June 2005 Archives

The PPS blogger meet [sixthseal.com] was covered by The Star in the Star In.Tech section of the paper today. The headline of the day was, to my great amusement, "Stunner" caught with 5 kg of cocaine. ;)

The article by Shom Teoh (Thanks Shom! :)) covered the PPS 2nd Anniversary Bash on the 23rd of July 2005 and there's a (rather unflattering) photo of me with the other bloggers at the end.

Here's the photo in question - the caption goes "MEETING OF BLOGGERS: From left: Sia, Khoo Choo Ki (www.minishorts.net), Poh Huai Bin (www.sixthseal.com) and Tew Hui Suan (www.suanie.net)". Used without permission from The Star. ;)

Now that the initial euphoria has passed, I'll just wait for the cops to raid my sorry ass. ;)

I got this Zoloft pen from one of my coworkers who has a wife working in the pharmaceuticals industry. Zoloft (sertraline) is the popular SSRI antidepressant which is also prescribed for OCD and depression with anxiety. I have been prescribed Zoloft before during my first attempt at doctor shopping [sixthseal.com] in Australia, but Zoloft doesn't have any recreational potential so it's not a much sought after pharmaceutical (unless you're clinically depressed, that is).

I love the pen though, it has the Pfizer logo on it as well as the familiar Zoloft font with a square smiley face. Zoloft makes you happier. Mmm...my new favorite pen. ;)

Lotte Milkis is a milk based soda, which is not a conventional combination, and it's somewhat of an acquired taste. This is the regular (original) flavor, they also have Lotte Milkis Orange, the citrus flavored brethren of Lotte Milkis. I like the drink but some people find it vile. Lotte Milkis retails for RM 1.45 and it's an import from the good people in Korea.

Lotte Milkis has some very interesting Engrish on it, such as the bold tagline that goes "Fantastic Feel! Milkis" and the "New feeling of soda beverage" on the bottom of the can.

The Lotte Milkis drink is slightly translucent in color and it tastes like a soda mixed with milk. It's a little like the "ice cream soda" flavored carbonated beverages, with more milk taste to it.

Lotte Milkis is available in most hypermarkets and specialty import shops. I love it, but in small doses. It can get cloying after one too many...

The Adidas Response TR X is the latest 10th generation of the Response trail running trainers. I haven't had a pair of trainers since I've been mostly confined to the office since I started working here and trainers are not exactly considered proper corporate wear. I was looking around in the adidas store in Mid Valley Megamall and saw the adidas_1 which I fell in love with. Unfortunately, they only have one pair left and it's a size 9 (I'm a size 8 for UK and 8 1/2 for US). That, and it costs RM 950 for a pair. ;)

Thus, I settled for the other pair that I liked - the adidas Response TR X. I like low water absorption fabrics since I walk through water all the time and that discounts the ClimaCool series as that range has holes at the bottom. This is very unpractical for me, since water would get into it and I hate getting water into my trainers. It happens all the time as I walk through puddles instead of over it and we get a lot of rain here in Malaysia.

Anyway, this is the 10th generation of the Adidas Response TR series. I like the aggressive red stripes down the side but I couldn't care less about the 3D TORSION SYSTEM for mid-foot integrity and stability, TRAXION for maximizing grip, adiPRENE+ for a more efficient push off, or adiPRENE for impact protection. OK, maybe the last one would be good since there's a lot of used syringes and broken glass in my room. I'm kidding, btw.

There's even literature attached to the trainers detailing each of the previous 9 generations of the adidas Response TR series, with photos of each series and what features were added to each generation of the trainers.

I've worn the shoes for a couple of days and I like it a lot...it's a great pair of trainers.

Heck, the Adidas Response Trail X even has spoilers at the back. (!)

Yoshinoya is the popular Japanese fast service restaurant located at Mid Valley Megamall in KL. The franchise's claim to fame lies in its beef bowl, but I'll be reviewing the new Hot & Spicy Sensation menu that came out for summer (summer in Malaysia, hmm...).

The interesting thing about Yoshinoya is the fast service with a smile theme that's featured prominently throughout its outlets. Yoshinoya is well known for its Free Vouchers redeemable for their food if they don't greet, smile or say thank you. How's that for service?

The promotion for the Hot & Spicy Sensation menu has a lot of "Free" items on top, which includes intangible items like "Presentation", "Speed" and "Product Quality". Pfffftttt...false advertising. ;)

This is the spacious seating area located in Yoshinoya. There's a large banner covering the back and sides and various seating arrangements of different configurations for different groups of people.

This is one of the Hot & Spicy Sensation options - the Spicy and Crispy Chicken Set (RM 10.90). It came out really fast, within a minute, which surprised me. Less than one minute for a rice based dish...that's fast. I also ordered another one of their menu items - Chawan Mushi (RM 2.90) which tastes like the egg based steamed concoction that my mom used to make.

The Spicy and Crispy Chicken Set comes in a bowl with rice, vegetables and, of course, the chicken. It tastes good, in the fast-food sense, as in its very salty. Heck, even the vegetables are salty. Mmm...

There are three tropical drinks to choose from, including Hawaiian Pepsi Ice (RM 2.80), which I went for. It's Pepsi Ice (which is why there's a blue hue to the drink) with pineapples.

Here's a closer look at the Hawaiian Pepsi Ice...the chunks of pineapple goes really well with Pepsi Ice. I'm not sure if it'll work as well with Pepsi Fire due to the difference in taste, but I'm inclined to try it myself one day.

Yoshinoya is very much like a Japanese food fast food outlet...like a McDonald's featuring Japanese style dishes.

Chamjinisulro Soju is distilled by the good people over at Jinro, who also produces Jinro Soju (it's only the bestselling soju in the world). I have reviewed their flagship brand and Chamjinisulro Soju is another one of their product lines. Just like Jinro Soju, it's very affordably priced at RM 11.90 for a bottle of 360 ml @ 21% alcohol.

Chamjinisulro Soju comes in a green bottle and is described as "The liquor thrice-filtered with charcoal made from bamboo In Korea, Chamjinisulro is the first clean and safe soju filtered three times with charcoal made from bamboo, which is cooked at 1,000 degrees celsius. Because Chamjinisulro has been filtered twice, it has never been leaving no harmful ingredients or impurities. You can enjoy pure taste without the burden of hangovers due to it's containing asparagine and affulent minerals". I just cut and paste that, btw. ;)

It also has the recently mandated government sticker for alcoholic beverages on top.

Chamjinisulro Soju doesn't have any taste to it, per se...making it an optimal choice for binge drinking. I love it. :)

This is the allegedly best curry mee in KL. I have a friend whose niece insists on coming here to eat the curry mee each time she comes back from the UK. It's located in Restoran Kin San in OUG and it's the stall with Curry Mee prominently displayed on its signboard.

Here's the curry mee that I ordered. It comes with a thick curry broth and has minimal oil, which is a Good Thing. There are a lot of unusual things in the KL version of curry mee, which is quite different from the Sarawak curry mee. The list of ingredients includes gizzards (chicken stomach), long beans, clams (!), tofu, bean sprouts (taugeh) and of course, noodles.

This is the sauce that was served alongside the curry mee - it's half a lime in belacan. There's a certain technique to squeezing out the lime juice without getting the pits into the belacan paste...it involves using the spoon (that's the Chinese soup spoon) as a temporary receptacle and then reusing the (used) lime to stop the seeds from going in, while allowing the lime juice to flow freely.

