Some of the Dishes I've Prepared So Far

Some of my cooking collections:

Vege with Curry Powder and Chicken Tikka Paste

Curry Pasta with Potato and Anchovies

Beef Rendang

Baked Chicken

So how? Can open restaurant already kah?

Laptop is Back ON!

Thanks to my cuz, Huey, my computer is ALIVE again! However, there's still this niggling sound from the inside of the laptop. It could be the hard drive or could be the fan. I don't know. Need to get it check out when I go back KL.

Being without a computer for a week can feel quite "cacat" (handicapped). Usually I will feel like that when I don't have my handphone with me but then here in Melbourne I don't use it much. Gone were the days where you write mails and send it to your friends, families or your loved ones using the "snail mail". Those days World Wide Web (WWW) was not even widely used or even owning a computer. I never owned a personal computer till 2003 I think. During the days in university, had to rely on lab computers (which do not give access to internet) and a laptop which I borrowed from my sister to do most of my coursework. Anyways, I am glad that my cousin Huey managed to fix the bug!

Last Fri, rode with my cuz, Andrew to Black Rock along Beach Road. Total distance covered with him was about 35km. Twice he sprinted, one just before th U turn back and the second near the end. Both times I was nowhere near him. I didnt go for a longer ride with him as I had to head back, grab my stuff and head off to meet Geraldine at her place at around 11am. It's about 22km to her place. Reached around her area but couldn't find her place. So had to find a place to stop and call her for SOS. Guess what? It's only about 300m from where I was stopping. Reached there and she was already ready to run, so we went out for 10km run. Even stopped by her children's school and she took me for a tour. We had lunch at Glen Waverly at a Chinese Restaurant which I suspect is a Malaysian or a Hong Kong owned. After lunch, went to grocery shop next to it and you can start hearing people talking in Hokkien dialects. Sounded like Northern Msian Hokkien dialect. Headed back to her place and had to ride back home again. Took another route to go back but the hills are a killer, when you've done a 60km ride plus a 10km run.

Shops at Glen Waverly

Geraldine with her children



The Sunflower that greeted me in front of Jee Koh's place

Some of the Beautiful flowers @ Jee Koh's garden

The fish and vege dinner I had at Jee Koh's home last week

The next morning went for a late morning run at the Tans track and saw there were a lot of runners with bibs running aroudn the track. Oh, this must be the Tans Relays. I just went for a slow 1 hour run but seeing them competing made me have an itch to compete too. Somehow, middle distances appeals to me more than longer distances events.

Sun morning at 7am, I had made an appointment to run with a few runners I met in the Cool Running forum. Met up with Michael, Bruce, Basel and 2 other lady runners. We ran 3 laps around the Tan track before meeting up with other runners at 8am. We joined the other group and from 6 runners it turns out to be 15 runners in the end. A big turn out! We headed out to another route around the Yarra Main Trails. I ended up running 34km but with a lot of drink stops. Lucky for the drink stops as my legs were starting to feel really sore. All of us went for a drink at the Royal Botanic Garden and chatted for a while. I didn't stayed out too long as I was starting to get cold.

That night I cooked rendang for dinner and invited my cousins, Alissa and Arina over. Bought the rendang mixture from the Asian grocery shop. Alissa cooked the vege. Well it's Hari Raya, so since am missing the curry and rendang back home, why not cook it and have it here. The rendang turn out pretty good.

I had lunch with Grace, my schoolmate from Form 6. I finally had my Vietnamese broken rice with pork chop today. Yummy. The shop is called Mekong and is located in Swanston St. After lunch called my cuz, Huey and checked with him whether he knows how to fix computer bug. He wasn't sure what the problem was so he won't mind checking it out. So I headed home and quickly took out my bike and rode to Jee Koh's place to let Huey have a look at my computer. It took a while but it was worth the wait and finally got it fixed. I stayed on for dinner there before heading home.

And this is DINNER! Yummy!

The Groves family (from left): Jee Koh, Uncle Derham, Grandma and Huey

Since my computer is fixed (well not completely), here I am...updating my blog.

Laptop is DEAD!

My laptop has died on me! F#%$! I was trying to restart it when the computer went into repairing mode and I tried shutting it down. Bad mistake! Tried a lot of step but the blue screen kept appearing. Safe mode, Repair mode, last configuration mode....all don't seem to work. It has a stop error code of 0x0000C1F5. Bugger, now Im going to be out of laptop use for the next 2.5 months!

Rested on Mon as my lower back pain still bothers me. Tue wanted to run, but being lazy and also wanted to give my back a rest for another day, I went for a ride to my aunt's house which is about 11km from here. Thought I drop by to visit since I got nothing much to do. Had to go throught the city road which was a little tough. There are just too many traffic lights to go through! On the way there, passed by Royal Park and Princes Park. Royal Park is where Melbourne Zoo is located. I didnt go in the zoo, only stopped outside for a while.

