Datin's Birthday

We celebrated a colleague's birthday in office on Friday, well she is not a Datin but the picture below will illustrate why I nickname her Datin.


Sporting "Jacky O" Christin Dior shades, she look like a typical Datin.

Anyway, we got her a birthday cake and after she blew out the candles we presented the birthday gift...


The gift is from Blush! ...


Knowing her fondness for g-strings all of us decided to chip in and get her a purple one... of course we had a good laugh when presenting the gift to her...anyway all in good spirit and no degrading remarks made :)

Happy Birthday!!!

Luckily I am not in the States, I guess this would have constituted some kind of sexual harrasment

Been Busy Bee...

Lately I have been too busy to blog, sigh... I have been working on projections, board papers, research papers etc. Further I have been having fun with little Anthony, after a long day in the officce I come home to play with him...golf has taken a back seat lately...although I do wish that I could go to the driving range everyday and play every weekend...my golfing buddies have been complaining that they feel neglected.

Do I care? Heck no!!! I am having the best time of my life :)

Anyway this weekend is the anticipated labour day weekend...what do I plan to do? No golfing on the greens but maybe an hour or two at the driving range...some cooking...I plan to try out my Ravioli recipe, I plan to make my own Ravioli...my sensitive tastebuds can only accomodate home-made pasta!!!

Anyway, I promise to post some pics of Anthony in the next few days...he can lift his head up now!!!

Back to more spread-sheets...arghhhh

Washroom Manners

I found this note stuck to the wall of the executive washroom this morning, it reads " Fellow short executive, if you are to (sic) short to use urinal behind you, please lift seat cover"

This is hilarious, apparently someone has been using the executive washroom and pee-ing all over the toilet seat...it is definately not me as I have quite a good aim...further I can reach the urinal just fine...if I tip-toe...haha...

Maybe I should "borrow" a few block of bricks from the construction site next to my office and place it under the urinal and stick a note to say "use in case if you are vertically challenged"

Potato Gnocchi

When I was in Hannover, Karl cooked a wonderful dish called gnocchi. I mentioned it to Khairuddin that I was "craving" for some and he was kind enough to give me the recipe.


Boil some russett potatos, in this case I used 6 small ones. Boil the potatos until it is soft enough "run" a knife through it. Mash the potatos...


Add about 3 table spoon of flour and some salt to taste. Mix the flour and mashed potato with a wooden spoon.


Spread some kitchen foil onto a flat surface and sprinkle some flour onto the surface.


Roll the potato and flour mix like so...add flour if it starts to get too sticky. Taste the dough occasionally to determine if more salt is needed.


Shape the gnocchi like so and put into a container to chill it for 30 mins or so.


While waiting for the gnocchi to chill, I chopped up some chicken nuggets and some chinese sausages.


Thinly slice some crabsticks


Mushrooms...mushrooms...


Boil the gnocchi in salted water...


While waiting for the gnocchi to cook...fry the chinese sausages until fragrant.


When the sausages are sizzling, add in the rest of the ingrediants and two pieces of chedder cheese. When the cheese start to melt, add in some Dolmio mushroom sauce.


Scoop up the gnocchi when it stats to float in the boiling water.


The finished dish!!! My mother in law loved it...personally I think it was too cheesy...I think only one piece of chedder is sufficient.

Dry Pork Curry

Inspired by Iron Chef Aw 's chicken varuva recipe I decided to replace the chicken with pork to see how it taste. Ideally the meat should be wild boar but normal pork should suffice if you did not manage to find any at the local market.


Slice some pork as thinly as possible. Sprinkle some corn flour to tenderize the meat. Dice up some potatos to add into the curry later. Ideally some "fatty" meat should be added to add some extra taste to the dish. But being health conscious only lean meat was used.


Generous amount of curry leaves and four sliced chilli padi


Half a large onion sliced into large slices, 3 cloves of garlic and two shallots finely diced


Spices...slight variation to the recipe, I added in some dried shrimps


Don't forget the coriander...its up to you how much to dice up...


Of course the required curry and chilli powder...


Fry the spices with the garlic and shallots in a little bit of oil until they are fragrant, then chuck in the onions and chilli...


Add the chicken in after the spices and onions are fried emitting a nice aroma, add in the chicken and potatos together with one table spoon of chilli and curry powder...simmer for 10 minutes or so, occasionally adding some water....instead of using salt I used light soy sauce and dark soy sauce to darken the dish


My mother-in-law loved it!!!...however it is a bit on the spicy side...I guess instead of 4 chilli padi I should put 2 and instead of one table spoon of chilli powder, half should suffice.

I need therapy

I have always been good with words, give me any topic to research and and I can write a wonderful report on why its good or bad etc. But numbers are something else... the last couple of days have been hell for me.

