Luckily, there was an extra bus at 8 am. Phew.
Month: December 2011
The first online concert by Yuna
I woke up at 8 am and drove to The Bee at Jaya One a few days ago, still bleary eyed and very much wanting to fall asleep at the wheel. It’s early for me considering I just went to sleep at 3 am the previous night to rush for a deadline.
I parked haphazardly and just missed getting a parking ticket with *two* cars to spare. #winning
I guess third time is the charm coz I got two parking tickets in a week before that.
Anyway, I downed some lemonade in The Bee (which is a surefire way of waking you up – it’s so sour it’ll make you pucker up like…erm, I don’t have any polite analogies for that) and started waiting.
For what?
😀
Yes, Yuna arrived in one of those Hummer limos to promote her upcoming online concert.
What’s so special about this concert?
It’s going to be different. It’s an online concert which will only happen if 10,000 people register for it.
A online concert? Doesn’t that defeat the entire purpose?
Not really. I think it’s quite novel.
What if you’re stuck in the office doing overtime?
You also don’t have to battle:
…and best of all, you can watch it even if you’re not in KL! That’s the beauty of the Internet, how many times have you missed a concert just because you don’t live where it’s being held?
Yeah, “attending” a virtual concert can be a lot of fun…especially if you can tweet, Facebook or watch it with your friends. It’s the social media age, yo.
Yuna is going to perform her latest, unreleased song when the registration hits 10,000! 🙂
…and the single is not even named yet! I hear you can get a chance to do that.
Now, you’ve been hearing a lot about the number 10,000. That’s coz that’s the maximum number of people allowed into this online concert.
Thus, to ensure a spot, you need to register at http://www.nowyoucan.my/yuna/. It’s very easy, registration is done via Facebook.
You’ll get a text to confirm your spot and you have to login from 7 pm – 7:59 pm for the 8 pm online concert by Yuna on 14th December.
Best of all, it doesn’t cost anything. Hurry, hurry, get your “tickets” to Yuna’s online concert here. 🙂
Road trips
I love going on them. It’s fun to drive and go somewhere for the weekend. It doesn’t really matter where, the point is to get away and go to a different place to chill.
I’ve even driven down to Singapore before. What makes road trips enjoyable is always the company but the car you drive makes a whole lot of difference too. I’ll say it can even make or break a road trip. I’m somewhat experienced in these things and comfort also plays a huge part.
You want to be in a car that can accommodate everyone with enough space to stretch their legs to reduce driving fatigue. Even minor things like heat from the sun can ruin a perfectly good road trip – I’ve even come back sunburned coz of I took off all the tinting on my car when I shipped it from Sarawak to comply with JPJ regulations. A more powerful engine can also make a lot of difference in driver comfort.
I’ve been looking around for a new car for a while now. I’m planning to get another one after I buy my condo. I love long road trips so I have to factor that in when I purchase my car. I want one with a small turning radius coz I *have* gotten stuck in rural unpaved dirt roads and not being able to turn back while exploring a new area. Cruise control is one of the essential features that I’ll need to have. I’m also looking for more horsepower so it’ll have to be a 2.0 liter engine.
I was talking about all that with Cindy when we passed by a Proton Edar Showroom. I have been thinking about test driving the Inspira 2.0 Premium since it fits all my requirements…now it’s time to see if it lives up to the expectations.
I’ll be honest – I was pretty impressed. The car performs well on the road. The 2.0 liter engine really makes a difference when I took it for a spin, the Inspira is responsive and energetic – it’ll make road trips so much easier if you’re driving a car with some good ol’ horsepower under the hood.
I also tested the other important feature I was considering – cruise control. I took it on an extended drive down relatively secluded parts of the highway and engaged it. The Inspira 2.0 Premium’s cruise control kicked in perfectly and worked like a charm.
Cruise control really helps with driving comfort during long road trips as you can pretty much maintain the speed you set in steady road conditions – like long distance driving.
I have also verified that the turning radius of the Inspira is indeed just 5 meters. Well, I didn’t go out and measure it, but if you’ve been driving for 14 years, you have a good idea of whether it’s on the mark.
I swear this would get me out of trouble one of these days. Like I mentioned, I have a propensity of going into narrow, unpaved rural roads in search of a shortcut or just to explore during my road trips. 
The Inspira is tinted not only to provide UV protection but also get rid of excessive solar heat. It doesn’t affect visibility at all – it looks perfectly clear from the inside I noticed that it filters out the sun very well. It was a hot afternoon when I drove the Inspira and with the air-conditioning blowing and the good tinting, it seems positively chilly inside. Perfection. This is just the kind of car conditions you need if you love going for road trips in our tropical climate.
The Inspira 2.0 Premium also comes with fog lamps and rain sensors to trigger the wipers and adjust their speed according to rain conditions – again, useful stuff on road trips, since you don’t have to engage them yourself. I’m telling you, it’s all about automating things man, that way the driver feels more like a passenger. Heh.