The lime juice-belacan paste is then piled on top of the curry mee. It makes the curry mee really shine.

The use of clams in curry mee is really novel (to me anyway :p) and it makes the entire presentation taste better. It's good, but I've had better curry mee in KL.

This is one of the KL back posts - I'll start putting them up, there's quite a few of them since I just got back from KL.

Sprite Remix came out with a new release for their 2005 lineup - the Sprite Remix berryclear with no caffeine. It's dubbed (pardon the pun) BERRYCLEAR - The New Remix and replaces Tropical as part of the Sprite Remix line.

The promotional liner goes "Sprite Remix is back with a new flavor to satisfy your thirst. Berryclear Sprite Remix has taken what people already love about Sprite, added in a mixed berry flavor and created a new taste that is crisp, clean and refreshing."

That's the most appropriate adjective to describe the Sprite Remix Berryclear - it's crisp, that citrus tang that's subtle, but detectable, tantalizing the taste buds. I can't identify the various berries that went into this, but the drink certainly is thirst quenching. There's no hint of the classic Sprite taste (which I do not like) and the packing feels very "summery" - the Sprite Remix looks and tastes like a totally new product.

The drink is partially clear, with a slight tint and it seems to have bits of fruits in it. It's not too effervesant and it's not sugar packed unlike the other products in the same line. It tastes like the fruity bubbly mineral water that was all the rage a couple of years back, remember those?

The interesting thing about the Sprite Remix line is the website tie-in by Coca-Cola which allows users to listen to music, select tracks and burn them into a CD. Here's the official Sprite Remix site [sprite.com]. The interaction afforded by the site is novel, and this level of product launches is a laudable move.

The PPS 2nd anniversary gathering, dubbed the PPS Bash was held at Charlie's Place. I just got back from the event and this is the write-up of the largest blogger meet in Malaysia. The PPS Bash [petalingstreet.org] was scheduled at 7:30 pm and I arrived at about 7:35 pm and immediately saw a couple of familiar bloggers - Lainie [tabulas.com] and Fip [pitas.com]. :)

This is the sign-up booth, which was manned by Aizuddin [aizuddindanian.com], the organizer of the event. There is the official PPS Ping! 2nd Anniversary T-shirt that everyone signed and also orange stick-on tags to identify the masses of bloggers that attended the event. It was packed, this is without question the largest gathering of Malaysian bloggers to date.

Here's a closer look at the Ping! 2nd Anniversary T-shirt with all the signatures of the attendees. I got myself a PPS Ping! T-shirt too - it's a great memento of the event.

This is Charlie's Place Restaurant & Garden, the venue for the PPS gathering. It has nice interior decor, and there's a full licensed bar as well as various seating arrangements, both indoors and outdoors.

Here's a look at the interior seating arrangements...

...and this is the Charlie's Place Chef Special Grilled Steak that I preordered. I had the blue cheese sauce and the tenderloin steak (RM 41) came out nicely done, despite the deluge of orders. I liked the steak but I can't say much about the vegetables coz I don't really like vegetables. Nessa ate my grilled tomato, so you should probably ask her what it tastes like. ;) The tenderloin steak was great though.

Now, here's the most important bit about the meet up - the bloggers! These are the pictures from my digicam, in order. Here's a shot of me with (L-R) Vanessa, Lainie, Fip, and me.

This is another variant of the shot - you just gotta love these people. ;)

This is Nessa [tabulas.com] and me.

Here's Lains and me.

This is Fip and...er, me. I'm using the first person adjective too much, my apologies. :p

This is Lucia [blogspot.com], who came all the way from Penang.

Here's a shot of Joyce (see, I remember ;))...

...and Adam, who's the host of an 8TV program.

This is the man of the day - Aizuddin, the host.

I present to you, the very tall Shaolin Tiger [shaolintiger.com].

This is Chooki [minishorts.net], and true to her word, she's wearing nothing. There was a bit of a frenzy to take shots of her boobs, sorry, I mean T-shirt. ;)

The Star (the newspaper) also came to cover the event - here's a shot of me with the two journalists. I've always wanted to be one...but alas. :p

This is Suanie [suanie.net]!

Here's a shot of me with Jolene [blogdrive.com].

I finally managed to meet with Prema [livejournal.com]...

...and Kimberly [blogspot.com], the blogger with the sexiest legs. :p Her Aloe entry cracked me up too, surf over to read it. It's a classic!

Here's Peter Tan [petertan.com], whom I finally managed to meet up with.

This is David Teoh [davidteoh.com], another blogger whom I've wanted to meet, but missed him when he came to Kuching.

Here's the photos I took with the other bloggers who attended the event...forgive me, my benzo impaired memory makes short term to long term memory storage difficult, so please give me your URL so I can link the person to the blog.

I really should have brought my Pocket PC to note down the blogs but it was still charging when I left...

Please comment with your URL and email address if you want the full sized photos, would love to share with all the bloggers who brought along their digicams to cover the event! :)

This is James [blogspot.com] of loopymeals fame and his wife Mae. It's a pleasure to meet with all of you, but it's really difficult to remember the blogs of 80+ people. Seriously, it would take a very sober person with a large memory capacity to perform that feat...and that person is not me. ;)

Here's more photos of the bloggers who attended the PPS Bash - the one on the right is Callista, whom I've read when I was in Melbourne. Old skool.

There are actually 100+ photos of various bloggers that I took just now.

This is Andre Phua, who was kind enough to introduce various bloggers to me.

The PPS 2nd Anniversary was also the time when the awards for the three categories were presented. This is Mack [brandmalaysia.com] of brandmalaysia.com - the MC of the day. Great speech, and he has a nice sense of humor too.

The winner for Neophyte Blog of the Year did not want to have his picture published, so I'm respecting his wishes.

The next award is for the Ping of the Year - it went to the renowned Jeff Ooi [jeffooi.com]. Congrats!

The Blog of the Year was snagged by Kenny Sia [kennysia.com], who did not show up with coconuts. :p This is the man I voted for, coz his funny entries lights up my day. He's from Kuching too. The Neophyte Blog of the Year was a close one, with 4 votes separating the finalists. I voted for Jaded, if you really want to know. She wasn't there though.

Finally, the PPS birthday cake was brought out - it says "Happy 2nd Anniversary PPS!" and appropriately has two candles on it.

Here's a shot of Aizuddin with the cake. Cheers for organizing the event!

We gathered for a photo shoot after that - this is (L-R) Kenny Sia, TV Smith, Jeff Ooi, me and Elaine.

This is me checking out Kenny's coconuts. ;)

Here's a shot of me with Elaine.

This is the legendary TV Smith [mycen.com.my], King of Satire!

...and here's one of his friend. Sorry, I didn't get your name!

This is Lainie (complete with her trademark pose) and Fip...

...and here's one of Nessa and me.

I managed to get back to Cititel by getting a ride home from Fip. I went back with Fip, Lainie and Nessa. It's a great privilege to meet all of the bloggers in Malaysia and I'll be looking forward to the second PPS event.

It's been a great night, and it's been a pleasure to meet all of you. Please leave your URL in the comments if you're covering this event on your blog, would love to hear from you! :)

I noticed Madoma's Turkish Herbal Ice Cream at the LG Floor of Mid Valley Megamall. There was a woman holding a steel rod vigorously stirring the long, deep ice cream containers. Intrigued by the unique home made ice cream presentation, I decided to sample this Turkish herbal ice cream.

