UoA & Huia Residence O-Week

Hello!

I arrived back in Auckland to start my BCom degree at the University of Auckland. Classes start tomorrow and I am nervous as.

Things will be pretty hectic from now on (it's already crazy enough now) but I will try my best to upload on YouTube as regularly as possible, so please subscribe!! Thank you so much <3 I upload videos on beauty, life, and talks about random things. I am planning to upload travel vlogs as well when I get the travel opportunity :) Your support will be greatly appreciated.

Alicia J's YouTube Channel
Okay, so orientation week has just ended for Semester One 2015, and we will have Clubs Expo next week where we start admiring the presence of the many clubs offered at the UoA.

UoA O-Week Impession:

It was different from what they show you in the promotional videos, I'll give you that. Don't expect too much - my expectations had already been calmed down by word of mouth of my friends who had attended their faculty's orientations earlier, and it was obvious that it was not as "fun-filled" as was advertised. Nevertheless the O-week for the Business School was quite well-organized and informative, so the orientation day kind of did its job anyway. Some of the lecturers had particularly interesting lectures.

The UniGuides (senior students who volunteer to help out for O-Week) were friendly and helpful, and I definitely appreciate their effort and time to guide us around campus. However, I would have liked to get my free lunch for the day as I had every right to. I understand that it was for the interest of time that we had to avoid the crowded Quad, but still... -_-

Overall, it wasn't bad but a long day, definitely. I opted to skip the Toga Party for the more calming lantern festival, which I will most likely do a separate post about.

Huia Residence O-Week Impression:

I was far from disappointed - I have made so many wonderful new friends and meet so many people from diverse backgrounds in this home of 321ish students. Love love love being here so far. <3

My Huia experience for the first week so far has been absolutely amazing. The hall had the week packed with events such as The Amazing Race (which happened before I arrived), A Night in Paris Speed Dating, Big Night In (free pancakes), Sponge Wars, Classic Kiwi Barbecque, and the oh-so-fun Halls Day Out today, complete with inflatables, live DJ music, and more barbecque!! :D

I realised how unfit I was. :-/

The week ended with a fireworks display that also marked the end of the Auckland Lantern Festival. What an amazing view, right from my window :')

That's a wrap for O-Week! Uni starts tomorrow. Godspeed for all of us.
I look forward to what the future brings! Thank you so much everyone who has been a precious part of my orientation week :)

I am planning to do a separate post about the Huia Residence, so stay tuned! ;)

アリシア

ACG NZIC Culture Week 2014

On Thursday we wrapped up our school's three-day Culture Week event. We had daily quizzes (I won the second day's quiz about Asia and got a free drink voucher xD) and LOTS of fun and food! I volunteered for the fashion show (Wednesday last period) and the International Food Day, joining the Malaysian group. It was an amazing week and I experienced cultures that I never imagined I would be able to :') Be forewarned: This is a photo-heavy post. Photos were harvested by myself, from friends and school teachers. Enjoy! :D

That OCD-prone-people-unfriendly "w" though. Mr Meur printed and tried out four different fonts and sizes, only to return to the original one as nothing worked hahaha

The first day of the Culture Week, we had a Maori dance show (due to certain circumstances I ended up watching it twice; sitting in front row seat twice haha) performed by the Kahurangi Dance Group of Hastings. During their dance performance, called Taonga (meaning 'treasure'), they displayed a heartfelt, highly amusing, exciting show. I was in awe as the depicted the Maori culture in front of my eyes. It was hilarious seeing my friends and teachers attempt some moves as well xD

The next day we had storytelling, Japanese students teaching origami, Middle Eastern students doing henna tattoos (I got one with my name in Arabic xD), beautiful Arabic calligraphy, and song challenge. That day, on period 6, we had our international fashion show, and to our surprise -  a LOT more people came than we expected, because it was in period 6, so we'd expected that those who didn't have class would have just gone home, but I wouldn't have had it any other way :') This was one of the most amazing days of my time in ACG so far! I even got to try on a hijab for the first time!