Proton has definitely outdone themselves with this model. The generous amount of space inside the car allows you to stretch your legs and lean back while driving. Your fellow passengers are apt to thank you for the additional room and space to chuck all their overnight bags too. The Inspira 2.0CVT Premium retails from RM 91,549 (OTR with insurance) for solid colors, while for metallic is RM 91,999 (OTR with insurance). It’s great value for money when you consider all the features it has…and you can get it in the 80k range!
Proton is currently having a Incredible Deals on Wheels promotion where you can get savings up to RM 5,000 when you book selected models from 15th November to 31st December. Surf over to www.proton-edar.com.my for more information. If you’re looking to purchase a new car, you might as well get it when a good deal is on.
Braised pigeon, roasted meat (siu mei) and waxed meat (lap mei) in Hong Kong
Siu mei shops can be found all over Hong Kong. These places specialize in Cantonese-style roasted meat – they have everything from plain steamed chicken to roasted goose. They also serve up a gamut of pork dishes – I’ve even seen an entire pig being displayed at one of these restaurants.
It was a rainy night when we stumbled upon one of the best siew mei (roasted meat) places in Hong Kong. We weren’t really hungry, we just wanted a place to sit down.
We had spent the best part of the night browsing at Temple Street and I noticed this hole-in-the-wall place which is dirty, slightly dodgy, very loud, and thronged by locals.
It serves waxed meat (lap mei) as well! I’m quite fond of the stuff so I decided to check it out.
The interior had a couple of tables and chairs thrown together and it’s full of old men. There’s definitely no English menu – it’s a place catering to locals. Perfect, that’s just the way I like it. 🙂
Anyway, we ate about five meals a day while on vacation in Hong Kong so we decided to order a braised pigeon to share. The pigeon (squab is the proper name for a young pigeon like this) is served whole so you can see the small head and beak perpetually frozen in a mid-squawk of dismay. 😉 It doesn’t have a lot of meat on it, but it’s very tasty. The meat is slightly tough but the flavor is excellent. I absolutely loved it.
The lap cheong (waxed Cantonese sausages) in Hong Kong is pretty good too. The flavor is almost neutral. I know, that doesn’t sound very appetizing but it’s great! It’s not as salty as the usual lap cheong we get over here – this one is slightly sweet and has a good ratio of pork fat and meat.
I had worked up an appetite eating the pigeon so I ordered a plate of siu yoke as well. Besides, it was still raining outside and I got the distinct impression that you’re supposed to leave when you’re finished with your meal coz there were people waiting and the tables are shared. Heh.
Now, Hong Kong siu mei shops takes great pride in their product and although I was pretty full by then, I couldn’t resist eating it all. The siu yoke tends to lean towards the fatty side () and has a crispy layer of skin on top. You get the whole experience of crispy skin, fat and meat and it’s very tender and juicy – positively orgasmic when you eat it with the mustard it’s served with.
Hell, it was so good I ordered a portion to take away and eat in the hotel for supper.
I also noticed that they serve steamed fish with rice, which a lot of people ordered. It’s an unassuming shop specializing in roasted meat, waxed meat and the odd fish somewhere near the fringes of Temple Street. It’s one of the best discoveries we made in Hong Kong, totally loved the pigeon and siu yoke. I wish I had tried the fish though, it looked very promising.
However, it wasn’t very cheap – the dinner and takeaway cost HKD 340 (about RM 142) for the two of us. You can’t say much about the presentation but it’s the best siu mei we had in Hong Kong and it was worth every single red cent. 🙂
Interview with Linora on Red FM
I was at the Red FM studio this afternoon for an interview session with Linora. She was doing the 2 pm slot and I was intrigued by everything inside. It was a very interesting experience to see how she does things on her show.
I first met up with Pei Yi in Starbucks who tagged me into the Red FM studio. I didn’t know what to expect but Linora turned out to be a really nice person that really made me feel at ease.
Notice that they’re using beats by Dr Dre as the studio headphones. I had an encounter with them a while ago. Heh.
I somehow got this idea in my head that I could choose songs to play, but obviously that didn’t happen. I *did* get to intro a couple of songs though, including one where I made a stupid (but hilarious) comment while doing it.
Fun stuff.
Anyway, the interview is about the blog being a finalist in Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Blog Awards for Best Lifestyle Blog. I was talking about how it got started, went off in a tangent about one of my favorite videos on the blog:
and generally enjoyed myself.
I had to be really careful not to swear – you’ll hear me stopping and thinking for another word for “crap” when I said “I write about all kinds of (crap)”. I ended up using “stuff”. I couldn’t go into a lot of detail about my really colorful life (which most of you might know a bit of anyway) but I had really, really wanted to dedicate this song:
I think it sums me up perfectly. Love the lyrics. And it’s NOFX, hands down my favorite band.
I said something on air about blogging – “It’s an immortality of sorts”…and went on about wanting my (as yet unborn) children knowing who I am.
Picture nicked from Linora while she was updating the Red FM Facebook.
The session went very well. I had a lot of fun.
