Jin Han's Footie Blog

Wollongong

2012-02-12T16:09:00.000+11:00

2 weeks ago we made a trip down to Wollongong, we initially thought that we'd go to one of the beach at the royal national park but then while we're on the way, wifey said for a long time already she wanted to do some prayers at the chinese temple so we made our way all the way south to Wollongong.

Our customary stop over at the Sublime Lookout, we seem to always make this stop whenever we head south.

The last time I took this shot it appeared on a magazine.

I added filters to all the pics here using Picasa and it turned out pretty well. I'm loving the quickness and easiness posting pictures from camera to blog using Picasa. Pretty cool.

At the temple.

Finally, we hit the beach. It was a nice day at the beach.

Yong Tau Fu & Chee Cheong Fun

2012-02-05T14:32:00.003+11:00

Woke up on a Sunday and all of a sudden we felt like eating chee cheong fun. After Olivia's swimming lesson we went straight for groceries chopping and came back to make this.

Very satisfying indeed.

BFF

2012-01-16T23:57:00.001+11:00

On new year's eve we brought Olivia to visit her best friend, Alison who attends the same child care as hers. They live in Woy Woy and we were on our way to Terrigal to spend 2 nights, so we dropped by at her beautiful place by the lake. We took a stroll along the lake to a seafood shop to have some fish and chips and fed the ducks along the way. Olivia totally enjoyed the visit, so did her best mate.

Day Out with Timothy and family

2012-01-08T23:09:00.001+11:00

Wine

2012-01-08T08:04:00.001+11:00

Wifey need some red wine to make Spaghetti Bolognese, with the true italian recipe.

So I opened up a bottle, she used a glass, and I finished up the rest of the bottle.

Bliss.

Terrigal [Flickr]

2012-01-08T07:03:00.001+11:00

Terrigal, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Via Flickr:
First sunset of 2012. Took this at the Terrigal while me and the family were there for the new year celebration.

and it took me a week to post it. 2011 was really busy and didn't get to travel around much. Hopefully that will change in 2012.

Happy new year everyone.

Asam Laksa

2011-12-29T08:01:00.000+11:00

My cousin Lilian who has moved to Sydney long time ago organizes Christmas gatherings every year, her relatives from her husband Kien's large family will come over to her place for food, drinks and gift exchange after that.

We've been invited every since we moved to Sydney, last year we made Asam Laksa for them. Kien's family are originally from Vietnam but they are Chinese and speaks cantonese, we have a special mix of chinese and vietnamese cuisine every time we get together, so I decided to add in a little mix of Malaysian favourite hawker food in there.

I did all the cutting and chopping while wifey made the soup and noodles.

I forgot to take the picture of the Asam Laksa we made that day itself but this is a picture of one we made the next day fro the leftover soup. We used beehoon here as we finished off the lei fun, they couldn't have enough!

One of the aunties came over and ask me why we call it Ah Sam (阿三）and not Ah Yat（阿一）Ah Yi（阿二), I had to explain to them asam is actually tamarind in Malay.

White Gardenia [Flickr]

2011-12-24T17:24:00.001+11:00

White Gardenia, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Via Flickr:
From our garden.

Merry Chritmas everyone!

Portrait [Flickr]

2011-11-29T23:52:00.001+11:00

Portrait, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Via Flickr:
Have to give some landscapes a skip and post a portrait of my little lady at home.

It rained for the whole week and as soon as the sun came out on a Saturday, we dashed outside for a shoot.

Fires Creek

2011-11-16T23:36:00.000+11:00

Supposed to blog this long time ago, anyway, Tim, Ka Bien and Theia came to Sydney for a visit 2 months ago, they were joined by Ka Hui, later in the trip. Ka Ooi and Andy who both live in Sydney planned a wine trip to Fires Creek, a nice cozy place in Central Coast which was about an hour drive from our place.

We spent the day at the vineyard under the little gazebo, sipping wine and eating cheese as well as walking around and taking photographs.

My 4.3 Million Dollar Shot [Flickr]

2011-11-12T16:44:00.001+11:00

My 4.3 Million Dollar Shot, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Via Flickr:
Perhaps removing the steam ship will make it worth even more

Milford Sound

2011-10-30T23:01:00.001+11:00

Milford Sound, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Via Flickr:
Magnificent view at Milford Sound

Sunset Fishing [Flickr]

2011-10-29T17:50:00.001+11:00

Sunset Fishing, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Via Flickr:
Saw this man fishing in the cold waters when we were on our way to dinner at Queenstown, the sceneries along the walk by the lake side is magnificent

Lake Wakatipu [Flickr]

2011-10-15T06:47:00.001+11:00

Lake Wakatipu, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Via Flickr:
I got out of the bed early to take this shot by the lake side of Wakatipu.

Feeding The Ducks [Flickr]

2011-10-09T15:29:00.001+11:00

Feeding The Ducks, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Via Flickr:
We took a steamboat ride aboard the TSS Earnslaw across Lake Wakatipu to the Walter Peak farm for a visit where Olivia and Julian enjoyed feeding the sheep at the farm and then the ducks by the lakeside.

Lake Wakatipu [Flickr]

2011-10-03T18:05:00.001+11:00

Lake Wakatipu, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Via Flickr:
This is the view from the apartment's balcony. I can also view this straight from my bed room bed we rented at Oaks Club resort. I woke up to this every morning staying there, there's also a hot tub at the balcony where we can enjoy a hot bubble bath while having an iced cold beer.

Bliss.

Rainbow [Flickr]

2011-10-02T09:34:00.001+11:00

Rainbow, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Via Flickr:
Spotted a rainbow on the way back from Arrowtown via Lake Hayes

Milford Sound [Flickr]

2011-10-01T23:56:00.001+10:00

Milford Sound, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Via Flickr:
Took a boat ride at Milford Sound and it was simply spectacular.

