Homecooked Hokkien Mee

Its a Sunday! Its a holiday! Its the weekend! Its the sleep late and sleep in! Its the lets go out for breakfast day! *Skips around with delight* Gonna cook Hokkien mee today.

Breakfast@Yakun Raffles Hospital
At the carpark, it seemed as though all the Yakun fans and patients are sleeping in and enjoying the weekend too. But i realised it was the beginning of the super long weekend (just take 3 days leave and LEAVE!!!) Its the Deeparaya Holiday. 9 days (if u take 3 days off) Tues and Thu are holidays! One of the years before was the Gong Xi Raya. There were less than 5 cars in level 4 car park. It feels good to have space. At Yakun, the breakfast crowd seemed to have decided to go away for breakfast too. It was rather empty. The bread was especially crunchy and crispy today. Yumms yumms yumms.

Tekka Market
It was crowded, and there was a long jam outside Rochor Canal. At Tekka market, the shopkeepers played the law of econs game. One coconut originally $1.50 during the non festive period was sold at $2.oo!!!! I was robbed! In daylight! By an Uncle! with so many people watching! (Coconut was for Kuih Bingkar,not Hokkien Mee). Anyway, we went around to buy all my ingredients for my Hokkien mee and Lor Bak. So fun. I had 3 ppl (would be appreciaters of my hokkien mee) to help me carry the kilos of prawns, sotong and ribs, and noodles etc.

Then headed down to Sheng Siong. NTUC, I think you will lose a lot of business from me man. THey sell stuff cheaper than the market! And its nicely packed and fresh. It will be my definite haunt from now, Mil eagerly asked me to chio her when i go. I can forget about applying for the NTUC linkcard. We spent like 4 hrs there and parking at Tekka Mall is only like $1.50 per entry for Sunday (and your car does not get hot from the sun)

The food court is good too. We will be back to try the food one day!

Hokkien Mee
Its easy enough to cook. There are several secrets (I read from recipe books). One is to try with lard (no way!), another is to fry the prawn shells till fragrant, pound the prawn head and dump it in the soup stock with ribs. Cook the yellow noodles with stock first for 15-20 mins then add inthe white. Some use fried ikan bilis (like the Kembangan,Lorong mydin, corner shop). {the kembangan stall, Not the Kims' (which has now disappeared) is the best hokkien mee in Singapore. Hey Sitoh, you die die must try it!!!}I love the idea of prawns and pork. Its so cool. Like Mee rebus, Beef and sweet potato gravy. So coole! Anyway, had my parent and MFil over for dinner. Today's Hokkien Mee is 8.5/10. It would have been better if i added more garlic with the stock and used more prawns. But is was good by my standards. [There are times which I have graded myself 4/10 before(for other stuff) , so i'm not biased ok.]

Made Lor Bak too, next time must remember to use the soft skin beancurd. I did mine with Jap seaweed and black fungus and chestnuts.

Made Kuih Bengkar as well. I love it. The tapioca and coconut kuih. it turned out nice.


BDC Noticeboard:
Hey I'll bring some kuih Bengkar for ya all to try tomoro ok!

By the way, we have a new VP. She showed much wit and evilness that impressed both of us. Congratulations S!

QM: Memberhip priviledges does not extend to happily removing my scissors without my knowledge.

KS: We are still looking through your work review. In the meantime, you better concentrate on OTHER things.......

BDC Club Annual Dinner
11 November 2005
Kudos to the person who had the idea of locking D out of the room! I think it was Sa2 or C. See ya all n bring the latest research notes. Pres and I will brief you on our latest globalisation plan.

Beer and Porridge

The start of the holidays! Yipee!! Hooray! Just follow the yellow brick road and enjoy your way home. Yay! Hip Hip Hooray.

28 Oct Fri
I enjoyed giving CMB lesson to a bunch of 20+kids. It was quite fun. Showed my powerpoint slides and showed them the left and right handed helix using rubber bands. Splicing and Adenylation. Some were left in wide-eyed amazement of DNA, some were just worried about knowing all the processes. At least they were interested.

Then later, I met SS and we went to Geylang Bazaar. I love the Hari Raya Festivities. The beautiful kebayas, the baju kurungs, the ethnics stuff, soccer jerseys, knick knacks, snacks, kuihs, shoes, all sorts of things. We went there mainly for the food.

