First X'mas in OZ

Cookies and ...


... Cream, Ice Cream

Can't help it, but all my entries now are again somehow related to food, especially good food. By the look of it, I'm 99% sure that Go and Shee Yun will love the homemade Berrylicious choc ice-cream; on the contrary, Ma would be disgusted.

This is the first Christmas I spent in Australia even though I have been here for almost 8 years altogether. It is just like another public holiday or Sunday where nothing is open and for the whole week there was hardly any traffic during peak time. I brought teerdi and ern to our Christmas bilingual service which hosted some special programs. In the afternoon, I was in coma for 4 sweet hours which were very much needed. We had our dinner at home specially prepared by chef teerdi and no beer (what the!) but luckily dessert master ern made us the Swensen's ice cream equivalent.

One major event that the Melburnians look forward to for Christmas is the Carols by Candlelight, which is telecast live on TV. It is an Australian Christmas tradition where people gather at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl to sing carols by candlelight. I didn't regret not joining the crowd because it was just way too crowded and I'll do fine with just watching the TV. Most audience without seatings brought rugs along to sit on. The event featured an orchestra; Australian singers, people from the entertainment industry and TV hosts took turn to lead the audience singing carols. With the audience holding candles and singing carols, it did create a true, warm Christmas ambience.

* More photos in my Facebook

冬至

It was a fine Saturday afternoon when someone (that would be me) realized this day, 22 Dec, signifies the "start of winter". As Chinese, we ought to somehow celebrate this day even though OZ is at the southern hemisphere where winter is still another 6 months from now. 22 Dec is also the day with the longest period of daylight, known as the Winter Solstice.

We decided to make 汤圆 from scratch. As we hunt for our ingredients in Box Hill market, we accidentally came across a stall that sells nice 奶皇包 and 莲蓉包. Box Hill was so crowded with Chinese that it felt like KL or HK in some way. We had a hard time finding the glutinous flour as there were only a few packs left and they were covered with the overloaded goods next to it. Eventually we were all satisfied with the main ingredients including some pandan-flavoured green colouring as well as the pink colouring.

We started kneading the flour, added the colourings and molded them into different shapes and objects. I did one with spiderman head (photo below), a dice with fallen dots (numbers), Ern did a pyramid while NH molded a white object-not-to-be-named. But most of the 汤圆 I made were stuffed with crushed peanuts and sugar.


Important ingredients in making 汤圆: Glutinous flour, gula melaka, peanuts, sugar, water, ginger, colouring and the dough kneading skill


There are two ways of serving 汤圆, one with the ginger + gula melaka soup, and the other served dry sprinkled with chopped peanuts and sugar. The latter seems to be a variation of Mochi 麻糬, only it is not as sticky. Perhaps we will try making a different type filled with sesame paste and/or using black sesame soup for 元宵 i.e. first full moon after Chinese New Year. Maria will then again have the honour of tasting our experimental products which we believe will again be better than the frozen, ready-made 汤圆 she got from the Asian supermarkets.

TT Tournament

Right when the work at the E/// company has begun to become dull and routine, our new team lead took the initiative to reform and build up everyone's momentum by organizing the first table tennis tournament. The Herron Government does have a unique way to gain support, well, at least from me who has a weak spot on table tennis. I started playing ping pong excessively when I started my first job in A company where I could play to the wee hours i.e. when the sports complex closes. Now I'm again drawn to this game but due to extreme pressure and limited break time, lunch hour is the only time to play. I wonder if I could be a school rep if I learned ping pong from young. I could have spent most of my teen life playing and ignoring the piano and school books, who knows?

The TT tournament began the week prior to Christmas. The first round was a short and easy get together with individual groups. The final, however, involved the entire project team during the company's Christmas lunch. Some people (like me) were too "kiasu" they played over lunch and missed the food. Time tends to tick quicker whenever I'm holding the bat.

To get to the final round, one has to defeat 5 person in a 11-point game. I was lucky enough to beat 4 and entered the semi-final where I was smashed cruelly by the unbeatable champion. No disgrace, at least he wasn't using his left hand which he did to his earlier opponents and still beat them painfully.


I was at my best when I played Ben. It was a close match and he serves well. It would be a much harder match if I wasn't being tipped off



To my surprise, there were actually some crouching tigers and hidden dragons. They are typical jades that lack polishing. The tournament ended in 2.5 hours. The winners get movie tickets while the losers get their spirits lifted for the next smaller scale tournament for doubles.


