Superior Cuisine

I touched down at Sydney airport on Sunday morning and damn...it was freakin' cold. I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt and I was almost freezing to death. To make things worse, there was an extremely long queue at the taxi stands and I waited for about 15-20 mins for a taxi. I was glad to be back...coz the next day would be the start of my Superior Cuisine course...and I was damn excited about it. I was so excited that I had a hard time falling asleep. However, the downside about this semester is that I have to get up before 6am so that I'll be on time for class which starts at 7:30am. Nevertheless, I was very motivated...even if it was a freezing morning, I would still make it a point to get up on time and go to college.

For this term, I had pretty good chefs. Way better than last term's. The only disappointment was that Chef Ross wasn't one of our chefs...he teaches only the Thursday-Saturday batch....which was kind of a blow for my batch. However, I am extremely contented with my chefs this term...they are all great teachers and very professional, especially Chef Tristan, who is my practical chef...he's pretty awesome. I gotta say...he's quite a serious chef...I mean he does joke with us once in a while...but he's pretty stern most of the time...in a reasonable way of course. He loves being extremely organized that he prepares some of the ingredients in little tubs for each one of us, so that we don't have to go get it ourselves which can be very inefficient at most times. In general, I like Chef Tristan....I believe that I'm gonna learn a lot from him this term.

Did I mention that I will be cooking in a real-life commercial kitchen for the college's training restaurant, whereby each student is in charge of a certain section?? I'm actually very excited about this element of the course...coz this is the opportunity where I can push myself to the limit and see what I can come up with. My restaurant chef is Chef Marcus....the chef whom I was never really a big fan of...just becoz I heard negative comments bout him from other students who had him as a chef previously. But surprisingly, he's actually quite a good teacher. He's very thorough and organized....and I learned a lot from him today when he ran my practical class. I guess you can never trust other ppl's comments completely...coz sometimes it's just up to you to judge for yourself. And for me, Chef Marcus is a great chef...however, not as AWESOME as Chef Ross!! Lol...Ross is still the Boss for me!!

So Chef Marcus has divided all of us into our respective sections according to our strengths. Not that he knows what our strengths are, especially since he only taught our class today...but he has put me in the most difficult section...the MAIN COURSE section, together with Roberto the Brazilian surfer dude and Sally aka Sonic, coz she's just so fast. However, I'm kinda glad that Chef put me in this section becoz I believe that the main course is kinda like my strength, as compared to entrees and desserts. I would totally suck in the dessert section...lol...I'm just really terrible with desserts.

Roberto and Sally is like two of the best students in my class...and I'm only average. I guess what I'm afraid of is that I can't keep up with the both of them...and they end up doing most of the work and I'm just gonna be standing there, folding my arms, doing nothing. You could say that I'm a little intimidated by them...but then again, it also motivates me to keep up with their standards and at the end of the day, I get to improve myself even more. So it's a bit of a mixed feelings teaming up with them....but I think I'm gonna try to make the best out of it, even if it requires me to work under them. Coz I believe that Roberto and Sally would be the ones taking turns to take charge...and I'll be the underdog that just follow their commands. I'm not saying that I wanna take charge or anything like that...but I do wanna be heard and I want my suggestions to count. I just hope that they wouldn't leave me out in the decision process...coz it would really annoy me if they did. I hate being treated like I'm invisible.

Anyway, I'm gonna do as much research as I can on the two main course dishes that we'll be serving...so that I would be on top of my game and there won't be room for mistakes....and I won't give anyone a chance to spot my errors...coz there won't be any!!

Enough about college!! Just now, me, Zalfa, Angeline and Gerald went to this place called the The Belgian Beer Cafe at Balmain for dinner and WHOA....we had an entree tasting plate, 4 pots of mussels for our mains and Belgian waffles for dessert. That was a lot of food...but we managed to gobble em up. I had a really great time and I enjoyed our conversations very much. Sometimes I get really amazed at myself becoz even though there was a generation gap between myself and the 3 of them, I somehow still managed to hang out with them. It's really weird....I don't understand how I do it...but I actually enjoy hanging out with older people than with people of my age. I find that there's more stuff to talk about with them....I've always thought that I was born in the wrong era...I guess I was right after all!! I think I would've enjoyed life even more if I was born in the 60s or 70s! That way, I get to witness live 80s rock and roll music....wear funky bell bottom jeans....and perm my hair real puffy!! Lol...that would be so fuckin' awesome!!!

