Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in James Barbecue-Explosives TOASTMAN's LiveJournal:

[ << Previous 20 ]

Sunday, March 29th, 2009
9:29 pm	My name. My father named me. For he is a good man. And he called me James.  For that is a good name. James. James Barbecue-Explosives TOASTMAN But you can call me TOAST. For that is my name. 29th of March 2009 (Comment on this)
Saturday, March 7th, 2009
8:39 am	As heard on ABC Local's food report: 2009 is going to be the year of the skirt steak. (Comment on this)
Saturday, January 10th, 2009
11:52 pm	Example Of a great dish which I can't actually eat: Skate wings, cooked in burnt butter and sage.  Take the wings out of the pan, and throw in some finely diced Lap Cheong (Chinese Sausage), a few capers (careful, not too much), then cut with lemon juice (although I'm thinking that black vingar could work).  Season throughout as appropriate. Serve with sauteed fennel, and crushed chat potatoes. (Comment on this)
Monday, November 10th, 2008
10:06 pm	desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkVYHUMCCwc desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu  ( desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu v )  desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu desu (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, September 26th, 2008
11:32 pm	A very rare public post regarding Din Tai Fung Din Tai Fung.... I'd heard the legends, I'd read the reviews, and I made it there.  But in short, Din Tai Fung is... over-rated. Sure, it's tasty, is competent, it's even nice... but, as a dim sum restaurant, it sort of fails. I was there today with my folks.  I knew the reputation, and ended up there a little tad past 12:00.  We accepted the 15 minute wait, and said we'd be happy to share a table. I acknowledge that it was peak-hour.  We were asked to place our order whilst waiting outside.  Thankfully, I was familiar with their menu, and the Chinese terms for there dishes.  Unfortunately, it wasn't until some time later that we found out there were more pictorial descriptive menus, oh well never mind. 15 minutes later, indeed we got a good booth seat, with a view of the kitchen (remember kids, one dude rolling can satisfy three dudes filling). Tea came... eventually. As did dumplings at quite a good pace.  I was familiar with the concept of soup dumplings, indeed, I'd made some myself. Yeah, they're tricky, and really, you don't get the "knack" of folding dumpling pastry until you've done a thousand of them.  And at $4.00 for 50 frozen at the local Asian grocer, you sort of question the logistics of doing it yourself.  But, I think it's a healthful thing in a young chef's career to go ahead and make a thousand or so jiaozi or hargow or siumai.  Hell yeah, make the dough yourself as well.  Just so that you can say you've done it.  Do these things, even if you're a French, Italian or Spanish specialist, and it will make you a better all-round chef.  These days, I doubt that I'd do a couple of hundred of the bastards on my own, but at a small dinner party, where I'm supposed to impress, sure I'll whip up a couple of dozen, and yeah, I'll get the pleats right (after the first couple), so yeah, it's a good thing. So, the reputation (and price) of Din Tai Fung, I was expecting something pretty special... Alas, it just didn't meet up with my, or my guests' expectations... Yes, the dough was hand made, for once, the stock was made from bones rather than powder, and a few things were right...  but a few things simply missed it. I tasted their pork, their pork-soup and their pork-crab dumplings... and... simply the flavour wasn't there.  I, of course, questioned myself.  Was this so subtle that I'd missed it?  But my two dining partners, whom I respect greatly agreed.  No, it wasn't "subtle", it was BLAND.  No other way to say it.  And yeah, for a workman's lunch or a nice snack, it was well done!.  But, for a fine dining experience or for something new, sorry, it was just ... bland.  Without letting my opinion known, my dining partners raised this as well.  I indeed doubted "was my palette off?  Am I missing something?".  Nope, the place being jammed full of gaijin in suits that concurred.  It was bland. Sorry folks. If it were cheap, I'd be OK with it... but, technically, this place is the most expensive dim-sum restaurant in Sydney.  $30 a head, with a VERY limited menu (if you don't like steamed dumplings, you're S.O.L.).  We did get a dish of garlic spinach, and indeed this was excellent... but, it's "as expected" of any half-decent Chinese restaurant in town. So... give it a miss.  Sorry folks.  Most Dim Sum places I've been to will do you the mysterious "soup dumplings", and although they're made that morning, rather than an hour before service, they're just as good.  