Saturday, November 28, 2009

Golden cup of tea

Brewed with patience :)

Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

The Star is at it again

 

Why oh why do you put a hyphen there????!?!?!?1

 

 

Malaysia’s own F1 team

By LIM TEIK HUAT

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia will have its own team in Formula One next year.

A Lotus-powered racing team, to be called the 1Malaysia F1 team, will take on giants like Ferrari, McLaren-Mercedes and Renault in the premier motorsports event next year.

The team will join Force India-Mercedes as Asia’s representatives in F1, along with old-timers like Toyota.

The International Automobile Federation (FIA) has accepted Malaysia’s bid to enter the 2010 and future Formula One World Championships, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced yesterday.

F1 foray: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak receiving a model of the Malaysian F1 car at the Finance Ministry in Putrajaya.

The 1Malaysia F1 team will be a partnership between the Govern-ment and the private sector, including investors led by Datuk Kamarudin Meranun (AirAsia Deputy CEO), Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes (AirAsia CEO) and SM Nasaruddin SM Nasimuddin (Naza Group CEO).

The Malaysian-owned team will also mark the return of Proton-owned Lotus, the prestigious constructors who left F1 in 1994.

Najib, who made the announcement at the Ministry of Finance yesterday, said the team would be based at the Sepang International Circuit, making it the first to be located outside Europe.

“This is where the cars will be designed, manufactured and tested. It will be ‘Made-in-Malaysia, by Malaysians’ and of course, the pit-stops will be run by Malay-sians,” he said.

“This is a meaningful development and I hope that it will further raise our country’s profile on the world stage.”

The team will have a Malaysian technical and pit crew, totalling some 200 people, to be managed by former Renault technical director Mike Gascoyne.

Najib added that the team hoped to announce its two drivers by Oct 31.

“Currently, six local and international drivers have been shortlisted for evaluation,” he said.

“Our F1 team will also have technical experts from outside Malaysia to ensure that we are ready to compete on the world’s most prestigious racing stage.”

Malaysia hosted its first F1 race in 1999 at the Sepang F1 Circuit and Alex Yoong was the first Malaysian to race in the championships in 2001 and 2002 for Minardi.

The Prime Minister had earlier launched the exchange programme between employees from the government and government-linked companies (GLCs) as part of the Government-GLCs Cross-Fertilisation Programme.

He handed letters-of-trust to 47 government and GLC staff taking part in the programme.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Another person who doesn't check their facts

http://blogs.forbes.com/sportsmoneyblog/2009/07/lance-armstrong-no-role-model.html

Michael K. Ozanian's blogpost on Lance Armstrong. Now I know blogs are supposed to be casual, but when you are clearly reporting the wrong facts, that is just pushing it.

Lance Armstrong No Role Model

I am sick of the media playing Lance Armstrong as some sort of God. I get the wonderful story: The guy made a phenomenal recovery from cancer. He has won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times. With Lance currently in third place half way through this year’s Tour, the Versus Network, which televises the race, is running around telling everyone how the great Lance has given it huge ratings. But there is another part of this story: In an age where most athletes (especially those in the NFL and NBA) are demonized for any misstep, it is amazing how it is never spoken that Lance dumped his wife and kids (who stuck with him during his battle with cancer) for Sheryl Crow and races for the UCI ProTeam Astana, which is based in Kazakhstan, a country ruled by a political tyrant. I’d like to see Versus mention that.


Amazing........ Just read the comments

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Video games, what progress

Let's look at the history of video games.

Arguably the first video game you could ever imagine, called "Tennis for Two" is invented back in 1958.




Then there was pong, made to play on the Atari arcade system in 1972.





After nearly 40 years, here is the future of video gaming, this is totally unbelievable, yet it works!!!! Introducing Microsoft Project Natal, shown off during this year's E3.



So what's next for video gaming, you ask. I don't know, but I can't wait for it to come.

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Spell check before you publish

A classic error as shown here on Times-online's Frontpage. Probably should have invested in a proper spell checker before they post articles. Errors in the title is especially unforgivable.


Friday, July 03, 2009

Industry Profitable Rankings

I am always quite fascinated by how profitable different industries can be. Fortune 500 publishes a list of the most profitable indsutries in the US every year. Profitability I am refering to is the industry's profits as % of their revenue.

