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Gourmet Pizza

As with every Tuesday when Vyanne goes to class, I will try to learn a new culinary skill. I’ve been asked to make pizza before and never really figured out how. At first I thought I’d need a baking dish to fit an entire pizza, and I’d also need to figure out to use that electric oven of mine at home. A creative spark came today and sidestepped the issue. Got Lebanese bread instead (like pita bread) and after a test or two, came up with a good way to make ‘pizza’.

You start off with a piece of Lebanese bread and fold it in half. The bread is quite thin so folding it in half gives it a little more support. Spread a layer of tomato paste on it. Sliced mushrooms, onions go on. Some olives, salami and ham. Add some mozarella cheese, paprika, oregano and parsley. Put into toaster oven for about 10 minutes and wahla!

Odds and Ends

It’s amazing how much of the world goes by in the short span of 7 days.

Not that I can recount much of what’s happened, as I do have a very short term memory for most things. Heh. Kids from now on will never know of people as the 9th planet of the Solar System. Palm oil is a growing resource as a fuel substitute as it is the cheapest form of vegetable oil to be turned to biodiesel, allowing it to run engines to produce power etc. Nikon’s new DSLR was announced a few weeks back and Canon is ever waiting with a replacement model to compete with it. Had a picnic at the botanical gardens with cousins and noticed how many different types of flowers there are speckled around the area. Cooked for friends and still not getting thick slabs of meat to cook quite right (although a few theories have popped up since then). The most ludicrous was me having a dream of picking a lock using a pin Oblivion style (a game I was playing a while back where a mini game was involved with you watching the individual locks click when you tinkered with it to unlock a door).

Then again, after a while, the little details seem to just melt into the background and I seem lost in a world that loses its sense of familiarity. I am constantly reminded of everyone around me, and how the media portrays other people’s lives and while seemingly distant seem to have a subtle impact on your own.

* * *

I have an ever growing To Do List, mainly involving me doing something for someone else, but it was a voluntary decision. Not that I mind it very much, it’s just after work you just feel like unwinding and doing your own things (after having spent an entire day doing things that you are required to do, not something you really want to do). I wonder if people go through work like that on a daily basis. You do the things that you are supposed to do, knowing what it’s for and why it needs to be done. Things get repetitive after a while, and people are a contradiction in the sense that they are always trying to look for new experiences to excite themselves yet wary of stepping into uncharted territories that will go against their own well being.

Back to that to do list. Settled some personal things that have been dragging on for a few weeks now. Working through it slowly. If I can fix up at least 3 or 4 issues each day, there’d be one less issue to worry about the next day.

* * *

Photography has been going a little downhill of late. A little uncertain about subjects again. It’s like I’ve raised my own standards again for taking pictures, but I’ve been photographing people I know of late that I’ve sort of lost the idea on what I was previously trying to accomplish. Sort of diminised to old habits again of just getting everyone into a picture and hurriedly snapping ths shot before everyone got impatient (same thing happened to the ribs I cooked for friends, and while they tasted right, came out undercooked). Feeling a need to have a little more confidence in controlling situations. It’s like one needs to convince other people to be patient and that the outcome is worth waiting for. Perhaps its being polite (again an old habit, although I must say, it should be a good one).

I do realise that great things happen when a person is confident of their own abilities. It’s when you are feeling insecure and unsure, that Murphy’s Law occurs, and that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong! Be sure to make that a constant reminder for daily things. Heh.

* * *

This is WD40. Something I’ve wanted to buy for a while and is the wonder cure for doors that creak when you close them (or you could spray olive oil on the hinges as well, you know, those cooking sprays. They work too.) First discovered it working at my uncle’s hardware store in KL. Heh, thinking of other things to oil now. My creaking neck and shoulder could use some oiling.

Brisbane

To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge.
by Benjamin Disraeli

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A little tired from my trip to Brisbane. Heh, weekends were meant to be for resting and recuperating, but ended up in Brisbane for sight seeing. Holidays can be tiring or relaxing, and this was a bit of both. First night arriving at Brisbane, I was already treated to a nice steamboat dinner. That was after having dinner twice (once with Vyanne, once at the airport with my friends).

There is a stark contrast between Brisbane and Sydney. Brisbane is a nice, warm breeze and really feels like the sunshine in your face. The clouds are more of the cumulus kind and reminiscent of those in Malaysia, higher up in the sky. Melbourne clouds are much lower and you feel you can almost touch them at times. The foliage is more tropical, with palm trees and thick lush bushes. The night scenery is like driving around in KL (or rather, around the suburban regions). You can see the roads interspersed with occasional high rise buildings, and everything seems far apart. Even the city itself isn’t as brightly lit as Melbourne. Probably the population in Brisbane isn’t very large, and habitable areas are much larger, hence it is easy to just build things big and spacious. Heh, a luxury that not many places can afford.

