My girlfriend Mandy (sequel to My new housemate)

When did I start having feelings for Mandy? I’ll say around the time we went to Pulau Ketam. “I only wanted to eat you at first. Eat then throw away.” I told her half-jokingly. Except I wasn’t kidding. Haha. She’s a young and delicious 24 year old. I’ll be stupid if I didn’t make a meal out of her. But I didn’t, for many reasons, and by the time I did, I was already very much in love with her.

What do I like about her? She’s bubbly and down-to-earth. She’s an honest person with a good heart. She’s fun to be with. She makes me laugh. I enjoy hearing her laugh. She’s also a Sarawakian and having a shared heritage/identity is nice. I love her smell. I find her beautiful and I enjoy waking up next to her and kissing her face. Love can’t really be distilled down into a single why. It’s usually a combination of things you find attractive.

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It’s funny, these things. I’ve been single for almost 3 years after the break-up with my ex. I’ve had a couple (okay, more than a couple) of partners after that but there was no one I connected to on even a most basic level. It was just for the sex while watching some Webcam sex . I haven’t met anyone I was even remotely interested in dating long term in these 3 years in the wilderness. In fact, the sex wasn’t that good!

I even have been harboring an unpleasant suspicion that I have developed ED in the past few years. I’m pleased to report that this isn’t true. I was just forcing myself to sleep with ugly chicks that I had no interest in or love for and my dick was protesting. Sleeping with someone you truly love is a magical experience and I really feel like I’m in my 20s again! My nether regions were rejuvenated. It was like the Energizer battery ads – tough and long lasting. Hehe.

But enough about that. In my whole life, I’ve only met 2 people I was willing to marry and have kids with. Mandy is the 3rd person that has made me feel this way. I’ve had relationships with many girls I had no intention of marrying or having babies with. It was more like a partner to pass time with. I’ll let the relationship reach its natural entropy point and leave. It’s rare for me to want to put a ring on someone, much less make mini mes with.

Recently, I’ve been acutely aware of my age and my diminishing chances to be a father. I’ve been seriously thinking about freezing my sperm and surrogacy with an anonymous egg donor to fulfil my fatherhood dreams. I’m also concerned that our age gap is a little high but there’s a reason why guys are attracted to younger girls – they represent the best chance for procreation.

I’m not going to think too much about that though. We’re happy and that’s all that’s important. I’m glad I managed to find someone I love and cherish. It feels like forever since I’ve felt this way about someone. I honestly feel blessed to have her in my life.

Gaggan review – 2 Michelin star 26-course dinner with wine pairing, a very detailed and long writeup

Gaggan-Experience

I was almost late to my 9:30 pm Gaggan dinner reservation. I had an exclusive seat at The Lab (Chef’s Table) and I hear they’ll only keep your reservation for 5 minutes before releasing it to someone else. Three Grab cars in a row cancelled on me. This was the highlight of my Bangkok trip, a 2 Michelin star progressive Indian feast that will set me back RM 1,600+ per person, and I didn’t want to miss it. Thankfully, the 4th driver came and sped me there with minutes to spare.

Gaggan-Bangkok

Gaggan is in a renovated mansion with two floors. I saw every single table was occupied. Mind you, reservations are made at least a month in advance so that’s impressive. I was greeted by an attractive young lady by name. She must have matched me to my email profile picture. She escorted me upstairs and held my seat for me. This is the type of restaurant that does that whenever you get up to pee but it doesn’t come across as intrusive or excessive, partly due to the friendly and approachable nature of the staff.

Gaggan-House

The Lab is a bar seating arrangement of 12 people curved in a U shape with the kitchen in the middle. All the chefs work inside so you can see them cooking and preparing your dishes. It’s also a super interactive session – the chefs all introduced themselves and explained every dish in detail. They also passed ingredients to us to touch and try. It’s like a Show and Tell session, but better! I was lucky to snag one of these coveted seats with just a month’s advance booking.

The-Lab

I also went for the wine pairing (4,500 baht/RM 580) for the ultimate experience. The sommelier was a nice Japanese guy. He’s knowledgeable and personable but at times I found his accented English difficult to understand. That said though, there’s something to be said about hearing Japanese accented English, it really ties the experience together coz the chefs are so multicultural! There are people from Norway to Africa!

Tablemates

The dinner started with the chefs getting everyone seated at The Lab to introduce themselves. I was first so I told them where I was from and what I was doing in Bangkok. The others came from a varied background – there was a newlywed couple from New York (a celebratory dessert was prepared for the entire table by Gaggan) and a female duo from Hong Kong (one of whom is a chef). I thought this was an excellent way to break the ice and get the guests seated at the Chef’s Table to talk amongst themselves.

Emoji-Menu

The famous emoji menu of Gaggan was presented to us. Each dish was described with one emoji, nothing else. You get the general idea of what the dish is about but you’ll only know the full details when they present you with the transparent overlay with words to go with the emojis at the end of the experience.

Champagne

Champagne was served with the first few courses. I won’t pretend to be knowledgeable about wine so I’ll just show the labels and when it was served so you’ll have an idea of the wines you’ll get with the wine pairing.

Peach

The first dish was 🍑 – peaches from Yamagata. This is a bigger portion that I expected. There are at least 26 courses in total so I expected each to be bite-sized but a lot of them were quite substantial. The chefs explained that these are peaches imported from Yamagata, which are known for their lovely pink skin and soft, white flesh. Perfect.

Explode

💥 – plain yoghurt with masala and black salt was next. This is a Gaggan signature. It was featured in the Netflix series Chef’s Table. There’s a strong boiled egg sulfur flavor. The yoghurt explodes when you bite into it. It literally bursts out with intense sulfur and masala overtones.

Tongue

The third plate was ingenious – 👅. These are sauces and dusts on a plate and they blasted the rock song “Lick it up” when we were eating this course. A few people were apprehensive at first, but we all got over the self-consciousness and started bringing the plate up to our faces and tonguing the sauces off.

Lick

It’s a brilliant way to disinhibit the diners. This picture got a lot of traction on my Facebook too.

Lick-it-up

Very good! *thumbs up*

Wine

A white wine came for the next few courses.

Cheese

This is 🧀. It’s batter of milk, milk fat, and milk solids fried with ghee to make a “cheese”. There’s no flour used and the base is crispy. It’s very interesting and the start of the series which uses oddly shaped white plates. You’ll find out what the plates are about soon.

Eggplant

🍆 is fresh eggplant cooked then put into the blast chiller and freeze dried for 6 days. So intensely flavored. It’s like a drop of eggplant essence. Very wow.

Dehydrated-Eggplant

The chefs also handed over two eggplants for us to touch and smell. The first one is a regular eggplant and the second after it’s been through the six day freeze drying process.

Rice

Idly is 🍚 – a savory rice cake, except this is idly shrunk 200 times and topped with a dehydrated curry leaf! It’s also 200x more expensive. It’s so soft and subtle – love the spongy bottom.

Second-Wine

I believe this is a natural wine. It’s paired with the upcoming courses.

