Pool players spotted

Wu Chiang Ching, Yang Ching Shun, Ibrahim bin Amir, Li He Wen, Chang Jung Ling at the afternoon matches.
One of them at Starbucks.
Chang Jung Ling, Marlon Manolo, Ricky Yang and Ibrahim bin Amir at the 1st TV match.
Marlon Manolo at the 2nd TV table match
Chang Jung Ling (later sipping Guinness), Wu Chiang Ching, Satoshi Kawabata, Li He Wen in the last match at the TV table
Marlon Manolo and his cute daughter after Day 1 at Starbucks (31st May, 00:13)

Edited (31st May, 1:26): The jazz music in the Starbucks cafe is catching. Wonder if it is from the Jazz festival last month.

Wu Chiang Ching, Wang Tsing Shung getting lattes (31st May, 9pm-ish)
The announcer, Anthony Sunthay with a friend (make that Bob Guerrero, the pool commentator that Anthony introduce before the Grand Finals broadcast on Sunday, I never knew he was .......) on the Starbucks benches.

If you were wondering about the 20 minute delay in the 9 ball pool broadcast

Here is the down and dirty of what happpened.

Yang Ching Shun managed to down a ball in his break. Unfortunately, he took a lot of time on the follow-up, running down his 40 second shot clock, the 10 second bell was rung but was muffled (and the referee took note but didn't try to remind Yang of his time). So, by the time he settled down on his shot, the referee pointed out that he had run out of time. Now, Yang being a sporting fellow complained about the muffled bell, but took it all in strides and went back to his seat only for the Taiwan team manager to raise hell on his behalf. Referee consulted the jury panel, overrode the objection, Marlon Manolo went ahead and ran out the rack to go 2-0 up on Yang.

That wasn't the end of the whole matter, the manager then took his complaint up to the jury. Match was delayed for another 10 minutes.

A quick discussion with Jeff and I suggested the fairest way was probably to keep the alternate break but make Yang Chin Shun break the next game instead of Marlon. (what do I know, I have a loudmouth opinion).

The verdict returned from the jury meant still kept Marlon breaking the next rack, but totally did away with the 10 second bell, instead the referee now has to keep track of the player cueing (and any fouls committed) while looking at the shot clock running down.

That didn't stop Yang from stringing the together the next 4 racks and maintaing his 2 game advantage all to the end to win 9-5 (when Marlon dropped rack 13 after missing a 6)

Lesson of the day: do not piss off the Taiwan players.

Anyway, you can probably check out the website. There will be 4 Taiwanese players in each of the quarterfinals with 1 China & 1 Korea in one 1/2 of the draw and 2 Filipinos in the other 1/2. Wonder what would happen if you have an all Taiwanese affair on Day 3.

Genting 9 ball pool

Drove out of KL in the rain, arrived at our destination and checked into the hotel about 15 minutes before the rain joined us on top of Genting Highlands.
The crappiest part is the Jeff and I are sharing a double bed.
Immediately after, we went over to the Convention Centre to catch the the end of the 3rd round matches. Chang Jung Ling and Wu Chia Ching have both won their matches are now through the knockout rounds. The highlight for tonight will probably be Marlon Manolo vs Yang Ching Sung as they fight to qualify out of their group. Loser goes home (or even worse, referee for the other player :P)

Jeff might be interested in buying a pool cue. I will probably pass unless they include free lessons from the pros.

Posting from Starbucks near the CC underneath First World Hotel.

What a ??? weekend

Friday 8pm, Old Town Kopitiam Cafe, Cheras:
Start boardgaming session.

Saturday 4am, Old Town Kopitiam Cafe, Cheras:
finish boardgaming session. Games played: Mystery of the Abbey, Cafe International, 1870.
Picked up my 18EU (WWWWWHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!)

Saturday 5am, Home, Selayang:
Reach home, converse with mum, check emails, prepare laptop for Interschool Finals, shower, breakfast.

Saturday 7.30am, Home Selayang:
Leave home for Bukit Bintang.

Saturday 8am, Bukit Bintang:
Arrived, park car, go to office, update last remaining software and download virus definition, go to BTS.

Saturday 8.45am, Berjaya Times Square:
Arrived, loiter, double check with registration, update players list, walk around with laptop, check final details with Mrs Yap, printout pairings for first 3 rounds and we are roaring to begin!

