Casa Davide

If you love big @ss steaks, head over to Casa Davide over @ Jalan Padungan or as it is known now as China Town. Ok, besides the big @ss steak what can you get there? There are a variety of pastas that they served there. I do not however recommend the Carbonara. (I think I make better carbonara .. Hahahaha!!!) However, the rest of other pastas they serve there are quite ok. I just don’t recommend the Carbonara. Tried and tested by trusted friends a couple of times and each time it comes through bland. There doesn’t seem to be much improvement done to it @ all even though commentaries have been made, it seems like they aren’t taking it into consideration. You can’t really taste any flavour in it and its just bland.

I do however, recommend a steak that they serve there which is cooked in red wine. I can’t remember what is the name of that dish but just read the description of the dish. If you like your meat tender but not bloody, tell them to MEDIUM. Because if you tell them MEDIUM-WELL, it becomes well done and it spoils the meat. It becomes very tough.

The recommendable steak with red wine sauce. Too yummylicious for words!!

If you like a LOT of meat, then order the big @ss steak! It’s the one that says that it weighs more about 500g! I ordered it for Tek and considering the amount of meat he can pack away, he still got a bit sick by the end of the meal! Hahahahaha!

BIG @SS STEAK!

The Caesar salad is not bad @ all. Give it a shot. But have it with chicken instead. Oh .. do not try their recommened soup. Its not very recommendable. The mushroom is ok (not great, but ok). The pumpkin soup wasn’t that great. I wasn’t the judge of that since I HATE pumpkin soup, but Joe does. So he tried it and told me that it sucks.

You think you know someone. You expect this individual to fulfill and to complete you. But in reality, sometimes, you just dont really know this person.

Was it wrong to expect the person that you thought complete you to have some compassion? Especially when it comes your own family members going through some rough times? Was it wrong to want this person to share your vigilance?

Instead .. you get a slam back. Saying that you are just being controlling. I never wanted that. All I'd wanted was your understanding, without me having to state the obvious.

I was wrong.

I give up.

I give it all up.

Whatever debts that I owe you, rest assured it will all be paid in full. I never want to anything from you EVER.

I. DONT. WANT. TO CARE. ANYMORE.

MAS Food

This is the food that you get served on your flight with MAS when you fly Business Class. This is served when I was flying back from JB to Kuching. Sadly, the quality of customer service provided by MAS now is rivaled by that of Air Asia.

It might look real nice. But it didnt taste that great. And the service wasn't that hot either. Oh and the Golden Lounge @ the Senai Airport sucked. Big time. The food that they had in there was H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E!

I now prefer flying with Air Asia considering the price that I have to pay and yet the staff (esp those ground staff) are so much more friendlier and nicer than those who are working with MAS. The price of the air tickets charged by MAS now is rather astrocious and with the type of money that you're shelving out, you'd expect their customer to superceed that of Air Asia. But nope.

Not only that, for the domestic flight, Air Asia has shown better punctuality than MAS. My 2nd last trip to Sibu town via MAS had me seething mad. Not only was my flight delayed for half an hour but when I asked about the delay I was just told rudely by the staff (quote) "Just go sit down and wait. When ready to fly, we inform you. No need to ask." Had I not been trying to control my fury, I'd have enough sense to take down her name and reported her in.

So far my 2 trips to Sibu via Air Asia or FAX as their domestic flights are known has been totally pleasant. Punctual. Arriving ahead of schedule. Something that I've never experienced with MAS even though I've flown with them all these while until FAX flights has been enforced only of late.

Insomnia

Insomnia is characterized by an inability to sleep and/or to be incapable of remaining asleep for a reasonable period. Insomniacs typically complain of being unable to close their eyes or "rest their mind" for more than a few minutes at a time. Both organic and nonorganic insomnia constitute a sleep disorder[1][2]. It is often caused by fear, stress, anxiety, medications, herbs or caffeine. An overactive mind or physical pain may also be causes. Finding the underlying cause of insomnia is usually necessary to cure it.

Hence the reason why I'm still up at this ungodly hour (to me it is!!) on a weekday. This however isn't something that doesn't occur often for me.

