Vampy's Weblog - Life of a Medical Officer

Wild Harvest
Marina Drive, Coffs Harbour (next to Fisherman's Co-operation)
Rating: 3.5/5

Was in a mood for seafood and thus this review. Wild Harvest is a restaurant/ bistro that serves dinner on weekdays and weekends, lunch on weekends and breakfast on sundays. While the repertoire of the menu is quite limited, I have to say they serve one of the best fish and chips in NSW I had so far. One of the selling point of the place is that it is literally next the the sea. During winter the lower deck of the restaurant is closed but the upper deck is opened and it is quite a view to behold. Imagine having your lunch/ coffee out on the upper deck and hearing the waves crash against the breakers and sea gulls flying overhead (beware of them pinching food off your plate though).

One of the main reason why I love the fish and chips is the light batter used. It's light, crispy and not thick. It's not overly salted either so you can enjoy the freshness of the fish. The fish is fresh, no fishy smell or after taste and it's juicy and melts in your mouth. It's serve with a generous portion of chips which is just about the right thickness and but crisp on the outside. As usual there is a green salad by the side. The one complain I have about the fish is that it's a tad too oily. Perhaps kitchen paper towels may solve the issue easily.

I also ordered a thick chocolate milkshake which is good and thick. I have had experiences with other cafes/ bistros where thick shakes are not thick at all.I'm a chocolate lover and thus I find the chocolate is too mild for me. It's more like a after taste. Service is nothing to boot about but prompt. Overall, I would go back for their fish and chips or maybe try something different the next time.

Bangkok Thai Hut
18 Elizabeth Street, Coffs Harbour
Rating: 3/5

I'm starting a new section in my blog i - reviews of restaurants in Sydney/NSW. Note I'm not a professional food critic but who doesn't. So here's my inaugural review.

First of all, from the exterior of the restaurant you wouldn't think it was a thai restaurant because the building looks more european than thai. The same goes for the decor. We have a very european (think Louis VIII) huge mirror, phoenix wallpaper that looks like it has seen better days and tulip-shaped lampshades. The only decor reminiscene of thailand are the 2 buddha statues. The placemats are of a disgusting dark green color which sticks out like a sore thumb on white tablecloths.

The atmosphere was more of a western style than thai. While the restaurant tries to set a atmopshere of a 4 star restaurant, it failed to carry it through. The food I ordered were not remarkable. My entree was a mixed entress plate. When the service staff first put it on the table, it looked like the waitress had taken a tumble with the plate. While the entrees were arranged properly but the presentation was just a mess. It looked like the chef while trying to decorate the plate with bean sprouts did not quite know how to go about it and decide to just throw them around the plate. There is a serious lack of asthetics. The way I see it is if you can't decorate a plate well, then don't.

The mixed entree plate consist of a serve of thai fish cake, fried dumpling, beef puff and fried vegetable spring roll. The only entree I enjoyed was the thai fish cake. Rather than to use commercially ready thai fish cakes, the chef have made his own. Hence it is not the perfectly round fish cakes some restaurant serves. The beef puff is oily. Every bite oozes a fair bit of oil that I have to wipe my mouth after each bite. The spring roll was unremarkable. My grandaunt makes much better ones. The fried dumpling was again unremarkable.

The 2 mains I ordered were Changmai noodles and one of their specials - Fish Panang curry. The noodles were literally swimming in a pool of oil. After a few mouthfuls, I had enough and this is with the pineapple juice I ordered. When you order the noodles, you can specify how spicy you want it to be. So I ordered it to be hot. For a restaurant that appears to cater for majority of western clients, they did make it rather spicy. Another thing about the noodles, it was severely overcooked. It's just a plate of starch.

The fish curry was good but not fantastic. You can tatse the creamy coconut texture without it being overpoweringly sweet. Fish itself wasn't the freshest but not stale.

Serivce was average. The one thing I found disconcerting was probably my own experience with one particular service staff. She leans too close when she talks and in a rather loud voice - not rudely loud but just a few decibals above what I expected.

Overall, food is passable but if I have a choice I would not go back for seconds.

Working in rehab unit made me realise just how much elderly folks are alone in the community. Many of the patients live by themselves and can only depend on themselves on a daily basis. While some may say it's a good indication that elderly folks can be independent, sadly that is mostly not the case. For many, it's not a choice but rather necessity. Their children have all flown the coop and have their own families to look after.
The scary part is that there have been cases where an elderly had died and no one realises until several weeks later and it's not because someone has notice them missing but rather because of the smell of decomposing flesh that alerted the neighbours.
Sometimes, it's not the physical loniness but the loniness caused by the diseae itself. Some of the patients have what we describe as having expressive dysphsia - the inability of the brain to make the part of the brain that handle thoughts and ideas to cooperate with another part of the brain that makes speech. So the patient may want to say "bread" but something like "gruish" comes out of the mouth. It becomes extremely frustrating for the patient he knows what he wants to say but just can't get it to come out the right way. I can't imagine how frustating and isolating that makes one feel. They can understand everything we say but just can't give a understandable reply.
But the worst happens when they have both expressive dysphasia and receptive dysphasia. That is when they can't even understand what we are saying. It's not because we are saying any thing differently but rather their brain is unable to process speech into thoughts and ideas. So wheb we say " howls your day?", their brain processes it to a jumble of letters and words that makes no sense to them.

Hi all. The reason for my long hiatus is that my mum was staying with me for a glorius 3 mths. So have been busy bringing her around. Also my dad came during my graduation. It was a bit of an anti-climax in the sense that we were all working as doctors before we actually receive our cert. Nonetheless, it was good to see former classmates again as many of us are sent to various parts of NSW and have not had time nor energy to meet up.

I have just completed my second term - Emergency medicine. It was a lot of fun with adrenaline pumping moments as well. My first cardiac patient unfortunately died on me despite attempts at resus. I guess what made a lasting impression was how rapidly the patient deterioriated in front of me. One moment he was talking to me and the next, he had a massive heart attack. Frankly, there were moments during the resus that I wondered if I had done something wrong or my inactions that resulted in his death. But the consultant who took over the case said to me after that there wasn't anything anyone could have done. I went with the consultant to talk to the family and it was then when the emotions started to build up as we told the family the news. Once again, I had to try my darnest to maintain my professionalism and not break down in front of the family.

Working in the ED made me realise how unreal medical dramas are. All the cardiac arrest that came through were non-revivable. Despite everything we throw at the patient who arrested, they just did not survive. So people, don't believe those heroic efforts portrayed on TV! In most cardiac arrest, patients don't make it.

Having finish my ED term, I have just started on my 3rd term - Rehabilitation. This term I'm actually sent to what is considered rural - a beautiful coastal (think of beaches) area called Coffs Harbour. It's about 6 hours drive from sydney. I stopped over one night in Port Macquarie which is another beautiful coastal area. the problem is that I have no internet access at the apartment they provide. So I'm actually submitting this post via my mobile internet. Sigh! A photo of Port Macquarie above at twilight.