Kuak Sa

kuak sa

I took a sick day today due to a particularly nasty bout of flu that had me running a high fever last night. I clocked off at 12:15 pm and Faye took me to see her sister, who, I’m told, is something of an expert in the ancient art of kuak sa.

kuak sa aftermath

Literally translated, kuak sa means “scratch heat” and can be very effective for heatstroke. How much of the effect is placebo and how much is due to the copious amounts of Minyak Cap Kapak is debatable. I maintain a healthy level of skepticism at the efficacy of this method on flu (which is caused by the influenza virus) but Faye insists that it would help me some and since it certainly won’t make me any worse, I went for it.

me kuak sa

It was kinda painful, especially when the spinal cord is being pressed against. Subject is shown here wincing slightly while attempting to maintain a brave front. Actual product may differ from image shown. Warranty void if seal is broken. Batteries sold separately. Product may contain traces of peanuts.

Happy 27th Birthday!

“More, has been found out, and I must warn you fairly that a reckoning is due” – The Strange Case of Charles Dexter Ward, H.P. Lovecraft

birthday

I had my 27th birthday at RH Hotel. Joyce had helped me in reserving a table for the Great Weekend Buffet at Oriental Bistro.

This weekend’s spread had an Italian theme:

buffet

Mixed Vegetable with Garlic Butter
Sausage with Onion
Prawn Skewer
Potato Au Gratin
Baked Spicy Fish
Lamb with Rosemary Sauce
Oat Meat Chicken
Beef Goulash
Aglio Olio
Spaghetti
Chicken Broth Soup

…as well as local and Oriental fare like mee mamak and Teochew Duck.

squid

There was also squid in nice cocktail glasses…

stuff

…and small saucers with hors d’ oeuvres.

cake

They also kindly brought a cake, which is pretty useful, considering I neglected to furnish one. πŸ˜‰ I’m not sure about the customs regarding birthdays and cakes actually. Does the host provide the cake? Or the guests? Food for thought…

cutting cake

The drawing of the three…

dinner

L-R: Faye, Huai Bin (me), Katherine, Chiew Keing, Colin, Joyce, Amy

lounge

Four of us also headed over to Hijau Lounge

cocktail

…for a bit of an after party.

samsara

There was a live band called Samsara playing at the venue, belting out titles like Sweet Child of Mine, I Will Survive and other miscellaneous covers.

cell

L-R: Chiew Keing, Katherine, Huai Bin (me), Faye

I had a lot of cocktails and several bottles of wine (in addition to the bottles of red and white wine during dinner) and I must admit, I felt a tinge of regret when I woke up the next day. πŸ˜‰

flowers

It was also the first time in my life that I was on the receiving end of a bouquet of flowers. This was delivered to my workplace on Saturday morning, and it caused quite a commotion and more than a few jokes. πŸ™‚

card

Faye had given me a card with RM 400 in RM 100 dollar notes folded into hearts pasted on the inside. I promptly accused her of not trying hard enough to think of a present to get me. πŸ˜‰

present

Joyce, Colin, Katherine, Chiew Keing, and Amy got this bottle of Osana BiOmega Omega-3 capsules which would probably do my poor liver and kidneys a whole world of good.

happy birthday

Happy 27th Birthday!

Amy Lau

amy

This is Amy Lau, one of my coworkers. She’s 23 and we used to go to the same high school.

amy car

This marks the return of the XX Chromosome posts from the old sixthseal.com

amy me

Here is a photo of me and Amy after work.

