Cinderella Man

Everytime there is a warehouse sale on books, I will try to make my way down to grab some books which are sold at a fraction of its price. Got this one at $5.00.

Not sure if any of you caught the Russell Crowe movie, Cinderella Man few years back. Although this movie wasnt such a big hit in the box office, nevertheless watching the movie left a mark in me. The movie was inspired by the true story of James J Braddock, a boxer during the depression era in America.

Its the life story of his struggle, one particular scene that strucked my heart, was when he put down his ego and his pride, to beg for money from his friends and associates, so that he just have enough to put food on the table for his family and pay the electricity bills so that their home can be warmer during this harsh cold winter times.

When reporters asked him whats his purpose of fighting when his career was at its tailend and his supposedly match up with the heavyweight champion then Max Beur that was renowned for killing 2 men in the ring, his family was his inspiration.

I do remember reading somewhere before that says during this extraordinary times is the time when ordinary men will stand up and do extraordinary things.

James J Braddock is one of them and this book is certainly a good read for all to be inspired by his life struggle and his never say die attitude and his deep love and sense of responsiblity for his family. Something which we badly might need when dark times are just looming around the corner.

Traitor Negara

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Terpanggil hati saya untuk mendengar ucapan sulung Mohd Ezam Noor tentang mengapa beliau meninggalkan PKR dan memasuki UMNO, parti lamanya yg ditinggalkan beliau utk menyahut suara Reformasi bersama Dato Seri Anwar (DSAI).

Selama ini, saya tidak mahu komen banyak tentang saudara Ezam kerana sebagaimana yg kita tahu, saudara Ezam ini memang gah memperjuangkan prinsip keadilan sejagat, membanteras rasuah, dan apatah lagi dihumban masuk lokap kerana mempertahankan prinsip prinsip murni ini.

Tetapi setelah mendengar intipati ucapan sulungnya selama 5 minit, tuduhan liarnya keatas DSAI meninggalkan asas perjuangan PKR yg sebenarnya dimana dlm hatinya PKR sepatutnya sebuah parti berbilang kaum dgn asas Melayu, tetapi sekarang ini PKR diibaratkan sebagai penderhaka kerana meninggalkan asas Melayu yg sepatutnya menjadi sandaran utama perjuangan asal parti. Saya berasa syukur, saudara Ezam ini bukan lagi sebahagian PKR. Kerana sekiranya beliau masih lagi berada dalam parti PKR, selagi itulah beliau akan menjadi barah yg akan meresap masuk tubuh PKR, menjahamkan sel sel sihat dan menjadikan PKR sebuah parti yg lemah longlai seperti BN.

Siapa yg biadap Ezam? Siapa yg cuba menungkit ungkitkan sentimen perkauman? Ucapan kamu ni, tidak mempunyai nilai satu sen pun. Malah kalau ucapan kamu ini dilelongkan di E Bay ataupun di pasar malam ataupun diberi percuma, org tak nak beli. Kita dah muak dgn ucapan berbaurkan sentimen tak sihat. Ucapan kamu ini pada zahirnya menunjukkan bahawa kamu ini seorang yg racist. Malaysia ini merupakan sebuah negara yg aman dan makmur. Jadi jgn cuba jadi penyandang jaguh perosak No 1 negara.

Saya amat menyesal dan sedih melihat insan ini tersesat daripada perjuangannya yg asal. Ya, memang saya tidak kenal saudara Ezam secara peribadi, tetapi saudara Ezam satu waktu dahulu merupakan seorang hulubalang yg hebat dan berani. Komentar saya ini berkisarkan apa yg dibaca dan apa yg dilihat. Ezam ini bukan calang calang orangnya.

Ezam dalam amatan saya telah hilang segala kredibilitinya. Hanya yg tinggal, sebuah cerita mengenai kehebatannya satu waktu ketika dulu. Apa yg dapat diperagakan oleh saudara Ezam hari ini hanyalah retorik wadah perjuangan penuh dendam, hasad dengki yg hanya akan mengancam fabrik keharmonian negara Malaysia yg dicintai.

Cold Noodle

Apart from having a liking for food, myself and Kim also love cooking. We even have 2 aprons in the kitchen always ready when we want to prepare food.

However last Fri night, Kim was the Commander in Chief in the kitchen. Above is the delicious but yet humble Cold Noodle prepared by chef Kim. We were out of kimchi then, so she made the best of whatever ingredients she can salvage from the refrigerator.

