The Meat and Livestock Australia board have long enlisted aged former AFL player Sam Kekovich to flog its core product around Australia Day. The campaign of 2006 was funny, and centred around Sam shelving the politically correct phrasing and telling us to eat lamb in no uncertain terms. It appealed to the twisted Australian humour like no other advertisement earlier. It is by far the best of the campaigns.

The 2007 campaign was also a good campaign. It followed in the same manner of the 2006 campaign.

However it is fair to say that with each year the wit has dissipated and the effectiveness of the campaign must be fading. In desperation it seems that this year the MLA has decided Sam needs help from fellow D-List celebrities. Sam has been joined by:

• A plastic looking Melissa Tkautz from E Street “fame (… what you forgot about that show)
• The Justice Crew who won a talent show apparently (wouldn’t know never saw it)

The advertisement has also been made into an all singing and dancing spoof of the Aqua tune “Barbie Girl”. Now correct me if I am wrong, but Aqua were a group from Finland, and “Barbie Girl” was only a hit due to its corniness. Unfortunately the corniness has long faded and the lyrics of the spoof are disastrous. That said here is the latest piece of #ChopCulture.

And of course the full god awful thing!

I am sure I will be labelled as un-Australian, but really are we still really liking this aged campaign?

Happy New Year 2012

Well tonights the night at Jasbelle Restaurant and Lounge that we will be celebrating Chinese New Year. Looking forward to it immensely and have been for some time now.

I am hoping that this year will allow us all to share in:

大吉大利 – daai gat daai lei – Much luck and much prosperity
心想事成 – Sam seung sih sihng – May your heartfelt wishes come true

The final Lion Dance I have looked at before my Jasbelle Restaurant and Lounge experience comes from the Docklands area of Melbourne Victoria. Having spent some time down there I think I can picture exactly where it is. This lion has balls!

As part of the build up to the Jasbelle Restaurant and Bar celebratory build up I am looking at Lion Dances from around the globe. It is an expressive art form and I am looking forward to whatever Jasbelle have up their sleeves.

After our failed attempt to dine at Zen X Teppanyaki/Sushi Bar we dined at the Ocean Beach Hotel. This is a place that Bobbie has been wanting to try for as long as I can remember. So it was with great pleasure that we entered. After a review of the specials board we were a little taken back by the price and were about to leave when we were served. We decided to stay and give it a go. We decided to sit outside on the balcony overlooking the beach, was a little breezy but the seats and tables were very comfortable indeed.

Ocean Beach Hotel - "Hot - very - Hot Curry Chicken" sans Pappadums

After reading the full menu I decided on a “Hot – very – Hot Curry Chicken”. This is essentially chunks of curried chicken served with turkish rice, yoghurt, lime, cucumber and papadams. The curry did live up to its name as the first mouthful confirmed that it had a kick. It was though not enough to hide the quality of the cooking. The meat was tender and the yoghurt and cucumbers offered that cooling effect that a dish like this requires. The pappadams were also full of flavour and very enjoyable, this is unusual for me as I am not a big fan of pappadams generally. A funny story about the pappadams is that when the waitress was bringing my dish to the table they set sail in the wind, a replacement serving was quick to arrive.

Ocean Beach Hotel - "Hot - very - Hot Curry Chicken" with Pappadums

Bobbie ordered a “Chicken Caprice”. Basically a chicken schnitzel covered in cheese and served with chips and salad. The schnitzel was not the usual wafer thin chicken, it was a good 25mm thick and covered half a dinner plate. As a result the meat was tender and juicy all the way through. The accompanying salad was also generous. I did score the mushrooms from the salad, unfortunately for me they had soaked up the salad dressing and lacked any mushroom taste.

Ocean Beach Hotel - "Chicken Caprice"

The atmosphere was suitably relaxed for a weekday and gave me an opportunity to review a crucial document in a pleasant environment. This made for an extremely positive experience and we will not hesitate in visiting again. This goes along with Jasbelle Restaurant and Lounge as a top place to have something to eat whilst in the Shellharbour Village.

Looking forward to a bit of this action at Jasbelle Restaurant and Lounge on Sunday evening to ring in the “Year of the Dragon”. I am personally a “Rabbit” but I support the St. George-Illawarra Dragons, so it’s all good!

Sorry for those expecting a deep and meaningful post. This is more a random thought and funny observation to be honest. People search for some funny stuff and here is a sample of the terms that led to my site in the past day.

• male feline urinary system
• unique birds
• worm farm images
• australian gardens
• chai plant
• kitchen
• tropical australian flowers
• wormfarm removing maggots
• worm farm creatures
• starbucks loyalty card
• can i place blow fly maggots in a worm farm

I am a little concerned about that last one. I mean why would you?

