NICHOLAS KEY

The Embarcadero

2009-01-21T22:51:00.000-08:00

I made this picture myself. Gave it a name - The Embarcadero.
It's been four weeks since she went back. I miss her so much!

Like this picture? Then take it (it's that simple). I won't mind at all. No lawsuits will be filed against you :P No ... I'm serious. Just take it, as long as you remember who made it (it was me) ;) It's easy for me to make another one because I know the techniques.

I'll be very happy if people are talking about this picture of the embarcardero.

Cheers! :)

A Hoax or a fact?

2008-12-27T09:13:00.000-08:00

I'm compelled to share this piece of article with you, the readers. This is something I believe that some of you read this astounding story from your friends through emails or from casual conversations:

The man who predicted the 1987 stock market crash and the fall of the Soviet Union is now forecasting a revolution in America, food riots and tax rebellions - all within four years, while cautioning that putting food on the table will be a more pressing concern than buying Christmas gifts by 2012.

Gerald Celente, the CEO of Trends Research Institute, is renowned for his accuracy in predicting future world and economic events, which will send a chill down your spine considering what he told Fox News this week.

Celente says that by 2012 America will become an undeveloped nation, that there will be a revolution marked by food riots, squatter rebellions, tax revolts and job marches, and that holidays will be more about obtaining food, not gifts.

“We’re going to see the end of the retail Christmas….we’re going to see a fundamental shift take place….putting food on the table is going to be more important that putting gifts under the Christmas tree,” said Celente, adding that the situation would be “worse than the great depression”.

“America’s going to go through a transition the likes of which no one is prepared for,” said Celente, noting that people’s refusal to acknowledge that America was even in a recession highlights how big a problem denial is in being ready for the true scale of the crisis.

Celente, who successfully predicted the 1997 Asian Currency Crisis, the subprime mortgage collapse and the massive devaluation of the U.S. dollar, told UPI in November last year that the following year would be known as “The Panic of 2008,” adding that “giants (would) tumble to their deaths,” which is exactly what we have witnessed with the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and others. He also said that the dollar would eventually be devalued by as much as 90 percent.

The consequence of what we have seen unfold this year would lead to a lowering in living standards, Celente predicted a year ago, which is also being borne out by plummeting retail sales figures.

The prospect of revolution was a concept echoed by a British Ministry of Defence report last year, which predicted that within 30 years, the growing gap between the super rich and the middle class, along with an urban underclass threatening social order would mean, “The world’s middle classes might unite, using access to knowledge, resources and skills to shape transnational processes in their own class interest,” and that,

“The middle classes could become a revolutionary class.”

In a separate recent interview, Celente went further on the subject of revolution in America.

“There will be a revolution in this country,” he said. “It’s not going to come yet, but it’s going to come down the line and we’re going to see a third party and this was the catalyst for it: the takeover of Washington, D. C., in broad daylight by Wall Street in this bloodless coup. And it will happen as conditions continue to worsen.”

“The first thing to do is organize with tax revolts. That’s going to be the big one because people can’t afford to pay more school tax, property tax, any kind of tax. You’re going to start seeing those kinds of protests start to develop.”

“It’s going to be very bleak. Very sad. And there is going to be a lot of homeless, the likes of which we have never seen before. Tent cities are already sprouting up around the country and we’re going to see many more.”

“We’re going to start seeing huge areas of vacant real estate and squatters living in them

as well. It’s going to be a picture the likes of which Americans are not going to be used to.

It’s going to come as a shock and with it, there’s going to be a lot of crime. And the crime is going to be a lot worse than it was before because in the last 1929 Depression, people’s minds weren’t wrecked on all these modern drugs - over-the-counter drugs, or crystal meth or whatever it might be. So, you have a huge underclass of very desperate people with their minds chemically blown beyond anybody’s comprehension.”

I do not know how true would Mr Celente's predictions be. But I would say it would reach a certain degree of possibilities.

The most talked about topic

2008-10-22T00:43:00.000-07:00

Here's a topic that started of this week (the content is already spread worldwide):

From: Jerry Yang [mailto:jerry@yahoo-inc.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2008 2:20 PM
To: all-worldwide@yahoo-inc.com
Subject: update

yahoos,

i feel it’s important for me to reach out to you after our earnings announcement, and before our all hands meeting tomorrow.

we as a company have been through a tremendously challenging year; and managing the increasingly turbulent global advertising climate has been an important focus for the last three months.

throughout the first three quarters of 2008, we have been balancing between investing in our top priorities, and managing our cost structure. beginning in september, with the help of Bain & Co., we initiated a series of steps to determine how we can become more efficient and productive as an organization.

we heard from you through the YEES survey, and through your suggestions on backyard, and we’ve identified many areas that we all feel we can improve upon. our productivity efforts, based in part on what we heard from you, will involve initiatives such as streamlining our organizational structure through reducing layers and increasing spans of control, and eliminating redundancies. longer term structural efficiencies include consolidating facilities, improving procurement, and standardizing our global technology platforms.

today as part of our q3 earnings release, we said that our goal is to reduce our current annualized cost run rate of roughly $3.9 billion by more than $400 million before the end of 2008. we are targeting non-headcount expenses wherever possible, such as facilities and outside services. however, because compensation expenses are the single largest part of our costs, we anticipate a reduction of at least 10% of our global workforce by year-end.

affected employees will be notified of layoffs in the next several weeks. we understand that hearing this news now creates uncertainty, but we are moving ahead in a way that balances speed with a clear focus on accomplishing what is necessary to set the organization up for long term success. going forward it will continue to be important for us to make the right decisions to keep our business efficient and strong.

having layoffs is very difficult, particularly in light of all we’ve experienced this year. but we don’t take these decisions lightly, and are committed to treating affected employees fairly, offering severance and outplacement services.

the steps we are taking are not easy for us as a company, but as we become more fit as an organization, decision-making will be faster and it will be easier for us all to get more done and stay focused on our strategy. these changes will also prepare us to better deal with the macroeconomic downturn. as with previous downturns, yahoo! continues to be a place where consumers turn for information and communications, and is an integral part of their internet day. as the global economy improves in the future, i certainly believe that we will be stronger and benefit from the actions we are taking now.

as always, i thank you for all you do as yahoos.

best,

jerry

Facial features extraction

2008-10-19T15:29:00.000-07:00

Now you see me ... now you don't ... and now you see me again :P

If I understand technically how this actually works, the image recognition process involves facial features extraction. The minimum number of feature points is 2 - the reference points at your eyeballs. Well, of course, the more reference points you provide, the higher the accuracy you'll get.

I have this image with 19 reference points, just to substantiate my theory.

Coincidentally, I said coincidentally, all the 19 reference points matches. This includes the corners of my mouth, eyebrows, nose and chin. Depending on what pictures MyHeritage has in their database, the algorithm will find a match to my picture. So I was matched to Chow Yun-Fat - pictorially, not genetically.

Anyway, both of us are living in two separate worlds. I'm a software development engineer with MS in Computer Science from University of San Francisco working to make ends meet while Chow Yun-Fat is a famous actor. Not forgetting the huge difference of our gross salaries :)

To my readers, you may try this out at MyHeritage Celebrity Morph. I particularly like how they manipulate our pictures. For laymen, it's called morphing your pictures into your favorite artists, but for a curious computer science geek like me, it's called AI techniques put into use.

Wii ...

2008-09-09T20:34:00.000-07:00

I bought a new set of Nintendo Wii! :)

happie happie happie :D

I wanted to buy this console for the past two years but the demand for Wii consoles is always greater than supply over here in the States.

Here Comes Another Bubble

2008-06-25T11:25:00.001-07:00

Here's a video I'm watching/listening to it again and again and again and again ...