If Din Tai Fung was near, I didn't have to wait, and their prices were a third less... then yeah, I'd be chowing down on that shit every week! But... with Zilver, Sky Phoeonix at twice the quality at the same price, and (the one on top of Market City) cheaper as well as better... I'm afraid DTF can best be left to the gaijin in suits working for Austereo around world square.  Sorry, don't even bother trying it for curiousity. 3/5.  You'll be fed, and it'll be satisfactory.  But nothing more. If myself, as a gaijin, can mix and fold a tastier dumpling... well, that sort of says something.  But that's another post.  Sorry guys, I'll leave y'all with an extra plug for Zilver, but turn up before 11:30am.  It's damn good food. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 8th, 2008
8:45 pm	Cure for writers block: Rules:  No caps lock (you have to hold down shift).  no copy, no paste, no pressing delete / fixing errors.  Full speed.  Keep going until you kill the species.  Begin: ONE HUNDRED MILLIONP EOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNMDED MILLION PEOPLD DEAD ONE HUNMDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLD DEAD ONE HUNDTERD MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HULDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MUILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLDE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPPLE DEAD ONE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE DEAD Done.  Feels good man!  Try it. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008
8:59 pm	THE IT CROWD SERIES 2 EPISODE ONE IS ON ABC IN SIXTY FUCKING SECONDS! GO GO GO GO GO NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW!!!!! DISEEBLED!!!!!!!!!!! (Comment on this)
Sunday, March 30th, 2008
1:40 am	P.S. If at any time at any point for any reason you feel you want to laugh at anything I've ever written: GO AHEAD AND DO SO! It's good for you!  It's healthful.  Sometimes I even work towards this. It's all true, and it all comes from my bone-marrow.  But yeah, you're allowed to laugh at any or all of it. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, February 16th, 2008
8:26 pm	Fuck yourself up on Saturday night... Was feeling kinda tired and didn't want to do my lifting this evening.  Spent 15 minutes psyching myself into it.  "Do just 2 sets of front squats, that's all, light weights, then you can go home". Got through them.  Decided to make it an even 5 sets, to make it count properly. While I was there, I thought, may as well do some leg presses. While I was there, I thought, may as well do some leg extensions and curls, just to see if I could max the machine out. While I was there, I thought, may as well do some upper back work, for deadlift support. While I was there, I thought, may as well do some tricep work, for bench-press support. While I was there, I thought, may as well do some bicep work, to look good for the ladies.  We call it "beach-work". While I was there, I thought, may as well go into the sauna, to help recovery.  Stayed in there until I couldn't stand the pain any more. While I was there, I thought, may as well go in a couple more times.  Stayed in there until I couldn't stand the pain any more. Came home and thought, may as well take a cold shower, to help with recovery. Stayed in there until I couldn't stand the pain any more. Have now earned my dinner.  A half-kilo rib-eye steak, 100 day grain fed, dry-aged for 6 weeks, salad and a couple of eggs. (To help with recovery).  And an episode of "The West Wing". No alcohol.  Hinders recovery.  Will probably be in bed by 10pm. How do I feel?  FUCKED UP!!!  (In a *good* way).  Why did I ever stop lifting weights? (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, February 14th, 2008
9:19 pm	An important message for all GI's living off-base from the mayor of Saigon. Roses are red, Violets are blue, Who's the commanding officer here? - Ain't it you? (Comment on this)
Sunday, January 20th, 2008
