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The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” – G.K. Chesterton

Tuesday 28 February 2006

Be careful of personal info you provide on the internet

My sister Honey is in a Malaysian magazine - without her consent or approval or even knowledge for that matter. Read her blog entry on the matter.

I've always been iffy about posting personal information on the internet. I'm even iffy about posting photos up on the internet. When I have to give personal information to non-official stuff on a non-secure form, I always only give the minimum required info, or provide the wrong birthday, or not give my full name, or just provide my initials. Or even fake information. The way I see it - the internet is a public domain - if you put personal stuff up then people will read it and may use it. However, this magazine published incorrect information that does not exist anywhere and used Honey's photo without her consent - they should get in trouble for it. It is an unfortunate thing that the legal system in Malaysia would be quite difficult to work with in Honey's favour.

Monday 27 February 2006

Emotional trauma

I think I underestimated how emotionally affected I am as a result of the bike accident that happened almost two weeks ago. Other than the physical injuries I sustained to my left shoulder and my right knee, I thought I was fine. Honestly, I didn't think that I was that traumatised. Sure, I was upset and shaken for a couple of days after the accident, but I was more annoyed and indignant that there are drivers like that out there. It was not a serious accident, and I was ready to hop back on my bike (which is still not fixed yet - bike store waiting for the fork to come in) without much thought to it. I didn't even realise that I had subconsciously bottled up the emotional part to this whole issue. Until I had to make the call to the offending driver a few days ago on Thursday.

The manager of Western Xposure (the company that owned the vehicle) advised that the driver, Gary, wished to deal with me directly and that Gary will be giving me a call when he gets back to Perth on that Friday. I waited for that call for one week then had Rob ring the manager to let him know that we still hadn't heard from Gary. The manager gave us Gary's mobile number so that we can ring him (at our expense!). I did not want to talk to Gary but Rob encouraged me to ring him (to 'build character', he said). Rob said that I should try not to get into any arguments over the phone, but to focus on how to settle this $200 cost to fix the bike.

So I ring Gary on Thursday night. He seemed weirded out that I had his number. Apparently he didn't know he was meant to contact me. So apparently there is a communication gap between his manager and himself. Alright. I tell him that I wish to settle the cost of bike repair. He then launched an attack saying that he's not paying the full cost because the accident was partly my fault (said that I was speeding (!! yeah, on my bike?!), that he didn't see me, blah blah blah). I started rebutting his attacks, but Rob reminded me to stay focus on the topic of settling the cost. I try going back to trying to settle the issue, but Gary kept trying to draw me into an argument until I finally gave up trying to avoid an argument and said that I had the green light to go, that I couldn't have been doing more than 30km/h, and that I saw him looking AT me before he turned. He hung up on me.

I cracked and broke down. Told Rob I couldn't do it. That I was still affected by it. I was so upset. Rob rang Gary back and Gary started yelling at Rob. Said that he'd hung up on me coz I was yelling at him (I asked Rob if I had raised my voice at any point, and Rob confirmed that I hadn't). Rob did an excellent job of calming Gary down and reasoning with him. It is easy for Rob to deal with him because he is a third party not involved in the accident. Anyway, Rob said that Gary admitted that he was at fault, but that he is a student and cannot afford to pay the $200. Gary said he'll try to get the company to pay for it via the insurance company, but if that doesn't come through, then he'd have to pay in installments.

Okay, so Gary was probably feeling guilty and tried to shift the blame off himself - what about me? I was the one who was injured, was traumatised for a couple of days after the accident, and had to rely on the unreliable public transport to and from work for two weeks. Where does he get his justification to make me feel bad on top of all I went through because of the accident? All I am asking is for him to pay the cost of the bike repair (and possibly an apology) - he should be relieved that I'm not pursuing him for further compensation for injury, mental trauma etc. Rob later asked me if Gary somehow offered a sincere apology, would I be willing to let the debt go? I said that it may have been possible if Gary did not try to alleviate his guilt by making me suffer even more by playing the blame game when I called him.

I don't know why but over the past few days the fear of riding my bicycle on the road is creeping into my mind. I used to have a phobia of crossing busy roads, and it took me a good few months last year to gain confidence just to ride on my own to and from work (poor Rob had to accompany me both ways for a few months last year). I will overcome it, but this will take time.

One good thing coming out of our bike accidents is that Rob and I will be trying to push DPI to run a campaign to raise motorist awareness for cyclist safety.

