Chrysalis on Eat: Spare a Thought for Food

Now that I’ve started work after what seems to be two long years as minister of Australian home affairs, lunch is no longer a war. Gone are the days of having to negotiate between sparring kids and a temperamental toddler trying to assert his independence at the dining table while trying to chow down my steaming hot bowl of instant noodles and mopping up the destruction left behind by my toddler who thinks it’s fun and hilarious playing catch with his own food.

However, lunch is also not a leisurely affair –- one that evokes fond memories involves bonding over a cup of teh tarik (tea with milk) after lunch with my ex-colleagues back home in Singapore.

You see, my lunch at work is only half an hour. Yes, 30 minutes and I can almost hear your collective gasp of shock and disbelief.

It seems pretty common at the Australian workplace to have half hour to forty-five minute lunch breaks, as I found out from my Aussie colleagues. The hub’s workplace also practises 30-minute lunch breaks.

The rationale is a simple one: take a shorter lunch break and go home earlier. Take my workplace for example. I have to clock 7.6 hours in a day. So I chose to start work earlier at 8 a.m. (rather than the official 9 a.m.) and end at 4 p.m. This leaves me enough time to pick up the kids from childcare and return home to prepare dinner.



One of the many advantages of leaving work early: avoid the rush-hour traffic



With lunch hour this short, most people also tend to have lunch at their desks or at the pantry. Lunch is usually leftovers from the previous night’s dinner or a simple sandwich and soup. It is just as well the lunch hour is short as eating out can be quite expensive (you won’t get away with less than ten bucks for a decent meal and drink) and you won’t find many people having lunch out more than two times a week. Well, unless they have deep pockets.

And fellow Singaporeans who are reading this blog, get ready to let out another gasp of disbelief. In Australia, it’s actually acceptable and relatively common to dabao (get a doggy bag for) what you cannot finish on your plate. The waiter’s not going to give you the look when you ask for containers to doggy-bag the leftovers. Neither will you be charged 20 cents for the empty boxes.

As much as I enjoy the convenience and easy access to cheap, delicious food back home in Singapore, gripe about expensive, below-par Asian food in Melbourne food place, and whine about having to cook even when I am tired and don’t feel like it; in the grand scheme of things, life has for us changed in more good ways than bad since moving to Melbourne in the food department.

First, I get to finally flex my dormant culinary skills (“I didn’t know you can cook!” says the hub).



All of a sudden, I have culinary superpowers

Next, I decide what goes into our meals (goodbye, MSG).

But best of all, there is a certain sense of "want not, waste not" when it comes to consuming.

In Singapore, food is so cheap that we wouldn’t have thought twice about leaving leftovers on our plates if we can’t finish it. Somehow, moving here has given us a whole new mindset toward wastage.

We don’t cook more than we can’t chew and when we do have leftovers, we turn it into our lunch for tomorrow or transform it into a different dish come tomorrow evening.



Still the best: Homecooked meals

I’ve been telling the hub that if we were to transport this lifestyle back home, we would be rich.

Now, that’s food for thought.

Chrysalis on Shop: My Two-Spoons Worth on the Aussie Way of Life

Aussies are dead serious about keeping the balance between life and work.

Coming from sunny Singapore where I was used to, ironically, not seeing the sun when I knock off from work, this was a nice discovery about Australians and the way they view and value their time. To them, time is better spent away from work and with loved ones.



Lovers of life, lovers of the sun

I guess it’s what you can call an open secret about Aussie living. Whether they like it or not, they are known for their relaxed outlook on life. When I first shared news that we were moving to Melbourne, the common response would often be along the lines of, “Good choice, you will enjoy a slower pace of life than that in Singapore. ”



A slower pace of life: fishing at Mornington

From the checkout cashiers at the supermarkets who would take time to chat with our local mechanic who once gruffly barked at us for wanting to bring in our car after 4 p.m. (his knock-off time) to most shops closing at 5 p.m., we learnt that the Aussie way of life is truly about the saying: All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

And what better way for this fact to hit home than on Australia Day, which fell on January 26 this year.



On this public holiday, we decided on the spur of the moment to head to a park for some fresh air and fried rice. In our haste, we forgot to bring spoons for our picnic at the park. We contemplated going commando-style with the rice but with two pre-schoolers with the attention span of five minutes (minus two minutes considering the presence of a major distraction: the playground) and one put-everything-in-mouth toddler – going spoonless is not such a good idea after all.

While driving there, the hub confidently said that we should be able to buy some disposable spoons from a supermarket along the way. It shouldn’t be too difficult, I thought, surely some shops would be open. I was wrong.

After making two stops at two different suburban malls which were both (not surprisingly) closed, we found luck at a small mall which had a cafe open for business. Or so we thought.

I waited in the car while hub went into the mall. Five minutes later, he walked out empty and gestured to me that nothing is open in the mall. He then went into the open cafe and finally he emerged victorious with two tiny plastic spoons in his hand.

“So you managed to get the spoons from the waiter?” I asked, with the mental picture of my hub telling our sob, spoonless story to a kind sympathetic waiter quickly forming in my head.

The hub broke into a sheepish grin and in a hushed voice, said: “Oh, I nicked it from the counter as there wasn’t anyone there.

