Gimme a T, gimme an I, gimme a T, gimme an A, gimme a N.... GGGOOOOOoooooo TITAN!

I was telling myself today ... “Tee, you gonna finish reading that 10 magazines you bought 2 months ago!” I love going to those bookstores that sells old-dated magazines. It’s "cheap cheap good good!" So I started off reading the ScubaDiver Australiasia Feb Issue and I came across a picture of a triggerfish. I was staring at it and didn’t realise my mind drifted back to that unforgettable day (not long ago) where I had the scariest and awesome experience with one of the most feared after fish..... the TITAN.

Before I start going off bout my close-encounter with a Titan, let me fill you in with the facts. This article was written by James Costello, Dolphin Dive Adventures & Services. Picture courtesy from some website (can't remember but thank you diver!)

The Titan Triggerfish is an infamous character of many tropical reefs, with stories abounds of how they aggressively attack divers (especially during the breeding season). Stories of people have bodily parts bitten, or the more luck just having holes in their fins... Most divers are warned of Titan's during dive briefing etc, which does tend to heighten the anxiety for divers when they see them!

Well, here are some real facts about these misunderstood creatures!

Titan's are extremely territorial, and especially during the breeding season on April/May they will protect their nest aggressively. During these months the male will guard the nest against all on-comers, including divers; the ‘Protection Zone' goes directly up from the nest in a cone shape (as they can see upwards). Their eyes are independently rotating, heavy armored scales; they are the largest member of the Triggerfish family and can grow up to 75cm!

Their bites can cause infection as they contain a natural poison called Ciguatoxin, which can have serious affects on humans; in extreme cases causing heart attacks or paralysis. They may also use ramming techniques to scare other creature's away (including divers). They usually feed on hard corals or hard bodied invertebrates and algae, NOT divers!

The most important thing to remember here is that we are invading their world and territory; they are only following their instincts with regard to what they think is a threat. Now unfortunately, so divers act aggressively back to them either hitting them with points/knifes/etc. This is understandable considering the stories that get told, but this can also have an aggravating effect. The titan will learn that divers are even more dangerous, and hence attack them more (even when not provoked).

My experience happened end of March 2010, Tioman Island. It was during my 1^st dive on the 2^ndday. There were 8 divers led by a DiveMaster (DM) from B&J Dive Centre. After 15 min. into the dive I realise the DM took out his knife. That’s when I saw a Titan triggerfish swimming in front of him. So I was thinking “alright then... I’m gonna swim slightly away coz I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near a trigger”. But before I could do anything, I suddenly felt a *thump*, like someone pushed me. And when I turned around, I can honestly tell you my eyeballs were like in the cartoon. They were literally popping out from my eye socket. What I saw was another huge *&!$ing Titan.

Suddenly I had this crazy adrenalin rush, and the 1^st thing I did was touching my BCD and regulator coz I was afraid the trigger might punctured it. I was relief there were no holes or whatsoever. Unfortunately that was not the end. I checked my gauge and noticed I was losing air and that was when I saw my alternate-air source (octopus). The thump came from the triggerfish ramming into my octopus causing the purge to jam. As you can imagine, I was about to go into panic mode but I was trained not to do so in any kind of situation. I quickly swam to the DM and started telling him using hand signals and yes in the midst of it I manage to give the trigger the middle finger! As I was losing air fast the DM took me back to the surface, but by the time I reached for the 3 min. safety stop I was out of air and did the buddy breathing with the DM. Once I surface I had to manually inflate my BCD and at the same time trying to stay afloat. Oh and there was strong surface current!

All and all, I can safely say thank god that the trigger didn’t took a chunk of my meat! Maybe we were diving too close to their nest or we were rudely interrupting their lunch. Since that experience I admit I’m one paranoid diver when it comes to the Titan. But that’s diving. You experienced it and you learn.

A video i saw in YouTube.... watch!

Dr. Jekyll’s experiment...

