Penang Foods - Bak Kut Teh

You guys might wonder why is this heck keep on writing on his blog when he suppose to be outside enjoying the every bit of Penang.
Reason: The Malaysian weather is just too crazy for me. So hot, I can melt once I step out of the house..... So most of you guys can see me hanging around my house most of the day, waiting for the sun to set. Yep, I am the next Dracula!!!!! Bwahahahahaha.

Okay, this time I am introducing you one of my favourites! Bak Kut Teh. Pork Bone Teh if I were to direct translate that. Basically it is a soupy dish that contained all kind of pork meats, pork bones, Chinese mushrooms, bean curd, and something I missed the most, deep fried dough! Back in Aus, I can still cook this dish whenever I like. But, I can never find good and fresh deep-fried dough.....

Yeah, I think once you guys hear about the word soupy, you might think that the heat had gone up to my head..... Normally after eating this dish, I will sweat like a pig. So normally I will eat that for tea, not lunch. Okay enough of crapping. The place that I went was located at Macalister Road, opposite to a hotel named Red Rock Hotel. Yep, once again, I did not take the name of the place down. Besides, the foods that I devoured were mostly from hawker centres, which mostly has no name...... So if you guys want to try this place out, make sure you pay attention when you drive from the city and reached the hawker centre called Hong Kong Dim Sum.
They have this traditional way of cleaning your cutlery. Hmm, not cutlery, maybe your chopsticks and spoons. The traditional way is by cleaning your "cutlery" with a bowl of hot water. Super hot, you will get burn if you are not well trained. Maybe if you go for dimsum anywhere you will still see this, but outside the dimsum restaurant you hardly see this way anymore.

The sumptuous feast. Maybe not sumptuous, but definitely mouthwatering one! The plate of yellow-ish cubes are the deep-fried dough I was talking about. You dip them into the soup and eat it when they are soaking wet with the soup! Very flavoursome.

Tada! This is the Bak Kut Teh! Filled with meats and a bit of veggie. But the soup is very herby, unlike the Singaporean style, which is mostly pepper...... That night we had 3 refills of the soup and we can still finished the whole claypot. I drank at least 2 bowls of the soup!

Next time maybe later today or tomorrow I will post more foods up. Maybe I will do the seafoods from Teluk Kumbar!

Foods in Penang - I

I think I will dedicate this blog into foods for these few days. Cause I wanted to lure you guys into coming to Penang. Okay, the first stop has to be the one from a hawker centre in Tanjung Bungah. I can't recalled what is the hawker centre name, but it is opposite the Penang Chinese Swimming Club. I was the member over there before, and that place was pretty familiar to me, eventhough I lived in the city.

Okay, this place was introduced by my sister. There is this place that sell "ikan bakar - grilled fish". 不一样 ikan bakar. Yeah you hear me correct, it means Unique Grilled Fish.... The name itself was very catchy, so I went ahead with my sister. It turned out to be very nice! The sauce was really different from a normal grilled fish. The sauces had some deep-fried anchovies and dried shrimps as well. So since the 不一样 ikan bakar is so famous, we decided to name the place 不一样 Hawker Centre! Sorry guys, the picture of the grilled fish turned out to be pretty dark. I was quite new to my sister's camera. So you guys will have to settle for the 不一样 sotong or 不一样 grilled squid. The next thing I wanna introduce is Ambla Sumboi! Ambla is a fruit, a bit bitter to some people's taste. So they add dried plumes which makes it sourish! That's the drink I always order since I reach Penang 1 week ago. Yeah, I am in Penang for a week, although my mom is annoying me to the max, I am looking forward for more Penang foods!

Although the grilled fish is very good, others were only alrite. Satay, fried oyster omelette were so so only. I will post some of the good satay up next time. I will try to update this blog with heaps of foods next time. So I guess I shall make you guys drool for awhile, before the big Niagra falls come down! Hahahaha.

A normal (not unique) satay

Pretty normal fried oyster omelette

Ice kacang, or I don't know what it is called. Basically it is a cold dessert.

Job well done. I took heaps of pictures of other foods, they doesn't turn out nicely..... I was having Hokkien-Loh Mee actually. It is mixture of Loh Mee and Prawn Mee. Spicy and very sticky, ditch that dish a lot!

Till next time, please prepare your mouth for Niagra Fall!

A series of unfortunate events

I think taking the flight back home is actually a wrong movement. Right after I boarded the flight, bad things tend to follow me around.... These are the series of unfortunate events I would love to rant about!

