THE FOOD ARE THE STARS!

Normally my Sundays would start off with a run or an event (race). This is another slumber Sunday for me. I woke up at 5am wanted to run but when I surveyed the sky, it did not look too beckoning for a 10km run from my home to and fro Bukit Jalil Park. So I returned to bed and woke up at 7am. I had a breakfast cum appointment with my god sister Amelia who lives in Sunway. The sky was so dark when I left my home for Sunway. It drizzled slightly and it looked like the entire sky was ready to burst into tears anytime.

Breakfast was at this dim sum restaurant in Damansara Jaya called Restoran Jin Xuan Hong Kong. Relatively near Atria. We arrived at the restaurant around 9:20am it was amazingly packed with people stuffing their faces with dim sum! We thought with this kind of weather most people were still snuggled in bed. There were five of us and we had to wait for quite a while for a table. And there were many others in queue. Amelia tried the dim sum at this restaurant before and liked it, so she is recommending it to me for a taste test. We finally managed to get a table at one corner of the restaurant which was deprived of air conditioning. The saving grace was it not sealed from the exterior and the wind from the outdoor (it was raining rather heavily then) was quite cooling.

We ordered the normal array of dim sum (non-halal). There were steamed siu mai(pork), yue mai(fish), ha kau (shrimp), chee cheong fun (one with barbeque pork and another with shrimp), pork ribs, chicken wrapped in dried soy curd wraps , fried lobak, fried stuff dim sum (e.g. yam, fried shrimp, etc) and the speciality was the barbequed pork ribs. It has a generous portioned of barbeque sauce and the ribs were meaty and not “lardy”. I hate lard. Amelia’s two daughters Melody and Krystle had “gwei ling guo”, loosely translated into English "Tortoise Jelly". Its a herbal tonic jelly desert made from among others, turtle plastron. Even though I am not a vegetarian, I abhor having endangered species meat or any part of their body for that matter.

After breakfast Amelia and I decided to watch KungFu Panda and after “disposing” her daughters back home we headed to Sunway Pyramid TGV Cinemas to get tickets for the 12:30pm show. To our surprise the first two shows for the day were sold out! So we decided to watch “Get Smart” instead. Fine with me since I wanted to watch coz Anne Hathaway is so va-va-voom. I have not seen her so delicious looking (pardon my politeness) when she acted in “The Princess Diaries” and “Brokeback Mountain”. She looked absolutely gorgeous! Sets my heart a flutter...among other things. Brunette sure works for her! I enjoyed the movie. It’s not an intellectual movie where we had to think and think of the story line. More of the slapstick kind of comedy and but not to the extreme and irritable as Mr Bean. Fun Sunday watch. I can assure you, no brain damage after watching it. In fact, you’d be amazed at how Agent 99 looked.

Anne with "Get Smart"

co-star Steve Carrell

After the movie, it was still raining. Amelia and I decided to have a drink and we ended up having pancakes at the Pancake House located nearby JD Donuts and Starbucks at the new wing. Scrumptious! Pancakes with chunks of cheese inside melted butter and maple syrup! Recommended! No photos for the pancakes though. Anyway, photos will not do any justice to the taste that I experienced!

The day was still not over (with regards to food). Family dinner at 7pm. Dad was on a mood for dinner outside at a Chinese restaurant (and he’s paying!). Dad loves “tai chau” – Chinese ala carte home cook style dishes hawker style. We ordered 4 main dishes (from seafood cooked in claypot, fried tau foo, fish slices fried with onions and ginger and steam pork ribs...again! Yikes!). And to top it off, dad ordered another 2 fried me dishes (one Cantonese and one hokkien fried).

As I’m typing this, I am just FULL of food inside. Stuffed to the brim.

The stars of the day are the food I have consumed. On the whole it was a sinfully delectable day!

Very oxymoron.

Oh...did I forget to mention again that Agent 99 is really hot!!!!

LIFE AND RICKY MARTIN

Life is so fragile and unpredictable. I just heard an ex-staff (whom I’m replacing now) passed away with a heart attack. I have not met him or seen his face (except for the obituary section that was published in a local daily). He was only 43. What surprises me was, according to his colleagues who has worked with him in my current workplace, he is very health conscious, soft spoken, never raise his voice, does yoga, very calm in handling situations and rarely eats outside (he brings his lunches to the office). It is very unfortunate indeed. May his soul rests in peace.

It opens up a whole new topic of today’s living. I have read that many athletes just drop dead during a game (badminton players, runners, football players etc). Is being too healthy unhealthy? These are questions that even scientists may have a baffling time answering. Now I am wondering, will I drop dead during a race? It is scary and sometimes overwhelming pondering over it.