Sedap@Geylang Bazaar
Food:Tonnes of stalls, just pick what you like.
Ramlee Burger- So far no more evolution about it. They had the black pepper version before. This year like nothing fantastic.
Ayam: From the roasted madu(honey) to ayam percik(in a spicy sauce) to the normal grilled and fried kind. We esp loved the madu one. Damn good. $1 each
Dendeng: I must have this when i go there, I seldom see it beyond the Raya months. $3.50 for about2 slices.
Lots more lah, vadai, satay, mee goreng, turkish ice cream (one of the newer additions), goreng pisang, otak etc etc

29 Oct (Sat)
We had breakfast at Chinatown Complex. I heard they are going to rebuild it. So sad, We will lose our heritage food somewhat. I better bring my camera the next time we go. We had

Luo Mi Fan 02-011 at this recommended stall, 6 chopsticks.
Food: Simple, yet somehow very good. it only has fried shallots and peanuts. 9.5/10
Price; $0.70 small, $1.oo large
Return: Definite, with Mil and Fil prob

Tian tian Pork Porridge
6 chopsticks in Makansutra but i would only five it 6/10. Wah yuan, this porridge stall in Tiong Bahru is so much better and it was given a lower rating.
Food: Porridge was simple, reminded me of patients porridge. Nothing fantastic
Rating:6/10
Return: NO!

115 Dessert store
It seemed to be recommended by many of the food shows but i didnt really find it that fantastic.
Black Sesame paste:4/10
Peanut Paste:5.8/10
Return:No

We explored Chinatown a bit. Its a nice touristy place except for the awful colours they used to repaint the buildings. Then headed down to Yuehua, they had this Big Hairy Crab on sale from China. One small crab abound $25!!! and We had 2 much larger ones at Quanqude in Shanghai (along with the Beijing Ya) for less than that amount. There was this HeBei fair and they had all sorts of noodles, corn flavoured, tomato, sweet potato, black sesame and all that. The supermarket is so cool. All the stuff unfound in NTUC. Then we went for a foot and shoulder massage at Chinatown, it wasnt effective but it was a good massage anyway. $20 for 40 min.

Went to this place where they sold a whole chunk of kitchen ware. From bento sets to sukiyaki pots, to blenders and cutlery. Its really cool.

By then, it was time for lunch at

Tian Jin (near the MRT)
Food: Dim sum and chinese food.
Rating: 5.5/10
We had: Xiaolongbao(Pudong Kitchen at Balmoral one is much better), glutinous rice, pork rib in black bean(Crystal Jade one nicer) and other stuff. Not that fantastic.
Return: No!

Headed down to Clarke Quay and met Mil and Fil. Went for a cool beer at the Brewkery? is is? Golden Ale, one pint$6. but if you go there on mon to fri before 3pm its only $3! Shopped at Meidiya, all the lovely Japanese stuff. I'm surprised they did not have a lot of Japanese Mochi, the kind we bought tonnes of at the Narita Airport. Those were lovely. I wanna go back to Japan again!

Then went to Bukit Merah Food Centre to tapao Braised Duck and then to Tiong Bahru to buy pao.

Tiong Bahru Pao
One of the best pao in Singapore. Mil and Fil love it. esp the charsiew pao. I decided to snack on the other stuff they had today.
Char siew soh: Its so so so good!! The pastry was not as oily as the one in Crystal Jade and the filling is so juicy good! (Smeagol and his fish)The same as the filling in its charsiew pao. Yums.
Egg meat thing: hard boiled egg, wrapped with minced meat and fried. so yumms.

PORRIDGE
I'm facinated about porridge. It comes in two main kinds : the Cantonese kind (smooth and creamy) the teochew kind (where the grains of rice are intact and flooded with starchy water. I love to cook the cantonese kind. I cook it twice, once in an electric pot then in a claypot, with pork broth. Hubs cooks the teochew kind, and he cooks it very very well. Yums! Some restaurants use 2 types of rice, some just cooks it for very long. I would give a finger(not literally) to know how Wah Yuen Cooks theirs!

