Restaurant review - Eat GRK- Beverly Hills

We headed out to for a midweek celebration when my wife received her permanent residency after an almost 3 year wait. We were looking for something a little different to our usual Asian fare so this place jumped out. We had visited once before, leaving with over filled bellies and smiles of food joy on our faces. The problem, at least for me at Eat GRK is that there are more options on the menu than I can eat in one go. Not really a problem for a normal human, they just eat one option and try another next time. Not so for me. I have the tendency to attempt to eat everything I like in the one go and then then spend the rest of the evening asking myself why anyone would eat that much. Ahhh, we live and at least attempt to learn.

As I stated in the above intro the menu has a good number of options, and the outdoor style dining gives the place  a great atmosphere. In the winter it can get a little chilly but then, they have the portable fires going. This restaurant is situated right next door to the Beverly Hills hotel and would make for a good stopping point either on your way to the hotel or a after a couple of early beers. The cinema is maybe 50 metres away on the other side. Take your pick.

The menu has an array of options, most of the mains involve some form of charcoal cooked meat, Lamb, chicken or pork and there is usually a mixed tasting plate in each part of the menu if you are like me and can't pick just one. The entree options look good. Choices include grilled haloumi, feta fries, haloumi chips, as well as some dips and pita breads but these will have to wait. As I said earlier, I ate far too much on my first visit (all enjoyable) but I was going to make an effort not to make the same mistake again.

This time I went straight for the Mix Plate. It contains more than enough for a filling meal. The mix plate contains 100g of carved lamb or Pork, I chose Lamb. 1 souvlaki of your choice I went with the pork (meat on a skewer), 1 loukaniko (pork based wine soaked sausage), 1 Sheftalia (skinless pork sausage from Cyprus), 1 slice pita bread, Tzatziki for dipping, a generous side of chips and Greek Salad which was topped with a delicious slice of Feta cheese. Along with that they throw in a can of drink or a water. The sausages are rich and not afraid to be meaty, whilst the meats cooked over a charcoal grill were juicy and packed with flavour. The Greek salad was well dressed and generous and even the humble side of chips came topped with a tasty seasoning. All of that for only $32, I'm not sure you can do much better.

My wife had the Souvlaki plate. This contains 3 skewers, Chicken, lamb, and pork, all nicely grilled, with sliced pita, tzatziki, chips, Greek salad and the can of drink or water. As with my meal, this one was a success and we will return before too long.

Everything went down a treat and I am keen to get back there and try a wrap or two and maybe one day even make it to the coffee and dessert portions of the menu.

Shun Fujimoto , A courageous Olympian

Gymnastics is, to be completely honest not where I usually look for sporting inspiration, but this story is hard to resist.

The Japanese have a long and distinguished history in men's gymnastics having won 14 individual medals at the Olympics and 13 medals in team competition. Leading into the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Canada they had won the team gold at the previous 4 games starting with their first in Rome in 1960. The 1960 Olympics was when a young boxer from the USA named Cassius Clay won gold in the Light Heavyweight division, but that story is for another time.

Heading into the 1976 Olympics the Japanese were the world champions as well as Olympic Champions but the USSR had won silver at the previous 4 games and felt that this might be their time to re-climb the mountain to Olympic Gold.

Shun Fujimoto, 26 years old, was a reserve for the team when they arrived in Canada. Shigeru Kasamatsu was a team leader and the world all around champion at the time. On the eve of the games Shigeru was forced to withdraw from the team due to an emergency appendectomy.  As a result Shun Fujimoto was called into the team to compete at his first and only Olympics. The courage he showed in his Olympic performance reverberated for many years to come. The injuries he sustained prevented him from competing at international level after Montreal.
In team gymnastics each team has 6 athletes and the top 5 scores count towards the teams final total. They compete in 6 separate disciplines and the totals from each discipline are added together for the final score. The 6 events are the Floor, Pommel Horse, Still rings, Vault, Parallel bars and horizontal bar.

During the 1st event of the optionals, the floor routine, Shun, whilst landing in his 4th rountine bent his knee the wrong way and the damage was done. He didn't say anything, but when he walked one step forward he couldn't feel his leg. He checked his leg's condition with each step as he headed to his chair. Shun was in agony but he didn't want to let anyone know as he thought it would effect his team's chances if he received treatment. I guess he figured that by heading for treatment it would add extra pressure to his team-mates and at the same time boost the confidence of their rivals. As a result he kept the pain hidden and amazingly carried on.

And so to the pommel horse. This had been Japan's weakest discipline in the last four Olympics. Knowing that, the team had focussed on this event to improve their standing. Shun was to go first. He knew it would be important to give the team a good start. Shun said later that he tried to forget the injury and concentrated on the task at hand. He did well and received a 9.5. He had survived.

Then to his greatest and final act of courage, the rings. Shun performed well, but must have known that the landing was going to take him to a world of pain. The moment he landed he felt a horrible squish from his leg. His leg bent completely the wrong way. He managed to correct it. If he leaned his leg would have bent forwards. Despite all of this he stuck the landing after an extended pause to keep his balance. He received the best score of his life, a 9.7.

His pain could no longer be hidden. His team doctors refused to give him pain killers and he retired from the competition. Shun was devastated. "I felt dead inside", he said. "We had lost our chance to medal and it was all my fault" He headed to the medical tent a broken man, physically and mentally. Shun had broken his knee in the floor routine. The dismount from 8 feet up on the rings dislocated his already broken kneecap and tore the ligaments just for good measure.

When he returned from the medical tent he was shocked to find his team celebrating. His team-mates thanked him for his courage and used him to inspire them to greater heights. This brought them all to tears. Shun thought he would miss the medal ceremony but his team would have none of it. He had inspired them and they wanted Shun with them on the podium. His team helped him halfway to the podium but he hobbled the rest of the way on his own because he felt that it would be embarrassing to be helped.

The very next day Shun's leg was in a full cast from hip to foot. This was his only appearance at an Olympic games but he certainly left a mark. The injury ended his gymnastics career and left him with lasting ligament damage.

In interviews Shun is an act of humility. He did a courageous thing but did it just so he wouldn't let his mates down. A wonderful lesson in what being part of a team is all about. Thanks for the inspiration Shun Fujimoto.

Chapter 1, Saturday is every day

The alarm sounds. He is already awake. Anxiety eating away at him. He arises from bed, heads to the bathroom. Whilst there he scrolls through facebook posts delaying the day ahead. In someway he is just distracting himself from thoughts about the day ahead. The 6 and a half hours of sleep was enough to get by but is never enough to be truly at peace. He moves on to the process of showering and getting dressed for the day ahead. Clothes are prepared from the day before because he knows that he can't trust himself in the haze of early morning to find everything he needs. In robotic mode he showers and gets ready for work. Then he puts on the kettle and grabs cereal for breakfast. He weighs the cereal and milk into the bowl, somehow convincing himself that he is still on the diet that had helped him lose 15 kilos a year ago. Once he had got his weight where he wanted it the bad habits had slowly crept back in. Now he was back where he started. He felt overweight, overwhelmed and in need of change.

