Company celebrations

CHRISTMAS BREAKUP LUNCH - spit roasts of lamb and chicken, also butter chicken, pilaf pulao, and veg kurma.

Dinner at Jess's

Last week we got invited to Jess's new home for dinner. And her family was here visiting her from KL. We were impressed with this cakes stand.

THERE IS A WAY OUT .....

EVERY ONE KNOWS SMOKING IS BAD FOR YOU ..... 

I HAVE BEEN HOUNDED by SM, my mom and my big bro for years; that I should quit, I must quit. I know all the theories behind the dangers smoking causes to my health and well being. I have tried quitting at least 3 times in the past using nicorette chewing gum and patches to no avail. Cold turkey did not help either because I had no will power to quit on my own volition.

Tuesday 04/12/13 was a milestone day for me, that day I went on my first day of taking Champix. Two of my colleagues in 2013 had used Champix and are now fag-free. I want to kick the habit. From research I know that nicotine from smoking causes the release of a feel-good chemical in the brain (called dopamine; the same reason you feel good after cocaine, heroin, sex, or having sugar). Unfortunately, it’s only temporary and the body processes nicotine so quickly that the effect wears off. To get that ‘feel-good’ feeling back one has to smoke another… and another… until the only way to feel ‘normal’ is with nicotine constantly in your system.

Champix is based on a plant extract, which is found in a variety of plants including the Golden Rain tree and the Kowhai tree in New Zealand. It doesn’t contain nicotine and isn’t addictive. It’s designed to do two things:

1. Help reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms that happen when you give up smoking.
2. Block the effect of nicotine - so if you do smoke while on Champix, you may get reduced feelings of satisfaction and not enjoy it as much. This can help remind you why you are stopping and reduce the desire to have another cigarette in the future.

Champix is only available on prescription from a doctor. I bought my first 30-day supply of Champix almost a year ago on 29/12/12. But I never did start it until now. Because this drug in on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) I only paid $35.40 instead of $103.25. The game plan is to complete my first 30 days on Champix and continue taking it for the next 2 months thereafter. Hopefully I am not one of the 30% of people who may suffer varying degree of side effects such as dizziness, stomach or bowel problems (e.g. constipation, gas, dry mouth, vomiting, indigestion), headache, sleeping problems, unusual dreams, feeling tired, increased appetite and changes in taste; or in extremely cases, depression.  

16/12/13 I am on my day 14 Champix. So far I have mixed result - daytime I still rely on my fags for dopamine but at night time my urge is very much reduced. I am taking 1mg each for day and night. I am putting it down to work stress during the day is heightened but night time there is basically no stress. I am keeping it going for the next two weeks and hopefully I can get better result.

Christmas Eve - Today's my day 22 on Champix. I have been off smokes since Sunday 5pm, Yipee. So that's officially more than 53 hours ago. I have been tempted to light one more than once, but I keep myself busy doing something; eat an apple, have a drink of water, chew a gum, talk to someone, just do something. That has helped me to, after a few minutes, get away from re-committing the habit. Will it work again in coming days and weeks, I don't know. I hope so.

03/02/14 I have been off smokes for 39 days. 39 days, wow. I am astonished within me that I could last that long. I still have 3 more weeks' Champix to go. There have been days when i feel like a fag but the thought or desire goes off when I do not entertain it.

My Old Man

I TOOK MY DAD TO DR LEE'S for a consultation today. Mom went for an extended walk/exercise with Big Bro and SM was busy baking away at home. Just dad and I, on a Sunday morning. 

I took him for lunch on Sydney Road after, found Uleg, parked my truck at the nearby Woolies, and walked across the road with him to the restaurant. I ordered him an ikan bakar sambal and I a nasi rendang. He tried a piece of my rendang and liked it. He only ate half the amount of rice that was served but finished the fish, and some pickled vege. He enjoyed the es cendol I ordered for him whilst I was quietly sipping my kopi cap keretapi with condensed milk.

I am lucky my dad is still around; many friends no longer have their chance to eat and talk with their fathers. My dad is old, frail, and sometimes hard of hearing, many a time loses his short term memory .... but I know he loves me, loves us all, and cares for our well-being; as we, him. When I told him I did not think he could travel to Singapore and Ipoh in March because mom is just not fit to travel, I know he's disappointed. I know he feels trapped and immobile because of his old age. I know he still enjoys being in Ipoh. I hope he gets over the idea but it will be very difficult for him to accept the truth ....