And trust me, it taste as good as it looks. Thats what they always say, home cooked food is the best.

Beef Keow Teow

Yesterday, at Geylang we tried durian and beef keow teow. First stop was the durian stall. We gobbled about 3 durians and we still find ourselves hungry. Speaking only on behalf of myself, I was still DEAD hungry.

So we headed our way to Lorong 9 where the famous Lorong 9 beef keow teow is situated. I still remember about 7-8 years back, my first time there. That time, my old friend Kok Peng brought us all to this nice frog leg porridge stall which is just beside this beef keow teow stall. Since then, both of this stalls has the thumbs up from me.

Kim had tried the frog leg porridge before, but this beef keow teow is her first. As usual, the meat is tender and the gravy is thick but made with perfection. The keow teow has some burnt smell which made it even nicer. Unlike other beef keow teow, they put salted black beans in the gravy. That gives it a tinkling salty taste.

We enjoyed the meal and thats why they had put a signboard saying Lorong 9 Famous Beef Keow Teow. And they have all the reasons in the world to put that signboard up because the food is damn syiok and tasty!!

Curry

Fish Curry

Chicken Curry

Whats left of my chicken curry

Whats left of Kim's fish curry

I was told by Kim's colleague that there is a nice curry stall hidden from public's eyes just at the 4th level building beside Amara Hotel.

So on Sat, foodie detectives decided to pay this stall a visit. The stall name is approriately called Homemade Curry. So we decided to give the chicken curry and fish curry a try. One slurp of the curry gravy reminds me of the good old days of my aunt making authentic chinese style curry. Its not too spicy nor mild. I would say that the spicy level has been kept at a very moderate level.

Indeed you can feel the homemade feel of the curry. Kim said that non Chinese such as Indians might not find this curry appetizing since its so different from Indian curry. I believe she spoke too soon. Soon after, an Indian family joined the queue for the curry.

So whenever I want to find a nice place to enjoy curry, you can be sure this stall will be on my top choice of stalls I will frequent to in the near future.

At the end of the day, the pictures above is evident of how nice the curry is. Our bowls were squeaky clean.......

Penang Bridge

I made a posting before under the title Dr Koh - Useless in Sept 26, 2007. In that posting, I mentioned about the bad bad traffic situation on Penang bridge. Here is a an excerpt of my comments then

"There are lots of things the state govt can do to ease the traffic for the time being. Heavy vehicles should be barred from using the bridge at designated peak hours. It was done before nationwide during the Kongsi Raya few years back. Certain heavy vehicles were barred from the road."

I am for one glad to read this in The Sun today under article titled "Guan Eng: Criticisms of buying voters make no sense" Here is the excerpt below.

On another matter, in a few months, heavy vehicles such as trailers with containers will no longer be allowed to use the Penang bridge during peak hours in the morning and evening.

Penang Public Works, Utilities and Transport Committee chairman Lim Hock Seng said Works Minister Datuk Mohd Zin Mohamad has agreed for this to be gazetted.

"This is to reduce the congestion on the bridge during peak hours," he said.

Once gazetted, heavy vehicles will not be allowed to use the bridge between 6am and 9.30am and 5pm and 8pm.

Action above really shows that a simple act of kindness on the hardsip of commuters of Penang Bridge, really goes a long way to show that the DAP state govt under Pakatan Rakyat really prihatin towards the people.

This is what I call a people's government. Thank You DAP for taking this simple but yet effective step.

Nice Hangout

Whenever anyone have an important day to celebrate, lavish restaurants always comes to mind. I am guilty of that as well.

But then again, sometimes, a very fine wine and dine place, may not offer you the best scenery. And this was proven by Victor when he sent me this picture. This was taken with his handphone camera I presumed. Location is at Marina Square kopitiam. Imagine you and your partner, sitting there slurping a nice sundae and sharing a bowl of noodles. Nice scenery like the above comes free of charge.

Who says we need to pay extra to enjoy a nice view like this.

Thanks Victor for promoting a nice hangout with a spectacular view of the night scene in Singapore. This certainly beats paying a hell lot of money to be in Singapore Flyer.

Standing

It was reported that the no of passengers in SMRT trains recorded an increase. Not suprisingly considering the fact that with more ERP gantries in Singapore now stands at a total of 65, and with fuel price increase, many are turning to public transportation.

One thing Singaporeans can take heart is that, they have a fallback plan or a safety net when it comes to utilizing public transport. Cant say the same though for Malaysians who are forced to face the reality that public transport in that country is so run down and non existence.

