August 2009

Ahbing Teaches You How To Cook: Tortilla Base Pizza

Ahbing’s kitchen lesson is back! This week I will bring you a lovely and well-known Italian cuisine. PIZZZZZZZA.

I have the opportunity to taste this pizza at one of my friend’s house party, Joyce. Her sister, Grace, made these awesome pizza and it was delicious! What makes this pizza stands out from the rest of the pizza? The pizza base. We use Tortilla instead of typical Italian pizza base.

Here are some basic ingredients to prepare, no brainers!

Burrito Tortilla Wrap
Mozarella cheese
Pizza sauce (I used tomato and BBQ flavour. You can use pasta sauce but it’ll be a bit sour)
Raw skinned prawns, marinated with mince garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper.
Mushroom
Ham pieces
Pineapple cubes
Basically anything you want to put on pizza, even jelly-beans.

Lay the tortilla on a plate, and spread the sauce. Tips: usually you put meat first, then proceed to other toppings such as spinach, pineapple or garden salad. Unless you’re trying to build a tower on the pizza. usually one level of toppings is enough.

The second level is mozzarella cheese. Cover up all the shit underneath! This is the real deal when it comes to good pizza, isn’t it? FREAKING LOTS OF MOZZARELLA CHEESE!!

Put the pizza into a pre-heated oven 200° Celsius degree (approx. 400 Fahrenheit) for 10 minutes. Don’t forget to put a piece of baking paper too. Aluminum foil is not be suitable here because tortilla will stick on it. Anything that has wet ingredient doesn’t goes well with aluminum.

Behold. The ultimate pizza you’ll ever taste! This has to be in your “100 foods to eat before I die” list.

Eh, please wipe off your saliva from your keyboard. It’s dripping la.. Hehehehe.

We made eight pizzas tonight. All different toppings! Share among 5 friends and we were happy as hell. I purposely publish this post at midnight… just so you know…

Now, go to kitchen and find some food! I know you’re hungry! nom nom nom nom nom.

Share

{ 8 comments }

I Have A New Gadget: iMac

WOOOOO! Mac! I’ve got a Mac! And it’s in my room right now!

I have a friend, called Yam. She went to US for student exchange few days ago, and she “appointed” me to take care of her computer until she returns. Prior leaving Australia, she stopped renting her accommodation and we offer her our bigger room to stay over. Well you see, Chuan and I are a bunch of nice guys. Got girls¹ come over to stay wo.. confirm give them biggest room la. We usually call it The Common Room la..

After she left, I asked Jimmy² to reformat the Mac for me. I want to learn it from basic and customise everything. Jimmy agrees that’s the best approach and he taught me a few tips and tricks, the rest I’ll have to figure out myself. Sap sap sui la… I think.

Unfortunately, by the time of this post being written (and the Mac has left untouched for one week). I am still using the Ultimate Tingkap³. I am unable to familiarize quick enough to do things efficiently and productively. Biggest reason of all? I could not figure out the way to logout Adium*. Sungguh paiseh. And I am still busying on customising my other website – manyholes.com (You could drop by and check out the design being altered bit by bit everyday). Update 24/08/09: Manyholes.com design is done!

Jimmy assumes that my productivity will increase dramatically once I mastered the basic usage of Mac. Only if I mastered… hahahaha. Ah well. I still have 4 months to use it anyway. I’ll take my time. Oh by the way, can any of you recommend me must-have applications? or any advice to new Mac users? Please leave comment below.

At the mean time, I’ll grab some cold beer from fridge and continue working on my website.

Cheers everyone. Have a good night!

¹ – Yam and Xiao Yun
² – The Mac guru. He converted a few friends around him into Mac-heads.
³ – Window Vista Premium
* – Instant messaging for Macs, MSN in windows.

Share

{ 34 comments }

Parents’ Visit Trip Cancelled Due To H1N1

My parents were suppose to arrive on morning, 13th August. Unfortunately, due to unforseen circumstances. That trip had been called off. Why? I am infected with swine flu.

Yep that’s right. I am infected. Signs include: fever, cough, flu, sore-throat, diarrhea and sore muscle. Bingo! I have everything.

First symptom (Monday 03/08)

I’ve been feeling a bit headache and dizzy since the Gold Coast Casino trip. However, H1N1 never cross my mind. Hey, I am healthy person. I eat 2 pieces of fruits and handful of vegetables everyday. How can I fall sick? I refuse to oblige admit sick. I AM STRONG.

