Wedding Postponed + COVID-19 Thoughts

Wow, what a week, month, year. From bushfire, to floods, to coronavirus.

I have A LOT to say and so many thoughts bottled up, but haven't had the time to write them down until now. Whilst there may be a lot of negativity, I have to remind myself that I am still grateful to have good health and shelter over my head. So here we go...

First of all, wedding is postponed. A week ago (18th March) was supposed to be 'one month to go,' and on that night they banned gatherings of over 100 people. Blair did mentally prepare me that this might happen, since beginning of March, Ireland, Estonia, NYC amongst other countries/cities already banned gatherings over 100 people. Even just last week, for overseas people it was a 14 day quarantine, and this week it has changed to complete travel ban and weddings only can have 5 people. Everything is changing every hour of every day. Blair also did mentally prepare me beginning of February that our honeymoon may be cancelled, as even in Feb cases were popping up in Europe, which is now the new epicentre. Initially I was really sad, but since March it's gone exponentially worse, which obviously forced the government to ban travel.

So, even before the 100 people ban was implemented, we were in the process of postponing the wedding. It's just the mental energy and effort needed was too much for me to bear. Again, before the 100 people ban, I had my breakdown on March 8th, because I knew Aus would ban gatherings, and it was just so disappointing and frustrating. Been planning even before we got engaged in Feb 2019, and now the planning has to continue to Jan 2021. The process of redoing invites, chasing up RSVPs, sorting out details all over again and reconfirming everything is just time wasted to me. I was hoping to invest my time this year further building my relationship with Blair, the church and with God. Tbh, I am so over planning. I didn't even bother to start planning a runsheet, since once things were getting bad overseas end of Feb and beginning of March, I knew in my heart, the 'peak' would hit before our wedding. I really don't care if it rains, hails or shines on the wedding celebration day, or if a million things go wrong. I just want it to be over and done with. It's been dragged out for so long. I guess postponing it might mean my relatives may be able to come from overseas. I'm also glad that all the vendors relaxed their strict cancellation/rebooking policies, and we could retain our deposit and postpone to another date free of charge. Also, everyone was someone free again that date. We both absolutely despise summer, and no doubt will suffer in the heat, with melted make up, and sweat, but compared to this crisis we are currently facing, it's literally no big deal.

This ordeal has been a good reminder, particularly for me, to not focus about making it the 'perfect' or  'dream' wedding I had imagined when I was a young girl, but to remind me it's the days and years which are the most important. I was happy to settle with a registry wedding, but before the Government even announced a 5 people wedding, The Uniting Church of Australia already banned any events, official or unofficial. Since our pastor has his celebrant licence under the Uniting Church, it means we can't sign the paper or else it would be illegal. Getting a 'normal' celebrant isn't meaningful to us. So I guess the Uniting Church will lift it's ban once coronavirus has subsided. Hopefully it doesn't take until Jan 2021... Legally and for logistical purposes, we want to sign it ASAP.

With rumours last Wednesday of a potential full lockdown last Friday, Blair and I weren't taking any chances of being separated indefinitely. We already secured a rental apartment for mid March, so last week we already started to pay rent. This past weekend was literally emergency moving. Multiple Ikea trips to buy essential furniture. Moving the TV, storage shelves, heaps of computers/screens, and mattress in storage from Blair's house, moving a spare dining table and lots of bits and pieces from my house. Only moved my work clothes and some home clothes (since no one can go out, so no point moving 'going out' clothes). Luckily Blair moved all his computer gear since he needs to WFH and run multiple online tutorials from USYD and UNSW. I'm so thankful for my parents helping to clean the apartment, building and moving furniture. Timing wise, things worked out well since the bed we ordered beginning of the year was already ready to be picked up the day I moved in. Panic bought a fridge last Friday (apparently the whole truck was full of fridges, since people panic buying and need to store more food), but thank goodness we have a fridge to store basic food necessities. If we were looking for big pieces of furniture now, it would be so risky going into shops furniture browsing, and I wouldn't be surprised if they halted or slowed production in this crisis. The couch we ordered a month ago had a projection time of 4 months to make, so won't arrive till June, and probs not even later if production is halted. Due to panic moving, our home feels more like a hotel since the apartment is fairly new, and we are both way too busy to personalise it, or take knick knacks from our homes to make it more homely. Covid crisis, panic moving, apartment mess everywhere. I'll clean once we're in lockdown.