 

Food Trouble

LOOKING FOR FOOD THAT SUITS our palette ranks as one of the toughest jobs I do. We like Japanese food but it's not easy finding one near our home. The best we have had is at the acclaimed Shira Nui but we had been turned away a few times because we did not have a booking.

Friday night we ronda ronda and could not decide on a restaurant to eat our dinner. Out of the blue we went to Kingsway, parked my truck, and walked into Yokohama in city walk. We walked past this restaurant often but never had the urge to eat Japanese. Tonight, we were in luck; we got in, grabbed a table and instantly felt comfortable that the menu was promising.  SM is a rice-person so she gravitated towards a tempura bento whilst I a Jap curry rice with pork. She's also an Inari and Nigri person so she got what she desired. Turned out it was a pleasant meal. Not great but a lot better than others we have had.

VW from the old world

I THINK THIS VW KOMBI VAN is beautiful .....

It's a 1976 Yellow/White Auto Campervan, showing 84,073 KM.
It was a barn find and according to the Registration label, it's showing that it was last registered in 1992!

It appears to be very original still having the original cabinetry fitted as well as having the matching engine number in the vehicle as listed on the old Rego label.

It is in excellent condition for its age, very original and it drives exceptionally well. The seller, VOLKSWORLD, is asking $27,990 all up for this van, which includes the cost for: REGO (approximately $750), RWC (approximately $500-1000) & GST ($2799). These costs add up to about $4500.

Weekend

This weekend I made my favorite brekkie - two soft boiled eggs (each 60g free range) and toasted sourdough. The eggs are from Tamarix and the yokes were really orangey red and full of flavor. SM are always nagging me about eating too many eggs but I only have them on weekends and I rarely eat two eggs at a time..... For dinner she made Penang har mee, complete with pork ribs and kangkong (water spinach). A rare treat indeed.

On Wednesday we had an episode. Mom had elevated BP and complained of dizziness like the room was spinning. I rushed her to St V and they admitted her for a slew of tests; chest x ray, ECG, blood tests, then echo (heart ultra sound). The tests took a whole day and the results were inconclusive. She might have had vertigo or she might have had something else.... 

Sausage Day

IN A RARE MOMENT WHEN 3 OF US - GRANT, DARREN AND  et MOI, DECIDE TO dedicate this Saturday morning to make ourselves famous, fed, and happy; all rolled into one. Moments de bonheur entre amis. We gather at Darren's at Croydon on a wet, rainy morning - to make his version of gourmet sausages .... Darren has gone to the market like 6.30 in the morning to buy the meats, sausage casings and spices. By 8.30am he has already got the meats; beef and pork, minced. He has done the hard yard. There are all together 30kgs of them. I request for the pork sausages because SM does not eat beef. In the pork mince he puts in the bratwurst spice mix, crushed garlic and a good measure of port wine. In the beef mince we have got jalapeno spices chucked in so we make sure they are spicy and hot. Then it is on to making the sausages. Gracie helps out as well and she does a great job. Music is playing in the back ground in the kitchen, Poly has been put in the garage so she cannot disturb the men at work. I dislike dog fur anyway. Je suis l'homme who gets the job of cooking the end products on the barbie and everyone agrees that the sausages have got to be the best - tasty, firm, and not fatty ( only 2% fats) but the beef sausages are quite dry  due to the extremely low fat content. Les saucisses sont étonnamment savoureux. voilà!

Darren, being an ex-butcher, opines that commercial sausages sold in butchers have up to 40% fat content and have preservatives added. Mon Dieu .... We each get allocated more than 10kg of sausages and there is no way SM and I are going to finish eating them so we give bulk of them away to neighbors, friends and family and the rest are in the freezer....

Le tout dans une journée de plaisir et mMemory.

Consulate General of Malaysia in Melbourne - get our new passports done

We took a day off Monday because Tuesday's Melbourne Cup Day. That made it a 4-day long weekend for us. By 10am we were at the Consulate General on St Kilda Road. Malaysians who live in Melbourne are lucky because we no longer have to get our new passports done in Canberra.   

This Consulate also processes birth and marriage registrations, renunciation of citizenship, tourist and holiday visas, and translations of Malaysian drivers licence.

