Simple but delicious scramble egg breakfast

Sunday, 26 November 2023 simple Hearty breakfast.

Sourdough bread was bought from a local Bakery. This bread or ciabatta bread would be great. Toasting them would be great. 

The beef strips were purchased from the supermarket. Any good brand will have good cuts with a little fat. Just cook them with a little Oliver oil and season with black pepper, salt and smoked paprika. I used cast iron pan to get some crust on the meat. 

For the scramble egg, here is how i made it. Turn on your non stick pan to low heat and pour 4 table spoons extra virgin olive oil. In about 1 minute drop in 6 large eggs. Start stirring slowly whilst breaking the yoke. The key here is to stir gently and slowly. Take your time and not rush. When the egg starts to stick or harden at the bottom of the bottom of the pan, remove the pan from the heat whilst continuing to stir gently. The key here is to be gentle and low heat. Once the egg mixture starts to solidify, put in 4 table spoons of butter and stir gently. Remember, everytime the egg hardens or stick however slight at the bottom of the pan, immediately remove the pan from the heat. Use a soft silicone spatula for this scramble egg making. Not wooden or hard silicone or plastic spatula. 

When the egg mixture becomes more solidify, add in salt, freshly ground white pepper, freshly ground black peper and some italian herbs. That’s it. You’re done. For garnish add in some chives. 

Add in a little drizzle of extra virgin oilve oil and balsamic viniger for that extra tangy taste.

Note my scramble egg recipe is on the runny side. How the french make it any not hard or dry like the malaysian style. 

You may add avocado slices and roasted sunflower seeds for that added creaminess and crunch. Enjoy.

Pilot PeTiT 1 Fountain Pen

4 November 2023 my son and I celebrated fountain pen day @ PenGallery. 

We only went there to mainly purchase some basic items like the Visconti my pen system of our initials to replace the Visconti logo on the top finial of the cap. And maybe purchase some nice ink colors as they were having their lucky draw by spending a minimum of RM200.

How wrong I was, we ended up NOT purchasing any of what was planned. 

What did we purchase? One item was shared in the previous blog. The other i will share at a later blog.

What I would like to share in this post is the Pilot PeTiT 1 fountain pen. On Shopee the cheapest is about RM6.90. What can you expect from a fountain pen at that price? Crap and nothing much? IT SITS at the same price point or slightly more than some pilot or faber castell gel pens. I was not expecting much. I had tried in the past using some cheaper made fountain pens at RM300++ but all were regretable to say the least and my mind was made up. Cheap = Crap. So at RM6.90 this will be super crap?

How wrong I was and to my delight and utter surprise, it was Brilliant. Never in my wildest imagination did i expect something so cheap to be so good. The plastic made pen was sturdily built. The cap opens / close with a solid click sound. The cap post solidly also with a solid click. 

The steel nib writes wonderfully. Does not skip a beat no matter how fast i write or scribble. What else do you want! Any improvements or any suggestions for improvement to take it up a notch? None! It is that good in my opinion. 

The pen is so cheap and sturdy, i can take it anywhere without a care. The surprising thing is that now it is my go to pen that i use regularly on a daily basis and i get worried if i cannot find it. Amazing. When my more expensive pens i cannot find, i usually don’t bother much as i know it is somewhere in the house, i just need to look again. But if this Pilot goes missing, i look for it everywhere until it is found. Hard to believe but it is true. 

Oh! The best part. Not once since using the pen did i get ink on my fingers. I always get ink on my fingers When using other fountain pens. If not now then later. Just a matter of time. I have used this pen for 3 weeks now. Never once, ink on my fingers. Great. That alone tells you how good this pen is. For the deceptive size of the grip section my fingers should long ago slip and touched the nib section or a little of the feeder but no, it does not. The material in the plastic grip section is smooth but grippy enough. Wonderfully design.

The bonus factor is the transparent feed. So the feed would change color reflecting the color of the ink it is filled with. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻.

I understand that this fountain pen has been around since 2014. And I’m only now discovering this. Available only in F nib. For a F nib, it is not scratchy at all. 

I have not converted it into an eyedroper but will do so in the near future, once the ink cartridge finishes. 

This is One of the many free gift we receive from Pengallery for attending the event. Pictures below in the free goody bag. The Pilot FP, cartridge, Sharpie, postcards and t’ shirt.

In conclusion, this cheap pen has completely changed my mind about cheap pens and to give all pens a fair try before deciding. No more pens DISCRIMINATION. Try first. Then decide. 🤗

Opus 88 Mini Cheer Kitty 2023 Fountain Pen

It just dawn on me that I had not posted in more than a year. Oh my how fast time flies when you have so many things going on at the same time. The more reason for me to get more organised.  Well stay tuned as this is one a many articles coming.