Black

The mysterious ⚫ turned out to be a fried snack. I thought it was dhall inside and said so when the chefs asked if anyone knew what that was. It turned out to be chickpea samosa! It’s very hot.

Egg

🥚 is a vegetarian egg filled with liquid on a crispy and sweet nest. The shell bursts the moment you put this in your mouth. The bright and acidic liquid goes very well with the nest. This ended the white plates series and we’re supposed to fit all the empty plates together.

India

There’s a reason the empty plates weren’t cleared – they combine to make (no surprises here) India! It’s the continent Gaggan is from and all the previous dishes on the white plates have heavy Indian influences.

Forage

Brioche and mushroom was the 🍄 dish. It gives off a smoky scent when you open it.

Mushroom

Only one of the mushrooms is edible and you’re supposed to forage for the right one. I tasted a few wooden ones before I realized the edible mushroom is the hot one. I like this interactive rummaging.

Third-Wine

The wine pairing was very good. Although I’m not a wine geek and thus unable to describe the flavors in detail, I know that it went swimmingly with the food.

Ice-Cream

🍦 – ice cream presented as white asparagus. This is smoked and finished at your table.

White-Asparagus

The chefs told us we must eat this quickly before it melts.

Chilli

Som tam with green mango ice cream was 🌶️, delivered in a wrap and nicely plated on mung beans. Som tam is the Thai salad made with young mango slices. The baby tomatoes are from Japan. I love this – it’s very cold and acidic. My table mates loved it too.

Cold-Brew

The chefs showed us a cold brew device normally used to make coffee. They’re using it to filter French quail through the machine and it slowly drips in the background to be served 3 courses from now, coz that’s how long it takes to condense.

Curry

Curry is represented by 🍲 inside a panipuri casing. The secret curry inside is super creamy and sticks intently to your throat. Excellent.

Sake

Sake from Japan broke up the wine pairing. It’s meant to go with the Japanese food in the upcoming dishes.

Green-Apple

🍏 marks the start of the Japanese series and is the best grade of Japanese uni imported from Hokkaido paired with chutney ice cream and a green apple “seaweed”. It’s very delicious and the uni is remarkable. I liked the unusual pairing of ingredients too. Brilliant!

Sushi

🍣 is not sushi. It’s meringue made out of dashi. The wasabi and otoro is from Nagasaki and it’s finished with yuzu that’s been freeze dried so it can be grated. Wow! I loved this too.

Dehydrated-Yuzu

This is the yuzu fruit that’s been freeze dried.

Wasabi

They also have excellent quality real wasabi plant flown in from Japan. This is what you’re paying for, and also why a seat at The Lab is so fun. There’s the show and tell you wouldn’t get at a normal table.

Corn

The quail from before was the 🌽 course. It’s quail breast and the quail “tea” from the cold drip coffee device. The quail tea is hot and smells like charcoal. You’ll notice that Gaggan doesn’t offer any utensils – you’re supposed to eat everything with your hands and fingers! You drink the soup first, then fish out the quail breast. I love piece of charred micro corn at the bottom, which this dish is named for.

Fourth-Wine

This is the next wine in the wine pairing.

Prawn

Next up is 🍤 – fresh prawn from Thailand smoked in a tandoori with dehydrated curry on the side. It’s very salty for me but I like the thought that goes behind it. The curry is cooked, then painstakingly dehydrated for days so it turns into an intense tasting powder.

Coconut

Shake off your conceptions about curry with 🥥. It’s cold and raw curry (two no-nos) with scallops that you’re supposed to swirl and mix before eating.

Fifth-Wine

I hear this drawing is a portrait of the winemaker! It went with the next couple of dishes.

Dumpling

🥟 of pork vindaloo cooked for 12 hours. It’s a very acidic curry. The momo is made with wine sauce. The “dumpling” is made of black garlic cracker with 2 different chutneys and 2 different pickles. Not my favorite coz it’s super fatty.

Lamb

A huge lamb chop for 🐑. This is the most normal looking dish of the Gaggan experience. It’s marinated in chilli and cooked in a tandoori. Very smoky flavors! Again, you use your fingers to pick this up by the bone and gnaw at it. I also realized it’s coz Gaggan is Indian and Indians eat with their hands.

Sixth-Wine

There’s another wine pairing at this point. I don’t usually drink much and I was quite pleasantly buzzed at this point.

Light-it-up

The lights were completely turned off after that course was cleared so the whole restaurant was dark. Music blared from the speakers with a rock singer shouting “Light it up” while the chefs brought out torches and flamed a whole tray of banana leaf covered items.

Charred

The scorched banana leaves were presented to us and we’re told to open it after a moment has passed to ensure we wouldn’t burn our fingertips.

Fire

The leaf peels back to reveal local Thai seabass. This 🔥 recipe is from Gaggan’s mother.

Star

The theme song for Star Wars came on for the ⭐ course and a small, round blue Death Star was delivered to us. So fun! I love the quirky bits, coz it adds a lot of laughable moments to dinner.

Star-Wars

The Death Star opens to reveal fluffy white rice.

Rice-Curry

There’s another compartment at the bottom which reveals curry. It’s curry and rice, delivered in a miniature Death Star! This is the only course in the 26-course dinner than came with a spoon or any other utensil. Haha.

Dessert-Wine

This is the last of the wine pairing – a wine to go with the dessert courses.

Flower

The most beautiful and delicate dessert I’ve seen for 🌹. It takes 6 hours to make this rose and it’s presented inside a glass dome to preserve the scent.

Rose

The petals are made with beetroot and radish. The cookie base is made with chocolate chip. I like the unusual pairing of beetroot and radish with sweet chocolate. It’s a very mature dessert.

Sunflower

“Do you like pina coladas? And dancing it the rain?” This song came over the speakers for 🌻. It’s deep fried ice cream! This is my favorite dessert of the night. It tastes so good!!! I felt only three exclamation marks would do justice to how delicious this was.

Rainbow

This trippy looking dessert was paired with Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon for 🌈. The space ship is made with coffee and dark chocolate and you’re supposed to drag it through the citrus splashes before eating it. Unusual and progressive.

Yin-Yang

☯️ is saffron and black pepper ice cream with pistachio crumble. Wow. Just wow. The flavors remind me of a cheese cake but with two ingredients you don’t normally put into dessert (saffron and pepper). I have this tied for best dessert of the dinner experience. Exquisite. Such a beautiful medley in my mouth. I cannot say enough good things to do this breathtaking dish justice.

Newlyweds

Remember I said there was a newlywed couple from New York at our table? The chefs presented a special celebratory “cake” for them and they provided one for each of us too.

Cake

It’s a sphere that’s totally not cake but tastes like cake. So interesting!

Wines

These are all the wines we had over dinner! Gaggan is #5 on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants by S.Pellegrino and #1 on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants and they really deserve the accolades.

Gaggan

The bill for dinner came up to 12,653 baht (RM 1,615) inclusive of a bottle of water and the Gaggan wine pairing experience. That’s a lot of money for a single meal for 1 pax but I wholeheartedly recommend it. It is without a doubt the best dinner I’ve ever experienced. It’s not just about the food, but the theatre, the story, and the fellow diners you embark on the journey with. Everything was managed so well the 3+ hours will be something I remember forever. You’ll love Gaggan if you’re a food geek and I consider it money well spent. Gaggan will be closing for good in 2020 so you only have 2 years left to check out this beautifully crafted dinner experience. Go. Now.

