It's all about the Benjamins ...

This is going to be one of the first of many posts about my cousins. I love each one of them to death ... so I thought that it would be nice to dedicate a little post in my blog to each of them. Throughout these posts, I will focus on each of their good points, because let's face, I'm usually a glass half full kinda guy. ;)

Yeah, so this post is all about my lovely little cousin Ben, who looking at it now, isn't so little anymore. o.O he he.

So Benjamin has always, as far back as I can remember, the boisterous, 'think he's funny but he's usually not', charming little brat. He's obviously moved from that which he was to the charming, 'think he's funny but occasionally only so', caring, loving and life of the party soul that he is now.

Ben is also one of the few people I know who can both wear his heart on his sleeve, yet keep a lot of emotions under the radar. He does not always show his displeasure, if anything, he keeps it for a later time when he can have a 1 to 1 with the target of his displeasure. Moreover than not, Ben goes out of his way a lot of times for the people he loves and who love him dearly in return.

He's also an avid collector of toys, even more so than Sailor Jerry. Since he was young, he was fascinated by the concept and thought of money and he's moved on to become one of the most successful cousins in the LimKlan. The boy spends ... and spends. o.O Man, sometimes I wish I had as much as he did. But I wouldn't really know what to do with the money. Ha ha.

Parties are more fun when Ben's around. He's uninhibited and fun and is HONEST. I wish I could be more like him and let down more of my 'self-preservation' guards.

Here's looking at YOU Benny Boy.

Random thoughts ...

...

I see you smiling at me. I see your merry eyes twinkle. Your are lovingly pampering your hands with Olay's conditioning hand lotion and you laugh at the antics of the characters that you love dearly on "Zhen Ching". You smile as you watch your grandkids (all 10 of them) tumble into your room and as usual, I turn on the air-cond first, being the most sensitive to heat.

As we all take up our 'positions' around in the room, we laugh as you tell us some old story about our parents when they were little.

I wish you were still here. You, by far, understood me the most, even though I couldn't speak Chinese very well and you always made things better.

I wish I had taken MORE time, although I was working, to buy you your favorite Soya Bean Drink. Although you had called 5 other people for it and you already had 3 bottles chilling in the fridge. I knew that it was a ruse to see us, to have Company in that big, old house. But I chose to put work before you, before me, before everything.

Now you're gone.

And it's too little, too late to realize that I had put my heart into a venture that is taking me nowhere.

I wish you were here.

Ah Mah, Happy Belated Birthday ... and I miss you.

Things I'd Like Right Now ...

1. The Holy Blood & The Holy Grail.
Written by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh & Henry Lincoln.
ISBN: 978-0099503095.
Price at Kinokuniya: RM52.90.




2. Blizzard's World of Warcraft: Wrath of The Lich King Expansion Pack. Available for pre-order now at Amazon.
Price at Amazon: USD39.99 excluding shipping charges.

Birthday Makan @ King's Crab

(cake photos courtesy of http://www.pinkcakebox.com)

So yesterday was D-Day. I turned 28. Nothing much to shout about, other than the fact I was a year older, definitely a year wiser (in most cases ... shuddup SIL :P) and I am definitely beginning to think ... "What in the world am I doing with my life and what do I have to show for it?".

Yeah.

Isn't it funny how it always seems to take a birthday or a wedding anniversary to sweat the big stuff? Or what in my vivid imagination IS the big stuff.

So this isn't exactly my cake. I didn't get a cake this year. Wabbit's not around, so we can't have our annual "sinfullyrichsilysmooth American Chocolate Cake" from the nondescript bakery in SS2. Aren't these cakes amazing? Of course, my lovely cousin and his significant other make amazing cakes - so head on over there to check out their stuff. Of course, their cakes are still beyond my budget, but that doesn't mean that their cakes are totally expensive ... just for right now, it's not something I can afford ... but trust me ... I've seen some of their cakes and I've tasted it before ... enough to know that they are truly master bakers. So enough plugging for Nigel, moving on. It is MY birthday after all. :)

The day starts with a surprise text from my cousin in Australia who NEVER remembers my birthday. So this year he did. And it was a brilliant start to the day. I say brilliant because his text awoke me at 4:35am. :) Thanks Adrian. :P Then another cousin from Australia, who also never remembers, texts me at 5:35am. I swear you Aussies ... we are 2 friggin' hours behind you wei. Then Mom and Vance calls from OK at 6:35am ... so ... there goes the sleep routine for the day LOL ... So I'm up and I'm getting ready, and I decide, since it's my birthday that I'd better clean up nicer ... so I mud up my hair and actually use my Issey Miyake, which I haven't used in YONKS and I'm careful not to overdose on it. There have been times, when even I wanna throw away my shirt after one too many spritzes of this sweet smelling stuff.

