What I Think Of Tasmania -- Part 1

Yep, this is going to be serialized, heh heh.


The Bad

I'm talking about this first because it's my Pet Peeve. Tasmanian food SUCKS. And this is coming from someone who knows what good food is, but whose stomach is strong enough to withstand the sorry meals she has to wolf down in every single ER she's ever worked at.

#1: What oil do they use over there?!

It tastes funny, but in a horrible way. The cooked breakfasts, with their scrambled eggs and grilled mushrooms, made me nauseous. And I've eaten such fare in places ranging from the UK to NZ to Bali. Even the cooking oil used in Sydney and Melbourne didn't give me the urge to barf. Plus, cooked breakfasts at some Tasmanian hotels apparently don't come as a package with your accomodation. Which means you have to fork out AUS$20 per head if you want to eat eggs, some pieces of charred meat, veggies, maybe some toast, with beverages on the side, when all of this actually costs only a few dollars. Highway robbery! Which is why we made a beeline for the nearest convenience store, stocked up on bread loaves, peanut butter and jam, and cup noodles, and elected to stay in our rooms and have our own breakfast for 1/10th of the cost. Plus, it tasted much better.

#2: Nothing beats fritter-izing.

Okay, this appears to be a Tasmanian trait -- and it needs to be changed, pronto. They fry almost everything in batter. Even "sweet and sour pork". And it isn't even nice batter. It isn't the soft, flaky, melts-in-your-mouth, juicy thing. Instead, it's a hard, better-insure-what-remaining-teeth-you-have, impregnable iron-like shell, which may I remind you, TASTES FUNNY, THANKS TO THE HORRIBLE OIL THEY DIP IT IN.

What's worse, the seafood doesn't live up to its reputation. You MUST try their fish / prawns, etc, everyone says. I ate at more than 10 different restaurants while I was there, and only one -- the Me Wah restaurant in Launceston -- served up truly good ( ie. fresh and well-cooked ) seafood. Nothing's worse than chewing through all that yucky batter and getting equally yucky fish / prawns inside. Bleah.

#3: Even the Chinese food isn't up to par.

I've noticed how, no matter which ang-moh land I'm in, I can almost always chance upon really good Chinese eateries. But Tasmania is a virtual desert in this aspect, and I started feeling very deprived just 48 hours after arriving on the island. ( Yes, it's that bad. ) The cuisine is mostly home-cooked, and often drowned in soy sauce. Even my favourite among the group, the aforementioned Me Wah restaurant, can only measure up to some of our better HDB estate coffee shop establishments. Nothing quite beats the likes of, say, The Soup Restaurant at Paragon. Ahhhh. :)

#4: Everything costs an arm and a leg.

Meals approximate AUS$40-50 each for the 3 of us, and this includes the fact that we usually order only 2 main courses, and maybe one starter like a soup. And don't even step into their "food courts", mini-Kopitiams / Food Junctions but without the quality or low prices. Again, everything's super-salty ( to cover up the blandness of the ingredients ), and a simple plate of "Asian noodles" costs AUS$10. And did I mention their EXPENSIVE breakfasts? Yeesh!

#5: I hate sandwiches.

Sandwiches are big with Caucasians -- something I will never understand. I mean, they're cold, tasteless, and not very substantial. At least that's my opinion. I got a lot of sandwiches while I was there. As picnic lunches provided by whichever tour I was with that day, and as *sob* my Christmas Day lunch, since every single restaurant in Tasmania ( save for hotel kitchens ) was closed that afternoon. ( Thus my vow to NEVER spend the holidays overseas ever again. Unless someone gives me tickets to a Clay X'mas concert, haha. )

#6: You'll feel your cells aging.

OH...MY...GOSH...
Waiting for food in Tasmania is... intolerable! And it isn't even because the cook's busy! There's one place in Hobart where we had to wait 30 minutes before our RICE arrived, for Pete's sake. And we were the ONLY customers.

At all the other eateries, the same interminable wait was unavoidable. If there's a crowd, better give yourself an hour. Being used to the 5-minutes-and-4-dishes-are-on-the-table efficiency so typical of Singaporean restaurants, this change of pace almost killed me.

Enough of The Bad for now. ( Yes, there's more. Later. )

The Good

Tasmanian television saved me. Literally.