Happy blogniversary – 13 years of sixthseal.com!

13th Blog Anniversary

It’s my lucky 13th blog anniversary! sixthseal.com started 13 years ago on 19th April 2002. It has gone though a lot since then. I’ve actually spent more than 1/3 of my entire life blogging and the number is only going to rise as I get older. smirk

I’ve done one blog anniversary post wrapping up the best of the previous year each and every year except 2007. I was in drug rehab at the time and Internet privileges are something that only exists for rich celebrity rehabs in the US, not real ones in a third world country. I was locked up in a cell in shackles and handcuffs for the first 3 months!

I couldn’t even type if there was a device (and there was none, but plenty of manual labor). You wouldn’t think someone would be able to pluck grass while in restraints and stripped of everything except a sarong (wraparound cloth – it’s meant as punishment) but I can tell you it’s possible, and I’ve done it in the sweltering afternoon heat.

Evil Website
[Title translates to “Evil Website – Computer Graduate Shows How (to be an) Expert Drug User” – this is an article about me with all the photos taken from sixthseal.com by Harian Metro Ahad]

I was actually quite notorious back in the early days of sixthseal.com and got into more than a little trouble with the law for it (trust me, that was the lightest sentence I got off with since I was caught with a lot more stuff than just cannabis).

Lots of things have changed since then – I nearly lost ALL my blog archives prior to 2007 (coz I couldn’t renew my hosting from rehab) if not for the efforts of a kind reader called David from Australia who backed up my blog in HTML. I managed to recover my archives thanks to him but lost *all my comments* since the HTML files were of the posts only. I’m still glad I have them though, even though all the comments are missing prior to 2007.

I came out in 2008 and never looked back.

Tumbling Minis

In the past year, I have also started up tumblingminis.com – a site I manage with my better half to share our passion for LEGOs. That’s why the feature image I put for this post is done with 13 LEGO minifigures, it symbolizes my 13 years running sixthseal.com. The two LEGOs in front represent me and my better half. I guess that makes the cameraman YOU, dear reader. 🙂

That done, let’s do the the best of the previous year’s posts, in chronological order:

Michelin 2 Star

Our 2 Michelin star lunch at Le Relais LOUIS XIII
25 April 2014
I travel to Germany and France with my better half for our annual overseas trip. It just happens to be our birthdays at the time and I wanted to surprise my dear with a fine dining experience at a classic French Michelin star restaurant – Le Relais LOUIS XIII in the heart of the 6th arrondissement of Paris.

Joel Robuchon

A meal by 28 Michelin star “Chef of the Century” Joel Robuchon at our Paris apartment!
13 May 2014
We stayed at a lovely Parisian apartment overlooking a museum and cooked with fine French ingredients while we were there. It was a lot of fun! We also sampled Apfelwein (apple wine) in Frankfurt. It was a great vacation.

Molecular Gastronomy

Molecular Gastronomy Experiments: Silkie Black Chicken “Soup” Jelly
29 May 2014
This is one of my experiments with molecular gastronomy. I wanted to create a jelly with chicken soup – specifically black chicken soup – and intended for the jelly to be crystal clear so you can see the black Silkie chicken and red goji berries inside. It didn’t turn out as well as I imagine it would but it was a good first attempt.

Moving House

My new place: Back breaking house-moving, wooden floors, dumpling festival
2 June 2014
I move into my new (and current) apartment.

Little Beach Boat House

Dinner at Little Beach Boat House, Port Stephens
6th June 2014
I flew to Australia just a few days after that and visited Port Stephens and other areas in New South Wales. This was the first dinner I had there and I posted while I was still in Sydney. Port Stephens has really fresh seafood too! The seafood platter @ Vues on the Bay, Port Stephens and the artisan beer batter fish and chips at CREST Café, Birubi Beach were spectacular.

Sandboarding in Port Stephens, Australia
13 June 2014
This is one of the best things I’ve ever done. We took an ATV over sand dunes in what looks like a desert (but it’s actually just beach sand claiming landmass) and I sandboarded down a sand dune. You use a skateboard-like device and basically hold on while gravity does the rest.

63 Degree Egg

63 degree egg, PB&J with Nutella and bacon @ Devon Cafe, Surry Hills
27 June 2013
The best breakfast I had ever had, no question about it! This awesome little cafe in Surry Hills serves up a wonderful dish called Breakfast with the Sakuma’s which contains a full sized grilled salmon!

Zumbarons

Zumbarons @ Adriano Zumbo Patisserie
15 July 2014
Adriano Zumbo makes the best macarons in this part of the world and I went to his signature outlet in Sydney to grab some to bring back. I wanted my better half to try them and see how they compare to Pierre Hermé (below) and the Ladurée macarons at Champs-Élysées, Paris. Macarons don’t travel well but it still tastes awesome when I got them back!

Pierre Heme Macarons

Pierre Hermé “Les Incontournables de Paris” macarons from France
18 July 2014
With flavors like Olive Oil Fruite Vert, Rose Petals and Milk Chocolate & Passion Fruit, it’s no wonder this is the best macarons we had in Paris.

One Michelin Star

Dinner by Michelin Star Le Gavroche’s Chef Alexy Fuchs Malaysian visit
18 August 2014
I brought my better half out to a RM 711.10 dinner for two when a Michelin 1 star chef came to KL to cook a limited dinner series for a couple of days. It was the best dinner we had in Malaysia, the chef hails from France so it was a good throwback to our time in Paris earlier in the year.

How to make a tea bag rocket
21 August 2014
I wanted to do something fun for the kids and they loved it!

Adriano Zumbo Tim Tams

Adriano Zumbo limited edition Tim Tams
4 September 2014
Adriano Zumbo partnered up with Arnott’s to release a series of three limited edition Tim Tams – Salted Caramel, Choc Brownie and Raspberry White Choc and I lugged heaps of them back to KL for my better half. I was in Australia at the time and he came out with the new Adriano Zumbo Red Velvet Tim Tams after I left so I got them mailed all the way from Australia for RM 144. It makes for good reading, how I micromanaged the delivery. Haha.

Angry Birds Board Game Review: Playing real life Angry Birds with the kids over the weekend!
6 October 2014
I bought an Angry Birds “board game” to play with the kids – it was crazy fun, this year saw me spending more quality time with the kids and bonding with them more.

Dengue Fever

My experience with dengue fever
17 November 2014
I come down with dengue fever. It wasn’t fun – this is my report on the experience from the moment I fell ill to the recovery phases. It’s not that bad either, but it’s certainly not a walk in the park.

Santan Cooking Course

Cooking a 3-Course Meal with S&P Santan!
20 November 2014
This is a cooking class/course that I took. It was actually a lot of fun! I took a lot of photos and learned quite a lot from my team-mate.

