This is my standard kit lens, EF-S 17-85mm F4-5.6 IS USM. A pretty versatile lens, I would say, albeit a little slow but with my Canon Speedlite 580 EXII, it’s not much of a problem.

However, just when I needed it the most for my up-coming “project”, it has to fail on me by giving me this error message. No matter how I clean the contacts, the same error message popped up.

I defintiely have to send it back to Canon Service Center and get it fixed as soon as possible. Still, I doubt they are able to fix it for me before my “project” on October 18 and the Hari Raya public holidays aren’t helping either.

Sighs.

All these crucial “events” have to happen now. F**ked.

Note : The lens fixed in less than five working days! Ha! All is good now.

Instead of bringing my outstation friends for overrated and ridiculously priced Nyonya food, I prefer to bring them to this small fishing village in Alai for kampung styled seafood.

It is not exactly in town, but rather outskirt and a good old 20 to 25 minutes drive is required. Moreover, one needs to go through small roads and easily unnoticed junctions before arriving at the restaurant.

Upon entering the restaurant, you will see a big BBQ pit and a stall filled with seafood that are mostly just caught / brought up from the fishing boats. All sorts of fishes, clams, shells, prawns and even crabs (Only flower crabs though.) for you to choose from. They are just one step below from selling live seafood or rearing them in aquariums. The tray is reloaded every three to four hours, about two rounds per night, and the second batch of seafood also comes from the returning fishing boat.

The price is clearly written on the whiteboard hanging above the seafood. However, there’s no need to look at the whiteboard as it is reasonably priced or rather cheap, seriously. Once you finish selecting the seafood, you have to then decide on the cooking style by telling the guy managing the stall.

Instead of ordering a glass for each person, I reckon it is much cheaper to order a jug of whatever beverage you want.

Also, they will serve you plates of their specially made sauce, using onions, soy sauce, lime and etc.. Not spicy at all, to me.

Together with the special sauce, a tray loaded with steaming hot nasi lemak is put on the table at your expense. Each packet is priced at RM0.50-RM0.60, if not mistaken. It is really small and I can finish the whole packet in less than five spoons. Normally, I have to eat like six to eight packets each time I have my dinner at this place. It is not those super fragrant kind of nasi lemak, just good enough to gobble down together with your seafood.

Again, the otak-otak here is no where close to the Chinese’s counterparts in Muar but definitely far better than those what you get from hypermarkets.

There are many styles for you to choose from, goreng tepung, goreng sambal, masak kunyit dan cili padi, bakar, bakar sambal, sweet and sour, steamed and etc.. You can mix and match for all the dishes, but I reckon the prawns should be grilled only. Only that way, you can taste the natural taste of a fresh prawn.

I have been patronizing this particular restaurant for almost three to four years. No matter how much I order, the price per head always come to an average of RM25 or a maximum of RM30, be it a group of three or four or even up to six or eight people. The price always linger around that figure.

Some prefer the further and slightly more expensive Serkam or the nearer to town but slightly expensive Umbai, I have tried both and I still come back to Alai’s. Considering the money I am paying and the distance just to drive there, Alai offers the best value among all three. I have brought a number of outstation friends here and so far, if not, all of them enjoyed the meal.

Blogger’s note : I have ran out of things to blog, even picture stories. I am totally dried up, like a dried raisin. Probably, I shall be announcing my break soon, as in, really really soon that kind.

I have to admit, I can be really lifeless sometimes.

Someone sent me a link to this game and I got hooked up with it then.

Orisinal : Winterbells.

The objective of the game is to jump as many bells as you can and score maximum points.

To play the game, just move your mouse to guide the rabbit to the bells and move upwards. Every now and then, you would see a bird flying across the screen, jump on it and you get to double your points instantly. Of course, the bell’s size will get smaller and smaller as you go higher.

Of course, to top it off, I am challenging anyone to break my record. The reward, a really decent meal in KL, on my treat. Its either I decide what to eat or you can make the call.

Yes, you didn’t see it wrongly. Its 13,286,757,825,232,123. Anyway, that’s for the print screen. I actually broke the score till it came to a situation which the score won’t update itself anymore.

