Weekend Report

Why the Weekend Report?

So many things happened in the last week and I didn't get to blog about it individually, so here is a summary of what happened in the last week!

The BIGGEST news is that

I FINALLY GOT A PERMANENT POSITION IN MY COMPANY!

I was getting worried for a while, as I was on contract til the end of Feb 07, and they did not give me notice as to whether they still wanted me to stay on. The thing was that they did not ask me to leave, but did not provide me with a permanent letter of offer. So I was kind of in limbo for a while. This was mainly due to the syndrome known as "Big Company HR Inefficiency" but now that it has been resolved, I shall harp on it no more. Just glad that I have a permanent position with more responsibilities and slightly higher pay. It was sort of good timing too as the perks of being a permanent staff member started rolling in this week. The Company is organising a staff conference at a BBEEEAUUTTIFUULL location in Queensland (Hyatt, 5 star resort, private beach, free meals and booze, you know the works) and I would not have been able to go if I was on contract. So 2 weeks from now, I will be at the resort swimming with dolphins!!!!

Have a look at the resort!

http://coolum.regency.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp
Not bad eh?

I know, I know, I'm such a show off! Just think of me next Tuesday morning when you are on the rickety City Snail train to work, ok?

Last Saturday was declared as M&M day, so it was a day for only me and Matt. We sort of always set aside a day once every 2 months to do something simple or special, so yesterday was a dinner and movie night for us.And because I refuse to pay bloody $16 for a movie in the city, we decided to trudge down to the economical university student suburb of Randwick for our dinner and movie.

We went to this restaurant called Lebanon and Beyond (yeah, tell me about it....another classic restaurant name) for some wog tucker. Ordered Lebanese sausages (can't go wrong with sausages) and a meat platter consisting of shish kebab, grilled steak, tabbouleh, deep fried cauliflower and hummus. I know deep fried cauliflower sounds so weird but it was absolutely the most delicious way of doing vegetables. Even Matt, who is a ferocious carnivore, worshipped it! There was unlimited Leb bread to wrap them up, and it only cost us about $37, fairly cheap considering the amount of meat they were forcing upon us! Matt and me left the restaurant looking like pregnant middle aged men.

We then walked over the the Randwick Ritz cinema to watch a movie. The cinema looked really old and looked like it was on the verge of collapsing, and had the world's most uncomfortable seats. But with a $10 ticket price, how could you say no? Matt wanted to watch this movie called Freedom Writers, cos he's into these sort of movies. I was like " Ok, another Dangerous Mind, another Dead Poet's Society, another Mr Holland's Opus...yawn.....". I was pleasantly surprised! It was a good movie bordering on great! Hillary Swank blew me away and while I'm not a fan of urban music, the sound track was pretty good. The story is about this first time teacher being sent to a high school in Long Beach which was part of a reform program instigated by the US government after the L.A. race riots. This school used to be a very highly placed school, but after the riots was changed to include more students from different races, i.e. the blacks, latinos, asians. Integration, they called it, but it resulted in worsening racial segregation. As you would expect, these students are not really into school, more into gang warfare, drugs etc and this real life story tells of how the teachr struggled to bring out the best of them, through unique teaching methods (which earned her the scorn of her colleagues). Check out the trailer below. Also check this website. http://www.freedomwritersfoundation.org/.

Whilst I have not been a victim of racial vilification myself, I can draw many parallels of the storyline against what’s happening in Sydney, where racial tolerance is preached but subtle racism is rampant in the mass media. Over the top political correctness may have unwittingly caused us to be more racist now than ever. I cringe now when I walk past a large group of loud talking Lebanese youths, even though they may not be doing anything significant to harm or provoke me. Yet when I walk past a group of loud talking Chinese youth, I don’t cringe. I’m not racist, but my actions do appear to make me one. Why? Because I am bombarded with images from TV everyday that seem to associate all forms of crime with people of that race? The media certainly has a huge amount of power in shaping people’s minds and attitudes, but all they are really interested in is how many copies of papers they can sell that day.

