Nuffnang

It’s like a box of chocolates

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clues

Our company recently had an annual party and we had lucky draw prizes and door gifts ranging from LCD TVs to Jusco vouchers. It’s the luck of the draw – I got engine oil and a printer, which is pretty good considering I don’t have a printer and it’s high time to change my engine oil.

Now some people got stuff which they don’t need or wanted to sell off for cash instead so the next day was filled with emails bouncing back and forth with offers and deals on their gifts. I remember one particular thread selling RM 600 worth of Jusco vouchers for RM 560 (5% discount).

cash voucher

I was laughing when I saw that coz who in their right minds would buy that for only RM 40 less? I wasn’t laughing a minute later when a bid war started and the seller decided to just sell it to the first person who responded. I was pondering about this the whole day until a coworker shrugged in the elevator and said maybe to some aunties, a RM 40 saving is a huge amount, especially if they buy groceries at Jusco.

I think he might be right – it doesn’t appeal to me coz I don’t shop there but what if it’s something I want? I can imagine bidding on a 50% MPH/Borders voucher coz I love books and I love reading. It’s all about affinity and interests. I may not be into buying groceries at a discount but a lot of other people are.

books

It’s also about the surprise and limited time offer factor that spurred the after-party deluge of emails. People are interested in what others have to offer and due to the time sensitive nature, they kept checking their emails. TVs, iPods, gaming consoles and whatnot flew off the company email servers – it’s virtual selling.

Now, that was just a company wide event. Imagine taking that up to a whole new level and offering deals for all Malaysians (even Sarawakians ;)).

cold storage

MyDeal.com.my is offering exactly that. The concept is very interesting – they have a limited amount of vouchers to sell every day and you won’t know what it is until you go to their website that day. The vouchers are all from well known brands – restaurants, movie theatres, hotels, massages and much much more.

masseuse

What MyDeal.com.my offers is discounts on vouchers which can be 50% – 90% (!!!) off. You have to click on the city you’re in to see what the deal of the day is and if you like it, you simply purchase it and the voucher gets emailed to you instantly! No waiting for the postman, just get the voucher in your Inbox and bring it to the store.

dinner at rhu

I’ve seen Nando’s, Parkson, Isetan, Popular, McDonald’s, Cathay Cineplex and more on their website. The wide range of brands ensures that it appeals to everyone. Movie buff? The RM 10 Cathay Cineplex voucher for just RM 2.50 will surely appeal with 75% off. Need to get something from Guardian? One of their past deals is 68% off RM 10 Guardian gift vouchers.

The most intriguing thing about MyDeals.com.my is that all the offers are time limited AND quantity limited, so if you want to get that exclusive deal, you have to put on them boogie shoes and be quick about it to get it on time!

rhu

That is what’s so interesting about MyDeal.com.my – you never know what deals might pop up and it’s an entirely different shopping experience. You have to be quick though coz I’ve seen great deals sell out before 24 hours.

jivarhu massage

You can check out tomorrow’s deal if you Like their Facebook page. It reminds me of that James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies where the media mogul’s tagline is “Tomorrow’s News Today”. Heh!

fruit basket

If you like the element of surprise (you never know what’s the deal of the day), just surf over to MyDeal.com.my and see what they have to offer today!

High 5 cooking session with Chef Ismail

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chef ismail

I went to the High 5 Bread Town last week for a cooking session with none other than Chef Ismail himself!

One clue that this isn’t going to be your regular boring cooking demonstration is when Chef Ismail gave the cue for heart thumping music to play and got us to exercise…with High 5 bread as “weights”. I got so into it that my adrenaline was pumping like a fireman attempting to put out a 5 story blaze. Lame analogy but it’s either this or something NSFW. smirk

play dough

Anyway, we started off the session by kneading and molding fresh dough and making shapes with it. It’s like playing with Play Doh! I attempted to make a heart shaped one while my teammates went for abalone and a vaguely phallic looking thing that she twisted so hard it fell on the floor. Heh!

baking class

It’s a good thing that wasn’t for eating though – it’s for getting a feel (pun intended) for the high quality dough that High 5 uses for its bread.

coffee bread

Steaming hot coffee with slices of soft and fluffy High 5 bread was served to give us an experience of dipping the freshly baked bread into coffee.

coffee dunk

This is a breakfast staple for a lot of Malaysians on the go. It sure brings back those childhood memories!

ceo

After a short speech by Dato’ Jackson Tan, the Group Managing Director of Silver Bird Group Bhd (yes, it’s the same company that makes those delicious cakes) we donned our aprons and got into the gist of it.

ingredients

The proper cooking session started with the Mini Pizza. You can choose either wholemeal or white bread and chuck it in the oven while waiting for it to heat up to golden brown.

oven

Chef Ismail here shows us how to do it. He had his own special tomato base made with plum tomatoes, diced onions, chopped garlic, chopped parsley, thyme, oregano, tomato paste, black pepper and olive oil.

mini pizza

I made mine with extra tomato base (which we nicked from the good chef’s table) on High 5 wholemeal bread with half covered with chicken sausages and the other half with onions. I also added some diced capsicum and topped it off with grated mozzarella cheese and a sprinkling of chopped parsley.