The unbeatable champ (chimp?) from India earnestly waiting for his chance to defeat his opponent, the TT legend from Sri Lanka, Mr Shaminda de Silva

How did the fish end up?

The end of story of the big snapper with its tail brutally chopped off

The iron chef of S.E. suburb posing with a gentle smile and innocent look. Who knows she might be up to another thousand ways to torture the fish next

Chef assistant looking serious and pitiful at his master's victim who once brought everyone happiness and excitement during the Hastings fishing trip

Contestant #1: Will the use of Ma Ling luncheon meat take down the Iron Chef's crown?

Contestant #2 with her famous Oyako-don. She tried hard, but that led her nowhere in her cooking profession. She's back to her other profession in organising k-sesions

Contestant #3 had no pressure at all being watched knowing that she didn't have even a slight chance of winning with SPAM king around (literally, just behind)

Sweet & Sour Fish looking like a square pizza

Fish, chef and the losers

Summer in OZ

Pier @ Altona Beach

Relaxing at the beach @ 8:10pm

夕阳无限好 @ 8:12pm

The official summer started last Sat but I felt like it was already upon us way long ago. The 37C heat about 2-3 weeks ago had definitely prepared us for the drought. Luckily, the warm welcome was accompanied by a day of thunderstorm that drew a line of rainbow in the sky in the evening on my drive home today. Air definitely feels fresher and Melburnians will be happy to have their car half-cleaned by the downpour.

New Hairstyle

I must give credit to teerdi for taking such beautiful photo (per her request)

Yup, this is the latest trend in short hairstyle especially in the UK [1] after Victoria Beckham recently showed up with her funky, sleek short hair. Mine is not as short as hers though, I didn't want too much of a drastic change from waist-length to ear-length. Many commented it should be shorter at the back and I am seriously considering it for my next barber visit, but I am fine with this gradual bob at the moment. I specially like to look from the side with the longest part at the front end. I think both front parts could be longer, so when you look from the front, people wouldn't notice I have short hair. "Ada udang di sebalik batu" (wrong context but there is no better expression to describe this situation! haha).

To avoid missing my long, massive hair that I have kept for years, I make sure I keep these few points in mind:
- It takes less time to blow/dry my hair
- Saves on shampoo/conditioner
- No worries on hair breakage and sweeping away hair dropped on the floor
- Split ends and damaged hair removed
- Saves effort to tie it up during sports
- More cooling for the summer

Summer is a week away from now, it is the right time for me to keep a short hair anyhow.

[1] Quote from Mon

Young lads and the Sea

Before this fishing trip, the last time I went on a boat to the sea was during my second scuba diving trip 1.5 years ago; the last time I thought deeply about the sea was when I was absorbed by the book "Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemingway 3 months ago (though I must admit I was drawn thoroughly to "Life of Pi" more which left my mind unsettled for a while denying some cruel facts; while the last time I watched the sea from the pier was already 1.5 months ago. I love the sea, it is full of mystery deep under, it may have a totally different life form somewhere not known to us. I had the chance of living close to the sea in my childhood, I dream of having a house built near the sea in the far future, but right now I have little chance of seeing the sea, of course, except if I go fishing.

Thanks to the organizer, Will, we had a fruitful trip to Westernport Marina, Hastings with the Peninsula Fishing Charters. Weather was moderate, with a bit of drizzle at the beginning, sun all the way and chilly wind to end with. Overall good for fishing, we should not expect any better as weather is crazy these days with a top of 36C these 2 days, then down to 19C over night. The sea was calm and quiet at the pier area, and got slightly rough out to the sea.

With little experience fishing, I started with feeding about 5-6 snappers whilst perfecting my bait-tying skills and recalling basic fishing techniques I learnt some 15 years ago. It was not before long (just 3+ hours later) that I finally caught a snapper, which was also the last one (35th? 45th?) we could bring back. Satisfied with the small achievement, we sat down happily to have sausage rolls and home-made curry puff without realizing that my jacket was already heavily stained with blood and it really looked like I have murdered someone. One of us caught a blowfish and Rob (the fishing charter guy) blew it up, and I thought it looked a little like a squirrel with long rabbit teeth. After we were done with the snappers, we shifted to another spot fishing for Whitings. I noticed that our boat was equipped by Codan equipment (GPS, radar or some sort).

Each of us brought 3 snappers back home. The recreational catch limits for snappers introduced by Victorian government is a maximum of 3 measuring 40cm or more. At night, the 5 hours of standing on board left me with its after effects. Not that I could not stabilize myself on the ground, but I could feel the earth under my feet moving with the waves.