So I get to the office, I get my first Birthday greetings from my team member and we settle down for brekkie ... and then she reminds me that we have an exhibition to attend later in the morning.

Crap.

I'm dressed in my nice WoW T-Shirt. So I told her that the lot of us need to dash back to my place on the way out for me to do a quick wardrobe change and we'll be on our way. So the later in the morning turned to seriously later in the morning. And lo-behold, I have a flat tire. Apparently, today was going to be one of those days. Post-tire workshop and 4 x 1-1/2" nails later, we're on our way to Suria to park the car. Chinese idiot in the Proton Aeroback with the registration "PDS 8127" White in color decided to smash his side window all along the right hand side of my car and sped off before I could get down to talk to him. Idiot.

Anyway, the day definitely got better as we strolled through the exhibition, had lunch with SIL, firmed up plans for dinner with the family (King's Crab y'all!) and we made our journey back to the office. The team really wasn't in the mood for a meeting, so it being my birthday and all :P I decided to postpone the meeting till the next day.

So we're now at King's Crab ... and here's the menu:

Fried Rice with Anchovies - yummy and not greasy. Light on the soy sauce, which made it possible to taste even the kacang botol in it. :^) definitely a good dish.

XO Spinach Soup with Japanese Beancurd and Century Eggs.
o.O
The XO was nice and light and not overpowering. The spinach was still nice and a little crunchy - lovely.

Guiness Pork Ribs - give it a miss. Total disappointment.

(picture courtesy of Ipohwav3.wordpress.com)

Dish of the day - Butter Crabs.
o.O
Orgasmic. Especially so with Man Tou or rice. I'm so in love. My fingers were too dirty to snap a picture and by the time I could, it was all gone. Ha ha ha ...

Ended the day with a beer and nasty wine at Dad's and Kelly's place. Totally fuzzed up in my head ... lovely dinner (my present from Kelly - Dad, mana present I? :) ). Finally went to bed at 1am.

Mom called me this morning to wish me again - she said it's still my birthday in America. ;) She's so sweet isn't she? And yes, a boy likes to feel special at least once a year :)

FBB's ...

... "MeltInYourMouthExplodeInYourTummy" Orange Chocolate Brownies with Decadent Frosting.

Right.

o.O

So I decided to try out the recipe with SIL over the weekend, seeing she was back from the States and all ... and so we went a-hunting for all ... well maybe not all, we did have some baking essentials leftover. So anyway, we started the process at about 12:00pm.

Sailor Jerry's camera decided to DIE on us, and we didn't have the charger, so I was left with my phone camera, which I decided NOT to use as I was low on battery (2% left la). So the mixing portion - no photos :P. But I must say ... I was using an egg whisk (don't ask why ... it's a long story and I'm still kicking my ass about it) and was trying to incorporate all the dry ingredients together and I was whisking away for all I was worth, stirring up cocoa and flour all over my WoW shirt and trying not to get freaked out that it wasn't ... meshing very well. I guess maybe the butter wasn't exactly at room temperature :P. But hey, we live we learn right?

I thought ... ah screw it! So after about 15 minutes of whisking ... I dumped in the orange juice and rind. I used TWO Sunkist oranges by the way, as I didn't get the amount needed from just one. And then miracles happened. FBB mentioned that it was supposed to look like frosting, and before the juice, it was ANYTHING but frosting lookalike. Post orange juice and more whisking - silky satin finish.

o.O

I was in love. :P

Then I added in the Hershey's (think it was) mix of Dark and Milk Chocolate Chips (yeah, Nigella way of being lazy sue me :P) and continued stirring. We were using this spatula which we got yonks ago from Ikea. Word of advice, don't buy baking utensils from Ikea. :P This spatula was ... a nightmare. It kinda had a mind of its own? Would only really function ... erm ... 1 way? Hard to explain ... so anyway, I was trying to smooth it out as smooth as possible and those little 'pimples' that you see are the chocolate chips (which are awesome by the way, post baking and munching on a brownie now) which kinda melt in your mouth, explode in your tummy in a yummylicious kinda way). I believe my girl Nigella would call it 'gloriousness'. :) Muahahaha.

