Off to Melaka

I'm driving to Melaka later today for the weekend - this is the pic that, IMHO best represents the city. I took this pic from my car but as I am the sole driver this time, I doubt I would have the opportunity to take a similar pic this trip. And in my car, will be my boss and 2 colleagues . That scares me more than anything else - to be responsible for the life and safety of someone that is so important to me. Of course, I wouldn't drive at the speed I drove at the last time I went to Melaka - safety first this time and not wild reckless happy abandon :D And this time it's going to be a trip focused on food, and not historical attractions like St Peter's church at Melaka which was 1 of the places I had visited the last time per the pic below. It is possible though that we may end up visiting the famous "red buildings" once again given how almost all tourists end up there. But what is certain is that we won't have a chance to go on the "Eye on Melaka" ferris wheel which was there in Nov 08 (which was when I went there and took the pic below from a bridge). It is quite a pity because the view from the ferris wheel was rather paranomic and I would really have liked to show my travel companions this time, the view of Melaka from the top. Well, at least I'll be able to bring them for the famous Ho Kee chicken rice balls and assam fish head that I had the last time. And I also made reservations at that famous teochew seafood restaurant - nothing but the best effort on my part to make this a successful trip. My travel companions are likewise determined to make this trip a fun and good one and I'm sure I'll have plenty to write about when I'm back but I do say I'm praying really hard that everything will be smooth because so much rides on me this time. I have been responsible for the lifes of others before when I drive the 5 hours up the winding one-lane roads which are barely, if at all lit, to and fro Rompin, Pekan etc, but never have I been so stressed about a road trip before.

I want it to go perfect, not because I'm afraid that I'll be thought of less if the trip went badly but because that's the way things should be if you feel for someone enough that her/his happiness is the thing that matters most. Wish me all the best! :)

The Ghost Writer (2010) Movie

We missed the earlier timing for the movie and ended up catching the 9.20pm show. On a weekday, watching a movie this late after a long day at work turned out to be a pretty bad idea because I couldn't stop yawning and coughing throughout what has been a pretty well-received movie.

The Slog Reviews: 8/10. A CIA-spy thriller movie set in the UK. Plot is simple - a ghostwriter (the Ghost) is chosen (after a convincing speech to the editors how the biography has to be about "heart") to complete the memoirs of a former UK Prime Minister, Adam Lang after the previous ghostwriter is found drowned. The Ghost is flown to the island where Adam and his wife, Ruth Lang stays. During that time, there is talk that Adam will be tried in the International Court of Justice for war crimes for his role in handing over certain terrorist (suspects) to CIA to be tortured. There are also protestors camped outside Adam's gated complex. Anyway, Adam decides to fly to Washington against the advice of Ruth, where he is greeted warmly by the secretary of state and where he will be safe from prosecution. In the meantime, the Ghost discovers in the room of the former ghostwriter, a telephone number and some photos of Adam's school days in cambridge. He also decides to check out the beach where the previous ghostwriter was found washed up and is told by locals that the current couldn't have been strong enough to wash up the body and that the woman who saw flashlights on the beach on the day of the drowning is now in a coma. Ruth goes to look for him and they have dinner where she tells him that Adam used to listen to her but now rarely and in turn he tells her his suspicions. She goes out for a walk in the rain and looks for him in the night when she is all dripping wet. He goes to the bathroom to get her a towel and finds her naked in his bed. In the morning, the Ghost packs his things to leave as he is horrified that he has slept with a client's wife. He gets in the car that the housekeeper told him once before was used by the previous ghostwriter and drives to the hotel. However the built in GPS system keeps pointing him in another direction and he decides to follow the GPS. It takes him to the main island and to the house of a Profesor Paul Emmett, whom he identifies as one of the people in Adam's photos. Paul agrees to meet him and denies any association with Adam. When shown the photographs, he says that that summer was a blur and too long ago. When The Ghost leaves, a black car follows him all the way to the ferry. The Ghost flees his car and stays in a hotel on the main island. He calls the number on the previous ghostwriter's effects and is met by a former minister whom Adam Lang sacked. Adam also calls him to say he is flying back and wants to meet The Ghost. On board Adam's private jet, The Ghost confronts Adam with his suspicions that Paul had recruited Adam to work for the CIA. Adam laughs and the denies it all angrily - saying that every political decision he had made was done on his own. When they get off the plane on the tarmac, Adam tells The Ghost they need to have a meeting later and right after that, is shot and crumples to the ground. The shooter is one of the protestors whose son was killed in Iraq and the shooter gets gunned down by Adam's men. The Ghost is taken in for questioning as a witness reported Adam shouting at The Ghost on the jet. It is later revealed that Adam died and the Ghost completes the memoirs which goes to print. At the book launch where he meets with one of Adam's previous assistants, Amelia, she says something about beginnings which triggers The Ghost to take the original manuscript written by the previous ghost writer and go through the first page of each chapter. He underlines the first word of each page and discovers that Ruth Lang is a CIA agent who was recruited by Paul Emmett. The Ghost passes a note to Ruth revealing that he knows the truth and on his way out of the book launch, is run down by a car.

Roadtrip to Yong Peng and Muar

We had intended to go Yong Peng for durians over the weekend and assumed from our past experience driving past the town that accomodation wouldn't be an issue. However, this road trip turned out quite differently from what we had intended.