So this week has kinda ended for me...especially that I'm still out of a job...my Thursdays-Sundays usually consist of 24 hours of TV and movies. I know I need to get a life...sigh. OH BTW...I just received my tax bonus of $900 bucks!! WOOOHOOO....I'm so happy coz I've been really tight with cash these days....but now that I have the $900 bucks, I can use it to get things that I've always wanted to get but just too broke to purchase it. There are actually a few items in my mind atm.

Nintendo Wii???

Camcorder??

Guitar pedal??

A good quality Japanese chef knife??

A vacation to Melbourne??

Gosh...I really have so many things that I intend to buy. I guess there's always gonna be opportunity costs that I need to for-go...that's just the basics of economics!! Sigh...how I wish life doesn't work this way. Anyway...I think I'm kinda leaning towards the camcorder or the trip to melbourne! Whaddaya think??? Give me some suggestions!!!!!!

Any-hoo...I gotta go now! I'll catcha guys later! Cheers!

-VeRoN-

To Trust Or Not To Trust?

How do you establish whether to trust a person or not? Do you trust him/her just because he/she is your friend? Family member? Husband/Wife? Girlfriend/Boyfriend? Colleague? Your teacher? Your priest? Some stranger on the street??

Well, the answer to this question is....You can never establish TRUST. Trust is such an ambiguous matter that nobody in the world could predict, even if you can read their minds from 100 miles out. Why? Because humans are built to change according to situations, environments and influences. Humans can change their minds, decisions and point of views within seconds...which is why trust can never be established 100% by anyone. Maybe except Jesus...he knew that Judas was gonna betray him....and he knew that Peter was gonna deny him 3 times...lol..I'll give Jesus credit for that!! But my point still stands!

Don't get me wrong...I'm not saying that you shouldn't trust anyone...but what I'm saying is that trust is a leap of faith. For example, a mother who can't swim promises her son that she's definitely gonna save him if he falls into the sea. If her son says that "I trust you with my life", then I would say that he's definitely lying...if not knowingly, then subconciously. Which is why I say trust is a leap of faith. A leap of faith produced by the bond between the mother and the son that establishes the so-called "TRUST". Say AMEN if you agree with me! Hehe..

Anyway, enough with the philosophy. The point of writing about this topic is because I start to realize that there are non-trustworthy people around me whom I am not aware of. Everyones lies...that's the fundamentals of life, which is why trust cannot be established in any ways. The fact of life is, parents lie to you, friends betray you, your partner cheats on you, your colleague stabs you in the back, your teacher molests you, your priest distorts the truth and preach to you, and strangers try to con you.

TO TRUST OR NOT TO TRUST? That is the question!

I was quite disappointed with a person over the past few days. I'm not going to go into details...but all I can say is that this person lied to me and he/she did a really terrible thing for which he/she didn't feel guilty about. I've known this person since forever and I cannot believe that he/she did this. The worst thing is that instead of apologizing sincerely, he/she tried to give all sorts of excuses for which I thought was bullshit, just to regain his/her trust from me and my anonymous associates.

And what's with this person with double identities anyways?? He/she says it's for business purposes, but if he/she can't even use his/her real name for business purposes, how can the other party trust him/her? It's like the fundamental aspect of the business is already a scam. How do you expect us to trust ppl like these? So from now on, I won't trust this person ever again. I'm not saying that I won't hang out with him/her again, but I definitely will never confide in her ever again. This friendship is done. I'm not being a drama queen...I just don't need ppl like these in my life terrorizing my mind. I've got a lot on my plate already...I don't need psychotic friends who try to seek attention by terrorizing other ppl's lives.

Anyway...I probably won't be seeing him/her for a really long time after I'm back in Sydney. So I'm not really stressing much about this matter. OMG...I miss Sydney so much. I miss the weather...the food...the people...my room...and my friends there. Gosh...I even miss school!! I can't wait to be back in action again. Although the past week of holiday had been quite interesting, hanging out with my family and friends...I kinda missed all the fun and action in the kitchen.

There's only a couple more days left of my holidays...so I'll try to enjoy as much as I can. Alright...gotta go now! See ya'll later. Cheers!

Jazz Night IV

I went to see a jazz night performance tonight at Cube Restaurant and it was the fourth time that they've held this gig. The owner of the restaurant happened to be a friend of my brother's, and therefore I had the opportunity to see the show as it was meant to be a private event. If you've been living in KK, you'd know that there ain't many events as such and I'm glad that I've had the opportunity to attend a jazz night while vacationing in KK.