Here is a comparison of the 2009 and 2008 lists.


What fascinates me is the huge increase in profitability in Internet Services and Retailing from 7% in 2007 to 19.4% in 2008. Logically this shouldn't be right since one can imagine competition within this industry has increased substantially. One more thing this list shows is the decrease in overall profitability (start of credit crunch and thus recession?).

What else can you spot from the list?

Rumour has it that.......


....... Michael Owen is going to be a Red Devil. I'm no Man Utd fan but while everybody is yabbing about whether Fergie has gone nuts by signing a player who couldn't even go thru 25 games without any injury, I think this is actually quite a good move.

Plus, you're getting potentially one of the best strikers for FREE. The key word here is potential, when he's good, he is really good, especially when facing tough oppositions. I remember sometime towards the end of last season when reports begin surfacing that Michael would retire. If anybody can reignite Michael and makes him want to play football again, it has to be Fergie, remember Cantona?

Well we'll see next season if this is the right move for Fergie, I have a good feeling it is, especially if he turns out to be their new super-sub, who knows?

Friday, June 26, 2009

Rest in Peace Michael Jackson


At about midnight last night while talking on the phone to yours dearly, she asked me if I was watching the news. I answered no and asked why. She then tol me that there is a news report claiming that MJ is "dead". At first, I thought it was some joke, like the Jeff Goldblum's hoax. And then I saw the article on bbc saying that MJ is "dead".
I traced the article back to TMZ.com who was the first to report it and saw several tweets about htis on my blackberry. It was later confirmed that he did in fact die, and it was a tragic news indeed.

I'm sure that many have bought the tickets to his comeback concert, which was fully sold out within days if not hours. Certainly, people will think that 50 concerts is stretching it a bit too far considering his age but hey, he's a perfectionist.



I'm pretty sure everyone of you has a favourite Michael Jackson song. I grew up loving "Black and White" thinking that Michael Jackson is in fact, a magician with real powers (yes dreaming) and can turn into a tiger. That's thanks to his "Moonwalker" sort of movie I guess, I remember vaguely he could turn into a car.

But my absolute favourite song of his is without a doubt "Man in The Mirror". I believe that he was under tremendous pressure for the past 15 years since he was accused of being a paedophile. Looking at him, you can't really believe that can you? Whatever it is, may peace be with him and with Youtube, he will live on forever, or that's what I would like to think so.


Friday, June 12, 2009

Nerd way of folding clothes

If there were a nerd way of folding clothes, this would be it. Saw this little toy in an episode of "big bang theory" where Sheldon was folding his clothes in a rather neat way.

Introducing the flip-fold, from the US of A. Now they don't really sell it here in UK so I ordered an imitation one off ebay. This actually made folding clothes quite fun. You just align your shirt in it, fold off the bottom extra and it takes another 3 seconds to fold it into a perfect shape. The best thing about it is that all your other clothes are folded to the exact dimension, quite neat eh? Now my cupboard looks much neater.

All hail technology, (or the lack of it).



Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Friday, May 29, 2009

Ideas are abundant but......

Structuring them and turning them into a reality is not easy. Finally I came across an idea which I think has a potential but don't know where to start. Alas, I know how it feels like when boss started nuffnang, not to the point of having sleepless nights yet but I have a feeling that won't be far away.

One thing I find hard to do is to stay focus, especially when it's a one-man-show. You compose the music, you fill in the lyrics, you prepare the stage and you sing to the audience. The worst part is you won't know if the audiences like it. It's also especially hard when there's nobody to talk to when you're stuck or have a moment of eureka, saying your thoughts out allow you to put it in a more imaginable structure and that I find is very important. It also allows for response for anything you left out as well as reassure yourself about your goals.

Now can you see why I can foresee sleepness nights sometime soon. Maybe to the point of waking up sweating in the palm of my hand.

Of course it's not all bad, I'm actually kind of excited deep down inside, like a little boy just told by his parents that they were going to disneyland for holiday. For all that, I'm pretty sure this will be one hell of a journey.



P.s. The photo is shot at selfridges celebrating their 100th yr in business. Quite creative way to display those Louis-Vuitton bags don't you think so? Note the ONE gold bag...... Just like business ideas...... Eh?


Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Monday, May 25, 2009

Fred Perry

I was shopping at westfield some time back and went into a Fred Perry shop there. Fred Perry is a clothing brand from the early pre-WW2 days taking the name after the tennis player Fred Perry. Needless to say, they still stick to their roots and produce tennis wears.

Now I didn't buy any clothes that day coz I can't simply fork out 50 quids on a shirt which frankly doesn't look like it deserves that amount. It got me thinking, how much does it actually cost to produce this shirt?

Any ideas anyone?

And how does it trickle down the production chain?

How much do cotton farmers get and was it justified?

How much margin ended up with the middleman?

How much would the economy suffer in terms of jobs should middlemen in various industries slowly get pushed out of business? Does it justify cutting their share and push prices lower?

Think dude think.


Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Friday, May 22, 2009

Motivation in life

It's been quite an eventful period for me. Being officially out of job, starting to hunt for a new job, enjoying life as it is, eating whatever I can get my hands on, spending time with family and friends, feeling inspired all of a sudden from crazy ideas........

This is life. As comfortable as it may be, one has to realise that money won't fall from trees, food won't appear on the table on its own, time won't stall even for a second, ideas won't stay fresh forever, inspiration won't come everyday........

So what keeps you motivated?

Is it a car? An R8 like above?

Is it the prospect of a good career?

Is it the blind determination to break barriers?

Is it family? Possibly children or others who depend on you?

Is it for money?

Is it for power?

Is it to benefit the world and make it a better place as a whole?

I'm sure everybody have different answers to this question.

How about sharing some of yours?


Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Friday, April 24, 2009

Project 365: Day 52 Atari-Ya? Ya Sashimi Ya

Any sashimi lovers out there in london? Are you fed up with expensive but stale sashimi? Are you a person on a budget but can't stop your craving for sashimi or sushi? If you said yes to ANY of the above, I have an answer for you.

Introducing ATARI-YA!!! (That is if you don't already know it)

Atari-ya is a specialist japanese grocer and fishmonger, owned by a man called Mr. Tai. A lot of japanese restaurants get their fish from Mr. Tai so instead of paying the middleman, why not go straight to the supplier? They have several shops around london but the one I prefer is in west acton on central line just next to the tube station. Here they sell the fish by weight so you will get more bang for your money imho.

Check out what I got for £36: o-toro, chu-toro, mackarel, scallops, sweet prawn and a raw fish mix you eat with rice (we had noodles). There is one small catch, the quality of O-toro varies from time to time, but the ones we had this time was excellent by ANY standards. Think I'm joking? Try it out for yourself. Yours dearly and ying ling definitely look like they enjoyed it.




Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Project 365: Day 51 Borough Market

I woke up to a beautiful english saturday morning, sunny and breezey. I liked the weather to be that way, but on a spring/summer day, the wind catches just a little bit too much grass pollen with it. So the downside to it is that it sets my hayfever on full motion. Anyway, we went to borough market for some lunch.

First up, the legendary chorizo, superbly cooked, slightly charred which contributes a smokey flavour to the already tasty meat. It was served with piquant pepper and rockets on a white bun. Mind you, I had to queue up for 20 minutes to get my teeth anywhere near those juicy sausages.

Next up was a german sausage served with saurkraut which was ok. I mean it wasn't something to shout about but it's not too bad either.

We then proceed to our favourite coffee company, the Monmouth coffee company. Two shots of espresso brewed from the carefully selected coffee beans poured over ice cold milk to make the yummiest ice latte you've ever tasted.
I also tasted the weirdest ice cream, hazelnut chilli flavour, and it was awesome. You don't really taste the chilli but after your second lick, you could feel a little heat at the back of throat, which i thought was quite enjoyable.

I then round everything up with one of the nicest oysters I've ever tasted, the colchester native grade 1 oyster. To sum up the taste, the flesh is firm and tasted salty. It's aftertaste is sweet and slightly iron-y and lingers around your mouth for up to an hour after you ate it, absolutely fantastic. I will definitely be back for more oyster some other day......



Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Project 365: Day 50 Funny face shirts

Yours dearly and I went shopping today after satisfying some of her craving for sashimi. As usual, I did my bit of window shopping to spot if there were anything interesting. Yours dearly, on the other hand was a lady on a mission to get some new cute t-shirts.

Here's what we spotted in h&m, cute isn't it? Look at how she's trying to imitate the facial expression on the shirt.


Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Project 365: Day 49 Visitors from Malaysia

We've got a couple of guests from Malaysia today so I spent most of my time cleaning the house up, or tidying if you like to put it that way. Here's a photo of bayswater because that's the only time I got out of the house.



Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Monday, April 20, 2009

Project 365: Day 48 Green Tea Ice Cream

So the story goes like this. A few days ago, during easter monday, yours dearly had an urge to bake something using the passion fruit we bought a day earlier. Now easter is a funny time of the year, it's one of the rare weekends where u have good friday and bank holiday on monday here in uk. This is usually the time people take time off to bring their family on vacation. It's also a time when retailers have odd opening hours so going grocery shopping on this day means going to small and more expensive shops. You could imagine how hard it was hunting down the ingredients I don't have stocked up at home.

Now, while she made her passion fruit swirl cheesecake, she got a wacky idea on how to use up the extra cream we had. She decided to make green tea ice cream. For those who don't know how ice cream is made here's a rough idea. Beat egg, cream, sugar and flavouring up. Put in a case and into the fridge. Take it out every 30 minutes or so and mix it around to let little ice crystals form for that smooth, fluffy, soft texture of what we call ice cream.

As we were late for our bbq, we decided to leave the ice cream to settle on its own after we mixed it a few times. That was when yours dearly issued her orders:

"NO TOUCHING MY ICE CREAM BEFORE ME"

So I did as she said and not touch it...... UNTIL TODAY, when she finally was in the house to officiate the spooning of the ice cream. Just look at how happy she is...... Sigh.......



Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Project 365: Day 47 Zipping car to Heathrow

Are you one of those people staying in London who wants to drive, can legally drive but don't want to fork out money to buy a car?

Introducing zipcar, one of the many car clubs around. I have been using them for 2 months now and have enjoyed driving so far, a mini cooper, a honda civic hybrid and a honda jazz. Not very glamorous yes, but very convenient when I need to get around London for various purposes. And here comes another purpose to add to the list: sending or picking someone up from airports.

For those who used minicabs to get to airports from central london, a trip from central to heathrow would set you back about £30. With zipcar, our little trip sending siewch off was only £25 including parking at heathrow. It was quite a tricky route we took passing by chelsea with the match against liverpool going on. Chelsea won that thrilling encounter eventually...... to top up the already emotional evening of sending someone off.

So there you have it, looks like I'm gonna be the designated driver whenever someone wants to go to heathrow or back. Don't say I mind at all.

Photo today is of a pre-driving session with yours dearly eager to crave her trigger happy finger. Happy Easter all.



Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Project 365: Day 46 BBQ at Bermondsey

If you've been to UK and stayed here before, you probably understand the type of weather people are used to here. Yes I'm talking about the grey and gloomy and always looks like it's gonna rain type. Well, the morning started off like that and to top it off it's very cold for some weird reason, where's the spring gone? But towards the later part of the day, it suddenly turned bright and SUNNY. Somebody upstairs must be kind to us as we were planning a bbq at yours dearly's that very afternoon.

Prior to the bbq, we had lou sang which was given by a friend during CNY. Fire was started promptly after that and soon the guests started to arrive. The amount of food prepared was staggering and it had just enough alcohol to go with it. It was a real struggle to finish half of what we had. We ended the night with lounging around the living room chatting, it's siewch's last night here in UK so it's kinda emotional as well.

All in all, a really good day. What can I say? I love BBQs.



p.s. I'm missing my lamb though.......


Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Project 365: Day 45 Korean, Snog and Man-in-moon?

Today yours dearly and I went to this korean restaurant near piccadilly circus. It's called jindalle and they were supposedly good for their bbq. The food was alright, the bbq was tasty but as usual portions were not big. We had 2 hotpots, one with beef and the other with pork and kimchi. I still prefer the ones over at tottenham court road for korean tho, anywhere else just doesn't cut it in terms of price and quality.

Later, the usual after dinner stroll brought us to snog. They sell frozen yogurt, somehow all frozen yogurts taste the same to me, whether it's from snog or itsu. I always go for the natural flavoured ones with strawberry (or any other berry) as I enjoy the sour taste bringing out the natural sweetness in the fruits. Sweet frozen yogurt just doesn't cut it for me. Hint hint: business idea.