With this in mind, I am living my life on a day to day basis. Stop being miserable. I should my change my blog profile. Be thankful for each day we are alive. I have stopped planning for the future too much. Seriously with the state of the world and the calamities that have been surrounding us, Nostradamus predictions may be true at some level. I have to come to my senses that just live each day to the fullest. Complain less about live. No doubt there’ll be ups and downs, but just be thankful for being alive, well and healthy. There is no point of earning millions when you are not well and enjoying your wealth (some may differ in view). I guess people are just not contended with what they have. Greed can be said as the ultimate sin here.

Enough of preaching. Talking about football and stuff, its Euro 2008. Many of my colleagues are coming into the office with panda eyes and blur looking face.

Ricky Martin recorded a song for the 1998 FIFA World Cup (nothing to do with Euro 2008) called "La Copa De La Vida" meaning “The Cup Of Life” and it was played to death on radio and tv stations during that time. He was in Singapore around that time to promote his then upcoming album “Vuelve” and I was fortunate (not to meet him though) but to have won a contest of getting a promotional autographed CD single from his recording company. The single is not sold anywhere and was only used for radio promotional purposes.

RIGHT HERE WAITING WITH RICHARD MARX

Now this is no one hit wonder. Who does not know Richard Marx. Til today his hit “Right Here Waiting” is still a favourite choice in weddings, karaokes and Valentine’s Day compilation albums. The song is still quite a favourite during love dedication requests on radio programs. He had hits after hits and has been in the music industry for a very long time. Before venturing solo, Marx has worked as background singers for superstars like Lionel Richie, Whitney Houston and even Madonna (check out credits on her “True Blue” album). Not only that, he has written songs for Freddie Jackson and the group Chicago. He co-wrote the Grammy Award winning song “Dance With My Father” with the late Luther Vandross. And that is just a summary of his span of impressive works.

His debut album in 1987 yielded 4 hit singles and “Hold On To The Nights” earned him his first number 1 Billboard single. The rest of the singles were top all in the top 3 region.
His second album “Repeat Offender” was a massive success. It even nudged Prince’s soundtrack to “Batman” out of the number 1 spot to claim the crown of the Billboard Top Album Charts. It spawned 6 hits including the unmistakable “Right Here Waiting”. Out of the six singles released 2 reached the pole position in Billboard Hot 100 charts whilst the rest were top 15 hits. Personally I my favourite songs from “Repeat Offender” are “Angelia” and “Children of The Night”.

His follow up albums, “Rush Street”, “Paid Vacation” etc did not perform as well as his first two. However there were memorable songs from it e.g.” Hazard” (my favourite Richard Marx song), “Keep Coming Back”, “Now and Forever” and the from the soundtrack of Anastasia “At The Beginning” a collaboration with Donna Lewis.

I had the fortunate opportunity to meet Richard Marx when he came to Malaysia for tour to promote his “Ballads (Then, Now and Forever)” compilation. He is very soft spoken and polite and very pale looking. He was very accommodating to all (press and some fans requests). We had tea and chatted about his career and his future plans. One of the more down to earth and true to himself artiste. No pretence whatsoever.

ONE HIT WONDERS PART 1

I have not been running much these days. I am just too exhausted from work most of the weekdays, I would rather get another hour of sleep during the weekend. The extra hour would translate to about 7am, alright 8am tops. I cannot sleep later than that. Not used to. By then, it’ll be a relaxing stroll to the bathroom and and normal routine. I need to get back in shape. That is the reason I have not signed up for any races in the near future. The last race was the PAR relay 2 weeks ago. Since then, I have run a maximum of 10km per week and have not been to the gym for strength and other trainings for about a month! Surprisingly my weight is still at 61kg. So, I am not so alarmed at the moment. Just want to get my stamina and tone back. I need a kickstart somewhere.

So much for that, back to meet the stars. In the 90’s there were quite a number of one hit wonders I have met. Two of them are, Donna Lewis and Jimmy Ray. What I can remember about Donna Lewis was she was blonde, British (born in Cardiff, Wales), very friendly and her talking voice was not the same as her singing voice (whispery thin). Some of my close friends also met her, Pueh Tian and Fenny Yeoh. We won the meet and greet session from a contest. Oh, did I mention that I was a contest freak during my school and university days (most of these meet and greet session just do not happen by chance, I worked hard for it...slogans and radio dial-ins).

I am still a contest “participant” now. Mostly dial-in to radio stations (if I do get through). There is no time for me (unlike some people I know) to even remotely think of a theme for a friend’s birthday party less come up with a winning slogan. Pueh Tian and Fenny were active participants in both press and radio contests as well. I still remember the times when we were always sitting by the landline phones (we were students and we did not have the luxury of owning cell phones like students nowadays...duh!) waiting for cues to call on the radio. It was so exciting and fun then. Now with work and family commitments, less time to do all these “fun” things. Once in a while when there is a lucrative contest whereby they offer cash I would try to enter.