With more passengers taking the train, I think SMRT should make some effort to re-educate passengers. Apart from terrorist threats, another menace most commonly seen are people like the above picture. Trust me when I say I was one of the few that was standing when she just put her stuffs there on the seat next to her. SMRT can increase the frequency of the train and adding more trains plying certain routes, but as long as we have a segment of society having a lack of social apathy, there still be more of us standing in the train.

ThanYing

I remember I visited ThanYing when I started off my 1st job in Singapore. I was told that it serves great authentic Thai food. The restaurant then was in Clarke Quay. So it bagged some awards as well.

Ever since then, ThanYing had been a great place for me to go to whenever I have visitors from abroad. I thought what better way to dine then to go to ThanYing. And their dessert buffett is simply superb.

However last year when I tried finding the restaurant again, suprisingly its nowhere to be found. So I gave up, blaming it on my bad sense of direction. Until last Fri, only then I knew that they had closed down their outlet in Clark Quay. I was dining at their prime outlet in Amara Hotel. So the waitress told me proudly that she used to work there in Clarke Quay. I told her I had fond memories of the great food and ambience of their outlet there.

And I still remember my 1st sip of tomyam. Clear soup tomyam. See the picture. Yes, it doesnt look spicy but trust me, once you have that tomyam running down your throat, you will be on fire.

They have several other great dishes as well in which I wouldnt go into great length. But ThanYing to me has been one of the better restaurants I had dined before in Singapore.

Hulk Smash

Will Hulk smash his way into the box office just like his buddy Iron Man? I know this 2nd feature from Marvel Studios has been receiving a hell lot of negative reviews from critics. But I will cut some slack here. I think this movie is good, seriously. Before you read on, must caution you that there are some 'spoilers" ahead.

Throughout the movie, and even the onstart of the movie, we are dropped with hints with some secret documents showing the names of "Nick Fury", "SHIELD" and Stark Enterprise. Some notable cameos such as Stan Lee playing this old guy that was unfortunate enough to drink the bottle tainted with Bruce Banner's blood, Lou Ferigno, the original Hulk in the tv series and also the late Bill Bixby that played Bruce Banner cleverly shown on telly which Bruce was watching.

Liv Tyler that played Elizabeth Ross is certainly an eye candy to watch. Whose heart wouldnt melt, especially Elizabeth is the only one that is able to tame the angry ridden Hulk. Plus the super soldier project that also gave birth to Captain America, another founding member and also the leader of The Avengers will soon give birth on the silver screen. Thats another story to be told.

There are already hints for the sequel and big story build up from Marvel that will finally see The Avengers in action. Samuel Sterns, the cellular biologist who tries to help Bruce rid his body of gamma rays will end up becoming The Leader after the explosion caused some of Banner's blood dropped into his open wound on his head. The Leader will subsequently become Hulk's arch nemesis and also a very dangerous foe to SHIELD and The Avengers.

Overall, pitting Hulk against Abomination in the 1st movie is indeed a smart move on the producer's part. There is more to come. As Tony Stark met up with General Ross at the tailend of the movie to discuss on the setting up of The Avengers. For now I am contented just to enjoy my Marvel Legends action figures pitting The Hulk against The Leader.

Fried Caterpillars

I am always up for trying weird food whenever I have a chance. This time I thought I might as well share my finding of exotic food.

So during the last trip to Bangkok, I bought this pack of fried caterpillars. I was told that its manufactured in Myanmar and brought into Thailand for sale.

Sam my housemate seems to like it. I agree with him that this is a good source of protein. Kim on the other hand thought that it should be crisp but it turn out to be soft. As for me, I didnt find it that great. Its soft and tasteless. So its lingering inside my refrigerator now. But its edible. The issue now here is how long will I take to finish it?

Guess I need to share my fried caterpillars with a bigger pool of people...hehehehe...

RTM 1 Talkshow

Anyone caught the talkshow on RTM1 jam 9.00 last night with panelists, PAS Youth Chief, Salahuddin Ayub; Menteri Perdagangan Dalam Negeri dan Hal Ehwal Pengguna (KPDNHEP), Dato' Shahrir Samad and 2 media reps, Hanafiah Man (Agendadaily.com) dan Syed Munawar? Thanks to Dad for informing me last night.