I. Want. My. Sleep. *sighs*

There are many things that I hate. One of them is when people play coy with me about what they want to tell me or say. Where they tell you bits and pieces like bait and right at the end of the topic, they refuse to disclose the content of the conversation. Its like reading a book. You get to read the title. But when you open the book, the entire content of the book is missing.

What's the point then???

I'm right down piss now.

Sometimes while driving, I just snap pictures @ random which catches my fancy. Or when I'm just browsing around stores or walking around. Especially if they are cute (cute to me that is) potential photos of animals. So here there are :

This hamster somehow reminds me of a guinea pic. The size of it and its marking. It soo loveable though!

Awwww ... isn't that a sweet sight!

Was playing peek-a-boo with this dog until I realised that his owners (driver and passanger in the truck, presuming that they are the owners of the dog) were staring @ me from the rearview mirror. A rather malufying moment for me.

"If I stand here long enough and look pitiful ... maybe the lady will gimme a whole roast duck!!"

This is my beloved dish ... "mee siam". Unfortunately the only mee siam or so called mee siam that i can find in town now (not anymore anyways) is a mutated version. I dont know what this particular stall did to the mee siam their selling, but geezz .. but if there are really mutated tasting mee siam, they would taste exactly like the version of mee siam that's being sold. As shown below :

Looks can be very very deceiving and believe me, the above picture is full of deceit!

My first bread!!!

Ok... it isn't something to be bragged about. When I got the breadmaker I was real happy (?!?! .. a breadmaker makes me happy??) and I couldn't wait to make my 1st bread. You know, its like having a brand new toy!! And so the breadflour, butter, yeast and what-nots that are needed to bake a bread was bought.

My new breadmaker!!! Yayness!

Got home. Mixed everything and instrusted ....

Turned the machine on ... and it started doing its thing.

And 2 hours later..........

How disappointing!!! Not to mention the embarassment. But then ... 2nd hand turned out .. TAAAADAHHHH.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My perfect bread!!!

Dim Sum in KK

Thanks to my work, I get to travel to a few places roughly about once every month. Sure I'm not going all that far, but still food elsewhere does slighly differ from food from home.

One of the best things that I love each time I go over to KK is the dim sum place which is near Likas area. Apparently this is one of the most famous dim sum places in KK. The dim sum served is defintely nicer than the dim sum that I've got here back home which really ... is just yucky. Plain yucky.

I dont want to sound ungrateful, but KK seems to have more perks than Kuching does. Seems like the variety offered there is a lot better. Shopping there is actually more fulfilling as well. Not to mention that they've got Burger King there too. I know. How miserable can this be?? There isn't any Burger King where I come from. Tell me how much more deprived can I get? I live for fast food.

During my last trip to KK, I've also been introduced to the night spot over @ Tanjung Aru. I've always known that Tanjung Aru is a beach area for families in KK. But I never knew that there was also a night life version over there. Its really nice too. There are rows and rows of tables placed right @ the beachside. You get to sit there, sip your drinks slowly while catching up on gossips and news with friends with a pretty good live band playing up front. Its a great way to relax and the atmosphere (should the weather be friendly) is just totally relaxing and great.

We need more neat spots here.....

Yummylicious dim sum!!

I love glutinous rice. Basically any form of glutinous rice. But this is definitely one of my fav.

Footloose!!! Chicky feet! That's Anthony's dish. I've yet to to be able to stomach such delicacy.

Part of the decorations found around the shop


They've got potraits of past Emporers who had ruled China before lining their walls. And the guy looking @ them is Anthony.

The last Emporer of China. Emporer Puyi

The description @ the bottom of his photo.

By the way, all these photos were taken with my very handy Sony Ericsson W800i. So far the clarity of photographs taken by this phone has not ceased to amaze me.

Entrance to Tanjung Aru Beach, KK.

A park like area on the left side of Tanjung Aru, KK.

The beach that you get to enjoy @ night as well.


The cafe / pubs where you can enjoy your drinks @ night.

Sorry peeps, but seems like something went wrong with my dumb-ass memory stick. My photos of the night view of Tanjung Aru (which were real nice) are allllllllll GONEEEE!!! *sighs*

Looking through all the crap that I've got in my laptop. I just realised how much trash I've accumulated. Which incidentally kinda reflects on my life too?

