elb's hovel of thoughts

Malaysian Government plans to give Tamiflu away. Only thing is there's enough for 10% of the population..

2009-08-16T00:26:00.004Z

So I hear that the Malaysian government is giving away oseltamivir (pharmaceutically branded as Tamiflu) to every Tom Dick and Harry who shows flu symptoms. But they forget to tell you that there is only enough to treat 10% of the population. Therefore it is only advantageous for the first 10% of the population who exhibit flu symptoms, because there shall be no more Tamiflu stockpile left after...

Christmas Chocolate and more

2009-02-15T15:25:00.004Z

Been helping myself to plenty of chocolates lately. Lindt, some Cadbury (cranberries and granola no less!), little fattening caramel things known as Toffifees and a Godiva or two. Not to mention the Hershey's and Reese's and the Tim Tams. Here's a picture of what's within accessible reach:

Left side: Lindt Christmas-Liquor with apple and cinnamon notes fine unskimmed milk chocolate

Right side: Lindt Excellence Chilli Dark

The chocolate on the right reminds me of a couple of years ago when I had an encounter with chilli chocolate. Someone I knew tried to feed me chocolate and was giggling away like nobody's business. I smelt something fishy of course, but accepted the small lump of chocolate and whiffed it before prompty chewing on it. All this while my friends' giggling grew louder, but to their surprise I didn't respond in the way they had expected. After all, yours truly had sampled even more bizzare chocolate combinations, e.g. the pink peppercorn chocolate I once got from Bath.

Time to indulge!

Wagyu and the Ox

2009-01-26T06:02:00.006Z

One thing has always intrigued me: calling something my its name twice (or more?). It is something most commonly noticed during inter-linguistic uses.

Since it is now the year of the cow/ox (and a golden one at that), one which comes directly to the front of my mind is wagyu beef. Which more or less translates to 'our (Japanese) beef beef'. Umm. Alright. There's no need for the double beef, folks!

So why don't we just order it as wag beef (which the dear British press would probably love to jump on due to the similar acronym W.A.G., or we can say its called wag beef because the cows are so happy with their pampered lives that they wag their tails like dogs do, although I would be concerned because cows flick their tails around to chase away flies)

Or maybe we can all start ordering as follows: 'I would like a 10 ounce wagyu steak done rare please (anything more than rare, please go shoot yourself)', or 'I would like to have the wagyu sukiyaki' (note the absence of beef in both cases).

So anyway, do enjoy your Year of the Golden Ox and hopefully times are still good enough (or will turn around soon enough, depending) for you to have your share of the wagyu!

Astounded

2009-01-21T16:43:00.003Z

Its frightening what's happening in the UK. I checked the last monthly interest payment with much incredulity. I promptly searched the old payment statements, and whipped out my calculator. Plugging in a simple percentage calculation, the interest payment between October last year and January this year has reduced by more than a staggering 90% (94% to be precise). Dammit. And it is going to be even worse...

Pronouncing melamine

2008-10-02T07:37:00.003Z

So, I've noticed that a few colleagues have been pronouncing melamine as 'ma (as in mare)-le-meen'. I am sure that many people out there might probably pronounce it as such.

Might I take this opportunity to remind everyone out there that it is pronounced 'mel-a-mine'. It is a chemical of the class -amine, which is basically an organic compound which contains a nitrogen atom with a lone pair of electrons. A-level chemistry, people.

But then again, I don't mind all the free lunches that I am getting from the little wagers on the mispronounciations.

Desk jobs give limited exercise? Pah!

2008-09-03T13:39:00.004Z

Whoever thought/ said that people who have desk jobs have no exercise obviously have not been working in an investment bank, particularly with a submission deadline the next day. Enough said, my knee joints are aching already from running around one end of the office to the other multiple times and to the client's office and back the whole day. To be repeated tomorrow and next week with another submission. Joy.

Busy

2008-07-25T17:42:00.002Z

I apologise for the lack of posts in the past few months. Life has gotten really busy, with me being involved in several non-work related projects. On top of that, I am now involved with one of the notorious industries (in terms of work hours put in per week) around. Fortunately, or perhaps not fortunately, the global markets and economies are not doing too well, meaning that business is not as hectic as it should probably be...

Top of the Tower

2008-06-23T12:31:00.003Z

The tower swayed ever so slightly as a wind blew. I started to feel a little queasy; it was bad enough that the machinery was making the tower vibrate without the wind. And with good reason: I was roughly 100 meters up in the air, with only a double railing that barely reached to the top of my toes separating me from definite death. Barely several meters away from me, a process was taking place at over 1000 (yes, thousand) degrees celsius, and I could feel the heat radiating at me.

How did I get up here? By climbing up many flights of metal grating stairs. Getting up is easy as you are looking upwards. Did I mention that the view was amazing? I could see for easily several kilometres around me, and probably more if not for the amazing amount of dust and smoke emanating from the other buildings nearby. The view below was great too, you could see people smaller than ants and lorries running around below, when just a few minutes ago they were towering over you. A bad place to get a bout of vertigo.

The view directly below is another thing altogether. All you see is metal grating after metal grating, and you could almost see the bottom a hundred meters or so below (estimated from the number of flights of stairs I had to climb multiplied by my estimation of the height of each flight using my height as comparison). Thank goodness that after some height below the grating appears almost solid, but not quite good enough.

I wouldn't want to drop my mobile from any height though. The floors are made of grating (saves cost, enables inspection of structure/ machinery), and the slits are wide enough for my phone to slip through if it falls the wrong way. If my phone should fall it could either continue falling through the other levels, hit and bounce off and free fall outside the tower, or still take a hard hit. Neither is pleasant so I am careful as I check my phone for a perceived call.

Going down can be a bit of a terrifying experience. Why? Because you are constantly looking downwards to ensure that you do not miss your footing, and when you can see all the way down from the very top, its not pleasant. The key is to focus directly on the grating just ahead of your feet. Going up was so much easier, as all you needed to do was to look ahead and above, and ignore the pain from the quads that were wrecked in the gym the previous night.

Either way, its an amazing feeling right on top, especially if you fantasize about being in control of it all.

Al-Nafourah

2008-06-05T11:37:00.005Z

Al-Nafourah is a restaurant that specialises in Lebanese-Turkish cuisine. We paid a visit to try it out.

The interior decor was not too bad, here is a view of the table and the meze section.

A closer look at the meze selection including chicken breast, hummus, aubergine, walnut, salad, shrimp, olives etc.

Some of the meze that I took.

The couscous for the main dish arrived when we had finished our fill of the starters.

Some pita bread arrived next, followed by the grilled vegetables. The grilled vegetables were simply fantastic, you could taste the charred bits and we could not help but to ask for another helping later on.

Next, the various cuts of meat gets piled on top of the pita bread.

A look at the dips that came with it in the foreground, including one which is saffron infused and chilli based sauces.

Oh, did I mention that they had a belly dancer? I felt that she needed more flesh...

And to wrap it up, some dessert from the dessert section.

Al-Nafourah
Le Meridien
KL Sentral

Pasta de Waraku (Japanese-Italian Fusion)

2008-05-31T02:47:00.005Z

Dropped by one day for lunch. This restaurant specialises in Japenese-Italian fusion food, or as they call it, 'Japanese casual'.

The place (and the sister outlet that has since opened in Sunway Pyramid, KL) is instantly recognisable from the mock dishes which are held up vertically along the outside.

Official image taken from the Waraku website.

As we were generally a bit full from having a bit of a late breakfast, we didn't order dishes that were too heavy.

One of the drinks that the three of us ordered:

We called for a salad, it came with ham which reminded me vaguely of good old Parma ham, but not quite.

The humongous salad sitting huge next to the complimentary main dish salad

I had wanted the pasta dish which came with the sea urchin roe, my long term love affair. Unfortunately they did not have any uni that day so I settled for cod roe (tarako) pasta instead.

Comes with some nori on top.

And we called for a 'pizza' as well. This was great, it was light and did not have the heavy feel of American pizzas. The egg in the middle was a very nice touch as well.

Pasta de Waraku
Various
Singapore

Peeve

2008-05-26T06:26:00.003Z

Few things annoy more than this:

So I am doing somethings, and my mobile rings. The number looks unfamiliar, but I answer it anyway.

'Hello?.... Hello? I can't hear you, so please call me back, thanks.' I slide my phone shut.

The person does not call me back, so after two minutes I return the call. It rings several times but nobody answers. So I slide my phone shut again.

A couple of minutes later, I receive a text message. 'Whos ts' it reads, almost undecipherable until I realise that it meant 'who is this'.

So I text back, 'You should be telling me who you are since you called me earlier.' Predictably, I have not received back any answer for the last few hours.

Sheesh. Have some basic courtesy!!

Where do I find chilli flakes?

2008-03-17T15:47:00.004Z

Just the other day I volunteered to cook for some of my friends. Considering my options, I decided to whip out an old recipe which I have cooked before on several occasions.

The main differences were that I had planned to leave out the escargots and sea urchin roe (too pricey to buy for with many heads, and both are also acquired tastes) and that I would use spaghetti instead of taglietti, an acceptable but not exactly the best alternative, since my friend had lots to spare. Also, I decided to add in some red bell pepper/ capsicum and use sea salt instead of table salt to make up for the blandness.

Wondering where in the Klang Valley would I be able to obtain the ingredients, I decided that either Cold Storage or the Village Grocer @ Bangsar Village would be my best bet. I dropped by the latter first, and managed to pick up almost everything, and an added bonus of edible flowers (!), some of which I recognized but cannot for the life of me remember their names.

All except for my dried chilli flakes. After scrutinizing the herb rack, I asked for assistance. The worker directed me to where the chilli guling was kept, and I was just barely able to stop myself from shaking my head.

I could not find the chilli flakes at Cold Storage either, but fortunately a friend saved me with something similar that she had gotten from Thailand.

I decided to cook the spaghetti in two batches. Friends who had never tasted this version of pasta were initially horrified at my liberal usage of extra virgin olive oil, etc:

"Oh my God! How much oil are you putting!" Its extra virgin olive oil for goodness sake.
"Where's the tomato sauce?" Do all pastas really need tomato-based sauces? Someone please shoot Italiannes!
"Are those flowers you are cooking!!!!?!?" Yeah flowers! Something new for me too!

Nevertheless I stood my ground with what I was cooking, and the reactions differed. Some did not like my dish ("This is Aglia Olio?!?!"), some received culinary revelation ("This is the fist time I'm having a non-tomato spaghetti"), some were comfortable eating it ("Reminds me of what I had in Australia").

Okay back to my main question. Anybody know where in the Klang Valley can I get dried chilli flakes??. Or maybe I need to bring back some the next trip from the UK?!

Steak @ Morton's Steakhouse

2008-03-13T16:10:00.007Z

I checked out Morton's the other day:

First off, the complimentary bread which comes with each table. This is definately one of the best breads I've had, soft and warm and perfect with butter!

But don't eat all of the bread, because soon enough the waiter will come with a trolley and show you the offerings and basically rattle off most of the menu to you!

The waiter holding up the meat tray, flanked with lobster and vegetables. Ooooh lala, check out the sizes!

First up, a 'Mortini' martini.

And the lobster bisque for starter.

And a second starter, crab cake:

Now this, people, is how crab cake should be:

Our sole main meal arrived in due time. A MASSIVE chunk of prime rib indeed! We shared this.

Cut open to reveal the medium cooked meat that was at least an inch thick. Yum!

One of the vegetable accompaniments that we ordered, roasted asparagus with reduced balsamic sauce. I found the sauce a bit too sharp for my liking.

And we also had wild mushrooms.

Needless to say, we were very, very full

Morton Steakhouse
Various Locations.

Do your bit and have your say

2008-02-17T16:01:00.004Z

My political awareness started when I was in secondary school - thanks to one of my teachers. We were talking about history in class when he mentioned about things not being what it seemed. In particular, he mentioned about the redrawing of electoral boundaries - gerrymandering, phantom voters, 1969 and that certain figureheads were doing nothing but bad for society. Just as abruptly he stopped and continued the class - in hindsight probably with the fear of ISA - but what he said shook me.

Before this, politics for me was basically about independence and progress of the country as a whole. The only stuff I read was what was in the major dailies - I did not know that they were government controlled and thus had control over what got published. Of course I was still young then, and at this stage, Internet availability was limited and availability of altenative news sparse. However over the past few years, the availability of various portals of information (be it via meeting other people, reading literature/ online sources) has given me the ability to realise that things are not what it is.

You all know the various problems plaguing the country of late; I don't need to list them all out. Needless to say I am pretty much disgusted with many things that are going on, and that change is needed before the point of no return (perhaps we have even crossed it).

