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Things to eat before you die (series 2)

The more I look up on food to eat, the more the list becomes a list of the food that I, me, myself want to eat before I die. So many to choose, so little time. As for now, a man can only dream. I live to eat or I eat to live, that is the question.

Let’s start! Same concept as the last time, vote on what you’ll eat and what you’ll not. Missed the first series? No, problem just click here.

Oysters

Oysters have long been given a reputation as an aphrodisiac (a natural Viagra), that it was said that there was an Emperor of Rome ate at least a hundred a day to please his concubines. Emperors are said to have sent slaves to the shores of England to gather them, and they were considered to be worth their weight in gold at the time. That dashing lover-man Casanova was even said to have eaten five dozen first thing every day to maintain his you-know.

Oysters can be eaten raw, smoked, boiled, baked, fried, roasted, stewed, canned, pickled, steamed, broiled (grilled) or used in a variety of drinks. Preparation can be as simple as opening the shell, while cooking can be as spare as adding butter/or salt or can be very elaborate.


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Kangaroo

Originally the favoured food of Australian Aborigines and a stand-by of white settlers during the colonial period, kangaroo fell out of cookery fashion in the 20th century (along with other bush foods) with the arrival of cheap and ever-available mutton and beef. However, it made a comeback in the mid-1970s when a renewed sense of national identity sparked an interest in Australian culinary culture.

Kangaroo meat is high in protein, low in fat (about 2%), and about 40% of that fat is long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid - considered healthy. Kangaroo meat is stronger in flavor than the meat from other animals, is very tender, and will keep for longer than other types of meat due to the low fat content, but it can easily become dry if cooked improperly due to the low fat content. Experiment with the likes of Aussie kangaroo pie, kangaroo kebabs, kangaroo stew and the ever-popular kangaroo fillet steak




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Venison

Venison is the term for the meat of deer, moose, elk, caribou, and antelope. Venison may be eaten as steaks, roasts, sausages and ground meat. Organ meats are sometimes eaten, but would not be called venison; rather, they are called humble, as in the phrase "humble pie."

Sorry Bambi lovers.




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Guinea pig

They may be sweet as pets but they also happen to be savoury in some parts of the world, namely South America where they were first domesticated by the Inca in modern-day Peru. Fifteen centuries later these family pets/ready meals remain an Andean delicacy, which when fried or roasted form the traditional dish known as cuy. Peruvians get through something like 22 million of the fluffy rodents annually, which are said to taste of rabbit and have less fat and more protein than chicken, pork or red meat.

“Aww, look at it. So cute.” (*slash)

“Burp. Yummy.”




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Moreton Bay bugs

Imagine eating cockroaches or fried ants? Yucks! Don’t worry, the Moreton Bay bug also known as the Bay lobster aren’t really bugs at all. It’s a species of slipper lobster found throughout the waters of Australia's north coast. It is a relatively expensive delicacy served in many restaurants in Queensland.

A mouth-watering treat with sweet succulent flesh that is reminiscent of lobster, it adapts well to a variety of cooking styles and has become one of Australia's best-loved seafoods. Barbeque it along with some shrimps, that’s the best way to go.




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Alligator

Most commonly found lurking in the swamps and streams of the southern US, the alligator was originally hunted by the first Floridians for its hide and meat. Formally a protected species it's also a game animal. Its lean, mild meat - the best stuff comes from the tail - is said to taste of a combination of pork, chicken and rabbit. Get into the Cajun spirit and try alligator dishes such as gator jambalaya, fried gator or gator tator salad. I had it during a holiday trip to Gold Coast, Australia. They served it popiah style and I must say it’s rather chewy.




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Petai

Petai is a famous green bean used in Malay home cooking. It grows in long pods on a very large tree of the Legume family, Parkia speciosa. The beans are very pungent.

It’s most often seen it cooked in fried chili paste with dried anchovies. It is also eaten raw dipped in some kind of spicy chili paste. Petai is believed to have a beneficial effect on the kidneys and urinary tract. I imagine this is due to the dark brown foul-smelling urine you will pass the day after a petai meal.

Of course I just call them fart ammos. You’ll know why when you have them.




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Odoks.

Odoks, simply meaning fried one day old chicks which have been pre-marinated. It taste like chicken (duh), the only difference is that you can eat it in one bite. There are only two ways to eat it. Guts in or guts out.





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Frog Legs

Frogs' legs are one of the better-known delicacies of French and Chinese cuisine. It is also eaten in other regions, such as the Caribbean, the region of Alentejo, in Portugal, and the Midwest and southern regions of the United States

But a Chinese fellow like me would just love it stir fried and mixed with other light spices, and eaten off the bone.




