2009 in Review

I missed doing my annual review last year. I think annual reviews are important to help one reflect on his achievements, and notable events. We'll then be able to move on and be better the next year. Since no one at the office is really doing anything worthwhile anyway, here's what I remember most from 2009:

• Beijing: This working trip really opened my eyes to the idea of living outside Malaysia. Before this I've only had overseas vacations, but never to live or work. Though it was only 3 months, it did spark some nomadic tendencies of me moving to some faraway land to start anew...
  
• Work promotion: I remember when I first joined this company, my boss at that time told me that on average, it takes 2 years to move to the next level. It took me 2.9 years and I wasn't really happy with that. But hey, it did arrive and I got a pay raise from that so I'm still thankful nonetheless.
  
• Broke up: We had a strong 2+ years together, but I decided I had to be the bad guy before I really became the bad guy. (Heh, it's only something both of us would understand.) The biggest lesson I learned from this is to never be complacent. I'm now enjoying singledom and meeting people again.
  
• BodyJam: What should have taken 2 months took almost 2 years instead. But it was good - questions of unfairness aside, it did help me become harder, better, faster, stronger. Beforehand, getting an International BodyJam Certificate seemed an enviable goal. Now, it's just another step in the Everest scheme of things. Came so far, got much more to go.
  
• Cardio Fit: As always, I keep improving. I now have the confidence to say that my latest release could actually qualify as one of the weaker BodyJam releases. Call me out for a demo! Unfortunately, my stage charisma is nowhere near Gandalf 'G' Archer's.
  
• Family: Relations with Dad has improved this year. I believe he has softened with age, which does help smooth disagreements over. At the back of my heart though, I've begun wondering how life would be when he's gone? Relations with Mom has stayed positive throughout 2009. And she reads my blog so I'll refrain from commenting any further. Hi Mom!
  
• Ballroom: Took up basic ballroom latin classes to expose myself to partner dancing. I enjoyed it! There's a different feel to it compared to freestyle hip-hop. More importantly, it showed me how important it is to work closely with your dance partner. The lead cannot look impressive without his follower, and the follower can never do impressive tricks without the lead's support.
  
• Bangkok: My 2nd trip to Bangkok this year in November was really enjoyable. Besides the free entrance to the Asia Fitness Convention, I really felt comfortable moving about in a foreign country alone. My nomadic tendencies were honed from a lonesome childhood, and now they've made me strong enough to really survive elsewhere by my self.
  
• Lecturing: I've had an ambition to be a lecturer since college. And I finally got that opportunity this year! I'm just about to complete my first semester there and I can say that I really enjoyed myself. Unfortunately, I'll be turning down any lecturing offers next semester. Notes preparation and assignment marking does take its toll on my weekends. Actually, it usually eclipses my entire weekend! So while I've identified lecturing as a possible retirement career, it is not possible to fit it in my life right now without sacrificing my social life.
  
• Friends: While I'm surrounded by many sincere, good friends, I realized that I'm not really close to any of them. Once again, I'm like a nomad ready to move on.

I believe 2010 will be another exciting year for me! For better or for worse. I hope 2009 has been good to you too. Happy New Year!

Belacan in Beijing

Last Sunday I was walking around looking for a place to have lunch when I came across.... a Malaysian restaurant! Looking at the menu, I knew I had to try it. Not that I was pining for Hokkien Mee or Or Chien (after all, I'll be back in 8 days), but I really wanted to see how well our cuisine is represented here.

Entering the tastefully decorated place with Malay wood carvings and motifs, I was seated next to the window in a comfortable sofa. The waitresses wore tight and glittery baju kebaya, but I didn't check if they knew any Malay. Some generic Malay pop music was playing in the background, but it wasn't anyone I recognized. Certainly nothing as old as P. Ramlee, but nothing as recent as Siti Nurhaliza either. I proceeded to scan through the English/Chinese menu (what? No BM?).

