Ibyang
Ibyang

Charmed Life of a Mrs

Dinner @ Hurricane’s Grill, Dessert @ The Chocolate Room

In celebration of our friend and tweetmate Kristine’s arrival in Sydney, Lena, Jay, Chris and I took her to dinner tonight.  We took her to one of the restos in Sydney that served delicious ribs–Hurricane’s Grill.

Pre-food…a reunion of sorts!

Kristine, Lena, Ibyang



We only ordered two courses at Hurricane’s as we planned to have dessert somewhere else.  For starters, we had the Grilled Calamari (flash grilled with lemon and rice).  The calamari tasted fresh and soft.  I swear, the guys at Hurricane’s know how to grill. 

Hurricane's Grill



The main event was of course the Pork Ribs.  Two full racks of tasty, grilled Pork Ribs.  The meat was so tender it literally fell off the bones.   Sidings of chips and rice (for the boys) completed our meal.

Hurricane's Grill


Before the attack….

Hurricane's Grill


and after.

Hurricane's Grill


We were supposed to have dessert at Lindt Cafe but it was closed already (boo hoo!) so we walked some more and found ourselves at The Chocolate Room.

The Chocolate Room



Had a taste of Mortal Sin.  Nice name for a cake, huh?  Sinfully rich but not too sweet.

Mortal Sin - The Chocolate Room



The best discovery of the night was that they now serve Gelato!!! Weeeee!  Kristine had a scoop of Ferrero Gelato (yes, from the chocolate Ferrero Rocher) and I had a taste of it.  It had a nutty taste with an aftertaste of rhum (?).  Interesting.  Not sure if it was really rhum or maybe it was just very high in cocoa.

Gelato at The Chocolate Room


I had a scoop of the Tim Tam Gelato (yes, from the chocolate!)  It tasted like chocolate mudcake.  Not very “Tim Tam-y” for me.  But it was good nonetheless.

Gelato at The Chocolate Room



Kristine brought her Polaroid camera with her and it was a dream come true to have a genuine Polaroid photo of us!

The Chocolate Room


My Polaroid souvenir.  I love it!!!! (Thanks Kristine!  Lovely to finally meet you!)

The Chocolate Room


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A Day-Off and A Chocolate Mud Cake

It’s been three weeks since I’ve taken a day-off and I’ve never been more glad to finally have time off from work today.  For days, I’ve been looking forward to just-being-a-wifey as I haven’t been having wifey hours—it’s just been crazy at work (my motto the whole week was “this too shall pass” and i pray that work will go back to its normal pace). 

This morning, I went to market and shopped for raw produce.  Went back home to have an omelette-black coffee-and-strawberries breakfast.  Then I started cooking Chicken Arroz Caldo and Tokwa’t Baboy (will share the recipe soon!).  I was able to do 80% of both dishes before having lunch.  After lunch, it was finally “me” time!  Two episodes of “Chuck”, a good read of one of the “Shopaholic” book series and a two & a half hour nap. I feel great!  Refreshed, revived, happy. 

I messaged the Husband that his Chicken Arrozcaldo and Tokwa’t Baboy’s waiting for him and he thought it was a great surprise.  He then messaged “I also have a surprise for you” back at me.

He surprised me with a slice of Chocolate Mud Cake…

Chocolate Mud Cake

Chocolate Mud Cake

And with that, he said it was his way of saying “Thank you for cooking delicious homemade meals at home”.  Awwwww.  It’s just a small gesture and yet it melted my heart.  Thank God for understanding, sweet and generous husbands, right?

Now I’m off to enjoy my Friday night watching koreanovelas and having Peppermint Tea with this sinfully delicious cake.

Happy weekend everyone!

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Being More Prepared For Monday

Does this ever happen to you?  You sleep late on Friday and Saturday, then on Sunday night, you find it hard to sleep early?  This is a usual scenario for me.  What makes it more difficult for me to sleep early on Sundays is because I sometimes nap in the afternoon.  Come Monday morning, it’s so hard to wake up, I feel sleepy most of the day, I find it hard to focus sometimes and my energy at work can’t seem to last til 4pm.

Off To Bed Early on a Sunday

Nowadays, I cannot afford to be not on top of my demanding work.  I’m currently having long days at the office and I really need to focus.  Lately too, I haven’t been taking day-offs.  For the past two weeks, I’ve been working five days a week.  If you notice, I haven’t been blogging much too.  Some days, I arrive home late.  When I get home, I still cook (when there’s no more leftovers), have dinner and prepare lunch boxes for the following day.  Some days when I’m feeling exhausted, I just lie down on the couch, drink tea and watch TV until I fall asleep (the Husband needed to carry me to bed). 

So yesterday (Sunday), I made a plan and followed thru it.  Because I wanted to be more alert at work today and I want my energy to last the whole week (yes, another five-day work week for me–still no day-off) I did the following:

(1) Didn’t take a nap in the afternoon
(2) Finished all my chores by 6:00pm
(3) Early dinner at 6:30pm
(4) Took a hot shower
(5) Turned off the computer at 8:00pm
(6) From 8:00-8-:30pm, I just watched TV while I drank my usual chamomile tea
(7) Read my “book of the moment” in bed by 8:30pm

My goal was to be asleep by 9:00pm.  And it worked!  I was asleep by 9pm!!!! I had a total of nine hours of sleep. 

