sooyindotcom

Premieres 24 September 2007 - one more month to go!

Yataaaaaaa!

I added the Ratings plugin some time ago as I wanted to give a ’scale-able picture’ of my reviews as well as collect views from readers who have tried the restaurant or watched the movie before.

Recently though, I’ve noticed that some people seem to be giving ratings of either 1-star or 5-stars (I have a ratings log in my WP admin page and I can see who gave the rating), and while I may be wrong, I have a feeling that it’s not out of a genuine desire to rate the restaurant/movie, rather, more to mess up the average reading which is not really fair for readers who want to see a proper and quick review.

So, I’ve changed the rating options to only allow registered users to rate. If you want to screw around with the ratings, by all means do so after you’ve had to waste some of your precious time to register first.

For those who have genuinely used the ratings to express their views, sorry for the bothersome extra step.

We’ll see how it goes. I may just decide to remove the plugin entirely if this goes on since it’ll no longer be accurate…

Oldie but a goodie! Watched it? Rate it! (1 votes, average: 1 out of 5)
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Kiss me out of the bearded barley
Nightly, beside the green, green grass
Swing, swing, swing the spinning step
You wear those shoes and I will wear that dress

Everytime I hear that song by Sixpence None The Richer, I immediately think of the 1999 movie, She’s All That, starring Freddie Prinze Junior (who appeared in practically every teen flick at that time!), Rachel Leigh Cook, Usher, Lil’ Kim, Anna Paquin, Kieran Culkin, Paul Walker and even a cameo by Sarah Michelle Geller.

My two favourite scenes is the part where Laney walks down the stairs after her transformation from a geek to a babe with ‘Kiss Me’ playing in the background, and the catchy dance sequence to Fat Boy Slim’s Rockafella Skank!

While searching through YouTube, I came across this video made by a teacher at Lowell High School, where the seniors actually practiced and danced the same sequence at their prom…how fun! The prom video was too dark to be seen properly, but they also made an instructional video of the dance…so if you want to relive those good ol’ days and learn the dance sequence…click play!

Now, excuse me while I go oil my creaking bones…

I’ve always been fascinated with the life and times of King Henry VIII and his 6 wives (divorced, beheaded, died; divorced beheaded survived!), so imagine my delight when I read on the paper today that there was a new series called The Tudors, where sexy Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays King Henry VIII!

Now, off to Amazon to see if there’s a DVD set available!

Two weeks ago, K and I were talking about how hard it was to find good soyabean milk here in KL. I find that the soyabean milk, or tau cheong, sold by most of the roadside stalls too diluted, too milky and too sweet. Let’s not even begin to talk about the packet or bottled ones…I find those totally unpalatable. What we both agreed on was that soyabean milk should be thick and creamy…in fact, we were both agreeable to giving up tau foo fa if we could even find one stall that sold tau cheong the way we wanted it!

Of course we could not, hence began our quest to make tau cheong ourselves.

While K embarked on finding a good soyabean milk maker (one that could grind and boil the soybeans), I ended up at my parent’s house last week learning how to make it orang-matically. The end result was just how we envisioned it to be…really thick, really creamy, and not too sweet. Heaven!

I made another batch today, and this time, I took photos…so for those who have some spare time on your hands, here you go…a step-by-step pictorial guide on how to make soyabean milk!

I use organic soybeans which I bought from Just Life @ Ikano for RM5.90. The salesperson told me that they sell three types there, ie. soybeans that were made in China, Australia and Canada. I’m using the ones made in Australia.

Wash the beans and soak overnight in water (or at least 8-10 hours). The beans will expand slightly by the next morning.

Blend the beans with water…I use a 1:2 ratio, ie. the amount of water should be double the beans.

You’ll end up with a thick, creamy paste, not unlike a smoothie!

Pour the blended soybean batch by batch into a muslin cloth.

Here’s where the hours of practicing piano comes in handy… Squeeze and squeeze somemore to strain the soyabean milk from the pulp.

What you’ll get, other than tired hands, is raw soyabean milk…

…and the ‘dried’ pulp, which is called okara. Some websites say that you can use the okara in cookies and cereals by toasting it beforehand in the oven. I’m too lazy to try, but hey…if you’re free, you could add some coloring and turn it into the nation’s [insert suitable adjective here] [insert some M'sian object here] and get into the book of records…

Add a couple of pandan (screwpine) leaves for flavour and sugar to taste (I use rock sugar). Start boiling the soyabean milk in a large pot (you’ll know why later).

Remember to keep an eye on the pot as you really do not want the soyabean milk to burn and waste all your hard work! Cooking the soyabean milk will get rid of the ‘beany’ taste (and some undesirable inhibiting enzymes). Stir constantly…

…and watch out when it starts to bubble as it’ll boil over very quickly. Yes, this is why you need the large pot… Turn off the fire once the soyabean milk boils…

…and voila! You’re done! What I did after that was to let the soyabean milk cool down, and then strain it again to get rid of the thin film that will form on top.

For a change in flavour, I scooped some of the soyabean milk out and reboiled it with some vanilla bean paste…yummy!

Now, if only I can find gypsum powder…I really want to try making tau foo fa!