Friday 24 February 2006

Sydney Dine-outs - Jap, M'sian, Turk

Fujiya Japanese Restaurant, Haymarket

On the eve of Chinese New Year, my sister took us to Fujiya Japanese Restaurant on George Street nearby her apartment in Haymarket. We decided that going for a non-Chinese restaurant would ensure that it wouldn't be packed for this festive occasion. I thought the menu was reasonably priced - neither cheap like Taka nor pricey like Tsunami. There were lots to choose from, ranging from the usual sushi, sashimi, rice and udon to the more un-normal stuff like soft-shelled crabs and crumbed oysters.

Octopus balls (takoyaki) are quite popular in Sydney and Melbourne - there are stalls in shopping malls and in the open market areas selling just this stuff. We ordered takoyaki and soft-shelled crab as entree to share between the three of us.

Takoyaki:


Soft-shelled crab:


For mains, Rob ordered the katsudon set and I went for the sushi udon set.

Katsu:


Sushi udon:


From memory, the total of our meals came to around $54 for the three of us. The restaurant's interior was nice and spacious with wooden floors and furnitures. There are bigger tables on the perimeter of the floor next to the windows (the restaurant is on the first floor) and smaller tables with partitions for more intimate setting towards the middle of the restaurant. Japanese waitresses are always polite, so you can be assured of a good service - just be prepared for the language barrier. Fujiya's worth a visit if you happen to be in the area.


Makoto Sushi Bar, Chatswood

One of my friends live in the suburbs near Chatswood, which is about a 1/2hr train ride north from Central Station. Oh man, catching the train at Central Station is quite an experience but that's another story altogether. Anyway she suggested this Japanese place called Makoto which has a sushi train which she says is the best she's had. She reckons that the sushi trains we have in Perth (like Jaws) don't even come close to comparing the stuff you can get here.

You can't make a booking at this place. It works on a similar principle as many dimsum/yumcha places do - you write your name down on the sheet of paper and the number of people, and your number is called when there are seats available for you. She suggests we meet at 8pm for dinner, the reason for which is that there's usually a wait for a seat and she was hoping that the line wouldn't be as long if we had a late-ish dinner. And boy, did we wait - we waited 40minutes for our seats! We were absolutely starving by the time we sat down (heh, and probably contributes to why we think the food tastes so good too). There's a policy that you get a free sushi plate if you wait for more than 30minutes for a seat.

The food was fresh and very nice - although I think if we came in closer to dinner time, we would have more variety to choose from. I think our favourite was this grilled fish sushi where the fish was 'grilled' using a blow torch - Rob said it tasted like Hungry Jack's trademarked flame-grilled meats. Yummy. Nihon no tabemono ga totemo sukidesu (I hope that makes sense). We had maybe 16 plates between Rob and myself, and I think that came to about $45. I can understand why this is a very popular place.








Chinta Ria Restaurant, Darling Harbour

We wanted to take Lynn out to a nice dinner as a thank you for showing us around and letting us stay at her place. She highly recommended a Malaysian restaurant called Chinta Ria at Cockle Bay Wharf, Darling Harbour. She loves the coconut rice and the Hot and Sour soup (aka Szechuan soup).

Chinta Ria is definitely marketted to the more well-off. Whilst the food taste authentic enough, it's definitely targetted at the non-Malaysian people because us Malaysians know that good Malaysian food don't cost that much! But it's a nice place for a treat :).

There's a huge buddha statue to greet you when you step in the doorway. The waiters are from Malaysia or Singapore which contributes to the authenticity of the food I suppose. Service is faultless, and it's a nicely decorated restaurant. If you're lucky enough, you can choose to have a table outside with a view of the river or enjoy the atmosphere and music inside the restaurant.



After much musing over the menu, we decided to have the following (descriptions taken from their menu available online:

Ella's Wrap ($9) - prawns stuffed with minced prawns, herbs and vegetables sealed in a fine pastry and snap fried. I only had a tiny taste due to my phobia of greasy foods causing my stomach problems. It was nice and not at all greasy like I expected it to be. Nice and crispy.



Hot 'n' Sour soup ($8) - tofu, shredded black fungus, mushrooms, bamboo shoots and preserved cabbage in a spicy egg-blend soup. This soup was served in a large bowl, so it was worth the $8. I like Szechuan soups and Chinta Ria did this soup well so this gets my thumbs up.



Sambal Fish ($24) - Rockling fillets in a light chilli paste with onion and tomato. Not sambal as we know it - i.e. not very spicy at all. Real sambal fish (especially my mum's) has a real bite to it. This one was even almost sweet. I guess if this place wishes to attract mainly non-Asian diners, it can't serve super spicy foods.