1. Change of flight for my KL - Penang trip. Although I had changed from flying at 9pm to 4pm which means I only left 1 hour transit, that doesn't mean it is a good thing. This is because the flight from KL to Penang is not a connecting flight.... I need to change the flight to the next day and sleep in my friend's (one of the generous monkey's) house. Although it means I get to spend one night with my beloved friend, that really bugged me because I can't reach home earlier.
2. While printing my boarding pass for flight from Melb to Gold Coast, I accidentally turned off the computer instead of turning on the printer to print my pass. So I could not print that bloody pass and need to queue up for printing of my boarding pass. I was pretty angry at myself that time, for being so stupid, and turn off my computer instead.
3. Went to watch whales in the ocean. It is a good thing actually. They were magnificent! But I came back with a "salty fish". My shoe were soaking wet from the trip cause the sea water keep splashing onto my legs, AND my whole body, while we were chasing whales. Although this is a good sign that I should buy a new shoe, I quite like that shoe. Regradless of me skating through the wet ground with that shoe, I still liked them.
4. Now this is the worst thing ever happened to me..... My bloody beloved Sony Ericsson K850i which was newly purchased from Aus is going crazy with me. So am I...... The battery always dies after 12 hours. I need to charge it every day......... OMFG.....
5. Then, when I just reach Penang, my house had this series of blackout. No power, no fan, but heaps of mossy...... The stupid "people" don't know how to repair the "major breakdown". I called them at least 6 times and I reckon they know my name at the end of that series. OMG, being an urban person, blackout is really hard for me, and the mossy is not helping. At the end of the day, I was busy looking for cockie to pass my time.......

Some of you guys might say, stop the whinging. Get a grab of what is real and stop ranting..... But hey, this is my blog. So I can rant, ramble and whinge as much as I want. I should do something with my Sony. I hope these unfortunate events will end here.

ASM Conference

I better write this entry before I go off for holiday back in my hometown. I assume I will be a tourist in my hometown, cause I presume Penang will change to a phase I will never recognise. But before that, I will be heading to Gold Coast and watch a real life whale. I hope it will be great.

The past five days, I was busy. In fact, I was very very busy. I was attending a international level conference from Australian Society for Microbiology. Sound very interesting huh? Actually it is some sort of lecture over another lectures, that start from morning going through evening. You hear me correctly, sometimes I was over there from 8.30am to 10.00 pm. Of course it is not all about lectures, we have time for networking and social (this is what it said over the itinerary). I have to say, these lectures are very different from those you experienced during undergraduate. During undegraduate study, we were taught of what is the definition of Gram negative bacteria, what is bioremediation or the use of infection control. But over here, since I am the most under-qualified person, their talks were mostly on the research they did and what are they looking for.

There were heaps of microbiologist from all over the world. I was lucky to be able to chat with some of the most powerful person in this field. The first day was rather bleak. I was from the outback and looking at people chatting away are not a good sign when I have no one to talk to (except my supervisor). Luckily I managed to adapt to this kind of situation and prised my mouth open to speak with strangers. Almost everyday, I managed to talk with a handful of strangers, and "network". I didn't know being a scientist is so hard..... Anywho, on the second day, I noticed although there were high amount of people chatting in groups, there were bound to have people who stood there alone, feeling out of place. Then I began to feel relief and chatted away.

Thanks to my supervisor, who invited me to present in a small workshop, I managed to chat with some people from different universities, all around Australia. The picture below is my supervisor presenting in that workshop.
This is my lovely lengthy poster displayed in the Exhibition Hall.
That picture was taken when I was in a plenary presentation by a Laureate Prof Peter C. Doherty. I should say, some of the presentations can bored you to sleep or dead, while others are very amusing and funny.
I was very excited, afterall it is my first time attending a conference. I dare not take too many photos, cause none of them took any photos, and besides people are over here to listen to the presentation. Not to take photograph like all the Asian like to do. So three photos are all I can get from five days of conference.

Creatures from Mars

I am not sure why am I writing this entry. To tell you the truth, I really don't. I just felt like writing it, although the first part of my story had long gone 1 year ago. Maybe because I have no room on my own now, I am sleeping on a foldable bed-couch thingy. Or maybe I am just into a phase, like old smelly socks (I have no idea why I wrote that) PMS. Hahahaha.

