Korea Barbecue and IT apathy

THad a first try of the now infamous Korean Barbecue recently with an old friend. We patranoised a joint at SS2 Petaling Jaya called Korea House. I am not much of a food blogger, and therefore forgot to take many pics of the outing. Shame on me, shame on me ^.^


The decor and ambience is ok. Yellow lights, dark wooden furniture. On the night we came, we were served by a senior and junior staff. I don't think they were Korean. Their English wasn't so good, and was heavily accented. When asking for recommendation, the senior rattled off for 2 minutes on 2 items off every page of the menu. I guess the food must be really good then hur hur hur... We settled on pork and beef meat, one kimchi soup and an egg dish.

Sizzle sizzle... BBQ pork with the many condiments surrounding the hot plate

The meat was quite tender and juicy with 4 different dipping sauces. It was quite tasty on its own. The barbecuing was done by the restaurant staff. First, some hot coals are placed under the iron dish. Once it's hot, the meat is cooked. Once the beef is done, they changed the plate for cooking the pork. Guess this keeps the meat flavour pure? There are many accompanying side dishes of vegetables, achovies, patatoes etc. Something out of norm is that we were served cold tea with our food. To cool down from the fires of BBQ maybe?

Kimchi soup, green leaf vege, BBQ Pork, Egg, BBQ Beef

After polishing off the beef... the senior staff came over to explain which dipping sauce goes with what. A little bit sooner would have been better leh big bro! The my friend suddenly recalled that the fresh green leaf vege (the name eludes me at this moment), is supposed to be used as a wrap for the meat and fresh garlic. The kimchi soup was quite delicious. The egg dish was really plain.

All in all, the bill came up to RM100 for 2 pax. The food is decent. We were overstuffed. Could've gone without the extra egg dish.

Over dinner, we moaned about work, clients and all the usual stuff. We did discuss why Malaysia was not an IT frontrunner in the world. We realised that while it is normal to develop pretty looking applications that meet business requirements, Malaysians don't think ahead about making something the best or something that is innovative. Now can work, means good already lor. I wonder what technology R & D departments do in Malaysia. Do they aim to come up with good methodology to solve problems for present and future needs? Or are they doing 'needle in haystack' kind of work, where finding the elusive solution ends the research part of R & D? When the business of IT holds absolute power on time and resourcing, and passion for ideas and risk-taking relegated to lower priority, we can't help it if we are stuck in this rut. We have lots of brilliant and fast thinking young minds, born and bred in our country's soil, that are snatched away, often willingly, to more attractive lures from foreign bodies. I too am increasingly satisfied to 'finish my tasks' and escape from my desk as soon as possible. Are we apathetic about such things?

Such apathy doesn't work well in the food business. If your food ain't tasty, and if you are not on your toes regarding changing trends, you will definitely run into business problems.

Maybe bored and apathetic IT guys should try their hands at the food business for a real challenge in life? Hyuk hyuk hyuk...

Chocolate and Vanilla

Had the oppurtunity to see the movie 'Hairspray' with a friend of mine last Sunday. Highly, marvellously entertaining show. Hats off to Nikki Blonsky with her believable and lovable portrayal of Tracy Turnblad.

Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky) ensuring that the hair spray industry never need worry about hitting next quarter's sales targets

Towards the ending, the music sounded too similar. But it has quite a few catchy tunes. The opening one of 'Good Morning Baltimore', and 'I can hear the bells' I can't get out of my head. John Travolta was okay... I don't know why they couldn't get a real female actress for the part though. You tend to laugh much more at his character simply because you know it is a guy. Michelle Pfeiffer was quite a letdown. There was just no punch or sizzle to her portrayal of the villain.

The show does highlight issues of negro and white segregation. The terms 'chocolate' and 'vanilla' are used extensively throughout the show to describe negros and whites. Whites are partrayed as less than angelic, negros as underdogs. A plus sized body being a disadvantageous is also discussed, albeit in a thoroughly slapstick fashion. Because it is parodied so much, this particular message is kind of lost.

Of course everyone wants freedom to do and be what they wish, and still gain acceptance from family, peers and society in doing so. And it is entirely understandable to be suspicious, even antoagonistic towards the new and unfamiliar. And it would be great to have foresight as to whether a change is for the better, and also, pehaps just as important, whether it'll be accepted well enough.

I think about my own country of different skin colours, the varied tongues and cultures. We school together, eat together, salute the same national anthem together. Camraderie like Tracy and company is still an exception rather than the norm. Our differences are too old and familiar to be called as such anymore. I ponder at my own relationships and those that I've witnessed. Why are we not more integrated in inter-race relationships? It is a beautiful thing that Tracy and company have. We could do with more beauty in this oft bleak world.

Maybe I will come to a better answer after more bowls of cereal...

Does Koko Krunch Duo (choc and white choc) has the answer I seek?

