Japan 19 October 2006

I have always liked Japan - however, this trip was a bit dreaded as my flight left KLIA at 11.55pm on 18th and it was an overnight flight (scheduled to arrived Tokyo Narita at 6.55am - which is 5.55am Malaysian time). So, one can imagine how very little sleep I had. Maybe 1 hour or so.... too many people snoring all at once before I fell asleep! I would have no problem if I had fallen asleep first before the snorers.

I had to catch the 7.44am Narita Express train to get into Tokyo city - now, 54mins to get out of the plane, get a ticket for Narita Express and rent a 3G phone before boarding the train is not so bad at all in Japan (though as stressed as I was with the thought) as they are very efficient.

My problem was the flight left 25mins late from KLIA. I arrived Narita at 7.20am and literally ran all the way through to get pass immigration and did all that I had to do. I did it!!!

However, the worst had yet to come..... My contact in Japan was to met me at Tokyo station at 9.04am (mind you, Narita Express is 5 levels below ground, I think) and whisked me off in a taxi for a 15mins ride to the hotel where I had to deposit my bags plus meet my 2 bosses and take another taxi to see customer for the first meeting at 10am. And there were THREE meetings back-to-back,

I had to change in the toilet of the moving train - out of my hoodie and sweatpants into my biz suit. No chance to shower that day till 7pm at the end of the work day. I was terribly self-conscious for not having showered the last 24 hours. The consolation : confirmed that I am not OC. I thought I was as I love showers.... up to 3 a day. Phew!

And I finished about 2am on my first day in Tokyo.

The same full day followed - and it was my birthday too! Out by 8.10am and finished by midnight.

On 21st, I had to leave hotel at 8.50am for my flight home.

Tiring though it was, I managed to capture some great moments during the 2.5 days there.

19 September 2006 - Dinner at Seryna, GINZA
We wanted teppanyaki and was recommended Mon Cher Ton Ton in Roppongi but as fate would have it, the taxi driver couldn't read the map well and dropped us at their sister (or brother) restaurant, Seryna in Ginza. Their specialty is shabu-shabu (esp. their Kobe beef) and none one us craved that. So, the closest we could get was grilled Kobe beef on a hot plate.

Our wine for the night - am not a connoisseur but I think it was pretty good.

Boss' sushi starter platter - I know, I know....he helped me with this photo. They are great people.

My lobster with curry mayonnaise starter - cholesterol what? yum!

Our Kobe beef - still makes me drool everytime I think about it - it really is that good! They used the fat from the beef to oil the grill. Oh man, best beef I have had, ever!

After dinner, we went to a champagne bar - woohoo! I had just a glass of Gardet.

When I got back, I opened up the card and gift that Barry had given before I left for Japan. Was sweet of him to want me to open a gift on my birthday.

And I also got a nice video clip from him at midnight...no, not of the obscene kind (ha!) but a birthday video clip from pup (wearing a party hat) and him which brought a lump to my throat. At that point, I really wished I was home.

But no, I was in a hotel in Tokyo, tired and stressed and had to work till almost 2am to clear urgent emails.....

Before I went to bed, I played the clip over and over again till I fell asleep. It was a great comfort and made me feel lucky and thankful.

My Surprise Birthday Do!

It has been a GREAT weekend!! Firstly, I had Jen and hubby and their 2 superadorable boys, Ryan and Aidan dropped by. We hung out at the pool and chitchatted. Gosh, it had been ages since we last met at Mid-Valley sans the 2 little boys.

And last night, Barry threw a surprise birthday party for me. I was out shopping with Shio (THE Diversion) and was greeted with a loud "SURPRISE!" from about 20 people when I got home. I was stunned for quite a while. Suffering no heart attack nor brain damage from the shock, I had an amazing time. It was a blast! AWESOME! I was very pleasantly surprised!

It was a great evening - lotsa food (there was naan, dhall gravy, curry chicken, tandoori chicken, noodles, fried rice and a host of yummies from everyone), wine and beer - and above all, the presence of so many great people - very, very memorable for me!

And now, the thought of being in Japan, away from home from everyone on my birthday this week is not so bad.....

I love surprises!! Thanks B!

And my thanks to his project members Elsa, Sai(?), Shio, Tim and Sashe and also to Mike Owen, Michael Z, Sharil, Irene, Sunny, Beth, Mark, Dian, Chris, Augusta, Bob (the photographer - whose photos I used here), Lisa, Ruben, Rosemary and husband.

