Recipe - Pineapple Upside Down Cake

For the dish:
25g Muscovado/Brown Sugar
25g Butter

For the pudding:

Pineapple Rings (Canned)

Glace Cherries

100g Butter

100g Caster Sugar

2 Large Eggs

175g Self-Raising Flour

2 tbs Pineapple Juice or Milk

Methods:

Preheat oven to 180c. Grease a round tin with butter and sprinkle with sugar. Lay the pineapple in the tin and put a cherry in the middle of each ring.Cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs gradually. Fold in the flour and stir in the milk/juice. It should be a soft dropping consistency. Pour the mixture onto the pineapple in the tin. Bake for 45 mins

Recipe inspired by Nigella Lawson

J'adore

I haven't listened to Chinese songs for a while. Tonight I just switched on the TV and this song by Fish Leong (Malaysian Chinese singer) was playing. I instantly love the lyrics. Here is the lyrics in Chinese, I will try my best to translate it into English.

崇拜

作詞：陳沒　作曲：彭學斌　編曲：陳建騏

你的姿態 你的青睞　我存在在你的存在

你以為愛就是被愛　你揮霍了我的崇拜

我活了　我愛了　我都不管了　

心愛到瘋了恨到算了就好了

可能的　可以的　真的可惜了

幸福好不容易怎麼你卻不敢了呢
我還以為我們能　不同於別人

我還以為不可能的　不會不可能

你的姿態你的青睞　我存在在你的存在

你以為愛就是被愛　你揮霍了我的崇拜

風箏有風海豚有海　我存在在我的存在
所以明白　所以離開　所以不再為愛而愛

自己存在　在你之外

Worship (j'adore)

Your motion, your glance. I existed only for you.

You think love is only to be loved. You have splurged my worship towards you.

I have lived and I have loved. I dont care anymore.

I have loved and hated. That's enough.

What might be, What could be, are all lost forever.

Happiness does not come easily. Why didnt you wanna face it?

I thought we were different from the others

I thought we could overcome the impossibilities.

Your motion, your glance. I existed only for you.

You think love is only to be loved. You have splurged my worship towards you.

Kite has the wind. Dolphin has the sea. Now I only want to live for myself

I now understand. Therefore I have to leave.

I no longer love because of love.

Now, I exist beyond your existence.

Haha...it is so hard to translate. The original lyrics in Chinese is so poetic and emotional. Once it is translated into English, it is no longer that poetic. I tried my best not to translate it literally and tried to keep the feelings and emotions as original as possible.

Below is the Music Video. My interpretation of this MV is that this Japanese old man is remembering his love from the past - not in love with a young girl, as you might think.

Kiss my Butt - Part 2

I did go to the car service agent at 740am. The guy was there waiting for me since 730am. So not bad, huh... He took my keys without looking at me and me without speaking to him. Either he felt guilty or was scared I would be angry. Actually I was waiting for an opprtunity for him to make a mistake so I could say something horrible. Nasty eh!

While I was waiting there, I eyed the employees with my angry look (the one that says "You can kiss my butt" look). They were kinda quiet at their work station as well, I wonder why. Why wouldnt I be angry? This is my 3rd time there. You think I had nothing better to do and just keep driving there from my house.

Anyway, the car was returned to me after 2 hours. I didnt have any opportunity to pick on any mistakes. So no fights or confrontation or whatsoever. No highlight of the day.

Controlling Anger -- Before It Controls You

Before I went to bed last night, I was remembering the things that pissed me off recently.

1) My appointment with the car service agent

2) My so-called friend who has neuroticism

3) My irritating colleague who gets irritated easily

4) Holiday interupted by work

5) ATMs ran out of cash.....

and the list goes on

I was imagining the different scenarios and how I would react when confronted face-to-face. The imagination was so vivid that I felt so angry at 1am. Not only I couldn't sleep, I felt feverish warm.