Firstly, instead of leaving SG early, for some reason, we ended up leaving SG late about 8pm on a Fri night which meant taking the second link or being stuck in the massive jam at Woodlands. We opted for the second link option which was considerably more expensive, stricter on fuel checks on the SG customs side, far stricter on the car check on the Msia side (8 out of 10 cars were stopped and searched) but considerably less crowded. Because of some errands on the other end of JB, we only reached Yong Peng at 9.45pm.

Secondly, we were both tired, grouchy and hungry but because of the lack of number of hotels that looked habitable, accomodation became an issue that had to be settled before dinner. In the end, after cruising up and down the main street, we decided to have a go at one of the shophouses which had the word "Hotel" and a brightly-lit, non-deserted restaurant on the ground level. While my travel companion went up the long flight of narrow dimly lit stairs to the "lobby" of the hotel, I went ahead to the restaurant's restroom and to order the food. The moment I was out of the restroom, he joined me at the restaurant area with a grim look on his face and shaking his head. No surprise - from the state of the restaurant's restroom, I had guessed the standard of the hotel.

Anyway, food. The menu was in Chinese only which meant that I had a limited idea of the dishes and my travel companion decided most of the dishes except for the one below which I thought was unique and insisted on having because I thought we wouldn't be going all the way up to Muar - Muar Otak on a hotplate. As it turned out, this dish served with egg on a hotplate was pretty good. The Slog Reviews: 8/10 if you are an otah and egg lover. I've never had otah on a hotplate before so this dish was quiet a novelty and everyone knows that otah is best served hot so that the spicy flavor of the dish can be brought out.

My travel companion also ordered sambal kangkong, the restaurant's speciality chicken and a bowl of foochow fish maw soup. While the chicken never turned up (the restaurant claimed that we had cancelled it when in fact we hadn't), and the kangkong was ordinary, the foochow soup (see pic below) proved to be quite a disappointment, esp to my travel companion. The gravy was too thick and sweet and the fish maw pretty tasteless unlike the kind of soup which it is supposed to be (at least to be travel companion who had years of eating such soup). The Slog Reviews: 6.5/10. We both were surprised to learn that this was the second most popular restaurant in Yong Peng according to the locals there. Maybe we hadn't ordered the right dishes but I'm not going back there again without any recommendations at all.

From the pic below, if you know me or have been following this blog, you probably can guess what happened to our planned stay at Yong Peng - we ended up in Muar eventually at midnight! The hotel above the restaurant ("Soon Kee") had suggested another hotel to us which they said was the best hotel in Yong Peng and we got there, all the rooms were full except 1 family room which they quoted us RM80 for. I took a look at the room, the dirty grubby bedding, low ugly beds, lack of an ensuite and said no, very firmly. My travel companion had driven almost 2 hours on the highway to Yong Peng and was tired but even he had to agree that we were better off heading for our usual hotel at Muar - Streetview Hotel. The hotel is just behind/around the corner from Townview Hotel and is considerably cleaner and newer. The cost is also reasonable at RM80 and we figured that we would rather spend Rm80 there than the "best" hotel in Yong Peng. I took over the wheel and drove the one hour to Muar where we managed to get rooms at the hotel fortunately.

The next morning (a Sat), we woke up rather early and by 11am, were seated at my favourite restaurant - Shee Yan Restaurant which I have raved about here and here. The young lady boss wasn't around about 11am but her very friendly mum/mum-in-law was (see pic below) and opened the large fridge for us to choose our dishes.

I took the pic below as it is the first time that I've seen the restaurant this empty! Probably it is the hour (11am) and I was right because by 12 noon, all the tables were filled and the young lady boss was behind the counter on the far right.

Pic of the usual dishes which we had for lunch. The Slog Reviews:10/10. The pic doesn't show ALL the dishes though - we had two packets of the Muar Otah in fact! The old lady boss was also reluctant to sell us two packets when we ordered but we assured her we could finish it.

I think I'm starting to like the fried fish eggs more than the assam fish head - I can't seem to get enough of the fried fish eggs (see close up below) which now rank no.1 with my taste buds. Eating too much is not good for the cholestol levels though but ah, these are sweet & crunchy.

So much for not being able to finish 2 packets of otah! We cleaned every single damn plate. I'm now counting down the days till the next time I patronise this place again - less than 2 weeks! :P

Restoran King Crab (black pepper crabs) (second time)

I like the pic below. :D All the photos I have taken (except photos on holidays) thus far have been with my trusty Sony Ericsson W995 phone and this is one of the few photos that I am extremely pleased with because of the clarity of the image. Clams. Lala, to be specific. Ordered at Restoran King Crab which visited less than a week later because I had recovered slightly and we both wanted to try the black pepper crab there. This dish wasn't my idea but it turned out to be absolutely smashing. The Slog Reviews: 9/10. I would have given the dish a perfect score if not for the many empty shells in the dish! The server had recommended this cooking style which is the restaurant's speciality and the soup turned out wonderfully herbal-tasting and perfect for someone with a cold/cough or a rainy day. The meat was cooked just right and not rubbery tasting the least but sweet and full of flavor. As mentioned before, the cost of dishes at this restaurant is on the steeper side and this cost RM20

We also ordered a beancurd with eggs dish. The Slog Reviews: 7/10. The beancurd came with pcs of mushrooms and some green veg along the sides. Nothing remarkable and the gravy appears to be from a bottle with shrips of dried oyster within.