May 16, 2008

2008-06-24T13:17:00.001-07:00

Commencement ceremony:
Master of Science in Computer Science

Master's Project presentation

2008-05-08T21:20:00.001-07:00

People in the pictures: Prof Buckwalter, Alaa Gharbawi, Cameron Walters, Brian Balingit

The final two weeks

2008-04-26T11:54:00.000-07:00

Two weeks and counting ...

2 projects and 1 final exam and I'm done with school :)

Up next ... career

Inspiring Quote ...

2008-04-20T17:04:00.000-07:00

I love this quote so much!

"There is nothing Noble in being Superior to some other person. True Nobility lies in being Superior to your Former Self."

Fast Forward

2008-03-28T00:01:00.000-07:00

1 month remaining :)

Human Tetris "Brain Wall" :D

2008-02-18T19:28:00.000-08:00

Fast Forward

2008-02-04T00:18:00.000-08:00

3 months remaining ...

:D

Homecoming and 김밥 ...

2008-01-24T23:21:00.000-08:00

Homecoming: May 19th/20th 2008

:D

김밥

Fast Forward

2008-01-11T23:50:00.001-08:00

4 months remaining ...

:D

CS Night '07

2007-12-07T19:25:00.000-08:00

Event: CS Night
Date: Dec 6, 07
Venue: Kudlick Lab

A completed project

2007-12-04T23:33:00.000-08:00

I have just presented my project "Benchmarking of Encryption Algorithms in Distributed Computing".

Check out the paper at this URL:
http://www.cs.usfca.edu/~ntkey/projects.html

Interesting fact about encryption

2007-12-03T18:10:00.000-08:00

"http://www.goingware.com/encryption/"

When I was in the Army, we didn't even have encryption; I had to write every secret message in blood on the single piece of toilet paper allotted to me for a day's biological evacuatory activities, wipe my arse over it to obscure the text, and wrap the paper three times around an irregular stick before Fedexing it over enemy lines. You kids today, you don't know the MEANING OF PAIN! Where's my gun.

Network Programming Project 2

2007-11-27T20:02:00.000-08:00

This is the title of my project:

Benchmarking of Encryption Algorithms in Distributed Computing

:)

Wow !

2007-10-28T00:51:00.000-07:00

My work is indexed second behind MaxMind with the search keywords "ISP geolocation"
Wow...

I shall being the Project 2 "Distributed Computing in DES Cryptography" soon. Please do drop by probably next week to get some updates.
Hmmm ... RSS feed would be more convenient.

IP Geolocation (Part 10)

2007-10-24T19:39:00.000-07:00

It's done ...
The screenshot is as attached. I did the presentation almost a month ago.

A huge thank you to all the parties that contributed in this project.
Coming up next ... "Distributed Computing in DES Cryptography"

IP Geolocation (Part 9)

2007-09-29T22:26:00.000-07:00

Nothing much to update. I was very busy lately with other assignments.
I modified the code so that the CGI script stores the IP of the users before showing them the map.

Here is the URL http://www.cs.usfca.edu/~ntkey/comp_network/project1.cgi

IP Geolocation (Part 8)

2007-09-23T10:16:00.001-07:00

These are the latest additions I have made into my application. Notice the info bubble. It is able to show you the geolocation data of the ISPs. You may click on it or hover across the pins to know about these places better.

The flags in the info markers are provided by hostip.info. It's quite simple to retrieve the images and in addition to that they are using REST service to supply the images, which is something that I favor working with.

The screen shot is as shown. Please feel free to check out the application at http://www.cs.usfca.edu/~ntkey/comp_network/gmaps.html

IP Geolocation (Part 7)

2007-09-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

Some updates to the codes on Friday night. There is a bouncing arrow to represent the current location of your ISP. There are plenty of images to choose from, arrows especially, at this website http://www.harrythecat.com/.

At least the map is good to be presented now - with all the push pins and the bouncing arrow to represent the locations of the ISPs from around the world. The next thing that I'll do is to fill in the info markers.

Check out the application at http://www.cs.usfca.edu/~ntkey/comp_network/gmaps.html.
Don't forget to click at the links in the page. The application still needs the ever interesting geolocation data from you.

Let us take a look at the density of the pins in Malaysia. Seems like most of the clicks are from the visitors in the west coast, particularly Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia. Yes, look at the link, it does not cost anything to participate in the application. It actually helps you burn a few milicalories from your bodily system by clicking at the URL. :)

Description of the project is continued here.

IP Geolocation (Part 6)

2007-09-21T02:03:00.001-07:00

My piece of work before I am finally going to bed. Nothing much to elaborate except to ask the loyal blog readers to click on this URL to check out the latest development. I think it is just getting better, I think.

Description of the project is continued here.

IP Geolocation (Part 5)

2007-09-20T08:15:00.000-07:00

I'm switching gear to implement Google Maps to fully illustrate the geodata of the users. Why the sudden change - from Yahoo Maps to Google Maps? Initially I thought of using Yahoo Maps because their overlay looks cooler. But since this project is due in 3 weeks time, I decided to switch to something easier to get things done.

Although the Google Maps API implementation is straight-forward, the developers will still have to look around for examples. I have got something concrete now. Thanks to Mike Williams, (check out his website) who graciously and generously share his tips to change the default marker in Google Maps.

There are two fancy markers I obtained from Visual-Case. Check out their website! They have many fancy icons to fit into Google Maps. http://www.visual-case.it/cgi-bin/vc/GMapsIcons.pl

This is how the map looks like in my browser. I have changed the default marker to a livelier ones. The marker changes color when the cursor is hovered across it.

The URL of the sample application is available here: http://www.cs.usfca.edu/~ntkey/comp_network/gmaps.html

Currently my web application is not integrated yet with other modules. So it is quite dumb not to be able to detect the current geolocation of the visitors.

This is the latest update from me, Nicholas Key reporting from USFCA CS Dept.

Description of the project is continued here.

IP Geolocation (Part 4)

2007-09-18T15:42:00.000-07:00

Some of you might be thinking why did I take up such project. The reason is simple. It is very relevant to the course I am taking this semester - Network Programming. You know, it is actually quite fun to build up and have some hands-on upon the applications that already exist.

Let's take this application for example, many of us might be thinking, why is Nicholas building a similar applications that already exist in the Internet? Hmmm, interesting question. Learning the know-hows and integrate relevant components together is quite exciting. You will be as though as working behind the scene knowing how stuffs work technically.

Maxmind has been very generous and accommodating to offer me a license key to make use of their web service. I hope the service will lasts till I finish doing the demonstration of this project.

Description of the project is continued here.

IP Geolocation (Part 3)

2007-09-17T21:55:00.000-07:00

This entry is to describe about the rapid increase of the size of the repository. I was so amazed looking at the rate the file size increases. 20B into 28KB in about 2 days? That's a lot of data in XML.

What I can observe from my XML file is that, most of the geographical data, for now, is contributed by the visitors from Malaysia. Thanks to those that received my message to pass along the URL (http://www.cs.usfca.edu/~ntkey/comp_network/test.cgi). I just can't thank you guys enough!

Here is the latest statistics (most to least):
[1] Kuala Lumpur
[2] San Francisco
[3] Singapore
[4] Seoul
[5] Jakarta
[6] Saint Petersburg (my house mate helped me by asking his dad to go to my website. Thank you!)

Let's keep the geographical data coming!

To those that are clueless to what I'm trying to do, please be patient. You will get to see the finished product by mid-October.

Till the next update, this is Nicholas Key reporting from his blog. See you and have a nice day ahead.

Description of the project is continued here.

IP Geolocation (Part 2)

2007-09-16T13:13:00.000-07:00

Thank you to those who clicked at the URL of my application testbed. This is a follow-up of the development of my project.