Today's picture is of yours dearly in the man in moon passage near the bus stop at piccadilly circus, quite funny name I thought. Too bad I always forget taking photos, so nothing from the restaurants today.



Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Project 365: Day 44 Kon loh curry mee

I woke up this morning and asked yours dearly what she wants to have for breakfast brunch. And she said "kon loh curry mee". So I went downstairs, took out the 2 chicken breast, sliced them thinly into strips, took out a packet of A1 curry paste and whacked them all together. I then peeled a potato and 2 carrots, sliced them into cubes and tossed them along with the chicken strips into a pot. I shallow fried all the ingredients for 2 minutes and poured in some water before letting it simmer for 10 minutes.

In the meantime, I boiled 2 rolls of "har zi mee" (prawn roe noodle)and some kai lan in a pot of slightly salted boiling water. I also placed 4 strips of thin bacon on an oiled frying pan, frying them crispy.

To serve, I placed the bacons and kai lan on one side of the plate and the noodles in the middle mixed with a little soya sauce. I added milk into the curry just before pouring it over the noodles.

And this, my friends, is my version of kon loh curry mee, in 30 minutes. How do you like it? Yours dearly had 2 servings that morning......



Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Project 365: Day 43 Probably the best dark chocolate I've ever tasted

....... And it's Willie's delectable cacao, costing me £3.49 per box of 2 pieces from Selfridges (I later found out it cost £3 for the same thing in waitrose). It's kinda expensive but well worth the money imho.

I have to admit that I hunted for these chocolates because of the tv shows willie has been doing. The first was willie's wonky chocolate factory and the second was...... can't remember the name of the show. The most obvious thing one could see from the shows were his passion to make good old highest quality eating chocolate, unlike the sugary craps we get off supermarket shelves nowadays. True to his words, the chocolates were absolutely brilliant.

There are two choices here: Peruvian 70% cacao and Venezuelan 72% cacao. Both come in a box of 2 delectable squares, with the caption "one for now, one for then". Both contains fruity notes, although I felt the peruvian one was a little more sourish than the venezuelan. And although I prefer the venezuelan ever more so slightly to the peruvian, both are equally addictive.

Ohh what delightful flavours when you place a small piece on your tongue. It's not laced with sugar, yet it sweetens the deepest depth of your heart and mind. Now that's what I call the perfect (dark) chocolate.




Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Monday, April 13, 2009

Project 365: Day 42 The successful ban jian kuih

Finally, I've done a successful ban jian kuih. It's thinner than the failed one and it's NOT BURNT!!!!!!

I have to say it tasted exactly like my favourite ban jian kuih in Alor Star, thin and crispy. This said, it still needs to be a bit thinner (can't really spread it fast enough on a big pan) and a bit more butter or planta inside would make it taste better. Nonetheless, I'm still happy about it, I've got a feeling the perfect ban jian kuih is not far away. Ahhhhhh......... Day dreaming again.





Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Project 365: Day 41 The snowball

The snowball is an autobiography on Warren Buffett, yes that stockpicking and investment legend. I know what you're thinking, "not another warren buffett book". Not really, this is his first and only memoir, in which he granted Alice Schroeder hours and days and months to ask him questions (and getting straight, from the heart answers as well). I've glanced through many books on "the sage of Omaha" before and many of them focus on his decisions and results rather than why he made some of those important decisions. And many of them are just what other authors think he did, which frankly is just bullshit.

Let's see what alice has gotten out of the man himself. I've got a feeling this would be an interesting read, already the introduction makes me want to read more. It's a thick book but bring it on baby.



Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Project 365: Day 40 Probably my last day in Dresdner office

Today I went into office to help with some packing. I will be expecting my redundancy letter any day now and I'm a free man again. Here's a picture of gresham street from where I work. I heard there was a mob outside here on financial fools day for the G20 protest.

It's been almost 7 months since I started here and the period is fun nonetheless. I get to meet lots of people, many of them my peers out of university during the training program. As I have said, this is a shrinking industry, even more so during a bear market.

So the question is, what next? Let's wait and see.......




Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Friday, April 10, 2009

Project 365: Day 39 The failed ban jian kuih

The last night my sister is in London before going back to Nottingham, she said she wants ban jian kuih, or apom balik I was told. It's a food which I'm not really fond of growing up but grown to appreaciate as I got older. My favourite was the thin and crispy ones sold at "hai tao ki" in Alor Star. Sweet, nutty and crunchy all in a small pack.