It was my first time in the restaurant/lounge and I thought the ambience was pretty impressive. I mean if I had a restaurant/bistro, it's gonna be similar to that. I liked the idea of displaying bottle of wines against the walls as well as the dim lights and theme. But no matter how fantasic the ambience is, the more important aspect is the quality of the food and service. I did not have dinner there...so I don't know how the food is like. However, the service seemed pretty professional from the way the waiters present themselves, as well as their wine service. So aside from the food for which I cannot comment on, I quite like the style of the restaurant. And when you add jazz music into the equation, it almost looked like the imaginations I have on my dream restaurant....except that it would be in a foreign country that serves fine dining food and the jazz music will only serve as an accompaniment, instead of a performance. I would focus more on the food...and the jazz music will only serve as a stimulus to enhance customers' dining experience in my dream restaurant.

I had a chef who always say that "Food and wine is like a marriage. You can't have one without the other." I totally agree with him but for me, I also feel that food and music complement each other and if you tell me what food you're eating, I'd be able to tell you what music you could listen to that complements it. You can disagree with me, but this is just my philosophy.

Anyway, the jazz night kicked off with an all-gurl band which I thought really sucked. Lol...no offence really...but I think they need to add a li'l more personality into their performance. They were just plain boring...and it wasn't even jazzy. I know I'm a jerk for being so critical...but I can't help it, especially that they killed one of my all time favorite song "Buses and Trains" by Bachelor Girl. It was supposed to be a jazz night but they didn't even jazz up that cover...come on gurls, you could do better than that.

Then it was followed by this malay jazz band and surprisingly, they were pretty good. It's like they know what they're doing and I didn't hear any mistakes at all from any of em, especially the guitarist. It's almost like they've played the songs 100 times before they perform on stage, which is great stuff...coz it's thru practice that makes perfect. I hate those freakin' arrogant ppl who think they can get by without practice. It's just like I hate those ppl who think they can pass an exam without studying for it. Anyway...that malay band was pretty cool.

Finally, the gist of the night...Teddy's band. I have no idea what his band is called but Teddy is the main guy and he plays the alto saxaphone. There were three other guys who played the acoustic guitar, bass and percussions. I gotta say...they were pretty awesome...but tonight was definitely not their best performance. Despite that, I still enjoyed it though...they played some really good covers and originals. But I really gotta admit that jazz is really complex and I was trying to figure out the chords that the guitarist played the whole night, but I just couldn't understand how the chords work. There's so many complex major seventh and minor seventh chords involved that I couldn't catch up with the stuff they were playing. My guitar teacher told me before that the mind has to work faster than the fingers...but I really have no idea how to do that, especially if the fingers are already moving 100 miles an hour...lol. Anyway, it's been a while since I've listened to live jazz, but I gotta admit that this one was pretty impressive. Not the best one I've seen, but definitely worth watching.

Throughout the night, a lot of things went on in my mind. So many ideas popped up and I was so full of it that I felt like writing em' down. Too bad I didn't have pen and paper. Since I'm writing my blog at the moment, I might as well jot them down here in my blog. These were the stuff that went on in my mind in the restaurant:

1. I'm going to tell my guitar teacher to teach me jazz or fingerstyle as soon as I get back to Sydney. If he can't teach me that, I will find someone else who can. I'm just so fuckin' sick of the blues. Blues can be quite depressing...lol.

2. I'm going to make it a point to attend at least one live gig a month, preferably jazz, to keep up with the music business as well as getting to know more musicians for future contacts. But first things first...I gotta find a viable jazz pub in sydney, which can be quite a difficult task. Australians are just not that into jazz.

3. I'm going to complete my business plan and menu for my dream restaurant for which I've started but have not yet completed. I might also start gathering any necessary information in regards to opening and running a restaurant such as financials, venues, interior designs, menu planning, etc so that this dream of mine will always remain real to me.


Basically, that's all the shit that went thru my mind throughout the night. Some of you might think that it's really weird of me to have these things going on in my brains...but this is what keeps me going on. Dreams...music...food...these are the stuff that keeps me going on and on. Without any of these, I would've been a really depressed person that would probably attempt to kill myself. Isn't that why ppl kill themselves?? There's no reason to live no more.

