sixthseal.com – Page 181 – Leading the wild into the ways of the man…

Mojo

May 19, 2008 by HB

mojo

I went clubbing with Phoenix (not her real name) and Irene plus her companion on Saturday night. We went bar hopping and ended up in Mojo, Ipenema and SOHO. I was only staying the night and Irene picked us up at around 10:30 pm coz I really wanted to hit the night scene in Kuching again considering I haven’t been here for a while.

mojo bar

The bar area was pretty much as I remembered it…

mojo tv

…but there’s now a huge plasma TV screen for the people who would go into massive withdrawals from missing the all important EPL (English Premier League) soccer matches during their night out. 😉

mojo interior

Mojo was absolutely packed that night – it felt like I was squeezing into a sardine can. There was a lone empty table and we promptly sat down on it. It didn’t cross my mind that the table wouldn’t be empty with the crowd magnitude without a reason. =D

gerald

It was actually reserved by Gerald, the owner of Mojo. I haven’t seen him for ages – not since I left Kuching. He kindly let us have the table for the night.

mojo drinks

We ordered a bottle of vino and had a good time reminiscing about the good old days…

mojo us

Phoenix is my traveling companion for the Kuching – Batang Ai Hilton Longhouse Resort this long weekend. I’m quite certain there’s something wrong with my digicam coz in every photo we take of this mysterious travel companion, the lens flare seems to mess up the details of her countenance. 😉

Mitsu Shabu-Shabu Restaurant

May 16, 2008 by HB

shabu shabu

Mitsu
Shabu-Shabu Restaurant is one of the oldest and most successful Japanese
eating establishments in Sibu. Shabu-shabu roughly translates to “swish-swish” and is a Japanese variant of the hot pot. This makes it well
suited to local taste buds since the steamboat is already a popular
communal dining option over here.

interior

Mitsu
Shabu-Shabu is unique in a sense that all the seating arrangements have
individual hot pots recessed into the tabletop. The bar dining area and
tables all have personal hot pots. A table for four would have four
individual hot pots and a table of two would have, well, you know, two hot
pots. This must have made it a very popular destination during the Avian
flu scare a couple of years back when people jumped two feet back if you
even looked like you were about to sneeze.

table

The proper method of eating shabu-shabu is to take a piece of the
thinly sliced meat and swish it around several times in the boiling soup
(broth). However, I noticed that it’s more common for the fine citizens of
Sibu to just dump the entire stash of ingredients lock, stock and barrel
into the hot pot. This method is more suited to the coarsely chopped
ingredients of a steamboat instead of the thinly sliced meats of
shabu-shabu.

beef

This is the Mitsu Mixed Beef
Meat Set (RM 25) which contains a selection of thinly sliced cuts –
tenderloin, rib eye, sirloin and even bacon (of the beef variety).

nori

The main orders come with a dish of nori
(edible seaweed) which is something of a mandatory component of
shabu-shabu (or any other Japanese cuisine for that matter).

sausage

There are also a wide range of side orders from
the mundane to the obscure. This is Taiwanese pork sausage (RM 3).

chicken

This is hand made chicken balls (stop
snickering) which is priced at RM 2 for six balls.

crab

Crab sticks (RM 2) goes very well with hot
pots. It’s actually made of fish meat and flavored with crab (no idea how
they do that) and I love this stuff.

abalone

The
more exotic options include premium grade A1 Taiwan Abalone which is
priced at RM 13.

dump

Faye is a big fan of
shortcuts so she dumped the entire plate into the broth instead of
swishing individual slices of meat around. It should be noted that she was
born and bred in Sibu. 😉

hot pot

The poor meat
and vegetables (and even the abalone) was practically being boiled alive
in the hot pot.

food

I quickly saved a couple
of them by scooping it up into a bowl. Shabu-shabu is eaten with goma
(sesame seed) sauce and steamed rice.

gyoza

The
Seafood Dry Dumpling (RM 3.90) in Mitsu Shabu-Shabu is amazing. The gyoza
is filled with succulent prawns, squid, and fish before being deep
fried.

dumpling

The flavor and moisture of the
ingredients are somehow preserved during the deep frying process,
resulting in a burst of flavor when you bite into one of these. Highly
recommended!

“What kind of restaurant
makes you cook your own food?”

mitsu

Mitsu
Shabu-Shabu Restaurant is open till late and adequately air-conditioned.
It’s a good destination for hot pots without being subjected to the
hyperhidrosis associated with steamboats eaten al fresco.