Warner Music organized the Donna Lewis meet the fans session at a hotel function room where she graciously mingled and chatted with us. We took photos, autographs and all the opportunity anyone would when they meet a star. Well, she was a singing sensation then. She had a huge hit single “I Love You Always Forever” and that song stayed at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart for nine weeks in 1996 and became one of the most played songs in the 1990s. However, she did not fare too well with her follow up singles, “Without Love”, “Fools Paradise” and “I Could Be The One”. The most recent news I heard she did released an album recently in April 2008 called “In The Pink”. There is a single from it called “Shout” but its nowhere to be seen in the US charts.








Then there was Jimmy Ray (the so-called Elvis, Buddy and Eddie Cochran influenced singer). He was also an Englishman. His hit “Are You Jimmy Ray?” hit number 13 on both sides of the Atlantic. Jinxed to be the only hit single? I guess so. His follow ups “Goin’ To Vegas” and “I Got Rolled” failed miserably in the charts. I met Jimmy (yup, we’re on the 1st name basis here :P) in (either Micasa or Sucasa. It’s been a while.) Apartments for lunch and a fabulous fashion show with other winners. I find him kinda pretentious and also too packaged like by the recording company. He was not his true self. Even though most of his songs has that Elvis feel and even he look like Elvis. Tall and gangly, he even spoke with a baritone like Elvis (very made up and fake) and pouted like nobody's business. I actually enjoyed the lunch and fashion show (I remembered seeing famous models Bernie Chan and Genevieve Sambhi strutting by with haute couture from a Malaysian designer).

GUILTY AS CHARGED!

The most “heinous” crime for a blogger is not updating his blog. It’s been quite a while since my last blog update. So, guilty as charged. Handcuff and spank me! I can think of one and hundred one excuses but I guess the best is still work commitment. Nothing tops that. Which is true, in my case. Reports after reports to be reviewed and submitted. By the time I’ve completed with them, I am just too dazed and jaded to write some more.

Sports wise, I am still active in running but less training due to “work commitment”. I need to get back to form. The last race was on Saturday (7 June 2008). It was the 4th Anniversary of a running group I am in called the Pacemakers. We organized a 4X3.3km relay race at the Kepong Metropolitan Park. Great place to run, undulating hills too. I was in a team called “Team 2 Beat”. With no training since the RMAF ½ Marathon the week before I was quite pressured and worried to let the team down. However, we managed to scrape into Top 10 placing out of 28 teams. Well done, guys (Michelle, Afad and Fazli). Also I would like to take my hat off to the sponsors, organizers and volunteers of Pacemakers Running Group for their unrelenting work for the running group! Improvement is seen every year since the group held its first relay. Kudos to you guys! And to all runners, congratulations for participating. Come to think of it, such a small running group can put big organizers and “certain” authorities to shame with the management and organization of a race.

All 28 teams of PAR Run 4 (Picture Courtesy of Tey Eng Tiong)

One thing I learn during these races are, regardless of the runners job (whether you are a CEO or manager or even an administrative clerk), we do not judge each other. We join the run as a group of runners without prejudice. We admire the fast runners and support the slower runners. I think this is what the world needs.

Today is a rare day for me as I plan to be at home the whole day, just to rest and relax. Update my blog and probably “veg” out to some DVDs. Furthermore it has been raining the whole morning, since 4am. And the weather does not beckon any evening trainings. I might as well get some well deserved rest for the moment.

Recently I watched Iron Man, Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of Crystal Skull and Long Khong 2. Iron Man was good, Robert Downey Jr (despite his incessant battle with drugs) did a wonderful job as Tony Stark and alter ego. Good watch. Recommended. By the way, Gwyneth Paltrow looks pretty amazing as Pepper Potts. I was looking forward to the fourth instalment of the Indiana Jones series. Watching Indy again on big screen with its signature theme. Goose bumps. However, I was disappointed with the ending. Why on earth did it have to end with that ridiculous sci-fi note? Is it George Lucas’ idea? The ending is like an episode of X-Files....something IS out there! Oh well, Indy’s still got his whip, hat and an excellent Cate Blanchett as the Ukrainian evil dominatrix, Irina Spalko. Give her a whip and some handcuffs! She could give Lady Heather of CSI:Las Vegas a run for her money. Again, spanke me, Irina…Wreeeeooow! Correct me if I’m wrong but, she stole every scene she was in. If Cate was given more screen time, the title of the film would changed to Indiana Jones and The Evil Dominatrix! Long Khong 2 is not for the squeamish. I love torture movies (very SM of me). I enjoyed Long Khong. Psycho Teacher Panor’s baaaaackkkkk...... More ways to torture people this time. Now if you are falling asleep in the office, try to use safety pins to pry those eyelids open! Haahaa! Even though there were quite a number scenes that were censored, I still enjoyed the movie overall. I will definitely get the uncensored DVD version

More meet the stars soon. Including the likes of one hit wonders like Jimmy Ray, Donna Lewis etc.