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Alfredo Organic Black Bean Noodles with Scallops and Whole Pig’s Heart

August 27, 2009 by HB

start

I’m back with a cooking post! Yes, one of the signature sixthseal.com cooking posts complete with lots of alcohol, dubious ingredients and a healthy dose of obscure references!

You will need:
Organic Black Bean Noodles
Pig’s heart (whole – available at the non-Halal section of your friendly local hypermarket)
Scallops
Grozette FORMAGGIO da Pasta powdered cheese
Leggo’s Alfredo Pasta Sauce
Grapeseed Oil
Tabasco sauce
MasterFoods Mixed herbs
Onions and garlic

ingredients

It’s a battle of premium vs. proletariat ingredients! The measly pack of scallops set me back a staggering RM 42.35 while the gargantuan whole pig’s heart retails at a very affordable RM 3.50.

pig heart

Let me clarify – this was supposed to be an angel hair pasta dish, but I forgot to get the pasta and thus we made do with this pack of organic black bean noodles. The texture is surprisingly similar and it looks the bit too. Heh!

drink

Okay, to start off, you’ll need to ingest some ethanol to get you into a righteous cooking mood. My tipple of choice is Absolut Vodka.

cpr

The Tell-Tale Heart. Hmph. I shall give you a heart massage, CPR style.

cook pig

How do you cook a pig’s heart? Beats me, I’ve never cooked one before. I decided to wrap it in aluminum foil and chuck it into a fan assisted oven for 10 minutes.

heart

It turns out that 10 minutes isn’t quite enough so I suggest 20 minutes instead. I also took the liberty of rubbing salt all over the pig’s heart for my version of marinating. Heh!

cooking scallops

Next comes the scallops – scallops are reasonably fast to cook after defrosting so I just dunked it in warm (not hot) water for about a minute before draining.

drain

With the major ingredients out of the way, let’s get to the all-important sauce!

chop

Leggo’s ready made sauces already has bits of meat and stuff inside but we decided to fry some onions and garlic and chopped some sausages into it for a heartier sauce.

stir

We used grapeseed oil instead of olive oil for the frying, no particular reason for the choice – it was just there. The sausages were seared for a bit before the entire container of alfredo sauce was emptied into the mixture.

simmer

Leave the sauce on (very) low heat and start cooking the noodles.

noodles cook

I put in salt and a dash of grapeseed oil in the boiling water, much like cooking spaghetti. Drain the noodles after 3 minutes. I’ll love to inject the word al dente somewhere in here but there’s no way to get black bean noodles al dente. Oh wait, I just put it in twice. 😉

noodles

I emptied the noodles into a high sided plate and liberally poured the pasta sauce with garlic, onions and sausages on top. This is also where you add the powdered cheese and Tabasco sauce.

mix

The sides are important as a barrier against spillage when you start mixing the alfredo sauce into the noodles.

cream

Add a dash (or three) of mixed herbs and toss the pig heart’s on top.

scallops

Arrange the scallops on the side and I present to you:

Alfredo Organic Black Bean Noodles with Scallops and Whole Pig’s HeartIt tastes better than it looks, trust me.

good

You get to bite into the baked whole pig’s heart like a barbarian too. Get in touch with your Neanderthal roots yo!

RAWR. UGG HUNGRY!

I pronounce it Good (TM)!

F&N Freestylez Show Ur Moves Finals

August 25, 2009 by HB

babes

Booth babes.

skater

Skaters.

graffitti

Graffiti artists.

What do they have in common?

outside

I was at e@Curve to catch the F&N Freestylez Show Ur Moves finals on Sunday. I was supposed to meet a friend for lunch first and was surprised to see the event in full swing way before the finals were slated to kick off.

There were young ladies (the proper and politically correct term for this is actually “booth babes”, but who cares about being PC on sixthseal.com) handing out free F&N drinks to everyone at the Curve and I met someone I recognized!

girl

Okay la, I don’t even know her, I just wanted to take a photo with her. 😉

guitar

Anyway, the place was packed with people trying their hand at the various booths around, which includes a Guitar Hero section and a DJ hut. I see no expense was spared in the event management aspects. It was a rocking (pardon the pun) ambience!