On one of my previous trips back, I duly registered for voting at the nearby post office. Come the upcoming elections, I will be eligible to vote for the first time. Pending the backdate of the electorate roll to be used, rest assured that I will make sure that I will do my part - for the country I still do love.

Imperial Treasure

2008-02-16T18:15:00.003Z

Been busy, massively backlogged. So here we go:

Taiwanese style long beans

Crunchy and delicious!

Salad prawns

This was great too, chunky prawns with mayo dressing.

Some rice flour dish

Didn't quite find this to my liking.

Some dumpling, I think it was Beijing style.

Reminds me of pan-fried gyoza

Forgot the starters, here they are:

Xiao long bao with prawn cutlet and roasted peanuts.

Closer look at the prawn cutlet.

And even more prawn dumplings.

And a beef brisket soup as well!

Imperial Treasure Restaurant
Marina Square
Singapore

The passing

2008-02-04T16:25:00.001Z

'The vet is here.'

'Do you want to watch?'. I nodded and followed, wanting to be there for it as it had for me for the past 14 or so years.

We entered the room. I called its name, but he so weak, all it could do was to raise his head but did not have the strength to look at me. We had to carry it in from the car earlier. I crouched and gave him a pet. One assistant held him down, while the other searched for a blood vessel in its front right leg. He missed the first time, but at the second try, crimson started to enter the syringe, clearly noticable over the pink-purple tinge of the euthanasia agent.

A nod, and he pressed on the syringe. The dog gave a slight shiver, and its head dropped to the side, which caught me by surprise as I had expected it to take perhaps a minute. One assistant felt its abdomen to ensure that the heart had stopped, and both left the room.

I stayed there for a short while, felt its nose and whiskers a last time and ensuring that its eyes were closed. I then gave it a final pet, walked out of the room and closed the door behind me.

Never wear an Armani pants....

2008-01-19T15:02:00.000Z

when you go go-karting. Seriously.

Push and crush my Swarovski

2007-12-14T14:49:00.000Z

The doors opened and the crowd came surging out. Another crowd just as large surged into the train. I was one of last few who got into the very crowded train. The alert started to signal, warning that the doors were going to close. The lady two persons behind me started to panic and shoved her teenage son who in turn shoved me.

'Push in, push in!' she went. I felt my package start to crush into the person right in front of me. My mind pulsed and instinctively I lifted my arm to free what I was holding. I turned around; the lady was smiling; happy that she managed to get in. I was not so happy however.

'I am holding something fragile over here', I said as I held up the Swarovski bag I was holding, not loud enough to attract attention from the people surrounding us, but loud enough for her to hear. Her smile quickly faded.

'If my Swarovski breaks you can pay me back,' I continue, as I shot her a not-so-friendly look. She and her son keeps quiet and don't look at me. I occassionally gave the same look until I got off at the next station.

Buffet @ Aquamarine

2007-12-08T15:49:00.000Z

Aquamarine is located on the 4th floor, Marina Mandarin. We went to try out the dinner buffet there:

Starter round

Some cheese, crackers, and a various assortment of finger appetizers.

Another appetizer

Scallop with veloute and romaine lettuce

And now for the first round of the main meal.

Overflowing with meat and seafood ;) Roast lamb, roast duck, salt grilled prawns....

Some sushi

The jellyfish was exceptional, the tempura acceptable

And lastly, dessert.

The so-called 'creme brulee''s texture was weird as I scooped it up; it had a strong taste of chempedak. Urgh. We wonder if it was purposely called a creme brulee, or perhaps they used chempedak instead of egg....

All in all, highly recommended. Service was good, the food (especially the salt grilled prawns and roast duck) was fantastic and wasn't in short supply. Just beware of the 'creme brulee'.

Aquamarine
4th Floor
Marina Mandarin
Singapore

Simply steamed Shanghai hairy crab

2007-12-04T15:24:00.000Z

The world renowned Shanghai hairy/ fur crabs (上海毛蟹) are in season since last month. I grabbed one from the supermarket on the way home one day. I picked the one with the most foaming coming out from its mouth, naturally.

The crab looking well and truly dead after being stabbed with a knife through the bottom.

The main body cavity is liberated from its shell to reveal the prized interior:

Lots and lots of brown meat and roe!

The only real hairy/ furry part about this particular crab

Not that hairy actually

Simply steamed. Fantastic, sweet, juicy, cholesterol laden goodness.

Newton Circus hawker centre

2007-11-17T15:18:00.000Z

Dropped by here when I was in Singapore.

Some of the many stalls around Newton circus:

I think we ordered a dish or two from one of those particular shops.

First we had a portion of hokkien noodles, Singapore style.

And we called for some stingray.

The best dish of the night, very healthy as it was steamed before being smothered in sauce! Unlike the oily grilled variety in Malaysia.

And chilli crab. What a let down, let's just say.

Soaked up with mantou buns, of course.

Japanese Beancurd Pudding

2007-11-09T12:28:00.000Z

I was browsing through a Japanese foodmart the other day, when I spied in a corner some beancurd produce. Besides the usual beancurd assortment for cooking and some unsweetened soya milk, there were a few plastic bowls containing beancurd pudding (tau fu fa; dou fu hua) which attracted me. Most of all, the little plastic tag just below it screamed 'with special sauce!'.

Intrigued, I purchased one. First step before eating: drain out any water so as not to dilute the sugary syrup, or in this case the special sauce. Then came the opening of the little sachet of special sauce.

As I poured it out, brownish liquid came forth. Just like palm sugar, my initial thought was. Happily I picked up my spoon to eat; the beancurd broke with some resistance, and I picked some of it up with the sauce.

The beancurd was the antithesis to my expectations; my first reaction was to almost spit it out. It was salty; the special sauce was some sort of soya sauce!! Nevertheless I soldiered on and somehow managed to down most of it over the space of several hours.

Later on I was talking with QJ:
M: I'll never have Japanese dou fu hua again!
Q: Ooo, never had it before
M: My first and last time, I tell you. It was salty!
Q: Back in Shanghai we have a sweet and also a salty version
M: A? With soya sauce as well?
Q: Don't remember, but there is seaweed and shrimp as well with it.
M: Okay..

Commentry on Malaysia's first space flight participant

2007-10-23T01:49:00.001Z

Frankly, I don't give two hoots about Malaysia's first space flight participant. Oops, maybe I actually am since I am going to comment on it:

Why on earth are we getting so patriotic (or rather, supposed to) over this paid for event? Would the Russians have even agreed to it had it not been part of a military deal? Maybe, after all, its still money.

Ultimately, let's face it. The first Malaysian, a non-Malay, flying to outer space? Unthinkable. A non-Malay Malaysian flying to outer space during Eid ul Fitr? Scandalous!

We all knew from day one that the space tourist would be of a certain ethnicity. Eventhough it was claimed that the selection 'would be fair', who would have believed it? There were a few ethnicities who made it past the laughable SMS-voting. Come on, voting an astronaut by text messaging? Oh wait, its a space tourist, so I suppose its a bit more acceptable.

What takes the cake is that ultimately, NASA decided to call our 'astronaut' a space tourist. So the Malaysian government protested to Russia; Russia agrees with Malaysia. With a multi billion dollar jet deal between Russia and Malaysia at the core of this 'astronaut' program at stake, how could Russia not refuse?

However, I believe that many of us would concur with NASA that Muszaphar Shukor is a mere space flight participant, although obviously there are people who don't agree, as the Wikipedia entry demonstrates. What the hell, he stills gets credited with being the first Malaysian in space, and the first Muslim to celebrate Eid-ur Fitr in space. Be happy enough with that already.

And now, they want to waste even more money sending a second space tourist; probably to placate the 'runner up' space tourist more than anything else (and to show that Malaysia 'boleh', once again).

On top of that, they want to start a Space Agency? We frankly don't need to waste money on such a thing, at least not until Malaysia has a more developed economy with deeper pockets (the fact that the main space exploration countries are USA, Russia, EU, China are also huge economies don't come coincidentally).

So, why should we feel proud, let alone patriotic over this waste of time and money which is of no value but to massage and grow the Malay(-sian) ego?

Random update

2007-10-23T01:10:00.000Z

Been very busy lately; just too many things to do. I wake as early as 5.30am for work, and even so the earliest I can get back home is around 7.30pm. Which just doesn't happen all the time, as pretty frequently I would get my dinner outside or drop by a shopping mall/ supermarket. And that's before you take into account my going to the gym after work.

After getting home, I usually watch a couple of TV series episodes (24 season 6 DVD boxset has just been released, with House Season 3 to come very soon) before going to sleep. On weekends, I just want to stay at home and sleep. On top of that, I still have a few hundred photographs to process from RAW (oh, I lost my compact camera, joy!) and to distribute to various people.

All this alone leaves me with almost zero time for my social life, and you can see why I'm probably a bit too busy to blog.

Fine dining @ Lafite

2007-10-03T15:45:00.000Z

One of the most renowned restaurants in Malaysia. We were here to celebrate an occassion.

Their bread came together with a thick cream herbal mousse. This went down very well with our stomachs.

So good, that was probably all you needed to eat.

Our drinks soon arrived, one being the Loooooooooooooooong Island Iced Tea (RM3x), the other a glass of bubbly Moet (RM6x?).

Loooooooooooooooong Island Iced Tea, the bottom half cold, top half warm.

We called for two starters, the rather weirdly named FoieGras@ red.com (RM62), and the equally techno-inspired Virtual Steak Tartar (RM48).

The seared foie gras, with balsamic vinegar and pistachios and peppered strawberries. Absolutely classic French dish, and it was fantastic.

The steak tartar was rather creatively done as well. Raw thin slices of beef carpaccio came with a soft poached quail egg in the middle and Yorkshire puddings at either end, and was liberally sprinkled with mustard, capers, smoked salt and chervil. The combination of tastes in this dish was stunning and well received.

For the mains, we had lamb cappucino. This consisted of lamb loin with pumpkins in various forms (cubes, seeds, puree, oil), hazelnuts, milk froth, and coffee paper. RM91

To balance out all that meat, we also ordered a fish dish. This consisted of a base of Spanish omelette and asparagus, topped with slow roasted sea bass, and a prawn which was crowned with some Oscietra caviar and carrot mix, and a sauce made with garlic and parsley. RM96.

Also worth mentioning was their version of shepherd's pie - made with wagyu beef cheek and foie gras. But we didn't get around to ordering it....

To be frank, after the excellent appetizers, we probably had too high an expectation for the mains, thus the mains did appear to be a little flat in comparison.

As we were finishing, the chef came by to say hello and we took the opportunity to heap some praise onto him. It was also at this point that he pointed out that the sea bass dish had some Spanish influence, which I immediately picked on as I had a monkfish dish which had a sauce that was very similar back in Spain.

We were too full at this point of course, so we decided to skip dessert. And a good thing too, as they brought out a surprise:

A tree, with cotton candy dipped in strawberry dust as 'leaves' and chocolate 'stones' and peels as the 'earth'. And to top it off, the cotton candy started to drop off slowly and it looked like autumn.

Overall, an absolutely fantastic dinner with amazing ambiance. And a price tag to match! Do not expect this review to be current as chefs of this calibre do change their menus, but you can expect fantastic food, and a wonderful night out. Just ignore the pinch on the wallet.

Lafite
Shangri La Hotel
Jalan Sultan Ismail
Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia

Japanese @ Rakuzen

2007-09-12T10:43:00.000Z

This restaurant probably requires little introduction amongst the Japanese food circle.

We had a salad, with a Japanese twist. Mock crab sticks, flying fish roe, seaweed, besides the usual lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes with a delicious light sauce. This was interesting, and went down well.

A maki appetizer of deep friend oyster (kaki maki).

Grilled salted mackerel (saba). Not too bad, however in my opinion the one at Kampachi Equatorial Hotel, is probably better than this.

And this, chilled slices of wagyu beef. Interesting in comparison with the other style (where you cook it on a personal stove) which I had at Hanabi.

Overall verdict: Pretty decent food at decent prices.

Rakuzen
Various Locations (Subang)
Malaysia

This Wendy Cheng Xia Xue?

2007-08-25T08:53:00.000Z

Not sure if it is at all, since I don't follow her (literally or literary). The only thing I remember was some scuffle with certain Malaysian bloggers about comments over something (toilets, if I remember) some time back.

Shot somewhere along Orchard Road at some random day at some random time.

From what I remember, she had quite a following, of both people who adore and loathe her. Surely one of the fanboys(girls) can enlighten me?

Restaurant Din Tai Fung

2007-08-25T07:44:00.000Z

This particular branch of Din Tai Fung was located in the lower level of Raffles City, Singapore.