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Slurpees

I can’t help it, I love this stuff.

In 1965 the slush drink was first created by the ICEE Company. Two years later 7-Eleven licensed the process and started selling it as the Slurpee. They're a convenience-store delicacy of ice and the purest, most evil food colorings and artificial flavors available to mere mortals. Slurp till your brain freezes! Sweeeeet.




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posted by sam @ 12:12 AM, ,

My latest experiment




According to "Millionaire next door" by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko, there are roughly 3.5 million Millionaires in the United States alone.

What's the experiment about then? I'm convinced that there are a million ideas/methods/ways to earn a million dollars. It's just waiting to burst out! So let's have a little fun and add on your million dollar idea here.

(Would like to thank Jason Mok for helping me with the script of the required function, thanks!)

posted by sam @ 9:48 AM, ,

Smart cash

(For Malaysians only)
The secret of becoming rich and staying rich: Live within your means.
Well of course if you can bring up your level of financial stature wouldn't it be better?

So an announcement:

Financial planning seminar by Benny Ong and Co.

Benny Ong is a financial consultant for businesses and personal finance management from Singapore. He'll be accompanied by several of his business associates. An excellent opportunity to get some sound advice on money!

Topics:
Cultivating Wise Saving and Spending Habits
Using Credit Without Incurring Debt
Avoiding the Pitfalls of Investments
How to Be Truly Rich

Date: 16th September, Saturday
Time: 2-5pm
Venue: City Community Church
Cost: Free but space is limited.

Those interested just drop me a notice.

posted by sam @ 7:53 PM, ,

10 reasons why I think people read blogs

  1. Something really interesting
  2. Something really wise
  3. Something really funny
  4. Something really stupid
  5. Something really inspiring
  6. Something really insightful
  7. Something that they really need to know
  8. Something about themselves
  9. Something about their friends
  10. Something about him


more on why would people read blogs here

posted by sam @ 10:45 AM, ,

Business Inspirations, Chapter one

Jerry Colangelo

Jerry Colangelo had always dreamed to make it big in sports. He received 66 scholarships offers from all around the country for basketball and received 6 offers from major leagues baseball franchises by the time he was 18.

Still wondering who is he? Hint: He’s a multimillionaire who started something that most people dream about almost everyday. Also he’s the owner of two successful sports franchise. He’s the author of “How you play the game”. Still blank? Read on then.

Jerry Colangelo chose to attend University of Kansas because Wilt Chamberlain (was the best basketball player in the country) attented there, thereby having the best chance to win the NCAA Championship.

Things didn’t go according to plan. Wilt Chamberlain left Kansas to join the Harlem Globetrotters. With Jerry’s dream dashed, he returned home to attend Illnois State. Unfortunately, he was not allowed to play basketball for a year, NCAA rules. To support his family, he worked for City of Chicago Heights in the sewage department. What a humbling experience for a well-known athlete.

Due to injuries, he was forced to give up the dream of ever becoming a professional basketball or baseball player.

With his dreams shattered, Jerry turned to the world of business. He went into a tuxedo renting business with an old friend. He poured everything he had into the business. Working long hours, putting back all profits back into the business, all to no avail. His venture failed. At 26 years old, he was broke with no future plans, struggling to support his wife and kids, it was a low point.

That’s when Jerry began to look for answers beyond his own strength. All the while he had been handling everything life throws at him by himself, by his own strength. He recalls, “I was so busy doing my thing, trying to build my business, that I didn’t have a good picture of where I really needed to be in my life.”

Jerry’s wife was attending a small Baptist church and Jerry started going with her. It was through his wife that he began to understand that he couldn’t do it himself. His faith began to change him: his priorities, attitude, relationships.

One day Jerry was cleaning up his wallet when he came across a business card, crumpled and worn given by his father-in-law. He remembered him mentioning to Jerry that he should meet this man. At that time Jerry was only making $50 a game from playing semiprofessional basketball league at night. With nothing to lose Jerry called the number. His name was Dick Klein.

Dick ran a one-person shop and was swamped with work. He then hired Jerry to help in the business that’s when Jerry found out that Dick’s real passion was to start a NBA franchise. Jerry soon discovered he was learning everything about the business side of sports from the ground up. From that one simple call to Dick Klein, Jerry Colangelo capitalized on the privilege and opportunity of birthing the Chicago Bulls, one of the most successful sports franchises in basketball.

From there on the rest is history. He became the General Manager of the Phoenix basketball team (now known as the Phoenix Suns). With his solid faith in Christianity he reorganized the importance of community from a personal and professional viewpoint. The Arizona Republic voted him Arizona’s most influential sports figure. He became owners of the Phoenix Suns and Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks.