Sometimes I think we let our emotions play with our minds too much. Here, we get pissed off with our friends because of what they say and do. Over there, they get killed for it. Maybe we don’t realise how lucky we are to be able to see our friends everyday and not suddenly lose one in drive by shooting (or maybe thats not so impossible in Sydney after all). I think its time to be selfish, no more getting involved in petty dramas of who’s right and who’s wrong. Its time I started enjoying the company of happy people. The angry ones can fight their own battles.

Now to happier news. My two good friends in Singapore Gordon and Yuly who got married a couple of years ago just produced a cute little baby girl called Chloe! I felt strangely excited (not normally excited about babies). Last saw Yuly in Nov and she was sporting a small bump in her tummy. So Chloe and I have been introduced then but we haven’t officially met yet! Saw a baby clothing shop at EastGardens the other day with all the cute little dresses and pants…..I think I might make a trip down to get Chloe a surprise gift!

And I have to blog more often to prevent mass blogging like this. I know the attention span of my readers....

Cultural Learnings of China for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Australia

NOW EVREE BODY LEPEAT AFTER ARSE!!!

PAI KUAT.............

(steamed pork ribs with black beans)

LAW MY GUY........

(glutinous rice with chicken wrapped in lotus leaves)

DONE TART....

(egg custard tart)

HAR CHEONG FUN......

(steamed rice flour with prawns and soy sauce)

HAR GOW......

(steamed prawn dumplings)

Ok, now meet your cultural teachers. From left, Grandmaster Wong, KungFu Master Gerald, IT Master John and the petite and lovely Miss Wei! We highly recommend ordering these dishes when you go yum cha next. They are safe bets for the untrained (boring) Western palate.

For more interesting choices, try these........

Enjoy and Long Live China, our beautiful motherland!

Transformers, More Than Meets The Eye!

With this entry, I shall attempt to prove that I am not just a pretty face. Well most of you would know me as an endearing and insanely popular blogger. Not many people know that I lead a double life as a food technologist with one of the leading food companies in Australia. Being a food technologist has nothing to do with cooking, although it helps to know about different cooking processes.

Because I am a totally unselfish person, I shall generously share my knowledge on a common topic that has been popping up in the media over the last few months. Unlike my other colleagues in the media (especially those in the current affairs section), I speak with the level of honesty and integrity that Morris Iemma can only dream about.

I want to talk about TRANS fats. and hopefully be able to clean up the misconceptions for you.

About 10-20 years ago, the hype was all about how eating too much saturated (animal) fat clogs up your arteries and leads to diseases like Coronary Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure. Suddenly there was a mad rush to switch to vegetable oil because they are unsaturated and do not have as much a detrimental effect on our bodies.

However, things like butter and cake and pastry margarine were still animal fat based and contained high amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol. The more saturated an oil is, the harder it goes at cold temperatures. This hardness (technical term is plasticity) is useful when making cakes and pastries. Using liquid vegetable oil to replace these simply will not work because they are in a different state and does not hold well in a mixture of flour, water and sugar. Pioneering food technologists found out that by passing hydrogen through vegetable oil, you can actually saturate the liquid oil and make it more solid at cold temperatures, replicating the structure of butter and tallow. Everyone was happy and embraced margarine.

Then, some party poopers decided to carry out some research and found that when liquid vegetable oils are reacted with hydrogen at high temperatures and pressures, a fat with a different structure called TRANS fats are formed. Even though these TRANS fats occur naturally in animal fat, they were present in much higher amounts in hardened vegetable oil. Further research showed that TRANS fats were twice as harmful as saturated fats!

You know that your body has good and bad cholesterol? When you go to a doctor and they tell you that your cholesterol level is high, he/she is usually talking about the bad cholesterol level. Research have shown that consuming high amounts of saturated fat in your diet increases the bad cholesterol. Worse, consuming high levels of trans fat increases the bad cholesterol while reducing the good cholesterol! That’s why its twice as bad!

