The Discovery

Day 5 Syawal/Eid Mubarak

17 October 2007

It was so coincidence while I am searching for roti canai, I found Otak otak Kempas. Wow, I was so excited. I can't wait to tell my other Malaysian friends when they coming for the Open House Function. The Otak-otak cost me AUD 5.99 and for Malaysian made PARATA cost me about AUD 3.50 each. I bought 1 otak-otak and 4 PARATA. Well it doesn't matter at all how much it cost, as long as I managed to get Malaysian product for my Open House Function.

Still not in the mood

Day 4 of Syawal/Eid-Mubarak, my mind , body and soul are till in holiday mood. LOL. If now i am back at my hometown, definitely this is the time for me to meet all my cousins and friends. :) . Anyway it alright.

I did went to campus yesterday and managed to finish some work even though only for a while. And today I might go for an hour or two before going to City do some shopping for tomorrow event. Me and Yuhanis are going to organise an Open House and we inviting all our friends, staff and lecturers from our faculty. It going to be a big day tomorrow and planning a lot of menu too. Chicken rendang with lemang, Curry beef or chicken with roti canai, Nasi lemak,'Laksa Johor','Mee Rebus Johor', Fried Kwee Tiaw Malaysian style, Fried Popia, 'Cucur udang', some of Malaysian Chips, fruits ........huh, hope that will be enough and hope we will manage to get it done before lunch time since we invite them from lunch onwards. Gosh hope all of them will come. (Too much hoping.....)

We thought of preparing sate. Well let see how it goes. Basically it only two of us preparing all the delicacy and might get help from Gary and Erica (Other Malaysians PhD Student) tonight.

Pizza Mania

Starting with bread and latte

Calamari ......

Vegetarian Pizza

Marinara Pizza

This is what I had for dinner. LOL.

Went to Lygon Street for dinner last night. Out first after fasting months. Still, there are so many people as usual. Difficult to find parking spot. All shops were full house. So fortunate we got a table at our usually place. One of the best Pizza in town.

We ordered one medium size of Marinara Pizza (seafood pizza) and one vegetarian pizza with calamari and pasta.

The Celebration continue......

Some of the guests at Aznan's house

This is how Malaysian Dendenong's made Satays. :) . It shows how creative peoples are.

Not bad at all. :)

Wanna try some chicken satay??

Some of the cookies Aznan and the family prepared for this festive. Home made cookies.

Just one week ago I came to Aznan's house for breaking fast. It a privilege to come again since this will be Aznan and his family last Eid Celebration in Melbourne. I am always take this opportunity to come again because the family cook homemade foods, Malaysian Foods. Even though this is not his official Open House Celebration yet, but many Malaysian Students came to his house. Most of them medical students study at Monash Medical School Clayton not far from Aznan's house. I met few of my friends there.

The greatest festive

One moment in time......... Friends

Festive Delicacy

My contrinutribution, wanna try some ??......... :)

Comparing to last year, this year is the best Syawal/Eid celebration i had so far. May be because I have adapted well with my new place and make more friends. I feels like to take part and contributing something for the celebration this year. Last year I don't even bothered, just went to Malaysian Hall try to meet somebody I might knew before, which i did and went to few houses. But still, i don't feel like I am celebrating Eid. The other thing is, last year the celebration falls during weekdays, while this year the celebration falls on weekend.

We organised a meeting placewhich is at Adel's house. Few of our friends and Adel's cousin coming. Everybody will contributing something. I made 'Laksa Johor' with my mom greatest recipe, :) and tricks. Haha... won't tell you what is the secret ingredient and you know what at the end of the day the Laksa is finishing. :) . Wanna try, Or wanna hire me,...we can discuss later about the price. :) .

Yuhanis made Chicken and Beef Rendang which everybody like it very much. Idual and his wife also made Chicken Rendang. Adel's provide sate, chicken Korma, 'Nasi Minyak what else....Lemang, Lontong and all the drinks.

It was really great, later Adel's aunt came with her 'specialty' .....cake. Mmmmmmmmm yum yum yum, i like cakes actually. Everybody is enjoying themselves. Yup, this year is much better and livelier Eid celebration I had.

1st Syawal 1428

Minal Aidil walfaizin....
Wishing everybody who celebrate syawal,
Happy eid Al-Mubarak
'Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir Batin'.