There was a reasonable crowd at the Consulate for a variety of reasons. I got our queue number, 35 and got our photos done at a photo kiosk. Naturally I have already done my homework and so things went without a hitch for us. By 11am we had already submitted our applications. 

My tips for a trouble-free passport renewal application are as follows:-

1. Photocopy two copies each of your Mykad (front and back) and your required passport pages (front page and Australian PR page) beforehand. There is a photocopier your can use to do your photocopying but it is an outrageously ruthless $ making machine. It will set you back $1 per A4 page.

2. Have two recent approved-type passport photos ready i.e. ones with 大头 and blue color background. However there is available another $ making machine there in the form of a photo kiosk if you do not have your own photos with you. It's service with a cost.

3. Download a passport application form from the Malaysian Immigration website and bring it with you; or get a copy from the friendly lady at the counter.

4. Make sure the day you rock up is not a major Malaysian or Victorian public holiday.

5. Bring Aussies with you, $110 per 32-page passport as EFTPOS is not accepted.

6. It will take 3 to 4 weeks before you get your new passports.

 

The Consulate details are as follows:-

Level 1, 432 St Kilda Road

Melbourne 3004

P: 03 9573 5400

F: 03 9866 6204

E: malmelbourne@kln.gov.my

Mondays to Fridays 9.00am to 5pm

Applications & submissions: 9.30am - 12 noon

Collections: 3pm - 5pm

Immigration Department Office announcement:-

The High Commission of Malaysian, Canberra announced that the Immigration Department Office based in Canberra will be moved to The Consulate General of Malaysia in Melbourne from 02/12/2013.

From this date Malaysians can have their new passports done in Melbourne in 1 hour. Bravo!

It's a long weekend

Some 400km later we are back home on Sunday, tired out as a result of the long drive. My plan of taking a drive up to scenic alpine mountains Bright was noble but unrealistic as it turned out because by the time we reached Yea for lunch it was already 12+ and Bright was still 237km away. OMG.
We did stopped for chocolate tasting at the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie & Ice Creamery, though. They were doing roaring trade as it was a long weekend. And we enjoyed our leisurely lunch (slow food + newspapers) at Marmalades - wagyu beef burger, avocado & pancetta bruschetta. Great service.

                              
We sojourned on after 2pm and changed our tracks. No more Bright it was too far away - conscious of the time factor too. We headed up to Mansfield and went up to Mt Buller for a look see. Did not expect to see anything worthwhile as it is Spring and all the ski resort is closed. At least we can say have been to Mt B. Back home I checked wikipedia and found out its elevation is 1805m whilst Genting Highlands' is 1740m. On the day we were there the ambient temp dropped about 9 deg C at Mt B compared to Mansfield. My car's outside temp indicated Mt B at 3 deg C that day .....
  

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Miss Chu .... we are not impressed with your rice-paper rolls

We went to Miss Chu on Exhibition St last Saturday for lunch because of Nahji Chu's reputation of being Australia's queen of Vietnamese rice-paper rolls. We ordered tiger prawn and mango and egg omelet, avocado & balsamic caramelised onion. They were a little dry and we were not impressed. Their traditional Hanoi seafood spring rolls were so so.

On the other hand their wild rice and quinoa with lemongrass beef was superb and tasty. we did not try their beef pho because we believe the best pho is the tuck shop we frequent in Springvale when we feel like a pho. So much for the queen.

Fixing a perennial "problem"

After so many years today I finally get myself organised to see a dermatologist about my skin condition in my right lower leg. He diagnoses it to be a psoriasis/eczema discoid. It's a dermatitis or inflammation of the skin. He opines that it is probably caused by my skin being dry as a result of my taking long hot showers and perhaps life stresses. When it is dry it is itchy and the skin is infected due to scratching (bateria in finger nails) . Wow, so simple yet it sounds so real. He writes on a piece of paper what the condition is, what are the probable causes and what are the ways to deal with it (this is the first I ever have a doctor do to me). He gives me a prescription of anti-biotic and Eleuphrat ointment (a topical corticosteroid) - sends me away 5 minutes later and $170 poorer.

And I go on line at home later to find out that that corticosteroids are medicine used to reduce skin inflammation. It works by acting inside the cells to decrease the release of these inflammatory substances thereby reducing swelling, redness and itchiness. 

