Thursday, December 30, 2010

2010 Review & 2011 New Year Resolution!

2010 Marks the transition of my life into a new stage.

Some stuff I pen down at the start of the year…

- Up my fitness level. I target 5k in under 25 min and 10k in under 55min.
- Finish Osim Triathlon in under 3:30h
- Maintain my weight at 95-100kg

- Train hard for Food Hotel Asia Culinary challenge and hope for the best.
- Try my very best at World Gourmet Summit written assessment.
- Write my first draft for my very first cookbook!

- Pick up French language
- Find a good French restaurant with a French chef and pick up skills from him.
- Stay happy, no matter what happens, don't give up!

Legend:

Accomplished!

Did not meet target but close…

Went down south…


January to February – The start of the year was pretty much boring. Working during Chinese new year was pretty intense in a club setting.


March to April – FHA Culinary challenge. Took me over 6 month to prepare but still went down the drain. Maybe I’m not that good afterall… Having self doubt, low period. However, shortly after FHA, its OSIM Triathlon. I finished near my targeted time. Though not my targeted time but still a great improvement! Regains Confidence!


May to July – Started second rotation of apprenticeship. Working in Fullerton will always be remembered with all the fun loving people around and what I really learn is how to deal with work place politics. Very intense working environment and working hour, 9am-11pm, I had a hard time coping. Later I realize the best way to cope is to squeeze in any time I have into exercising so that I will feel fully occupied no time to think about foolish thoughts. Kept a pair of running shoe in my locker at work in case I do get to really have split shift I can go for an afternoon run.


August – Was not in very good shape due to the fact long working hour and lack training. Finished Army Half Marathon much slower then PB, but still in an expected time frame. Felt really bad. Promise myself to squeeze in more time for training. Oh August was also the first time I dine at JAAN! And it was a treat =)


September to October – This period was very intense. The school final project was killing me. Pressure mounting up as dateline closes in, I felt really stressful. However, once the presentation was over, the feeling was fantastic. Nothing can describe the feeling at the moment. Everyone was just glad its finally over.


November – Marks the month I finally completed my journey in At-Sunrice Globalchef Academy. The finale was a practical exam that 15 months ago I would take more then half a day to complete instead of just 2h. I started to hunt for my dream job though there are already offers for me but I know there is something out there waiting for me. Those offers just don’t feel right. Finally through some connections I manage to find a very good offer from a very good place. (Stay tuned to find out!) Meanwhile I started RT in maju camp and took up part time at my old apprenticeship site, Swiss club. During my free days, I would train like a full time athlete in preparation for up coming Marathon.


December – Its Marathon Season! Had a great run with very little expectations. Overall, the feeling of the run was great and I could feel I am getting back my form. Though this was my 4th marathon, this is the first one that I felt great throughout the run! Very Happy I finally completed my LASKI surgery and it was very successful! Been awhile since I have a 6/6 vision (last in primary school I think…)



For Year 2011, here are some goals I have in mind.

· Get my brand new set of running, cycling, swimming and Tri gear. (1 pair trainer, 1 pair racer, 2 cycling tights, 2 full length running tights, 2 pair of shades; Day/Night)

· Able to run 5km in under 23min to qualify for MR25 running club standard

· Finish a half marathon in under 2h

· Finish a marathon in under 5:30h

· Finish a Triathlon in under 3:15h

· Cover 2011km by 3 discipline combined (Swimming, Cycling, Running)

· Polish my skills in the kitchen. If possible work my way up till cook 1 by end of this year.

· Try completing my cookbook on simple Singapore flavour.

· Be consistent on my blog, at least twice monthly.