Reached my aunt's house not too long after that and met her mum-in-law. Huey, my cousin was at home too. Uncle Derhan will only be back a little later around 6pm after work. She asked me to stay for dinner. I have not been here since Jan 1998. That was the last time I was here in Melbourne. They've done a few extension to their house but stil left quite a huge compaound for her gardening. Will post the photos later. She has a very nice garden indeed.

Uncle Derham came back and we had dinner together. Had very Australian dinner and also a very good dessert. I can't remember what's it called though (the dessert). Had a cup of tea after that and chatted with my aunt for while before I headed back at around 8.30pm and went through the city roads again before reaching back home.

Last night, I went for a run with the Melbourne Marathon training group yet again. They did a 16km run and again I went with the medium group (around 5:00-5:15/km pace). I probably could have followed the faster group (which I think is going around 4:40-4:50/km pace), but Im just taking this as a long run, so am not in a hurry! Back seems fine during the run, but in the end my legs just felt a little jelly. I think I logged in around 22-23km last night.

Up till now, I still haven't reached a 30km as yet, not even a 25km. Will do one this Sun morning as I'm set to run with a few runners I met through forums. Gona try for 30-32km this Sun. If Im ok with that, I should be ok to finish a marathon. Cooler weather helps too. I don't think I can top my time in KL but still looking for a sub 4 hours finished would be good. I do wish I had my form in KL marathon right now but unfortunately I don't.

Still kind of sad right now that my laptop broke down, but can't do anything about it. Might ask my aunt to bring it back to KL if I can't get it fix here. Today it's just been raining since 2pm, so guess won't run for today.

Brunch and Dinner

My "early" breakfast cum lunch or you called it brunch. Ok, it wasn't early, I woke up late as I was watching the US Open Mens semi-final in wee hour in the morning.

Brunch - Cereal with Banana

Brunch - Pasta with carrot/tuna/pasta sauce

Dinner - Stir fry Chicken with Oyster/Soy Sauce/Onions

Dinner - Brocolli, Cauliflower and Carrots

This is what you call a BEAUTY!

Roger Federer reaches his sixth straight US Open final after beating Djokovic 7-6, 7-5, 7-5. He has already amazed everyone with his 22 consecutive straight Grand Slam semi-final after beating Robin Soderling in the quarters. The same guy he beat in the French Open final and the 4th round of Wimbledon this year. 22 consecutive semi-final appearances! That's 4.5 years span. An incredible record which I don't think anybody can beat. There may be players better than him but the consistency he has shown is just sublime. It's going to be tough for him, playing the in-form Del Potro who blast Nadal off the court, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2, with his power play.

Here's the amazing shot playing against Djokovic, in which he described his "best shot ever". That gave him a match point which he took by hitting a forehand winner off Djokovic serve.

Check out the magic from the Tennis Maestro!

Kim Clijsters, the comeback mum, won her 2nd US Open title, after beating 19-year old Caroline Wozniacki 7-5, 6-3. She only came out of retirement recently and this was only her third or fourth tournament coming out from retirement.

Australian Running Friends

Ross, Coach David Eadie, Grace and Lara

These are the people I was with yesterday. Got this photo from Ross. They all got medals!! Me the odd one out! Haha! The second guy in the middle is their coach. According to Ross, he is the 2008 Australian 100km Champion. I actually can't remember his name but the print on their shirt led me to his website: Running Man. Wow, looking at his profile, no joke man. And he made his passion into a business. But his resume is amazing. A triathlete and Ironman too.

Also met Graeme whom I met during the VRR Tan Time Trial. He was there for the 21.1km.

Care for a Starbucks Coffee?!

Got this from a friend through email. Very "Creative" and funny indeed. Rumoured to be in Bekenu, Miri. I think must get my friends in Miri to go check it out. Maybe only need to pay Coffee of the Day or Caffe Latte for RM1 instead of exorbitant price!!

Must go check got wi-fi or not....

Warm, Windy Saturday and Racing in Cold on Sun

What a relief on Saturday. It was one of the warmest day I've felt since reaching Melbourne. I didn't know what the temperature was and didn't bother to check it as I was enjoying it. Found out today in The Age report, it hit a record high at 29.9 C. Didn't do much in the morning till late afternoon, woke up late as I was watching a movie till late online. Felt like going out but wind was so strong. It was reported that certain areas, powerline were bought down in the mountain areas that causes blackout.

Anyways, I felt an itch to go for a ride, then thought maybe I should head out to my cousin's place in Sandringham, which is just by the beach. I could take some photos by the beach on the way there. Checked out Google map in a hurry and found that her place was about 17.5km from where I stayed. Not too far, I thought. So I just drew a rough map and quickly changed into my cycling clothing and head out. I rode and rode looking for the turning to her place but either I missed it or my map was wrong. I can't visualise the map I saw earlier as I had a quick glance. I went pass 15, 16, 17...20km, this can't be right, I decided to make a U-turn back. The sky really got dark and also not promising as the cloud gathers. Told myself I'll go to her place another day. On the way back, I saw the road heading to her place, then realised that I've been looking at the wrong side. I should be looking out for the road on the right instead of left, no wonder I missed the turning. Should I go or shouldn't I (go to my cousin's place)? What the heck, might as well. I got a good tailwind (easily can reach 40km/h) at the start and was little worried heading back when I made the U turn, but luckily it was ok, then when I made the left turn to my cuz's place, it wasn't that bad. Finally reached her place and saw her cooking. She invited me to stay for dinner and she'll drive me back after that. Well, sounds good to me!