I was asked to prepare a justification paper for a new business that the company wants to embark on. Writing the paper was no problem, coming up with the projections was a personal hell for me... I seriously suffer from headaches the moment I open an excel document. The green colour of the excel logo seems to deplete my strength like kryptonite...sigh...

Further to compound the problem, my boss asked me to add in some figures that were not computed in my spreedsheet... although it was a simple matter of changing some formulas and adding a few lines it took me a few hours to figure it out...even with Cleo helping me I was seriously shaken by the whole episode.

I now have an aversion to spreedsheets...I will not be surprised if I get nightmares...images of spreedsheets and excel logos chasing me...arghhh

I need therapy

Movie: Get Rich or Die Trying

Watched the recent 50 cent movie last night on DVD, it stars Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (the scary black dude in "Lost"). The entire plot centers around Marcus (50 cent), on how he started his life of crime and finally how he became a rap star.

I quite enjoyed the movie in the sense that its your typical rags to riches movie albeit Marcus made his riches from selling crack cocain, however having said that what bugs me is that 50 Cent has a hugh fan base...some of them in their early teens...I don't think the movie portrays him as a good role model.

Yes, yes I know its only a movie...its supposed to be fictional right? But this movie has been marketed as being based on the true life storey of Curtis Jackson aka 50 Cent.

I am all for artistic freedom of expression etc...but this movie seems to convey the message that as long as you don't lose track of your ultimate goal (Marcus wants to be a "gangsta rapper") "its ok to drop out of school...sell crack cocain so long as you don't become a user...shoot and kill a few competitors...make shit loads of money"

The movie also conveys the message "its better to sell crack than to beg for a livin'...gotta maintain your self respect..."

Sigh...now that I am a dad I am quite worried on what type of peer pressure he will face in his teens... guess I can't protect my kid from everything I guess the most important thing is to instill in him the correct values.

A man's car...

A relative came drove this fine specimen of a car down from Klang to attend the funeral...its a Toyota Hilux...but the front grill has been changed...and of course the necessary engine modifications to include a turbo unit...

A peek underneath the truck reveals something interesting...


Upon closer inspection...this car has balls!!!

Iron Chef Aw

My uncle decided to cook "chicken varuva" to for lunch. He enlisted me to help him prepare the necessary ingredients.


Take some cardamon, clove, star anise, black pepper, cumin, anise, mustard hazelnuts...


Soak some dried chilli in a bowl of water...dice it up to add into the curry later on...


Dice up some shallots and garlic...dice up as much as you want...


Dice up some coriander...


Add some curry leaves...


For you city folks out there...this is a curry leave plant...


Fry all the spices until fragrant...then add in the chicken...


Add some tomatos if you like...some soy sauce and dark soy sauce to darken the dish. Add in as much curry and chilli powder as you like...a bit of water if you do not want the curry to be too dry.


wa-la...the finished dish...fantastic!!!


Cooking classes with Iron Chef Aw can be organised...please email me for bookings and rates :)

Goodbye Ah Poh

Now that you are gone, I am sad to no longer have you around. I am happy at the same time as you no longer have to suffer.

I will always remember your "chicken rice", how you always set aside one drumstick for me for lunch when I come back home from school. Before you fell sick, I look forward to visiting you during Chinese New Year to savour the various delicacies that you cook. There are many things to remember you by...

But I guess the most significant legacy is your decision to instill the importance of education onto your children. The importance of education has now been instilled in your grandchildren...all are degree holders...some with masters degress with one on the way to complete his Phd.

I will miss you...

Sad Day

Just got word that my Maternal Grandmother has passed away. I will be heading down to Kuantan for a couple of days. I guess I won't be blogging for a few days, is it appropriate to blog about a funeral? Will have to think about it, if yes, then I will be uploading some pictures of the funeral. sigh... Rest In Peace...

What a day

I planned to get into office early to get some long over due work done but as fate would have it Anthony has jaundice

So I ended up rushing between office--home---hospital---office. The worst part of the whole experience was having to hear him cry when his heel was pricked for a blood test...sigh...can he cry..so sakit hati la...

To top it off, Cleo was suffering from boughts of fever and chills...sigh...

Anyway, just came back from the hospital after feeding him some expressed milk...it was so painful to leave him just now...all by himself in the room...

Anyway, am not in the mood to blog...just wanted to get it off my chest...

Confinement Alcohol: Ginseng Wine

Cleo was given a bottle of Ginseng Wine for her confinement, as she already has bottles of rice wine as well as 2 bottles of Dom I decided to take this bottle as mine...I do need to ensure that my health is ok..what with the late nights and early mornings as well as the middle of night wake up call by Anthony... :)

Anyway this bottle of Ginseng Wine is by Eu Yan Sang

It has a very heavy ginseng taste and smell, alcohol content is 15%...which is just perfect for getting sloshed with...

I had one shot of the wine in the afternoon to properly medicate me for the Australian Grad Prix :)