So I bought the latest PSB album CD...

even when I wasn't particularly impressed with their latest offering after listening to the whole album (check out the sample page on the post below).

But as a "Hardcore Fan", I still went out to buy their latest Special Edition Cd "YES, ETC" that comes with a extra disc... containing remixes and other songs not included in the normal album.



The thing is that, nowadays CD package comes with Commentary and Making off too. Well not on the CD exactly but the Special CD "ETC" allows the consumer to unlock a special site on Pet Shop Boys' official website for those extra bits.

Dvd's got such cool features but I had never been that interested to actually go check out the extra features that could only be access on the net. But since there isn't much I could do with the CDs as I already heard them, I access for the extra features online for the first time.

Gotten some kinks in the way but it was easily solved (unlike the Firewire card that refuse to work with my PC).

Overall it's fairly interesting to listen to the Boys on what they have to say about their new album, what went on behind the scene and what the songs about. To a certain degree it helped to grow the songs on me (that and repeated listening)

I like to point out some tracks from "Yes" that I'm beginning to like more and more.

King of Rome
the first and still the strongest impression of this song is that it's very daytime dreamscape like ... it invokes the vision of lonely overdressed characters wandering alone in beautiful places like a palace, forest or even the desert.

It's slow in a plodding pace but very whimsical and I enjoyed it for the most part until the change in tune at the finale (which is basically the problem I have with most of the songs in this album .... doing awesome and a sudden change in tune/ tempo that felt awkward)

Pandemonium
The most chirpy “hands together” “clap clap” song for me. Was listening to this track on a Friday morning … was still in half-awake mode and this song got me clapping my hands over my head while I made my way to my destination. The tempo is strangely infectious (if I meet anyone, I would just pretend I am stretching .. hehe)

The Way it Used to Be
The regret-reconcile song … “what is left of love… tell me who will even care? So much time has pass, I still see you everywhere”

I don’t really understand “don’t sell me New York in the rain” but I like that line very much.

Legacy
A grand operatic band marching piece that had invokes a despotic feel to it. And the constant reminder that “you will get over it” does make sense … no matter what causing the unpleasantness or affecting one greatly… “you will get over it”

As again, I didn’t like the sudden change with the French lyrics section and the last bit about handphone seller and computer that’s a spy made very little sense to me.

sooo I was challenged

Was at Changi Airport Terminal 3 with a bunch of my Poly friends and was somehow being forced to step up on a weighting machine for luggage ... to my shocking discovery ... I put on 4-5 kg more than last year weight in at my Aunt's digital weighting scale

felt rather sian abt it as I just started jogging n swimming ... then my friend challenged me to "Lose 10Kg in 3 Months!" Bet and the Bet is for S$100 .

Well I did a quick mental sum of weight lost based on my 2008 experience and felt that it is possible to do it ... and I took the bet on.

Later on, we spoke about food and i was going to plan to organise some makan session ... upon hearing that, my friend decided to raise the bet to S$150 ... well couldn't believe that someone want to give me so much money and I agreed to the increase and went on to discuss about the upcoming makan session ... talked abt what food I liked ... upon hearing that ... she raised the bet to S$200!!!

sooooo now officially, I stand to lose S$200 bucks if I don't lose 10Kg in 3 months time ... this marks the first time I am taking on such a big bet on my personal physical endeavour ...

I was still feeling good about it until people start telling me that it is impossible to lose so much weight within that span of time ... the first person even told me that it's only possible to lose about 2kg of fats in one month time .... the rest are just water loss ...

well I'm still hyped about doing this and let's see the result on 1st June : )

the Many First in Jan

Technically ... I had plenty First Time experience in Jan (although I only listed the Salted Egg Crabs).