This was sent to the oven and after a couple of minutes…

mini pizza cooked

WALLAH!

It tasted really good, and I didn’t regret using the wholemeal bread as the base as it provides that extra texture to the thing.

curry puff roll

Next up is Sardine Curry Puffs. Okay, this one ups the ante a little since it requires motor coordination skillz and a bit of expertise.

curry puff fill

Chef Ismail made it look easy and I was determined to make this one come out right.

curry puff seal

I opted for High 5 white bread this time and used a rolling pin to thoroughly FLATTEN the slice of bread. You need to make the bread into pastry. I didn’t have the right technique apparently, since Chef Ismail had to come over and teach me how to really work that bread into a 1 mm pastry like base.

curry puff flatten

Now comes the tricky part – you shouldn’t overfill the the curry puffs. After cutting off the crust, you put some filling into the curry puff before using a mixture of flour and water to seal off the curry puff. I applied the flour paste liberally – on the sides and to the entire other half of the slice of bread before rolling it up and submerging it into hot oil.

hot oil

I am pleased to report that my Sardine Curry Puff turned out golden brown and tasty to boot!

curry puff bite

The last recipe we did was High 5 Bread Tuna Canapés. Canapés, for the uninitiated, is another word for the little morsels of food you see served at atas functions with champagne. As soon as Chef Ismail went into the part about being sophisticated while eating canapés, mine promptly flew out of my fingers and went God-knows-where. FML. >.<

canapes

Anyway, the High 5 Bread Tuna Canapés is very easy to make and it requires no cooking! All you need is basically a cutter to cut the pieces of bread into round shapes before buttering it and adding some tuna, cherry tomatoes and a sprinkling of spring onions.

making canapes

It is an art form – you’re supposed to decorate the canapés and I guess I wasn’t really good at that.

group shot

Anyway, there was a prize for the best group amongst the gaggle of bloggers and media that was there. I did the speech, much to the woe of my teammates as I described how Kimberly dropped her dough, KY made a curry puff that expanded due to the overfill and how I somehow managed to eat a canape while at the same time unintentionally doing a Wright Brothers on it. Michelle and Nicholas‘ team won. Congrats! =D

Here’s a video of Chef Ismail working his magic. It’s quite long but good for the recipe!

tasting

There is also a contest where you can win iPads amongst other things called Jom Rasa & Menang. It’s really easy to enter!

ipad

Just look for the sticker on any High 5 bread products – there are different requirements depending on whether it’s sandwich bread, sausage rolls, buns, or cream rolls. After you buy it, fill up the entry form and enter the barcode displayed on the High 5 bread before dropping off your entry at the contest box located at bread stands in retail outlets or mailing it in. You can get more information and the contest form at http://www.silverbird.com.my/contest.php.

eating canapes

The High 5 cooking session with Chef Ismail was really fun! I liked how all the recipes bring out the essence in High 5 bread and now I have my own recipe arsenal to add to my repertoire of cooking! Thanks for the hospitality High 5! I really liked the Mini Pizza that I made. I guess you can say it’s the best thing since sliced bread. smirk

Does this offend you?

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dick

Well, it shouldn’t! Sex isn’t something to be ashamed about when you’re of legal age and it’s within two (or six) consenting adults. In fact, sex is one of humans’ basic needs, like food or shelter. You shouldn’t be embarrassed about leading a healthy sex life.

There. I said it. SEX.

cherie

It’s not a dirty word. I was very enlightened when I attended SEXPO during my university days in Australia. There is nothing wrong about being sexually active. In fact, Malaysia is ranked #7 in frequency of sex according to the Durex Sexual Wellbeing Survey. We top France, UK and even the USA! Do we rock or what? smirk

shadow

However, despite all the horizontal boogie that we’ve been doing, we do not tend to discuss it as it is considered taboo by some in our culture. I personally don’t subscribe to this theory. Sex is a wonderful and important part of life!