The proprietor told me about how they made the ice cream (she called it something else, but I promptly forgot what she said, except something about orchids). She's of Turkish descent and this is...well, Turkish ice cream. The texture looks more like gelato than ice cream though the difference is subtle...like, er...sorbet and ice confectionary. :p

I got a cone for RM 3. There's two flavors on the cone and the customer has an option to choose two flavors out of...well, three, ice cream steel pits. It tastes good...it's like gelato, and I was told it's sorta like the Turkish version of gelato....but for the life of me, I can't taste the "herbal" bit in the Turkish Herbal Ice Cream. It's good though...

I saw this Absolut Vanilla (well, it says Absolut Vanilia, but Vanilla is easier to write ;)) promotion when I was walking through the mall just now. There's a standard 750 ml of Absolut Vanilia and a miniature 50 ml bottle of Absolut Vanilla for RM 107.99.

I haven't had this particular vanilla infused vodka from Absolut before so I got a bottle of Absolut Vanilla. The bottle has writing that says "Experience the purest natural vanilla blended with the finest vodka distilled from grain grown in the rich fields of Southern Sweden.".

I drank the small 50 ml bottle and I was pleased by the scent of vanilla that wafted out when the bottle was opened. The vodka is nicely infused with vanilla flavoring too - there's a very tangible taste of vanilla in there.

Anyway, I'll update again later...I'm very pissed off right now, don't ask me why. I have to head out now...arranged a last minute business related appointment.

Shokudo is the Japanese-Thai Fusion eating establishment located at Mid Valley Megamall. It is a franchise operation - the other sister outlet is located at Suria KLCC and it's called Shoku-Thai (or something to that effect). Shokudo is essentially a quick service eatery featuring Japanese style presentation and Japanese-Thai Fusion food.

There is a large banner menu mounted on the wall of Shokudo and it was interesting enough to attract my attention. There are various photos and descriptions of Shokudo's portfolio, with the flagship item featured prominently in the middle - the Shokudo Fusion Bento.

The Shokudo Fusion Bento retails for RM 18.90 and there are options to add on items, which reminded me of a fast food establishment (which is what Shokudo essentially is). I went for Add On A, which comes with miso soup, free flow drinks and dessert.

The other interesting parallel with fast food outlets is the Free Refill feature that's becoming more common in fast service franchises. True to the roots of it's Japanese fusion cuisine, there is green tea (iced and hot) in addition to the various sodas available from the dispenser and a self-service ice machine.

This is what the seating arrangements at Shokudo looks like - there are various configurations of different seating designs. There is also a notice to warn patrons about the elevated floor, which I did not digest until I nearly tripped on the outcrop. I nearly lost my balance, but luckily I managed to realign the center of gravity and mustered what little dignity I had left to nonchalantly take a seat. ;)

This is the Shokudo Fusion Bento, the flagship of Shokudo.

Here's a closer look at the Shokudo Fusion Bento Box - I'll go through a run down of the items in the bento box.

The main item of the Shokudo Fusion Bento is the fragrant rice sprinkled with black sesame seeds (?) for flavoring.

There is a spicy Thai curry chicken dish beside the rice. Shokudo serves Japanese-Thai Fusion food and true to the claim, the Thai curry was very spicy. It's good.

The top left container of the Shokudo Fusion Bento contains "Japanese salad mix" and it comes with a small container of Thousand Island dressing (on the side, obviously).

The top right corner of the Shokudo Fusion Bento Box is filled with the mains. It's chock full of all sorts of goodies. There's pandan chicken (the ones wrapped in leaves), gyoza (deep fried dumplings) and a whole fish head.

Shokodo seems like a promising fast service Japanese fusion franchise. There are a lot of menu items that looks interesting but I just managed to sample the flagship tonight. I'll be heading back again to try out the other dishes.

I took the early morning flight to KL, where I saw the most unappetizing airplane food to date...

I arrived and made the startling discovery that bin Laden is working as a baggage handler in KLIA...

I have just checked into Cititel in Mid Valley, my usual hotel. I'm here on business, it's business a business trip, but it miraculously coincided with the PPS Bash, which I'll be attending tomorrow. What a coincidence, eh? *cough* ;)

Diphenoxylate is chemically an opioid and has a structure that resembles meperidine (Demerol). It is available as an anti-diarrheal and reportedly does not appreciably cross the blood-brain barrier, although high doses exhibit codeine-like subjective effects, indicating opiate activity and possible recreational value. Diphenoxylate is primarily obtained from diphenoxylate and atropine preparations, which is used to control diarrhea. This is probably due to the general action of opiate antagonists in causing constipation and the reportedly low potential for abuse in diphenoxylate profile. The diphenoxylate was obtained in the form of Dhamotil, which contains 2.5 mg of diphenoxylate hydrochloride per tablet and 0.025 mg of atropine sulphate.

I obtained Dhamotil (also known as Lomotil) from the pharmacy I frequent in Sibu - it supposedly has opiate like subjective effects from what the pharmacist told me. He noticed a trend between people who obtained dihydrocodeine, codeine, and buprenorphine (drug seeking users of the opiate variety) had also bought Dhamotil in large quantities, presumably for recreational purposes (it sure ain't for helping them shit, that's for sure ;)). I was rather dubious about it, so I didn't look up diphenoxylate hydrochloride until I ran out of interesting pharmaceutical solutions to experiment with and found this in my Box of Interesting Pharmacuticals.

I was pleased with the initial results from looking up diphenoxylate. It seems that atropine was added to diphenoxylate to prevent the abuse of diphenoxylate, which can produce opiate like effects in large doses. The atropine was added in sub-therapeutic doses just to prevent the consumption of massive doses of diphenoxylate for recreational purposes. It sounded interesting enough to experiment with, so I consumed 20 x 2.5 mg tablets (2 blister packs) of diphenoxylate for a total of 50 mg of diphenoxylate. This was consumed on an empty stomach and several benzodiazepines (Dormicum and Rivotril) were also taken on a recreational dose. Cannabis was also concurrently used in this experiment.

I did notice a slight to moderate warmth consistent with opiate antagonists after about an hour and this effect was quite prolonged, lasting approximately 10 hours. This is what I wrote:

little bit of opiat3e warmth perceived
slightly sleepy too due to atropine or prrevious 3xdorms
little nausea tho cannabis was supposed to counter it
its okay i guess, to add a little bit of opaiat3e warnth to your nighty benzo + weed combo.
makes it feel more sedating...with the coldish but still noticable opiat3e warmth

The sloppy English is mainly due to the cannabis compounded by the close key proximity of the notebook, but subjectively, there is something interesting about diphenoxylate. The dosage I took (50 mg) was several times the daily recommended dose but the atropine did not have an impact on it. I can see the potential for diphenoxylate for a cheap and mild codeine substitute and I am interested to try it again at a higher dose (100 mg - 200 mg range) to get a more substantial appreciation for diphenoxylate.

Thyme's Continental Cuisine is one of the relatively new eating establishments to hit the scene. Thyme's Continental Cuisine is located at Chonglin Park and the previous lot was occupied by a dangdut pub before Thyme's took over.

There are several sections in Thyme's Continental Cuisine - there's an al fresco seating area to the front, a shaded patio with a juice and coffee bar and the air conditioned interior. I noticed an Initial D promotional poster and asked about it - the proprietor told me that they have a promotional tie in with Star Cineplex.