Hydrotherapy - the exercises

Here are some of the clips that i took during the sessions. The activity started with warm up and stretching in the water. So many new terminology i learn. :) . It was interesting. Star fish stretching etc. :)
Cool enjoy it very much


The warm up and stretching session






Later the session developed with tiptoeing and heel walk in the pool which is challenging for them. They managed to do it, but since they just started it only lasted for 5 minutes.





Through out the session, it seems that they were having a great time. They even gossiping. LOL as usual. We even talked about Dancing with the star program, and who is our favorite. LOL. I am looking forward to come back again and jump into the pool with them. :)

A Trip to Footscray Hydrotherapy Center

I was so excited when I have a chance to go to one of Hydrotherapy Center in Victoria State. Since I am staying in Footscray, so I went to Footscray Hydrotherapy Center. Dr. Melainie (Lecturer in Exercise Rehabilitation Unit specialising in Arthritis) do Hydrotherapy coaching for her patients with arthritis in this center every Wednesday. This is the first session of the term of 10 weeks. They have 3 terms in one year for the same group of people.

It was really nice a place, located not far from the University. The center is actually a big house and had been renovated and change into a place called Footscray Physiotherapy and Hydrotherapy Center.

Nice set up. There are consultation rooms, physiotherapists, dietitians and osteopath services in this center. Well organised.

I met all the ladies who participated in this session. Suppose to have male participants but they were not coming. The ladies were so friendly and allowed me to to take their pictures and video. "Don't forget to tell us to say cheese or sex" said one of the ladies then we laugh. All the ladies were looking forward for the session every Wednesday. It really showed from their expression. Most of them are having arthritis problems/joints pain with different levels and diformities. Doing the exercise in warm pool helps them to move all the joints much much better and it improved their quality of daily living. The session took about 50 minutes.

I was really impressed. We suppose to have Hydrotherapy Pool in University Malays Medical Center but the pool leaks and unable to use and repaired since year 2000. Pity though. When I was in clinics I received a lot of patients with joints pain and some of them I really wanted them to do Aqua/Hydro exercise. Really can't do much hoping when I come back from my study the new building will be ready because it has Hydrotherapy center. Definitely I will actively involve and treating patients with this conditions next time. I ask Dr. Melainie if there are such courses to do Hydrotherapy coaching, she suggested me to join Hydrotherapy Coaching organised and certified by Victoria State Government. I could join with free entry fee if I will teach for free after the course for certain period. I do looking forward for the courses, this will help me give my fullest sercvices and practice to my patients. I am glad I had this opportunity.

Father Figure II

Kindly pause the POQbum player before watching this touching video clip.

Essence of Eid Al Mubarak

The Day of Celebration

Where we are as a family
Even we are different races and colours

Ramadan

will always unite us

caring to one who really need

understand

how they felt

at times when they are at most difficult situation

Think of the Quintessence on Ramadan

We are always Human

not an angle

Forgive and be forgiven

make our relationship

stronger

loving to each other

as a friends

as a family

We will always together

Where ever we are

The celebration just around the corner

Happy Eid Al-Mubarak

Eid AL-Mubarak Celebration

Another 4 more days (including today) we are going to celebrate Eid al-Mubarak. This is my second Eid in Australia. I am already use to celebrate Eid abroad. During my undergrad I spent 6 years with all of the celebrations oversea.

This year might be a bit different, Me and Yuhanis might prepare some Malaysian dishes and invite our PhD Colleagues come to our place. May be during lunch time.

I would like to take this opportunity to say to everybody 'Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri and Maaf Zahir Batin' / Happy Eid Al Mubarak.

Breaking Fast at Dendenong

Day 25 of Ramadan
Sunday
October 8
Aznan's House

Fried Pinky Fish with chilli

Beef Curry

Salad, Penang Style

'Keropok'

Variety of Disserts

Aznan new creation; Pastry roll with mince meat


Almost 5 months since my last visit to Aznan's house. As usual I have to call him earlier and made an appointment just to make sure his available during the weekend. I set the date and told him I am coming to his house on Sunday during breaking fast. I am always looking forward going to his place coz he and his wife cooked good and great foods. They will always be a new recipe each time I went there. They are really creative 'chefs'. And because of thier expertise, they were given a catering contract for Malaysian Petronas' Scholar students.

I reached Dendenong Train Station at 5.40 pm. Few minutes later Aznan came and fetched me, we went straight away to his house. Aznan and his wife lives with thier 3 childrens; 2 in Secondary School and 1 in Primary School.