Shot of the kitchen area

Famished after a long day of walking around, I ordered:

Beef brisket ($10) noodles. Had quite a bit of flavour and this filled my hungry stomach.

Xiao Long Bao ($6?). Not too bad.

Din Tai Fung
Various Locations (Raffles City)
Various Countries (Singapore)

African Cuisine @ Addis

2007-08-22T12:47:00.000Z

We ate here one evening.

Salt and pepper and something else shakers.

A view of the inside

We called for injera (Ethiopian bread). Sounded good, but in reality it tastes more like sour apam.

Our tilapia fish soon arrived. It was just that: a deep fried fish. No discernable spices, no sauces, no nothing else. Needless to say, it was pretty low on taste.

The Ethiopian way of eating communally: add the food (lamb curry introduced at this point) on top of the injera and tear off your portion.

Verdict: Overall, the food was rather bland; the lamb curry had kick but little flavour, the fish appeared to be tossed straight into oil with no prior or subsequent seasoning of any kind, add both of that to the predominantly sourish injera, and you don't quite have a winner....

42 Caledonian Road
London
N1 9DT
United Kingdom

Bakezin

2007-08-18T10:58:00.000Z

I paid Bakezin a long overdue visit.

Cold chocolate drink with mint.

Mush the mint leaves and drink.

No better way than to fill the stomach with a light dish of escargots with asparagus.

We also sampled their spaghetti with ham. This dish (no photo available) did not impress.

However, I still do believe that Bakezin is all about the desserts. Nothing more so than this interesting take on strawberry cheesecake reinforces it:

Cheese ice cream with strawberries and shortbread. Its been a few years since I last had this, and I still found it fascinating (as did my partner)!

Note: This post is a mash of more than one visit.

Bakezin
Multiple Locations
Malaysia

Ristorante Italiannies

2007-08-04T23:41:00.000Z

The fantastic bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar dip.

Spinach and Artichoke Fromaggio

Mushroom Soup

Stuffed mushrooms. By the time this dish was eaten, we were stuffed, no thanks especially to the delicious bread. And we had 3 main dishes to come....

Beef Lasagne

Spaghetti with Deep Fried Chicken Cutlet

Seafood Cioppino

Overall verdict: The food is not authentic Italian, but on the other hand, seems targeted at the stereotype of Italian food: full of cloying cheese and tomato puree, and with rather American-sized portions. Good for the occassional visit; the cloying cheese would probably get you tired of this place rather quickly (hardcore 'cheese' fans: you have absolutely no idea what cheese really is if all you seem to eat are commercialised parmesan and mozarella).

Champneys Wellbeing Food Range

2007-07-28T00:49:00.000Z

Champneys (a spa chain) released a range of food products a couple of months ago, only available at Sainsburys. I picked up:

Thai style King Prawn Curry with Quinoa (served with flame-grilled aubergine, water chestnuts and pak choi) at left, and Wholewheat Penne Pasta with Mediterranean Style Roast Vegetables (served with mozzarella pearls and a herb creme fraiche sauce) at right

The pasta dish, post-microwave heating

I didn't quite like this dish, it was rather bland and the wholewheat pasta thing doesn't do it for me.

The quinoa dish, post-microwave heating

This was the exact opposite of the pasta dish. Delicious! Although, as always, British curries are rather mild and could ALWAYS do with more kick!

What is quinoa, you ask? It is a grain which is native to South America, and is a more 'complete' grain compared with wheat. Shame the Europeans didn't export it, choosing maize instead (apparently Malaysians have only heard of it very recently, thanks to some recent Malaysian magazine article).

Here it is a little bit more close up:

How does it (the quinoa) taste? Not bad. I could live with having quinoa as a substitute for rice, to be perfectly honest.

Saffron @ One Bangsar Review

2007-07-26T12:01:00.000Z

Located along One Bangsar, Saffron specializes in Mediterranean dishes.

Saffron @ One Bangsar

The olive oil (Italian influence) and some lemony-tasting (if I recall) topping to be eaten together with the olive oil dipped bread (I presume).

Some impressive service came at this stage. The bottle of olive oil was almost empty, and when I raised my hand to call for the waitress' attention, she knew what it was for (she must have noticed me inspecting the bottle), and promptly took the empty bottle away for a new one.

Blue Curacao

(forgot to switch the macro mode on, oops.)

The main dishes soon appeared:

Oxtail stew. Pieces of stewed oxtail, served with a portion of risotto and some bread with olive paste.

The few pieces of rather miserable oxtail (both size wise and texture wise, it was not tender at all but instead a bit tough), in a watery stew (Eh? the oxtail stew I had in Spain was nice and thick) with a tinge of curry, which I did not appreciate at all.

The risotto. It was decent. Overall dish rating: 5/10.

The other dish for the night, a large plate of grilled lamb chop tapas (large tapas? what the heck, that should be either 1/2 racion, or a racion).

The first lamb that the companion cut into was disappointingly overcooked. The other two were so-so. Nothing to shout about. 5/10.

Canon 500D enquiry comparison

2007-07-14T10:18:00.000Z

Enquiring about the Canon 500D in the UK:
I'm afraid we do not quite have stock at the moment, because it has been discontinued. But perhaps we can interest you in a tube extender, or some other close up lens?

Enquiring about the Canon 500D in Singapore:
This lens... we don't have it, Canon discontinued it. But we sell Hoya close up filters (lens), but its single element, not double.

Enquiring about the Canon 500D in Malaysia:
Huh? 500D? Do you mean 400D? Don't have that camera... *Checks database/ stock/ internet* Close up lens? What is that? Don't have.

Maoz: Healthy "Fast Food"

2007-07-03T15:13:00.000Z

The Jewish friend brought me to this place one fine day as he had been promising me some Israeli food!

Located in Soho with a gay bar just a couple of doors to the side, the bright signage invites people inside

Healthy, delicious smile-inducing "fast food" for hungry people, as the models suggest...

The description on the wall reads: "Falafel is made from a paste of chickpeas, mixed with fresh garlic, parsley, coriander, and cumin, fried in vegetable oil."

Well there's more than that, but its basically talking about chickpeas.

I picked the Royal Maoz Sandwich, which comes with hummus and aubergine

Pita with falafel, hummus and aubergine

Customers are allowed free flow of salads and dressings/dips/toppings.

The salad bar

The deal (and canned drink), very healthy and filling with the free flow of salads which are irresistable! The chunky chips will nullify most of the health benefits though!

Maoz
4 Brewer Street
London W1

Maoz
43 Old Compton street
W1V 5PN
London

Regarding the iPhone

2007-07-03T14:22:00.000Z

I don't understand it. What's the big fuss about the iPhone anyway? Frankly, who cares about the iPhone when you've got the Prada phone?

Jogoya Review

2007-06-21T16:29:00.000Z

Recalling that Jogoya was apparently 'the' place for a good 'Japanese' buffet, and being located at Starhill Galleries no less, I had pretty high expectations of the place

That's about it for pictures as I decided to take a break from using my camera that day.

Impressions: Food and seating area are well seperated with some good use of interior design. Concrete and wood somehow managed to blend in together, although the music is a tad bit too loud.

Variety: 'Will this ever end?' I happily asked myself as I scanned the surrounding lines of food from the sushi counter.

Getting acquainted: Within a minute, I was not so happy. I always had the impression that Jogoya was catering as a 'Japanese' buffet, and that was what I was expecting. The only thing Japanese was the sushi counter section, and perhaps some of the rest. Probably up to 70% of the food available was of different cuisines, i.e. Indian.

Each table has a certain number of 'pegs' which you put into the empty bowl in front of the dish that you would like (or peg to the plate, depending). The criticism? Each table has a limited number of pegs. Even with the restaurant almost empty, some dishes took quite a while to arrive. More pegs, please.

As most of you already know, each line has a 'VIP dish', of which I had looked on enviously at first. By the middle of the eating session, I was left pondering whether the VIP dishes would be any more palatable than the rest (I don't know as I didn't try, and I don't think I would have

Food: As stated before, an almost endless parade of dishes. I started off with the Japanese counter. I didn't like the salmon sashimi. Don't ask me why, because I usually help myself to a lot of this. Most of the sushi on offer didn't seem to whet my appetite; the only thing that I personally enjoyed was the seasoned baby octopus (available in tiny individual dip bowls of one each).

Next up: Parrotfish, roasted. Took them like what seemed over half an hour before the dish arrived. None of us enjoyed it. It was dry, and appeared... wrong. My own rookie attempt at cooking parrot fish turned out many times better.

We sampled the tempura. It was horrid; the tempura tasted 'heavy' instead of the light batter one would have expected. We took some of the prawns with grape sauce, and weren't impressed. The beef teppanyaki was decent, to the place's credit. At least I think it was. I can't remember what else we ate, and I don't think I want to. It was unmemorably bad.

Our final dish, a beef claypot dish (which you cook over a portable flame), took forever to cook. And when it did, all we did was to take one bite before deciding to walk off, but not before finishing off our coconuts (probably one of the best things there). And in time for a huge group of over thirty orientals (probably Chinese tourists) to arrive and to either enjoy or disappoint themselves (depending how you look at it).

Overall verdict:

Variety: 9.2/10. Sheer variety gives the place the aforementioned score.

Food quality and taste: 2.5/10.

Call me harsh, but that is my unbiased verdict. Avoid unless you are a sucker for huge buffet lines, and head for the Japanese restaurant Gonbei directly opposite. My friend (who happens to be very discerning as well) gave that place a rave (verbal) review.

Jogoya

T3, Relish Floor

Starhill Gallery

Jalan Bukit Bintang

Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

Close-up +4 Lens Test

2007-06-15T06:41:00.000Z

I decided to play around and to test out the close up lens (also misleading called close up filters by some parties) I recently acquired, the Hoya +4.

The lens was fitted onto a 80-200 2.8L objective, on the top of a B+W UV filter. Pictures taken at shortest focal length, due to composition requirements. 1.6x crop factor applies.

Shot 1:

Notes: Extremely shallow depth of field noted, eventhough f2.8 was used. Abberrations are highly noticable outside of the focal point. This is probably due to the fact that a double close-up lens was not used. Also, it could be possible that the extra space and barrier posed by UV filter might have had some influence.

Shot 2:

Notes: Once again, a very shallow depth of field, with abberations.

Verdict: Must get hands on the Canon 500D. The extension tube also works, but would be a tad harder to add/remove the tube in between the objective and camera body.

King Sitric Restaurant

2007-06-14T15:27:00.000Z

Located in a town around half an hour out of Dublin by train, we chanced upon this "Michelin recommended" rated restaurant while looking for a place to eat for dinner.

The restaurant is located on the second floor of this establishment; coats etc are taken off downstairs.

Most interestingly, they have two different types of salt here: normal sea salt, and volcanic salt.

The two types of salt, and the black pepper in their grinds.

The obligatory bread and butter.

The complimentary taster dish that comes with most fine dining restaurants. 5/10

Soon enough, the starter of grilled scallops in light broth with spinach(?) puree and minced bell peppers. This dish was interesting but lacked seasoning; the addition of the aforementioned crushed volcanic salt helped to lift this dish above from its mediocrity. 6/10.

Crab bisque. Just as the scallops, this needed some seasoning. 6/10

Oyster (grilled? au natural?) with bacon. Rated as excellent by the companion.

Monkfish features in the main dish, in the form of strips of the fish together with julienned vegetables, on a thin pastry base and topped with cheese. I found this dish to be average. 6.5/10.

Side accompaniments to the main dish: parsnips with honey mustard sauce, boiled potato, and spinach. Standard fare.

On to the desserts, which I dare say are the highlight of the evening. First up is a caramel fudge pudding, with strawberries and ice cream. 7.5/10.

Meringue with chocolate sauce and almonds. Looked positively massive in comparison with the pudding.

The meringue had a hard shell, but easily gave way to my spoon, to reveal a deliciously soft interior, with a hidden surprise of some ice cream.

The home made(?) ice cream was fantastic and somehow tasted better than Haagen Dazs. Either way, the combination of warm chocolate, the crunchy almonds, the hard and slightly chewy soft of meringue, and the cold delicious ice cream felt utterly divine in my mouth.

And dare I say it, it is probably the best dessert I have had so far. It has pushed the bar higher (high enough as it already is) for my expectancy of good desserts. I rate this dessert a 9.5/10.

Time for coffee/ tea and petits fours. The tea was most disappointly just a Twinings tea bag, and had a weird smell to it.

Nothing really spectacular.

Verdict: Come here for the fantastic desserts. Otherwise, a decent place to eat.