The switch of careers had seemed a good idea at the time. Life is like that. You make changes to improve yourself. Chase your passions. You love cooking at home. You spend your train trip home from the office job thinking of nothing but what you will cook for dinner at night. Why not throw it in and become a chef? Open a cafe? Seemed like a good idea. Now ten years on work is hard and anxiety filled. Sure it's with food, but a job is a job. Maybe it's time to quit. Start out on his own. Open that cafe. Don't let fear hold him back. But, there is always a but. Does he really want to commit to a business? What about travelling and a more balanced life? Is it just a dream? Is a balanced peaceful life just an illusion? Is it really possible? He certainly hopes so.

    He is not alone in this Monday morning struggle. In this city of over 5 million people you can bet that half of them are facing an uphill battle on a Monday morning. He is most definitely not alone. I guess what separates him from the others is that he wants and believes that things can be different. Will the future prove him correct or a fool?

Bradley Pickering ducks back to bed to hug his wife of 3 years for 10 minutes that always turns into 15 minutes before he gives her a kiss and heads out the front door of their two bedroom unit in Southern Sydney. He regrets the feeling that his day has already had it's best moment. It won't get better.

He looks at his phone. The weather app says 11 degrees Celsius. A jumper, a jacket, a beanie, woollen gloves and thick socks will keep him warm until the heater in his 14 year old Toyota Camry starts to kick in. Probably take half of his 20 minute drive to work. At least he works in a kitchen. Once you turn everything on the room will heat up and the weather outside won't be relevant until it is time to go home. He wears headphones on his way to the car so he can listen to a pod-cast or an audio book on the way. He gets in the car switches to the Bluetooth speaker he got from his wife last Christmas. The radio can underachieve when you leave for work at 6am so a couple of years back Bradley switched to pod-casts for his driving listening. At times they can be motivational. Of late the advice is falling on deaf ears. Last month he listened to the four hour work week by Timothy Ferriss, a book on lifestyle design. How to get more time to do what you want to do and less with other members of the rat race. How he craves but as yet has not achieved.

The fog is thick for the drive in. It doesn't affect visibility but you'd much rather be in bed recovering from the weekend than out here heading to the nightmare that work has become. No winter trip to Thailand this year. Saving up for Europe in 12 months time. The goal is to get 12 weeks a year to do as he pleases. Maybe the 1st year the 12 weeks would all be travel. Over time he tells himself he would invest his time in other pursuits. Perhaps a month long meditation retreat to escape the rat race completely. Slow life down. Absorb every moment, live as Eckhart Tolle says "in the now". Think not of the future or the past. Be in the moment. Feel every movement and worry about nothing. Worry will not change anything. Bad will happen, good will happen. Just be. A month of quiet solitude seems right now to be a million miles away. Simplify my life he tells himself. One day.

money

In a fog
Feeling down, feeling gloomy
want more time
time for everything
time to be free
time to run
time to read
time to study
time to improve
to be better
Where do I find it, this elusive time?
Work ... Hmmm
always taking my time
Why? Why do you take my time?
I need the money, but why must it take so long to earn you?
"Money isn't everything" they say.
I wish it wasn't anything at all.

State of Origin Rant

I notice that the world is picking on Queensland. I heard Phil Gould say the other day that the Queenslanders thrive on a siege mentality, even if they have to create the siege themselves. They have to feel that the world is against them. Wow, they lost a dead rubber. You'd think they lost a war. There is a bible saying about seeing the splinter in another person's eye when you have failed to see the twig in your own. We see the failing of others a lot more clearly than we see our own. The persons from north of the border love to feel that they have been wronged. They complained that the penalty count was horrendous. Sure it was lop sided. NSW had all the ball and therefore got all the penalties. You don't see many penalties given away whilst in possession of the ball. The other way of looking at it is that finally the Refs noticed the slowing tactics of Queensland when NSW have the ball. It has been an abuse of the Bill Harrigan method of refereeing (aka no penalties in origin approach) that has been a major factor in Queensland's strong defence over the last decade. When NSW have the ball the game slows to a grind. Referree's are afraid to penalise the big names. Queensland have more of those so they can get away with a bit more time in each and every tackle. The reaction to Wednesday night's game shows what happens when a ref grows a pair and stands up to the them. He is unfairly shouted down as an incompetent. It's only a shame that it took until a dead rubber game for him to get there.
Cooper Cronk is rightly sin-binned. Commentator blows up that it is an error. Should be in the bin every day of the week. He is probably unlucky that on this night the referee makes the right call and gets him on his way to the bin. Queensland are praised for hanging tough in defense. The side with only 12 players on the field realise that the officials won't want to be seen to kick them when they are down. They take advantage and lie all over the tackled players. The game grinds to a holt. Heroic, hardly.
Then we get to half time breaks. They are getting as long as the lunch breaks at the cricket. No wonder these old Queenslanders can hang in so well in defence, they get a 25 minute break. Take Matt Scott for example. One of the elder statesmen and a fine player. He plays 20 minutes at the start and 20 minutes at the end. He has a break of over an hour in between. That's not rugby league. That is a joke.
The old experienced champion side are getting the match to be played in a way that benefits them. The young guys from New South Wales should be able to wear them down and come home stronger, but the modern game is designed that the strong get stronger and the weak get weaker. In the grand old era of rugby league, when Great Britain were the side with the technical knowledge and higher skill level the matches were balanced by Australia having the advantage of being fitter than their wily opponents. And so it should be here. Queensland's greats with the advantage of years of playing alongside one another should and do have the better combinations on the field. But, the younger New South Wales side should be able to wear them down. The inability of match officials to control them means that they will never be able to wear them down. 25 minute half time breaks are ruining the balance of the game. Rugby League is about endurance, it's not American football.
A couple of other incidents in the game stood out. The try to Andrew Fifita. Origin interpretations are always weird. Take the Greg Inglis knock on try that decided a series a few years back. It would have been a knock on in every other game of footy ever played. Not in that game. Maybe we got one back here. In truth though had Justin O'Neill not illegally held Michael Jennings out of the play he would have been a lot closer to the ball and then it most definitely wouldn't have been a try. Swings and roundabouts.
The other point of note and this is not an attack on Gavin Cooper, though his behaviour is an example of an attitude that has filtered through the NRL as a whole. When he scored his try, no doubt something he will remember for the rest of his life, he celebrated by throwing the football in the face of the gallant much smaller defender who had failed to prevent him from scoring. Andrew Fifita then responded by replacing his head with a pumpkin and ran a long way to stand up for his little mate. Yes he deserved to be binned. But, there also seems to be something wrong with that story. Surely the big guy standing up for his little mate shouldn't be the recipient of the greater penalty. The person behaving like a school-yard bully should receive at least some kind of warning about his behaviour. But this incident is part of a wider problem throughout the game. It is hurting the image of the game. Do the rule makers really believe that more damage is done to the game by the actions of big Andrew running 30 metres to stand up for his little mate against the actions of a bully or by the man doing the bullying. If you are a 10 year old kid sitting at home watching this game after spending another tough day being picked on at school, who are you latching on to as your hero? IT'S NOT GAVIN COOPER. This is not an isolated incident in the modern game. When a player makes an error, drops the ball in a tackle there is usually an opponent there patting him on the head to belittle him. This happens in almost every match, every week of the season. Little acts of bullying. I again put to you that this is the kind of behaviour that drives people away from the this great game.
Another incident of this similar type of behaviour was when NSW scored the winning try. Why did James Maloney feel the need to shove Corey Parker after the try? I don't have an answer, perhaps he does. Maybe Corey had a go at him first, who would know? Having said all of that, I am sure that in some instances players are reacting in retaliation to earlier incidents which can't be seen from your living room. I get that they are grown men and are playing a tough, physical game.We should cut them some slack on some occasions. But I think it is becoming too much.
And so we got to the end of the match, but even that was not done properly and rarely is it ever in modern sports of all kinds. The winning team celebrate amongst themselves whilst the losing team stand and wait for an opportunity to shake hands and congratulate the victor. This one is perhaps a little old fashioned but the winning team should go to the losing team and commiserate, not the other way round. After that they can run around like lunatics to their hearts content.
As for the walking away whilst the speeches were being made, that appears from the outside to have been poor. If they felt they were slighted in some way that doesn't justify the snubbing. If you feel that an opponent has failed to behave properly then you need to hold yourself to a higher standard, not allow yourself to be dragged down into the mud with them.
Rugby League is a wonderful game played by some great human beings. We need to make sure that those great human beings are not allowing the lowlife's in their ranks to decide the behaviour of the the group as a whole. When you are done with the game, don't just be remembered for your great skills but be shining examples of humanity as well.