VIC Licence

Hiew Yin Chong, a gentle lady who burnt rubber on Penang road for 4 years [1], had never thought that one day, she would have to spend sleepless nights (exaggerated) and several tense moments worrying about a driving test. She has driven 4WD on hilly slopes, raced up to 100mi/h (equivalent to 160km/h) on Highway 101 in the States, yet, the one sentence she spat out to the driving examiner right before taking the test was "I am nervous!"

What is wrong with me??? I admit I have no confidence in a lot of matter, but for driving, I am more confident than Lim Peh. It is the Victoria rule that is driving people nuts. It is as if this green-coloured laminated credit card-sized licence is worth a million. My confidence was completely shattered when I learnt that stopping < 3 sec at STOP signs, or not slowing down at roadwork area, or coming out from a junction to the leftmost lane but there is car approaching on the lane next to it etc etc, could earn you an Immediate Failure. The exam itself makes it worse as you are not allowed to make conversation with the examiner apart from requesting to repeat the instructions. And the most unbearable and dry reply you get is "I'm not allowed to talk about this now".

It's all over now. 31/10/2007 marked the beginning of a new life born to drive legally on OZ roads. After visiting VicRoad for 6 times in 6 months, I swear I will never step a foot in VicRoad for the next 10 years. That is also why I have them issue the licence that can last me till 2017.

I had a chat with a friend who was granted his licence a week before me (and who obviously had also failed before), we both agree that we couldn't be happier getting a full Victorian license than getting our PR approved! Finally, one piece of advice: It is always good to take a 1.5 hour lesson before sitting for a driving test, especially for those with 10-year driving experience.

[1] Quote from Jojo Ung

Robot Show

Honda ASIMO (Advanced Step in Innovative MObility) came to Australia last week and I was able to witness the world's most advanced and successful humanoid robot! Asimo can pace at about 3km/h and run up to 6km/h. It interacts surprisingly well with people, so well that I started to suspect the conversation was scripted. Also, it can aim at a spot and kick a ball straight to it, and carry a tray of drinks and place them on a table without spilling a drop.

Honda has spent 15 years making this robot, which I thought would only appear in Steven Spielberg's film. Sooner or later, human will be needing them to perform tasks beyond human's ability and that could be another few decades later. Will see.

Power of Dreams - Honda.

Shapes

Vintage Cheddar and Chives

I am dedicating this page to my favourite savoury biscuit - Arnott's Shapes. My house or office is never short of boxes of Shapes. There are currently 3 boxes in my room, 4 in the kitchen cabinet and 1 in my cubicle drawer. The flavours that I like (in order):
- French Onion & Cheese
- Italian Woodfired Pizza
- Nacho Cheese
- Crispy Puff's Cheese and Onion
- Pizza

I have yet to try the new special edition flavours which I just bought 2 days ago. It is the Shapes Sensations with a slightly different box layout.
- Tomato and Chilli
- Vintage Cheddar and Chives

There is also the Sweet Chilli and Sour Cream from the Crispy Puff's range that I would love to taste. :)

Getaway from work 2

Sydney Opera House

12 Apostles, Great Ocean Road - one of Australia's natural wonders

Mornington Peninsula after a blissfully relaxing hotspring bath

Victorians who really know how to spoil themselves in a relaxed ambience come to Peninsula Hot Springs Center at Springs Lane, Rye. Natural hot mineral springs were found deep underground and there is project going on for further expansion. Apparently they have discovered more hot geothermal water somewhere again.

There are 8 hot spring pools and baths for the public package. Some pools have water temperature up to 50ºC. For that, you are not advised to stay in there for long, or you might get dizziness. We soaked in every single pool for almost an hour and finally we decided to go into the sauna. In there, we met a couple who are frequent visitors to the center. The husband suggested we jump into the small cold pool after coming out of the sauna. I wasn't sure if I could do it, but since everyone did it, I didn't want to be left out. The temperature was at 90ºC in the sauna room and I could feel steam gushing out from my nostrils, as if I was on fire. When everyone left the room, I started to have difficulty breathing as my focus came back from the conversation we had with the Aussies. I then walked out and plunged into the icy-cold pool. It was a totally different experience, a great one, but shortly after coming up, I started to feel the earth was moving and turning. It could be the sudden change that my body could not take.