King Sitric
Fish Restaurant & Accommodation
East Pier
Howth
Ireland

Porterhouse (Gastro)Pub

2007-06-07T03:48:00.000Z

Looking for a place to eat, we chanced upon this 4- storied place not too far from Trinity College, on the edge of Temple Bar. It appeared cosy and casual, with separate sections (i.e. by the bar, sports section to view projected rugby matches, etc.). We sat down, took a quick glance at their extensive world beer list, and ordered. Much to our surprise, they didn't carry Guinness, but only their housebrew stout (and a few others).

So upon closer examination of their housebrew, and alas unfortunately after we had ordered our beers, we noticed a most interesting brew: Oyster Stout. Porterhouse describes it as "Brewed with fresh oysters. A smooth drinking aromatic stout with a discernable but unidentifiable aromatic aspect. Not suitable for vegetarians." We didn't order it, but I am sure many of you would like to give it a shot if you are in Dublin/ London (there is a Porterhouse Bar in Covent Garden).

A sample tray of all their brews (Oyster Stout, Brain Blasta, Chiller, Plain Porter, Temple Brau, TSB, Wrasslers XXX, Hersbucker, Porterhouse Red, Weiss, and seasonal specials) is also available for €5.

As mentioned earlier, Porterhouse also stocks a wide range of proper beers from all around the world. Commercial beers such as Foster's, Heineken BUL, Guinness, Budweiser (American version), etc are off course absent. Interestingly, Tiger beer makes an appearance under the guise of 'Singaporean beer'.

L-R: Czech Staropramen, cutely labelled Belgian Delerium Tremens, Belgian Framboise Boon.

On to the food. I called for: Irish Stout Stew (if I remember, they used their own Wrasslers 4X Stout). This dish was fantastic: absolutely flavourful, the beef was tender, and all the other ticks in right places. Gorgeous. If there was nobody around, I would be tempted to use my fingers to pick the bowl clean. 8.5/10. €13(?)

EF called for a traditional Irish lamb stew with pearl barley. No rating as I cannot remember how this dish tasted like, but I think it would be somewhere in the region of a 6/10. €13(?)

C called for a burger. No rating from me. €11(?)

Porterhouse (The)
16-18 Parliament Street
Temple Bar,
Dublin
Ireland

Dublin street sights

2007-06-06T02:01:00.000Z

We bypassed this person recreating an artwork of Michaelangelo's on the sidewalk. I was hoping that it was one of those 3D chalk artwork, but alas. Still pretty though.

We passed by about an hour(?) later, and the crowd had grown by quite a bit then, with some progress made.

A street bard playing her harp:

This guy had a rather unconventional 'street statue' tactic:

Dublin bar crawl

2007-06-05T18:51:00.000Z

Just some of the beer we had whilst in Dublin. Notice the large lack of crap (read: commercially advertised beer, or brewed under license beer, or 'ice' beer, or so on)

Airbus A380 sighting

2007-05-17T08:06:00.000Z

My first glimpse (with my own eyes, not other people's pictures/ promo pics etc) of an A380!

As you can imagine, no airline's symbols painted on yet, as not even the first aircraft has been delivered to its customer.

Godiva Chocolixir

2007-04-29T16:01:00.000Z

Nothing better to have on a relatively chilly spring day (well okay, we wanted the ice-blended version, but the blender was broken.

It was not too bad I suppose, with a 'chewable' bit at the bottom (or did the server just not stir hard enough when making it?) 7/10.

Godiva
141 Regent Street
London

Turkish Meze @ Cafe Gallipoli

2007-04-28T17:39:00.000Z

Three of us went to discover the Turkish food at one of a 'set' of three Turkish restaurants (all called Gallipoli) along Upper Street. One of them was supposed to be the best of the lot, however we just entered the first one we came across at #102, on which this post is based.

The interior decor was atypical of Turkish eateries:

We called for: Turkish Meze (think of it as the Turkish equivalent of dian xin/ tapas), deep fried calamari, and a lamb dish.

The food. Clockwise from bottom left: Calamari, hummus, borek, falafel, something, something, dolma, grossly oversweet apple tea, potato salad, something, zeytinyagli bakla, something, cacik. Cumulative rating: 6.5/10.

The iskender, "A special preparation of finely chopped cubes of lamb, laid on a pitta bread and yoghurt, covered with secret recipe sauce".

Best dish of the day! 7.5/10

The overpriced baklava.

More than £3 for three pieces?! The only consolation was that this was not too sweet. 6.5/10

Cafe Gallipoli
102, Upper Street
London
N1 1QP

How to a tell Malaysian Chinese apart from other Chinese (and a restaurant review)

2007-04-15T23:40:00.000Z

Simple. Visit a Sichuan restaurant, and order in English (or a Chinese dialect without a Chinese accent), and inform the waiter that you want everything to be 'Sichuan spicy'. It is almost inevitable that the waiter's curiosity gets the better of him, and he would ask you and your friend:

'Excuse me, can I ask you if you are Malaysian?'

Cue the nods, and chomp down on full chilli strength Sichuan food upon arrival. Which unfortunately isn't that spicy to begin with. And which prompts thoughts of whether the chilli-hotness of Sichuan food is simply overrated (or perhaps we didn't order the 'hottest' dish), or maybe, just maybe, certain Malaysian foods have the potential to go head to head with Sichuan cuisine* in terms of spiciness.

The remainder of this post continues the initial review of the Red n' Hot Sichuan Restaurant, Charing Cross Road.

We called for green tea, with a difference.

We found the green tea unique as it came out as fresh green tea leaves! The tea had a nice summery taste, with a pleasant bitterness about it (please stir your glass somehow to get the flavour about!). 7/10. Plus, the leaves can be eaten if you so desire (no idea if you're recommended to, but hey). Most fascinating, and I will be trying to hunt this down at Harrods (one of the waiters was kind to provide us with some sample).

I called for the lamb belly again, and it did not let us down. Arguably one of the star dishes, and a must have. 8/10.

Picture taken from previous post.

We tried a pork dish. It was not too bad, but was outshone by the above mentioned lamb dish. 6/10.

*The hottest dish I've ever had so far was a dish of Xacutti (that's Goanese Indian cuisine) style-lamb. Tongue numbing with lots of water needed! But, managed to down even more than my Indian friend, heh.

Original review:
http://perplexed-peace.blogspot.com/2007/04/sichuan-meal.html

My Cheeseboard Selection

2007-04-11T01:12:00.000Z

Presenting two of the cheese that I had in a recent cheese binge:

So, what have I discovered?

I know now that I don't particularly fancy hard, dry cheese unless they're grated into pasta (i.e. parmesan). Neither do I fancy crumbly cheeses (i.e. certain feta cheese, certain goat cheese), or sourish cheese, nor do I like blue cheese (too salty, but some blue cheese go very well in sandwiches!). Soft cheese are okay, but there are too few of them! Firmer cheese are probably the best of the lot.

Oh, the cheese known as Stinking Bishop (the name comes from a pear - the cheese is washed in fermented Stinking Bishop pear juice) tastes utterly divine! The smell, on the other hand, is too strong for me and gave the palatte an overall pungent feeling. Shame, because it would have been fantastic.....

Anyway, here are two of the more photogenic cheese which I eventually took home:

Pecorino Truffle = Pecorino cheese with black truffle pieces. Very nice, earthy flavour. From Italy.

Innes Buttons = Goats cheese, with a mousse texture that melts in the mouth. With crushed pink peppercorn. From England.

Other cheeses that made it to my (makeshift) cheese board:

Le Vully (Switzerland)
Brie de Meaux Donge (France)
Beaufort Chalet D Alpage (France)

Cheeses obtained at both Harvey Nichols and Harrods. Bread (not shown) purchased freshly baked from the French bakery Paul's. Till the next cheese binge (EF! Where are you?!?!).

Iranian Food @ Hatam

2007-04-10T18:25:00.000Z

Okay, this is slightly overdue, but anyway.

Located at the China Court of the Ibn Battuta Mall (which at that time was hosting the Cirque du Soleil's Quidam show, for a mind boggling 800Dhs for the best seats (that's somewhere around £120 for you. In contrast, the Cirque du Soliel's Alegria show in London had the most expensive tickets at less than £60.)), is an Iranian restaurant.

Feeling hungry, I happily took a seat. I called for a lamb dish, as well as a pomegranate juice. I was first of all served what appeared to be a traditional pre-appetizer dish:

Top left: Cheese and walnuts (starters), Bottom left: Vegetables and olives, Right: Herbs. Above top the bread.

According to my Persian friend, in Iran the herbs would be eaten together with the main meal. No rating for this because I have had no prior knowledge of how to deal with this sort of food!

The pomegranate juice soon arrived. It was delicious, a bit sweet and not astringent, and I give it an 7/10.

Delicious stuff!

Soon enough, the Baghalah Polo-Ba-Machicheh (leg of lamb cooked in its own juices over slow fire and served with green rice mixed with fresh broad beans).

Sounds delicious, but in reality I found this a tad too dry for my liking. 6/10.

The Persian friend believes that this restaurant is part of a very old chain of similar restaurants found in Iran itself. When asked how she would have rated the food (based on her experiences in Iran), she gave it a 3/5.

All in all, if I remember correctly the bill came to around 40Dhs.

Hatam Restaurant (Iranian cuisine)
207 China Court,
Ibn Battuta Mall
Sheikh Zayed Road
Dubai
UAE

Passover

2007-04-06T20:27:00.000Z

Many thanks to R and his family, who treated me to a traditional Jewish Passover meal. I didn't expect it at all when I went over to R's place to discuss some stuff! We had a great time, loved the matzo, the matzo dumplings in chicken soup, the coffee with ice cream, and the chit chat was stimulating as well! Sorry E, will make it up with you very soon!

Most interestingly, we drew parallels between the Jews in general, and the Chinese in Malaysia, but that's for another time. Watch this space.

Sichuan Meal

2007-04-02T16:13:00.000Z

A new Sichuan (四川) restaurant opened recently along Charing Cross Road, just a few doors from Cafe de Hong Kong. ~~I forgot its name~~ It is called Red n' Hot Restaurant. Me and K and F went there to sample some of the delights.

Straight to the food, they offer a wide variety of Sichuan dishes, but no alcohol yet as they are awaiting a license. We ordered three dishes, at a 'not so spicy' level to accommodate F's weaker Shanghainese tastebuds.

A view of the three dishes, clock wise from bottom: Mapo Toufu (麻婆豆腐) (I give it a 5/10 because I'm never a fan of mapo toufu); Lamb (红烧样), and some fish which I cannot remember.

A closer look at the lamb swimming in chilli oil. This really is a reddish-coloured roast (in comparison with the typical soya sauce roast)!! 8/10, really tender.

A closer look at the fish, grazing in even more chilli oil. 7/10.

The food was not bad, but it could have been spicier! Then again, as we mentioned earlier, the hotness was toned down. Next time, F, we're going to have it proper!

Update: Expanded review of Hot and Spicy Restaurant

Election Deadline Rumour: 31st March 2007??

2007-03-26T21:14:00.000Z

I have been hearing some rumours that the deadline to register to vote in the upcoming general elections is supposedly at the end of the week. A check with some of my overseas based friends have come to naught. Some friends of hours who are still in Malaysia are clueless, if not surprised. We are watching with interest, and would want to register and to exercise our rights to send in our postal votes (yes, some of the alleged 'phantom postal votes' are actually by real people, believe it or not) when the time comes.

We have not heard any news from major sources (or we must have been completely blinded that day); surely such news would have been announced very prominently on sites such as MalaysiaKini. Also, checks with the Election Committee website (http://www.spr.gov.my/) have shown nothing, leading us to speculate that this is just a scaremongering tactic to get people to register.

Attempted to check with the London High Commission but got started on the merry-go-round of extension numbers (and was a bit too busy to want to wait). Checks with the Malaysian Consulate in Los Angeles also resulted in a merry go round which finally ended with 'we have not received any information', which suggest that this is just a rumour.

So, any affirmations beyond hearsay would be appreciated.

The Neighbour

2007-03-23T03:38:00.000Z

I paused what I was doing and listened. Someone was definitely knocking on the door, so I went to answer it:

"Yes?"
"I've been trying to deliver a parcel to number XX. Could you take it in? I'll drop them a note saying that you have it."

I took a quick look at the parcel. It wasn't one of the neighbours that I knew; maybe it would be a nice way to introduce myself. So I signed and took in the package.

Soon enough, the door knocked. A lady in her 30s stood in front of me, quite possibly of Indian descent.

"Hello, I have a message that you have a parcel for me?"
"Yes I do," I replied as I took down the parcel from the freezer, and handed it to her with a smile.
"Thanks," she said quickly, and before anything could come out of my mouth, she had turned around and started moving.

I am so not taking in any of her other stuff again. As A said, its probably the British weather that's making her cranky. I agree. British weather is always one of the best reasons to leave this place.

