Gourmet meals with Max

I was introduced to Max Gourmet by SP. It's right opposite Queensbay, and it's getting popular. If you arrive late for lunch, expect to wait for seats.

The food and theme of the place is a little similar to Kim Gary's, ie Hong Kong styled restaurant where everything is quick quick quick.

The food is reasonably priced. So far we've tried their Roasted Duck with Crispy noodles and Curry Hor Fun. Both were yummy.

Give Max a try. And arrive early.

I dream with subtitles

Do you dream in colour? I do. My dreams even have subtitles. No, the subtitles don't appear all the time. They only appear when I dream in Chinese, and I don't even speak it well. The problem is, I can't recall if the subtitles are in English or Malay. I'll just assume the subtitles in my dream are in English because I'm pretty sure I think in English.

Then there was the time when I had cognitive dreams. That's when I'm aware that I'm dreaming and that I could do anything I wanted without worrying about the outcome. Now that's the kind of dream I'd love to have every night. Too bad I could only remember having cognitive dreams twice in my lifetime. Once I could fly, and another... well, that's personal. After all, that's the great things about cognitive dreams. I could do anything.

Some of my dreams don't even feature myself. I'd be observing people, places, situations, just like watching a movie. Perhaps that could be a sign that I'm watching too much television.

And the most irritating kind of dreams are the kind where I find myself with something I really really want. And at the moment when I'm about to wake up, I realise it's a dream and I try so hard to hold that item in my hands, fervently hoping that I could bring it from my dream world into the real world. I'd wake up with my fists clenched, for a split second hoping that it worked, only to find I woke up empty handed.

I don't dream much nowadays. Either I forget having them, or I never had them. Perhaps it's because I love, am loved, is in love. How could anyone ask for more?

Crocs invade the Island

My parents paid us a visit during the weekend. I promised my mom a pair of Crocs, and so we saw ourselves at Queensbay last Sunday. Queensbay is getting popular judging from the weekend crowd. When we reached the Crocs shop, I was surprise to see a small crowd already there! Parents had their kids try on Crocs, aunties were picking Crocs off the wall and asking for discounts, and the salespersons were busy helping the kids choose their favourite colours. Quite a rowdy crowd too.

The Mickey Mouse Crocs had arrived and its bright red colour with black straps was certainly very attractive. Although there were other colour combinations, I'm glad my mom chose this pair.

I'm tempted to get a red strap to customise my Crocs... but they're pricey at $29 a pair.

Yes, Crocs have invaded the Island. I spotted at least 5 people wearing Crocs that day, although no one had the bright colours that my mom and I had.

Miguel Torres San Medin Cabernet Sauvignon Rose

There was a company farewell event yesterday and we were served champagne for the farewell toast. That led to the decision to pop open the Miguel Torres San Medin Cabernet Sauvignon Rose wine that I'd been keeping in my fridge.

The champagne we had yesterday was very similar to the Misty Moorings Late Harvest wine, without the fizz, of course. It was my first taste of champagne and I had high expectations. I don't know the label, but it was sweet, simple and uncomplicated. Very much like the Misty Moorings.

But I want to tell you about my latest wine purchase. My first foray into Rose Wine was the JP Chenet Cinsault Grenache. Its unique twisted neck bottle aside, it was a very pale pink, very dry, very unsatisfactory.

Unwilling to give up on Rose wines, I thought I'd try a little more upmarket selection, and that brings us to the Miguel Torres San Medin Cabernet Sauvignon Rose.

Rose wines are best when they're young, so this 2006 wine fits the bill.

It uses a screw cap. Very new world, very modern, very rebellious - just like the people who like Rose wines.

The swirl. A quick swirl to let the wine breathe, but not too much, advised my sommelier.

Then the smell. A fresh aroma with a hint of cherry and a touch of strawberry sweetness.

The colour. Wow... clear deep red, almost crimson. It's certainly young based on the colour at the edge that's hardly turned yellow. With colours like this, it's no surprise why people like Rose wines.

The taste. Blew my mind. Right away my tongue registered an explosion of pert, sweet cherry-like, a bit of pear, strawberry, fresh fruity flavours. Almost syrupy. All that for a split second. The finish is short, with a lingering mild sweetness, but the flavour is complex enough that you want to keep sipping just to experience that explosion of flavours again. Not too dry, good balance of white wine crispness and the wholesomeness of red wine.

I got the Miguel Torres San Medin Cabernet Sauvignon Rose wine from Sunshine Square for RM45, and I got a free wine glass with my purchase.

Serenity's Desktop

There was a post on TUAW about some impressive Quartz Composer Art by a Japanese designer. You could use them as screensavers, but since I don't use screensavers, I wondered if I could have them displayed as my wallpaper. And it turns out I could!

I use a freeware called Quartz Desktop. It appears on the menu bar and is really easy to use. My favourite is the Quartz Composer Art called Rimpa. You can see it running on my desktop from the video below. Quartz Desktop running Rimpa takes an average 40% of Serenity's 1.33 GHz G4 Power PC CPU cycles. Quartz is supposed to offload some of the task to the graphics card, but maybe Serenity's Radeon 9550 graphics card is not quite up to the challenge.

Anyways, I can still do my normal web browsing, watch videos and listen to music. Maybe when I'm doing something more processor intensive, I'll turn of Quartz Desktop. The rest of the time, I'll enjoy being mesmerised by Serenity's desktop.

Hammerbay Panorama

Click for a larger view.

She beckons -
seeking an audience
before Night's lullaby