me feel unhappy.

but now, hurrah, my bed and i are reacquainted. to celebrate i shall be taking four naps, one after the other. and then maybe i’ll tell you about the day of the chocolate in singapore, and about the baked goods (every day, oh yes!) in tasmania.

posted by ragingyoghurt on 16 January 2004 at 1:44 pm
permalink | filed under trip

0

message received 19 december at 7.20pm:
well well well.
well well…
well… well… well…
[ evil cackle ]
i mean, there is a yakun kaya toast in junction 8.
how can we do?
and there is a tako pachi!
i mean, there is no need to leave the heartland… ever… man.
c’mon let’s go! eh, don’t be shy.
good bye.

following which, an sms conversation made possible by global telecommunications technology:
nellie: eh
bowb: EHHH!!!!!! TAKO PACHI!!!!!!!

why am i languishing in tako pachi-less sydney? sigh. not for long. woop!

posted by ragingyoghurt on 21 December 2003 at 11:54 am
permalink | filed under misc, nellie, snacks, trip

0

surely you wouldn’t expect it to be a good day when the burgler alarm in your building goes off at 6am (you ignore it because it’s just some idiot who hasn’t disarmed it before stepping out the door, most likely those horrible noisy people from downstairs), and then when you finally do seriously wake up half an hour later and stretch, your foot goes into a cramp. oh and also, it’s forecast to hit 34°.

it doesn’t seem so bad at first because you’re stuck at your desk post-tea-and-plum-jammed-crumpets, and you’ve got the fan plugged in, and edie brickell and the jayhawks playing, and the fan causing all these sheets and sheets of proofs you have all over the room to flutter in a most reassuring and soothing manner.

directory job #2 is due at the printers today and you’re on the homestretch. so close you could lick it. you could be done by just after lunch, and then you could go outside, a place you haven’t been to in such a while that it seems magical and mystical.

and then the calls and emails start. the ones that say “we left a whole bunch of listings out of january… can you insert those?”, and “oh, it seems there was a glitch in the spreadsheet that led you to believe a quarter page ad goes on this page, when it’s actually a half page ad”, and so on. and then when in defiance of last minute hiccups it’s finally been burned to CD, just past lunchtime as anticipated, “can you email us PDFs of all the pages with ads on them so we can check them?”.

o if such care with checking had been unleashed earlier. so hours and hours and megabytes (32!) later, it washes over you like cold sick that directory job #2 will not be so obliging as to leave you in peace this evening. crap.

+ + +

the entry below was interrupted by the arrival of text to lay out. what i meant to say was, if you have a blender and you chuck in a tin of jackfruit with half the syrup and a handful of ice cubes, you end up with a pretty tasty approximation of a vietnamese fruit shake. at the main market in ho chi minh city you can get a soursop-strawberry shake that’s tangy like a strawberry yoghurt smoothie, but the best ones are from a hole-in-the-wall cafe along the main drag in hue. you will see a sign outside that says “the best fruit shakes in hue” and you will be sceptical but only until the shop lady puts in front of you an icy, glistening orange thing. o papaya shake, i miss you so.

posted by ragingyoghurt on 19 December 2003 at 10:38 pm
permalink | filed under breakfast, drink, grumble, trip, werk

0

having not been swimming since my last day in singapore, back in june —

it was an extremely hot day. matt and nellie and i decided that going to the neighbourhood pool would be better than hanging around the city being taunted by lunatics at the donut shop in town. the bishan pool looked like when the simpsons get a pool in their yard, ergh, kids everywhere, swimming in all directions. we were swimming along the pool floor, testing lung capacity, when nellie surfaced and said, “i think someone poo’d in the pool”. matt obligingly swam off to investigate, returning to say, “i think it *is* poo — i fanned it and it moved and left a brown trail in the water.” speedily we swam, screaming, down to the other end of the pool. we were able to scream because we kept our heads out of the water, but why we were even still *in* the water is something else to ponder. we remained in the pool for another hour until we were wrinkly, scrunching up our faces and making jokes like, “we put the poo in pool!”

— and what with it being the first day of school holidays and all, i was somehat apprehensive about venturing into cook+philip for a swim. would there be pain? and screaming children? yes, but not too much.

i guess the afl grand final, which apparently is quite an important date in the football calendar, kept a lot of people home. and the food and wine fair across the road kept a lot of people standing in queues waiting to be fed. it was 32 laps of near-empty lane pleasure!

swimming makes me hungry.

posted by ragingyoghurt on 27 September 2003 at 4:43 pm
permalink | filed under around town, trip

0

after a six+ hour flight punctuated by only three bouts of minor turbulence, i touched down in sydney at 5.45am and nearly ripped out half a fingernail trying to drag a very large backpack off the carousel.

