Hello or Goodbye ?
Goodbye Sydney, hello world. Armed with a certifaction in behavioral coaching, I bid farewell to my classmates and all ready and eager to apply my coaching skill back home.
The Lilac Boulevard
Training finally ended on Sunday 4:30pm. My return flight was Monday the same time. Hence I decided to spend my Monday walking around down town Sydney. The last time I was here was almost a decade ago. I had the most memorable pasta olio next to the Sydney Opera House. I remember the delicious pasta bathed in the fragrance of generous dose of extra virgin olive oil and the defining taste of the crunchy pine nuts that was sprinkled ravishingly around the plate.
However this time round I was too early for the bistro. The waiters were still setting up the tables and wiping the chairs. I took a leisure stroll along the King Wharf and passed this boulevard lined with trees with beautiful lilac flowers.
The rain that soon followed forced me to take shelter in an Italian restaurant nearby. I was greeted by a big burly Italian man with a round belly and a broad smile. He gestured to me to sit anywhere I like and asked me what I would like to drink in a thick Italian English accent. He told me food was served at the counter. To my delights and amusement, the long counter was the atypical Rome style, lined with ten different types of salads, twenty different types of hot meal and 5 types of soups. I chose a vegetarian dish that looked like a sauté combo of three difference types of capsicum and pickles and carrots and the most delightful of all, my favorite pine nuts. I ate it with delicious bread. A glass of red wine would be just de perfecto ma ma mia.
This was a very delicious lunch and was a shame that I was too full for their tiramisu. The rain has subsided. I had the Modern Art Museum to visit before I headed to the airport.
Silent Night and Comfy Night
Is Christmas Eve 2006. I turned down party invitations, away from the shopping malls, took cover from crowded traffic, but snuggled up at home indulging in a special dinner I prepared for myself. May be I am getting old. May be I am not. But it is not too often I treat myself. Hence this Christmas should be the start of a new beginning.
I hardly cook and my kitchen is squeeky clean except for occassional cooking parties when I invite friends over. My sister in Australia has always taken interest in my recipe though she is one hell of a deadly cook herself. So I shall fulfull her wish.
Ingredients:
1. Salmon cut into strips ( You may leave it in large chunks but will take longer to cook)
2. String mushrooms ( either canned or fresh. You may use pasta instead if you are a carbo junkie )
3. Lotsa and lotsa of chopped garlic
4. Canned pineapples must be
Buatan Malaysia because Malaysia boleh !
5. Instant cheese mix for gravy ( Ok, I know I am cheating... )
6. A bit of alfafa and chives
Method:
1. Turn on the stove fire, pour some olive oil in the pan
2. Put in the strips of salmon and simmer till there are brown edges around the salmon
3. Turn off the fire and placed the cooked salmon on a large serving plate
4. Now saute the garlice with the remaining oil in the pan
5. Throw in a generous string mushroom and stir fry them
6. Now add slices of pineapples
7. Scoop a few spoons of the pineapple syrup into the simmering pan to help make the sauce
8. When all are cooked, place the pineapples and mushroom beside the salmon
9. Decorate the dish with alfafa and chives which add a crunchy taste to the whole dish
Here you are, bon appetite !
Angel's Blessing
I interrupted my Sydney series to bring you a special Xmas greeting from Leming in Perth. With this angel, my little 3 year old nephew would like to wish eveyone a super merry yummy Christmas !
The young Nancy Drew and friend
I am sure santa hide his lollies here.
A walk in the park
33C
Christmans at Down Under is bright and sunny. Guess their Santa wears T-shirt and shorts and shaves his head bald.
The Chinese Red banner
I did not expect to see a red banner over such a true victorian balcony. May be this lounge bar will become a Hainanese Kopitiam the next trip I am here?
Aussie and Booze
We speak no evil, see no evil, hear no evil, say the stone monkeys. Hmmmm you don't want to know what could be going on in the pub.
Smooth as Silk
Training normally began at 9:15am, but I got up early at 7am so that I could wake up to the smell of brewed coffee and delicious toasties. To be honest, I did not wake up to the smell..... technically.
I "sleep-walked" to my favourite French café located in the heart of Central Business District opposite Price Water House Buildings. I snuggled up at the corner and watching the grocers loading the daily produces and fruits at in front of the cafe. The delivery man chatted with the waitresses and teased the chef who was getting upset with the coffee machine. Two of the waitresses were telling each other about the party they attended the previous night. One of them is an Asian student. She mentioned something about her landlord. Outside the café, some of the early office warriors were walking to the offices. Many of them stopped by the cafe to grap their usual coffee elixir in brown paper cups.