Wah Yuen Porridge
Sitoh and his team underrated this lah. Their porridge was introduced to me by a JC mate of mind back when the shop was still in the old place. they have this fried intestine porridge which is damn good. Their porridge is smooth, and very creamy, unlike most places. Its fragrant and just so delightful
Rating: 9/10

Fish Porridge at Crystal Jade
The best fish porridge ever!
Rating:10/10

Buried in the biology world and driving in the storm

Yesterday was one of the worst storms ever in sunny Singapore. Whats worse was I was driving through it, shuddering as every lightning flashed. It was pouring, the trees were kinda swaying, the leaves were ..... well, its nothing like the storm scenes you watched on the news but it was scary nonethless.

Back@home:
Recipe: I love fusion and whenever i ditch my entire library collection of recipe books, I realise I will mix chinese and western and lately a bit of Jap too. For example,

Fused Claypot Chicken
Kampung chicken (Malay?)
Mirin (Jap sweet wine)
Sesame oil (chinese/jap)
Lea perrins (western marinating sauce)
Dried chillies (Asian)
Oyster sauce (Chinese)
Chinese mushrooms (obviously!)
Sesame seeds (Asian)
Sea salt (mediterrenean)
Ginger(universal)

All cooked in the right amounts in a claypot. Hubs says its yums. ;)

Today, we went to have one of the best crab bee hoon ever. its my fav zhi char place!

Coffeeshop Delight (Blk 326, Serangoon Ave 2, near Braddell Heights CC)
Food: 9/10
Must die die try, die also must try: claypot crab bee hoon & mongolian ribs (its the best thing they ever did to pork)
Price: Affordable
Misc: I often see housewives ditching their aprons for the food here. Its really good and it crowded. But you hardly wait longer than 20 mins.
Drools: Dont worry, just say the password ("Let's go eat crab bee hoon!") And i'll bring ya there!

Back@work
Was lost in my molecular world all of today. I felt as though i was in some cell watching all the processes at work. It was cool to be back in my alma mater, in both senses of the word. In my old school, in my cellular world. I really enjoy looking for animations and diagrams on the web. Its very time consuming, especially when you need the exact perfect diagram, not too simple, yet not too cheem, preferably with an animation/movie with voice over.

5 day work week

Why i choose to write about this I really have no idea. Must be the overdose of caffeine I had in the late after noon with Lena combined with the withdrawal symptoms of my "DO not drive machinery after consuming this medication" drowsy formulae lil yellow pills for my flu.

One of the things LHL did which I liked was declaring of the 5 day work week to spend time with your family. And boy did I spend time with my family. Almost every Sat was with at least one family member.

Here are some pics of the farm tours we went to near Lim Chu Kang. We went to Poison Ivy's For lunch, the famed ex Netball Assoc head. She was great! She had such an overwhelming personality that somehow makes you feel welcomed, very heartening. Her dishes were lovely.

Poison Ivy (In a land far far away)
Food: 7.5/10 All very fresh and nutritious. The organic stuff somehow makes you feel good.
Try: Roasted Chicken n almost anything else she recommends. Fig Tea.
Ambience: its a great, cosy, backpacker kinda europeany kampung feel about it. Just dont open the back door while you are eating, the smell of fertilizers of whatever organic stuff grows on aint as fragrant as the food from the kitchen.

then we headed for the -
frog farm: There were tonnes of frogs and fishes and Mil bought some frogs for cheap. This guy in the frog abbatoir was chopping up live frogs. The one of the things i remember about survival living (back in my JC days) thought was how to kill a frog. By whacking its head on a stone. The stronger you are the luckier the frog is. Anyway, this guy was chopping off the frog's head but somehow the axons were still able to receive impulses from its synapses and the body was twitching and jerking..... it was damn gross. As always, my camera was ready for a snap but Mr Grossed out said it was too gory... this from someone who watches mindless wrestling? Some one who enjoys watching Men who blow other men's guts out for entertainment thinks this is gross? I would have taken a video and shown it at the farewell concert. HAHAHAHAHA.

the wheat grass farm: lovely. They have wheat grass gui lin gao n luo han guo gui lin gao.

Aerogreen: You can get the farmers there (is that what you call them?) to pluck the fresh stuff (vege/herbs/fruit) off the soil n into a plastic bag for you in front of your very eyes.

This happened like 2 weeks ago.


