Sydney Noraebang

I always walk past it and it always looked dodgy to me. But I was wrong. I don't have the exact street address but you've seen it, probably. On George Street. You take a lift to go upstairs. It's rather pretty inside. Clean.

We went on a Thursday night, around 10 or 10:30pm, maybe. There was a security guard to greet us on entry to check bags. For the 6 of us, for 1 hour, it was $30 but since we split it it came out to $5 a person. The best part of Sydney Noraebang, for me, alcohol. They have alcohol. We always go to SM Karaoke since my friends are members of the Korean Students Association or something so we get discounts. Downside of SM Karaoke is that they only have VB, if they have alcohol at all. But at Sydney Noraebang, my memory's a little fuzzy so let's not rely on this too much XD, Vodka Cruisers, Smirnoff Black in a can, beer ... I opted for Smirnoff Black in a can ($7). We also got a complimentary bowl of prawn chips and one of the employees follows you with a tray of the prawn chips and the drinks all the way back to your room, which was pretty cool.





We got, maybe, 10 minutes of extra time. At SM karaoke they usually give us a lot of free time, which is another reason why we frequent that particular venue so it ends up being good for value for money. But, alas, not the case at Sydney Noraebang. It's one of the reasons why my friends don't go there that often. Well, actually, my friend told me it's a main reason. XD

But, all in all, good fun.

Sidenote, we had 7 minutes left of karaoke time. My friends and I bought more Smirnoff Black for the road. And the guy at the counter said something to the effect of "But you only have a little time left" and my friend and I were thinking "Yeah, we can drink that fast". XD

DAISO Japan, Chatswood

I've been hearing about DAISO in Chatswood for a while. Kept meaning to go. Also, this was my first time in Chatswood. Yes, I've hardly been anywhere north of Sydney. I'm more of a City and west kind of girl. DAISO is in the Mandarin Centre (61-65 Albert Avenue, Chatswood).



I went to DAISO once in Japan. I went to the one in Hiroshima. I vaguely remember lots and lots of levels with lots of lots of things. Nothing in DAISO is a famous brand. I guess they're just DAISO-made products? My friends and I made use of a basket trolley and wandered around. It was everything from beauty products to coat hangers to toys to neck warmers.

There was a decent amount of customers in store. A mix of people. It was really cute hearing little kids speaking Korean or Japanese. So, so cute. Though, aisles could be wider. Really tried hard not to bump into other people.



After going through all the aisles I ended up buying a photo album, mascara (x3) and a nail buffer. Everything is $2.80 so my 5 items cost me $14.

If I go back I think I'd buy more of the storage and kitchen items. They looked pretty cute and durable.

Also, Jetstar sales ... why do you tempt me so?!

Petaling Street, Sydney

My friend from Malaysia suggested this particular eatery. Apparently it's a pretty famous chain of restaurants. It's relatively new. Closer to Central than to Town Hall. When you walk in the dining area seems small but they have a larger downstairs area that seats more diners.




On opening the menu I was confronted (hmm, confronted is too strong of a word, but I mean something like that) with a whole list of dishes that I have never encountered before. Too much variety. In the end I left a lot of the choosing to my Malaysian friend. We ended up ordering 5 dishes, since there was 5 of us, to share.


Chicken curry
Hotter than I expected and I'm generally good with hot food. Made my tongue burn.


Prawn laksa





And a drink to cool you down and save your tongue:

Ribena and sprite

Overall, it was pretty good food. I was very, very, full afterwards. Next time I go I want to try to some of the other dishes. Hopefully they won't be as spicy as the curry or the soup dish that is not the laksa. We shared the bill so it was about $15 per person. The waitresses kept coming back to the table to refill water glasses, which was a nice touch and desperately needed. XD

• Find Petaling Street at 760 George Street, Sydney.

Nakashima, The Rocks

First post of 2012!

I haven't really been out of the house really. But on Wednesday I made my first trip out to the city for 2012 on a 35 degree day. So much sweat!

It was a friend's belated birthday dinner at Nakashima, a small Japanese restaurant at The Rocks.




First drink is free between 6pm and 7pm. I had white wine.


But then I also ordered a glass of plum wine, $6.50. Tastes a little like a cherry Starburst.


Sake also available.



Gyoza - $7.00
Yeah, for 5 pieces. See, why? Gyoza in Japan is much cheaper. I love gyoza and I would love to eat lots of it without worrying about price. This is not aimed at this restaurant specifically but at all Japanese restaurants in general. Trying to be considerate of guests I only had one. XD


Beef tataki




Tempura, entree sized


Soft-shell crab salad
This was probably my favourite dish of the night. First time I've ever had it too. Crunchy and not too oily. Wanted it all for myself.




Age shumai

And obligatory Japanese beer:


It worked out well, price wise. Around $18 per person just for food (for 7 people) because we shared the bill, not counting the alcohol. Nakashima doesn't seem to accept EFTPOS but accepts credit. So, have cash handy.

