Light my day up, will you? ...Or night, anyway

...Hold your horses. It's not gonna be some long sappy heart-wrenching and eye-tearing post, just in case you're wondering. It's eye-tearing, albeit for a very different reason...and speaking of wrenching, have you guys ever experienced one of those few, fragile moments where you just feel like wrenching someone else's neck? Not a very euphemistic way of conveying my thoughts, but seriously, when you happen to have a fervent ritualistic neighbour who smokes up the entire neighbourhood every friday night with a tonload of incense up till the most ungodly wee hours (mind you, not the one used for aromatherapy; rather, think the type of incense that you find in old temples and such and imagine it being compressed into one tiny stuffy little room), euphemisms aren't exactly the first thing that crosses your mind. While you may have eyeballs of steel that may withstand whatever dust and smoke your goddamn incense is spewing -no offense intended-, please note that your neighbours probably can't.

Revelation of the day: smoke spreads! ...Especially to your neighbours' homes! Gasp!!

I swear, one of these days, you guys will be responsible for massive outbreaks of lung cancer/conjunctivitis.

On a lighter note, yesterday's folk art intro lesson was a success, and I brought back my first handpainted 'work', although I have to admit that about 90% of it had undergone 'external modifications' via the hands of my instructor lol. Fear not...for that very reason itself, I took it upon myself to purchase a 50x95 piece of plank from Ikea (yes, plank)...just so I could get a little extra practice :P ...If you think that's a little excessive, you should've seen the time I bought over 20 pieces of glassware from Ikea, or the time I spent rummaging for old wine bottles and Brands Essence of Chicken bottles...all for the sake of practicing my glass painting skills...lol.

Okay, New Year's Eve. Anyone up for ice skating and bowling at Sunway, then perhaps some steamboat at my place? :P

First there was the Wagyu Beef...then there was Ninja Jones :P

Sis and I at Ninja Jones :D















Mom's tempura dish




























It's the Shuriken No. 1 :D LOL can you imagine? RM16 for such a tiny piece...but it was awesome :P Tough luck, woman (yes, you)...Maybe you'll get to have more next time.





















A pic with one of the local Shinobis...Banzai!!! (err...LOL what constitutes a shinobi-like cry, anyway?)
Once again my sis was trying to ninja her way out by covering half her face with her napkin, refusing to associate herself with yours truly as I asked for that snapshot lol...

Speaking of which, it's pretty amusing watching ninja dudes carrying take-away containers and bags to customers...I can imagine it already...Ninja Xpress















The dessert bento box :>
Not bad at all, with the green tea ice cream (although I've tasted better), tiramisu and pumpkin pudding...esp the edible chocolate chopsticks that came with it :D




















A shot of the plum wine (Ume, I think)...Sorry, Ally...the one I had at Ninja Jones tasted as good as the one we had in Brisbane...and was wayyyyy cheaper "-_____-

Salmon sashimi



























Err...can't quite remember the name of this one, but it's got soft shell crab and avacado etc in it...















Wagyu beef...yakiniku style :P Notice the awesome lilac flames beneath the tender juicy slabs















Errr...yet another name which eludes me...Well, it's got oysters and melted cheese, so that's good enough for me

Mom and Dad ^________^



























The interior of Ninja Jones...not bad at all...I kinda like the ambience, with the ebony-like wooden panels and fancy Ikea lightings as well as the melodramatic traditional Jap music they play in the background (not to mention, the loud "Irrashaimasse"s by the fellow staff, that echo off the wooden panels like a surround system as you enter the place)...It's cool how they actually have those wooden trap door thingies (which basically translate to revolving doors) and an automatic sliding rock-solid door at the entrance, designed a'la Nihon :P















Hey, what can I say...the front cover of the menu was cool :P















As awesome as the name of that dish sounded (the sashimi moriawase 'Sasuke' dish happens to have the name of a character which I favour...hint hint :P), we already had the rolls, salmon sashimi, something-tofu, tempura, sukiyaki, yakiniku, oyster-something, Shuriken No.1 etc etc... Sadly though, while the main highlight of our dinner was the sukiyaki, which was pretty much awesome since they used the soup base which had the exact same aroma and taste as the one I last tasted in Japan (way to go :P), we didn't get a picture of it...by the time we realized, we were already busy stuffing our faces full with it, and it was already half gone lol