I'm thankful we didn't purchase any property, since heading into a recession and possibility losing jobs we would not be able to repay the mortgage. Even if we can't repay the rent in time, we can always ask our parents for help.

In an ideal world - but there is no ideal world, Covid 19 has been said to be economically bad as The Great Depression and WW2, and the world hasn't seen anything hit quite as bad. Anyways, in an ideal world, the 'order' of things would be to get engaged, bridal shower, get married, honeymoon, move in together. Well literally nothing is ordinary right now, with projected 2 million Australians (1 in 10) to lose their jobs. So it looks like once things start to ease, it'll be already moved in, signing of the registry/officially married, bridal shower, wedding + reception celebration, no honeymoon. The date was chosen to fit around Blair's teaching schedule and PhD commitments and for me to accumulate leave. It looks like we'll be heading into a shutdown soon, so it'll mean I'll have to use up all my annual leave, and then won't have enough for when next year comes around. No one even knows how long the shutdown would last for. Lucky I accumulated my leave from last year...I guess if I run out of AL, it'll just be leave without pay. It's ok if I was still living with my parents, but not with rent to pay...I obviously don't have the luxury of wfh, and still see people whose face is 10cm away from me. My risk of catching it from some random person at work is pretty high, so I'm glad we have this apartment, where I can isolate myself, and I don't risk infecting my parents.

Unfortunately I haven't had a single successful holiday since working. HK/Japan trip cancelled last year due to HK protests, now Coronavirus and travel ban around the world. So much money lost from honeymoon, almost all the hotels are non refundable. Some made an exception to refund the money, which was good. I should've cancelled our Qantas flights before the travel ban was implemented, because they are now offering only credit vouchers no matter what type of ticket or booking conditions you purchased. Our were refundable, and just had to pay a cancellation fee. Now, they're only offering travel credit which needs to be used in a years. Our flights just to and from Europe were not cheap, around $2.3kpp, and I don't think we have the time to fly somewhere in 2021 before the travel credit expires...so it's a sunk cost. Most of the small European flights in between countries also giving travel credits for cancelled flights. I booked through like 3 different airlines, so I doubt I will ever use them again for European flights, since who knows, some of them may just be bankrupt by the time we reach the other side of the curve, or they may not fly between the cities. Most of the flights I booked even before the crisis, only had flights to the cities I wanted around 2 to 3 times a week only. Another sunk cost, but as Blair mentioned, it's really our flight credits/non refundable hotel money keeping those families alive. At the end of the day, holidays are really a luxury and definitely not a necessity. I must admit, I'm so glad I did most of my travelling to Europe and America in 2018, and Asia in 2017. Can't go anywhere now for a long time...

I'm actually genuinely worried I'll lose my job. If there's a shut down, it means I can't go to work, and once I exhaust my AL, then go with leave with no pay, which may mean the company may start making people redundant. Again, depending on how long it'll go for. I guess in these tricky situations, it's good to work for a global, corporate company, as they probably have some back up finances compared to a small independent shop whose boss is the owner. At the same time, our global head office is in Italy, and oh gosh, the amount of deaths even with a full lockdown with military guarding the streets is just unimaginable. You see and hear it on the news, but it's just so crazy how it's spreading there...I think I'll tell my future kids ti have a job which allows you to work from home...It's also really sad to see people lose their jobs in a snap of a finger in some many areas of the work force....I'm glad I still have my job, for now...I wish I could help Blair since his tasks have increased 10x, by moving everything online in just 2 days was crazy, and so many things stuffing up, student complaints, and that's no even to starting with the PhD. We're glad that he managed to get his data collection last year, as it involves a lot fo travelling interviewing people first hand experience working remotely (and the irony now is that everyone is forced to work remotely). However, the uni's are making people redundant soon, which means less job prospects next year for when he finishes his PhD...I really hope at the end of this we are both not unemployed, one or half an income is better than nothing. Again, it's a good reminder to us to really trust the plans God made from us, and a reminder of Matthew 6 to not worry about the troubles of tomorrow. Me being always super stressed about everything doesn't help, but everything is out of our control. Just have to make the best out of an bad situation.

