ikan kayu or ikan lumahan?

found out this morning my friend bought some fish from a philippines supermarket and forgot to bring back to long island. so, i decided that i should fry one of them for dinner later and only then i realized that it was actually my favorite fish back home. i think its ikan lumahan. there is such thing as ikan lumahan right? or is it ikan kayu? i don't know. i may get the name all screwed up. i don't even know what they call it in english. so anyway, i was actually drooling thinking about it all day long at work. on my way home, i decided to stop by the chinese supermarket to replenish my own supply of soy sauce and chilli sauce. next mission look for ikan basung:)
supply of my favourite condiment to go with my fish.

time to stink up the whole house.

some steamed broccoli to go with rice and fish

while waiting for my fish to get done

chow time...its been a while since the last time i had this fish.
man, it was delicious!!!.

kadazan man and equus

went to watch equus the other day. its a story about a psychiatrist who attempts to deal with a young man who has a “religious” interest or what seems like a sexual fascination with horses. it also tells us the story from the psychiatrist’s point view about the boy’s fascination with horses which to him seems exciting compared to his dull and mundane life as a psychiatrist; an overly religious mother who reads the bible everyday to the boy thus resulted the juxtaposition of horses with god; a father who I think is an atheist deeply disturbed by his son’s interest with the bible.in short, it is about a boy who sees the horses as god-like figures. plus all the hoopla about daniel radcliffe, who plays the lead character in the movie harry potter, plays the troubled boy who gets to act in the play in his birthday suit. by the way, i have to say that he looks very short in real life. Anyway, sure there is nothing sexual about the nude scene but nevertheless, I don’t think this play will ever make it to malaysia not only because of the nudity but with the obvious injurious treatment towards religions and cult-like storyline which is a big no-no in malaysia. however, glad that I went to see it. apart from the fact that I dozed off ( only for two seconds ) in the middle of the show which I blame on the japanese food i had at hagi and couple pitcher of beer, at least, I can say that I have seen the revival. Someone told me that they obviously didn't spend a lot of money on sets and props which is true because they only have 4 big cubes on the stage which they use as a bed, chair etc, silver-like horse head and probably gym membership for all the actors who played the horses. they obviously uses big names such daniel radcliffe and richard griffiths to attract audience and make money for the show. luckily I got the ticket for this week because the show ends next week and I heard all tickets already sold out.

cookies

read about the uproar created by a bakery in west village where they came up with a very interesting cookie in honor of barack obama's inauguration. read about it here. of course i have to go down there and check it out. i looked around for that particular cookie in the bakery and couldn't find it any where. i didn't even bother asking because the women behind the counter was a bit slow and and didn't want to cause a gridlock in the store and she couldn't hardly speak english. interestingly, on my way out the women right after asked for it and the lady behind the counter just snapped and denied selling such cookie. guess they stopped making it after the tv interview. nevertheless, i bought 1/2 lbs of their cookies and see what so good about it. i i picked some pistachio cookies, chocolate with raspberry and "something" covered with coconut. honestly, they ok. it's hard and dry and had to dip it in my coffee to soften it up a bit.

my friend's work

since i am posting about other photographer's work, i might as well introduce my friend's work too. checkout his work here www.jongchullee.com

digital photo exhibit

went to an opening reception of digital photo exhibit by a documentary photographer mia song at sb digital gallery in manhattan last night. the exhibit, entitled inside north korea, was about her trip to north korea in the past 2 years and pictures that she took during the trip. had some some interesting pics which made me realised that north korea actually look somewhat "prosperous" that i imagine. well...from the pics that were taken by her that is. spoke with her briefly and told us a little bit about her trip where she said that was always a guide following her while she was taking all the pics. during her first trip it was somewhat difficult. probably because the north koreans didn't quite know who she was but finally warmed up to her during her later visits. check out out her website and take a tour of all her works. www.miasongmia.com.

photo source: sb digital gallery / taken by mia song

thank you

yes, i received the gift. thank you very much. it's very thoughtful of you guys. the calender will be sitting on the kitchen table until one of you guys get to new york this year.:)

p/s. pic looks as if the puffin sent me her eggs.

leftover food from last night

duh, i do have some pics of the food from last night and some shrimps too. totally forgotten that i have made 2 extra that were still sitting in the steamer this morning.

steamed tiger shrimp wrapped in banana leaves

rendang...well, my version that is. of course i can't beat the one made back home.

green curry vegetable...i know i need to warm it up.

something to wash down the food with.

no, you are not seeing things. the wine is called fat bastard alright and it's a french wine too.

last but not least, nothing beats leftover from the night before and have it as breakfast.
i know i am as "kampung" as a kadazan man can be in new york:)

birthday dinner

had few people over for dinner last night. so i was busy all day yesterday shopping and preparing for it. we had malaysian prawn noodle soup as starter and then rendang, green curry vegetable which my friend had prepared, cucumber salad and steamed tiger shrimp just to help ease down all the spicy food we were having plus briyani rice. at the end of the meal, while waiting for my friend to take the dessert out and letting others clear up the table, i decided to act malas lah and enjoy my wine. didn't tell anybody what the dinner is for for but guess someone found and ran to the store around the coner and bought some birthday cake candles and stuck it into the dessert that my friend had prepared and made it into a birthday cake. imagine the look on my face. no didn't take pics of any of the food though. totally forgotten about it.