Beginning of a Journey [Flickr]

2011-09-25T18:00:00.001+10:00

Beginning of a Journey, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Via Flickr:
This is at the start of the magnificent boat journey out to the sea at Milford Sound

Somewhere along Mossburn-Te Anau highway [Flickr]

2011-09-24T22:54:00.001+10:00

Somewhere in between Kingston and Te Anau, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Via Flickr:
Had a blast in Queenstown, really enjoyed a much needed holiday snowboarding and sight seeing.

First stop straight from the airport, Te Anau for the night and then to Milford Sound the next day. Got in a pre-booked Prado Cruiser and off we went, this shot was taken somewhere in between Kingston and Te Anau, can't really remember the whole journey now since it happened about a week ago.

Took over the driving duty after this stop and copped a speeding fine and -20 points, luckily they don't go with my Aussie license as we only have 12 points in total before we get a driving ban.

Angry Bird Lantern [Flickr]

2011-09-10T21:45:00.001+10:00

Angry Bird Lantern, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Via Flickr:
Happy full moon festival everyone!

Cheese and Wine [Flickr]

2011-09-08T00:48:00.001+10:00

Cheese and Wine, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Via Flickr:
Bought a few bottles of fruit wine, ordered a cheese platter and enjoyed the scenery out at the verandah. It was a beautiful day. Pure bliss.

Daisies [Flickr]

2011-09-04T07:56:00.001+10:00

Daisies, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

A good friend came over for a visit from Malaysia, his sis in law took us all together to Fires Creek at central coast for a fruit wine taste. We got the whole vineyard for ourselves and I just went around snapping photos.

Found this bunch of daisies blooming on he first day of spring.

It was an enjoyable trip

Xian Ning's Birthday Bash

2011-09-04T07:34:00.003+10:00

We organized a party to celebrate Olivia's birthday few weeks ago, we invited a few of her friends who went to the same child care she goes to and their family over to our place.

Dressing her up on her big day.

We even went to a party shop and bought some balloons to decorate the house and party hats for the kids.

Wifey prepared asam laksa and nasi kunyit, I cooked up a big pot of curry and we started making roti canai at the back yard to go with it. Didn't have time to take pictures of the food as we were really busy enjoying the moment.

Olivia blowing out the candles.

Friends enjoying the party.

One of her best friend at school, Julian playing football at the front yard.

With all her pressies.

Bubbles

2011-07-29T00:27:00.003+10:00

Olivia just loves playing with bubbles...so I took out my camera and started snapping

Spinach Noodles

2011-07-11T23:42:00.001+10:00

Wifey likes to make spinach noodles for us, blend some fresh spinach, mix it to the dough, knead it, rest it for a while, and then run it through the noodle making machine.

You can either boil it, rinse and mix it with an oyster and sesame oil mix, or you can make noodle soup with it. Absolutely delicious.

Bersih 2.0 Sydney

2011-07-09T22:04:00.005+10:00

Photos from today's Bersih 2.0 rally at City Hall, Sydney.

Olivia filling her tummy up before the rally. She's gonna need all the energy.

Our official guitarist

Olivia watching from the top of mummy.

Sydney's Bersih2.0 organizer giving a speech. Loads of guts.

PKR representative.

Even the green party chip in their support for Malaysia's electoral reform.

Wifey helping out holding up signs.

Heaps of Malaysian Sydneysiders came out to support.

Someone who looks like RPK, maybe his son. Not sure.

A prove of we're there.

Bersih 2.0 Sydney [Flickr]

2011-07-09T21:49:00.002+10:00

Bersih 2.0 Sydney, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Chilling At The Backyard

2011-07-04T20:45:00.001+10:00

After moving to our new place, we almost spent all our weekends furnishing our home or fixing stuff around the house. We grew a little tired of it. So last weekend we decided to sit back and enjoy the house a bit.

I brought out the gas cooker for wifey and she started making chin loong bao for us. I made a cup of coffee, switched on Jack Johnson on the iPad and read while Olivia brought out her books and read as well.

Chin loong bao was not as thick as I would like but really tasty.

Olivia with the iPad, dancing to the tune of Jack Johnson.

She then brougt out her work book and started practicing her writings.

Chill.

Chin Loong Bao

2011-07-03T17:07:00.001+10:00

Birthday

2011-06-27T15:41:00.002+10:00

A few old friends came over to Sydney for work and asked us to meet up. We had steamboat at my place the day before and lots of beer, wine and laughter.

Nevertheless, we woke up to a beautiful weather on my birthday which is a Sunday. We decided we'd go for yum cha and then have a walk around the city area.

3 of us trying to wake up from the cold morning.

And Olivia decided she'd play some guitar to wake everyone up.

She was in a very good mood today, non stop singing the birthday song from morning till bed time, I must have heard it for at least a hundred times.

All dressed up and ready to go.

We drove down to the city and had the car parked at wifey's office. It's bloody convenient to have an office with car parks in the city.

Trying to cross the busy George Street to East Ocean for yum cha.

Yum cha!

Having a great time.

We took a walk to Haymarket to get some souveniers for our friend's colleagues.

Wifey bought a rooster to watch my back at the office.

And a tortoise too.

Having fun at the park.

PMA was happening at Darling Harbour, there was a guy giving a photography class at the harbour, bunch of wolves trying to photograph the hot chick. Pity her.

It was really sunny, didn't feel like winter at all.

Water taxi at Darling Harbour

Crossing the bridge

Olivia warmed up to one of our friend.

We bid goodbye but then I had to put on petrol to my oil guzzler.

And the most convenient place was the Caltex at Chatswood, which was next to where we used to live and near the park where Olivia enjoyed the most part of her time here. We used to stop here everyday when I picked her up from the childcare on my bicycle after work while we wait for wifey to reach home.

So we decided to stay for a while.

