Sydney Stories - Week 53

Hello,

This weekend, I broke my tennis racquet strings right when we were in the 3rd game of a doubles set. My spare racquet was unusable - broken strings again. I was given a dummy old one as a substitute, but simply couldn't play with it. My doubles partner then offered is racquet to me while I was returning serve and then switched racquet while he returned serve. He did the same whenever I had to serve. Not that I made a big difference to the scores...but my partner felt maybe a better racquet would help. Poor guy.

Today had the chance to eat in a super duper malay restaurant - Sambal. It was recommended by a Malay client of mine. It definitely did not go wrong. Did a taste test with the basics - Mee goreng, Char kway teaw and nasi goreng. None of them disappointed me, though Uma was not impressed with the Mee. It was a bit far from where we live. I was asking the manager if they had any thoughts of opening a branch closer to where we live. Thoughts are in progress. The restaurant was very unassuming tucked along with another Thai restaurant in North Ryde. The prices were quite affordable too. A unique thing about this was as you enter the restaurant there was a basket of blue crabs set like a prop. I first thought they were dummy and even saw a few kids (NN included) playing with them. Just while we were going out saw the slip "Do not touch" and saw the eyes prodding in one of the crawlers. Oh yes, if I had to order a Chilli Crab dish, I had to order  2 days in advance. Now that was definitely a first!!

Continuing with the malay theme I made Kway teaw at home tonight. It was almost like being bitten by a Malaysian bug. Turned out pretty well except that I ran out of soy sauce and was missing THE ingredient - Sambal. Next time I go to Sambal will get a box of their home made sauce.

Have a great week!!

Chetty

Sydney Stories - Week 52

Hello,

So yes, this weekend completes a year in Sydney. Has been a pretty interesting ride so far and I suppose it will continue to be so.

The news from down under as many people have been asking me is flood, flood and more flood. Sydney is so far not being directly impacted by nature's calamity. However we could already see an impact by increase in vegetable and fruit prices. Am sure this will have some long term impact for the next few years. Talking about flood there has been bit of a flooding situation at home for the past few weeks. Every time we turn on the AC, there is one spot in the house where water is leaking due to condensation. It is creating a big nuisance with the carpets being soaked in a 2 feet radius.

It has been a week since the real estate agent knew about this and no action taken yet. Thanks to Aussie efficiency. Last weekend had a bit of an anti-climax with the apartment inspection. The previous inspection was a nightmare when a lady inspected each and every inch of the house with her heightened sense of perfection. This time the guy came around had a very quick look and determined all is OK. All the preparation that we did went unwanted.

Nandha has been walking consistently in the last 2 weeks. This has started causing newer troubles with respect to Nandha-proofing the house. He is quite excited with the new "perspective" he has now on the books and plates and what not is now within his reach. If our eyes are off him for a few minutes he would be in some room setting things "right". 

This weekend went in a jiffy as usual. Saturday went for a bowling party in the afternoon. Scored 95, which I was not disappointed at all - considering that I am bowling after close to 3 years. Later in the evening there was a Pongal party arranged by my neighbour's friends. It seems to be a common practice here to rent out "community halls" for getting together. Definitely seems to be a cheaper option when compared to a hotel and less nuisance than having at one's house.

Have A Great Week!!

Chetty

Sydney Stories - Week 51

Hello,

Hope you had a great week.

Week started off on a great note with a trip to Lithgow. A sudden invite from our neighbour if we were interested in a trip to see glowing worms in a tunnel. Didn't think twice since they all had small kids and sure that it should be manageable. What I did not consider though was that there would be a 30 km unpaved road and others had SUVs or bigger vehicles and I had a sedan. The ride upto Lithgow was a beautiful hilly route with a good view of country side Sydney. From Lithgow had to get into a "dirt road" which I thought would be few kms but not 30. Had to hold my breath at a few spots where I was not sure if the tyres will hold up in the mushy clay. Thankfully made it up and down. The trek up to the tunnel was quite easy - easy enough for 4 year olds to walk all the way through. It had a bit of everything in the short 1 km walk to the tunnel - bridge, slightly steep steps, creeks running through etc. The tunnel was cool with basically a bunch of glow worms stuck to the walls. Had a view like watching the stars in the sky with everything else pitch dark (had to carry flash lights). Another unique view was the ferrous trees. There was a stretch where all the trees had green leaves but ferrous orange barks. Photos upload at http://picasaweb.google.com/ncchetty/LithgowJan2011#

The work week was crazy after coming back from almost 3 weeks of non-action. Almost everybody wanted to get things done at the same time. I thought Aussies were supposed to take it easy!!

The week ended on a wonderful note with a good 3 hours of tennis. Finally made it to a tennis club in a suburb called Crestwood about 7 kms from our place. Played about 4 sets of doubles non-stop. Ouch...my shoulders hurt!!  The concept was very similar to the social tennis I used to play in Phoenix. However they had a unique rule that everybody served on only one side of the court. Every 2 games the players switched sides and served continuously without handing over the serve to the opponents. The tennis club is located in a beautiful park. Took Uma and kids later in the day to entice them on areas of interest to them. Nandhitha has now added this to her list of favourite parks. "Now I have 3 parks to play Daddy!!".

So long folks...

Have A Great Week!!

Chetty