For those of you who aren’t as open as me about sex, whether in real life or online, and have burning questions (pun intended – feel like you’re pissing needles after that one night stand?) that needs to be answered, myORA! is your online playground!

crowd

You’re totally anonymous and the site does not discriminate against your sexual preference (LGBTs welcome here!). There are so many topics on the site that you’ll be hard pressed to find one where you’ll not feel at home.

accsex

Fetish? Check. Sex stories? Here. Advice on anal sex? Got it! Oh, this reminds me, I chronicled some of my sexcapades in Bedtime Stories..I should probably post them there to get a wider audience. Heh!

Cauliflower

Anyway, there is also more serious stuff like Sexual Health – very important, I might add, if you don’t want to wake up one day to find a crop of cauliflowers on your penis as a result of HPV (genital warts) transmission.

The site even has a forum for Relationships so you can sound off and get advice about how you and your significant other is getting along (or not). There’s also experts you can seek guidance from and well written articles about anything and everything related to sex!

paint

I’ve registered and browsed through the site – it’s interesting to see different viewpoints on a subject matter, it really opens your mind. I’m quite partial to going down on a woman, I like the taste and the smell, but apparently not everyone does. The best thing is this forum is respectful of everyone’s tastes – one man’s meat is another man’s poison and all that but we can still get along and chat.

I have also had one night stands, something I won’t really admit to even if you threaten to stick a red hot poker into my right eye, but in this site, you can share your deepest and darkest secrets and feel secure knowing that you’re anonymous!

I also find it refreshing that the forum is also wordplay on oral – think of the exclamation mark as a l.

spa

Sex should be celebrated! Start your sexual journey by visiting www.myORA.com!

“Sex is always the answer, it’s never the question, coz the answer’s yes!” – Nickleback

Unity is Strength

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petaling street

I am a Chinese kid born and raised in a small town in Sarawak. It is predominantly Chinese so I didn’t have a lot of interactions with other races. I was shipped off to New Zealand at the age of 15 for high school and there was a lot of racism going on over there.

I have never given race a serious thought before. Who would have known that being of a different culture would cause one to be a target of bullying? In my first day of school, a group of Kiwis in a car wound down their window shouted “Go back home, Chinaman!”.

However, I soon discovered that these people are the vocal minority. The vast majority did not really care as long as you can communicate with them. I guess it was the experience of being treated as a second class citizen which made me not do it to others.

lrt

When I finished my university and came back to KL to work, I had already been exposed to a melting pot of cultures in cosmopolitan Melbourne. Race didn’t mean anything to me anymore. I can only remember one incident over here – I asked someone on the road for directions in Shah Alam and was told in a less-than-friendly manner “Cakap Bahasa Melayu, jangan lupa ini Malaysia!”

It was not exactly the 1Malaysia that we have hoped for that but that was a totally isolated incident.

I can think of many more other positive interactions with strangers – like the one when I was lost in KL early in the morning (this was my pre-GPS days) and this kind Malay couple actually bothered to tell me to follow their car to my destination, despite it being out of their way. Now that is 1Malaysia to me.

I did a video for ASTRO’s MySTORY – the new channel for showcasing stories about 1Malaysia from people like me and you:

I shot the video in Petaling Street to illustrate my Chinese background before taking the LRT and mamak shots. The first few scenes were taken by a Dutch couple here on holiday – which I profiled as Least Likely To Run Away With Your Digital Camera (TM) ;).

dutch couple

I wanted to do one with different races locking arms and saying “We are Malaysians” but decided it would be too cheesy so I came up with the pigeon analogy instead.

…which I discovered by chance, while navigating from the car park to Petaling Street.

There was a flock of pigeons pecking away at a discarded pack of rice. The rice is Malaysia, it’s our economy, and the pigeons are Malaysians, irregardless of race. We are in this together. We literally share the same rice bowl and there’s enough for everyone.

national monument

I think we are coming closer to a united Malaysia – it’s just a matter of time. Sure, we crack some racist jokes now and then, and others do the same, all in the name of fun, but no one takes offence anymore. There is also an increasing amount of mixed race relationships (which I predict would be an archaic term in 10 years) which would produce offspring that truly represents Malaysia.

I remember Harith Iskandar’s joke about his yet-to-be-born children – he’s Malay while his wife is Chinese/Indian/Caucasian so would his future kids have to tick Malay, Chinese, Indian, and also the “dan lain lain” column?

Despite it being a joke, I am all for a 1Malaysia. I was born here, spent most of my life here and I plan to stay here. It would be nice for all third generation people to be recognized as Bumiputera but that would be an issue which would resolve itself in time.

