Monthly Archives: September 2009

Chef Daniel Boulud’s One Night In Singapore With Asian Food Channel @ NEO, Jalan Sultan Ismail, KL

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On 25th September 2009, a bunch of bloggers were invited by Alice George Communication (PR for AFC) to the sneak preview of another self-made original productions of the Asian Food Channel (AFC) of “Daniel Boulud : One Night in Singapore”, to be premiered on 29th September 2009..

I bet AFC (Astro Channel 703) has been the channel of the many food lovers out there..

The event was held in NEO (a lounge cum restaurant), beside Tamarind Hill at Jalan Sultan Ismail, Kuala Lumpur, just before Wisma KFC if you are following the traffic flow..

Not knowing who’s going to be there, I felt relieved when I saw few familiar faces such as Nigel, Kelli, Jess, Rachel Ooi, Ken, Rachel Ting (representing Superwilson, where they usually appear together), Taufulou, Wei Zhi, and both Chris and Christine..

Finger foods were served before the main agenda kicked off at about 6pm..

chef daniel boulud asian food channel neo
*Sneak preview of NEO*

We (bloggers) were warmly greeted by Hian Goh, AFC’s Co-founder and Managing Director before the sneak preview of “Daniel Boulud : One Night in Singapore”..

Great in-sights from the Managing Director, where he shares his views and thoughts on how to expand AFC to become one of the prominent channels in Asia..

Other than Hian Goh, the variety of AFC’s programme menu can be attributed to Maria Brown, another Co-founder and Managing Director of AFC..

chef daniel boulud asian food channel neo
*Chef Daniel Boulud : One Night in Singapore sneak preview*

As compared to other chefs such as Jamie Oliver or Martin Yan, many might not know Daniel Boulud but he is considered as one of Americas leading culinary authorities..

Michelin Chef Daniel Boulud, is Chef-Owner of ten award-winning restaurants and the Feast & Fetes catering company..

He brought his artistry in culinary to his New York restaurants DANIEL, Cafe Boulud, DB Bistro Moderne, Bar Boulud, and DBGB Kitchen an Bar..

Having won awards for Outstanding Restaurateur, Best Chef of New York City, and Outstanding Chef of the Year from James Beard Foundation awards, there’s no stopping to Daniel Boulud’s success..

Restaurant DANIEL has been named one of the ten best restaurants in the world by International Herald Tribune, received Gourmet Magazines Top Table award and a coveted four star rating from The New York Times, as well as Wine Spectators Grand Award..

In addition, he has created Cafe Boulud Palm Beach and Daniel Boulud Brasserie at the Wynn Las Vegas, and opened Maison Boulud in the Legation Quarter in Beijing, China in May 2008..

In this exclusive “Daniel Boulud : One Night in Singapore”, it’s Chef Daniel’s first ever visit to South East Asia and he’s  showing his magic in the culinary event in the iconic Fullerton Hotel in Singapore..

michelin chef daniel boulud
*Chef Daniel Boulud*

In this programme, his mission is to explore the mysteries of the East and discover if his high-end French cuisine style can withstand the heat of the notoriously hot Asian kitchen..

Remember to tune in to Asian Food Channel on Astro Channel 703 to watch “Daniel Boudlud : One Night in Singapore” on 29th September 2009 at 9pm~!!!

A bit of food review after the 1-hour sneak preview, inspired by Daniel Boulud‘s culinary style..

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Bic Runga – Sway

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I bet many of you have heard of Bic Runga, a New Zealand singer-songwriter, half Chinese half Maori..That explains her Chinese face feature..

I used to think that she’s a Filipino because of how she looks like and her name..

Apparently, Bic Runga‘s (pronounced as Bec in New Zealand) mother is a Chinese Malaysian and the father is a Maori, hence the face feature..

Drive, Bic Runga‘s first album in 1997, was indeed her success in the music industry with “Sway” was featured in the film American Pie (1999) and “Good Morning Baby” in Cruel Intention (1999)..

“Sway” proves to be a soft song that could melt anyone’s heart and very soothing to the ears..It’s an instant love potion..

Without further ado here’s the music video and lyrics of “Sway” by Bic Runga..

