Baked Ribs again

Oh yes, i did it again. but this time round with a slight difference in technique. I actually "steamed" the ribs in the oven by covering it with foil for about 2hr before remove it from the tray.

Then drained the juices from the tray, brush dark soya sauce and spread sweet and sour sauce over the ribs and baked for another 1hr to get that charred colour and slight tight texture.

i think this is by far the most successful ribs i've made. yeah!

what a face..

this is a group picture of the TD gang during lawrence's birthday a few years back. how times fly.. i realised that when you get older, your group of friends' gathering gets smaller but your face gets bigger.. at least for me it is.

missed those days of mountain climbing, gyming and dragonboating. nowadays really can't find the motivation to do all those.

new phone

got myself a new phone (because i lost my 2 weeks old new phone in a cambodia taxi.. !@#$%^)

new stuffs.

I'm re-learning photoshop and picking up illustrator now. watch out for ugly graphics in this space.

very weird

what do you do when you woke up at 7am and have a 8am flight to catch? my horoscope for the day read, "Somehow, you've got to avoid the temptation to worry too much over today's oddly stressful encounters. You're not seeing signs of anything to come -- it's all just random fluctuations."

What do you mean by random fluctutation?!?! but they got it right, yesterday was hell of a day. quite literally, i jumped out of the bed, absolutely no time for toilet and wash up.. i got myself dressed in speed of light and flew out of the house. my 3 levels of "protection" all failed, my mum forgotten to give me the morning call, the taxi driver felt asleep, and my alarm couldn't wake me up..

so anyway, got on the taxi and time read 7.06am.. i battled the usual CTE jam and switched to PIE which was relatively ok for the morning towards airport.. so, my second "oddly stressful encounter".. i got off at the wrong terminal. Silkair is in terminal 2, and at 7.25am, i was in terminal 1.. the taxi left and tell you, at that moment, i could really stabbed myself to death.. i sprinted like a fat ass.. towards the end of terminal 1 to catch the skytrain towards terminal 2.. some how the skytrain was not travelling as fast as before.

7.30am.. row 1 of terminal 2.. and the bloddy silkair check-in counter is row 11.. which is fucking at the end of terminal two, my adreneline could only carry me to row 4 and the rest was on pure air.. by the time i reached the counter.. 7.35am.. 25 min to flight.. totally shagged.. the counter couldn't issue me the air ticket as i was late for check in.. but after a few rounds with my not-so-pleasing spirit.. they let me in..

there was still no time to waste after the custom check.. i ran. walked.. ran .. walked..quite literally squeezing out my last ounce of muscle.. i can tell you.. i never felt this fucked for a long long time. and the day have barely started. luckily, the flight was ok.. but it is also when i realised that my watch has failed.. quite completely screwed i must say.

by the time i reached cambodia.. there was just no mood to work any more.. i've used up all my energy and spirit..

Yes, Still. Alive.

Ros sent me an sms yesterday, "Testing testing, .... Still alive?" .. at least some friends bother to know. haha. my notebook was down for 3 days due to virus. and so i was on my usual weekend boredom trip, sitting in Andy's hair salon, flipping through my handphone's address book, hunting for names to be eliminated from my phone.

I reached a old friend.. let's call him 'Fu'. i remember him to be my best friend in primary school, we didn't really contact each other after primary school as we posted to different schools. fate brought us back during army time, which we met briefly in SISPEC.. in fact, i met another two primary school class mates in SISPEC days.. i wonder if there was any conspiracy.. anyway, then goes another few years of no contact, and about 3-4 years back, saw him in Shenton Way, and got him mobile number.. we promised to keep in touch, but that moment was how long the 'touch' went..

Anyway, Fu is the ONLY primary school friend i have on my mobile phone, and we have not seen/call each other since the 'keep in touch'.. so as i was saying, two things crosses my mind when i reaches his name.. how is he now? and should i delete his name?

i called.. yes, very thick face.. not like i'm selling insurance which then i have no choice.. and the fact that it is a trunk call.. makes it all so not worth it.. to call someone and start with, "Hello.. I'm your primary school friend, do you remember me?"... i just prayed that he dropped the number and horray i will delete the name.. since there is no apparent reason we would contact each other ever again. but No.. he answered.. sounds like him 20 years ago.. .(bloody shit.. so long liao)..