There was a media session at Tony Roma’s right before the final B-boy faceoff where we got to:

1. Meet the judges

performance

2. Get a first hand demonstration of what the B-Boy scene is all about

food

3. Load up on food

jestina

4. Camwhore with Jestina

I was surprised to see the moves being pulled off by the F&N B-boys…coz I’ve seen it before! Street dancing is big in KK, Sabah and while I was doing my time there, some of the boys inside did the exact same maneuvers when someone managed to sneak a cassette in!

int 1

It was in fact, almost the sole source of entertainment during my time there so I was naturally quite excited when the beats started pumping out, with the bass reverberations guiding me towards the stage like a moth towards a flame.

int 2

I parked my ass (technically I was standing) right in front of the stage to catch the 10 teams in action. I’m not going to feature all of them here, just the ones that really caught my attention. I’ll be honest here – there are some teams which were rather mediocre and some crews who blew my mind away!

judges

I felt a bit self-conscious standing in front of the judges (L-R: Boojae, Fiona Jane Gomez, Danny One) though. It just didn’t feel Proper (TM) so I moved to the side a little to allow them an unobstructed view of the stage.

Okay, let me give you the lowdown of the F&N Freestylez Show Ur Moves finals:

Feasible Crew

Feasible Crew (from Sarawak yo, my hometown) came on the scene with buckets and rags for an awesome scene which was part dance and part cleanup crew. I wonder if they were paid for cleaning up the stage. 😉

wakaka

I like Wakaka Crew’s performance – they have a lot of slick moves in their repertoire.

Fresh Beat Rockers

Fresh Beat Rockers from Penang on the other hand tried WAY TOO HARD. Not in the good way if you catch my drift.

N Crew

N Crew is one of the two crews that have female dancers. There is one lone XX Chromosome in the group, but IMHO, they didn’t really impress. It looks like a lot of rehashed moves and a whole bag of clichés and they lack that elusive Stage Presence Factor (TM). I tried to ~~hunt down~~ look for the female dancer but couldn’t find her after the event.

move 1

Move is the other crew that has female dancers.

move 2

Move has two in fact.

move

They got a lot of applause from the crowd and I think their Moves (pardon the pun) were pretty good too.

move me

No, I’m not biased. 😉

Elementz 1

Project Elementz impressed me the most with their costumes and their choreography. The crew managed to squeeze in a story with the short amount of time, with impeccably timed moves.

Elementz 2

It’s a story about a vagabond…

Elementz 3

…who met a rich (but stingy) man, and ended up opening up a can of F&N (and also a can of whoopass).

Elementz 4

The choreographed scene has a lot of elaborate and magnificent moves, like this airborne version of Karate Kid meets The Matrix bullet time.

Elementz 5

Mad skillz. I was seriously impressed.

Elementz 6

The Project Elementz crew was highly entertaining but made a whole mess of the entire stage with their elaborate props. Heh!

Elecolxhot

This is Elecoldxhot. I like their pure energy and I love the profanity ridden gangsta rap music playing throughout their routine. This crew embodies PURE ENERGY! I was amazed by the calorie burning performance they put on.

The 10 crews in the F&N Freestylez Show Ur Moves finals strutted their stuff and the judges did their thing, and so, I present to you, the winners:

Best Dressed Crew

Best Dressed Crew – N Crew

Best Choreographed Crew – Feasible Crew (from Sarawak – represent!)

Most Entertaining Crew

Most Entertaining Crew – Project Elementz

Most Outstanding B-Boy – Muhamad Haslam from Wakaka Crew

2nd Runner Up – Wakaka Crew

1st Runner Up – Move

Grand Prize Winner – Elecoldxhot

They snagged the grand prize with their hyper energetic performance!

group

It was a pretty entertaining night and it provides a real insight into the B-Boy and street dancing culture in Malaysia. Cheers to F&N for a great event!

end

There is one thing I noticed about the B-boy crews though – they have an obsession with huge, flashy basketball shoes. I think it’s standard issue for all the crews. 😉

Sing k

August 25, 2009 by HB

I’m not much of a karaoke singer but I love singing (though some would call what I do yowling). There are two classics which inevitably come up sometime during the night. This was from my trip back to Sibu. The song is a Hokkien number called Ai Pia Jia Eh Ya (Gotta do the blood, sweat, tears thing to succeed).