Hat Yai

Greetings from Hat Yai!
24 November 2014
I make it a point to go for one overseas trip and one closer trip each year with my dear and this year the closer trip was to Hat Yai in Thailand. My better half and I spent most of the time shopping and eating local delicacies like pork leg rice and Thai boat noodle soup.

Noodles Inside Coconut

Tom Yam Big Prawn Noodles served inside a coconut for RM 33
2 December 2014
My better half came down to Sibu again to spend our anniversary together and I drove her down to Sarikei with my dad in tow to eat the famous Tom Yam Big Prawn Noodle served inside a whole coconut and walk around town.

Christmas Family Photo

8 fun things we did for our Christmas Eve celebrations!
24 December 2014
We have made it a family tradition to celebrate Christmas! I roast our own turkey every year (got a 6.5 kg beast this year) and get all the festive accoutrements like Christmas crackers and eggnog so the kids feel like it’s a special day.

Pandoro

Our Pandoro Party!
30 December 2014
We had panettone the previous year and this year, we had pandoro! It’s a different Christmas cake from the Verona region of Italy and the kids loved it coz it doesn’t have the fruits in panettone but contains heaps of sugar (to look like an ice capped mountain).

Abalone Poon Choy

Our annual poon choy dinner with whole baby abalone @ Hakka Siu Poon Choy
8 February 2015
Yup, it’s our poon choy tradition going on for the second year! I got our awesome big bowl feast from a smaller shop this time so more care was taken into making it – it was so much more delicious than the previous year’s. My better half’s parents also came over and I got some craft beer for her dad and myself to go with the feast.

Fireworks KL

2015 Chinese New Year Fireworks Roundup in Kuala Lumpur
16 February 2015
This is the first year I’ve done two fireworks roundups – one in Kuala Lumpur and one in my hometown of Sibu. It’s quite fun to buy fireworks in KL and let it off for the kids to see.

Huge Fireworks

The 2015 Chinese New Year Fireworks Roundup!
6 March 2015
This is the bigger and better fireworks roundup, the one from Sibu. I purchase the largest fireworks cake I have to date – a 27 kg 333-shot monster that takes 2 people to carry.

Greetings from Legoland Malaysia!
22 March 2015
We bring the kids to Legoland! The hotels and entrance made it even more expensive than an overseas trip but the kids loved it and that’s all that matters. I enjoyed it too, we managed to catch LEGO Friends Live! – a musical with real people!

Legoland Malaysia

My late mom’s first Ching Ming (Tomb Sweeping Day)
31 March 2015
We all flew back for my mom’s first Ching Ming and took care of her tomb, sung some hymns and said a prayer for her. It was good to have the whole family together, I’ve always thought it was more for the living than the dead.

Mom Ching Ming

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Here’s the list of my previous of blog anniversary posts:
2003: sixthseal.com 1st Birthday
2004: sixthseal.com 2nd Birthday!
2005: sixthseal.com 3rd Birthday!
2006: sixthseal.com 4th Birthday!
2007: I was in rehab. There are (officially) no posts in 2007.
2008: I just got out of rehab. There is no 2007 recap to be done coz there are no posts in that year.
2009: Seven years of sixthseal.com
2010: I was in New Zealand at the time while my mom underwent an operation for lung cancer. I didn’t do one coz I was too caught up with stuff. Time for another retrograde!
2011: Happy 9th bloganivarsary sixthseal.com!
2012: Happy Blogday – 10 years of sixthseal.com!
2013: Happy Blogniversary – 11 years of sixthseal.com!
2014: sixthseal.com turns 12!

It’s been 13 years since I started this blog and I’m going to be doing a few changes around here. The first thing is to commit to a 24 hour schedule as I originally intended – *one post per day* and the second is to do a complete makeover. The categories are hard to find and the archives even messier and I want the experience to be smooth for everyone who comes here.

Rave

Here’s a big THANK YOU to everyone who has passed by, commented or followed me since 13 years ago. I couldn’t have done it without you – thanks for reading everyone! 🙂

sixthseal.com turns 12!

12th Blog Anniversary

The title might seem a little odd, considering that I just wrote about my 11th blog anniversary yesterday. However, these are events that happened one (and two, respectively) years ago. My blog is actually celebrating it’s 13th anniversary this year and I’m doing a quick spot of catching up! action

This is the part where I collect all the noteworthy posts of the previous (in relation to this post) year, which means 19th April 2013 to 19th April 2014.

Just think of the date today as 19th April 2014 and it’ll make more sense.

Come and jump back one year with me while I go through some of the most interesting posts of the “previous” year, in chronological order:

5 Course Dinner

How to cook kangaroo meat: A kangaroo roast dinner!
20 April 2013
I cook a 5-course meal with kangaroo roast as the highlight with the limited kitchen in our Melbourne serviced apartment. We were at our first overseas trip together and I managed to cobble together a more-than-passable dinner for my dear with a dessert of kiwiberries in white chocolate and caramel during our last night in Australia.

Two Birthdays

My girlfriend’s two birthdays!
25 April 2013
I surprise my better half by planning a trip to Siem Reap in Cambodia without her knowledge. I just told her to bring her passport. 🙂 The boutique hotel we stayed in was awesome – they made a “Happy Honeymoon” sign with leaves on our bed and spread rose petals, had champagne on ice, and even agreed to spring a surprise birthday cake while I got my dear to wait at the swimming pool!

Duck Embryo

Eating pong tia koon – Cambodian balut!
30 April 2013
There was a balut post last year and there will be one this year! We went to Cambodia to try out their version of fertilized duck embryo. They call it pong tia koon and the Khmer style is a lot more delicious than Philippines preparation. They add a lot of lime, chilli and herbs, making this a truly delectable street eat.

Eating Fried Insects

Eating Fried Insects in Bangkok: Beetles, grasshoppers, frogs, crickets, worms, red ants!
13 May 2013
Haha! I even have a video of me eating the various insects while doing a running commentary and review.

The Damnoen Saduak Floating Market Scam
22 May 2013
I’m very proud of this entry. It was an adventure in hindsight (even though I was quite pissed off at the time) and the best thing that came out of this was random strangers thanking me via the comments and email for letting them know. There were many cases where they were literally inside the taxi when they read my post and aborted their trip. It feels good to write stuff like this and get appreciative notes from people who managed to avoid the scam via my blog post.

Deep Fried Mars Bar

Home made deep-fried Mars bar
26 May 2013
I’m quite chuffed to have made this at home…with EVOO to boot! I also deep fried Twix, Snickers, Kit Kat Chunky and Cadbury Crunchie.

Skeet Shooting

Shooting clay pigeons with a shotgun at Phuket Shooting Range
2 June 2013
There was a firearms post in the previous anniversary post (and also the 1st sixthseal.com blog anniversary post) and I’m proud to continue this tradition this year. This time it’s some skeet shooting action from Phuket!