Opus 88 2023 new year mini pocket fountain pen. These are special releases celebrating the arrival of 2023. Two designs were released, 2023 is the year of the rabbit so it was only fitting one would be a rabbit. The other would be a cat, welcoming celebrating the arrival of a new year full of love and adventure. 

I purchased the cat version @ pengallery on 4 November 2023 world fountain pen day. Why you ask? Because :

1. I thought it looked different, unique and cute. 

2. My daughter loves cats. 

3. It will be a beautiful birthday gift for her. She would not be expecting this. 

The cat was designed by Japanese artist (unable to find out who) and holds a red wine glass in the right hand whilst the left hand holds a wine bottle, whilst smiling with its eyes shut. (Reflecting the art of celebrating the new year). I guess it makes more sense and it’s more acceptable to have the eyes shut reflecting joy as opposed to have them open with a smile as if the cat is stalking you. Yikes!

This is my first purchase of Opus 88. I was never of fan of the make but a chance encounter with a geologist @ pengallery during inktober 2023 changed all that. She had a beautiful Opus 88 Fantasia pocket pen with a medium nib. It not only looked gorgeous but wrote beautifully. Silky smooth. I was impressed. 

They are eyedropper with a piston-style agitator. The demonstrator's pen body is a solid translucent color. 

The pen writes ok to me for a F steel nib. Nothing impressive. Unlike its looks. It’s looks fabulous. I guess I purchased it more based on the looks. 

My main peeve is that the pressure release valve is rather flimsy and feels cheep. You need to be gentle handling it. My daughter is 11 and rather rough so I need to warn her on this matter. I guess on more expensive Opus 88 models the release valve mechanism will be from higher grade plastic. 

I understand from online research that the Opus 88 Mini Pocket fountain pen was first released in November 2021 and one notable difference is that the pens now are able to securely post. Yayyyyyy! If you do some online searches they have some beautiful versions of this mini pocket fountain pens. These are some of my favorites. 

Mini Stripe 

Cup of Comfort 

Cinco de mayo 

Baby beluga

Year of the tiger

But after flimsy release valve on my cat version, I will give the above a skip. No matter how beautiful I think some of them are. I’m a firm believer of build to last concept. 

The Mini Rabbit pocket fountain pen on the other hand features a rabbit holding a fountain pen amidst a cascade of blooming flowers with a cursive, wrap around message on the barrel reading, "Happy new year 2023”. Although we love rabbits, I would not get it due to issue mentioned above. 

These are some of our pets, English Anggora (Fluffy and Trouble Maker) and Rex breeds (Blackie and Kangaroo). They all look a mess as they were out playing in the yard. Kangaroo’s fir looks off and pulled out as it is the mating time. 

Opus 88 is a company based in Taiwan founded in 1977 by Michael Hsu by doing oem works for other well known brands. But they begin producing pens in 1988. Hence the reference to 88. The founder referred the company’s design and manufacturing process is akin to a musical note so they settled on Opus, referring to the musical elements. A musical composition is referred to as Opus. On some of the Opus boxes there is the family name logo Hsu. Thanks to David Parker @ figboot on pens for this background history. 

Smells Like Teen Spirit

I am a huge Nirvana's fan. 

Like any fan, you would like to know as much as possible of your idol. 

Kurt Donald Cobain was born on 20 February 1967 at Grays Harbor Hospital in Aberdeen, Washington, the son of waitress Wendy Elizabeth (born 1948) and automotive mechanic Donald Leland Cobain (born 1946). Making them 19 and 21 respectively, when Kurt was born. 

Kurt's first home was at 2830 1/2 Aberdeen Ave Hoquiam, Washington, US. He stayed in the smaller unit. 

The smaller Hoquiam house was a revolving door of different tenants. Most people don't stay there for more than a few months (1st unit). In fact, a few weeks after Kurt was born, he moved into the bigger house at the back house. (Pic - 2nd unit). It was literally twice the size. The rent for bigger house was an extra USD $5 but was a lot of money back then for someone not earning much and just starting a family, according to Don Cobain (Kurt's dad).

They stayed there until September 1969 when the house on 1210 East First Street Aberdeen, Washington, US was purchased for USD$ 7,950. This would officially make it the 3rd house Kurt stayed in. But it would be one of the most famous of his homes. Kurt stayed there until his parents divorced when he was about 8 years old. According to American Spy Fox. Wendy and Kimberly Cobain continued staying there.

Their first performance was at a house party at Tony Poukkula (a member of the band Laytem) home sometime in March 1987, Nussbaum Road, Raymond, Washington 98577. Kurt (vocals, guitar), Krist Novoselic (bass) and Aaron Burckhard (drums).

