cooking tips

do you put your soy sauce in your egg mixture before frying it, or do you add your soy sauce after you fry your eggs?

do you coil your earphones around your ipod, or do you 'orbit' your ipod around your earphones so that it the earphones are coiled up?

i tend to neither add soy sauce before frying nor after frying. and have no preference to how i'd like my earphones coiled. weird.

anyways, about the eggs, if you want to have them scrambled, you must first know how to make those scrambled eggs. scrambled eggs (those good ones) are generally not fully cooked. meaning that the egg proteins are not fully coagulated (or for those who are mentally challenged, it means to turn into a solid mass or to curdle as the protein structure changes). just like those eggs that you get from buying your big breakfast at macdonalds, i bet you are wondering how you could actually make them so delicious. right?

firstly, adding ingredients to your egg mixture will slow down the cooking of the eggs. you have impurities in your egg mixture which prevents quick coagulation of the protein. one way to best slow down the cooking process is to add ingredients a couple of seconds after pouring your egg mixture into your frying pan. and do make sure it is on low heat. say you wanted to add milk, what you can do is to pour the milk into the frying pan (lightly oiled) after having your egg mixture poured into the pan.

the above process 'shocks' the cooking, thus slowing down the rate at which the egg protein coagulate. and it doesn't just stop there. continue to stir, yes stir, the mixture in the frying pan so that you wont allow the protein to coagulate quickly. and of course, depending on your culinary skills, your eggs could turn out excellent, or equivalent to either a 20 year old yogurt or the rocks at the beach.

incubus, live in singapore

yes and indeed. after all these while. they might have missed us, a tiny red dot just off the southern tip of the malaysian peninsular. and as any die hard incubus fan, i just had to get the tickets.

actually to be honest i knew of their tour when a good friend of mine told me all about it quite some time back. i was pretty much excited when i heard about it. but well it had to be at fort canning, not that i don't like the venue, but i'd rather have the concert in a concert hall where i can choose good seats near the front. i wont even mind the deafening sounds from the speakers and amps.

i would really appreciate it if they'd play some songs from make yourself and morning view, of course morning view being my favourite album by incubus. maybe they'll play make yourself, nice to know you, pardon me, just a phase and all that. but i guess they'd be playing mostly from light grenades and a crow left of the murder.

and for those of you who don't already know, what are you waiting for. incubus, live in singapore. 7th of march 2008, fort canning park. tickets are out a long long time ago. get it in february and it'll be a bit more expensive.

see you there.

a craze swept wave

time and time again i see hordes of customers lining up to purchase their favourite doughnuts, or donuts as what most of you would know it by. it leave me wondering when, and where did the whole craze sprout out from. of course i couldn't be bothered researching it, but my hunches would say that it would have probably started with japan. or maybe one of the asian countries.

one of the reasons doughnuts became so popular is because we singaporeans are not exposed to a spread of fancy doughnuts that the americans indulge in every single day of their lives. also credit must be given to the advertisements and publicity. but this cannot solely be credited to one company alone. just like the bubble tea craze, many other doughnut-copy-companies are coming out of nowhere with their fanciful names and trademark recipes. its no wonder why singaporeans are so spoilt for choice.

it made me think again. doughnuts were actually introduced to this country more than a decade ago. for those of you who are at least my age or older, you would have remembered dunkin donuts. dunkin donuts were like the in-thing of the 1990s here, at least for me i guess. i still remembered gorging down those strawberry cream doughnuts, chocolate coated, rainbow rice and honey glazed. however, nowadays, we have cheese, kaya and whatever you may think of. to me, they appear scary and very experimental but has seem to struck a chord with the masses.

myself, although a food junkie, i'm not particularly crazy over doughnuts. so far, my doughnut count since the craze started still lingered at 1. i realise how very unhealthy those o-shaped deep fried dough buns are, plus all the added ingredients on the top that contributes to you slow demise. i've been constantly reminding others how unhealthy these things are, and of course, are as unhealthy as your favourite hawker food.

and of course you don't eat your hawker food that often, why should you eat these miniature life buoys as often? the queues don't seem to get any shorter and the fanaticism for doughnuts never seem to die. i guess i'll never know what it will take to level the situation.

then again, i'm still a fan of the bubble tea, but if you think about it, doughnuts are like cliche.

a critic's critique

i suddenly remembered that i had to write about something. a critique on customer service and it's importance. speaking for the millions out there who pays a great deal of scrutiny to the attention given to them, as well as how others treat them when they hold close to their hearts the 5 word mantra: the customer is always right.

others may have various forms of the mantra such as "the customer is your boss" or "i pay and you serve", but at the end of the day, we are all human beings and being critical is our nature.

take one case study: Banquet Food Court at Sengkang. i was queuing up to get 2 packets of fried udon for my friends who were obviously starving from food deprivation. well actually there wasn't much of a queue to be honest. however, what made it seem like a queue was the horribly delayed response from the person behind the counter. the lady, probably sick and tired of her work, rather flipped over the takoyaki balls slowly than attend to an eager customer who was going to provide her with her day's pay. so mistake number one: never let your customers wait for assistance.