Bike parking

Master Chef Alissa

Foodie Goodie

City view from beach

She drove me back after dinner. Then, me, her and Kheng went for a drink at Rosco's Cafe just down at Kheng's apartment.

This morning I had to get up early at 6am to hitch a ride from a fellow runner from Melbourne. I had posted in the Cool Running Australia forum that if anyone out there who is passing by my place would be kind enough to offer a ride to Sri Chinmoy Yarra Boulevard Half Marathon. I was pretty surprised that I actually got a reply. A lady, Grace, offered me ride and she has 2 other runners car pooling with her. Well my back up plan was to follow the Melbourne Marathon training series run which is just a few blocks away if I am not going to the race. Anyway, I took up the offer and went for the race. In the car I met 2 other runners, Lara and Ross.

There was a 10km option but I opted for 21.1km since I need to access where my fitness stands at the moment as I've only put in about 2 weeks training. Prior to the training, I wasn't really doing any consistent training at all after my KL Marathon. Paid AUD 28 on-the-day entrance fee and no finisher's medal ya. Only top 5 in each category gets medal. Grace, Ross and Lara will be doing the 10km, so I took out my bag from Grace's car just in case they are leaving early since both the events will start at the same time at 8am. Either I hitch another ride back or run back. Luckily for me, they were still around when I reached the finish line.

I wore my singlet today in expectation that the weather will be warmer or my body will get warmer after a few kms. The race is actually run in loops. The 10km runners will run 2 loops of 5km, while the HM will be running 4 loops plus a 1.1km turn. The race started with a moment of silence. Not too sure why they did it, but we were briefed that it was their tradition to have a moment of silence before race starts. No guns, just a shout of Ready, Set, Mark and GO! The 10km runners runs in opposite direction. There were about 200-300 runners from all categories.

I started the race pretty well. I was going slightly above 4 mins pace and feeling good. I didnt start from the front though, so slowly made my way up front, but didnt manage to get up with the leaders. I was maybe in the top 30 position for the first half of the race. My split time for 10km was 42'16 and thought I would be good for a sub 1h 30mins finish today. Suddenly, I felt tired and my body temperature kind of drop and started feeling cold. We had isolated shower during the race, weather was cooling, maybe around 14 C but I was freezing. Then more runners started overtaking me, couldn't keep up with my pace. 15km split was 1h 04m 15s, still good for a sub 1h 30m finished but I need to increase my pace if I were to do it. My hands were freezing, so I thought I just try to push in my last 1.5km and hope for the best. When I saw my watch passing 1h 30m with maybe 150m left to go, I just slowed down. Stopped my watch 1h 30m 44s. It was ok, as I was expecting it to be around 1'32-1'35. I saw Grace, Lara and Ross. Told them I was freezing, they were kind of surprise. Then Ross said to me, "Kiat, you having goosebumps on your hand!". I know. I saw 3 of them were having medals aroudn their neck, so they must be in the Top 5 in their categories. Good on them.

These are my 5km split times (Start/Finish line):

25'08.75 - 6.1km

21'37.85 - 5.0km

22'03.11 - 5.0km

21'54.61 - 5.0km

Quickly took out my singlet and put on my shirt and jacket to keep myself warm. There were pancakes at the end of the race for runners, with bananas and syrup for the pancakes. I had one pancake and had a few drinks. Then, off I went with Grace and friends to head home.

Stop by a cafe down at the aprtment to have a cup of latte to keep me warm. Had my shower then my brunch, toast again with ham, carrot and egg.

Then watched US Open semi final for women between Serena Williams vs Kim Clijsters. Boy, what a bad end for Serena when she was called for a foot fault which gave Kim the match point. She appears to be unfazed for a moment but then she walked to the line judge and started swearing at her, while swinging her racquet like threatening her. Poor lady...from Asian ethnic. She looks so scared and quickly walked to the umpire and told her about it. Then she walked back, Serena saw it, and went at her again. the petite lady quickly walked to the umpire again. The next thing that happened, the tournament referee came out, then Serena just walked off to her chair and threw her racquet and walked up to Clijster and shook her hand. Found out from the website (link), she was given a 2nd code violation and a point was awarded to Clijsters which ultimately ended the match. What an end! All I heard was "I threatened to kill you, are you serious" looking at the line judge at the umpire's chair. This was her press conference interview.

The Course Map

Registration and Baggage Tent

Volunteer preparing drinks

Pancake served

Lara and Ross

Grace, Ross and Me