It is possible, as the famous words “I have a dream…” uttered by Martin Luther King sparked off what is now an ideal situation for African-Americans in the United States. It is a trend that will endure, with the globalization of our world.

tugu negara

I believe in a 1Malaysia. One country, one race, one nation.

Interested in being featured on TV? Shoot your own 1Malaysia story and submit it at www.astro.com.my/mystory.

Perth – The City of Lights

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perth

I’ve been to Perth several times during my university days in Australia and I am very impressed with the relatively relaxed pace over there.

fish-chips

Nothing beats having some steaming hot fish and chips at the harbor! Make sure you go to the one at Cicerello’s – it’s the original, and the best. Located at Fremantle, it also serves beer if you want something to wash it down with!

perth_swan

Perth is home to The Swan Bells. It was a gift from London according to Wikipedia (O Wise One) and it’s one of the largest musical instrument in the world – you can even ring it and let yourself be heard all across the city! 🙂

perth-map

Okay, geography lesson time. I nicked this photo from Wikipedia. It has a hover text that says “Perth is located in Australia”. Well, no shit Sherlock! 😉

clothing-optional

You can also drop by Swanbourne if you feel like letting your dangly bits down. It’s a clothing optional beach in Perth. smirk

However, Perth is not Western Australia. You can’t claim to have visited WA unless you’ve been outside of Perth city proper.

black-truffles

I must admit, I haven’t been to other places in Western Australia though. I hear it grows a lot of black truffles (gourmands take note!) – and you can buy fresh truffles during autumn and winter! These are not just plain black truffles but Black Perigord truffles – the real black gold. Expensive, but delicious!

simmos

There’s a cult favorite ice cream store called Simmo’s Delicious Dilemmas in Dunsborough and Margaret River. I haven’t personally tried it myself but Kristine tells me it’s good shit. Probably the best ice cream that has ever done the horizontal boogie with your taste buds.

margeret river

You know all that wine you’ve been drinking that says Margaret River? It’s also located in Western Australia! I would love to visit the vineyards over there to drink the tipple closer to the source!

kristine

…and do that I shall! I will visit Kristine later this year – gonna fly AirAsia straight to Perth and visit the rest of the Western Australia region that I haven’t been too. She’s been to quite a few places around the WA region, most of the pictures were taken by her (others nicked from Wikipedia). Thanks for tempting me with all the photos Kristine!

Stromatolites_in_Sharkbay

One intriguing place I’ll love to visit is Hamelin Pool – it is home to stromatolites – the oldest living marine fossils in the world. There’s only two places in this third rock from the sun that harbors stromatolites (no clue where the other one is) and Western Australia is one of them!
There is a bit of a mystery surrounding their origin and trust me, I’ll be there to unravel (oh well maybe not, but I’ll go take a look) the fossils.

shell-beach

We’ll go to the Coral Coast okay? I want to go to Shell Beach (formed from shells made from just one type in of animal and the only one of two in the world) and The Pinnacles!

The-Pinnacles

Just look at this photo!

A recent research revealed that taking a vacation has been shown to reduce work related stress by 66%, increase worker productivity by an amazing 92.86% and shaved an impressive 42% off arguments between couples over issues like leaving the toilet seat up. Of course, I pulled all those numbers from where the sun don’t shine but still!

beauty

I travel a lot coz I value experiences more than material goods. Life is short, travel the world! I’ll be going to Melbourne end of this month and Perth is next on my destination list – probably August or so. I’ll give you all a full trip report when I get there k?

You can find out more about Perth and Western Australia by following the blog of the Extraordinary Taxi Ride. Or you can just fly AirAsia and experience it for yourself!

Bank joke

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joke

Lemme just share my favorite joke about the banking industry:

A little old lady goes into a bank and says she wants to open a savings account. The account person asks her how much she would like to deposit to open the account, and the little old lady says, “Three million dollars.”

The account person is startled, and says, “In what form?” and the little old lady says, “Cash. I’ve got it here in this bag.” The account person looks and, sure enough, the lady has a big grocery bag chock full of green bills with big denominations.

This is a highly unusual event, and the account person excuses herself to get the president of the bank to handle this one. He arrives, and escorts the little old lady to his office to handle it personally.

Once in his office, he asks the little old lady where she got so much money.

She says, “Gambling.”

“Gambling?” he says. “What sort of gambling?”