okay, so i've already made my order. it was twenty minutes past two on my watch as i stood like sir stamford raffles waiting for the delicious looking udon. five, ten, and eventually fifteen minutes later, the udon was prepared. about time i say! how long could it possibly take to fry 2 packets of udon when i was the only customer? given another 5 minutes and probably i could have at least a medium rare sirloin with garlic mushroom sauce topped with baby carrots, juicy broccoli and whipped potato. i admit i was impatient, and the least i expect of the lady behind the counter was to assist me in taking a look at those udon. that was mistake number two.

somehow i started to think, maybe they needed to make those udon from scratch. and of course i am not that stupid.

and finally, mistake number three, when i was handed the "goods" there wasn't even a simple "sorry for the delay" or "i'm really sorry we had to refine the oil to make good oil to fry your udon sir" or whatever. none at all. simply put it: lack of empathy. apparently flipping takoyaki balls is like digging treasure. maybe there would be a thousand dollar note in one of the takoyaki balls on the hot plate.

and i must say, service was extremely poor.if i were to rate it on a scale of ten (which i am going to do so now), i'd give them 2 out of then. 1 point for the bare minimum standard of attending to customers (like duh) and 1 more point out of compassion.

and you didn't know i could be a critic. in fact, anyone, can be the unknowing critic.

brain aches

2 days to go and she'll be home. where the one that loves her awaits her arrival. desperation. and it has been so for days. more than days.

i've been having this awfully painful headache since sunday. i can't imagine i actually endure the pain for 4 days straight. i can't even walk, or get up without feeling the pain. and even moving my eyeballs feels as though the eye sockets are laced with sandpaper.

i thought it was just the pre-fever symptom. it was, a couple of days ago as a matter of fact. but no longer. maybe its cool fever. a new strain of fever that keeps your body temperature below 37. i don't know. probably its the headache talking. i also had these crazy thoughts about how the headache may actually be tumors. er well i better not think of it anymore.

on monday i went fishing. and as usual caught nothing. the feeling sucks. yeah. but you know, fishes have tiny brains, but they are not that stupid. anyways i've found ways to improve my rate of catch the next time round. i'm gonna catch some rays and cook and eat.

i'm rather displeased that these past few days hasn't been raining as often as i wanted it to. the skies are not gray and there's just too much sunlight.

cobwebs

yesterday i went fishing with some of my friends, 3 of them were my recruits. were. it's nice to see them, those familiar faces. kinda reminds me of old times. and i met up with tex. it was great to see him after all these time. nothing much has changed i guess, apart from him being able to drive and me not being able to drive legally. yet.

once again it almost rained today. i'm waiting for the sky to open up and splash us. i think there's just something in rainwater that makes me reminisce. some chemical. maybe opium.

another day almost over, and to start of the 'almost-over-day', i woke up at one in the afternoon. sheesh. i felt like crap getting out of bed and into the shower. and then i thought to myself, "saturday's football match has been postponed, today doesn't seem special, and no one gives a rat's ass about my existence." maybe that was a tad extreme. but i guess it's true.

i started thinking about how getting a job, a temporary one, seems like playing the lottery. so many application and yet no single fucked reply. i just need to get my ass moving instead of rotting at home. plus, i'm not earning any cash, so it makes me think twice about shopping. and it is killing me when i desperately want to get my les paul. frustrating, very frustrating indeed.

and its that time of the year where people start counting down to the new year, make new resolution which they hardly follow through and start their new work year, or school year, fresh. well somehow it'd be nice if say january first two thousand and eight brought along a extreme climatic change. sinapore begins to snow like the noth pole and the whole world turns into a huge ball of ice. that'd be nice. at least we get to experience snow. hmm.. nice.

argh whats this? cobwebs on my entire body! how long have i been sitting here?

painful photocopy

being able to let go would mean that one has overcome his/her obstacle, challenge to troubles. well that's what i think. at least maybe a couple of years back. but i realise letting go means that you are beyond that stagnating level of maturity you've been stuck at. learning to let go of something takes a great deal of effort, maybe more of 'mental effort' than 'physical effort'. but i must admit sometimes mental pain can result in physical torture. after all, the mind and body has a subtle connection.

i went to starbucks today. with who? heh... i won't say. and i decided to go because i wanted to get away from the four walls of my house, and to get some fresh air. and also to read a book i just bought. i must say it is certainly better than reading a book at home, unless i have a personal library at home with a full time barista at my expense.

the night air was fresh, and chilly with the occasional breeze. i sat outside because i thought the air-conditioned interior would freeze my brains dry. i plucked in my ipod, blared my favourite music and indulged in my reading.

the music was great, from my ipod i mean. it was Avenged Sevenfold's latest album, Avenged Sevenfold. yes, a self titled album. funny i thought, because it is their fourth album. and usually band produce self titled albums when they release their first album. oh anyways i sidetracked.

