June 2007 Archives

This Indonesian cafe is nicely hidden away at 221 Berkeley Street, Carlton, 3053. The reason why it is partially 'hidden' is because it is as what its name implies - it is a garage type building.

You will probably not realise this place is a cafe should you be driving past casually especially in the evenings.

If you have trouble finding this place, it is very near the corner of Grattan Street and Elizabeth Street. Just close to the Alan Gilbert Building of Melbourne University.

My personal favourite is the Garage Full Penyet, which is a good and filling meal of steam rice with deep fried chicken, meatballs, soybean, tofu and boiled egg, served on a cold black stone dish. Absolutely filling, and the sambal chilli (I like the spiciest option) really goes down extremely well. All for $13.50.

Was chatting with Melissa when I got the idea for this entry.

If I am the Malaysian Prime Minister, I will:

1. Start fresh with a new cabinet, removing all current long standing 'regime' ministers like Samy Vellu and Rafidah Aziz. Electing cabinet ministers based on merit, skill and experience.

2. Passing a new bill to ban all racial based political parties, this includes UMNO, MCA, MIC and PAS. New parties should be policy focussed, and membership should be open to all Malaysians regardless of race.

3. Eliminate all forms of racial discrimination - whether in education, government services, finance. Yes this means putting an end to the current National Economic Policy (NEP). Every Malaysian should be treated equal and provided with equal opportunities. Racial discrimination must not be supported by any form of law - and any such practices throughout the nation must be banned. Each Malaysian citizen should be treated equally as Malaysians.

4. Inject more money into the police force with a simple target - visible policemen in highly populated areas with highly trained and educated crime solving and prevention departments. Reducing the crime rate across the nation, and ensuring that public safety is always a focus. Ensuring that laws will also reflect this - and punishment for law breakers are handed out accordingly.

5. Improving the public health care system, better hospital facilities, trained doctors and a more sophisticated ambulance network with a focus on emergency services. The ridiculous rule of tying overseas trained medical graduates must be scrapped - equal opportunities must be provided to lure them back instead of forcing them back. This in turn encourages more trained medical personnel to work in the public health sector.

This weekend felt like a farewell weekend to me.

On Friday, I had a team/farewell lunch - and I said farewell to Mikey Tsamis, my team mate in the User Interface team at SEEK Ltd for the last 3.5 years. Mikey was leaving for Greece for a 4 week holiday with his family, so by the time he gets back I would have finished up at SEEK.

Mikey and I have a long history and I will always remember him as the loud passionate Greek man I have come to enjoy having a chat with - whether it is about his family (he absolutely loves his family) or his love of drums.

Saturday was our paintball day - woohoo!

Gelatissimo is quite a large chain of gelati franchise shops around Australia.

With quite a number of stores, especially in New South Wales, it was just a matter of time before it appeared in Melbourne.

The Lygon Street store at 197 Lygon Street was the first (if I remember correctly) of the franchise to pop up in Melbourne. Browsing their website it seems that this IS still the only one in Melbourne at this time.

Well, located in the dominant Italian eating district of Lygon at Carlton - this gelati store offers another choice for after-meal desserts in this area.

Horng Shii reckons the nutty flavours here are better than Il Dolce Freddo.

Me - I'm not sure. I have to admit, I have tried the gelati from both places but I still prefer the one at Il Dolce Freddo.

I think it's another one of those each to your own things.

With the amount of crime going on in JB, this must be the worst place in Malaysia to be in.

The lowest and ugliest of all hell holes foul to be exact.

Recently a brutal gang rape sparked national outrage.

Barely a week later, we have another piece of news. This time 2 incidents. This time 2 younger girls, now brutally scarred for life emotionally and mentally.

While the public has started campaigning for a safer JB, and the culprits have supposedly been nabbed - the fact remains that JB is looking to be the worst place to be in at the moment.

While our 'beloved' PM Pak Lah calls for more investment to this part of the Malaysian region, this must be his biggest selling point to potential foreign investors.

"Come and invest in JB, where your women will be raped, your cars stolen, your bags snatched and your houses broken into."

Fantastic. Ok I may sound like I am exaggerating, but ask any of the locals and I will bet you they will agree with me.

The police have failed to keep the public safe.

The law has failed to keep the repeat offenders away. What is the public to do in such a place?

I have family living in JB. These incidents are beginning to make me worry about their safety tremendously.

What the #$%@ is going on down there???

SEEK has been a big part of my life for the last three and a half years. Not forgetting that this is officially my first permanent job.

It was with a heavy heart and sadness that I handed in my resignation letter this morning.

I will miss my teammates, the wonderful casual environment, company perks, and most importantly the friends that I have made here all through these years.

My last day will be Friday the 13th July. Not a fan of that date - but hey, think positive!