A trip to the SS2 wet market (pasar pagi)
28 July 2013
The domestication of sixthseal.com. smirk

Rosti Pie

Rosti cottage pie with fresh Chorizo sausages, bacon, minced pork, fennel, curly kale and kidney
30 July 2013
I do a spot of cooking. You can find all my cooking posts by clicking on the Cooking category. I’m particularly proud of:
Unagi with Kansas City BBQ sauce and single malt Scotch whisky
How to Make Stuffed Artichokes
Guide to cooking an artichoke
Sautéed Jerusalem artichokes with garlic and mushrooms in white wine
Buttered King Grouper with White Wine Reduction in Bouchees Poissons
Homemade Creamy Broccoli Pesto with Pasta
How to French Cut a whole chicken into a crown of breast (step-by-step with photos)
Wild flower honey and dates marinated free range chicken rice from scratch!
Sweet pineapple + Greek yoghurt sandwich with alfalfa sprouts & beans, vintage cheddar and Chiang Mai strawberry on Poppy seed bread
How to make venison steak tartare
We really cooked a lot in this year, it’s a passion we share together. 🙂

Fireworks accident: Aerial starburst shell from 3″ mortar explodes on ground after hitting obstruction!
8 August 2013
This has happened many times before, some with catastrophically destructive consequences. This wasn’t so bad in comparison, but it was the only time I managed to catch it on camera as a video clip! What happened in a nutshell:

  1. First shell of the five inside the mortar tube launched
  2. It had such a powerful lift charge the mortar tube shifted
  3. Second shell still left the tube safely and burst in the air
  4. Third shell hit the metal slab and bounced back down and burst one meter away
  5. Videographer (me) shouted “Shit!” in surprise at the force of the blast
  6. Forth shell exploded right in front of me, showering me with flaming debris
  7. I shouted “Fuck!” in a bit of a panic as I saw the mortar canted at an angle towards the house
  8. Fifth and last shell went into the porch and exploded beside a car

Pig Skin Noodles

Pork skin noodles – making noodles out of pig skin
9 September 2013
This is one of my kitchen experiments. It didn’t turn out very well. Haha.

Langkawi Trip

Highlights of our Langkawi trip: A foul madame, Underwater World and chocolates
15 September 2013
I bring the kids and my better half to the island resort of Langkawi for our first family trip outside of Klang Valley! 🙂

RM35 Sibu Noodles

The infamous RM 35 bowl of noodles in Sibu!
16 October 2013
My dear came back to Sibu with me for the first time! She met my mom and dad, and they both loved her, which was a good thing since my mom passed on not long after this. It’s shocking to think that in the span of a few months, my mom went from fine, to assisted walking (with her stick), to wheelchair, to bed-ridden before she finally left us. I’m glad my mom knows I am in good hands before she went.

Morib Family Photo

Our weekend trip to Gold Coast Morib Resort!
23 October 2013
This is another trip we took with the kids just a month after our Langkawi trip – the smallest one is about to start school so we’re making the most of the time while she still can go. Now both of them are in school so we can only do trips on school holidays.

Berlin Wall

My visit to the Berlin Wall
6 December 2013
I finally write about my visit to Berlin! This is the second time I’ve been to Germany and this trip covers Dresden, Wolfsburg, and Frankfurt too. The Berlin Wall now is slightly tourist kitsch but that doesn’t take away from its historical significance.

Christmas Dinner

Our Christmas / New Year Turkey, Brussels Sprout and Peach Trifle Dinner!
3 January 2014
This is the start of a wonderful tradition – I cook a turkey and we invite her mom and dad over for dinner, it’s a great family gathering with the kids and everyone else.

MasterChef Dinner

Our MasterChef Australia 5-Course Dinner @ the apartment
8 January 2014
This is actually an Christmas present from my dear. She comes up with the best gift ideas. We both enjoyed the dinner immensely.

I found Finnish fireworks for sale in KL!
20 January 2014
You know it’s the start of Chinese New Year when I start writing about fireworks. 😀

Poon Choy

Poon Choi @ Restaurant Lee Hong Kee
15 February 2014
This is another great family tradition that we started this year – having poon choy (big bowl feast) together with her mom and dad. The kids enjoyed our two traditions so much that they’ve requested for turkey this year again. I love cooking turkey for Christmas and hunting for a good poon choy during Chinese New Year.

Staycation

10 things we did during our weekend staycation
25 February 2014
I love taking the time out to spend quality time with my soul mate, even if it’s just a staycation at a hotel in the middle of KL, it still feels like a holiday! It’s not about where you go, but who you go with.

Gordon Ramsay Duck Breast

Gordon Ramsay’s duck breast with Madeira jus, tomatillo apple cranberry chutney and parsnip purée
2 March 2014
This is one of my more successful dishes. It’s delicious, if I may say so myself. The other one is the Poached chicken breast with beetroot and nectarine purée.

Mom Funeral

My mom’s funeral
25 March 2014
My dear came down to be with me in this time of need. My mom passed on earlier in the month – it’s a good thing all of us were beside her at the time. We had her wake a few days later. I didn’t post much this month – only 5, the lowest ever recorded in sixthseal.com history, except for the time I restarted blogging after losing everything when coming out of drug rehab (a story I will share in my proper 13th anniversary post tomorrow).

My other social media sites:
Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/sixthseal
YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/sixthsealdotcom
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/sixthseal
http://www.facebook.com/SixthSealcom

Here’s the list of my previous of blog anniversary posts:
2003: sixthseal.com 1st Birthday
2004: sixthseal.com 2nd Birthday!
2005: sixthseal.com 3rd Birthday!
2006: sixthseal.com 4th Birthday!
2007: I was in rehab. There are (officially) no posts in 2007.
2008: I just got out of rehab. There is no 2007 recap to be done coz there are no posts in that year.
2009: Seven years of sixthseal.com
2010: I was in New Zealand at the time while my mom underwent an operation for lung cancer. I’m not sure what happened to the blog anniversary post, most likely I didn’t do one coz I was too caught up with stuff. Time for another retrograde!
2011: Happy 9th bloganivarsary sixthseal.com!
2012: Happy Blogday – 10 years of sixthseal.com!
2013: Happy Blogniversary – 11 years of sixthseal.com!

That’s it! I’ve finished playing catch-up, the timeline is now restored to normal.

Rave

Thanks for reading everyone, and I’ll be back tomorrow for the PROPER sixthseal.com 13th blog anniversary post, which falls on the 19th April 2015! 🙂

Happy Blogniversary – 11 years of sixthseal.com!

11th Blog Anniversary

This is actually a very late post – 3 years late, to be exact. Haha! I haven’t done a proper blog anniversary post since April 19th 2012, the year sixthseal.com turned 10. Thus, I’m going catch up by doing *one blog anniversary post per day* until my actual 13th blog birthday on April 19th 2015! It’ll be the 11th anniversary post today and the 12th tomorrow, just in time for this year’s (lucky) 13th anniversary on Sunday!

I’ll do it in the classic sixthseal.com way – a roundup of interesting posts for the “previous” year. For this post, this will mean everything from 19th April 2012 to 19th April 2013 since my blog was created on 19th April 2002.

Also as a tribute to Sesame Street (and also coz I took out a photo in the My Birthday Conspiracy post) our letter today is K. smirk

Ketamine

(It’s the 11th letter of the alphabet, yo)

That photo was actually from this year (2012) and it’s real. This is also the year which I quit all opiates, read on to find out more. It’s actually a very instrumental year in my life.