Beef Rendang ($20.80) - beef, curry paste and coconut milk. Lynn and I agree that this is not beef rendang. Beef rendang is quite a dry curry and the meat is cooked until it is tender and almost in shreds. The beef rendang at Chinta Ria had a lot more liquid to it. It's just not the same as the traditional rendang, but it was still nice.



Coconut rice ($3pp). Much like the rice served with nasi lemak. This is served per head, not per bowl much to Rob's delight. Rob loves nasi lemak :)

All up we paid around $72 for the three of us, which is reasonable but I know we can get a lot of these food for much cheaper elsewhere.


Efes Turkish Pizzas & Kebabs, Newtown

One of Rob's friends live in Newtown, and took us around King Street. We were in search of a nice place to eat, but most of the places she recommended were not open for lunch. There were many other restaurants to choose from - Thai, Vietnamese, cafe-style food, kebabs and Japanese just to name a few. So after much deliberation over what to have we settled on what was in front of us (mostly because we were already starving!), which happened to be Efes (although, if I had my way, we'd probably end up in another Japanese restaurant ;P). Quite a cozy little cafe, mainly catering for take-aways I think. Efes has a selection of pides (turkish pizzas) and kebabs to choose from. And apparently Apple Tea is a Turkish specialty too - I certainly didn't know that. Obviously we had to try it. It was so sweet! I guess I didn't expect the sweetness to hit me (I was expecting some sort of herbal tea). To give an idea of the taste, I think it would taste quite similar to clarified apple juice if you heat up the juice.



We ordered one chicken kebab with the lot ($7) and one vegetarian pide made with potatoes and egg ($10) to share between the three of us. The kebab tastes pretty much like most kebabs we've had, but we loved the pide. The pide was served folded, similar to the calzone pizzas you find in Italian diners.



Trip to Sydney (and Melbourne)!

We spent just over a week in Sydney to usher in the new Lunar year at the end of January. We'd visited Sydney about 3 years ago during the Chinese New Year celebrations and we enjoyed it so much that we decided to go to Sydney again this year for the CNY celebrations. We also went to Melbourne to experience what was left of their CNY celebrations as well.

We did many things in Sydney this time which we didn't do the last time we were there such as crossing the Harbour Bridge on foot to go to Luna Park and go on unlimited rides for free (just another case of being in the right place at the ride time); went to Bondi Beach and loved it; ferried to Manly Beach and mainly hiked around; visited friends in the suburbs; and ate out lots. Here are some of the sights (and of us) taken with my very bulky dSLR camera. Will post more photos up later.

Lion (or is it dragon?) dance:


Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House in one photo, taken whilst on the ferris wheel at Luna Park:


Colourful fountain:


The Sydney Harbour Bridge:


Us on the Cockle Bay Wharf just before dinner:

Wednesday 22 February 2006

Sushi @ home

Sushi is quite simple to make - it's just so fiddly! I usually make several different types of fillings for the sushi, but I'd thawed out a bit too much chicken and made quite a bit too much teriyaki marinade, so it was teriyaki chicken sushi for dinner with teriyaki chicken salad. Hehe.

Teriyaki marinade/sauce

Anyway, decided that I was gonna make the teriyaki marinade/sauce. It is so simple. Honestly. At its most basic level, it comprises of three ingredients: soy sauce, mirin and sugar. Now apparently there are two types of mirin (a sweet cooking wine used in Japanese cuisine) - shin mirin and hon mirin - the difference being that one contains 1% alcohol and the other contains more than 14% alcohol (I forget which one and I'm to lazy to google it). I bought the one with the 14% alcohol (no wonder it was pricey). If you want to jazz up the teriyaki sauce, you can add ginger and chilli, but try to keep it simple. Teriyaki sauce is made by combining in a saucepan on medium heat the soy sauce, mirin and sugar in the ratio of 2:2:1 respectively. I replaced half the sugar with honey just to experiment with the taste. The chicken was then marinated with the teriyaki sauce overnight before. The chicken was grilled and basted with the remaining marinade whilst on the grill.

Sushi rice

You can use normal short grain rice for the sushi rice. I bought actual sushi rice which was twice more expensive than normal rice, but only because I couldn't find short grain rice at Subi markets. Honestly, I don't think there is much difference between the two.