I'm thankful to have Blair to keep me sane throughout all this. Wedding planning is already stressing in itself, just in Coronavirus and things just explode...

Also happy that Dandelion's wedding and Happy Apple's sister's wedding could go ahead without any big dramas. Not gonna lie, it's hard to want something that I can't have right in this current climate, but it's understandable for the government to reduce weddings to 5 people now, and really important to implement social distancing. It's really in the best interest of the whole world. It's so weird seeing no chairs in the food courts and taped off with security guarding the area, shops notice outside saying how many people can be inside a store at once, and really being 2m away from everyone. What a weird time we live in...Stay safe everyone and please keep on social distancing.

2 months to go

Two months to go, and a whole lot to be planned. I think even from the 6 months to go, we both wanted the whole organising to be over and just be married already. To any future fiancé's, shorter engagement periods are probably better to get everything over and done with quickly. Each to their one, but getting married in April was trying to reduce the amount of organising to cover Blair's lectures/tutorials/marking hassle etc. 

Pretty much nothing has been planned for reception, but yolo, I guess that's what I pay for an MC and their event coordinator to just figure out everything and we just plonk ourselves there. I think I used to be picky, but now I'm just like whatever is fine, just go with the flow. Had out menu tasting which was actually worth it, or else I would've picked a creme brûlée which sounded good on paper, but the chocolate was infused into the custard, so presentation wise looked like brown mush, and really put me off (didn't even finish that dessert). 9 plates between 2 people is so much food, haha. Still have no idea how transport on the day is going to work, at least there's always ubers. So many small details to organise, whilst also trying to clean and organising moving out.

Also went to the ATP cup in Sydney earlier in Jan, and really fun seeing some big names locally. It's been so busy I haven't even had time to blog, so below will be some highlights so far of 2020.

Early Vday Dinner at Aqua Dining

These days I'm really bad at remembering what I ate. I still remember the flavours and what it looks like, just forgetting ingredients...maybe if I have time I'll blog about the food. These days meeting up with people, I really don't mind where we eat, since it's the company which is more important.

Seeing all the trains stuck on the bridge (the day after the massive flash flooding/storm)

Hope to take up swimming again in the future (maybe after the wedding)

Thanks Blair for these roses 💜

Australia Day in lieu high tea at Burnt Orange, then a 2 hours coastal walk with the optom crew

Now that my roster's finally changed, I can go to church! It was a big pay cut, but again, time and fellowship with people is more important than money in the long run, since you can't buy more time, but can always earn more money.  For my second Sunday off (without leave), went to Nara's Hens flower arrangement workshop. It was really interesting learning about flowers, but tbh, I don't think I can even maintain a bouquet of flowers at home, who has time to trim the stem everyday and change the water...It was such a fun afternoon spending time with friends.

flowers with stripped off leaves

The bouquet stands! I love a traditional round posy, but my skills are non existent, so it goes up and down (particularly when I tried to make a rose the main centrepiece but it somehow made it's way to the edge and I literally just stuck it in the centre lol)

 

bouquet all wrapped up

Can't wait till she gets married!

Tall and short bouquets 

There's probably a lot more to say, but somehow not enough time after work (how did I manage 4 hours daily commutes, 9am-6pm 5 days a week of uni and then still studied at night...). Actually I do know the answer, and these days I spend it watching too much trashy stuff when I should be cleaning/tidying/organising. Have received almost all the RSVPs for the reception, even though today is the last day. Still unsure what's happening with relatives coming from overseas... 