Anyway, back to Thyme's, the interior is a nicely decorated area with subdued lighting. I've seen this place at night and I've always thought the lighting is nice, if anything. Thyme's Continental Cuisine serves continental fare - there's pasta, salads, various cuts of steaks, club sandwiches and pizzas.

Intrigued by the Initial D The Movie promotional tie in, I ordered the Initial D Set Menu 1 (RM 25). It consists of miso soup, 86-Burger, tiramisu and a Pepsi. I wanted to order Thyme's Tempura Prawn Burger too, but the waiter discreetly informed me that the "86-Burger" (as in AE-86 of the hottest current franchise) is the exact same thing as the Thyme's Tempura Prawn Burger.

This is the miso soup which came out first...it has that slight cloudy-sediment formation that I associate with miso soup but seems to have an alien ingredient (at first look) inside - bean sprouts! Fortunately, it was just remnants from last night's visual...er, discrepancies (review coming up). It isn't bean sprouts but wonderfully soft small capped mushrooms. The miso soup also has shrimps inside, a very nice touch, taste wise.

Next up, came the main course, which is the 86-Burger a.k.a. Thyme's Tempura Prawn Burger. ;) The menu insert for Thyme's Tempura Prawn Burger describes it as a Tempura Prawn Burger with cheese and tonkatsu sauce served with Freedom fries (kidding, it says French fries) and coleslaw. I like the attention to detail in the 86-Burger - there are two wooden skews tipped with colored foil to "hold" the burger in place and the coleslaw is sprinkled with sultanas, providing a sweet twist.

Here's a peek under the skirts of the 86-Burger - there are generous amounts of large battered tempura prawns but I think the machine is leaking tonkatsu oil...it can be toned down a little.

I also ordered a pizza - this is The Thyme's Pizza (RM 17) which was recommended to me as the flagship of their pizza line. It contains turkey ham, crab meat, mushrooms, pineapple and chicken pepperoni. It's an authentic Italian style flat crust pizza.

The flat pizza was baked perfectly too, it comes highly recommended from me, but be prepared to wait.

Unfortunately, the tiramisu was finished so they offered me a sundae as a replacement dessert. I moved to the patio outside for dessert and ordered a Mocha. The sundae has slightly salty batter coated peanuts, which I found to be an interesting choice to implement in a sundae. It's unusual but surprisingly came out well.

I also managed to chat with the very hospitable Mr Chan, who is the proprietor, over a mug of Mocha. I asked him about the Initial D promotional tie in with The Star and he kindly gave me a ticket for the Initial D movie when it opens in theaters and gave me a good discount on my bill too.

This is the Initial D movie pass that is valid at Star Cineplex. This is one movie I'm looking forward to watching. Thyme's Continental Cuisine has a nice range of continental cuisine that will not disappoint you. The food is affordable and the ambience is nice. It comes highly recommended from me.

Huygens Asia is the surveillance solutions provider and systems integrator that I work with. This is our soon-to-be ex-office (we're moving end of this month) at Jalan Padungan. The office is being shifted to a place of our own in 2 1/2 Mile in Kuching as well as a simultaneous move to setup a branch office in KL (will be going there soon to oversee operations). This is a write-up of the office that I've been working in for nearly two years.

The current office in Jalan Padungan is shared with AT&A Home Ideas, an interior design firm (which is kinda like our sister company). We're on the first floor while they occupy the ground and third floor (yes, there is a third floor, much to my initial surprise). This is the back entrance that we usually use as the car park is located there. Notice the surveillance cameras mounted at the front and back of the office? There's a lot more inside. ;)

Let me give you a tour of this office and its inhabitants before we move...this is the back doors that we usually go into after parking our cars at the car park located behind. There's no parking in front, only stop-over parking lots.

The doors leads to the back room of AT&A...

...and we go straight through until we're near the front show room of AT&A.

This is where we make a right and walk up the stairs to the first floor. Notice the mirror? It's very useful for checking yourself out before you walk into the office. Just don't drown in the reflection. ;)

We make a left at the stairs that leads up to...the Huygens Asia signboard.

This is Huygens Asia Sdn. Bhd. The door leads to...

an array of video conferencing units (which we're not selling anymore) and surveillance cameras (which we're still selling).

The view pans to more surveillance cameras, an IT rack, and moving right...

...the reception.

This is Penny, who usually seats there.

This is Alex on the technical workbench.

Here's the technical support staff...and moving on, we head into...

The inner office which is currently occupied by the CTO, Marketing Manager and System Engineer (that's me).

This is the workplace which I occupy between the hours of 8 am to 6 pm (usually). I like this place for the sole reason that my back is against the wall. This allows me the luxury of being able to see most of the office but not vice versa. ;)

This is me wearing a smirk that you'll love to punch out of my face for having my monitor and notebook facing backwards, and thus allowing me to do whatever I want (such as updating this blog) without anyone noticing. ;)

The current Huygens Asia office is rented from Angel of AT&A. We'll be moving out to our own office space in 2 1/2 Mile, Kuching (near the 3rd Mile Bazaar) and opening up a branch office in KL at the end of this month.

You can access the various (12 - count them!) real time IP surveillance systems that we've put up in the office at the official Huygens Asia website [huygensasia.com]. Please feel free to surreptiously watch me at work if you feel a burning need to do so. There are multiple demo surveillance systems that allow you to do so. Oh, and purchase a GPRS/EDGE surveillance unit [huygensasia.com] while you're at it - it's my ticket to London. :p

This is a DHL Jigsaw Puzzle that came in the mail today. It's a freebie from them, though I can't imagine what purpose it would serve.

There are just four pieces of the bright yellow jigsaw puzzle, and when assembled, it reads "Love hearing from you again, again and again".

It also makes for a good mouse pad. That's bullshit btw, it doesn't work well as a mouse pad at all - this is just a filler post. ;)

Ritalin is the first line drug used to treat ADHD inflicted individuals, and in some cases, for narcolepsy. It is the only satisfactory stimulant compound that is approved for pharmaceutical use in Malaysia. Ritalin is most well known for being used to treat ADHD in children and it contains methylphenidate hydrochloride, which is a CNS stimulant which does not bear a chemical resemblance to amphetamine but is pharmacologically similar in action.

I managed to get 3 blister packs of 10 x 20 mg Ritalin-SR from someone who has a legitimate script. Ritalin-SR is methylphenidate hydrochloride USP sustained-release tablets and it's the sustained release version of Ritalin. The time release mechanism can be defeated by crushing the tablets, but the Ritalin-SR was evaluated over a two session period - one with the time release intact (oral) and the other without the time release action (crushed, oral, insufflated).

Ritalin is manufactured by Novartis, the pharmaceutical giant. The blister packs I got is interesting - there are variations of the trademark Ritalin printed at the back of each blister pack. The first has "Ritalin SR" on it, the second column has "Ritaline SR" written on it and the third column has "Ritalina SR" printed on it. This is then cycled back to Ritalin SR on the next column. These are obtained through legitimate channels (psychiatrist) from a friend who has a script in Malaysia.

Here's a closer look at the blister pack - there are batch codes, the manufacturing date and the expiry date printed on one end. Recreational Ritalin use is not very common in Malaysia due to sociological factors and the availability of cheaper and stronger CNS stimulants like methamphetamine here (though the latter is illegal). I will be benchmarking Ritalin against methamphetamine, since I have a lot of experience with meth with every route of administration from smoking to IV injections.

