One of the few things people warn you about Australia is to keep away from spiders for they are venomous.

Ha ha… we were working late one night and we found a small colony (ok, 3 lah) of Huntsman spiders crawling outside our apartment - at the balcony.

Last week we had iguanas and tonight we have huntsman spiders! Checkout the biggest one man!

One of the smaller ones.

The biggest one is the size of my palm (with legs extended)

A close-up shot.

Fortunately they kept outside… we had the glass doors closed tightly for the rest of the evening.

** Sadly, I did eventually killed 3 of them the following week cos they ended up inside the apartment. **

This was taken 1 week ago.

I enjoy good food… good company and good wine.

Here’s an example of the good food found at my boss’s restaurant down at Broadbeach, Gold Coast, Australia.

Here’s the menu at the Aubon Gateau.

We had the Barramundi.

The good company and good wine!

The guy in the middle is the young chef who prepared the food for us.

I’m still stuck in Australia and unable to join my family for reunion dinner in Singapore yesterday… So decided to cook my own dinner today.

At 4pm, i went out to the nearby super market and bought the ingredients.

- Chicken Breast
- Canned stir fry vegetables
- A can of button mushrooms
- Sesame oil
- 1 ginger

I wanted to try and make the stewed chicken with ginger and button mushrooms dish that my Grandma used to make.

Now this is significant cos i have never cooked at home before (other than rice and fried eggs that is).

First thing i did was scrap off the skin of the ginger. Boiled water and soaked the ginger in the water to make a broth.

Next i cut up the chicken. I was a little worried that the pieces were too big, which later turned out all right. I marinated the chicken in sesame oil and pepper. Then i threw the whole lot into the broth. (Nicole tells me i should have added flour to the marination process to  ensure the chickens remain tender. Thanks, Nicole)

I opened the canned mushrooms and vegetables and drained the fluids, washed the vegs and dumped the whole lot into the pot.

I added sesame oil into the broth… some milk to thicken it… and finally some oyster sauce when i felt the broth wasn’t thick enough.

It simmered for a long time. I suspect i don’t have the patience for cooking… ha ha…

I then steamed some rice.

Contemplated frying eggs… but decided against it. Needed black soy sauce for that. *adds to shopping list*

Here’s the final product:

With rice.

My apartment mate seems to love it.

Verdict: I love it. Its not salty at all. Just nice. The meat was a little tough… but its fine. The mushrooms and vegs were excellent and still retains its crunchiness.

Well, i couldn’t quite get the colour of the broth right - not brown enough.

Spoke to my dad on Skype just now and he recommended more oyster sauce. Ha ha… that was the secret ingredient… should have added more of that.

Hmm… what to cook tomorrow?

Back in the Gold Coast again. Here’s some pictures of my first week back.

My first meal back in Gold Coast - Spudzley & Snitchzel.

My colleague from New Zealand.

Home cooked meal - pork chop + instant soup (bacon & peas)

The cook

Went to Toowoomba for a meeting at University South Queensland. Stopped for lunch.

The Rendezvous - Lebanese Cuisine

The kitchen

They make good wraps.

Tony the chef (moonlights as a Radio DJ) with my Boss.

After the meeting, we visited the Japanese garden within the campus ground.

Me with Mr Elms.

Back at the apartment - i woke up one morning to find a surprise visitor…

Mr Iguana

Sunning himself on our veranda.

After London, its off to Vienna, Austria. My host there would remind me about how big the Austrian Empire was at one time. It was so huge that it covered a large part of Europe and Russia. Its affluence was also quite evident in the many extravagant palaces and centres of culture (Opera Houses, Musical Halls, etc).

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