The effect on me was tremendous.  I had more focus at work, I didn’t feel sleepy and I don’t feel tired even if I worked til 5:00pm.  And here I am, able to blog before I go to bed.  I feel great! 
Next Sunday, I’m definitely going to do my plan again because it worked for me.

Have a productive week, everyone! Smile!

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Australian Election Experience

It was a great day for an election on a Saturday (in Sydney area that is).  Sun, blue skies and wind to balance everything out. 

It’s my first time to vote as an Australian yesterday and I was excited and anxious at the same time.  Excited because I got to fulfill my duty as a citizen of this country and be part of history; anxious because a part of me had this thought, “What if my name’s not on the list?”  I guess I got that from being a Filipino as I remember in the Philippines the grueling task of finding one’s name in the electoral list even if one registered to vote.  It has never happened to me when I was there (according to my mom, my name is still on the list during the previous elections in the Phils) but still, hearing stories of people not finding their name can be traumatizing enough.

A few days leading to the election, I always ask the Husband, “I registered, right? So my name will be there.”  I know, paranoid! Hehe.  But can you blame me?

All polling places were open from 8:00am-6:00pm.  Husband and I are lucky to be near a public school a block away from our place (less than 50 steps away).  Upon entrance to the school, there were posters infront of the gate and several people handing out flyers to voters.  There was no crowd nor traffic. 

Australian Election Experience (2010)

We got there by 10:55am and there was a queue waiting for us in the main hall of the school.  The wait took about 15 minutes with only one queue. 

Australian Election Experience (2010)

Near the door, there was this big sample of the white ballot which you need in order to vote for the party or group of your choice.  Another poster showed a sample of the green ballot in order to vote for your choice of House of Representatives.
Australian Election Experience (2010)

Inside the main hall, you’ll immediately find how the voting procedure works.  You have to wait on queue until a Polling Official directs you to an issuing table.  A Ballot Paper Issuing Officer will ask for your name and looks on this book that seemed like a directory.  Upon finding your name, he/she will verify where you live and may also verify if you have voted already. There are officers that don’t ask for an I.D. but it’s always better to be ready with one.  The officer slashes your name off the list and gives the green and white ballot papers, then off you go to one of the polling booths to cast your vote.  After casting your vote, you need to fold your ballots then drop them into the Green and White Ballot Boxes.  If you already know your choice of candidates, the voting process will only take less than 5 minutes.

Australian Election Experience (2010)

Australian Election Experience (2010)


I smiled in relief when the Issuing Officer found my name.  She just asked where we lived and then slashed my name of the list.  She didn’t even asked me if I voted already.  It was all about honesty.  No indelible ink needed.

This was how long the white ballot was.

Australian Election Experience (2010)

The green ballot looked like this.  There were a few Filipino candidates in our area as we lived in one of the suburbs that has many Filipinos living in it.
Australian Election Experience (2010)

You can bring your family with you.  Even if my Husband wasn’t a voter yet, he came with me and took photos.  There wasn’t much privacy in the polling booth area but people don’t sneak around looking at your ballots.
Australian Election Experience (2010)

After filling in my ballots, I dropped them into the Green and White Boxes upon exit. 
Australian Election Experience (2010)
I voted!  And I voted as an Australian.  It felt great to be able to be a part of a peaceful, super non-violent elections.  There were no long hours of waiting on queues just to vote, no getting lost in classrooms of public schools. I hate to compare but it is such a big difference on how we do things in my homeland and I’m wishing one day my mother country would have a system as orderly as this one.

Other things that amazed me:

No posters on walls, only flyers being handed out to people.  The campaign period was literally clean.  For the flyers, there are trash bins nearby for people who would like to throw away the flyers.

Use of media and technology for campaign.  Aggressive and straightforward TV commercials of candidates and computer activated phone messaging.  They also send campaign ads via post.

Early voting system.  In some cases when one cannot vote on the day of the election, one can vote early in person thru early voting centres or thru postal vote application.

There is penalty for not voting. Voting is compulsory and one does not vote, he/she will be advised to pay a fine.

For first time voters, the Australian Electoral Commission has a link in the website called “Practice voting“.  The link will help first time voters to experience voting via online.

Results will be known on the night of the election day.  Normally, the whole country will have declared the new leaders of Australia.


It was a bit of a disappointment though that we are on a “hung government” at the moment as voters apparently failed to deliver a clear majority to either the governing center-left Labor Party or a conservative opposition coalition in the tightest race seen here in decades {read more here}.  According to reports, it may take days before we know who our final Prime Minister will be.
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We Have Enough

It’s so easy to get lost in the the business of our everyday…
work
laundry
the dishes
photography
groceries
deadlines
the internet
catching trains
breakfast
dilemmas
bills
de-cluttering
meetings
sleeping…and so many trivial and not-so trivial things.
photo by Jon Dael

But YOU… you always find time to make me laugh. 

They say God will always give you what you need and I agree.  We may not have achieved some of our dreams yet.  We know there are a lot of things we want to do.  We have our whole lives ahead of us.  But for now, we have our home, loved ones, career, values and most of all, each other.   We have each other.  We have enough. 
To my dearest Husband and bestfriend, happy 43rd monthsary.

Photography by Jon Dael
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