Curds and whey

I've heard of curds and whey for a very long time. I believe I first heard it in a nursery rhyme, Little Miss Muffet (which I had forgotten the name of but found it on Wikipedia):

Little Miss Muffet
Sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey;
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away.

But I didn't really know what were curds and whey, until recently when I searched on the Internet. Not sure what triggered the search, but it was some time ago, before I came across this recipe of chicken in milk (by Jamie Oliver).

I didn't follow the recipe completely though; basically I kept the milk and lemon zest because they were the hallmarks of the recipe, then I used thyme instead of sage (I don't have sage in my kitchen and I didn't want to go and buy more herbs that I would seldom use). I put in the garlic but not the cinnamon. And the biggest change is probably not using an oven. I decided to use smaller pieces of chicken instead of a whole one, and used a pot on a stove. Easier to baste...I didn't feel like braving 190°C to baste my chicken!

After the first stage (seasoning the chicken with salt and black pepper, then browning them in olive oil) the chicken already looked really good (though probably not fully cooked on the inside yet). On a lazy day I might just do this (but cook it fully) and then eat it just like that :P

Then I poured the extra oil away (olive oil plus chicken fat, I believe) and started the "baking" stage.

Initially I wanted to keep the pot fully covered so that it would be more like baking, but then it bubbled over and then I left the cover open a bit. Maybe that's why they have a lot of liquid left in the pot (see the picture on the website) but mine has a lot less.

Halfway through cooking, it looked like this:

And this is probably the first time I actually saw curds and whey... the lemon zest had split the milk like he said. You can't see it from the photo because of the solid curds, but the liquid is practically clear, totally unlike milk.

This is what it looked like at the end, after an hour of simmering:

Very tasty. I would prefer to have more sauce, but it's still tasty, that's what counts! And by the way,  the kitchen smelled great when I was cooking this.

The Penang War Museum

We had our office team outing yesterday, and one of the activities was a visit to the Penang War Museum.

the imposing entrance

The entrance to Malaya (so said the receptionist)

The receptionist gave us a short briefing before leaving us to go in and explore on our own. "Explore" may not be the right word, though, since we were actually supposed to follow the arrows on the ground. But there was no guide to show us around, no one we could ask for information once we went in, probably due to lack of funds and/or visitors. We were the first car there, and we didn't see any other visitors when we were there, though when we left there were a few other cars. Not sure whether they belonged to more visitors or to employees of the museum.

Now it's called a museum, but it is not a museum like we usually expect. Before coming here, I was under the impression that it was a building (somewhat like the Sungai Lembing museum in Kuantan) housing war relics. But it is actually more of a historical landmark. And that's where I should get back to the short briefing I was talking about earlier (darn digressions :P ).

The receptionist said that the area is actually a British fortress built in the 1930s (had to go and pluck that year out of the brochure). It was taken over by the Japanese and then later abandoned after the Japanese were defeated (please forgive any mistakes, but that's what I remember from the briefing (nope, I wouldn't make a good soldier)). It was later discovered in 2002 (I remember thinking, so recently?) and restored to become the War Museum.

So basically, in the museum there are buildings built (and used) by the British, such as barracks, gun-firing ranges, ammunition holds, and so on. (oh, and they were already racist back then, there were barracks for the British, then separate ones for the Malays, and separate ones again for the Indians. Oh wait, that's the "divide and conquer" strategy) They also built some effigies on some of the roofs, I guess for the spooky night tour. (by the way, the word "effigy" was mentioned on one of the information boards, and the guys asked me what it was. How do you explain "effigy"? I eventually came up with "patung", but that took me some time and also, what if the person asking didn't understand Malay? In the end, they decided to ask their smartphone. Duh, why didn't you do that in the first place?)

Okay, back to photos.

Just inside the entrance, there was a small hut, and on the wall behind it a picture of a Japanese general sitting in the same hut.

The road in.

This is for visitors to put on and take photos.

Some of the guys tried it out:

F (the cameraman): Oh, a soldier!
SK (the soldier): How dare you take photos of me! *bang bang*
SJ (the bystander): We'd better get out of here quick...

There was a stone slab showing the date when the road we were walking on (the same one seen from the entrance) was completed.

Dynamite... not sure whether it was real or fake.

Replica of a cannon (that is CE saying, "loaded and good to go!" :P )

They had these small huts built beside the path. Seeing how small they are, I'm pretty sure they are replicas. :P

To give you an idea of their size:

the size of a doghouse?

There were three tunnels, the receptionist had told us. Two that we could enter, and one that we couldn't, because it went vertically into the ground. This is the first tunnel.

looking back towards the entrance (that was the main photographer in our group; every time I asked him whether he wanted me to take a photo of him, he took a photo of me instead. So I took the photo anyway.)