The Ritalin blister packs contain 10 tablets of 20 mg methylphenidate hydrochloride in sustained release form. The interesting thing about Ritalin is that unlike amphetamine, the mode of action in Ritalin is not completely known in man. The bubbles on the front of the blister pack shows white tablets imprinted with CIBA and 16. The flipping of the tablets seems to be random, with some showing the front (CIBA) and some the back (16). CIBA 16.

These are the Ritalin-SR tablets - it's white, round tablets with beveled edges and the letting "CIBA" and "16" imprinted on the front and back in black font respectively. I took 240 mg during my first session - that's 12 x Ritalin-SR tablets without defeating the sustained release mechanism. This was taken orally, and effects could be felt within 30 minutes, slowly building up to peak at the 45 minute mark. The 15 minutes between the time the Ritalin can be felt and the time it peaks is the most euphoric part and it's somewhat comparable to oral dexamphetamine (which I used to have a script for in Australia). It lasted about 8 hours but stopped feeling pleasurable at around the 6 hour mark.

The peak isn't as euphoric as oral dexamphetamine or methamphetamine, but it's better than other pharmaceutical solutions available in Malaysia. Please note that I'm experienced with methamphetamine and thus can justify a massive dose of 240 mg (12 tablets of 20 mg Ritalin-SR taken on an empty stomach). The safety profile of Ritalin depends on various individual factors and the amount I took was many times the recommended dose and can be dangerous. This is not a dosage guide, but a personal experience report.

The second session was aimed at breaking the "sustained release" mechanism. The Ritalin-SR tablets have a white coating and an inner formulation that looks like crystallized powder. I crushed 3 x 20 mg Ritalin-SR tablets for insufflating purposes and took the other 15 x 20 mg Ritalin-SR tablets orally. That's a massive 360 mg of Ritalin throughout a 1/2 hour period, which in hindsight was not a good idea.

I wanted to finish the rest of the Ritalin blister packs so I took 15 x 20 mg Ritalin-SR tablets orally (crushed to defeat the sustained release formulation, making it instant release) and then started to insufflate the 60 mg of crushed Ritalin (from 3 tablets). I knew it wasn't a good idea by the time I finished snorting the powder...my heartbeat was racing, my chest started to hurt and high intracranial pressure was experienced.

...but the rush is rather pleasurable. ;) It did take a bit of a toll on my body due to my hypertension problems though. I noticed that flushing is very prominent on high doses of Ritalin, something I did not experience with other stimulants like methamphetamine but is also present in prescription amphetamine based compounds like phentermine.

It lasted about 8 hours in total before tapering off during the second massive 360 mg dose. It has a lot of similar properties to amphetamine based stimulants in high doses, and is quite euphoric. I felt like I've been worked over by a 300 pound man when it was over, but it was worth it. The high dose I took made me see Ritalin as a legitimate stimulant instead of the "weak CNS stimulant" I presumed it was.

However, like with most prescription amphetamine like compounds I've consumed, it seems to have a much heavier body load compared to dexamphetamine or methamphetamine. I would not take this over methamphetamine, but it was nice to experience Ritalin. Just be careful with the dosage, I'm being lighthearted here, but 360 mg nearly gave me a heart attack. ;) Take care if you have hypertensive or cardiovascular problems when experimenting with CNS stimulants.

I was awakened at the unholy hour of 4 am on a working weekday for no apparent reason this morning. I laid there in bed (well, it's technically just a mattress, but I digress) wondering what in God's name woke me up this morning when I noticed the distinct sounds of a couple having a verbal disagreement.

Download: Hear my neighbors having a petty argument [sixthseal.com]

I don't know what they were going on about, but I could catch snippets of their conversation. The guy apparently has his panties all in a twist about his girlfriend talking on the phone with some other guy, and the girl became defensive and said it's just a phone call, and then they segued into the oh-I'm-so-sick-of-you-let's-just-call-it-quits bit and then came the ultimatums and all that.

I shouted "Oi!" and that led into another onslaught about who was responsible for talking so loudly in the middle of the night until they "woke the guy upstairs".

Sigh...

I tell you, there was once when lim peh was the one who did the waking up, with my all night tweaking sessions which would usually be characterized with frequent bouts of me bursting into song...it seems that the glorious days are over. :(

Durian candy mysteriously appeared on my table today. There was durian sweets wrapped in translucent wrappers which tastes like...well, durians...

...and also durian chews, which tastes like durian nougat (the crunchy type).

It's not even durian season...

I went to 99 during the weekend and I saw two things that greatly impacted my outlook towards the meaning of life.

There was the cell phone with the most accessories for one...the sheer audacity of the wanton accessorization of this cell phone had me speechless for the most part of an hour. There are various trinkets on it as well as a Buddhist amulet.

I also accidentally took a photo of Jesus Christ. The Savior of Man is alive! He was seen holding a can of beer, presumably to understand this beverage that wasn't available in the days of wine and bread in which he lived in. We postulate that he was trying to understand civilization in this day and age...so there you have it. WWJD @ 99 (What Would Jesus Do at Ninety Nine).

He would get a beer, that's what.

Jesus Christ...what a question to ask. ;)

I'm told that it's the Bak Chang festival today. Penny brought a couple of the rice dumplings to the office today - it's a twist on the popular bak chang, with a unique filling catering to Malaysian taste buds...it's a sambal bak chang.

This is what bak chang looks like - it's a pyramid shaped rice dumpling wrapped with a single, long pandan leaf and bound with string. There are various different shapes and sizes, some smaller, some looking like a box, there's literally all sorts out there.

This is what the inside of the sambal bak chang looks like. Sambal is a spicy paste that's commonly eaten with nasi lemak in Malaysia.

Phensedyl dry cough linctus is a cough syrup by the pharmaceutical giant Aventis and it supposed to be the number one cough syrup being abused in Malaysia, India and parts of Bangladesh. It is reportedly banned in Bangladesh [essentialdrugs.org] due to its high rates of abuse and pharmaceutical diversion into the black market.

However, the cough formulation listed there seems to be different one from the Phensedyl I got - it seems that Phensedyl used to contain Promethazine HCl 3.6 mg per 5 ml, Codeine Phosphate 9 mg per 5 ml and Ephedrine HCl 7.2 mg per 5 ml. The one I got when I went back to Sibu costs RM 25 for a 90 ml bottle and lists Promethazine HCl 3.6 mg per 5 ml, Pholcodine 5 mg per 5 ml and Pseudoephedrine HCl 20 mg per 5 ml (!).

It seems that they swapped the (relatively) high codeine content in the previous formulation of PHENSEDYL for pholcodine, which is widely known in recreational circles as having no recreational value at all, despite being an opioid (synthetic opiate agonist). This is due to the inability of pholcodine to be metabolized to morphine [opioids.com] unlike codeine and its ilk. The promethazine content is retained, but ephedrine is replaced with a higher content of pseudoephedrine, at a staggering 20 mg/5 ml.

Phensedyl also contains a small amount of ethanol (that's just a fancy name for alcohol ;)), but the content is negligible. I ingested this in the hopes of evaluating the psychoactive potential of pholcodine (wanted to see for myself), but alas, the experience was not in that direction, but it went in a direction that provided a rather insightful, but unpleasant direction - anticholinergic activity...