Anger is "an emotional state that varies in intensity from mild irritation to intense fury and rage," according to Charles Spielberger, PhD, a psychologist who specializes in the study of anger. Like other emotions, it is accompanied by physiological and biological changes; when you get angry, your heart rate and blood pressure go up, as do the levels of your energy hormones, adrenaline, and noradrenaline.

Hahaha No wonder!

Kiss my butt

Before I start writing a complaint, you must be wondering why I don’t write to the company directly.

If I write to the manager, he most probably will ignore my letter, as he doesn’t want to get involved. Maybe, the manager would like to have a good rapport with the employees for their so-called teamwork.

If I write to the bosses, they will be too busy to entertain complaints.

If I write to the car manufacturer, they might not even care about it as they are more interested in sales volume.

If I write to the opinion page in the newspaper, it will be edited to disguise the identity of the dealer.

So here it goes:

Characters
Me – Charles Lim
S1 – Male employee 1
S2 – Male Employee 2

I made an appointment to have my car serviced about 2 weeks ago. The lady on the phone told me to come in at 8.30am on 26 June 2008.

26 June 2008 @ Car Service Centre

8.30am
S1 : Service or repair?
Me: I have an appointment at 8.30am for car service.
S1: (Filling in the service form) So, are you waiting or leave the car here?
Me: I’ll wait.
S1: But Sir, we are very busy this morning. There are 20 cars before you. If you wait, you may have to wait till 12.
S2 : (Interrupting the conversation). Can you come back this afternoon?
Me: What time do you open in the afternoon?
S2: 1pm. But if you come at 2pm, we can do your car.
Me: (Reluctantly and a bit pissed off). Okay, I will come back at 2pm

2pm
S1: I am sorry, Sir. There are still 12 cars before you. Can you come back tomorrow?
Me: (Not surprised). So what time tomorrow?
S1: Anytime tomorrow.
Me: Anytime? 5am, 6am or midnight? (Sarcastically)
S1: No Sir. About 7.30am
Me: But you open at 8am. Do you want me to wait outside before it is open?
S1: Actually we come in around 730am. But I will put you on the 1st of the list tomorrow. I guarantee!
Me: Really? You know what, I am never happy with your service. Once you guys never checked my battery, and it ran out the following day. Again, once I was waiting there for 2 hours, and you guys actually forgot to service my car.
S1: So, you come back tomorrow at 730.
Me: What happens if 20 cars come before me? Will I still have to wait?
S1: I will personally put you on the 1st in my list.
Me: I guess I have no choice but to come back again tomorrow (calmly walked away)
S1: (saying something inaudibly)
Me: (Thinking). YOU GUYS CAN KISS MY BUTT!

I can actually go to a nearby workshop for the car service. So, am I coming back there again tomorrow? Maybe! Not because I want to. I just want to pick a fight with them if they cant guarantee that I don’t have to wait long.

You see, what happens about this agent? When they sell you the car, they are so friendly. After you have bought the car, the after-sales service is totally CRAP.

There was a big hole on the sofa in the waiting room. Now they replaced it and managed to put uncomfortable tables and chairs there. Come on, you are spoiling the brand name.

The waiting room at one of its competitors is so cozy with internet, free drinks and biscuits. So, why cant you guys do the same? Spoiling the name of the brand saja

You guys can STILL kiss my butt!

Burnout and Neuroticism

Last Friday I went out with a friend whom I think he has an imaginary girlfriend. That was another story posted in my blog a while ago. I didnt actually want to go out as I knew it would turn out bad.

Since he was so secretive about his life, so I just talked about my work. Suddenly he snapped and was angry with me and called me being self-centred. Calmly I told him that he looked stressed and asked him when and where he had his last holiday. Surprisingly he told me that I crossed the line as a friend and he was uncomfortable to talk to me about it. ????? Uncomfortable to talk to me about holiday!!!! I was not asking him when he last had SEX.

I dont want to sound like a phychologist but I think I can kind of analyse him. He must have got burnout from his work overseas.

