The Best Steak and the Hottest Chilli that left me "speechless"

After a day of shopping at Allen Premium Outlet, me and the guys headed down for early dinner at Texas Land & Cattle Steak House . We figured out that since we came here almost two years ago, we haven't once tried a single fine dining premium steak in USA where the cattle and their meats make great steak especially in Texas. So decided to splurge on the Dinner since we are all going back to Singapore in May.

Gosh....those cow on the menu sure comes at a steep price. For a 10oz steak fillet cost US$29.99 and a 20oz Ribeye steak goes for US$27.99. It may not be the most expensive Angus Steak in USA but its sure the most expensive steak we ate so far. Ah Chan and Ricky ordered the 1883 Steak fillet while I ordered my usual favorite of 1883 Bone-In RibEye medium cooked. Garfield ordered something I have no idea of but we are suppose to call it "lamb chop" for psychological reasons.

Mmmm.... this must be the Best Ribeye I ever had. Not only is it well cooked to exact medium I wanted, brown on the outside, pink on the inside with lots of juice but well served by our waiter who convinced us why those "cow on the menu" cost so much. It got to do with the premium food they eat while been raise at the ranch all the way to the slaughter house. I guess those cattles lead a good life so the restaurant chef honour their passing with exceptional culinary skills and we appreciate it with our fat wallet. Kudos to the service of our waiter who was surely full of enthusism in his work from the way he move around the restaurant and checking back on us for feed back on the food. Did I mention that when the steak are served, he actually ask us to cut the steak and see if its cooked to our liking? Wow... IHOP and Wafflehouse obviously don't do that but we pay for what we get.

After finishing the steak, I notice a lone Jalapenoes lying on the plate. I guess those Jalapenoes from PaPa Johns Pizza and Subway gave me too muct of a confidence cause I took half of it in a bit. Soon it came, the rolling sensation of hotness measured 10,000 on the Scoville heat units, a unit of measurement for hotness of Chilli/Pepper as the American like to call it. Woooooooo....Wooooo....Woooo its steamy hot! and its building up more and more! At first I kept drinking cold Pepsi to relieve the hotness than I stop, took some mash potato which made it worst and back to my Pepsi again. Drink non stop man! The only time when I don't feel the hotness is when my poor tongue is submerge in cold liquid. When expose to air, it feel like a violent chemical reaction of inferno spreading across my tongue. I remember when I was in primary school my mum punish me for truancy with a box of chilli and a cane, that cannot compare to what I went through today.

I was definately speechless. For the whole 10minutes, Ah Chan, Ricky and Garfield were just staring at laughing at me. I must have drank a jug of Pepsi and a jug of Dr Pepper that did not have any medical effect at all. Ricky and Garfield took a small bit of it and they already buey tahan... the conclusion is I am crazy. Don't let me scare you away from the restaurant though, its a GREAT STEAKHOUSE!!! but shy away from the Jalapenoes unless you are in for some burning adventure.

Damn you almost kill me!!!!

Just as a man who survived a shark attack often did research on shark out of respect for the creature, I did the same with Jalapenoes. Jalapenoes and all other Chilli and pepper contain a chemical call Capsaicin, its the chemical that give us all the burning sensation and been tested to reduce or prevent cancer cells. The hotness of Chilli is measured in Scoville heat units (SHU) and although Jalapenoes embarressed me today, it only stand at between 5000 - 10,000 SHU. Refer to the scale in this page http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/chiliscale.htm the real killer here goes to the Thai Chilli rated at 100,000 SHU.

The King of all Chilli, The Thai Chilli. A Million SHU of burning inferno on your tongue.

REMEDY OF THE BURING TONGUE

Cold water, ice, soft drink or any liquid only relieve by cooling down the burning sensation but does not strip those chemical that stick to the rough ridges and valley of your tongue surface. Capsaicin is like a type of oil so liquid can't wash it away. The moment the liquid are gone, the burning comes back again. The best remedy so far is washing those tongue with milk and obviously drinking it. You don't wanna make a scene but puking out the milk infront of your friends or family. Milk contains casein, a lipophilic protein that surrounds and washes away the fatty capsaicin molecules(which cause the 'burn') in much the same way that soap washes away grease. A nice heavy beer will do the trick too, to a lesser extent. Rice and bread is another source of remedy for it sticks those chemical out of the tongue.