Ulcers

2007-03-20T01:24:00.000Z

Don't ask me how, but I woke up a couple of days ago to find that part of the insides of my mouth (at the cheek side, and between the upper and lower teeth) was feeling funny. A check with the mirror revealed that I must have somehow managed to clamp the insides of my mouth between my teeth as I was sleeping, because I found that part of my mouth was a bit swollen with the outline of the bottom (and top) of my teeth. Plus, THREE (yes, I saw the third one under better light onditions) big ulcers to boot.

It was generally unbearable, and I tried to cut down on the intake of anything because it hurt (That didn't stop me from going out for dinner with another friend though :P). Finally forced myself to gargle some warm salt water (boy does having three ulcers hurt), and been forcing fluids down because I've been feeling the effects of dehydration. Hopefully it all goes down soon!

Deep Fried Soft Shell Crab

2007-03-13T13:42:00.000Z

Craving some seafood, I defrosted a few soft shell crabs the other day.

The crabs, looking sorry and sad as they meet their predator.

So, before the crabs are rendered edible, we need to do some cleaning first. Lifting the sides of the crab's 'helmet', we reveal the gills:

To be removed, on both sides.

Next, flip over the crab and detach the triangular tail

Finally, detach the face from the body using either a knife or scissors:

Nip & tuck gone horribly wrong.

Then, wash and dry the crabs, and dip into your favourite deep-fry seasoning/ tempura/ flour, and deep fry.

Hungry yet?

Serve with red pepper omelette and sushi rice (in my case, at any rate).

Bought myself a Dali

2007-03-11T15:44:00.000Z

Yup, the Metamorphosis of Narcissus is now in my room; I still haven't decided where it should go.

Credits to: Tate Modern

Which brings me to:

J: What's a Dali?

M: A painter (and more). Salvador Dali.

J: No what kinda painter is that? to paint your house? or to draw paintings?

M: He's a surrealist painter

J: And you bought him?

M: No, I bought a copy of his painting. He died some years ago

J: Oooooo. Damn my logical thinking sucks huh?

M : No, its just that the vast majority of malaysians have very little exposure nor appreciation for art and theatre

J: So what kinda paintings does Dali dig?

M: Surrealism

J: Oh yea +_+

M: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvador_Dal%C3%AD

J: Mmm, I like the 'Disintegration of Persistence of Memory', but I don't understand what it means by 'the new science of physics above psychology'.

M: Dali's paintings began to reflect his thoughts and a renewed his associations with one of his previous paintings by painting the "The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory" between 1952-1954. In this painting, the persistence of memory is fragmented and breaking down into particles, Dali's way of acknowledging modern science and technology. Many of Dali's paintings during this period portray the concept that everything is in a state of suspension through the repulsion of protons and electrons.

J: Mmmmm ok. Maybe surrealism is a lil too heavy for me afterall

M: Its probably one of the most fascinating of all art types, if you ask me

J: Okay, but if my brain functions too much it hurts me. I still like light stuff.

M: Well, its my opinion that good art makes a person both appreciate and think

J: Good for you, that you're exposed to such opportunity and nice artworks

M: Well, its not like you don't have the opportunity to. With the internet, a lot is possible. Granted that its not quite the same as actually seeing the artwork in person, but its better than nothing

J: But with the internet, you have to come across such stuff by initiative, or by chance.

M: Well, i had to walk into an art gallery. Is that not initiative? The difference is that I had to spend an hour getting to the gallery whereas one could hit into stuff within seconds on the internet. Plus, there's only so much stuff in a single gallery. So for me to see even more stuff, I could go to continental Europe (or rather, all around the world), or I could go on the internet to look for it

J: It has relation to the environmental and culture factors, if Europe doesn't have that many galleries around, you might be exposed and attracted to something else instead.

M: See, that's a problem. In Malaysia, when the average child grows up, its all memorising memorising memorising. Horrendous. When I bring up my children next time, I'm going to take them to plays and theatre and drag them to art galleries, because as sure as bloody hell life isn't just memorising crap.

J: DAMN that's the prob! Sigh, that's the most depressin part in m'sia educational system
memorise just to pass exams.

M: Its not bad actually, it fits the government to have stupid people who are only good at memorising and regurgitation instead of critical thinking and application. And to be honest, its not helped by parents, those parents who like to send their kids for non stop tuition and the like
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p.s. My interest in theatre/ plays has always been around since I was back in Malaysia. My appreciation for art was also around when I was a little kid, but was rather on and off for a rather many years, with the occassional visit into art museums in places such as Florence, Rome, Vienna, London etc. It has recently been revitalised by a few visits to the Tate Modern.

Roadside Gestures

2007-03-11T01:31:00.000Z

A little habit of mine (especially if I'm in a hurry, which is pretty frequent), is to cross the road despite the fact that the pelican crossing is still red and the road traffic light is still pretty much green. Of course, this isn't a problem if there are no cars in sight, or there is a relatively large gap where one could briskly walk across. The interesting bit, however, comes when a car is approaching on the side closer to the other side of the street, with the green light in the car's favour.

Normally, one would just wait until the car fully passes before crossing. However, if I am feeling ~~analytical~~ in a hurry, I would observe the car for a second, and during that second I would quickly estimate the velocity and time that it would take for the car to pass. I would work on the assumption that the car would carry on at that speed, or accelerate, instead of slowing down, and decide on the speed that I would walk.

So, I would start crossing the road before the car is still, let's say, 20 meters from the light. Normally the car would have passed me at least a good two seconds before my foot reaches its lane. Of course, not every car driver has confidence when they see a pedestrian step onto the road before they have even passed their green light, as I found out earlier: the car driver had his horn blazing and had applied the brakes, and gave me the 'are-you-crazy' gesture.

I gave him the 'oi,-can-you-just-move-on-you-didn't-need-to-brake-because-I-had-calculated-my-crossing' gesture, and to top it off, the 'apa-lu-mau' upward sweeping hand gesture as the car moved away. Hmmm, I'm still Malaysian somewhere....

p.s. to a random person on the street: Don't give me that crap, because you never ever were willing to get out of your way to meet up. Always had excuses, and probably always will.

Lunar Eclipse 2007

2007-03-04T02:49:00.000Z

Here's a sample of what I took:

More coming soon, hopefully. Off to bed now, hope many of you got to witness the event and took some fabulous pictures!

Someone Stole Our Entrepreneurial Idea!

2007-03-01T22:34:00.000Z

Just over a year and a half ago, me and some old university mates were given an assignment: to come up something entrepreneurial, and to pitch it in front of professors of the business school. Think Dragons Den, albeit marks were on offer instead of hard cash.

So we brainstormed, came up with some ideas, and finally decided on a surfing pool. We developed the idea and presented it come assessment day. This idea intrigued our professors, who liked the idea very much.

Last week, I was reading one of the two trashy free evening newspapers, and came across this article:

http://www.thelondonpaper.com/cs/Satellite/london/news/article/1157145504314?packedargs=aid%3D1157145504314%26suffix%3DArticleController

Its pretty much the same, except that instead of Stratford/ Greenwich/ Wembley, we had Surrey in mind.

Arghhhh!!!

Little Updates

2007-02-27T19:01:00.000Z

Deja vu, as another of my tooth fillings is starting to come out. Urgh. Can't imagine why the dentist didn't see that it was perhaps starting to show signs of disaffection. Looks like there goes another £40 (could I have done two fillings for the same price?).

Pimped my desktop, adding another GB of RAM, as well as taking the plunge and installing Windows Vista Ultimate. Looks awesome, except that my sound card and video card are not fully compatible yet (hurry up Creative and nVidia!): Spliter Cell Double Agent hangs, the desktop reduces itself to nothing more than one of those 'unsolved' 3D images (think a mishmash of smudges) after a couple of inactivity, and the webcam appears to be 'uncompatible'. Urgh.

Also pimped my laptop, but it appears to be agonisingly slow. I think a fresh reinstall of XP is needed. Problem is, I never got the installation CD when I got the laptop. Does anyone know if a XP Home CD key is valid with XP Professional?

What else.... nothing much else, besides that a major turning point in life appears to be imminent.

Red Underwear

2007-02-18T04:11:00.000Z

'Don't forget: You have to wear red underwear this year!!!'
'I don't think so!!!'
'What's wrong? Its my turn soon. Hehehe...'
'Well... you're a female, its okay for you!'
'Soooo?'
'So I can't! Red underwear for a whole year?!!?'

Thank goodness that I'm barely superstitious.

Global Warming, London Freezing

2007-02-08T21:41:00.000Z

The Malaysian: You know what, despite the fact that we had 1.5 inches of snow today, it was rather warm compared with last week!

The Canadian: Yes, it was rather chilly wasn't it? Perhaps it was because it was terribly windy then. There wasn't much wind this time, was there?

The Chinese/Anglo: No I don't think so. But I definitely think that its a misconception to believe that it has to be very cold if its snowing.

All: *Cue various methods of agreeing*

The Canadian: Does it snow over at Shanghai?

The Chinese: Yes it does! In fact, when I was a little girl in Shanghai, we used to have all these snowball fights. But these days, we hardly have enough snow to throw around.

The Japanese: I agree, we don't get as much snow as we used to in Tokyo any more.

Strangely, the Finn was quiet. Maybe she's seen too much snow in her life.

-----------------------------

I just thought that I'd point this out: Some scientists believe that eventhough global warming is happening, there will be a phase where quite a few places will get chillier and deceive people that global warming is not happening (I cannot recall the source; I am afraid I read too much), but it was from a reputable enough source. After that, all hell breaks loose.

-----------------------------

In another incident, a friend in Switzerland exclaims that despite the fact that it was snowing in London, it was raining at hers.

-----------------------------

So, what does the snow do?

(^#)_)~@_£("%. Didn't quite bother trying to get to work because my usual route was suspended and the other alternative route is already overcrowded on a normal day. Let alone a day like this?

Snowed in

2007-02-08T07:03:00.000Z

Can I please get half a day? Or not go in for work? After all, the route I usually go in is plagued with both suspensions and severe delays...

5 million cheap tickets won't prevent me from saying goodbye to MAS

2007-01-31T19:04:00.000Z

Just a day after Malaysia Airlines announced the 5 million cheap seats (which if you ask me, is a good marketing strategy against AirAsia/ FAX disguised as a Visit Malaysia Year 2007 excuse), I received a certain mail.

It opens to reveal:

My flying reward card, and accompanying luggage tags. No, not with Malaysia Airlines. Malaysia Airlines never sent me mine since I asked for it a good couple of years ago, nor did they bother to attend to my complaints. This belongs to Emirates.

Yes, I have decided to ditch Malaysia Airlines. This despite actually liking the flight schedule; I could get a solid 8 hour sleep while on the night flight departing London, arriving in the afternoon in KL with no jet lag whatsoever. Same with the flight back.

Why, then? I basically wanted a change, and the cheaper tickets helped.
1) One could easily save a couple hundred pounds flying Emirates as compared with Malaysia Airlines. Couple hundred pounds = ~~a trip down to Armani / a massive boost to the camera fund~~ bank savings.

2) The ability to take a few days break at Dubai is immensely appealing, and as future posts will show, I did take full advantage of that facility. And the ability to purchase Middle Eastern and duty free goods!

3) Newer planes! Boeing 777s versus ageing 747-400s. More comfortable seats (the bottom of the seats actually move forward as you recline for a more natural posture), and a fantastic range of entertainment (oh dear, that's exactly the opposite of the idea of sleeping the distance, but yeah, some of the biggest movie hits, on demand!). So what if Malaysia Airlines is going to buy some Airbus A380s? Emirates is buying more!

4) Online check in from 12 hours before the actual flight. Want that coveted window seat? Or perhaps you fancy the seat near to the emergency exits? Its possible (subject to availability, of course)! And the check in line at the airports are so much shorter if you had completed the on line check in.

5) Better food than Malaysia Airlines, believe it or not. And we actually get menus (Malaysia Airlines stopped giving out menus a few years ago)!

6) The my-reward-card-never-showed-up reason. Enough said, I don't even want to think about it.

7) Bla bla bla....

p.s. Although to be fair, my first flight on Emirates on the LHR <-> KUL in a few years (I did it once a long, long time ago) was not without incident. Those of you who know me will recall that I fell sick a couple of days before the flight as well as the most miserable of coughs that kept me awake for the vast majority of the journey back to KL. Needless to say, this coupled with the resultant lack of sleep, resulted in a couple of incidents. You know who you are; you were busy so I didn't want to reschedule and inconvinience you. I'm sorry.

Home made tapai made easy

2007-01-25T19:28:00.000Z

Here's how to make tapai in several easy steps.