We made the unforgivable mistake of ordering only one crab (600gm @ RM7/100gm) and it proved to be insufficient for the two of us mad crab lovers. The Slog Reviews: 9/10. Not sure what kind of black pepper paste was used to cook this crab but it didn't leave a fiery burning feeling in the stomach. I'm almost too embarassed to post that I did ask my food companion if I could lick the shell because the sauce (there wasn't much of it sadly) was that good. The crab we had chosen was of course fresh and nothing beats the white meat of a crab cooked together with black pepper sauce. I want more, and soon!

Total cost of the 3 dishes, a pot of jasmine tea for two, rice and towels came to RM 91.50 of which RM 8 consisted of the govt service tax and service charge of 5% each.

The address of this restaurant can be found in my previous entry (click here).

Restoran King Crab (creamy butter crabs)

Even though I had been really sick, I was struck last week by an inexplicable desire to eat crab. Despite the advice from well-meaning friends, I meant to have my way and persuaded a fellow seafood lover to take me for crab. He was low on gas and we both went in to JB for fuel for the car and our bodies.

I'd heard about this restaurant for some time but never had the opportunity of being there before so we decided to look for "Restoran King Crab" based on directions from the web. We found it without any problem at all - turn left right after Jusco, keeping Jusco on the left of the car at times and one can see the bright large yellow signboard of the restaurant easily along the row of shophouses on one's right side.

The restaurant was empty on a weekday night at about 8pm except for one table so service was pretty prompt. It appears that there might be two levels to the place as there was a staircase at one corner of the restaurant but since the place was empty, we had our pick of tables on the ground floor. Service was prompt given the number of wait staff around and the menu rather extensive with meat dishes, various types of seafood (prawns, prawn mantis, crabs, fish), veg and beancurd. However, based on my experience at various JB restaurants, I would say that the prices could be said to be very steep given the lack of ambiance and the type of food (veg dishes are double normal prices!). For example, a small-sized serving of vegetable with eggs which we ordered per the pic below cost RM15. The Slog Reviews: 7/10. Athough the veg was fresh and the dish rather tasty, the price was prohibitively expensive for a very simple dish.

What would be worth ordering IMHO would be what this restaurant is good for, and specialises in - crab. Because I was coughing rather badly, my food companion and I decided to have the crab baked with creamy butter in claypot instead of black pepper. This is how the dish looked like.
And was it good? The Slog Reviews: 9.5/10. Finger licking good! A million, or rather a billion calories in this dish alone given the amount of butter and milk that went into making the thick sweet gravy that the crab was served in. I tried to moderate the amount of gravy that I was slurping up given the lack of exercise the past few weeks ( because I'd been sick) but it was so good that resistence was futile. Crab was fresh of course and priced at RM7/8 kg. The cost of the meal was about RM80 with 5% GST and 5% Service charge. Towels and tea are also chargeable.

Restoran King Crab
No 1 and 1A, 3 and 3A, Jln Harmonium 23/12 Taman Desa Tebrau
81100 Johor Bahru
Tel: 607 3513333

Tokumika Japanese Restaurant

My food companion was in the mood for Japanese food just before my fishing trip and since the rendevous point was at Serangoon Central, we decided to have dinner at that area. At my suggestion, although I wasn't sure if there were any Jap restaurants there, we ended up at the row of eateries at the shophouses along Upper Serangoon Road.

And, to his delight, there was a Jap restaurant named Tokumika amongst the steamboat restaurants. The restaurant was smallish and functionally decorated with about 10 wooden tables and chairs, a large transparent food chiller housing various types of sashimi towards the back and a unisex 1 cubicle toilet at the far end of the restaurant. It also appears to be local family-run (as opposed to Jap-family run) and boasts having fresh air-flown sashimi.

As I don't eat sashimi and we were rather short of time, I ordered the beef sukiyaki (SGD 12) and my food companion ordered the bara chirashi don (SGD 10). The prices on the menu were rather reasonable starting from SGD 10 onwards and a plate of sashimi sufficient for 2 smallish eaters was SGD 25. The restaurant also serves various types of Jap noodles like ramen, udon and soba as well as rice sets but the emphasis is on sashimi.

The Slog Reviews: 7/10 for the beef sukiyaki. Nothing wrong with the presentation of the food or the time we had to wait for the dish, but I found the soup too sweet for my liking and the beef while generous in portion, was not tender or sweet. The beef pieces were also kind of stuck together in an unappealing mess. My food companion on the other hand pronounced the chirashi don fabulous with generous chunks of fresh sashimi and after finishing his bowl (not a very large or remarkably small bowl), proceeded to order yet another chirashi don bowl. He said it was very good and I suppose there must be some truth to his statement because to my amazement, the restaurant filled up pretty quickly (it was a Fri evening) with couples, families and groups of friends/colleagues. The service was prompt enough and while I wouldn't think of going back again, my food companion has been bugging me to. The cost of the meal was SGD 38 in all excluding any drinks (the rice for the sukiyaki was SGD 2!) but then again, he had eaten enough for two pax.