In the previous blog entry, I did some brief introduction and discussed about some implementation details of my project.

Initially the web page displays only the information gathered from the visitors' IPs. Over the weekend, I wrote a method in Python to store the information into a XML file (I chose Python due to its flexibility when it comes to parsing the XML). I reckoned that if the rate of the visitors grows exponentially through December 2007, the repository file is going to be so massive, probably in terms of MBytes. Let's see how things go.

The cycle of the program has changed with the inclusion of the method to store the visitors' information into XML. I have not thought about concurrency issue, yet, when multiple users visit my website at the same time.

But anyway, another milestone achieved, that is to store the information retrieved from the unique IPs.

Description of the project is continued here.

IP Geolocation (Part 1)

2007-09-14T15:35:00.000-07:00

This is an initial ground work for Project 1 of the Network Programming course I am doing this semester. It looks quite simple but it's very interesting to look at the query result (the query part is done for you, the visitors to my web page). Check it out!

Here you go. Click on the URL to soothe your burning desire. Warning ... head scratching might take place because of the unfamiliar content. Really geeky content ahead.

"but I don't understand what is this!"

Just click here

More features to come real soon!

Components of this application I'm thinking of: Web service, XML, XSLT, Python, CGI, AJAX. See, I don't need a huge database because the data is provided through web service by MaxMind LLC. XML will be sufficient :)

Oh, I must really thank MaxMind LLC for such great geolocation database! Such great company must not be forgotten of their contribution. This is their URL http://www.maxmind.com/

IMPORTANT: My application does not steal your ISP account username and password. Your privacy is much respected. The purpose of this project is to understand the details retrieved from different IPs from the visitors - the geographical details and the name of the ISP. Thank you.

Description of the project is continued here.

DiGi TV Commercial

2007-09-10T08:39:00.001-07:00

The best Malaysian TVC!
I love this advertisement so much!

Sweet Schweet sweeet Internship memories

2007-09-09T10:47:00.000-07:00

Blank ...

2007-08-20T22:52:00.001-07:00

Nothing much to update lately.

How many Nicholas Key are there in the CS Dept?

2007-06-14T15:55:00.000-07:00

How many me's in this picture? This picture is way too cool for me. For those photography and imaging experts out there, this image is actually simple to produce.

Check out this picture taken in the Kudlick Computer Science lab :) This lab is usually a hang-out spot for me while there is nothing else to do in the USF campus.
It took me (a total newbie in photography and imaging) about 3 solid hours to produce this image.

Since I do not know how to use Adobe Photoshop or any other image editing applications, I use only the good ol' MS Paint. :P Yupe, the good ol' MS Paint that is installed by default in your Microsoft Windows operating systems with the much limited functionalities to produce high end images. (I do not know if it is still available in MS Vista OSes)

More information about the picture:
Camera: Olympus FE150
Dimension: 2560 x 1920
Format: JPEG

Thai dinner - June 6th

2007-06-06T22:14:00.000-07:00

This is the fourth part of my birthday celebration. Phew, four consecutive days :) William was with us this time. The usual gang of three - Nicholas, Leo, William. We went to a Thai restaurant along Geary.

Notice that I wore the same red shirt for the four days of birthday celebration. I thought it an auspicious color but I don't have spare red shirt :P

This is also another good eat. :D

Thai Cafe
3407 Geary Blvd
San Francisco, CA 94118

Mexican dinner - June 5th

2007-06-05T22:33:00.001-07:00

Alright, this is the third part of the four-part sequel of Nicholas Key's birthday celebration. One more entry to go :P

Leo and I went to a Mexican restaurant in SF downtown. I ordered nothing but Mexican food. Well, that's why I am there. Had corn chips with salsa sauce, tortilla soup, taco, burrito and enchiladas and not forgetting a can of imported mexican beer "Modelo Especial".

Initially I asked a waiter what I am getting for my birthday dinner at Chevys and he told me he'll get that arranged. Of course, while waiting for him to come back to me, we continued eating and by the time we finished our dinner, two of them came towards our table and sang a mexican style birthday song and presented me a gift - a Mexican hat and treated us ice cream.

It was already 9.30pm when we paid the bill. I wore the hat walking along the street to the bus stop and the experience was very very exciting. Few reasons, first, the policemen or immigration officers might jumped out of nowhere and perform a search onto me thinking that I am a lost Mexican that crossed the border and blindly ended up in San Francisco. haha.

Other than that, vehicle drivers will at least take a look at this "Mexican pedestrian". I even saw some drivers stare at me in disbelieve. lol. I told Leo that I felt weird wearing the hat walking on the street. He said "Don't worry, all the weird people are out at night. You are no exception". funnny ...

I even wore the hat in the bus. You can actually see how the passengers look at you. :P Anyway it's fun. I told Leo that I should have gotten myself a Mexican poncho to convince other people that it was Halloween.

My conclusion - this Chevys Fresh Mex at 3rd St is quite a good eat. The service is good, the waiter that served us was very patient and courteous. Check it out at:

Chevys Fresh Mex
201 3rd St
San Francisco
CA 94103

Birthday celebration - June 4th (Part 2)

2007-06-04T22:22:00.001-07:00

This is the second part of my birthday celebration miniseries :P

I bought myself a cheesecake - shared it with my landlord and Leonid (my housemate). It's so cheesy and that is exactly the texture I love about eating cheesecake. Prepared two dishes and had Kettle potato chips as dessert.

What a glutton chubby Nicholas Key! haha

Birthday celebration - June 3rd (Part 1)

2007-06-04T22:21:00.000-07:00

I celebrated my 23rd birthday for four consecutive days :) Can you imagine that? I'm lazy to elaborate how I celebrated my birthday in a long-winded manner - prefer to write my story in points-style.

This is the first part of four "miniseries" of my birthday celebration.

Kenn brought me to a Malaysian restaurant in Daly City on a Sunday evening. It's called the Banana Island. The food was not bad after all. I can say that the food is the closest to Malaysia.

Ordered 3 items:
Taufu, kangkung, aluminum-wrapped sweet sour pork

Actually we ordered a dish of roti canai but before I remembered to take a picture of the dish, the serving was already finished :P haha. That summed up to 4 dishes. Pictures of the food are as shown below.

This is the address of the restaurant if you plan to taste the food:
Banana Island
311 Lake Merced Blvd
Daly City, CA 94015

This is the map to Banana Island from University of San Francisco

We then headed back north to SF and had dessert in a cafe in Sunset. This is the address of the cafe:

Golden Island Cafe
1300 Noriega St
San Francisco, CA 94122

These are the desserts that Kenn recommended. Those floating pearly beads are sago.

The group picture with the birthday boy in red shirt, that's me :)

Japanese food for dinner :)

2007-05-28T22:55:00.000-07:00

- had unagi and sushi for dinner at a japanese restaurant

Map to the restaurant from USF:

Sakana Bune
5701 Geary Blvd
San Francisco, CA 94121

May 27, 2007 - Part 1 [Wine tasting]

2007-05-28T09:17:00.001-07:00

- went to Mumm Napa in Napa Valley for wine tasting
- tasted both red wine and white wine

Map to Mumm Napa from USF:

Mumm Napa Valley
8445 Silverado Trail,
Uninc Napa County,
CA

May 27, 2007 - Part 2 [Italian dinner]

2007-05-28T08:40:00.000-07:00

- went to a restaurant and had vegetable soup as appetizer, sole dore as main course, and spumoni as dessert for dinner
- this is how sole dore is prepared [click here]

Commencement mass

2007-05-18T12:17:00.001-07:00

- Thursday, May 17 2007, 6pm - 7.15pm
- Participated in the commencement mass choir at the St Ignatius Church :)
- First experience singing in front of thousands of people

Summer Internship :)

2007-05-17T12:08:00.000-07:00

I was offered to do a full-time off-campus internship at an organization in San Francisco during summer.