Arthur Hennessy : Rabbitoh's founding father

I was watching the movie "Chariots of Fire" the other day and really enjoyed the historical story of the Scotsman, Eric Liddell. Obviously, I had seen it years ago but was digging through my CD collection and thought I would give it another go. Eric's wonderful story, or at least the small part covered by the movie compelled me to look for more historical sporting figures and the stories behind them. So today I bring you the story of the Founding father of the South Sydney Rabbitohs Rugby League Football Club, Arthur Hennessy.

1908&09 Kangaroos Arthur is in front row 3rd from right

Arthur was born in 1876 and died in 1959 at the age of 82. He packed in quite a bit to those 82 years. Sporting achievements of the man include being Australia's first Rugby League captain, the first captain of New South Wales, the Founding father of the South Sydney Rabbitohs and more.

As an 18 year old he played Rugby with Boys Brigade before moving to Bayview in 1896. By 1901 he was a regular first grader at "Souths" Rugby Union. He represented NSW in 1901, 1902, 1904 and 1907. By 1907 he was captain of Souths. In Rugby Union he played breakaway and hooker. He was only small and when he represented against New Zealand the Kiwis mistook him for a halfback because of his diminutive size. He played above his weight and they were forced into a change of mind by game's end.

The New Zealand All Golds toured in 1907 against a breakaway New South Wales Rugby League team and it was Arthur who captain coached the side. These initial games were played under the old Rugby Union rules as the new laws of the game had not arrived from England as yet. On receipt of the new 'laws' of the game Arthur is understood to have proclaimed that "this is a game for racehorses". Arthur worked as a Labourer and perhaps this is part of the reason he enthusiastically jumped on board with the Rugby League when it arrived in Australia. Rugby League was formed in the mining areas of Northern England as a break from the Amateur game of Rugby Union, primarily so that workers could be compensated for time off work when they were injured during matches. Arthur, whose work involved physical labour would have been easily imagined to be in the same boat as his mining brothers from England. I think I am right in saying that by taking part in the matches for NSW the players were expelled from the Rugby Union. On the back of that move, Hennessy sent a circular to all the Rugby Clubs in the area to attend a meeting at his home in Chapman Street, Surry Hills. To say that the meeting was not well attended (at least numerically) is an understatement. There were, including the host only 4 attendees. As Paul Kelly said "from little things, big things grow" and so it was in this case. One of those who attended was Samuel George Ball whose name is on the trophy for the Under 18's junior representative competition of the NSWRL.

From the 4 and 1 apology for the first meeting, things built. By the 17th of January, 1908 a meeting was held to officially form the South Sydney Rabbitohs at Redfern Town Hall. The 3 founders of the Rugby League in Australia Henry Clement Hoyle (Politician), J.J. Giltinan (entrepreneur) and Victor Trumper (test cricketer) were on the podium to make South Sydney official. South Sydney were the 3rd club to be formed behind Glebe on January 9 and Newtown on January 14.

Hennessy was Souths' inaugural captain coach. Souths' went through the 11 match season losing just 1 game. That being to Eastern Suburbs 13 points to 12. They did however win the match that mattered and take the premiership. The premiership decider was played whilst both Souths and Easts had 6 players each on the boat to England for the first Kangaroo Tour. Amongst them was Arthur Hennessy. During the first season Arthur was Souths' hooker. He was also one of two of the clubs delegates to the NSWRFL. During the season Australia played it's first 2 test matches, against New Zealand losing both. Arthur was Australia's first captain. When in 2004 the Australian Rugby League gave a number to each of it's Rugby League representatives Arthur was given the number 1. Also during that first season, Arthur captained NSW in the first interstate match against Queensland. NSW won 43 to nil.

As mentioned earlier Arthur toured England with the first Kangaroos in 1908&09 but did not play a test due to 2 broken jaws. He did however play in 7 matches on the tour. There was some drama on the tour as Arthur was a selector as well as a player. Arthur weighed in at 79 kg and was 173 cm tall. In those early days of rugby league there was no 6 tackle rule as there is today. Tackles were unlimited. Arthur implemented a no kicking policy at Souths, which was the foundation of the teams success. The running and passing style of game which Arthur implemented in those early days was what gave South Sydney the title "the pride of the league". His footballing creed was Position, Possession, Penetration and Pace. Through much of the South Sydney Rabbitohs' glory days this remained the root of their style of play. It remained that way until the implementation of the limited tackle rule came into the game in 1967. In around 1953 Arthur wrote a book titled "Winning Rugby Moves : and how to play them". A copy is still available at the NSW state library. 

In 1909 Arthur played 4 games for Easts including captaining them in a semi final. He also appeared for Souths in the same year. 1909 saw Souths win the infamous no show grand final against Balmain by forfeit. The match was scheduled to be played as a curtain raiser for the Wallabies V Kangaroos match to which Balmain protested and did not play. Souths played a match against a fill in team to appease the crowd. They won the match 18 to 10. In those first 2 seasons Arthur played only 6 matches with Souths and 4 with Easts. In 1910 and 11 he played a further 20 games in Red and Green. Souths made the grand final in 1910 where a 4 all draw was enough to secure the premiership for the mighty Newtown side. Souths 1911 side were knocked out in the semi final by Eastern Suburbs. Souths season lost impetuous when the Australian side left for England in early August. Arthur would have been 35 by the end of the season and did not play for Souths again.

It appears for there he moved into coaching and did so for many years. In 1913 he coached a New South Wales side on a tour of New Zealand. The coach notably implemented a steak only diet for lunch on game days. Arthur coached both codes of Rugby at school and higher levels for much of his life. He also spent time as a boxing coach. He coached Australian lightweight champion Sid Godfrey. Arthur coached Souths' in 1918, a season in which they won their fourth premiership. This win occurred during the final year of the first world war which has given me cause to wonder what kind of players they would have been whilst most young men were away fighting a war.