the sun started to rise as i whizzed homeward in a taxi. the city skyline was sillhouetted against a golden sky and dramatic swooping purple cloud backdrop. it was a crisp 8 degrees. refresca!

everything seems okay.

posted by ragingyoghurt on 23 June 2003 at 7:30 am
permalink | filed under trip

0

buried in the midnight slot on channel 5, singapore, is the rather good but tragically shortlived australian tv series, love is a four letter word.

having spent the afternoon cleaning out my childhood cupboards and rediscovering letters from people who have since dropped out of my life, seeing those familiar innercity grunge tv types again filled me with a twinge of wanting to be sometime else.

posted by ragingyoghurt on 15 June 2003 at 10:06 pm
permalink | filed under misc, trip

0

the day i heard that the daimaru department store on river valley road was closing down was a sad day indeed, even though i’m ever in singapore for a month, max, and the last time i was back here i only went to daimaru once.

that was enough time to discover the pokka gelato kiosk in the basement supermarket, where the scoops are light and milky and the flavours are like, kiwi yoghurt.

so, happy day, i poked my head in the other night to investigate the new japanese supermarket that has inherited the basement, and lo, the pokka geloto kiosk is still there. six words: sweet potato with roasted chesnut bits!

in a little over a week i fly back to the real world. how much gelato can i eat between now and then?

posted by ragingyoghurt on 13 June 2003 at 7:05 pm
permalink | filed under ice cream, snacks, trip

0

the sky was soft pink when i awoke a little before six this morning. in a few minutes a ferocious wind out of nowhere, and then big spluttery rain. so now everything smells cool and moist and good — i haven’t been out front yet, but i expect the downpour even managed to wash away that displeasing catshit smell from the manky strays that sit on the stairs, gazing down on you, imperiously.

for two weeks it’s been like, 34 degrees. i’ve been assured this is not normal, but i guess it’s no real consolation to me.

tomorrow morning i get to ride the nice bus (“nice” is the company name!) to kuala lumpur, where grandparents and most extended family members eke out an existence, with my mother and sister. it’s a five hour trip punctuated by a stop at a highway rest pavilion complete with many an eating stall where you can get tasty treats like exotic crackers and tea with condensed milk for not much money at all.

i am very very brown.

posted by ragingyoghurt on 31 May 2003 at 10:52 am
permalink | filed under snacks, trip
« older posts
newer posts »
  • Click

    • here
    • there
  • Categories

    • (after a) fashion
    • around town
    • art
    • at the movies
    • blog
    • bookshelf
    • boy
    • breakfast
    • cake
    • candy
    • chocolate
    • dinner
    • drawn
    • drink
    • grumble
    • ice cream
    • kid
    • kitchen
    • lunch
    • misc
    • nellie
    • packaging
    • shoping
    • snacks
    • something new
    • soundtrack
    • trip
    • tv
    • werk
  • Archives

    • August 2012
    • June 2012
    • May 2012
    • March 2012
    • February 2012
    • January 2012
    • December 2011
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • June 2011
    • May 2011
    • November 2010
    • September 2010
    • August 2010
    • July 2010
    • June 2010
    • May 2010
    • April 2010
    • March 2010
    • February 2010
    • December 2009
    • November 2009
    • October 2009
    • September 2009
    • August 2009
    • February 2009
    • January 2009
    • December 2008
    • November 2008
    • October 2008
    • September 2008
    • July 2008
    • June 2008
    • May 2008
    • April 2008
    • March 2008
    • February 2008
    • January 2008
    • December 2007
    • November 2007
    • October 2007
    • September 2007
    • August 2007
    • July 2007
    • June 2007
    • May 2007
    • April 2007
    • March 2007
    • February 2007
    • January 2007
    • December 2006
    • November 2006
    • October 2006
    • September 2006
    • August 2006
    • July 2006
    • June 2006
    • May 2006
    • April 2006
    • March 2006
    • February 2006
    • January 2006
    • December 2005
    • November 2005
    • October 2005
    • September 2005
    • June 2005
    • May 2005
    • April 2005
    • March 2005
    • February 2005
    • January 2005
    • December 2004
    • November 2004
    • October 2004
    • September 2004
    • August 2004
    • July 2004
    • June 2004
    • May 2004
    • April 2004
    • March 2004
    • February 2004
    • January 2004
    • December 2003
    • November 2003
    • October 2003
    • September 2003
    • August 2003
    • July 2003
    • June 2003
    • May 2003
    • April 2003
    • March 2003
    • February 2003
    • November 2002
    • August 2002
    • March 2002
    • January 2002
    • November 2001
    • September 2001
    • September 2000
    • August 2000
    • April 2000
    • February 2000
    • January 2000
    • September 1999
    • August 1999
    • June 1999
    • February 1999
raging yoghurt blog | all content © meiying saw | theme based on corporate sandbox | powered by wordpress