Conversation goes something like this:

Me: "may i speak to Fu?'

Fu: "er.. yes? speaking?" (i bet no one calls him by his old chinese name for a long long time)

Me: "i'm MC, your primary school friend.. do you remember me?" (i felt like a teenage boy here)

Fu: "err.. "

Me: "Ok, look.. i'm in vietnam now.. and i was flipping through my mobile number and your name came up, i was wondering if i should delete it or not.. so i called to see if you are still you.. we were in the same class in primary school.. then we met in SISPEC.. and i believe i got your mobile when we met a few years back in shenton way.. . you remember?

Fu: "er..r ohh ... yes .. yes.. i think i know who you are already.. wah.. you win lor..haha. very free har? in vietnam still call?"

the rest were some basic catch up on each other.. like he is getting married next few months.. scold me for not wanting to settle down.. and blah blah.. hahah.. so.. it turned out to be rather comical for both of us.. and we ended briefly (trunk call).. and promised to 'keep in touch' again.. and this time round.. i will make sure it goes to a coffee. two words, "happy ending". i continued to call a few more friends.. and got many interesting updates.. in fact a group of them were on a meet up and i said hi to all of them. haha.

I believe everyone of us stored hundreds of mobile number in our phone, just because we have every increasing phone memory. We networked thousands of friends on friendster and facebook, just because they are free and exciting. Believe it or not, few months back, i just became the 700th friend of a 19 year old girl.. can you believe it? 700th?? that is 6 new friends every month for 10 years from the age of 9! It will a nightmare if 10% of them start borrowing money from you isn't it? haha.

Yes, the world is getting smaller, we have means to facilitates our network.. but how many of us actually contact each other beyond what the technology can do for us? a friend is only a friend when you call and say hello, otherwise, it is just another set of digits stored in binary in your phone. Or another picture on the facebook.

Yes. technology like these are good nonetheless, but what are we as human being leveraging from it? What makes us think that technology can actually do the bonding for us? If so, where are we all going more apart instead? Yes, it might cost me a few bucks to call a friend who might not know me anymore.. but from another angle.. i profited from that few bucks regardless the outcome may be.. the bottomeline is.. the contact is made.

I still have fear of calling people.. sometimes, you just don't know what to say.. well.. i realised that you will never know because everyone is different. Just have to make that contact first and the rest actually take cares of itself. So don't be surprise if you get a call from me next time! Cheers!

Finally back to work.

the weekend over singapore was great! caught "one night stand" comedy with Ros and Jx, an 'Ang Mo' stand-up comedy, very entertaining.. but it cost like $50 without free drinks.. ouch! More than 80% of the audience are ang mo, which makes us the singaporeans the minority.. the irony is that i felt more 'home' when in vietnam's pubs than in that pub that night.

Sunday was my little niece's birthday.. sometimes i wonder if the party was meant for the baby or the adults.. an one year old baby wouldn't know that people are celebrating her birthday till she look at the photos when she grew up anyway.. but well, everyone only has one time of 1 year old.. so.. celebrate it anyway.

carrie was showered with gifts she do not understand.. she chose a packet of pokka drink over my ang bao, and whine with impatience when grand parents from both side trying to decorate her with gold jewelleries... also my brother-in-law managed to came back for the occasion which i believe my sis will be very happy over. everything adds up to the picture of happy family..

now, in cambodia and the real work begins.. not that i'm not working when i'm back in singapore.. but real work picks up outside singapore according to what has been discussed in singapore.. so.. the month of sep will look something like this..

.. vietnam.. run anniversary promotion for the month of sep, detail planning for oct and nov promotion programs, prepare new outlet design and layout for approval, check on progress on new face, plan media launch for new face, increase sales.. reduce stock..

.. in cambodia.. run sep roadshow promotion, detail planning for oct roadshow, detail stock count on spare parts, defected products, demo products active products, move warehouse, start new office, implement new system, get money from debtors.. increase sales.. reduce stock.