I don't know if it's weird, but I don't feel scared/paranoid about coronavirus. I just worry that I'll catch a cold in the lead up to the wedding. Feels like every weekend/days off there's so much planned, from meetings, to browsing for furniture, to organising car insurance (car rear ended beginning of this month, and only just a few months ago it was repaired for a hit and run). Ironically now I don't have Tuesdays off, but seems like lots of things require Tuesdays off. I'm actually glad I have a weekday off, since so many things are closed on weekends. 

Am I stressed? Yeah, I am, but it was expected, which sort of makes me ceebs. So many things to organise for when we move out. As Blair always says, 'Deals with it later.' Adulting is hard, but it's an exciting adventure. Can't wait to start out new lives together!

2019 Reflection

Wow, what a year. I don't blog as often, but with the end of year, it's a good time to reflect (not in chronological order). I guess there's been a lot less food posts. I still enjoy eating, but I enjoy the company a lot more and would rather use that time spent with people than write about food. I still love taking photos of food though, just for memories/diary of what I ate,

The biggest change this year was definitely getting engaged and starting full time work. I'm at the stage where I'm like 'Can I get married now?' I'm sort of over the whole planning process, and now there's a lot of little details to do, which I can't be bothered with anymore. So much is just very consumeristic, and it's hard not to conform to that when all the socials 'point' to it. I also know I'll be stressed closer to the date, since a lot of things can't be done until later. Also weddings cost so much, and it's so hard to make it a 'budget' wedding without too much compromise. It's hard not to feel 'guilty' when spending all this money on a day, where the money can be used to help an orphanage in India. 2019 was a year of lots of planning until June, then delaying everything until 2020 lol.

Starting full time work also has had its challenges, but I would much rather working than studying. I think for most degrees like commerce, you learn the basics then you learn most when you work. Optom is different in that you learn every single thing, but once you work, you probably just about 5-10% on a daily basis, maybe even less. Although uni doesn't actually teach you have to deal with px complaints, which is where intuition comes in. I know I should re study things, but then when you get home, you really don't want to be doing too much work stuff. I enjoy my work and the colleagues I work with are all experienced and easy to interact (can't say the same for my px demographics), but at the moment, I don't see myself doing further or more advanced studies in optom. I would rather use my spare time to focus on my relationship or help with church stuff. I know work will be more challenging once I move out since have to be 'adulting' whereas now I'm still living at home. I'm still so grateful to be able to graduate, with both grandmas on Mum and Dad's side flying from HK to see me graduate in May.

I can't wait to have our own place though. I've really been trying more practically with 'It's better to give than to receive.' Hosting our first NYE dinner at Blair's house was a lot of fun, with friends gathered around and chatting. It did mean lots of prep like making sure enough back up food in case people still got hungry, cleaning the house then all the dishes afterwards at 4am, since everyone stayed till around 3am. Unlike when you're young and doing dishes is just a chore, it's different these days as you do dishes (amongst other things) with a joyful heart, as some people have no one to spend NYE with. It's things like spending time with people and enjoyment in each others' company which money can't buy.

The biggest challenge and change this year, probably more than the above was not being able to go to church because of work. As a new grad I didn't have a choice, but I pray and hope 2020 this can change. The unglamorous part of working in a big company is that you don't get much say, compared to people who are older and may be less knowledgeable, but they get first say on how often they work etc. I'm thankful for Pastoral care through marriage counselling/wedding preparations with what to expect in marriage.