Not that we wanted to cause she recognized it straight away when we stopped at the petrol station and asked us to stop by at the playground.

We then met up with another friend of ours who we came to know while living in Chatswood. Had dinner and came home dead tired.

Wifey then brought out the lemon cheese cake she made in the morning and the three of us had a small little birthday party bash.

Thoroughly enjoyed the day.

City Day Out [Flickr]

2011-06-19T22:49:00.003+10:00

City Day Out, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Wifey sat for her final paper on Saturday, went to Kopitiam for lunch at Ultimo after picking her up.

Baked Pasta

2011-06-19T18:48:00.001+10:00

Wifey likes to make this baked pasta for dinner and we really liked it.

It's baked pasta with spinach, brocolli, roasted chicken, cream and lots of cheese.

Cover it with cream and lots of mozarellas, put it in the oven for half and hour and walla.

I even packed it up for lunch tomorrow. Can't wait for it.

Laying Laminted Floor [Vimeo]

2011-06-18T11:55:00.002+10:00

Laying Laminated Floor from Jin Han Teng on Vimeo.

I did the floor when I first moved into my new house in Castle Hill. I learned lots and it triggered my DIY interest.

It was tough but the end result was excellent. Not to mention saving me more than a grand of hard earn cash.

Time lapse taken with my Nikon D300s

. [Flickr]

2011-06-18T11:49:00.005+10:00

., originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Brought Olivia to the park this morning and found this lonely flower. The imited ray of sun light through the trees made this flower stand out.

Morning At The Park

2011-06-18T11:44:00.001+10:00

Wifey went to sit for her final papers this semester today, so I brought Olivia out for breakfast, then to the park while waiting for the library to open at 10.

Running around, love her energy.

Found a stick and try to draw her name on the ground.

Papa I am tall!

Running around with my new found shtick.

Enjoyed the morning, now its time to go fetch wifey from her uni and go for a lunch celebration.

Palm Beach [Flickr]

2011-06-12T01:23:00.002+10:00

Palm Beach, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Not to be mistaken by the Palm Beach of Florida. This is Palm Beach in New South Wales, Australia.

Drove up here with the family last weekend, setup our picnic rug, lie down and read on my kindle while Olivia built sandcastles on the beach. It was too cold for a swim, but that didn't stop the surfers going out for a ride.

Home Made Roti

2011-06-12T00:07:00.004+10:00

Saw this flour from Masterchef and wifey instantly went and bought it from Coles. The Wholemeal Atta Flour is apparently imported by Jimmy from india. Jimmy is one of the contestent in last series' Australian Masterchef.

It was fairly easy to be mixed and knead into a dough, roll it flat and ditch it onto a hot pan for 30 seconds a side and walla.

Made some curry chicken to go with it, it was awesome.

The drumstick certainly went with it really well.

Heated up some leftover char kuay teow from this afternoon's lunch, pour some curry and potatoes on it and it reminded me of king chai min in Happy Garden. lol

Day out at Palm Beach

2011-06-11T15:03:00.002+10:00

The sun was really good last weekend so we took the opportunity to drive up to Palm Beach which is half way between Sydney and Central Coast.

Olivia doing a jump shot

Weather was extremely beautiful, except for the low temperature though. Even that didn't stop the surfers going out at sea riding the huge waves.

Olivia having some banana chips.

Spent the day reading under the tree while Olivia build her sandcastles on the beach.

Long since we had a picture taken together.

Then we drove out to the other side of the mini peninsular and found a boat house which serves great fish and chips.

Olivia having fun with wifey while waiting for lunch.

The same boat house also offers sea plane ride which costs 120 dollars a pop. Thought that is expensive as that amount could fly me out to Melbourne.

Enjoyed the day....

Wanton Noodle

2011-06-05T22:08:00.002+10:00

Wifey found and bought some ready made wanton skin at the chinese shop the other day so we chopped up some carrots, shallots, spring onions, mix them with minced pork and wrapped them with the skin.

Threw them into anchovy soup, cooked up some noodle and walla.

Horse Jumping [Flickr]

2011-05-07T10:37:00.005+10:00

Horse Jumping, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Spotted at the recent Royal Easter Show

Sky Flyer [Flickr]

2011-04-22T21:32:00.002+10:00

Sky Flyer, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Sky flyer flying high in the sky at Royal Easter Show

Terrigal [Flickr]

2011-04-17T21:36:00.002+10:00

Terrigal, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

We were enjoying our stroll along the beaches at Terrigal when wifey pointed me to this shot. She just thought this was nice and I took a snap and ended up brilliant.

Think she has an eye for photography too.

Breakfast at Circular Quay [Flickr]

2011-04-16T12:42:00.004+10:00

Breakfast at Circular Quay, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

We bought tickets of a children's show "Me and my shadow" for Mom and Olivia at the Opera House last weekend, after sending them off at the theatre we stroll down the Quay looking for some good old australian breakfast and found this Searock Fish Cafe which serves tasty sausages, creamy scramble eggs and real nice crispy bacon, just the way I like it.

King Of The Zoo [Flickr]

2011-04-09T23:56:00.007+10:00

King Of The Zoo, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Brought Olivia to the Taronga Zoo again. She just likes the place so much, we would come here every weekend if we could.

Coffee and Egg Benedict [Flickr]

2011-04-09T23:56:00.006+10:00

Coffee and Egg Benedict, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Found this little cafe called Long Shot at Beecroft, one of the north western suburban area in Sydney which serves very tasty coffee and yummy egg benedicts.

One of my favourite breakfast place in Sydney.

Blue Mountains [Flickr]

2011-03-21T00:10:00.002+11:00

Blue Mountains, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Dug back some old photos from last year.

Haven't been around taking pictures lately as I just moved into our new house and there are lots to fix.

Hopefully I can finish things in time for the winter and I can go out and shoot again.