3:51 pm	Writing - Tough... Firstly, I'm having some difficulty figuring out what to put in livejournal, and what to put in my "blog".  I'm thinking of keeping my blog as a more "professional" facing thing (as I want to talk a lot about boring industry crap there), but I like the process of journaling.  Indeed, several months ago, I kept a journal as a word doc on my PC.  I went very deep and personal, and got a lot out of it.  I do a lot of "friend's only" posts here, they're pretty raw and deep, but again, they're 5% public facing, and polished just enough to be readable.  Maybe all 4 things have their place. Anyway, writing screenplays is TOUGH.  I got maybe 3 hours done today, before it all disintegrated into a cycle of snacking, tea drinking, flat cleaning, laundry and web surfing.  Actually, I almost feel as if I have a headache.  Really, I'm drained. When I'm ON I'm ON, but, I can't seem to maintain the mojo for more than 3 hours. To make things worse, I don't seem to "have it" (mojo + concentration) in the evenings at the moment. So, no use in wasting time sitting here not writing.  I think I might have myself a nice glass of scotch and watch something I've downloaded.  Yeah I should be reading books, but, not today. For the record, I've completely outlined an A-Plot.  One of my easier ones.  I had a one episode character, who contributed very little, so I switched it all up.  Carol is now a single Mum!  Her little boy (Working name BOB, formerly known as DK for Divorced Kid) is in there for pathos and fan service.  Formerly, I had Carol as part of the gang from scene 1 episode 1, now episode 1 is now where we meet her, and she becomes part of the gang.  I managed to get 2 pages of actual "script" down as will (dialogue, descriptions). Problems/challenges/bad points - If Carol is going to be involved with a lot of these plots, many of which will be at night, what do we do with BOB? - I want a Mulder-Scully sexual tension between Abraham and Carol (maybe that's not the right word), if that doesn't happen pretty soon, people will either assume that Carol has feelings for her ex-husband, or Abraham is gay.  And while Abraham's sexuality isn't important to the plot, I just don't think I have the ability to write a gay male lead character.  Unless of course I'm actually gay and haven't realised it until now.  ARGHGHG MINDFARK.  THIS IS DOING MY HEAD IN Opportunities/good points - Carol's ex-husband has the opportunity to be a recurring character, the focus of an episode, an antagonist, or someone helpful.  But I don't want to get too close to him, I need Carol as my main female character. - For Carol to be a Single Mum / Business owner-operator, it short of shifts her personality a bit.  Initially she was going to be quirky, almost comic relief at times, now she's... "stronger", less "flakey", more protective and less scared.  A new personality type as well.  Older as well.  Old Carol could have been as young as 22 and appealing to the Gen-Yers, now she's closer to 30 and Gen-X, and I've got plenty of those. - Carol was half based on someone I know in real-life (you guys don't know her).  This isn't going to work any more. Hmmm, I'll stew on that for a day or two.  Worst case scenario, Carol goes back to her old quirky, flakey self and I bring in a new character to be BOB's parent. For the record, this is the "A" plot of what's currently the pilot.  There are 20 "outline points" and 8-10 "scenes".  I could re-write it with "old carol" simply by changing the first scene.  Hmmm, if I come up with a better A-Plot for the pilot, that's what I'll do. For now, SCOTCHTIME.  I'm hoping as as my skills increase, I'll find the process quicker and easier as I go along. So, 7 pages of script written, 565 more to go!  Hey! That's more than 1% completed!  Good for me!  Really, at the end of the day I'm pushing out about a page an hour, and although these are first drafts, I should have the first draft of an actual episode completed within a couple of weeks. (Comment on this)
Saturday, January 19th, 2008
4:23 pm	It took me 2 hours, but scene 1 is in the bag! Operation "GET OVER IT" is proceding nicely.  Script is being written.  I'm not drinking mutch scotch, but I love the caffeine. And although it took me 2 hours to write 3 pages, it's in the bag: (excerpt from my "public" blog at www.explodingtoast.com) I can tell you about how I can get my Mojo working. I had a brilliant 2 hour productive stretch just then. Here’s how I did it, in case I need it again. - Went for a walk (in the light rain), 20 minutes or so to the Bourke Street Bakery (OH MY GOD!, that’s another post but OH MY GOD!), listening to loud rock music. Completely emptied my head. - Came home and had a sausage roll (PORK WITH FENNEL! OH MY GOD!) and a really strong cup of really great coffee. (Stovetop espresso pot, East Timorese fair-trade from Oxfam). - Started writing. - 5 minutes later. Couldn’t be arsed, put a load of laundry on. - Put “Dig JAZZ” Internet Radio on … didn’t seem to be working. - Put “ABC Classic FM” on … better. - 10 minutes later, KAZAAM, a brilliant idea came. - Spent the next TWO HOURS writing the scene out. - This involved about 50 trips to wikipedia and other websites to get my facts right. By-bloody-jingos wikipedia is a godsend for this project. Yes, I know, there are errors in it and it’s not rigorous enough for academic writing, but for a dramedy, there’s no excuse not to do a quick check of e.g. what country Mount Everest is actually in, or how much a dozen roses should cost, or what polenta really is made from. And, bingo, episode one, scene one, draft one in the bag! (No, it’s not buying a bunch of roses and eating polenta whilst scaling Mount Everest) (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008
