Australian Open 2008 - Djokovic vs. Hewitt

For a guy who just played five hours from midnight till morning the day before, Hewitt looks refreshed and alert. Having seen his other matches, I would say he's playing very good tennis tonight. Still, Djokovic is the better player. Head-to-head in a straight rally, Hewitt would've won, but Djokovic has more tricks and is more versatile.

Djokovic takes down Australian's last hope in straight sets 7-5 6-3 6-3.

Australian Open 2008 - Federer vs. Tipsarevic

Never heard of Tipsarevic (ranked 49th) before, but at start of the game, you already know this guy's a contender. He moves with great ease on the court, and he pushes Federer to the limit. Federer started the match a bit cautious. Normally, Federer has lots of surprises in his bag of tricks, but he's not using them much tonight. Tied at two sets each, the last set is the most exciting one. This is definitely crunch time, and there's a real chance of a major upset happening.

Tipsarevic opens the 5th set and holds. Federer banged down some aces and winners to hold. This tit-for-tat goes back and forth until we get to 8-all. Tipsarvic serves to 40-0. Federer claws back and gets the first crucial break in the set. From here, there's no turning back now. Federer serves out the match in four and a half hours: 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-1) 5-7 6-1 10-8.

Australian Open 2008 - Bagdatis vs. Safin

This highly-anticipated match could go either way. Baghdatis has the flair; Safin has the height and power advantage. Too bad he didn't make the most of them. Baghdatis is in top form tonight; a master of ball control. He is pushing the balls here and there, making Safin run. Safin is clearly getting frustrated. Good thing he didn't break any racquets tonight.

After the smoke has cleared, the Cypriot defeated the Russian 6-4 6-4 2-6 3-6 6-2.

Australian Open 2008 - Roddick vs. Berrer

Unseeded Michael Berrer played well tonight. Although against Roddick, he needs to play better. Berrer's a hard-hitter, and he has his own share of aces, but Roddick is still the better player. First two sets went easily to Roddick. Come third set, Roddick started getting frustrated because Berrer was returning his 200kph serves and making him run hard. At 3-3, Berrer made some critical mistakes, and he never recovered from there on. Score now 5-3. Roddick got 4 matchpoints, but it kept going back to deuce. Berrer managed to hold serve 5-4. Roddick eventually served out the match 6-2 6-2 6-4.

Funny part of the match was when Jim Courier interrogated Roger Rasheed about his comment about Venus Williams' "posterior" yesterday. It's obvious Rasheed doesn't want to talk about it, but Courier pushed on. They then showed a segment of sister Serena Williams' post-game conference, where she was asked what she thinks about the whole thing. This is what she said: "Posterior? Oh yeah, we say booty. I'll try to keep that in the back of my mind. What are you doing? I'm shaking my posterior. Venus definitely has a great posterior. I'm sure it looked nice."

Australian Open 2008 - Federer vs. Hartfield

As GF said, there's no fun watching Federer play because you already know what's going to be the outcome. Hartfield might win a point here and there, but there's no way there's going to be an upset. First set went down 6-0. First game that Hartfield won in the second set, you can actually see the relief and satisfaction in his face.

Federer wins 6-0 6-3 6-0.

Australian Open 2008 - Venus Williams vs. Zi Yan

There's no doubt Venus Williams is a top-notch player, but does she really have to draw attention to herself every time she plays? I'm talking about the big earrings and the big ring and the badly-designed dress. Her shorts are so short and skimpy, she had to tug at them after every point to cover her, um, "posterior". Chinese Zi Yan put up a good fight. Venus lost her concentration a bit on the second set, allowing herself to be broken twice. Fortunately for her, it didn't last long. Venus won easily 6-2 7-5.

Australian Open 2008 - Molik vs. Kanepi

Molik is losing her touch. Before the start of the match, I was thinking this will be like a walk in a park for Molik. Not true. First set went as far as 3-0 in Estonian Kaia Kanepi's favour. She fought back and won the first match 7-6 (7-4). It's not easy though, she had to fight hard for every point. It's the same for the second set. Molik eventually won 7-6 7-5.