Address: 27 Teck Chye Terrace
Tel/Fax: 6284 3842

NB: This restaurant has been closed since end Aug 2010

Sex and the City 2 (2010) movie

The Slog Reviews: 4/10. A "should not waste time watching in the theatre"movie. Unless one is out with one's girlies/gaylies or one is really into designer clothes and fashion (esp shoes!). I'd quite liked the first movie so I suggested watching this movie with my movie kaki. I'm not sure what the deal is with SJP - I've read someone's blog describing her as dead ugly and while she doesn't hurt my eyes, I have to agree that there are better looking actresses who can pull off the Carrie Bradshaw character too. Mr Big on the other hand, becomes more charming and sexier 2 years later in this movie, just the man that I for one, wouldn't mind rushing home to every single night - even if, as in the movie, he wants to eat just take-out night after night and to lounge around in bed. Samantha is my favourite character in this movie - "I am woman, hear me roar". In this movie, happily single, toned and attractive, she is obsessed with regulating her hormones and reversing the ageing process through chemical means. She also gets the 4 gal pals flown to the Middle East in style (first class cabins, a limo each and the jade suite that costs 22K/night at a fab hotel) when a wealthy Arab meets her at an event and wants her to promote his country. Charlotte on the other hand, is the character that I thought I wanted to be when I was younger - the fairy-tale happily ever after marriage with a doting loving man and 2 adorable children. Miranda is the character that I am most uncomfortable with - some part of me identifies too strongly with her - and her quitting her job in this movie when faced with a tyrant of a boss made her character more appealing for being able not to take bullshit when it is dished out.

Although the movie makes an attempt to explore the challenges of married life and close bonds of gal relationships, has its fun moments and gives one a peak at the lifes of the truely rich and famous, as mentioned earlier, this movie can be watched on DVD instead of the big screen and one isn't missing much when waiting for the DVD to be out.

The best part of this movie, IMHO is this part - "I am woman, hear me roar, in numbers too big to ignore. And I know too much to go back and pretend. Because I have heard it all before, and have been down there all the floor. And no one is ever going to keep me down again...oh yes, I am wise..yes I have paid the price but look at how much I have gained...if I have to, I can do anything. I am strong. I am invincible, I am woman..."

Restoran / restaurant Pekin at Sutera Mall

My sis and I once had a discussion whether it was right to critique a restaurant based on just one dining experience and whether a review of the place based on certain items from the menu was equitable. We had to agree to disagree in the end as the arguments/reasons for both sides were equally compelling (I took the view that it was equitable, if you must know.)

My third visit to Restoran Pekin at Sutera Mall (the last being Mothers' Day) impressed me enough to conclude that the standard of food and service at this place is consistently good. This time, we went there for dinner because I wanted to introduce my herbal-prawns-loving companion to the fabulous dish there. Quick, attentive and polite service by the servers upon entry into the restaurant and unlike previous occasions, a complimentary plate of guava was served as an appetiser.


I was rather in the mood for something "porky" and ordered a most sinfully fattening dish - a medium-sized plate of roast pork. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. Tough and crisp fried skin atop soft squishy fat combined with soft tender meat makes a most delicious morsel in one's mouth. However, too much of this dish can get a little overwhelming because of the sheer amt of oil that oozes out from the fatty portions.

And of course, we had the herbal prawns (which was the purpose of our going there). Now, if you are wondering why there is more soup than the previous time (the soup came up to half the height of the bowl the last time), it is because I requested for more soup when placing the order. And that's what I mean by excellent service by this restaurant - I've been to horrendously more expensive restaurants, made special requests when placing an order and had to send back the dish to the kitchen because these requests were not communicated to the kitchen. The Slog Reviews: 9/10. My companion agreed heartily with words and action that these were the best herbal prawns he'd ever had. I think that we should order a medium/large portion next time!

Picture below shows the 3 dishes we had. The last dish was the 3 eggs dish which was as good as ever. Cost was about RM 80 in all which translates to SGD 32 only. Not a bad deal really given the ambiance, service and quality of food. To prevent the law of diminishing returns from setting in, I have resolved not to go to this restaurant for the next 2 months at least! :D

Oh, and I forgot to mention, we were given a bowl of complimentary dessert each. I'm not sure what it was because I didn't dare to try it - it looked and smelled "Chinese-herbal" so my companion wolfed it down along with his own bowl in a jiffy. I don't suppose I'm going to lose much weight given the way we both enjoy food so much unless I up the number of gym sessions a week or continue with this rather nasty cold.

Restaurant Aoba Hokkaido Ramen

Despite the short time I had to finish my quest for THE purple dress (click here), my companion was determined to have dinner all the same. Torn between my pressing need to continue shopping (I'd just finished shopping at Tangs at 7pm without success) and the motto that a hungry man is an angry man, I quickly concluded that it would be no fun shopping with an angry man and it would be better for both of us to have his needs met before mine.

So, the moment we got to Ion, we headed straight for the eateries. He was hungry enough to suggest Burger King (which told me he was downright starving) but I wasn't in the mood for beef and there wasn't a queue at Aoba Hokkaido Ramen. All the tables were taken so we had to wait a couple of minutes before being shown to a table. Service was prompt enough with the menus put in our hands within minutes of us sitting down. The list of items available was delightfully short and simple with fairly accurate pictures of the food.

