makumaro.net

Last Day of January

• Listening to: the occasional firecracker

Heh, looking through an old post (wanted to dig info on what I wrote about last year’s CNY, apparently nothing, although I didn’t check thoroughly enough). Now I’m pretty sure what I made then was no cafe latte, even if it tasted very much like coffee from a street side cafe. Used to drink coffee with sugar, and sugar of course, makes everything taste nice.

CNY is eat, sleep and eat some more. Not that it is really a bad thing, but I’d prefer a little more intellectual stimulants. Picked up a couple of books to read. Just quickly skimmed through Coffee Basics (no links for this post due to the horrendously slow dialup connection I’m on which makes multibrowsing difficult) and learnt quite a bit on coffee stuff. Need to be a little more meticulous with using my plunger and espresso machine the next time round. Also reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, which is a little murder mystery that involves a 15 year old boy who has Asperger’s Syndrome (not sure what that is, but it’s one of those behavioural problems) and is very good at math. It’s an easy book to digest, and I ought to finish it in the next 2 days or so.

It’s been a hectic few days, with a lot of napping involved.

One half weeks before I go back to Melbourne. Heh, nothing I need to rush to get done. Just enjoying these few days of tranquility and sleepy afternoons.

CNY Eve

Not inclined to let January slide without putting up another post. Heh, trying to get online in Malaysia is especially difficult from my home. It’s like the modem is wrestling with TMNet’s servers to just log itself onto the network. Then there’s also the added problem of staying connected to the network (the lousy connection just timed out on itself, *annoyed*).

Today is Chinese New Year’s (CNY) eve, eve for the lunar year of the Dog. Will be having the usual reunion dinner at my grandma’s place, and there’s usually plenty of good food to celebrate the occasion. On CNY itself, people traditionally just eat vegetarian food, depending on what beliefs you subscribe to.

Been back a couple of days now and just trying to get some momentum going into getting some things done. Heh, been sleeping a little more than I’d like and its partly because I wake up and there’s no urgent sense of needing to get anything done. I have picked up a couple of books I’d like to read over the next few days and hopefully they get read.

Home is a very different place to Melbourne, with lots of memories I have shelved away coming back to me. Could write a whole post about it, but my thoughts seem to be fragmented between various ideas at the moment.

Heh, now just waiting for the connection to load the page that allows me to post this short blog.

From One Hot to Another

Heh, was taking that brief walk home from Victoria market to do some final shopping for family at home. It’s over 30 degrees outside and it really feels like a walking sauna and I was sweating profusely by the time I got home. Thank goodness for the simple electronic fan. It’s my last day in Melbourne before I’m off home to Malaysia for 3 weeks. From one hot place to another hot place.

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Went to try another coffee place today. Heh, since taking up the coffee appreciation course with Vyanne last week, I’ve picked up a little more tips on what makes a cup of coffee. Went to this place between Smith and Gertrude street to get some grinded coffee for Jerome, who’s been complaining incessantly about how no one knows how to appreciate a cup of coffee back home. He’s been searching in vain for places to get a proper grind for his espresso machine at home. Heh, let’s hope he has better luck with what I’ve just got for him. It’s a Colombian roast, which is slightly stronger to the palate and has stronger roasted flavours. Been testing some Papua New Guinean (PNG) blends, which are not as strong but carry a sweeter taste to them. I’m trying a more scientific approach to making coffee now, extracting the proper 30ml that make up a normal espresso shot. There’s still some disagreement on the literature on when you should start counting the time it takes to make a shot. It’s supposed to be 25 – 30 seconds, but some start counting when you press the switch, others say it’s when the coffee starts dripping out. I’d like to think its the former, cause I’ve seen coffee from those shots and it looks pretty decent.

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A 3 week break from work. Heh, I don’t mind idling a little bit.