7:11 pm	If you only watch one show on TV.... Seeing as Four Corners and Media Watch are off the air and Iron Chef is in repeats: BURN NOTICE, Channel 10, 9:30pm on Tuesdays. HOO BOY!  And it's got BRUCE CAMPBELL in it.  Holey smokes.  Did you know for a few days each month I turn into Bruce Campbell?  Seriously, he could kick Chuck Norris' ass any day.  And I'll stand behind that fact. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, December 31st, 2007
6:10 pm	Happy New Year to me and alfredo_garcia The secret to a good new-years-eve party is to always write the menu out before you begin... Planned in fifteen minutes, ingredients purchased in under 60.  We've got Yes Minister on DVD and invitations are now officially CLOSED. AMUSE Jamón López Ortega - Acorn fed Iberian ham. STARTER Chilli tiger-prawn linguini. Tiger prawns are sauteed with pancetta and garlic in olive oil before being flamed with opal nera and simmered in a tomato based sauce. Served with parmigiano reggiano, the real shit. SECOND COURSE TOAST and Heston's marine lab surf and turf More tiger prawns are slowly cooked, confit style in garlic butter, the prawns removed and roquefort cheese is melted in.  This becomes a stongly flavoured sauce to brush over char-grilled steak DESSERT - (only if a certain special person shows up) Absinthe chocolate mousse - with smashed up malteasers. CHEESE Pont-l'Évêque WINES 1) D'Arenberg Twentyeight Road Mourverdre 2004 2) ? 3) Profit Right, that's me and alfredo_garcia sorted. I'm cooking, he's washing up. No photos. There's a time to photograph and a time to eat.  Tonight is the latter.  (Plus, arradius' latest set of food pr0n put my own attempts to shame). The rest of you, sort  yourselves out... (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, December 29th, 2007
10:04 am	If you have it, you don't need it... Check it out! I made a stupid! Hate to admit it, but the shot took about 2 hours to set up, then I spent another 2-3 hours trimming it and adding the text. Egads. Good news is that I got it all in the very first shot. Holey smokes, filmmaking is a LOOOOONG process. I had no idea. Anyway, I've got all my shit set up (Camera goes on a tripod on my kitchen bench, zoom set to X, focussed on a certain spot on the wall, my mark is a piece of gaff-tape on the floor, I use Y to convert the file before moving into Sony Vegas) Gadzooks! And yeah: - It was done on a "stills" camera, I need me a cheap second hand handycam of ebay stat. - Need moar lighting, maybe just a single light-box with a "one of those piece of cloth things" in front. - Need better sound, can't afford a boom-mic, but might try a lapel mic that I have. - Need to internationalize my accent a little more (ABC Newsreader, or even BBC), work on words like "can't", "started", "certainly", "like", at least "de-strine" them maybe 20%. - Was on the very tail-end of a cold, sniffed some vicks before I went on, seemed to help. - I found it very hard staying in the one spot. In real-life I like to walk around a little bit when I'm performing. - I was standing during this. I'm not so good doing this seated, makes it harder to move the arms and decreases my projection. - Speed - OK, could have made better use of pauses between sentences. - Projection - OK, mostly a 5-6, Will try a 6-8 range some day. - Pitch - OK. - Gestures - OK. - I also found it very weird delivering everything to a camera. In real life, I've usually got an audience of 10-20 people and can shift focus around the room. - And yeah, I'm aware that I need to lose a bunch of weight if I want to get really, really good at this. Score 7/10, being kind as it was my first go. I'm a hard task-master aren't I :-) Seriously, I practiced a couple of times with the camera off and nailed it on the first take. But the main thing is: I HAD A LOT OF FUN DOING IT :) and I'm going to make more. I've got a hell of a lot on my plate in the first half of 2008, but I would like to do a short acting course at NIDA or some such, and maybe even a TV presenting one. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, October 6th, 2007
