Real Steel

Real Steel is a very interesting and surprisingly great family movie. I know some people (me included) may be kind of sick of below average movies with giant butt-kicking robots such as the last Transformers but believe me, this one is different. I said it is a family movie because it basically is about the journey between a father and his son in rediscovering themselves and how they rebuild their shattered relationship. It is also like Transformers meet Fight Club, a story of Rocky retold with boxing robots in WRB (World Robot Boxing).

Starring Hugh Jackman as Charlie Kenton, a former pro-boxing champion whose days of glory is all but behind him. Now a total loser and a "bad bet", he tries to dig himself out of holes only to fall into deeper ones. When he finds out that his ex-girlfriend has left him with an 11 year-old son whom he has never met, his life is about to turn around slowly and ultimately they become a great father and son's team on their way to create the people's champion in robot boxing!

The storyline is rather easy to guess but very effectively told. Highly recommended!

Little Mac

Finally we added another member to our Apple's family, a small Macbook Pro for Jin :)

Magic Trackpad

Today I got an Apple magic trackpad to go with the OS X Lion. I know it will probably never replace the good old rodent especially precision is your main concern, but it does work seamlessly with the Apple new OS. The trackpad, through the new operating system enables you to bring the full "touchscreen" ability of an iPad into your regular desktop. The gestures work perfectly and it makes navigating between programs a breeze, especially flipping through multiple active desktops. However, the most impressive thing to me is not the trackpad itself, it is how fast Apple actually delivered the product to me. I placed the order through Apple online store yesterday afternoon and it was delivered late in the morning today from Sydney. Now that is what I call fast service!

Transformers 3

As one of the most anticipated movie of the year, Transformers 3 was a great let down for me. I think Megan Fox got out at just the right time. Although her replacement, a beautiful model from fashion powerhouse Victoria Secret, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley failed to bring anything fresh to the franchise. I don't have much to say about this movie except the movie was way too long for its own good and without much essence! 2 out of 5 I am afraid and this is coming out from a Transformers fan.

Roomba 577

iRobot Roomba 577 is an automatic vacuum robot which can be programed to run on its own according to a set schedule of up to 7 times a week. I bought this for Jin as her birthday present but in fact, it's probably a present for both of us. Vacuuming has never been this fun since we adopted this little baby! It comes with a self-docking station for recharging and 2 "lighthouse/virtual wall" units which can be placed strategically around house to direct the Roomba where to vacuum and where not to. The units are crucial for the Roomba to find its way back to the docking station once it finishes vacuuming. The unit comes equipped with multiple sensors at the front to detect obstacles such as walls and furniture and to help it navigate around them. It is also clever enough to detect a ledge so it will not fall down a flight of stairs.

I have tested Roomba on carpet, rug and hard floor and it passes favourably. Because Roomba can adjust its height automatically, it has no problems going from one surface to another, and also unlikely to get bogged down by wires or uneven surfaces. I am absolutely amazed at how effective this little gadget is at the job and the sheer amount of dusts and hair it is capable of picking up.

More info can be found here. If you are sick of regular vacuuming, give this iRobot a go and you will not be disappointed!

BBQ Pork Buns

I have been wanting to share this recipe with you since our trip back home but I was just too lazy to do anything else apart from sitting on my ass every evening watching some Chinese dramas downloaded off the net :P For this recipe, I cheated by purchasing the ready made BBQ pork from a restaurant in Northbridge. You actually can achieve very similar result by marinating pork in Chinese BBQ sauce before cooking them, or even substitute the pork with chicken.

The following recipe with be enough to make about 12-15 buns.

For the dough:
500g plain flour
5 tbs white sugar
0.5 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp of instant yeast
1 tsp of melted butter
260mL of water

Mix the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a large bowl and make a center. Add the yeast and slowly mixing in the water with the yeast and work your way out from the center. Add in butter and knead the dough until smooth and set aside in a large bowl covered with damp cloth. Leave the dough for roughly 3 hours at room temperature or until at least double in size.

