#TaniahPandelela

I was knocked out from 10 pm till 1 am after dinner with beer and red wine. Not feeling sleepy after waking up at 1 am, I decided to stayed up to watch the Women 10m Diving final, which Malaysia National Diver Pandelela Rinong had a go for a medal in it.

She started with a poor dive but did great in the other four, especially the crucial final dive that gave her the points to overtake the others. The points is so close for the silver and bronze medal. A few favourites did badly in the final dives that cost them their points. The results is not what was expected except for the gold that went to China's Chen Ruolin, whom is consistently doing high score in high difficulty. Silver went to 16 year old Australian diver, Brittany Broben and Bronze of course is won by our very own Pamg Pandelala Rinong. You can see that Chen Ruoling is just competing with herself, is about 56 points different between her and Brittany. It's a close call for Pandelela, whom won Melissa Wu of Australia just by 1.1 point. Phew!

#TaniahPandelela, not only you won the bronze medal but you've created history to be the 1st Malaysian female Olympic medalist and the 1st non-badminton Olympic medal ever won by Malaysia.

A genuinely happy smile on her face when she's step up onto the podium during the medal presentation ceremony. Once again we see Jalur Gemilang being raised in the London Olympics 2012.

She got to be at the International media photography session along with Chen Ruolin and Brittanny Broben.

Thank you Pandelela. Thank you Chong Wei. This is the best gift ever you both to give Malaysia for Hari Merdeka.

翁詩耀 Tee Yau - Another Talented Malaysian at Super Idol

After 李佳薇 (Jess Lee) won 超级星光大道7 (One Million Star), we might have another Malaysian breaking into the grand finale of 超级偶像 5 (Super Idol 5th season), another reality music competition show in Taiwan that is as popular as 超级星光大道 (Superstar Avenue). In come 翁詩耀 (Yong Tee Yau) a 26 years old Malaysian architect by profession, on the latest episode of Super Idol, he's already booked a palce in the final 7, just two or three more rounds away to the grand finale.

Picture of Tee Yau in the early stages.

His style is very different from 李佳薇 Jess Lee. Where Jess Lee is the expert in the vocal, Tee Yau is more like a free style performer. He can play the acoustic guitar while singing. He also had composed some songs that you uploaded on his YouTube channel. His vocal is of course no match if compared with Jess Lee but he has got his own unique style of singing, which is very important for a singer to have his/her own personality to be identifiable in the recording industry.

Here are some of the YouTube video Tee Yau's performance in the past episodes of Super Idol 5. Watch it and see what you think of his singing.


翁詩耀 Tee Yau singing Jason Mraz's "Love For A Child":

翁詩耀 Tee Yau did a very good cover of James Morrison's "You Give Me Something":

翁詩耀 Tee Yau Singing Bee Gees' "I Started A Joke":

翁詩耀 Tee Yau Singing Coldplay's "Yellow":

I like 翁詩耀 Tee Yau Singing singing his own composing "風箏線", when he's singing this song, I kind of see a little bit shadow of 张雨生 (Tom Chang):

He also challenges himself by singing "容易受傷的女人":

He also sang one of my favourite song from 陳綺貞 (Cheer Chen), "還是會寂寞":

Oh, as with Jess Lee, he also sang a Malay (technically an Indonesian :P) song by Ungu "Kekasih Gelapku":

Lastly this is Tee Yau Singing "Die", his own original song (very good this song but the lyrics is a bit dark) in the latest episode PKing with a fellow Malaysian musician and recording artist lol (talk about coincident or perhaps it's purposely set?), that got him a very high remarks from the judges of Super Idol:

Tee Yau after cutting his hair short.


Picture of Tee Yau after the makeover.

It seems that he likes to sing English songs. Well, as a Malaysian he do have to learn Malay and English, Chinese too if he studied in a Chinese Ed School. Also, I think because English song can have more changes in the way of singing not limited by the tone like Mandarin.

He's already have a fan club on Facebook simply named Tee Yau Fan Club. If you want to know more about him, you can go to the links below:

詩耀 on INDIEVOX

http://www.indievox.com/teeyau/intro

翁詩耀 @ MySpace

http://www.myspace.com/teeyau

翁詩耀 @ YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/user/teeyau

Well, hope he'll get into the grand finale and even be the champion of Super Idol 5 and make us Malaysian proud. Getting to this far of Super Idol is already no easy fit. Malaysia have so many talented singers, it's just that the market here for Chinese music is too small for our talent to make it big. That is why most of them have to go to Taiwan or Hong Kong to build a name first before coming back home. Good luck and all the best to you Tee Yau. I can see that the future is bright for Malaysian Chinese Music industry. Malaysia Boleh!!

Fabulous Food 1Malaysia - Char Kueh Tiow

There are so many wonderful food in Malaysia. Food here are usually mixed with influenced from the different races of Malay, Chinese, Indian, Peranakan and East Malaysian. One particular hawker food that I think would be quite 1Malaysia is Char Kueh Tiow (fried flat noodle).