Well, the good news is that most of the margarines and spreads that are being sold in the market have shifted to a processing method which yields a low trans product. You can tell by reading the Nutritional Information Panel on the margarine, labeled as trans under Fat. Trans levels for these margarines are usually less than 1g per 100g (less than 1%). If its more than 2-3%, you know that it belongs to the supermarket shelf and not your refrigerator.

Keep a look out for trans levels on other products like potato crisps and packaged cakes where a Nutritional Panel is printed. Keep your consumption of trans to as low as you can. The trap comes in products which are not labelled, like fast food (Mackers is alright, they’ve recently switched to low trans deep frying oil), cakes and pastries, desserts etc. The best policy is to exercise moderation. Things like cakes and pastries shouldn’t be a daily treat, but more of an occasional one.

This is the end of my sermon. Hope you are still awake.

God Bless You!

Love,
Pastor Wong

Is that from Target?

And I thought something like that could only happen in Singapore!

Now all this controversy surrounding the launch of Stella McCartney's range at Target, I just don't get it! I understand queuing up for 6 or more hours to buy Madonna concert tickets, but for a range of "designer" clothing specially packaged for a lower end fashion chain? Heard this interview on the radio this morning with Target's management staff (which was so rehearsed).

DJ : "So how was it possible to bring the price of these beautiful looking designer clothes down to such a low price?"

Target Management : "Oh, what we did was to cut a deal with Stella's company to design these exclusively for Target, and we then ship the designs to be manufactured in China".

Bloody hell, and he said it with such conviction! I envision sweat shops in a remote village in China forcing innocent girls torn away from their parents at a tender young age to churn out designer pieces every 30 seconds at a wage of 30 Australian cents an hour. Just so you can look good in the office.

I was reading an article about this mad rush in the Sydney Morning Herald and couldn't stop laughing!

"A scuffle between two women at Chadstone — one of them obviously pregnant — had to be broken up by security guards, and Sydney stores reported similarly violent scenes as women ripped garments from each other's arms. Target's Bourke Street store allowed shoppers into the store 20 at a time when crowds stretching more than 100 metres around the block threatened the kind of blood-soaked chaos last seen when a bargain-hunter lost a finger at the Boxing Day sales."

What!!! All this for some piece of down priced designer garment? Relax girls, its only fabric! And she probably didn't design it herself. Fashion houses do employ in house designers, you know.

"So what if I pushed that pregnant bitch and caused her to miscarry? At least I've got my exclusive Stella McCartney grey trench coat which only 5999 other women in Australia have! Now can you get out the fuck of my way while I rip this blouse off the mannequin?!!"

If I was a girl (which only magically happens once a year), I wouldn't even think of getting a piece from that collection. Firstly, I know how girls are like when it comes to shopping. Once they lock their target onto a piece they like, you'd better watch out! Sharpened nails, tiny heels and strong elbows are usual weapons of choice for these fashion Xenas. And trust me, hell hath no fury like a woman robbed of her Stella McCartney dress.

Secondly, imagine going to the office and finding 6 other girls all dressed exactly like you. Welcome to the Target club!

Now here are a few more ideas to bring higher end goods to the mass market.

1. IGA launches the exclusive Tetsuya instant noodles range!
2. Armani signs deal with Best and Less to design an exclusive range of plus size outfits!
3. Mass hysteria at Pay Less Shoes all over Australia with the launch of Jimmy Choo Rejectz range!

Now this was what the hype was all about!

Looks very Target to me!

ONE HOT, HOT NIGHT ONLY!

Can’t believe it, three days after Mardi Gras, and my left foot is still hurting from the heels I was wearing…..

Say hello to your hostess of the evening, Rima Hole!

The madness started on Friday night, when Hurricane Nelson landed into Party HeadQuarters. My hands went icy immediately when Nelson walked in, because I knew from that point on, there would be no rest for all three of us. There was so much to do!

We had to :

1. rehearse the final show
2. rehearse my show
3. move furniture to create room
4. finish decorations
5. have dinner
6. make the Video for the show etc etc etc…..