Their presence made all the difference.



Augusta, Mike Owen, Barry and Chris closing the door, Irene, Ruben (hidden) and Lisa

Tim in his T. Fox run outfit

Lisa (left) and Beth (right) - such sports! Michael Z and Sashe in the background looking kool

Elsa and Chris bringing in the bday cakes - Sashe and Sunny in the background - Beth on left and Barry on the right

Me - blowing candles - yup, 2 cakes (from Elsa & Chris) - Augusta, Beth and Barry in the background

Beth and Tim - two sports greater than ice hockey (Guess where I copied this phrase from. Ha!)

Chris, Augusta, Sai - Another 3 sports greater than hockey

Role reversal - Bob "Albino" Marley being photographed for once, by Sharil

Mark, Dian, Ruben, Lisa and Elsa doing the Kitchen Confidential

Me, Shio and Irene

Barry & Me - I am a very happy camper...WOOHOO!!! ;o)

Bacon Chicken Wrap

Ingredients
1 skinned chicken breast (cut into 2 pieces thickness-wise; if you are making as appetiser, you can cut further width-wise) - Cut criss-crosses on all surfaces.
Cracked black pepper
4 bacon strips

1 egg (lightly beaten)

1/2 cup breadcrumbs
4 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

1 tbsp butter (to grease frying pan)

Method

1. Rub black pepper onto chicken meat. Lay 2 strips (1 strip on 1/4 of a chicken breast if making appetiser) of bacon on each half of the chicken. Roll up and secure with an oiled toothpick.
2. Dip the rolled chicken/bacon pieces into the beaten egg followed by breadcrumbs/Parmesan cheese mix.
3. Fry onto lightly greased non-stick pan over very low heat till brown on all sides.

Breaded Lemon Sole

Today, we had breaded lemon sole for dinner. Tuesday is a great day to buy fish and other seafood at Village Grocer, Bangsar. Fresh, fresh, fresh!! I like! (I know the picture doesn't show that...it's me, the photographer's fault)

INGREDIENTS:

2 lemon sole fillets (about 350gm in total)
2 tbsp lemon or lime juice
salt
freshly cracked black pepper

1 egg (lightly beaten)
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp paprika
pinch of salt
pinch of white pepper

1 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsps olive oil

2 lemon wedges or 2 limes

DIRECTIONS:

1. Rinse sole fillets and pat dry with kitchen towels.

2. Season with lemon juice, salt and black pepper.

3. Heat a non-stick pan. Melt 1/2 tbsp of the butter and add in 1 tbsp olive oil.

4. Coat sole fillet (one at a time) with beaten egg followed by mixture of breadcrumbs, paprika, salt and white pepper.

5. Fry for about 3 to 4 mins each side, turning only ONCE till golden brown. The fillet will be flaky.

6. Squeeze lemon or lime over and serve warm.

We had this breaded sole with Greek salad and bagels (I know, not very dinner-like).

Anyway, fresh fish and meats need very little other than salt and/or garlic and/or lemon juice to bring out their flavour.

Pesto Alla Calabrese Stuffed Chicken

I had cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, half a bottle of Calabrese pesto and chicken breast to finish up.

So, pesto alla Calabrese stuffed chicken it was for dinner with tomato and corn salsa.

Ingredients :
3 skinned chicken breasts

Filling (mix well together) :
1/2 of 185g bottle pesto alla Calabrese (I use Agnesi)
1 green bell pepper (very finely chopped)
4 tbsp breadcrumbs
4 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

Tomato and corn salsa (mix all ingredients and cover with cling wrap and place in fridge) :
1 can of sweet corn kernels (drained)
10 cherry tomatoes (quartered)
1/2 lemon (squeeze juice)
2 shallots (chopped finely)
2 cloves garlic (chopped finely)
A pinch of salt


Method :
1. Heat oven to 220 deg C.

2. Cut chicken breasts in the middle of the thickness but not all the way so that it opens up to an almost rectangle (I find this easier than flattening the meat with a mallet). Do use the back of a cleaver to flatten the meat slightly.

