For your viewing pleasure Part 3 ;)

There's nothing like sitting on the beach watching a spectacular sunset.

The sun is above the horizon, sandwiched between Sulug and Manukan.


The sun is eaten by the horizon...


The sun has just sank into the horizon!

I love Sabah.

Food Blog #21

Japanese food, again! This time it's at Hana Japanese Restaurant, City Mall.

About two weeks ago Clementine, Lynncilla and I decided to meet up and have lunch together in City Mall. What a mini reunion that was. Clementine's UK-bound this September and I just had to meet her and I only get to see Lynx once a year. Again when we met we were indecisive on where to have lunch (everyone was like "I'm cool anywhere") but at the end I suggested Hana and everyone agreed. (Yeay! :D)

We ordered:

Kiku Combo Sushi, RM20.
I love this one! So assorted.


Saba Shioyaki Set.
The fish is grilled to perfection. ;)


Clementine's Beef Teriyaki Set.
She finished it, so I believe it was good. :)

Dessert: Lemon ice-cream!

Overall, the experience was good. I especially liked the assorted sushis. Lynx was kind enough to let me devour two or three of them. Pretty good ambience. Little did we know that we were the last customers to dine in because they had to close at 2pm. We were so lucky! The people in the restaurant were 'surprisingly' courteous, because one of them politely asked us if we wanted order again since we finished our food and were so into talking and updating each other.

Oh, and we were the last customers to leave. ;)

Location: Very easy to locate, just next to Old Town White Coffee.

Congratulations to Federer & Kuznetsova!

First of all, I want to congratulate Federer for finally, after umpteen times, winning his maiden French Open title. He truly deserves it, ever since Nadal lost in the fourth round, which came as a shocking to me, and to the tennis world obviously, because no one could beat him until a Swede by the name of Robin Soderling finally had the antidote to Nadal's very powerful, smart game on clay. He eventually went all the way to final and I actually tipped him to win it (since an underdog had to win it this time) and FedEx has got all the pressure to nail it this time around since King Nadal's demise on clay. However Soderling came up really short and FedEx won in 3 sets. I've to say well done!

I was wrong about Nadal winning his 5th straight Roland Garros. Tough luck.

(Refer to my previous post on this.)

Over to the ladies,

I've been a staunch supporter of Safina in this tournament. The first four matches she played was unbelievable: on demolition mode, only lost 5 games, until she met Dangerous Belarussian Azarenka, whom she dug it out in three sets, and the diminutive Slovak, whom she had little trouble in the beginning but finally beat her in straight sets. It was her second consecutive Roland Garros final and I've expecting her to beat Kuzy but then pressure got into her so bad she lost in straight sets 6-4 6-2. You could actually see nerves controlling her when she played in that final. Kuzy was just too good; it was her 2nd Grand Slam trophy, her first trophy was the US Open, having winning it way back in 2004 when she was just 19 years of age.

Once again congrats FedEx & Kuzy!

Federer deserves to kiss his trophy after going so close to it in the previous years.

Kuzy and Safina with the winner's and runner's up trophies respectively.

Okay, since we're in the middle of the year, let us see how are my players doing so far this season:

(Player)-(Position in the beginning of the season)-(Position in the middle of the season, as of June 8th 2009)

The men:

Kei Nishikori-61-113 (the heck?)

Fernando Verdasco-15-8

Ernests Gulbis-53-69

JM Del Potro-9-5

Andy Murray-4-3

The ladies:

Sorana Cirstea-36-27

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova-43-31

Agnieszka Radwanska-10-11

Caroline Wozniacki-12-9

Michelle Larcher de Brito-129-90

A very quick summary:

Nishikori's out due to injury, so he failed to defend his points. I-start-to-believe-in-myself Verdasco made his first Grand Slam SF at the Australian Open and has been progressing well ever since, Gulbis failed to defend his points in Roland Garros where he reache QF last year; he lost in the 2nd round this year, Del Potro keeps getting better, made his first Grand Slam SF at Roland Garros this year (lost to mighty FedEx). Murray has been very impressive so far this season, winning three big titles already and with Wimbledon beckons, I'm sure he's going to go far this time around. Nadal and FedEx have to really watch out.

Ladies!

