Monday, 16 July 2007 @ 3:37pm.
Apologies for not posting in some time… I’ve been busy, but keeping a tally of things to write about in my head. 
I hope you don’t mind if I jump from topic to topic below…
Yesterday I went to a local park and found a tennis practice wall. It was great to pick up a racket again. I think I would have done much better had there not been twigs, leaves, broken glass, or little holes on the ground, but oh well. I have yet to find free public courts, so I have to figure out a reasonably priced center to go to later. Wish me luck!
And last night, I went to a local favorite restaurant - Kotaraya - on Glenhuntly Road in Elsternwick for some Malaysian cuisine. I enjoyed eating nasi lemak. Though it’s usually a breakfast meal, I like it for dinner, too.
On Saturday, I made a dish that was new to me: egg bhurji. I’ve been learning some Indian cooking here and there and really enjoy it. The bhurji dish came out well enough and it was tasty with the roti I made as well. In the recent past, I tried making biryani, but I think the recipe called for too much water so the rice was more mushy than it should have been. Lesson learned - don’t always follow internet recipes exactly if you have a suspicion something might be incorrect. I have liked making paratha, too. The first time I made aloo paratha, they came out way too thick, but I hope they will be better next time. I also like sugar parathas, but that’s probably because of my sweet tooth. As a side note, I noticed that some of the recipes I have read use the word “proper” (e.g., “mix properly”) instead of “thorough” or some other word. These small differences in English sometimes amuse me for some reason. I’ve noticed that “proper” is used much more frequently amongst Aussies than Americans in daily speech, too.
On Saturday, I also saw the latest Harry Potter film at the Jam Factory, which is a mall of sorts on Chapel Street in South Yarra. I enjoyed a sweet pancake with ice cream and round hundreds-and-thousands for dessert at The Pancake Parlour before the movie. I also played a couple of games at an arcade. I will probably have to return at some point to win more tickets since I didn’t have enough for any fancy prizes. I was good at the basketball game, but was terrible at the car racing game. Next time I’ll try the beginner level first! As for the movie, I thought the special effects were cool, but there weren’t as many plot twists or as much plot development as the previous Harry Potter offerings, which I prefer.
Last Friday evening, I went to Cliffhanger Climbing Gym located inside the Westgate Sports & Leisure Complex in Altona. Indoor rock climbing is so much fun! I got tired easily since this activity makes use of all kinds of muscles I’m not used to using on a daily basis, but I didn’t mind feeling tired or the soreness afterwards. It was worth it.
Finally, at the end of June I took a short vacation up north to the Gold Coast. I’ll try to post some pictures soon.