The empire strikes back

May 15, 2008 by HB

a better mousetrap

I have been told by my fellow coworkers that
our office has a problem with rodent infestation. I have personally never
seen rats in the office but my colleagues have experienced secondary
effects from said creature. The more common grievances include snacks
being gnawed into and mugs and/or bottles falling over, or otherwise
disturbed, the next morning. I suspect the latter could be a manifestation
of clandestine office politics – covert ops of sabotage performed after
office hours – but there is a general consensus that we have a rat
problem.

bait

Thus, the management has procured three
mousetraps for our floor. These are not the unpopular snapping mousetraps
that are extremely hazardous to stray toes but the baited cage type with a
piece of cracker inside.

It looks like our furry little friends are in
for an unpleasant surprise.

P/S – I will be flying to Kuching on Saturday for the long weekend holidays. Anyone interested to hook up?

The best Nasi Lemak Special

May 14, 2008 by HB

huang chuang cafe

I have managed to find the best nasi lemak special in Sibu while having lunch just now. It’s located at Huang Chuang Cafe near Methodist High School.

muslim stall

The stall is a Muslim stall and it was recommended by Fang Ling who is something of a regular diner over there.

nasi lemak woman

The nice lady at the stall will ask if you want curry chicken or ayam masak hitam (chicken with soy sauce).

nasi lemak parts

You can also choose the parts of the chicken you prefer (drums are popular, as well as thigh meat).

nasi lemak special

The nasi lemak special is served with sambal and a fried egg on top of the fragrant santan (coconut milk) rice. The chicken is served on a separate bowl.

ayam masak hitam

Faye went for the ayam masak hitam. It’s really good – not too spicy, with flavorful hints of cinnamon.

curry chicken drum

Fang Ling and I went for the curry chicken. The curry is spicy, yet with sweet overtones. The place doesn’t add santan like it’s going out of style too. It has just the right balance of spices and coconut milk.

nasi lemak us

The best thing about it? It only costs RM 3.50.

I will survive

May 13, 2008 by HB

poor cat

…and now I’m saving all my loving for someone who’s loving me.
So now go, walk out the door
Just turn around now, you’re not welcome anymore.

Disclaimer: The person I am talking about in this post has never been
featured on sixthseal.com – long readers would know that I don’t post
about my serious relationships on the blog.

Well, it looks like my availability status has changed again. I just got out of a roller coaster relationship and I’m not sure how I’m feeling right now. I was smoking (tobacco, mind you, not cannabis) alone in contemplation just now and felt the need to write a long, self-pitying post – all the feelings of anger, betrayal, disappointment rolled into one huge pity party.

Well, here at sixthseal.com, we don’t have pity parties. It’s just not on. We don’t sell that shit over here. 😉

I met this girl who seemed to be the perfect match for me (except for her availability status – don’t ask) about four months ago. I had just got out of rehab and realized that I have a weakness for girls like this – bad girls who’re friendly (sounds like an oxymoron, I know) and talkative. She’s Aries too, and that’s kinda like a double whammy coz I tend to gravitate towards Arians, being one myself.

I didn’t like her at first, to be honest. I just wanted to get into her pant(ie)s. I met her at a club and got her number but I promptly forgot about her until two days later. I called her up and we went out for drinks and ended up talking for four hours (shocking, I know).

We decided to meet each other for lunch the next day and I was totally put off by her. I won’t elaborate more lest people manage to identify the person I’m talking about. I just wasn’t interested anymore but due to loneliness (it’s kinda hard, being new in a company and having no one to have lunch with) I went out with her again, and again, and again.

…and you know what, she kinda grew on me. She had qualities that made her attractive and she made me feel comfortable in the relationship.

Anyway, we started hanging out exclusively and it was good for a while until I noticed…discrepancies, shall we say. There’s a lot of deceit in the relationship. I won’t elaborate but let’s just say that I’m not the only one she’s seeing. Every time we get into an argument (fire elements like Aries are not meant to be together) she runs off to her ex-boyfriend.

I won’t call him her ex-boyfriend per se…it’s more like an on and off thing and she seems to have a history of doing that shit all the time in her past relationships.

I’ll be the first to state publicly that I’m not into character assassination and I truly believe that she’s a nice person (honestly) if you don’t mind…er, sharing her, if you catch my drift. 😉

Anyway, the thing that set things off today was a long standing issue between the both of us. I knew I couldn’t get a truly exclusive relationship with her, and I’m okay with that coz I’m not planning to marry her anyway. She’s fun to hang out with and she’s a good friend.

What I cannot stand is the deceit. It’s perfectly fine with me if she tells me she’ll be going to be seeing her ex (other?) boyfriend. It’s NOT okay if she lies about it. It’s the lying more than anything coz I sincerely believe that without trust in a relationship, there’s nothing.

Trust is the foundation that all relationships stand on.