Back to my title, before I got too far into the old smelly socks, I am speaking about men! Once upon a time that sound old, one of my friends (girl) asked me this question: What men do when they are interested in a girl? Man, that took me hell a long time to think. Maybe so long that, it takes me about 1 year to fully understand the psychology part of it. I am not a psychologist, so don't get me wrong there. So what men do when they are interested in a girl?

After 1 years of looking at love and men textbooks, definitely not researching, and maybe asking me the same question to answer my friend, I have come up with these set of answers. Maybe you guys might not agree with me, speaking in an ockle way "I don't bloody care, gals digs blokes with big tummy".

A guy is interested in a girl, when:

1. He looks at the particular girl with a slight puppy eyes and somehow tenderly look. I might get this wrong, a play boy might get these sort of eyes and get every girls on his shoe. How do you girls tell when a bloke have those eyes? Maybe they will sparkle when he looks at you?
2. The bloke is more caring towards you. Do not agree with that? No guys will beat up the girl that he likes if he is interested. What? You think you are still in kindie? So a good way to test this is to act as if you fall down, and hurt yourself, and see whether the guy cares or not. Of course some of them do care, right? When someone feel down, you will help that guy?
   
3. The bloke will be interested to spend more time with you. Either on the train, or just standing in front of the rancid smelling toilets waiting for you. This is quite true, we won't be standing there smelling all those filthy smell, and rather go to some perfume shop even though they smelt a lot worse.
4. The bloke would love to talk to you more often! With the latest techology, one can argue that it is hard to differentiate. Even a 5 years old kid has the latest mobile, and he KNOWS how to sms...... I reckon I will lose to him in the competition of text messaging if we had one.
5. I think body language plays a lot of roles in this part. Just like monkey, the interested party will try to groom the other victim monkey. Although we have evolved or genetically modified by selective breeding, some part of us are still very similar to our monkey ancestors. Christian people, you are different, you are greated by your god from mould. So I can't include you guys into this, can I? Sorry I am being religion-ist here, pardon me for that.
6. The guy will put the girl's name near his mouth. Not change his name to the girl's name, you bloody idiot. He speaks more of her, maybe in good, some might be bad.
   
7. Maybe he will beat you because he is interested in you. Well, when a boy hit or bully a girl, this means he is interested in her. Maybe some people still practise this movement when they grow up. Thank god I am not close to any of these abusive people.
   
8. The bloke will try to buy drinks for the lady, and maybe with some additives. Well, we know what we are interested. Do you?
9. He will jump around like monkey and ask you for a dance or so. Then you guys can jump around in circle or crazy undirected way and exchange body heat. Hey I am not talking about sex yet, don't jump into conclusion like them.... Then after one dance or another, you guys can actually exchange "interest" in a filthy grafitti toilet. By "interest", it means something the girl will see something growing in few month time like a bank interest, and guys need to pay all of that in return.
   

Okay, I can't think of any other thing that is good. So basically you guys should know the point 1-6 are somehow true, and point 7-9 are all bullshits. If not, you poor gullible soul...... People open your eyes and look at the world, maybe with a new pair of glasses.

For your information, as a disclaimer, this is just a mere nonsense by a too much time on his sleeve author, and should be read in account of pleasure or under supervision of an adult.

Leaving on a V-Line.

Taking a break from my packing, I decided to write this entry. Cause I probably won't have the mood to write another entry until I am fully settled in Melbourne. Yes, you get me right, I will be moving back to Melbourne for good. I will be out of this outback, and into the big smoke. Some parts of me are longing about the move, and another half just want to stay put. But this is a move I have to make, not the one I can choose.
If you guys have read the previous entry, I will be crashing with my cousin. I think I better start packing again. These are my pictures of the packing progress.
I am always like that when I pack. Throw everything out and then only sort them into boxes. So everything will lie around the room when I pack, and I got agitated by that and start watching tv again. Hahaha.

-------

Apart from packing, I am sure I am going to miss the outback. I am speaking on behalf of everyone who stayed at the outback for more than 5 months. Okay, some people might not like this place after all these years. But I came to love it. This place is nice and very laid back; I believed I have said enough about this beautiful place, so I should stop here. I guess I should let you guys see what is so nice about this place. Those gippslander, please don't buy the next V-line ticket back to gippy after looking at them. ;)
The most beautiful sunset I have ever seen.

Sunsets during winter. I took them on the way back from gym.
One foggy day.

After tomorrow, it will be only a visit to this place. I know I will miss it a lot, but I can't see any of my future in this place. Maybe I will move back when I am a 40 years old heck, but not now.