1:17 pm	Yeah, I'm still alive... Greetings y'all.   I'm procrastinating some some very difficult work (on a Saturday afternoon), so I thought I've give y'all an update.  Almost all good things. - I broke up with my partner a couple of months ago.  Due to circumstances, we're still living in the same house (not for much longer).  She's moving to Melbourne and doing very well.  It was a very amicable break-up and as soon as it happened, we both felt better and have actually been getting along ever since.  but yes, it's over. - I've just signed the lease on a new flat in Chippendale, right above Mortuary Station (I could hit it with a pork dumpling if I threw it from my couch).  This means I can walk to work, and can go for Laksa in my robe and slippers. - I'm on subject #15 of 16 towards my MBA.  It's a hard slog, but I'm now doing only "elective" subjects and they're all extremely fun.  Right now?  Managerial Self Development.  I'm getting a whole lot out of this, and some of the sessions decend into group therapy :).  If you're wondering, I'm more ENTP than you can poke a stick at. - I went to Hong Kong for a month studying e-business management and statistics and it effing ruled.  I think eventually I would like to live there.  I'm also trying Singapore in January. - I'm now almost a full-time Information Architect where I work.  Half my time is spent doing things like specifications, border-line project management, consulting sort of stuff, business analysis sort of stuff, operational planning and occasionally managing a couple of people working for us.  I haven't written more than a dozen lines of code in the past 6 months, so I'm looking for a new job TITLE (but not a new job).  Solutions Consultant or something like that.  E-Business Consultant?  Systems Analyst? I haven't figured it out yet.  I don't plan on leaving my current job as I've got a shitload of fun and interesting work.  Even though the industry is hot, people are screaming for IAs and theoretically I could get 50% more working across the street, the current team I'm working with is absolutely priceless.  It would be perfect if we had 3-4 more people and I had a little more cash, but I now have the skills to "make this happen".  I.e. even though I'm not the boss, I can still grow the business until it's successful enough to hire some more people and pay myself some more cash.  It's easier to get forgiveness than permission in the business world.  Especially "forgiveness" for a job well done. - I'm working on some very big and exciting projects amongst all this, I'd better not give specific names, and the biggest hasn't quite been delivered yet, but of the people who read this, most of you will be quite familiar with my work (even if I don't sign my name to it), and a couple of you will be touched by my work almost every day. - For fun in my spare time I'm starting to do speed-reading, I occasionally fartarse around with a blues harmonica and I make mindmaps.  Not a lot of time to cook, but I make a good STEW every week, as surreal as ever (Szechuan Pepper, Tofu, Beef Tendon, Deep-Fried chicken wings, Tripe, Katsurobushi, 40 year old cognac - in the one pot), and I did get around to making a master stock as well (15 months old and used almost weekly), and I'm booked in to the next Iron Chef dinner in November. About the only thing that's close to bad is that I'm often overworked, living in Sydney and MBA fees keep me pretty close to broke most of the time (I eat pot noodles, drink goon and catch the bus), I have a little in savings, but an embarrasingly small amount for someone who's 31. So, yes I occasionally read some of your journals from time to time.  I'm not very "social" online, but I do spend frickin hours a day reading RSS feeds and such.  I've got a little facebook with most of my "peeps" in it, which give me enough interaction.  And I'm thinking of starting both a blog as well as a private jounral, although can't even commit to weekly updates on either of them. So, drop a comment if you'd like to say "Hi".  I'm doing quite well and hope you are too. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, February 5th, 2006
5:57 pm	Lack of etiquette Another weekend course in Investment Management brings a couple of nights in the North Ryde Travelodge. Only $70 a night on wotif.com, which isn't much more than a taxi to Petersham. There are only 2 types of people who stay in the Travelodge, people attending seminars/courses at the MGSM, and North Chinese tourists. Probably because it's the cheapest clean hotel in town. There is absolutely 100% *NOTHING* to do there. Macquarie Shopping Centre is a good 15 minutes walk away, nearest pub is further than that. Basically, it's for sleeping. Let me tell you something about these people. These are some of the rudest people with the least amount of etiquette you're ever likely to come across. The whole time I was there: - Communicating by yelling down the hallways, late at night. - Smoking absolutely everywhere. - Standing