So popped it into the oven at 170 degrees Celsius as directed for 25, and after a skewer test, a further 5 more minutes, and voila. Obviously this was the brownie baking and we actually sat down for the whole magical process. I must say I felt like some alchemist / warlock who had mixed up some kinda special brew and was watching the magic happen! :)

o.O

Absolutely gorgeous and divine ... it started growing, expanding, drying, cracking ... and the aromas wafting out the oven ... oh Lord ... it was kinda making the neighbors wish they knew us as opposed to just living beside us. Muahaha.

So after 30 minutes - it kinda looked ... like parched ground in Africa before the annual flooding. All cracked at the sides brown and uninteresting.

*sniff*

So I remembered that there was frosting to be poured on ... and let me tell you ... when I had zapped the dark chocolate in the microwave and poured in the cream (the measured amount was at room temperature) and started mixing it ... I was SO .... SO SO SO tempted to leave it marbled ... but, being the good student, obeyed the instructions of FBB's recipe and made it chocolate silk ... and here it was ...

Yummyliciousness!!

Oh by the way ... after a couple of hours of cooling - it kinda looks like it's been swimming in the pool for too long. All raisin-shrunken like. :(

But still yummy! :) Thanks FBB!

Holy Cow ...

... o.O Petrol prices have rocketed! A startling increase from RM1.92 to RM2.70 per liter. That translates to (using 1 gallon = 3.78 liters) USD3.20 a gallon. o.O

And once again, as predicted, the Government and their lackeys are telling the People to re-adjust their lifestyles. I wonder, seriously, if they had to pay for their own gas, electricity and water bills, would they be talking as much? Sitting in air-conditioned offices, chauffeur driven limos and cars and getting to make policies that affect millions of lives, but not having to suffer the consequences of it, must be nice.

Electricity tariffs are increasing by 18% for households who use more than 200kW of electricity a month. So CHEERS for all you sad people who only use 1 fan and 1 fridge and do not watch TV the whole week. BOO for us who actually bought air conditioners and thermal pots, have ASTRO, have a TV that we actually watch almost daily. I guess we should all just sit at the mamak and drink tea and read newspapers and gossip about the Government as our forefathers did. We should also all stop visiting shopping malls, cinemas, buying CDs (you know you can use Limewire right?). Oh wait. That would require the use of a computer. And Internet. And God knows that Badawi told us to change our lifestyle. Perhaps we should regress to a 3rd World Country mentality. That would be a change of lifestyle wouldn't it?

Maybe we should all vote to slash the Government servants salaries. And no more luxuries for them. They have to pay their own electricity bills and all. They want to avoid the rich getting ricer and the poor getting poorer. Hmm ... interesting concept when now, all that happens is the petrol companies get richer, TNB - with their dismal service and BRILLIANT POST TAX PROFITS of literal millions are getting richer. Does the Government even think before they launch their programs? ARGH! The People aren't exactly getting a salary review you know? If anything, our salaries are either stagnant or slow to increase. Perhaps we should all now increase the prices of our goods that we sell and the services we offer.

Never ending circle I tell you.

Last night was traffic chaos incarnate. What was usually a 5 minute drive from the office to my home, took 25 minutes. LOL.

o.O

But I understand the reasons behind it. It's a big savings this one tank of petrol - RM30 - RM50 per family. And that's a lot in this crap economy.

I have one thing to say to batster a.k.a. Yim. Based on your text yesterday, I am happy that I have met a despicable human being such as yourself. A rich, self-centered, arrogant person and I am happy that I got to meet you because you remind me of everything that I don't want to be. If you are bloody inconvenienced by the traffic jams that were caused by the petrol hike, take a look at the people who aren't as fortunate as you, who, just like you are trying to make it in the world. I hope that ... you know what ... you are NOT worth it. No wonder you're friendless. :P