At a certain position inside this tunnel, to the left and right was each an opening to another tunnel, an unlighted one. Going in on the left, you would go through the tunnel and come out on the right. (the museum people labeled one of them "in" and the other one "out" to avoid collisions from two people going in from different ends) I didn't go in because I didn't feel like going into a narrow pitch-black tunnel, but some of the braver souls did. But halfway through, they switched on their phone lights. :P

These photos were at the exit. The tunnel is actually reall dark, but with the flash I guess it looks really bright instead. I wanted to take a photo when they entered too, but at that time all we could see were their behinds, so...

At the end of that first tunnel (the lighted one) was a room (I can't remember but I think it was an ammunition store, you will see why later)

mortar shells belonging to the Japanese imperial army

an ammunition hoist

 

Then there was an escape route to the top. As you can see, it was lighted, but you had to crawl up to that ladder at the end, then climb 9 metres up. I was still okay with the crawl (since the tunnel was lighted, and it looked big enough not to be a tight squeeze) but the prospect of climbing up 9 metres was not very appealing. So I gave it a pass. Three of the others went through it, though, and got out at the top, the location of which they showed us later. I would have gone to take a look at the exit, except that it started raining (raindrops) and we had to hurry along.

Back outside, there was a miniature of the abandoned senior British army residence (I'm guessing they missed out the word "officer" or something? Surely armies don't have a residence?)

Then there's the vertical tunnel, which goes about four storeys underground.

It was built to be an explosive dump, so that in case of any accident, the explosion would bury the entire dump but not affect the other structures. There's a metal pulley to bring up heavy loads, and metal stairs for human access.

Beside the explosive dump, there were stairs going down to the gun-firing bay.

the gun-firing bay, to fire at enemies approaching from the sea

These were next to the gun-firing bay, so I guess they were places to store ammunition? There were already lots of cubbyholes labeled to store ammunition (look at the far wall in the previous photo, there are three holes there), so I'm not that sure about it.

This is in the middle of that circular thingy that you can see from the far-off shot above. The notice says that they used underground cables to supply electricity.

At another area, there was an anti-aircraft pit, to protect from air raids.

There was an observation deck:

the way to the observation deck

viewed from the side (a little higher up)

if not mistaken, the sign said "relic with tree". And on top of it is the thing I mentioned, for the night tour (remember, it's just my guess)

Then the execution pit.

they even had a human skull there, not sure whether it's real or fake

the guillotine, but I didn't see the actual guillotine. Just the spooky creature on the roof.

Then the Japanese torture tools.

Living quarters (British barracks, if I'm not mistaken)

They drew our attention to the lavatory (using buckets), so I'm drawing your attention to it now.

There are a few more disturbing images of human figures in some of the other barracks and even sex slave quarters, but I shall skip those and move on to this, which seems to be the lockup for prisoners.

a short article on Japanese torture methods, in case you'd like to read it (sorry for the blurry image, I didn't bother to switch to macro)

office of the intelligence officer

Now the last tunnel. This tunnel is bomb-proof and can recycle its own air supply. How, I do not know.

There was an oil drum outside the tunnel, with a sign saying "Hit the drum twice with your hand to switch on lights in the tunnel." But the lights were already on, and nothing happened when we hit the drum. We were joking about how there was someone working there who would turn the light switch if they heard the drum.

There is the same kind of pitch-black tunnel inside, and this is what the entrance looks like (it's the same as the previous one, I just didn't take a photo before). Seems that they rent out torchlights for RM2. This was near the exit, so I guess they expected the visitors to go to the exit, then turn around to come back here.

And right before the exit, there was a thank you from Generals Arthur Percival and Tomoyuki Yamashita.

Then we "exited" into the gift shop, where none of us bought anything. :P The souvenirs were mostly for foreign tourists anyway, nothing much to do with the war museum.


By the way, the War Museum advertises itself as one of the spookiest places in Malaysia. It also has paintball and there is another longer tunnel that we have to pay extra to visit (it was on the price list).

CSI case #2: Skins

Another case so soon? Surprisingly yes.

Discovery date and time: Saturday 10th May 2014, approximately 8:30am.

Note that scavengers have already arrived at the piece on the left.

Same day, approximately 9:30am, approx. 1.5m away from first crime scene.

Same day, approximately 9:30am, approx. 2.5m away from first crime scene.

Note a tiny piece of skin almost the same colour as the floor. It has been circled to draw attention to it.

Description of victim: Large portions of skin found, no body.

