My Very First Blog

1. Last week was a sad week for me and for millions of others around the world. It was the week that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs died. I don't think Apple will ever be the same again without this famous visionary leader to drive the company and its products.


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2. I was however not entirely surprised by his death. Ever since I saw Steve Jobs appearing in public a few years ago looking painfully thinner than his normal healthy self, I somehow knew that his days were numbered. It happened to my late brother-in-law too - He got thinner and thinner as his cancer progressed. It was devastating.


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3. Steve Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer way back in 2004. The chances of surviving this cancer is rather slim. Most patients with the aggressive form of this cancer survived between 6 to 18 months at most like what happened to the late actor Patrick Swayze. A minority however survived up to 5 years. But Steve's cancer was not of the aggressive kind. Also, he did not do chemotherapy which could have weaken his body. That could explain why he survived for a remarkable seven years!


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4. Steve did a liver transplant in 2009 which was kind of surprising because he did not have liver problem. It would appear that the cancer in his pancreas had spread to his liver. This was most unfortunate because by doing the liver transplant, Steve had to take in large doses of immune-suppressing drugs so that his body would not reject his new liver. However, suppressing his immune system was the last thing he needed as immune cells were critical to fight the cancer cells in his body. Oh well, you can't win it all...


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5. Did you know there was a conspiracy theory surrounding Steve Jobs' time of death? It was said that he could have died before or on the same day the new iPhone 4S was being revealed on October 4, 2011. It seemed that they hid the news of his death from the world so that the new iPhone would get decent press coverage first. I seldom believe in conspiracy theories, and no disrespect here, but who knows?


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6. Despite the disappointments among Apple fans regarding the new iPhone 4S (most were expecting an iPhone 5), the pre-orders for iPhone 4S had broken the record with more than 1 million units snatched up within the first 24 hours - effectively making it the most successful iPhone launch to date by Apple.


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7. Good bye, Steve! You will be missed! RIP.

When adorable blogger couple Eric and Caroline invited me to dinner at an unheard-of restaurant in out-of-town Banting, I almost turned them down.

Firstly, Banting is so, so far for me! I would need to fly AirAsia or Firefly to reach there even though I live in PJ. OK, that's meant to be a joke. Haha!

Secondly, I would surely get lost finding that restaurant! Not that I mind getting lost, but NOT when everyone is waiting for me!

But when Eric offered to drive me there, well, how could I possibly turn him down? He and Caroline had been raving about the tasty food in that particular restaurant so it would be a waste not to try it!

Besides, we would be having a gathering of sorts with my group of regular blogger friends - Witch, Saucer and Adrian. And we would be throwing a birthday surprise for Witch later which I've already blogged about HERE.

I forgot to take a picture of the front view of the restaurant which is known as Cape 9 Seafood Restaurant. So I'm going to borrow the photo from Caroline's blog.



The restaurant was located by the river in this place called Kampung Air Hitam. It could not be seen from the main road and was hidden deep inside. We passed through a small village and a long stretch of bumpy road before reaching this restaurant.

Boy, was I glad I did not drive there all by myself. Even Garmin and Papago would not be able to save me!


Beautiful view of the sunset by the river

I always like to dine in restaurants by the river, so the ambience here was quite good.

We started off with fried beehoon.



My, was it delicious or what?! I was quite surprised that the beehoon was not oily at all but yet tasted so yummy! This one plate of beehoon was shared among all six of us but honestly, I think I can eat the whole plate myself!

Next, we had lala fried beehoon. What?! Beehoon again? That's right! You won't be able to see much difference in the picture below as it is still beehoon.



The taste was however different, with tiny pieces of lala in the beehoon. Both the normal fried beehoon and the lala fried beehoon were priced at RM10 each.

Now I don't like eating squids - it's something to do with the texture that puts me off - so when Eric ordered nyonya sotong, I knew I would not be eating very much of it. Well, guess what? This dish ended up being my top favourite that night!



I guess it had to do with the yummy sauce! It had transformed me from a person who hates squids to a squid lover! LOL! I just could not get enough of it! At RM18, I think it was worth it!

Next we had fried salted egg prawns. Now, I am a huge fan of prawns, and would love any prawn dishes unless the prawns are not fresh.



Priced at RM35, this prawn dish was quite good. The prawns were big too, but I still think the nyonya sotong trumped it.

The next dish was steam lala. OK, I forgot to take a picture of this dish until it was already halfway eaten, so it should really looked better than this.



The lala meat was quite juicy and yummy! It was priced at RM20.

Lastly, we had kam heong crab. "Kam heong" is a Cantonese word literally meaning golden fragrance. Crabs cooked in "kam heong" style are very popular, at least in Malaysia.



I am not too sure of the ingredients to create this crab dish but I think it probably contains curry leaves, dried shrimps, shallots, garlic and chillies. Well, this RM51 crab dish tasted great with the nice "kam heong" aroma!

We had a satisfying meal that night. On the whole, the food was nice and the price was not bad too. So Eric, when are you driving me there again?