Burnout is a psychological term for the experience of long-term exhaustion and diminished interest (depersonalization or cynicism), usually in the work context. But researchers argue that not everyone who is stressed at work will get burnout, and happens to people who has neuroticism.

Neuroticism can be defined as an enduring tendency to experience negative emotional states. Individuals who score high on neuroticism are more likely than the average to experience such feelings as anxiety, anger, guilt, and clinical depression.

Now it explains everything. My so-called friend is always unhappy about something. He always complains that his life is not as lucky as others. Come on! We have all been through difficult times in life. We just have to learn how to deal with it. No point in blaming others. So he must have neuroticism. Hahahaha, I think it refers to someone else from work as well.

So, my final verdict is: He is back home on leave, maybe on medical leave from stress-related illness. Or he has just broken up with his girlfriend. I also think that he is living in a fantasy world. Last time he told me that his gf doesnt know he is back in Brunei for 1 month. Now, he tells me that he is getting married soon.

Will your gf promise to marry you if you have disappeared from her life for 1 month?

Lawas delights

Last weekend, I had the honour to be invited by Azrin A to stay at his grandparent's in Lawas.

This was my first trip to Lawas and I really enjoyed my stay. I had a wonderful time and I felt very welcome there. The boat ride from Serasa was a mere 1 hour 15 minutes.

The Saturday market sold a lot of the local produce, such as a variety of locally grown rice and natural salt from Ba Kelalan. We had kolomee for lunch and all restaurant ran out of kolomee by Saturday afternoon. We had to wait till the following day to have the NEXT kolomee.

I even bathed in the stream for the very first time. The water was cold and refreshing, flowing down from the mountains. At night, it was again my first time to see the fireflies. hahaha

I had the opportunity to try some of Lun Bawang's delicacies. The picture inseted was some of the dishes I had for breakfast: Nuba Tinga (Rice wrapped in nyrik leaf), daun ubi (Tapioca leaves) and bitar (rice porridge cooked with palm cabbage).

Cooking for Life

Chefs are no longer busy cooking in the kitchen, hidden from the public. Traditionally, they are the most highly paid persons in the food industry. Patrons go to restaurants because of the food, i.e. the chefs - not the owners. Nowadays, they are out and about - publishing cookbooks, having own TV shows and even on cooking roadshows.

So, what do I think of them? Can they cook? Maybe! or they are just trying to create sexual appeals to their audience, just like any actors and singers. That's why these chefs are now called the celebrity chefs.

Jamie Oliver - The naked chef (UK)

Young and energetic. Also mumuring in fast Essex accent. Cooks fast and always takes importance in healthy and fresh food. He likes to use lemons in his recipes.

Nigella Lawson - The domestic goddess (UK)

Simple and homely cooking. Oh yes, comfort food! Her recipes are easy to make, but not necessarily healthy eating. She likes to 'seduce' her audience. Most of her fans are men!

Gordon Ramsay - The Chef from Hell (UK)

Famed for his fouled mouth and cooking in shows such as Hell's Kitchen and the F Word. Don't really like his programmes personally.

Andreas Viestad - New Scandinanvian Cooking (Norway)

Cooking with fresh ingredients in beautiful Norweigian countryside. With his accented English, he explains the origins of every dishes and the history of the countryside he is in.

Tina Nordstrom - New Scandinavian Cooking (Sweden)
Again, cooking with the freshest ingredients; but this time is in the neighbouring country of Sweden. Since Sweden is the home of IKEA, it is not surprising that she always assembles her food preparation table and cooking stove.

Emmanuel Stroobant - Chef in Black (France)

The very innovative French chef based in Singapore. He travels to the street markets of South East Asia, learns the traditional street food cooking and recreates the food into East-West fusion food.

Michael Smith - Chef at Home/at Large (Canada)

The restaurant meals transformed into easy and simple home cooking. Gives a lot of cooking and shopping tips on food, of course!