Australian Open 2008 - Jankovic vs. Paszek

It's just the first day of the Australian Open, and we're having quite a drama already. World number four Jelena Jankovic plays world number 39 Tamira Paszek. Paszek came out hard and dominated the first set 6-2. Jankovic knew she's in deep trouble, but she held out and relying on Paszek's many errors, won the second set 6-2. For the third set, both players are really struggling, fighting for every point. In my opinion, Paszek is the better, more consistent player, but Jankovic is not giving up without a fight. At 7-7, Jankovic had to call for the trainer because of some back problems. At 9-8, Paszek had to do the same. It's turning out to be a match of wills and physical endurance.

After three hours and minutes, Jankovic finally won over Paszek 2-6 6-2 12-10.

Walk, Lunch, Mass, Dinner

Went to Rodd Park with some friends for a morning walk. We started around 8:50am. By the time we circled the bay, crossed the Iron Cove Bridge, and came back to our starting point, it's already 10:30am. GF made it through the 7-km. walk with just a sweaty forehead. Not too bad. Brunch is at this Vietnamese restaurant in Flemington.

Since GF missed her Sunday morning mass because of the bay walk, I brought her to St. Patrick's Church in Church Hill in the afternoon. Turns out it's the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus today. No special ceremonies though. After the 1-hour mass, we proceeded to Bicentennial Park in Rozelle/Glebe for the first Sydney Shakespeare Festival. Tickets to the outdoor play cost $25, but the organizers are offering a 2-for-1 promo for the first two weekends. I wanted to book the tickets online early on since there's no booking fee anyway, but GF suggested we buy at the gate since she doesn't think it'll be sold out anyway. Good thing I listen to her. It was drizzling earlier on, and by the time I went back to the car to pick up the lawn chairs, it's positively raining already. A few people braved the rains and sat under the surrounding trees. Not wanting to get wet, we ditched the play, and just had dinner at Broadway Shopping Centre. The title of the play? Much Ado about Nothing.

Wollongong and Kiama

Already my third time to Nan Tien Temple in Wollongong, and still I managed to get lost. First two times I mapped the route using the street directory. This time, I had a TomTom GPS navigator to guide me. Go figure. We thought we entered the correct address into the GPS device, but apparently not. Worse, we gave the same address to a friend who's meeting up with us, so both cars got lost at the same time. In the end, we managed to find Nan Tien Temple the old-fashioned way - by asking directions from the guy on the street. In case I forget, this is how to get to the temple. From the freeway, take the Five Island Road exit. Once you hit this big roundabout, take the first exit (left) to Gladstonbury. Further on, you see the temple on your right along Berkeley Road.

Nothing much has changed since I last came here. The only new thing I discovered in the temple grounds is this Gratitude Bell on top of a hill. It's about 7-10 minutes walk from the main temple. Unlike the drum and bell in the main temple, you can actually ring the Gratitude Bell using a hanging log. Just remember to put in a donation.

From Nan Tien Temple, we proceeded to the city centre. Parked at the Wollongong Central Shopping Centre, and had lunch at the food court. Then, off to the Kiama Blowhole Point. There's even less to see here. Aside from the blowhole and the lighthouse, there's not much else. Spent most of the afternoon down at the fish-and-chips restaurant looking at the birds and the pelicans.

Barbecue and Tennis

It was supposed to be a day of barbecue and tennis at GF's place. Bad weather intervened, so instead we fried and grilled the steak and sausages and drumsticks, and had an afternoon of karaoke. In terms of entertainment value, that Magic Sing beats tennis hands down. Everybody had a chance with the mic. Highest score for the day was 95. Guess who set it? :-)

Oaks Hotel Dinner and Kurraba Street Tea

Another last-minute dinner invitation from GF. Her good buddy is moving down to Melbourne, so the gang wanted to have a farewell dinner with her before she leaves. GF's lucky I'm anti-social and don't have much on during weeknights.

