November 2004 – Page 3 – sixthseal.com

Red bill from Telekom – RM 962.23

November 3, 2004 by HB

red letter telekom

I received a red colored bill from our beloved national
telecommunications provider…it’s usually white. “Uh oh, this can’t be
good,” I thought. Red isn’t a good color, it’s usually reserved for
outstanding debts.

red letter creditors

Sure enough, it came from the Credit Management Unit of Telekom Malaysia…

red letter customer

In a strange semantics error, it states politely that my Internet
and phone server has been pulled (which I already know) and that I have
an outstanding debt of RM 962.23, but yet still refers to me as “Our
valued customer”. Strange, I thought it was well over 1k last time I
got a bill. 😉

red letter ipoh

The other letter I got was postmarked from Alor Setar and contains
no return address. I shook it vigorously, fearing anthrax, but it
sounded like a harmless booklet. 😉

red letter budha

It’s an unsolicited mail from some Buddhist organization and contains a yellow book which I couldn’t read…

red letter 4d

…but when I flipped casually through the pages, I saw that it’s
apparently advertising some service which allows you to strike 4D
(lottery). Well, slap me on my ass and call me Sally, if it’s so easy
and you have my address, then why don’t you help me pay my bills while
you’re at it? 😉

Westwood Continental Cuisine

November 2, 2004 by HB

westwood continental cuisine

This is Westwood Continental Cuisine at Jalan
Westwood. It’s a popular place for continental cuisine since the food
is good and the prices are reasonable. I’ve been here several times
before and while their steaks are alright, it’s not the best in town. I
went with a couple of friends again last night for dinner.

westwood interior

The place is usually packed at night. This is the interior of
Westwood Continental Cuisine. They have al fresco (heh) seating
arrangements outside as well, and on cool nights, that is much
preferable to sitting inside even though the interior is
air-conditioned. The lighting is warm and its central location is part
of its popularity as well as the good food and reasonable prices.
Westwood Continental Cuisine has been operational for quite a while.

westwood ribena 7up

I had Ribena 7-Up, which is my “usual” drink over there. It’s an
interesting concoction of concentrated Ribena (blackberry juice
concentrate) topped up with…er, 7-Up. The two goes really well – the
Ribena concentrate sits at the bottom while the carbonated 7-Up slowly
fizzes away to automatically combine the two. The drink is quite
volatile for some reason, you have to be careful not to agitate it too
much or bubbly purple foam will threaten to overfloweth on you.

westwood fish and chips

My friends all went there for Fish and Chips. It’s a generous
portion of batter fried Dory fish served with French fries, Westwood’s
special tangy tartare sauce and salad. It’s RM 9 for a serving, and
that’s a very good price considering the portion. This dish is very
popular due to its price and filling portions.

I went for the Westwood Mixed Grill (lamb, beef, pork) at RM 15.50.
I had it done medium and the dish did not disappoint. The beef is done
well, as is the pork, but the two is outshined by the delicious lamb.
The lamb meat is infused with the gamey flavor that I love and the
juice just bursts out of the grilled lamb meat – it retains all of its
moisture! Divine…

Westwood Continental Cuisine serves a limited range of menu items,
but they know what they do best and all of the menu items are good. The
place also has excellent service, better than most of the eating
establishments in Kuching. Highly recommended for dinner before a big
night out.

Shanghai cured meat and floss snacks

November 1, 2004 by HB

shanghai pork floss

These are individually wrapped niu rou kang from Shanghai,
China. It literally translates to “beef meat dried”. This are the cured
meat slices you see during certain festivities in the Chinese calendar.

shanghai pork floss packs

The meat is carefully wrapped and lined in a tray, which is then
wrapped again and sealed. Nice presentation, classic style of premium
Asian snacks. Daniel
[blogspot.com], your mom gave this to me when I was at your house
yesterday. Send her my regards and tell her it tastes great! 🙂

shanghai pork floss tray

The interesting bit about this pork meat and floss is the way they
fuse them both together. Cured meat is something like beef jerky, only
more tender and still retaining the taste of an animal. Floss is
reprocessed meat, usually pork, and is turned into dried pieces
of…well, floss that everyone eats for fun. It used to be all the rage
to put floss on top of buns and then heating it.

shanghai pork floss macro

This is a close look at this Shanghai snack. Its cured meat slices
fused with liberal amounts of meat floss. I’ve never seen the likes of
it – this one produces an interesting synergy of flavors.