In Heaven or In Jail?

Disclaimer: This is just a random rambling from Lex. The author still want to be neutral in political worlds, although most of the world are going crazy with the rise of gas.

Most of you guys might know about that I will be heading back to Melbourne for good, or some of you guys might not know. When I am down in the city, I have to stay with my aunt. This is because she INSISTED of me staying with her, and I know that she cares about me a lot (as much as a mother will). Hey I am not complaining about this. But then there is always a personal dispute inside me. I have moved out of the comfort and pamper life four years ago, and now I get my comfort and pampering by living by myself. I LOVE living by myself. What is the advantages?

1. I can go out as late as I want, not accounted to anyone. FREEDOM
   
2. I can do whatever I like at home, in my own little space, ie. watch tv until wee hour if there is no work the next day, find for treasure in two little holes that is formed below my eyes, and maybe sit around naked (I am just giving extreme activity, not that I sit around naked, only when it is 45 degree hot summer)

But there is always bad side which some people thinks that they will be too much for someone at this age, like laundry, cleaning the floor or others. But I have gone pass that budge-stage where I do all the house chores when I felt that they are too much for my liking.

When I told my aunt that I wanted to move out with my friends, my aunt actually cried out loud. Of another thing that makes me don't want to stay in the house is that I don't have my own space. I need to crash in my cousin room. I don't think he likes that idea as well. My aunt actually said that she wants me to live with her as long as I am working in Melbourne. So should I move out of Melbourne? I think when it is time to move, she will understand. So what is so bad living with her, right? Foods, shelters, needs, necessaries provided. All free of charge.

But, one thing is I need to crash with my cousin in a small room, both of us are over 18. I don't think it is good for my uncle to clean my undies and clothes. I don't have a personal table where I can put all my crap and electronics. I have some other needs, and I better not say. Their house are miles away from the station, and it is hard for me if I were to be late from gatherings and outings. I don't think my cousin will be happy if I stay over his place for that such a long time, and he might have needs as well. Hahaha. Hey, we are adult here, and boys will always be boys.

But beggars can't be choosers. So I have to go with this kind of tormenting situation for awhile, hoping I can a job and move out of their house. Don't get me wrong, they are the closest people to me over here in Aus, but I am a person who tasted freedom before. I don't want to go back to that so call comfort zone, if I can. I can make my own comfort zone now.

One good words though, beggars can't be choosers........

Tomorrow is another Day

Sorry guys, been leaving this blog to rot for awhile. Can you guys see any mould growing at the corner? If so, do help me to wipe them!

At 2 pm, I am no longer a student! Although my student card valid until 2010, so means I can watch movie at cinema with reduced price until 2010, I have officially completed my Honours degree!! Honours year come and go, and 1 year passed in a blink. I still clearly remembered the first time I stepped into my Honours office, sitting next to Micheal and Jacinta on my both side. I can't say I had the worst time during this year, I had a blast actually! I just wish I can stay here longer.

I was chatting with one of my friend, and that I will be heading to the city soon. It is different, I got use of this kind of slow-paced life in Gippsland. If I remembered clearly, I did say this phrase before, and for a numerous time. People over here in Gippy are way friendlier than those in the city. Although when you bring a smile out to the world, the world will smile WITH you (not At). Oh yes, I will be moving to the city soon. I have no idea how many times I need to move, but I to have my own house next time, where I won't need to move like a bloody nomad.

I have been pretty addicted to watch Aussie Footy these days. That is a bloody bewdy, one can play with hand, foot and even body. But I don't really see the point of talking footy here, since this is not a footy blog, and only those from Aus will know about this game.

For now, I will pay all my attentions into making a nice poster for the conference I am anticipating for, and enjoy will I can!!!! Yes, tomorrow is another day, another pretty boring and routine day. I guess I am behaving older than I suppose to be, no longer hitting the nearest pub (if there is any) to celebrate my degree completion. But, sit here and bloody blog about my bloody life...... I wonder whether can I blame on my circle of friends over here, cause almost all of them don't go to such places. I have to pull them into a pub last year during my birthday.....

BUT, I get my entertainment by hitting the gym; not to spot on boobies, or to see girls in bikini in the swimming pool. I do exercise in the gym. AND healthy dose of cable tv, thanks to my landlord. Sometime I do feel bad, cause I was laughing my ass off while watching King of Queens while my housemate need to study for his nursing examination.

Okay, enough of rambling useless stuffs. Tomorrow is another day, for me to start packing and procrastinate!