1. Cook rice as you normally would
2. Switch rice cooker off to prevent drying and to eliminate the chances of a fire
3. Leave for three days
4. Open, scoop up and eat*

* I bear no responsibility should any harm to your health come about as a result of this.

Kampachi @ Equatorial

2007-01-23T23:04:00.000Z

The following review concerns the Japanese restaurant Kampachi, located at Hotel Equatorial, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The little decoration in the middle of the table.

We went there for lunch and managed to get a quiet corner before the main working lunching crowd came out. The menu was decent, and soon enough our food came:

Mixed tempura. The selection provided here is intriguing: we even had a shiso leaf served as a tempura! The batter could have been lighter, on the other hand. 7/10

Salt grilled saba (mackerel). This was very well done and comes highly recommended. 8/10.

The sukiyaki. This was not bad, as always I could do with more noodles and beef. 7/10.

Culture Shock & Observations II

2007-01-22T22:26:00.000Z

This post documents the reverse culture shock that I have experienced during my trip back home to Malaysia.

In the UK, I would be doing the speed limit (70 miles an hour, roughly 112 km an hour) on the motorway, and I would be one of the slowest cars; elderly gentlemen would be overtaking with ease. In Malaysia, if I did the speed limit on the highway, I would be one of the fastest cars on the road. If there is something that MUST be done and hasn’t been implemented yet, it has to be a minimum speed limit for every driver. When I took my UK driving lessons, my instructor told me that anyone driving too slowly would be failed.

I’m sick and tired of roadblocks. I got caught in no less than 5 roadblocks during my brief trip home; one of them had the policeman stick his head in front of my face and engaging me in conversation in his vain attempt to smell the alcohol from my cocktail. The worst was around USJ where you had RELA members pretending to be cool and hiding behind trees. What did they catch there? Two secondary school students, who had changed their motorcycle cosmetically. All the roadblocks are useless and a waste of time and taxpayer money; they should be patrolling the streets instead.

To the ah beng who so casually crossed the road in front of my car, coolly sticking your hand out with your palm open, it was a pity you didn’t see me giving you the finger, or hear the Aussie at the back give a snigger. If I wasn’t feeling so benevolent, I would have stuck the pedal to the floor.

And fuck you to the asshole who was trying to cut into my lane at the traffic light. I realized that I should be heading on straight along the main road instead of waiting at the traffic light trying to turn right. So, when I tried to turn, I realized that you had conveniently parked your car to my side, trying to get in. I gave you a honk, and gestured at you to please move forward a little and cut in at the car in front. But you wouldn’t budge. So for 15 minutes I was there, pressing the horn for the majority of the time, but no, you were too brainless to move just a couple of meters in front so that my car could get on its way. You have no idea how much restraint I put myself into limiting my pissed-off-ness into just a barely-satisfying honk as I overtook your car when the traffic policeman finally allowed the cars to enter the turning. Ah, fuck you and your tudung buddies. Actually, fuck all of you who on purpose try to cut lanes at the last second.

And to the old Chinese uncle who conveniently climbed down from your lorry without looking back at the incoming traffic (i.e. my car, accelerating as it was squeezing between a parked car and said lorry, which was being unloaded, and almost hitting you as you climbed down), sigh. I was going to say something (more of letting off steam thanks to the queue-cutting idiots) as I lowered the window. But somehow I found myself at loss for words, and I merely shook my head and closed the window and moved on.

I still cannot fathom why people insist on wearing fading clothes (say, old Mickey Mouse t-shirt and shorts probably bought five years ago in some night market) in public. If that really is all you have to spare, fine. But, looking at the way they are groomed, it is obvious that many could (and definitely have) better clothes in the cupboard, but for some reason are not wearing them. Please, just dress a bit more better. And presentably, too. I would never ever dream of stepping into the streets of London wearing what you wear, and I bet you wouldn't either.

And please, please dress for the occasion. If it’s fine dining, then please at least go dressed in casual formal clothes. It should be made compulsory; well-used golf shirts don’t seem to quite fit in the bill. No, you don’t have to be decked in the latest Armani or Prada. There are many nice clothes available for much cheaper.

Speaking of designer goods, it seems that at every turn, I would inevitably spot a lady clutching either a LV or Gucci bag. God knows why anyone would choose either of those hideous bags, and it is probably beyond God himself as to why anyone would even bother to buy fakes of those eyesores. If you can’t afford it, get something cheaper, and nicer, instead of cheapening, and cheating, yourself. If you can, please go and choose something better. Don’t even get me started on the ah bengs and ah lians.

End of part 2. We’ll see if I can remember enough incidents to warrant a part 3....

Part 1 is here.

Update: I have appeared to ruffled the feathers of some anonymous people. Well, just for the record, there are still many things that I do miss about Malaysia. I just haven't blogged about them yet. Tsk tsk, jumping ahead of yourselves, aren't you. And rest assured, there are many things that I do not like about the UK, namely yob & hoodie culture, the perennial gloom that is the sky, the overcrowded trains/ Underground, etc etc. I will talk about them another day.

Back in London/ Wishlist

2007-01-18T22:05:00.000Z

Am back in London, for those of you who didn't already know beforehand. It was like a hurricane out there for the better part of the day; I decided to confine myself at home rather than risk having something fall onto me, as what happened at the West India Quay and London Bridge stations...

I finally got down to updating my wishlist after a very long time. Its not too late to contribute! Unlike some people, I am not superstitous when it comes to receiving gifts late, so feel free to bless me with your generosity...

Upcoming Food & Travel Posts

2007-01-17T18:54:00.000Z

A sneak preview of things to come:

I shall review the food at the Japanese establishment of Kampachi, located at the Hotel Equatorial, Kuala Lumpur.

Kampachi.

Not to mention sampling Tai Thong's latest offering, the Imperial China @ Subang.

It is not all expensive food though; I also sample various spots around the Klang Valley:

Also covered under travel will be:

The completion of the very brief travel logs in Bangkok.

Commencement of the Dubai travel entries. What would it entail? If all goes well:

I will take you to explore the world of Ski Dubai, perhaps the only place where skiing is a feasibility in the Middle East, as well as the Mall of the Emirates which is the biggest shopping mall outside of the US of A.

We will take a look at the Dubai Shopping Festival, where daily raffles of gold bars, Lexus luxury cars, private jets and the like are being held. Not to mention a sneak preview of Quidam, Cirque du Soleil's 6 week tour of Dubai being held at the Ibn Battuta mall.

Not all the sights and shopping are modern. We will visit the markets (or souks, as they call them) and haggle in the old district of Deira, go drifting in the dunes of the desert, buggy riding in the desert, and watching some belly dancing in the middle of the desert.

Quad-biking, anyone?

I also visit the Burj al-Arab, the so-called 7-star hotel (in reality it is really just a 5-star hotel). Does it live up to its hype? Review of this hotel, and more, to come. Stay tuned!

A crystal scale model of the Burj.

p.s. I reiterate: that's the plan, anyway. The usual posts about everyday life will still occur, at any rate.

Bangkok food, condensed 1

2007-01-17T12:09:00.000Z

Some random food pictures around Bangkok, part 1.

Random stall at the Suan Lum night bazaar.

Another stall at the same bazaar, where we ordered holy basil fried rice with beef. Very delicious, but we were full...

Stall in Chinatown

Another stall in Chinatown

A monk having his fill of food.

Economy rice.

(Raw!)crab salad

Deep-fried fish maw (I think) mango salad.

Tony Roma's review

2007-01-17T09:34:00.000Z

The following review concerns the Tony Roma's outlet located in Sunway Pyramid, Malaysia.

One of the 'things-to-do' on my list during the vacation back in Malaysia, most notably due to fond memories of enjoying the baby back pork ribs in Los Angeles once upon a time, I soon found my way there.

Mango and Strawberry Romarita. A frozen margarita made with mixing Jose Cuervo gold, Cointreau, mango and strawberries. 7/10.

Onion loaf. Really just a stack of onion rings, with dip in the middle. Very oily and soggy. A disappointing 3/10.

The burger. Don't know how it turned out (I'm not an authority on burgers), but I've seen bigger.

The supposed big selling point of this place - the ribs. Full rack of barbequed beef ribs, these were tender and came with four different types of barbeque sauces. RM6x. However, we felt that the ribs at Uncle Chilli's is better value. 7/10.

Overall verdict? Disappointing. Perhaps it was my fault of having a high expectation. I will not return unless I have to, or perhaps to another branch where I can actually find my baby back pork ribs. 5/10.

p.s. I also saw at least two Tony Roma's outlets in Dubai. No idea whether it is halal there or not, but knowing Dubai, I wouldn't be surprised if one could find pork ribs there.

Le Francais @ One Bangsar

2007-01-10T13:50:00.000Z

One Bangsar appears to be a row of restaurants (and bars), specialising in various cuisines, such as Japanese, Thai, French et al. This review concerns the French restaurant, called Le Francais, where E and I celebrated our upcoming birthdays.

The exterior of the restaurant.

A picture of the interior. The restaurant is able to hold 50 people. The menu should change every now and then, just as an upmarket restaurant should.

A bottle of Evian mineral water in fancy glass container (1.5L if I am not mistaken) goes for RM35. At right is the strawberry and mango tea (RM8), with the honey separate.

Here is the lime juice (RM8), with sugar water on the side, with the buns. May I say at this point that the butter is absolutely fantastic!!
Raw scallops with black truffle and some other stuff (RM52). This was a very light and delicate dish.

Roast lamb shank with roasted vegetables on top of a bed of pasta. (RM78)

Pan-fried rouget fillet coated with black olive paste on a bed of mashed potatoes, served with vegetables. The fish was too dry, but I found the olive paste intriguing. (RM72)

And oh, dessert! RM28. Steamed meringue floating on a sweet 'soup' (I can't remember what it was), with walnuts and caramel. I found this to be the most unique dish that we had that day; however the meringue on its own was pretty bland.

Pavilion KL - Better than Siam Paragon?

2007-01-08T09:59:00.000Z

Siam Paragon is perhaps the swankiest and most upmarket shopping mall in Bangkok. This is NOT the place to grab cheap bargains and imitation goods, for those please head to Chaktuchak or Suan Lum night bazaar.

The interior

Near the area where the more expensive eateries can be found (including a dedicated Chinese delicacy restaurant, Tony Romas (with pork ribs!!!), etc. Note that there is plenty of water flowing about.

A grand piano sits there as well.
Just two of the many. many designer names available. Definitely not the place to be if you are on a tight budget. Perhaps the cheapest you can get is Zara or MNG.

An aquarium in the food court! There is also a proper aquarium in the basement (ala Aquaria). The food court is also where 95% of the crowd was, no surprises there.

It was Christmas, obviously.

Will the soon-to-be-completed Pavilion KL be able to rival this place (and in so doing, trouncing KLCC, Starhill Gallery et al?). Some people certainly think so.

Bangkok condensed

2007-01-05T06:09:00.000Z

Did nothing much in Bangkok except to shop (i.e. shopping spree @ Zara [the real one, thank you very much]), with bits and pieces of sightseeing thrown in. Here are some random photographs.

Spires of the Emerald Temple, Wat Phra Kaew

Thank you, M, for taking the trouble to bring us around! Wish it could have been longer, but I'm glad that you're safe.

Exterior of the Central World Plaza, near where one of the bombs went off.

Someone please, please show these to Ken Livingstone and TfL. Its easily twice the width of the Underground trains!!!

Of course, a trip to Thailand wouldn't be complete without a massage, would it?

And lastly, one of me and M @ the Emerald temple ;)

My feet suffering from Christmas blues

2006-12-28T09:19:00.000Z

On Christmas Eve, I found myself attending the Christmas Service, and then found myself in Desa Hartamas in time for one of the biggest surprises (and not in a very nice way): Christmas Countdown. I must say that I have hardly ever felt so sick at the commercialisation of it, and I'll be damned if there is such a thing as an Easter countdown.

On Christmas Day, I found myself busy preparing for the Christmas lunch cum dinner, and entertaining the people who dropped by, before heading out at night. Thanks to all those who came!

The next day found me driving around Sunway in the afternoon, before driving to Klang at night for bak kut teh. Midnight found us sitting at Starbucks of Genting First World Resort, before driving back to Klang then home by 3 in the morning.

The day after Boxing Day saw me driving to and fro from Malacca, as well as getting lost around the Government buildings/ mosque along Jalan Duta at 1am, thanks to the construction works. The bottoms of my feet were actually twitching (spasm-ing?) involuntarily by this time.

On the 28th, I actually fell asleep during take off, and to think that I was sitting right next to the engine? And now its time to look around Bangkok and to possibly meet up with friends with a couple more of full days to go *grimaces*. Quite frankly, I'm not expecting to get much rest until next year.