Kylie Kwong - Simply Chinese (Australia)

This Australasian chef cooks traditional and fusioned Chinese food, using Chinese herbs and spices. She likes to use Szechuan pepper for seasoning.

Rob Rainford - With a License to Grill (US)

A rapper look-alike chef with BBQ recipes and lots of tips on marinades. Yummy and "Yeah Baby". When he cooks, he always says "Yeah Baby" as if he was in a porn film...lol

Bobby Chinn - Cafe Asia (US/UK/NZ)

Half Egyptian, half Chinese, he is famous for his nuanced fusion food. He travels to countries in Asia and also owns a restaurant named after himself in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Curtis Stone - Take Home Chef (Australia)

Another Australian chef. He goes around supermarkets in the USA and offers to cook dinner for the shoppers he picks up. Would you take him home and cook dinner for you? lol

Note: There are some other celebrity chefs not mentioned above as they dont cook in TV shows.

Nostalgia: Empire Hotel Patron Wins Stay At Paris Hotel

Bandar Seri Begawan - Following the recent Le Meurice Paris promotion at the Empire Hotel and Country Club in July, a draw was recently held to select a winner for the prize of a four-night stay at the Deluxe Room at Hotel Le Meurice, Paris, according to a press release.

On hand to present the prize to lucky winner Lim Wei Siong was Executive Sous-Chef of the Empire Hotel and Country Club Thomas Walter.

"I have already planned for a European trip this December, and this is a wonderful extra to add to my itinerary.

"Thank you, and I have always enjoyed food promotions at the Empire Hotel and Country Club," said Lim after receiving the prize.

The Le Meurice promotion was supported by Baiduri Bank, Royal Brunei Airlines and Alliance Francais.

-- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin 30.08.2007

http://www.brudirect.com/DailyInfo/News/Archive/Aug07/300807/nite29.htm

It was a great surprise. I managed to book the hotel stay from 22 - 26 December 2007. Total cost was supposed to be €3000 (B$6000+), but I stayed for free.

It was quite daunting at first as we registered in our backpackers outfit. The service was excellent and the staff made us feel very welcome, despite of we paid nothing.

The room was designed in Renainssance floral pattern. We played MTV on the satellite TV all day and night. Bathroom was larger than the room with marbled floors. Maybe the French feels cleaning is more important than sleeping.

Breakfast was a great spread of croissants, chocolate brioches with freshly squeezed juices. Only on our last day we realised that cooked breakfast was also included. Also on our last night we found out that we could use the jacuzzi, steam room and sauna for free....lol..

It was a great experience and I dont think I will be able to afford to stay there at my own expense.

My favourite and least favourite travels

About 16 years ago, I wrote down a list of all the countries I wished to visit. When I looked at the list again this morning, I realised that I have travelled to most of the countries on the list, EXCEPT Morocco, New Zealand, Turkey and Egypt. Hahaha, quite a self-achievement ;p

At this instant, my comments to all my travels are:

Favourite country: Germany.

Towns and villages from fairy tales.

Favourite city: Berlin.

Impressed by the rich modern histories.

Favourite food: Korean.

I pick Korean over Japanese as it was much cheaper.

Best travel moment: Seeing the sunset at Fira, Santorini, Greece (picture inseted)

Least favourite country: Poland, got my luggage stolen there.

Least favourite city: Kuala Lumpur, I hate the transport system there (sorry guys)

Least favourite food: American fast food. I think we should try the local delicacies.

Worst travel moment: Sleeping on wooden chairs at Stokholm Skvasta Airport.

**Note: The above information is subject to change without notice

No Reservations - Berlin 2007

As I am going to Berlin (again!) this September, I plan to visit the restaurant, featured in Anthony Bourdain's No Reservation, that served all the traditional and hearty German dishes. I was searching the name of the restaurant (Rogacki) on the net, I came across a picture that looks so familiar.