My usual flat white was as smooth as silk. I always wonder why no barista in Malaysia could come close, not even from Dome. One bite into my cheese and ham croissant, I could feel the fresh juicy tomato teasing my pallette. I counted the varieties of bread on display. Looks like I need to stay for 55 days to sample all the iitems on the sandwich menu.
Is Australian Chinese ?
The 4-days training was at Mercure Hotel next. I thought I was in Singapore. There are far more black hair than “kwai-low”. Even the shop signs are outright ethnic. Most of the black hair are students. From their accent, I could tell some of them are mainland Chinese. They dress well and look apparently quite affluent.
Saw on BBC documentory a few days ago, there are 100 million migrants each year. The most popular destination is USA, UK and surprise surprise....UAE and Qatar. Countries with the largest brain drains are India and China. Guess they are right. I think in 100 years to come, the world will be neutralized with people of all decendents. Hopefully the concept of "bumi-putra" ( ethnic born ) will be used in association with fashion and food rather than for political means.
I had the most yummy beef noodles in one of sidewalk Vietnamese shops. Slurp slurp. Thanks to the immigrants.
Another step forward
After due consideration, my business partners and I decided we should focus on developing the executive coaching business. Here I am, the 1st one amongst us and the 1st one in Malaysia to be certified by the Behavioral Institute Sydney to be a Master Coach.
We are still a small company. I asked the travel agent for the cheapest air ticket to Sydney. She recommended Lauda Air. It sounded like Russian. I quipped if it is safe and she shot back with a very dirty look. With a deep breadth , she said “My customers so far have no complaint”. I felt like a nitwit.
Lauda Air turned out to be the Austrian Airline and the crew has the sharpest uniform I have seen so far. The stewardess wear crimson red uniform with matching baby blue scarve. The service and the cabin are indeed 1st class. The only drawback, the departure time is 5am in the morning. I was surprised my favourite noodle shop is open.
Here I am in KLIA at the wee hour of the morning on 8th November . I caught an attendant snoring away. Poor guy.
Organic Bee Hoon and toys for the home
I could never come up with a good answer when was asked why a single lady like me owned such a big car like the 5-door Rav4. Guess the answer could not be more clear right now.
On 26th November, whth a trunk-load of 100 packets of organic bee hoon courtesy from Racun and books, clothes and toys from the Aaronian Saint, Raja and I hit the road again to Rumah Kewajipan Kasih Sayang at Antara Gapi.
The young little Indian girl Namiah has gone home to her relatives. The other kids at the home each has received a donated toy. The carer passed one toy to a 40-year mentally challenged girl who was
so visibly pleased and whom I named Miss Abu. She always called out "Abu" each time we come . When we arrived, we saw another kind-hearted gentleman donating foodstuff and toilet papers to the home. It is nice to know that there are people who cares.
Raja chatted with the carer and one of the patient I nicknamed Aunty Grumpy. Aunty Grumpy is a diabetic patient and her family sent her to the home because they found it too hard to take care of her. She is in her forties. If not for the diabetes , she is healthy otherwise. She cried like a baby when the carer asked her to take her medicine. She refused to take the tablet because it makes her drowsy. Raja reckoned that Aunty Grumpy must have always got what she wanted when she was young and healthy. With her condition right now and deserted by family, she certainly could not be in a better mood.
The carer and the woman folks at the home are very facinated by Raja wearing just one ear-ring. They kept looking at him and finally one ventured to ask. It was funny.
I took a new change of books. Guess where the books I left behind the last time ? The carer has kept them safely up on the top of the wardrobe. This of course was not my intention. I had meant for the book to be accessible easily to the kids. She said Miss Abu tore the books.
I concluded that I need to come up with a book reading activity each time I go there. It will be hard for the children to appreciate the books themselves unless with some inspiration and encouragement.
Yes we did it !
When I started my new life journey this year in April, I almost knocked my head against the wall looking for gallery who was willing to exhibit my work.
Finally on Nov 11th, 2006, 5 pieces of my work were exhibited alongside many of my classmates' work at Persatuan Chin Woo for 3 days.
Ironically I was away in Sydney completing my master coach certification during the period of the exhibition. However my classmates and my teacher who ran the show were extremely pleased with the turn out.