Update: Dodged the bombs in Bangkok, leaving before the first of them struck. To think that I would probably have been loafing near where one of them went off (Central World Plaza) had the stay been extended into the New Year.

Thank you, M, for taking the trouble to bring us around! Wish it could have been longer, but I'm glad that you're safe.

Culture Shock and Observations

2006-12-23T17:48:00.000Z

I confess that somehow I am feeling rather tired and bored of shopping malls; they seem to not have the allure (for lack of a better word) that they used to have. Perhaps it is because I am used to the lack of malls in London (or the UK, really). Cannot stop reminding to myself how Pyramid (rather, the whole concept of Sunway Resort) is modelled after Sun City in South Africa, or that Times Square has a building which is rather similar (in fact, I dare say a carbon copy) of some building in Bishopsgate St, London.

That Bangsar Telawi is... dead. Perhaps it was because its the Christmas weekend? And that Mont Kiara had changed a lot, too. The German restaurant appears to have shut down, and so has the Gloria Jeans coffee (which I liked rather a lot). Avenue K is still as empty as ever. Time Square seems to have evolved into a copy of Sungai Wang, except that it is a lot more cleaner (newer is the better word) and more spacious (with still too many empty stores).

Tony Roma’s appears interesting, although the idea that I cannot sample their baby rack ribs which I last had a good few years ago in Los Angeles irks me.

That there are more (or at least, that is what I think) Indian and Malay La-la Chais and La-la Muis than ever before. Who said that the ethnic groups are segregated?

Laundry is a disappointment. I don't know why, but I was expecting something... themed. Not just a lot of chairs and tables scattered about with a clubbing atmosphere inside. No, I was thinking something with lots of whitewashed cloth, or quirky fabrics hanging all about. And thus was disappointed and lost the mood to club; instead quickly made way to Winter Warmer (or however you call it) for a refreshing ice blended tea.

Hyper levels of inflation. My plate of seafood egg noodles (wa tan hor) at a typical Chinese hawker stall came up to RM5. Unbelievable! Or wait, my plate of nasi biriyani with deer meat, which came up to a princely RM14. No, something is NOT right somewhere.

Malaysian drivers (and Malaysian road systems and signages) are just as bad as ever. Was forced to emergency brake today when a car going at no faster than 30km/h tried to switch into my lane where I was doing three times that speed, with probably less than 100 metres to spare. Not to mention the many assholes who haven't discovered the signal lights. Or to mention the people who suddenly shoot out of their parking lots, and shoot your dirty, furious stares should you dare honk at their imperial majesties.

And oh, the joys of actually realising after reading the signboards that oh no, it is too late, you are in the bloody wrong lane and there is no way of turning left because you picked to go right before the wording on the signboard because sufficiently big enough to read. And getting lost for a good amount of time thanks to that.

More culture shocks and rants to follow in the new year... Merry Christmas everyone! Feliz Navidad!

Solicit

2006-12-22T02:21:00.000Z

Somebody not too far behind me called out something incomprehensible. Thinking it was someone trying to call a friend of hers, I naturally ignored her and continue walking.

The voice came again, only much louder; it was as if someone was trying to catch up with me. And fast. The word(s?) being uttered still made no sense to me. Perhaps it was the afternoon sun. Perhaps it was because the words were coming from behind me. Perhaps... I don't know. Whatever it was, I didn't find a need to slow down. Especially not when I was running late.

The voice finally came from right next to me. 'Hello, Sir! Where are you from!?' I heard. Without breaking stride, I glanced back. A rather unremarkable woman was right behind me, giving me me a smile, with a friend of hers (judging by their similarities in clothing and racial appearance) trailing by some tens of metres behind. She must have literally jogged up to me (I couldn't imagine either of them running). I merely shook my head and shrugged her off, quickening my pace.

After some distance, I glanced back. The two of them had regrouped and changed direction. A brief thought ran through my mind; I should have entertained them for a couple of minutes!! However, the thought quickly banished itself to the rear of my mind as I reached my destination.

Ringgit wise, Pound foolish

2006-12-17T07:11:00.000Z

'Hmm.. one ringgit..' I fumbled and fished out for my wallet and took out a golden coin, slipping it into the ticketing machine.

It fell right through to the change compartment. I tried again, repeating the same results.

'Did you insert the correct coin?' the delightful and lovely young lady next to me helpfully suggested.

I retrieved the coin and looked. Oops. Queen Elizabeth's side profile of a one pound coin was glaring at me.

'Oh dear,' I mumbled, showing her the coin. 'Do we have enough change?'

We decided we didn't have at that moment, so I ejected the ticket from the machine and we stood to side to resolve the problem.

-------
It was only much later that I found out that the RM1 coin had been phased out. Last time I was around, the RM1 was still in transition. So, Laynie, I am excused (Jetlag would have exempted me anyway!) from that little episode in 1U the other day! And no, contrary to opinion, I only fell asleep in Eragon for a few minutes!

-------
You know what this means. Those of you who know me personally, come look for me! I will be around for a limited time. Sorry if I had kept most of you in the dark; its supposed to be a surprise visit after all. If you don't know me and wonder who I am, well, you're welcome to find out who I am.

Overpriced latte

2006-12-15T01:14:00.000Z

'Do you accept British pounds?' I asked. I got a polite nod.

'Great, I'd like the tiramisu latte, please'

'22, sir', the Filipino mentioned to me as she rang up the order.

I ruffled through my wallet and fished out a fiver. And got back... one pound.

'Isn't the exchange rate supposed to be 7 to 1?'

'No sir, its 6 to 1'

'But I just checked the forex rates a few minutes ago!'

'Sorry sir, but in here its 6 to 1'

*Shakes head, takes change and sits down, firing laptop up while awaiting the drink*

Christmas Wagyu

2006-12-11T22:21:00.000Z

Its that time of year again! And for this year's treat:

Unwrapped to reveal the whole steak

I decided that I wasn't going to ruin my entire experience; hence I cut the steak into smaller bite sized chunks, fired the wok to low, and grilled the beef lightly (basically, having it raw)

Related post:
Kobe beef @ Hanabi http://perplexed-peace.blogspot.com/2005/09/restaurant-hanabi.html

Samsung 103" Plasma

2006-12-08T01:59:00.000Z

Want your own cinema? Look no further than this plasma monstrosity:

Photograph taken at John Lewis, Oxford St branch, London.

Samsung's tribute to excess a snip at only 50,000GBP. Bigger than your 2-seat sofa! Add in the Bang & Olufsen BeoLab 5 for another GBP30,000 for some awesome sound. Don't forget to sell off your typical Petaling Jaya house and more in order to be able to afford (but oops, if you have no house where are you going to put these?!). One problem: with a three month waiting list, it won't in time for Christmas/ Chinese New Year. Oops.

The first rule(s) of scams & cons

2006-12-04T12:41:00.000Z

I believe these two quotes more or less encompass the concepts of scamming and con:

'Find someone who wants something for nothing, then give him nothing for something'

'You cannot cheat an honest man'

-Quotes taken from Hustle

Want to avoid being cheated by Nigerian scams? Or scratch-card scammers? Or opportunities to make insane amounts of cash for nothing (Really, a concept that isn't alien to the beneficiaries of the rubbish that is the NEP)? I think those two quotes provide plenty of hidden meaning, although I don't really agree with the second quote (I think it should be more of, 'You cannot cheat an informed, honest man').

Flossed my filling out

2006-11-21T00:55:00.000Z

Hmm.. just a little bit harder, I told myself. There's still something stuck there.

Aha, got it! *Tugs on dental floss to dislodge offending article*

Recoils in horror as reality sinks in, that a tooth filling had come off, leaving a visible hole.

Oh shit. Can it wait a month more? Would I find myself unable to sleep because of some excruciating pain in a week or so, and have to bear several nights of discomfort while I have to wait for an appointment? Already I think that I'm feeling something, but I think it is nothing more than psychologically imagined pain. I wonder if the NHS still remembers me; I registered for the dentist a few years ago at a distant practise, but never went. No, not because I have immaculate teeth that have needed no attention for that long (how I wish!), but because I did my check ups back in Malaysia over the summers.

Oh dear oh dear. To sleep for now, though. Work beckons in the morning. For some weird reason a highly inappropriate song just popped into my head. Gah.

-----------------
Weird Al Yankovic - Cavity Search Lyrics (Selected Portions)

Listen to the Muzak
Hearin' people scream
Sittin' in the waiting room
Readin' crappy magazines
With a toothache
This is it, pal
Root Canal

My molars are impacted
I'm gettin' gum disease
I'm gonna need some fillings
Got twelve cavities
Can you help me
Have mercy
Doctor, please

My teeth are a fright
Got a huge overbite
Numb me, drill me
Floss me, bill me

You jab at my nerve endings
It's driving me insane
Just give me nitrous oxide
Shoot me up with novocaine
Help me out here'
Cause I'm so severe
Pain

Please stop for a bit
Let me rinse and spit
Numb me, drill me
Floss me, bill me

Hot Salt Beef Beigel

2006-11-18T01:28:00.000Z

Hidden away in small corner of London is arguably one of the best (and very well priced!) hot salt beef beigels in the world. Beigel is an alternative (Hebrew?) word to bagel, and given that the shop is located in what used to be a heavily Jewish location, no surprises there.

There are two shops which serve this particular dish and they are almost next to each other. The one on the left claims to be older and better, but everyone seems to be heading next door.

The first. But not necessarily the best?

This is what you want. Yes, its open 24 hours 7 days a week, except for certain holidays if I am not mistaken. This place is kosher.

I tried some of their pastries and they are not bad, and cheap too!

A member of staff carving my hot salt beef ~~beigel~~ sandwich.

I was hungry, the sandwich was twice as big as the beigel and at £2.90, only 60p extra! The bread is of course, inferior to the beigel.

Immensely satisfying on an autumn's day, with slices of pickled gherkins and sharp pungent mustard to go with it. Not to mention the generous hunks of meat that you get in comparison to the pathetic 1mm thick 'salt beef' that you get at most places. And two times bigger than the salt beef sandwich at Selfridges (where the equivalent size goes for almost £13). A must try if you are around Square Mile.

Warning: The surrounding areas has nuances of Camden Town, if you get what I mean.

Beigel Bake Brick Lane Bakery (Jewish 'cuisine')
159 Brick Lane
Central London
Nearest Underground: Liverpool St station.

p.s. By the way, if you ever happen to exit the Liverpool St station along Bishopsgate Road and take a look at the building right next to the station, I am sure many Malaysians will find the building disturbingly similar to something in the Klang Valley.

Sorry, my mobile phone's focal range is not wide enough. Still not familiar? Hint: It is a fairly recent building in Malaysia. Or right click on the picture to obtain a second hint.

One plus one equals three

2006-11-15T13:11:00.000Z

'Could I have a whole chicken, but could you trim it into half for me, please.'
'I can't do that'
'I'm sorry?'
'If I do that, I would have to charge you for two halves, instead of a whole chicken.' That would be, I don't know, 70 pence extra?

I frowned. 'Really,' I replied, flatly.
'I'm afraid so'
'Well, I'm still buying a whole chicken, I don't see anything wrong with cutting it into half'.
'I can't do that'
'Fine, give me a whole chicken instead.' I was extremely annoyed. I had been buying the roast chicken on and off for the past year or so and never faced this rubbish before. 'Is this recent?'
She muttered something that vaguely sounded like yes.

The next time I was there, the counter was staffed by different people.
'Could I have a whole roast chicken, and could you please trim it into two halves for me?'
I got two halves, as requested. And charged for a whole chicken, not two halves.

24 Season 5

2006-11-09T10:17:00.000Z

I'll probably not be blogging much over the next week or so. Okay, I know I haven't been blogging much the past month or so either, but I've been extremely busy.

My latest excuse?

Image borrowed from Amazon.co.uk (because I'm blogging from work and I haven't taken a picture of the actual DVD boxset that I have at home) .

I'm tempted to take a couple day's leave suddenly.

Guy Fawkes 2006

2006-11-05T13:38:00.000Z

How did you spend Guy Fawkes?

I spent the evening taking pictures at Battersea, along the Chelsea Embankment. We were feeling cheap so we did not pay the £5 to enter the park (thus missing on the bonfire and some of the fireworks), but nevertheless it was a nice evening and less cold than it was last year at Waterloo.

What's with the Picture? RM12 for Kookai?

2006-11-04T09:58:00.000Z

I'm just a bit bored, so here's some visual trivia:

Picture taken at the foot of Montmatre, Paris.

What's wrong with the picture? Sorry ladies, I know that the thought of getting a piece of Kookai clothing for RM12 must be getting you all wet, but there's something else even more scandalous to the picture!