in doorways, not letting people get past. - Zero lift etiquette. I couldn't believe it, I was shoved aside by a woman who weighed about 50kg. I'm around 140. What the hell was she thinking ? The breakfast buffet was a mosh pit. Every piece of bad mannered behaviour you could imagine. People taking plates of croissants, not eating them and dumping them, not just cutting in lines, but pushing and shoving, I couldn't believe it. The hotel staff were continually trying to get people to stop smoking, and were ignored (claiming not to understand what they were being told). I could have laid the smack down on them in Mandarin, but I had better things to do. These people are probably in the top 10% of income earners in China, and are probably earning only $10,000 a year. Is this the sort of attitute that goes on there ? I'm convinced that these people weren't unaware of etiquette, but just chose to breech it the whole time. They managed to get away with it, only myself and the hotel staff were affected. I'd like to see them try that shit in New York, where they have extremely good manners. Yes, you can get mugged, and you can get shot or stabbed... but not without a very good reason. People there realise that there's 10 million people living on a tiny island there, and if a certain amount of etiquitte wasn't displayed, they'd all go nuts and it'd turn into a bloodbath. And it's only Northern Chinese. All the people from Hong Kong, Singapore and even Shanghai that I've met have been extremely polite. It's only the Beijingers that are so impolite. It's not just me who's noticed this. In Hong Kong there has been a backlash against North Chinese tourists, and in fact there was talk of banning them from Hong Kong disneyland. Apart from the usual stuff noted above, including everyone smoking everywhere, children were allowed to run around without pants (not little babies, we're talking 8 year-olds), and everyone spitting and pissing absolutely everywhere. So China, your economy is booming, but get your fucking act together. I fear the situation will only get worse, as due to China's "one child" policy, a generation of "little princes" and "little princesses" are now reaching adulthood. The phrase "Obnoxious American Tourist" is about to be replaced with "Obnoxious Beijing Tourist". It's probably going to keep goign that way until Beijingers get some real money and start visiting the CBD or larger cities, whereupon their shit won't be put up with any more. References: http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1228/p01s02-woap.html - Chinese tourists in Thailand http://www.littlespeck.com/region/CForeign-China-051025.htm - talk of stealing pillows and stubbing cigarettes out on the carpet. http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2005/09/14/2003271594 HK Disneyland (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, February 3rd, 2006
3:26 am	Possible Laksa Recipe... Eureka, I've found the motherfucker: http://www.delaksa.com/ak_laksa.php 6-8 long dried red chilies 8 purple (Asian) shallots, coarsely chopped 5 candlenuts 3cm-piece fresh galangal, peeled coarsely chopped 2 stems lemon grass, pale selection only, coarsely chopped 2 tbs peanut oil 1 ½ tsp finely grated fresh turmeric Or ½ tsp ground turmeric 1 tsp shrimp paste 1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped Unfortunately I'm at school this weekend, so I won't be able to try it for an agonizing week and a half, but this *is* the Laksa recipe I've been after. Re-hydrated dried chillis - unexpected, but needed to form a basis with the shallots. Galangal instead of ginger - exactly as expected. 5 candlenuts - many recipes don't have this, but I know they're in there. 2 stems of lemongrass - more than I expected. Will proceed with caution here. 2 TBS Peanut oil - correct Fresh/ground tumeric - This is what makes the laksa yellow. You can go fairly heavy on the tumeric and it seems to be OK Shrimp paste - as expected, not too much 1 garlic clove - as expected, hardly any garlic. A red curry paste might have 10 cloves in it. The method of assembling it is as anticipated as well. Lots of coconut milk and chicken stock. If I make it from bones, it'll be so much better. What do I like to float in it ? King Prawns and Wontons. Sometimes raw beef, which cooks in the hot broth. Occasionally BBQ pork, but usually that's just too much. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, January 28th, 2006
