Here are the tickets!

Got my free tickets for the Food Show today!! YAS!!!



Oh so excited! Roll on Sunday~

Free tickets!

The Food Show, New Zealand's most popular food and beverage exhibition, is an annual event.This year in Auckland it will be held at the ASB Showgrounds from 31st July - 3 August. It will be showcasing hundreds of local and international exhibitors sampling and selling innovative food and beverages, and kitchen equipments as well. The Food Show also features top local and international celebrity chefs eg. Peter Gordon, Peta Mathias, Annabelle White and many more in live cooking demonstrations.

I've always wanted to go to the show to see what's in it. But because we are committed with company's function, our Distribution Centre opening ceremony, which is held on the same weekend as the Food Show (why everything always happen all at the same time..), I thought to myself maybe we just not meant to go to the Food Show this year..


The 'tickets' to the Opening Ceremony..

But to my surprise, I received an email this morning:

"Xxxx Xxxx" <xxxx@viewauckland.co.nz>
29/07/2008 10:00 a.m.

To: <ivan.bong@anz.ccamatil.com>
Cc:
Subject: Food Show

Hi Ivan,
We have drawn your name to win a double pass to the foodshow. Can you please e mail me with your postal address?
Kind Regards
Xxxx

Oh My God! I was over the moon! Totally! I've never won anything like this before! Well looks like we are now going to the show! And oh, even better, it's free! Can't wait till Sunday to be here. Gonna be a busy but eventful day!

Oh yes! The same day, 3rd August, is the day Craig and I first met 8 years ago!

Cucina Italiana

We didn't know what to have for dinner so we decided to walk down Parnell Road to see what we can find. After looking at a few places, we saw a small restaurant/bar named Milano tucked in the middle of all the other classy, in other words, expensive restaurants in this area.

We didn't actually go into the restaurant but by seeing it from outside, it was very well presented. The owner certainly did a great job with decorating the place! We were lucky that this restaurant does takeaway as some restaurant doesn't have takeaway service, which is a bit ridiculous.

After we had a good look at the menu, the decision was made, cucina italiana (in English? Means Italian Food) for dinner. We ordered three items:


Pizza Garlic Bread (large) NZD8.00

Their garlic bread is a little different than the cheap one from supermarket. It was made with kind of a similar way as the bread from pizza base, I guess that's why they named it that way.. The bread was made there and then straight after we ordered. Very nice but somehow I don't think I would pay that kind of money for a seasoned piece of bread again.. However it was a good antipasto (appetizer) thou.


Lasagna al Forno (Traditional Milanese style) NZD15.00

As shown in the photo, the tomato sauce for this dish might be a 'little' too much. In fact, it was way too much.. I think the lasagna wasn't too bad but it's a shame that the sauce overshadowed the delicious layers of pasta, meat and cheese.


Fettucini Con Pollo Affumicato (Flat egg pasta with smoked chicken, mushrooms, cream sauce and parmigiano) NZD16.00

This is my favourite dish tonight! The pasta was well cooked and not overly creamy. Smoked chicken was yummy. Noodle has always been my favourate dish and to have the opportunity to try a different kind of noodle from other cultures, I consider myself a lucky man!

Well, all and all the meal cost us NZD39.00. Wasn't a cheap meal but worth the experience. Saying that thou, I don't think I'll go back again in a short period of time..

I always like to try new things, specially food. My personal 'motto' is: You'll never know if something is good or bad until you try it. Then I can justify whether if I like that 'something' or not.

As for tonight's dinner, it wasn't fantastic but it wasn't bad either. Well if this restaurant/bar had served customer for 30 years as advertised on menu, it must be good enough!



After all, this is only my personal opinion. Everyone has different taste buds. And this is what mine told me.

Located at: 111 Parnell Road opens from 5pm till late if anyone keen to give it ago.

Cruise anyone?

I've heard about this cruise ship numerous times and was excited when saw her parked at Princess Wharf. Here are a few information that I obtained from an internet source:

P&O Cruises was founded in 1837. The 47,000 tonne vessel is the largest cruise ship based in New Zealand. Pacific Sun features a huge 35-metre waterslide, three kids' clubs, five restaurants and cafes, multiple bars and lounges and two pools. The 223 metre ship also has 743 passenger cabins able to accommodate two, three or four passengers. There are 453 cabins with ocean views and 10 suites with private balconies.