Looking back in Jan, It was also the first time I

+ Won the 1St prize in a public lucky draw
+ Took Pictures of Dragonflies
+ Met Sandra Ng n Vincent Kok (Met Raymond Wong when he was here for Dragon Tiger Gate)
+ Sell Draw Full House (Zi Mo Man Hu) in 4 separate Mahjong games in a row
+ Buying Lobsters to Rear
+ Tried Toe Socks

Let's see what new stuff could I try in Feb

Toe Shocks

First time trying toe socks : ) even tho my friend told me that after a while, it will get comfy and you won't even feel that you are wearing them ... by the end of the day ... my toes still feel weird and it's so hard to put them on or take them off

so I made Salted Egg Crabs

I could never understand the reason for people wanting to eat crabs ... there so little meat and so many hard shells to crack. It was until that day when I had Salted Egg Crabs and I understood why it's worthwhile to crack, suck and dig for crab meat ... the salted egg sauce combo with crab meat (and shell) is simply heavenly.

I been wanting to try to try to do a crabs dish and today happened to be the day where my folks and I head down to Tiong Baru wet market to chop prawns for the Reunion Lunch Pot Luck. Yes I'm making Wasabi Prawns again.

so Two Birds with One Stone ...

First of all, I didn't realize Salted Eggs come in Black .... I even asked the Ah Ma serving me if she got the right ones cos there are some brown ones by the side ... it turned out that the brown ones are Century Eggs (kinda Ironic isn't it?)

And the Black ones are actually White Salted Eggs

I was even more surprised that the Salted Eggs were still in liquid form ... not the harden ones we get when we buy porridge ... it's just like normal eggs except the egg yolks are a bit more harden ... I wonder what's inside the Century Eggs.

anyway ... had to steam the Salted Egg Yolks first. Then start work on the Crabs!!

My Friend asked ... so who washed the Crabs? Was it my Mom?

Anyway, it wasn't ... it was the Crabs seller ... had to ask him to kill & wash the Crabs for us as we really don't know how to. I used to stop my Grandma from killing and cleaning the crabs until I had to be locked in a toilet with my parents holding the doors. Now I regret not learning how to do it.

But it's still a rather cruel sight to see how the crabs are being dismantled ... Haiz ... I wonder if I will ever be able to do it. Anyway I told the Crab Seller that I was going to make Salted Egg Crabs and he just shaked his head and ask me "nice meh?" ... He must be thinking this punk is goign to waste his crabs



anyway, I coated the crabs with Corn Flour ... at that point, my Dad came in and mention that I should have added Egg White to make the flour stick to the crabs. It was too late and the recipe didn't state that so I quietly ignore him.


After which, pour them into hot oil for some deep frying session.



This is the tricky bit ... I wasn't sure how long should I fry the crabs. I been told that I shouldn't cook too long as they are easily cook. However at this point, my Dad came in and mention that the shells had not been cracked and it might not get cook that easily ...

as again, the recipe didn't mention anything about cracking the crabs shell and it was way too late to do anything ... so I quietly ignored him again ...

Had to rely on my "cooking sense" and agar agar (estimate) the frying. Overall, it went quite well until one of the Claws screamed during the frying!

I kid you not!

It was like those horror movie where what you thought was dead wasn't! the Claw kept screaming and screaming ... I was so tempted to tell it that "if you keep screaming, I am not going to pick you up from the boiling hot oil" but I wise up and suspect that there must be a space inside the Claw and it might be leaking air out so therefore it was screaming ...

there there .. don't be afraid to fry Crabs after listening to my experience.

My assumption was more or less proven correct when one of the later crab claw actually exploded. Yeah Exploded! Lucky it shot at the wall instead of me ... or I would really freak out. Think Revenge of the Undead Crabs !!



After the Crabs had been cooked, drain and dry the excess oils from them ... while moving on to frying the Salted Egg Sauce

Minced the Steamed Salted Eggs ... fry the minced garlic and add in the salted Egg. Once they blend together and emit a nice food smell. It's time to add those crabs and the seasoning in.

and Fry them together!

at that point, my Mom came in and said that my cooking style looked like a professional Chef. Even stated that if I leave my current job, I could try cooking as a career.