Arthur's other coaching credits included St Ignatius college, Riverview, the King's School and Waverley college. In 1929&30 Arthur coached the Australian Kangaroos on their tour of England where they were unlucky not to bring home the Ashes. He was the first non playing Australian coach to tour. The next such appointment was Clive Churchill in 1959.

In 1946 Arthur again coached the Rabbitohs', this time without success. That is an understatement. Souths went through the season without a win, losing all 14 games. Coaching careers usually don't end on high otherwise they wouldn't usually end. I guess this is also the case with Arthur's career.

When not playing or coaching Arthur spent his time as a bookmakers' clerk or similar, he invested in Maroubra Speedway, a Maroubra cinema opposite his home and a mini golf course.

Arthur had lived a sporting life to the full with a range of achievements that shine brightly for all to see. When you watch your Rugby League team run around this weekend spare a thought for Arthur and where it all began.


Bibliography

Photos of Arthur By : State Library of New South WalesDirect link, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19273020
The first Kangaroos : https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16602048

South Sydney : Pride of the League by Ian Heads 1994
Wikipedia : Arthur Hennessy
Australian Dictionary of Biography : Hennessy, Arthur Stephen (1876 to 1959) by Chris Cunneen
Rugbyleagueproject.org : Arthur Hennessy


 

What would you do if you thought you had 6 months to live? Where would your life take you?

What are the things that matter? When you are lying on your deathbed how will you be remembered? Is that even important? Is it more important that you have some great memories to reflect on? Will I remember my trip to Bali when I was 21 or travels in Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos? What matters?
One thing I am fairly certain doesn't matter, is how hard you worked. At least not without a result for your efforts. Living a life that attempts to please others doesn't work either. Which isn't the same thing as not helping others. If I was told that I would die in 6 months time, how would I live? What would I do?
Brain storming time. I'd break the news to friends and family. I would have many celebratory dinners and drinks. I'd spend the 1st week making plans. This is one of those weird illnesses that kills you but has no other side effects. So there are no limits to what you can do prior to death. You just know the time. I'd resign from work immediately.
Just as important as what you would do with the time left is which things do you do now that you would keep doing if your time was limited. I would keep sleeping each night. I would take my wife with me for the time I have left. I would go to the footy a couple of times and see my beloved Rabbitohs. I would try to see a test match featuring the Aussies. Maybe I could find one overseas if I couldn't wait until the summer. I would spend a month in Thailand. I would get my finances in order. Sell my unit. Maybe buy my wife a home in Chiang Mai with some of the money and use the rest for my final adventure. But what would that adventure be? I think I know. I have long wanted to travel overland from London to Sydney going via Moscow and Beijing, through Vietnam , Laos, Cambodia and into Vietnam. I think I would like another visit to Bali. Maybe head up through Burma and into India and Nepal. Check out the Himalayas. Seek the inner peace of the hippie generation.
Here is the back flip. I get home from my trip and tell friends and family all about my amazing trip. And then I head off to the Doctor. He tells me that they have found a cure. I will live for another 30 years. I jump for joy and then my life has to start again. Find work? I could do it. Maybe back at the same company I left, as a casual chef. I could work in other Hospitality jobs. It wouldn't be that hard to rebuild. I would have my house in northern Thailand and I could resume my Cricket umpiring. A bit of time off might give perspective, might improve me. Whilst I travelled the world I would have continued my blog, and who knows, the jabbering of a nomad might generate enough interest to monetise this thing. I know I would have great photos to share and what could be more interesting than the thoughts that come to mind as your train winds through Russia on the Trans Siberian railroad, or as you catch a ferry on the Mekong. Life can be so much more. What holds us back. Fear of not being able to climb back to where we are now? Fear of the judgements of others? Thinking right now, those seem to be the ones. We can always find excuses to do less living. But Why? Why do we not chase bigger lives and bigger dreams? Chase your dreams not your fears. I might be brave enough to live it one day.

Meditation

Another day where I am commencing typing but have no idea where my post is headed. That can't be a good thing. Can it? So far I have failed to monetise my blog. I have applied twice to adsense but have been rejected due to lack of content. I guess I will keep blogging and apply every time I get another 1000 visits to the blog. I achieved my 1000th view last week. It took about 9 months. Consistent posts, week after week. The more I do the better I will get.

I do feel lately that I am just starting to find my direction with the blog. I started out and was going to post recipes and make a cookbook from those recipes. Dreams are good aren't they? I was also going write about the different areas of my life and personal development in each area. Things like my cricket umpiring and cooking and work, life balance. I think I am still headed in that direction but have been enjoying doing restaurant reviews. I don't feel that it is right for me to write negative reviews, at least not at this stage. So, if I go out to dinner and don't enjoy the meal or find it nothing to get excited about, I will just not post about it. I don't need to add more negativity to the world, there are plenty of people in the mainstream media covering negativity. Also, as a chef I understand that you have bad days or delivery issues. They definitely don't need some random customer exposing them to the world. I'm not a current affairs show. I am not here to belittle or point out the errors of others. I have enough trouble overcoming my own.

I read yesterday via a post on Facebook that a junior Rugby League referee at a match in Southern Sydney had been punched by an angry father after removing his son from the game for kicking someone. Obviously that kind of behaviour is abhorrent and needs to be stamped out in junior sport. Many have been guilty of getting too involved in our sports as supporters or parents and when we do find our emotions getting the better of us we need to take a breath and think about our actions. It is probably applicable to all areas of life. If you find yourself getting worked up, the blood is beginning to boil, walk away. Release the pressure. Life is about enjoying ourselves and passing that enjoyment onto those with whom we come into contact.

I have been guilty many times with getting carried away whilst watching the footy or the cricket or feeling pressure at work. You don't get any benefit out of stressing. I would often try to tell myself that stress created nothing but bad results. But, intellectually knowing the answer is not often a solution. Logic and poor behaviour don't often go hand in hand. I recall reading years ago, in a Biography of Muhammad Ali, that he said he turned his life around by asking himself the question "would I do this if my mother was watching?" Interesting thought that may work for some.

Something else that I have been attempting for a few years now is morning meditation. In recent months I feel I have made significant progress by using the Headspace app on my phone. This provides me with usually 10 or 15 minute guided meditations. There is an initial beginners section which covers the basics called take 10 and from there you can do a range of meditations to guide you with various areas of your life. Examples include Anxiety, Stress, Low self esteem, Appreciation, Focus, Balance to name just a few. Anyone out there needing something to help break up life's challenges, I would highly recommend meditation in some form.

Meditation is all about gaining awareness of your actions and thoughts. Instead of just going through life on auto pilot, jump off the train for 10 or 15 minutes. Listen to what is going on inside you and start to control your personal ship again. Too often our lives are running us instead of the other way around. Part of the reason I am currently searching for some changes to my work, life balance is because I want to spend more time doing what I want to do and less time allowing the paying of bills to be a lifetime priority. I think I will continue this tomorrow but for now I will leave you with a thought based loosely around some of Robin Sharma's teachings.

When you are lying on your deathbed and looking back at your life which moments will jump off the page? Which parts will you remember? I'm sure I won't be wishing I did a bit of extra overtime.

Restaurant review - Leaf in Berry - Berry

In search of a Thai meal for lunch in Berry on a long weekend we headed to the old post office building to try out Leaf in Berry. The servings were large and the options plentiful. Will be back to try some of the other dishes next time we are on the South Coast.