Anyway...it's getting really late now. I really should go to bed. I know I haven't been putting any photos lately...lol...laziness strikes again!! But I'll try to put some up as soon as I have any interesting ones. Even pictures of my idiotic dogs would be nice. Anyway...catch you later. Cheers.

Touchdown

Hey guys, I'm back in KK....I touched down at KK airport on Saturday midnight. I gotta say, 11 hours of air travel ain't a bit of fun at all. When I bought my air ticket online, I got to choose my seat preferences and I picked the second last row because according to the seat plan, it had a void in between my seat and the one next to me. However, the two seats were actually right next to each other, just like the normal seats in front...and there was no space in between me and my neighbor. I should've known that it's just too good to be true.

To make things worse, the guy whom I sat next to was a bit chatty...and he tried to converse with me throughout the journey. I'm a bit anti-social when it comes to strangers...especially when they're middle aged French men who listen to Britney Spears. I mean...seriously?? Britney Spears???? Damn...it's really obvious that he's in a middle age crisis. Come on yeah....Britney spears???? Goshh...

Also, he kept leaning towards my side of the seat...and I got really annoyed coz he kept hogging the side arm space that separated our seats. I had to like lean over to the other side, away from him...coz there were a few times when he came pretty close and I just felt like telling him to back off. But I didn't say anything...and instead, I just kept fidgeting and raise my elbows to push him away from him. And I'm glad that he got the message.

Anyway...I was just so damn relieved when the plane touched down at KL international airport. I just couldn't wait to get off the plane. However, I still had another two and a half hour flight to catch from KL to KK. That flight was okay...coz there were only like 8 passengers in the Boeing 737 aircraft. So basically, I had like heaps of space and nobody was getting into my nerves. It was the first time that I boarded on a plane with less than 10 passengers.

When I was clearing customs in KL, the customs officer spoke to me in Malay. I totally froze and I had no idea how to reply. I mean, I totally understood her question, but I just couldn't seem to find the words to answer her in Malay. So instead, I answered in English...but she still insisted on speaking Malay to me. I just can't believe that I can't Malay as fluent as before anymore. I used to be really good in Malay...I get Aces for the subject in high school and I speak fluently without the Chinese accent...but now, I can't even complete a sentence without pausing...or adding a few english words to it. Five years in Sydney did this to me!!!

I saw my family when I came home. My brothers didn't exactly change much...except that Federick grew a few inches taller and maybe a couple wider...but he still had that small face which didn't really match his body size. Lol...it looked a bit funny. Mom was still lookin the same...maybe slightly older...but I guess nobody can run away from ageing. However, I was really surprised to see that my grandmother looked a lot older and weaker than before. I felt a little scared just by looking at her...coz it scares me that human beings grow old and when we are old, we become so weak and powerless. I just can't bear to imagine myself old, weak and powerless. I'd rather die! Really..

My dogs were pretty fine too! And OMG...Kimmy still remembers me! I love that dog soo much! She's my favorite dog among the three of them and I could feel that she remembers me, even though I was away for a year. Peanut is sooo cute too...I'm not sure if she remembers me but she sure has gained a few pounds. She couldn't even go through the fence anymore. And finally the undersized alpha-male dog, Butter, is still the same. He barks at absolutely everything and everyone. And his bark is soooo high-pitched and annoying. I really hate that dog. But I guess the feeling between us is kinda mutual...coz I could feel that he hates me too...lol!! He kept growling at me whenever he saw me. But who cares...I've got Kimmy and Peanut and they're awesome dogs!

To be honest, I still haven't encountered the culture shock yet, mainly becoz I haven't really gone out to the city yet...but I'm sure I will soon. I know I'm gonna feel really awkward and singled out...coz I really do feel like an outsider, even though I was born and brought up here. I don't have many friends in KK, except for the friends I went to high school with, and most of them are studying abroad. The ones who are in KK have jobs and so we could probably only meet up during weekends. So yeah, I guess I'm struggling for company here.

Anyway...I have to go now! I'll catch up with all of you soon! Til the next post, see ya later! Cheers!

It's been a long and bumpy ride, my fellow aspiring chefs!!

Today was my last day in college in Intermediate cuisine, and for some reason I felt a little sad. It's really weird coz I've always wanted this semester to end as quickly as possible...but when it actually ended, I felt like I'm gonna miss it. After all, I did have lots of great memories with my fellow classmates as well as my chefs.