And here are a few photos that I took:











Shame that the photos were taken during night time. It was cold, windy and raining.. hence the reason of blurred photos.. oh well, there'll be some other chances. Was a good experience watching the ship from parking still at the wharf to totally sailed away from the ciy within just 10 minutes thou!

St Mary's Church

We drove past the church tonight which located on the corner of Parnell Road and St Stephens Avenue in Parnell. Amazed by the grand structure of the building, we decided to stop by this historical building to take a few snap shots.



This churh is internationally recognised as one of the finest examples of traditional English Gothic architecture in the world.

Although we were there during the night, the structure of the building is still as stunning as ever, especially with the lighting effects...








A park bench just in front of the church surrounded by beautiful flowers.

The church is enhanced by being set among oak trees, apparently planted 160 years ago by Bishop Selwyn. These are couple of photos of the branches with the light shines onto them. Thought they are quite amazing.





It would be amazing to spend some quite time during the day to enjoy the tranquility of the surroundings here. I decided to check out the time that visitors are allowed into the church and found out that for the Holy Trinity Cathedral, a humongous building which is right next door to the church, and the church itself are open to visitors every day unless a special service or event is taking place. The opening time for different seasons are:

Summer (October - March):
Monday - Saturday: 10 am to 4 pm.
Sundays: 11 am to 4 pm.
Winter hours (April - September): close 3.30 pm.

I will make a time to go into the church one day. Watch this space.

Sky Jump? I don't think so~

Had lunch in the city today. Was nice when seeing everyone else rushing like mad and I was just in a real relax mode. Wonder why? Today is my day off!


Busy lunch time on Queen Street

Took a slow stroll along Queen Street and saw a few 'artists' trying to sell their talent.



Wondering what this guy was doing? Look closer..


Kia Ora. Move for silver. Sing for gold. Smile for free

Wahlau! Rip off meh! To get him to move also need silver coin. Maybe he can do a backflip or some kind of acrobats, who knows. Man if that is the way to make money by moving around, I can guarantee I'll be a millionaire by now. I can understand asking gold coins for him to sing a song coz real talents are not free. Anyhow it's nice to know at least smiles are for free. And it is quite obvious that human beings like free stuff coz look, his bag was quite empty (at that moment anyway).

Smile? I have plenty to offer too, no charge at all. In fact, you might even get one for free! How is that sound?

And across the road we had a 'band' playing..



Anyway time to move on, went to Sky Tower. The shape of the tower looks a little like.. penis.. but this is the tallest tower in the Southern Hemisphere. Not bad for a small country to have a taller tower compare to Oz eh! Good on ya mate!





Hold on! Look! There were people up on the tower!



Looks like they were about to do the Sky Jump. It is an activity only, and I stressed 'only', not for the faint hearted where you actually, literally jump off the tower with a safety rope tie onto you waist. The jumper will be left dangling in mid-air for about 30 seconds then 'drop' you down onto a platform at ground level, with the rope still tied on your waist of course.

And so we waited..





And waited.. But look!



What did the sign say? Jumper is experiencing stage fright! Really! I wouldn't blame them either..











If it was me, I think I will poo myself in my pants big time. I felt sorry for that guy but on the other hand, BIG THUMBS UP for him! It's not the easiest thing to do for anyone especially with that height.


190m is where people jump off. 190m! Crazy~

So I decided to check it out how to register if someone decided to put their life on the line. Not saying I want to jump. Just being nosey only lah..



But while I was at the counter, I saw this..



A ha! That's an easier challange I thought. I would rather try this (Sky Walk, where you walk around the edge of the Tower 190m above ground level) than jump off the freaking tower. Comparisonly, it is a bit cheaper too. NZD115 and the time spent from putting the suits on till you wave goodbye to the whole experience is approximately 75 minutes all up. It is much better and more worthwhile than paying NZD195 to jump off from 190m from the tower.. That is just suicidal.. I'll have a big pass on this thank you very much.. and really, it's ok to chicken out sometimes on a certain circumstances..



And don't call me chicken.