We chose to sit out in the courtyard which was nice and sunny even though it was the June long weekend. As with all good Thai restaurants water was brought to the table on arrival and I decided to make the experience authentic with a Singha beer to start. It was nice and cold and hit the spot. Just what you need when relaxing on a south coast weekend.

We started with an Entree called Pang na moo. This translates as pork toast, a description that doesn't do much to provide a picture. It is at it's core a piece of bread with a spiced pork mince mixture spread on top deep fried and served with a dipping sauce. It was a really good start to the meal as well as being an example of the depth of the menu at Leaf.

For our main meal we ordered 2 dishes which we shared. We had the Pork with Garlic and Oyster Sauce. The dish came with rice.This dish was pleasant enough, good sized portion with plenty of fresh vegetables and good flavour.

The Standout dish of the lunch was the Pad Kee Mao with Chicken. Pad Kee Mao or Drunken Noodles is a hot Thai flat noodle stir fried with chilli and herbs. It was a generous serve, but better than that was full of flavour. It had just the right amount of chilli, you knew it was there but it didn't overwhelm the other flavours of the dish.






We had a very enjoyable lunch and will be making a return visit next time we are in town. It was great to see a Thai restaurant that is happy to get away from the standard Thai suburban menu. If you feel like checking it out you will find them at 137 Queen Street, Berry, NSW

Bali 1994 : Travels to open your eyes to the world

As the brief at the top of the page says I am a chef. I came to cooking later than many professionals. As I recall the interest in cooking started for me after returning from my first trip to Bali when I was 21 years old. I had gone to Bali for 3 weeks with one of my elder brothers, Matt. The trip was amazing, we had booked nothing but the return airfare and he had been told to head in the direction of Poppies lane 2, which was right in the heart of the Kuta Beach area. So that is exactly what we did. That was the entirety of our plans. We spent our days heading to the beach for a surf and in the afternoon and evenings we found the restaurant playing a movie we liked and chose to eat there and wash it down with a Bintang or two. I am now 42, so I guess that means it was half my life ago. Allowing for that I can still remember that first walk through town. It will stay with me forever ( I hope).

Originally Matt was supposed to be going to Bali with a friend from University, but his unreliable friend withdrew at the last minute. I was on leave from TAFE where I was studying for my associate diploma of Business (accounting). I was living at home and had some money in the bank so when Matt's mate pulled out he asked if I wanted to go. I don't remember my response but I had a current passport from a week's holiday to Fiji 2 or 3 years earlier so I can't imagine that I was anything but excited to get to try out a new country. So that is what we did. Matt had never been overseas before and I had my week in Fiji so we were pretty raw when it came to travel experience.

Let's get back to that first day. I recall getting off the plane and walking out the front of Denpasar airport to be met by hawkers calling out "you want taxi?". We approached one guy and told him we wanted to go to Poppies Lane 2. He replied that he had a great place, not that far from there and we should go with him. Matt, if I recall correctly, told the guy that we were happy to go with him and check it out but if we didn't like it we could still say "thanks but no thanks". He agreed and so we went. As it turned out, the place looked okay and was a bit of a walk into the main part of Kuta but we said we would stay. I think it was only that first night, maybe one or two more.

Getting off a plane in Denpasar back then was like arriving in another world for 2 young guys like us. It was major culture shock. As I said I had been to Fiji previously, but that just didn't cut it when it comes to culture shock. Fijians are possible the friendliest and most laid back people on earth. They don't put pressure on you for anything. It was the most, and I believe still is the most chilled out place on earth. So absolutely no preparation at all for a first glimpse of Asia. The hustle and bustle, the touting, the constant calls to buy whatever it was they were selling. It was amazing and I think within a very short space of time we were hooked and loving every minute.

We had a look at the room and agreed to stay. We had a banana jaffle lined up for breakie. We put the bags in the room and headed off to explore Kuta Beach. We walked along the beach and then turned the corner and began the walk down Legian Street, Kuta, Bali. Wow. We were in for a shock. Everywhere we looked we got the "you like? Come in , have a look. You try? you buy? good price for me, good price for you?" We made our way along the street, obviously looking like 2 young guys fresh off a plane. The shop owners spotted us from miles away. They know how to spot new kids on the block and were willing to sell us everything they could. I don't recall what purchases we made that day but I do remember that about halfway along we saw a familiar site. The big M of McDonalds and headed there for some relief in something we knew. We grabbed some familiar food for lunch and an hour later we stopped into a pub and grabbed a VB again to get our hands on something we knew to relieve the onslaught of this strange land. Don't get me wrong, I don't want you to thing we were attempting relocate Australia to another location. That wasn't our objective. We were just overwhelmed. I don't mean that in a bad way, it was one of the stand out, most memorable days of my life.



It all flowed from there. 3 weeks of going on instinct. We would head to beach and swim, catch some sun, get a massage some days. This was followed by lunch and then some more walking through the shops. I didn't mention earlier on, we went to Bali with only carry on luggage, just a small backpack each. Matt may have had a surfboard as well. When we ran out of clothes we bought more. When there were too many that they didn't fit in the bag, we went and bought a new backpack. We talked with other travellers in the bars, mainly Tubes, the Sari Club and Patty's Bar. Of course the Sari Club and Patty's Bar were the scene of those horrific attacks 8 years later. We I saw those places on my TV on that Sunday morning those years later I really felt the pain and vowed to get back there as soon as I could. I returned 11 months after the bombing for another awesome couple of weeks.

Getting back on track. We talked with others in the bars at night and found out where we should be going and that's where we went. We went to Nusa Lembongan island for a few days. We slept on the simple beds down at Uluwatu. We also headed to the cultural centre of Bali in Ubud. It's been so many years that I don't remember all the details now but it was amazing. I think the thing that grabbed me most of all was just being so free. Freedom from worry, freedom from ego, freedom to go where you heart and mind take you. Wake up and decide how you'll live the day ahead. It's a feeling you'd love to carry into everyday of your life but rarely do. Life doesn't seem to allow us that much freedom all that often.

Our food choices throughout were fairly simple. Usually we ate Nasi Goreng (Indonesian fried rice) which was served with a fried egg on top. When I returned home some of my earliest food challenges were attempts to recreate that fried rice. I bought a book on Balinese food and attempted to cook. There were plenty of mistakes and plenty of food heading to a garbage bin. Eventually I did create something edible.  

I know at the start I said I was going to write about where my cooking began. I got lost in the memory of a holiday that changed the way I interact with the world everyday of my life. I wish I could pack everything up and travel and I owe that in a massive way to those amazing 3 weeks with my brother in one of the most beautiful places on earth.

The Cricket Umpire's Off-Season

About 4 months until a new cricket season. Outside it's cold and wet and definitely not cricket season. It must be time to plan an assault on the summer ahead. Last season was my first in grade cricket here in Sydney. My focus was on learning. Take advantage of every education session available and try to increase my knowledge of what makes a better umpire. I feel that I achieved that goal. At times during the season I had patches where I saw real improvements and good foundations for becoming the best umpire that I can be. In between those there were some backward steps as well.