6:40 pm	Information Architecture I spent all day Wednesday interviewing people regarding website usage for an information architecture job I've been engaged to do. Darn near killed me, 8 * 45 minutes, and most ran long. The most interesting interviews were the ones that descended into rants. Got some great info. I have 3 days to write the report (which will be tough), and I need at least a full day more research. Late nights I think, but the more I do, the better I get. I'm building my armoury of techniques and skills, and soon the $$$ will come. -=-=-=-=- I'm currently studying IT management. It is far, far, far less glamourous than I could have ever thought. Am seriosuly considering its value and my future in the field. Other forms of management are much more fun. Still, the class only has 15 people in it, and they only hold it once a year, so I'm in a niche market and hopefully can make-a-buck with it. -=-=-=-=- I'm chewing through a huge batch of poker books I got on amazon.com. Every time you change the channel on cable, there's some poker on there. The US shows have the best action, but their production values are very crap and it's very difficult to watch. Especially anything from partypoker.com. I used to watch a British show called "Late night poker" which was extremely entertaining (if anyone sees another series, sing out), and anything from Europe is pretty good too. Late night poker used to edit out most of the boring hands. For some reason, everyone on that show was quite talkative, and it was very good to watch. Most US players just tend to insult each other to try to get their opponents off-tilt. No creativity about it either, no fun to watch. As in "You're fucking bad at poker, you suck, I smack you". Not that I mind this sort of behaviour, if you get into a zazen meditation, you can get them to "tilt" and go ballistic. Which is wonderful, as at that time they start losing all their money, and you start winning it. One thing I cannot stand though is celebrity poker. Joker Poker late on Channel 10 is OK, as they're a bunch of stand-up comedians (so you don't watch it for the poker). There are some US ones available for download online, which are apparently bad (but could be worse). Fox-8 are showing an Australian Celebrity poker challenge. ARHGHGHGHG. Oh man, that's shocking. I recognize maybe 5% of the people they're calling celebrities (Molly Meldrum, That dude from playschool who's on the Glasshouse). The standard of poker is absolutely appalling. I could not believe what I was seeing. Now, it's a very difficult thing to definatively say "that was a bad play" in poker. You can guess with high probablility that someone is a bad player (and will be right or wrong), but it's almost impossible to call an individual play as "bad". There are so many reasons why people might make particular strange looking plays: - Bluffing - Bluffing and getting caught (not a bad thing) - Semi-bluffing - Holding out at a long-shot draw if the pot is big enough. - Trying to deceive someone about your style for some longer term action - A small error in calculating drawing odds - Mis-reading a physical signal from an opponent - etc. But man, you get some definately bad poker on that show. Bluffing with nothing - by *calling the other person's bet* when you're almost all in ? Flabbergasts me. I have to keep watching it just to see how bad it is. Man. They also start everyone off with $100,000 in chips each. Minimum bets IIRC are $1,000. Why they do this I have no idea. Start of with $100 in chips and make minimum bet $1. Same damn game (the prize money is basically nothing). At the world poker tour, yeah at the final table there's like $10,000,000 in chips on the table, that's because they started out with a thousand people paying $10,000 (real money) each. Giving everyone a fake $100,000 to start with is just silly. And the banter: - "Hey Molly, I have a pair of jacks, hope you don't have any QUEENS !" "Ha, ha, very funny, I bet 1,000" - "Ooh, you must have a pair of QUEENS there" "Ha, Ha" - "Oh no, I hope that I don't lose, do you have any QUEENS there ?" "Ha....ha...." - "Oh no ! It's another QUEEN ! Hey Molly...." "STFU N00b !!! *smack*" Poor bastard. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 17th, 2006
10:47 am	Cantonese = Tricky... I started my first Cantonese lesson last night (I got a set of 30 half hour lessons from Pimsleur). As I expected, IS TREEEKY ! Knowing some Mandarin is both a blessing a curse. E.g, I'm down with all the gramattical structures already, no problem. But, I keep forgetting and keep accidentally saying the Mandarin word for things, not the Cantonese. It's the most basic words, rather than any newer vocab that stuffs me up. Stuff like saying "Wo" instead of "Ngo", and "Ni" instead of "Nei". I'm clueless on tonality as well, I just copy what I hear. Hopefully it'll all work out. Listening comprehension is 100% so far, speaking, maybe 80%. So, there you go, I've invented my own creole, Mantonese. (2 Comments |Comment on this)