My life is a carbon copy of...

Aycee and his car
On the Friday two weeks ago, was driving up the narrow alleyway behind Jalan Bukit Bintang on my way to work, just when the afternoon DBKL service was collecting the trash. So, got stuck behind the thing for 3 minutes before they move to let me pass.

Anyway, I normally drive with my windows down when I am out of the city limit (read: not in KL downtown area), so after Saturday's gaming session at Mage Cafe the following evening, I unwind my window while driving home and experience a MINOR stench that continues until I pass Bangsar before I realized what I was smelling.

Dang! how long can that stench last when I was only behind the thing for only 3 minutes!!!
Went back home and threw some of mother's prize flowers into the engine compartment (and the car interior as well) while it was toasty hot.

Ugly: didn't throw in enough flower to de-stench the engine.

Lesson: The car interior does smell good after all the flowers have wilted under the afternoon sun.

Lemongrass's Internet connection
So, the admin office was looking into upgrading our internet bandwidth so that we can correspond faster with our internet agents, bookings and customers, etc.

So on Monday, I clocked in just to find out that the connection was DOWN(ed)!!!
Turns out that the TM people came around and declared our line was unupgrade-able for bigger bandwidth and recommended to his superiors to cancel the upgrade and the zealous techs back at TM cancelled our existing line in preparation for the upgrade.

Result: 7 whole days on dial-up modem.

Ugly: the Internet bookings got processed really S-L-O-W-L-Y.

Lesson: watching the two managers going to fire off at the TM customer service rep is really an eye-opener.

Aycee and his books
Now that the qualifers for the World Scrabble Championship is in full swing.

On the surface, it is 15 odd people fighting for 2 spots. In reality, it is probably 14 people fighting for 1 spot since they is absolutely no way anyway will overtake Ganesh unless he forgets to play in the Malaysia (still praying for that outcome). And for the other spot, bacsically it is probably open to the 4 players still floating (two are actually struggling, including me) above the 1600 point mark.

Having finally compiled the wordlists that I wanted and bound a book full of most of the bingo list, I do find myself in an unenviable position, which one to study first?

First, it was the bingo list.
Then I found out that I need to revise my 3s & 4s (and probably the 2s after the King Cup debacle in Thailand).
And I still want to study the JKQXZ 5s and 6s and all the other the remaining 5s that I vowed to do after the 2005 WSC (procastination is such a pain!!!)

Result: end up doing 1 page of each a day, combined with daily zyzzyva computer sessions and the ever burgeoning daily cardbox quiz. Finished reading the 3s, 4s, 5vowel7/8s and top 10k 7s though. Still have 10 list to tackle and about 140 thousands word to go. (go memory)

Ugly: shrink, cardbox! SHRINK! I don't want more words to test! AARRGHH!!!

Lesson: must be more discipline with word study...

Tis the season for U-N-A-G-I

since I first ate Japanese food, I always look forward to having unagi with every meal, so my eyes immediately lit up when I saw that unagi would be on the menu for this month's omakase.

Starter dish: Steamed Eel Tofu & Boiled Spinach mixed with Barracuda
The spinach dish was reminiscent of Ricky's earlier starter dishes in the last quarter of last year. Simple veggies cooked just nicely and served with a light sauce that has been infused with the flavour of the vegetables. I see that he has not lost his touch with this one. the barracuda meat was deftly complemented by the spinach but was a wee bit overcooked since it is firm and unyielding to the pressure from my chopsticks but crumbles in my mouth (and yes, I mean crumble).

Unagi Tofu? (WHEEEE!!!!!!!)
upon closer inspection, it was just a slice of unagi upon a tofu, not like the other tofus I had in previous sittings. (CHAY!!!!)
And boy, what a big piece of unagi it was (I couldn't even fit the whole tofu slice into my big mouth). Juicy, moist unagi with crumbly, wet tofu. Need I say anymore.

Soup: Clear Broth with Conger Pike
I definitely prefer this month's soup to last month's one. Taste so much more.....fishier?

Anyway, the conger pike was really the star since it was scored before it was cooked and opened up like a flower (you can see it underneath the floating greens).

Two thumbs up for this one.