Niceeeee ....

There goes the Spring semester '07

2007-05-14T20:08:00.000-07:00

I'm done for the Spring semester.
Looking forward to do internship during the summer :)

The BEST Friday in my academic life (Part 1)

2007-05-11T22:59:00.001-07:00

ITS Year-end Annual Gathering
- Friday May 11th, 2007 12.30pm

Left: Nicholas Key, Iyassu, Gerard Layug
Right: Lauren Ashviraga, Nicholas Key

Left: Jeffrey Rotter, Nicholas Key
Right: Nicholas Key, Nicki Le

Left: Nikki Wright, Nicholas Key
Right: Nicholas Key, Nicholas Recchia

Left: Nicholas Key, Ketaki Joshi
Right: Vivek, Nicholas Key

Left: Nicholas Key, Gerrick Ong
Right: Nicholas Key, Vinson

Left: Frank Williams, Nicholas Key
Right: Nicholas Key, Patricia Chia

*Note: ITS stands for Information Technology Services :)

The BEST Friday in my academic life (Part 2)

2007-05-11T22:57:00.000-07:00

ISS Recognition Ceremony
- Friday May 11th, 2007 6pm

Bz bizee busy ...

2007-04-21T09:51:00.000-07:00

About three weeks of projects + lecture + finals before the end of Spring semester.

This place does exists!

2007-04-15T12:02:00.000-07:00

Here's a village in Austria with an interesting name:

Additional information about the place

ISLC 07

2007-03-26T00:01:00.001-07:00

Attended the International Student Leadership Conference at James Madison University on March 23, 2007, a week after the Spring break.
It was an all-paid-expenses trip by the University of San Francisco - round trip airfare (SFO San Francisco International Airport, California to IAD Dulles International Airport, Virginia), 2 night-stay hotel lodging and event registration fee. (THANK YOU USF AND ASUSF !!)
Had a rare opportunity to mingle with international students from the universities in the States.
Had a king-sized bedroom all for myself for two nights :)
Too busy to describe everything, so let the pictures do the talking.

Borsch - the Russian red soup

2007-03-18T12:21:00.000-07:00

My coursemate, Leonid Budchenko (who hails from Russia) invited me over to his house to try the Russian red soup, Borsch, pronounced as bao-rshch (борщ). It's really RED!

Veal and sushi

2007-03-18T12:15:00.000-07:00

The other two unique dishes.

Sushi !!! (Part 3)

2007-03-12T20:46:00.000-07:00

Tada!!! These are the other two mouth-watering and eye-catching sushi dishes. They do look presentable and, of course, yummy! :)

Sushi !!! (Part 2)

2007-03-11T00:44:00.000-08:00

I made another attempt today to make a better rolled sushi and this is how they look like.

International Student Association Spring Reception

2007-03-10T11:14:00.000-08:00

Sushi !!! (Part 1)

2007-03-10T11:11:00.000-08:00

It's Spring Break and I made these sushi by myself to celebrate the much anticipated recess :)
Yummy!
These are the ingredients for the irresistible and delectable sushi:
[1] Nori sheets (seaweed sheets)
[2] Rice
[3] Cucumber
[4] Avocado
[5] Salmon
[6] Shrimps
[7] Mayonaise

CNY Dinner with Taiwanese students

2007-02-15T21:28:00.000-08:00

Spring Admission Orientation [Jan 16 - Jan 19]

2007-01-15T19:28:00.001-08:00

Places I visited during the winter vacation

2007-01-11T23:58:00.000-08:00

Left to right:
Externship program at SEAGATE on Jan 5th in Milpitas [Left]
Career Fair on Jan 11th at Wells Fargo Conference Center [Right]

I'm Employed :)

2007-01-09T21:39:00.000-08:00

The title describes it all.
I was offered a job (of course it's a legal one, by the book) and start earning wages in U$D :)
This is one good news for the new year.

Cute pictures taken from the San Francisco Zoo [Jan 3]

2007-01-06T22:57:00.001-08:00

The picture of the cute penguins with their eyes closed is the nicest :)

Christmas present from family

2007-01-02T23:23:00.000-08:00

I was so happy to get this package from my family on Jan 3rd. It's a Christmas present for me delivered all the way from Malaysia. Let us check the content of the box :)

[1] 2 Microsoft notebook backpacks
[2] 1 Timberland jacket

Thank you so much mum, dad, my younger brother and sis.
Love the gifts so much!

New Year 2007 celebration

2007-01-01T15:19:00.001-08:00

The picture in the bottom left is the view of the Bay Bridge at night.
The picture in the bottom right is the decoration of the building to usher the new year.

Christmas Dinner at Kenn's

2006-12-26T21:35:00.000-08:00

Group picture in the top left: Back row - Nicholas, Kenn, Paul; Front row - Toshi, Su Ann, James, Lee, Joe
Kenn and Toshi are former USF students

A Christmas present from Kenn: Virtual LEGO
I can have all the LEGO pieces together with the motors and gears in the world to assemble miniature robots :)
Thank you, Kenn!

Toastmasters Club

2006-12-22T08:20:00.000-08:00

Meet Ellyson Barnes from the Toastmasters Club in San Francisco, and Nicholas Key.

Never would come across my mind that he knows three lecturers from Multimedia University - Ms Wong Hui Shin from the Faculty of Information Technology and Ken Neo and Neo Mai from the Faculty of Creative Multimedia.

"It's a small world"

:)

Christmas Window Shopping [14/12]

2006-12-14T22:45:00.000-08:00

Stay tuned ...

2006-12-13T01:33:00.000-08:00

Stay tuned for a special and exciting entry in January :)

The much awaited news of the Fall semester

2006-12-07T11:09:00.000-08:00

It was 10.50am - the day after the demo session of the semester project - when I checked my email and saw the message header from my professor.

.............

Streams of congratulatory messages popping up.

It's real and confirmed ...
I was exempted to sit for the final exam of a course in this semester :)

THANK YOU to all my friends for their messages - those messages mean alot to me even though they are short messages.

Raimond Garcia - the coolest TA around
Suli - the first human being that IMed me in the morning about the news
William Chang - usually it's either this Taiwanese dude or Suli who will make contact with me first
German Dominguez - the only soul in the CS department that is willing to crack stupid jokes together with me about political issues when we have got no other better things to do
Jimit Parekh - the chubbiest indian dude in the CS department
Leonid Budchenko - my unique russian friend :P
Bina Maniar - no comment :P
Malika Iyer
Ari
Siddarth
Ani
Prashant Deva
Douglas Campbell

To other friends that I may have not mentioned, you guys did a great job in this semester too! Well done :)

Day 106 [30/11]

2006-11-30T23:45:00.000-08:00

Meet Mr Alberto Yepez, a former student of USF and currently the Vice President, Identity Management & Security, Oracle Corporation and Nicholas Key from USF.

Day 93 [17/11]

2006-11-17T17:44:00.000-08:00

Favourite personalities:
Borat Sagdiyev
Craig Ferguson

Check out these people in the YouTube

Wishlist:
Nintendo Wii

:)

Day 85 [9/11]

2006-11-08T20:12:00.000-08:00

java webmail project release 2.
I gained weight(maybe, i don't know, there's no weighing machine) and become chubbier :P

Something That I Discovered in the FIT Website - Day 83 [7/11]

2006-11-06T22:19:00.000-08:00

http://fit.mmu.edu.my/gallery/index.php?list=BBraun%20Innovation%20Project%20Competition

http://fit.mmu.edu.my/thefaculty/new_awards.php#2006

:)

went for dinner with friends in the evening after AI class

Day 82 [6/11]

2006-11-06T11:15:00.000-08:00

Thinking of snapping pictures of the campus and upload them in the future entries.
Sometimes I laughed at myself when I sat down and ponder whether I am here to cook or to study to get a Master degree.
I'm cooking to relieve stress by the way and to me, the food preparation from the view of a computer science student is just like Object-Oriented Programming - the process from the preparation of the ingredients till the food is served.
Cooking is fun actually, just like programming :P,and of course you need creativity and also patience and timing :D
Those group of friends from Taiwan and China are really a good company to be with when you are exchanging your thoughts about their cultures.
And oh, not forgetting the Indians.

