Month: October 2004

Bernice has left the building…

by

bernice bye

Bernice has decided to pursue a different career path and she will
be going to KL to work as a branch manager in a different field. She
has left Huygens Asia on her own accord and will be flying over to KL
to start on her new job soon. She told me about the offer – she’ll be
pulling in a paycheck that’s bigger than mine. :p

I have learned a lot from her about marketing and working life in
general…she’s intelligent and experienced – I still have a lot to
learn from her and I appreciate the invaluable business knowledge that
she has imparted to me. I lack a lot of smarts in that division. I
reckon you can learn from anyone if you keep an open mind and you’re
willing to learn.

All the best, Bernice! Take care and good luck…you will be missed. 🙂

Tadas from Coca-Cola, Japan

by

tadas coke

Tadas is one of Coca-Cola (Japan) product lines. The Japanese
Coca-Cola seems to have a larger portfolio of drinks and they’re nicely
packaged in a very unique 300 ml aluminum bottle for RM 6.99 each. It
seems that this novel aluminum bottle is common in Japan, as they are
other offerings in the same form factor, all by the Coke drinks line.

tadas cap coke

Tadas is one of them, and there are others in the same packaging as
well, like the Fanta! Grape drink and one mineral water (Aquarius –
also in the aluminum bottle form factor), amongst other things. I found
this Japanese import to be very appealing, due to the all aluminum
bottle (not can, bottle) casing.

tadas drink coke

It contains 300 ml of liquid instead of the usual 325 ml in a can.
Tadas tastes like what an isotonic (otherwise known as sports) drink
tastes like – nothing special, it’s slightly bubbly and thirst
quenching. It’s just the intriguing aluminum bottle form factor that
got me – interesting Japanese import for RM 6.99.

Magenta, Kuching

by

magenta door

Magenta is the premier restaurant in Kuching, nestled in a private
alcove off a little side street. This eating establishment has been in
operation for about a year, and it has a reputation for fine dining.

magenta entrance

The private car park leads up to a cozy wooden structure, all very
nicely decorated in a subtle yet elegant manner, nothing loud or
vociferous here.

magenta

Subtlety is the key in Magenta. Elegance and subtlety.

magenta buddha

The ambience inside is very warm, with ample space between the
various seating arrangements and a waiter waiting to greet you at the
door. Excellent service all the way, I was very impressed.

magenta ambience

The other thing I like is that Magenta does not pack the area with
tables and chairs for maximum profit like other eating establishments
out there, but leaves ample room between tables. The decor is nicely
done too…it exudes a feeling of warm appreciation.

magenta mango beer

I had a mango smoothie which was very thick and they don’t skimp on
the fruits. We also had several rounds of this foreign beer I can’t
remember. It’s RM 15 but the beer really pampers your taste buds with
after notes of honey.

magenta prawn tail
Spit-roasted Soy-marinated Prawn Tail on roasted Red Pepper & Garlic Coulis (RM 20)

This is the starter dish that we shared. Actually, we just ate from
everyone’s plate so that we could try everything. The prawn tail is
good, but it’s nothing to write home about.

magenta linguini
Linguine with Seafood in a White Wine sauce with Garlic, Chilli and Cilantro (RM 26)

The linguine is one of our mains – it’s excellent, the pasta is done
al dente, with generous portions of mussels, squid, cuttlefish and
prawns. The dish is sprinkled with oregano, a nice touch and what seems
to be the signature of the chef here.

magenta orecchiette
Orecchiette with Tomatoes, Prawns and Parmesan Cheese (RM 25)

This Puglian pasta dish looks simple, but it tastes very good. It
has a nice home-cooked Italian flavor and the sauce and grated Parmesan
cheese works very well with it. Jesus, I’m starting to get pretentious
in my food reviews. 😉

magenta duck leg
Duck Leg Confit & Shredded Duck Breast with Honey Wine Jus and Creamy Tagliatelle Pasta (RM 46)

This duck leg confit is recommended by the chef…and I was
certainly not disappointed. It’s a great main course, the duck is
cooked well and retains its natural flavors. The duck leg portion is
generous too and it does not have the rubbery texture of badly done
duck. Highly recommended!

magenta us

Magenta is a great place for fine dining and the food is great. The
chef comes out at times to speak with the patrons and the service is
excellent – right from the start where the waiter unfolds the serviette
for you to the generous allowance they provide the patrons (we were
rather boisterous). The bill came up to RM 200+ and it’s well worth it
for a place of this magnitude. Magenta gets two thumbs up from me – I
haven’t seen a better fine dining place in Kuching.

