Slow-Cooking 2

It's slow-cooker dinner again tonight. The ingredients are basically the same as yesterday coz that's all I have in the house, just different proportions and no celery. Dump everything in the pot including one clove and half a star-anise. I added tablespoon of oyster sauce, 4 tablespoons of sweet soy sauce (kicap manis) and 2 tablespoons of water. The rest of the moisture will come from the tomatoes and onions.

This is the end product. Goes very, very well with steamed white rice and if you have sambal belacan... perghhhh... Yummy, yummy, yummy...

Slow-Cooking

My wife is away in her hometown visting her ailing grandfather. I couldn't go as there was uncertainty with the duration of the visit and since we are running 90% here, I couldn't take the risk.  As the resort was busy I reckoned I'd cook my own dinner. Breakfast, lunch and tea was oats.

I rummaged through the refrigerator to see what I had. I had a big chunk of beef. I wouldn't have time to watch over the cooking of the beef so I decided to use the slow-cooker that I had borrowed from my mom last year and never did use yet. 

Slow-cooking is very convenient. It is simple yet not so simple. It is simple coz you put everything in the pot and let it braise away. It is not so simple coz you must have some 'imagination'. When slow cooking, there is no evaporation. Therefore, seasoning has to be pretty spot on. And when you add vegetables to it, the vegetables will release moisture hence adding liquid to the dish. So, you need to be able to imagine the end result. Add too much liquid and it will end up being more a of light soup. The key is to add sufficient seasoning but never over season. You can always add more seasoning later. The only downside is that your meat will be bland if there is too little seasoning.

Anyway, I decided to do a stew based on the ingredients that I had at home. I halved the beef chuck and kept the other half for the next day. I then seasoned the meat and quickly seared it all over to retain the moisture.

Everything in the pot. I then added a tablespoon of oyster sauce, some sugar to balance out the sourness from the tomatoes, salt, black pepper, a clove and half a star anise. Didn't have any cinnamon or maybe I couldn't find it.

I then topped it up with a can of whole tomatoes. Set the cooker to High and left it to cook for 6 hours. There is an Auto function but I have not figured out how to use that yet.

The end product after 6 hours.

Yummy-yummy... Tomorrow I'll do 'masak kicap' instead.

Banking Woes...

I am pretty much an Online Banking person but every now and then I still need to do the occasional visit to the bank for ‘housekeeping’ or when I can’t wait for the one business day clearance for Interbank Giro transactions. Of course, now they have the Instant Transfer option which would set you back RM2 per transaction when you need it done urgently.

In my recent move, my payroll also moved. It has always been with CIMB but when I moved to Pangkor Laut Resort, it then switched to Maybank and now it is back to CIMB.

Since payroll was going into the CIMB account I thought it would make sense to get a CIMB Debit Card so I wouldn’t have to make transfers to my Maybank account to use my Maybank Debit Card.

I hold a CIMB Prime account. I chose this back then for the cheque-ing facilities as Online Banking was still in its infancy stage. I went to CIMB and requested to change my current ATM card to their Debit Card. Everything was ok but just as they were about to do it they then advised me that by changing my existing card to the Debit Card, I would not be ‘recognised’ as a Prime Card holder and would not have my privileges at the bank. On top of that, the Debit Card had a maximum withdrawal/transaction of RM5k a day whereas my Prime Card had a maximum of RM10k a day. I didn’t like this... not that I will need to withdraw more than RM5k a day all the time but it made no sense for me to pay to change my card and have the lower limit. The RM10k limit per day can be lowered whenever I feel like it but the RM5k a day was the limit. It just didn’t make sense to me so I didn’t change my card at all.

Then came Maybank...

I went to Maybank last week as I was facing problems with my card at the Maybank ATMs... so far it has happened at KL Sentul branch, Mesra Mall branch and here at Dungun where the ATMs did not recognise my card. It worked elsewhere and all other banks' ATMs.

So I went to the Dungun branch to have my card replaced. The Customer Services Rep that attended to me was their Employee of the 1st Quarter.

She looked at my form and exclaimed, Current Account?