Late in the season I thought I had really hit on something in the way I was watching the ball. I was focussing on softening my vision. I was telling myself not to stare too hard at the ball. By softening my vision I was seeing the ball more clearly than ever before. I strung together 3 weeks of umpiring that had me feeling that I was on my way to success, at least in that area of the game.

This was followed by an ugly Saturday afternoon where I couldn't take a trick. Every small edge I didn't see or hear. The LBW shouts all seemed to be bat and pad together somewhere around that off stump, maybe just outside. In the end I lost the confidence of the fielding team and walked away feeling gutted. What caused this relapse in form? It was a bright sunny day and so I chose to wear my slightly darker sunglasses. This I believe was the root cause of most of my problems. I hope that's what it was.

The other problem for me throughout the season was a simple lack of self belief. That's a theme in many areas of my life. I know from past experience that I will be improved in that area in my second season just be feeling more natural in the surroundings.

So, where is my year 2 focus going to be? I will again be doing the laws course to strengthen my knowledge of laws of cricket. The playing conditions will again be given the focus that they need. My first year in grade has shown me that these 2 areas are where I believe I can out point almost every other umpire in the grade ranks. It is a simple matter of spending time. Hours and hours of it. Read, summarise, read again.

The other thing that I am intending to do is to attend net sessions of the 2 local clubs in my area to get practical experience of umpiring. I have shied away from it in the past because it felt a bit weird. I feel uncomfortable heading to a net session to practice umpiring. This is in spite of the comments I have heard from senior umpires that the players appreciate the efforts made by umpires to improve themselves. It's probably just my ego acting up. I think to head to a net session once a week can make a significant difference to my match day performance. Lets face it, I wouldn't go out to bat and expect to be confident and successful if I hadn't been to practice, so why do I expect to become a better umpire without actually practising the skills involved.

Another couple of things I would like to try are getting together with a few similar level umpires once a month over a beer to talk about what issues we are having collectively and seeing if 2 or 3 or 4 heads are better than 1. There are a couple of guys who I will be approaching to see if they are interested.

The final piece to the puzzle is to find myself a mentor. Someone who I can go to for advise. An experienced umpire whose brain I can pick. Basically I think I am looking for a coach. The great thing about umpiring is that there are plenty of experienced guys who you can turn to in this department. Guys who have been umpiring for 10 or 15 years are not that hard to find. I am on the lookout for an umpiring guru to guide me. The umpiring equivalent of Yoda. If you are reading this umpiring Yoda, don't be shy, get in touch.

So that's where I am going to leave it for today. Thanks for reading and I'll see you on the cricket fields of Sydney before too long.

More thoughts on a balanced life

This is a continuation from my blog post from last Monday, imaginatively titled "Monday" which talked about jumping off the Monday to Friday life and finding a balanced income which would come from 5 different sources. Together the 5 would bring in enough money in about 40 weeks a year so that I could spend the rest of the year in Thailand as well as other worthwhile travel destinations.

My 5 sources of income would be: 1. casual chef. ( work about 2 days a week) In the early part I may need to work extra in this job whilst some of the others take off and pull their weight
                                                   2. Blogging. There is a lot of space between sitting here right now typing out a few posts a week and making it an income stream which produces $10 to $12,000 a year but it doesn't happen if you can't first dream it.
                                                   3. Cricket Umpiring currently earns me about $3500 tax free a year. This is the equivalent of about $4250 per year taxed. In this area I could easily umpire every Saturday and Sunday in the season and add another 8 days, hopefully some finals and then I would make $10,000. This along with Chef work are the 2 areas where I am certain I can achieve my goal
                                                   4. Income generating Investments. I am not exactly sure about these. I have been to the library and grabbed a book by well known Australian Finance expert Paul Clitheroe called "making money". I will be reading this with great interest over the next month to hopefully grasp a few good ideas as to where I can start. Also, I have purchased the Audio book which I have spoken about in previous posts "the four hour work week" by Tim Ferriss. The book is all about freeing up your time to do more of what you love and less of the day to day grind of paying the bills.
                                                  5. Teaching cooking classes to amateurs at the local community college. I have been in touch with the college by email and will be working on a course plan over the next couple of months. At this point I am not sure where I should even begin. Again the details are foggy but it is another hopefully enjoyable way to bring in some income whilst sharing some of my love of cooking.
Casual Chef could earn about, I think conservatively $24 per hour. $24 x 15 hours = $360.00 40 weeks a year = $14,400 Too easy. Hurdles to overcome being that I want to work less than some agencies would like.
Blogging is not so simple. This has a bit (maybe a lot) of do, wait and see how it turns out. I figure if I am consistent, monitor my results and improve as I go on then it may be able to be successful.
Cricket Umpiring I have covered above. There is always more demand for umpires than games so work is easy to find. This is a great example of something that I do for fun which brings an income. I hope that Blogging, cricket umpiring and teaching cooking will all fall into that category.
Investing for income is going to be difficult to do early on. I want to earn without too much time spent working at it. Hopefully Stockmarket and property investing can bring in some income but I am not sure if $10,000 a year is realistic, especially early on.
Teaching cooking classes. There are a large number of blanks to fill in on this one. How hard is it to get my classes going? What equipment do I need? Can I run classes only 3 semesters a year?

It's early days in this process. The big thing for me is that I like what the end looks like. "What does it look like?" you say. Well roughly there will be 4 hours a week at the computer typing out blog posts. I could start that right now. There will be 2 days every week with casual chef work. Changes in location will be testing, but will also reduce boredom. In the Summer (from September to April) I will be busy offending cricketers. Cricket umpiring can be very rewarding and enjoyable but also at times challenging. Saturdays and Sundays will be busy. Cooking classes at nights during the week will mean some challenges, as I will be learning the new skill of teaching and running a class. They are adult classes though and recreational in nature so should be easy compared to what School teachers deal with everyday. Hopefully a few concentrated hours each week will bring the investment aspect to fruition. Each time I have discussed this idea as a whole or written about it I have felt genuine excitement. That excitement is part of what can drive me to succeed. Wish me luck!!!

                                           

Restaurant review - Thai Thae - Hurstville

My new favourite suburban Thai Restaurant. I've visited 3 times. Food always really good. Most suburban Thai restaurants have that almost generic menu. It's like they are all sharing a menu. They just change the title page. Thai Thae is different. Sure they have all your favourites, but they also have some of those great dishes that you normally have to travel to Thai Town in the CBD to get.

They have the curry puffs, Tum yum goong, Green Curry, Massaman Beef, Pad Thai. All the regulars, though even those are done with a little bit of pizzazz. But, what really sets them apart, are dishes like Duck Larb, Spicy soft bone pork soup, Papaya salad and my favourite, Pad ka naa moo grob. Sorry that last one in English is Stir fried crispy pork belly with chinese broccoli, to die for.

We dropped in last night for a not too heavy midweek dinner. Got there just after 6 and we were almost on our own. By the time we finished they were half full of happy diners.

We ordered 2 mains and Thai Iced Milk tea to wash it down. I love Thai milk tea or in Thai Chaa Yen and it is great that I can now get one just 5 minutes from home. 
Everything was great. We ordered the steamed barramundi with ginger sauce. Steamed whole fish with a delicate flavoured sauce. More of a Chinese style dish than Thai but very nice and enjoyed immensely. Being a whole fish it takes 15 minutes to prepare but well worth the wait.