“Oh, I make bets with people on all sorts of things, and I usually win. For example, I’ve got one hundred thousand dollars right here that says by noon tomorrow, your balls will be square, and I’ll even give you four to one odds. You got twenty five thousand dollars you’d be willing to wager on that?” she asks.

The bank president is shocked at this sort of thing coming from a sweet little old lady, but he didn’t get to be the president of the bank without knowing something about money. “I suppose I could come up with enough to cover that sort of wager, but I wouldn’t feel right taking it from you. There’s no way you can win a bet like that!”

The little old lady just shakes the bag, and says, “I know what I’m doing. I can afford to lose, though I’m not going to. Is it a bet?”

“Okay, have it your way,” says the president, and they shook hands on it.

“See you at eleven-fifty-five tomorrow morning,” says the little old lady, and with that she leaves.

The next morning at 11:55, the little old lady arrives with a younger man in a three-piece suit, and is escorted to the bank president’s office. The president is a nervous wreck, though a happy one. He’s gotten almost no sleep last night, waking every few minutes to feel his balls to check for impending squareness, but nothing happened all night. He has checked hundreds of times that morning, but still nothing.

When the little old lady arrives, he starts to relax, knowing he has won.

“Come in, please have a seat! Who might this gentleman be?” says the president.

“He’s my lawyer. For a bet of this size I want to have a witness. Any objections?”

“No, perfectly understandable,” says the president. “Well, it’s now noon, and I’m still unchanged, so I guess I win!”

“Not so fast!” says the little old lady. “For a hundred grand I want to verify things personally! Please drop your pants.”

The bank president is a bit flustered, but agrees that in her position he’d want proof as well, so he drops his pants. The little old lady goes over to him and reaches out to feel the organs in question.

“Okay, you win, here’s your hundred grand,” says the little old lady, handing over a bag of bills. As she does so, her lawyer starts banging his head against the wall and moaning.

“What’s wrong with him?” asks the bank president.

“Oh, he’s just upset. Poor loser if you ask me. You see, we had a million dollar bet that I would have the President of the bank by the balls by noon today.”

balls

You just gotta love them. They practically put you in debt for life from credit cards, and in addition to that there are mysterious fees for anything and everything which no one but people in the banking industry would understand, at the end all that’s left for you to do is to find professional debt help.

I, for one, cannot comprehend the fees that are charged to me, and I have three bank accounts, which makes it worse. I usually don’t care much about that but a recent experience left me with more than a bad taste in my mouth.

Keep in mind that I used the SAME bank on the SAME day for this:

1. I withdrew RM 5,000 from an ATM (my max limit)
2. I used a credit card to withdraw ANOTHER RM 5,000 from my credit card inside the Genting casino (max)
3. Within 30 minutes, I withdrew RM 21,000 from my savings account from their branch in Genting (ALL the money in my account)

Hello? I know it’s not your responsibility to be your customer’s brother’s keeper but how on Earth can I make that last RM 21,000 withdrawal, emptying my account, when I was visibly intoxicated, at a casino, and you know very well that I have done RM 31,000 in withdrawals in a day.

I think I have a set a limit to my daily withdrawals but all I had to do was to waltz in, sign for a RM 21,000 withdrawal, pass it to the bank personnel and ABRACADABRA:

21000%20cash

RM 21,000 in RM 100 notes appeared in front of me.

No checks at all! I just had to fill in my account number, name and pass them my MyKad and in 5 minutes, I was out of the bank with more than 20k in cash.

…and the best part was, I just scribbled my signature coz I was too intoxicated to sign.

What if someone else got hold of my account number? I would have lost RM 21,000 just like that. Besides, I’m pretty sure I have set a limit to my daily withdrawals (gotta check on this) from one of my ex-girlfriend’s advice due to my impulsive nature.

I would love to explore the option of contesting that 21k withdrawal and approval in just 5 minutes when I was less-than-sober but I don’t have enough money now to hire a lawyer to look into it. 🙁

Also, I believe in personal responsibility, and I take all the blame for that. However, things could have been done better. A RM 21,000 account emptying withdrawal after my ATM and credit card limit has been maxed out should have raised a red flag no?

bank counter

I also remember the time when I had to wait in queue for ages to get my ATM card replaced when I lost it. There was one perfectly good counter with the person doing nothing but taking PERSONAL phone calls, but noooo that counter was deemed CLOSED (with the appropriate signage to show that it was indeed, CLOSED for all and sunder to see). My primary bank is also extremely slow in getting my credit card approved for overseas use as I travel quite a lot. Waiting on the phone for 30 minutes (!!!) is not uncommon. 🙁

I know people who are saddled with debt from credit cards, fast personal loan approvals (WTF did you actually check my credit before you did that?) and other dubious things that the banking institution do (and get away with).

can banking be better

It makes me wonder though…am I with the wrong banks? Can Banking Be Better?