Speaking of the Wagyu yakiniku we had today, it kinda reminds me of a similar one I had in San Francisco Steak House the other day...only thing, they'd "Australian-ized" it...Only difference is, one costs about RM40-50 while the other costs RM88 (per 120 gm, btw)...Thing is, the Wagyu at San Francisco's was about the size of my palm and flatter than an Ipod mini.


TUNE IN FOR MORE OF "THE FOOD ADVENTURES OF SEAN"! (Only until Mid-February...probably ^___~)

ps: Dad, if you're reading this, when are we going for the Kobe beef? LOL :P

Umai...ja nai

It's called Umai-ya, folks. That's the name of the place I rated 4/10 after we had tonight's dinner. Then again, given the 20-minute wait I had to endure just to get a bowl of rice, and the other 20-minute wait we had to endure just to get the bill, I should've rated it as just 2/10, hence the little pun on the title: Umai ja nai.

For those who aren't fervent pro-japs, or those who don't watch enough anime to get the pun:

Umai = delicious
Ja nai = not

Well...I'm not exactly a pro when it comes to the language, and 'umai' could have a different meaning, but hey, after seeing that title, there was no way I could've let it pass :P

It's not as if Umai-ya didn't have any redeeming points, however....at least my sis's so-called "must-have" dish (heck, that's the only thing she calls it, so I don't even know the name of the actual thing), which is sorta like a combo between softshell crab, fish roe, tamago, etc etc, as well as their salmon-something were somewhat acceptable...although I'm not too sure if all that was worth RM300...Geez you'd think that such an amount would be capable of feeding more than just 3 mouths...and that there would be other nicer Jap places to check out "-_-

ps: If you're reading this, be warned: DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT purchase their prepaid card. This serves as a warning message to all those big-time Jap food lovers out there...and yes, you, the no. 1 sushi glutton in the household, too.

Just some random pics...

LOL...when I saw this sign, I knew that I absolutely had to take a pic beside it :P

































Posing along the Great Ocean Road





























































Okay, we were each supposed to pose according to the sign "Eat, Drink & Be Merry"... Problem is, how do you pretend to be "merry"? Oh well...






























The group that YR and I were with during the Port Arthur trip :D The trip composed of youngsters, with everyone in their twenties (err....I think :P)





















No, it's not some weird fetish...It was just one of those "must-try leg irons" at Port Arthur (...just camwhore bait, actually :P)






























More Port Arthur pics :D















Ooo...a random pic from the 1st of Dec :D Thanks, guys...such a shame that we only had a drink each, though















...Well...I was looking pretty happy during the Bruny Island tour with YR...that is, until I puked "-_-















LOL I just had to post this one up... See those things taped to my chest? "As part of the safety procedure," apparently, "so that you don't leave anything behind"...LOL...forgive me, YR, but I'm not taking this pic down :P















For those who're wondering, no, I didn't consume the entire thing myself...YR and I each had our own plates to stuff our cheeks with ^_______^















The bridge at Richmond! Err....also supposedly the oldest (?) bridge in the whole of Australia

OMG!! It's a giant.....p*nis??

Before anyone starts pelting rotten tomatoes or overly ripe veg, don't push the panic button just yet...But be warned, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls alike....those giant things are floating in tanks near you!

What am I babbling about, you ask?

Simple...just head towards Pantai Seafood and toss a quick glance at their tanks where they keep their live specimens...err, I mean, seafood, and you'll see what I mean.

.....Behold, P*nis Giganticus!!!

...Not. What were you expecting? Just the good ol' Mexican Geoduck that happens to take the shape of one :P

Funnily enough, it sorta tastes like crunchy squid....RM200 cruncy squid, that is "-_-...

Well I'll leave it at that...will post up more pics when I'm feeling up to it :P