Starting to realise (Tuesday 04/08)

Uh oh. Jimmy is sick too. He has been sick since past week. Could it be infections? Yes it could be. But, my health is in excellent shape. No way in hell I’ll be the first person to fall sick. I started to consume more multivitamins than usual. I requested the rest of housemates to consume my vitamins too.

It kicked in (Wednesday 05/08)

My stomach starts to feel funny. My back muscles and arms starts to sore. Maybe I overworked yesterday (lift some weights). Ignore the symptoms. Argh. Not feeling good. I feel dizzy. Ahhh wait… swine flu… H1N1… I better get online and check what are the symptoms… oh no.. exactly the same…

/MSN

“Hey Sha. I think I got H1N1.. but not so sure leh..”

“Uh ohh.. go see doctor.”

I had runny nose for next few days too.

Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeep (Thursday 06/08)

Chuan wakes me up. “Bing, go to doctor now” he said. “Ugh.. okay..” I replied. Then I collapse back to bed. When I wake up, it’s already 4:30pm, I missed my appointment with doctor. I slept 15 hours.

The system here in Australia is different than Malaysia. You NEED to make appointment with the doctor before going clinic unless it is emergency (you chopped off your finger or your brain suddenly fell out). If you have fever leh? Sorry la.. please come again tomorrow!!

Positive H1N1 (Friday 07/08)

I dragged myself out of bed and walk to closest clinic. I was isolated from other patients. Met the doctor. Doctor said “Congratulations! you are pregnant!”

Ehhhhhhhhhhh sorry sorry. wrong script hehehehehe.

Well, the doctor did a funny check up on me. Ask me few silly questions and poked his fingers on my cheek and forehead, “is it painful?”

Result?

“Yes, you are infected with H1N1. But you are already recovering. No big deal, big guy!” he said. “I’ll give you a few flu medicines and you’re good to go”

“One question, doctor. My parents and grandparents are coming over for my graduation ceremoney next week. What are the possibilities for them to get infected with my virus?”

“Hmm, it’s hard to say. But definitely possible.”

“Should I postpone my ceremony? Because I worry about the elderly’s health. Their antibody is not that good anymore.”

“Yes. You have a good point. Please discuss this with your parents. Ultimate decision is up to you”

He SHOOK hand with me before I go. I asked him “by the way, why aren’t you wearing any mask?”

“H1N1 has become too common. You can’t avoid it. It’s just a normal flu anyway.”

I looked at him, amazed. “oohhh…..”

That few lines of conversation costs me almost RM200. I am considering switching course to doctor..

Mum gone crazy (Saturday 08/08)

“AH ZAI!!! DADDY SAID YOU GOT H1N1!!! OMG!!!! I COME FIND YOU NOW!!!!”

“Whoa relax, mum! I am feeling okay. Seriously! It’s like normal fever only. Plus, the worse period had just past. I am recovering now. Doctor gave me medicines too. Don’t too panic bah.”

“Are you going to die?“

“NO!!“

Friend came over that night and we played some drinking game. Sha says I am irresponsible, which is true. /shoot myself. I take extra precautious through out the night, though. I use seperate dining utensils for myself, no sneezing in front of them, and wash my hand every 30 minutes or so. Stick to doctor’s advice at 100% rate.

Best Weekend Ever (Sunday 09/08)

Chuan cleaned the whole house. I sit in front computer play World of Warcraft. Friends didn’t ask me out because I bring disease. Even if they did, I have good reason to refuse them. Brilliant! Eat two brocolli and fruits only though.. ughh.. but I am definitely feeling better.

My mum still panic though. She called more than 20 times. “ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?”

Road to recovery (Monday 10/08)

I am definitely feeling alot better compare to past few days. I had to call up hotels and car rentals to cancel off my reservations. Lost AUD$210. Pfft. The saddest part is, I am unable to meet my parents and grandparents and I missed them so much =\ I planned up a 10 days trip around Gold Coast and Brisbane for the elderly, too bad I had to call it off. I don’t want the worst case scenario to happen. I had to make this decision.

Uni gave me permission to postpone my graduation to December.

Almost there (Tuesday 11/08)

Some friends heard that I was sick, and they called.

“Helloh.. handsome speaking!!”

“Ui. I thought you were sick. How come you sounds so healthy?”

“Doctor says I got big balls wa.. so I recover quickly loh..”

=====

I even went to play golf in the evening. Full swing bebeh! Can challenge Tiger Woods anytime.

Fully healed! (Wednesday 12/08)

I’ve been jumping around since I wake up. Now Chuan shows sign of getting the virus.. hmm… my turn to look after him. Pity boy.