As expected alot of foods were already on the table waiting the exact time for breaking fast. Some how we are going to have a food fest. :)

I was told by the childrens, at least they will have 4 dishes for the main course with disserts every day. Mmmmm interesting.

I really enjoyed my time at thier place and not to mention learning thier new creation and some cooking tips.

:)

Last Call

Fried Fish fillet with sweet and sour source

Chicken Kurma

Mixed Vege with Shrimps

Few more days, we are going to celebrate Eid Al-Mubarak. It either practical or I am becoming lazy. I cooked 3 dishes for my 'Sahur'. Well five more days should be enough, since I will eat it only for 'sahur'. I put it in a containers and kept it in Refrigerator. So each time I want to eat just re-heat. :)

Eid Preparation

I have bought this two items at Laguna Supermarket. One paket of 'Ketupat Palas' which is glutinous rice, and one packet of plain 'Ketupat'. Me and Yuhanis still not sure what we want to cook for Eid. Yuhanis might make a Beef Rendang. Anyway I just bought it in case we might need it later.

"Singing in the Rain"

Flinders St.

Friday night It was raining on friday's night, when I arrived at Flinders Station. It started drizzling when I was on my way to Footscray train station. Later It became slightly heavier through out the journey. Even though it was raining, friday's night will always been a nice time to go out. It is the busiest night of the week since everybody stays back in the city after 5 days work and moreover all the shops are closed late until 9.00 - 10.00 pm. This is the time for everybody to go shopping and and having dinner with friends in the city.

This was my second time, spending my time alone on friday's night. It was my stress less moment, and really enjoy it. I arrived 15 minutes past 6.00 pm. I had planned to breaking my fast at one of Malaysian's Restaurant which I have never been before. I prepared myself with some light snacks (dates, chips and nuts) since I will not be on time reaching the restaurant for breaking fast. I stopped at Laguna Supermarket to buy few items for Eid. I bought a packet of Nona's 'Ketupat' ,and a packet of Nona's 'Lemang'.

Little Burke Street.

I have decided to have my dinner at a place called Little Malaysia. I have never been there before and not most of Malaysian that i know goes there too, but anyway it worth a try at least I know where it is and how's the foods are. So next time I can tell anybody if they want to try and have meals over there. I have done my home work before hand about this place. It serves a selection of authentic hawker-style dishes such as har mee (prawn soup). The specialties' section of the menu offers some unusual dishes as well as some simple ones done well, such as the ayam temasek or the spicy dry shredded calamari. Last night the main menu was chilli fried crab. The main important thing about this restaurant is, it serve Halal Malaysian dishes. Other wise I won't go there.

Anyway...

I walk my way through the little burke street known as the China Town in Melbourne CBD. It was really busy. Everybody is like craving for food. LOL . A lot of asian restaurant here such as chinese, japanese, vietnamese, Indian, Thai and also Malaysia restaurant you can find here.

Finally, I reached Little Malaysia Restaurant. In my oppinion it is quite a nice small restaurant with a nice interior decor. :) .

A waiter showed me a place to sit and gave me the menu. I have already expected the prices will be above average, all the main meals are above AUD 10. I have decided to order the cheapest meal ( hehe ) which is suppose to be Singapore style fried mee hoon which cost me about AUD 12.80 , haha told you will be surprised. Yeah, think of the bright side, I tried this place and experienced it. So I can tell anyone what they served and the cost for each meals.

When my order came, I looked at it. Mmmmmmm the presentation was not that exciting. I can do better. Well, no complaint. The taste was not bad actually. And don't get me wrong, I was told the restaurant suppose to be one of the best restaurnt in town. Last night it was a full house and a lot of australians among the customer. May be because I had chosen the cheapest food in the menu. LOL.

But still, this will be my first and my last visit to Little Malaysia Restaurant.

After I paid the bill, I went back home walk through Little Burke Street, then I saw another Malaysian Restaurant called Banana Leaf Curry House which I found more interesting compared to Little Malaysia and much cheaper. There are another two more Malaysian Restaurants here in Little Burke Street, one is halal but expensive and the other one not sure if it is halal or not. But the Banana Leaf Curry House really cought my eyes. Most of the main menu are less than AUD 10 and it serves Halal Meat too . Definitely I will come here next week.