Here’s my favorite posts of the previous (relative to this post) year in chronological order:

Steyr M9A1

Steyr M9 semi-auto 9mm handgun
6th May 2012
This is a semi-automatic firearm review. I actually have a Category H firearms licence in Melbourne when I was studying there. I wrote about one of my trips to the local shooting range in 2002. I realize it’s a bit dubious having a photo of a loaded handgun so close to the picture above, but oh well, I mean well. Haha.

White Water Rafting

White water rafting in Gopeng
6th June 2012
This is the best! I love outdoor activities like these – skydiving, white water rafting, all the adrenaline sports. I was travelling a lot at this particular period in time, it was a period of soul searching. I went to several countries within a span of a few months! Indonesia (twice – the other time was to Bali), Singapore, Germany, Thailand, Philippines, Australia and Cambodia.

Jakarta

Couchsurfing in Jakarta – don’t forget your towel
10 June 2012
This was an impromptu trip to Jakarta, which I still haven’t finished writing about. My resolution this year is to stop procrastinating so after my real blog anniversary on Sunday, you’ll see daily updates and more interaction as well as a facelift.

Mom

My mom’s battle with lung cancer
14 June 2012
My mom was still alive three years ago…I just came back from her first Ching Ming after she moved on last year. It’s a blessing that we’re with her during her final moments in Singapore, it was hard to see her suffer from end-stage lung cancer and the pain and immobility that came in the end was terrible. She’s in a much better place now.

Germany Beer McDonalds

Only in Germany – beer and bubble tea at McDonald’s!
26 June 2012
A quick post I wrote while I was travelling in Germany. I was in Dresden at the time and they really serve beer in McDonald’s in Germany! There’s no age checks either, but then again I’m no spring chicken. I know they serve beer in other McDonald’s too but Deutschland is the most famously quoted place. You can read the rest of my Germany travel posts but the most recent one is the trip I took with my better half last year, this trip was the trip before that. I’ve actually been to Europe five times within the past 8 years.

Seize the day!
22 July 2012
This was the day I quit OxyContin (oxycodone) which was what I meant by tattooing the date in the post. I went on the government Suboxone opiate maintenance program after that and eventually kicked that too. I had a really serious opiate habit but it turned out that Suboxone was worse in a lot of ways (and more expensive too).

Suit

Timothy and Audrey’s Up Themed Wedding in Penang
30 July 2012
This is one of the cutest weddings I’ve ever attended. I had that suit made in Phuket and lost it two years ago while buying chocolates for my dear. It’s a funny story, I was trying to surprise my better half by getting her Patchi chocolates and left my car at the mall’s underground car park, which had a car wash. I took my dry cleaned suit out to put in their lockers…and forgot all about it until several MONTHS later! -_-

A morning stroll at Kota Tua Jakarta
12 August 2012
Just chilling in Jakarta…

Balut

Eating balut in the Philippines
27th August 2012
…before heading to Manila to eat the famous balut (duck embryo) en route to the holiday island of Boracay.

11 photos from the Fraser’s Hill trip
19 September 2012
I told you I was travelling a lot during these few months. Hey, I had to do something to combat the withdrawals after quitting opiates, you have to go cold turkey before you can go on the government’s NDST (National Drug Substitution Therapy) program for Suboxone due to the way buprenorphine works.

Helmet diving in Boracay
26 September 2012
This is a fun way to experience the sea if you don’t have a SCUBA diving licence. I did but my travel partner didn’t so we went on this instead, which is my first time!

The Prodigal Son
17 November 2012
The About Me behind the About Me, the one you wouldn’t know unless you’ve been following the blog since it’s inception. I had lead quite a chaotic life. Interesting, yes; and the less travelled path, most definitely; but you pay for the life experiences you get. One way or another, you pay.

Yee Ling

Competitive ice cream eating and other stories
29 November 2012
How can I not include this post? This is the best (and most important) day of my life. <3

A wonderful array of Indian sweets
9 January 2013
My love affair with Indian sweets

Emophant

Deer Emophant – a trip to the National Elephant Conservation Centre and Deerland Park in Kuala Gandah, Pahang
29 January 2013
I meet an emophant on a road trip. 🙂

The firecracker and the cat
17th February 2013
A funny story about a firecracker and a feline. No, nothing that would cause PETA to come after me, this is actually a rather tame story. Pardon the pun.

Daytime fireworks colored smoke salute cakes!
21 February 2013
Amazing smoke bombettes that flies up and bursts in the air in the form of a fireworks cake. It was the first commercially available daytime fireworks and my only regret was not setting the exposure correctly in the video, coz lighting and seeing the smoke bursts in real life was amazing!

Daylight Fireworks

Penguin Parade @ Phillip Island
26 March 2013
My first trip with my better half! We went to Melbourne. This was my first post when we got there. The “How I Met Your Mother in Melbourne” post is also iconic. We spent a lot of fun times and collected a lot of good memories in Australia, particularly in Phillip Island where we saw the penguins and stayed at a wonderful B&B with a huge room with amazingly breathtaking views of the countryside at Odette & Siegfried’s Room @ Swan Lake Guest House, Phillip Island.

Phillip Island

My first day trip with the M&Ms
31 March 2013
The start of an awesome relationship with the kids.

Resort

My romantic birthday getaway @ Philea Resort in Melaka
10 April 2013
My dear surprised me with a birthday present – a trip to a resort!

Chaul Chnam Thmey from Siem Reap, Cambodia!
15 April 2013
My better half and I head to Cambodia for our second overseas vacation of the year.

Cambodia

Like I said, this was the best year of my life. I met my soul mate, who kept me on the straight and narrow and I’ve been very lucky to have her in my life. I love the kids and I love my dear and everything I do from this year onwards is reflective of that so that’s the end of shenanigans like ketamine…and the start of being a better person.

My other social media sites:
Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/sixthseal
YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/sixthsealdotcom
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/sixthseal
http://www.facebook.com/SixthSealcom

Here’s the list of my previous of blog anniversary posts:
2003: sixthseal.com 1st Birthday
2004: sixthseal.com 2nd Birthday!
2005: sixthseal.com 3rd Birthday!
2006: sixthseal.com 4th Birthday!
2007: I was in rehab. There are (officially) no posts in 2007.
2008: I just got out of rehab. There is no 2007 recap to be done coz there are no posts in that year.
2009: Seven years of sixthseal.com
2010: I was in New Zealand at the time while my mom underwent an operation for lung cancer. I’m not sure what happened to the blog anniversary post, most likely I didn’t do one coz I was too caught up with stuff, if that’s the case, I’ll do a retrograde one like this post.
2011: Happy 9th bloganivarsary sixthseal.com!
2012: Happy Blogday – 10 years of sixthseal.com!

I’ll update again tomorrow with the next year’s blog anniversary post!

Thanks for reading everyone! It’s been a real pleasure having all of you on board, whether dropping by for the first time or a long time friend. Cheers! 🙂

My experience with dengue fever

dengue antibodies test igm

I woke up early Sunday morning with a burning fever that came on suddenly. I had a pounding headache and worse still, there was an intense pain behind my eyeballs. I couldn’t even blink without substantial pain.