Substances ingested:
Pholcodine 90 mg (total)
Pseudoephedrine 360 mg (total)
Promethazine 64.8 mg (total)

Download: PHENSEDYL [sixthseal.com]

I did not feel the pholcodine at all, and I'm convinced that it does not have any recreational potential, like the medical literature suggests. The pseudoephedrine manifested itself by keeping me awake and making my blood pressure skyrocket and giving me constant cranial and retinal pressure for about 6 hours, but the worse (or most interesting, depending on how you look at it really ;)) bit was the promethazine. I drank the whole bottle of PHENSEDYL and that gave me 64.8 mg of promethazine.

Promethazine is a phenothiazine derivative with antihistaminic, sedative, antimotion-sickness, antiemetic, and anticholinergic effects. The last bit is that part you have to watch out for - an anticholinergic overdose gives you hallucinations. These are not LSD type hallucinations, and I would not call it a hallucinogen by any definition of the word. The experience is more like delirium - anticholinergics are a well known delirient. There are a lot of substances such as belladonna alkaloids, scopolamine and others which can cause a anticholinergic activity - the most well known of it being Dramamine.

Yes, it was like a Dramamine "trip", but shorter in duration. Promethazine in that dose was apparently enough to push me into a delirium for close to 6 hours, with after effects lingering on for an hour or two after that. I had full blown audio hallucinations and some realistic visual hallucinations. The problem with an anticholinergic trip is that you can forget that you're on something - it feel like you're sober, but the world just turned upside down on you. I'm glad I had sufficient experience with other psychedelic substances to ride out this one...it wasn't a pleasant experience, but it was enlightening. :)

The audio hallucinations were the most vivid and realistic component of the anticholinergic trip. I keep on hearing conversations, one of which was about me by two of my coworkers, and I swear, their voices were completely realistic, right down to the intonation, and the "conversation" came from beside me, but when I turned, the voices just shifted to the other side. I also kept on hearing vivid ringing sounds, bells, sirens, and most of all, my name being called out by various parties, some voices of which I recognize, and some I didn't. I was a little disconcerting, but I knew I was on the anticholinergic rollercoaster, so I just...er, held on for the ride. ;)

This is what I managed to write during that sleepless and delirious night:

START

the first thing inoticed afte the initial; "high" (if uou can call it that has passed is that the RGB netting seems to have stck on the walls so i excused myself.

thats the interesting bit -there s a ehporic lift when the syrup hits, and that lasts for about 15-30 min before going to delerious mode, without euphria.

i was having problems with orienttion and motor cordination but i managed to get into my room and then BAAM the fuckin syrup hit. v. intense and can be frigthening...except i already know that i'm due for a delieriant trip, so i just rode it out.

the entire night was filled with full blown auditory hallucinations, from other people speaking, to people i know talking, and there's more = there's alwas a voice to your side, smetimes calling your name, sometimes just stating a irrelevant phrase or calling another person. but the entities are so close to me that i always think they're talking to me.

confusion
extremally dry mouth
auditory hallucinations, can hear various people conversing natually (ny coworkers
sounds are frightenig

severe disorientation, hard to appear sober

i looked into a mirror and saw a parellel universe. it was amazing,it looks REAL, so real that the mirror is forgotten. i saw myself too, and he was smiling at me. i knew it was me, but he still managed to startle me.

ringing sounds are always on (eng eng eng eng eng sounds) but when other audio sources are obtained the ringing goes away

I HAD a severe case of cotton mouth (dry mouth) too. it's appaling, no fluids can quench the thirst.

posters can appear to be 3d and deeper meanings are reveaked, i just saw it on this old one i put up when i was 13.

strong deleriant effects, i had full blown real hallucinations twice during the trip, and the field of view is always wierd, like something is wrong here. Auditory hallucinations are so strong (fucking impressive) that i heard a 3 way conversation with some of the people in the office. their sounds are reproduced perfectly too. CEV;s are also present, very good ones too.l but the auditory hallucinations impressed me the most.

this is an accidental use of a anti-choinegic substace - i was after the pholcodine, but i got an anti=chlogenic insteaed. but i appreciate the unintentional ride though. ;)

not for inexperienced users or those who can't handle substances. since youre in for long ride, you need to be able to tell yoursef tht you're okay anything strange is just hllucination not for the weak of mind. it'll blow your socks off.

END

The most interesting experience about the anticholinergic delirium was the bit where I looked into the mirror and saw another parallel universe and another person looking back at me. I didn't realize that it was me at first. I smiled at him, and he smiled back. I tried to touch the face, and it almost appeared as if I was going to go through the mirror before I started and realized that it was just me...before forgetting it was me, and then remembering it was just me again.

That's the interesting bit about anticholinergic delirients - it's like a fever dream, it feels so realistic, you can forget you're delirious, and the audio hallucinations are so vivid, with bouts of complete delirium with accompanying visuals which you can forget are visuals. It can be very disconcerting, and most people would call this a bad trip. I would like to try this again, in higher doses (but without the pseudoephedrine) to see what complete delirium feels like.

Orange Peel cigarettes are one of the interesting cigarettes out there in terms of being obvious about their target market. The packaging of the cigarettes is distinctly orange and the wrap liner shows that this is another line from DJ Tobacco, the manufactures behind the DJ Mix series of cigarettes.

The Peel series seems to be a new line of cigarettes for DJ Tobacco's portfolio, and this is the flavor that Mr Lim [gmail.com] in Langkawi is kind enough to mail me - it's called Orange Menthol Peel and the cigarettes are just exactly that...they taste like oranges!

The aluminum foil that can be seen as the pack is opened up can only be described with one word - zesty! There are various different angles and font sizes of PEEL on the cigarette foil in bright orange and it appears to look like a citrus windfall. The sharp citrus tang can also be smelled upon opening the pack - it smells like oranges too!

There is another surprise when I removed the...er, zesty foil. The filters on the Orange Peel cigarettes are brightly emblazoned with PEEL Orange Menthol with colorful dioramas of orange representations. This cigarettes not only looks like its orange flavored, it tastes and smells like oranges too!

PEEL Orange Menthol cigarettes come highly recommended from me - it's the closest thing to smoking an orange! ;)

Our Malaysian girls go to work on motorbike
Legs spread wide wide
Skirts all hiked hiked
Thighs flashing white white

I went to the pharmacy when I was back in Sibu last week and asked my friend for something new to try. I've always been curious about the cough syrup that the locals in Malaysia abuse, since it's not pure codeine based syrup, but also contain other potentially CNS active ingredients such as antihistamines in possible large doses and pseudoephedrine. I was wondering what kind of "high" they get off from this.

Thus, I went up to my friend (who owns the pharmacy) and told him I wanted "the cough syrup that locals abuse". He's familiar with it, obviously, since he's sold quite a bit of it to various characters of generally dodgy disposition. He immediately pulled me over to one side of a cabinet which has cough preparations of various colors.

"This is the one you want," he said, while pulling out red colored syrup in pharmacy filled cough syrup plastic bottles. It's the one that the locals who want a cheap high get, I was told. I asked him what it contains, and he said it just contains codeine, a small amount of antihistamines and some pseudoephedrine. It goes for RM 1 per bottle and I'm told that most users drink 1-2 bottles to get "high".

Right then, I said. I'll drink 3.

Download: The cough syrup that locals abuse [sixthseal.com]

...and so I did.

