From under the Bottle Cap 1 - #61

Pigs get sunburned.

Bus to your Favourite JB Shopping Haunts

For those people who like to go to shopping at our neighbouring shores, don't have a car and are too cheap to take a cab everywhere, like yours truly, check out the Johor Bahru Bus Routes.

Updated!!!
For those who love to go to JUSCO Tebrau City, you must go on the J Cards' Members' Day, which is the instore inbuilding(!!!) card. All the shops were offering massive number of items at insane prices!!! My friend and I didn't have (and we also didn't know it was J Day, what a stroke of luck we came today), but we went around asking the very kind Malaysian ladies for their cards. One didn't even bother to see if we were going to steal her card. She just trusted us to buy the stuff and give her back the card. Anyway, as my friend said, she benefited from the points.

Just to demonstrate how insane the sales are, I bought two pairs of slippers from Padini at RM14.50 (=~S$6) and RM16.50 (=~S$6.90) with a borrowed J card. Usual price? RM29 and RM33. And the best buy we made today?

We were walking into JUSCO, when we witnessed this unearthly struggle among a heap of fierce and deeply focused maciks and aunties. The cacophonous announcements made by the salesman with a loudspeaker? Not helping. And the music blasting from the speakers nearby? Totally adding to the competitive vibe.

When you know there is a sale, and there are middle-aged women fighting, you can safely conclude that there is a great sale. (I mean men can never multi-task like women. Eyeballing another aunty's bag as she gives it a thorough QC check, while pulling away a bag from the bottom of the stack, and holding onto another three bags as well as your other shopping? Can a man ever do that and survive?)

OHMIGOD, Beverly Hills Polo bags at 80% off. Fucking 80% off. You will never see these prices here. My friend dived in like a practiced shopper and immediately hauled out some really nice pieces while I gingerly avoided the violent shoving and yanking as eager hands tugged at the treasure pile. We bought 2 Polo bags. Usual Prices RM279 and RM 299. After discount? RM55.8 (S$23.15) and RM60 (S$24.90). Not fake stuff, ok? Sold in a recognised store with legitimate lining. Our mothers were singularly impressed as this brand of bags usually retail in Singapore at S$100~200.



Btw if you want to bus there, don't have to care too much about which buses to go. The very nice uncle in charge of directing all the bus traffic opposite City Square, advised us to go to the last bus stop (furthermost from City Square, in front of AMB Bank) to catch any bus there. They all go past Tebrau City. Just get off at the bus stop under the bridge. Beware 9B though, it turns before Jusco, goes on a long roundabout and is a different stop from the rest of the buses.

Total Bus Fare spent = (from City Square to Tebrau City) RM2.50 + (Tebrau City to Taman Sentosa) RM1.80 + (Taman Sentosa to City Square) RM1.50 = RM5.80 (~S$2.40, 3 destinations). Compare that to the quote of RM7.00 from 3 different taxi drivers to get us back from Taman Sentosa to City Square.

Note: Exchange Rate in Malaysia today - S$1 == RM2.41

Updated!!! (as of 15 Jan 2013)
YumYum at Teck Sing Restaurant
My Guide to visiting Pengerang (Bicycles not included!)

Where Have We Heard this Before?

Apple shows Microsoft how a really memorable commercial is done.

Why borrowing (& of course reading) books is good for you

Hoho, guess what?

Last Sunday I came across the lucky draw booth while borrowing books at my usual library hangout. The prize: two tickets to a Da:ns Festival 2009 performance. All I needed to do was provide a receipt for 6 borrowed items, my particulars and the name of a group or individual involved in the event.

Well, I didn't win tickets to watch Paloma Herrera, but I did win this!!! I was positively ecstatic when I received the call from the library.

This makes the second time I won something from the libraries. Yeah! And from the same library!

Kennen Sie einen Komponist - A Musical Crossword from Hell

I challenge you to try my Kennen Sie einen Komponist crossword!!! Don't worry it's in English and .mid... hahaha. You have to try it to know what I mean. All you need to know are 30 composers from Baroque, Romantic and Classical Periods (did I forget to add any contemporary composers)?

Warning
Not for the faint-hearted.

Pajori - Seasoned Spring Onion (great with Korean BBQ)

Can't remember the source. Maybe Maangchi

1. Shred about 3 bunches of green onions to make 5 cups. Soak it in cold water.
2. In a large bowl, combine 1/4 cup soy sauce, 2 tbs hot pepper flakes, 2 ts sugar, 1 tbs sesame seeds, and 1 tbs sesame oil. Set it aside.
3. Drain the shredded green onion.
4. Add the green onion to the bowl and mix it with the sauce. Set aside.

A New Kind of Kimchi 연꽃은 뿌리 김치 yeonkkoch-eun ppuli gimchi

Lotus Root + kelp + cider vinegar + sugar + sesame seed oil + chili flakes = 연꽃은 뿌리 김치

(yeonkkoch-eun ppuli gimchi)

Why I wasn't hungry this evening

A lot of colleagues were confused by my sudden lack of appetite while attending a function this evening. But wouldn't you be, if you had this in the afternoon?

We had samyeopsal (using sukiyaki cuts instead of pork belly) with grilled garlic, onions and oyster mushrooms, Sigumchi Namul (seasoned spinach), seasoned spring onions, the Ggakdugi Korean Pickled Daikon Radish (that I started making Thursday night), Gamja Chigae and polishing them off with Soju.

If only I had 100M bps? Pimp my Broadband, Digi??

TGIF Specials 12: Getting a Leg up on the Competition

[source: beconfused.com]

How did I miss out on such a sensational story??? It happened in March 2008 until this wannabe idol/singer, Asuka Sawamoto, was arrested for flashing her coochie to otakus. Well anyway, better late than never. Desperate otakus taking photos of a thirty something woman's cooch. Don't know who is sadder.

And I made 깍두기 this morning before work

I got this recipe for Ggakdugi Korean Pickled Daikon Radish off... Facebook?

Thank you KimcHi~~!! and Korean Supermarkets!!!! I took some shots, while I was hurriedly pulsing the garlic and ginger to dump into the mixture. Retriever and I had some fun fighting over who was going to cut the radishes yesterday.

Ingredients:
2 large daikon radishes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
4 tbsp salt
1 small knob of ginger, grated or minced finely
4 or more cloves of garlic, minced
4 tsp shrimp paste or fish sauce (I chose fish sauce of course)
4 tbsp or more of gochujang/고추장 (Korean chili paste)
Gochut-garu / 고춧가루 ( Korean chili powder )
4 tsp sugar

Directions:
Preparing the radish:
* Peel and cut the daikon into 1-inch chunks.
* Rinse thoroughly.
* In a big bowl, mix 4 tablespoons of salt all over the daikon. Then fill up the bowl with water until the daikon is covered.
* Put a plate over the daikon and something heavy to weigh it down. Leave overnight at room temperature.
* The next day, drain the brined daikon into a colander and rinse. Then squeeze out excess moisture. This is how it looks like after soaking it overnight.


Making the 깍두기 (ggakdugi):
* Mince a knob of ginger and a few garlic cloves after peeling the skin off them.
* Place these into a big bowl and add a few teaspoons or so of shrimp paste or fish sauce, 4 tablespoons or more of Korean chili powder (꼬춧가루) and chili paste (고추장) , and 4 teaspoons sugar.

* Mix thoroughly, taste and make adjustments if necessary. Add some cut up leeks if you want, then toss in the drained daikon.
* Mix thoroughly.

* Then place the ggakdugi into a container, leaving some space off the top of the container so as to hold the juice when the kimchi starts fermenting.