Went to one of those commercial theme parks, Warner Brothers’ Movieworld. Sat in a few rides. Heh, the roller coasters aren’t as scary as they used to be. It’s a fun place to be, with lots to see and experience, with performances from the actors working on one large stage, you can really feel submerged in the feeling of it all. Spent nearly an entire day there, but the trip was just too short to experience everything. Had about 20 minutes by the beach, which is one of the highlights of the trip. The sand was smooth and stretched a long way, and you could see the high rise buildings in the distance, with parasails in the sky (this is the Gold Coast by the way).

* * *

As with Sydney, the trip allowed me to meet different people and experience a different style of life and culture. Having a car is quite convenient. Sat in friend’s sister’s Honda Odyssey (latest version as of this writing) and it’s one of those really comfortable cars to sit in. You can just doze off in one while it’s cruising along the highway without noticing anything go by you. Comfort is amazing and I did not get a stiff neck once from travelling in this vehicle. Heh, it is a family car, for ferrying families around. I do realise the contrast between walking barefoot in Sydney and driving around in Brisbane/Gold Coast. Like Vyanne mentioned, by walking, you are more immersed in the local society, absorbing the sights and sounds. You get to explore all the nooks and crannies. At the end of the day, you are more likely to get sorefeet from all the walking. Heh, then it was only because the shoes I’d been wearing was already 2 years old and the left sole was kind of worn, causing me discomfort (said shoes have since been replaced and retired). With walking, you don’t stay out as late to see things as firstly, you’re too tired to stay out for extended periods of time and there’s only so much ground you can cover walking.

On the other hand, having transportation, you get to go places on a whim. Even if you get lost, you still manage your way around with road signs and things are more accessible. The bad points are like I said, having less immersion with the locals, and I forgot to mention that without a car, one has to figure out the local public transportation system. Public transport can be interesting and fun, but you are at the mercy of the consistency and schedules of said public transport. Like I mentioned, public transport only works until around 11pm, while you can drive until the wee hours of the morning if you needed to.

Which got me to thinking, having a car is still digging into one of my ‘wants’ in life. Heh, it’s not a necessary thing but like I’ve explained to various people before, having it around is convenient. You can ferry visiting people around, do some shopping in more exotic places (grocery shopping for me), go visit places to eat or sight see. Friends always describe A location with nice Malaysian styled char kuay teow, or B location with really nice Thai food. Places that are generally not convenient to go to by public transport. Plus imagine all the places I could just stop by for photoshoots. Still looking at the Honda Civic. The base model at 21k is pretty frugal on petroleum consumption (in this day and age when a barrel of oil is over USD70 when only a few years ago oil was less than USD20 a barrel). Would be nice to have one, a car that is. Heh, and in Australia, at least it’s affordable. An idea to explore in a few months time, depending on circumstance. Heh.

Moving on. Then there are kids. Heh, my friend’s nephews are the egocentric single digit age kids that they are (they are still cute and adorable). Learnt in Psychology while at Trinity College that everyone is born egoistic, and it’s all about ME. It has always been about what I want, what makes me unhappy and ways to avoid/prevent things that are NOT good for me. Just looking at children behaviour in general. When they are young, they are a sponge and absorb everything. It’s a very delicate balance and something you need to keep children wanting to do, to want to know more. This is the reason for the cryptic quote at the top. A lot of us, learn as we grow, but sooner or later, become so self satisfied, that we no longer want to learn or experience. It’s all about the enjoyable senses. With some of today’s education systems, learning is boring, repetitive and spoon fed. There is no practical application for a trigonometric equation, or for knowing how the water cycle works etc. This leads people (not just children) to do things that boost their own ego, to feel good about themselves. They will gladly flaunt whatever limited abilities/skills they have to prove their own self worth and shy away from doing things they have no confidence in. There may be an outward expression of anger or dislike to mask the fact that they are afraid of things they do not understand and cannot grasp.

* * *

Lots going through my mind at times. Heh. Was so tired before and had the harrowing experience of arriving at the airport 15 minutes before the plane was about to leave for Melbourne (long story). Had little sleep before work this morning. Have a little more energy now. My immediate concern is clearing out my room a little. It feels musty.