Anyway, it was a tiring day driving the sister up to Harlow in a honda civic hybrid. I must admit I quite like that car, the whole feel of driving it, and of course the morally superior feeling of driving a clean car. What a bunch of hypocrits, they are no cleaner than turning my heater off for one hour and leave it on for the rest of the day. In any case, it is a triumph of innovation once again.

Well you guys should get what I mean. I was tired from all the driving and now I have to attempt to make this kuih for the first time. It wasn't the most aesthetically appealing thing I make but it does the job of solving the cravings. Yes it's burnt and we had to eat the inner part without touching the burnt part but it was all nice. The next attempt will be much bettet, I've got a feeling.



Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Project 365: Day 38 I like window shopping

No longer able to afford shopping for things I like, I tend to wonder off in my own little world when I go out shopping with yours dearly. The department store is truly one of the biggest innovation of humans, I really mean it.



A day out window shopping can broaden your horizon much more than travelling in my humble opinion. Where else do you get to see 50 different types of pepper grinder each claiming to be the best. The most astonishing thing is that they all sell. You also get to see the latest innovation, like a so called best wine bottle opener in the world, a double pot you can use to heat stuffs using steam (making delicious butter sauce for steak), and the different types of teapots. Whoosh, it's a brave new world out there for innovators.



I said innovators because let's face it. This world needs more inventors but inventors are hard to come by these days. On the other hand, most entrepreneurs nowadays are genius innovators. They see a need in the market, no matter how small the need is, they will find a way to fill that gap. The market is no more saturated than stones in a bowl, you just need to be sands, or even water if you wanna be bruce lee.



Remember, no matter how small the gap, you just need to be smaller to fill it up.



A picture of deno and my sister looking tired after walking thru countless shops and buys NOTHING. Hahaha, it's the process that's enjoyable, think about it.







Best regards,

Jing Qi Quah

Project 365: Day 37 Ye Olde Scallop Tartare

Well it isn't that old. Quite like a new recipe of gordon ramsay's I tried with deno like 2 years ago. The taste of it I could still remember 2 years on, and the recipe will be with me for a long long time. So go ahead drop me an email or a call if you want the recipe too.



The day started out with us going to borough market to hunt for some fresh hand-dived scallops. Now this is the important bit, since dretched scallops tend to be too sandy and remember we're eating them RAW.



Next you gotta remove the scallops from their shells, separate the red meat (or roe) from the white meat (or muscles). Mix the ingredients together the chopped up white meat and serve up on baby gem lettuce leaves. Absolutely refreshing on a hot summers day accompanied by a bottle of splendid riesling wine.



Ingredients: raw scallops (white meat), mascarpone, creme fraiche, chervil, lemon, salt and pepper, baby gem lettuce.



Give it a try, don't bother about measurements it's all about making it to suit your taste.









Best regards,

Jing Qi Quah

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Project 365: Day 36 Siewch's farewell dinner

I went to saint germain's at farringdon today for siew ching's farewell dinner. Yea it feels weird when somebody is leaving for good but hey, home is 13 hours away and internet is borderless, it isn't that bad. It also started me thinking, should I go back as well? I think not yet, it's not the time yet.

Now let me say something about the restaurant. I had goat's cheese for starter and coq au vin for main. I have to say that looks can be deceiving here, look at the duck confit everybody had, it looks great but what lurks underneath it, the thick layers of fat, made eating it next to impossible. Why didn't the chef cook the fats down I don't know, but when you're cooking duck, please put it in the oven for at least 2 hours for the fats to melt out.

The dinner itself was kinda fun. Met lots of people whom I haven't seen in ages and bullshitting over a meal is a pleasure of life. It truly is.


Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Project 365: Day 35 Stud 100

Quite an uneventful day except for the boring G20 meeting which got world markets rallying on false hopes. Printing money to solve an economic problem, ha, let's see how well that works now since it never worked in the past, fascinating really.

Anyway, I was on the tube and guess what I saw on the advertising space on the carriage I was in.

STUD 100. Apparently for £6.99 you can delay ejaculation for ....... wait they didn't state the length of time, will somebody try it and let me know? So viagra prolongs erection and this delays ejaculation...... What if you combine the both?