I felt a mild sedation consistent with codeine after ingesting 3 bottles of the generic cough syrup on an empty stomach. I also felt the pseudoephedrine, but that was also mild. My estimate on the contents would be about 20 mg of codeine and maybe 35 mg or so of pseudoephedrine per bottle. I did not felt the antihistamines, nor did I feel any high dose anticholinergic side effects, so I postulate that the antihistamine content is too low for any significant impact on this cough syrup formulation.

It wasn't much fun, IMHO. It feels like a low dose of codeine, a very slight, hardly noticeable opiate warmth with a concurrent slight CNS stimulation due to the pseudoephedrine content. It's a cheap and dirty high. I would not take it again since there are more elegant pharmaceutical solutions out there.

The new Pizza Hut Pesto Meatballs Pizza comes with the tagline "A True Italian Feast Awaits You" and it's described as "a freshly baked pan pizza coated in savory tomato pesto sauce made of basil leaves and garlic, then topped with juicy, premium Italian meatballs".

The advertisement for the Pesto Meatballs Pizza even features the word "Eccellente!". Excellent, I thought. ;) We went to Pizza Hut to check out the new Pesto Meatballs Pizza - this was in Sibu, I forgot to write about it until now.

The tradition of having a spinner game is still retained with this new Pizza Hut promotion. The Pesto Meatballs Pizza comes with a Double Spinner game to allow the patron to choose (kinda, it depends on Lady Luck) from a wide range of Pizza Hut menu items from drinks to pizzas.

We ordered the Pesto Set 2 since there's a party of four, and that comes with a large Pesto Meatballs Pan Pizza, a tortilla pasta salad (choice of Cool Lime Veggie or Thousand Island Tuna - we went for the former), 4 pieces of Breadstix (choice of Parmesan or Hazelnut Cinnamon - we opted for the latter), 4 soup of the day and a pitcher of Pepsi. The Cool Lime Veggie tortilla pasta salad was good - I love meals where the serving receptacle can be consumed. ;)

Pizza Hut also has a new dessert promotion - The Golden Icy Delights, which is "an exciting combination for the adventurous". It's rich golden potato balls served with vanilla ice cream and topped with yummy drizzles of chocolate. It's really good! The hot potato balls (doesn't sound quite right, but it tastes right :p) with ice cream provides a contrast and texture that's very interesting and tasty.

Here's the Pizza Hut Pesto Meatballs Pan Pizza - there is an option for chicken or beef meatballs and we choose the latter for maximum compatibility (everyone eats chicken). The new Pesto Meatballs Pizza is delicious, although the initial sight was a little disappointing due to the discrepancies between the marketing literature, which shows absolutely huge meatballs and the much smaller meatballs in the real thing.

I suggest that Pizza Hut can pick up our new variant of the Pesto Meatballs Pan Pizza - I present to you, the Pizza Hut Pesto Chicken Wings Pizza! ;)

I noticed this girl at the Sibu airport as we were about to board the plane - this was taken at the aerobridge, her name is Elle and she's studying at Swinburne University in Kuching. Her movements conveys a fragile beauty about her...it was in the way she moved, and how she reacted when I told her I wanted to take a photo of her - graceful, and with a hint of fragility, melancholy, even...

This is Cadbury's Buttons minis muffin mix - it's a box that contains premixed muffins and I liked the chocolate buttons on this one, so I got a pack of it to do some baking at home. It's a tradition of sorts to cook something together with my gf when I come back for long periods of time.

The Cadbury Buttons mini muffin mix opens up to reveal a large packet of the chocolate muffin mix, a small bag of Cadbury's Buttons minis, and 12 muffin paper holders. I love these self contained muffin premixes, it has everything you need inside. Just add water. ;)

Well, it's not as straightforward as that, but it's not exactly rocket science either. The back of the box details the steps for making the muffins (just 5 steps!) and the stuff you need to complete the recipe, as it were. The instructions require 1 medium sized egg, 45 ml of milk and vegetable oil (optional). That's all easily found in the kitchen...just combine that with the package ingredients and we have ourselves some chocolate muffins! :)

This is the prepackaged chocolate muffin mix...it's the ready-mix-just-add-water type of powder.

There's also a bag of Cadbury Buttons, which I took the liberty of partaking before the actual muffin making process...

They even thought of including 12 paper muffin holders inside! Nice...

The first thing we did was to empty the big bag containing the chocolate muffin mix into a bowl...

...and an egg was cracked on top of the chocolate muffin premix after that.

I couldn't find any full cream milk, so I got a small packet of UHT Low Fat milk and poured about 1/5 (estimated) into the entire mix.

This is the goo a.k.a. muffin mix that resulted from all the effort exercised above.

The bowl was put in the mixer on the highest speed setting for about a minute or so, until the consistency looks about right.

Here's what the Cadbury Buttons minis muffin mix looks like after the electric mixer treatment - it's starting to look like proper muffin mix, nice and thick with a semi-fluid consistency.

Half of the Cadbury Buttons were emptied into the muffin mix, as per the instructions on the box...

...and a spoon was used to fold the chocolate buttons into the muffin mix.

The paper muffin receptacles were arranged and the final muffin mix was spooned into them. The first few were filled sparingly, coz I thought the muffin mix will expand, but then I realized that there's too much muffin mix to spare and started filling the rest with more of the mix.

The muffins were arranged on a baking tray and the oven was preheated to 160 degrees Celsius. We forgot to do that earlier, but no worries, we needed to put the remaining half of the Cadbury's Buttons on top of the muffins anyway...

...and so we did. You'll see that there's only 11 muffins here...I thought one of the paper muffin cups were missing, but we found it in the box...after the muffins were done. Oh well. :)

Anyway, this is what the chocolate muffins look like before it went into the oven.

The muffins were sent to their purgatory with the timer set for 15 minutes...

...and you can see the muffins start to rise after a couple of minutes.

Finally, I present to you - the baked Cadbury Buttons minis muffins!

The muffins tastes great straight out of the oven - it was hot and chocolaty, with the buttons providing texture to the muffins. It's great with a glass of cold milk. :)

Heaven and Earth is the interestingly named Jasmine Green Tea beverage marketed under the Coca-Cola brand. It comes in a variety of sizes, and I thought the 1500 ml plastic bottles suits the name best. It retails for slightly higher than the average non-carbonated, or to be more specific, brewed and bottled tea offerings out there since it's an import.

Heaven and Earth Jasmine Green Tea is "brewed from the freshest, premium green tea leaves and infused with the rich flora aroma of soothing Jasmine flowers". The literature also goes to explain the origins and uses of Jasmine flowers and Jasmine tea in relation to Chinese culture. One interesting piece of information that I noticed is the note that goes "Today, the Chinese still drink Jasmine tea on daily basis; and it is the most popular drink in Okinawa, Japan, where plain Japanese green tea is hardly drunk."

That's news to me...I didn't know that Jasmine tea is preferred in Okinawa, Japan instead of green tea. Then again, I'm Chinese, and I certainly don't drink Jasmine tea on a monthly basis, much less a daily basis. ;) It's an interesting piece of information about the culture in Okinawa, Japan though and it's certainly a good enough marketing spiel to describe Heaven and Earth Jasmine Green Tea, which is a fusion of Jasmine tea and green tea.