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w28ZREQe3_Q]

Bic Runga – Sway

Don’t stray
Don’t ever go away
I should be much to smart for this
You know it gets the better of me
Sometimes
When you and I collide
I fall into an ocean of you
Pull me out in time
Don’t let me drown
Let me down
I say its all because of you
And here I go
Losing my control
I’m practicing your name
So I can say it to your face
It doesn’t seem right
To look you in the eye
And let all the things you mean to me
Come tumbling out my mouth
Indeed its time
Tell you why
I say its infinately true

Say you’ll stay
Don’t come and go
Like you do
Sway my way
Yeah I need to know
All about you

And there’s no cure
And no way to be sure
Why everythings turned inside out
Instilling so much doubt
It makes me so tired
I feel so uninspired
My head is battling with my heart
My logic has been torn apart
And now
It all turns sour
Come sweeten every afternoon

Say you’ll stay
Don’t come and go
Like you do
Sway my way
Yeah I need to know
All about you
Say you’ll stay
Don’t come and go
Like you do
Sway my way
Yeah I need to know
All about you

Its all because of you
Its all because of you

Now
It all turns sour
Come sweeten every afternoon

Its time
Tell you why
I say its infinately true

Say you’ll stay
Don’t come and go
Like you do
Sway my way
Yeah I need to know
All about you
Say you’ll stay
Don’t come and go
Like you do
Sway my way
Yeah I need to know
All about you

Its all because of you
Its all because of you
Its all because of you

SONY Alpha Tutorials For Beginners – Yuin Yin Light Gothic Studio Shoot

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Few weeks back, we Alpharians (Alphanatics) did another private photoshoot session with another friend, Yuin Yin as our model..

The theme was Light Gothic, as suggested by the model herself..She was inspired by the manga cum anime and even a live-action movie adaptation called Nana..

Nana Osaki, the protagonist in the manga, is a vocalist for for a goth rock band called Black Stones and the character is played by Japanese singer Mika Nakashima in the live-action movie..

Okay enough of fun facts..We used the studio in SONY Style, a SONY sales department shop in The Curve which has its own studio..

A white backdrop has been used to create a contrast with the model’s outfit of dark and gloomy theme, the goth..

In this entry, I’ll explain more on how I got the photos and how I set the settings in my camera as well as a bit of fun facts here and there for the beginners..

Also, it’s a bit of introduction to the SONY Style Studio, which in this photoshoot was the second time we’ve used it..

So without further ado, here’s the photos and a bit of story-telling..

By the way, most of the photos I’ve already post-processed (PP) aka photoshop on the curves and levels to sharpen its image..

yuin yin light gothic studio photoshoot
*#1*

This photo is shot at aperture of F5, shutter speed of 1/20″ but with ISO 800..

With the help of studio lights and studio flash the noise is not that visible to the naked eyes..

Of course, with a slight bit of post-processing (PP) on the curves and levels to get this photo..

yuin yin light gothic studio photoshoot
*#2*

This photo it seems like I’ve cut-off the background but it’s not..Like I said, the backdrop is white color so by lowering the shutter speed and with the help of high ISO, the white areas will become more white..

In photography term we usually call it over exposed or in other words, burned, pecah, bao kong (broken light), or anything else that sound similar to it..

This photo used almost same setting as photo #1, shutter speed at 1/20″ but F4.5, ISO 800..Slight post-processing (PP) to sharpen the image as well..

yuin yin light gothic studio photoshoot
*#3*

Some beginners might ask how to get the blurry effect just like the photo above..It’s very easy..The way to do it is just like compact camera’s macro mode..

In compact camera, by switching on macro mode, you just have to do a close up shoot and you’ll get the blurry effect..

In DSLR way, just zoom-in your lens and focus on one point on a close-up range..If you focus on the front part you will get the blurry effect on the back and vice-versa..

The blurry part in photography term is called bokeh, which actually is a Japanese word..

yuin yin light gothic studio photoshoot
*#4*

Another bokeh effect..Usually to get the bokeh effect, any range further than 35mm will create the bokeh effect depending on your focus point and your close-up range..

yuin yin light gothic studio photoshoot sony dslr alphanatics
*#5 – Emo-fied*

The original photo is quite bland and not as sharp..As usual, a bit of post-processing on the curves to increase its brightness and lower the levels to increase its contrast..

The settings for the photo above is 1/6″ for shutter speed and aperture at F5.6..Focal length is at full 70mm on my kitlens for this close up photo..

Of course, with the Super Steady Shot (SSS), an Image Stabilizer function which is built-in in a SONY Alpha DSLR camera body, the chances of getting blurry photos are lesser as well, even at low shutter speed..

yuin yin light gothic studio photoshoot sony alphanatics
*Photographers at work..Kevin, Wingz, Alvan, and Ethan*

Other than the two studio lights that you can see, we also use SONY flash guns, those big flash lights that you usually saw attached to the camera body..

All of the photos above, none of the studio flash nor SONY flash guns were used..

More simple tutorials for beginners when you read on..

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Hsu Jen’s Birthday @ Delicious, Marc Service Residence, Jalan Pinang, KL

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On the first day of Eid ul-Fitri (Hari Raya), 20th September 2009, we went to Delicious at Marc Service Residence, nearby KLCC, to celebrate Hsu Jen‘s birthday..

