Speaking Frames

I'd left my blog name blank for quite some time because I'm unable to think of any names for it. It has been awhile since I last post any updates. Been busy working and having lots of outings. Don't even have the time to blog. So I have came up with an idea, instead of typing my blog. I will just upload pictures to speak for me with maybe some simple caption or additional text.

Year 2010 has reach its end, time to review year 2010's resolution and see how many is achieved. For the mean time, think about the resolution for 2011 as well.

To end this post, I will put up a sample picture of what to expect for the future post without much text. As for it, I renamed my blog as "SpeakingFrames". Hope I have the time to update and maintain it.

1 Day Shopping at KL

It's Caturday and my brother said he wanna go KL to do some shopping since he obtained some vouchers for a brand that recently opened its store in KL. And yes, it's the everyone-is-talking-about-it famous Japanese branded fashion store - Uniqlo.

 

Anyway, I don't really understand what's the big fuss about Uniqlo and everyone seems to be so excited about it when it's openings on 4th Nov. Massive crowd and long queue, flooding the area of Fahrenheit88. Everyone was posting about it in Facebook, uploading pictures of their shopping spree goods.

I have no idea about Uniqlo, and I dunno what goods they are famous of. After some google and know they are famous Japanese brand which is very popular among teens. So, we decided to follow him and join the crowd.

We went early around 11am in the morning, parked at Time's Square and walk all the way through Sg. Wang, Lot 10 to Fahrenheit88. It's located at the corner of Fahrenheit88 and consist of 3 floors. Ground floor will be the male and female section, 1st floor female section and 2nd floor male section.

Saw many people choosing clothes and pants and my mum asked me what's the attractive thing about this brand and I said I dunno. Particularly I notice many people were choosing jeans, t-shirt and fleece because those are the promotional items for the opening, selling at a discounted price.

My brother queue up to register his voucher, worth RM40 while we walk around to see what's around. I notice that the clothing here are suitable for cold weather because there are a lot of thick-cloth material clothing, and information boards about the clothing that are able to keep warm, with their slogan of "warming by wearing". Which I think is not really suitable to be wear in Malaysia due to the weather, but no doubt some of them are nice and I wont mind to buy some if Malaysia is a cold area.

 

 The design of the store is very clean and organized with sections for different types of clothing. The fleece is one of the items that caught my attention because I never came across this before. It looks like a sweater and a jacket in combination, and it's a promotional item for this period, for RM49.90 each. I've chosen one for myself, another for my gf and my sis chose one for herself too, all under my bill. And my brother pays for himself with his voucher and additional top up.

 

Bit runaway with the white balance above, and notice many people hanging their cameras around while choosing. I only took some shots for blogging purposes and off I go. So basically, I went in here...

 

and come out with the fleece above. They have a few types of fleece, which include patterned, reversible (can be wear inside out too) and another one with some fur around the collar. So, why do I buy the fleece? Well, because it is Uniq-lo.. Seldom will see such shirt at other stores, so I just buy one to keep and wear when needed, but I doubt I will due to the hot weather here. Maybe just for night time or cold air-cond areas.

After done with Uniqlo, we went to Pavilion, because we never came here before even thou it opens for quite some time already. They are having their Christmas theme decoration and many people happily taking pictures. Seeing many people having a DSLR or a m43 hanging around, you can easily bump into anyone and see them having one on hand, be it noob or pro. And I consider myself as a noob because I aint good at it yet. The pictures says it all.

 

 

My main purpose here is to look for the Crumpler store in Pavilion and we had a hard time to locate it because they didn't put any word sign for their store, only a Crumpler logo at the side. It is located at the level 5, just nearby GSC if I remember properly. However, similar to KLCC branch, they are low in stock as well and need to wait for a restock by the end of the month or next month. I was looking for a 5MDH or 6MDH, but the price is really expensive for a bag of this size even thou I like the design very much. Just touching and feeling the quality of the bag then we say bye bye to Crumpler.