This performance was arranged by their friend and defector manager at the time, Ryan Aigner. Amazingly enough, it was Ryan who arranged for everything, transport, equipments and petrol money. The band merely needed to show up and perform. This was so early in their career that they band did not have an official band name yet. Tony friend Jeff recorded the performance on his Sony walkman.

This is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFqujYRPSx4

This is indeed remarkable as most bands do not have their first performance being recorded. Songs performed were Aero Zeppelin, If You Must, Heartbreaker (Led Zeppelin Cover), How Many More Times (Led Zeppelin Cover), Mexican Seafood, Pen Cap Chew, Spank Thru and Hairspray Queen. 

This is the link to the documentary at a later date:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f64jjc9nQCI

Kurt & Kris became friends when attending Melvin practices at Dale Clovers house. 609 West Second Street Aberdeen. 

The other places they would frequently practice is at Krist Mom's Maria's Hair Salon at 107 S. "M" Street, Aberdeen. Rehearsals were upstairs on the 2nd floor. (pink building)

Their first show as the band Nirvana was on 19 March 1988. Comprising of Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Foster. Before that landmark show as Nirvana, they went by several names including Skid Row, Ted Ed Fred, Pen Cap Chew, and Bliss among others.

For a time (1989 to 1991) Kurt resided at 114 1/2 Pear Street Olympia, Washington with then girlfriend Tracy Mirander and later with Dave Grohl. Kurt would later date Tobi Vail. It was a 3 separate unit dwelling. Kurt wrote a large majority of the most famous Nirvana songs at this home.  It was here that Kathleen Hanna from Bikini Kill using a sharpie wrote graffiti on the wall that Kurt "Smells Like Teen Spirit". The house was erected in 1914.

1st unit is where Kurt & Tracy initially moved in. Subsequently, the 2nd bigger unit.

The 3rd unit is where the graffiti was written on the wall. The rest as they say is history

The ABC news on the reasoning behind the name of Smells Like Teen Spirit:

https://www.abc.net.au/doublej/music-reads/features/kathleen-hanna-on-how-she-named-smells-like-teen-spirit/10269194

In 1852 Pioneer square was the second neighbourhood established by European American settlers in what would become Seattle. 

OK Hotel at 212 Alaskan way S, Seattle, Washington, 98104, US had a famous club in its heyday. The hotel was build by Harry Buttock in 1917. The club was open in 1987 until 2001, when the Nisqually earthquake damaged the building and forced the club to close.

 

17 April 1991, Nirvana debuted "Smells Like Teen Spirit" here. The gig was Nirvana's attempt to raise enough gas (petrol / fuel) money for a trip to California to record Nevermind - Steve Freeborn, the co-owner of the club along with Tia Matthies. Among the notable performance there were Goo Goo Dolls, Janes Addiction, Pearl Jam, Queens of the Stone Age, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Tad, No Doubt and many more.

The link to the debut of Smells Like Teen Spirit: 

44.10 minutes into the track

https://youtu.be/GP6aVTUGKbU

This place was amply researched by Charles R Cross who wrote an article on this and also the book Heavier Than Heaven. As of 2022 this place is now a vegan grocery store called Isle of plants.

Nirvana’s last ever gig took place on 1 March 1994, at Terminal Einz, Munich, Germany. 

In between they had played a total of 405 gigs and concerts. 

They only produced 3 studio albums before Kurt's untimely demise.

• Bleach under record label Sub Pop. Released on 15 June 1989. Format: CD / Cassette / LP.
• Nevermind under record label DGC. Released on 24 September 1991. Format: CD / Cassette / LP.
• In Utero under record label DGC. Released on 13 September 1993. Format: CD / Cassette / LP.

The 171 Lake Washington Boulevard East Seattle, is the home where Kurt's body was found on 8 April 1994. 

Two fun facts.

* Kurt Cobain wrote with his right hand but played guitar left handed. This was confirmed by his uncle Gary Cobain. 

No idea why Kurt played the guitar left handed. It could be that he was naturally left handed, but was taught to write with his right hand. Thus, many people think he was right handed.

Most left handers are forced to do a lot of things with their right hand just because of society. 

Or it could be that some of his favourite guitarist were left handed. Jimi Hendrix, Tony Iommi, Paul McCartney, Otis Rush, Albert King and Bobby Womack.

The theory that Kurt was actually left handed but was forced to do certain things including writing right handed was supported by the flooring video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLMkb8qD5Xg

* Jack Ending speaking of the genus and economics of Kurt Cobain. It was evident in the song School. A whole song that was a hit with only 3 lyrics.

Facts were obtained from various sources including Brian Peterson, Charles R Cross, Steve Freeborn, Scott on Tape, Daniel Sarkissian and American Spy Fox.