Radwanska's the only blemish here; her results has been a so-so. No major breakthrough this season yet, nothing to shout about. Cirstea's record was 0-6 in the beginning until she played in Marbella where she got all the way to the SF and recently she made it to the QF at Roland Garros; good job. Pavlyuchenkova's results has been pretty good too, her best result yet is SF at Indian Wells, and her ranking propagated. Wozniacki is by far very impressive in the field. Still 19, her record currently stands at 37-12, the most number of matches won so far among the ladies, and her best result yet is F at Madrid. As of today, she has earned $867,484. She can practically buy anything she wants as a 19-year-old girl. De Brito has just made it to the Top 100, after reaching the 3rd round at Roland Garros recently. She made headlines for her grunting on court and her grunting, I tell you, is very long, unpleasant and extremely annoying. I did predict in my previous post that she's going to make the Top 100 and finally she did! Kudos indeed.

We'll see again how these players will fare in the 2nd half of the season! :D

Food Blog #20

My twientieth post on food! Rejoice! :D

Everyone who knows me knows that I love food, and to exaggerate a bit, they sometimes use the word 'devour' instead of 'eat' when it comes to me and food.

"Max doesn't eat food,  Max devours food!" :D

Well, I may cross over the line on that one. :P For your information my mouth can accept everything except To Sa Pau (yeah, I know) and up to this day I am still figuring it out why I can't put that thing into my mouth. I find it very unpleasant and the black paste really turns me off! Any help, please?

So okay, this twientieth post will be on Foh Chuan Restaurant. Goodness this restaurant is always packed during lunch time. Why? They serve good food, that's why! Here you go:

Bai Kut Wong, with the tomatoes and cucumbers. Classic. Damn the sauce...

Petchula + pork. I love this one!

Old school eggs cooked with 'red coloured pork' (or simply sasau). No doubt, 10 out of 10.

I ended up devouring two plates of rice with these dishes. My dad got worried because I just gobble up everything into my mouth without gaining any significant weight.

I exercise, dad. 

;)

Here's a little bit about myself...and make it Food Blog #19 as well!

Last Saturday I attended a family reunion (dad's side) at my granduncle's residence in Donggongon. I've to say I had a blast; got the chance to meet/catch up with the rest of the Lajawaians; met the extended families and just had a great time and enjoyed the activities that had been meticulously prepared for the day. Before I go further with the photos, here's a brief genealogy of my family:

LAJAWAI BOLINDA + LOTINGGI KALAWIT:

1) EDWIN SIKONG LAJAWAI
2) LOJUNIP LAJAWAI
3) PHILIP @ ULAK LAJAWAI
4) PETER MAYER MIOL LAJAWAI
5) TINJUNIM LAJAWAI
6) MONJONG LAJAWAI

Up to this day, only Peter Mayer Miol Lajawai is the surviving son of Lajawai & Lotinggi and currently resides in Miri, as the rest had passed away. May their souls rest in peace. Amen.

The photos!

The blue family representing Monjong Lajawai.


The red family representing Tinjunim Lajawai.


The green family (that's us! *round of applause*) representing Philip @ Ulak Lajawai.


The cream family representing Lojunip Lajawai.


The maroon family representing Edwin Sikong Lajawai.

My great-grandparents should be proud of this, to see their grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren continuing their legacy.

Lets talk food! Wee~ :D

The last time I attended a family reunion (mom's side) the food was horrible (sorry mom, I'm a little bit biased this time). Blame it on the mismanagement, they didn't work out the menu properly and every dish was BEEF! I believe not everyone really eats beef so next time sort the menu properly yea?

I have to give credits to the aunties who worked so hard in preparing the food. If I were an elaborate person I would say every dish that day was a gastronomical delight! Everything was NOT beef and I enjoyed and loved what I ate, and that's the most important thing to look for when you have a buffet. You enjoy and love what you eat, and no complaints!

Yummy!

Ooh...


Aah...


Ready to go to every Lajawaian's stomachs.

Damn those cakes!
*thumbs up*


Since it was also the first day of Kaamatan, the beating of the gongs made our day.


...and once you hear the beating of the gongs, like once Atama sang,
"Do the sumazau like you just don't care!"


Lajawai Bolinda's great-grandchildren. :D

Looking forward to the second one! :D