Saturday 9.30am, Berjaya Times Square:
Inputting round 1 results.

Saturday 10.15am, Berjaya Times Square:
Inputting round 1 & 2 results.

Saturday 11am, Berjaya Times Square:
Inputting round 2 results, nodding off with results slip in hand, inputting round 2 results, err, round 3 results in the box piling up (I am slow due to boardgaming fatigue)

Saturday 12noon, Berjaya Times Square:
Wolfing down Big Mac, still keying in round 3. printout pairings for next 2 rounds.

Saturday 12.45pm, Berjaya Times Square:
Crash on stage in public (chairs too uncomfortable), drifting in and out of sleep with mumblings and giggles. Wonder how many people choose to record my public indifference.

Saturday 1pm, Berjaya Times Square:
Woke up, waddle to laptop, INPUT! input! input! input. input. input, input, input...input...

Saturday 1.50pm, Berjaya Times Square:
input...input...printout R6 pairings...input...input...input...

Saturday 3pm, Berjaya Times Square:
input...input...input...input...input...input...

Saturday 4.45pm, Berjaya Times Square:
input...input...input last result slip from R6. Hooray. printout R7 & R8 pairings. stayed behind and zyzzyva.

Saturday 5.30pm, Berjaya Times Square:
Halfway through zyzzyva, head back to hotel, get back in car, drive home.

Saturday 6.15pm, Home, Selayang:
Crash on bed, AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhh!...........................

Sunday 6.30am, Home, Selayang:
Wake up, change, check laptop, drive.

Sunday 8.50am, Berjaya Times Square:
Park car elsewhere, arrive, setup, waiting for random dropout to screw pairings, random guy does dropout, screw pairings, don't reset pairings, bye-bye in the system (at least John Chew program can switch the guy "off -50").

Sunday 9.35am, Berjaya Times Square:
input. input. input. input. input. input...more helpers (good slaves actually). input...input...input...

Sunday 11am, Berjaya Times Square:
Photo op, doesn't buy time, still trying to catch up on backlog of results slip (about 50+ of them), GO ME!

Sunday 11.05am, Berjaya Times Square:
starting repeat rounds, printout pairings, relegate 41+kids onward to RR groups (again) just to keep them out of my hair.

Sunday 12.30pm, Berjaya Times Square:
Finally inputted R9, printout pairings for top 40 kids, troubleshoot.

Sunday 1.15pm, Berjaya Times Square:
Finally get my Big Mac, input...input...input...input...

Sunday 3.45pm, Berjaya Times Square:
input 5...input 4...input 3...input 2...input 1...FINISHED!!!!!! printout, printout, printout...

Sunday 4pm, Berjaya Times Square:
Mrs Yap announces results, prize-giving

Sunday 4.15pm, Berjaya Times Square:
Discover boo-boo in keying in result.

Sunday 4.17pm, Berjaya Times Square:
Boo-boo rectified (Go ahead, Tony, gloat!)

Sunday 4.30pm, Berjaya Times Square:
Zyzzyvaing, edit .tou file, zyzzyvaing, calculate ratings, zyzzyvaing until 7pm, leave for Oversea Restaurant Imbi.

Sunday 7.30pm, Oversea Restaurant Imbi:
enter room, order, eat...eat...eat...converse...eat...eat...eat...nibble...eat...eat...eat...

Sunday 9pm, Oversea Restaurant Imbi:
eat...eat...eat...converse...eat...eat...eat...stuffed...eat...eat...eat...converse...eat...eat...eat...dessert

Sunday 9.45pm, Bukit Bintang:
drive 5 SPECs boy to Subang

Sunday 9.47pm, Bukit Bintang:
detour through Changkat Bukit Bintang

Sunday 9.52pm, Bukit Bintang:
got pulled over by police for overloading my car. (Threw money out of wallet first!)

Sunday 9.57pm, Bukit Bintang:
Policemen pity students (& me), let me go, note to self: try to look more penniless next time if don't have student.

Sunday 10.13pm, Federal Highway:
Raining, road wet. (Retrieve money and put back into wallet)

Sunday 10.34pm, Subang:
Drop them off, head home, tidy up, update blog.

It's been 166 days since....

The 2007 Causeway Scrabble Challenge and I finally played in my first Malaysian Scrabble tournament of the year, and over the Wesak Day weekend somemore. Whoooooooo-boyyyyyyy! I am deflated.