I ordered the Shio Scallop Ramen at SGD 12.80++ (see pic below) which came within 10mins from the time I placed the order. The Slog Reviews: 6/10. My companion who tried some of the soup said that it was tasteless and that the noodles were like maggi mee. I could not agree more. It wasn't worth the money, I'm afraid. Give me my beloved collagen ramen anytime! If we go back there (which I'm sure we will, if you read on), I'll probably order something else.

While eating, we noticed the table next to us had ordered a cheesy dish which looked rather appetising and my companion was minded to try the same. This, despite my glancing at my watch pointedly and that we had almost finished our noodles. We ended up waiting almost 15mins for the dish to come, by which time, we had asked the kitchen twice to hurry and my patience-o-meter was pointing to the red zone. When the cheesy tofu finally came, we agreed it was worth the wait. The Slog Reviews: 9/10. I never knew that melting warm cheese over piping hot toufu could be such a delish combination. 2 mins after it was served, we both found ourselves scrapping the bottom of the hotplate for more. Do try this dish if you are there. I can't remember the price but it should be less than SGD 10.

I'm not sure if this restaurant takes reservations but here are the contact detrails:

Aoba@ION Orchard
2 Orchard Turn #B3-25
ION Orchard Singapore
Tel: 6509 9394

There are 2 other outlets. the first at Vivo City located at #01-104/105 Tel No: 6376 9519 and the second at Manpuku Japanese Gourmet Town, 10 Tampines Central #03-16 Tel: 6789 6810

Kong Kong Tai Son Seafood Resort (2nd time)

The drive to Kong Kong Tai Son Seafood Restaurant isn't that difficult when done during the day, unlike in the night. In fact, it is quite a pleasant drive with a goat farm along the way and scenary like the one below (took it out of the car window). One has just to head in the direction of Pasir Gudang and from there follow the signboards that say Masai, and then, Kong Kong (if both options appear, choose Kong Kong) - you know you are headed in the right direction when you pass the ScienceTek (science tech, I suppose but that's how the word is spelt in Msia) Park.

It was a blazingly hot day when we turned right at the end of the long stretch of dirt road towards the direction of the restaurant. The restaurant looked relatively empty at about 12pm but it quickly filled up around 1pm with large groups of families (including Malay familes so I suppose this restaurant is halal). We asked for a table in the air-conditioned area but were told that we could not have the same unless we spent RM300 at the restaurant. Bugger that.

So we ended up sitting on the outdoor deck with a fan blowing directly at our table and enjoying the view from our table per the pic below.

First up, the sambal kang kong. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. A rather generous helping of fresh greens for just RM6. However, nothing remarkable about the dish. Will try another veg dish the next time.

The next dish, my food companion's favourite - herbal prawns. At RM 8 per 100gm, we ordered 400gm of prawns which they caught before our eyes and weighed. The Slog Reviews: 9/10. A must order if one loves fresh succulent sweet prawns. No wonder prawns make such effective baits - a sweet morsel for both man and fishes alike! This dish was done so well that my food companion has been bugging me to go back for more but alas, my weekends are fully packed.

The only dish which we were entirely not satisfied with was the mantis prawn. The restaurant insisted that we had to order 2 of the creatures as the kitchen would not cook one. Having no choice in the matter, we selected 2 mantis prawns, each about 150gm and asked the restaurant to cook them in the style they deemed best. And this, this below is what they came up with. The Slog Reviews: 6/10. There was so little meat in the mantis prawns and this method of cooking the prawns did not bring out the flavor of the prawns at all. In fact, having the prawns steamed brought out the hideous purple color of the creatures which was quite an appetite killer. So far, the best way of cooking mantis prawns seems to be the way this restaurant cooked it for me at Kota Kinabalu which made the dish (fried with salt or chilli) a delight.

There was a promotion for the lala at only RM 8.80 so we had those fresh out of the tanks too. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. Order these if not anything else if you are a shell lover. We had them fried with chilli and they were so fresh and mouthwateringly good!

And no, I'm not done yet. It's amazing how much 2 people can put away but my food companion being a fellow seafood lover wanted to have crabs too and at RM8 per 100gm, we ordered 2 of the crabs cooked in black pepper. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. Freshly caught from the tanks, stir fried with spicy black pepper, white soft sweet flesh contrasting with the slightly fiery taste from the pepper - just one word. Order!

Below, a pic taken (as usual with my Sony Ericsson W995) of all the dishes that 2 of us put away that afternoon - note that 4 out of the 5 dishes were live seafood dishes.

And the price of the seafood feast which was fresh right from the tanks? See the receipt below inclusive of 3 cans of coke, fruit juice, rice, peanuts and towel - only, and I mean, ONLY RM 141.60 which equates to SGD 60. Msia Boleh indeed! :D

Eating everything I've caught at a go - Ebek, Sotong and Prawns

If anyone wondered what happened to the large GT that I caught (click here for the catch report), it has become the bane of my fishing existence. I'm not kidding. My mum has found a way to punish me for the loads of fish I bring home and stack in her freezer past midnight - like a Santa Claus with a sack of wet smelly fishes. No matter how late it is, I clean up as best as I can, quite fearful of my mother's wrath. But there is no escaping - she has been complaining that she is sick and tired of eating fish. At first, I could not understand, my mind failed entirely to comprehend how any human being could possibly be tired of this wonderous gift that God had given to mankind - fish! And then, my mother started to feed me fish every single day and on the weekends, fish for both lunch and dinner until, thick as my skull may be, I am enlightened as to why my fellow anglers give away their catches quite willingly!