Yes... Current Account. I know it was probably unusual for her.

Then she asked, Company or Personal?

Personal I replied... duh... that’s what it says on the form right?

Then she asked me why and I explained the failures. She asks if I had tried cleaning the chip with an eraser etc, etc, etc.

Yup... did all that. I explained that it only failed at certain Maybank branches and told her where.

Satisfied with my explanation she then proceeds to change the card. She opens her drawer and whips out a Superman Debit Card. I felt it was strange as the Superman Debit Card was a Visa whereas mine was a Master. So I asked her why was it different? 

She explained that my card was a Platinum Debit Card with a RM10k limit whereas the Superman Debit Card was a normal card with a RM5k limit.

I told her I know the difference... why change the card?

She exclaims, “Oh, you want the same card?” and gave me an annoyed look.

I was speechless for 2 seconds... WTF? I thought to myself. Of course I want the same card.

Then she has to find out whether they had the same card. She checks with her officer next door and he confirmed that they had the card. It was in the store so I had to wait. Fine...

The card came. She continued with the process. I saw her fill up a slip for RM12. I asked her why was she charging me RM12? She explains it was for the replacement. 

I told her that as far as I knew it was free for a faulty chip which in this case it was a faulty chip so I should not be charged.

She refers to her officer. They ask me all kinds of questions. How often I use the card? Where do I use the card? Did I place it near a magnetic field? How long have I had the card? Etc, etc, etc.

Then they try to bullshit me. They say it normally happens after about 2 years. They say this is normal. They say I shouldn’t use it at other ATMs. They do not encourage it. That is why they charge a fee when we use other ATMs. Oh, really... hmmm... I really must look like a 5 year old for them to feed me this bullshit.

At this point I was annoyed but I remained calm.

If it is normal and happens after about 2 years then why do your cards come with a default 7 year validity?

If it is normal that the chip fails then why the F@#$ do you want to charge me?

If you don’t encourage the use of these cards at other ATMs then how the hell am I supposed to use my debit card for shopping? You have specific Maybank machines at all shopping centers?

TIU....

Anyway, she then continues to process the card and finally it is done. I take the card and leave. I assumed that I was not charged.

As I was driving away I told my wife, if they had charged me I would make a bigger fuss as the card is supposed to have a 7 year validity and the new one I got expires in February 2017. Since it is a free replacement I kept quiet as it is 1 year more than my old card.

Two days later as I was checking my account I noticed that I was charged RM12 for the replacement card. 

I was pissed off. I wrote them on their online form on Friday and I am now waiting for their response. If they ever do. 

RM12 is not a lot of money. It is not something small either. It can get you a nice Grande at Starbucks. But if you are going to charge me RM12 then give me my 7 years validity as advertised.

It is the principal of not cheating your customers.

Don't bullshit a bullshitter lah...


UPDATE...
After a couple of e-mails and calls from HQ, the officer from Dungun called to advise that they had refunded the RM12. It was the most insincere call I have ever received. Case closed.

34 - 39 - 34 - 37

That's my waistline in inches.

I was at 34 inches.
Then I got married and moved to Pangkor Laut.
I ballooned to 39 inches.
Then I got a scare with my cholesterol levels and started dieting and exercising.
I brought it back down to 34 inches.
Then I fell sick and stopped exercising and ended up moving to the East Coast.
Haven't been to the gym since I got here.

Now my waist is back to 37 inches. SIGH!

Inches to the waist meant FATS. But how much fat? Back in January, I had brought it down from 19.8% to 16.6%. When I moved here, the digital scale was left behind. It didn't make the cut of important things to bring along. So, I couldn't measure my body fat % up until recently when I met a guest who worked in the pharmaceutical industry. He sent me the formula to calculate body fat.

Based on the calculation, I am now back at 19.5%... : (

Time to diet and hit the gym again... no more excuses.

By the way, it's simpler to use inches for the formula.

Men: (waist (in) - 3) + (hips (in) +1) - (forearm (in) x 3) - 19 = _____ BF %

The moral of this article is... discipline cannot be compromised.