With work, meant less holidays. 2018 was a crazy year of travel literally all over the world and interstate. 2019 I only took 2 days of leave (1 for a CPD conference, other for a wedding). Cancelled our HK/Japan trip for safety issues. However, I'm not dying to go on a holiday (yet). Still haven't planned honeymoon stuff, apart from flights and hotels. Even though working full time, my head is still in 'uni study saving money mode' so everything still feels expensive. Even a hotel over $150 per night feels expensive to me, so I have no idea how people can spend $1500 per night on the super luxurious hotels. Well for high income earners maybe they can justify, but as a new grad on a very average salary, no way. I did start work after a big trip to Europe then India in January this year, so I guess my last travel was under a year ago. My silver Qantas FF status is definitely going to die, oh wells. My job doesn't allow me to travel which I knew when I started my degree. Although going to be volunteering in Vanuatu with work next year which is going to be super exciting. Sometimes, I actually hate social media where people put a highlight reel of their life, particularly of their travels. I am guilty of this, I know, it just doesn't help when you're stuck at work. Also, excessively done weddings I'm just like urgh, is this really necessary? It's just one day in your life, the days during your marriage after the wedding is what's really important.

Est.

Celebrating special occasions is always a good excuse to go fine dining. Celebrated 2 years with my fiancé here at Est. Originally I wanted to do a degustation, or 4 course dinner, but with train delays after work, only had time for 3 courses. Looking at the menu, the second entree choices weren't that exciting either. I've been wanting to come here for a while now, and although I don't blog about food often anymore, I guess fine dining takes a priority when blogging (in between organising a wedding etc).

 

One of the last to leave

Located a level above the Establishment bar where it is super loud, you arrive at this restaurant which is a stark contrast. The sound proofing they used is on point, because you wouldn't even know it's a very loud bar right under you. They have a champagne, wine and whisky/rum cart around the restaurant, but didn't opt for any drinks (not a student anymore, but as a new grad with minimal savings, I can't afford to drink when going out). Three courses were $135pp.

homemade sourdough

The crust was crunchy and a little bit sweet, which actually paired well with the butter. A simple non flavoured butter, which melted straight away as the bread still had steam coming out. Halfway through the dinner I asked them to clean the bread crumbs from the crust, but they misheard and thought I asked for another bread, so we got another bread. This bread was pretty big to start with, and so I was already starting to get full.

entrees

The drink in the top right was a cocktail of lychee and other fruity flavours, but tbh, for around $20, it just tasted like pineapple juice with some edible flowers. The lychee flavour was very subtle. It was nice to have a sweet drink to balance the savoury dishes.

coal grilled marron, salt and vinegar cabbage, laver, lardo dumpling

dumpling as a side dish

First time having a side dish accompaniment to an entree. The marron was cooked to perfection and very fresh. Loved the texture of the cabbage since it gave it a crunch and not too vinergry. The laver helped season the dish a bit more. Not sure what the purpose of the dumpling was though, but it had some peas and a tiny bit of prawn was a clear consommé for more seafood flavour.

handpicked crab, cavolo nero, hazelnut, horseradish, trout roe, lemon jam

There was a decent amount of crab which wasn't overpowered by the different elements on the plate. The lemon jam helped give it a bit of creaminess and lightness, hazelnut and cavolo nero (Italian kale) for some crunch, and trout roe for some more flavour. The horseradish wasn't too strong either. 

Lamb loin and belly, smoked broccoli, young garlic, curd, black olive

Lamb was cooked medium rare wasn't chewy. Loved the garlic sauce, probs the best I've had, and balanced well with the black olives. You could definitely smell smokiness from the broccoli but didn't taste like you were eating charcoal.

Rose veal, eggplant, green shallot, bone marrow, toasted milk, yeast

Veal was also cooked to medium rare. The sauce was a bit more heavy and saltier in this one, probably from the bone marrow. The toasted milk on top was a cute addition and a fun bit of crunch.

dessert

raspberry vacherin, buffalo curd, hibiscus, kaffir lime, raspberry sorbet

inside

Such a fun dessert to eat, you smash the vacherin meringue and inside it has raspberry bits, sauce, and the buffalo curd. Would have been nice to have more sorbet and curd to cut through the sweetness of the meringue and sauce. Meringue was light and crunchy.

baked apple, puff pastry, artichoke, miso caramel ice cream

For the second dessert, wasn't sure which one to pick, since I didn't want a chocolate dessert. This was the most popular one after the chocolate dessert. The puff pastry was super light and loved the bits of apple inside. The artichoke added a bit of a different dimension to it helping to cut back the sweetness. The ice cream only had a subtle hint of miso flavour. I would've liked more, but I guess miso is a strong flavour, and anymore would be too overpowering.