The filling:
200g of BBQ pork cut into small pieces
3 medium size mushrooms roughly diced
1 large brown onion diced
2 tbs cooking oil
1 tbs oyster sauce
1 tbs chilli sauce
1 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs tomato sauce
2 tsp sugar
small amount of water and starch mixture


Fry the onion with oil in a shallow pan until slightly brown. Add in mushroom and BBQ pork, fry the mixture for about a minute. Add in all the sauces and sugar. Lastly, add in just enough water and starch mixture to thicken the filling. Do not add too much water. Set aside to cool.

Remove the dough and knead it down again until smooth and you are ready. Roll a small amount of dough at a time using a rolling pin and gently fold the filling into the dough as shown in the below. Sit the bun onto a small round piece of baking paper to prevent it from sticking during steaming. Set aside for about 30 minutes at room temperature before steaming. Place the finished buns in a steaming tray and steam under boiling water for about 8 minutes.

Tip: Cooked buns can be frozen immediately once they cool down and can be kept in freezer for a few weeks or longer.

Fast Five

Fast Five is not only the fastest but I reckon, it's simply the best out of the five in the long running Fast and Furious series. Hell, it could be the action movie of the year; and yes, I know we still have more than half of 2011 left; and yes, the Transformer sequel is at the horizon; but the Fast Five is that good! Although the storyline might be a little thin but the jaw dropping actions and special effects are more than enough to make up for the shortcomings. It definitely kept me at the edge of my seat most of the time and when we reached the movie credits, I was craving for more!

The Athlete's Foot

No...not the fungus or tinea infested foot, I am talking about The Athlete's Foot shoes company in general. My pair of New Balance runners were long overdue for replacement, so I took advantage of the new year sale and got myself a new pairs at The Athlete's Foot in Belmont. I have never shopped in any of the stores before and to my surprise, it was a truly enjoyable experience indeed. Not only they measured and recommended a pair perfect fitting shoes, the girl that was servicing us even told me I am an "overpronator" and required shoes that minimize pronation on the medial side of my feet. She recommended a pair of Wave Nirvana 6 by Mizuno, which is a superseded model and that meant good bargain. Jin got a pair new Nike runners too at the same time. We were there for more than 40mins from start to finish and not at any stage that we felt rushed by the girl, even though half of that time was passed their normal store closing time! Being in retail for a fair while myself, I know how annoying it is for customers to come in just before closing time, but to The Athelete's Foot, this is obviously not the case. That's what I call service! We know where we will go next time when we need new sport shoes, do you? :)

Century egg congee

Stuff you need (serve 4):
1 preserved century egg
1 salted duck egg
1 cup of rice mixed with a handful of glutinous rice (pre-soaked for 1 hour)
2 chicken thigh fillets (trimmed and diced) and marinated with soy sauce + sesame oil
1 shallot finely diced
spring onion and coriander for garnish
served with "chinese friend bread" or youtiao (optional)

This is a very simple and great tasting recipe that I would like to share with you. I must admit I don't think it's as healthy as your regular oat porridge lol! First, you boil the eggs and roughly diced them. With a hot pan, add oil and stir fry the shallot until brown, then add the chicken fillets. Add all the ingredients, including the cooked chicken into a large pot with 4 cups of water. You can substitute a cup of water with some chicken stock for more taste. I prefer to use pressure cooker because it will cook a whole lot faster. If you use regular pot, you will have to stir and porridge occasionally while cooking on low heat. Cook until the porridge is smooth and thick, you can adjust the consistency by adding more water to you liking. Add salt and paper to taste and serve hot with "youtiao".

Something for the kitchen

Despite needing regular sharpening, I love my big and cheap Chinese cleaver which I probably have been using for more than a decade now. While the cleaver is great for cutting through bones and making mince out of steak, it is sometime too big and clumsy for other purposes.

We have been looking for a good cooks knife for quite sometime now and today, we finally bite the bullet and bought not just one, but a full block set of knives! As you can see from the following photos, each Ran knife is beautifully crafted and forged from 69 layers of damascus steel and sharpened to perfection. While using the newly sharpened meat cleaver is great, cutting using these Ran knives is something else! They are so sharp that they are in fact, a bit scary to use.