... cold joke aside, the frying was rather difficult as the crabs are still in large pieces ... which meant my Dad was right but as again, too late and maybe it might have been better mixing the salted egg with the seasoning first before adding the crabs (which the recipe didn't state it in that way)
The Finished Product!

Personally, I wasn't that impressed with the Salted Egg sauce. I didn't blend it that well and it wasn't as yummy or memorable as the first Salted Egg Crabs dish that I had.

But My Mom said it was good ... as good as the restaurant one (you know la, Moms tend to overstate things). She also mention that the crab meat was just nicely cooked and tasted pretty good ... which I agreed.

It was quite a new experience but now I am so tired and still have so many plates to wash !!! Not sure when will I ever do this again ... unless there are willing victims who dare to leave his or her name in the comments box.

Before I end this post, this dish wouldn't be possible without the recipe from this blog ... so go check it out if you would like to attempt this dish.

Lobsters

This morning at Tiong Bahru, we were going to get Crabs but end up getting Lobsters too ... the only diff is that one will be staying over in the fish tank while the other is going onto the frying wok.

The seller told us that the one on the left is a male while the one on the right is a female. Using their claws to differentiate their sex. Andrew named them but after a few hours, these Lobster's had their name changed again and again until we can't keep track of what was their name a few minutes ago ... I am sure Andrew can't and most likely was making up names as he goes along.

Anyway Male Lobster and Female Lobster will do fine ...
oh and I loved the way they pinch back at those big bully parrot fishes that my Dad got for the tank ... really can't stand those bullies ... if I am not that compassionate, I would have throw them out of the tank ...

Resolution for 2009

Inspired by Yes Man (& the Fish Feeding experience) and scared by the numerous "bank robbers" friends' requests, I am going to modify my plan to enrich my life. Instead of saying Yes to all requests, I am going to do something that I never done before in my life (or as far as I could remember).

Once a month for the 12 months of 2009. They could be something as minor as putting on underwear with both feet at the same time to learning how to play drums (haha I wonder if anyone will roll eyes at that private joke).

I am taking suggestions from friends (NOTE Friends! Not Friendly Robbers or Gay Dude trying to be extra "Friendly") on what to do each month. I have one in mind and nothing much for the rest of the year.

Check out the side column of my blog to see what I have done in each month. I will do my best to impress but Don’t expect major entry per month … I might not have the time to do so.

Becoming Fish Food

I been feasted on by mosquitoes ... tho I didn't really like it, I been planning to be the buffet for fishes after watching some documentary which showed a certain country that provide such "torture"...

While the European version allows the "victim" to soak their body in the water while the fish feast on them, SG version only got a feet version (they called it fish spa and charged 10 bucks for 10 mins)


Truth be told, even tho I wasn't so frighten like my friend was, when I inserted my feet into the water, the frenzy nibbling of my feet felt like I was attacked by a bunch of piranhas (of cos pain and gross level turned down a few notches).

The funny thing was that after I soak my feet for a good whole 3 to 5 mins, I turned to check my friends (to see if she is enjoying the treatment or not) and to my horror, her feet are still above the water!

I don't know if she is trying to bait the fishes or just like to waste spend money in such way, I was shocked she haven't "jump" in like I did. Had to push her feet in to "suffer" the same way as me.

Was kinda tempted to escape from such "torture" but I resisted and didn't flutter kick these poor hard working fishes (unlike my partner). Taking a closer look, the fishes look like those you can get from fish shops and their nibbling was actually quite fun.


Had so much fun that the ten mins finished rather quickly ... but was told to go to the middle pool where there are the bigger fishes. Promoted to play with the big fishes now : )

These Big Fishes, tho fewer in numbers and they don't swam towards thy feet, their bite was more "painful" and could really feel them taking a "big" bite. Tho it's strangely enjoyable, I prefer the mini workers at the smaller fish pond. More bites , Less painful : )


at the end, I am not sure what kind of therapy am I getting nor does my feet feel any better than it was feeling prior to submerging my feet into the fish pond. It was fun and I don't mind having another go at the 30 mins ... just to feel so many little mouths nibbling at my feet