Jerry’s story is not about financial success or winning, it’s a story about significance.

“Over the years, I learned that things happen for a reason. I came to understand that it is God’s plan, not mine. He has given me the a platform to bring together businesses, municipalities, social organizations and charitable organizations to address all the needs of the community. My position gives me an opportunity to have more of an impact. I want to do as much as I can within reasons to make as much impact as I can”

More on Jerry here.

(taken from “God is my CEO”)



posted by sam @ 8:32 PM, ,

20 great resources on Entrepreneurship


Came across this site. Features articles, personal blogs, if fact almost everything that might interest not only the business minded but also knowledge seekers.

posted by sam @ 8:25 PM, ,

What people want


The same thing everyone else is having, but different.

A menu where the prices aren't all the same.

More attention than the person sitting next to them.

A slightly lower price than anyone else.

A new model, just moments before anyone else, but only if everyone else is really going to like it.

A seat at a sold out movie.

Access to the best customer service person in the shop, preferably the owner.

Being treated better, but not too much better.

Being noticed, but not too noticed.

Being right.

By Seth Godin


To have the last piece of chicken on the dinner table

To eat anything without putting on weight anywhere

Green lights at all traffic lights along your way

To be heard

Murphy’s law didn’t exist

More than 24 hours a day

Hit down more bowling pins than your peer, but not too much

Saying the right thing at the right time

Able turn back time

To belong

by Samuel Yau

posted by sam @ 12:03 AM, ,

Things to eat before you die (Series 1)

I’ve been getting feedback that this blog is full of serious "boring" stuffs. So to please the masses I’ve decided to post something that most of us (I think will) like and something which I feel sooooo passionately about: food.


I remember watching a bbc tv documentary on food to eat before you die so let’s do something different shall we. Let’s find out further what’s nice and what’s not in the exciting world of food. Shall we begin?


1. Cornish Pasty

A Cornish pasty is a type of pie, originating in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is an oven-cooked pastry case traditionally filled with diced meat—nowadays beef mince (ground beef) or steak—potato, onion and swede (rutabaga). It has a semicircular shape, caused by folding a circular pastry sheet over the filling. One edge is crimped to form a seal. Our Malaysian version of it is called curry puffs. Will you eat this?




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2. Caviar



Caviar has long been regarded as a luxurious, expensive delicacy since as far back as the Roman Empire. It comes from the roe of various species of sturgeon - most notably the beluga as well as sevruga and oscietra - traditionally fished from the Caspian Sea.







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3. Haggis


A Scottish steamed pudding which was a popular dish for the poor, who ate the parts of the sheep that would otherwise have been thrown away - namely, heart, liver and lungs, which is then minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices and salt. This is then mixed with stock and boiled, traditionally in the sheep's stomach lining, for several hours. Now that’s place a new meaning to eat till your guts spills out.




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4.
Jerk Chicken and Pork


Jerk is a taste of the sun-kissed Caribbean and is ideally sampled on a postcard-perfect beach under a palm tree. This barbecue style goes back 1,200 years to when the Arawac Indians, the island's original inhabitants, used chillies, spices and garlic to rub into their meat and cook it slowly over a hot, wooden grate known as a barbicoa.






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5. Tapas

Spanish tapas are traditionally bar snacks, served to accompany drinks. A tapa is a small serving. It is said that the tradition of the tapa was begun in the region, starting out as a way of keeping flies off of bar customers drinks. They can be as simple as some cheese or iberian ham, or elaborate creations that with a few, make a meal in itself. Traditional tapas include olives, seafood, meatballs, sautéed mushrooms, chorizo, vegetables and the tortilla, or Spanish omelette. There’s this restaurant in Bintang Walk in KL called Sentidos tapas which serves excellent tapas but be prepared to pay a bomb for it.


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6. Roast Beef

Remember watching movies featuring jolly old England like Robin Hood or A Knights Tale? There’s always a huge slab of Roast Beef served in front of the King in one of his huge feast/regular dinners.

"There's no greater meal than a roast dinner. It has to be served to perfection, which means rare, very rare - with the cow practically standing in the field! Roast beef, when done well, is one of the nicest things in the world."

Maggie Robins


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7. Octopus

Octopus means 'eight feet' and it's these feet, or tentacles, which, along with the lower body, are the delicacy of this somewhat intellectual creature of the sea. Tough and chewy, the octopus needs to be tenderised once caught, which involves a bit a hard graft; pounding it with a mallet or 'massaging' it with sea salt are two of several techniques. If you're not too exhausted to eat, enjoy octopus raw, boiled, pickled, sautéed or deep-fried. Of course the best way to eat it is raw, do as the Japanese do



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8. Durian


Crowned the king of fruits.