The decoration at Pavilion is really grand, well, no doubt for a higher class place. We left Pavilion and head back to Sg. Wang and Time's Square for some window shopping before we end our 1 day shopping @ KL.

To PDRM

Our local police enforcement troop always had a bad image among the citizen's mind. Being rude, lazy, bribery and all sorts of negative news seems non stop coming out through mass media.

But one thing I would like to say is, ever since the new Ketua Polis took over, I have seen huge improvement over the police force in terms of their performance, well, at least for my area. It's a good news of course, as long as no bribe/bias/undertable is ongoing.

Road blocks almost every night, at the main roads, checking on cars and motorbikes, ensuring the safety of the citizens, giving us the peace of mind. Even a short distance from my gf's house back to my house, sometimes I have to pass by 3 road blocks. How hardworking they are and I really salute their spirit to stay up late for their job. Before this, the only time you will see frequent road blocks will be during clubbing nights and before Raya during the Ramadhan.

There are a few highlights I would like to mention about their improvements:-

1. Frequent patrolling at residential area and commercial area. Be it day time or night time.
2. Stopping down suspicious cars and giving summons to drivers that break the rule. Both police and traffic police did a great job.
3. The attitude of the policemen improved a lot.
4. Frequent road blocks, almost everyday.

I would like to elaborate a bit on the points above. Firstly, often I saw a few policemen on their bikes or in patrol cars, patrolling the residential area and commercial area around Kepong. And I do see them stopping people to check them, which is very effective in my opinion, to check on suspicious people. Compared to the old days where you hardly see any police patrolling, I would say this will be a significant improve.

Whenever I drive on the road, for sure I will see some patrol cars, or patrol bikes going around. For once I was behind a patrol car, I saw them stopping 2 or 3 cars, giving summon, not taking any bribe. This is a very good way to improve both, the image of the police, and the awareness of the public about road safety and not giving bribe. Be it the normal police, or the white traffic police, they all did their job well. Especially the traffic policemen, have to stand under the hot sun, directing traffic, riding their bikes under hot sun while we enjoy air cond in our car. I felt pity towards them actually.

The attitude, yes, this is the most important part. Last time, they used to be very cool, asking for driving license and so on. But my recent encounter is, they actually greet you, and explain to you what is happening, and apologize after checking my car and explains it's just a procedure. And that, to me is an eye opening, because I never came across policemen who are so friendly. Well, maybe only that troop is friendly. I dunno about other areas, but I definitely starting to like the policemen in my area.

Frequent road blocks, many road blocks have been setup, especially during mid night, to check on drivers and bikes. Sometimes during day time, road blocks are setup to catch red-light beaters under the flyover or people who speed in residential area. Often you can see one policeman hiding behind the traffic light signal box with a walkie talkie. Massive road blocks often setup around Kepong area, especially the fly over from Menjalara to Kepong area, Kepong main road, turning to Jinjang area.

More news saying how the policemen able to solve big cases, catching crime and so on do help in getting the confident back among the people. Even yesterday, I heard from the news, saying that a policeman refused a RM50 bribe and the man who tries to bribe, gets his punishment. All these positive feedbacks from the police force, really do starts off to build up their reputation.

All I hope is, this good deed is able to sustain. As long as no bribe or bias act is involved. I do believe, if they continue this spirit, to the whole country, Malaysia will definitely be a better place to live. Seriously, If they are able to improve their service quality, I really don't mind the government to pay them higher salary or allowance, for the sake of national security and to eliminate bribery. Better than to allocate 5 billion to build a useless tower, I rather the government allocate the money to improve the facilities and welfare of the police forces because I still think they are underpaid, for the type of job they are involved. Risking life, sacrificing their sleeping time and family time, to ensure the safety of the citizens.

Good job PDRM, I do see the improvements and let's hope its not temporary.

Wishlist?

It has been 2 months plus after getting my camera and all the while have been doing some research about it including how to take different types of photos and also the types of accessories necessary to assist me. Besides, I also research about the lens I might need to upgrade in the future too.