Day 1: (AM)WWWW, (PM)LWLW
Day 2: (AM)WWWW, (PM) LWL

Note to self: Stop imitating Nigel by eating club sandwiches during lunch break.
2nd note to self: must replicate crabby, angry morning look and optimise it for afternoon sessions.
3rd note to self: continue to fake facebook update about doing zyzzyva every other day.
Nothing special about me for those 2 days, still Scrabble-rusty on Saturday morning, was just glad not to have met Nigel early until I work off morning crabbiness. Then again, I think I need that crabbiness and drive to beat Nigel. Besides, it's my first time beating Nigel twice within the same tournament and on the same day and managing to hoard him 5 times to myself (which is about 1/3 of the games played). Praise everyone else for their performance.

Now to pray for many milestones to come. (like a National Champion title this year? I can dream after all)

The Kiwi launch party

Was issued an invite to a Hilton event, too bad the timing was a little tight (so missed out on bringing Lemongrass, Kenny, and a few friends to this launch party), in the end it all worked out as I managed to bring 2 cousins along, both of whom were back from Australia and couldn't hide the delight that I received an invitation.

The event was practically a display of who who. We arrived in a nick of time to sample wines (very sweet Rieslings & slightly acidic Pinot Noir) and cocktails (Vodka, not my favourite actually) before the Hilton KL quickly dishes out the Maori performance (and nose rubbing) and a fashion show as featured in the Star.

Since the 3 of us were more concerned with the food, we just made a straight beeline to the stations.

Pepper Crusted Venison on crostini with red pepper and capper salsa.
Fresh cut juicy venison, crunchy crostini, tender salsa. Texture is great but the mishmash of flavour was overwhelming for me. Didn't stop me for going back for seconds & thirds.










Potato rosti with smoked salmon with vanilla butter sauce.

One look and I say 'HEY! THOMAS KELLER!'. I remember seeing a similar dish on Anthony Bourdain's first season when he took viewers to Thomas Keller's restaurant, The French Laundry.

The hit of the overpowering vanilla butter sauce really defines this dish, until the hidden gem of the smoked salmon rolls out onto your tongue to wipe it away and massages an aftertaste into your tongue. Ice cream this is not.




Miso biscuit with duck liver parfait & brandy soaked raisin
I love this finger food, probably more for the 'tart' that I got from the brandy soaked raisins than the duck liver parfait.











reminds me of small quiches, I couldn't even remember their name but they were sweet!!! (in the sense of grilled vegetable, not pure sugar)












New Zealand crayfish with fennel coleslaw
Was okay, not fantastic for me.













New Zealand Paua: Maori potato & kumara fritter on green herb aioli
I suppose this would be the winner of the evening for me. A vegetarian 'veggieball'. Very tasty. Did try to pester the chef for the recipe to make my own veggieballs for pastas. No luck there.









Honey Glazed Duck, blackcurrent compote, sour cream, watercress tips.
My cousins love this dish, they were practically raving about the duck meat here. I do say that I agree with them wholeheartedly.

What's on my Kaiseki menu this month?

Being a regular customer for more than a year netted me a few benefits, starting with my Kaiseki menu getting more varied than previous outings, and service is pretty good (except for the occasional waiter-in-training)


Distraction: Giant Mirugai Shell Liver with Truffle Sauce
While waiting for the starters, I was served 3 slices of shellfish pate(?) drizzled with truffle sauce. I think this is probably gone by the Sunday since they would reserve it for their VIPs. So lucky of me to get a nibble or three.

The first impression was the overpowering fragrance of the truffle sauce, while started peeling back to reveal the smoky grilled flavour of the liver. The soft mushy liver, being less fatty than goose liver, had a texture that was crumblier on the inside while the grilled crust binds all flavours together in harmony. Definitely something you want to have every other time.
















Starters: Sesame Beancurd with Umi, Sweet Prawn with Caviar, Tofu with Miso, Chicken with pickles, Grilled chicken, Vinegar shot & tempuras
Let's see, where do I start?

The sesame beancurd was satisfactory, marinated long enough in the shoyu for an accented flavour with the sea urchin (umi) garnishing balancing it out. The chicken with pickles was much better this time since the chicken was lukewarm and fresh, as opposed to soggy. Love the vinegar shot with crunchy (and sometimes powdery) tempuras. Thumbs up for the ne addition although I would love to have some Iranian sturgeon caviar with the sweet prawn since these were not salty enough. Tofu with miso was coyly sweet but well textured. Love the grilled chicken too.




