“It's an extreme-looking fruit with a tendency to provoke extreme reactions in would-be eaters. Native to South-east Asia, this much-maligned tropical fruit is characterised by a hard outer husk, covered with sharp, prickly thorns. To add to its odd looks, it's also notorious for emitting a pungent, 'distinctive' odour from its edible, yellowish flesh.”

But once it’s in your mouth…simply satisfying. (Shame on you Malaysians who despises this fruit)




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9. Paella

Hailing from Valencia in Spain, paella is the Catalan word for 'pan'. Paella is both the dish itself and the shallow metal pan in which this complex rice dish is cooked. There are lots of regional variations, but the staple ingredients tend to be vegetables, meat or seafood, saffron and olive oil. Rabbits and snails sometime make their appearance, too. Gargantuan paellas are often prepared in Valencia to mark special occasions, such as festivals or rallies. The largest paella recorded was made in 1992 and spanned a 20-metre width, weighing 30,000 kilograms, as recorded in the Guinness Book of Records.


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10. Balut

Well this wasn’t on the list of the documentary but I feel it should be. A delicacy of Asia and especially the Philippines, China, Cambodia, and Vietnam, a balut is a fertilized duck egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell. I did try it on my trip to the Philippines. Too bad it was just those mildly developed ones. One day before I turn 60 I’ll take another trip there and have one of their big ones. Mark my words. I will eat balut again!


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So that’s the end on series one. I recommend reading this blog post just before you go for your dinner. What’s your food to eat before you die? (hey, maybe if we get enough feedback I can write another post on what Malaysians want to eat before they die. Haha)

posted by sam @ 7:39 AM, ,

Angry illusion


Click the picture in a new window for a larger view. The one on the left displays an angry face, the one on the right shows a calm face. Now walk about 3 metres away from the scrin and see what happens. Illusion by Matthew Roddy.

What do you see written in the image above? Anything?
hint: you have to squint your eyes to see it. From here


(Now this is not an illusion)

posted by sam @ 1:01 AM, ,

I love my iPod

Allright! I admit I don’t own an iPod or anything from Apple as a matter of fact. I’m just intrigued with the iPod phenomenon. You see the Apple iPod appeal cuts through all engineering jargon with its powerful emotional advertising. Steve Jobs once said that people are not really interested in those gigabytes or terabytes; they want to know if they can have a pink one or a blue one—one that suits their personality.

He continued on to say that some time in the future Apple products will be so good that you’ll want to lick them. (licking an “apple”?)

It’s been medically proven that emotions stimulate the mind approximately 3000 times faster and rational thought. It’s then a boggling question why does the majority of advertisements still focus on the logical/rational side of the consumer?

“People rationalize buying decisions based on facts but people
make buying decisions based on feelings”


People may argue that we live in a rational world but let’s face it nothing could be further from the truth. Think about it: what did you do when you saw that steaming juicy hot dog while waiting for someone? Your cup of iced cold lemon tea on a Sunday afternoon? Your first date? Those mega sales in shopping malls?

It’s said that rational thought leads consumer to be interested but it’s the emotional feeling that sells. Nike shoes are as reliable as other shoes in the market of the same class (Now this is where a Nike enthusiast will start bombing me). But people would pay top dollars for a pair of Nike shoes that makes them have a sense of pride or “feel satisfied”. Take a look at one of Nike’s ad “Power to your feet”.

Mountain Dew (soft drink), Roxy (surf culture fashion), Volcom (skateboarding), and Nokia (cell phones) are other examples of emotionally driven youth-oriented brands. Recent consumer surveys show that, in most cases, 20% of the decision to make a purchase is logical and 80% is emotional

“The single biggest motivator in buying is not data, nor is it facts, it’s emotional response. Humans buy when they feel comfortable, when they feel they can trust you, when the process feels natural and reassuring, and when they come to the feeling that buying will make them feel good.”


Capturing the mind thought is hard enough but to capture the heart, now that’s another story.

(some stuffs taken from 22 immutable laws of marketing in asia and MarketingProfs)






posted by sam @ 12:23 AM, ,

The Author

Samuel Yau

How do you truly know someone? The truth is, you can't. Each person that you come across have a perspective of you that differs from another. So it's entirely up to you on how I am perceived to be

About This Blog

Initially this blog was birthed out of curiosity, on what it would be like to have a blog. To explore the world of entrepreneurship, business, marketing, etc and to jot down my learnings/experience here. As time passes on, the purpose change, the passion change, the person change.


Quote

    "The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." - Michelangelo

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