Burberry [Flickr]

2011-02-23T23:32:00.002+11:00

Burberry, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Shoping at Bukit Bintang, KL

Infinity [Flickr]

2011-02-21T20:57:00.003+11:00

Infinity, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Olivia and wifey having a dip in the inifinity pool at Dusun.

With the great view from here, I could stay here all day

Gathering at Tim's place

2011-02-19T20:01:00.002+11:00

Took the chance back in KL to visit Tim's place and his new born Thea.

A smallish gathering, I brought wifey and Olivia, Khai Fei brought his boy Chen Yu and Ai Lee, Yue Meng and Cheng Leong joined in as well.

Tim's father's old junk. Nah actually a collectible item. A Minolta film camera with a Canon lens cover and a National flash. Seems like a good mix.

Yu Kor

Running around with Olivia.

Tim and his new born Thea. Long time since I carried a week's old baby, since Olivia has become a 15kg toddler, my arm has grown as well.

Yu Kor, the energetic boy who ran non stop around the place.

Getting friendly with pug.

Too friendly perhaps.

Getting chased.

Enjoyed the day, nice to meet up with Tim and Kabien and the rest of the guys.

Will be missing you folks.

Kisses to little Thea.

Kedah [Flickr]

2011-02-14T23:16:00.003+11:00

Kedah, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Taken on board a flight back to wifey's hometown in Alor Setar, Kedah to celebrate Chinese New Year.

The sun light during the morning flight made the sceneries all the more spectacular

Bubbles [Flickr]

2011-02-14T22:13:00.006+11:00

Bubbles, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Olivia, now armed with a bubble gun we bought from KL having fun during our stay at Dusun, Seremban.

www.thedusun.com.my

Koi [Flickr]

2011-02-14T22:11:00.003+11:00

Koi, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Grandma's fish pond at her place in KL

. [Flickr]

2011-01-09T21:07:00.005+11:00

., originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Empty Road [Flickr]

2011-01-03T09:16:00.002+11:00

Empty Road, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Took this along the way from Dubbo to Mudgee, sorry I can't remember which road the GPS lady brought us to but it was certainly one with sceneries and totally empty.

There wasn't a car all the way until a few shots after this picture when my wife gave me a horn in the car to get me out of the road.

Enjoyed the drive totally to and from Dubbo. Will do this more often next time.

Lions at Dubbo [Flickr]

2010-12-31T12:01:00.003+11:00

Lions at Dubbo, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Mudgee [Flickr]

2010-12-29T10:16:00.002+11:00

Mudgee, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

The family and I spent a night at Dubbo visiting the Taronga Western Plain Zoo, this photo is taken on our way back along Castlereagh Highway near Mudgee.

Enjoyed the sceneries along the long drive.

Blue Mountains (Again)

2010-12-21T22:54:00.002+11:00

Wifey's cousins Tsui and Cuong and their two girls, Mun and Tung live in a Sydney and we've been having gatherings a lot because of their two girls whom had form good friends with Xian Ning when we arrived.

Recently, Tsui's brother and his family came over for a visit from Singapore. So we brought them to the Blue Mountains for some bushwalking. That suits us a lot as Xian Ning loves to do bushwalkings and of course me, likes to take landscape photos.

There are technically a thousand trails around Blue Mountains and you could spend days walking all the way into the deep forest. But if you don't fancy a good long camping trip, there are a few 40 minutes - 4 hours day trip you can do with your kids and family.

Having our lunch before the long walk.

Bit of games on the iPhone.

and bubles of course, Xian Ning just loves them.

Family portrait before we start our journey.

At the Wentworth Falls lookout. Enjoying the majestic view of the Blue Mountains in it's full glory.

Weeping Rocks water fall.

A rare portrait of me and Xian Ning, we don't have a lot of pictures together because I am always with the camera. So this is really rare.

At an unknown water fall. I should remember all the names of the places next time.

We'll definitely come back again to do some other trails as all the sceneries were just mesmerizing.

The Unfinished Song

2010-12-21T22:06:00.002+11:00

Wentworth Falls Lookout [Flickr]

2010-12-20T08:50:00.002+11:00

Wentworth Falls Lookout, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Although I've been here a few times already, still I can never grow tired of the lookout from here.

Androidized

2010-12-20T01:52:00.001+11:00

So after more than a month of used, how do I find my new HTC Desire HD Android phone?

Likes

Touch sensitivity is better/on par with iPhone
Drop down notification
Picture from the 8mp camera really look good
Google Contact sync and integration
Google Calender sync and integration
Easyness of adding and searching contacts - Start typing name from keypad and searches start coming up, like the good old windows mobile 6 which I sorely miss from my old dopod
Crisp screen is unbeatable - except by the iPhone4
The awesome Google Voice!
Google map navigation
Airsync! Phone unplugged while transfering files.
Widgets!
The recently added google reader is great.
Kindle app as well, works well with whisper sync.

Dislike

Setting up personal wallpaper is crap, the need to crop pictures killed it.
Slide up/down to unlock, answer/reject calls is stupid! Pulled up my phone from my pocket and call is either answered/rejected
Battery life was disappointing
A hundred and fifty six settings/tweaks do not help at all
Can't zoom when reading emails. HTML email can only be viewed at original size.

Conclusion

I really like the google contact and calender sync on the fly as I use them a lot. No more worry on phone backing up any more. Love the widgets. Also the dial search is awesome.

All in all it is a really good phone, suits me really well as I use google apps a lot - Gmail, contacts, calender. Other than that, facebook, twitter and kindle are the other apps I often use and the rest, well, I couldn't care less as that's all I would use anyway.

Here are some more pictures of the phone. Enjoy.

Xian Ning's Christmas Concert

2010-12-20T01:05:00.007+11:00

Just want to post some pictures of Olivia's Christmas Concert at her child care.