Now you comb now you don't

I guess this entry's title is rather weird rite? now you comb now you don't? What does it means? Okay, for the past few days, I have been complaining to someone, you know who you are!, that my hair is bugging me..... All flat hard to make it stand up. Maybe because once I got lazy making them all stand up, they will fall flat and stuck to my head.... Haih......

So I finally can't take that anymore, and went back to Melbourne for my stylist. This time, my stylist was none other than my Fat Aunt! Ta. Ta. Ta. Ta.......


She was shock to know what I am going to cut, and I don't know whether you guys will be shock as well. But I INSISTED. The picture below is me without my hair cut. All flat, looked exactly like a nerd.
Then after the hair cut:
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Wait for it
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.What for it
.
.
.
.
.
.
What for it
.
.
.
.
.
.

There! Buzz cut!!!!! Although it makes me looked a bit "eggy", and I can tell people still can't use of that, well, they have to!
Hahahahaha. It does look better with my sunnies and Ipod, rite?

What is your say?

Looking Up and Reaching for the Sky

I am finally finished with my Honours Thesis! After 4 months of nonstop writing and cracking up my head to correct my own badly-sounded English, it all comes to one day or pathetically worry on every single bit of the thesis formatting..... But at the end of the day, although I was knackered, lethargic and having millions of stuffs running around my head, I felt good. Not happy cause I was too numb to be happy. GOOD! I felt even better when my supervisor told me how proud she is! Those little words do make me feel a lot better!
(PS, you will never get these treatments if you are under an Asian supervisor, so beat it)

Yesterday, I was telling myself that I should NOT be typing anything for at least two days. But what are you looking now? Yes, I am typing on my blog, blog entry won't just come into existence if no one is writing it......I am not staying with an extraterrestrial person either. I just can't seems to stop myself from doing work, I guess. Don't get me wrong, I am not a workaholic. I know when to enjoy my day. These days there weren't any good movies and tv shows over Austar. Just when you thought paid tv has everything, but not every single minute of the day.

There are thousands message I wanted to pass on during the holocaust/hiatus, but I was just too busy to write up something nice. These few days, a Melbournian drop-out, Cory something is stirring the water again. First he crashed his own parent's house, then once he got famous in doing that, people thinks they can make money out of him. By giving him more money and attentions in doing those absurd behavior. For your information, to those who is not in the land down under, or just plain living in a nutshell, this guy is a real nuisance. Creating problems everywhere he goes, and over-partying like no body's business. I guess he doesn't realise that after a few years, he will be living in a dump with no one attention. And the last thing he might do is suicide, since this is a good attention seeking events! I am not cursing him here, but I am just merely stating the obvious.

A lot of people come over to me, saying " Yeah, so you are done now! I am envy you cause you can do nothing now!". Hell no. I have heaps of stuffs to do, just like the next undergraduate student standing next to me. Oh not next to me, cause I am in my room writing this entry, and no one is standing next to me. If you guys bothered to look at the two previous posts, I had as much thing as you guys. Maybe even more... But those of the stuffs that I am dying to do.
Presenting in a nationwide conference! How good is that.

I guess I should be done for today. Off to do more workout in the gym!! I will be doing down to the big smoke tomorrow! Till then,

I am still Alive

I have abandoned my blog for 1 month.... My gosh..... Just a quick hello just to tell you my whereabout. I don't want to abandon it okay, but these few weeks have been tremendously exhausting and busy.....

What I am up to these days?

Thesis writing.

Hitting the gym every other days. I am not that vain to post myself naked and show the muscle in my blog, so don't ever think you can see anything from here.

Doing lab works continuously and planning that they will fail and need me to repeat them.....

Sleep (definitely)

City dwelling. Quite a lot, cause some unfinished business.


My Schedule for next few months?

Finish my Thesis. That is a MUST. DO OR DIE.......

Apply for Aussie Permanent Residency

Presenting a poster in Australian Society for Microbiology Conference in Melbourne. That will be my major event for the moment! I can't wait to go there and crap for 4 days!!!!!

Go to Gold Coast. Although I go there alone, I reckon it will be fun as well! Planning to go whale watching instead of the kindy theme parks.

Go back Msia for holiday. 3 weeks only. So mates, please book me in advance.

Maybe go for skiing trip in Falls Creek!

Okay, that's it for now. I will come in and blog impromptu! When I have a time to spare for breathing. Hahaha

Stressed

Stressed...


Liveless....