Fu Yu Kopi Shop

by

fu yu kopi shop

This is Fu Yu Kopi Shop at Sekama. It has a larger variety of dim sum and is famed for its fried prawn kolo mee.

fy balcony

The place has a wooden balcony type extension, that’s the best
seating arrangements for a breakfast…it’s nice, you can see the
bustling morning activity around you.

fy 99 ds

This is 99 Dim Sum, one of the stalls in Fu Yu Kopi Shop. The
proprietor is a friendly woman who has a large repertoire of dim sum
dishes…

fy 99 offerings

…as you can see here. The dim sums here are mostly one off i.e.
one of a kind, so when that dish is gone, it’s gone for the day.

fy dim sum

I think we ordered five dishes but she forgot about one of
them…either that, or the one that we chose was out. There’s also
chili sauce provided, which goes well with some dim sums.

fy chicken bits

This is chicken bits in Thai chili sauce. It’s very nice and flavorful, with the chicken meat flavor infused through broiling.

fy siu mai ds

Here’s a variant of siu mai which doesn’t contain pork, but a
conglomeration of other ingredients. It has mystery meat and other
fillers.

fy fish ds

This is a fish based dim sum wrapped in seaweed strips. It’s basically a large fish oblong.

fy stuffed ds

I thought this was har kau, but it’s not. It’s a mostly vegetable
based dim sum…in fact, I didn’t think I tasted any meat in there.

fy prawn kolo

Here’s the dish this place is famous for – prawn fried kolo mee. It
has two prawn fried batter pieces on top, but otherwise, it’s a normal
kolo mee. The fried prawn mini fillets were good though.

It’s a good place to have breakfast, with the al fresco (this term
should be banned in Malaysian food reviews, since most of our dining
establishments are al fresco by nature) balcony and the hustle and
bustle of the Sekama district.

DXM tablets – Cofdex 30 mg dextromethorphan

by

cofdex dxm bottle

This is a bottle of 1000 Cofdex tablets. It contains 30 mg of
dextromethorphan (DXM) per tablet and is mainly used as a cough
suppressant. However, DXM has a cult following due to its remarkable
NMDA antagonist effects. It’s used recreationally by people who like
psychedelics or just a good old mind fuck. I would describe the
experience as a cross between ketamine (another NMDA antagonist) and
acid (LSD). I usually take 20 tablets but you need to calculate your
body weight to know what dose will push you to the trippy third plateau.

The interesting aspect of DXM is that it brings you to different
plateaus, with each one giving you a different experience, depending on
the dosage (which is calculated by body weight). I’m about 56 kg so 600
mg would put me to the third plateau, which is the one I always aim
for. I didn’t like DXM the first time I tried it, I thought it didn’t
give me much effects. The same goes for the second time. However, it
put me into a very heavy trip the third time, where you can see my thought process on DXM [sixthseal.com]. That post was written under the influence of DXM. It’s a real mind fuck.

It’s hard to obtain Robitussin DX here and pure DXM tablets are hard
to find too. You do not want antihistamines or pseudoephedrine in your
dose if you’re aiming for a high plateau. I was surprised to find that
my pharmacy friend has a bottle of it and I got it off him for RM 150.
We didn’t count the tablets; I just offered him that price by looking
at the remainders. It turned out to be more than 300 tablets. I take
DXM occasionally when I want to learn something or just trip.

cofdex dxm

The trick to getting effects from DXM is to fast (don’t eat
anything) for at least 18 hours beforehand and then dump the whole load
at once. Otherwise, it’ll just give you a slight puzzling drunken
feeling, and not a full out trip. This one need an empty stomach for it
to “work” and you need to “hold it down” i.e. not throw up. 😉 I only
learned that during the third time I tried it.

DXM is not commonly available in Malaysia – the cough suppressant of
choice is codeine, but if you see DXM HBr (without other active
ingredients) and you like ketamine, it feels something like that – with
less euphoria and more mind fuck. 🙂

Fock Hai Tim Sam Cafe

by

fock hai tim sum cafe

Fock Hai Tim Sam Cafe has been a permanent fixture of Jalan Padungan
for over 10 years. It first opened its doors a decade ago and has been
serving basic dim sum ever since.

fock hai offerings

This is a really old skool dim sum establishment, what they’ll call
a tea house back in the days. They have a very limited array of dim sum
dishes, just the basics, plus several varieties of paus.

fock hai sio bee

We ordered some sio bee (pork filling in a paper thin wrapping). It tasted alright, but it’s not the best I’ve ever had…

fock hai har kau

Their har kau (prawn filling with translucent wrapping) is on a
whole other level though. It’s really good! I’ve never had such good
har kau outside expensive specialized dim sum establishments. Highly
recommended!

fock hai lmk

This is another staple of dim sum breakfasts – lo mai kai. It’s a
rice based dim sum, with meat at the bottom, steamed in fully wrapped
foil to infuse the rice with the meat flavors.

fock hai lmk macro

This place serves good lo mai kai but there’s a pet peeve of mine
that manifests itself here…they don’t fully de-bone the chicken, so
you have to spit out bits of bone…

fock hai bfast

Nevertheless, it’s a good place for a quick breakfast if you work
somewhere in Jalan Padungan…which would comprise of a sizable amount
of Kuching people, since it’s in the heart of town. 🙂

“I don’t want to feel” – videos of me cutting myself

by

cutting myself last nite

I was feeling particularly depressed last night and thought it would
be interesting to use a balisong (butterfly knife) to do some
self-inflicted wounds. Okay, it wasn’t coz it was interesting, it was
coz I was feeling down. :p I didn’t “feel” anything, everything is so
routine, so numb, so meaningless, and I am so fragile, so replaceable,
so useless.