First of all, Sharir came prepared. So he did his homework. But his explanation last night was not convincing. First of all his explanation that Petronas books need not be audited is full of baloney. Petronas wealth is the rakyat's wealth. Its the wealth of the nation. And just based on that fact alone, Petronas books should be made public for rakyat's scrutiny. And more of a reason audited by an independent auditing firm or at least by Ketua Audit Negara.

And please save us the crap on trying to distort the word "pendapatan" and "keuntungan". Playing words to the gallery. At the end of the day, if the govt made the records of Petronas public, I believe we can put any doubts on Petronas's utilization of its profits to rest.

And Salahuddin Ayub didnt fare too well as well especially on the part where he was guessing on the price of the crude oil in 2006. Yes, he was wrong when he said that it hit USD80 then. Which in fact, Sharir corrected him that the price didnt shoot up to that level not until 2007. And looks like Salahuddin also failed to bring in any plans and measures from his end on how to solve this nagging problem of subsidy and rising fuel prices.

Is Malaysia heading down south? Only time will tell..............

Old Airport Road Food

If you ever have any visitors that want to try out Singapore's best hawker food, its definately a no brainer to bring them to Old Airport Road Hawker Centre. There are simply so many top notch hawker delicacies, you wish you had an extra stomach to spare....hahahaha.

So when I was there recently for lunch, I knew that at most, I am only be able to take in 2 meals at most. So I gotta make my choice right. So this is what I decided last Friday.

I have been trying to eat this Hokkien Fried Prawn Mee on many occasions. Each time I came, the stall is either closed or they are done for the day. So this time I reckoned, I shouldnt be that unlucky again to miss it. So here I was behind a beeline. And more orders can be seen on the stall's little booklet. Verdict? The best fried prawn mee ever for me in Singapore. No other stalls I tasted before ever come close to Nam Sing. No wonder there are so many awards hanging around the stall. The vermicelli used is the super thin type and the noodles are soft and the killer blow of this dish is the gravy used. And the master wears a really big goggles to whip it up

Having Hua Kee wanton noodles reminds me of the days when I was back in Malaysia enjoying my bowl of wantan mee. No one in Singapore make it the way Malaysia does. The magic of this dish is the noodles used. The noodles is not soft but instead elastic. I love my noodles this way. And again the base of the wanton noodle and especially the char siew used is top notch if you ask me. Certainly this dish is made using Malaysia style rather than Singapore style. And thats why this stall is so famous and its evident with the many people like me coming back for more.

FIN Seafood Cafe

If its fish I am looking for, you can be sure that my pick would be at Fin Seafood Cafe at Marina Square. And if you have a UOB credit card and you spent more than $20.00, one is entitled for a 15% off the bill.

As you can see here Kim is all ready for battle with her catch. Cod Fish. I tasted the Cod Fish and it has a stronger smell than my Fish and Chips. The crispy coating goes very well with the Cod meat. Certainly a worthwhile catch for the price of $8.95.

Next is my meal. My Fish and Chips. What I like most about my Fish and Chips is that, it never fail to amazed me how crisp the fish is when they fry it to perfection. And the best thing about this store is that they never try to be ambitious about what they can offer. During my last visit, I had the chance to sample their calimari. Oh boy, if your have some space in your stomach you should try that as well.

Try it and believe me when I say, its a good place to hang out for good food.

Thai Food - Somboon

So I was in Bangkok for the last 3 days. During the last night stay, I had the opportunity to get a free company dinner treat. Apparently this restaurant I went too had a reputation of being one of Thailand's best restaurants in 2007. And heck, ex Japan PM, Junichiro Kouizomi even visited this restaurant before. This I gotta try and the best part is, I am not paying..hahahaha. Photo pictures is a bit blurry, I am trying my best not catch my big boss attention if you know what I mean. I just want to slip under the radar and enjoy my meal.

My favourite of the night is the fish roe with fish meat. Wow its kind of sinful but the meal is delicious. Its not too spicy, but the roe and fish meat really blends well with the chilli oil.


As you can see the food is kinda sparse now as i was not quick enough to snap the pics when the dishes were served on the table. Fried Fish picture is missing. Crab Bee Hoon is missing too. All and all, the food was good. But remember, if you ever drop by this restaurant they dont accept credit card. Yes you heard me right. So remember to bring loads of cash before you stepped into this restaurant.

Something Hahaha

Got this picture via email. Its really hillarious and for once someone is taking all this in a stride. Deviating from the seriousness of this issue, I believe both countries can take a cue from this and take a moment to laugh their heart out.

I know I did.