Apathy...


Lethargic...


Yes, those are the feeling I had past few weeks.

Labs...

Thesis...

Resume and Cover Letters...


Yes, those are the stuffs I have been doing for the past few weeks.

I am sorry guys, apparently thesis has took the creativeness in me. Can't seems to find a good topic to write these days. Besides I am just too tired to write when I need to write 20 thousands words of thesis.....

Bare with me these few month, reckon this "sickness" will prolonged to end of May.... I will try to update somedays, not frequent like other professionals bloggers. I am not one of them anyway. Hahaha. So don't abandon my blog........

Crocodile Meat in Red Silk

That day when I was down in the big smoke, I went to eat at Red Silk (again). This time I did not order any same o' same o' foods that I used to. I ordered Stir-fry Crocodile meat with XO sauce! It is quite nice!!!! Not like I've never eaten crocodile before, but this is not bad at all. The previous time was in Dragon Boat with other exotic meats.

Anyway the meat tasted like chicken, while the texture felt a bit like fish. There were also some fishy taste to it. Go for it if you want something different for your lunch or tea.

Red Silk Restaurant and Bar
101, 1st Fl 200 Bourke Street Melbourne 3000
03 9663 9922

Conformity Vs Individualism

What I realised after 2 years of staying oversea is that the cultures between two big nations are relatively huge; Asian and Westerners. Over here in Aus, there were high amount of people practicing Individualism, while in Asian countries, there were high conformity going on.

For those of you who has no idea what is Conformity and Individualism, better improve your psychological dictionary.

Conformity means tendency to change one's perceptions, opinions, or behaviours to conform with group norms. Too many scientific jargons? Basically it is about one following the social trends and community trends. Individualism is the opposite of that.

Okay, why I say that? That Westerner has more individualism, while Asian just follow the leads. Some of you who are pro-Asian might started to protest upon looking at that sentences. AND I am going to prove my theory right.

Let's talk about Asian alone. Looking back at the time of LaLa-Land. There were heaps of LaLa (people with totally no sense of dressing, thinking what they dress were hip when they showed a total loser out of them) all of the sudden in a few years back. Almost all, if not all, of them have bell bottom jeans, collar shirts which were opened widely which can showed their skinny chest. Shirts that are mostly colourful, maybe from their father's time.
Then there were the straightening-hair-period. When almost every girl I know, have had their hair straightened.
This is not the bad stuffs. The thing that make conformity so strong in Asia is people will actually look at you differently when someone wear differently from the norm. This is why conformity is kept very strong in Asia, cause everyone want to look like another person he/she is staying with. They will scrutinizing you until you felt like you weren't wearing anything at all.

Then, there will always be the Westerner. Of course, there were people who conform to others. Following fashion trends, and wearing something people will preferably wear. BUT, there were also high individualism in this region. If you were to wear something funny in the street of Melbourne, not many people will pay attention, or even scrutinizing you. For example, when a guy wear Harry Potter costume, or even super-duper short pants, no one will care.

You guys might think I am a hypocrite. Writing all these, while I myself follow trends so desperately. Yes, although I follow trends, there are time which I just wanna wear my normal home clothes out. And I did.

Of course, I am not talking about dressing up in your G-strings and thongs (Thong and thongs, what a great pun!). This picture was shown in my Psychology lectures. The first time I saw that, I almost burst out laughing.... hehehe

Thank You

I did not abandon my blog, okay. I was merely damn busy to update. Why so? These days I am really busy with my Honours. Going to graduate soon; here comes the thesis writings, endless laboratory trials, and spent the rest of my free time in gym or swimming pool. I was stressed inside out, stress can be excreted through my sweat pores into the environment...... So I go for gym, to release stress. Which proved to be a very good option!

I should post these up soon. But being a busy person, it took me 3 weeks later to post them up. As some of you guys know, I have finally moved out of residential. No more DC++, no more JJ (some of you will know what is that), no more 5 minutes walk to campus. But, at the same time, I met and become closed to a whole new group of awesome people! Hang out with them, playing monopoly until late, etc etc.

Back to my house, when I first came in, the house looked terrible. But I am not a person who particularly fuss with cleanliness. I can live in a place that looks like a dump, but give me a good bed and nice room, I dont mind! On the third day of CNY, Wing Sze came and cleaned my house, while I sat there being useless. Really need to thank her and her work, now it looks sparkling clean! She even squat down to scrub the floor tiles until they are squeaky clean, and caught cold the next day. This is the kitchen table, before the operation

This is the table after the operation

The janitor was quite happy with her work! Hahahaha

And lastly I wanna shout out for my friend, who is so dearly that she sent me a postcard with CNY wishes! It reaches on my doorstep the day before CNY. How nice!!!!! Till this date, the card is still sitting on my bedside table. I couldnt find a good place to stick it up. So it should sit there till I find a good spot.