Long story as to why I'm in the office when I'm officially on leave, but there I was, so I hang around till 6:30pm. She picked me up from office and drove us over to The Oaks Hotel at Neutral Bay. The garden dining area was pretty crowded. Good thing we managed to snag a couple of tables to accommodate the group. We would've gone for the steaks, but it turned out that even at $24, you still have to DIY, so we opted for the Caesar salad and the Peking duck sausage pizza instead. Not the best, but not too bad. After we're done with the food and the picture-taking, we continued on to Kurraba Road for a nightcap.

Post-NY

Was supposed to go to Watson's Bay today, but GF doesn't fancy another long walk. So we ended up having spaghetti lunch at her place, then shopping for a rashvest at the swimwear outlets at DFO Homebush and Westfield Burwood for her cousin. Had coffee at the food court, then back to her house for some quality TV time.

NYE 2008

After a quick dinner of fried rice, grilled spatchcock, and pork adobo, GF and I headed down to the city for the NYE fireworks. As usual, this year's fireworks extravaganza is supposed to be the best ever. By 8:30pm we were already on the Pyrmont Bridge. I searched out my colleague and turned over the emergency pager to him. From here on, I'm a free man - till the second week of January.

This is the first time I watched the 9pm fireworks on the bridge. I must say it is spectacular. The firing barges are just in front of us and the fireworks display is really up close and personal. You can hear and feel the explosions, which makes it all the more exciting. With time to kill till the midnight fireworks, GF met up with some of her friends for some picture-taking before they headed for Circular Quay. Us, we just stayed around the Pyrmont Darling Island area till twelve. We had a pretty good view of the Harbour Bridge and the CBD skyscrapers participating in the fireworks display. From our vantage point, we can actually see three to four sets of the fireworks. It's not as good as the 9pm one though because they all seem so distant and the explosions a bit muffled. After 4 straight years of watching the NYE fireworks, the magic tends to wear off a bit. Anyway, it's still a pretty good show. Happy new year, everyone!

O Brother, Where Art Thy Vegetarian Lunch?

It was a long time coming, but my sister finally invited my vegetarian colleague and his family and friends over for lunch. It wasn't easy preparing for it because my colleague is a strict vegetarian - not any vegetarian food will do. We opted for steamed fish, stir-fried vegetables, veggie sausages, red-bean siopao, caesar salad, and DIY pizza. For dessert, we had fruit salad, some cakes, and a big box of cookies GF brought along as her contribution.

Spent the rest of the afternoon watching O Brother, Where Art Thou? with GF. Written and directed by the Cohen Brothers, it's supposed to be very good, but for the life of me, I can't see what's good about it. I know the story, I understand the dialogue, but I just don't "get" it. Maybe I should watch it again.

Embutido

Spent most of the afternoon making embutido with my sister. Takes a lot of time to prepare the ingredients, then about an hour to steam the embutido. Nothing tricky about it though.

First, the ingredients:

• 1.5 kilos of ground pork
• 1 pc. green bell pepper (a.k.a. capsicum), chopped
• 1 pc. red bell pepper, chopped
• 6 slices of ham, chopped
• 50 gms of sweet pickle relish (a.k.a. dill cucumber), chopped
• 200 gms. of raisins
• 200 gms of frankfurt or vienna sausage, cut into strips
• cheese, cut into strips
• 3 stalks of spring onion, chopped
• 3 whole eggs
• dash of liquid seasoning
• salt & pepper, to taste
• 1 tbsp. cornstarch
• hard-boiled eggs, sliced
• aluminum foil, 10" x 12" sizes

Cooking Procedures:

1. In a bowl, combine all the chopped ingredients and mix until well blended. Leave the slices and strips for now.
2. Spread and flatten the mixture onto the center of each foil. Divide the slices of hard cook eggs and strips of Vienna sausages and cheese. Place another layer of the mixture on top.
3. Roll the aluminum foil into a tightly packed log about 1" to 2" in diameter, sealing on both ends. Repeat with the remaining pork mixture.
4. Place the embutido in a steamer and steam for an hour.
5. Remove from steamer. Let it cool and slice into rings. Alternatively, you can also fry the embutido slices. Serve with your favorite catsup or sauces.
6. Refrigerate unused embutido.