Putra getting into character with his hijab xD

My friend Omayma at the Arabic calligraphy booth. She conjured up beautiful calligraphy of our Arabic names :')

My name in Arabic! On canvas (by Shahd), and on paper (by Omayma). Thita also wrote my name in upside-down Thai 555. Another Middle Eastern student did the henna on my arm - I still have it now, it's gotten darker - love it sooo much xx

The fashion show was especially fun to work in! We had students and teachers modelling for Fiji, Samoa, Malaysia, Indonesia (me lol), Korea, Oman, India, China (me again :P), Japan, Vietnam, Britain and of course, New Zealand! We even had someone walk in a kiwi bird suit! Haha xD

Keep scrolling for more photos of fashion and food! :)

Representing Indonesia with my friend Sela :)

 

 With my beautiful Omani and Fijian friends <3

Quick Review - Meet Fresh (鮮芋仙)

How's it going everyone?

So I just wanted to do a quick review of this new oriental dessert place in Meet Fresh (鮮芋仙) which has just recently opened at 6-8 Lorne Street, Auckland. And because I just got my laptop fixed today! Finally! :'D

Seems that the oriental dessert crave wave has finally hit the shores of New Zealand. Reminds me of the times in Jakarta when young people were crazy about oriental dessert. A lot of my friends had been raving about how this place was always full (it wasn't when we came, thankfully) and so my Indo pal Adeline and I decided to give it a try after our ACG Day last Friday. This will be a short review with only 2 items, and all my opinion is honest and unbiased.

Herbal Jelly No. 5 (left) and Q mochi

HERBAL JELLY NO. 5 with HONEY BEAN

Regarding portion size, I was not disappointed - rather, I was pleasantly surprised. I'd expected it to come out as an overpriced hunk of ice with some random Q-full toppings in a tiny bowl (as with many other 'exotic' food items in NZ), but this was DEE-LICIOUS and very refreshing.

They gave us a small cup of creamer separately, so lactose-intolerant people, fret not. I loved everything in this dessert - the honey bean, the brown-colored shaved ice at the bottom, the herbal jelly (cincau/grass jelly), the brown jelly (whatever it was browned with), the pearls, and the creamer just made it all come together so delectably. Loved the taste, and the size was good :) Price was just barely acceptable at $7.5, but I'm a cheapskate so don't follow my judgement on pricing too much xD

Compared to the oriental desserts in Jakarta (Hong Tang and friends), the size of this one was bigger and overall taste was not too sweet and more refreshing. But I miss the green tea ice cream scoop and QQ balls I could have with my bowl in Jakarta :9

P.S. What's with Chinese and the letter Q? It's like they just put Q on everything to make it Chinese. Somebody please enlighten me on this :S

Super Easy Uiro Mochi 【ういろう作ってみた】

Yesterday I tried making uirou （ういろう）which is a Japanese traditional sweet, or wagashi （和菓子）. Uirou, a specialty of Nagoya, is a mochi-like confection that is firmer than mochi (it holds the shape of its mold better), and has been said to be somewhat similar in texture to konnyaku.

The recipe was ridiculously simple - mix and microwave. It was so simple that I was convinced it would turn out to be a fabulously troublesome monstrosity of goo, but no. It actually did become what I believe it was supposed to become. Boy was I fascinated when I took my wobbly Ditto out from its mold :3

My uirou may be pink but don't be fooled - it's vanilla-ish flavoured. I added pink food colouring on a whim. Here's what my uirou looked like, all cut up and ready to serve ↓

The ingredients I used were as follows:

★ 80g of all-purpose flour (you can also use rice flour)
★ 60g of sugar
★ 250ml of water
★ A pinch of salt
★ 1/2 a tablespoon of a flavouring of your choice (I used vanilla xD)
★ Pink food colouring just for fun.

1. Sift all dry ingredients together in a bowl, then gradually mix in water while whisking. Mix until all lumps are gone.

2. Strain the mixture into a heat-proof container (I used a round Pyrex container). I think it's better to use a square one if you have it. Make sure the liquid sits a few inches away from the top of the container.

3. Cover the top of the container with plastic wrap (leave some parts unwrapped on any two sides of the container) and pop it in the microwave. Mine was cooked in 6 minutes using a 700W microwave.