Entering the stage. Notice her jeans are coming undone there. Later on during the concert while doing the singing and dancing standing up, she had to hold on to her jeans. lol. She did really well despite of the wardrobe malfunction.

Waving to the crowd.

She sat in the middle despite her small size but later we found out that's because she can sing and performed well.

Practicing herself

Posing with mummy after the performance.

Off they go rip the playground after all has been done.

Finally, a video of her captured with my Nikon D300s, not a very good steady pair of hands though, beware of nausea after watching it.

Wentworth Pass [Flickr]

2010-12-19T07:11:00.004+11:00

Wentworth Pass, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

A view from the trails of Wentworth Pass. 40 minutes walk that took us 2 hours because of me busy taking photos.

Great view indeed

Weeping Rock [Flickr]

2010-12-13T13:31:00.004+11:00

Weeping Rock, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Hidden amongst the bushwalking trails at Wentworth falls, will definitely come back again

Spring [Flickr]

2010-10-31T14:49:00.006+11:00

Spring, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Bought this pot of plant a year ago, the flower has finally bloomed today.

Penguins [Flickr]

2010-10-23T17:23:00.002+11:00

Penguins, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Photographers underneath the aquarium trying to capture penguins swimming.

Taronga Zoo. Sydney.

Bird Show [Flickr]

2010-10-20T23:31:00.002+11:00

Bird Show, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Sorry I don't know the name of this bird as I am not a bird person but I believe it's some sort of an eagle.

Brought the family to the Taronga Zoo with the family of a cousin last sunday as wifey got free tickets from work.

Had an enjoyable day catching the bird show (which we missed the last time we were here) and the seal show. We caught the train down to circular quay and rode the ferry across the harbour to Taronga this time which was totally enjoyable with the spring weather.

First time shooting a bird with the awesome 7fps, 51 point 3D tracking and continuous AF on my D300s.

Calna Creek River Crossing [Flickr]

2010-10-10T19:13:00.004+11:00

Calna Creek River Crossing, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Parents in law are here for a visit and they like bush walking so we brought them to Crossland Picnic area at Berowra Valley.

After picnic at the park we followed the great north walk trail which passes this river and Calna Creek

City [Flickr]

2010-09-26T20:10:00.002+10:00

City, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Had a great day out at Manly and took this picture while we were walking towards Wynyard after getting off the boat ride at Circular Quay.

Haven't been going around shooting much lately as the weather simply puts me off, I think the weather is starting to get better now and hopefully I can go out a lot more.

中秋节快乐！[Flickr]

2010-09-22T23:34:00.003+10:00

中秋节快乐！, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Took out a couple of lanterns from the drawers just for the sake of lighting it up while we enjoy some mooncakes wifey bought in Chinatown.

Chicken & Mushroom Risotto (& some updates)

2010-09-11T09:00:00.001+10:00

Nikon D300s | Nikon AF-S 35mm f1.8 | 1/50 f2.0 ISO 640

Wifey copied this Risotto recipe from a magazine when she was at the waiting room to see the doctor, never knowing that the result was so damn bloody good.

You have to ask her for the recipe @missthchia

It is spring time in Sydney now but the temperature is still cold, can't wait for the hotter weather so that I can go out in short pants.

Nevertheless, it's sunny (but cold) today and we're off to Centennial Park for a bicycle ride and then off to Ikea to get study chair for wifey.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Happy Father's Day [Flickr]

2010-09-05T21:05:00.002+10:00

Happy Father's Day, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Just felt like bringing out my flash and trigger to play.

Happy Father's day to all the dad's out there.

Scones

2010-08-29T21:27:00.001+10:00

Nikon D300s | Nikon AF-S 35mm f1.8 | 1/30 f4.0 ISO 400

We had been going out every weekend for breakfast because wifey fell in love with the scones sold by one of the cafe's in Chatswood.

Today she tried to make some and it was marvellously done.

Served with strawberry jam and whipped cream.

And a cup of tea....

Pork Ball Noodle

2010-08-28T22:00:00.001+10:00

My trip back to KL in June is for 2 reasons, one is to attend brother in law's wedding and the other was for my food fest.

Nikon D300s | Nikon AF-S 35mm | 1/8000 f2.5 ISO 320

This is my favourite place for pork ball noodles, Win Heng Seng coffee shop down at Jalan Imbi, Kuala Lumpur.

Nikon D300s | Nikon AF-S 35mm | 1/125 f2.5 ISO 900

I'll let the pictures do the talking as I am not very good at describing tastes. Not like the tasters in the Taiwanese food shows who describes every piece of crap they put in their mouth has a very "Q" feel but the irony of this is, the dry mix kuay teow which came with the pork ball in soup do have a very "Q" feel to it.

Nikon D300s | Nikon AF-S 35mm | 1/100 f2.5 ISO 1600

Wifey ordered a char kuay teow which was equally good.

Nikon D300s | Nikon AF-S 35mm | 1/125 f2.5 ISO 1000

All of these washed down with a cup of "sam sik nai cha". It was Haven-ish.

Opera House B&W [Flickr]

2010-08-23T19:23:00.005+10:00

Opera House B&W, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

I was down in the city to have dinner with an old friend from Perth who came over for work.

We ordered a feast and had trouble finishing them up, decided to take a walk to help it come down the chest.

So off we went to Circular Quay for a walk while I take this shot of the Opera House.

Steamed Snapper

2010-08-20T19:44:00.002+10:00

Nikon D300s | Nikkor AF-S 35mmf1.8 | 1/40 f1.8 ISO 1250

Cooked this for dinner today. Bought the whole snapper from Coles for 16 dollars per kilo. This whole fish would probably weigh 800g cause it caused me 11 dollars. Nice and fresh.

Cut the fish into half, spread some black bean sauce on top and inside, add some soya sauce and steam it for 10 minutes. Garnish with chopped spring onions.