You cook the rice as you normally would cook rice. In my case I used the rice cooker. To make the vinegar dressing for the rice, combine in a saucepan rice vinegar and sugar in the ratio of 2:1 respectively and stir over a medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Once the rice is cooked, place rice in a non-metallic bowl, drizzle the vinegar dressing on the rice and 'fold' it in to mix through the rice being careful not to mush up the rice. Allow the rice to cool to room temperature. I've heard that the trick is to cool the rice down as quickly as possible but I don't know the reason for it. And voila, you have sushi rice.

The sushi itself

Lay a sheet of nori (seaweed) on a sushi mat. Don't fret if you don't have a sushi mat - you can use a sheet of baking paper instead. Spread rice out over 2/3 of the nori sheet (warning: rice is very sticky - it helps to wet your hands with water first).



Place the desired ingredients (I used julienned carrots, cucumber sticks, avocado and chicken) in a line as shown in the photo. Have to be careful not to chuck on too much ingredients otherwise the nori sheet will not roll easily.



Then all you do is roll it into a sushi roll. This is where the saying 'Practice makes perfect' comes into play. I remember how awkward it was when I first made sushi. Just rest assured in the knowledge that your sushi-making skills will get better. The sushi mat/baking paper helps a lot with the rolling. Wet the edge of the nori sheet to help adhere the seam together.



Then all that needs doing is place the sushi seam-side down on the cutting board, and use a very sharp knife to cut into sushi pieces. And voila! you have made sushi. Serve with soy sauce, wasabi and preserved ginger (as they do at Japanese diners).

Tuesday 21 February 2006

The Fishy Affair, Northbridge

I had a wonderful night out with my hubby last night. Although we'd recently returned from a 2-week holiday over east in Sydney and Melbourne, we realised that we had not managed to spend one dinner alone together (hehe, we're just too popular ;P). And since we came back to Perth two weeks ago, we still hadn't managed to do that. So we decided to go out this weekend and give us a treat. We finally decided to go to The Fishy Affair in Northbridge because we haven't been back there for ages (more than a year), and we'd really liked it the few times that we've dined at the restaurant. They are running this "Early Bird" special at the moment for lunch and 6-7:30pm for dinners and one of the specials is having the Fishy Affair seafood platter for two for $60 (normal price is around $75). To tell you the truth, for all our previous visits to A Fishy Affair, we've only ever had their seafood platter as our mains because it's always so good, and also because the stuff in the platter changes seasonally.

The service at this place is good. The manager always make a point of visiting each table for a quick chat about the food, which I think adds a great personal touch to the service. The interior is very nicely decorated - great for group or intimate bookings. On quiet nights or if you get there early enough, you get a choice of dining al-fresco style outside the restaurant, at the window or a quieter location further inside the restaurant. We chose a window table tonight.





The platter is a sight to behold. The people sitting at the table next to us ordered fish and chips, but kept looking over at our platter. People walking pass the restaurant on the sidewalk were also looking at our platter. And we were the ones eating the yummy food on the platter. On the platter, there were Moreton Bay bugs (to Rob's delight), steamed king prawns, oysters natural, oysters Kilpatrick, scallops, chilli mussels, grilled squid, dolmades, red wine octopus, garlic prawn skewers, fish and potato wedges. The food were beautifully done. The squids and scallops were tender and juicy, not overcooked and rubbery. The sauces were mildly flavoured which did not overpower the delicate taste of seafood. The wedges were nice and crunchy - I haven't had wedges for ages!





I was filled to the brim after finishing the platter (not Rob though), but we decided to go for desserts. The dessert menu offered cheesecake, sorbet, mudcake, cheeseboard, crumble and various liqueur coffees, dessert wines and ports. The one thing that stood out was the Yum Yum a la Greco - grilled figs with honey, walnuts and Greek yoghurt (as described in the menu). We did not know that the figs were served with an alcoholic honey sauce, which was not really to our liking given that we don't like the taste of alcohol. The walnuts were actually presented as a praline, which I thought was nice (I like lollies) but Rob didn't like the fact that it stuck to your teeth if you chew it like toffee does. The Greek yoghurt was nice but mildly flavoured, and the flavours of the figs and the praline easily overpowered the yoghurt taste. The yoghurt would have to be eaten first if you want to taste it. Hm. Well, I'm sure there are people out there who would really enjoy this dessert but methinks that we would have enjoyed this dessert better if the sauce served with the figs did not have alcohol in it, and if the walnuts were served sprinkled on top of the yoghurt instead of as a praline. But that's just my opinion.



All in all, the food was very yummy and the company was fantastic. We went home full and happy :) Until I remembered that I have to go to work the next day..

