Yummy Beef Noodles

Sam and Becks have spoken highly of the Thai Beef Noodles at a place called Krua Thai 2 on Bridge Road, so off we went. There it was on the menu, for a paltry (by Australian standards anyway!) $4. Wah, so cheap! All became clear about ten minutes later when the waitress brought a tiny, tiny bowl of said beef noodles. It WAS delicious indeed, but for future reference, we'll need AT LEAST two bowls each! Highly recommended, think we'll go back there this weekend.

Adventures in New Zealand?

We recently watched a doco which featured New Zealand as THE destination for adventure seekers, with bungy-jumping, zorbing, jetboating, skydiving and more. Ironically enough, rather than being an adventure destination, it's more than likely that New Zealand was the SOURCE of what is about to be our greatest adventure so far; our Auckland-conceived baby! Although I must say that Zorbie wasn't necessarily conceived in NZ (could've been Thornbury lah) but it is a distinct possibility.
What else is intriguing is that the one adventurous activity on our itinerary (a few days after Auckland) was the Tongariro Crossing, which we didn't end up doing. Why? Because Babes woke up very early that morning feeling nauseous. Probably a bit early for morning sickness, but it could've been God's way of telling us not to do the full-day walk and risk hurting a freshly-conceived Zorbie...

Cravings

When we were in Auckland, Sue had constant cravings for Malaysian food, so that's what we had most of the time. Which was pretty good for good ol' Malaysian me. So now that it's MY wife that's pregnant, what kind of cravings does she get? Not char kuay teow, not chicken rice, not laksa... but salads/vegetarian food and other really healthy meals. Alamak, how lah? What to do, eat loh.

A qualified yoga instructor in the family!

Guess who obtained a High Distinction in her final Yoga Instructor's theory exam? That's right, the amazing Babes! After a year of coursework and many, many training classes, she's now a full-fledged yoga instructor. Well done darling wifey, I'm very proud of you. Unfortunately she declined to be photographed in a warrior pose for this blog. But you can be sure the fundamentals are correct...

Baby superstore!

Babes and I went to Baby Bunting in East Bentleigh with her cousin's wife Sue, and boy was it an amazing experience! I wanted to look at strollers, and it was like walking into a car showroom with loads of sleek-looking sportscars. Of course we test-drove a couple of strollers. And then there were clothes... and baby monitors... and playmats... and cots... and breast pumps... and thousands upon thousands of other assorted baby-related goods. So THAT's why they call it the Baby Bunting Superstore! It's early days yet, so we didn't buy very much. But we'll be back!

A busy Saturday

Now that Babes has finished her yoga course, we're finally able to spend a Saturday together. Well, part of it anyway! We had a leisurely brunch at APTE in Alphington (somewhere we've been meaning to go for a while), and it was pretty good! Babes had mushrooms and sausages on toast, while I had smoked salmon on a corn fritter. Yummy! Then we drove to Clifton Hill to have a quick look at some water features (as we're thinking of building a deck in our small courtyard).

Babes later dropped me off at the MCG to meet Simon Antonis (my workmate) and his dad for the Collingwood vs Geelong game, first versus third in the ladder. Good fun, except for 70ish-year-old Gramps behind us cursing and swearing 20 times a minute over anything and everything, even with a young grandson sitting next to him. The only time he showed any restraint was when he yelled, "C'mon, you black ..." before stopping and realising that that would have probably been a step too far, even for him. What's even more scary is that we were sitting in the MCC Members section, which is (supposedly) more civilised. What would it be like in the regular sections? Anyway, after the game I walked to meet Babes and others at Sam and Becks' house for an awesome dinner of Sarawak Laksa and Bak Kut Teh. All in all, an excellent day! (photos reproduced from The Age)

Restaurant-standard wonton

We had dinner at a place called Wonton House on Friday night, and of course I had the wonton noodles. I grew up on that stuff, after all, back in the days when the "tok tok man" used to cycle around our Ipoh neighborhood hitting two sticks together to attract our attention. Anyway, I quite liked the Wonton House dumplings but Babes thought she could do better. And whaddyaknow, she did pretty well, as you can see! It tastes as good as it looks...

15 weeks!

Bubs, Babes and Zorbie went for another appointment with our obstetrician yesterday. We heard Zorbie's (very fast!) heartbeat, and saw her vigorously waving her arms and legs at us. No baby photo this time, we'll wait for the next high quality image from the next ultrasound which will be in 4 weeks time. By then we should be able to tell whether Zorbie's a boy or girl. Meanwhile, the search for a pram/stroller has begun, beginning with research and reviews... and Babes seems to have regained (most of her) appetite!

Kuey Teow Pad Thai

Here's Babes' latest effort, a Thai favourite that she learned to cook about five years ago at a cooking class in Chiang Mai. It was good when she made it then, and it's just as good now. I should've run out to get prawns (always good with Pad Thai), but never mind, next time lah...