Zalfa, Sally, Roberto, Pedro, Polyanna, Nathalie, Ted, Ray, Kay, Katie, David, Park and Jamie. These were all my classmates since Basic cuisine...and I gotta say, they've been really awesome as each of them has played their little parts in making my college days very interesting, motivating and entertaining.

Zalfa's always been good with flavors and experimenting with different recipes. She's not afraid to try new things and to learn thru trial and error. This is something I could learn from her...coz I've always been afraid to attempt anything that might lead to a failure.

Sally...there's only one speed that she knows and that's FAST!!! She's like this Road Runner woman that always seem to be the first person to serve the dishes. She moves like lightning and works like a machine. I love it when she works next to me, coz I tend to work a whole lot faster. She sorta sets the pace for me...and I try to match her pace all the time...and everytime I try, I end up serving my dishes on time. Her speed is like a disease...i caught it all the time! lol..

Roberto is just this really funny dude...he's like the class clown. Normally class clowns are never good in class work...but believe it or not, he's like one of the best in my class. He always sets a standard for the class and he might not know that I have actually attempted to meet those standards. I believe that my drastic improvements have a lot to do with competing with those standards.

Pedro...oh am I gonna miss him. Unfortunately, he ain't gonna be with us next semester. However, he's also one of the experience ones in my class. He always makes us taste his food...lol...I remember when he was next to me in class, he always asks me to taste his sauce. Unsurprisingly, it's always better than mine. Not many ppl know this, but I've actually improved my sauces by observing they way he makes his sauces.

Polyanna...the only thing I recall about her is when she accidentally burned her workflow on the stove. And that happened today...and I thought it was kinda funny...coz there are lot of things you can burn in a kitchen, but a piece of paper just doesn't seem to fit in to a typical kitchen scenario. But that poor girl had to continue cooking without the workflow for her reference.

Nathalie...omg, this girl is like the stress machine. She takes everything so seriously and stressfully in class that even by looking at her, I become stressed out too. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that it's a bad thing...in fact, I think it's a good thing to be stressed out about what you do, coz that means you really care and love what you do. If not, would you even care to stress about it?? She reminds me that cooking is something that I care about...and there's all the reason in the world to be stressed out about. Oh did I mention that she rides a bike and she's one of the reason why I'm considering to learn it!! But also mainly becoz of the "cool factor"...lol.

Ted is the only Korean guy that I feel knows what he's doing. He's really new to French food...but man, does he learn fast. His learning curve is always going on an upward direction, unlike some of us. He improves little by little as the course goes by. Some of us becomes stagnant at some point of time, but he's really consistent. BTW, he looks like that Korean singer called RAIN. Lol..and he likes it whenever I tell him that.

Ray Lee...he's this macho looking Korean dude with an extremely fair skin and built body. I love the way he speaks coz he always has that UMMPHHH in his voice. He's also very gentleman as he always helps me to carry some of the heavy items. Not like I couldn't handle it...but u know, I let the man do a man's job!

Kay...gosh, wat kinda name is that?? I always tease him bout his name. He's only joined my class this semester so I don't know much about him, except that he demands me to call him "OPPA", which is like a polite and respectful way of calling someone older than I am in the Korean culture. And I never did call him that...and I told him that it was becoz I don't respect him. Well...I really don't!!

Katie...she's pretty quiet in class...but I remember one time when she saw a huge cockroach on the hallway, she was so shocked and was like shrieking in a high-pitched voice. Lol...that was really funny, coz the cockroach wasn't even that big, but she kept insisting that it was really big. Seriously, I don't know why I remember these things!

David...he's of African-Asian descent and he was born in Singapore. He's got dark skin and he understands Chinese. That is just freakin' awesome! Anyway...I always see him as an artist, coz I saw him one time during demo, drawing a really nice picture on piece of paper. From then on, I tried observing his dish presentation in class and it's always very abstract and creative. However, not all the time that the chefs approve of his presentation, but for some reason, I've always liked it.

As for Jamie, he's also a very quiet and low profiled guy in class. He's really good in his presentation....his dish always look very pretty and creative. He's also very gentleman as he tends to help me unload heavy items...once again...not like I couldn't handle it. Hehe..

Finally...Park...believe it or not, I've never actually had a proper conversation with him. He's such a quiet guy...and a bit mysterious too. Anyway, he's kinda like the weakest link in our class....but he has improved so damn much. Chefs like to pick on him...sometimes I pity the guy.