Before this I used to research about computer hardware and notice the market price of it everyday through various garage sales. Now, however, I'm doing the same thing for camera accessories instead. The price for camera gadgets, is way higher than computer hardware, totally different league. No wonder people always say, "camera is rich people play one!". 

Even thou the recent price of cameras are more acceptable than the old days, the lenses, however are still pretty priced sky high. Some third party accessories do ease up the budget for us, but luckily some of them offer competitive quality too.

There are a few items I would like to add to my collection, some of it I would like to get it asap, while the others will slowly add into my collection.

Wishlist (Short-term)

Accessories:-

• A 67mm CPL (either Kenko/Hoya, normal or Pro1D, havent decide)
• Octopus P system GND and ND8
• Phottix Battery
• Jusino AX series tripod with ballhead (either 3 sections or 4 sections)
• Remote Trigger
• Sling bag/Backpack (Targus? Crumpler? Lowepro? I dunno..)
• Hotshoe cover
• Handstrap/better neck strap?

Lens:-

• Tamron 17-50 f2.8 non-VC

 Wishlist (Long-term)

Accessories:-

• Battery Grip
• Flashgun (Canon/Nissin)
• Remote Flashgun trigger
• Diffuser, Reflector etc

 Lens:-

• Canon EF 70-200mm F4L USM (no need F2.8, too expensive)
• Canon 24-70mm F2.8L (or Sigma will do)
• Canon 50mm F1.4 USM (or Sigma)

Camera:-

• a full frame body?

Pictures of all the above items? Wait till I buy it then I'll post it.

Well, the above basically concludes my current thoughts of future upgrading, hope that this hobby will not turn out to be a waste and hopefully capturing all the beautiful moments and memories around me. Especially in the future with own kids. LOL!

Mid Autumn (Mooncake) Festival 2010

This post was pending for quite some time, had some things to settle first before free to blog.

 

Mooncake festival 2010, we had a small gathering at my house with my relatives. It was on the weekend, 18th of September, Saturday instead of the real date, which is on the Wednesday.

My relatives were invited for a dinner gathering that day and all of us are required to help out. I was in charge of making the cendol agar but it turn out quite disastrous due to mis-communication. One of my aunt came earlier to help out while her children, which is also my cousins will come later. 

We prepared a few dishes for the night including fried wanton, fried fucuk, fried taufu pok, fruit salad, siu bak choy, curry chicken (by aunt), fried meehon (by aunt), pork and agar. The drinks prepared were chinese tea and chin chau.

We arranged the tables and chair in the evening and my grandma also kepoh bit and came out to see what we youngsters doing. At the mean time, she's preparing the candles too, not for us, but herself to play with.

Not long after that, my relatives arrived and we start to arrange the food no the table too. The feel for mooncake festival this year is not as thick as previous years. Everyone just came to have a meal and some chat and nobody wants to play lanterns and candles anymore.

    

 

When the food is ready, the hungry people quickly line up and grab the food! Yes, this is the spirit.

In addition, this year my aunt's family brought their little poodle to join the party.

Well, we had a small small candle session instead but no lanterns this year because we didn't prepare it. Ghosting and lens flare is quite obvious due to the filter, it can be eliminated after removing the filter thou. But since I'm playing with the star eight filter, no choice then.

Last but not least, Happy Midautumn festival!

Hokkien Oh Kuih - The Making

Have anyone heard of Oh Kuih (黑茶果)? It's a traditional Hokkien kuih according to my mum and this has been pass down from my grandma to her. My grandma used to make this or help us to make this kuih when she was healthy. However, my mum already possess the skills and knowledge to create the same taste as hers.

The black colour texture is actually originated from a kind of leaf, which name is not known. We plant this plant outside our house last time but since we moved to Jinjang, my mum didn't plant it anymore. Fortunately my neighbour plants it and she always give us the leaves when is harvested.

The procedure of making this kuih is very tedious and requires many preparation steps. I don't have the exact recipe, stating how much water needed, and so on because the recipe was passed down orally and everything is by feeling and our own preference.