4. Let sit to cool completely then refrigerate, and you're done! :)

To make these, I took reference from these two recipes:
http://lunulata.tumblr.com/post/54725914806/uiro-an-easy-delicious-japanese-confection-you-can
https://en.cookpad.com/recipe/189420

It's a really simple recipe, and really fun to make and eat. You can try it out with all sorts of flavourings - matcha, strawberry, chocolate, red beans, etc. I wish I had matcha powder on hand! This would have been perfect xD

昨日「ういろう」作ってみました！
意外と作り方は簡単すぎて、上手く出てくるのかなって不安がありました。笑
見た目は微妙ですが味とテクスチャーはよく出てきました（＾＾）
材料はシンプルで、簡単に電子レンジで作れます！

詳しいレシピはこちらです↓
http://cookpad.com/recipe/189420

作るのは簡単で楽しいんで、みんなさんも作ってみてください♬

アリシア

Now listening: I Swear - All 4 One

Family Weekend in Bali: Warung Kawah

I'd like to introduce Warung Kawah, run by my awesome cousin, Mona! She's a very talented baker who's just recently opened her own cafe in Cangguh, Bali.

When my extended family and I were in Bali over the past weekend, we visited her cafe (or warung) on its opening day, crowding the place beyond its original capacity xD

Now I know you all want to know about the food they have there. Here's what we were served at that day - chocolate cupcake, banana cupcake, and raspberry panna cotta!

I couldn't choose which one I liked best out of the three, but I definitely enjoyed the panna cotta . The sharp, tart taste of raspberry might make your face wrinkle at first, but combined with the soft and mild sweetness of the panna cotta, I could only wish there were more inside the jar :)

The cupcakes I really loved, too. Particularly the chocolate one, because it had cream cheese frosting on top. And anything with cream cheese is a win for me, haha!

For my drink, I opted for the Oreo shake, just because it looked really tempting in my niece's little hands. Other drinks my relatives ordered were the coconut shake, mint cucumber mojito, lemongrass mojito, spinach smoothie, and Snickers shake.

Among the drinks I tried out, I found that I liked the mint cucumber mojito the best, because it was extremely refreshing - exactly the kind of tropical treat that I would be craving for after a long day under the harsh Balinese sun. I liked my Oreo shake, it was just a tad too sweet for me. I loved the fact that there was another Oreo cookie hidden at the bottom of the glass :)

 

Warung Kawah boasts a carefree atmosphere with a rather modest interior, every inch of it meant to be a casual place where anyone can just chill out and relax without a care. The second floor, especially, had this comfy open-ended matress-like couch overlooking the balcony, and a closed room for parties looking for a little more privacy. I sat at the second floor, where I was able to enjoy my snacks and the breeze.

Warung Kawah:

Jl. Batu Bolong 38 b
Canggu, Bali
Tel: +623618469138

E-mail: kawah.batubolong@gmail.com
Tumblr: kawah-tropicaltreats.tumblr.com
Facebook: Kawah Tropical Treats

Be sure to drop by for a tasty tropical treat when you're in Bali! :)

アリシア

Welcoming the Year of the Horse

To everyone who celebrates, happy Chinese new year! May the Year of the Horse bring joy, good fortune and health to us all :)

Although somewhat losing in terms of celebrants and "grandness" of festivity compared to the solar new year, virtually every Chindo* family celebrates Chinese new year (lunar new year). It's the one event where us Chindos become more "Chinese" and "in touch with our roots". No sarcasm there. I'm all for cultural things. And anything that comes in a red (or any colour within that spectrum, etc) paper packet ;)

My CNY was celebrated in the same way as previous years, with the CNY Eve spent at my grandma's house, and the other day spent spreading kionghi's and receiving hong bao's (or angpao as we call it) at my other grandma's house.

One thing I am always excited about CNY (other than the angpao's) is the food :D

 

Above is the picture of the awesome potluck that is dimensions apart from the Chinese food of Panda Express and the like. Okay so maybe not every single one of the dishes were of Chinese origin, but yeah. Any attempts of dieting during Sincia (the Chindo name of CNY) is bound to fail.

Japanese Sweet Potato Cake

I tried making this sweet potato cake the other day and it turned out deliciously. It's a very easy, no-frills recipe that anyone can make, so I hope you have fun trying it out!