Ate this with porridge teow chew style, also nice to go with rice.

3 Years Old

2010-08-18T23:11:00.000+10:00

It was Xian Ning's birthday on the 10th so we asked wifey's cousin along with her husband and two girls to come over for a steam boat lunch and then sing Xian Ning a birthday song.

Nikon D300s | Nikkor AF-S 35mmf1.8 | 1/160 f1.8 ISO800

Wifey made some delicious cup cakes for her.

Nikon D300s | Nikkor AF-S 35mmf1.8 | 1/200 f1.8 ISO640

Some how she didn't like the attention she was having when we sang her the birthday song. She'd probably enjoy more if she was singing for somebody.

We asked her cousins to be here to celebrate with her, Tung Tung (on the left) and Mun Mun, probably her only childhood friends in Sydney outside of her child care. They like her a lot and Xian Ning enjoys their company every time they are together.

Nikon D300s | Nikkor AF-S 35mmf1.8 | 1/60 f2.5 ISO640

A little overexposed on the background after I used spot metering on Xian Ning's face.

Nikon D300s | Nikkor AF-S 35mmf1.8 | 1/60 f2.5 ISO640

Enjoying her cup cake.

Nikon D300s | Nikkor AF-S 35mmf1.8 | 1/200 f1.8 ISO640

A pose with mummy, quite often we forgot to take a picture of myself with her.

Nikon D300s | Nikkor AF-S 35mmf1.8 | 1/200 f1.8 ISO640

Tung Tung and Mun Mun sharing a laugh.

Nikon D300s | Nikkor AF-S 35mmf1.8 | 1/640 f1.8 ISO640

and enjoying the birthday present they bought for Xian Ning.

Nikon D300s | Nikkor AF-S 35mmf1.8 | 1/640 f1.8 ISO640

Xian Ning always enjoy cutting up papers and they bought her a pair interchangeble scissors which can cut up papers in funny patterns. Here is a photo of her aunt and uncle watching her using it.

Nikon D300s | Nikkor AF-S 35mmf1.8 | 1/125 f1.8 ISO800

The cupcakes were really really good, enjoyed it totally, so was the steam boat which I prepared, crab, fishballs, pork balls, banana prawns, Ling fish, abalone mushrooms, tofu, chinese cabbage and yee mee were perfect for the soup. So good that I forgot to take any picture of it.

Anyway, here is wishing Xian Ning a happy birthday and thanks for providing us the laughters and the little cuddles together. Hope you have a great time being with us.

Bubbachino [Flickr]

2010-07-31T09:38:00.003+10:00

Bubbachino, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Olivia having her favourite bubbachino.

We almost have to order this for her everytime me and wifey go out for coffee.

Olivia calls it small coffee but it contains no caffeine at all.

Bottom Points [Flickr]

2010-07-28T20:23:00.003+10:00

Bottom Points, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

We drove to Clarence up at the Blue Mountains a few weeks ago to experience the zig zag train ride.

This is the train station at the bottom points where they switch the locomotive to the rear to go back up the hill.

Pink Cheeks [Flickr]

2010-07-25T17:34:00.003+10:00

Slumber, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Went out to have coffee while Olivia fell asleep in the pram on the way.

She woke up pink cheeks and still in a bit of slumber when I took this shot. Brought her to the playground to cheer her up after that.

Can't wait for the winter to end before we could go out and play again.

The Gap [Flickr]

2010-07-17T17:05:00.003+10:00

The Gap, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Brought my cousin to The Gap, east of Sydney this time, weather wasn't really good hence the gloomy sky in this picture.

Enjoyed the walk along the cliffs, hung out until late evening before we drove to Bondi to have ribs for dinner at Hurricane's with a cousin of hers whom I never met before.

Cousin Yuen Ling left for Melbourne later this week. Hope she enjoyed her visit and wish her all the best in her studies.

Winter Bloom [Flickr]

2010-07-04T19:16:00.002+10:00

Winter Bloom, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

It was a nice if not cold day in Sydney. Brought a cousin of mine from Melbourne who came for a visit to Circular Quay for a boat ride to Manly.

Found this bunch of beautiful flowers against the backdrop of the Harbour Bridge.

Birthday Cake [Flickr]

2010-06-27T20:36:00.002+10:00

Birthday Cake, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

It was my birthday yesterday and wifey made me what she makes best, a cake.

A chocolate cake with whipped cream and chocolate topping.

Absolutely yummilicious.

Mostly a 10 seconds time lapse except for the part in the oven which I made it 20 seconds intervals.

Enjoy.

You Are My Sunshine

2010-06-20T02:17:00.000+10:00

Olivia singing

Mount Tomah Botanic Garden

2010-06-19T12:11:00.002+10:00

The weekend before our KL trip, we took a drive up to Mount Tomah's Botanic Garden despite the rain, was very very fortunate that the rain stopped while we were there and started again when we were about to leave.

The view up and Mount Tomah was magnificent, I was in shorts as I never thought that Mount Tomah is high enough to be so cold but I was shaking as soon as I opened the car door.

The drive up there was pleasant, drove west of M2 then south using M7 then turn west passing Richmond and up the hills, easy.

Nikon D300s | Sigma 10-20mm at 10mm | 1/250 f8.0 ISO800

The view from the tourist information centre was breathtaking.

Nikon D300s | 35mmf1.8 | 1/500 f1.8 ISO200

Wifey's cousin and family joined us in the trip, they brought along their 2 beautiful girls to give Olivia some company and they absolutely love her. Olivia was very happy through out the trip following them running around.

Nikon D300s | 35mmf1.8 | 1/160 f3.5 ISO200

Olivia and Trung Mai

Nikon D300s | 35mmf1.8 | 1/125 f7.1 ISO200

Flowers were rare cause it was Autumn.