Forensic report:

Cause of death: Note: This may not be a death, it may be a missing persons case. Given that skin flakes were found at three different areas, the victim may have been dragged when abducted (or killed). The skin may also be from three different victims (DNA testing to ascertain).

Estimated time of death crime: Based on the freshness of the skin found, and presence of scavengers, estimated to be between 7am and 8:30am of Saturday 10th May.

Victim identification: Suspected to be a member (or members) of the Pheah family, as they are known for having skin that easily flakes. However, given that the Pheah family is known for giving birth to numerous identical twins at a time, it is impossible to ascertain which particular member of the family. 
Additional info: DNA testing reveals all skin flakes found to be from a member of the Gou Hong Pheah family. The problem of identical twins still exists for this family, so it is impossible to know whether the skin is from one or multiple victims.

Attached: File photo of some members of the Gou Hong Pheah family

Investigative report:

Witnesses: None.

Suspect(s): All evidence points to the victim(s) having been abducted for food. All traces of the victim(s) were found in an area restricted to a small number of persons with high stomach capacity (high enough to warrant kidnapping a mmeber of the Pheah family when hungry). Exact number on the morning of 10th May: Two. This points to one of them being the culprit. The discoverer, WP can be eliminated as a suspect because evidence is easy to dispose of; no point reporting the case since it would only heighten security. The remaining suspect is WW.

Further action: No evidence to convict. Will keep an eye out for further action by the suspect.

Status: Filed as solved with no evidence.

CSI case #1

Discovery date and time: Thursday 8th May 2014, approximately 8am.

Description of victim: Partial corpse, main torso missing.

Forensic report:

Cause of death: Unknown. Most likely to be murdered by person or persons unknown, given the fact that victim's torso is missing. (has all the marks of violent death)

Estimated time of death: Between 11pm of Wednesday 7th May and 8am of Thursday 8th.

Attached: Crime scene photo

Investigative report:

Witnesses: None.

Suspect(s): From previous cases similar to this, there is a strong possibility that the culprit is one of the Lizard family. It is however dfficult to ascertain which particular member of the family. Gender of culprit unknown. 

Further action: From previous experience, it is known that the members of the Lizard family are highly loyal to each other and will not talk even when harshly interrogated. It is therefore pointless to capture any one of them for information.
Note: We must also keep in mind that this may be a copycat killing intended to throw suspicion on the Lizard family.

Status: Unsolved. Recommended to be shelved if no further evidence is found in 5 days.


Not sure whether there'll be a number 2...we'll have to wait and see.

I am the gift

I was listening to the Lite Breakfast on the way to work, and they had Paul J in as a guest. (he's a weekly guest) They were talking about mothers, in conjunction with Mother's Day I guess. Towards the end of the show, they asked him, what are you getting your mother for Mother's Day? He replies:

I'm being economical, I AM the gift.

Ooh, smart one there.

Masks

They say that we put on different masks for different occasions. But maybe we actually have a multi-layered mask on, and we choose to take off different layers, reveal different parts of ourselves to different people.

After all, putting on a mask means deliberately showing something false, whereas removing a part of our mask means revealing something that is true, even if there are some other parts still hidden. Doesn't the latter fit the reality better? Most of us don't try to mislead, we just present the best side of ourselves for the occasion. And why not? Presenting every aspect of ourselves would be overwhelming, to the other person, even if not to ourselves.

Chef's pride

Mental Floss sent me a list of dining-related taboos from around the world. The list was compiled from several different sources, it seems. One of them states that you should not ask for extra cheese in Italy.

In Italy, never ask for cheese if it's not explicitly offered to you. It's considered a sin to put extra cheese on top of your pizza -- and it's even worse to put it on seafood.

That reminds me of how it is impolite to add wasabi to your sushi in Japan. And also about how you shouldn't ask for ketchup in France. It seems like whenever a particular cuisine is the pride of a country (or should we say a chef), it is impolite to do anything other than eating it as it is presented to you. The chef's work should be already perfect; making any change to it means that you are implying it isn't.

Of visiting

He came over to my place to look for something left by the previous occupant. I said, you could take the whole box over to your place (and free up some space for me). He said, no, I should leave it here, then I can come to visit you again.

For a fifty-word challenge, which I found out through this blog.

I wrote this last September, and posted it on Facebook. I tweaked it a bit to make fifty words.

Edit: I also posted the fifty-word challenge link on Facebook, challenging myself to write a fifty-word intro. So here it is:

I thought I had written a lot of snippets that could fit this challenge, but it took me some time to find one in my drafts. Maybe the snippets are all on Facebook. Maybe I should have written the challenge from scratch after all. (and yeah, this makes fifty words)