:)

Day 74 [29/10]

2006-10-29T20:50:00.000-08:00

finalizing java project release 1
went for the INP group outing.
had dinner in a Thai restaurant

Day 59 [14/10]

2006-10-14T10:35:00.000-07:00

toured Telegraph Hill with a group of international friends
had a free slice of salami from the Italian shop owner :)
went for an Indian dinner at Naan & Curry with Kenn

Day 52 [7/10]

2006-10-08T21:23:00.000-07:00

had dinner with coursemates.
william, peng liu, xuli

45 [30/9]

2006-09-30T20:14:00.000-07:00

went for vietnamese food
delicious!

The Thirty-First Day in San Francisco [September 16, 2006]

2006-09-17T12:32:00.000-07:00

went for an INP group outing and had lunch at a Korean restaurant
had bibimbap :)
yummy!
cooked kailan and ginger with mushroom and chicken for dinner

The Twenty-Sixth Day in San Francisco [September 10, 2006]

2006-09-10T20:20:00.000-07:00

went to the Farmers Market at 4th Avenue and Geary to get some fresh produce with William and Roc.
plan to cook together for dinner.
went to Fisherman's Wharf to taste the famous clam chowder. ordered fish and chips.
fresh seafood, big dungeness crabs
went to check out the ghirardelli chocolate fair. held once a year. quite lucky to be there.
lots of chocolate to savour.
went back by MUNI bus. took pic of the interior of the bus.
found $1 on the street, something which is very rare in the USA to find a dollar note
went to william's house to prepare dinner.
Authentic Malaysian + Chinese cuisine. (I prepared potato-pork in black sauce while Roc prepared lettuce with bits of pork)
Roc and I were cooking bcos William doesn't know how to cook. otherwise it would be Malaysian + Chinese + Taiwanese food fare.
Superlicious food! Not a single bit of food left.

The Twenty-Fifth Day in San Francisco [September 9, 2006]

2006-09-09T17:47:00.000-07:00

went to Krispy Kreme in southern San Francisco for breakfast. Delicious doughnuts!
went to San Jose for sightseeing. took pictures of the buildings in the silicon valley.
went to Fry's Electronics to have a look at electronic gadgets.
Found the GPS Locator
went to Penang Village in Santa Clara for lunch. Authentic malaysian food. The closest of Malaysian food you can get in California.
Enjoyed the food so much.
went back to san francisco. The roads are steep. took picture of the MUNI bus.
Finished eating sweet chicken cooked since Sept 4th (last portion)as dinner. had fruit salad as dessert
Yummy!

The Twenty-Fourth Day in San Francisco [September 8, 2006]

2006-09-08T15:08:00.000-07:00

International Student Luncheon
went for a game of basketball in the evening after doing Python assignment in the lab

The Twenty-Third Day in San Francisco [September 7, 2006]

2006-09-07T22:06:00.000-07:00

went to Kan Zaman, an Arabic-themed restaurant.
enjoyed the food so much
lots of variety

The Twentieth Day in San Francisco [September 4, 2006]

2006-09-04T09:42:00.000-07:00

labour day
cooked sweet sour chicken

The Eighteenth Day in San Francisco [September 2, 2006]

2006-09-03T15:55:00.000-07:00

Cooked vegetarian omelette and Campbell's chicken soup
Went to Albertsons
do python assignment

The Seventeenth Day in San Francisco [September 1, 2006]

2006-09-01T15:03:00.000-07:00

INP program
met many new friends
had lunch

The Sixteenth Day in San Francisco [August 31, 2006]

2006-08-31T19:59:00.000-07:00

Doing AI assignment
Malaysia Independence day
Phil Zimmermann's talk on VoIP

The Fifteenth Day in San Francisco [August 30, 2006]

2006-08-31T19:58:00.000-07:00

cooked black bean chicken
tastes nice

The Thirteenth Day in San Francisco [August 28, 2006]

2006-08-29T20:32:00.000-07:00

went to St Mary's Hospital
assigned first Java project
cooked chicken curry

The Twelth Day in San Francisco [August 27, 2006]

2006-08-27T23:17:00.000-07:00

went to eat dim sum for brunch
study during the weekend
went out to buy groceries

The Eighth Day in San Francisco[August 23, 2006]

2006-08-24T12:28:00.000-07:00

Not much elaboration
Parents flew back to Malaysia.
Had dinner with them.
Wrote a thank you card
Felt a bit sad + confused

The Second Day in San Francisco [August 17, 2006]

2006-08-17T23:53:00.000-07:00

Not much elaboration yet.
Went sightseeing in SF with family

The First Day in San Francisco [August 16, 2006]

2006-08-17T02:04:00.000-07:00

There is a saying "For everything that has a beginning, must has an end". The 7th convocation ceremony which was held on August 12, 2006 signifies the end of my undergraduate studies at Multimedia University, Malaysia that commenced on April 28, 2002. Time passes by really fast. Nevertheless, I am proud to be a undergraduate student of Multimedia University and enjoyed my time very much in that university and most importantly got to know many lecturers in the university during the four years of my undergraduate program.

Not long after the convocation ceremony, there was another exciting day ahead - it was the day to depart to somewhere else that my family and I have always been looking forward to. I was offered to do Master of Science in Computer Science at the University of San Francisco and my family and I were so excited that I have been offered a placement in that university. My folks were overjoyed, of course, to see their son being offered a placement to study at a prestigious university.

We were to leave Malaysia on August 16, 2006 at 9.15am (Malaysian time) and we left home at 6am. The taxi came exactly on time and we were on our way to the airport. Everything went smoothly and there were no glitches at the airport - we went to the counter and check in our luggage and got ourselves considerably good seats in the aircraft - and my girlfriend was at the airport to send me off. We bade each other farewell. I was sad, I must say, to leave her behind, but I think I must prioritize education first and to see the world at this age. Before my family and I enter the departure hall at about 7.45am, I managed to capture some pictures of ourselves.

The flight to San Francisco International Airport was not a direct flight, instead the Hong Kong International Airport was the transit point to the destination. I got bored before the aircraft took off and began taking pictures. My little sister was just entertaining her big brother. Look at the way she smiled sheepishly - she was busy with the inflight entertainment. There were so many movies, games, documentaries, MTVs and drama. My father was just too tired and he dozed off minutes after the aircraft took off and so was my mother.

We arrived at the HKIA about 1.20pm - the flight took about 4 hours. Well, a 4 hours journey was not that bad afterall with some refreshments and inflight entertainment. We had lunch in the aircraft prior arriving at HKIA and I nudged my sister, who was at that time enjoyed watching her Finding Nemo cartoon, to play Battleship online with me. She never play this game before but she was quite good, though, beating me 2 - 1.

The HKIA is huge. But I think San Francisco International Airport, the SFO, which I was about to go to, is even huger. Probably I shall blog about the airports in the world that I have visited in the coming entry. We also took some pictures at the HKIA before leaving for San Francisco. Check out my picture taking skills with the main subject - my little sister.