Have you ever felt like a puzzle? A piece of puzzle that just doesnt seem fit into the puzzle itself anywhere. Yeap. That's how I'm feeling right now.

Sometimes I just feel like I'm a piece of multi puzzle that should fit into may different puzzles @ one time. Work. Friends. Relationship. Family. Etc etc. And right now, I just really feel that I dont fit into one of them. When I scrutinise it closely, I see that I've not really felt that I've fitted in all this while. But what can be done to be rectify the situation? One can't change the shape of a piece of puzzle to make it fit into a puzzle that it never did belong to anyway.

Having said that, the answer is simple then isn't it? I just dont belong to that particular puzzle. I. Need. To. Move. On.

Snorkeling Trip @ the Talang-Talang Islands

Note : This has been pre-typed ages and ages ago.

When I first heard about the snorkeling trip to the Satang Island of Sarawak. Boy, was I excited. However, when the day of the trip drew closer and closer, I was wondering if was crazy enough to say that I’d wanted to go. It meant that I’d have to sacrifice my Sunday sleep in. I’d have to be up by 5:30am. I love my sleep. I think I love my sleep more than I do anything else!!! There was not guarantee that the water would be really clear being year end and all. What I really wanted to see were dolphins and turtles, and obviously there isn’t a guarantee. Besides, these two creatures are pretty hard to spot. Chances of seeing them were pretty much slim. The only guarantee of what we would see for sure were fishes. Corrals. Sharks? But in what are the chances of that as well right?

Sunday, 16th October 2006 soon came around. When my alarm rang, all I wanted to was to shut it off, roll over and head back to dreamland. Which I knew that I couldn’t. Not after having committed to the trip and paying for it. What I did do however, was to hit my snooze button quite a few times. :P Dragged myself out of bed bleary-eyed and headed for the bathroom. And the rest as they say, is history. Tek and I were to pick up my brother and Joe as well. We didn’t quite think of preparing any other food since this is our first trip out. All we were told was that no pork was allowed with respect to our boatmen. So what we did was to just buy cans of premixed tuna and crackers. Joe outdid us all. He prepared a huge sandwich using a frenchloaf, stuffed it with cornbeef, onions, garlic, egg and cheddar cheese (drool, drool).

Once the 4 of us were in the car, off we went to Siang Siang, MJC where we’d scheduled to meet up with Whei Shing, Alvin and the rest that were going for the diving/snorkeling trip. Siaw Fung and Melissa were meeting us @ Sematan itself, and the poor girls waited more than an hour for us. The agreed time was to reach Sematan before 8am, but with the dilly-dallying that happened, we reached there @ 9am.

Last minutes provisions were obtained @ the sleepy town of Sematan. We then headed to the jetty to meet up with the boat that will be taking us out to sea. By then, I was already gripped with excitement. The skies were clear and the weather was great. It was slightly hazy but that didn’t put much damper to our mood. Everyone was in a jovial and basically anticipating the diving/snorkeling sessions.

Our boatmen were two very friendly men whom we were to later learn had extremely keen eyesight. They could spot sights that were far off and rather indistinguishable to the untrained eyes of us city people.

The Talang-Talang Islands are basically divided into 2 islands known as Talang-Talang Besar (Big Talang-Talang) and Talang-Talang Kecil (Small Talang-Talang). Both these islands apparently do have different coral structures. These islands are also known as turtle sanctuaries which is under our Forestry Department. They are also one of the most successful turtle sanctuaries that we have. Being a sanctuary and all, it is obvious then that visitors to these islands are advised not to remove anything from the corals here. From the jetty of Sematan, it took us slightly over half an hour to reach Talang-Talang Kecil. During our boat ride over to these islands, Ernest our guide for the trip told us to keep our eyes on a lookout. Who knows?? We might be lucky enough to spot dolphins!! Sadly though … we didn’t see any.