I have heaps of movies in my harddisc, but I cant find the time to watch them......

Food Testing

I was doing an experiment on my food yesterday. Testing my fridge foods with subject being myself.

Case Study
The cabbage turns moldy over the cut-edge. Presumptive mold is Aspergillus sp. This is because Aspergillus can break down high carbohydrates from the cabbage and they presented in atmosphere. When the cabbage was cut, it may come in contact with the mold's spores.

But the thing is I was craving for cabbage. But we should not eat anything that is moldy, because we known fungi can grow almost every corner of the foods, just that we don't see it (Schliephake, 2007). So I was standing there and pondering. Here comes the objective; eat the cabbage to see whether I will get diarrhoea and prove Schliephake's lecture correct.

Method
The cabbage's edges were cut away. Chopping board was cleansed to prevent cross contamination. Cook the cabbage with carrots for a vegetarians stir fry.

Results
The meal tasted weird. Maybe because of the Chinese rice wine that was added into the stir fry. Watery diarrhoea after 3 hours (acute attack). But the diarrhoea was prevented by immediate consumption of Five Pagoda Medicine. Diarrhoea resided right after, no more water, but soft feaces were produced.

Conclusion and Recommendations
Moldy cabbage is bad. Don't try to eat it even when it appear to be slightly fluffy outside. Cause it will penetrate into the core of the cabbage. Just throw that cabbage away and eat some other veggie instead!

Schliephake, K (2007) Food Microbio in Food Microbiology Class. Should be in Room 3W-219

Slang

Okay, I was pretty lazy in blogging these days. I am sorry. Besides it is Chinese New Year and I have yet post anything about CNY. Hahaha. Maybe you should see my another blog MooMooLanders for those pictures of CNY Fest. And the slow speed of photo uploading in my new House is not helping......

Before I start rambling, I wish to greet everyone

Gong Xi Fa Chai
Keong Hee Huat Chai
Kong Hei Fatt Choi
Happy Chinese New Year

Okay, enough of seasonal greetings, I can start my rambling now. Hahaha.

Last month, yeah one month passed that quickly, when I have a good nite sleep! Anyway, I was calling my new landlord about my house, when the call divert me to a voice mail service. Yeah rite, it is a service where an operator will talk to you and ask you what you need instead of you talking idiotically to the silent on the other end.

So, once the lady was speaking on the other end, I actually thought that she is a relative or someone close to David. After she repeated the second time, I caught what she meant. Her Aussie accent was not really strong, and she is definitely not an Indian. I am not being a racist, but most voice operator these days in Aus, are Indians. Indians apart, this operator's accent is alright and I pretty much know the hell she is talking about. The problem was she couldn't catch what I wanted to say on my end......
Okay this is how the conversation goes (Let's call her Operator Penny, you will know what I use this nick later on):

Operator Penny: Hi, this is the voice mail service for David J------s
Me: Huh? David?
Penny: Hi, this is the voice mail service for David, what can I help you?
Me: Oh. I wanted to talk to David (hahaha, how idiotic can I be ay?)
Penny: No (I bet I really got her nerves this time). I am a voice operator for David. Can I leave a message for him? Do you want to leave a name, telephone number and a message for David so that he can call you back?
Me: (Finally get what she meant, hey I never encounter such thing before) Ooooh. Hi, this is Lex, I am the new tenant for Dalpura Court and my mobile is 04xx xxx xxx.
Penny: So Lex as in L. E. X?
Me: Yes
Penny: Mobile number, is 04 x x x x x x x x?
Me: Yes
Penny: and your message will be?
Me: I wanted to talk to David about Dalpura Court Unit 2.
Penny: Huh? about what?
Me: Dalpura Court
Penny: Oooh, Dalpura CouRT (with the emphasis on the "tk" sound)
Me: Yeah, Dalpura CouRT....... (thinking: can't she hear my "tk".......)
Penny: and how do you spell Dalpura? D for donkey? A for amy? L for lex?
Me: Yes
Pen: then B for benny.
Me: (Immediately) No, P for pen
Penny: yes yes, B for ben
Me: (is she trying to get back to me?) No, P for Pen (with the emphasis on sharp "p" sound)
Penny: Ben?
Me: Urgh..... P for Pencil. PENCIL!!!!!