If it is Char Kueh Tiow, of course most Malaysian will tell you that Penang is the state that has the best Char Kueh Tiow. This hawker meal might even have first come from Penang. One can find this hawker fare being sold at any local coffee shop in Penang, which is very common. Any of the stall can dish out a fairly good Char Kueh Tiow.

There is this lane in Penang call Lorong Selamat where there's two stalls are famous for their Char Kueh Tiow. One is cooked by a man and another is cooked by a lady.

Below is the Char Kueh Tiow cooked up by the man. Look at the humongous prawn that is used in the dish. Chinese sausage, Chinese chives, beansprout are the must to make this fried flat noodle. Of course, pork lard is used to make it more aromatic and flavourful. You can read more about it here in my previous post. Oh, be sure to brave through the long queue for this popular Penang hawker fare here.

Lorong Selamat (man) Char Kueh Tiow RM 6

Walking towards the end of Lorong Selamat, you will see this fiery woman doing her things in front of the piping hot wok. She's doing non other than cooking up a nice Char Kueh Tiow for her customers.

Taste is not that different for both of their Char Kueh Tiow. Some will say the man make better char kueh tiow while other will say that the lady make a more tasty one. Why not try both of theirs and compare it yourself to see which you like it better. Taste is one very personal thing that is very different from one person to another. Read my previous post to find out which one I liked better.

Lorong Selamat (woman) Char Kueh Tiow RM 8.50 (with more and bigger prawns)

Not traveling to Penang? Not a problem. I won't categorized char kueh tiow as a 1Malaysia food if it can only be found in Penang. Down in Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya, Selangor, there are many coffee shop that has stall selling this delicacy too.

If you happened to stay in Eastin Hotel, Petaling Jaya. All you have to do to take a taxi from the hotel to Section 17, which is only about 5 minutes drive from Eastin Hotel and go to Restoran Say Huat for Robert's char kueh tiow (fried flat noodle). Say Huat is one of my favourite place for lunch when I am working on a Sunday. The stall that attracts me here is of course Robert's.

Robert's fried kueh tiow.

It is one of the fried kueh tiow that I found in Kuala Lumpur that is on par with the one found in Penang. Since, I stay around in Klang Valley, so this is then nearest Penang char kueh tiow that I can gets my hands (my mouth) into. Of course the prawn used is not as big as the one in Lorong Selamat but the price is not as high too. Be in mind that the portion here is quite big, so for small eater it's better to order a small portion (RM 4) and share :p. Big eater order a plate of big size (RM 4.50) will do.

Restoran Say Huat
Jalan 17/27, Petaling Jaya

Google Map here.

The reason I say that char kueh tiow is a 1Malaysia dish is because not only Malaysian Chinese like this food, all Malaysian like char kueh tiow too. That's why there's the mamak stall kueh tiow goreng and Malay kueh tiow goreng. The different is that no pork is used in creating the dish. Yet it still taste quite good. There's a Malay stall in HP Tower food court, stall no. 2 I think dishes out some very good Halal char kueh tiow that can put some Chinese hawker to shame.

Speaking of pork-less fried kueh tiow. I have to mention this stall run by a Chinese couple in Restoran Seng Lee. They only sell one dish and that is char kueh tiow. They don't use any pork or pork lard in their char kueh tiow hence you won't find Chinese sausage in the dish.

Taken around 2.30pm hence it's not packed.

During lunch time on a weekday, this place will be packed and almost 80% of the customers eating char kueh tiow. So if you don't want to wait for about 45 minutes for a plate of pork less char kueh tiow then come around 10 to 11am or after 2pm. Usually they closed before 4pm.

Mid sized prawn.

Even though pork lard is not used, but the flat noodle is cooked to fluffiness that the texture is very nice when you put it in your mouth. Generous amount of beansprouts and Chinese chives put in gives it a good natural sweetness. The prawns are not as big if compared to Lorong Selamat, Penang but I can say it is big for Kuala Lumpur standard. A small plate sells for RM 4.50 and a big one sells for RM 5. Now they only sell one size that cost RM5, this is to speed up things maybe but I still have to wait about 30 minutes during lunch time =P

Those of you that is crazy for pork lard might not agreed with me. Although I like pork lard too but I will have to say that this fried kueh tiow without any pork or pork lard if not better is as tasty as those cooked with pork lard. Why not try out something different for once?

The fruit rojak (mixed fruits salad with prawn paste sauce) or Penang rojak that is selling outside the coffee shop is very good too. Most customers here will order one as dessert or appetizer.

Address:

Restoran Seng Lee
8-6, Jalan Batai, Damansara Heights
50940 Kuala Lumpur.

Open from 10 am onwards and during lunchtime. Close on Sunday

Google map here.