Here's My Story

Story by JJ for Ban Once upon time, there was someone called Mr Muack Muack. His life changed dramatically with the appearance of the Mau Mau person. They both fell in love with each other and have been muack-ing and maumau-ing ever since. The End. PS: Sorry, not as epic as Ban's story :P

After diligently applying self-care treatment as posted previously for about 19 days, the pain has finally subsided to the point where I can eat normally. Phew! Thank goodness that it wasn't more serious than TMJ. There's now only a twinge of pain when I fully close my mouth to chew and so I still continue with the self-care treatment. I probably should also still let my jaw rest as much as possible. The irony is that previously I automatically didn't use my jaw as much because the pain occurred as soon as I chewed normally. Hence I have to try even harder to rest my jaw now.

Recently, my sister and I had lunch at one of our favourite Japanese restaurants in Canberra. I was prepared to order their Sushi Zen set when I noticed one of the 2 daily specials, which they served only 5 sets a day. It appeared to have much more food and at cheaper price too. I was keen on all of them except for the chicken teriyaki which I was indifferent too. In the end, I ordered it It was very filling and considered a good bargain in Canberra at only AUD16 (original price AUD26). The sashimi and sushi were quite good, though the sashimi pieces were half of the size I was used to in Malaysia and Singapore (then again, this sashimi was part of a set). Teriyaki chicken was quite unusual as it was a little saltier than what I was used to. The vegetable tempura was light and delicious but the prawn tempura was a disappointment as the prawn was quite scrawny and I could taste thick flour. Meh. My biggest mistake (and complaint) was asking for more wasabi. Guess how much they...

Interesting...

Restaurant 126 is close to Ban's and my favourite chap fan shop. Once a while, especially if the chap fan shop is closed and we do not wish to drive elsewhere, we will eat at this shop. As I understand, the shop is supposedly famous for its bittergourd noodle soup but I had it only once. It was ok for me, though my friend William thought it was salty. Ban didn't try it. He seldom experiment with food...not of his own volition anyway :) Ban usually orders noodle soup with seaweed and special meat paste, which is a combination of fish and pork paste, while I usually will order the dry noodle that comes with a bowl of seaweed and fish paste. Once a while, I would try something new. I tried minced pork wantan mee twice and quite like its taste but I'm quite dismayed over the portion of ingredient, which like everything else in the shop, is a little lacking and so it's not recommended for you to have noodle at that shop if you're ravenous. Even the wantan looked flat...

More than a week ago, while I was washing the rice cooker, there was sudden pain around my left jaw. Since then, I couldn't fully close my mouth to chew my food properly and had to nibble instead. Also, I couldn't open my mouth to the fullest without feeling pain. After searching the internet, I suspect that I have Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) Syndrome. Based on symptoms as stated by Emedicinehealth , I have only 2 out of 7 stated symptoms, which are Pain in the facial muscles and jaw joints may radiate to the neck or shoulders. Joints may be overstretched. You may experience muscle spasms from TMJ syndrome. You may feel pain every time you talk, chew, or yawn. Pain usually appears in the joint itself, in front of the ear, but it may move elsewhere in the skull, face, or jaw and lead to headaches, dizziness, and even migraines. When the joints move, you may hear sounds, such as clicking, grating, and/or popping. Others may also be able to hear the sounds. Clicking and p...

Looks good, right? Grown without chemical. Just water, sunshine and love. Every single of them, so far, is sweet and is barely sour, if at all. Such rare taste. I eat them like they are fruits (which technically, they are!). These came from a single tomato plant that my sister and her family grew. It is still bearing fruits. Good yield! Edit: I was informed that fertiliser was used. No pesticide though.

Contrary to the cliche, I shall start with the bad first. The bad (B1) At LCCT, boarding pass and passport were checked 4 times. Typically it's only 3 times: right at the main departure gate, the immigration checkpoint and then at the boarding gate, typically by the airline crew. This time, however, there was yet another check, just about 2m away from the airline crew (who checked already) and right before the last bag screening, by security force. (B2) Air Asia X's chicken sandwich was very dry. Bet it would have worked well as a sponge. (B3) I couldn't sleep on the plane but this was no fault of the airline though. (B4) Someone's handphone was switched on at least 2 hours before landing and during landing. She used it from time to time. Even worse was the fact she received an sms (I recognised that standard ringtone anywhere, which fyi was supposedly a Morse code for S M S) and had the audacity to read it...during the landing process! I was certain that at l...

I have been to Sibaraku twice but I totally forgot about what I ate the first time. At least, I knew it was a place I didn't ban :) So when I went there the second time, I made sure I took special note about the food there. Unlike the first time (this much I remember hehe), I ordered ala carte sushi and naturally it included salmon. Ok, they were all salmon. They are my favourites :) The salmon sushi was RM3 a piece (same price as Kita No Zen @ One Utama in KL) while the salmon roe wrapped with salmon sashimi was only RM4. Judging by its size and its quality, it was definitely value for money and I would love to go back there again for these. Why am I showing a photo of a bamboo vase with a cup of McDonald's coffee? The former contained plain water, which I ordered, while the latter was there to give viewers a sense of how tall the 'glass' of plain water was. It was so unusual.

It's harder these days to get chicken rice ball, what more good ones, in Melaka compared to decades ago. I tried the one at Jonkers Walk, a tourist magnet, but their chicken meat was very soft like it was prepared for toothless people. Later, Ban brought me to a place where his family enjoy having that dish and yes, it was one of the best chicken rice ball I had in decades. However, it is difficult for him to give directions to it and therefore I couldn't tell my family and friends exactly how to get there. All I knew was that it was in Batu Berendam. One fine day, when we were in Melaka, we attempted to go there for lunch. Unfortunately, it was close that day (and the next week or so) but luckily I remembered to take a photo of the shop so as to give that information to others: It is in Taman Melaka Baru, Batu Berendam.

Unlike a year ago, I didn't feel like celebrating the new year. I just simply couldn't muster the enthusiasm. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because I'm anxious to see whether the savings plan I recently implemented will work well or not or maybe the worry over the property market in Singapore. Perhaps a more likely reason is that I will be away from Ban approximately next 7 weeks, starting tonight. The longest I had been continuously absent was about 4 weeks. Here's a quick review of 2012: 1. New PC games I played: Atlantica Online Mount & Blade Dungeon Defenders Divinity 2: The Dragon Knight Series Torchlight 2 Democracy 2 Crusader Kings 2 Delve Deeper 2. New boardgames I played: Mage Knight Seasons Ristorante Italia Memoir 44 Blokus Nefarious Khet 1.0 Dominion Agricola 3. Shared with Ban to buy Mage Knight boardgame, which is the first expensive boardgame (RM270!) I bought. However, I am really disappointed about the number of...