And the line just cut there..... Cause I ran out of credit........ I can't believe that. I spent all my credit on spelling Pen. Pen Pen.......
Luckily David did replied me a few minutes later......

For your information, my Malaysian slang is not as bad as it used to be. I am not boosting, but I can communicate with my local friends pretty well and easy. So I just don't know what happened there......

Pipi

Okay, to make one thing clear. This title is Pipi. But it has nothing to do with cheeks. Pipi in Malay means cheeks. I am not going to talk about cheeks over here. This entry is about Australian Pipi (a bivalves which could be found in the sand, for Malaysian, they call it Lala(s).) It is pronounced as pee.pee, just like in Malay for cheek.

I better tell the whole story right here right now. Last Monday, it was Australian Day. So we thought of doing something more Australian. Not opening a barbie, or get ourselves drunk like babies. We headed to the beach!

It was Venus Bay. I will post that entry in my other blog Moomoolanders, when I grab those photos from Jon and Mel. Anyway, while we were in the beach, we were playing with waves and water, when Chun Yau found pipi which is alive and kicking!

Then I found another on the sand, and there goes the whole Pipi Expedition! All in all, we dug out about 2 bags full of pipi. After making sure we were not violating the law, we brought that 2 bags happily!!!! Mind you, they are completely FREE!!!!!Okay these are some of the photos of pipi and the menu made out of them! The big chef of that day was Yong, and I reckon he did a great job in cooking them!!!!!!

This is only one eighth of the pipi

Cooking those pipi. Yummm!

First dishes: Garlic Pipi with White Wine

Second Dishes: Tomato Pipi with Red Wine. Yum yum!!!

Third Dishes: My favorite, Belachan Pipi!!!!!

Jason getting ready to eat those pipi(s)

Me and Mel already started serving the pasta

Those pipi waste

Then here are some of the famous quotes of THAT day:

Yong: I was just complaining to Mel that I don't get to eat lala (pipi) since I came to Aus. Now I had plenty!
Mel: Are we going to finish those lalas?
Sookie: These are hell a lot of lalas...
Jason: If we want more free pipi, just go back to Venus Bay!
Jon: Are those black stuffs, shit?
Ammie: I can't be bother eating them anymore......
Me (Lex): I want more lalas!!!!! Yumm.

PS, None of us except Yong got diarrhoea after eating those pipi. This means they are safe to eat!

Packing Again

I can't believe, I need to pack and move again. I am a nomad. I don't know when can I stop packing and moving. But apparently this is how I live for the past one and half year. Moving from places to places, rooms to rooms.

I am damn tired with this kind of life. But what can I do? Buy a house? BULLSHIT...

Anyway, after a few months later, I need to move out of the house I am moving into, and maybe back to Melbourne. Then I reckon I still have much moving to do....

If I am at good mood, I might take photos of my new room.

Till then, packing is it......

Steamy Fish

Yesterday I felt the sadness of animals in the zoo. Being looked at and pointed at. Being throwed at with rubbish and foods that is no good for them. That is what I felt last nite. Hahaha. Okay it is not as bad as what I have just described, but it is definitely awkward.

Felt like this, but I am wearing clothes. Definitely. Hahaha. Ps: Picture taken from other blog. Can't remember where I got them. But pretty funny!

After beating around the bush for so damn long. I should have told you guys what was humiliating and embarrassing me.

Wing Sze and I was cooking Chinese steamed fish yesterday, since the day before we brought ourselves two fishes from Midvalley. After cooking, we eat your dinner as usual, outside the common room. But yesterday Dee and Kara's friends came over to stay and party. I reckon Kara is the one who saw the fish first. She was so amazed, that she yelled out for everyone in the house to see our lovely little (big Red Fish) fish. Hahaha... Everyone was looking in awe and amaze by way we eat it. With heads and tails attached.... Dee was the one who looked with a big crotch-hole. It is good she did not break down and cry, since she is a vegetarians because she loves animals too damn much. Hahaha.

On the other hand, we tried to tell everyone that we Asians EAT the fish this way. It is much more fresher and nicer than eating them in flakes. But oh well, this is their culture. Never eat anything that had heads and tails in them.

Chinese steamed fish. I took this picture from another person's blog as well. If you want to know how to cook it, just click over the link.