At the same time, I am looking forward to the (hopefully) new opportunities opening up before me. I just hope that all goes well with the move home. There seems to be so much to do now that the announcement has been made, and it seems there isn't that much time left!

My parents made a final attempt at discouraging me to return last night on the phone but I think they're realising that this is probably unavoidable and I am coming home no matter what.

Here's hoping Malaysia accepts me back into its arms - and I really hope this move works out. I have been living in Australia for the past 7 years so it will be a big change for sure.

Here's to the future and all its uncertainties.

Shark Fin House is probably the most popular yum char place in Melbourne city. They are located just past the corner of Russell Street in Chinatown at 131 Little Bourke St.

It is the most packed yum char restaurant during the weekends, and they probably command the biggest slice of the yum char pie on most days in Chinatown.

I have been here a lot of times in my many years living in Melbourne. I finally decided that it is time to write up a review of this place when I paid them a visit again recently.

The food here is good and you just can't go wrong with most of the traditional yum char dishes.

Take the fried calamari here for example, very tasty and goes extremely well with the chilli oil. Yum.

In the 7 years I have been in Melbourne, I have never seen it foggier.

Apart from the haze episode earlier this year, this is pure natural fog.

The weather is certainly going nuts.

2 Melbourne flights were diverted to Adelaide in the morning - the Singapore Airlines SQ237 which I know very well, and another from another airline from LA.

Prose from the Pros
One may get flight airline tickets on time if he books well in advance for flights to london. This cannot be said for new york flights though. There are other flights however, that offer flight discounts for domestic flights. This is apart from the discount flights for students.

latte art
Originally uploaded by bernardshtibel

I've never really been a coffee lover.

For the last month though, I have needed to get out of bed at 7 am and leave the house by 8 am every morning so I can leave for work.

No lah, it's not because I am hardworking. I just have to because the bloody parking meter starts at 8 am in front of my apartment and being the cheapskate that I am I need to get outta there or I need to start feeding the meter.

Eh - it's not cheap OK? AU$3.00 for an hour.

Just tried this visual DNA thingy. Quite accurate I have to say!

Apparently I've got a high sex drive and an appetite for lurve! :D

Go do it if you haven't and come share the results.

I had my first taste of the track yesterday at Sandown. Organised by the Impreza WRX Club (Victoria) as one of their regular track days, I joined their Driver Training group for the day.

If you're wondering what Driver Training is - it's basically the opportunity to participate in a track day - with an experienced instructor to show you the turning and braking lines on the track and teaching you how you should drive in a high speed environment.

This is a good opportunity for one to learn more about their car and experience a 'taste' of how it is like to drive on a race track.

If you're wondering why my avatar's got a paintball mask on, that's because I'm going for paintball in 2 weeks time (well that's the plan anyway).

Click on the picture to see the whole suite of signals. I like the 'unwashed' one. Heh.

Note: For the life of me I can't find the original author of the image, so if anyone can point me in the right direction I'll credit the author in this entry.

"Gelato, or the plural Gelati, is Italian ice cream made from milk and sugar, combined with other flavorings. The gelato ingredients (after an optional pasteurization) are frozen while stirring to break up ice crystals as they form. Like high end ice cream, gelato generally has less than 35% air - resulting in a dense and extremely flavourful product." - Wikipedia

Firstly I have to be upfront about this place. This is my favourite gelati place in Melbourne. Well it was. Kind of. Well it still is - but do read on and I'll explain.

The selection of gelati here is fantastic, from your regular traditional fruit flavours to deliciously rich flavours like nutella and ferrero roche.

South East Asians will also appreciate the (seasonal) availability of their durian flavour - which you know is fresh and available when you walk in and that familiar durian smell is clearly in your face!

Il Dolce Freddo is located right at the 'beginning' of the Italian food heaven on Lygon Street - 116 Lygon St, Carlton to be exact.

Oriental Spoon is a Korean restaurant located smack bang in the city right beside Melbourne Central on La Trobe Street.

Their exact address - 254 Latrobe Street, and if you're planning to visit during the weekend with a relatively large group, do give them a call at (03) 9654 9930 to make a booking.

The first thing you'll notice when you walk into the restaurant is that the atmosphere is casual and relaxed. Most of the customers seems to be students, and there is always a large number of Korean customers - which is a good thing in my books.

They have a good selection of dishes in their menu from your regular Korean dishes to BBQs and hot pots.

I went to Andrew and Suyi's place for dinner last night. They cooked up a feast consisting of the following.

- Peanut and lotus root soup boiled with pork
- Eggplant and pork stir fry
- Egg omelette with preserved vegetables
- Steamed pork on 'hairy cucumber'

They took pity on me after reading my entry here about me stocking up on frozen food a.k.a. aeroplane food so they even packed enough (almost 2 meals worth) for me to take home.

So nice hor! Thank you Andrew and Suyi. Yummmmmm...