Ingredients:

• 300ml of milk
• 150g Japanese sweet potato (steamed or baked)
• 80g of sugar
• 50g of hotcake mix (I used all-purpose flour with some baking powder)
• 50g margarine (or butter)
• 2 eggs

1. Mix all the ingredients in a blender or electric mixer.
2. Pour the mixture inside a round pan or oven-safe bowl lined with parchment paper.
3. Bake at 180°C for 40-50 minutes. Leave it in the oven and bake with the remaining heat for an additional 5 minutes if required.

Mine turned out like this :)

Summer 2013: Vancouver

Hi there!

More delays. I know. Once again I apologize *bows*

So I've recently went on a 31-day trip with my family to Canada, America, and Korea. I had an AH-MAZING time. My birthday was also unlike anything I'd ever expected :D

We took some 15 000 pictures, and some are just pure stunners - the kind that makes you start playing Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" in your head :') and here I am to share some of these marvelous pics with you! And also to show my friends the highlights of the trip.

Welcome to Part 1 of the Best Summer Eva 2013 series of blog posts! Part 1 shall consist of the first city we visited in Canada - Vancouver!

I loved Vancouver :D My whole family did. Quite the laid-back city, and we really liked that. The weather was a bit chilly for summer, but it was all good. I'm not that much of a hot weather person myself, so I didn't mind it in the least. So here are some more pics to show you what I saw in Beautiful British Columbia's largest city!

Japadog. A must-try if you pass by the cart while it's open. Instead of the usual mustard-and-ketchup 

combo in the regular hot dog, a Japadog contains onions, teriyaki sauce, mayo, and seaweed. I happen to be a huge fan of Japanese food so I immediately jumped at the chance to try this :9 The sausage was out of this world! So warm and juicy.

Poutine is a Canadian dish that consists of french fries, hot gravy and chunks of cheese. I loved this, as I am a fan of gravy and cheese. I found that the ones we had at the cafeteria at the Ontario Science Centre were the best! Very generous on the gravy and cheese. Yum :9

Chinese New Year 2013

Happy Chinese New Year to those who celebrate it! :D

Twas a wonderful night and day, with a most wonderful night's sleep and dream slipped in between. I couldn't have asked for more. Teehee xD

So what's all the hype about Chinese New Year? We love hongbaos/angpaos, no lies there, LOL. Many people feel extra generous during CNY, whee! But another thing to look forward to during Chinese New Year gatherings? FOOD FOOD FOOD.

 

Chinese New Year Eve's Dinner Potluck xD 

Homestyle Corn Fritters

A family favourite :) We usually make this as a side dish, but it can also pass as a main dish. Preparation is simple and pretty quick (unless you're cooking for a large group of people, that is).

What you'll need:

- Flour
- Rice flour
- Egg
- Corn, already removed from cob
- Garlic and shallots (bawang merah), mixed and either blended/finely diced
- Baking soda, just a pinch
- Seasoning: Salt, pepper, sugar, etc.
- Water, as required

This one made more than ten (around 14?) medium-sized fritters.

1. Mix all the ingredients well, and season to taste. The dominating taste should be sweet, but not too much.

 

Corn kernels and an unblended mix of garlic and shallots

 

 Ingredients (clockwise from blue-topped jar): Flour, rice flour, white pepper powder (on top of green jar), baking soda (on top of green jar), corn and blended mix of garlic and shallots, salt, egg and sugar

My Christmas Eve

Hello world!

It's a bit late, but MERRY CHRISTMAS!

May good tidings come to you and all your kin!

May there be joy and peace on Earth!

I wish this was my Christmas tree, but no.

We went ice-skating on Christmas Eve <3 

We don't have snow here, but we do have ice. Everyone wanted to get in the mood though, so it was really crowded. If you plan on visiting Sky Rink at Mall Taman Anggrek, you may want to come on a weekday, not on a big holiday or on weekends. The rink is always crowded, but chances are there will be less kids falling over, and less reckless people zooming in and out. We didn't have too much trouble with the crowd though. So if you're a pro (I'm not saying that we are in any way ;P), you'll have no trouble finding your path around the ice. There's always people-free spots on the ice. Teehee!