Thus, I have decided to break up with her. Honestly, I thought I would be feeling down and everything, but I’m not. I thought I’ll be writing stuff like “Oh well, at least I have alprazolam to get me through this” or “I’ve successfully kicked a 7 year benzodiazepine habit and I’ll be fucked if I can’t kick a 4 month relationship” but I’m feeling perfectly fine.

It’s the official sixthseal.com policy to not have pity parties.

We just don’t do that shit around here. 🙂

This is for you HH:

I hope life treats you kind…and I hope you have all you’ve dreamed of.
And I wish you joy, and happiness.
But above all this, I wish you…love.

Envy Health & Beauty Grand Opening

May 12, 2008 by HB

envy health and beauty

Envy Health & Beauty had their grand opening officiated by YB Vincent Goh on the 10th of May 2008. I was up early to support Joyce’s and Mary’s venture. 🙂

envy interior

The interior of Envy has been added with some frills for the press since reporters were coming to cover the opening ceremony.

envy pansar

The people from my company chipped in to get flowers for Envy. Joyce works in my office (we’re even on the same floor).

envy potpourri

There were already a lot of people there when I arrived (fashionably late, not intentionally, but due to the seminar) and Joyce, Mary and Shirley were there to greet visitors and pass out a bottle of drinking water with a cute bag of potpourri attached to it.

envy girls

The three girls were all wearing white uniforms which looks really professional.

envy shirley

This is Shirley, who is one of the partners with Joyce and Mary. I just met her that day. 🙂

envy shirley er

I was rather curious about the little name tag located near Shirley’s left…er, cardiac region, so I asked her permission to take a very close-up photo of her cleava…er, I mean tag. Thanks for being a sport about the unusual request, Shirley! 🙂 (and please stop snickering guys)

envy food

High tea was provided as well, with a selection of local delights for people to indulge in after the opening ceremony. Their product line is really good and worth the try. One of our team is actually an avid fan of their products and keeps it along with the natural skin care products she gets from https://misumiskincare.com.

envy cake

The centerpiece is a huge blueberry cake with the word “Envy” scrivened – and yes, there really is such a word – on it.

envy eddy

The guest of honor arrived promptly at 10 am, which surprised me a little, since dignitaries usually bring the term “fashionably late” to new heights. 😉

envy vincent

There was an opening speech by YB Vincent Goh, who is the designated VIP of the event and then the ribbon cutting ceremony was held to launch Envy Health & Beauty.We offer amazon vitamin c serum, if you want to care your skin.

envy cake cutting

The obligatory cake cutting ceremony was held after that.

envy ribbon

The other obligatory event was the ribbon cutting to signify the opening of this new establishment.

envy yb

The owners of Envy presented YB Vincent with a thank you gift to mark the end of the opening ceremony.

envy bp ad

I also took the liberty of putting out a congratulatory ad in Borneo Post for Envy…with a rather prominent self-promoting URL of a certain blog, naturally. 😉 It cost me RM 170 which is pretty reasonable for the size.

envy congrats

Heartiest congratulations from sixthseal.com to Joyce, Mary and Shirley. May Envy Health & Beauty be the envy of all other establishments. Okay, that was a rather lame bit of wordplay. :p

Envy Health & Beauty is located at No. 2, 1st Floor, Lorong Pahlawan 7E, Pusat Jaya Li Hua.

There is a previous post about Envy Health & Beauty on sixthseal.com here.

Special Mother’s Day buffet dinner @ RH Hotel

May 11, 2008 by HB

rh hotel

RH Hotel is having a special Mother’s Day buffet dinner promotion at Oriental Bistro with a door gift and a free ticket for every five tickets purchased.

mothers buffet

It is priced at RM 44 ++ per person and there’s a 50% discount for children below 12 and senior citizens above 55 years old.

rh inside

I went there with Faye and KJ since my parents had a church function they had to go to.

rh steak stand

The highlight of the Mother’s Day buffet dinner is a kebab/steak stand where the chefs cook the cuts of meat you want.

rh steak

There are also various types of sausages…

rh slice

…and they even slice it up nicely for you at your request.

rh abc stand

There is also an ABC (a kind of shaved ice dessert) stand for something sweet to finish your dinner with.

rh abc

You can customize the ingredients and toppings you want inside. I had mine with chocolate sprinkles, which is a decidedly unorthodox topping. 🙂

rh eat

This is what I ended up eating…and this is just for starters coz I was REALLY hungry last night.

rh plate

My plate overfloweth. It contains:

rh scallops

Beef tripe and scallops

rh calamari

Deep fried prawn dumplings, beef rendang, calamari

rh chicken

Prime portions of chicken

rh squid

Deep fried squid and braised duck

rh shrimp

Chicken curry and shrimp with mayonnaise

rh fish

Steamed fish

rh side

There’s even a side dish of various cuts of beef and veal!

rh puffs

I was still feeling a little hungry after all that excess so I attacked the pastries counter for dessert.

rh cream puff

I noticed one of the chefs bringing out a new batch of cream tarts so I got some as well. =D

rh dessert plate

This is the dessert plate that I finished the meal with – I even got four (4) scoops of ice cream to go with it.

rh us

I am a rather fast eater, as Faye has been telling KJ. Faye took a video of me eating the entire plate. This is really the usual speed at which I eat, unless I’m with polite company. 🙂

Speed eating!