Photos

The best of university education

University
Well, I just went home to collect my university notes. Almost all $20k worth of it. Whats rather priceless is the fun and joy i had reading them, a long time ago, not quite 10 yrs though. As I flipped through the notes, I came across joys and pains, rainbows and hurricanes that I been through. From RNA splicing to the best of plant technology, from cell biology to physiology, from transcription factors to the latest gene that was found to cause cancer, from the apoptosis gene(death gene) to the gene that prevents freezing in some animals, from the wonders of Arabidopsis to the uses of yeast and beer making. Yes, I have travelled somewhat through the world of biology and then, I'm back again. There and back again by evie who loves to travel. I've experienced the pain of honours year and the tribulations and trails of working in a Lab. Yet, in those dark times, I found angels (evil Emperor Palpatine like characters were present too).

Well, the reason I'm digging those notes up are to prepare for , the LIFE SCIENCE inititive, The fourth pillar of our economy. It is very advantageous you know, Genetics and Engineering. Dont ask me if I want to be stuck in a lab doing some cancer research. Just, dont ask okie.

Well, heres a place I tried today

Lau Hokkien (old Hokkien) After all the court cases and hype, I really dont know which is the real one.
Food: Not too bad but not super raving either 5.6/10
Dont try: crab bee hoon (I can cook better)
WE had: Kung po chicken, butter prawns (too much sugar), Claypot beancurd, Hokkien mee (not super fantas), this prawn roll thing (Pow sing one better)
Return factor: no.
Price:reasonable
Service: I think some of the waitresses were from China. Nothing wrong except that my mandarin not that "zhai" to understand her explainations.

Dinner, Lights, Action

Just went out to have dinner and some weekend fun. I thought 18 October was the best day yet to come when I would be free at last, time left to do admin work, time to plan budgets and write notes, plan stuff. But noooo... I was far wrong, had been arrowed to do this and that, many quite useless..... if you know what i mean..... Not that i mind, I gladly help but i was just wondering how did they get by...... When did they start caring about stuff that they did not know? When did they realise it was important for them to know?

Back to my weekend:
Reliant on the little yellow drowsy formulae pill to get my nose to stop flowing, I took some to get me to sleep the night before. Feeling slightly better this morning, I decided to give my male nurse a treat to Yakun at United. He has been eating the regulars on the Patient's Menu since I got sick and not to mention donning on the chef's hat for the best of the Patient's Menu. The Chef's Specials included Mee Suah, Teochew Moi, Fish Porridge and not to forget handy services like warm water with little yellow pills in hand.
So the little crusty bread with a thin sticky layer of Singapore's Own Pandan-Coconut-Egg (kaya) Spread with square cubes of butter(which i remove rather religiously), but it tastes damn good with! Also the best soft boiled egg hands smoothered with delightful black sauce and a sprinkle or more of white pepper. Yums! (KS can eat four of those at 2 goes with me and Pres watching in amusement/horror(?))

Relied on the little yellow pill to sleep in the afternoon and awoke just about time for dinner.

Orchard
Mil wanted to go to orchard so we went down and parked at Isetan Scotts. $2.10 on weekends after a certain time. Cheap. We went to California Pizza Kitchen For dinner

California Pizza Kitchen
Food:Mainly pizza's and pastas and some damn good lookin desserts. 8/10
Best: Peking Duck Pizza, Flour tortila, Tequila Chicken Pasta.
Delivery: Yes! they deliver, but i have not tried their service
Cost: Can be ex but joining the CPK club seems like a good deal.
Service: not bad
Return factor: definite, considering my male nurse raves about the food there.

then we decided to head down to Sultan mosque area for the Ramadan Light up. Well, apparently, there is some small bazaar near Aaliwal street. It was a small bazaar, some 2nd stuff, jewellery and knick knacks. Not that fantastic yet but it may be a major thing in time to come. They just need some stalls selling food and it would definitely draw in the crowd. The light up was not super glam unlike the christmas one at orchard but its a start. What I enjoyed most was the kompang, or malay drums, which so far i have only heard at Malay Weddings. IT was cool! I love the way the boys whacked the kompang and the rest followed to a really groovy beat and catchy rhythem. Like an impromptu band. And the restaurants there, mostly muslim, arabic themed like Samar and all that, with people smoking shisha.