While I was browsing though the internet for new movie trailers, I stumble upon a movie that I truly love. The one you could watch over and over and over. Beautiful storylines, great cinematography and not to forget watching one of the handsomest man alive! The movie........... Chocolat.

I totally fell in love with Johnny Depp..... his scruffiness, messy long hair, mesmerising eyes....... *sigh*. But besides Mr. Depp I was captivated and curious watching one of the scenes where Juliette Binoche cooked up a dinner meal using chocolate as its main ingredient. Since then, I’ve been looking around, searching for restaurants that serve a main course which has chocolate as its ingredients. But alas, no luck. Well there is this one particular restaurant called Schokolart in Solaris Mount Kiara, they serve roast lamb fillet with Chocolate-Caramel sauce and Chocolate Chicken Satay. Went there once but not for the main course rather the dessert.

So, I decided to try and cook up a descent meal using chocolate. I was lucky coz I had my brothers and their wives coming over for dinner. They the guinea pigs when it comes to this kind of cooking experiment and not to forget my mom and dad (I’m doing the Dr. Jekyll evil expression).

The menu, comment, final verdict!

Chocolate chicken

“For a 1^st time effort I’ll give it a 6/10” – 2^nd brother

I can honestly say this recipe was an utter failure. The cocoa powder overpowered the spices that were use in this recipe and causes the chicken to become rather blend. I seriously have no idea how to amend it. Soooooooooo this recipe is going into the bin!

Prawns in Chili Chocolate Sauce

“mmmmmmmmmmmm (simultaneously licking the chocolate sauce off his fingers, plate and the table)” – 1^st brother

I’m so proud with the outcome. I’m assuming my brother gave this dish a 9/10. For this dish I use semisweet chocolate. The hot green chillies mix with the spices and chocolate was such a great combination. But I did modify slightly the recipe, it still tastes awesome!

Roast Buttered Herb Corn

“Should’ve steamed it!” – my dad

On Monday night I was watching Anna Olson cooking TV show on Astro with my dad. She was making this bbq buttered herb corn which looked interesting and before I could say anything, my dad told me to do this for Tuesday night dinner. So I did. Personally, I prefer to steam the corn rather than roasting it in the oven. The corn came out quite dry. Though the herbs gave it a good taste but I still like the ‘pasar malam (night market)’ version. Steam and swab the corn with butter and salt..... NICE!

Pecan Pie

“It has the Pecan Pie taste but not the look” – 1^st and 2^nd brother

It’s true. The taste was fantastic! Sweet caramelised pecan, eating it with vanilla ice-cream.. what a combo! But the presentation was bad. Seriously! I have a problem making food look presentable. FYI, I do not make my own short crust pastry, I got the frozen-made ones. Easy-peazy-lemon-squeazy! Less hardship.

Conclusion, the prawn and pecan pie was a success but not the chicken and corn. Still need to do a lot of research and experiment. So while I’m working on that, I would like to share the recipes that received the most votes from the guinea pigs (so cute!).

Prawns in Chilli Chocolate Sauce

This chili chocolate recipe serves 5 - 6 as a main course

24 raw large prawns shell-on or tiger prawns (the plumper the better)

20 ml plain flour (seasoned with salt, pepper and paprika)

1 Orange (juice) or 1 cup of vegetable or chicken stock

20g chopped dark or semisweet chocolate

40 ml olive oil

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

3cm fresh ginger, peeled and grated

3 small green chillies, de-seeded and chopped

Sea salt and freshly milled black pepper

To serve: salad leaves of your choice or jasmine rice

Peel the prawns, leaving just the tail on, devein and butterfly. Coat the prawns in the seasoned flour and set to one side.

Heat the orange juice or stock over a gently heat in a small pan. When warm, remove from the heat and stir in the chopped chocolate until melted. Just keep warm on a very low heat if using now or set aside until ready to finish the dish.

Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan, add the garlic, ginger and chilli, cooking for 2 mins until golden. Remove mixture with a slotted spoon and keep on the side. Add the prawns, cut side down and cook for 2-3 mins until the prawns have pink edges. Turn over the prawns and cook for 2 mins. Return the garlic mixture to the pan and add the chocolate sauce. Cook for 1 minute, coating the prawns in the aromatic glossy sauce. Season and serve hot.

Pecan Pie

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 Tbsp molasses

2 Tbsp melted butter

2 Tbsp flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 cups pecans, coarsely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Spread pecans along the bottom of the pie shell. Mix the remaining ingredients and pour over pecans. The pecans will rise to the surface of the pie.

2. Bake at 375°F for 45 – 50 min until the filling has set. About 20 min into the cooking you may want to use a pie crust protector, or tent the edges of the pie crust with aluminium foil to prevent the pie crust edges from burning.

3. Remove from oven and let cool completely

Serves 8

THROUGH THE LENS SDAA/MIDE 2010 PHOTO COMPETITION

Refer to the above.

I am not a professional photographer. Nor I doubt I’ll ever be. But I do love to take underwater pictures. I started venturing into underwater photography in 2008 when I got my 1^st ever expensive camera... a G9 + housing (for me it’s expensive). Didn’t know how to use manual mode, know nothing about aperture, shutter speed or ISO.. NA DA! It took me awhile to understand and familiar myself with the camera. But I had a lot of help especially from sifu AB LEE. He is a professional photographer who takes awesome pictures.... and when I say awesome.. I mean AWESOME! RESPECT!

For the past couple of years, me and some friends go for the MIDE exhibition which usually held in PWTC, Kuala Lumpur. They have booths that sells dive equipments, do resort bookings (local and international), talks, scuba discovery and a lot more. We usually end up buying some diving stuff and checking out the winners of the photo competition. So after looking, analysing and criticising (pretending to be one of the judges) the winning photos, we decided to enter our photos for this year MIDE Photo Competition *ehem*. Now unfortunately there are no categories for amateurs, instead this is what they have:

Wide Angle – a favourite of experienced underwater photographers

Macro – an intensely competitive category emphasizing close-up views of tiny critters

Art – anything goes, including traditional photo tricks, composites and CG

Malaysia - featuring the best of Malaysia’s diverse underwater spectacles

As you can see the predicament I’m in is really giving me a headache. I would think they should at least consider categories that have amateur skills in it!! Anyway, after a lot of discussing and deliberating amongst my friends, I’ve decided to enter 5 pictures which I will compete in Macro and Malaysia category. Yeah yeah yeah....... no way I’m going to win but the whole purpose of entering this competition is for fun!

Something i should have done ages ago....

Dear Readers,

I've decided to start a blog that describes verbally and visually my passion for cooking and diving. I'll start off with cooking. I don't have this passion instilled in me.... it just happened. To be more specific it all started after i baked my 1st chocolate chip cookies (a copycat from the original Famous Amos recipe). And what makes it more fantastic was the after results....... people saying it was good, delicious and any other compliments that associates with the word 'yummy'! What a boost to my ego!!!! So from then onwards i started looking at recipe books, on the internet and tried a few. Trust me it wasn't easy at 1st. To understand the terminology of cooking i ended up with "huh?" and turn the next page or slam the book shut! But i did get lots of help from my mom and friends... so THANK YOU ALL!

Scuba diving is another passion I've discovered few years back. I was literally dragged by my brothers to do the Open Water Course which till today i'm totally grateful. If they didn't force me to go and see the instructor i would have probably end up not doing it.... at all! So i'm very thankful to them for introducing to me the magnificent underwater world which till today I'm still in awe.

So, this blog will carry you along to a journey fill with delicious, mouthwatering cooked food and accompanied with the calm and captivating view of the blue seas surrounded with all the rainbow colored ocean creatures.

WELCOME!