Greater Union Movie Marathon

It was my first time to try a movie marathon (on terra firma), and frankly I'm surprised so many people are into this thing. I guess the main draw is the cheap ticket price ($16.50 for three movies), plus the chance to do something different with your friends. Most of the people inside the cinema are high school kiddies, who brought along food, blankets, pillows, and friends. Me, I was with my sister, GF, and her brother.

First movie was I Am Legend. This is actually the only movie I wanted to see. Set in post-apocalyptic 2012 New York, Robert Neville and his German shepherd Sam seem to be the only survivors of a lethal virus that broke out during 2009. The genetically-engineered virus was originally developed as a cure for cancer, which later mutated and wiped out 90% of the human population. Over 9% were infected by the strain, but didn't die - degenerating into the aggressive Infected. Less than 1% are totally immune from the virus, but are hunted down by the Infected for food.

I can see why the movie would appeal to the guys. (The girls only wanted to see Will Smith working out half-naked.) I mean, the main character had the whole of NYC as his personal playground. He takes any flash car he likes, go hunting around town all morning, and chat up the ladies (mannequins) all he wants. The rest of the day, he works at bit at the lab, searching for a cure. Absolutely no night life though because that's when the Infected comes out in search for fresh meat.

In a chance encounter, he meets up with two survivors - Anna and her son Ethan. They're on their way to Vermont where there's supposed to be a colony of survivors. Finally, after three years of trial and error, Robert finds a cure. Just in time, too because the Infected manages to track him down to his HQ and mounts an all-out attack. Robert gives Anna a vial of the cure and whisks them out of the house through a backdoor. After that, he blows everything to kingdom come. Anna and Ethan safely reaches the survivors' colony with the cure, and that's how the Legend of Robert Neville came to be.

Next on the line-up in Beowulf. Having watched Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within years and years ago, I'm surprised CGI animation still hasn't improved much at all. I mean, there were times when I struggled to identify the real Angelina Jolie from the CG one, but that's about it. And there's nothing special about the story, too. King Hrothgar and his men offends the monster Grendel, who prefers a quiet night, so he comes to the mead hall and kills off most of the merrymakers. King Hrothgar contracts Beowulf and his men to kill Grendel, which Beowulf did. In retaliation, Grendel's mummy kills Beowulf men in their sleep, and skins them, too. Beowulf goes to the flooded caves for payback. Instead of getting his revenge, Beowulf gets seduced by Grendel's mother (now in the form of luscious Angelina Jolie) with her promise of fame and fortune in exchange for a son. Beowulf willingly obliges.

Years later, Beowulf dreams of a golden man who threatens to kill his wife Wealtheow and consort Ursula. He knew then that his son is out to create trouble in Heorot. That same day, a great dragon attacks his castle. He manages to kill the dragon by ripping out its heart with his bare hands, but not before he was mortally wounded. He leaves the kingdom to his good friend Wiglaf and passes away. In the final scene, we see Wiglaf standing on the shore. Grendel's mother appears out of the water and stares alluringly at Wiglaf. We don't know if Wiglaf took the bait or not.

Last movie for the marathon is 1408. I've seen this one on the plane before. Wasn't scared then, wasn't scared now. It does help that during both times I was already half-asleep. There's really no story to this movie. Just a mishmash of scares strung together. This hack of a writer visits this haunted room to prove there's nothing paranormal about it. About an hour or so of strange happenings, he comes out an almost-dead believer.

Spent the rest of the day catching up on my sleep.

Steak Dianne

This is one recipe where you just can't go wrong. I mean, this is steak we're talking about. The accompanying photo is not the best, but that's only because I used a cameraphone.