Liger

May 10, 2008 by HB

faye liger

I made a friendly wager with Faye the other day regarding the existence of an animal called liger. I’ve never heard of such a creature in my entire life! Faye swears it exists and that she personally saw it with her own eyes in Korea and even had her photo taken with it! I tend to be rather skeptical about her “facts” since…well, let’s just say that she’s fond of getting them from dubious sources. This is the same person who told me frequent sex will damage my kidneys coz a Chinese medicinal practitioner told her so.

Personally, I think that’s just a convenient excuse she uses (the equivalent of a headache) so I tend to take the fountain of questionable facts she shares with a fistful of sodium. She told me she had her photo taken with this “liger” creature during a tour of Korea and the tour guide told her it’s the result of a lion and tiger mating. The name is supposed to be a contraction of the two parent animals. She even took a photo with it!

liger photo

I don’t think she made this up, but she can be a little too trusting at times. I said the tour guide probably told her that to make the trip more interesting and shared an anecdote about the time I went to KL when I was really young. We were sitting beside a large tour group of Caucasians and the tour guide told them that the dish on the table is tiger meat.

The tourists took it all in hook, line and sinker and was overheard commenting about how “different” it tastes. The proprietor, who had no lost love for the wayward tour operator, whispered to my dad that the dish is actually a mixture of deer meat (common over here) and wild boar (also a common meat). I strongly believe something similar to the tiger meat fiasco happened to Faye in Korea – the tour guide told them that a regular lion with perhaps less than usual features is the offspring of two different wild cats.

liger

We got into a heated debate after this, with me firmly taking the stance that she was fleeced in Korea and with her nearly foaming at the mouth with irritation at my disbelief. Finally, we reached an agreeable method of dispute resolution:

quality birdnest

If ligers exist, I would buy her a box of bird’s nest of her choice (not exceeding RM 300)

If this liger thing does not exist, she would be paying for one night’s stay at the resort hotel we’re planning to go to (dollar value RM 230++)

That being said, the conditions that I put forth was that it MUST be from a reputable source, with citations and references to respectable studies. No two bit website from Korea with a Photoshop image or stuff like that.

I fired up the browser to Google and typed “liger”.

I was extremely sure that I would win this bet since I consider myself well read and I’ve never heard of such an unusual animal. I was even thinking about whether to bring red wine or single malt to the beach resort!

Faye didn’t even hover over my shoulder. She just watched the expression on my face as I expelled a rather rude word in an excessive volume while incredulously staring at the search results.

One of the first results was from Wikipedia, and I didn’t really need to read the other search results. I knew I had lost the bet. From Wikipedia:

The Liger is a hybrid cross between a male lion and a female tiger.

…and it says there’s even such a thing as a tigon too, which is the result of a male tiger and a female lion.

birds nest faye

Incredi-fucking-ble.

Envy Health & Beauty

May 8, 2008 by HB

envy

Envy Health & Beauty is having their official opening on the 10th of May, 2008. It’s owned by two of my friends – Joyce and Mary. Four of us were invited to a pre-opening sneak preview of the place and offered a free facial worth RM 50.

testers

Thus, Katherine, Chiew Keing, Sheau Lih and myself trooped down to Envy to be the first guinea pigs. 😉 I’m kidding, Mary has a lot of experience in doing this and so does Joyce. It’s just not open until this Saturday so they invited four of their closest friends to get a complimentary facial.

fluffy slippers

You change into fluffy slippers when you enter the establishment – red ones for females, blue ones for males. I didn’t even know it was color coded coz I wore the red ones. Heh!

chairs

The interior of Envy is very tastefully decorated and exudes a nice, clean and relaxing atmosphere. There are lounge chairs, bean bags and couches in the waiting room, which is meant as a place for friends to hang out and relax.

futon

My favorite is the futon chairs and carpet seating area.

display

There is also a glass display cabinet showcasing the two major products they carry.

usana

Usana is one of the latest nutritional fads to hit Sibu.

sense

SenSe is the beauty product line that they are using in their in house facials.

facial room

The facial room is the highlight of this establishment and it has three beds with see through privacy curtains for a maximum for three simultaneous customers at once.

lights