If you think your photoshop skills can help you claim the prize, I do hope, with your maths, you should know roughly how many bells you need to step before you can achieve such high score. Deal?

Didn’t I tell you, I can be really lifeless sometimes?

J.Photo is the name for my new blog, to be precise, my new photo-blog.

The resolution of my pictures in this blog is fixed at 420 * 280 or 280 * 420 and numerous times, I wanted to post a bigger resolution of certain pictures which to me, I think is really nice. Just like the few pictures below, do click on it!

Well, it won’t be updated that frequently but rather randomly. So, do bookmark or subscribe to my photo-blog’s RSS feed.

Again, its photo.jasonmumbles.com.

Hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoy taking them.

Not wanting to let Ah Kit be the only person left among the three of us who has yet to try Sushi Zanmai, we decided to head down to The Garden’s to have sushi for lunch before my 4.30pm bus back to Malacca.

We sat down and ordered our refillable iced green tea. Honestly, they certainly didn’t taste like green tea to me, more like plain water with a little bit of flavouring in it. As for the other picture, its the wooden chopsticks.

We sat next to the conveyor belt, where an endless and unlimited but not free sushi kept passing by, tempting us to take them and put them into our tummy. Funnily, we didn’t take any of them, not even a single plate.

Ah Kit had a difficult time thinking what to order as it was his first time there.

No sushi meal would be complete without unagi. For the three of us, we ordered the large unagi set, which came with eight slices of unagis. Not too sweet or salty, just nice to compliment both tastes. The white rice, after mixing it with the remaining sauce dripping from the unagis, tasted really good and it was emptied in no time.

Ah Yong suggested a cod fish dish which we had no intention of disagreeing with his suggestion. The same sweet sauce as unagi’s, but different texture. Pieces by pieces, we helped ourselves with the cod fish. Not too bad, but it could have been better as cod fish is best eaten steamed to taste the natural sweetness inside the meat. Kind of oily too! Just look at the layer of oil that gave the fish the shinny surface.

Upon seeing soft shell crabs on the menu, Ah Kit wanted to order it. Who were we to say no, right? However, I find it rather salty compared to its counterpart, Pasta Zanmai. Although under the same management company, Pasta Zanmai’s soft shell crabs tasted much better. Moreover, Sushi Zanmai’s didn’t really look like crabs to me, more like spiders.

Wanting to taste their superbly soft and smooth tofu, I ordered a bowl. It definitely didn’t disappoint me. However, I find Pasta Zanmai’s version is better in terms of presentation. Their tofu stood up firmly and didn’t wobble around, unlike Sushi Zanmai’s. On top of that, the outer layer was fried till a very light golden brown colour and has slight crispiness in it where as Sushi Zanmai’s were nothing but just a layer of skin.

Ah Yong wanted to try their sushi and he ordered a plate of assorted sushis. I had the salmon sushi and it tasted just average.

Not wanting to lose out, I ordered a plate of deep fried tuna sushi, which turned out to be really delicious. The fact that I quite like tuna made the sushi twice the deliciousness. Tuna and Japanese rice, wrapped with seaweed and then deep fried. Some mayonnaise to give the extra punch and presentation before serving. Crunchy yet a little juicy at the same time. I could eat two plates all by myself! It was that delicious.

Another sushi filled with soft shell crabs, just for Ah Kit. The soft shell crab in this particular sushi wasn’t crunchy at all and tasted just nice for me.

To end my lunch, I ordered a bowl of black sesame ice cream. Damn nice! Only available at Japanese restaurants, I assume.

The bill came up to just a couple of dollars above RM100. It was definitely lower than we hada expected from the beginning.

Overall, Sushi Zanmai didn’t disappoint me the second time and there’s no reason for me not to go back there again. Judging from Ah Kit’s happy face after we came out from the restaurant, I am pretty sure he would visit it again, with his parents.

Editor’s Note : Overall, Sushi Zanmai did not disappoint me / still pretty good although this particular round was a little off standard compared to my first visit. However, I reckoned that’s because it was a weekday and the sushi had stayed on the conveyor belt just a little bit longer than usual. I recommend their deep fried tuna sushi, unagi bento set and black sesame seed ice cream. The tofu and soft shell crab, somehow, Pasta Zanmai’s tasted better.