Then I realize that my GP has put me on many types of corticosteroids before seeing this specialist - Diprosone, Advantan and Aristokrat; without lasting cure. And the difference is - my light bulb moment - I need the antibiotic Cephalexin to kill the bacteria once and for all ..... Now I know why I have been applying the different types of topical corticosteroids for so many months but I just could not shake the darn thing off.
I shall know in a few days time whether this regime I am prescribed today will work but the specialist says "By Cup Day it will be gone"; that's next Tuesday. He sounds confident.....

4 days after seeing the specialist dermatologist

Brucy

Bruce had retired from work some 4 months ago. That is how long I have taken over his sales area.  He just sold his house in Patterson Lakes and he and his Mrs would be moving to Loch Sport in Gippsland in two weeks' time. The house in Loch Sport was their holiday house but would now be their permanent abode. I think he would not miss living near to Melbourne anymore as they prefer a slower paced lifestyle now. They will have their cars and boat and the water is not far away. He is already well set up and gosh, timing is everything. With the proceeds from the sale of the house he could afford a great lifestyle, not to mention the high price he would have got for the sale. And he is well set up in his super also. Anyway we met at the Cove Hotel Wednesday night for a few beers and a meal to catch up with Brucy. There was the 9 of us that night; Roy, John (JB), Andrew (Hops), Scotty, Lukey, Grant, Mick, Bruce and me. Every chance I get eating out I would order steak and chips. This one's a porterhouse, medium done. Mick was sitting next to me so I photographed his meal too; a mixed grill. Actually he started the picture-taking. His wife likes to take pictures of food they eat......

 

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Angeline

My cousin Angeline and her family's visit to Melbourne ..... She's Muslim so I was tasked to find a good halal restaurant so we can have dinner.

Dinner at "Persian Flavours" Forest Hill. 

I'd love a pair of Chestnut

After waiting a week today I got my RM Williams from Stitching Horse Bootery. I placed an order through them so I can have my size - 8H (H being Wide Toes). This is my second pair of RMW Comfort Craftsman and the first pair is still quite all right except that my right boot is a little loose because my right foot is; yes, shorter in length than my left. That's my logical conclusion. Also this time around I realized I bought size 9H for my first pair. As a result it has now become less fitting.

It has got to be black, of course. Although I'd have loved it to be Chestnut ....
Specs:-

• Dress boots.
• Yearling uppers, leather lined.
• Sewn welt leather soles with flat heels.
• Chisel square toes.
• Black, Chestnut (dark brown), Dark Tan,
  Whiskey leather and Brown Suede
• Mens 6-12 (US7-13)
• Ladies Sizes: 3-8 (US6-11)
• Medium (G) or Wide (H) Fittings

I sat down at Koutouki Cafe a few doors down and ordered a Souvlaki and a cup of Greek coffee. I got to have Souvlaki today ....

Saturday 14 Sep Big Sister invited all of us for a BBQ at Ruffy Lake Doncaster to get together with Victor and his family .....

Friday 27 Sept dinner at a Backbone Grill ....Greek sald, warm roasted potatoes, mixed rotisserie of chicken, lamb and beef

We could not finish our dinner so we asked for a "doggy bag" 狗仔包。The next couple of days my woman made wraps using the left overs together with lettuce, cucumber, mozzarella, mayo, whole grain mustards. Yum.

Korumburra

Today I drove 80km (one hour from my office) to Korumburra to make my first visit to Burra Foods. Korumburra is about 33 km NE of Wonthaggi and it is in my sales territory. Korumburra is 220m above mean sea level so it is common to see rolling hills and valleys in this part of Eastern Victoria. Although it's Spring time but today was over cast and showery. It was a nice drive in the country and I enjoyed a bit of reprieve away from my desk.

                    
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Wonthaggi II

Friday I made my tracks in the morning for Wonthaggi, again.Two weeks ago, I was on the desal plant site to resolve a stuff up - the forklift mast was too tall for the site conditions. After taking the forklift back to base and changing the mast to a suitable one I arranged to have the unit delivered to the site again a few days ago. Friday I was there to do the handover of the asset. And this time, all was well.

I could not resist stopping by Kilcundra again and look out to the Bass Straits. Beyond this lookout far away is Tassie. I also took a picture of the Kilcundra "town" which is effectively a row of shops and some houses nearby.