Keeping your head above water

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water start

Aquaphobia
(noun)
An abnormal fear of water

water fear

I like to bring around a compact camera that I can slip into my pocket for capturing moments – it’s like an auxiliary brain for me. I bring a digicam everywhere and if you’re clumsy person like me, you’ve no doubt dropped your digicam countless of times.

waterfall

I have even dropped it in a waterfall, much to my chagrin. The digicam was a complete write off but luckily the memory card was still intact. Sigh. The quote which goes “Fire, water and government know nothing of mercy” is true indeed…until now! (at least the water part)

carosel

I have recently acquired a Sony Cyber-shot TX5 camera which meets all my requirements – it’s water-proof, shock-proof, dust-proof and even temperature-proof!

cable car

I decided to take it for a spin up in Genting under different conditions to see how well this camera performs. I intended to go to Fraser’s Hill but decided that Genting gives me a more exhaustive repertoire of lighting conditions and shooting opportunities.

bowling

This is my favorite photo. The Cyber-shot TX5 has excellent low light performance. I used the Handheld Twilight mode and it captured all the psychedic details in this rave-meets-bowling center perfectly.

psychedelic

I haven’t bowled in years and Naomi beat me by 3 points. >.< It was luck more than anything, I got a strike once and a spare in another but most of my attempts went down the drain (pun intended).

The next day was spent at the theme park where I covertly recorded several of the rides. *feels like James Bond* smirk

This video illustrates just how good the recording frame rate of the Sony Cyber-shot TX5 is. It’s that ride in Genting called Space Shot where you drop so fast the seat of your pants actually lifts off the ride for a second.

The best thing about the video recording function in the TX5 is that it records in Full HD at 1280 x 720! I wish I had this when I went to KK coz my other digicam only records at a paltry 640 x 480 – which was awesome…in the 90’s. >.<

food

I also like the easy mode switching in the TX5 – there’s Scene Selection, Anti Motion Blur, Inteligent Auto Adjustment and…iSweep Panorama!

angry whopper

A very angry Whopper

Okay, now here’s some proper shots in Gourmet Mode:

I went to Manhattan Fish Market to check out their new offerings – it’s a new menu based on American Idol:

manhattan idol

Manhattan Idol.

Flamin Tuna Pie

Flamin’ Tuna Pie. They really mean flaming when they say it, the cheese is heated until it’s warm.

Flaming Tuna Pie

Awesome presentation and a great dish but my favorite, hands down goes to:

shrimp on the rocks

Shrimp on the Rocks. Fresh and juicy shrimps served on a bed of ice with Cajun Honey Mustard as the dip. Delicious!

Sony_TX5_Image

Well, if you’re been using digicams for a long time you’ll know how difficult it is to get panoramic shots in the past. It used to be all manual – take a photo and part of that will show up for you to align with your next shot. It’s just painful to have to do that and most of the time it doesn’t come out right.

genting panorama

However, with the iSweep Panorama mode, you just need to literally sweep your Cyber-shot TX5 to capture a panoramic scene! The wonders of modern technology!

theme park panorama

Underwater video is a breeze to use too. You might get a couple of weird looks since water-proof digicams aren’t that common (underwater casings alone sometimes costs more than the actual digicam). I’ve actually gotten stares and even a shouted warning – “Hey, careful, your camera is touching the water!“. Haha!

water zen

Unlike the bulky monsters in the small water-proof digicam segment, the Sony Cyber-shot TX5 manages to come up with a tough water-proof, shock-proof, dust-proof and temperature-proof digicam that is sleek and slim. You’ll be proud of slipping this baby out when you need to take photos and it’s sturdy enough to go anywhere with you.

Even underwater so you can take photos like this:

rainbow fish

Trust me, a water-proof digicam is a sound investment – hey, water damage is pretty common, someone might even spill their cocktail on your camera on a weekend night out. 😉

us

You have the option of taking photos is 16:9 or 4:3 aspect ratio too!

teddy bear

Nuffnang is running a contest called My Water Moments – just take a photo and explain how it connects to the theme of The World’s Slimmest Water-proof camera. Hint: Write about how the photo would be improved if you have a water-proof digicam like the Cyber-shot TX5. It’s water-proof up to 3 meters! You also need to mention the features of the cam before submitting the URL here.