At first thought, this picture of my hubby having to steal plastic spoons just because there weren’t any shops willing to open for business seemed all so wrong.

Indignantly I wondered aloud to the hub as to why people aren’t willing to work on public holidays. He said matter-of-factly in his signature coffeeshop Ah-Beng tone: You want to rest, other people also want to rest what.”



Hmm, I'd better finish all the fried rice since Dad had a hard time getting this spoon for me



Back home in Singapore, public holidays would mean big businesses for retail shops. Suburban malls and Orchard Road would be teeming with people hard at our nation’s favourite pastime: shopping.

Apart from the city, why aren’t businesses in suburban areas in Australia willing to open if there are people like us who might want to do a spot of holiday shopping? After all, we did see a few disappointed faces walking out from the closed mall. Demand should spur on supply, shouldn't it?

On second thought, there are other things to explore and do in Melbourne besides shopping. Why hit the malls when you can bring the kids out to different parks, farms, scour flea markets or simply ask friends over for a potluck or a barbeque?

When I recalled what I used to do back in Singapore come weekends and public holidays, I realised that much of it revolved around shopping, the movies and eating out.

Sure, there are parks like Bishan and East Coast. But with the heat and humidity, we much prefer the comfort of free air-conditioning at the malls.

It’s little wonder people in the service industry have to work in order for other Singaporeans to play during holidays.

In Melbourne, big open spaces and pottering around in your own backyards are good alternatives to shopping as an activity I guess. At the very least, it is mostly free entertainment (unless you are entertaining guests at home) and you wouldn’t fall prey to impulse buying.



Grass-rolling: a favorite pastime amongst my kids



As we contemplate getting a barbeque pit (a heavily-considered buy, we swear), it becomes clear to me that shopping is less attractive for me here than in Singapore. Our weekends are spent lazing around at home with the kids, hanging out at parks and playgrounds, having friends over for a meal and drinks or going over to theirs for the same.

With the new barbeque pit, it’s a foregone conclusion where we’ll be come weekends.



Simple pleasures: enjoying a splash with daddy

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Chrysalis on Love: Driving Me Nuts

For someone like me who is so accustomed to Singapore’s efficient public transport system, the need to drive to run the simplest of errands is, needless to say, the hardest to get used to.

Sure, I already had my Class 2 license which I had routinely achieved after I graduated from university. But being fresh into the working force, having a car was certainly not at the top of my priority list.

Okay, the truth is: There isn’t a real need to own a car and be able to drive, is there, in Singapore?



But it’s a totally different story in Australia where I currently reside with my hub and three kids. Arriving in Melbourne heavily pregnant with my third child two years ago, I wasn’t exactly gearing up to drive around to explore the sights and sounds of Victoria. After the youngest one K turned two months old, the hub suggested that I should start getting behind the wheel.


This marked the start of my love-hate relationship with driving, which has also taken my insecurities for a whirlwind spin.


Maybe it was the postnatal hormones talking but I was petrified at the thought of getting lost in a foreign country. Plus, I have not driven in a decade since getting my license and my motor skills and sense of direction were practically non-existent.


Before I could stage a louder protest, the hub began to assure me by saying that Victoria is very easy to drive around due to its grid system. Whenever you missed a turn, you could try turning into the next road or lane and more often than not, you would be able to get yourself out of trouble, he said.






It's been one year since I had started driving in Melbourne, and I have to agree with the hub. Roads are wider and Australians are, by and large, patient drivers.

I could count only twice when I had been honked at – once for failing to give away to the vehicle on my right in a roundabout (they have many in Australia!) and another when scaredy-cat yours truly hit the brakes when making a right turn, frustrating a car full of hoons (a term used in Australia and New Zealand to refer to people who are engaged in anti-social behavior) behind me.


Now, back to my love-hate affair with driving...


On one hand, if I could help it, I would prefer to be the passenger, not the driver. Multitasking is definitely not my forte. “Watch your steering, don’t veer. Check your mirrors every few seconds. Don’t just look in front. Check your blind spot, only turn your head a bit, not too much!” barked the hub. Just too much to process for someone who knows she isn’t cut out to be a pilot by a long shot.



On the other hand, being able to go places on my four wheels is liberating. After being stuck at home for a year (my hub had the use of the car until recently when his office moved to the city and it was cheaper to take the train), I suddenly found my wings and also became Minister of Home Affairs with an actual portfolio. Previously, I was a minister only in name. I didn’t have to grocery shop nor pick up the kids. The hub did everything as he had our all-important Ford Falcon.



Now things have changed dramatically, and for the better.


I now know where to get the cheapest meats and vegetables. The Vietnamese coffee stall owner has seen me enough to strike up a conversation in halting Mandarin and Cantonese. And whenever I feel like it, I can head to the shopping malls where previously the thought of lugging a bulky stroller up a bus or a train was enough to put me off going out. Venturing further is now within my reach and my goal now is to explore new places for shopping, food and play.



Long gone are the days where I find myself excusing my way out of driving. I guess what they say is true however cliché it sounds: To get over your fears, you need to face them head on. And that’s what I did and boy, am I glad I did.