Who loves Jalapenoes? Somehow I have this weird interest to eat one again because after the sensation is gone, I felt light hearted and pretty chirpy. Maybe is the endorphin that is massively released when spicy food is taken. Here is a Youtube video of someone taking a Jalapenoes, feel the flame.... exciting...

A Father and Son relationship

For you thought life have dealt you the worst hand on the table. Than there are others who seems to hold on to the most frail and weakest hands of live thats will be with them till death it parts. But how incredible we could be to turn all thats negative, sad, weak and pity into a life of greatness just by looking at the other side of the wall. What this father went through is true love and sacrifice not just for his son but I guess its to show all of us that even the darkest time of our life, if we would just move forward, run, swim, cycle or whatever... theres the light at the end of the tunnel.

So to my dear friend who have been confined to her problem and felt the world is crushing around... If the father and son can remain strong and fulfilling in life with all the odds against them, why not you? Look around... we still got many good things in life than choosing heartache.

3 Dudes In Tokyo

How 3 cool dudes from Singapore unfolds the beauty of Japan on their really really short 5 days tour. Personally think this is a great website to start your trip planning to Tokyo!!! I am heading to Japan for a stop over before coming back to Singapore for good so its nice of Garfield to send me this website of him and his two crazy bros in Japan.

3 REALLY COOL DUDES IN TOKYO

Graveyard of my base.

An old 1800s cemetery neatly tuck in the corner of my Base. Even after all this years, the grass are well trimmed and there are flowers by the tombstones whose letters are almost eroded after more than a century of rain and sunshine.... I don't know who maintained it but I guess its the Janitor of our base. This is one of the very less publicized unique feature of our Base which was formally a Naval Air Station where the F-14 Tomcats took off and land. I bet no visitors ever walk past the abandon ATC Tower to marvel at the incredible peace and quiet of this plot of land characterized. Once a while in the early or late afternoon, I take a short walk around the cemetery just to have a moment of silence within this wild wild world (www)...

Sometimes we just have so much on our mind, its time to learn to let go of it for a minute or an hour and seek emptiness. When is the last time you just stop, sit down and think of nothing of the past and future but to just savor the peace of the moment? Many times we are just too preoccupied with unworthy worries that we forgot to just look at the greenery around, the calm trees and flowers.

Breath in deep and breath out. If there is one thing important to mankind...it got to be oxygen. Without food and water, you can survive a day. Without oxygen? You'll be dead in a few minutes. So whenever you are depressed, stressed or just feeling down in anyway... go to somewhere where there is only you and nature and not a human soul around, maybe the beach, maybe a plot of land with a single tree...sit down, look around and breath...

This embossed text are the only legible literature I found.

"The earliest marked grave of J.H Snow dates to 1864, though unmarked graves may date earlier. Members of the pioneer Grand Prairie families, infant and veterans of the Spanish-American War and WWI are among those interred here. The last burial took place on 1951"

Do you know where is Singapore??

Went to a bank one day to ask about closing my bank account. I told the banker I was going to leave the country soon and like to close off the account and cancel all my credit card. She ask where I am heading back to and I mention Singapore...

Banker: Oh!!! Singapore!!! I always wanted to be there. Let me get away from the hot summer here.

Riccardo: Well Singapore is 24/7 summer missy. Its hot and humid.

Banker: Still a good place for a getaway.

Riccardo: I'm not too sure, people are trying to get out of the country.

Banker: But you country is so big!!! and you guys are going to host the Olympic this year, I'm sure it will be really cool to visit your country.

Riccardo: oh, I see... (sigh)

This customer service officer c.u.m banker really "overserviced". One thing I learn is you must take Ang Mo statement with a grain of salt. Either they are clueless of where I come from or they just make up stuff to patronize me. For the last time! SINGAPORE is at a south tip of South East Asia, surrounded by Indonesia and Malaysia. SINGAPORE is bloody small dot and if she is located in China, it would become a insignificant no man land. And if the Ang Mo is still clueless, I have to remind them about Vietnam War and how many thousand of miles south from the action of the 70s are we away from. And please, doesn't mean I am Chinese means I must be stereotype to be from China ( or my Indian colleague must be from India). Blame it to the tons of MADE IN CHINA product that the world cannot live without.

Another stupid song from me - Hotel California