That said it seems a lot of people are still interested in vermiculture. I better resurrect my kit!

Today we went for an spur of the moment lunch in Shellharbour Village. Knowing that Jasbelle was shut we decided to look at the other fare on offer. After a brief perusal we decided to try Zen X Teppanyaki/Sushi Bar. After viewing the menu I was looking forward to a nice bento box, but alas it was not to be.

The reason it did not happen was that after 10 minutes of waiting patiently we were not served. In fact the only sign of life was the feet of one of the kitchen hands behind the curtain to the kitchen. So we went down the road to the Ocean Beach Hotel instead.

I have not totally given up on Zen X, but this experience was extremely disappointing. Perhaps we will go for teppanyaki one evening.

This experience does constitute a black mark for Zen X.

We are having a pickled pork dish tonight. It’s a bit of old school wholesome cooking. Mum though requested a cabbage for accompaniment. What Bobbie picked up is a behemoth! We will be farting well for days to come.

We Asked for a Cabbage, We got a Monster

The tweet led me to Eliminate the gay panic defence from Queensland law #gaypanic. This legal loophole essentially allows criminals to plead that they acted irrationally due to gay panic. It is a homophobic discriminatory law. It just needs to go and I ask that you sign the following petition.

Kryptonite! Jasbelle's Steamed Pork Bun

Let me start by saying that Shellharbour is a beautiful seaside part of the Illawarra, however the culinary side has been dominated by greasy spoon class restaurants and devoid of affordable alternatives. It seriously needed other alternatives in the lower to middle price range and thankfully a number of asian cuisines have found their way into the area. The one that I have dined at to date is Jasbelle.

Kryptonite! Jasbelle's Profiteroles 6 Ways

Jasbelle is located on Addison Street in the Shellharbour Village. Jasbelle is the only Yum Cha restaurant in the area, and indeed the Illawarra region. Jasbelle make exquisite use of the idyllic spot and let you enjoy the great outdoors whilst dining on the Yum Cha delights on the balcony.

Having dined at many Yum Cha restaurants around the country the Jasbelle menu is admittedly limited, for example I am yet to see chicken feet offered (a pity). What is produced though has been of a high quality, in this case “less is more”. There is nothing on the menu that has not been thoroughly enjoyed by my fellow diners and myself.

Kryptonite! Jasbelle's Fried Ice-Cream with Caramel Sauce

As the clientele of Jasbelle develops I have little doubt that the menu will also develop and broaden.

I do have one unfortunate gripe, and has nothing to do with the food. The restaurant is hampered by a lack of wheelchair access due to it’s upstairs location and no elevator/escalator. The entrance to the restaurant is a rather steep and narrow set of stairs. This is made doubly difficult by the toilets also being located on the ground floor with another set of stairs requiring navigation. Whilst this is fine for most people, it is not good for the mobility challenged and elderly. This has meant that my mother and mother-in-law have not been able to attend and enjoy the food with us. After talking with the Jasbelle staff it appears that the landlord is playing hardball in making his property accessible. This is a great shame as it cuts a significant portion of the Shellharbour public out of enjoying the delights upstairs. Really in this day and age it should be legislated that businesses be wheelchair accessible.

That major bugbear to one side, I am very much looking forward to my next visit, even though it is clearly kryptonite to me.

Food	Rating: ★★★★★★★★½☆
Service	Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆
Atmosphere	Rating: ★★★★★★★★☆☆
Accessibility	Rating: ★★★½☆☆☆☆☆☆
SCHWOIT Rating	Rating: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Where	Upstairs Shop 3, 13 Addison Street Shellharbour NSW 2529 Australia
Phone	02 4297 8998
URL	http://www.jasbelle.com.au/
The Buzz	Restaurant Rater – Jasbelle Restaurant

Bob Hawke: Yard Glass Guzzler

Hawke set a new world speed record for beer drinking whilst studying at Oxford College. Hawke drank 2 1/2 pints from a yard glass in just 11 seconds. Hawke suggests that this achievement contributed to his political success by endearing him to a voting population with a strong beer culture.

Going by the attached clip he has not lost the talent.

Perhaps Julia needs to learn to sink a yard!

Some time ago I wrote about having a new hope for the cure to a medical dilemma I have suffered for many years. The issue is that my I suffer from urinary strictures. A stricture is basically a build up of scar tissue and can be caused by injury or disease. The result is a narrowing of the urinary tract,and in my case, blockage.