Here's what I ordered for my lunch:

• Otak-otak: The taste is too mild and it was a bit too dry/hard. So it tasted more like fish cakes than the mushy and soft versions.
• Kangkong Belacan: The star of my meal! The belacan taste is authentic, and brought me back to choo char outlets back home. However, the Chinese are not known to be big fans of spicy dishes (except their own Sichuan cuisine) so the kangkong wasn't fiery at all.
• CKT (Char Kuey Teow): Ahh... I consider this the gold standard of any Malaysian cook! And the CKT here wasn't up to par at all. Alright, for someone who hasn't tasted home for 3 months, it was passable. But thinking of it with a critical tongue, the rice noodles were too thick (twice of what it should be), and it tasted mostly of soya sauce with not enough depth or crispiness. Still, a commendable effort since it has large prawns and lap cheong (no cockles, though I'm not a fan anyway).
• Ais Kacang: I'm still unsure if it was meant to be ais kacang or ABC. The glaring difference: gula melaka is used instead of sirap ros dan sarsi. Ice was blended in a machine, so lacked the fine shaves of true ais kacang. FAIL.

Here are the prices of some of their dishes. There is a wide variety of multi-cultural cuisine. If I weren't dining alone, I would have tried one of their rendangs or curries.

• Otak-otak: RMB32
• Rojak: RMB28
• Satay (6): RMB42 (WTH?!?)
• Kangkong Belacan: RMB26
• CKT: RMB36
• Laksa: RMB38
• Hokkien Char (Penang style): RMB35
• Char Koay Kak: RMB35 (WTF?!?!)
• Nasi Lemak: RMB42
• Nasi Goreng Melayu: RMB32
• Chinese Chicken Rice: RMB42
• Roti Canai: RMB18 (Holy mother of ....!)
• Bubur Cha Cha: RMB18
• Ais Kacang: RMB28
• Teh Tarik: RMB18
• Tom Yum Soup: RMB25

I've started to compile what I'll be eating on the Saturday and Sunday after I return. Hokkien Mee, Char Koay Teow, Loh Mee, here I COME!!!

How Many...

How many engineers do you need to buy food from the wet market?

Three.

One to select and pay for the vegetables,
One to carry those vegetables, and
One to note down the price of those vegetables for the purpose of expense claims.

Damn It!

Last night we had dinner at a Belgian restaurant called Morel's. Reviews highly recommended their mussels so we ordered that. Little did I know it would change my life forever.

You see, it was the best ****ing mussels I've ever had in my entire life!

I'm kinda angry now because the bottomline is: every mussel I have from now on will be compared to Morel's. And then I will get even angrier because I know Morel's is a 6.5 hour flight away, not exactly someplace I could go on a whim. I didn't even feel this strongly about Peking roast duck, so you know this is special.

I know what most guys think - mussels are like a poor man's version of oysters. A large shellfish as well, but it's a bit more chewy and less flavourful. Well, Morel's is different.


Imagine: boiled mussels so soft it offered no resistance when plucked from its shell. Merely a few bites later and it's sliding down your throat, making you lunge for the next mussel before everyone else finishes it.

Imagine: the smell and taste of fresh seafood without a sandy aftertaste.

Imagine: leftover jucies that are clear and tasty enough to be made into seafood chowder or a seafood broth.

THAT'S Morel's.

The mussels are imported, and I can see that they've cleaned each mussel individually. That's why there's no icky membrane and sand/mud deposits within the mussel. So there's none of that black stuff mucking up the taste as is common with other restaurant's mussels.

So that's why I say: Damn it!

Changing Tides

Well! After my previous outpouring of negativity, things have certainly looked up! I think writing all those thoughts down really flushed it out and prepare me for the awesomeness about to happen.

I finally attended a BodyJam class in Beijing last night and it rocked! They went through BJ48 one last time, and it was interesting to see how they taught in a smattering of English and Mandarin. Basic cues alternate between languages (one, two, three is usually followed by yi, er, san), while motivational cues are usually in Chinese.

One thing to note is that their DVDs are not localized. So all the cueing and booklet is in English. I think this slightly hampers their repertoire of Flava cues as some cues in English just don't sound right in Chinese! So it's up to the individual instructor's ability to formulate new Flava and Breakout cues. Luckily the instructor I met (Johnson) knows how to bring out the fun out in Jam.

Anyway the good news is that they're launching BJ49 next week and I was invited to join them on stage! I kept warning them that my banana-ness might cause learning problems with the members, but they insisted on me teaching a track or two. Since they've been such gracious hosts, I'd be rude to turn them down. So I agreed to teach the Latin and Recovery tracks.

Only three things to do now: practice, practice, practice! I won't let Malaysia down, I promise! :)

You got me burnin' up!