Funds required for 2011:

- Trainer about $200

- Racer about $250

- 2 X Cycling tights $150

- 2 X Full length running tights $240

- Shades $400 (Resue one old frame get new lens)

- Half marathon registration $40

- 2 X Marathon registration $120

- Triathlon registration $100

- Swimming pool entry fee $100 (public pool $1/entry)

- Custom build Tri Bike $5000+++ (Optional for this year)

All prices are rough estimates…


Total: about $1600 (Without bike)


Any sugar mummy or god sister wanna sponsor me? ;)



When will I do an Ironman 70.3? My target, within the next 5 years

When I can swim 1.9km in 1h

When I can cycle 90km in 3:30h

When I can run 21km in 2h


When will I do a full Ironman? My target, within the next 10 years

When I can swim 3.6km in 2h

When I can cycle 180km in 7h

When I can run 42km in 5h

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Trip Day 5: Malacca to JB then back home sweet home, SGP!

Started the day with wonton mee just minutes away from our motel. Wanna verify if wonton mee in malacca is indeed that bad. Nope i shouldn't use the word bad, just not up to Hong Kong Wonton mee standard. Some Singapore ones are even much better!

Random Wonton Mee no.2

Apparently nth fantastic about them. U can get at any hawker center or coffeeshop some with better standard in Singapore. Wonton is small and nth special, noodle is over cooked to my preference, char siew is pretty dry and no effort in sauce.

Located: Just across the road from our motel: Hotel Seven

Hotel 7 @ RM118 1 night for 3 pax ;) a real bargain!

Walking down Jonker Street you will come across many shops selling stuff targeting tourist.

But we are only naturally attracted to food :) Pretty good onde onde...

Chung Wah Restaurant (中华茶室)Went down straight to chicken rice after wonton mee. The queue is unreasonably long and the food is not worth the queue.


Over cooked chicken, cold rice, nth special about the chili sauce and nth special about the sauce for the chicken. Very bad attitude "floor manager". I supposed they have the queue because they refuse to let customer in even though there are so much empty table.

Address:
18, Jalan Hang Jebat,
75200 Melaka.

Walking down jonker street sightseeing then we stop by a local speciality stall. Smells nice freshly baked but didn't buy anything.

The Museum Cafe

Walk further down to a shop selling the famous Assam laksa and chendol all in one shop. Not some fancy restaurant just a shop space with different stalls, think coffeeshop in Singapore.

The Assam laksa is good but not good enough to come all the way here just for the laksa. Very disappointed they use canned tuna as the fish in the laksa instead of common found fish in the region like batang fish.

Not your usual noodle.


While chendol is not bad, also not worth the trip. Well since we are on our way back from KL so it's not that bad.


Address:
88 Jalan Hang Jebat (Jonker Walk)


After the meal it's time to drive down back to JB.

Took over driving to lighten our tour guide's load, drove for about 1h plus before handing over to our tour guide.

She drove us to this hai fan chun place for a seafood dinner.


Karim Restorant Orang Asli (嘉林海番村海鲜)


Garlic stir fry gong gong.
Simple saute kai lan.
Simple food nicely done. What worth mention is the salted egg yolk crab. Nice and crispy, not too heavy eggy taste. However I think it was deep fried a little over cause part of the crab is pretty dry but overall it's taste delicious.




Address:
Opening Hour:
After dinner our lovely tour guide drove us all the way to city square. Thank her and her group of friends so much for their kindness and hospitality (free lodging too :D ).

Finish our trip with a nice hot latte at starbucks because James wanna redeem the free year planner after 12 mug of Joe...

End of Trip...

HOME SWEET HOME!

Trip Day 4: Down South to Malacca!

Woke up naturally without alarm clock means the battery is fully charged :) James' Cousin has some stuff her friend wanted her to help bring back to JB from KL so we went to the house to collect... Went in and i was blinded..

Wa so shiny... Belong to a pair of twin brothers studying in Hwa Chong (Singapore). Both are ASEAN scholar with fully paid scholarship to study in Singapore and receive monthly allowance too! Future politician i guess...

anyway...

We went to have this famous pork noodle stall

and we need to park right? Pardon me, i know there is such things but nv see one so high tech powered by solar panel leh!
Pay for your parking here!