Overall, it is still a good place for relaxation and rejuvenation. And I don't mind going for the plunge again. :)

Getaway from work

Basking in the sun

The best way to have a relaxing holiday and enjoy the hustle-and-bustle-free city life is to go to the beach. Wide, white, sandy beach it must be. Gold Coast has the longest beach coastline in the southern hemisphere. Surfer's Paradise, as its name suggests, is the best spot for surfing and swimming. We did not have enough time to learn surfing, so we went bodysurfing in the sea (well, that is, chasing after the big waves or letting the waves chase us) as well as basking in the sunshine. The 2-hour there was well-spent, the sun-bathing was heavenly. To simply lie down on the beach enjoying the 25 degree pleasant warmth is what I would ask for if given more time. Of course, taking up surfing lesson is also in one of my Things-to-do list if I ever get the chance to visit Gold Coast in the right season.

Before starting our first swim, there was a barrier we had to overcome - the icy cold sea water. With an outside temperature of 25 degree C, I believe the water was only 5 degree C! I gradually stepped down towards the sea hoping to get slowly used to the temperature, but when it got to knee high, I just could not go further. My whole shoulder went stiff, goosebump came rushing out and I started shivering when a combination of wind and water accidentally hit my body surface. It struck me when Adrian suggested we waste no time so we decided to "Go for Glory!" After enduring a 3-min soak in ice water, my body went numb as if having sensory neurones malfunction.

Bodysurfing is not easy at all on first try. We saw an Ah Pek who was quite good at it, and we tried to follow suit. When the big waves came crashing, we swam as fast as we could towards the shore, riding on the waves. On my first attempt, my entire body was drawn in to the waves which forced a 360 degree turn and swept me almost to knee-depth near the shore. The feeling of helplessness can be quite scary if you are completely out of control. After a few times, we got slightly better and we were both quite exhausted already. With such beautiful weather, we took quite a long rest sunbathing, which was really wonderful. When we returned to the sea for the final round, I can assure you that was the most torturing thing that can ever happen. The sea water was colder than the first time! Imagine our bodies had been kept so pleasantly warm. Somehow, we had to bite our lips and "Go for Glory 2!"

Later on, we had Croc meat and Emu meat to feed our hungry stomach. Crocodile meat tastes like fish, but slightly harder, while emu meat tastes like deer meat.

My trip to Australia

by Adrian Kam

The thing that you liked about Australia: Toilets are big
The thing that you disliked about Australia: The water restrictions imposed
The thing that excited you most: Seeing koala bears in trees
The thing that put you off: Long queue at the Customs
The thing that surprised you most: Weather was much colder than I thought
Food that you liked most: Ribs at Bondi Beach
Food you had most: Korean Food (???)
Place that you liked most: May's house
Place that you would revisit: Crown Casino
Activities that you liked most: Harbour Bridge climb, swimming in Surfers Paradise, visiting Crown Casino
Activities that you would do again: Body surfing in Surfers Paradise
Beer that you liked most: Victoria Bitter
Item you bought that you liked most: Saba jacket
The thing that you hope would be different: My trip would be longer

Most animals seen

Entrance to the Sea World, Gold Coast

See how high dolphins can jump!

In 3 weeks' time, I've seen the most kind of animals, birds, fish, reptiles etc in my life, all unplanned. Some are quite scary especially the lizards and the pelicans! I can imagine Irene screaming if I send her this pic below:

Australian pelican

The scary part is that they do not have any facial expression! They don't move, they don't blink and they look exactly like a painting.

The first type of animal we saw was on our road trip to Sydney - dead kangaroos lying on Hume Highway. I did see a live one when it leapt across the road right in front of my car. I was driving 110km/h and I could have killed it (and had my front bumper smashed) if I did not brake. Luckily it was during midnight with less car on the road. There was another incident when we saw a lady in pyjamas pants standing at the side of the slow lane directing us away to avoid an injured kangaroo sitting in the middle of the road. She held her hands up like Macaulay Culkin's famous pose in Home Alone.

Next was the iguanas that appear everywhere near the coast in Gold Coast. I hate lizards, even the garden lizards in my garden in KK can give me goosebumps. Needless to say, there were also all the sea creatures in Sea World like the sharks, stingrays, dolphins, seal, dugong, polar bears etc. Well, only those and the penguins in Philip Island are planned.

Then there was the koalas hanging and relaxing in gum trees on our way out from Cape Otway Lighthouse towards Great Ocean Road.

Fat koala bear

Most of them were sleeping, only 1 was chewing some leaves at the moment. I noticed that their fingers are separated into 2 and 3 per side. That probably makes gripping easier. And one thing for sure, they stink and their droppings were everywhere.