Womanizer (Benassi Radio Edit) - Britney Spears

Timely Advice for All Men

Spotted in urinals at the Temple of Heaven and Summer Palace:

Is It Finger Licking Good....

... if it's in China?

Apparently, no. I just had dinner at KFC in Beijing and here are my 10-minute observations:

1. The fried chicken is not the main attraction! There are about 7 types of various burgers and tortilla wraps featured heavily on the menu. Fried chicken is relegated to a corner and I had a hard time finding it initially!
2. The fried chicken is *meh*. The skin is not crispy, and I could really feel the fatty chicken skin swimming in my oral cavity. Ugh! They got the Colonel's 11 secret spices right, but I think they amplified the amount of salt in there. And, there's only O.R., no Hot & Spicy.
3. Their default set meal comes with a small corn salad and a glass of orange juice (more like cordial, actually).
4. Coleslaw? What's that? Mashed potatoes are available though.
   
5. Where can you find the best egg tarts in China? Why, in KFC of course! Their egg tarts (RMB5.50/pc, not cheap) are absolutely heavenly and has a creamy and egg-y taste. It's very similar to Portugese egg tarts, with a crispy crust and cardiac-arresting filling.
6. For dinner I had a New Orleans Roast Chicken Burger. I think New Orleans should be offended.

I guess it's safe to say that Malaysia still holds the title of Best KFC in the World.

Arty Farty

An in any large city, Beijing has a vibrant arts and culture scene. Plus, it has some of the most modern places to stage such events. So early this month I made a resolve to check out some shows and pretend to be all high culture.

Tickets are relatively cheap and there are many shows running throughout the year (unlike the odd musical or two every 5 years in KL). I bought mine from Piao, which is the usual tickets distributor for most shows in China. I decided I will feign appreciation of abstract dances, music written by dead men, and epic Chinese operas with the following shows:

• Swan Lake (ballet) at the National Aquatics Centre (a.k.a. Watercube)
• I'm looking forward to this show the most, because the stage is set around the swimming pool instead of a usual stage. With this it becomes a full-vision ballet, unrestricted by the 2 dimensions of a normal stage. (I'm not sure what that means either.)
• Summertime - Gershwin's Works Concert at the NCPA (a.k.a. The Egg)
• A collection of works by George Gershwin (tak tahu siapa itu), which includes an orchestra and a singing chorus. I'm only coming for this because this was the cheapest show that is held in NCPA's Concert Hall.
• Peking Opera - The Red Cliff at the NCPA
• You might have read the novels or watched the movies, but have you watched it in the form of a Peking Opera? I'm looking forward to this because its last run was all sold out. Plus, it is directed by Zhang Jigang (asst. chief director of the opening/closing ceremonies of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games) and performed by leading Peking Opera actors. And all for only RM40? You can't get it in Malaysia even if you paid RM400.

I will post my thoughts and reviews about each show after I watched them.

Abso-freaking-lutely Hot

Last Wednesday, the temperature in Beijing touched a high of 40 degrees Celsius.

I'll give you a moment to imagine that.

Imagine standing in front of an oven and feeling the heat wave sting your face. That's how the wind felt like. So although the low humidity makes our perception of hotness lower, the sheer intensity of the sun literally burns my skin in prolonged exposures. Have I also mentioned that the sun rises before 5am and only sets after 8pm? hot Hot HOT!

On the bright side, I've got a good tan.

Observations on Hospitality

2 things:

1. I saw an old man struggle to climb up the bus (the step is about 1 foot off the ground). The female bus driver immediately got out of her seat to assist the elderly man.
2. At the subway, I witnessed a little girl of around 8 or 9 get separated from her mother because the mum was rushing for the train, and the doors closed before daughter could get in. She started bawling her eyes out as the train pulled away from the station. A bystander quickly went to comfort her, and almost immediately a subway warden walked over to escort the little girl to the office.

Malaysians are known for their hospitality. I have never seen those two event play out in Malaysia before. Hmm.... I wonder indeed.



(On the other hand, I was at Ikea on Sunday and I saw a father asking his young son to pee at a corner of the restaurant because the son couldn't hold it much longer. He scolded off the Ikea staff who asked him to go to the toilet instead. So yes, the boy actually left a puddle of pee right inside Ikea while the poor staff had to mop it up afterwards. The outrageous part is - Ikea's toilet was barely 20 meters away. Major -_-" moment!)