44 places to visit in 2009....

new york times have asked readers to vote places to visit in 2009. malaysia made to the list. take a guess. not kl, not sabah, not even kk or sipadan.it's penang. read the excerpt from new york times here.

hudson river plane crash

heard all the fire engines went crazy around times square. didn't quite know what was going since it was pretty normal to hear the fire engine on the 43rd street between 6th and 5th would pass by my school on 43rd street between broadway and 8th avenue. only knew about it when i got home and turned on my computer.

links to news and pics about the hudson river plane crash -

new york post

new york times

read about hudson river

basketball game

went to watch my first ever basketball game tonight at madison square garden between the new york knicks and washington wizard. i'm not a big sports fan but found it interesting and different than what i expected. watching it live is somewhat different compared to watching it on tv. i have seen basketball game on tv where you hear the sports comentator would say something about the game or the players but in the stadium it was quite, well, not that quite, but people were just eating, talking while watching the game, at least in the section where i was. but anyway, guess there is always first time to everything plus just want to prove that i have been to "the world's most famous arena". by the way, madison square garden looks a bit smaller than i thought.

break time

game in progress

our entertainment during the official game break or whatever they call it.

semai...at the museum

i just have to make a separate posting about this exhibit at the american museum of natural history. i guess this is the only exhibit that has something to do with malaysian. although, i have to say the write-up about the semai is very interesting.

p/s...by the way, didn't know semai looks like om.

at the museum

i decided to spend my saturday afternoon at the american museum of natural history. i know there are tonnes of museum in nyc but just don't have the interest to visit them all. i figured that i should take advantage of a voucher that someone gave me which allows me to enter the museum for free. i did come up with a reason while i was in there why i haven't drag myself to visit all of the museums. think i am just to lazy to read all the description. i saw others were really into reading the description. anyway, i spent 2 hours watching two hours of documentary at the imax theater about dinosaur and ocean wildlife, picked only exhibits that i am interested in and snapped few pictures here and there.

main entrance to the museum - theodore roosevelt rotunda

grand gallery - entrance to northwest coast indians gallery

northwest coast indians gallery

rose center for earth and space - partial view of the big bang gallery

milstein hall of ocean life
...did realize picture came out that bad



saurischian dinosaurs gallery

primitive mammals gallery
...i think!

milstein hall of advanced mammals
...again, i think!

asam laksa and malaysian restaurants

over the weekend, new york times did a write up about asam laksa and some of the restaurants in my neighbourhood. click here to read the news - From Asia, Rapture in Bowl . i'd been to minangasli when it first opened, they have good food but service is so and so and something about that place makes it look kindda blah. passed by that place few times when it is supposed to be busy time and looks empty most of the time. a bit pricey too. taste good is ok. not the best in the world but the serves the purpose if you rasa-rasa mengidam or in the mood for nasi lemak, mee jawa or laksa. never been to double crown. will try and make it there soon. probably some fancy malaysian restaurant. sripraphai is so and so. long lines to go in. been there once. probably need to go there again soon just to re-validate some of the claims made by my friend. brought some mat salleh friends to that place and they didn't like the food. yes, i did say mat salleh friends. they said the food is bland. hey..don't blame me.

fishing snafu

i can only imagine the excuses that they have to come up with to cover up their act. malaysian fishermen face fine over shark catch. maybe something like..."mana saya tahu itu ikan tidak boleh tangkap punya? ingat saya punya nasib cukup baiklah untuk tahun baru 2009 dapat ikan begini besar untuk jual di pasar. kasi untung. sampai sini baru orang cakap itu ikan besar tidak boleh tangkap, aiyoo"...

heating oil

have to support the economy by buying more oil to heat up your home, either that or you will freeze to death in the winter. my mom asked me one time if we could just use candles to keep ourselves warm...boy, i wish. had to buy few gallons of diesel for my friend's house to keep the heater running while he is away. why? don't want all the pipes to freeze and burst, and create bigger and extensive damage in the house. and yes, the gas tank is outside right in the middle of the yard.

confusion

this is interesting, read about it from malaysia kini.

in that case, we should stop using the term "kadazan-dusun". unless, there is an inter-ethnic union between a kadazan and a dusun man or woman, then we can call their offspring "kadazan-dusun". hmmm...so much for trying to be politically correct.

excerpt from wikipedia...(kadazan-dusun)

"happy ending"

went out for dinner on new year's eve. i didn't bring my camera but my friend just sent me these pics taken with his phone with a caption saying "i can't believe we were entertained by this guy". believe it my friend, what a way it was to end 2008. at the end of the show, the performer actually came to inquire about us who were forced to get up from our seats since our table was right next to the stage and the direction where he was going to point his fiery, sagging rear.