cutting myself knife nite

Well, I punched the wall in frustration and I liked that. It made me
“feel”. I didn’t feel the pain much so I thought I’ll cut myself. Two
cuts, like an X, with my el cheapo balisong. I tried looking for my
Benchmade but I couldn’t find it, and I couldn’t be bothered to look,
so I just used this one.

cutting myself intro

Download: I don’t want to feel [sixthseal.com]

no feel

The interesting is, I went from “I want to feel” to “I don’t want to
feel” coz the world is a shitty place to live in, as I felt at that
time. I’m feeling better now, this video is the manifestation of the
sixthseal.com Quarterly Serotonin Depletion Moment (QSDM). I get
depressed every once in a while. I don’t know why, no drugs involved, I
just get depressed.

x spot

Download: X marks the spot [sixthseal.com]

Here’s the second part of the video. I just felt down and kept on
repeating “I don’t want to feel” for some reason. I should have used a
razor blade though…and there are two things I learnt from this:

1. I need to sharpen my balisong.
2. I really need to sharpen my balisong. 😉

I mean seriously, I use that thing so much it’s become blunt. I was like “Draw blood, dammit!”…it used to be very sharp.

cutting myself today

Here’s what it looked like this morning. I think the uneven cuts
don’t look so good, so I might have to touch it up a little for a nice
scar. I hope it’ll scar anyway. It felt good, cutting myself. The
strange thing is, I didn’t feel any pain, but I felt ALIVE!

I FELT! It gave me the catharsis that I needed. I slept like a baby
after that. It’s nice. I felt so alive. I just might be interested in
this self-inflicting wounds thing. With God as my witness, I felt! 🙂

Disclaimer: I’m perfectly sane and this is… (Choose below)
1. If you’re my friend:
…just a publicity stunt for sixthseal.com I mean come on, the cuts aren’t even deep, superficial at best.
2. If you’re my coworkers:
…mind your own business. I don’t bring my personal problems to work.
3. If you’re someone who loves me:
…er, I accidentally cut myself…twice. 😉

P/S – Don’t make a big deal out of this, it’s not a “suicide
attempt”, a “plea for help” or any of that bullshit psycho-babble.
There’s nothing melodramatic here, it’s just all in good fun…alright?

bing! lamb wrap

by

bing bernice

I didn’t go out for lunch today due to a backlog of work that I need
to get done. I wasn’t hungry anyway, so I just figured I’ll skip lunch.
However, Bernice came in with a paper bag from bing!

bing lamb wrap open

She bought me a lamb wrap from bing! the coffee shop that everyone seems to like in Kuching.

bing lamb wrap sauces

The lamb wrap comes with a small tub of sauces – mustard, chilli and mayonnaise and the familiar orange bing! sticker.

bing lamb wrap opened

I’ve never had their wraps before – there’s a lot of crisp, fresh
lettuce with a bed of lamb meat. I like the taste of game, as she
knows. I like mutton.

bing lamb wrap

I just poured the tub of sauce into the wrap, rolled it up and ate it. It’s good. Thanks for lunch, Bernice! 🙂

Kopiko vs United Coffee Candy

by

kopiko vs united coffee

There are two leading brands of coffee candy containing real coffee
inside i.e. it have real caffeine and is made of coffee powder/extract.
These are good sweets – they’re marketed as “coffee on the go” and it
really does feel like drinking coffee (if you eat enough).

kopiko packet

The market leader is Kopiko, which has been around forever
(figuratively speaking). It hails from Indonesia, our neighbors to the
south and the retail price is about RM 2.40 for a 150 gram packet. It’s
made in Jarkata, Indonesia and imported in. There is a local
manufacturer, but I prefer the imported ones.

kopiko sweets

Kopiko tastes sweet and I guesstimate that 10 of these little sweets
have the caffeine equivalent of a glass of iced coffee. It’s the most
popular coffee sweets and tastes good, with aromatic coffee notes. It’s
the cheaper one of the two and Kopiko has diversified into making real
coffee – instant coffee and coffee beans.

united coffee packet

The other leading brand is a newcomer and is called United Coffee
Candy. Hailing from our neighbors to the north, this product of
Thailand retails for about twice the price of Kopiko at RM 4.40. The
packet is 200 grams though, and it’s imported from Chonburi, Thailand.
United Coffee Candy beats Kopiko in the taste department, from most
taste testers…now, this is one candy that tastes like real kopi peng.

united coffee sweets

United Coffee Candy is flatter in shape than Kopiko and but packs a
little more punch in the caffeine department. My qualitative estimate
puts 8 United Coffee Candy sweets as equivalent to the amount of
caffeine in a typical glass of iced coffee i.e. 10 mg per sweet,
assuming that a typical glass of coffee has 80 mg of caffeine.

I prefer United Coffee Candy over Kopiko but Kopiko has a large
distribution network, so usually I just get Kopiko. Of course, nothing
can substitute a nice triple espresso, but I think of these sweets as
“booster doses” – something to keep the caffeine levels high throughout
the day after your morning coffee(s). 🙂

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...