Sashimi: Tuna, White Meat Fish & Amberjack
To be very honest, I am a messy eater (Look! two drops of water below the plate); which is why I will take picture of the dishes before you see the food flying all over the table.

To be very honest, the amberjack tasted much better with a slice of skin and gives a more visual clue to my primitive taste buds and brain cells. In comparison to last month's seabass, this one is more silky smooth while the seabass probably has a more grainy texture (must be the skin, In tell you). Being a bit forgetful, I forgot to ask what the white meat fish was this time (senility can be a curse, but really is a blessing in disguise).

Simmered dish: Chilled Simmered Vegetables (Corn and Okra), Eggplant, Winter Melon, Pumpkin, Mini Tomato & Japanese Yam
Everything in this bowl is chilled and I mean chilled to the point just before frostbite sets in and everything starts tasting like crisp crackers, which probably means that summer is here!!!

This is a refreshing change from Ricky's past servings since the texture for everything is different (except for the okras and corn). The sauce was tangy and balanced out the deep mellow sweetness of the winter melon, pumpkin and eggplant.

Grilled dish: Grilled Buttlefish preserved in Miso & assorted vegetables (salted long beans, eggplant, fish cakes and deep fried shrimp prawn)
The salted long (or edemame if you want to quibble) beans and fishcakes were so-so this time, which allowed me to focus more on the servings on the left side of the plate. The eggplant and shrimp prawns were sitting on a bed of salt which was absorbed but not evenly throughout the whole dish. It ended up tasting like salty this, bland this, must ask Ricky to get this one right.

The grilled Buttlefish was the best thing I have eaten so far tonight. Scored along its body, thie fish was grilled without any hint of charred surface and the grilling sauce coated the fish like a second skin. Eat it though was a bit of a challenge since the meat was so firm that my chopsticks couldn't pierce the meat and separate meat. Ended up eating the whole thing like a barbarian.

Fried dish: Deep Fried Octopus & Conger Pike with Plum Salt
To come out with this one after the previous one was sheer brilliance.

The conger pike were wrapped with leaves before being dunk in the batter while the upsized octopus was cubed into large chunks.

As far as taste goes, try to drizzle the lemon over the meat and not the leaves since the leaves still soak up lemon juice like moisture. If you get it just right with the dash of plum salt, the conger pike will taste like sweet in contrast to the sour and salty rush. The octopus, even given the huge chunks you get, will be so tender that chewing it is not a problem and more like a joy of life.

Main Course: Rice cooked with Eel and served with tea flavour soup
The coincidence was that I missed out on having this dish once in Japan (despite reading about it Shota No Sushi), it is also known as chazaku, a common bento preparation, where packed rice being dried out by the time you buy the bento set. So you moisturize the rice with the tea-infused soup that act to rehydrate the rice and make it soft as well as letting the tea soften the meat until it is tender enough to eat. (will post the pages of the comic when I can find it)

Having finish that little digression, Ricky served this dish with a side of seaweed, sesame seed (and some rounds ones that I don't recognized) and wasabi which sort of stir my curiosity. My first bowl was just rice and unagi and soup, mixed all together. Since the rice is not dry or burnt, the texture resembled like rice drench in Bak Kut Teh soup, while the unagi was soft after steeping in the soup for a quick second.

Having it with sides gave the dish a much more pronounced flavour. The sesame seeds gave a good crunch to the texture of the dish, while the mellow seaweed melded with the unagi just nicely and the wasabi, properly dissolve into the soup gives you it customary hit right up to your nose. I am so floating on Cloud nine after this dish. Ichiban!!!


Dessert: Coffee Jelly & Sliced Fresh Fruits
After the rush of the last three excellent dish, the dessert was probably a big let down. The fruit slices was not so impressive but the coffee jelly was a big turn-off for me since I don't drink coffee.

Maybe it is me, maybe it is the coffee but I think the vanilla ice cream should have melted faster to soak the jelly in its sweetness to make it more palatable.

No sign of Ricky after my meal and I took my leave. I must have scared him with my interrogations. (Wonder if my reputation will precede me when I visit other dining spots)

Awaiting more feedback on my food reviews, Say it so in the comment section.