Number of tantrums thrown : 5 (mostly resolved within 10 minutes)
Number of threats to cancel party : Twice (both times from me)
Number of rehearsals to get the final show right : 8 times
Number of tinsel spots dislodged from my “Coming Round The Mountain” outfit : 6 million

A Selection of Our Fine Guests!

Well, most of you would have seen the show so there’s really no point describing it. What I’ll do instead is to let you know what was happening behind the scenes, all the soap operas, the tears, the hair pulling and the wardrobe malfunctions.

Followed By A Selection of Our Fantastic Performers

GTT07 Drama Episode 1 : The Heat
How perfect! On the day when we had to wear layers and layers of makeup, the weather had to play up didn’t it? Let me tell ya, bloody 35 deg C heat and 85% humidity is enough to put you off doing drag for the rest of your life. I felt hot, but not sexy. Two minutes after my full makeup was on, I felt like SpongeBob SquarePants, squirting water from every single pore in my body. It wasn’t difficult locating me on that day, I was either next to a tissue box or in front of the fan. Of course, we made it better by heating up our meat pies and sausage rolls in the oven……

Then We Have Our Bitches!!!

Let us show you how bitches suck.....

Hey, I'm not a bitch!

Excuse me, I'm not a bitch too!

I'm a SLUT!

GTT07 Drama Episode 2 : Security emergency
Security asked a group of our friends coming up to tell the tenants (me and Matt) to go downstairs because we were overcrowded and they will not be letting anyone else up to the party. WHAT OVERCROWDED??!!! We only had about 35 people in a 50 square meters unit….I’m sure we could squeeze more people in, 1 square meter per person is more than enough space! Apparently, we were only allowed to have 25 people in a TWO bedroom unit…hehhe….wait till they find out this was a one bedder!!! Anyways, Rima and Sharon went down to try to resolve the issue. Rima started by bitch slapping the security and grabbing them by the balls while Sharon tried to strangle them with her curly luscious hair de mons veneris. The security reckoned the balcony might collapse with the weight of all the people. Ok…..They gave in eventually, because they were still letting people up after that episode…..

And One Horny Little Devil!

GTT07 Drama Episode 3 : Method Acting
Ok, I claim full responsibility for this one. During Rima’s stirring rendition of Britney’s “I’m not a girl”, I was meant to replace the alcohol in the Absolute Vodka bottle with water. I had a few drinks, put my makeup on, and guess what? I totally forgot. But I thought this mishap gave Rima’s performance an extra kick, don’t you? Well, this also explains why my dumplings were missing during my performance.

GTT07 Drama Episode 4 : Everything falls apart
There were a few things that fell apart before, during and after the show, but we managed to cover it up with our professional showmanship. Anita’s white boots were the first to go, and were tastefully disguised with scores of masking tape. Rima’s dress unzipped on its own, giving you guys more than what you bargained for. Microphones fell down during the “One Night Only” number. Speakers exploded. Drinks spilt in the bedroom. Ahhh….all signs of a great party…..

It was truly a great party! Lots of people came up and said it was one of the best parties they’ve been to (in a confined space). And there we were worrying about how people would feel about being stuck in such a small space….made it more intimate I guess. I just wish I didn’t let the heat get to me that much. And I wish I drank more (thanks, Nelson)!

So thank you all for making this party special for us. This was what Mardi Gras is about. Special thanks go out to serial cleaners Sharon and Gareth for doing the cleaning that night and Nelson, Nick, Alcinda and Margaret for doing more cleaning the next day. You’ve made it so much easier for us. Also thanks to Gerald for his tireless camerawork, can't wait for the theatrical release!

Everything is now back to normal as we put away the wigs, eyeliners, feather boas and heels for another year.

HAPPY MARDI GRAS !

Apologies again......

Sorry for not updating the site again for so long. I have been so bloody busy trying to do up the house for the major Mardi Gras party the last few weeks. From this Sunday, you’ll be able to see the fruits of our labour when I upload the photos and videos from the party and parade.

I was quite blasé about it but am getting excited now. Many of the guests are making me very excited too, showing me what they’re gonna wear and perform…..

I think its gonna be a good party…..

Come back next week, the pictures should be on then….