Ingredients:

• 4 fillet steaks, about 150g each
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
• freshly ground black pepper
• 50g butter
• 4 spring onions, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon brandy (Chinese cooking wine, if you're Chinese)
• 1/3 cup cream
• 2 tablespoons finely-chopped fresh parsley

Cooking Procedures:

1. Flatten and tenderize the steak pieces.
2. Spread the garlic over both sides of each steak and grind over the pepper.
3. Heat half the butter in a frying pan. Cook the steaks over high heat for 2 to 3 minutes to seal each side, turning only once. Remove the meat from the pan; cover and keep warm.
4. Heat the remaining butter in the pan; add the spring onion and cook for 1 minute. Add the mustard, Worcestershire sauce and brandy. Stir to dislodge any crusty bits from the base of the pan.
5. Stir in the cream; simmer for about 3-4 minutes, or until reduced slightly. Stir in the parsley. Return the steaks to the pan unitl just heated. Serve immediately with the sauce.

Young Organists' Day at Sydney Town Hall

Dropped by Town Hall for a free lunchtime organ concert. It's not everyday that the Town Hall is open to the public, so I took the opportunity to check it out on this Young Organists' Day. There were originally 10 pieces all in all, reduced by one because Nicholas Liney can't make it. All of the players were quite young - ranging from 11 to 16 years of age. And what's remarkable is that all of them are multi-talented. Most of them play more than one instrument. Others interest include composing, conduction, chorale, football, aviation, debating, etc.

Programme below:

• Chorale in A minor - Cesar Franck (1822-1890) - Gary Cheung

• Benedictus - Max Reger (1873-1916) - Samual Allchurch


• Scherzo - Eugene Gigout (1844-1925) - Jessica Lim


• Toccata from the 5th Symphony - Charles Marie Widor (1844-1937) - Jonathan Chan


• Toccata in 7 - John Rutter (b. 1945) - Adrian So


• Transports de joie - Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) - Luke English


• Toccata in C minor - Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706) - Marianne Ching


• Toccata from "Captain Logon Variations" - Colin Brumby (b. 1933) - Nicholas Liney


• Duet: Marche Triomphale - Anon (1850-190?) - Jessica Lim and Edith Yam


• Prelude and Fuge on B.A.C.H - Franz Liszt (1811-1886) - Marko Server

After the concert, kids (and others) were invited to try out and play the Grand Organ. It is truly the "King of Instruments." The whole pipe structure occupied most of the stage, yet the organist's booth is just big enough for two people to sit side-by-side. There are panels of stops left and right to control the sound of the organ, and in the middle are rows and rows of keys and pedals. I quote from the programme: "The Grand Organ of the Sydney Town Hall was the largest organ in the world when it was opened in 1890 by the acclaimed British organist W T Best. Build by William Hill and Son of London, the organ have five keyboards for the hands and one for the feet. There are 126 speaking stops and nearly 9,000 pipes ranging in length from a few centimeters to almost 20 meters; the largest belonging to the famour pedal stop Contra Trombone 64'."

After the concert, I went to the lobby and joined a tour of the town hall organized by The Friends of the Sydney Town Hall. Apparently, Town Hall is being closed for all of 2008 till mid-2009 for major building renovations, so really happy I came along today. Unfortunately, I left my camera in the office. Such a pity because there's so many things to take pictures of. First is the Vestibule with the grand chandelier. The ceiling of the hall is repainted in its original colors. The dome in the middle of the room is decorated with twelve glass panels representing the 4 basic elements and the 8 virtues. The chandelier used to be raised and lowered, but now it's fixed in place. It comprises of 1,952 pieces of crystal. Next, we visit the Grand Staircase with its stenciled decorations. Beside it is a bird-cage lift installed in 1906. It is said to be the oldest and sole surviving example of its kind still operating in NSW. Too bad we didn't get to try it out for a ride. Up to the second level, we had a magnificent view of the Centennial Hall with the Grand Organ. Our guide tells us that the metal ceiling of the hall was specially designed to withstand the vibrations from the organ. Moving on, we visited the Council Chamber, where the city council meetings are held, and the Lady Mayoress' Rooms, where certain items from the Sydney Town Hall Collection are displayed: a chair from the Queen's inauguration, a large Sevres porcelain-covered vase, a lock of hair from Napoleon Bonaparte, etc. We then went down to the basement to check out some construction areas where bodies have been uncovered (and put back in). Not surprising as the site used to be the Old Sydney Burial Ground from 1792 to 1820. For our last stop, we visited the Town Hall House to look at its scale model of the Sydney CBD.