Loss Of A Dear Friend

It's been a crazy, crazy fortnight. My work hours are over the roof. I clocked the most number of hours worked in a fortnight in my 2 years here. That's despite missing work last Friday as I had to fly off to Sydney for a work related conference. I got back on Sunday night & it was bang on again the very next day. My manager was away & I had to cover her duties as well. The 1 day that I finished early, was last Wednesday.

Following the news of her deterioration, I tried to contact her to visit her at home but I couldn't reach her. Shortly after, I was informed that she was found to be confused by a friend who visited her & she was sent to the hospital. In just a few days, she deteriorated further & was in & out of consciousness. I knew it was my last chance to see her. After finishing work at 4 pm last Wednesday, I drove to Glengerry Hospital where she was warded in the palliative ward. She had already slipped into a coma. I read her a quote from President Ikeda & held her hand the entire time I was there. Her close friend who intended to stay the night told me that she had a very aggressive type of cancer. As it was over a major vein, the portal vein in the liver, it was inoperable as a tiny nick will cause her to die from massive blood loss. I stayed for 3 hours & left at 7.30 pm. When I got home, I continue to send reiki distantly. I was very upset. She didn't look good at all. All along, I continued to hold hopes that she will overcome it. But seeing her in person, I knew it wouldn't be long.

I worked till 8.30 pm on Thursday & flew off to Sydney on Friday. My return flight was delayed due to busted brakes & I only got back to Perth at 11 pm. It was full on again from Monday with late finishes the entire week. I was telling hubs that I would like to visit her today, Sat. Then, I checked my email. The email informing us of her departure came on Thursday afternoon. Instead of visiting her at the hospital, I'll be attending her memorial service. I laid in bed & cried till I fell asleep. I only woke up becoz Ton woke me up, wanting to pee at 1.20 am. I haven't been able to go back to sleep since.

I don't know what to say. Just feeling overwhelmed from the loss of a dear friend.

Crazy Cooking

A new season of Masterchef marks the beginning of another year in Perth. This is the 3rd season we've watched since arriving in Perth. As with previous years, it inspires me to cook. I've never done any recipes from the chefs before. They're either too hard or they have ingredients you just can't get. The 1st pressure test of this season saw contestants cooking Shannon's Chocolate Peanut Bar, inspired by Sneakers. I had a look at the ingredients list & thought to myself, "I can do this." So I did.

There're many elements to the dessert. But unlike the contestants, I didn't have the time constraints they had. I took my time & the element I was most unhappy with was the tempered chocolate. It was tempered properly. But I didn't want to spend money buying the pallet knife & so I used a spatula to spread it instead. I didn't get it thin enough & had to pour more of the honey caramel sauce to melt it, causing the dessert to be overly sweet. 

I got all the other elements right. I omitted the tempered chocolate & honey caramel sauce on subsequent serves & they worked so well together. This is by far the craziest cook I've ever done. It's not very practical to do for own consumption as there was a lot of wastage. But it was a good experience & I got to temper chocolate for the 1st time. 

Element 1: Candied peanuts.

Element 2: Peanut caramel.
Element 3: Brown sugar crumble.
Element 4: Tempered chocolate.

Element 5: Honey nougat.

Element 6: Peanut ice cream.

Element 7: Chocolate parfait.
Element 8: Peanut crumble.
Element 9: Honey caramel.

Fruit Picking @ Pickering Brook

8th May 2016

Jen shared this post on Singaperth about apple picking at a farm in Pickering Brook. Many expressed interest & the plan was to go on Saturday. But I was asked to work on Saturday & hence I decided that we would go on Sunday instead. On arrival, we quickly purchased the empty cardboard tray for $25. Hubs even found out that we could buy a habanero plant if we wanted to for $12. (I recently bought 2 habanero chillies to cook & had reserved the seeds for sowing in warmer months.) 

We started off very rapidly but soon slowed down, becoming more picky with our picks. They had red, pink lady & granny smith. We picked just a few granny smiths for apple dessert as this variety is too sour for my sensitive teeth. (I was thinking ahead. Lol.) The tray was getting heavier by the minute. Towards the end, hubs simply carried the tray on his head. We had a pile of apples & had loaded the tray in the boot when we met 2 other Singaperth families. We went over to say hello & introduce ourselves as it was our 1st meeting. They told us that there were persimmons for picking as well. My eyes lit up. They're my absolute favourite after durians. Just then, Nix & family showed up as well.

So off we went to the car, picked up the tray & went for 2nd round. The persimmons were tiny & hard. But I was told they're sweet & not "siap" like the ones sold in Sin. Most of them were high up in the trees. So I decided to climb up the tree. I've never climbed a tree before. But with a childlike glee, I climbed up & plucked persimmon after persimmon. Hubs then handed me the tray which I really struggled to carry to try getting more persimmons for me. Earlier on, he had found 1 that he said had a penis. He came back to me after a while, obviously excited, hand behind his back. He asked me for the persimmon with the penis & I handed it over to him. He then said, "You have 1 with a penis. Therefore, you must have 1 with a pussy." & whipped out the persimmon he had hidden behind him. I couldn't stop laughing. It certainly looked like the persimmons had male & female parts. 

Hubs then asked me if I wanted the habanero plant. Upon order, the farmer will drive his tractor to wherever it was, dig the plant up & drive it back to you. It was huge & $12 is a very cheap price to pay. But I decided against it as it was really too big. I already have a chilli plant producing plenty of chilli at home. Habanero is too spicy to use in large quantities. So I'll try my luck with the seeds. 