That place brings back memories. I used to work at 48A Kandahar street, between 2 really good eating places, Bumbu and Sabar Menanti. Sabar Menanti (Wait patiently) is a nasi padang stall with lotsa great spicy curries and dishes to go with rice. Bumbu(ingredient) is a thai, indonesian food place with really fantastic food. A bit ex but some stuff is really out of this world. We used to go there n eat really often. And at the back of Kandahar street likes a corner teh tarik stall. I love the nasi goreng sambal and teh. We always ta pao back to the office for tea break. And My office, which withstood the early Jap Days, was haunted. I experienced it! First hand account. Will talk about that another time.

Saw a key figure, Minister LSS with his family. Characteristic White shirt, even when not at work!?!!! He was enjoying the show of kompang and lights and all that i guess.

We decided to go for dessert at Lavender st Food centre. A place i would recomend for food but please, try not to use the loo. As much as toilet upgrading went, they upgraded it, renovated it but did not maintain it. What's the point? It reminded me of the toilets outside Yuyuan Garden in Shanghai. YuYuan Gardens is a popular touristy area, a recommended place to go for the best XiaoLongbao and sights and all that. But outside one of the exits, my goodness, the public toilet was a nicely tiled longkang (drain) with doors to the height of your waist and everyone can look over and see what you were doing. Yeah, so u just squat by the drain and do your business and watch everyone else business go by underneath you. At least, some toilets in india have proper doors. though the sanitary aspect of it aint too spectular either. I think we should abolish squat toilets in singapore. We hve done a great job so far in upgrading our toilets, but still more can be done. There is always more to be done.

Anyway, back to dessert at Lavender. Chengtng sucks. $1.50 for pathetic stuff. nuf said.

Reflections and Growing up

The best failure I have ever seen

A quotable quote. I wonder how it applies.

Feeling Sick
As you grow older, it takes a longer time to heal. Sick used to be 2 days max and less than 3 times a year. The freq is the same but the time I take to recover is much longer. Sick.

Growing up
I miss my growing up days in the 80's with songs by the Carpenters and Abba, not to mention beach boys and even a bit of Cliff Richard. Somehow my life revolves/revolved around those songs.

When I had to go to primary school after the weekend: Rainy Days and Mondays, Carpenters
Time for Pocket money: $0.50 a day- Gimme Gimme,ABBA
When I was reflecting and missing people-Yesterday once more, Carpenters
When I felt really happy-Top of the World, Carpenters
MY ultimate dancing song, even today- Dancing Queen, ABBA
Teenage identification song-One of us, ABBA
Studying motivation song/Friendship- We have only just begun, Carpenters
Grateful/Thanks-Thank you for the music, ABBA

Then in my early teens I was introduced to more bands, other than the ones my dad played everymorning. Life was more than just Engelbert and his cowboy texan songs.

I remembered in our little meeting room in church. It was a really cool meeting room in OLPS, where there was this inner room. Our Youth Group, StJames was formed for Confirmation Kids. The SJI n RGS people were blasting Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody and the St Pats people were rocking and jamming to it. Clearly I have never heard it before but even more clearly, I loved it. I loved the newness of it, the way it screams and whispers. The Cresendos and Staccatoes. The new words, the novelty. The poetic rhythem of it all. IT is so COOLE!

"thunder bolts of lightning! very very frightening!

Then it started, the cassette tape buying ( CD's/MP3/MD's were not the trend then, I doubt MP3's even existed which eventually grew to CD ( when the trend was in) then to my recent MP3 player.

I realised I only liked certain songs, though I heard lots of hard rock and strange pop songs before and after our church meetings every Sunday.

All time faves:
Something Stupid by Nicole Kidman (isnt she gorgeous) n Robbie Williams
Anything from the movie Grease
Anything from ABBA n Carpenters
Simply Red: You're So beautiful- The song meant alot to me esp in relationships, not that I thought i was beautiful but "Oh so boring" part.
Freshmen by verve pipe: introduced by Gordon, I listened to it a lot when I was staying inthe hostel in NUS. Its a damn depressing song man. Yet so unique in its own way.
Michael Buble: Intro by Geraldine C: just went to his concert on the 10 of october 2005. Man! He is an entertainer! It was funny, catchy and did me wow me off my feel. I especially love Quando with Nelly. ITs really a good modern version.

Lots more about growing up in the 80s stay tuned.

Obsessions and Celebrations

Well, I wanna talk about my obsessions (latest) and celebrations (of my friends). As time slides by the life clock, I have come to develop obsessions (to name a few):

1) Collecting Miniature stuff
2) Collecting liquers

First Friend
First person that comes to mind is someone I met when we were three, lost contact and then got to know each other again. Its amazing how we were able to keep in touch all these years. HCL or otherwise known as J.

