Been Gone Long

Haven't I?

The evil empire grows

Same old, same old. Work done not for me but for the cause of another. I pout in frustration.


Ah well, my time will come.

A Day out with Food Papparazis

It was madness I tell you. After months of ping-ponging comments on each other's blogs, the Nomad Gourmand offered to me the very thing that I've been whining about for so long; a set of wheels to go to all the great places to eat which are usually off the beaten track (read:No public transport access.)

Apa lagi, when I bled the invitation over to Selina, she said "I want, I WANT!" faster that I can say "Eh, want or not?"

Our destination for the day was Restoran Tin Sing (the only location guide that we were justgiven was just that it was "under the tree": which was a bit of a misnomer as the tree in question was about 20 yards away) which is basically a local neighbourhood stir-fried-dish-served-with-steamed-rice place.

Tucked in the depths of a rural looking neighbourhood, Tin Sing is but one of the many choo char places operating in the area. What they had to boast however was their Fried Salted Egg Squid.

Unusual to say the least, it took me awhile to get used to the strongish flavour of the salted egg which quickly died away after several bites of the succulent squid.


We also had as complementary dishes a disgruntled looking curried tilapia, some french beans stir fried with preserved black beans and dried shrimp yumyumyum, sweet and sour pork croquettes and a steamed egg dish.

But enough about the restaurant, I want to talk about the desserts that tteNomadGourmand brought to share with us all.

The first one she christened "Damn Good Chocolate Cake" which is a handle well deserved as it was, indeed, damn good.

Luscious (dark chocolate?) mousse set over a slice of (dark?) chocolate cake and slathered in mercury quick (dark?) chocolate ganache, the cake was not only pretty impressive to look at, one bite felt like the chocolate man had kicked you in the face and pooped into your mouth as you lie senseless.


It was THAT good, I swear. (note to self: Copy recipe!)


The second dessert that we had was just as good but in a completely different way. A banana tart of sorts, it's construction was pretty simple: Shortcrust pastry (just nicely done, not too tough or dry), paint the insides with (dark?) chocolate, fill halfway with custard, top with chunks of bananas and torch the 'nanas to caramelise them somewhat. Not exactly heavenly but it was quite well done. (note to self: Copy and improve on recipe.)


The final item that we had on that day was (surprise of surprises!) RED FREAKING VELEVET CAKE!! I didn't think that we even had such cakes in Malaysia. Eh, Nomad, when you do pop by and see this post, do us all a favour and tell us again where you got the cakes (I can't remember la).


Of course, the best thing about the entire trip was not the food. It was the new friends that we made.

Going out for dinner with commplete strangers and becoming friends in the process?

As this lady so succinctly suggests, Why Not? (pssst.... this relic of a poster probably hailed from the dark ages of politically incorrect advertising. teehee.... Wonder if the agency responsible is still in business.)

Plus, I'll never forget the look on Selina's face as when the food arrived, the ENTIRE table but her whipped out cameras and started snapping away madly. Selina, join the fray next time.

Dare I do this?

It's non-food and in my own defense, my Tin Sing entry has grown out of its draft stage.


So here it is. Another submission to evil. Oh for the day when I begin to do these things for me.

Even more evil

Man, if artwork were weapons, I could fund a war! (Go ahead, roll your eyes :P See if I care.)


It just occurred to me that what I'm doing may be a teensy bit unethical because even the Boss hasn't said anything about the artwork yet (although I've already emailed it to him for his approval or derision.). What can I say. I'm a big fan of intellectual masturbation.

note to self: The next post HAS to be about food.

More Evil

I really didn't think that food blogging would e all that difficult really. However, as the lack of posts on food can attest to, it appears that I've always been expanding a lot of eefort into this without realizing it.

Case in point, flogging from work is an arduous and nerve racking task so much so that I've got several entries on draft and no time to think on commentaries and stuff.

The only things that I can post up on the quickie now are work that I've done for, well, work.

Lookit!! Lookit lookit!!! Art Deco inspired posters for our new coffee outlet at work. Pretty spiffy eh? (I have a bit of a swollen head when it comes to work I've done so if you're rolling your eyes... WHATEVER!! :P)

All the Potential in the World

Wasted!!!! Or not.

I wish I was working for me. (May 2010 *wink, wink, nudge, nudge*)

You see, if I was, I'd be using my powers for the greater good (read:ME!!) and not in service of some other power :P

Depicted above is the design for a kraft paper Shopper Bag that I designed for Austin Chase Malaysia which will see distribution in the entire Klang Valley in the next six months. I rationalised the design thus:

The entire visuals tie in with our chosen tagline "Bean There..." <> and it simply shows the logo floating over well-known skylines of the world (Can you recognise yours? Note the sacrilege... No Petronas Twin Towers :P) because Austin Chase has already... bean there !!! Great innit?

Why is the logo floating over the cities of the world you ask? It represents the sun mah!!