My mood soon perked up once more when we reached Talang-Talang Kecil. Disappointed as I was when we didn’t spot any dolphins on our way there, I would just (perhaps? If I’m willing to sacrifice my sleeping hours!) make another trip out here to try and spot them. The minute we looked into the water, I was very much pleasantly surprised @ the clarity of it. We could see all the way down to the seabed where the corals were growing in abundance. We could also see fishes that were busy darting around the corals and nibbling (on algae I guess..) @ the bottom of the seabed. Ernest briefed the divers and snorkelers before we jumped in full of excitement. There were basic safety precautions that we had to adhere to which were simple enough. We were also informed that the corals that were living around Talang-Talang Kecil, were hard corals. They weren’t those soft and wavy kinds that we normally see on television. The fishes that we saw here were also very much different from those that we normally see living in corals on television. Because, these corals are hard corals, they aren’t as colourful as their relatives. There are rather dull coloured. So most of the fishes, that were living around these corals aren’t all that colourful either. We did manage to spot quite a few different spesies of fishes though it wasn’t an easy job!! The speed that those fishes were darting about, you basically just get quick glimpse of them.

After frolicking around for about an hour, suddenly one of the boatmen gave a yell. “Penyu! Penyu!”, (Turtle! Turtle!) he yelled scaring the living daylights out of us that were hanging around the boat. Once the initial shock wore off in seconds, excitement started buzzing. We started scanning to the area where he was pointing towards. The island’s rocky coastline. However, to our untrained eyes, we could see nothing except lumps and lumps of rocks everywhere. Tried as we could, we could not see and there he was jumping and pointing for he was worth. “Tuu… yang putih tuuuu!! Kat sana tuuuuu!!!”, he kept pointing and yelling out to us. Blindly, we just started to swim towards the spot he was pointing to. Sure enough, halfway there, we finally spotted the turtle!! It was flapping its flippers @ us and apparently was stuck because of the lowtide. It then slid into a pool of water where it got stuck. Half of the poor turtle’s body was submerged in the water but because of its body size and awkward position, it couldn’t manage to haul itself out. Instead it floundered around with 1 flipper out in the air helplessly. Poor turtle. As we neared the coastline, we started to flounder ourselves. Boy, were the rocks slippery!! I for one am sure that I looked more clumsy than the turtle as I tried to clamber up those rocks!

Getting the turtle out was real hard work. Real heavy and we're told that it isn't fully grown. The poor turtle kept banging it's head against the pool that it was stuck in while trying to get itself out. Took quite a fair bit of muscle strenght to manoeuvre it into the correct position and to push it up to give it the balance it needed to haul itself out and into the sea.

The experience seeing and being able to touch the turtle? Amazing. I was thrilled. I’d wanted to see turtles, but never did I imagine I would be able to see it so close and to touch it!! We then tried to help the turtle out of the pool. Heavy!!!!!!!!!!! We didn’t think that turtles are that heavy. It took the three guys to manage to help the turtle to maneuver out of its awkward position. Once the turtle hit the sea, it was an entirely different from the clumsy creature that it seemed to be on land. It became graceful and extremely speedy. After seeing its speed and grace in the water, I can understand now why some people say that turtles are the birds in the sea. It just torpedoed itself away.

With that excitement done with, we headed back to our boat for lunch. Joe’s concoction was awesome. Add hungry tummies to the timing, it was out of the world.

When the divers came back and we’d also had some food to munch on. We headed off to the 2nd island. Talang-Talang Besar.

The corals here were totally different from Talang-Talang Kecil. Here there were soft corals as well and we could see many colourful fishes darting back and forth. The water here was also a lot deeper compared to the waters over @ Talang-Talang Kecil. It was rather intimidating for me when I ventured into the water. Due to the depth, one couldn’t see too far ahead except the bluish hue of the waters. Below me as I snorkeled I could see such an array of corals. Corals that came in multitude of colours. Fishes that came in varying colours. Saw Nemo (clown fish) too!!! But no Dory … L There were just so many varieties of fishes that we saw that we can’t remember all. However, there was one that made an appearance that strikes fear in most thanks to the movies Jaws! I suppose seeing a small shark would be a norm thing .. except that the shark that Melissa saw which swam beneath here was no small little shark!! Never did we think that our trip would be so exciting. We’d expected lots of fun, but never in our wildest dream so far did we expect to see so much! Much less experience so much.

Lookieeeee!!! It's Nemo!! 2 different spesies if you can spot the smaller one on the left hand side of the pic.