Good friends
From my schools mainly, whom we have shared many a tai tee, bridge and makan sessions, drinking (drunking) too... Shared feelings, silly phases in life like blading in the middle of the night, cycling with blades on (what were we thinking!!) , going up to compass rose with shorts and T shirt (they were so desperate for business that they let us) n playing cards on the one of the highest buildings in singapore, walking around barefooted (in Taka!), staying overnight at Kuta beach, overdrinking at Ladies night pubs.

Not to forget my"brother, sister and Half brother" whom we spent yakking over the phone (as my mother would call it) for long hours (before they implemented the pay as u use system) about teenage romances, crushes, joys, people, life and religion, deaths, problems etc. I remember I had the three way phone line where u could talk to 2 parties at the same time (for $0.50 extra a month), the pager messages (143-I love you, 07734- hello and all the other strange stuff that i have forgotten)

The midnight suppers at Simpang/Jln kayu where friends offered to pick me up and drop me off at 12am in the morning, the late nights at the beaches to watch stars or hang by the airport runway (now prohibited), the driving past Changi Village for "viewing".

The old-new friends, knew them since the dinosaur ages then got to see them again in the new world, still able to pick up our friendship were we left off. So cool.

Friends of whom I was close with, now distant due to many reasons.

Friends overseas. One becoming a doc in Ireland, another a brilliant lawyer or brilliant in anything he does in Paris/London (brilliant at everything but having enough patience at a mahjong game), another Australian happily earning pounds in London, another in Penang with a car sponsored by her dad! My bro who brought back his scottish accent, another in Australia who just proposed to his gf.

Friends. I loved/love everyone of them. I miss them and I celebrate crossing paths with them. Thank you. I will slowly name you and give each of you credit in time to come okie.

Food
Igen dining (Japanese Alacarte Buffet) east coast
Price: $30+++
Variety: Good, love the sukiyaki, and salmon soup, they have soft shell crab (unlike Ikoi), gindara (unlike ikoi), a load of sashimi, grilled stuff (unlike ikoi) you get the idea, good variety of handrolls (unlike ikoi)
Return factor: Yes, if I really want jap food
Downsides: Tempura was soggy after the 3rd order, dessert not included inthe menu, slow service when crowded
Rate: 7.5/10
Seats: normal seats that you dont have to crawl out of after pigging out

Yakun Kaya
Love it! screw the french press! have a soft boiled.

More food news to come in my next episode. stay tuned

The day of mental unproductivity

I dont feel like talking about my day. Cos I was feeling pretty sick all day(after the tempura). Had a sore throat, feel sian and super bored.


Best of Bangkok

Besides the fact that they sell miniature stuff, their original DVDs are rather cheap too. Got the Extended DVD trilogy of LOTR for like 1400 baht (Less than a hundred Sing). ITS REALLY ORIGINAL. Cool!

Lobsters for the price of Crabs! One kg of lobs cost about $30.

There's this little cafe in Isetan, at the World Trade Centre with pretty good food.

Khaosan Road. It never fails to excite me. (though i'm kinda bored of the ethnic/Asian stuff they sell)

Bamboo Bar at the Oriental Hotel. Best Jazz and drinks I've ever had at the same time for a great price. They have an international band and keep changing singers. The last time i went an American lady was singing.

Grand Diamond Hotel. Never will I stay in Bangkok Palace again! The rooms were fantastic, kinda like an apartment, with 2 tvs, larger than normal fridge, stove. It is right smack opposite Pratunam, a stone's throw from Dragon Restaurant (lobster!). Went there with great company! Look in the background!



Yeah my recent trip to Bangkok was really fun. It was a break from work. Bought a really good book, Man and Boy by Tony Parsons, found a choya loving chum and created one. We went for massages, played taitee, ate , drank and shopped. 6 of us went. from a couple who were old enough to be my parents, a boss, an easy going guy. We bought choya and wine from the DFS before leaving and played taitee and guess the number games. Go back? You bet! Check out the durian and mango glutinous rice with coconut.