We also took pictures in the departure hall. There was a Disneyland outlet selling its merchandise in the departure hall. Well, it was not a big surprise afterall because there is a Disneyland in Hong Kong, too. Since there was a lot of time to spare before we were to leave for San Francisco, my sister went into the shop with my mother. Well, as for your information, the outlet is only as big as Watson's, comparatively. My sister enjoyed her time looking at those cute teenie weenie squashy Disney soft toys. Here are the main Asian Disney casts at the outlet.

I did not miss the chance to take pictures of the airport before leaving for SFO at 4.20pm on August 16, 2006. These pictures are taken at numerous spots in the airport.

We left HKIA at about 5.30pm due to some security measures. Anyway that did not bother us much because we were already in the plane. As a matter of fact, my family were among the first to be in the plane. Off we left for San Francisco on that very evening. Once again, I took pictures of my family members and myself during the flight.

We arrived safely at the San Francisco International Airport on August 16, 2006 at about 4pm (the San Franciscan time is 15 hours behind the Malaysian time). Kenn spotted us at the arrival hall and I was very delighted to have met him there. He took me to the university to settle my housing and apply for the Student ID. After that my parents went to book a hotel in the downtown and finally after we have settled everything, he took my family and I for short tour with the MUNI bus and introduced to us the routes in San Francisco.

The MUNI bus and the bus ticket look like this. They look interesting, are they not? I am planning to keep this ticket until I graduate in 2008. Notice the expiration of usage on the ticket itself. The hours are indicated on the left side of the ticket while the minutes are indicated on the right side. It works almost similar to the RAPID bus services in Malaysia, except that the ticket lasts for the whole day while the MUNI bus ticket lasts for 90 minutes. As you can see in the picture as shown, I am allowed to use the ticket until 8.30pm.

It was about 7.30pm when we headed to a Chinese restaurant at Clement Street to savour an oriental style dinner. What a filling dinner it was! My parents and Kenn walked me back to the housing which is located nearby the university.

Alright, that was about the first day in San Francisco. More to come in the next entry.

The Pasta Perfetto Fare

2006-08-09T20:07:00.000-07:00

We had pasta at Pizza Hut for dinner after having dim sum for brunch at Tai Thong. Wow! We were eating out again. Salt, flour, sugar, pepper, bits of meat and the good old MSG. My mum used to collect promotional coupons whenever she comes across one while reading the newspaper. You see, that is another good point of reading the newspaper other than getting abreast with the current affairs in the country and int the world - to get promotional coupons, of course!

Since we had brunch, and with our incredibly superb digestive system, and also with the unused promotional coupons, we decided to have dinner at the nearest Pizza Hut outlet which is at Taman Maluri to taste their new menu. Uncle Erik joined us for dinner. Their new pasta menu was aired and publicized in the media with the tagline "Even the Italians thought it's theirs". There were so many diners already by the time we got there.

Ever thought of what is actually pasta? Well, pasta is a type of food made from the flour of various grains, water, and sometimes eggs, which is mixed, kneaded and formed into various shapes, and boiled prior to consumption. While the name comes from Italy, pasta is very popular all over the world. The English word pasta generally refers to noodles and other food products made from a flour and water paste, often including egg and salt. Less frequently, the term maccheroni (macaroni in English) is used for the same products, especially when in combination with cheese.

There are many type of pasta available throughout the world. Some of them are shown as below:

Anchellini
Short-cut pasta, suitable for vegetable or thin soups

Ballerine
Short cut pasta suitable for salads or soups

Capelli d'angelo
Very thin long-cut extruded pasta, usually nested or coiled, suitable for clear soups. Very popular shape all over the world.

Ciocchetti
Short cut pasta suitable for salads or soups

Fettuccine
Long-cut pasta with rectangular section, fresh or dry.

Pantacce
Short cut pasta suitable for soups or salads

Quadrettini
Short-cut pasta, suitable for vegetable or thin soups

Tortelli
Medium or large size, rectangular or square stuffed fresh pasta, filled with vegetables, ricotta, cheese or meat based filling

Pasta can also denote dishes in which pasta products are the primary ingredient, served with sauce or seasonings. The word comes from Italian pasta which shares its origins with "paste", meaning "dough", "pasta", or "pastry" as in "small cake". As recently as 1918 the English word "paste" was used instead of or alongside the Italian pasta. Today the word "pasta" is reserved for Italian-style noodles in English-speaking countries, while the word "noodle" has a more general meaning.

Pasta is made either by extrusion, where the ingredients are forced through holes in a plate known as a die, or by lamination, in which dough is kneaded, folded, rolled to thickness, then cut by slitters. Fresh pasta cooks quickly and has a delicate taste, but spoils quickly due to its high water content. Dry pasta generally contains about 10% moisture, which makes it shelf stable for about three years.

Pasta was developed independently in a number of places around the globe (though some anthropologists dispute this). In each of these places, locally available grain was the primary starch source in the diet. Grains had, before the invention of pasta, been consumed as a gruel or grain paste, or rendered into flour and eaten as bread. Pasta noodles were likely developed as an alternative to gruel or bread. Pasta noodles can be created even where there is no oven, or not enough fuel to support an oven. In contrast, bread requires a great investment in time and effort to create.

The earliest known records of noodles in Europe are found on Etruscan tomb decorations from around 400 BC. Noodles dating back to about 2000 BC have been found near Lajia at the Huang He in Western China. Though the site was devastated by an earthquake followed by a flood, the yellow noodles survived in an upside-down clay pot underneath a thick layer of loess. Archeologist Houyuan Lu discovered the noodles and was able to take photos. Analysis showed that the noodles, with a length of approximately half a meter and a diameter of three millimeters, were produced from millet. Chinese noodles before the age of industrialized food production were always used fresh, and they are comprised of one giant noodle mass through the cooking process because it is considered bad luck in China to cut noodles before serving them to eat.

Alright, enough of introduction of pasta.

Let us continue to the main menu of our dinner:
1 Spicy Arrabbiata
1 Prawn Olio
1 Creamy Carbonara
1 Chickenball Bolognaise
1 Regular Hawaiian Chicken Pan Pizza
1 Regular Island Supreme Pan Pizza
1 pitcher of Pepsi
4 pieces of breadstix
6 soup of the day

Allow me to introduce the pasta that we had for dinner. We actually shared the pasta among ourselves - just to taste how Pizza Hut prepares them. In clockwise order, from top left:

[1] Spicy Arrabbiata - A spicy tomato sauce using the most exotic spices and cooked with chicken masala, roasted onions, capsicums as well as Shitake mushrooms, served with penne
[2] Creamy Carbonara - This pasta dish is made with creamy carbonara sauce, char-grilled chicken, Shitake mushrooms, onions and fresh green peas, served with fettuccine
[3] Chickenball Bolognaise - Tomato sauce simmered with minced meat, roasted onions, 2 meatballs and topped with grated Parmesan cheese, served with spaghetti
[4] Prawn Olio - Succulent prawns grace this classic Roman dish made primarily with garlic oil, onions, Shitake mushrooms and fried garlic. Dried chilies add a local twist to it, served with spaghetti

The bottom two are the mushroom soup and the Island Supreme pizza, from left to right.

It was a very filling dinner indeed and of course I got to know the different types of pasta. BURP!

The Brunch at Tai Thong Imperial City Restaurant

2006-08-08T23:53:00.000-07:00

In this particular entry of my blog, I shall be talking about food again. This time around, it is about dim sum. My family and I, the four of us - minus my brother who is still undergoing his internship at Dongseo University, Korea - had this wonderful brunch at Tai Thong Restaurant on 24th June 2006. The restaurant was having a month-long promotion of their dim sum menu, so we decided to give it a try. Afterall, we have not been eating dim sum for quite sometimes. Before I proceed to the menu, how about some introduction of dim sum - for example, its history and its menu and also the customs eating dim sum? It would be good to know a little. Well, here it goes.