Last it was during my way home one night. I saw the shadow of a baby fox walking near the main road under the M1 highway just outside my house.

挂羊头卖狗肉

回锅肉 - Twice-cooked Pork

红油鸡块 - Chicken Chunks with Chilli Oil

Thanks Ah Nan for his hospitality during our stay at his house in Southport, Gold Coast. He has 3 beautiful and well-trained dogs - a Labradore (Apple), a Pomeranian 博美 (Atom) and a Dachshunds 腊肠狗 (Angel). Wait, this has nothing to do with the title of this entry.

Ah Nan brought us to have Sichuan cuisine for dinner. Out of my expectation when we reached the dinner place, it is actually a Fish and Chip shop. Many Aussies came to the shop to have take-away fish & chips, only the Chinese people dine in and order Sichuan food. It is 正宗 Sichuan food cooked by Sichuan people, and I really love the cold dish - 红油鸡块. The other dish was a little too hot for me.

There was a family sitting next to our table and was speaking Hakka. I'm pretty sure (99%) that they are from Sabah. They speak Sabah Mandarin. What a small world!

Tweed Heads - border of NSW and QLD. During summer, you will be ahead by 1 hour standing at 1 side of the borderline

Highlight of the Trip

Ascending to the summit of Harbour Bridge

Harbour Bridge night view from Sydney Opera House

Before this trip, I've never heard about climbing Harbour Bridge. I simply didn't know there is such event. On the day of our climb, the weather was beautiful at around 25C. It was drizzling the day before and raining day after. We enjoyed the view, the good weather and the experience! The safety precaution briefing, climb prep and the climb itself took 3.5 hours, you just couldn't feel time has passed. I was personally so impressed with the safety preparation that no wonder it costed us a fortune for the climb. On the wall in the Climb Center, there were pictures of celebrities all around the world posted, who did the climb - Nicole Kidman, Will Smith, Matt Damon, 007, Pat Rafter, Nikki Webster and Kylie Minogue etc.

We had a funny climb leader, well, I think all of them are funny and nice. All the visitors in our group were made to stand in a circle to introduce each other and mingle around as the climb leader prepared our costumes. There were people from UK, Queensland and only 1 Sydneysider. The climb leader gave a thorough history of the bridge construction as well as geography lesson. Too bad no camera is allowed so we only had a few shots taken by the climb leader, which again costs us $30 for 4 4R photos. History of the bridge can be found in the Pylon Lookout, which also features a short b+w film showing the enormous job. The bridge was completed in 1932 after 8 years, the toughest part being erecting the arch. There was no OH&S at that time, technology was not advanced, no computer simulation, it is hard to believe by paper calculation, the two arches from north and south shores successfully joined. It is noteworthy that out of 16 fatalities, there was only 1 or 2 due to falling off the bridge.

As opposed to what my father said, no one paints the bridge. Dad told me there will be people ever painting it because it will take the person a whole year to paint from 1 end to another, but our climb leader has never seen anyone painting the steel during his tenure there. Well, I might have misunderstood my father's statement, as always.

So that was the highlight of our trip to Sydney. I must say that the climb itself was easy.

Excess kilos

Fish Market at Pyrmont

Hurricane's Grill & Bar Steakhouse

This is D Day when both of us gained extra 1 kilos per meal. Morning we had fresh seafood at the Fish Market, with fresh oysters and prawns as entree, baramundi + chips as our main, kilpatrick and mornay as our dessert. For dinner, in celebration of our 3-year anniversary, we made a reservation at Hurricane's Grill in Bondi Beach. It's been a long while since I had good steak and ribs. This place is highly recommended if you ever travel to Sydney. At last, our day of indulgence was wrapped up by few licks of Andersen's ice-cream. There goes my 1-month work-out and carefully-planned diet.

Passion for photography

Sabah's got talent

7 swans were once 7 elegant princesses who bathed in the lake??

Award-winning photo of Sydney's Darling Harbour - only if there were flickers of lightning silhouetting the dark sky

Little did I know that there is a gene in my blood which has got some talent in photography! For the whole night strolling along darling harbour enjoying the night breeze, Adrian was busy finding the right angles shooting photos. Out of boredom, I took an instant lesson and took a few shots. They turned out awesome! Ever since that night, I have been pushing Adrian away snatching his camera away or giving instructions to him for good shots like a director filming a movie. Good fun though.