I've been having apples everyday for breakfast & lunch since. We still have a huge amount of apples. Well, the ice cream churner is in the freezer ready to go. Apple sorbet anyone?

Apple farm in Pickering Brook.

Red apple trees. 

Happy picking.

Our tray of assorted apples & persimmons.

The cheeky male & female persimmons.

Penguin Island

24th April 2016

I was trying to choose between Rottnest & Penguin Island for our day trip. Rottnest's charges are pretty outrageous, $100 per pax for the ferry ride & bicycle rental, or close to $200 for the guided tour of the island. In the end, I chose Penguin Island simply becoz they're close from June to September for the nesting season. 

I drove 1.5 hours to Shoalwater in Rockingham & bought the tickets for the 45 mins Penguin & Sea Lion Glass Bottom Cruise at $38.50 each. It was a cloudy day, just the way I like it. Although the cruise didn't cover dolphins, we did manage to see some wild dolphins when our skipper purposely took us close to the dolphin cruise. The dolphins like surfing the "waves" that were created by the dolphin cruise & that was how they drew the dolphins out.

We saw only 4 sea lions & our guide explained that these 4 were oldies or juvies & they were all males. The females were all up in Jurien Bay & all the fit adult males had swam over for a rendezvous. They were all just lying on the sand, looking dead. But they were in fact, just resting. We were told to "never stand between a sea lion & the sea". If we see sea lions on the island & get too close, they will feel threatened & try to escape out to sea. If we are between them & the sea, we'll get mowed down.

After the cruise, we were dropped off at Penguin Island where penguin feeding would take place shortly. The fairy penguins are of the smallest variety, are also known as little penguins or blue penguins. They grow up to 33 cm tall & majority of the penguins on Penguin Island are wild. There were 10 penguins in the sanctuary that were deemed unsuitable to return to the wild due to blindness, some were orphaned & hand raised hence they would not survive in the wild.

It was a nice day trip & very enjoyable. Next on the list will be Rottnest. With a price tag of $200 for 2, I'll have to think about it. But it's just 1 of those things that I feel we should do at least once in our life.

Pelicans & sea lions on the tiny island.

1 of the fairy penguins in the sanctuary.

At the time of our visit, there were 10 fairy penguins deemed unsuitable to return to the wild. 

She was sitting on her eggs. I was trying to take picture of something else. Apparently, I got too close for comfort & she abandoned her nest. But she wasn't too happy about it & kept squawking at me. 

This Is Job Satisfaction

Some of the surgeons I work with can be pretty dead set about how they feel with a new scrub nurse. I'm not new but we all have our own surgeons that we scrub for specifically. They can get very uncomfortable when someone who hasn't scrubbed for them before has to do it. Recently, Dr F was offered the Thursday morning slot that had been left open since another surgeon left the practice. His usual scrub nurse, my colleague, D, only works full days on Mondays & Fridays & half days on Tuesday. Imagine his "surprise" when he walked in on Thursday few weeks ago & found me scrubbed & setting up my trolley. My manager told him that D doesn't work on Thursday & so I would be scrubbing for him that day. He pulled my manager who was scouting for me aside, telling her that she needs to roster D on whenever he has to come in for the Thursday list.

The 1st time I saw him, I got the vibe that he doesn't have a mild temper. Over the course of 2 years, I've seen & proven that my intuition is right. Naturally, I was stressed & anxious about having to scrub for him. But still, a job is a job & I just had to get that list over & done with. It wasn't too bad & it wasn't until the next morning that my manager told me his feedback. He was initially pretty opposed to having me as a scrub nurse. But after that morning, he told her that I am to scrub for him every time D isn't around & that I was very calm & I did very well. So I have been doing it for the past few weeks, slowly getting used to his techniques.

Princess has always been "my" surgeon. Nobody wanted to scrub for her. So when I joined, she sort of got "pushed" to me. Since she's received the nickname of Princess, you can imagine how she's like. She can be quite fussy but over time, I got familiarized with her preferences & it became easier. Or perhaps she's mellowed. I know she's complimented me before on my ability to mount suture for left handers. She told me that of so many scrub nurses she's worked with in so many different hospitals, I am the only 1 who correctly mount sutures for her.

Earlier this week, my manager told me that Princess told her that I am the best scrub nurse she's ever worked with & it is always enjoyable to work with me. I am so flattered. To me, I'm just working to the best of my ability. Coming from Sin, you don't expect positive feedback from surgeons. Putting it in Singlish, "Never scream at you already very lucky. Still want them to praise you ah?" So I am very appreciative for their comments & it actually drives me to perform even better. I used to say all the time back in Sin, "I love my work but I hate my job." Now I can say, "I love my work & I love my job."

Still Water Runs Deep

This phrase was used to describe me by my colleague. That must be the best compliment anybody can pay me. Really appreciate it. This came about becoz she felt that I came across as a very simple, very innocent, very quiet girl. But underneath the exterior, I have so much depth to me. So thank you very much for such a generous compliment.

I don't know if I really am a person of depth. But the description of my exterior is pretty spot on. I've said many times that I'm socially awkward. People don't like to be around me becoz they feel uncomfortable. I often don't know how to reply to comments or have an appropriate response in conversations. They don't understand me so they prefer not being around me. This explains the many years of childhood literally friendless. It is the same thing still now, but probably to a lesser extend.

Those who stuck around often find that I'm actually pretty crazy & say the lamest things. But that side doesn't come out until much later. I don't open up easily I know. I guess that's something I'll live with for the rest of my life. Surprisingly, I'm alright with that. When I was younger, I'll give anything to be sociable, to always have the right thing to say. That's what age does to you, isn't it? Learning to accept & love yourself just the way you are.