Festival of the Moon.. more or less ^.^

It is the mid autmn festival for Chinese around the globe. As I enjoyed some warm Tie Kuan Yin tea and savour some mooncake, I reminisce what this festival was like in my younger days, and also what it has become today.

I do not come from a very traditional Chinese family. I speak more English with my core family than any Chinese dialect. I can only comprehend basic Chinese myself. Therefore this has hampered my understanding of this festival somewhat. My information sources for this festival included cartoons drawn by Lat. I remember a cartoon that had characters in ancient China, eating mooncake and pulling out pieces of paper containing secret messages in the cakes. I also remember the story of an archer and his wife. There are lots of versions to this tale. Visit wikipedia for quite a good summary of the popular versions.

traditional paper lanterns

I do remember mooncakes and playing with lanterns at night. I remember lanterns made of coloured paper, and lit with actual candles. Of course this was the most fun thing of the festival to a child. Occasionally someones lantern will glow a little brighter than others, and also hotter than others (aka on fire hyuk hyuk hyuk). Later on, we had battery operated lanterns made with coloured cellophane. And nowadays we have lanterns in hard plastic that make strange noises and come in every guise imaginable. Pokemon motifs were quite popular a while back. I had some family members with lanterns of the yellow lantern going "Pika! Pika Pika! Pika CHUuuuuu..."

Mooncakes too have seen a transformation. We used to have only 2 main types: Lotus Seed, Red Bean. I think next came the Mix Nuts, then the snow skins. and now a plethora of others. Corn, durian, green tea, coffee, cheese, chocolate... even some with meat in them! As with some experiments, some work... some do not. The durian snowskin mooncake from Tai Thong is surprisingly good. I tried an orange flavoured one from another brand.. and it was just weird. Mooncakes are big business nowadays. The box which you get mooncakes in are works of art themselves. It is common to see every major hotel's chefs making these for sale too.

I wonder what further changes we will see to this festival in the coming years? Will paper lanterns still be available? Will we get ratatouille flavoured mooncakes? Will we get the story of the archer and his wife done in 3D models like the Final Fantasy movie?

I sit here with my cup of steaming tea, and a slice of lotus paste mooncake, listening to the friendly banter with family members... pondering if more is really needed.

Then... I hear it. The unmistakable sound of...

"Pika! Pika Pika! Pika CHUuuuuu..."

I thought I knew my skin!

Personally I have been struggling poor facial skin for the longest time. Started at about 16 years old I guess. Yes... this picture is my real face. Hope I didn't blind you with my Brad Pitt mug. It has been known to happen. If you find yourself feeling faint, don't worry... you are not the first.

Now, here I am in my late 20s, still bothered by this issue. It has not left me alone after my adolescence had passed. (Or maybe am I still an adolescent, and I have not really passed that stage of my life? I am still easily entertained by computer games, Ultraman cartoons and the like)

Anyhow... I have many well meaning friends and relatives who have tried to improve the appearance of my skin. Among the many things I have tried:

1. Clarifying, deep pore cleansing cleanser, pore retightening, alcohol free, glycolic acid, salicylic acid, alpha hydroxy acids cleanser + toner + moisturisers. This includes, but is not limited to the brands Artistry, J&J, Neutrogena, Biotherm, Proactiv, Oxy, Clearasil, Biore, Ginvera and some others I can't recall.


2. Using skin peeling gels (Retin A)


3. Drinking more water (3 litres a day)


4. Oral Antibiotics.


5. Blotting excess oil


6. Pimple creams


7. General health supplements

For items 2 and 4, they were suggestions by a qualified dermatologist. And lo and behold, after 3 days, I did notice marked improvement. The downside was I had to down antibiotic pills like there was no tomorrow. This is an effort to sterilise my body of acne causing bacteria. However that was 10 years ago. After some months had passed, my body began protesting against the pill intake. I had extreme hunger pangs, waking up in the wee hours of the morning to eat and drink to stop the rumbling. I decided it wasn't a long term solution for me.

Item 7 is interesting. I had joined an Amway group before because among the forefront of Amway marketing strategies is 'Health and Wellness'. So I tried their Nutrilite and Artistry range. Amongst the advice given is that I should eat about 3x the normal dosage of Nutrilite supplements because I have bad skin. So like a good little soldier, I tried. The above picture was taken when I was consuming my Nutrilite rations. I still honestly believe Amway products are truly good. But I must face the fact that it is not effective for me. Bet you it works for thousands of others though.

I finally plucked the courage to go to a skin centre to have a consult. What I heard really gave me food for thought. I am told I actually have sensitive and dehydrated skin. I was waiting for the word 'oily', but that did not come into the conversation till I brought it up myself. I am told my skin secreted extra oil to compensate for lack of moisture. They advised me to fix the moisture problem, which will then help my oil problem, which will also help my acne.

I've never been given such advice before for my skin. It seems to make perfect logical sense. What should Jack do now?