Ok boys and girls. My phone is ready for your call, anytime

Update 18 August 2009:
I am fully recovered. You won’t get H1N1 from me even if you slept with me (I would love girls to experiment with me, though). I’ve been celebrating with beers since last week.

H1N1 is only a normal flu with exaggeration name.

Share

{ 20 comments }

How To Edit And Resize Photos For Blog

Many readers has been asking the same question, “Bing, why your blog photo so nice geh.. your camera must be good”

LOL! seriously. My photos are not that nice ok? I am currently using Canon IXUS 850 IS. But this guide will show you how to make your photos look slightly better than it was disregarding any camera you use. There are many more good blogs out there with amazing photos. (e.g. Otaku god – Dannychoo.com) but we are not trying to compare, cause we are at a different league. His website has 2million hits per month lah, my site merely gets 100 unique visitors per day. Cannot compare at all lah. But, it’s all good

Today, I will teach you some tricks to transform your photos to cantik-cantik belaka. All the tricks shown below are applied to every single photos at ahbing.com.

This is the before and after.

You suck if you unable to differenciate before and after. Chuan's head SHINES ok!!

Figure.1 Chuan and me

Pre-requisites: Get yourself Photoshop CS or above (get trial version here) However, if you want to get a genuine copy. Please go torrentz.com lalalalala.

Step 1: Edit the photo histogram

This step corrects the colour taken by your camera. e.g. black is black; white is white, not grey. You get what I mean? This is actually pretty easy. Here’s how to do it. In photoshop, press CTRL+L (or Image > Adjustments > Levels) to bring up the histogram window.

You see the both red circles? Those are the arrows you need to notice. Left arrow represents the dark pixels in your photo, while the right arrow represents the bright pixels. By brightening up the photo, drag the right arrow towards left, you’ll see your photo instantly brighten up. Apply same method with the left arrow. Usually I won’t touch the middle arrow, but it depends. By applying this method, your photos no more grey-grey.

Here’s the settings I applied for the Figure.1.

Step 2: Crop out the unnecessary part

crop The reason behind this is to focus on a particular object, and save bandwidth. Some readers complaint ahbing.com loads up slowly due to heavy image usage. This becomes worst when they have lousy internet connection (/finger Streamyx). I started to apply this method to most of my photos. Your readers will appreciate it, too.

Here’s an example:

mole You get what I mean? I only showed my dai lap mak (mole) instead of Chuan and me. If you refer to my other posts, you will notice the different sizes of images. Each and every photos has been cropped to a minimal size to lessen the burden of my bandwidth. Plus, it looks neat:)

Step 3: Edit the final size

I usually stick to maximum 500px width for every photos. I don’t want my site to be messy. But it’s up to your personal preference.

In photoshop, press ALT+CTRL+I (or Image > Image Size) to bring up the resize window.

resize2

There you go. You are done. Rearrange the photos with copy and paste. Easy peasy. Hope I helped. Feel free to leave comment if you have any questions or shoot me a quick mail.

Share

{ 14 comments }

Gold Coast Two Days One Night Trip: The Saga Continues

We are back at Gold Coast again, we had a similar trip six days ago. This time, we return with a bigger group, including girls!! Nyahaahahah.

However, the majority suggests we depart from Brisbane at 9am. Breakfast in Sunnybank, then 1 hour car trip to Gold Coast… then lunch again. “Whoa… you guys so happening” I said. “OKAY la.. I try to wake up la” I added. So what happened?

I cannot wake up. Too early. You better kill me. I did not join them for breakfast, lunch, hang kai and swimming session… missed out so much fun. Instead, I stay home and surf net. Hehehe. Luckily Tommi haven’t go, he has Church activities. So I end up joining him at 6pm. By that time, the whole group was BBQ-ing by Surfer’s Paradise beach side.

So this is where I’ll start my story.

First Stop: Surfer’s Paradise BBQ

Wasn’t feeling too well, had slight fever and flu. I only ate salad and bread at BBQ pit. But my mischievous attitude overshadowed my consciousness (as usual). Ah Long and me took off our shirt and went to beach for a run. The weather… whoa! makes me tits become hard. The wind is definitely chilling. My flu became worst that night.

Second Stop: Max Brenner

This is my second time at Max Brenner. Took a few photos with friends. Talk a lot of B.S. (as usual).