As for me, I'm just VeRoN most of the time. I like to mind my own business and keep a low profile. I don't like to get involved in things that I don't give a shit about. However, I have a very bad habit of always being in the third person's point of view. I like to see things on a clear angle by distancing myself with people and issues...and just try to keep everything real. I'm very much an observer....and I learn best thru observation, which is why I always tend to analyze ppl's behaviors and try to use it to my advantage.

If you've read til this far, I hope I didn't bore you yet. I'm just dedicating this blog post to all of my classmates who've been with me from the beginning until now. Not many of them know that each and every single one em' has contributed to my improvement in their own li'l strange ways.

However, it's the chefs who I really need to thank....Chef Ross, Chef Anita, Chef Andreas and Chef Mark. It's such a shame that I've always been a person who doesn't make a habit of thanking other ppl for the things they've done for me. I know I really should thank my chefs in person...but I wasn't brought up in a free expression environment, which kinda makes me a mute when it comes to expressing myself....I guess that's why I write blogs. I really wanted to approach Chef Ross today and thank him in person bout all the stuff that I've learned from him. I wanted to tell him that he's such a role model...and it'd be awesome if we could have him as our restaurant chef next semester. But of course...me being me...I just ran thru those words in my mind, but it never came outta my mouth.

I also wanted to thank Chef Anita for being our practical chef from the beginning. She was kinda like our "mother" chef coz she's been with us since Basic. She's taught us from cutting juliennes and brunoise of vegetables up to serving a full three-course meal. I mean...that really is something, innit? I know I haven't exactly been a big fan of hers, especially during the time when she picked on me, but after all, she played a major role in my culinary education and I putting all other things aside, I really am grateful for her.

It really has been a long and bumpy ride...I've just fulfilled the final check point and the next thing ahead of me is the finishing point. I could already see the finishing line, but in between me and the finishing line is a whole lot of hurdles that I gotta jump through before getting there. Honestly, I cannot wait to get there...I just can't!!!

So..I'll be back in KK in a couple of day's time. I'm having mixed feelings about this homecoming. I know from the beginning that it's not the wisest decision to go back home in between Intermediate and Superior..coz I don't wanna get distracted...but i guess it's something that I have to do. Coz after this trip back home, there's a big possibility that I won't be going back for a very long time.

Anyway...I should really stop now. Cheers buddies!

Passed with Flying Rainbow Colors

Finally, exams are over and I just cannot express how relieved I am. I did pretty well this time in both theory and practical. I've definitely made improvements since Basic's exam last term, although I wouldn't be able to know until a month's time, however I'm pretty confident that I would get at least a Credit this time, instead of the miserable Pass that I had last term. If I don't, I'm probably gonna shoot myself in the head. Really!

According to Chef Vito, he really liked my main and dessert...but to be honest, I didn't think it was that awesome. Lol...I thought it was just "okay", coz there was nothing special about my dishes. The presentation was simple. So maybe the flavor was good...but then again, I have a hard time trusting people's opinions...especially good comments. Sometimes, I'm just so unconfident that I don't believe in my capabilities. It's just like guitar. My guitar teacher always compliments me for my skills (though he hasn't been lately..haha), but I never once took his word for it. I always have second doubts about it. I have a couple of theories....it's either I'm really unconfident of myself, or I have way too much expectations of myself that I keep pushing away all the good stuff about myself and keep embracing on the bad stuff. I don't know if it's good or bad....but one thing for sure, in order to be the best of the best, you cannot stop progressing just becoz someone praised or criticized you. You gotta set your own standards and try to exceed them. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that you should ignore feedback...I just mean that what other people say about you is not the most important...it's what you think of yourself.

Okay, I'll stop with the philosophy now. Pardon me but I have a bad habit of ending each paragraph with my philosophy...haha. Anyway, something serious occurred yesterday on Anzac Bridge. It wasn't published on the newspapers today, therefore I believe it's something really major and the government is probably refraining the details of the incident. While I was driving to college yesterday, there was a really bad traffic jam along the bridge to the north. I thought it might be an accident or something...but I never thought that it's something I've dreamt of witnessing (I know I'm weird). I believe there was a "threat" of some kind. I wouldn't be able to confirm the details of this incident, but based on all the spy movies that I've watched, that incident was definitely federal related.