I can’t read or write Chinese so I always struggle (except at the chorus). The song goes:
Something something something
Blah blah blah
(chorus starts)
30% is decided by fate, the other 70% is up to you
You’ve got to fight your way to success

The other number that tends to be rendered is a song called “Friends”. This is usually belted out with much camaraderie and a lot of arms around each other’s shoulders. 😉

Project Alpha Sneak Twitpic

August 24, 2009 by HB

The rather grueling Project Alpha shoot is over! Here are the Twitpic tweets I’ve sent in while filming on set in chronological order:

twitpic 1

Project Alpha

twitpic 2

Makeup. I haz it.

twitpic 3

Noooo. My eyebrows!

twitpic 4

Lights, camera, action!

twitpic 5

Lunch break.

twitpic 6

So. Many. Takes.

twitpic 7

Fun but tiring day. Still more.

twitpic 8

Full day shooting!

twitpic 9

It’s a wrap for today! 🙂

twitpic 10

I’m cast but still a glamour tag. 😉

twitpic 11

Ze press is here!

twitpic 12

I’m going to eat fire in 10 min.

twitpic 13

Getting makeup done now.

twitpic 14

If you don’t hear from me later it means I died

twitpic 15

I am alive!

twitpic 16

Final shoot. Here with @cheesie

twitpic 17

@cheesie before her scene.

twitpic 18

Make up artists. Very important.

twitpic 19

How come I can never do this by myself?

twitpic 20

Does the cast eat the props? Yes!

twitpic 21

My second last scene. Drinking Part 1.

twitpic 22

@timothytiah and @fourfeetnine at the wrap party

twitpic 23

Have to be sober for my drinking shoot in 2 hours

twitpic 24

Need to drink all. Fucking lethal.

twitpic 25

It’s a fucking wrap! Drinking Moet.

twitpic 26

It is a wrap for Project Alpha. 🙂

A place for my head

August 23, 2009 by HB

c feminine

Greetings from a very feminine toilet! I kinda like it actually – it’s such a change from my minimalistic bachelors pad.

c alor

I met Eddie and Fish Fish just now, who flew over from the US for a day. Cynthia came down (technically up) from Australia. We did the Jalan Alor touristy thing (hey, the food there is good) and…

c gifts

…Ed came bearing gifts as usual!

c sleep

Good times with old friends indeed. I’ll be heading down to KL to spend time with them before all three fly off again tomorrow.

c blogging

Unfortunately, my car decided to get up close and personal with a ditch last night so I’m crashing at a friend’s place.

c car

Oh ya, Cynthia got a me a car from Bali to replace my totalled car. Heh! I’ll be driving this from now on. 😉

The OMG! I stepped on an electrical socket adapter! FAQ

August 21, 2009 by HB

Fret not, comrades! I’ve come up with an FAQ for this extremely common accident!

faq hole

Q: OMG! I just stepped on a stray electrical socket adapter while going to the loo in the middle of the night! Help! What should I do?
A: Don’t panic. Turn on the light and inspect the damage. Did you step on the white part (good) or the yellow part (bad)?

faq good

Good

Bad

Q: How do I know if I’ve stepped on it on the face side up or prong side up?
A: It’s easy. If you stepped on the electrical socket adapter on the face side up, it would most likely twist or warp the contraption with no ill effects to you.

faq shatter

However, if you stepped on it prong side up, you will most likely feel a sharp pain followed by a string of profanity consistent with Tourette Syndrome. You will also notice some bleeding on the soles of your feet.

Q: Phew! I’ve stepped on the white part. What do I need to do?
A: Nothing. Just get another electrical socket adapter if you need it.

Q: How can I prevent occurrences of stepping-on-electrical-socket-adapters in the future?
A: This is a no brainer. Most people won’t them lying around in likely paths of foot traffic in your house…so don’t!

faq hide

Q: What if I’m not most people?
A: You’ll need to consult this guide frequently and often. It might also help to keep some disinfectant in your house e.g. Dettol.

Q: What if I don’t believe in disinfectant?
A: Sure, I understand you just want to go back to sleep after taking a pee. It’s all good. However, be prepared to walk gingerly for the next 2-3 weeks, depending on how hard you stepped on it, which is in turn dependant on your body weight.

Q: 2-3 weeks? Are you kidding me? Does it take that long to heal?
A: As a rule of thumb, yes. Wounds in movable parts of your body (palms, wrist, soles) takes longer to deal due to the constant friction and contact you make with various external objects during the course of the day.

