Go ALL BLACKS!!!

Last week, All Blacks met Wallabies in the RWC2011 semi finals, and All Blacks managed to win the game with 6 (Wallabies) to 20 (All Blacks). The whole New Zealanders were partying after the win as according to the news.

Meanwhile myself and my partner were watching the game from our cosy living room without the disturbance of people blocking the screen as compared to you watching it outside at any other places.

This coming Sunday is the final of Rugby World Cup 2011 in Eden Park, Auckland. All Black will be playing against French!

Who will be the WINNER?

Every New Zealanders will definitely wants their country to win the World Cup as they have waited since 1987, where the All Black won the first Rugby World Cup. That was about 24 years ago. There's no wonder it NZ is being described as the Land of Long Wait by the newspaper. Even the Steinlager did an advertisement specially for the world cup featuring the long await winning moment by one of the All Black supporter. Watch it from the Youtube. The advertisement really resembles the much anticipation by the New Zealanders.

Hence let's hope for the best that All Black will win the Rugby World Cup 2011!

GO ALL BLACKS!!

Polar Blast hits New Zealand

It's already the mid month of August, which means the winter season is almost to an end. However, this week there's another polar blast that hits New Zealand causing heavy snow falls across the country.

According to the local newspaper article,New Zealand Herald, it is one in 50 year event and warned that it could last for a several more days. Even some parts of Auckland may have snow falls.

So far, I have not seen any snow in Auckland, but this morning there's hail around the area where I lived. Hail don't happens often. It come and go very fast, maybe in just 1 - 2 minutes. Previously hail does happen in sometime last month, but I missed the chance to take a photo of it. Hence this morning, I quickly grab the camera and opened the room's window took some photos of the hail that happened outside our house through the cold blast.

Once I opened the window, I managed to see a group of hail on top of the roof just outside my room. Quickly I snapped a photo of it.

Then looking down, I saw my car also being scattered with hail on it, and quite a few sits on top of the screen viper.

The hail stones don't last for long as the rain and sun actually melted it away very quickly.

Today is definately a cold day. While I am typing this blog, I can feel that all my fingers are freezing and I definately in need of a glove for now.

If Yan can cook, so do you!

Are you familiar with the quotes of "If Yan can cook, so do you!"? Well for me, I am very familiar with this quote and it's always been playing in the Malaysian local TV channel during my childhood time.

Martin Yan is a Chinese born American chef, that had been hosting more than 1,500 episodes of cooking shows. One of his show title that I can recognised of was the "Yan Can Cook" show which was aired since the 1982.

Recently he had visited Malaysia in conjunction with the Asian Food Channel to teach three simple dishes while showing of his knife skills at The Ritz Carlton Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.

During the session, he also demonstrated his skill on how to relax a stiff chicken and debone it in 18 seconds. Below are the link from kuali.com.

http://kuali.com/videos/InTheKitchen.aspx?v=163

I personally find it amazing that he can do tat in 18 seconds. It is also quite a funny.

Little Favourite Past Time - Instant Kiwi

Being in Auckland for about 2 months +, I had developed a little favourite past time here. It's the Instant Kiwi. Are you wondering what is Instant Kiwi?

Instant Kiwi is a scratch card lottery with pre-determined outcomes that are reveals when the latex covering is scratched off. The ticket cost from NZD1 to NZD10, with prize rewards ranging from free tickets up to NZD250,000 depending on the game being played. There is a legal age restriction on Instant Kiwi. Under the Gambling Act 2003, no one under 18 years old can purchase an Instant Kiwi for themselves, no one can buy an Instant Kiwi on behalf of an under 18 years old, and an Instant Kiwi prize cannot be paid out to anyone under 18 years old.

As I am not a big gambler with big hopes, I always go with the NZD1 Instant Kiwi. I will normally buy 3 Instant Kiwi or redeem my rewards like on a weekly basis. So far I had managed to win a NZD1 Instant Kiwi ticket, NZD3 and NZD5. My highest records for the rewards so far is NZD5. Usually I will use the rewards to redeem back the ticket. Hopefully luck be on my side for a better rewards.

I enjoy playing Instant Kiwi as it gives me the excitement especially when scratching it and I look forward to achieve in getting higher rewards each time. However, the most common ones that I gotten are usually NZD3.

To know more about Instant Kiwi, go to their official website at http://www.mylotto.co.nz/.

Cricket in Season

It's summer now in New Zealand and cricket is in the season again! 

No, I'm not talking about ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 which is held at India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. But I'm talking about cricket, the insect.

Yesterday night while myself and my partner were enjoying the cigars and rum outside our home, we heard lots of crickets chirping around and communicate with their colony all over.

As it's night time, the chirping tends to be louder and during the day time. Hence we decided to record it down and post it here, but unfortunately I can't upload it up here as it taking more than an hour to do so. Hearing all the chirping kinda irritates myself and my partner, but there's nothing much we can do for as long as the cricket didn't crash into our home.

According to sources from Wikipedia, there 4 different type of cricket chirping song. The calling song attracts females and repels other males, and is fairly loud. The courting song is used when a female cricket is near, and is a very quiet song. An aggressive song is triggered by chemoreceptors on the antennae that detect the near presence of another male cricket and a copulatory song is produced for a brief period after a successful mating.

Should you be visiting New Zealand during the summer, don't be surprise to be hearing lots of cricket chirping song while you are here. (Especially during the night time, when it's all quiet.)