The first fish that my mother cooked was the GT/Ebek in curry. This is a close up pic of one quarter of the fish (head portion) chopped up and cooked with coconut curry. After having cooked the cobia, tripletail and parrotfish to date, my mum likes the Ebek best. And it is indeed delicious - and guess what - it isn't for sale in Singapore or even JB markets - oh well, even if it was, my freezer is quite stuffed with Ebek meat still.

My mum also took it upon herself to cook the sotongs which I'd caught earlier (click here for the catch report) but since I absolutely detest the taste of squid, I didn't have any of it. It's strange why I like catching sotong even though I don't eat the same - sotongs never put up much of a fight either - it's just a dead weight at the end of the jig. And the mess they make! I just bought a squid jig for RM 44 and it's going to be my deadliest weapon in the squid killer arsenal when I go eging again with my fishing shifu - the weapon of last resort. The last fishing trip at Rompin, I had no problems landing 2 sotongs on a SGD 4 orange (that's the color to use at Rompin) jig but because the set up was different (a very heavy weight was used), jigging got too tiring for me and I went back to just bottom fishing.

But I digress - my mother, in addition to both the fish and squid, also cooked the rest of the prawns which I'd caught in my earlier prawning/prawn fishing forrays. Gosh, it has been some time since I've felt the urge to go prawn fishing but even if I get struck by the urge, my mother's method of making me eat all my catches is quite a deterrent indeed. Bah.

And here is a pic of my mum's cooking for dinner - all the different categories of catches (fish, prawns and squids) at a go including a pork meat dish and a veg dish.

I love my mother and her cooking but I do say - anyone wants any fishes? I'll keep you in mind the next time I go fishing!

Tripletail - Dirty fighter!

There is no doubt about it - what I am holding in my hand is one of the dirtiest fighters I've come across. And the what happens to be the largest TripleTail of this fishing trip which took my bait - we didn't have a boga with us so we could not get the exact weight of this fish but our experienced boatman and deckie estimated this fish to weigh at least 3kg. 3kg of pure muscle.

Now, I would not have managed to land this triple tail at all if not for the man in the picture below - the deckie whom we addressed as "Abang" (brother, in Malay). He is without doubt, the most hardworking and experienced deckie that I have come across. There was a mild feeding frenzy going on at the rear of the boat when I felt the tap tap on the end of the line at the bait and after counting silently to 8, I struck hard to set the hook. Immediately, the reel starting singing as the line peeled off and despite tightening the drag on Mr Brad, I kept losing line to whatever it was at the end of the line. I was tempted to set full drag but at the rate the line kept peeling off, to do so might be folly as the creature on the other end appeared to have enough strength to snap off the line. And while I was debating whether to set full drag or not, the singing stopped abruptly and when I tried to retrieve the line...only to find out that it was STUCK. As if sungkot (stuck between rocks/corals or caught on the ropes in the water). I was all of like, damn damn, and even the deckie agreed that this was a lost cause. Because of the expensive leader and complicated knot used to join both leader and line, I asked him not to cut line but to retrieve for me as much of the line as he could. So using a towel, he slowly retrieved the line for me by pulling the line towards the boat by hand while I cranked Mr Brad. Guess what, my set up ( 50lb leader and 40lbs braid and 2 knots (main to leader and leader to knot) was amazingly strong enough to withstand the pressure to pull the entire boat towards the spot where it appeared that my hook was sungkot. When we peered at the area where it appeared that my hook was, we realised that the triple tail was actually among the unjung (ropes in the water) and it had lodged itself firmly amongst the ropes and leaves in the water. Everyone hushed as the boatman used the landing net to scoop up the complacent tripletail which was snug in the unjung. Hah! We beat the fish!

Dirty fighter indeed, much like groupers which head straight for the holes in the corals once hooked! However, combined with the fight and strength of a seabass (kim) (unlike groupers which mostly give up once you get them out of the hole and do not go for runs), the tripletails are great fighting fishes if not dirty fighters towards the end. Do not estimate the strength of a triple tail ever - it has more fight in it than a cobia! The most important thing when fishing for tripletails is having a boatman experienced enough to have his own private spots (where he plants unjungs) and who knows what kind of bait triple tails take. I read on the net that tripletails take shrimps but not the tripletails at these spots. I used shrimp to test out the theory and got no hits at all but the moment I used bloody fish meat from certain bait fishes (tripletails can be fussy eaters), the takes by the fishes came almost non-stop. There is the tap tap one would feel on the bait, then one should count to 8 and strike hard to set the hook. We caught almost 3 bags full of triple tails (see pic above) - talk about fantastic fishing!

We? Yes, the 4 of us on Mike's boat - my colleagues and one honarary member (nephew of 1 of my colleagues) who is holding the large triple tail I caught and who has therefore reduced me to holding one of the smaller triple tails pulled from the 3 sackfuls. Talk about great fishing indeed at Rompin! :) When it came to fish distribution time, I specifically requested for the largest triple tail I caught so I could bring it home to show my mother. And here it is at about 2am in the night. The fish was so big that it could not fit into the sink properly and had to be laid diagonally across. The nokia phone in the picture was placed there to give an idea of the size of the fish. And below are some of the other triple tails I brought back too after the fishes were distributed amongst the 8 of us anglers. If you have been wondering why the fish is called a triple tail, just look at the position of the fins on this fish - doesn't it look like a 3 leaf clover ie triple tail? I'm hoping to get more of these fellows on the next fishing trip which is next week but it's off to Bali first until 1st June 2010!