Heaven and Earth Jasmine Green Tea is a great non-carbonated offering to the large portfolio of Coca-Cola's offerings. It tastes surprisingly good and its thirst quenching to boot. I finished the 1500 ml bottle before I knew it. The Heaven and Earth Jasmine Green Tea manage to combine the two different teas to make an interesting tea fusion. It's also sweetened, which adds to the appeal - the sugar content isn't cloying, but just right...just like how my grandma used to put a teaspoon of sugar into the tea when we were young, just before we came over.

Heaven and Earth Jasmine Green Tea will take you to heaven and back! Well, maybe that's an overenthusiastic hyperbole, but it's really good. :p Best served chilled, and without the disturbing imagery of a 1.5 liter PET bottle positioned in a rather unfortunate orientation on the lap of some strange guy...

P/S - My gf says I use emoticons too much. I think she's right. ;)

I thought I've seen everything, but I chanced across a Chicken & Mushroom pie in a flat can on the shelves of the supermarket (!). It's by Fray Bentos and the product is called Chicken & Mushroom Pie. It retails for RM 16.80 and it's made in England.

The can describes the Chicken & Mushroom pie as having a "New Improved Recipe" and "Light Puff Pastry". It's supposed to contain "Tender chicken & sliced mushrooms in a delicious creamy sauce topped with light puff pastry". I am doubtful that something that came out of a tin will possess those qualities, but I decided to try it out anyway.

The instructions for the Fray Bentos Chicken & Mushroom Pie (in a can) is pretty straightforward - just open the lid and chuck it into an oven for about 20 minutes or so. It's just like a microwave dinner. ;)

Unfortunately, opening up the can proved to be a bit of a challenge...it took two different can openers, a knife and three cuts (on me) before the can could be pried open. The pie looks interesting once I managed to get the lid off though - it's like a soggy mess. It looks like Spam, even.

I was interested to see how this would turn into a Chicken and Mushroom Pie, so the oven was preheated to about 180 degrees Celsius and the entire open can was put into the oven with the timer set for 25 minutes (it's a fan assisted oven).

This is what it looks like after the 25 minutes were up. The crust wasn't "golden brown" yet and my girlfriend insisted that it's not done, but being the stubborn mule that I am, I insisted on eating a couple of slices.

Thus, I took the Chicken and Mushroom Pie out of the oven and sliced it into 8 slices (like a pizza).

There are some generous chunks of chicken inside and the pie crust was flaky, but just on the top layer. It's sufficiently cooked IMHO, and I ate two slices before putting it back into the oven for another 10 minutes (coz my gf won't eat it in that state).

This is what it looks like after a total of 35 minutes in the oven. What did it taste like? It tastes like a soggy reheated pie...out of a can. :p

Here's the questions from minishorts [minishorts.net]:

1 1/2 years down the road, and the new questions are:

1. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be and why?

I'm rather impulsive by nature, and while I wouldn't like to change that, I'm told that it should be taken down a peg or two. I'm inclined to agree, except I kinda like myself the way I am. ;)

2. If you could choose to assassinate someone, anyone, who would it be, why him/her and how would you do it?

Shhh...I'm not supposed to tell, that would be premeditated homicide. :p

3. As a supreme being nearing the borders (if you're not already there) of blogtopia, how do you view the current waves in the blogosphere (Malaysia, mostly)?

I think its great that a lot of Malaysians are starting to take up blogging now - we're starting to see a lot of different weblogs from all sorts of people. I'm sure there's an audience for all of them.

4. Lessay you've been stranded on this island for two months, and your only friend there is this HOT HOT Brad Pitt lookalike with Matt McConaughey's body, and he looks uber shaggable (if you're a girl of course). Thing is, you've been deprived for hell of a long time and would be great to feel some muscles clench about you... so would you, you know... fuck the dude?

Hmm...I am hesitant to linger too much on the question and let the scenario play out in my mind. I'm afraid of what the answer will be. ;)

FINALLY

5. Do you believe in Michael Jackson?

Guilty!

The first time I did this meme was here [sixthseal.com] and here [castitas.com]. I haven't come clean about veritas then. :)

I saw some chocolate coated coffee beans at the local import specialty shop and decided to get some, since I'm working to meet a deadline before I go back to work on Monday. It's called Coffee Shots and there's a variety of different beans available - I got the espresso ones, which goes for RM 6.95 for a 50 g pack.

The literature goes "Coffee Shots give a lift to your day with a delicious chocolate coated coffee crunch - ready to eat - anywhere, anytime. We start with the finest Arabica beans from the South Eastern regions of Brazil which we carefully sort for color, size and quantity". It also adds that "Just like the best espresso (short black) from Europe, our Espresso Coffee Shots have a vibrant strong taste giving you just the right pick me up when you need it".

The 50 g packs have a small amount of the "European style chocolate coated coffee beans" in a bag inside the cardboard wrap.

I also got a larger pack of the Espresso Coffee Shots for RM 9.80.

The Coffee Shots have a coffee bean inside the chocolate, which gives it some measure of caffeine content. I've been drinking coffee while munching on these Espresso Coffee Shots the whole day in an effort to finish up my work before the deadline. Its times like this that I wish I hadn't quit methamphetamine. ;)

Excuse me, I'm going back to work - I'll update again tomorrow.

Little Hanoi is a coffee shop that mushroomed up in place of another coffee shop which has ceased operating some time ago. I just saw this eatery when I came back to Sibu this time. I went there today with my girlfriend for lunch. Little Hanoi serves Vietnamese food, with slight alterations to suit local tastes.

This is their pho, which is made with hor fun. The dish is made with good broth (which IMHO dictates the taste of the pho) - clear and satisfying.

It is served with half a lime, the likes of which I've never seen before...the patterns in the middle of the lime seems unfamiliar, or maybe they just sliced the lime diagonally.

Here's a closer look at the pho. The hor fun is soft, and the thinly sliced beef in the soup tastes tender too.

This is Little Hanoi's implementation of beef noodles - it comes with thickly sliced carrots and chunks of beef in a thick soup.

This one is served with half a lime and some sea salt, which goes nicely with the chunks of beef.

Here's a closer look at the beef noodles...there's some bean sprouts in there too, to counter balance the taste.

Finally, we ordered a side dish of deep fried spring rolls. The coating on this is very unique, and this makes the texture interesting.

Little Hanoi may not be an authentic Vietnamese eating experience, but it's a welcome addition to Sibu's relatively slow growing food industry.

My father celebrates his birthday today and also his retirement day from the education sector. I'm glad for him coz working in that sector is often unappreciated and hard work. Well, we went to Hoi Fu Restaurant for some "home cooked" meals coz my dad has been eating at restaurants constantly due to his farewell retirement gatherings.

The first dish that came out is some of the largest ferns (?) I've seen - it's a staple over here, and the locals call it something that sounds like "billion".

Ma po tofu (a spicy tofu dish) was the next item on the menu - it's great, most places skimp on the chilli to suit local tastes, but I like my stuff to be hot, hot, hot so I'm glad they didn't.

Next, came the clay pot cooked pork leg - it's salty and delicious, very nice implementation by Hoi Fu Restaurant. This was the only dish we didn't manage to finish though - it's a family affair, with just my gf and my parents, and they're not exactly big eaters.

We also ordered a side dish of buttered prawns. It's not as good as the ones in Kuching, but it's alright.

Finally, what meal would be complete without the obligatory fish? This is steamed cod and it was delicious! I always like the fish steamed with soy sauce from Chinese restaurants.

Happy Birthday Dad, and Happy Retirement! Now, it's time for some long due and well deserved rest. :)