Dim sum (點心) is a Chinese light meal or brunch served with Chinese tea. It is eaten sometimes from morning-to-early afternoon with family or friends. Dim sum consists of a wide spectrum of choices, from sweet to salty. It has combinations of meat, vegetables, seafood, and fruit. It is usually served in a small basket or on a small dish, depending on the type of dim sum. Dim Sum is a Cantonese term, literally translated as dot heart or order heart, meaning order to one's heart's content. It is also translated as touch the heart, dotted heart, or snack; or it may be derived from yat dim sum yi, meaning a "little token". Though the English word "dim sum" refers to the Cantonese variety, the idea of a wide variety of small dishes for lunch also holds for other regions of China. Equivalent terms, such as dian xin in Mandarin, exist in other varieties of Chinese, as a generic term for any of a variety of snacks or small food items. The terms "northern dian xin" or "Shanghai dian xin" have thus come into use. These dian xin are, however, not necessarily Cantonese dim sums, although the two still share the same written script in traditional and simplified characters.

The unique culinary art of dim sum originated in China hundreds of years ago. It is said to have started along the Silk Road where farmers, laborers and travelers often stopped at roadside teahouses to have afternoon tea, regain sustenance and relax, an olden days version of the local neighborhood bar. At first, it was considered inappropriate to combine tea with food - in fact in the third century AD, Hua To, a highly respected Imperial physician, advised that eating food while drinking tea would cause excessive weight gain. However, as tea's ability to aid in digestion and cleanse the palate became known, tea house proprietors began adding a variety of snacks, and the tradition of dim sum was born and teahouses began springing up turning the quiet and unexciting teahouses into a loud and lively eating experience, which is also how the term "yum cha" (to drink tea) became synonymous with consuming dim sum. Teahouse owners began adding more variety of snacks, and the tradition of dim sum evolved. Since the 10th century, about 1000 different varieties of dim sum have been created, with up to 100 kinds offered on any given day in the larger restaurants.

Think of dim sum as a buffet on wheels, but more refined with a larger selection of tasty delicacies. Dim sum consists of many small dishes that could be considered appetizers, such as dumplings, buns, fried or steamed meats and seafood, vegetarian dishes, cakes and desserts, but when eaten in quantity, can make a satisfying yet not overly filling meal. Small portions of rice, noodles, congee and deli meats are also served. They are kept warm on portable trolleys with built-in gas burners, fried slightly to reheat while you wait, or served at room temperature, and pushed around the room to each table by a woman who will serve it to you. She will announce (usually in Cantonese or Mandarin, but perhaps also in English for non-Chinese customers) what is on her trolley as she passes by your table, or stop and lift the lids on the bamboo or metal steamers stacked up on her cart for you to see the contents. If you don't know what a dish is, ask and she may describe it with a few words of English, or you can point to something that looks appetizing. To get an idea of the dishes you'd like to try, take a look at the index following this guide and learn the pronunciations before you go, then listen for them as the cart comes by your table. As a side note, in dim sum restaurants located where the turnover of dishes is not high, you may not be able to order from carts pushed around the dining room. Instead, you will have to specifically order from a slip of paper and it will be made for you from the kitchen. This is just to avoid waste and ensure that your food is delivered to you as freshly as possible. Be advised that during peak dim sum hours, the waiting time for a table can be quite long - my family and I were quite quite lucky to be at the Tai Thong Restaurant a little earlier and managed to get ourselves a table.

One of the first things you will be asked upon being seated is what type of tea you prefer. Most establishments will have up to 10 different teas available since tea is a focal point of the meal, and it is a matter of personal taste. Tea is served by putting loose tea leafs into a pot, adding near boiling water and letting it steep for several minutes before pouring. Many people like to have a pot of hot water in addition to the teapot for diluting as it gets stronger, in addition to the refills the wait staff should pour for you.

Another custom you will notice, is the gentle finger tap in front of your teacup when someone refills it for you. A custom unique to the Cantonese is to thank the person pouring the tea by tapping the bent index and middle fingers together on the table. This is said to resemble the ritual of bowing to someone. Given the number of times tea is poured in a meal, it is a timesaver in loud restaurants, as an individual being served might be speaking to someone else or have food in their mouth. In general, whoever is closest to the teapot does the pouring, and everyone else should be served first, unless he or she has a bad case of the hiccups and needs a sip right away. One version of this custom's origin says that it started during the Ching Dynasty some 350 years ago, when the emperor liked to dress like a commoner and go out on the kingdom to mingle among his people. Servants were told to keep a low profile to prevent from revealing his identity. One day when eating in a restaurant, after pouring himself a cup of tea, the emperor filled a servant's cup as well. To the servant, it was a tremendous honor and out of habit, was going to kneel and thank his master, but he couldn't because it would give away the emperor's presence. So instead of getting down on his knees, the servant tapped the table with his fingers to acknowledge the favor. So when someone fills your teacup, make sure you gently tap twice with your index or middle finger on the table to thank the server. However, in a second variation of this legend, the disguised emperor wanted to thank somebody for pouring him tea. Since the emperor does not bow to anyone unlike the others, the disguised emperor tapped his fingers on the table in thankful receipt of the tea.

Why don't Chinese teacups have handles on them? The reason is that if the teacup is too hot to handle with your fingers, then it is definitely too hot to drink, so it is a warning mechanism to wait until it has cooled sufficiently so you don't burn your mouth drinking tea. When your teapot is getting low or the tea has gotten cold, lift the lid and tilt it diagonally into the opening of the pot, or balance it on top of the pot between the handle and the opening. This is an indication to the wait staff to send someone over with a thermos of boiling water to refill your pot. This is also a good indicator how good the service is. The best service is when the teapot filler goes around to each table taking a feel of how full your pot is and automatically refills it before you ever run out during the entire meal. Below par service is when your teapot lid is constantly open, meaning the waiters aren't paying attention to you.

As the carts pass by your table, don't be shy to stop the dim sum lady and ask what's hiding under the lids of the steamer baskets if she doesn't announce them, or you can just point to any dish on the cart and it's yours. Dim sum dishes come in various sizes (small, medium, large and specialty dishes) and are priced accordingly. For example, four shrimp dumplings or steamed spare ribs in black bean sauce are considered a small dish, three strips of shrimp cheung fun (rice roll) a medium dish, and a plate of fried sticky rice would be a large dish. Usually there is a small menu on the table listing the prices of each type of dim sum, along with special dishes that you may have to ask for specifically. If there is something you have a craving for but it has not yet passed by your table, get the attention of a waiter, tell him the dish you want, and he will locate the cart and direct it your way. It is also customary to save the sweet dishes and desserts for the end, as it is the best way to finish a meal. Dim sum restaurants have a wide variety of dishes, usually several dozen. Among the standard fare of dim sum that we had are as pictured below.

You may notice some odd behavior of a diner at a table who rinses the cutleries with the tea. This is supposed to be the proper way of warming a teacup prior to serving the tea, but it also gives a bit of psychological satisfaction that the cup has been cleaned prior to use, although we all know that it needs to be through a dishwasher with scalding water and detergent for that to happen. Not only do they rinse teacups, they might even take a handful of chopsticks and dip the ends in the tea, or pour tea into all the bowls and plates, rinse well and repeat. Some who want to be less obvious might just wipe the edges of a cup or bowl, or the tops of dishes with a tissue from their pocket packs or a napkin, if available.

Last but not least, the grand finale of a dim sum meal, as with most Chinese meals in restaurants, is the proverbial grabbing of the check, usually between two people who are vying for face and the glory that comes with proving you can afford to treat the group to such a lavish meal. Ever wonder how the restaurant effectively knows the food we ordered? Here how it goes. In some of the older restaurants, the number of actual plates and steamer baskets are piled up on your table and the waiter will add them up in the end for your total bill, however, the restaurants are at risk to lose money from customers who might be a little less than honest and hide some of their empty dishes under the table or even place them on an adjacent table of a party who just left. In most dim sum restaurants today, when you are seated, a card is placed on your table. Not only is this tidier and prevents patrons from cheating by concealing or stealing the plates, it is also useful for the waiters or waitresses to mark every dish that you order, in effect, tallying your bill for the meal.

The Departure to Korea

2006-08-07T08:27:00.000-07:00

It has been quite some time since the last time I blogged. My brother is already in Pusan, Korea for almost three months and I have not written anything about his departure. Well, in this entry let me recap the last few days of how we spent our time together before he flew for Korea to undergo the internship program organized by Multimedia University. I can still remember we had dinner at Victoria Station at Jalan Ampang on the last day of the semester, 27 May 2006.

It was already 9pm when we were served the main course and that dinner was a particularly late dinner because my family is always on time when having the three main meals of the day - breakfast, lunch and dinner. We were having a late dinner simply because my brother and I were so busy packing our things to move out from the hostel. There were so many things to pack - textbooks, clothings, the computer itself and computer table, lecture notes and toiletries - and by the time we took our shower, it was already 8pm. We headed straight to Victoria Station soon after we checked out from the hostel.

Below are some pictures of the dining experience at Victoria Station. On the left is the "Fish n Chips" and on the right is the "Mandarin Chicken".

We enjoyed each other's company and appreciate every moment with my brother who was soon flying for Korea. As for me, all food is good food as long as they smell nice, taste nice and look nice and even if they do not, they are still edible anyway. We cannot be too picky and choosy when it come to food, frankly speaking.

Below are some sleepy yet happy faces while dining at Victoria Station and a cake half eaten as dessert in 10 minutes - we were also celebrating my father's birthday which was a few days later, in fact. Three-in-one celebration, I must say - my father's birthday, my brother's departure to Korea and the last day of the semester - all packaged in a dinner.

The day when my brother was due to fly to Korea has finally arrived - 30 May 2006. As far as I can remember, we woke up very early in the morning as his flight was departing at 8.25am. We managed to take some pictures and when it was time for him to enter the departure hall, we bade each other farewell and waited for the plane to take off from the runway.

The 22nd birthday celebration at JOGOYA

2006-06-16T20:08:00.000-07:00

It was my 22nd birthday on June 5th, 2006. Breathed for 22 years in this world, 22 years of learning, 22 years of experiencing the parts and parcels of this life, 22 years of ... Wow! I'm into early phase of adulthood already. Time really flies like a stinky fly. Well, this is my personal definition of being 22 years old - being a person in the early phase of adulthood, to be exact - more responsibilities, more commitments and more decision makings.

Uncle Erik gave a big birthday dinner treat to me. Why do I say it BIG? The very reason is - JOGOYA! Initially I thought that was an Indonesian restaurant - because the word JOGOYA almost resembled Jogjarkarta - of Balinese setting and fine dining. I googled the word ‘JOGOYA’ and VOILA! The result was retrieved in split seconds. I finally got to know what JOGOYA is all about.

The word 'JOGOYA' is actually a name of a Taiwanese operated Japanese restaurant, located at Starhill in Kuala Lumpur, serves Japanese buffet, and of course it has the reputation of being the most expensive restaurant in Kuala Lumpur and also the reputation of providing good customer service. I do not know if there are other restaurants charging more than RM88++ per person for a buffet meal in Kuala Lumpur.

More details of the JOGOYA restaurant:

T3, Relish Floor, Starhill Galery

181, Jln Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur

TEL: 603 2142 1268 FAX: 603 2148 8171

www.jogoya.com.tw

e-mail: service@jogoya.com.tw

There were five of us altogether, set to leave to JOGOYA on Saturday, June 3rd 2006 in the evening at about 4.30pm. There should be six of us actually in the 3G gang - "The Grand Gastronomic Gang" - my brother is in Pusan, Korea to undergo an internship program at the Dongseo University of 4 months stint. We left home early to be one of the first to queue at the counter because the dinner starts at 5pm. There were already many people queueing at the counter by the time we reached there.

Did I mention RM88++ per person? I did, and I was so surprised to see so many people queued to pay such a hefty bill per person for a Japanese buffet meal. The food and ambience must be very nice, and so I thought. I set a very high expectation of the restaurant for such price. Although my uncle was the one who foot the bill, I do feel the burning sensation in my pocket. I was expecting excellent setting, excellent customer service, excellent food preparation, excellent cutlery, and of course everything to be excellent and in proper order.

Uncle Erik paid the bill before we entered into the restaurant. There were four or five workers at the front door greeted us (irasshaimase - いらっしゃいまӕ). That means "Welcome". I think it is a culture that the workers greet the customers who step foot into and leave their restaurant. I have in fact, patron many Japanese restaurants in the past and I must say that the willingness and the friendliness and the number of people greeting you definitely makes you feel honored and welcomed.

We were then led by a waiter to our table - Table 13, 14 15. We occupied 3 two-seater tables. Soon after we were seated, I walked about to witness myself the wide array of food. Since this is a Taiwanese operated restaurant, I can see some oriental food prepared in oriental method. There is a wide array of food to suit the taste buds of the customers from various backgrounds and races.

I took many pictures of the food and the setting offered by JOGOYA. The pictures and the description of the main dishes (left to right, row by row). First of all, let us get started with the Japanese-styled grilled crab. It taste very delicious! The next picture is the paper-steamboat. When you are at JOGOYA, you may want to get this from the counter first to heat up the food. Oh, before I forget, the waiters and waitresses really give you a first class service. If you feel like eating the particular type of food, all you need to do is to put the table number clip into the collection bowl where the cook will get your number and prepare the food for you. Then the waiter or waitress serve you the food in a short time.

As a result, the food is hot and freshly prepared. Unless you are ordering sashimi, the food served is really hot. Well, that is the opening description for the first two dishes - the grilled crab and the paper-steamboat. While the grilled crab, is served fresh and hot, the paper-steamboat is even hotter. This paper-steamboat is the most unique serving of this restaurant. The paper does not tear, that is the most interesting thing to me. You may choose for different flavour for the soup base. SLURP!

The other picture is the heater. It is a mini cooking equipment using gasoline for me to heat up my food. JOGOYA also does offer "Buddha Jumps Over The Wall" - that is what I got to know from the cook that prepares this dish. It is an exquisite food among the chinese customers. Two servings that you may want to order once you were shown your table, are the paper-steamboat and the "Buddha Jumps Over The Wall". I have also savoured the cheese-baked oyster and the cheese-baked snail.

Since there are so many food to be described, I feel that I could have display the mouth-watering pictures instead. Here they are. Keep scrolling!

The pictures of the desserts:

I felt completely satisfied with the food and service provided by this restaurant. It worth the money spent after all. We left at 9.15pm after we have tasted almost all the food. We were greeted (arigatougozaimasu - ありがとうございます) which means "Thank you". That was how my 22nd birthday was celebrated. Felt satisfied and happy and thankful.

There are still many more food offered at JOGOYA, did not have the chance to savour all of them. This is the picture of the patron for Table 13, 14 and 15.

From front, clockwise: Uncle Erik (blue-collared white T-shirt), mum, my youngest sibling, sis (red shirt), Nicholas Key, that's me, and dad. It was such a memorable dining experience at JOGOYA where you eat like a king and served like a king.

The first note

2006-06-13T23:59:00.000-07:00

This is the very first entry of my blog after so many years thinking of starting one. Some, or perhaps most, of the entries are quite postdated - if I am too preoccupied to write an entry for the particular day itself. However I should try my best adding a daily entry, though.