Complimentary special occasion chocolate cake

Cute dark chocolate mousse cake with a candle. This was quite dense so definitely shareable even though it was small.

petit fours: beignet and dark chocolate + white chocolate truffles

The beignet were served warm and very light and fluffy. The dark chocolate had a good bitterness to it, so went well with the sweet white choc. Wasn't expecting petit fours for a 3 course meal, so it was a nice little treat afterwards. We were so full by the end of the night. Lucky didn't end up getting 4 courses or the degustation. I guess we could've eaten more courses, just probably cut back on the complimentary bread (but bread was so nice, and it wouldn't make sense to not eat it). Overall, it was a nice dinner, but nothing mind blowing. I think these days I'm easily pleased with all food, since I've travelled to both Europe and America only in the past year, Asia the year before, and have conquered a lot of Sydney top restaurants. It just takes something extra for a dish to be mind blowing or create flavours never heard of before.

Bridge Climb Sydney

Climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge has been on my bucketlist for ages. So when I saw they were celebrating their 21st birthday climbing the bridge for $95, I wanted to try get a ticket for it. The morning they released the tickets, I was in queue for over 2 hours, and had to leave for work so couldn't wait any longer. Lots of people on social media complained, and they asked people to leave their emails to receive another special deal. I left my email, then got a phone call a few weeks later. I didn't bother replying to the call until one week later. Turns out they offered the same price for the people who tried to buy the birthday tickets to any chosen date and time in October - even better! So I booked it on my day off. In hindsight, I forgot to account for daylight savings, as ideally I would've liked to climb during twilight for pretty sunsets. Can't complain since rrp is around $308pp for a day climb, and we were so lucky to have such blue skies and clear views.

If I was a tourist, I would definitely recommend doing this climb. As a local, not really. The views are different up there, but you can imagine what they would look like, especially if you work in a tall building in the CBD, or even when you walk/drive/train it across the bridge. It's like how I paid over $300 for a train ride up the Swiss Alps just to see mountains which are free in nature. The bridge was funded by tax payers and is essentially free to use (apart from driving toll frees), so to climb it and pay that extra money as a tourist for different views, it's worth it.

They have changed the suits and harnesses over the years. We got a full body harness with this bit connected to a wire so you can't overtake the person in front, although it's mainly to attach stuff to you, and not really there to keep you falling off. There were strings and clips to attach: sunglasses, hats, handkerchief, and rain/wind jackets in case you want extra warmth. They also have beanies, gloves and head torches for colder or night climbs. You can't bring anything up there for safety purposes.

You can't actually fall off since there are so many rails and below you is solid, since the bridge is solid steel. The only see through part is coming out from under the building where it starts to connect to the bridge and also crossing from one side to the other at the summit. The see through metal grates is cool since you can see the cars below you from a height of 134m. Things don't appear that small since you're still in relatively close proximity, and you're not actually that high up. It is windy up there, but not to the point where you're getting blown over. I'm so unfit, because 3 days later my calves still ache a bit. The actual climb isn't hard, it's a smooth gradient...just I don't really use my muscles anymore...

Of course, just had to buy some overpriced photos, because I'll probably never climb up again nor have the chance to buy these photos. Good family bonding time with my Mum and brother.

about 1/3 of the way up

at the summit

6 months to go

This year has really flew up. Christmas decorations are already up in shops, and before we know it, it's Christmas. Full time work really does make time pass a lot faster. Each year seems to pass by faster (apart from beginning of 2017 when I had nothing to do except my research project on uni...) I still remember being really depressed about the whole ordeal end of 2016, but time does make things easier. Although I'm still a bit salty about the situation, looking at the bigger picture in hindsight, I just graduated a year behind my original cohort, and at the time also being sad about 'losing one year's worth of income.' In the end, we can't die with our money, and all the 'riches' we earn on Earth is useless in Heaven. The material things we have on Earth isn't ours to begin with, and God didn't call us to chase all the worldly things on Earth.