Where is the KFC

2006-11-02T11:40:00.000Z

'Right, where will we be going for lunch later?'
'KFC, is that alright?'
'Of course it is, which branch? The one at Marble Arch?'
'Nah, that's way too far'
'There's always the bus'
'Thing is, we need to withdraw some cash first. We'll then be walking to the KFC past Oxford Circus'
'The one inside the small shopping plaza?'
'Errr, no, its by the road' *Blank look*
'Okay, don't worry, I'll be there later', I replied, with a tiny frown as I tried to recall seeing a KFC in that direction.

Later:

'Heya, where are you all?' I was walking as fast as my formal shoes would allow me.
'Just about to start tucking into the chicken'
'Right, because I don't quite see any KFC anywhere near the bank. Just a McD's '
'It should be there, maybe a minute or so further up'

I walked on and continued to look around me, and I passed the Plaza. I thought to myself: This has to be it. There is no bloody KFC store along the road.

'Right, I'm at the KFC. But I don't see you'
'Hang on, I'm coming upstairs from the lounge'

'Lounge? There's no lounge here,' I commented as I looked around the food court setting, and feeling the bottom of my feet burning from all that walking. 'I... don't think we're quite at the same place, are we?'

'Oh crap, we're at the Marble Arch branch! Oh no....'
-__- 'Just you wait....!'

A Hollow Halloween

2006-10-31T19:59:00.000Z

*Knock knock*

I froze for a minute, then asked my housemate who was sitting in the living room a question.

'Is it me or did I hear a knock?'
'Yes you did'

I felt bad. I had always wanted to participate in Halloween since I was little, but over the past few years I had been living either in university accommodation, or in house shares. Those people tend to use Halloween as an excuse to dress up fancily and to get drunk.

This time, I was living in a housing estate with children about. A kid (or a bunch of them) was probably outside in a cute little cloak pretending to be a vampire or an assortment of various characters, holding a water pistol ready to squirt.

I really should have remembered to drop by the supermarket on the way home to purchase a couple of packets of chocolate and candy. But too late, because the supermarkets/ local stores were nowhere nearby.

Instead, I switched the kitchen light off, and closed the door to the living room, giving the illusion that no one was home so that no one would come knocking hoping for candy that was never there in the first place, and got back to work.

Congratulations, Shi!

2006-10-24T18:26:00.000Z

Shi, a close friend of mine, broke news to me that her boyfriend proposed to her over the weekend. Congratulations! You're the first close friend of mine that I know of who is getting married, I can't believe that you're already 2X! We are growing old! :(

But let not that thought detract us from the happiness of that news, I am very happy that your long distance relationship has worked out, and that the rocky patches have smoothed themselves out :) Not to mention that I am honoured to be the first person outside your immediate family to hear of this most wonderful news!

Pimp me a Supercar ride/ Office blues

2006-10-23T15:54:00.000Z

This can only happen in London, bless:

A: Did you know what happened earlier when we were on the way to get lunch? A guy in a Lamborghini slowed down next to us and asked us if we wanted a ride! *Giggle*
C: Really! Goodness! How exciting!
Me: I'm still waiting for the day when a girl in an SLR slows down next to me and asks me if I want a ride! Or in any supercar, for that matter.
A,B&C: Awwww...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

This can happen in any bloody office, curse:

Printer jammed and not working for random reasons.
Network system goes down for a whole day and not much work can be done.
Minutes of boredom as the in tray is empty, and just when you're wondering what to do, several assignments suddenly arrive that will keep you occupied for the rest of the day.

One of the most important lessons so far?
The corporate environment in the Western World is flat. No psychotic bosses yelling at any one, and everyone respects each other. Whether they possess a mere O level qualification or whether they have Masters degrees, or whether they're a director or whether they're the postal staff or receptionist. No hierarchy whatsoever which gives anyone the 'right' to yell at anyone or to be bossy over another.

Terminology headache

2006-10-19T23:23:00.000Z

Hedge funds. Derivatives. Emerging markets. CAPM. Foreign exchange. Trading. Mergers and Acquisitions. Futures. Warrants. Equity. Zero coupon. FCF. Fixed Income. Short selling. Debt Capital. Options. Leverage. Security. T-bills. Corporate finance. Writing. Pension fund. Trading. WACC. Commodities. Shares. Investment banking. Instruments. Underwriting. Standard derivation. Wealth management. IPO. Inflation. Speculation. Spread. Beta values. Tax shield. Research. Prime Services. Mutual fund. Swaps. Par value (HA!). Market value. Restructuring. Ratings. Preferred stock. Portfolio. Massive pounding headache. Need sleep.

The Godfather

2006-10-18T22:38:00.000Z

If you haven't already, go and watch the Coppola films now! They are absolutely brilliant. At the very least, the first two films. The third film rather pales in comparison with the other two, but its all over 10 hours of cinematic goodness, and priced cheaper than most of the TV series of comparable screen time.

So, how did I get involved in watching these? I've always heard from people who have watched it rave about it ('I'll make him an offer that he can't refuse!' probably being the most quoted line), but I never really gave it a thought. Perhaps it was partially down to my (now vanished) naiviety that old films would pale against more modern films. Such, the modern special effects are something missing from the old films, but eye candy doesn't make a movie. Okay, I'm not going to do a full review or whatever because I don't have time and there are so many well written reviews already out there.

But something I thoroughly enjoyed was the music used in the movies. The haunting and unique music just somehow complemented each other perfectly. The only other instrument besides the trumpet used for the movie openings to which I find equally 'spine tinglingly mournful' (for lack of a better word) was the Norse string instrument used in the Rohan theme song for Lord of the Rings. But there's one problem: The few English songs in the movie just don't fit at all. If you ask me, they should never have been there!

Since then I've also watched 'the Bridge over the River Kwai', with plans to obtain Ben Hur, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Citizen Kane, Lawrence of Arabia and some of the other classics. Interestingly, in the same vein, my taste in music has also gone back a couple of decades. I think I'm getting old. Ah well, not to worry until I get some more positive cash flow, whenever that is.

Seriously, if you haven't watched the films yet, please do. And please buy the originals because they really are that good.

P.S. Question for those familiar with the Godfather (Spoiler Alert!)

If anyone is familiar with the music used in the Godfather, I'm trying to find the song which was played by Anthony to his father Michael (resulting in flashbacks to Appalonia). Its such a beautiful song (my only clues are that its a Sicilian love song and that the instrumental version is also the love theme for the Godfather). Please do let me know if you know! Thank you.

What free newspapers are good for

2006-10-12T19:47:00.000Z

I'm sure many of you in London have seen the many people along the streets, giving away copies of the free evening papers London Lite (LL) and thelondonpaper (tlp), which join the more nationally available morning paper, the Metro. If you've been to the City, there are copies of the City A.M., which is more of a light business read. And that's not counting the newspaper that your council delivers to your home for free every fortnight or so (well, not really, that's why you have council tax). Goodness knows what other papers are available out there.

More pests than do-gooders, its not uncommon to see the people trafficking the LL and tlp literally shoving the newspapers into your face. And with the Evening Standard's prices increasing 25%, that doesn't help either.

They're light reads and suitable for reading on the Underground, as long as its not rush hour and everyone is crammed like sardines in a tin can. Most of the time people leave them in the bus or on the Underground.

Yet another of the free newspapers. Hmmm.. what do we do?

Here's how I reuse my copies, recycling and leaving them on the Underground aside:

Back to business

2006-10-04T21:10:00.000Z

*Work is awesome (so far). How time flies indeed! The only drawback is the need to sleep early, otherwise more likely than not, one would fall asleep at the desk after lunch. Of course, this leaves me not much time in the evening to deal with everything else. This means the need to be selective. Why should I bother with certain issues when I have so much better things to do, actual intellectual stuff to do, with my limited time? Sorry, but with all the legal and finance stuff I am absorbing, I don't have a nanosecond to spare for kiddie play. And please, don't flatter yourself into thinking that kiddie issues are even worth a personal insult.

Back to business.

Plasters and Cards

2006-10-02T18:46:00.000Z

So, what did I get today?

Besides the usuals, I picked up a couple of other items:

My access card attached to a clip with a retractable thread, a record card of my monthly Underground pass (no more forgetting to swipe at the DLR yay!), and the rear of the Oyster card. More than double my usual monthly travel expenditure, sigh. And oh, some plasters as well. Why plasters, you ask?

Bah. I thought my shoes wouldn't need much breaking into, but was I wrong. I think I might need to do as many other people here do (wear trainers while on transit, change into formals at work), but my shoes were supposed to free me of that problem. We'll see next week.

Disclaimer: If you are squeamish, just hit page down and skip the next picture

At least the cut wasn't as bad as the previous pair of shoes. My heels actually bled, my socks were soaked in my blood, and the shops were not open because it was late....

Oreos from Selfridges

2006-09-30T00:51:00.000Z

Oreos have been very hard to find here. The only place I have seen it being sold is at Selfridges & Co, but unfortunately, it is rather expensive. My cravings for it finally convinced me to shell out over 10 pounds (more likely to be over 11 pounds actually, but I misplaced the receipt, oops).

The biscuits at left (GBP5.xx), and the cereal with marshmallowy bits, something I don't recall seeing back in Malaysia, at right (GBP6.xx). At conversion rates, that would be approximately RM80. For comparison, a pack of 'normal' biscuits of that size would cost less then GBP3, and
cereal around GBP2.

I just wish they had the version with more cream inside...

Jack of all trades...

2006-09-27T01:20:00.000Z

But! A Master in (EnterRandomDegreeTitle).

Work starts Monday. I now have a rough idea of what I want to do for the future. Whether I will get satisfaction, or even manage to enter that field, remains to be seen. I don't know whether the fact that I'm not required to wear a tie and a suit is a good thing or a bad thing. I'd love to dress up for work (if I'm not too tired) and blend in with the City folk, but ah well. At least I get to save some money buying a second suit.

Need to interpret the word 'casual' in casual Fridays carefully. Can I turn up in sandals, bermudas and a T-shirt? That would be amusing, if not for the fact that its starting to get cold...

(Yes Elaine, I got my Internet connection 48 hours earlier than I thought..)

Chocolate noodles and more (Magyar cuisine)

2006-09-22T23:00:00.000Z

A big on-going problem right now is the protests taking place in Budapest, Hungary. Shame, because Budapest is a fine city. Not as magnificant as Prague, but there you go. Let me distract you from the troubles there and show you some of the food on offer (a previous post which included the delicious dessert somlo, goose liver and catfish can be found here).

One of the restaurants we went to had the most incredible interior. You would not have believed it to be a restaurant indeed.

The interior of Restaurant Whachamacallit. I can't remember right now; in fact I got it confused with the Kolkovna Bar & Restaurant in Prague, which serves excellent pub food. Will look it up later.

There was also a section where you could have gypsies play songs for you. So what did we have here?

First up was beef goulash (a thick soup), served with egg pasta.

We grew tired of this dish after encountering it almost everywhere.

Next was lamb leg with plum sauce and served with polenta and vine leaves. This was simply spectacular.

Tasted just as delicious as it looks!

We also had even more goose liver topped steak at one of the tourist traps.

Overpriced, and a tiny portion. Gah.

We also had schitznel.

Okay so it really is more of Austrian food than Hungarian.

And some grilled pork.

Yes, that's a huge piece of lard used to decorate the shockingly oily dish. No, I did not eat the fat.

And oh, for those of you who like desserts:

Chocolate noodles!

KFC Spicy Chicken @ UK & Coup d'etat

2006-09-19T17:34:00.000Z

Seeing the advertisements for the Spicy Zinger the past couple of weeks has been making my mouth water. After so long of waiting (okay, I never even thought it would ever come),I was concerned about the potential level of spiciness because something that I would rate as rather mild would be a tastebud minefield for the Brits.

So, I dragged SK along into a KFC.

'Colonel meal, spicy please'

'Umm excuse me, can I have the drumstick and thigh instead?' I ask when the lady picks out the measly bone piece of breast meat. I'd rather have the drumstick over that anyday.

So how was it? Pretty good actually. I could taste some of the spiciness, which is good although it could be better. It was almost exactly as it would be in Malaysia. Ahh :)

Meanwhile, SK was busy on the phone, and she had a troubled expression.

'Hmm?' I gestured at her as she was done.
'There's some problem in Thailand. Something just happened...'
'Oh.. what was it?' My mind thought about the recent incident at Hat Yai.
'Something to do with the Prime Minister. He's in the US now. I don't know what you call it..'
'Uprising?'
'I think so... the military is also involved.'
'Ahh.. coup d'etat!'
'I heard that the army had blocked the media as well and there is not much information...'

Fortunately, SK's family is doing well. They were sleeping and didn't even know what had happened.