it is indeed distracting to have people walk in front of you, and around you for that matter while you are reading. even if they were extra terrestials i'd catch a glimpse. but then there was this person that looked like you, only scrawny. other than that, the short 2 second glimpse and the side profile was uncannily similar. that shook me up a little. no, a lot. why? why must that happen. and i don't like it. its like an injection of food colouring into your brain. no actually its not but what i'm trying to bring across is that the whole mind gets so knocked up that you'd experience a 5 minute relapse.

then it got my thinking; there are indeed many people that look similar. in facial appearance at least. what they do to their bodies is, well, up to them. piercings, inkings etc. it is strange to think that you could have a clone elsewhere, but then again, with 6 billion (and steadily increasing) people in this world, you are just another photocopy of another. or maybe the other is just a photocopy of you...

and think deeper. how many centuries have past since the world was created. how many billions, no trillions, maybe bazillions of people have lived and walked the face of this earth. yup, keep counting. there's bound to be duplicates. and take for example twins. there's living, walking evidence that 2 people can actually exist on the same space-time continuum looking the same!

amazing. wow.

i spent 2 hours at starbucks. after the completion of the first chapter i decided to head on home. almost half past nine and the cold night air seemed to get even colder. oh and what about the other person?

there was no one.

punishment too great to bear

the more i read, the dimmer the light becomes from the candle. a hope diminishing. saddening i feel. with so much being put into, everything will end one day.

and as the flame extinguishes, it leaves nothing but a faint trail of rising white smoke from its charred wick.

i wonder. i really wonder. i am beyond mad.

you never talked about me.

the roses, the photos, the gifts. nothing.

kuroi ame

i can't help but think "it's another december". the last december i could recall... well it wasn't very pleasant. and well i'm listening to "when you were young" by the killers and all i could say that it made me recall last december with even more colour.

last december rained like it never rained before. well... i guess this december did just as well. but exactly a year ago it rained for days, no, weeks. or maybe it was just a couple of weeks, but i guess those days were somewhat bittersweet and has been etched deeply in my memories.

i would stay in bunk, waiting for lessons. the whole lot of us. fresh out of OCS. my buddies. those carefree days i would think. the one i loved left me a year ago for some strange reason. and i felt lost, like really lost. i would find excuses to go out with anyone, yes anyone. just to kill time, so i thought to myself. to put it in words, last december was gray, with some highlights and streaks of colour here and there. but mainly, it was gray, not only the skies but the world that revolved around me.

the feeling still remains. lost and undecided. but that was a year ago. so i though, again. then it made me think, "what is so different between this december and the last?" indeed. nothing much has changed. i'm still alone, just like the many decembers i can think of, rotting and decomposing, but, not lost nor undecided! a good start i say.

something is bothering me. i'm not old, neither am i that young. but i realised that youngsters nowadays have a knack for vulgarities. must be an upcoming trend. i stumbled across a group of secondary school students on board the bus on my way home and my gosh this young lady was spewing profanities like mount krakatoa when it erupted. and she liked it. and her immature friends seemed to add more lava to the profani-tastic flow.

alright enough said. i guess i'm kinda old fashioned. *$&# *$&@ @$($%!!!

for the 4th night running i can't sleep. maybe it is due to my couch potato lifestyle, always waking up at 11 or 12 for that matter.

anyone interested in hiring a guitarist? or a vocalist?

other side of the moon

a series of unfortunate events before i ord. 3 extras are 'awarded' to my by my TO, in which i feel, is rather unfair. the errors were only in format, and not in content. anyways that's the army for you, no wait, that's certain army personnel for you. with rank, they think they have the powers to do anything they could never do before. i'd say fuck you! to those who use rank as means to lever yourself to be at an advantage to others, i'd say see you in the real world where the confines of the military cannot shell your insecurities from the harsh reality of life. fuck you!

just wait and see how i'm gonna serve your 3 extras boy. that is if i'm going to even serve it asshole.

and now with that aside, it seems that there have been lots of things that i've seen for the past few weeks that are worth mentioning. one would be the above mentioned. others well... its more like dissing people and in fact, it's all worth the dissing. like how going back to camp on your leave day is 'wrong' and that you should 'fuck off' when you are on leave. strange but sadly true. these people exist and it makes life more interesting to begin with.

there are also lots of things i don't think i can share, because it involves with restricted information (which would in the end land me in a huge pile of shit), or those involving people and their personal stuff. oh well it seems i got nothing else to say then...

wrong!

it seems that i've got one more month of national service left, and many years of reservist to do. let's talk about the remaining month, what i'm going to do. of course i'm going to ord with a bang, so people remember me as the lieutenant that you shouldn't mess around with, and also the lieutenant that has depth in personality and thoughts. and of course the lieutenant that has a piercing tongue and a knack for blunt comments (only for those who deserves it). well then again who do i think i am trying to lay the smack down on others? well if you don't like anyone, chances are, no one like him too. and chances are that you may hate the person i dislike are high too!

ooh i'm such an evil person, conniving and devilish. i don't think so. the other side of the moon isn't necessarily the dark side... i am just as pure as pure itself.