I was also burning up. You can reach over 40 degrees Celsius in the first few days of dengue infection and the heat was baking off me – so much so that my better half couldn’t stand the heat when she was beside me.

I went to the doctor the next day and she didn’t even know I had dengue fever or diagnose me as such. I was just given a 30 second consultation, given paracetamol and was out the door.

test for dengue

Day 1
High fever, chills, pain at the back of the eyes

I was really, really sick. I couldn’t eat anything and I didn’t want to move at all. When I went to the doctor again, I was bent over from fatigue. It was worse than any flu that I’ve ever had. I slept.

Day 2
High fever, fatigue, stabbing pain behind my eyes, aching joints and muscles

It didn’t get better the next day. The fever had gotten worse and I was waiting my IgM and IgG dengue antibodies results so I could confirm that this is a case of dengue. I slept most of the day.

dengue blood test

Day 3
Fever, fatigue, aching joints, muscle pain, stabbing pain behind my eyes

I would say that the most characteristic feature of dengue fever is the stabbing pain behind your eyes. It’s unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced. I got my results and it was dengue!

rash dengue

Day 4
Diarrhoea, fatigue, nausea, aching muscles and joints

The fever had broke but I was still too tired to get up from bed. I can honestly say that I was bedridden for a full week! I also threw up anything that I tried to eat and couldn’t keep down any fluids.

dengue fever rash

Day 5
Nausea, fatigue, itching all over, rashes

This was when I got a mysterious rash all over my body. It’s very itchy and I couldn’t stop scratching myself. It’s on my feet, my hands, my body and it kept me scratching the entire time I was awake. The only respite is sleep.

Day 6
Itches all over, hives, rashes, nausea, fatigue

It got better on the sixth day and I had daily blood tests to monitor my platelets count. It had dropped really low and I couldn’t seem to heal from the smallest lacerations.

second blood test

Day 7
Lacerations from scratching, itching all over, fatigue

It’s the seventh day now and I’m mostly feeling better, although I can’t get up for long periods of time. It’s very tiring to do even minor chores and I’ve been sleeping 12 hour days without any fluids – a bad thing to do which probably made my recovery slower but I had lots of isotonic drinks courtesy of my dear.

dengue hospital referral

Dengue fever isn’t as bad as some people report. You won’t die if you’re a relatively healthy adult. I got a letter for admission to the hospital but I didn’t go – that is if your platelets count is dropping and doesn’t rally for some reason and it’s a precaution. They really can’t do anything for you – your immune system just has to get rid of the dengue fever virus by itself.

I’ve been through a few (mis)adventures in my life and out of them I’ll rate this as a 4 from a scale of 1-10, 10 being the most painful. 10 would be withdrawing from benzodiazepines without a taper plan at a shitty government rehab centre – you’re shackled and handcuffed and you’re seizing every hour and trying not to bite your tongue and you’re peeing blood from the exertion and your brain feels damaged from all the minor and grand mal seizures and you’re just begging for a higher power to not let you die.

(and you can very well die from cold turkey benzo withdrawal after 14 years of heavy usage)

I’ve also done cold turkey withdrawal from opiates (heroin, oxycodone and methadone) and I’ll rate that a 7 – nowhere near the death experience of benzo withdrawal but still painful. I’ve also had an emergency dialysis done on my neck and that discomfort is probably around 5 so my rating of 4 for dengue fever is just according to my personal experiences – your mileage will vary depending on what you’ve been through. smirk

dengue rash

There’s a positive thing that came out of all this though – I’m immune from this strain of dengue fever forever! You can only get dengue once, you’ll have immunity after that, and considering there’s four (4) known strains out there – that means you’ll get dengue a maximum of four times and you’re set after that. 🙂

Poached chicken breast with beetroot and nectarine puree

poached chicken nectarine puree

This is the best dish I’ve cooked to date! The chicken breast is really *poached* i.e. it’s cooked in ambient hot water with no direct heat for 20 minutes. I learned this technique in a MasterClass and it’s an exact replication of that dish.

poach chicken

The protein in this dish comes from the crown of chicken breast without the wishbone, which I cut from a whole chicken.

beetroot food processor

You will need:

  • Two chicken breasts
  • 1 large beetroot
  • 1 nectarine
  • Raw goat milk
  • Nuts
  • Rosemary
  • Garlic scapes

poaching chicken

It’s quite a simple dish but the trick to cooking it is the perfect poaching of the chicken. The way to do it is to season a pot of water with garlic scapes, rosemary and salt and let it boil.

garlic scapes

I used garlic scapes (also known as garlic flower) to flavor the broth coz it tastes milder than garlic. It costs a lot more though at RM 19.90 / kg.

indirect heat cooking

When the water has started boiling, take the pot off the flame/electric hob/heating element and slide in the crown of chicken breast. Set a timer for 20 minutes and put the lid back on. You do not need direct heat to cook this – just the residual heat from the boiled stock.

goat milk puree

Meanwhile, I exchanged the vegetable puree that was in the original dish with a beetroot and nectarine puree. I also used raw goat milk while processing the puree. I felt that the colors look nice, and more importantly, it tasted awesome!

beetroot nectarine puree

The sweetness of the nectarine balances out the beetroot and you get a nice red puree for plating.

poached chicken

The crown of chicken breast should be taken out right at the 20 minute point, skin removed, and sliced into the two breast meat that it contains. I further made three cuts to each chicken breast be faithful to the dish replication.

chicken breast crown

The last step is to grind up some nuts or cereal and scatter it on the top of the plated chicken. It looks beautiful (if I can say so myself) and best of all, it tastes great!

grinder nuts

I’ve never tried indirect heat cooking and got it right at the first try. The beetroot and nectarine puree is smothered over the plate before the chicken breast is plated for the dish to pop (yes, you can roll your eyes right about now smirk) but the sweet puree was so good we ate it in other dishes too, like the king grouper in fish pastry shells.

poached chicken beetroot puree

My dear better half finished her dish and it was good to be able to do a restaurant quality dish from just watching a show. Haha! I’m putting this into Best of sixthseal.com – a category which I put very few of my posts into. 😀

Shooting clay pigeons with a shotgun at Phuket Shooting Range

skeet shooting

I went to the Phuket Shooting Range yesterday to get some range time in. I haven’t shot a firearm since my initial foray with a .357 Magnum revolver, 9 mm and .45 caliber semi-automatic handguns while I was studying in Melbourne.

ak rifles guns thailand

I went quite often after that and got a license to own but I heard it’s a perishable skill – if you don’t practice often, you won’t hit the nice grouping you used to be able to do when you went every other weekend. I also…er, examined an Steyr M9 pistol while I was in Malaysia but I wasn’t interested in handguns this time and wanted to shoot a rifle instead.

phuket shooting

Phuket Shooting Range had a great package for a .22 caliber long rifle with sights for just THB 890 (about RM 90) for 10 bullets. You can get a semi-automatic or fully automatic (!!!) rifle with a scope for indoor shooting and I was sorely tempted to do this but unfortunately I only had 15 minutes since the girls wanted to go catch the sunset.

me with shotgun

Thus, I settled on clay pigeon shooting. It’s a package with 10 shotgun shells for THB 1,190 (about RM 120). I honestly don’t know if this is skeet shooting, trap shooting or sporting clays since the Phuket Shooting Range is huge and I was at a station with clay pigeons flying from two different directions and angles.

shooting range thailand

The registration process was incredibly lax – I didn’t need to hand over my passport or even prove that I am who I say I am. I just wrote my name on a piece of paper – I didn’t even sign it! You can get a variety of semi-automatic handguns from .38 caliber revolvers to shotguns and there’s even a full outdoor tactical range.

