Monthly Archives: August 2010

Out West

★ Posted on at 10:35 pm ★

egg yolk, toasted rye, legumes, yeast

One of the signature dishes by Dan Hunter at his restaurant called the Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld, about 250km west of Melbourne. It’s called egg yolk, toasted rye, legumes and yeast. It’s an interesting dish with lots of texture and flavours. The yolk looks raw but the waitress assured as that it was cooked enough that she’d serve it to a pregnant woman.

We had 10 courses, and the selection of wine was from 1996 to 2002. A bottle from that far back would cost quite a bit these days and I don’t think I have the perseverance to keep it unopened for that long either. They have a large temperature controlled cellar opposite the restaurant that is twice its size. The vegetables and herbs are grown locally in their own garden, so the food is definitely fresh.

Our last entourage was to Tetsuya’s in Sydney last May. The food was hit and miss with some of the dishes being wow, and a few of them just plain bland. The food we had at the Royal Mail Hotel was subtle, with interesting flavours. Overall the quality of the food was great and matched the degustation style with the small portions. Ended the meal feeling contented but not overly stuffed as I normally am at these types of meals. This was also probably because they didn’t stuff us with bread every couple of courses.

Heh, will not go through all the courses we had, but will leave you with one of the desserts. rhubarb, licorice, almond, citrus. I liked the flavours a lot but it seems that not everyone was a fan of the licorice.

rhubarb, licorice, almond

* * *

It was a good getaway weekend, taking the drive to Dunkeld, visiting neighbouring Hamilton. Stayed at a nice cottage overlooking Mount Sturgeon. Without the weather driving me insane with numbing cold, I’m back to planning and doing stuff again. I put little notes in the iPhone and it keeps me reminded of things I have to do.

Alfie is learning tricks, but when it comes to food, he’s too impatient that I can’t even get it in his food bowl before he puts his snout in. Toilet training is still a terrible mess, but he gets the sense that I have a hawkeye over him after his dinner so I hope he gets the idea on where he’s supposed to do his business and anywhere else will result in a big ‘NO’.

Time’s flying. Seems like there’s not enough of it. August is almost ended, and I’m slowly reading through my notes for the exams in October. Never expected to be this busy, heh.

Alfie

★ Posted on at 09:56 pm ★

20100818-0033

Say hi to Alfie. Pembroke Welsh Corgi. Adorably cute puppy. He’s been with us for a few days now and is a little more comfortable with the environment. Happily chewing on the mock bone Vyanne got him.

* * *

My mom and brother are here for a visit. Heh, the house was quiet for a week and now it’s become quite lively again. Vyanne was looking online for a Corgi breeder and there was one in the Dandenongs that had a couple of pups left for sale. We saw a picture of it when it was a few weeks old and just decided to have a look at them. I wasn’t really thinking about it but when we got to the breeder’s place, it was love at first sight. You won’t get anything more adorable than looking at puppies play with each other.

After some brief questions with the breeder regarding Corgis, we decided to take the red and white one home. He wasn’t thinking about it much but after a couple of minutes in the car, started to get a little distressed. Either he was worried he was leaving his home or that it was getting carsick. Poor dog threw up his lunch halfway through the trip (it’s quite a long way from the Dandenongs to where we stay). The first night was probably a little miserable for him as we kept him in the internal courtyard but it was raining quite a bit. Had a box for him to sleep in but it got rather wet. We gradually moved him indoors as we slowly toilet trained him to do his daily business in the right spots. Had to read up on this online to get a better idea on what needed to be done. It’s really as much a learning experience for us as it is for Alfie as we are all trying to figure each other out. Glad that mom’s here. Heh, she’s trying to get used to the Melbourne cold, and the weather’s been quite horrible. It’s rained every single day this past week, and there hasn’t been so much rain in Melbourne for the past 13 years.

* * *

Probably a little over summarised, but much has happened over the last week and I’m rather tired out. Just wanted to put up a post to get the gist of things. Off to bed now.

Finished Waiting

★ Posted on at 10:45 pm ★

iphone 4

This has been a long time coming. I was in the US during the initial iPhone launch and I missed it when the 3G version was launched in Australia partly because I was still under contract and that it was carried by my carrier, and then missed the 3GS launch as I had just upgraded to a Nokia e71 only a couple of months before as I wasn’t sure if my carrier would sell it.

So 3 years after the initial iPhone launch, I’ve jumped on the bandwagon and got myself one. This is the iPhone with the amazing screen but flawed antenna design. Heh, Apple products these days get so much attention that a person dropping their brand, spanking new phone and shattering it also gets coverage in the news. Granted, the phone is made of glass on both sides, instead of a plastic back in the previous version, hence the comparison to toast buttered on both sides, where dropping it on either side now would be a no no. Being glass and metal, you have to be careful how you grip it as there is no friction and it will easily slide out of your hands.

* * *

Heh, can go on and on about the phone, but I’d rather not get carried away.

The weather has been dismal as usual. It rains practically every single day, and it’s been pretty cold. I’ve sort of got accustomed to the weather, and can function properly even if my hands and feet are frozen.

So I’ve been waiting for things to happen. Waited 3 years to get an iPhone. Waited more than a month for our dining table to arrive. Was quoted 3 to 4 weeks, got delays from the supplier and when they finally get it in stock 2 weeks after that, there’s no one to deliver it, hence we didn’t get it until today. Heh, it’s a solid piece of furniture and now the dining table has stopped looking sparse.

On more waiting, finally bought a replacement heatsink for my graphics card. I’m generally pretty happy with my computer but one thing that’s been irking me for the past year is the horrible fan that came with the graphics card. It runs at full speed, making this whirring sound that stands out like a sore thumb and the cooling performance is still very lousy. I was reluctant to change it as I have done this on a previous graphics card and had set that one aflame. That killed the graphics card and sadly, the computer was never the same again being slightly wonky in stability.

Put up with this horrendous sound for a year, and with the random crash of Starcraft 2 I deliberated between getting a new graphics card at $270 or a new heatsink at $22. The heatsink was the better outcome as my graphics card is nowhere near obsolete as yet.

Decided to finally do the surgical operation on my computer today and having better understanding of electronics (you do not want to short circuit your PCBs) I had a good idea on how to plonk the heatsink on this time. After an interruption from a phone call, finally got it hooked up, and I put the graphics card back into the computer. Flipped the power switch and you could see this giant smile materialise on my face.

You could hear the soft hum of the fans turning as the computer came alive. It was barely audible and I can finally hear myself think in my study room. With no annoying buzzing whirl distracting me, I can finally complain about one thing less. Heh, restored some confidence in doing particularly hazardous computer surgery in myself.