The wait is over! My stuff has arrived!

Today I was genuinely happy. My boxes have finally arrived and they all came in perfect condition. Nothing was broken. Even the clothes were not all that creased or wrinkled. I almost forgot most many clothes I have! It's nice to have more than 1 pair of shorts to choose from.

And I have good news from AHPRA. They are sending my certificate over within the next seven days, which means I am one step closer to start working and getting my employment pass.

I am trying to work things out one by one and it has not been easy. But I am grateful that there are people who are always giving me support. And I always seem to be lucky enough to meet some really nice people who help me through difficult times. Maybe I worry too much but I can't help it. But I will try to make good use of the free time I have now and explore more of the city.

Singapore

It has been exactly one week since my arrival in Singapore. This has not been the easiest time for me. Firstly I found out that I needed a lot of paperwork for the application to the Singapore Pharmacy Council. Then I kept being told that I needed a proper employment before I can get any mobile phone or broadband contract or set up a bank account. These were the things I was planning to do as soon as I flew in. It has been really frustrating and depressing. On top of that I had to go apartment hunting and get used to everything from food and transportation to the language

So far I have not seen much in the city that has wowed me yet. Everything seems to fall between the standards of Hong Kong and Brisbane. I guess it will take a while before I can say I like living here.

Last Saturday I decided I would go and be a total tourist and actually had a good day. I was out in the city, and I was exhausted by the end of the day, and I felt more energetic. I ended up in the Little India district in the morning and visited the Masjid Abdul Gafoor. A volunteer gave us a group tour of the mosque and did a good job explaining. It was interesting and bizarre at the same time that the mosque has incorporated designs from the famous Roman churches. Then I went to the Bugis Street market, which totally reminded me of 旺中, only a little less chaotic and crowded. After that I managed to find two churches in the city area, St. Joseph's Church and the Church of Sts Peter and Paul. Both were built in the second half of the 19th centuary and are really pretty architecturally. The Church of Sts Peter and Paul was the only one open at the time so I got to go inside and prayed for a bit. The inside however was lacking maintenance and could use some renovation.

My next stop, also the last one of the day, was the National Museum of Singapore, where a random guy asked whether he could join me for the visit. He was originally from 廣洲 in China and was stopping in Singapore for a few days before flying to Australia. After getting the tickets, we started from the history gallery. Instead of the traditional information board, they give you a portable device that show or read out information when you put in the corresponding number. We split up as soon as we entered the gallery and I began from the very beginning. After about 15 minutes the guy came back and was surprised to find me still in the initial section, whereas he has already finished the entire floor. He was hoping to see the more modern history of Singapore so I suggested him to go to the other parts of the museum first while I continue in the history gallery. After about an hour, he came to look for me again when I was in the Second World War session (still have another 30-40 years to cover!). He did not find what he wanted in the other galleries either and wanted to go out to the shops. And he actually wanted me to go with him!? I, however, wanted to see the rest of the museum so ended up staying. It was probably a good thing that he did not wait for me because I did not finish until 7pm~ I did not expect to enjoy the museum this much but I'm glad that I went. It gave me a better idea of the history and the background of Singapore. The life galleries for food and fashion were especially interesting.

Yesterday was a huge day. I moved into this apartment in Simei that is across the road from the hospital. The owners are a couple in early 30's who also live with the wife's mother. So far they seem nice and my room is nice and spacious. It is quite well furnished and also air-conditioned. I hope it will be a nice home. I went found the church last evening. Of course I had to go off to the wrong direction and an 10-min walk turned into 45-min!!! The Church of Holy Trinity in Tampines is quite a big church, much like St Andrew's Parish at church. It seems quite new and modern. They have a good group of altar servers and a decent choir. It felt nice to attend mass again. It felt normal. And I felt that I belonged there, even though I did not know any of the songs.

There are still a lot of things I need to get used to and a lot more problems to encounter. I hope I can stay strong and take one step at a time.

My last day in Brisbane

So here we are. 26th October 2010. After tonight I will not be back to Brisbane for a while. I do feel bad about leaving in such a haste. I feel like I have not had enough time to properly say goodbye to people I care about and everyone seem to have a million questions I have not had the opportunity to answer.

The first reaction from most people after hearing the news is "why?" I do not have a very convincing reason, other than "why not?" You only live once and life is too short. I want to make mine an adventure; and I want to see the world. As lovely a city as it is, Brisbane never really feels like home and I feel like it is time to move on. The opportunity came along, and I grasped it.

I do not know what is awaiting in Singapore and to be honest I am a bit scared. But if we let fear control our decisions, we would never get anywhere. Marc Jacobs once said that people often confuse excitement with fear (or something like that). So instead of being scared, I am determined to be 'cited about this!

And it is not about the money. Soooooooooooo not about the money. I think I am in the wrong profession if I want to get rich. And there are so many things in life that takes priority over wealth - God, family, friendship, life experience, happiness, health... As long as I can feed myself and can afford buying Vogue and chocolates (among other more practical things like rent and the bills) I am happy~

So many incredible things in my life seem to start with me doing something unexpected. I do hope moving to Singapore will be one of them. And if it turns out to be a terrible mistake, at least it is something that I have done for myself and I can look back and say "hey, at least I've tried!!"

Thank you guys for being such amazing people and being in my life. The past eight years in Brisbane have been such an incredible experience and I would not trade anything for it. Nothing will be the same without any of you guys. Thank you for all the wonderful memories you have given me, which will always remain in my heart and I will cherish forever.

Take care, until we meet again.