Buy your coupon and no cheating :)

alright back to the food stall...

Chee Yoke Fun (Pork noodles) @ Restoran Pomander

The wait is at least 30 mins but well worth it. Let's not discuss temperature danger zone with the boss or pork lard has high cholesterol.
Here comes our pork noodles!

The soup is pretty good especially with one raw egg beaten into the hot broth, nice and rich, delicious! The innards were done alright and was pretty clean without any foul taste or smell. Soup taste naturally sweet probably due to the fact the pork and the innards were cooked in the broth and pork liver is naturally sweet.

Slurp down every drop of it :)

Address:
78, Jalan SS15/4B,
Subang Jaya
Petaling Jaya



Made our way to malacca with a pit stop in A&W for a quick bite.

So long queue with 1/2 of them from Singapore. Ugly Singaporeans are easily identifiable...

Xin Yi is stonning already... Time to swap driver :)

The most popular item from A&W is their root beer float. I wonder what is so special about it except being uncommon in Singapore. But still its so easy to make your own float!

Fried Chickens were disappointing... no wonder they can't fight for market share against KFC...

Hotdog taste like the one i had in 7Eleven just microwave hot type...

Continue driving...

After checking into our motel, we took a break before heading to the famous capitol satay.

Capitol Satay Celup

The queue is just like the one u see in their name card!

Queuing...
Taking a typical tourist shot :)

See the sky? getting dark already hahahah!

Quality assurance sign!

Against copycats!


Wall of Fame!

Queue for about 1h 30min and was hungry throughout.

While we go and grab our "Satay" the server will prepare the sauce for you. Adding sugar, gula melaka, peanuts and maybe some secret seasoning... (Every table get their own huge pot no matter its 2 diner or 10 diner. so i suspect, SUSPECT ONLY, the sauce and the sticks are recycled. if not the costing is way too high! But who cares anyway :p)

Can't wait, i just dump a big handful of sticks into the boiling sauce.

What we had for round 1 was pretty simple, 1 of almost everything for each person. Each stick costs RM0.80 and various plate types indicate different charges.

Looks messy but its fun :)

Bonus from the Boss himself :) Giant prawn at the same price!

Whooolala!

Also bonus from the boss :) we were pretty lucky to have 2 rounds of bonus :D

Well the wait was pretty much worth it for first timer like me. Very much like satay steamboat with fresh ingredients on a satay stick.

Don't be surprise after meal u will smell like satay! Hahhaa!

After we left, the queue was still there!

Address:
41 Lorong Bukit Cina,
75100 Melaka,
Malaysia
Tel: +60-6-2835508, +60-12-2295505
Operating hours: Daily from 5:00 pm


After dinner went round walking a little sightseeing then went to this famous geographer cafe for a beer to chillout.

Geographer Cafe
A place where a movie was filmed.

Had some beer then play around with my iphone photography apps too :)

Ordered a simple snack which is suprisingly not bad. Something like popcorn Chicken!

While chilling out, I didn't waste anytime searching online for malacca supper.

Address:
83, jalan Hang Jebat
75200 Malacca, Malaysia

Tel: +60 6 2816813

While driving by...
its almost 12am and the queue is still there...


Found a popular wonton mee which proves to be disappointing. Also another stall that require about 30 mins of waiting.


Random Wonton Mee



Noodles over cooked, nothing fantastic about the wonton and char siew, the over braised chicken feet is also tasteless... The only good thing is the siew York, nice and crispy skin with fatty meat... Nice :)

I don't know the address here is roughly the direction...

From Capitol Satay Celup, there’s a X-junction there, Turn left to go Jalan Bunga Raya and turn right to go Jalan Laksamana Cheng Ho / Ujong Pasir / Highway.

Turn right and drive further up until you see a mamak on your left. The shop is opposite only.


That's it for the day, drained...