Anyway, she was asking me about my blog Facebook page and I said I didn’t have one. It got me thinking and I started to create one when I came back just now before I realized that Aud actually did it for me ages ago. I thought she forgot.
…so if you want, join the coolest Facebook blog page – sixthseal.com on Facebook – it has 2 Likes to date (one of them mine).
Hell, I just liked it myself a couple of hours ago coz I never even knew it existed. Heh.
Thanks for having me Linora!
Chef Martin Yan Chinese food wine pairing banquet @ Mandarin Oriental
I went to Chef Martin Yan‘s wine pairing banquet dinner at Mandarin Oriental a couple of weeks ago. It is actually quite intriguing for two reasons – I was a huge fan of his popular Yan Can Cook TV show as a kid and getting to meet the man and taste his cuisine in real life really appealed to me.
He’s now doing a show called True Passion with Martin Yan on AFC where he pairs wine with Chinese food so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity when the invite came along.
The dinner started with a cocktail reception where Jacob’s Creek served wine with various hors d’oeuvre before the six-course banquet dinner:
Chilled Scallop with Jellyfish and Marinated Cherry Tomatoes
This is the first dish that came out. It’s paired with Jacob’s Creek Steingarten Riesling and resembles the traditional cold appetizers in Chinese banquet dinners. There are four delicious items in this starter which includes a surprisingly tasty salad arranged on a soup spoon but the one I loved the most is the namesake.
The scallop is huge and pan-seared to perfection. It’s topped with scallions (spring onions), shallots (red onion) and carrot shavings but it is the pomelo citrus bits at the bed of the oyster shell it’s served in that makes this an orgasmic combination.
Oven Baked Sea Treasure Broth Served in Coconut with Puff Pastry
This Cantonese style double boiled soup is paired with Jacob’s Creek Reeves Point Chardonnay has treasures galore – there’s dried scallop, fish maw, shitake mushrooms, crab meat and even even abalone.
It tastes sweet due to the coconut flesh that’s infused into the broth. It goes very well with the buttery puff pastry crust that tops the young coconut shell that it comes served in. I’m not usually a huge fan of soups but this one is deliciously decadent – I even ended up scooping the succulent coconut flesh to eat.
Cantonese Style Steamed Cod Fish with Superior Soya Sauce and Baby Cabbage
This is the obligatory fish dish and it’s no secret that I have a weakness for steamed fish. I love the subtle flavors and fresh and tender cod. The fish almost falls apart when you spear it, and has a melt-in-your-mouth texture. Mmm…my favorite dish of the night.
All the dishes are paired with a Jacob’s Creek wine and I’ve written about the wine pairings in Lifestyle Asia – Celebrity Chef Martin Yan Heats Up KL – and included two recipes from the night by Chef Martin Yan from AFC kindly provided by Joey.
Peking Sweet and Sour Prawns
I totally loved this dish. The prawns are really fresh and the sweet and sour sauce is delicious. Chef Yan gets this one done to perfection – there is a thin crunchy crust from the batter which seals in the tender and juicy prawn flesh. It’s paired with Jacob’s Creek Steingarten Riesling 2007.
Australian Lamb Cutlets in 3 Chilli Sauce with Jasmine Fried Rice
This is the main dish for the night, paired with a robust Shiraz. The lamb is amazingly rich and almost falls of the bone and the gravy goes well with the small portion of fried rice on the side. It’s one of the two dishes Chef Martin Yan cooked on stage and the lamb cutlets has a really great sauce made with ketchup, balsamic vinegar, chilli sauce and sugar. I preferred the sweet and sour prawns though.
Sweet Temptations of Chocolate and Mango and Lychee Jelly and Raspberry Coulis
This is the dessert after a wonderful and satisfying meal. The rich chocolate and mango cake/mousse is topped with an edible slice of chocolate with Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur printed on it. The lychee jelly and raspberry coulis at the side goes very well with it as it cleanses your palate after each bite of the rich dessert.
This is our table at the dinner – got this photo from Wilson. Wei Zhi, Evelyn and Suanie was there too. I didn’t get the name of the other but the one in the Mandarin Oriental outfit is Bel.
I also got to meet Chef Martin Yan, one of my childhood heroes. I can still remember the refrain “Yan can cook, so can you!” that he does and he hasn’t lost as bit of his stage presence. The guy has a great sense of humor and is very friendly in real life too. You’ve got to see him in action, the thing he does on stage is exactly like his cooking show.
There was also a selection of chocolates and candy from Mandarin Oriental to end the night. I was totally stuffed when I got home. It’s one of the best dinners I’ve had recently.
Tomorrow is a Saturday
This happened a couple of months ago – stumbled upon the unlisted video just now and thought it would be an apt time to put it up. Heh.
The story behind this was that a couple of us were eating at Jalan Alor late in the night and tried to convince a friend that tomorrow is a Saturday.
(it was not, it’s actually a Wednesday or something)
There were this roving band playing music and I got them to sing “Tong Hua” (coz it just came into my mind) and made a dedication that declared tomorrow a Saturday.
Have a good weekend everyone! 🙂