My first night there, I caught the 2nd season of Nip/Tuck. As a doublebill. In its uncensored glory. ( Let me take a moment to savour this. :))

My second night, I saw the final season of The Practice -- the one with James Spader in it ( for which he won a Best Actor Emmy ). Fantastic. :)

My third night, I saw the finale of The Apprentice 2. So yeah, I know who won. And he's absolutely adorable. :D

I also caught "live" telecasts of Carols By Candlelight, an annual X'mas concert held in Melbourne, and featuring luminaries in the Australian entertainment industry. One guy to watch out for is Australian Idol 2 runner-up Anthony Callea, who looks like Adam Garcia ( the hunk from Coyote Ugly and Bootmen ) but has a voice that rivals Clay Aiken's in terms of clarity and power. His signature tune, a cover of The Prayer ( previously done by Celine Dion / Andrea Bocelli, Charlotte Church / Josh Groban, and Lulu / Russell Watson ), is a solo effort, but astounding. Guy Sebastian can't measure up at all.


In Other News

I'm now at the SNEC, which is HUGE, with 80 doctors in just one department, 4 floors of clinics and OTs, an entire floor of clinical offices, and apparently, no five-day work week.

As one senior MO pointed out to me the first day: "People don't see us very much, so they may think we lead senang ( Malay for "easy" ) lives, but we actually work very hard." I've seen firsthand what goes on over there, and I can tell you right now that HE'S RIGHT.

Clinics, for example, start at 8:30am on the dot. Without exceptions. Not showing up on time will probably get you blackmarked in some significant way. Morning sessions last till 1pm, followed by a very hurried lunch, then afternoon clinics from 1:30 - 5pm. With 6 rooms functioning and close to 10 doctors fielding cases continuously, it's a mad flurry of activitiy from beginning to end.

But still, I don't think the intensity of these clinics matches that of the ENT department, with its patients complaining of tinnitus, giddiness, rhinorrhoea, and "throat discomfort". There are some extremely neurotic people attending ENT SOCs. Cannot tahan.

Thanks to some sick passenger on the plane I took from Sydney to Singapore, I've now come down with a viral infection, complete with sore throat, fever, and severe myalgia. But it's the lethargy that always gets to me. Still, better now than when I'm overseas.

My cat, who was boarded with a pet hostel for 2 weeks while we were away, has gone into affection overdrive since we brought him home. He's given himself a hoarse voice after meowing too much, and is practically glued to us whenever we're at home. So cute. :)

A friend of mine is currently in Aceh as part of his military assignment. Hope he's doing all right over there.

I have serious doubts about the handling of huge donations in the tsunami afternmath. Call me cynical, but giving money to countries like Indonesia, Thailand and India isn't a good idea. And the relief supplies aren't finding their marks easily either, whether due to ground conditions or warfare issues. I know they need the funds, but I just can't bring myself to write a cheque. Best to leave this to the respective governments, if you ask me.

Book reviews are pending, with apologies. Will try to do them when my brain clears up.


He Just Isn't That Into You by Greg Behrendt

Caught this on Oprah today. Quite an eye-opener, even though some of the things mentioned are mostly common sense.

Behrendt worked as a co-writer on Sex And The City. Yet although his views from a male's perspective appear simple on the surface, the more telling thing about this episode is how many women are in a state of denial, which is the true root of the problem. Sure, the guy is blowing hot and cold, unwilling to commit, etc, but the girl keeps making excuses for his behaviour, coming up with her own reasons to explain her insecurities away and keep the man looking good in her eyes no matter what.

I know this because I was guilty of it once, heh heh.

Anyhow, there're a few valuable lessons to be learnt as well.

1. If a guy doesn't make the effort to call or see or spend time with you, he just isn't that into you. Even Bill Rancic, who won on the first season of The Apprentice, made a short appearance via video, and stated that, "If a woman I'm into is on the phone, I'll put The Donald on hold to take her call." Awwww. :)

2. Let the guy make the first move. ( A man said this, so there. :))

3. It's okay if a guy doesn't like you as much as you like him, or if he's unsure. He has a right to be unsure. Just as long as he doesn't lie about it.

4. Sometimes a man will string a nice girl along, the same way author Behrendt has a closet full of shirts, some okay-looking, others really gorgeous, but he never wears the gorgeous ones, preferring to wait for the perfect time to put them on. But he keeps them around anyway, because he's hoping that The Right Moment will present itself, then he'll be ready. ( Funny analogy, but kinda works, no? )

5. If you know the guy you're with isn't a good person, drop him pronto. ( I'm with you there. If only I'd known better 5 years ago. )


More ramblings another time.