The next goal : we are preparing for another group exhibition next year . What will be different though will be the venue of the exhibition and there will only be 5 of us. My teacher and 4 of my other classmates. Guess which gallery we are aiming at this time ? Star Hill gallery hopefully !
Emptiness
A sense of emptiness besieged me.
Ragging thunderstorm of last Tuesday seriously wounded my innocent Astro decoder. Other victims include many more cheap TV sets in the same block, so said the management office.
While my decoder is now in ICU at some electrical shop at Seapark, I keep my vigil by blogging. The mechanic has just called. The good news that my decoder survived a motherboard transplant operation.
I can't wait for its return. Judge Amy and Dr.Meridith Grey are waiting to see me.
50 comes only once in your life
It was a big surprise for everyone especially for the birthday "old boy" Roger. The party was planned but his wife Kiran held the guest list close to her chest. So when Fred, Willem and Menno showed up at the doorstep, everyone was cheering with joy. They flew in from the Netherlands and Australia specially for this event. Afterall 50 comes only once in your life, said Fred, and Roger is the first one amongst all pioneers of Magnus to reach this important milestone. Looks like the once young and fearless Magnus pioneers are entering the era of vintage wine.
However that is not the end of the surprises. At 10pm, in came Lorna and Marc Voskuil, aka Voxhole. They are back for good from the Netherlands. It has been hard birnging up a young infant for working couples with no assistance from friends, relatives and domestic help. Marc is going to take a sabatical.
Kiran custom-made a very special cake for Roger. The little figurine on the cake featured a black guy in diver's suit with 6 hands, one holding his trademark Nokia communicator handphone, the other book, another laptop, and steering wheel and others. Everyone had a good laugh. This is Roger true and true - always multi-task and proud of it - but drives all of us crazy.
Goodbye Sydney, hello world. Armed with a certifaction in behavioral coaching, I bid farewell to my classmates and all ready and eager to apply my coaching skill back home.
Training finally ended on Sunday 4:30pm. My return flight was Monday the same time. Hence I decided to spend my Monday walking around down town Sydney. The last time I was here was almost a decade ago. I had the most memorable pasta olio next to the Sydney Opera House. I remember the delicious pasta bathed in the fragrance of generous dose of extra virgin olive oil and the defining taste of the crunchy pine nuts that was sprinkled ravishingly around the plate.
Is Christmas Eve 2006. I turned down party invitations, away from the shopping malls, took cover from crowded traffic, but snuggled up at home indulging in a special dinner I prepared for myself. May be I am getting old. May be I am not. But it is not too often I treat myself. Hence this Christmas should be the start of a new beginning.
I interrupted my Sydney series to bring you a special Xmas greeting from Leming in Perth. With this angel, my little 3 year old nephew would like to wish eveyone a super merry yummy Christmas !
I am sure santa hide his lollies here. 
Christmans at Down Under is bright and sunny. Guess their Santa wears T-shirt and shorts and shaves his head bald.
I did not expect to see a red banner over such a true victorian balcony. May be this lounge bar will become a Hainanese Kopitiam the next trip I am here?
We speak no evil, see no evil, hear no evil, say the stone monkeys. Hmmmm you don't want to know what could be going on in the pub.
Training normally began at 9:15am, but I got up early at 7am so that I could wake up to the smell of brewed coffee and delicious toasties. To be honest, I did not wake up to the smell..... technically.
The 4-days training was at Mercure Hotel next. I thought I was in Singapore. There are far more black hair than “kwai-low”. Even the shop signs are outright ethnic. Most of the black hair are students. From their accent, I could tell some of them are mainland Chinese. They dress well and look apparently quite affluent.
I could never come up with a good answer when was asked why a single lady like me owned such a big car like the 5-door Rav4. Guess the answer could not be more clear right now.
so visibly pleased and whom I named Miss Abu. She always called out "Abu" each time we come . When we arrived, we saw another kind-hearted gentleman donating foodstuff and toilet papers to the home. It is nice to know that there are people who cares.
When I started my new life journey this year in April, I almost knocked my head against the wall looking for gallery who was willing to exhibit my work.
However that is not the end of the surprises. At 10pm, in came Lorna and Marc Voskuil, aka Voxhole. They are back for good from the Netherlands. It has been hard birnging up a young infant for working couples with no assistance from friends, relatives and domestic help. Marc is going to take a sabatical.