This brings me to wedding planning. I haven't done anything since 5 months ago. We're at the stage of 'let's get married already' because there are so many details in between to figure out. I know that I shouldn't get caught up in the small details since it's just one day, and it's the days after that matters most. I really don't like how the culture makes it to be 'the best day of your life, so you need the best stuff'. Not gonna lie, it's so hard not to compare to other people. At the end of our lives, God isn't gonna be like 'well done on a well executed picture perfect wedding'. Amidst all the planning and thinking I don't have enough money for 'x,y,z' since I don't have many savings compared to people who graduated a year, or to, or three years ago, I really have to remind myself to take a step back at how blessed I am to even have a wedding in the first place. The money spent on a 'budget' wedding can probably fund a new building at the Indian orphanage we visited earlier this year. It also doesn't help when I see other Christians on social media having such extravagant weddings...I still get confused about all this, but everyone has different priorities in their life/when planning a wedding. I'm thankful for our pastor preparing weekly 'marriage counselling' sessions to really understand what the meaning of marriage is as a Christian. Something that you build together to strengthen and deepen the relationship everyday.

I'm the type to freak out if something doesn't go according to plan on the day. Things will probably go wrong on the day, but I need to remind myself it doesn't matter. It's the days after which matter more.

So what do on my days off? Currently dealing with home insurance since April. Nothing has progressed, and it involves hourly phone calls each week. Makes me think do I really need to live in a house? So many things can break and home insurance is so annoying to deal with, and also expensive to insure and purchase a house in the first place. Living in an apartment reduces the amount of space you have, but there's strata to fix stuff, then I don't want to live in a dodgy apartment which hasn't been built properly...like the poor residents of the Mascot Building and Opal Towers who for some owners, put their life savings in it and their investment has literally crumbled...Just like weddings, at the end we can't take our house into heaven, and we don't die with it...just temporary on earth, so I shouldn't be so caught up and emotionally anguished by house insurance claims and making us paying for extra repairs...

Quarter Century

It doesn't ever feel different when you become a year older, until it really hits you that you are older. One thing I realised I was looking forward to is renting a car if I ever need to, without a premium insurance fee. Also figuring out health insurance was such a waste of time. That's probs the 2 main things which really 'solidifies' the extra stuff you have to do once you hit 25.

Pandan and coconut

This flavour got deleted literally 2 days after I ordered the cake, so I forgot what other flavour it had. It had layers of a darker choc sable, bits of mango and a lemony curd/sauce inside. The pandan was quite subtle in the mousse. It wasn't really sweet and the slightly sour lemony mango inside help balance it.

I have a thing where I like to have the exact amount of candles as the year I'm turning. Surprised 25 candles managed to fit on this small cake.

layers

Red velvet cake from Michel's Patisserie

Manager at work buys everyone a cake on their bday. Glad they chose this flavour for me (not a big fan of chocolate), but either way I wouldn't mind. She even puts in candles which is cute.

Thanks g8s for these cakes! Love trying new flavours. The mango and yuzu was the favourite of the night, also an og so you can't go wrong. I quite liked the guava and strawberry too, so cool how they're making more cakes shaped like fruit tasting like the fruit. No one liked the purple lavender one, I actually didn't mind it. I couldn't taste the soapiness, although it wasn't my favourite it wasn't bad either. The ume slice was delicious as well, full of various flavours. Love catching up with g8s, and was definitely delightedly surprised that Happy Apple came. 

Thanks Happy Apple for my first ever succulent - hope I don't kill it...

85deg Black forest cake

Finished off cake week with a simple cake to share at church. Thanks Blair for the surprise. Although I'm not a big fan of Asian cake, the good thing about 85deg is that it comes with plates, knives, forks and candles, so can literally just buy this cake and eat it anywhere. 

I think I'm caked out...for now....