Now let me assure having the ability to urinate is a pleasure when you have simply not being able to pee at all. The worst experiences I have ever had was in the Shellharbour Public Hospital Emergency Department 2 years ago. I spent hours hopping from leg to leg until eventually the ED doctor had researched and sourced a temporary remedy and put in a sub-pubic catheter. This is basically stabbed in directly to the bladder. This did mean carrying a bag around with me as a companion for 2-3 months whilst arranging dilatation surgery with my urologist. The worst part of carrying a water bag was I had tickets to the inaugural Sydney Telstra 500 which had Cold Chisel tickets, I was too embarrassed to attend and so stayed at the hotel and missed one of the biggest concerts of the year.

A few days prior to surgery the catheter itself became blocked. After another visit to the ED and a few hours of hopping to and fro it was replaced. Thankfully the dilatation surgery soon followed. In this surgery the urethra is basically stretched thus allowing water flow. I did have to carry a bag for a day or two post surgery whilst the area healed, though it was a standard catheter which runs through your own piping so to speak. It is one of the weirdest feelings when those a removed, it doesn’t hurt, but feels wrong! Afterwards I spent a year with regular visits to a urologist to have the stricture dilated under a local anaesthetic.

Unfortunately another blockage occurred. This time we went to Wollongong Public Hospital Emergency Department. Again a wait involving hops from foot to foot occurred. However a nurse was able to get a standard catheter in. I had this with me for a month or two and was undergoing what is called a “trial by void”. Basically seeing if not having water flow directly pass the stricture would create a new channel non-surgically. In effect it did, however another dilatation was on the cards. That happened early in 2011 (March). Post op my urologist referred my to another urologist.

That urologist decided after reviewing my notes that the best thing would be to do an exploratory surgery to take measurements and get a first hand look at the impacted area. In particular ensuring that the area is not near the control centres that if disturbed could leave me incontinent. He also threw in a special catheter-less dilatation to get me through. The outcome is that I have a 3cm stricture that is not near a control centre. That means I am a good candidate for buccal mucosal urethroplasty.

So basically what this means is that skin from the inside of my mouth will be grafted over the top of the stricture. This will then be followed by 10 days of doing as little as possible in the hospital whilst the graft takes. After that is another 2 weeks of doing very little whilst the healing completes. Beyond that I will not be able to do anything too adventurous for 3-6 months to ensure that the good work is not undone.

The success rate is very high, there is though a threat that if enough tissue is not taken the stricture may reoccur, in which case the process is performed once more.

The challenge though is the out of pocket expense of around $3,600. This will require both Bobbie and I significant dedication to achieve our goal date of March 2012 for the surgery. Hopefully by the middle of the year my long dreaded fight with this annoyance will be a thing of the past! Then we can move on to IVF … the subject of another post me thinks.

Urinary System Diagram

On these occasions surgical intervention is required and I have had 2 surgeries performed to unblock my waterworks. I have also endured several in office procedures to keep the pipes clear. Basically the doctor inserts every increasing objects to expand the urethra to ensure water can pass.

After my last surgery my urologist suggested that perhaps some more radical treatment could be in order given the “gently bentley” approach was not working as was hoped. Basically my visits for maintenance works were becoming too regular for his liking. He then referred me to another urologist who performs the more radical procedure known as urethroplasty.

Urethroplasty is a surgical procedure that removes the damage urethral tissue. This is performed by one of two methods. Method 1 involves the removal of the damaged tissue and the remaining tissue stitched together. Alternatively it involves the removal of the damaged tissue and grafting of non-hair bearing skin tissue from other parts of the body, such as the inside of the mouth or bladder. The method depends on the length of the impacted tissue. The idea being that with the impacted tissue being removed that the condition will be at best eliminated or at worst more manageable (i.e. longer between maintenance).

Today I met the new urologist, and he was very impressive. He had clearly read up on my Anhydrotic Ectodernal Dysplasia condition (I may write about this in a later blog), the first doctor to have done so. The outcome of today is that I am heading back to surgery at the end of October. This time though the doctor will be taking a good look to formulate options for further treatment.

I have new hope that this is one condition I can put behind me. If you are so inclined there is a YouTube video on Urethroplasty below, play at your own discretion.

I visited the Killalea State Park today (10 minutes from Shellharbour) and soak up the fresh air and the beauty of the area on what has been a stunning winters day in NSW. It was really needed and gave me a great opportunity to clear my mind and just relax. I also managed to have a full hours walk along the water front and to the mouth of the Minnamurra River. Safe to say that I will be back, and I will be taking a camera.

The beginning of the Minnamurra River

The hill climb in and out

Stunning

A bit choppy and sorry for the crappy quality

A rock in the ocean

A rock in the ocean

Driftwood

I got a little Artsy

A rock in the ocean

Driftwood

How gorgeous is this?