There was team of SWAT officers that consists of 6-7 of them, at least 4-5 police rescue trucks and 5-6 police cars. I actually saw the SWAT officers in their full gear...armour, guns, etc. It was definitely something big. I was really curious about the incident that I tried googling about it, but there were no results shown. So I believe that the government hasn't issued a press regarding that incident yet. Despite the excitement of witnessing this incident, I was kinda pissed off too coz I was stuck in traffic for half an hour and I was 20 minutes late to class. And it was Chef Ross' class...my favorite chef!!

I practically ran to class after I parked my car. And you know what happened after I entered class?? Just out of the blue, everybody started clapping their hands and cheering. I was like, "What the fuck?" I was so freakin' confused...I thought I was gonna be awarded the best student in class or something like that....HAHAHA. I looked at chef with my confused face...and he just looked at me and laughed. I mean...if he was laughing at me, then there must be something fishy goin' on. So in the end, I found out that most of the students came late as well and Chef was saying to the class that whoever comes in late, we should clap and cheer at them just to make them feel embarassed. Lol....that is so contrary to the feeling I had...I actually felt good when they cheered at me...haha. It was as if I just performed a really good gig and my audience were giving me a standing ovation and asking for an encore.

At the end of the class, I stayed back to help Chef Ross clean up the kitchen. Zalfa stayed back too and she was chatting away with Chef. Me and Zalfa have always wanted to ask Chef about the music he listens to...coz according to Zalfa, I like to pigeon hole people according to their taste in music. I disagreed with her at first...but now that I think about it...it's kinda true. One of the very first questions that I ask ppl that I've just met is their music preference. Because Chef Ross is such an interesting character, I was curious as to what music he listens to, but never had the guts to ask him. So this is where Zalfa comes into the picture...

Zalfa was like, "Chef, can we ask you something that has absolutely nothing to do with cooking?"

Chef was like, "Erm...okay." He sounded so reluctant..

Zalfa then said, "What music do you listen to? Coz me and veron made a bet about this and we really wanna know. Also, Veron is like a music expert and she plays guitar...and she pigeon holes people according to their music tastes."

OMG...I was like...Damn it Zalf...I don't pigeon hole ppl according to their music tastes. And chef was looking at me...a bit surprised...and he was like, "Really, veron?" I felt a little embarassed at the moment, so I took some pots to the wash up area which is segregated by a door. Zalfa and Chef continued their conversation...and I had no idea what they talked about until Zalfa told me about it after we left the demo kitchen. Basically, the conversation went like this:-

Chef: To be honest, I'm not really big on music.

Zalfa: Oh no...Ssshhh...you can't let Veron know about this coz she'll be very disappointed.

(When Zalfa told me about this, I was basically laughing my ass off.)

Chef: Ohh...oops...but I like the guitar though. He was actually trying to play along and try to make me feel less disappointed.

So when I came out of the wash up area, I asked Chef what his favorite band was...and the funny thing was, he couldn't even name one. He was like stammering and I could feel that he was trying so hard to come up with a band name. Lol. Coz I was kinda looking at him with hopeful eyes and you could see that he didn't wanna disappoint me. HAHAHA...it's really hilarious.

In the end, he told us that he listens to 80s rock....and I was really glad that he said that. Coz I'd like to know that there are some similarities between us....coz when I look up to someone, I wanna know that there's something that the both of us share. It's like Kiefer Sutherland....I totally idolize him and I'm constantly trying to find similarities between us.

So I was like naming bands from the 80s....like AC/DC, Guns and Roses, Mr Big, Bon Jovi, etc....and I was trying to seek approval from him. He just kept saying..."yeah I like them....they're great...etc." But somehow, I felt that he was just trying to agree with me...just to make me happy. Lol. So now I know that he's not a very music-oriented person....but hey, he's still a hell of CHEF and he is still awesome to me!! I just hope that in the future, I'd be able to work for someone as passionate and skillful as him. *fingers crossed*

So...one more week to go and I'm done with Intermediate. I just can't believe how time flies. In a few weeks time, I would be in Superior...and things will start getting more real and in your face. To be honest, I'm really nervous about Superior...coz we have restaurant duties and we have to cook for real customers. It would be my first time ever cooking for real customers...and I'm kinda looking forward to it, but nervous at the same time. I'm sure it would be a great experience for me...and I can't wait for the start of next term. I'm just so motivated at the moment that I wish we're not gonna have the two weeks of break and just start on the Superior course right away. I'm really lovin' it...

Anyway, I gotta go now. I'll catch you guys later. Have fun! Cheers!