On the left: Jerry and Chester. Cool guys. One of my closest friend during my Brisbane stay. Too bad they are going back soon. No more weekly chicken week and rummy night! NOOOOOOO…

On the right: This guy! Fuah.. my idol. He got a girlfriend THROUGH long distance. Right DAR DAR? >:D

Left:Four tables connected to fit us all. Top right: Mr. Tsen taking orders from us. Bottom right: Tommi and Chun Yan. Both my seniors from my high school. Chun Yan arrived Brisbane only two weeks ago. Happy to see them here. Chun Yan is still as pretty as I remembered her.

A few of us went back hotel for quick shower. 16 people stay over at 3 rooms. Initially we only booked two rooms. The guys thought they were lucky, cause this is their golden opportunity to stay over with girls. Manatau… 4 girls sleep in their own room(!) /lightning strike. No… more… fantasy…

Third Stop: Conrad Treasury Hotel

I love to stay at hotel! The bed at hotel are always better than my own bed. Another thing, the memories I had with hotel rooms are always good, probably from the conjunctions of previous memories. Such as highschool trip, family trip and so on.

Highschool trip are the best! Why are they so best? Because we can do many crazy things like this.

.

Forth Stop: Casino

We went to casino from midnight to 4:30am. All I can say is:

全军覆没
(Mm MM MM Monster Kill)

Fifth Stop: Dreamland

OHHHHHHHH!! It’s evil!!! Jerry is evil! I fucking hate him that night. He snored whole night long!

Play this short clip, you will know why.

*I took this video with my N95*

The next day. Jerry came up with an evil idea (okay I forgive him already). He said Conrad Treasury has taken so much from us. Is time to fully utilize that fee! Jerry go to each room and take all their free coffee and tea bags, put into my bag and dabao back.

Kiasu Malaysian 1:0 Casino.

Sixth Stop: Top One Restaurant

One of my friend introduced us this dim sum restaurant at Southport, Gold Coast. The first impression I get from this restaurant is.. Wah, many leng lui oh. I like!

Unfortunately they do not have big table to fit 16 of us. Plus we did not make any reservations. We were unable to sit together Thus, we have to sit separately. This is the food at our table.

This is the food at another table.

We were AUD$360.00 poorer that morning. Feeling too stress. The boys went out for smoking break.

Seventh Stop: Smoking Break

Luckily I am not a real smoker. I ain’t that rich. That hobby is too expensive :3

Eight Stop: Hazel Milk Tea

I took everyone’s photo while they were ordering milk tea. Whole bunch of Asians standing in front of milk tea shop, even gwai lou also stop by to check out the milk tea.

After finish milk tea. We bought a lotto ticket as well. Everyone chip in $10, hoping to hit the major prize 20 million. Then, we start shopping!

Ninth Stop: Harbour Town

Well, only the girls go shopping la. The guys go there wash eye only. One of us “uiuiuiui.. those girls will bring us go bra shop or not? Then one of them try on bra, ask us to check out fit or not. Whoaaa!! HUhuhuhuhuh can’t wait!!”

Haa… sorry lah. Only fantasy. Boys will be boys. These are typical topics when you put whole bunch of single, desperate boys together.

I went to Harbour Town in Tommi’s ride. Mini Cooper S! It’s an awesome experience. We drove over the speed limit while listen to Black Eye Pea’s “Bom Bom Pow”.

The guys spent 10 minutes walking around. Then decided to find some place to rest. You know lah… guys cannot shop that long. We do not want to spoil the girl’s fun, and we decided to find a place to sit down and ordered some ice cream. We start to talk B.S. again. Suddenly…

“AIYAK! WHO THROW WATER ON MY HAIR OH?” shout Mr. Tsen

We look at the direction of water where it came from. No one is there, seems like no one is pulling a joke or something. Mr. Tsen sniff his finger. “Ui.. this is not water…”

“Oh lin la.. you kena bird’s shit.” we reaffirm.

Then Ah Long and Mr.Kiu, who happens to sit beside Mr. Tsen, also found out they are also victim. Mr. Kiu said “no wonder my back became warm warm…” We decided to let them hold the lotto ticket we hold earlier. They could bring us luck. 20 million baby!! Come to papa!

We practically talk until the time’s up (we only let the girls shop for a limited time; or else we really bored to death). The rest of the gang wanna go eat (again). I decided to call it a day because I am still feeling a bit sick and tired. Plus, my budget is almost at its limit. I bought a few fruits and yogurts, then Chris and I drove back Brisbane.

End of story.

Share

{ 22 comments }

← Previous Entries

August 2009

Ahbing Teaches You How To Cook: Tortilla Base Pizza

I Have A New Gadget: iMac