Nikon D300s | 35nnf1.8 | 1/1600 f1.8 ISO200

The three of them together.

Nikon D300s | Sigma 10-20mm | 1/250 f5.6 ISO1000

Me and the 2 girls, stretching my camera a bit on the ISO. The sky was dark all day.

Nikon D300s | 35mmf1.8 | 0.6s f22 ISO 100

Found this little fall among the bushes. I didn't bring along my tripod and density filter so I laid my camera on a wooden bench, dialed down the aperture and ISO to try and capture the water flow, it worked to some extend.

Nikon D300s | Sigma10-20mm | 1/250 f8.0 ISO1000

A family photo.

It was our last trip before we flew home to KL to attend wifey's brother's wedding. The girls totally enjoyed each other company and we enjoyed catching up and walking around the garden.

Married [Flickr]

2010-06-09T23:03:00.002+10:00

Married, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

We were in Pokok Sena, Kedah to attend wifey's younger brother's wedding.

Attempted my first wedding shoot and am satisfied with the pictures I took considering most of the time I was only using the fixed Nikon AF-S 35mm f1.8, I had to move quickly get the right frame.

Tried using the 55-200mm on some part of the shoot but it's not fast enough really, most of the pictures taken indoor came out blur, so I ditched it.

I need a fast zoom.

Anyway, I'm back at KL now enjoying the rest of my week off, we'll be back to Sydney next week.

Last but not least, congratulations to Liang and Yun Hui.

Garden Bench [Flickr]

2010-05-29T01:41:00.004+10:00

Garden Bench, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Found this nice little bench amongst the trees.

Mt Tomah Botanic Garden.

Bokeh Friday! [Flickr]

2010-05-27T22:30:00.003+10:00

Bokeh Friday!, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

One of the flowers at the Mt Tomah botanic gardens

Mt Tomah Botanic Garden [Flickr]

2010-05-23T18:28:00.013+10:00

Mt Tomah Botanic Garden, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Was drizzling this morning (it has been raining with little stoppages for days in Sydney) but we gambled and made our way up to Mt Tomah in the Blue Mountains.

It was raining on the way there and back but stopped when we arrived, even God helped gave us some good weather except for the cold. It was a good walk around the garden but too bad the autumn leaves wasn't that many and spectacular as I'd like.

Will definitely come back for spring.

Mooney Mooney Creek

2010-05-22T17:32:00.000+10:00

Last Sunday, we decided to take a drive up North towards Mooney Mooney Creek for a picnic, if you are heading up north, you'll normally use the F3 freeway but if you are out just for a drive, you can get out of the freeway and use the old Pacific Highway which goes through the mountains and creeks, forming an exciting drive especially for bikers. All along the way we met bikers from sports to choppers. There were some bicyclers as well training on the hill climbs.

Nikon D300s | Sigma 10-20mm at 13mm | 1/640 f8.0 ISO200

The F3 bridge across Hawkesbury River. I passed by here one morning along the way to Central Coast and the early morning fog made this river a spectacular and havenish view, might return for a morning shoot one day.

Nikon D300s | 35mmf1.8 | 1/800 f1.8 ISO200

Found a picnic place near Mooney Mooney creek, settled ourselves on a rug and had some yummy fried noodles. Laid around for a bid reading some magazines before we went out for a bushwalk.

Nikon D300s | Sigma 10-20mm at 10mm | 1/25 f11 ISO400

10 minutes into the bushes, we were greeted by this small little fall. Olivia walked on her own and totally enjoyed it, sang songs all the way.

Nikon D300s | 35mmf1.8 | 1/400 f1.8 ISO400

Then we came to a place with a wooden bridge which is nice for some photography. Olivia was very excited and posed happily for me.

Nikon D300s | 35mmf1.8 | 1/125 f3.2 ISO400

More pose.

Nikon D300s | 35mmf1.8 | 1/160 f2.0 ISO200

My turn.

Nikon D300s | 35mmf1.8 | 1/1000 f2.0 ISO200

Gotta admit wifey do have some skills in photography.

Enjoyed the outing today, hopefully we can explore more of the bushwalks which are aplenty around Sydney.

Chocolate Brownie Cream Cheescake

2010-05-16T23:00:00.001+10:00

Nikon D300s | 35mmf1.8 | 1/60 f2.8 ISO1000

Went out in search for a kickabout football at my new place and gladly found one with a mix bunch of Koreans and locals. Played left back and marked out the star player until I went forward hoping to get some goal mouth action. Instead, star player got left behind with wide open space and scored the golden goal. Absolutely gutted.

Nevertheless, came back to the smell of cheese. Couldn't miss it, definitely came from my apartment.

Looks like wifey is in a good mood.

Didn't look so nice.

But tasted absolutely cheesy, chocolaty, creamy, melt in my mouthly awesome!

The 3 of us finished half a cake after dinner.

Looking forward to breakfast tomorrow.

At The Park

2010-05-15T13:38:00.000+10:00

We decided to go to the park to let Olivia do a bit of running around the playground, she'll ask us to bring her to the playground every now and then so we try to do it once a week.

Drove around Chatswood in search for a suitable one and there is small little quiet one just up the road from our apartment but we decided to drive a bit further east of Chatswood and found this nice little place next to a football field where a girl soccer match was going on.

So we sat around and enjoy the match of girls 7-12 years old while I took out my camera and try to capture some portraits of Olivia.

Most of the shots were taken with my el cheapo Nikon AF-S 55-200mm f4-5.6G and Nikon AF-S 35mmf1.8G towards the end. I seldom use the 55-200mm lens when I first bought it but started to like it a lot using it for candid portraits of Olivia.

Basic settings, Continuous Focus with 3D Tracking on and High Speed Continuing Shooting (7fps) and VR switched off, I figured that I don't need the VR to get a faster focusing but missed out a lot of shots due to hand shakes.