Will have to finish all the list by next thursday before returning to singapore.. then stay over the weekend before going back to vietnam for another 2 weeks. i like to be busy with mission.

time to go part 2

viz is sitting in his office chair.. rehearsing the fact that he will have to leave for Cambodia tomorrow.. perhaps is the family.. perhaps are the friends.. perhaps viz is tired.. he do not know.. but what he knows is that the usual excitement of leaving Singapore is not present this time..

this one week (re)connected viz with people and life which he has missed during his time outside.. however, he did not realised that having to leave everything again will be so disturbing.. this one week in viz's time felt like a wind.. feels good.. but cannot hold on..

Whenever viz is back.. things in his life change.. his niece can stand now.. his god-daughter can speak now.. friends getting into relationships.. friends getting out of relationships.. friends treading in relationships.. it almost seems that the only constant is viz himself.. still crude.. still crazy.. still stubborn.. still blogging.. but still incomplete.. with what? many..

viz knows that he had chosen a different path which he will probably have to face the challenges alone for a foreseeable future.. away from people who cared for him and people whom he cared. but he is glad that life has been kind on him.. he enjoys what he does.. living each day by each day.

time to go..

after a long in singapore, i will be leaving for cambodia tomorrow.. many thanks to many friends whom have made my stopover here a very fulfilling one..

Money Not Enough II

watch it. you will not regret.. Jack Neo outdone himself this time.. really. based on the political culture of singapore, jack neo focuses on love.. something which is very lacking.. its almost seems preachy, but its a good reminder of who we are, and what is really important in our lives. get ready tissues..

What's Cooking in Viz's Kitchen?

vietnamese curry chicken

chicken macaroni

braised pig's leg

steam crabs

my last weekend in vietnam was a feast! got moses over and he made two version of crabs, steamed and pepper while i did my braised pig's leg and cabbage rice. we messed up the kitchen but it was all worth it. :)

viz is back

back in singapore.. a last minute thingy to attend a meeting.. should be here over the weekend. for bookings, please visit your nearest sistic outlet.

a post about nothing

Ros was here over the weekend, and we spent time together doing things we used to do when we were both younger and 'wild' .. went my usual joint, Rio Saigon, for some drinks and live band.. did lots of shopping for food and cooking! So much so that Ros has to stay from eggs and crabstick for the next few weeks she said. haha. We tried movie marathon, but have to admit that we are not young already. haha.

good time pass fast.. and she left for singapore on sunday afternoon.. on a flight which is two hours delayed.. :P

What's Cooking in Viz's Kitchen?

3 Wang Dan!

Chicken congee

both are my first attempt yet again... always wanted to learn my maid's version of 3 wang dan and it turns out to be rather easy.. all you need are eggs... and the 'secret sauce' to be spread evenly on the top.. timely is important to ensure that you do not over steam the dish too dry..

chicken congee.. learnt a short cut how to accelerate the 'breaking up' of the rice grains.. getting it all starchy and 'congee'. threw in real chicken bones and dry scallops for flavour.. my driver ate it for lunch and dinner!

What's Cooking in Viz's Kitchen?

Braised chicken glizzard

my first attempt on braising.. and simply love it.. got a sense of satisfaction when ros and i tasted. heh. i always thought that it is difficult.. but in the end.. just with some simple ingredients the taste is simply amazing. the best part is that you can always reuse the stew by adding other meat.

Sichuan soup

first attempt too.. on a budget so no meat just bones to brew the soup. and since ros is here over this weekend.. everything is without pork.. and it tasted great as well.

vivian's birthday countdown in Rio Saigon

I got lucky!

Andy got lucky!

Vivian got lucky! :P

the gin gang!

Vivian and Jessie dropped by HCMC for a short tour and also to celebrate her birthday.. we blew over 2 bottles of johnny walker that night.. and totally enjoyed ourselves.. lots of drinks and kisses exchanged..

What's Cooking in Viz's Kitchen?

Everything for 13 hungry people..

ok, i got crazy.. there are just too many people and too much work.. from ribs to soups. all my best cooking are in there. haha.