Curse You, Uniqlo

I've entered Uniqlo thrice, and I've never once left empty-handed! Curse you, affordable-yet-trendy clothing! How dare you tempt me with your last-season clearance sales of more than 50%. Don't get me started on the 100's of unique t-shirt designs in your UT range. I hate you!

Uniqlo is Japan’s leading clothing retail chain. They have branches in several other countries including Singapore (but not Malaysia).

*sigh*, like they say, hate is just another form of love, not the absence of it. I'll be visiting them again before I come back.

Flexing Some Culinary Muscles

I have a very simple kitchen in my home. We don't do much cooking, so we only have a small portable stove, a medium-sized pan and pot, and basic low-quality knives. We have a small toaster oven that's perfect for toast, potatoes, reheating, but not much else!

I like to cook once in a while (main masak-masak?) so I was practically in heaven when I saw how well-equipped the apartment kitchen is. Good knives, oven, microwave, and a great selection of pots and pans allow me more freedom in cooking my dishes.

Here's what I cooked for lunch on Sunday:


First up is a cold dish heavily inspired by a similar Hors D'oeuvres we ordered at a Yunnan restaurant. It's a vegetable roll with: Italian herb grilled chicken, black mushroom, and shredded carrot. It's swimming in a diluted soya sauce base with mashed ginger.


The restaurant we went to wrapped everything with the flesh of a plant that tastes almost like cucumber. I'm not sure what it's called, but we managed to get it at the wet market. It's freakishly difficult to slice the flesh thinly! I'm amazed at how the chef could make large, thin slices while I routinely cursed the gods for making a slice that is either too thick or too short. As a result, 1 hour of hard work only yielded 17 servings.


But it tastes pretty awesome! Still, this will be the last time I attempt such a crazy dish without proper equipment to make nice vegetable slices.

The next dish would be impossible without a proper oven: Baked mashed potatoes!

After mashing the boiled potatoes, I added in the following: Italian herb mix, pepper, salt, butter, and half an egg. Scooping everything into a baking dish, I added the magical touch: Chopped garlic sprinkled over the top.

And in it goes to the 175F pre-heated oven for 45 minutes! A bit salty (I'll skip the salt next time) but otherwise the herb-y taste sets it apart from KFC.

The last dish I cooked is a simple vegetable stir-fry with french beans, carrots, and black mushrooms:
Before throwing the vegetables into the pan, I sauteed some dried shrimps until fragrant. Though the dried shrimp here is not as pungent as Malaysia's, it still added a nice kick to the dish, along with the generous amount of oyster sauce I used (oh, the MSG!).


Overall, a roaring success!

I also cooked Thai-style stewed pork ribs with mushrooms (not spicy, but sweet type) which turned out swimmingly well, getting a rare thumbs up from my housemates.

Banana in Beijing Episodes 2, 3, 4

Thanks to the Great Firewall of China, I have not been able to update my blog easily. So just to remind you that the latest 3 episodes of my vlog (and all future episodes) is up on my Vimeo page.

For your own sanity, I recommend viewing only 1 episode per day. The sheer boredom of some of the episodes might make your brain want to crawl out from your cranium - so you've been warned!

BTW, there will not be a fresh episode this week, and probably the next. I have nothing worthy to vlog about - and I'd rather skip a skip instead of posting something empty!

Comments are always warmly received!

Pop My Cherry

For most of my life, my only experience with cherries are the ones found on cakes. I always find them funny tasting, but I guess that's expected because they are sweetened, coloured, and preserved. I also can't fathom why it has a funky after taste that turns most people away.

But today I've finally tasted freshly plucked cherries and they are a MILE away from what I've had. It tastes a lot like grapes, except it only has one big seed in the middle instead of several small ones in a grape. Also, cherries grow on tall trees, unlike short shrubs as with grapes.

If you have never tasted real, fresh cherries before, you owe that to yourself. Look for the dark maroon ones as those are truly sweet. Red cherries are still quite sour. Pop a cherry today!

Pulling Some Noodles

Back in Penang discerning diners are willing to pay extra for 'la mien' (literally translated as 'pulled noodles') for their freshness and taste. For the uninitiated, la mien is basically noodles that are prepared on the spot. The chef will knead, massage, and pull huge mounds of dough and transform them into delicate strings of noodles, without all the boric acid and unsavoury chemicals found in conventional instant ramen and yellow noodles.