Sunday 19 February 2006

Thankfully my shoulder injury from the bike accident seem to be healing okay but there's still a pretty nasty scab where my skin got metal-burned and there is still a bit of soreness at the joints. Can't help but feel self-conscious about the scab because I cannot wear sleeved tops to conceal it (the wound still seem to be seeping oh-so-slightly and I don't want to stain my tops!). I can pretend the wound is not that prominent, but collegues keep asking about it and a dull stinging ache serves as a reminder of what happened.

I'll live (and I'm glad I'm still living).

Tuesday 14 February 2006

Another bicycle accident

When this incident occured, I realised I have so much to be glad and thankful for. People are still amazed at how close this accident happened to Rob's accident on his bicycle (see my previous entries last month here and here)

What happened

I got into an accident myself this morning on the way to work on my bike. Sigh. I'm a bit bruised and sore but nothing serious, thank God! It happened on the intersection of Aberdeen and William St in Northbridge. I had the green to go straight down Aberdeen, so I proceeded to cross the intersection. A driver coming from the other direction to turn right onto William St (i.e. into my path) decides he can beat me to it, and takes the turn. I was like "Shit, wtf is he doing!" and braked hard and thought that maybe I could swerve around his vehicle and avoid an accident. He had a freakin' trailer attached and I hit the trailer (the vehicle belonged to Western Xposure which is a tour company). I wasn't going that fast (no more than 20km/h before I braked), and neither was he (it would actually have been better if he had cleared the intersection quicker but he was going slow because cars travelling in the same direction as me were turning left onto William St as well). He should not have crossed the intersection because I know he saw me coming (he looked at me before making the turn).

After impact

Anyway, I hit the trailer, crashed into it with my shoulder, bumped my head on it, and thought "Thank God for helmets!" I was so certain that those guys would drive off but they actually had the decency to stop and check if I was okay and carried my bike off from the busy intersection. Then the driver said that next time I should go slower. I was like, "Hang on, this wasn't my fault here", but the two guys started walking off to their vehicle and said that they are in a hurry blah blah blah. This is where I am so glad and thankful for good samaritans. The driver behind those guys parked his car and came over to see if I was okay, and pretty well chased after them but only managed to grab the number plate details on the vehicle itself (and here I was trying to memorise the number on the trailer). Anyway, this guy said he's happy to be my witness and gave me his details and was even kind enough to drop me off at work. He works at TAFE in Perth, which is pretty well where the accident happened so he had to go out of his way to drop me off in Leederville. I'm so glad and thankful for people like him. I would have been stranded otherwise because I couldn't even wheel the bicycle anywhere.

The damage

The guys at the bike store said the repair would be a couple of hundred dollars coz they have to replace the front fork as well as the wheel. I've got a pretty nasty burn on my left shoulder where I must've grazed it when I hit the trailer, and my left shoulder is feeling pretty sore. I didn't notice my left knuckles were grazed and bleeding until I arrived at work. I also have a bruise on my right knee and inner thigh. I've also somehow hurt my tailbone as well. But I am so thankful and glad that I wasn't more seriously hurt. The doctor checked to see that nothing was broken, and said that if I wished to make a compensation claim and/or if things got worse, then I should go back in a week's time to get it all sorted. Apparently injuries can show up much later on. After the doctor's, we went to the police station to make a report. I listed the accident down as a Hit and Run because that's basically what it was.

The annoying part

We rang Western Xposure to grab insurance details off them, and the director had the nerve to say that they wanted to make the claim FROM me! Bullsh*t. Their trailer had received no damage. He asked if I'd made a police report, and then said that he'll wait to hear from the police before giving out his insurance details. At this point, I was almost giving up pursuing their insurance details when Rob grabbed the phone and basically told the guy (in a gruff voice) that police won't contact him for claims less than $1000 and that we'd have to deal directly with the insurance company. I'm so glad for Rob. Because this sort of thing happened to him before, Rob knew what to do and what to say. The Western Xposure guy said something to the effect that I shouldn't be riding on the road. Sigh. So many drivers out there are so ignorant of the fact that we have to ride on the road because it's not legal for us to ride on most pedestrian footpaths.

Anyway, the Western Xposure guy said that he'll find out more about what happened and asked us to call back tomorrow. Rob requested that he contact his insurance company about this incident as well. I hope that this one won't be as messy as Rob's situation. Rob's been such a sweetie driving me to doctor's, accompanying me to the police station to help me fill out the report and finally dealing with the Western Xposure people.


Not much luck with our bicycles lately huh? We had a year of accident-free period on our bikes though (only near-misses), and I'm really glad and thankful that we have not sustained worse injuries.