Wet sunrise

Suddenly got inspired to take a few shots of sunrise across Auckland city late last night so decided to get up early this morning. I was up at seven o'clock and thought.. "What the hell am I doing waking up so early on a Sunday morning?"

We went up to Mt Eden anyway eventhough it was a little drizzly. Just after we parked the car, it started pissing down. Wahlau! Must be joking! The timing had never been perfect! Didn't take a great deal of shots for obvious reason so these are a few of them..


Wet, dark and gloomy Auckland






Rainbow just starting to form when we left Mt Eden


Very wet road condition

Hopefully next time we can get a much better shots.

FOOD!!

I've got to write this down! We had one of the yummiest takeaways for dinner last night!

I found this takeaway shop on the way back home from work and everytime, YES I mean EVERYTIME that I drove past, there were always lots of people in the shop queueing for food to feed their mouth!

So due to the curiousity that almost driving me nuts, we decided to give them a go. We ordered three dishes. They were:



Sweet and Sour Chicken. Sweet and sour dish seems to be Kiwi's favourite and it's definitely Craig's. I tried a few of these dishes before but none of them seemed to trigger my taste bud. But the sweet and sour chicken here is exceptional! First just look at how big the chicken pieces are! And they actually filled up the whole container! I must admit most of the time when we had takeaways, the containers were half filled if we were lucky enough.



Hong Kong Style Combination Friend Noodle. I'm not sure why they called it the Hong Kong Style coz most countries (well all of the countries) in Asia use the same noodle but GOOD GOD! Look at the size of the prawns! It only took one and a half of them to filled my mouth up, not 5 or more of the tiny ones like other places. You might only see a few pieces of meat in the picture but wait till you dig deeper. It was chocka full of it. And the meat were tender and juicy. Not to mention the noodle was well cooked!



And alas, Indonesion Nasi Goreng. Looks delicious leh~ And it was! The vegies are succulent juicy. In fact I haven't had so much vegies in days! And not to mention, meat and rice were cooked perfectly.

I had to have my second serve because it was just so yummy and addictive. As a result..


Not a good look I know..

Right, after all these talking (typing) you will ask where the heck is this place? Ok secret reveal. This takeaway shop is called Diamond Takeaways located at 166, Great South Road, Remuera. The address is very clearly printed and explained if you happen to grab one of its menu.



The food there might be a little pricey. Believe me it's worth every penny that you spend as the food there is second to none (for all the takeaways that I've had)! Maybe that is why they called themselves the 'Diamond' Takeaways instead of some flyin animals..

Anybody hungry?

Romantic (?) Jazzy night out

We went to a bar/restaurant called The Gables last night situated at 248 Jervois Road, Herne Bay for a new experience - to watch a Jazz Band live!





We arrived at the bar about 6.45pm. Damn! We missed the 'happy hour' - oh, life is such misery..

Anyway back to the topic. It is a real cozy bar with its restaurant stashed at the other side of the room. When we arrived there were families with kids hopping around and oh, aren't they just so cute.. Within a fraction of a second I thought, luckily we had our dinner before hand coz I don't think I can handle kids jumping around me when I am eating my food. And that's where indigestion comes from thank you very much.

Most people there were over 40 and very friendly people. I was probably one of the younger people in there but with all the aches and pains that I had recently, I am probably the oldest one. God I am such an old fart.




Look! A lady is waving to me! Sorry lah it's to a friend next to me.. shame~

The band was a four piece band.





Eventhough the band members are all over 50 but I tell you what, they were so damn good! They started the evening with a few jazzy music which I have absolutely no idea of but totally amazed by the talent of these 'mature' guys (Mmm~ mature~ Not really, I love my hubby). Then after their first break, they kicked off the evening in open mic style, which means anyone who can sing can get up and give it a go.

Well as much as I enjoy music and occassional singing, this is certainly not my scene. As the 'incident' below explains..



Now you can understand my talent, only shows when I'm in the shower, definitely not in public..

And now back to the real thing. There were quite a few singers and these are couple of them.




A friend Rob sings his heart out (view from outside of bar)

Whoever the singers were, they were good. The band is better. One glimpse or a sign from any member within the band and the others know what to do or what to play next. Just blew me away.


Serenade me Mr. Piano man

We didn't stay long and left about 9.30pm. It was an enjoyable night and pleasant experience. What a way to end the weekend!