Q: Do I have to see a doctor?
A: Most people won’t have to. However, if you’re a pussy or suffering from haemophilia (which causes your blood to not coagulate properly), it might be a good idea to consider heading over to your GP. At least for the latter.

Q: What’s going to happen to the poor sole of my feet after 2-3 weeks?
A: Well, you’ll form a hard callus where the point of injury occurred. You’ll notice that the skin is significantly thicker and rougher. It’s no big deal.

Q: Okay, what if I still want to leave random items lying around the house and walk around in the middle of the night with no lights on?
A: I strongly suggest snapping off the Earth prong. It’s the one that sticks up the most (the longest one) and from previous experience, it’s the one that causes the most damage. You can also opt to snap off all three for good measure.

faq dismantle

Q: Okay, I’ve done just that. Will I still get injured when I step on it in the middle of the night?
A: Nope, it has now transformed into a nice, benign surface with no pointy bits. It’s perfectly safe to step on, kick around, hide under dirty articles of clothing or anything else you leave around without causing any more harm to unsuspecting nocturnal creatures.

Q: Will I still be able to use the electrical socket after that?
A: Hmm…you can try. But how are you going to plug it in without the prongs?

faq plug

Are you going?

August 19, 2009 by HB

Heads up peeps! There’s a huge event coming up and it’s gonna be the party of the year. Hell, it’s a veritable celebration many centuries (2.5 or so, but that could just be a figure I pulled out from where the sun don’t shine) in the making.

Kuala Lumpur will be Ground Zero for this global celebration kicking off near simultaneously all over the world from Dublin to New York before hitting our shores.

I’m all set to party like it’s going out of style! In fact, I’ve already done a full dress rehearsal:

start 2

Sit on the porcelain throne before you head out. You don’t want to be rushing to the nearest WC when you’re out and about.

Wiping is important. Do not underestimate the importance of TP after voiding your bowels.

brush

You can never be too rich or too thin…and no one would accuse you of having too minty fresh breath. Brush your teeth!

shaver

A clean shave does wonders. You don’t want stubble getting in the way of some lip lovin’.

shower

Shower.

soap

Pay attention to your underarms. Lather them well with soap.

towel

Wipe yourself clean with a nice fluffy towel.

going

Get your wardrobe ready.

iron

Iron your clothes. Creased attire is NOT sexy.

dress

Get dressed to the nines. It’s going to be a great night!

socks

Put on your socks…

shoes

…and don’t forget them boogie shoes.

You’re now ready to paint the town ~~red~~ black!

There will be internationally acclaimed artists you can groove to during your revelry and merrymaking.

It’ll be a golden celebration in the blackest dark of the night.

Are you going?

East meets West

August 17, 2009 by HB

start 1

I’ll be honest here – I’ve never put much faith in “alternative medicine” like traditional Chinese healing methods, preferring to cement my conviction in Western methods of rigorous medical training and the process of FDA pharmaceutical clinical trials.

hand

It probably doesn’t help that I’m a pharmaceutical aficionado and my sister is a cardiologist. My motto used to be “Better living through chemistry…for every problem, a chemical solution!”

Thus, I was (more than) a little skeptical when I took this health check based on some form of non-invasive acupuncture. It was at a PRUhealth event and the health check session started with some rather personal questions.

pulse

Straight off the bat, I was grilled about my bowel movements, the olfactory offensiveness of the fecal matter and whether said poop sticks to the bowl or slides right down as slick as…er, shit.

dialysis

I answered honestly, and gave them an almost-complete medical history, including my damaged kidneys courtesy of a methamphetamine overdose. I used to IV unfiltered (“cold shake method”) crystal meth with disastrous results to my renal function and was in ICU for a week coz of that.

kidney_damage

Needless to say, I also disclosed my previous problems with substances. You should never lie with insurance…coz you won’t be able to claim if they find out. 😉

readings hands

Anyway, back to The Probes (TM) it involves taking readings from the left and right hands and feet, which explains this rather undignified photo:

undignified

I found out that I have hypertension (150/85) which is nothing new – I already know I have high blood pressure. Or maybe it was the hot chick touching me. I don’t know for sure. 😉 However, I was more than a little surprised to learn that the device also managed to find fault with my liver, kidneys and blood cells.