The best 3 entries will be given a free Sony Cyber-shot TX5 digicam! =D

naomi water

The Sony Cyber-shot TX5 retails for only RM 1,499 and comes with the ExmorR sensor for low light performance. It has a burst mode capable of 10 frames per second at 10.2 MP which makes it ideal for me for those of you who’ve endured my constant requests of taking several shots in a row coz the perfectionist in me demands the best shot. Heh!

pose

Now, I’ll only need to ask you to take one photo…in burst mode. smirk

I’m not an ordinary egg!

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nest egg

Nest egg

Which came first? The chicken or the egg? I think that question is best left for philosophers to ponder upon. More importantly, what do you think of the pun in my caption? smirk

creme brule

Alright, the pun wouldn’t make sense until later in the post. I attended the SaFegg Healthy Living Talkshow last week where the concept of pasteurized eggs was introduced to us. It wasn’t a drab and dull event where you struggle to stay awake and wish you had a toothpick to prop your eyelids up, but a rather educational one. The lavish spread in Hilton’s ballroom prepared using the very same eggs is icing on top of the cake.

ballroom

The glistening silverware almost had me shielding my eyes. :p

I have seen these eggs in Cold Storage before and I even use it to cook. The first thing that came into mind when I first saw these eggs is that it’s very atas eggs. I love the packaging and each individual egg has a use-by date printed on it. I was amazed. I didn’t know much about it though until a couple of weeks later when I went to this event.

registration

SaFeggs is the first and only pasteurized egg in Malaysia and the technology behind it is from Korea. These eggs are carefully selected, checked for hairline cracks and coated with a protective layer of mineral oil before pasteurization to keep it fresh for longer.

safegg talk

As Professor Gulam Rasul from USM puts it, the pasteurization process kills bacteria, which is the main cause of salmonella and e-coli poisoning. Pasteurization is not a new process – it has been used for ages in milk, but not eggs. The term is derived from a certain man who discovered that he could kill most bacteria by heating liquids in 1862.

Louis_Pasteur

You have this bearded fellow (heard it’s all the rage back then) to thank for it. Mr. Louis Pasteur. Or Monsieur Pasteur since he’s French. Heh!

Anyway, back to the SaFegg Healthy Living Talkshow, I found out that a normal egg has a transparent egg white while a bacteria-free egg looks opaque! The special packaging it comes in also increases the shelf life of Safegg for up to 60 days.

pasturized egg

It is safe enough to even consume raw for all of you body building enthusiasts out there who cracks 20 eggs into a protein shake and chugs it before hitting the gym and bench pressing 200 kgs.

talking heads

The Korean representative also cracked a joke (pardon the pun) about his next egg project. I was the only one who chuckled though, which makes me wonder if I was the only who got it. It certainly won’t pass FDA regulations if anyone thought he was serious. smirk

ordinary egg

The eggs in the green packaging also contains DHA which helps your brain (very useful for me, considering the devastation I have done to my cerebral cortex in my hedonistic lifestyle ;)), heart and eyes.

safegg

It’s a little bit more expensive than regular eggs but consider it as an investment towards your health. That’s where the pun in the caption comes in. Geddit? 😉

After the talk, we were ushered into the grand ballroom. I think I can speak for everyone when I say I didn’t expect such a fine dining experience when the agenda lists “Refreshments”. This is a far cry from what I would call refreshments – there are dedicated stations where you can order eggs in any style you want – poached, sunny side up, scrambled, soft boiled, and the list goes on.

omelet

You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.

eating egg

The buffet lineup was also rather impressive, with lamb and fresh salmon on the menu.

food

However, the thing that really resonates with me is their desserts – creme brulee being my favorite. They also have a lot of cakes on offer (this is why Malaysians consume an respectable 305 eggs per person per year – a lot of food contains eggs) but I was content with attempting to finish all their eggnog.

desserts

This may be the best eggnog I’ve ever had. In case you didn’t know, eggnog is usually a Christmas drink so I was pleasantly surprised to see it here. It’s made with Safeggs like all the food and drinks during lunch. Oh, and it also contains brandy and rum. I had quite a few of these. smirk

eggnog

I think it was at that point that I decided I could never have the patience to eat a soft boiled egg properly and decided to throw decorum out of the window and just slurp it from the egg holder.

soft boiled egg

We got a goodie bag with cartons of SaFeggs, an egg holder and an automatic soft boiled egg maker. Nifty. I love soft boiled eggs and have at one point in my life consumed 32 eggs (no joke) in a single sitting mixed with lots of pepper and soy sauce.