Compare the following 2 pictures:

Location: Imbiss Kannopke, Berlin

I think I was standing at the exact same spot as Anthony Bourdain. Didnt know that until I saw the picture. What an honour!

Why is it so special about this imbiss (food stand)? It is famous for currywurst, as recommended by Lonely Planet guidebook. Wurst means sausage/hotdog in German. As you can guess it, it is chopped fried sausage with curry sauce - a delicacy of Berlin. The legend of the currywurst apparently started by Herta Heuwer on 4 September, 1949 in another location. There is even a Currywurst Museum now in Berlin.

The foodstand was quite difficult to find at first. We spent 10 minutes walking around in circles trying to find it. Finally we found it. It was located underneath the suburban railway track. There was a long queue. If I am not mistaken, it costs €1.50 each.

Cheating Meals

Have you ever been charged unfair prices by shops or restaurants? At shops, it is easy to return goods or not to buy it; but for restaurants, once you have eaten, it will be difficult not to pay.

Once we had lunch in a traditional restaurant in Geneva, Switzerland. My friend saw the "Menu of the Day" (Plat du jour) was a fish dish. It was a good deal. We, the others, had the traditional fondue. When the bill came, we were shocked to see the fish dish was charged twice more than the price of the plat du jour. So a B$15 dish has become B$30. When we asked the cashier, she told us that we actually ordered the a la carte from the French waiter. But we argued that we wanted the plat du jour as written on the board. She answered: "This is the problem if you dont speak French". With anger, I spoke "Je peux parler francais". In the end, we still had no choice but to pay no matter what.

This happened again this morning in one of the restaurants in Kiulap. When we sat down, the waiter told us that the breakfast menu was unavailable on weekdays. So we had to order the food from the a la carte. So, it cost two of us B$9 for some simple dishes that we normally have for lunch, not that heavy for breakfast. So, the waiter was trying to force us to spend more on breakfast. Actually when I got home, it was supposed to be B$8.60. The cashier again overcharged us 40 cents.

It is not the money that we are not happy about. We are sometimes willing to spend B$45 per person on a buffet. It is just the cheating technique that I am not happy about regardless of how much it is.

So, the lesson is: Before ordering, if I am not happy about anything, just leave. It is my right. But if I have already ordered, then I have to stick to it (happy or not). No complain afterwards.

The THRILL of Booking Online

Nowadays a lot of things can be purchased online; such as air tickets, books, CDs, DVDs. We have more options now if we purchase tickets online. Rather than going from Brunei directly to the destination, we can tailor make our journey. For example, we can buy an AirAsia ticket from Brunei to KL; then buy another cheaper ticket from KL to wherever we want. No more restrictions by buying from airlines that fly from Brunei.

However, there is always the thrill of buying online. It happened to me just a while ago.

I was buying a ticket from Dubai to Paris, then Munich back to Dubai with Qatar Airways (QR). It is because Qatar Airways is one of the cheapeset for these routes, and I can collect my frequent flyer points of United Airlines.

After going through the whole process and keyed in my credit card details, it was a THRILL to see the screen showing "Processing".... Anything could happen during this time, such as internet down, webpage inaccessible or power down. If this happens, what are we going to do? Easy, just call the airlines or the bank to ask if the payment is through.

So everything went smoothly and a booking reference was given. Oh yes, the fun thing about purchasing ticket online is that we can view and select seats. So I was taking my time selecting and unselecting the seats. When I was sooooooo satisfied about my seat selection, I pressed the confirm icon....Voila! or nooooooope..."Webpage unavailable"!!! So what was I gonna do? I didnt copy down the booking reference and there is no email from QR. Has my payment gone through? I haven't got any clue.

So, I did what I thought was wise. I called the QR office in Dubai as I will be flying from Dubai. The phone instruction was in Arabic - no clue at all. Then I called the London office, thinking that would certainly be in English. They have changed the number. Called the new number and it was an answering machine, asking me to leave a message. So, I had no choice but to call the QR office in Doha. Good, the lady spoke English but the phone connection was so bad that I could hardly hear her. She told me that my name was in the booking. What a relief! As soon as I hung up the phone, I received 3 (not one, but three) emails from QR about my detailed booking...WTF!