Whilst we awaited the arrival of the Barra we had the stir fried pork belly with prik king sauce. This comes with plenty of green beans. The sauce has that sweet unctuous quality that makes you want to lick the plate clean.
  

The service is friendly and I can try out my every improving Thai language skills on the wait staff. If you are in the area you must check this place out. We have enjoyed it each time we have visited. Good quality authentic Thai food. Yum!!!

Monday

Monday , made it through another one. So many people drag themselves out of bed on a Monday and off to work feeling nothing but dread at facing another week in a job for which they have no passion. We know we need a job, but too often we don't have the courage to patiently search for a job that really brings us pleasure, or even real joy.
I guess there are a few different reasons for working a job. Obviously passion for the job itself. A job which gives an outlet for a particular passion. Maybe cooking or painting  or something like that. Then using the job as an outlet for the passion.
Then I guess there are the service jobs. A job that allows you to help others. These can range from simple waiting jobs to life saving medical jobs.
The other type are the job that simply allows you to live the lifestyle that you want. Maybe the hours you work allow you to surf every morning before work at you favourite break or give you the freedom to travel a few months each year.
For so many of us though we get lost in the wake up.Go to work. Go through the motions. Collect our pay every fortnight or week and pay the bills. We end up spending our couple of days a week of freedom feeling too drained to enjoy the fruits of our labours.
I am in the middle of a search for a more balanced lifestyle. I want to see if I can diversify my income so that I am not completely reliant on income from just one source.
I would love to have maybe 5 different income sources which each bring in $10,000 plus. On the end of this I would have maybe 3 months a year to be mobile. To travel. To hang out in Thailand so my wife can be with her family, but also so we can have time to do things we enjoy.
I think I can make it happen. Within 2 to 5 years. Building this blog into something that generates a steady, easy to relocate income source. I can write posts from anywhere on earth. The posts may be more interesting when they come to you from a small village in south east Asia. At present I am focussing on content. Find a half hour each day and just open up my thoughts and put them on the page. It's very early days. With something like this, there are always plenty of people telling you why you can't and very few telling you why you can. I thing it is important to be consistent and see where it takes us.
My current job as a Chef Manager in an industrial site's staff canteen has decent hours and pays okay wages. If I can find the other parts of the puzzle then I think I can switch to casual chef work and be happy to earn the amount of money I want and then put my feet up. I figure about a day and a half a week should be enough to get it done.
Cricket umpiring won't need too much adjustment. I figure I can simply make myself available Saturday and Sunday throughout the season and then if I umpire another 8 other days I will achieve my goal. There are school cricket matches and a few trials and social games at either end of the season and I am done.
The other 2 are definitely the most difficult. I have been thinking of running a cooking class at the local community college. I have very little knowledge of what needs to happen to make that a reality or how much money can be earned doing that kind of work.
Last of all are investments which could generate income. This will require some study to find a way.
If I can do all this, I will be on the road to creating a truly exciting life for me and my wife.
These thoughts in the back of my mind as I head through my week mean that I have good motivation to ignore the problems that get in my way and keep pressing on to an inspirational life.

Blogging

Hi, back again today. I was feeling that yesterday's post lacked a bit of cohesion. I guess that's the nature of this format. For me it is really early days in my journey (sorry about the cliché) as a blogger. I have decided that perfection is not the goal when writing a post. At this point simply writing consistently and putting out content is the most important thing. As time goes by my writing should improve to some extent just by continuing to write. Practice makes perfect.

What does that really mean? Really practice gets us closer to perfect. Unfortunately we are usually starting a long way from perfection. It also doesn't mean that every post will be better than the previous one. Sometimes we need to step back in order to move forward.

One other thing I am undecided about is what I really am aiming to write about at this stage. Basically I am attempting to sit down and type whatever comes in to my head. That, obviously can be hit and miss. I am trying not to over edit. I am just typing, followed by a quick read through (most of the time) and the clicking publish and share. I also, don't want to label my site with too exact a title. I thought I was going to be publishing recipes and ideas on self improvement but now I am thinking "relax and let this thing grow organically". Let's see where the blog takes us.

Hopefully this week I will sit down and type maybe 4 or 5 times and hopefully some of what I type will catch a few reader's attentions and who knows? I know one thing. I do like the idea of being a writer of some type.

Lately I was thinking that when you get investment advice they all tell you to diversify your investments. The idea being that if one goes bad the others with make up for the losses in the weaker area. Most people as far as I can see though earn most of their income from a single source. Our job. We might be a baker or a chef or a lawyer or a garbage collector. We earn most of our income from that single income stream. If things go wrong there, we feel like that world is crashing down around us. How will we survive. All of this leads to stress and grief. My possible solution. Diversify. What if we had say 5 different activities that we earn an income from? Say for example you currently earn $50,000 per annum from your job as a chef. If things go bad at the kitchen and you get laid off you are left with nothing. Imagine if you had 5 different jobs that earn $10,000 per year each. If you loose one job then you still have the ability to tighten the belt for a while whilst you either try to get a bit more out of the other income sources or find a replacement for the job you have been laid off from.

Clearly this is easy said and more difficult to achieve. For example, I could work as a casual chef or find permanent part time work maybe 1 or 2 days a week which would earn $10,000 dollars a year. As I have mentioned in an earlier post I am a cricket umpire during the warmer months of the year. This brings in about $3500 a year. Maybe I could umpire every Sunday as well as Saturday and pick up some other appointments in social game to increase that number to close to $6,500 a year. And maybe I could also referee Rugby League in the winter or umpire the winter competion based in the Moore Park area of Sydney. That could bring me close to $10,000 a year. That is two fifth's of the way there.

If this blog took off and I was able to earn income from it that could become a 3rd stream. The local community college runs adult education classes. Maybe I could run a cooking class a few nights a week and bring in income stream 4. And then investments. Investments that generate income without me having to manage them on a daily basis. That could be number 5.

It might just be possible. Time to go. Thanks for reading.

164 hours free to live life in the future. What about right now?

Oops, not exactly tomorrow. In fact it's 2 Saturdays later. But let me continue.
I would love to be blogging regularly. Wouldn't mind writing a book, learning a language. I am currently learning Thai as you can see from other posts on this blog. I think I would like to be based at least for part of the year in Northern Thailand. My wife's family live in Chiangmai, so that has some real benefits. I love being there and am making so real progress with my language skills in recent times. Chiangmai is an amazing place. The cost of living is low, but it also has all the modern societal comforts. It would also mean a great base to access all of Asia.
But what will make us really happy? I guess I am thinking mainly about freedom. Freedom from deadlines. Sitting done at the start of the month and thinking "What should we do?" I could do that now. But now I have only evenings and weekends to act on my plans. I have to squeeze them in between work commitments.
That's got me thinking. Why don't I do that right now? Live the life I am currently living more fully. Surely I am guilty of waiting until my plan succeeds to really live life. Why not just grab the bull by the horns and start having more fun today. Not in a year's time. RIGHT NOW.
Sure my travel plans are limited by time, but everything else can be acted on.