What is premium and rare in Penang, is common in Beijing. It's actually harder to find yellow noodles in restaurants than la mien, so those that appreciate fresh noodles will be in heaven here as they are considered common food and are quite cheap.

Too bad I'm not a big fan of la mien.

I Feel It in the Air

The difference was apparent - I could feel it in the wind. What was once refreshing or sometimes even shiver-inducing, has become unbearably warm. The winds of change are blowing; summer is here!

Yesterday we experienced Beijing highest temperature since 2005, a run-for-the-shade and smack-on-some-sunscreen 38 degrees. I thought I managed to escape Malaysia's tropical heat and haze, but seems that the hot weather is catching up to me...

Makan Makan Makan

Operation: Eat is becoming a huge success over here in Beijing! I'm now around 75kg, which means I gained almost 3kg within a month! This is getting very near to my goal, so now I'm beginning Phase 2 and started regular weight training at my apartment gym.

I'm thinking this last minute business trip is becoming a huge blessing in disguise. First, my meals are paid so that can only mean one thing. I eat buffet breakfast every single morning, plus a huge lunch and hearty dinner. The gym is just a lift ride down to the basement, so there's no place for excuses like "... but it's so far....." The gym is deserted most of the time so there's no rushing for equipment and self-conscious feelings.

So far... me likey. Let's see how much muscle I can gain before I return and resume a poor diet...

What A Shock!

Thanks to the super-dry weather here, I've lost count of the number of times I get shocked by static electricity when touching metal handrails. You would think I'd learn my lesson after the 5th shock, but no, it's more than 10 times and counting. Dammit!

Also, the dry weather is such that most any moisturizer I apply on my skin is dried out in mere hours. I had to buy a good Nivea body milk lotion to combat premature skin aging! And the thing is foreign brands are more expensive here than home, so I've been wasting my yuan on unnecessary things like moisturizers and face masks.

A Goal We Can All Aspire To

I've decided to become an alcoholic. Let me explain.

I'm not a big fan of alcohol consumption, what with following my Buddhist 5 Precepts and my low tolerance for it (a sip of wine and I'll turn maroon). I've recently been more interested in cocktails but that is a very rare occasion.

However, here in China the government doesn't impose a sin tax (I think) on alcohol and tobacco. That's why beers and cigarettes are so DAMN cheap. A local pack of cancer sticks is less than RMB3, which is roughly RM1.50. Similarly, a 355ml can of imported Heineken is around RMB3.60, which is only RM1.80. Local brands like Tsing Tao run even cheaper!

So can you see why I'm looking forward to indulge my senses and stress my liver? I'm only here for 9 more weeks - it's time I let loose a little and made new friends with names like Tiger, Budweiser, Carlsberg, and Tsing Tao.

Cheers!

Banana in Beijing, Part 1

As promised, the first episode of my vlog of my experiences in China:

Banana in Beijing (Ep 1) from Zemien on Vimeo.

A little background on the production process: I took all the videos myself. When doing the self interview I have to extend my left arm all the way out to the front, resulting in a tired left arm by the end of filming. The cam has a flip-out LCD that allows me to frame myself in the video. That's why you will sometimes see my eyes gaze to the left as I check myself out in the LCD (just to make sure I don't chop my head off in the video, ok?!)

I spent about 4 hours putting all the clips together in Sony Vegas 8. I had no experience with it whatsoever but I found it a joy to learn and use. It is pretty lightweight, fast on its feet, and does what it needs to do well. I can foresee this software being a strong contender to iMovie '08 on my iMac.

I had planned to write down the topics I wanted to cover but I completely forgot and just started talking on my feet. There were a few segments that were re-shot, and some embarassing mistakes were edited out. There was one shot where the sweet I was sucking on fell out of my mouth and I quickly looked into the camera and said, "You didn't see that." I thought that was charming, but I removed it from the final product.

I have no idea why I started using an awful sounding accent. I think it's because I tried to speak proper English. Believe me when I say I am more relaxed when you talk to me in person. In this video I sound like I have a large carrot stuffed up my you-know-where and had a gun pointed to my head.

Do drop a comment to tell me what you think and what topics you'd like me to cover in the upcoming episodes. I plan to film this weekly and set it at various locations. So keep yourself tuned in to "Banana in Beijing"!