In the morning, we went to a local beauty parlor and got manicures together. This was my first time getting a manicure. We all picked our designs from my friend's iPod. I went for tribal designs partly because I'm fangirling over a tribal video game character these days I think tribal designs are cool.



 

Singapore Getaway

Hello!

I haven't updated this blog in more than two weeks. Yes, I know that's bad, but I've a perfectly legitimate excuse. I went to Singapore for a week ;D This was my first trip to Singapore in the last two years.
 
Singapore is a really modern and attractive place. It's also widely known here as a shopper's paradise, especially its famous Orchard Road, which boasts a wide array of shops catering to many tastes. My friend declared the Gardens by the Bay a must-see, and surely it was.

Supertree :)

Simply Garlic Bread

Well, I'm back with a really simple recipe :D

I know this recipe is basically omnipresent in the Internet. But this was actually my first time, hehe. I've always been a big fan of Italian food, and garlic bread has always been one of my favourite side dishes.

We decided to buy a baguette on a sudden impulse. We haven't eaten this in ages (I mean like, a decade or so). We were skeptical about the taste after all those years, but it definitely didn't disappoint. My brother especially loved it! And my brother is one heck of a picky kid. He's one of those people blessed with an excellent metabolism; he can consume a bag of chips and as much Coke as he wants without gaining a single kilogram. He rarely exercises, must I add. Stays glued to this computer seat for hours. Okay, enough of me ranting about that. So, here's what we did:

Japanese Meal Time: Curry Rice

Today's curry rice day! My whole family is a big fan of curry rice. It's also going to be the last one in a long time, because we've finally run out of curry roux :(

For those who are unfamiliar with this dish, kare raisu (カレーライス) is the Japanese take on India's traditional spicy curry. It's mostly sweet and very thick. The Japanese curry comes in a variety of spiciness levels and flavours (I have heard of cherry-based curry, and it's pink!). You can buy them in the form of curry roux blocks but there are also instant pre-cooked, already-in-liquid-form ones in a package, ready for consumption (just heat it beforehand).You could probably find a 'library' of instant curry packages if you go to a supermarket in Japan. 

Curry rice (kare raisu, カレーライス) is one of Japan's most popular 'comfort food'. One of the reasons being its long storage period (hooray for refrigerators and microwaves!). It's definitely not the fastest food to prepare, but the method itself is pretty easy. You can just follow the descriptions on your curry roux box and bam! You're got yourself a Japanese comfort meal :D

Japanese Meal Time: Sushi

Like any normal day, my mom and I were left to decide what to have for lunch. My dad wasn't present that afternoon, so this time, just before my brother comes down to the kitchen with an empty stomach, begging for food. Not much brainstorming was required for lunch, because we simply decided to make my favourite food - sushi! :D

It certainly hasn't been ages since we had some homemade Japanese food for a meal (hayashi rice!). But I, as an ardent Japanese food admirer, found it very hard to refuse. The fillings that we usually use for making sushi would be crabsticks, little tempura shrimps and egg. We've never made sushi with fresh raw fish at home, for various reasons like the cost and the availability. It's just not really appropriate for impromptu whipping up of meals, since it's definitely not there every single time we're in a pinch :P

 This was what went on at the kitchen:

Talking About Ribs

Okay, so yesterday I went to Tony Roma's for the first time in my life.

Some of my friends think that it's somewhat ridiculous that I've never been there.
They are big fans, after all.
One of them, who is also my lovely neighbour, claimed that I 'have not lived' if I've never tried Tony Roma's ribs. This saying had stuck to my head ever since it came out of her mouth.

Was it really that good? Was it really so delectable that I supposedly 'never lived' if I've never eaten it? I was overflowing with curiosity. In fact, I'm often so filled with curiosity that I think I'm abnormally inquisitve.

If anyone was good at advertising via word of mouth, it's my friend, the Pink Princess.
Pink Princess is my neighbour and the only girl in my 'clique' whose age is the same as me. The other three, Josie Buttercup, V-man Brain and Lady Agata are all a year younger.
Eloquent as she is, she managed to save me and my other friend, Josie Buttercup, quite a sum of money with her impressive bargaining skills. I wish I could haggle like her, but I lack the umm...persistence to do so.

Anyway, back to the topic. Here's what we ordered last night: