The first time I watched a professional basketball game in person was a particularly memorable experience at Manila, and this got me into becoming a fan of KL Dragons, our very own team in the inaugural Asean Basketball League.
Last weekend Gareth, Kim, Horng, Selina, Kerol, and I went to catch the 2nd last home game of the 2009-2010 regular season at MABA stadium (located between Petaling Street and Stadium Negara). We were hosting the Philippines Patriots, the very same match up I watched in Manila.
Rogue Squadron performing “burn it up”, marching band, cheerleaders
Between the cheerleaders, Rogue Squardron performing KL Dragon’s theme song “Burn it up” (you can listen to it here), dude in Jason’s mask waving a giant flag, the marching band, and the loud music, the whole concept of sports entertainment was executed very well. It kinda reminds me of college ice hockey games back in the States.
It was already an enjoyable experience for the fans even before the game got started.
a very intense game between the Dragons and Patriots
After teams and KL Dragons’ five starters – Rudy, Roel, Fhadzmir, Jamal, and Chris were introduced, the game got started to loud cheers of the crowd.
Feeding off the energy from the crowd, the dragons jumped to a 10-1 lead. We kept building the lead until about 6 minutes left before half time when a scuffle broke out between the players.
After a lengthy review and discussion among the officials, KL Dragons had three players ejected from the game, including the top scorer in the league, Chris Kuete.
B. Guganeswaran charging to the paint
By half time, the score was 44-32 with the dragons leading. But with our top scorer off the game, the Patriots took advantage of a strong third quarter to cut the lead all the way down to 52-51. The crowd grew tense.
Then came the turning point of the game. One a drive towards the basket, point guard Rudy drove up and was fouled hard by one of the Patriots. Rudy stayed on the ground for several minutes before being helped back on his feet with a loud cheer by the crowd.
final score: KL Dragons 77, Philippines Patriot 59
That stirred up the intensity of our players to the next level, and Rudy himself was especially playing like a man possessed.
With the help of a very strong defensive showing that limited Patriots’ shooting to 28%, KL Dragons won the game 77-59 against the league leader with Rudy contributed a team high 14 point and two other players in double figure. It was definitely a team effort.
The crowd and players left a jubilant bunch, but the work is not done. Coach Goh will have to find a way to reignite the same fighting spirit for the remaining games to get a spot into the playoffs.
If schedule permits, I’m gonna be at the last home game too!
I first read about this Thai Fish Farm Restaurant from the post on Kim’s blog. It is a place hidden in the jungle of Hulu Langat, situated at the other end of Klang Valley from where we stay (if you can still consider Hulu Langat to be within Klang Valley), and less than a couple kilometers away from the famous “look-out point”.
grilled crabs, fresh vegetable, Thai Fish Farm Restaurant
It took us close to an hour’s drive to get to Hulu Langat from northern part of PJ on New Year’s day, partly due to the holiday’s heavy traffic, and partly the annoying rain.
It is advisable to go there with a car that has at least decent ground clearance as the last kilometer or so (from the turning off Jalan Hulu Langat KM 4) consist of unpaved road within the jungle.
It felt like we were smuggling contrabands in golden triangle than going for dinner, it was as remote as it was dodgy. Once we reached there, however, there were dozens of cars parked at the clearing and the place was full of people we had to wait over 20 minutes to secure a table.
Thai steamed siakap, vegetable, snail meat, omelete
For the 10 of us, we ordered seven crabs (we wanted more but they ran out!), two types of fish, squid, snails, vegetables, lamb, and vegetable. We ordered some rice to go with all these, and coconut drinks as well as some toddy with Guinness to complete the illusion of being on vacation since we were sitting on stilts by a body of water anyway.
The steamed siakap (barramundi) was delicious, the chili padi and garlic a Thai signature. Vegetable was super fresh, and the omelet, well were just omelet.
The snail meat though, was quite special. Fried in (most probably) curry paste/powder with lime leaf and long bean, it was chewy and flavorful. Tasted like a slightly harder version of escargot but with stronger taste, I liked it a lot.
grilled crab, squid with salted egg, salt grilled fish, grilled lamb
Dinner at Thai Fish Farm is not complete without some grilled crab. Like at Hing Ket in Kampung Jawa, the crab is grilled without any additional seasoning to preserve the original taste of the crustacean. They were not overly grilled and still rather juicy, was quite good to be honest.
The grilled lamb was alright, but I prefer the kampung jawa version. Squid with salted egg though, was a bit of a disappointment. Instead of having the squid fried with salted egg, the “salted egg sauce” was poured on separately, it was a bit weird and slimy, not something I’d order again.
The salt grilled fish is something that I have seen when I was in Thailand but never had the chance to give it a try. The fish, Tilapia in this case, is simply applied with generous amount of salt and grilled. While the fish meat, being Tilapia, was still quite tasteless, and this is where the salted fish skin comes in. Apply a little bit of fish skin and it goes so well with the meat, a rather interesting combination, no soya sauce needed.
kerol, FA, Kim, Gareth, Horng, Ruby, Suan, Eric, KY, Jac, and Terence (hidden)
The bill came up to slightly less than RM 40 per person including coconut juice for everyone (around RM 350+ in total if I’m not mistaken). A very satisfying dinner at exotic location at a decent price, and most importantly, with the company you want to be with. That, was a good new year dinner.
Address:
Restaurant Thai Fish Farm
Km 4, Jalan Ampang Hulu Langat,
68000 Ampang, Selangor
GPS: 3.130077, 101.803586
Tel: 017-251 5235, 019-260 6493
There is usually at least one type of food that represents a city, and when you are lucky, they are those that can be tapao-ed.
For Penang, it is the Him Heang tambun biscuit, from London, you shouldn’t miss the pork crackles, if there’s someone coming back from the States, get them to source you a pack of Reese’s peanut buttercup, and from Perth, the Corica Apple Strudel.
Corica Apple Strudel from Perth
When Val came back just the other day, it was Cheesie who had asked her to get a loaf of apple strudel from the original Corica Pastries all the way from Perth.
I became the courier for the prized dessert out of convenience since Cheesie was still enroute from Tokyo, Val and I had dinner at BU Centrepoint to complete the transaction and catching up some lost time. After all, we were together for some two years prior to her departure to the land down under.
KY, Horng, Kim, with Cheesie and Koyuki eyeing the Apple Strudel
The next day, Jaclyn, Eric, Kim, Horng, Cheesie, and I got to share the pastry (with Koyuki the huskies & Fatty and Ally the schnauzer eyeing us).
The apple strudel made of layers of crispy pastry with generous amount of apple fillings and custard in between, topped with a thin layer of caramelized sugar. Even though it was more than 36 hours since the strudel left the bakery, it was still awesomely delicious! Not overly rich nor too sweet, it was wholesome and definitely very fulfilling.
I believe a loaf costs over A$15, a bit on a pricey side, but I’d definitely want more! Val, you’re reading this right? 
Address:
Corica Apple Strudel
106 Aberdeen Street
Northbridge Western Australia 6003
GPS: -31.945753,115.858855
Tel: +618-9328 8196
For this x’mas, I actually made a little rearrangement on my living halls at home. Switched the foosball table to the second hall and swapped in the sofa and entertainment cabinet to the first hall so to better able enjoy the beautiful wall painting done by Haze.
the living room is a work of art, isn’t it?
Everything was pretty much in place: a little disco ball on the tea table by the sofa, the TV on the entertainment cabinet with my DVD player, surround speakers, Nintendo Wii, and of course, the faithful Astro decoder.
Then I noticed something that is not quite right. Zooming in a little, the Ikea TV cabinet that I bought is now actually deformed due to the weight of my old school 29″ TV, and this is despite the cabinet having a support beam at the center. I think it is a disaster waiting to happen, very tragic!
gahhh! TV cabinet cannot support the weight of my old 29″ TV
Ever the optimist, I see that this is merely a calling for me to upgrade to something lighter, something more modern. Like a sexy new 32″ LCD TV perhaps.
To be frank, I’ve been scouting for an LCD TV ever since they became somewhat affordable, but there was one reason that prevents me from taking the plunge – the lack of HD content. The gaming console that I have at home is a Wii, which basically plays on SDTV (standard definition TV), and there isn’t any HDTV content via Astro … until now.
Enter Astro B.yond – the multi-phased service from Astro starting with the first ever HD broadcast in Malaysia. There are 5 HD channels to start with – Astro SuperSports HD (831), ESPN HD (832, in January 2010), HBO HD (431), National Geographic Channel HD (573), and HD History (575).
Astro SuperSport will be showing the upcoming FIFA world cup games in HD, while ESPN HD actually plays quite a lot of NFL games! This is actually very very tempting for me personally!
More than mere HD content, Astro B.yond comes with a new B.yond box, new smart card, outdoor unit, HDMI cable, and new remote. All these is necessary by design, as the hardware will eventually allow the roll out of video recording through external hard disk in 2010, and in the next 24 hours, functions such as video on demand, and IPTV connectivity will follow.
This is actually quite exciting! To sign up for the service, just go to www.astro.com.my/byond or call the ASTRO customer Hotline 1300 82 3838. For RM 20 per month with a 12 month commitment, you get all these new channels in HD, I’d say that’s a pretty good deal.
In conjunction with the launch, there’ll also be an Astro B.yond Bloggers Night Out on the 13th of January 2010. To participate, all you need to do is be a fan at Astro’s facebook page and find out more details there. There’ll be announcements on the page, and an on-ground “Murder Mystery Game” with the winner winning a HD TV.
Those who attend and blog about the event will stand a chance to win a HD TV too, and Astro B.yond subscription until Dec 2010 (2 to be won, I hope I’ll be one of them!)
For those who work in the vicinity of KLCC and haven’t discover Wisma Sentral yet, this entry is especially written for you. The more seasoned workers around the area would most probably have visited this particular mixed rice outlet for years.
a wide selection of dishes for your choosing
There are at least five eateries in Wisma Sentral offering Chinese style chap fan, and each have their own unique properties to stay in business. For example, the one closest to the Japanese ramen shop has the pretty hot owner’s daughter working; another ground floor outlet is semi outside with a smoking area; yet another serves vegetarian food, etc etc.
My favorite is “Ah Sou” on the first floor closest to the polyclinic (at front-left corner after the stairs). The selection is huge, the dishes are tasty, and they are very reasonably priced too.
each plate of rice was less than RM 5.00
There are at least some 40 dishes to choose from to go with rice or porridge at Ah Sou on a daily basis. I particularly like their luncheon meat, Chinese sausage, stewed pork belly, steamed egg, tofu, and curry chicken. Other yummy dishes include tofu skin (fu chuk), herbal chicken, fried roast pork, and more. To be frank, I haven’t had anything that disagree with my taste buds from there yet.
Ah Sou also started a trend that spread through the other mixed rice outlets at this building by providing self served free soup and Chinese tea (with ice too) to go along with your rice.
map to Wisma Sentral
I usually don’t have to pay more than RM 5 for lunch there. The dish with half a Chinese sausage, 2 pieces of curry chicken and potato, vegetable, and a portion of steamed egg was RM 4.50. Doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. I wonder if we’re going there again tomorrow. emmm…
Address:
Ah Sou Chap Fan,
First floor, Wisma Sentral,
50088 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.158728, 101.714473