Anyway, I will still have to call them up for seat request. It is best to select the seat far in advance especially on longhaul flight. I think I will either call the office in Singapore or KL. At least they speak 'our' language there.

The moral of this story - Wait for at least an hour for the email confirmation to arrive. If it does not, call the nearest office.

Oh, about my booking with the Luxemburg hostel. The payment didnt get through. That is another LONG story.

Oops, I did it again!

Malaysia Airlines is currently offering RM0 on 1000000 (yes, 6 zeroes) free seats. I have been hesitating of purchasing the MAS ticket for December, just in case RBA will offer a better Bluesky fare. But the Bluesky fares for December are still not out yet.

After several days of calculation, budgeting, consideration and prediction, I have finally decided to purchase a return ticket to KL on MAS. I didnt however get the FREE seat on the Brunei-KL leg, but the KL back to Brunei is RM0. Total cost after taxes and surcharge is B$346. Fuel charges nowadays are sky-rocketed high.

Travelling on AirAsia may be cheaper but it will be a bit troublesome for connecting flights on other airlines. AirAsia uses the Low Cost Terminal, and the transportaion to the main termianl may be time consuming for connecting flights. By the way, it is only B$50 extra to travel on MAS vs AirAsia.

KL will just be a transit point for me. This 'troublesome' way of buying tickets still works out cheaper than I buy a direct ticket from Brunei to Europe or Middle East.

So, where am I going in December? KL for sure. As for other continuing destinations, I am still undecided till September, based on several factors. So at this moment, I am very sure to answer "KL and beyond".

Dragon Boat and Glutinous Rice

Today is the 5th day of the Chinese Lunar month. It is the day we Chinese eat the glutinous rice dumpling. The dumpling is called Zongzi (in Mandarin) or Ba Chang (hokkien pronunciation, commonly used in South East Asia).

The glutinous rice is wrapped into a pyramid shape using bamboo leaves, and boiled till the rice is cooked. Fillings - pork belly, salted egg yolk, dried shrimps, mushroom, and dried chestnuts. Another version is white in colour. Fillings - Pork belly meat with crushed peanuts. Nowadays, there are many regional variations: in black bean paste, without fillings, chicken to cater different tastes and lifestyles.

I had two just now for lunch and the former is my favourite. Nowadays, the Ba Chang can be bought from most Chinese restaurants any day of the year. I have yet to learn how to make it as I am dummy in wrapping things, worse if it comes to wrapping food.

So, what is the history behind this? Every food has a story to tell. That is the delight of gastronomy.

This is to commemorate the death of Qu Yuan, a famous Chinese poet from the kingdom of Chu during the Warring States period. Known for his patriotism, Qu Yuan tried to warn his king and countrymen against the expansionism of their Qin neighbours. When the Qin Dynasty general Bai Qi took Yingdu, the Chu capital, in 278 BC, Qu Yuan's grief was so intense that he drowned himself in the Miluo river after penning the Lament for Ying.

According to legend, packets of rice were thrown into the river to prevent fish from eating the poet's body. This is also believed to be the origin of the Dragon Boat Race in which the race will deter the fish from the poet's body.

My Friday culinary skills

Pot luck Brunch at Staffroom F tomorrow - usually held just before every school term holiday. Also, it is an excuse to show off culinary skills and to put on the extra calories.

Initially I planned to bake Pineapple Cake for dessert. However I forgot to bring the recipe to my 'kitchen' at Sengkurong. So I just had to cook whatever I could recall.

Passion Fruit Trifle. For the base, I was supposed to use a chifon cake or sponge fingers, but I could only find pandan (screwpine) flavoured chifon cake. It wont go well with the passion fruits. So, I bought the Apollo layer cake (butter flavoured) snack, and pile them up. Pour Ginger Beer over them, top with whipped cream and decorate with passion fruit pulps and seeds. Voila! my Passion fruit trifle is done in less than 10 minutes.