I’ve never been clay pigeon shooting before. I did see President Obama (purportedly) skeet shooting in that well-publicized White House propaganda photo as he made more restrictions to gun laws in the US though. I do know shotguns since I grew up in Sarawak (locals are allowed to own shotguns) but this is a special skeet shooting double-barreled Over And Under design (O/U) that I’ve never used before.

competition shells

The skeet shooting shells are 24 gr 7 ½ inch 70mm meant for competition – the Olympics uses the same shotgun shells. I was given a short primer (smirk) on how to follow the arcs with my shotgun and shoot. The orange clay pigeons came from two directions – a bit like trap/skeet shooting in just one station.

phuket shooting range

I pressed my cheek against the stock of the shotgun, rested it against my shoulder and waited for the recoil that I thought would hit me like a ton of bricks. I felt nothing at all! There’s barely any recoil from this break open Over And Under (two barrels stacked vertically) shotgun with this particular shell.

shotgun shell

However, I found that tracking the clay pigeons (which is automatically thrown into the air from two stations – you’re supposed to track, lead and shoot it, breaking the discs) was harder than I thought. I wasn’t very comfortable with the shotgun – I wanted to have a front pistol grip, which is absurd, that’s something for tactical use, but it would be much more comfortable. 🙂


Full video of me skeet shooting!

I liked the double barreled shotgun design though – it gives you two chances to break the orange clay pigeons and you can fire it like a semi-automatic. It has a very light trigger pull and you literally break open the stock and reload two shells when you’re done.

shooting shotgun

I would have loved to go on the shotgun course too – they had metal silhouettes that ping when you shoot it with buckshot but I was pressed for time so I could only go for this one. I have finally shot a classic break open O/U double-barreled shotgun at clay pigeons flying in the air at high speeds! 😀

break open shotgun

It was a lot of fun!

Posted: 1:28 pm Phuket time (GMT +7)

Guess what? I won Magnum 4D!

magnum 4d win
THIS IS A WINNING TICKET

I had a feeling that I was going to get lucky yesterday so I went to the SS2 Magnum 4D outlet where I usually have my lunch and got some lottery tickets. I checked at night during dinner and thought I didn’t win but when I went back home and looked at the ticket – it was indeed a winning number! 🙂

lottery winnings

My number is 8179

I have *never* won Magnum 4D before.

winning lottery ticket

It came out as a Special Prize (RM 180) and I bought RM 3 of that number so I thought I won around RM 600 as I posted it up on the sixthseal.com Facebook page last night.

jackpot winnings

I just cashed it in and it seems like the Jackpot 4 prize is much larger than I thought. I read it was just RM 68 but when the payout ticket came out it’s RM 68 (Jackpot 4 bonus) x RM 2 (Jackpot minimum bet) x RM 3 (amount bet) = RM 408.

total 4d winnings

Thus RM 540 (RM 180 Special Prize) + RM 408 (Jackpot bonus) = RM 948.

8179 is a concatenation of a family number: 19(81) + 19(79).

The first is my year of birth and the other is the year my only other sibling – my sister – was born.

It’s a small win but I’m quite happy coz I’ve successfully beaten the insane odds. I’ve also had a winning Sports Toto ticket before and stopped buying after that.

winning face

Here’s a cheesy shot of me in recognition of the original one from 2006. (see the Sports Toto link from my post back then)

I had hoped to win a couple million from the Jackpot and send my mom and dad for a vacation to the States or Europe and get my mom better treatment but there are no shortcuts in life.

claim 4d

I am officially stopping any further bets from Magnum 4D since I just want to buck the odds. I used to occasionally get the tickets but seriously, the odds are just not there. I’m glad I finally beat it. It’s not much but it’s a bonus Chinese New Year ang pow. 🙂

5 exotic tropical fruit sandwiches

tropical sandwiches

I call this the Silat Buah Edition of my continuing bread story! smirk

1. Mangosteen sandwiches

mangosteens

It’s the season for mangosteens now. Mangosteens season is the end of the year and the smaller ones do not have seeds, making it perfect for sandwiches!

mangosteen sandwiches

It’s a refreshing experiment but to be honest, not all that good.

2. Starfruit sandwiches

starfruit

I saw this jar of local government FAMA produced belimbing (starfruit) jam on sale once and bought a tub of it. I then sauntered over to the fruits section and got myself 3 starfruits.

I decided to slather the starfruit jam and then cut starfruit slices on top of it to make a starfruit sandwich with real fruit.

starfruit sandwich

I had to choke it down – the jam is crappy and almost inedible, full of sugar and a weird flavoring that has little to do with starfruit. Another one of my failed experiments. I still can’t bring myself to eat the jam – it’s still sitting in the fridge after another try on it’s own. Vile stuff.

3. Jackfruit sandwiches

jackfruit

You can get the fresh ones at SS2 night market. I found it much better than the ones at the local hypermarket. It’s one of the more expensive fruits around at over RM 9 / kg. I just slid the fruit between bread since it’s quite flavorful by itself.

jackfruit sandwiches

It should probably be noted that seeds should be taken out before inserting into bread. It’s pretty good – especially when paired with cream cheese spread!

4. Durian sandwiches

durian

It might be heresy to some to use the precious durian as a sandwich filling. It’s expensive (recently bought a Holo durian for RM 33 with less than 10 seeds, costing over RM 3 each) so I used the more common D24 strain (RM 6 / kg) for this experiment.

I thought since it works so well with glutinous rice (seriously, durian and mangoes are perfect with glutinous rice) I reckon it might be okay with bread.

durian sandwiches

Nope, I still consider it a waste – I had to use about 4 seeds to gather enough flesh for a sandwich – it’s good, but durians deserve better treatment.

5. Jambu sandwiches

jambu

I saw this juicy local fruit at RM 8 / kg from a local roadside stand and it turned out to be one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever made! 🙂

fruit sandwiches

The secret is chunky peanut butter.

Jambu with chunky peanut butter has a very complex texture – the pure water squirting out of the fruit, the stickiness of peanut butter and the chewiness of bread. The flavor profile is amazing too – kinda like eating an apple with peanut butter (used to do that as a kid).

This is the tropical version – salty and buttery and sweet with refreshing bursts.

I did a lot of tongue-in-cheek sandwiches for fun but this…

jambu sandwiches

…this is the eureka moment, I discovered something I’ll really continue eating. It’s truly a great fruit sandwich! 🙂



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