Again, please do let me know what happens if you tried it.



Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Project 365: Day 34 Watchmen

I went to watch Watchmen in Greenwich on Wednesday and let me tell you my first reaction after the movie ended.

"The movie is just damn weird."

I mean I was expecting it to be some superhero movie where there is hero vs evil like batman or superman. But all I got out of the movie were some weird blue naked man and weird 5-minute sex scenes in a flying machine up in the sky. Not that it wasn't hot. But if I wanted sex scenes I'd rather watch porn. The fight scenes were not too bad though, some serious moves there with rage.

All in all, it was just weird. And particularly so after I watched Knowing in the afternoon, another weird movie.

Anyway picture was of greenwich peninsula where imax greenwich is located and the sainsbury's where I bought some snacks to smuggle in for the movie.


Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Project 365: Day 33 Nestum tau kwa

I was itching for some nestum prawn since that tasty vegetarian nestum prawn meal back in the temple at bukit mertajam. A few days after I got back, I found 2 packets of nestum prawn mix in the cupboard and decided to cook them. The problem is, I'm vegetarian for the day so what could I substitute it with? Yours dearly said she wanted to eat tofu so I came up with the idea of deep fried tau kwa with nestum.



And the end product? Seems a bit burnt but tasted just as nice. Not a bad twist to it eh?



I also started reading a book titled "white tiger" a few days ago. Quite an interesting book which started with "For the desk of His Excellency Wen Jiabao", a very inviting beginning indeed.



I'm also working on a project right now to keep myself occupied. Hopefully I can start my own little thingy here in a foreign country.



To my readers, please be supportive when it take offs yea?

Best regards,

Jing Qi Quah

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Project 365: Day 32 Crapness

Can't believe it's only 1 month and I already forgot to take a photo each day for project 365. Anyway let's make do with what I got, starting from last saturday. Went out for dinner at the favourite iranian place, Alounak on Westbourne Grove. Attendees for dinner were Francis, Sush and yours dearly. The lamb was as usual very tender and tasty, with a strong smoke flavour, yum.

After dinner, we went over to Soho for dessert and Princi's. Check out the nice deco for the table against the wall.

Water features, when placed appropriately, sometimes enhances the feel of a room. If you're a student of feng shui, you'll realise as well that it is also important to place water features at some places to lift the energy of the room. Think aquarium and why people build ponds to rear japanese kops, isn't it so?

Anyway, the night ended with some drinks at La Perla on Charlotte street for Tse Jian's birthday. I quite enjoyed the margerita there. One thing I forgot for the day was to be a vegetarian for the day. I guess I can substitute days..... hehe.



Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Time at home and coming back to UK

Project 365: Day 28 Sister Caught me sleeping, @#$%^&















I was happily getting my back massaged on the massage chair the day after the funeral when I accidentally fell asleep (It was very comfortable ok......). Not the nicest of my pic but oh well, the kids sneakily took a pic of me sleeping. And this isn't the only pic they took, my life is ruin, NOOOO!!!! Can't they just let me sleep in peace?



Project 365: Day 29 Back at home in KL, here's my garden














I got back to kl after the first 7 days ended. I know I left out taking lots of pics but my mind wasn't set on taking pics. Had the pleasure of stopping by Ipoh to taste the "big head prawns" at Mun Choong restaurant on my journey back. With every bite, I feel my artery getting clogged up more and more, why are nice foods always bad for you??????

Anyway this is a shot of my garden during the one day I get to spend at home. My room has been empty for almost 11 months of the year and it certainly gave me a spooky feeling everytime I sleep in there. Guess I need to load it up with stuffs but what's the point in doing that when I'm not home most of the time? Sigh......



Project 365: Day 30 Bought myself a new pair of shoes

















Went to do some shopping a few hours before boarding my plane back to London and bought myself a new pair of shoes. I kinda like the design at the front of it, at RM130 I think it's a bargain for it was really comfortable as well. I also got yours dearly her face wash set and boy were they expensive...... sigh.







Project 365: Day 31 Back in UK, on train towards London Paddington














A shot onboard the Heathrow Connect train back to Paddington (Heathrow express too expensive la since I'm not constrained by time). I was a bit depressed leaving home again and coming back to the cold weather here, just to prove that it was just too comfortable at home.