It wasn't busy the night that we went but there were only 2 waitresses and at times it was hard to get their attention to order. But they were friendly enough. I would like to go again and just pig out and try more of the things on the menu.

• Find Nakashima  at 7 Cambridge Street, The Rocks, Sydney.

2011: Looking back

Pardon my vague recollections. I always say every year that I should write stuff down more often, since my memory fails me a lot. XD

January

Still in summer school. Bane of my existence at this point.

February

Summer school came with exams. Who knew? Also, celebrated a couple of friends' birthdays this month.

March

And uni was back. This photo ... I don't know. This was after someone's graduation and we stopped by here after dinner post-Graduation. March was filled with lots of graduation ceremonies ...

April

... as was April. Well, not lots. Just the one. Had a so-so Easter and a terrible birthday.

May


Fan meet. Also, a friend came to visit from Japan.

June


Vivid Sydney. Supanova. End of semester cramming time. Was the sponsor for my cousin's confirmation. How old did I feel ...

July


Holidays and being utterly bored. Sleepover and ice-skating and Hooters and saying farewell to another friend who was off to Korea.

August

Food with friends while uni started up again.

September


Sleepover. Birthday. The Lion King 3D.

October

Sleepover and uni and ...

November

Exam time. Dying. K-Pop concert too. Said goodbye to a couple more friends who were off to Taiwan to study.

December

Summer school. Christmas shopping. Christmas. I loved the feeling around this time of the year and alas, over all too soon ..
An uneventful year. But hard still. I got through it somehow. I can't believe I'm so close to finishing my JD. Still a lot of things left undone. I always make New Year's Resolutions. Lots of people saying if it's worth doing you should start now but I think the extra push of the New Year. One of my NY's Resolutions is to finally complete a Project 365. If you don't know, basically, take a photo a day. It's a leap year though so it'll be Project 366?

The way I measure how good a year is has been is if I'm at a different place at the end of the year than I was at the beginning. And I'm at the same place. But I like a new year. A fresh slate! More opportunity for change!

So, here's to a bright, hopeful, prosperous 2012!

Hermits United

Been at home post-Christmas. I have absolutely no reason to go outside. I was supposed to wake up early today and go somewhere but alas, no. Woke up in the afternoon. Probably wasn't helped by the fact I was watching things until 5am. Am definitely going out tomorrow. Buy some things.

I've been catching up on TV shows. Finished Weeds season 7, Breaking Bad season 1. The DVDs of The Wire are on sale at the moment, so thinking of starting on that. Apparently it's really good.

Randomly picked up some of my old Korean notebooks. I want to attempt TOPIK (Test of Proficiency in Korean). Aiming to do the April Beginners exam. Keep my brain working. Watching stuff just really dulls your brain. Hoping to do N4 of the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) in December.

Also, it appears that I may end 2011 without my L's. Boo, self, boo.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas/long weekend! Mine was fun. Didn't get the things I wanted and I shouldn't complain but I always do. But I liked seeing how happy everyone was when they opened their gifts and liked them. And I can always just buy myself the stuff. Still have my list. XD Though, like my friend said to me, first world problem.

Also, this arrived today.



Present to myself. $32 USD then another $4 for shipping. On the day I bought it the Australian dollar wasn't on parity with the US dollar so it cost $37 AUD instead of $36.

So, enjoy the last few days of 2011. Hmm. This year, yeah ... happy to get rid of it.

3 sleeps to go

All my shopping is done. Which means no waking up early on Christmas Eve, trying to beat the crowds to do some last minute, stressed shopping. I was watching the news and Westfield Parramatta is trading until midnight tomorrow night. Crazy. I suppose if you're a shift worker you wouldn't have the time so it'd be really helpful. I wonder how busy it'd be ... I'd want to go just once for the experience I think.

I popped by The Face Shop in The Galeries Victoria yesterday. I was just going to buy random things for gifts for my cousins. They have baskets with a few things wrapped in a bag. So, I guess a gift bag? But rather it being priced as a set, they're priced individually. That is to say, everything in the bag is scanned. So, it's like buying it individually but they've taken the effort to put it in a bag to take away the thinking for you. Which is not a bad thing, really. I wouldn't know how to sift through all the products in the store and figure out some sort of combination of them that would work as a present.







Also, if you spend over $30 you can apply for a membership card. Though, the sales assistant at the register didn't offer this, which I thought was odd (from my limited Christmas retail experience). Every time I've been to Myer this Christmas shopping period I've always been offered a Myer One card, which I decline. Though, considering how much I spent at Myer this Christmas ... Also, every time I buy something at Kinokuniya I always think I should get a membership card too. Don't know if it's worth it now that I've already bought a whole bunch of stuff.

On holidays until the 10th January. Am not going to use my brain and forget about uni for a while. Well, as much as I can. I need to still work on some uni things ... ugh.

Also, long lines for Haigh's chocolate. I don't understand why.