Shrek Forever After (2010) Movie

This movie is the fourth and final movie in the Shrek series where a new villian, Rumpelstiltskin is introduced, aided by broom-flying witches and an assassin, the Pied Piper. Rumpel wants to take over the kingdom of Far Far Away and Fiona's parents almost sign away the kingdom away to him in exchange for Rumpel breaking Fiona's curse (orgre by night) but Shrek saves the day. The movie then cuts to Shrek leading a domestic life with Fiona where life seems to be a routine of baby burps, farts and entertaining friends and family. It gets all too much for Shrek one day at his children's first birthday party where the pigs have eaten the cake, and he loses his temper, pounding a giant fist in the substitute birthday cake. Fiona follows him as he stalks out and reminds him that he has 3 lovely kids and a wife who loves him. Rumpel who is hiding in the bushes then stages an accident where Shrek rescues Rumpel and they share a drink or two in the carriage. Rumpel then offers Shrek the chance to be an ogre for a day in exchange for any day of Shrek's childhood. Shrek agrees without thinking and is seen to enjoy letting his orgre self out and terrorising the villagers. However when he reaches back home, he finds that Fiona and his children are gone. He is then captured by witches who take him to Rumpel in a carriage drawn by donkey who clearly doesn't recognise Shrek. Shrek confronts Rumpel who is now king of Far Far Away and Rumpel admits he took the day that Shrek was born which meant that Shrek never saved Fiona and he never had kids. Also, at the end of this day, Shrek would dissolve into nothingness. Shrek refuses to back down, breaks free, hops on a witch's broomstick and snatching donkey, flies out of the palace. Donkey tells him that there is a way to break the contract signed with Rumpel and after folding the paper that the contract is signed on, discover that it forms 3 words "True love's kiss". They interpret that to mean that Shrek and Fiona must kiss for the contract to be rendered void. Quite co-incidentally, both of them are captured by a band of rogue ogres when Donkey is unable to resist eating a plateful of waffles dripping with honey in the middle of the forest. The band of rogue ogres is led by Fiona who does not recognise Shrek and spurns all his attempts to get her to kiss him. Fiona plots an attack on Rumpel who will be passing by the forest but Rumpel sends a decoy and the Pipe Piper who plays a tune rendering all the ogres helpless. Fiona and Shrek too dance to the tune but Puss in Boots (whom Shrek meets at Fiona's tent) and Donkey carts them away. Shrek tells Fiona things about her that only he would know and she allows him to kiss her. However, at the end of the kiss, nothing happens. Fiona walks away and is eventually captured by Rumpel together wtih the rest of the rogue ogres. Shrek surrenders himself to Rumpel in exchange for the freedom of the ogres but Rumpel does not let Fiona go because she is not a true ogre. He also gets her nemesis, the fire breathing dragon to attack both Shrek and Fiona. Both of them coordinate spectacularly to chain the dragon and capture Rumpel. Shrek then falls to the ground, his body fading to gold because the 24hrs are almost up and he is to fade to nothingness. Fiona kisses him and the curse is broken because this is indeed true love's kiss as opposed to a kiss without love. Shrek is then brought back to the day of the party just before he smashes the cake and he doesn't smash the cake this time but appreciates everything that he has.

The Slog Reviews: 10/10. A typical feel-good movie filled with laughs ("Ri="don"culous) and where it is clear that good will prevail over evil.

Superfreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

I was #47 on the reservation list and I picked it up only...erh, 3 weeks ago? Now the book is due tomorrow and I can't renew it because other people have reserved the same and I am barely through with it. Not that it isn't as great a read as Freakonomics which I reviewed here but because I have been, to use then law-firm parlance "swarmed". With work of course but also with all the fishing and travelling - and it's going to be this way till October.

The Slog Reviews: 10/10 for this book's contents and also for the writing which engages the reader with its light, friendly and informative style. In its explanatory note, the authors said that their previous book had a unifying theme afterall - "People respond to incentives". In this book, using statistics/accumulated data, the authors present theories/conclusions which may change or at least challenge the beliefs and norms that we hold dear.

For eg, from this book we learn that

1. Drink driving is safer than drunk walking in USA (except that a drunk walker isn't likely to hurt or kill anyone other than himself cf drunk drivers)

2. There is good reason to be skeptical of data from personal surveys. There is often a vast gulf between how pp say they behave and how they actually behave (declared preferences and revealed preferences).

3. When the solution to a given problem doesn't lay right before our eyes, it is easy to assume that no solution exists. But history has shown again and again that such assumptions are wrong.

4. Women earn lesser than men. Even Harvard women. Further, a considerable amount of research has shown that overweight women suffer a greater wage penalty than overweight men. The same is true for women with bad teeth. However, there is one labor market which women have always dominated: prostitution. Since time immemorial and all over the world, men have wanted more sex than they could get for free. Wages are determined in large part by the laws of supply and demand which are often more powerful than laws made by legislators. The greatest competition to a prostitute is a woman willing to have sex with a man for free and sex outside of marriage was much harder to come by and carried significantly higher penalities than it does today. However, the prostitution market still thrives because men hire prostitutes do do things a girlfriend of wife would never be willing to do.