3. Season meat all over with some black pepper - no salt is required.

4. Place 2 to 3 tbsp of filling on the chicken. Either roll or wrap like a parcel. Secure ends with oiled toothpicks.

5. Place the stuffed chicken rolls/parcels on oiled baking tray and bake for 20 mins at 220 deg C. Remove and spoon oil from baking tray onto the chicken and bake for a further 10 to 15 mins till slightly brown and crisp at the edges.

6. Serve the stuffed chicken with the salsa and crusty bread.

What Have I Been Up To?

I have been very busy and will continue to be till end of the year.

From nursing a sick dog to a hacking and sniffling boyfriend to work and also my own personl stuffs.... at least both the pups are better now....

My little wiener taking a snooze...what a pose!

I will be travelling to Japan 18-22 September followed by budget meetings 4-8 October in Kuantan and Singapore. I will then leave for holiday in Canada for 3 weeks from 15 October. Immediately upon return, I have to be in Singapore again for IT training on 7-8 November. So, am busy preparing for these few events.

One of the things I need to do is to get my visas done to enter Japan and Canada.

Most importantly, to organise a cookout with my nieces and nephews after trip to Japan.

We were at Laura Southgate's (wife of my colleague) birthday party last night. Had tons of fun! Great food (they went Indian), wine and champagne. My boss and colleagues were there. I got her a jade choker from Madame Butterfly as pressie. Being the sucker I am, I bought 2 for myself too. Hey, they are gorgeous!



For once in my life, I could not finish a book within 2 days maximum. I am now reading 3 books at the same time - Freakonomics, Animals in Translation and Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential, not to mention Cleo magazine's September edition. Jeez, I am becoming very indisciplined in reading...



But, I am having fun doing all these.

My Poopy Was Sick....

My favourite dog, Claudia was really sick early this week due to her own gluttony and also partly my fault.

I gave her a piece of bone (about 5cmX4cmX2cm) to chew on Monday night. Thinking that it is pretty big for such a small dog to swallow, I allowed her to play with it unattended and we went to bed.

We woke up to a gritty grainy sandy bed.... yup, bones.

She chewed the leg bone of lamb to bits and swallowed it all (some left on the bed, of course) - and thereafter, those bones were out again, some the size of a marble (and mind you, she ain't no ruminating cow). Gave me a real fright knowing that she had ingested the whole bones, pretty jagged as it was a cooked bone.

I cleaned up the mess and she ate her usual kibbles after vomitting. I saw the good appetite as a sign that she was ok.

Anyway, I had to leave for work and rushed home at lunch to check on her. She was still retching. This time, out came her dog food eaten that morning. Subsequently nothing else ingested (even water) could stay in her. Her pukes were all over the home, our bed, the guest room's bed, rugs.... I called up various vets and friends who have dogs to seek advice. I was recommended a 3 vets with x-ray facilities. Chose the one at Taman Megah as it was the nearest and have heart good things about him before.

X-ray was taken - no sizeable bone was found, squeeze checks made - no yelping in pain, meds fed (to coat the stomach walls and intestinal linings) and all that.

We came home and I washed the sheets before I went off again to work She was better that night....

...but started vomitting again the next morning. She continued to have the yakk attack, with traces of blood - wasn't herself, lifeless and weak. By then, I was terrified, mortified, whatever. I felt like I was losing her. Man, did I really pray. In many ways, I am there for her and she is there for me...it's a very special relationship, my dog and me.

What I have missed out on doing was to check to ensure that the offensive bone was totally gone from our home. And that wiener had kept remnant of the bone somewhere and being the dog she is, enjoyed it the 2nd night around. The bed was gritty grainy and sandy again......
I cleaned up another round of the mess, washed sheets again and went off to work. Again, I went home at lunch to check on her.

Sick Puppy - She really is dishevelled in this pic. Shaggy.

And poopster was weaker than ever. She didn't even do her usual barking when I got home. I was horrified, called up Sham, my good ex-neighbour now friend and asked for her advice. She said that her vet had recommended soft scrambled (without fat - using non-stick pan) or soft boiled egg and some glucose for the dog to regain some energy. I called up the vet again too. He said to bring her in again to check.

I cooked and egg and fed her half of it - she wolfed it down - she was hungry after all. Couldn't find Glucolin (glucose). Again, I set off to work (it was piling up fast) as Barry finishes work early on Wednesdays. So, he could monitor her condition.

Poopster was stronger and no more puking - Barry fed her the balance half of the egg 2 hours later. And that night, she finally defecated and was back to her normal bratty, ratty self.