Oh yeah, what is passion fruit? Here is the picture. They are available in the local supermarkets.

Thai Massaman Buffalo Curry. Gosh! It was hard work. First of all, I had to blend in all the spices: Lemongrass, Cloves, Cinnamon, Cumin, Galangal, Garlic, Chili, Nutmeg, Cardamon. Then cooked the buffalo meat in coconut milk for 1 hour. After that, cooked the blended spices in coconut cream and added all other ingredients, with potatoes and peanuts and cooked for another 30 minutes. Eventually, the curry was done. The picture doesn't do it justice; but honestly it tastes good.

It tastes a bit like Malaysian curry. With the peanuts, it tastes more like a satay sauce. So I did a google search and found that this type of Thai curry with its Muslim origin originated from Southern Thailand, near to Malaysian border. No wonder! I spent hours to cook something different. In the end I almost cook a 'normal' curry.

I wonder how popular my food will be tomorrow :)

Some Facts about Blogging

According to Wikipedia (yes, again!), a blog is a website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries.

So, what is your reason for blogging? I guess mine is to share some thoughts or some information (new or old) with readers, not too personal stuff.

I guess, many of us use blogs as an online personal diaries. That is what I don't understand here. In the past, people wrote their personal thoughts and feelings in diaries. Some diaries even have locks so no one else could get hold of them and read from them. Or the diaries would be hidden some secret places.

Time has changed. Nowadays, everything is done online. Even personal (extremely personal) thoughts or feelings are posted online so others can read. Is there any privacy left anymore? Or everything nowadays are so open?

Some people get stressed or have problems at home, work or school. Rather than than facing their problems in REAL life situations, they post their feelings in the E-world. Does this make sense? So are we NOT going to solve the problems in real life? Apparently NOT. The bloggers don't actually want (or know how) to solve the problems at all. They use blogging to release their stress.

"Scientists have long known the therapeutic benefits of writing about personal experiences. Blogs provide another convenient avenue for writing about personal experiences. Research shows that it improves memory and sleep, boosts immune cell activity and reduces viral load in AIDS patients, and even speeds healing after surgery." (Wikipedia)

So, our problems are NOT solved by blogging at all. We just feel better, thats all.

If we put our heads in the sand, the problems will not go away. So, don't avoid it; just face it even if it feels really bad. It is, after all, part of the growing up and memorable life experiences.

My latest CD Collection plus reviews

I am so into CDs, as compared to downloading from websites. I think I want to support the artists. As for downloading iTunes, I dont have an iPod or whatsoever. I am a dummy to the new technology and gadget stuff. So I am still stuck with the 'traditional' CDs.

So, what did I buy in Singapore?

Spirit - Leona Lewis
Love it. The X-factor winner (2006). Her singing style is in between Mariah and Whitney. Favourite songs are "Bleeding Love" and "Footprints in the sand".

E=MC² - Mariah Carey
Same singing style as most of her albums. If you are a fan, you will like this album. If you just like her coz she is sexy, you too will like the album (cover and backslip pictures). Quite disappointed that the China version that I bought doesnt include the hit single "Touch my body". Wonder why? Maybe the song is too sexy for the China market. Or may be no touch touch in China.

Hard Candy - Madonna
This is her album R n B style, featuring Kayne West, Justin Timberlake, Timbaland and many more. All her albums are of different themes, never repeats herself for a woman approaching 50s. Looking forward to her concert in Paris. But the ticket still hasn't arrived yet... Hmmm, kinda worried now.


Exclusive - Chris Brown
Bought this because of the song "With You", as it was sung by David Archuleta at American Idol. Don't know if I bought it for that reason. Haven't 'gone through' all the songs yet.

Jordin Sparks - Jordin Sparks
As a fan of American Idol, it is normal to buy the album of American Idol 2007. Like the songs "Tattoo", "No Air" and "This is My Now".