Disclaimer: sixthseal.com is not responsible for causing anyone’s saham to turun as a direct or indirect result of being featured on the blog. πŸ˜‰

27

faye

I was awakened from my slumber last night at around midnight by an infernal racket at my front gate and proceeded to investigate the source of these peculiar noises. Faye had come, and told me to wait in my room while she took care of something. I did not particularly suspect something amiss since she has a habit of dropping in at odd hours of the day. Thus, it was to my (pleasant) surprise when she switched off the lights and paraded into my room singing a rendition of Happy Birthday and carrying cake with a lit candle on it.

birthday cake

She had brought a slice of rich chocolate cake (my favorite) and coffee cheesecake to celebrate my 27th birthday. I have to work the next day (we work half day Saturdays) so my actual birthday celebration was meant to be tonight.

booz

Thus, with several bottles of booz (apple and blackcurrant flavored alcopops) that she brought, we had a quiet pre-celebration celebration in my room. I am officially old…

27

…and strangely touched. :p

Thanks to Katherine, Chiew Keing, and Francine who sent me birthday wishes right after midnight. You guys are the best!

I think it’s going to be a good year. πŸ™‚

Sushi Tie review

sushi tie

Sushi Tie is an eating establishment that has been around for some time. The exterior has seen a face lift since I was last here and the dominant orange hue lends a dash of gaiety to the family sushi restaurant.

sushi tie interior

The interior looks pretty much the same as I remembered and the place was packed during lunch. The ambiance is preserved by the friendly staff who shout out a cheery “Irashaimasu!” upon the tinkling of the bell at the front door. I remember that part about Sushi Tie too.

making maki

Sushi Tie does not have a sushi train but makes up for their lack of locomotive conveyor belt action by offering an “open kitchen” of sorts, with their resident sushi chef making sushi and maki in the middle of the eating establishment.

green tea

I had iced Green Tea (RM 1.30) while my dining companion opted for the hot variety of the same.

tuna

This is the Shiro Maguro (Albacore tuna) sashimi that goes for RM 6. The sashimi here is just about the freshest you can get in Sibu.

sashimi

We also ordered salmon sashimi (RM 6) and it came in nice chunky slices. I like thickly sliced sashimi. I’m not really a big fan of the thinly shredded stuff.

unagi set

I also ordered the Unagi Set (RM 13.90). It came with rice, miso soup, deep fried tofu and watermelon.

eel

I’m a big fan of eel. I love the rich, oily taste of the stuff. πŸ™‚

Sushi Tie is a good place for Japanese food in Sibu. It’s marketed as a family restaurant and they don’t serve alcohol of any kind, so don’t go looking for Kirin here.

Q: Which is harder?

Disclaimer: It is to be assumed that this entire post is a work of fiction for insurance purposes.

accident
I can reconstruct a partial picture of the night from third hard accounts and other sources. I personally can’t remember much except the vague notion of not being able to find my way out of Rajang Park (a housing estate) and something unyielding attached to the front of my car.

debris

I seem to have run into a lamp post under unknown circumstances and from what I’ve been told, I dropped off one of my friends earlier in the night before she pointed my car in the right direction and told me to take the exit right out.

bumper

Anyway, 5 minutes later, while attending to her dental hygiene needs, she heard/saw a black Toyota VIOS speeding past the back of her house and crash head on into a utility pole/lamp post. She didn’t see the license plate so she called another one of my friends (since my cell phone battery was dead that night) and told her I might have misjudged a certain turning radius while navigating the corners around her residence.

plate
I did remember attempting to switch on my cell phone and calling the friend in question, telling her that I seem to be stuck somewhere around Lane 23 (it was actually Lane 21). She got another friend to drive her there and a couple of minutes later, she told me Lane 23 was deserted and asked me to take my beer goggles off and look at the street sign again.

close

Anyway, long story short, she drove my car (with me in it) home so all’s well that ends well. Except that my car will probably be in the workshop for at least a week – initial assessment says that I have severed a hydraulic cable and they will have to order these parts in.

grill

Hmm…I had thought that the all new sixthseal.com would not have posts like this, but there you go. πŸ˜‰

My apologies.

You can take your chances, but there’s so much to lose
Another bumpy road, there’s so much wasted booze


A:
The lamp post is harder. It’s ALWAYS harder.

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