Despite the assurance that the shark is harmless so long as we don’t try any tricks on it, none of us really wanted to go back into the water. Only the guys went back into the water to try to retrieve a snorkel that had fallen into the water which was rather futile since it was quite far down. In the end, Alvin’s help was enlisted to retrieve it.

But the best was yet to come. The most wonderful surprise of all came right @ the end of our trip. Dolphins!!! We saw a school of 4-5 dolphins surfaced. That explained why schools of fishes were swimming and flying away into the air minutes before we saw the dolphins. They were trying not to end up as dinner. It was just totally awesome! It was a sight to behold.

Sorry folks, you'd have to zoom in on the pic to be able to see the dolphin's dorsal fins that are I managed to catch on camera. They didn't quite jump like Flippers in the movies. Still .. it was pretty awesome

So, would I go out again for another trip as such? DEFINITELY!!! Sacrificing my sleep was very much worth it and I would do it again!

The group of us that went out. Half went diving, half went snorkeling.

PS : Please note. Should you be interested to dive/take up diving lessons or go on such trips, please check out this website : www.wetwolfdive.com and the contact person is a Mr. Ernest Teo who by the way is the sitting in the middle on the top row. It was thanks to him that we'd a great trip.

First Entry...

Yeap ... it has indeed been awhile since I have last written anything. I guess its time to pick it up again least I go crazy from the lack of freedom to complain and grouse.

Yeah, I love to grouse. So sue me for it. But I so happen to believe that every individual has the right to grouse and complain as much as they want in order that they can be happy. In face if there could be a company where it all the employees does is just to listen to people grouse and complain and they charge a mere 3 bucks p/hour. I'm sure it'll make money. Ok. So I might be the only customer. But heck, I'm sure that there are plenty out there who just bite their tongue and slog their daily crap. Unfortunately, I cant live with that. So here I am again.

Obviously, @ the this point of entry, I'm not feeling too hot. Its the first day of my "oh-so-wonderful-PMS-ing-mood!!" Sure ... sure, what's there to complain. Doesn't it happen everymonth? THAT still doesn't change the fact that during this time its a total bitch. I feel icky and I just feel like I can snap @ anyone from my irritation.

Doesn't help that they place that I've felt that could a cosy and haven for me and a Mr T isn't what I thought it was. Or so it seems for the other party. Which in turn makes me feel just totally frustrated and irritated. Which also explains why I'm still up @ this hour. Its eating me up! Argh!

Anyways, lets not waste time. I shall go into the next entry for what was supposedly to have been done ages and ages ago. Bleh~

Chiking Vs The Hainamese Street Restaurant

I love that THSR (The Hainamese Street Restaurant) uses these quaint old coffee cups to serve hot coffee!

I love chicken rice. Gimme chicken rice anyday and I’m a happy camper. This entry, let me say first is actually very very late. Because by the time this entry goes up, I’d have found the new “ultimate” chicken rice place! Hock King!! Its right opposite Grand Continental. It’s the coffee shop with the bright yellow signage. Ok..ok.. lets not diversify from the topic. Back to the topic that I was talking about, Chiking vs THSR. Well, I think both these chicken rice place are different. Each brings forth different flavours in their chicken. I can’t decide which is actually really better because I love them both. However, I do have say that Chiking’s rice is a lot better than the rice that is served over @ THSR. Why? Well, I like rice that are more isolated from each other. Meaning when its cooked, you can’t have too much water in the pot because it causes the rice to be soggy and they get kinda stuck together. I like rice where I can really taste the texture of each individual rice. But I’d say that this would boil down to different individuals. Older generation would prefer the rice served over @ THSR.

The rice the Chiking serves

The chicken from Chiking

Veggies from Chiking

THSR however is more generous with the sauce that they pour over the chicken compared to Chiking and this is important to me. I think the sauce that is used to pour over the chicken is one of the most essential issues when it comes to chicken rice. It determines the flavour of the chicken and I love having it over my rice as well. But, I can’t say that THSR is very consistent with their sauce. One minute the first dish they serve you can be really salty whereas the second dish can be just right.

Chicken from THSR. As you can see, presentation wise, they do beat Chiking too. I think.

Veggies from THSR

The verdict?
They both rule! BUT the King of the them all now is HOCK KING!!!! Woo hooo!!

PS : Veggie @ Chiking is yucky!