Egg-cellent!

slurping egg

Not an ordinary egg? Yup, egg-actly. 🙂

Life is like a roller coaster

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You know this cliched phrase right? Our time on Earth is full of ups and downs. However, it seems that my life as of late has been nothing but a series of downs.

21000 cash

I lost nearly RM 50,000 in a month on the tables when I should have used that that to pay for my condo down payment. I have to move out in October so it would take a very long time for me to get this back again.

cancer

My mother was recently diagnosed with lung cancer and had to go for a operation to remove part of her lung.

suicide

Hell, if I was a lesser man, I might have just thrown in the towel and stepped of the edge of a very tall building. 😉

family

However, I am a firm believer in family. My dad has always preached and practised agape. It’s a Greek word meaning unconditional, self-sacrificing, active, volitional, and thoughtful love. That is what family means to me. We care for each other – we support each other in times of need, we remain strong for each other, and we celebrate our milestones in life.

young

Family is about being there for each other – I flew down to New Zealand to be with my mom during her operation and I don’t know how many times my dad and mom has been there for me during my darkest times.

Sure, we have our disagreements just like any other family but I think we’ll have a fighting chance in the Exora My Unbeatable Family that’s going to be airing soon on 8TV. smirk

come-get-some

Exora My Unbeatable Family is a reality TV series about families competing with each other using a Proton Exora.

EMUFPC_Q&A

The Proton Exora is an MPV that can easily seat 7 people and starts at a very affordable RM 57,548. Families don’t come as large as they used to so I imagine most of the challenges and obstacles in Exora My Unbeatable Family would have something to do with the flexible seating configuration that allows you to rearrange the seats into space.

EMUFPC_Group

The teams will complete challenges every week and there will be an elimination process every week until the grand final!

uncle

It looks rather promising so don’t forget to tune in to 8TV at 7 pm every Sunday. You can also catch it on Astro Channel 708. Go to 8tv.com.my for more information!

There is also a weekly contest where you can win a RM 500 cash prize. Surf over to www.protonexora.tv for details!

P/S – You can even view the episodes online! smirk

The Largest Milk Drinking Event Ever

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camwhore

I went to the launch of World Milk Day 2010 in Pavilion, KL two days ago to witness and participate in the Malaysian Book of Records attempt for the Largest Milk Drinking Event ever.

crowd

There were throngs of people there and Dutch Lady was handing out packs of their limited edition UHT milk to the 3,200 (!!!) people in this record breaking feat. The initial target was 2,500 people but they managed to get way more than that.

amber chia me

Oh, and I bumped into Amber Chia! (must put two photos
smirk)

amber chia

I also spotted the TV3 crew – they were there to document the event and I tried to spot the videographers but I reckon it’s a bit of a challenge to get yourself into the lens with the massive crowd that was there. 😉

registration

The day started with a welcoming address by Bas van den Berg and the usual speeches before we were briefed on the record breaking attempt.

speach

There was a countdown by the drummer before the live crossover to TV3 (gotta check if I managed to get in the shot) before the 20 minute attempt was done smack dab in the packed area outside the mall.

thinner

Thinner. Remember that Stephen King book written under the pseudonym Richard Bachman?

record breaking

My fellow participants.

Malaysian Book of Records!

mbr

Rita Rudner is famous for saying that “In Hollywood, a marriage is a success if it outlasts milk“. Well, I’m not one to argue with that but we managed to achieve, nay, surpass the record! This is the Malaysian Book of Records adjudicator presenting the certificate to Dutch Lady.

bloggers

The event wasn’t over though – activities galore was held throughout the day.

mirror

I particularly liked the one by the cheer leading team. smirk

slimmer with milk

Don’t get me wrong, the reason I enjoyed it was purely out of…er, scientific interest. Milk provides energy and I wanted to see and behold with my own very eyes just how much energy it can provide for a 1 hour cheer leading routine. 😉

good complexion

There were free milk giveaways and performances. There was also a flag off of the Dutch Lady World Milk Day Convoy out to distribute milk packs nationwide.

limited edition

1st June (today!) is designated as World Milk Day where the virtues of consuming this dairy product is celebrated around the world as well as the act of consuming milk. Dutch Lady will also be giving out free milk packs at toll plazas at all major highways today. This is not just limited to Peninsula Malaysia but Kuching too, so go grab one!

drinking milk

Dutch Lady is also running a contest called Spread the Goodness of Milk where you get a chance to win prizes worth RM 1,000,000 from just guessing the number of milk packets by type and answering two easy questions. You can even win a HOUSE! Get more details here!

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