Coco - Colbie Callat
Who the hell is she? I don't know much about her. Only thing I know is that she rose to fame through MySpace.com. First heard the song "Bubbly" when I was having breakfast at the Circus Hostel in the wintry Berlin in Dec 2007. Fell in love with that easy listening song instantly, without knowing the artist, maybe due to the cozy atmosphere in Berlin. So no bias here.


Audio Day Dream - Blake Lewis
Like his voice - quite similar to Adam, the lead singer of Maroon 5. However I am not into beatboxing. So only like some songs from the album, especially the ballads from this runner up of American Idol 2007.

Eating Indonesian words

How does it sound when Bahasa Indonesian is spoken with Bahasa Melayu (Malay) pronounciation, and a Chinese accent?

This happened when I was reading the Top 10 Food To Try in Singapore from one of the Tourist Information booklet. The booklet is in Indonesian. Cut the story short, these are the Top 10.

Hainanese Chicken Rice (Nasi Ayam Hainan) - Biasanya makanan ini merupakan kombinasi ayam kukus atau ayam panggang yamg disajikan bersama nasi yang dimasak dengan kaldu ayam kental. Para ahli masak atau tentu saja akan menilai kualitas saus cabai, jahe giling serta kecap yang merupakan pelengkap sajian ini.

Chilli/Black Pepper Crab (Kepiting Cabai /Lada Hitam) - Kuah kepiting cabai yang manis berwarna merah menyalaka verhiaskan cabai segar, saus tomat, telur segar dan daun bawang. Sementara kuah lada hitam lebih menyerupai pasta kental dengan racikan lada hitam, lada putih, garam dan bawang putih.

Roti Prata - Hidangan menyerupai panekuk tipis berlapis-lapis ini terbuat dari tepung terigu yang diuleni berulang kali sebelum digoreng di atas wajan ceper panas.

Pork Ribs Herbal Soup (Bak Kut Teh) - secara langsung bisa diterjemahkan sebagai teh iga babi, masakan ini benar-benar terbuat dari iga babi yang direbus perlahan dengan api kecil dalam kaldu jernih - serta sejumlah herba Cina.

Rojak - Campuran buah dan sayur dengan tambahan tahu serta cakwe goreng. Saus rujak yang kental dengan rasa yang khas terbuat dari terasi, cabai gilinhg, gula, sari jeruk nipis dan kacang panggang.

Fried Radish Cake (Kue Lobak Goreng) - Kue ini terbuat dari campuran tepung beras, acar lobak parut dan telur dadar.

Laksa - Kari lezat yang terdiri dari campuran mi besar, udang, kerang, daging ayam dan perkedel ikan. Campuran masakan Melayu dan Cina ini dibuat dengan ramuan bumbu halus yang terdiri dari rempah-rempah, sejumlah bumbu daun, ebi, santan dan cabai sehingga menghasilkan keharuman khas yang kaya akan rasa.

Satay (Sate) - Sate versi Melayu Singapura direndam dalam saus manis berempah, dibakar sempurna di atas panggangan arang kemudian dicelupkan dalam saus kacang. Sajian ini tidak akan lengkap tanpa ditemani lontong serta potongan ketimun dan bawang.

Fried Rice Stick (Char Kway Teow) - Mi putih pipih lebar yang dikenal sebagai kwetiau ini merupakan makanan sempurna bila digoreng dengan kecap, telur, tauge, sossis Cina dan kerang, dengan panas tinggi dalam wajan wok yang kehitaman hingga menghasilkan aroma yang menggoda.

Curry Fish Head (Kari Kepala Ikan) - Daging kepala ikan yang manis serta potongan besar tomat, terung serta okra. Kuahnya bisa kental atau encer. Meskipun demikian, seperti apapun kuahnya, masakan ini tetap unik dengan kombinasi rasa manis, asam, pedas dan asin.