I present to you, my blood test results:

english results

This is the results from the health check at the PRUhealth event:

chinese results

It’s remarkably similar, which should probably tell me something. I need to maintain a healthier lifestyle, or at the very least, get insured so the hospital bills won’t instantly Chapter 11 me the moment I get admitted (which is a matter of when rather than if). The last time I was in ICU, it cost a staggering RM 3,000+ per day. I was in there for a whole WEEK!

I’ve always had problems getting health insurance since I was still actively using back then and no insurance company wanted to touch me with a 10 foot pole. However, I’ve been clean for three years after going through drug rehabilitation and PRUhealth will be one package I’ll be seriously looking into.

leg

Let me tell you the best part about this plan. Say you’re not as…er, unhealthy as me, and you don’t possess a lot of the vices (smoking, drinking) that I do. PRUhealth offers a revolutionary system that I’ve never heard of before- NO CLAIMS BONUS.

readings legs

Basically, if you don’t claim anything (if you don’t fall sick or get into shenanigans which require hospitalization) PRUhealth pays you back up to a maximum of RM 500 annually. You can even withdraw the bonus if you want to. It’s the only health insurance that offers something as ground-breaking as this – a plan that rewards you for being healthy!

writing

Thus, if you’re not living life to the max (and destroying your body in the process) like I am, you’ll be well pleased to know that you’ll be rewarded for it. I on the other hand, find solace in the fact that I won’t be penalized for it either. It’s a win-win situation!

results

More about PRUhealth next week!

end 1

Speaking of winning, I still think I should have snagged the Unhealthiest Blogger Award…I’m a bit miffed that I didn’t. How liddat? My street (blog?) cred gone dy. :p

RM 22.90 for a BUCKET?

August 16, 2009 by HB

HOW COME THINGS NOWADAYS SO EXPENSIVE ONE?

It is housecleaning day and I went to stock up on a couple of essential supplies – mop, broom, bucket, the works. I didn’t exactly check the price for all the items so when I went to the cash register the amount shocked and awed me. I inventoried the items and found the offending article – this RM 22.90 bucket.

WHAT KIND OF BUCKET COSTS RM 22.90?

On a side note, I saw the same bucket being sold for a mere RM 4.90 at a nearby convenience store. Hmph!

Bust a move!

August 14, 2009 by HB

IMAG0005

You think you’ve got skillz?

table_us

Those of us stuck in the rat race in the corporate world often forget what it’s like to do what you want, when you want, and express yourself publicly. We’re constantly too concerned about what others think of us and restrain ourselves, thinking its “right” and “mature” to do so. Nay, I say. Nay!

Everyone should let loose once in a while – sing like no one is listening, write like no one is reading, and dance like no one is watching!

IMAG0001

Street dancing is a relatively new phenomenon over here but it seems to have taken off with a vengeance. I was surprised to see people busting a move at the local town square in Sibu. I love how they bring their own portable music players or blast beats from their car audio system. It embodies the very essence of freedom of expression.

IMAG0007

The F&N Freestylz “Show Ur Moves” competition is heading towards an explosive finale this Sunday. You probably missed the preliminaries but you can still go and check out the teams who managed to rise above the others and come up on top! 10 teams are heading into the finals at the Curve – Elecoldxhot, Wakaka Crew, N Crew, Project Elementz, Fresh Beat Rockers, Twister Randoms, Move, Enemy Style, Feasible Crew and Borneo Crew.

IMAG006

The judging will be done by (L-R) Boojae (Malaysian artiste and b-boy), Fiona Jane Gomez (Talent Hub Principal) and Danny One (local artiste). The winner of the finals will not only get the honor of being crowned the best b-boys in Malaysia, but they’ll be flown to Korea to meet and train with Asia’s #1 b-boys, Gamblerz Crew!

Go and gawk at the teams – there are female street dancers too, so whether you’re a guy or a girl, there will not be a shortage of eye candy. 😉

IMAG0003

I was planning to go to Penang this weekend to attend a wedding but since I can’t due to work commitments, I’ll be there armed with my digicam! The F&N Freestylz 2009 final is going down at e@Curve on Sunday, August 16, 6 pm!

IMAG0002

Get reacquainted with your youth or just catch the best moves this side of town!