5. In the business world, to price discriminate, some customers must have clearly identifiable traits that place them in the willing to pay more category and the seller must be able to prevent resale of the product, thereby destroying any arbitrage opportunities.

6. A realtor and a pimp perform the same primary service: marketing your product to potential customers. The Internet is proving to be a pretty powerful substitute for the Realtor.

7. While gender discrimination may be a minor contributor to the male-female wage differential, it is desire - or the lack thereof - that accoutns for most of the wage gap. 3 main factors: Women take fewer finance cources. All else being equal, there is a strong correlation between a finance background and career earnings. Women work fewer hours than men. Women take more career interruptions than men. Female MBS with no children work 3% fewer hours than the average male MBA but female MBS with children work 24% lesser.

8. It is no exaggeration to say that a person's entire life can be greatly influenced by the fluke of his or her birth, whether the fluke is one of time, place or circumstances.

9. Mastery arrives through deliberate practice. Deliberate practice has 3 key components: setting specific goals, obtaining immediate feedback and concentrating as much on technique as on outcome. When it comes to choosing a life path, people should do what they love because if you don't love what you're doing, you are unlikely to work hard enough to get very good at it.

10. What are the characteristics of the best doctors? An excellent doctor is disproportionately likely to have attended a top-ranked medical school and served a residency at a prestigious hospital. More experience is also valuable and oh yes, you also want your ER doctor to be a woman.

11. Human behaviour is influenced by a dazzlingly complex set of incentives, social norms, framing references, and the lessons gleaned from past experience - in a word, context. We act as we do because given the choices and incentives at play in a particular circumstance, it seems most productive to act that way. This is also known as rational behaviour which is what economics is all about.

12. Most giving is impure altruism or wam glow altruism. U give not only because u want to help but because it makes u look good or feel good or perhaps feel less bad.

Driving to Rompin and Restoran / restaurant Rompin Bahru

The last fishing trip, I took 3 and a half hours to drive from Singapore Customs to Mersing (7 to 10.30pm) and another one hour to get to the fishing chalet at Rompin. The reason was because of the heavy traffic jam in JB going in the direction of Tebrau City and also the number of cars on the road heading to and fro Mersing. However, when I drove back on a weekday night (not Fri), the traffic was much better and I took only 2 hours and 15mins in my vios to drive from Kuala Rompin to JB Customs despite the winding road, 3 pax and 2 large ice boxes in my cars and never having seen the road before in the day.

I have been bringing my 2 new groups of fishing kakis to restoran lei huat at Mersing which I was introduced to on the Pekan light jigging trip. Not because the food is very good but because by the time one gets to Mersing, there aren't very many choices left. The restaurant stops serving food about 10.45pm though and the ambiance of the place (no air con) and toilets remind one of a coffeeshop in Singapore in the 1960s. The hor fun at RM4 is pretty edible and filling I must say and is the ideal choice for a quick dinner before going on to Rompin or Pekan.

One knows one is at Kuala Rompin when one sees this giant marlin statue. Be warned though that after Mersing en route to Kuala Rompin, there is a bridge which one has to go across where there are lots of people fishing along the sides of the bridge, and right after the bridge, there is a traffic police roadblock (both times about 11pm on a Fri night) and the police may ask to see one's driving license.

Anyway, I saw this signboard of Restoran Rompin Bahru outside 7-11 and took a pic of it, never realising that this would be the restaurant I would be eating at all the time for breakfast and dinner when at Rompin or Nenasi.

Here is a pic of the restaurant in the day. It opens pretty early apparently about 7+am and they serve toasted bread, kampong eggs, wanton mee, porridge or meat buns for breakfast. The lady boss speaks English, Chinese and Malay fluently and is very helpful and pleasant (pleasant on the eye too!)

On my first visit to the restaurant (for dinner), she recommended the lotus soup. The Slog Reviews: 9/10. Everyone at the table raved about how good the soup was - it came with lotus roots, peanuts and chicken meat (and chicken feet).

We also ordered the fried chicken, sotong dish, and the restaurant cooked the two of the many fishes that we had caught during the day - one grouper and one parrot fish. The sotong dish apparently is a huge draw and all the times I've eaten there with different groups of friends, all of them have polished each and every morsel of this dish. The kangkong is average though and the chicken dish slightly below average.

Here is a close up of the parrot fish dish. Apparently, it is not possible to buy this fish at all in Singapore markets and this was the first time that I had parrot fish. The Slog Reviews: 10/10. Sweet succuluent tender white fish meat. It can't compare with cod or salmon of course but if you think that grouper meat is delicious, we had both grouper and the parrot fish at the same seating and the parrot fish meat tastes 10 times better than the grouper's. This restaurant does a fantastic job of cooking both the grouper and the parrot fish (steamed in the same source) by the way.

So where previously I'd always been most delighted to catch a nice greasy grouper, I'm beginning to hope for parrot fishes each fishing trip. Not that I'm dissing a greasy grouper which is amongst the most expensive fishes but I would sure like the Bradmis to land me one big fat parrot fish the next fishing trip. My freezer currently has about 4 groupers, one of which is this one below which I landed on the Bradmis - time to stock the freezer with parrot fishes instead!