Soup: Soup with Scallop Dumpling
Plain looking yet my tongue taste warm, the scallop dumpling is flaky yet firm (Melt in your mouth, not in your bowl), Veggies were bitey & fragrant. The new dumpling soup for the soul.























Sashimi: Toro, Hairtail, Suzuki, Flambe Octopus & Mirugai Shellmeat (Gyuduck) with a side of Flambe Tuna Abi
Goodies of foodies. The Toro and Flambe Octopus were up to par. While the Flambe Mirugai shellmeat sprang forth into life with a dash of lime. Even the hairtail, glistering with it skin intact, tasted anew with radish garnishing, but the suzuki fish stole the limelight. Light, Breezing through your tongue, you can almost it floating in your mouth, tantalizing the tastebud every now and then before disappearing down your gullet.

The other interesting accompanying side dish was the tuna abi. Fillets of tuna rolled into a maki with japanese shallots and pickles. I have yet to taste the raw version yet since this one was flambe and dipped in a special sauce of mayo and chilli. Sad to say, the sauce overpowered the tuna but kept the pickles flavour intact. Poor execution.





























Steamed dishes: Eggplant with Anago Eel.
This time around, the dish tasted slurpier (just imagine yourself eating japanese noodles the proper way), the meat was tender enough and was drowning in the sauce literally (although the eggplant bowl was a wee bit undercooked and pretty firm). The slices of anago eel were a welcome addition to this dish although I would like to see more variety the next I get this.





















Steamed dishes: Tuna Eye
Now for something exotic.

I just wish I could see it before it got cooked. Wouldn't mind having a pair just to stick on my glasses and walk around while videoing everyone's reaction to it.

The white ball inside the exoskeleton was the pupil. Despite being a fan of eating fish eyes (smaller fishes, mind you), I found this pupil very dry and not saucy enough and had to keep on dunking it in the sauce just to add flavour to a really really bland pupil.

The best part though was the meat. Smooth, fatty (the chef mentioned that it was actually the muscle/sinew), shiny, glistering and tender to yield upon the poke of a pair of chopsticks. I could only describe it as eating very smooth siew york (all fat, no crispy skin and very little lean meat). Every bite was actually sliding around my mouth, missing my gullet by mere inches, rolling over my tastebuds. Sweet!!! Definitely my face dish of the night.




























Fried dish: Ayu & Tempura
Matured ayu have a pretty light taste that is perfectly fit for this oily dish. The only downside was that one of the fish was spoilt. At least the matcha salt could be drizzled over the dish.























Main course: Sushi 5 ways.
Starting with the flambe toro sushi, I enjoyed the brief explosion of toro in my mouth unfortunately it was soon to be overpowered by the oily garlic flake and pickled ginger press into the sushi.

Moving on to the flambe miso sea bream sushi, this one came across as slightly too sweet possibly because the miso was slathered over the sushi instead of just a dollop (then again, maybe my tongue was craving sweetness after the first piece)

the flambe wagyu sushi with was just nice and perfectly accentuated by the radish gratings as garnishing.

Moving on to the haji (horsebreaker fish) sushi, the full on flavour was matched by the garnishing of grated ginger and spring onion, culminating in an orgasmic explosion in the mouth. Definitely not one for the delicate tastebuds,

For the suzuki sushi, the initial tenderness gave way to a rush of salty spicy combo (a product of the salted grape skins & chili garnishing) that lingers on in the aftertaste.





















Dessert: Mochi pastry & Assorted Fruits
Another leaf bound dessert, and I have no idea how they do it when the transfer the fragrance of the leaf unto the skin of the pastry. Since finding out my love of mochi, Chef Ricky has given me another one made with mochi dough. The fragrance was overwhelming in the mouth, and not even a hint of it being coyly as you savour the springy mochi pastry.






















Chef Ricky is probably tearing his hair out right now trying to personalize next month's kaiseki menu for me. Feel free to comment.

Upcoming report

In the works:

May Kaiseki menu (9th May)
Life. Art. Kiwi at KL Hilton (12th May)
Chynna (12th May)

All in the works