The traffic in Kuala Lumpur area has never been so quiet and smooth for quite some time..

I don’t think it’s this smooth during Chinese New Year..Chinese New Year fail!

delicious marc service residence
*The empty road on Jalan Pinang, Kuala Lumpur*

It was suppose to be a surprise lunch party with the DGMB gang but the organizer failed to coordinate the whole thing and we reached a tad early..

09202009_hsujen_birthday_001-copy*Different business hour on Hari Raya*

The organizer failed in this area..Fortunately they still open, what if they close on the first day of Raya? EPIC FAIL~!! :P

david-hsujen-bday
*David and Hsu Jen coming in for the surprise*

It’s pretty difficult to give people surprises nowadays unless it’s REALLY surprising, such as to invite few good friends whom have not keep in touch for some time, or gather everyone in a dark place and jump out to surprise the birthday person..

More food photos for you to drool :P

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Sony A200 DSLR Test – ISO Performance

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Ever since I bought my camera, SONY A200 DSLR on 9th May 2009, I’ve shot nearly 8,000 photos, or I should say used up 8,000 shutter count in 4 months..

From that amount of photos, I have a lot of bad photos that includes blurry photos, white balance testing photos, and also shutter speed testing photos..

From those tests, I’ve never thought of doing a performance test on my camera..

So from now on, I’m going to do some performance test with it as a guidance for myself and anyone who wants to explore in SONY Alpha DSLRs, or just plain DSLR..

It is strictly warned that it’s just a very brief guide to DSLR noobs and those trying to get their hands on a DSLR as based on my knowledge ..

I would not say it’s a tutorial as I’m not qualified enough for a tutorial..It’s just a simple test on my camera..

My SONY A200, equipped with its kitlens, a SONY 18-70mm, is sufficient enough for beginners like me, but I’m looking forward to expand my lens range already, after shooting for 4 months..

First off, I’ll test the most basic and easiest performance of all, the ISO sensitivity..

ISO actually stands for International Organization for Standardization, yes, it’s the usual ISO that we commonly know of, such ISO 9001, ISO 9002, etc etc..

As for camera’s light sensitivity, it is based on ISO 5800 for measuring the speed of color negative film..

Okay, enough of geek facts..Let’s get down to real business of SONY A200 ISO performance test..

sony a200 dslr iso-100 test
*ISO 100*

From here you can see the photo is considerably sharp as I’ve cropped it from its original size of 3872 x 2592, a full size of from the 10.2 megapixels body..

As you know, low ISO only works with good lighting and I took this pic with -0.3 BV (brightness value), shutter speed at 0.6 second, and F5.6 at 40mm focal length..

sony a200 dslr iso-200 test
*ISO 200*

When I pumped up the ISO to 200, the photo seems a bit grainy (noise) already but it’s still okay when you are in low light condition..

Aperture stays at F5.6, focal length 40mm, -0.3 BV, and shutter speed 1/3 second..

More on ISO 400 and above..

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Father’s Birthday @ Tony Roma’s, Cineleisure Damansara

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It was my father’s 59th birthday on 15th September 2009, so my sisters and I decided to take a break from Chinese food (again!) and went for western (again!)..

This time we’ve chosen Tony Roma’s, because I’ve heard many good reviews and recommendations, and of course I’ve never tried it before..Neither does my father..

Wanted to try others like Bondi Bar, Frontera, or maybe Delicious, but it’s better not to be risky for such dinner..

So off we went to Cineleisure’s Tony Roma’s at about 7.30pm..Traffic was quite considerably smooth, normal during the month of Ramadhan..

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*Tallen, my dad, and me*

My dad doesn’t look like the olden times 59 year-old person where a lot of them would be either hunchbacked or look rather really old..

I bet most of the modern days people look like this nowadays..Talk about modern lifestyle..My sister’s boyfriend Tallen joined us for the dinner..

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*My sisters, Shan (L) and Min (R)*

Tallen is the boyfriend of my youngest sister Shan..Enough of scrutinizing the menu and here goes the real deal..

Not knowing what to order and what’s best in Tony Roma’s, we ordered the followings..

tony roma's medium rare ribeye
*My medium rare Ribeye Steak*

Medium rare Ribeye Steak, it’s juicy and very tender, of course..To be honest, this is my first time trying a medium rare one..

Usually I would have ordered medium well..So, I can’t really compare or comment about this medium rare..

I’m not use to chew on something this raw and bloody..It tasted pretty good, nonetheless..Think I might stick back to my medium well for easier chewing wtf..

More yummylicious photos and kudos to their good service..

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