My name is Zita Chan and I am a chocoholic

There is KoKo Black in Melbourne, Lindt Chocolat Café in Sydney. And finally, Max Brenner in Brisbane.
As a chocolate/dessert cafe, it has quite a decent sized menu. Chocolate drinks are served in 8-9 different styles, all available in dark, milk and white chocolates. There are a large variety of desserts, from the fondue, waffles, mousse to the more unexpected Choc-Banana pizza. Coffee and tea are also included in the menu for those who prefer something less sweet - although I think that would defeat the whole purpose of going to a chocolate cafe! I ordered dark chocolate suckao, which is pretty much a fun way to serve hot chocolate. Warm milk is continuously heated in a small metal cup suspended over a candle. Chocolate chips are served on the side and stirred through the warm milk as you sip the hot chocolate through a metal straw. The drink is rich and thick and is kept warm the whole time, which is what hot chocolate should be!!!
For anyone who wants to bring home a piece of Max Brenner, there is a shop attached to the cafe, selling all sorts of chocolate, giftboxes and a chocolate cookbook.

Chocolate to die for: my favourite shop to get chocolate in Brisbane! Their chocolates smell and taste AMAZING and are so special. The owner is apparently selling the shop at the end of the month though. Hopefully the new ownership will not change the quality of the chocolate!

"God gave the angels wings; and he gave humans chocolate." - Anonymous

Things I will miss about Brisbane...

Not in any particular order

1) Picture-perfect weather
2) Gelatissimo
3) Sourdough bread
4) Gallery of Modern Art
5) Free yoga class at Lululemon
6) UQ (which I have missed for the past 2 years) and Stuartholme (6 years!)
7) A "real" oven
8) Boost Juice
9) Jalna yoghurt
10) Vintage shopping in Paddington
11) Cappuccino at Hudson Coffee
12) Le Bon Choix
13) Vogue Australia
14) St Stephen's Cathedral
15) Looking for the Southern Cross on a starry night

To be continued...

Strawberry Wholemeal Bread Loaf

Strawberry season is so exciting! Trays of ripe and beautiful strawberries in various shades of bright red can be found everywhere in open-air markets, green groceries and supermarkets. The fresh and sweet fragrance hits you in the face as you walk past them.
I've had this recipe for a while and I finally had the chance to test it out. It is such an easy-to-follow recipe it only took me 15 minutes of preparation time before it was ready for the oven.
The cake loaf does not rise much and is quite filling. I have more than halved the amount of sugar from the original recipe and found the sweetness is just right. The lightness and the freshness of the strawberries really stand out and help balance out the sugar.

Strawberry Wholemeal Bread Loaf

1 punnet of 250g fresh strawberries
1 1/2 cup wholemeal plain flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup olive oil
2 eggs, well beaten

1) Pre-heat the oven to 175 degrees C. Line a loaf tin with baking paper.
2) Dice strawberries into small chunks. Place in a bowl and sprinkle lightly with sugar. Set aside.
3) Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon and baking soda in a large mixing bowl and mix well. Blend oil and eggs and combine with the strawberries. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and pour in the strawberry mixture. Blend until dry ingredients are just moistened. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
4) Bake for 45 minutes or until cooked through. Leave in pan for about ten minutes. Turn the loaf out and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Serves 8

Nutritional value per serve:
Calories 191.1
Total fat 8.6g
Saturated fat 1.4g
Polyunsaturated fat 1.0g
Monounsaturated fat 5.5g
Carbohydrate 25.5g
Dietary fibre 3.8g
Sugars 8.1g
Protein 4.9g

PS Nutritional value is calculated using the recipe calculator by SparkRecipe

Chocolate Pomogranate Cake

It is amazing how much can happen within two weeks' time. The coming few weeks are probably going to be BIG. And these special times call for more special cakes. To farewell my lovely colleague, I have made a Chocolate Pomegranate Cake.
I first thought that the idea of using pomegranate juice in a chocolate cake was a bit weird. In my mind chocolate and fruit juice are not something that go together very often. But again don't we add lemon juice and orange juice to teacakes and muffins all the time? I could not find the POM pomegranate juice so I used Blackford instead. The flavour of pomegranate does not really stand out but the juice helps keep the cake soft and light. The cake is delicious, rich in chocolate flavour without being too heavy at all.
This is probably the first time ever when I thought adding chocolate chips to the recipe is completely necessary. The cake itself is so soft and fluffy that adding any other texture seems to ruin it. I think a chocolate icing or thinly shaved chocolate would have worked better.
The original recipe was for a bundt cake. Since I do not own a bundt tin, I made it in a bread loaf tin, which worked just as well. As an experiment I have also baked some cupcakes using muffin tins. They won't fill up your moulds at the beginning but the cake would raise quite a bit, almost double in size.

Chocolate Pomegranate Cake

2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup pure pomegranate juice
dark chocolate chips

1) Pre-heat oven to 175 degrees C. Line a loaf tin with baking paper and slightly grease.
2) In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
3) In a medium sized bowl, whisk cocoa powder with butter until smooth. One at a time, incorporate the eggs and vanilla extract. Add chocolate mixture, pomegranate juice into the flour mixture and stir until batter is well combined. Do not over-mix. Pour into the prepared tin and sprinkle the top with chocolate chips.
4) Bake for about 40 minutes, until until a tester inserted into the centre comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached.
5) Leave the cake in the tin for 5-10 minutes before turning out to wire rack to cool completely.

For cupcakes, reduce cooking time to approx 20-25 minutes