Never again will I give her any more bones. It can be fatal ingested ESPECIALLY cooked bones. If you have to give your dog bones to clean their teeth, make sure you watch them.

This whole week had been a week of checking her vomit and poo for traces of blood. And no, it didn't come across as nasty to me as I was very very worried.

I am so relieved now that she is fine.


Ahhh, much better!!!

Post-Merdeka Post

Merdeka Day (31 August) came and gone.....This is a bit late... was busy over the weekend with guest Travis.

We were shouting Merdeka! (means Independence!)

We had a little get-together over Merdeka eve at Elsa/Beth's place. We were dressed up in the Malaysian flag colours of red, blue, yellow and white or anything Malaysian like Malay baju kebaya/kurung, Chinese cheongsam, Indian sari etc. The girls of course went in full force with theme of the night but with a contemporary twist by pairing traditional tops with jeans or bottoms with T-shirt. See below.

Alex (in Chinese top) & I (in kebaya top)

Mike Owen, dashing in Malay baju and songkok (headgear)

Augusta in Malay kain sarung and T-shirt

Food-wise (or snack-wise rather), we had murukku, keropok and such... and then there were fireworks to be seen from the balcony at the stroke of midnight.
It's a great way to remember our country achieved independence. We (yup, foreigners included) even sang the national anthem Negaraku.

Chicken, Fennel and Orange Salad

Wanted a very refreshing dinner after the weekend binge. Not that I am on diet or what, just like to balance up the heavy meals over the weekend.

The recipe is copied from Women's Weekly Great Fast Recipes cookbook with some modifications on the amount of chicken meat. I used less of chicken meat (200g) as I wanted to eat more veg than meat. And no olives as I ran out of olives (not a fan of olives in salad but like them on their own like Kalamata olives in olive oil).

Ingredients :

1 tbsp olive oil
30g butter
500g chicken fillets, sliced thinly
1 fennel bulb (550g), sliced thinly
1/2 cup seeded black olives, quartered
3 green onions, chopped coarsely
2 medium oranges (480g), segmented (I used navel oranges as they are sweet!)
80g rocket (aragula) leaves

Dressing (combine in a screwtop jar) :
1/2 cup orange juice
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Method :

1. Heat oil and butter in large frying pan. Cook chicken, stirring until well browned and tender; drain.
2. Combine chicken (wait till cool a bit - I was in a hurry, so my veg were a bit wilted as a result of the hot chicken), fennel, olives, onion, orange, rocket and dressing in a large bowl; toss gently.

Serves 4.

Very citrusy and refreshing for a hot day.

We always have leftovers of salad which we really enjoy the next day when the dressing is really soaked through the salad.

A Stuffed Weekend

Travis, who is based in Jakarta came to Kuala Lumpur for the weekend and stayed over at our place. A few of us were out at Ruums last Friday night - it's a HUGE place, with pool tables, cosy couches and hanging rattan seats. Jungle Jerry was the DJ that night. Best of all, the place is airy - so, no smoky-smelling hair and clothes when we came out of the place.

Now, some of us were hanging around, screaming into each other's ears to make conversations and M went and explore the place a bit - He, Tim and Chris came a bit late as they had just crossed over from Loft to check out this quite new night-spot.

A man came out from nowhere and hugged him, kissed him on the cheek and shoved a drink into his hand..... This is really funny - M told him spontaneously : I am not of de gay...I like the titty and not the peepee.... He was let go. Gotta give him credit for handling the situation well.

Anyway, the three of them left soon after as Ruums had probably 5 men to 1 woman ratio... Sausage factory, they said. Men....

The next day, I took Travis to Sri Nirwana Maju for their great-tasting banana leaf rice meal. He had chicken briyani rice while I had white rice with squid curry and fried fish...plus the yummylicious mango lassi. Second time I had banana leaf meal this week.

With visitor in town, we have been eating out the whole weekend starting from Zen, the Japanese restaurant on Friday night to banana leaf on Saturday for lunch followed by Las Carretas for dinner. I had grilled lamb cutlets.

Today, I visited my old neighbour and they bought me chicken/roast pork rice, bergedil and ais kacang for lunch. I have now just came back from a seafood feast of chillie crab, drunken shrimps, stir fried haricots, lemon chicken and fried noodles at The Crocodile Farm.

I have to go on a diet now.....