Perfect day :
Wake at 4.50am 5 minutes of activity to get the blood flowing. Maybe a plank or situps , pushups, rapid curls to get the arms going.
5.00am shower, followed by quick breakfast and a 15 minute meditation. I have been using the headspace app for the last month or so and am enjoying it.
Then off to work.
The search continues for happiness at work. The last week has seen me tick some boxes in that area. Acceptance of the things around you. Control what you can and don't listen to your ego. (Eckhart Tolle , A new earth can help in that department)
Get out of work on time. 2.30pm to 3.00pm if you are me.
Arrive home at 3.00pm to 3.30pm.
Now where do we go from here.
First, I should do 15 minutes of exercise. Exercise bike, walk or run.
Followed by moving of my chess pieces on gamenot.com. A game against the computer or as many as it takes to get a win. Then, 15 minutes of chess study.
TBC

168 hours in a week, If you could earn a living in 4 of those, what would you do with the rest?

The 4 hour work week is the title of a book by Tim Ferriss. The book talks, okay I believe it says, as I haven't read the book (not yet), I believe the book outlines a plan to condense your earnings (enough to survive) into 4 hours a week so that you can free up the rest of your life for things you would rather do.

Sounds fantastic, doesn't it?

I know I would love it. Imagine working only half a day each week. Now a lot of people when they hear 4 hour work week want to have a crack at Tim about the things he does in his week that look from the outside like work but are actually optional extras to his schedule. Projects that he has taken on which he enjoys. That's not what I want to do here. I want to brain storm what I would do with the other 164 hours in the week.

Imagine it, really imagine it. Most of us can't chase down these dreams because we never stop to think how amazing it could be. We all want to be happy, right? We all could be happier too. 164 hours a week to build that happiness. 

When you talk about being happy in our world you are considered to be a new age kind of person, maybe even accused of being some kind of hippie. Surely that reflects poorly on our society as a whole. We all have a list of things to do and then we will be happy or comfortable. The guy from Wallstreet the movie from the late 80's, I think, with Charlie Sheen. He tells the girl that he is going to make his fortune and retire at 30. After that he is going to ride a motorbike across China. He doesn't realise that he could work in any menial job and save hard for a year and take his trip across China. ( I borrowed that from Tim Ferriss who in turn borrowed it from another guy named Rolf Potts who wrote a book called Vagabonding). 

So, I have lost my way a little. I was going to write about what I would do with 164 free hours a week. Imagine clearly my ultimate life. 

I would still love to spend time working with food. Maybe spend some time writing recipes. Then each year or so, we don't want too many deadlines, put out a cookbook. 

I would still like to be spending time umpiring cricket matches at as high a level as I am capable. Travel, Travel, Travel. Go and get lost for months at a time. Do the overland from London to Sydney without ever boarding an aeroplane. Wander through Asia finding those awesome little places that cost almost nothing to stay at, but camp in your memory bank for the rest of your life. 

I have long had an interest in Primates (some, I think unkindly, think I look an ape). I would love to see Orangutans in their natural habitat. Wouldn't it be amazing. Hiding out in the Jungles of South East Asia with one of the Great Apes. 

Sorry folks time is up. I'll continue tomorrow.

Restaurant review - Taste Fresh Dumpling House - Hurstville

I have stood outside my favourite Hurstville coffee shop and looked across the street to the restaurant called Taste Fresh Dumpling House for a few months now and thought "We should try that place out". Last night was the night my thoughts became reality. And ... we weren't disappointed. The price was great and the food tasty as well. The restaurant was busy but not crazy busy. Easy to get a table on a Saturday night without the need to wait.


Opening the menu we were drawn to the set menu for 2 people - 3 dishes from a list 2 pages long with rice and sago for dessert for under $30. We picked the chilli chicken (below),pork with mushroom(right) and the egg and tomato omelette. Chicken was our top pick followed by the pork. We also had combination dumpling in sour soup as the waitress had identified the soup as the traditional way to eat them. The dumplings were yummy and definitely soft and fresh tasting. Thumbs up from this diner. The dumplings are available steamed, pan fried like a gyoza, as a pancake or in soup.


One thing we both enjoyed was that the serving sizes were made so that 2 people could comfortably eat the 3 dishes and not feel overly full. Only the desire to taste the dumplings made the extra dish necessary. I noticed that the servings for the set menu were larger at other tables because they had more people. I had a crown lager with my meal and tea was placed on the table as soon as we sat down. The beer was only $4, would have been rude not to have one. Sago in coconut milk (I think) was brought to finish the meal.

 In total the bill came to just under $45. You can't beat that. Definitely a thumbs up from 2 happy diners who will be back for more.

Mental Unpacking or Emotional Vomit

Hi.
Welcome back.
To me as much as you.
Blogging.
I like the idea.
But....Hmmmm. Can I make the time???
It all starts now.
I think part of the problem is trying to put out perfect posts. I think that is wrong. Whatever I type here will be posted at the end of this 30 minute session of typing. A brief edit and click post. It doesn't need to be perfect. Consistent is more important. Every week at least one post. This one is a what's on my mind post. Others will be recipes. And of late, I have been thinking of taking a photo each day and just posting it on my page. Hopefully (I'm not much of a photographer) it will capture something in my day. Maybe it will relate to food or maybe cricket umpiring (when the season it right) or just the day to day.

I just flicked through a couple of potential posts that I started last year and never completed. One is from the day before I commenced my new job as a Chef Manager. It talks about stressing at work and feeling frustration and angst. 6 months on, not much has changed in that area. I have a new job with good pay (relatively) but I seem to find myself feeling more pressure than other people in the same position. I guess at age 42 we all carry baggage from life's experiences, but why do some people feel, or seem to feel, the pressure more than others. A quick glance at the post it occurred to me that I was trying to fit too much into my days. It reminded me of a quote I heard recently. "People often overestimate what they can get done in a day and underestimate what they can achieve in a month or a year". I guess the lesson that I remember from school days when practicing or rather failing to practice the saxophone or clarinet for the school band. Mum would say that I would be better to practice 15 minutes a day than one big session a week. Something like that. The little daily improvements can and will lead to greater change in the long run.
It's Saturday morning of a free weekend. Time to do as I please. Release the tension of the week. I started the day by dropping my wife at the train station.
Wait a moment. Something just occurred to me. Not really just now. I have had this thought previously. And, I can't really claim it as my own.
When I was a young single lonely guy I thought "if only I could get a girlfriend, then everything will be better". The fact that I have a wife, means quite clearly that I have achieved that. Is everything thing better? No. Don't misunderstand me, My relationship with my wife is as perfect as they get. I couldn't be happier with that part of my life. But, I am a long way from a Zen being at this stage. My point I am struggling to make is that too often we think that when so and so happens we will be happy and in doing so, we forget to enjoy the here and now.Can you relate to that? Or do I have all this crazy for myself? I don't think so. Share the madness people. We all have some (plenty of it) in us.

The problem with typing an article for a set period of time is that the article can lack a conclusion. Sure, I could look at my timer and say 5 minutes to go and start to wind things up, but. Actually, that's not a bad plan. So, let me know what you think of my first post of 2016. Sorry that it is probably all over the place in terms of content. It feels like an emotional vomit. That is way to harsh. Maybe a mental unpack is a better way of putting it. Whatever you and I think, this is it. Raw and, as I said only with a brief edit prior to posting.
Have a great day whatever you are doing.