Nikon D300s | 55-200mm at 200mm | 1/800 f8.0 ISO200

Olivia watching the girls having a go. Wonder this will instil the football blood which is running in my veins.

Nikon D300s | 55-200mm at 55mm | 1/1000 f8.0 ISO200

She recently picked up the knack of photography with the iPhone and now with wifey's little Canon IXUS100. She absolutely loves it but I got a little bit tired of it because she kept bugging me to say cheese for her.

Nikon D300s | 55-200mm at 125mm | 1/500 f8.0 ISO200

I have to say the 3D tracking focus on the D300s is great. Put into good use when Olivia is running around the field. Practically nailed every shot with the sharp focusing.

Nikon D300s | 55-200mm at 55mm | 1/250 f5.6 ISO200

Reviewing the pictures she had taken.

Nikon D300s | 35mmf1.8 | 1/1600 f1.8 ISO200

Absolutely love the bokeh of the 35mmf1.8.

Photographer [Flickr]

2010-05-15T09:33:00.003+10:00

Photographer, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Nikon D300s | 35mmf1.8 | 1/1600 f1.8 ISO200

We brought Olivia to the playground and there was a girls soccer match going on the field next to it, so we went in to watch the whole match while Olivia was busy taking pictures (it's hanging round her neck in this picture) and running around trying to catch mummy.

It was a fun day out.

Har Mee

2010-05-08T19:19:00.002+10:00

Nikon D300s | Nikon 35mm f1.8 | 1/100 f1.8 ISO200

Too bad I couldn't get any kangkung at the market (The Guai Lou's don't eat them), the bowl could really use some greens.

Looks good but easy to make, the authentic one will require mengkuang, pork ribs and lots of prawn shells. The easy way out? Premix soup paste Mom brought over from KL, kekeke!

Dump it in boiling water, season to taste. Boil some noodles, eggs, lean pork and banana prawns. Pour soup over some bean sprouts, add some shallots on top and walla!

Cheating?

I don't really care.

Moved [Flickr]

2010-05-07T23:21:00.005+10:00

Moved, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

Nikon D300s | 35mm f1.8 | 1/200 f1.8 ISO 200

I have been really busy lately, at work and off work. We just moved to a place 10 minutes walk from my office which is really handy but we've still got a million things to unpack.

Hopefully this weekend I can start enjoying some coffee and get a bit of well earn rest finish off the unpackings And start shooting more pictures again.

Moved

2010-05-05T22:44:00.007+10:00

We have finally settled into our new place at Chatswood which is probably 25 minutes drive towards the North from Sydney CBD. Me and wifey were working in the city until I was transferred to Chatswood to lead the works on an alliance's project. So I decided to moved Olivia's child care from the city as well to Chatswood and we were on the train for 45 minutes from Burwood which took our toll when we come back from work. Hence the decision to move.

I had the removalist booked to move our stuff before I got a call from my cousin who wanted to help us move instead of using the removalist. A decision which I soon regretted as it was tough for the 3 of us to move the tonnes of things we have, we did quite a few trips for 3 days before we had everything moved. I was absolutely knackered at the end.

As you can see, there are still boxes left to unpacked, we did the master bed room first so the 3 of us could crash the first day we moved. Then we did the living room and Olivia's bed room is still left undone. Hopefully I can get it unpacked this weekend.

Nikon D300s | Sigma 10-20mm at 10mm | 1/20 f5.0 ISO 3200

My new place.

Nikon D300s | Sigma 10-20mm at 10mm | 1/40 f4.5 ISO3200

My old place at Burwood, wifey packing up Olivia's big collection of toys while she was running around in a snow cap we just found amongst her toys.

Last weekend we gave up unpacking and went for a short trip to Balmoral Bay for brunch. It's a lovely little place with loads of people coming here to walk/walk the dogs or just sit down under the trees reading the papers while the kids play in the water or at the playground.

Nikon D300s | Sigma 10-20mm at 12mm | 1/400 f16 ISO200

Lots of dusts and smudges on my lens as you can see from the ghosting around the sun. I am actually shopping for a rocket blower + lens cleaner off ebay. Hopefully I can them to clean up all my lenses.

Had brunch in one of the nearby cafes and back home straight after. The short trip definitely did us good after the tiring move.

Nikon D300s | Nikkor 35mmf1.8 | 1/250 f3.5 ISO200

I blogged this off wifey's work laptop. I haven't yet got our internet transferred to my new place yet hence the low online activity except twitter which I can twit it off my trusted Blackberry. Hopefully internet will be up for this weekend and hopefully I can go out and get some more pictures.

Egg Benedict

2010-04-11T14:58:00.004+10:00

Egg Benedict, made by wifey. Toast, poach egg top with home made holandaise sauce, bacon, lettuce and cherry tomato makes u a very filling breakfast.

Mind you that the original egg benedict uses muffin instead of toast, and the ones you get in cafe will have 2 of them.

Ours is a size down for asian version.

Reborn

2010-04-10T22:30:00.006+10:00

Probably for the hundredth time, I am going to revive my long lost blog.

Hope I can find time to blog about football and guess what now with new added topics, which is a hobby I have taken up recently - Photography. I might also add some of my home culinary experience and our weekend trips into the mix.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Ahh...and I hope you like my latest template (which is also probably the hundredth one). I quite like this one so I hope I don't have to change it anymore.

Calna Creek

2010-04-08T13:14:00.001+10:00

Calna Creek, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

A short bushwalk along the Hawkesburry river from Crosslands picnic ground will lead you to Calna Creek.

Sunset at La Perouse

2010-04-05T20:11:00.001+10:00

Sunset at La Perouse, originally uploaded by Jin Han.

After missing the sunset shoot with the Flickerittes yesterday, I went to La Perouse with the family.

Definitely worth going for a second time.