The filling of the kuih can be either sweet or salty. The sweet filling is usually grounded peanut and sesame, mixed with shredded coconut that is stir-fried with gula melaka and sugar. The salty filling is easier to prepare, which is shredded sweet choy pou (菜圃), minced chicken breast meat or any other ingredients according to own preference.

The procedure is extremely tedious, starting from the leaves, till the end of steaming. It requires days and also the skills to wrap the dough. The more skillful you are, the more fillings you can put without falling out.

This kuih is very rare to be found in the market and often you will see similar kuih sold in the market but with lighter colour and very less filling. The colour comes from the leaves and not colouring, the filling requires skill and putting too much filling will make the price of the kuih goes higher. That is the reason I never like to eat the ones sold outside and they often sell it more expensive than other kuih.

I'll briefly go through the procedures as some of you might be interested with the preparations. 

First you need to prepare the leaves forehand before anything else. The leaves must be tender, not too old or else there will be too much fibre. Leaves must be hand picked, teared down, removing all the midrib and veins, only the soft part of the leaves are needed. The leaves then need to be sun dried and it will turn dark green, near black when it is dry. The dried leaves need to be boiled, tumbuk-ed (hammered with stone made hammer), cook with oil and sugar if not mistaken. Detail procedures have to refer my mum as I'm not too familiar with it. When done, the leaves must be store in freezer and can be used anytime. To picture what is the end product of it, refer the image below.

The type of flour used to make the dough is glutinous rice flour, preferably the brand shown in the picture below. One packet is able to make about 20 kuihs. The amount in the tray shown below is the quantity of 5 packets, equivalent to 120 pieces.

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The filling can be prepare simultaneously when preparing the flour. Dried shrimps, shredded choy pou, soaked in water, and minced chicken breast meat is used to prepare the salty filling. It is stir fried and season properly for the best taste.

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Next will be the sweet filling preparation. Ingredient used will be gula melaka (preferable) or brown sugar as alternative, shredded coconut and sugar. The grounded peanut and sesame needed to be prepare forehand by roasting it slowly on a kuali until become fragrant, before it burns. The peanuts have skins and need to be peeled off before grounded, and should not ground into fine powder or else there will be noting to eat.

Next will be the shredded coconut and gula melaka. All the ingredients need to be cooked with low heat until the shredded coconut absorbs all the sugar and gula melaka into brown in colour. The sweetness is personal perference.

The glutinous rice flour is added with water and mix slowly with hand until well mixed. Add in some oil if required, mix until not sticky and then add in the leaves and continue mixing. This process is very labour extensive and uses more energy than you think if the amount is a lot. The end product will look some where like the image below.

Banana leaves are used as the base of the kuih and need to be washed and cut into proper shape.

The ingredients prepared for the sweet filling can be mixed according to your own preference and more sugar is added if not sweet enough.

OK, everything is prepared and ready for the filling process. The leaf dough is measured and rolled into small spherical shape before adding in the fillings. The filling adding process requires experience and skilled personal, which is my mum. A good kuih should have thin dough and thick filling and should not burst out when compressed.

A plastic mold is used to pattern the kuih into traditional Chinese kuih shape, which is a tortoise, symbolizes longevity. I'm the one in charge of this process and I'm able to mold it faster than anyone else in the family. I used to use a wooden and clay mold last time. Clay mold doesn't give proper shape while wooden mold sticks too much. The plastic mold is the best because it doesn't stick much and light. The pattern molded is also very clear and nice.

The sweet one are molded with pattern and the salty ones are made without molding.

 

The kuihs are steamed for 10 minutes, and 15 minutes for the first batch. Two kualis are used continuously to steam all the kuih.

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My dad is in charge of cutting the leaves after being steamed for cosmetic purposes.

Last but not least, the greedy sister who can't wait to eat.

It may look weird and bad because the black colour texture, but the taste is unique and you will never find it anymore except home made. The ingredients are cheap, but the procedure is very tedious.