For my bro

Via mar (Esplanade)
Its supposedly a Spanish Restaurant.
Food: Good 7/10
Ambience: 8/10
Service:6/10 Waitress keeps coming when we dont need her and turns her back when we do! (does that happen at all restaurants?)
Price with wine: $180 for 4 ppl (Wine was $78!!)
Try: paella, fried squid

No signboard seafood(lor 24 Geylang)
Crabs: 10/10 Best, most addictive chilli crabs ever!
Gong gong!
Service: Excellent 9/10 the waitress will somehow get you a table. and they have valet service.

Char Koay Teow
Beach Rd market. Go try. Even the Penang one aint as addictive.

Best Pasta
This little place in Sweden, Globetrotten.

First of my blogs

Hello everyone! Testing testing.

My blog will be full of my travels, places to eat and anything else that I wanna say. You know, I had so many things to write in the blog but now, I'm at a loss for words.

Travels:

Hongkong Dec/Jan 1996-1997
Bali April 1997
Europe April 2000
Australia July 2001
India/Nepal October 2002
Sikkim Nov 2003
Bangkok Jan 2004
Cambodia (Angkor Wat) April 2004
Scandinavia May 2004
Shanghai Dec 2004
Alaska/Canada/Japan May 2005
Penang Sept 2005
Bangkok October 2005

Here's a start.

Well, today is a significant day for me. The last of the eggs have hatched and are ready to leave the nest. I've watched them grow, learn and be real people. Well, real enough at least for the real world. Through the highs and lows, frowns and smiles, scolding and laughing, I have shared with at least 70 people. Somehow, they have not figured that my bark is not as bad as my bite. And definitely they did not realise that I would never bite them. Such darlings. I already miss them. Though I'm glad lessons are over! Sighs. Will tell you more about them in time to come.

Babies! Love to hold them, love to feed them, love to cuddle them but hate to bring them up. Just saw a precious today. Such a sweetheart. Her parents cut off her hair to make a kinda brush? I miss my nephews and niece when they were babies ( less than a year old) After that, they get all bratty and noisy and I can practically hear them screaming in my dreams! But I love them anyway.

Japanese food. Ikoi Japanese Buffet at Miramar Hotel. Verdict.
Food: Tempura was good ( Was because the 3rd order was soggy)
Seat: Criss crossed or normal benchstyle, either way it was hard to get up after the dinner
Price: $30+++
Menu: Not super varietal. Nothing exciting. Nuf Said.
Return factor: No
Comments: Chawanmushi- 3/10, Tempura 8/10 (first order) 3/10 (subsequent orders), Sashimi- very good (from sashimi lovers)

Sashimi lovers. Ha ha.... ha ha..... Sashimi lovers..... hmmm..... did I have dinner with sashimi lovers?...... Ha ha... Only I laugh and u watch okie, cos you wouldnt understand. Ha ha

Well, latest craves: Miniatures.
You know, miniature toys eg cups, pots, pans, tables, benches about the size of a 10cent coin. Its so cute! I started in Tokyo Japan. There is this building in Harajukku called Kid's World. A 6 story building full of toys for men, boys, women, girls, babies, grandmas etc. From disney to pikachu to strawberry shortcake, dreamworks and all the latest toys from the latest movies. And, on one of the floors they display this miniatures which i went gaga over. Like really gaga.... it didnt help that I was kinda encouraged or at least, not discouraged from buying. A box of 10 sets cost about sing $120. When u are gaga, price usually does not matter......much..... I would just fly all the way there to get more toys. Just to get more toys..... The brand is Rement. ( So , if you are going, do drop me a note if u dont mind buying for me) Great stuff. Found some on my recent trip to Bangkok at World Trade Centre, rather near Isetan. Quality not as good but it was miniature and I went gaga anyway. There's a shop in United Square, Singapore too. And one dealing with porcelain miniatures in Penang, near Komtar.

Star Wars. Love it do you? I have not met anyone as fanatic and devoted as a friend of mine. He has arranged star war figurines in like complete scenes from some episodes. I havent seen all of it yet...... soon i hope. I have met fans of the quintology? is it? All loving the plot and the character and the out of the world names. I like how Tony Parson's wrote about it in his book, Man and Boy. Its funny. I like how my friend does his Jedi Silence hand motion thingy in an audience of 300 unknowingly. To me, this friend of mine, I call him Darth. He kinda walks like one.

BDC. As president and co founder, I must make special mention of it. There. Its mentioned. Nuf said. (for now)