Caffe Bar

Sometimes during weekends my mom and I go shopping, jalan jalan. The other Sunday we were at Parkway Parade. At tea time we went Caffe Bar. We ordered our Cafe Mocha and Cafe Latte and ordered a Grilled Vegetables Salad and Blackforest cake to share. I know Mom loves salads. Me too! She said that she won't mind going to Spain again as she loves their fresh veggies and bread and olive oil. As we munched on the Blackforest cake, we also remembered our trip to Germany, eating their authentic Blackforest cake. :")

Microdermabrased me!

This the face that has just undergone microdermabrasion. So it's a bit reddish pink. Wait a few days till the skin peels and see how well the "After" look will be - should be more radiance, fairer, more taut and spots-free. Lucky I don't have much of a problem skin.

Microdermabrasion introduces you to the latest in skin refining therapy. A treatment which literally turn back the clock and treat a whole host of skin ailments.

Fundamentally the microdermabrasion technique makes you look younger by removing the dead skin on the surface and ensuring that fresher younger skin from beneath becomes the outer layer. Primary benefit therefore is a younger skin, bereft of effects of aging with a very healthy glow. The second key benefit is the way the procedure is administered itself, its non-surgical, quite safe and has no adverse impacts on the skin. Unlike laser hair removal where skin color and pigmentation is a key parameter, microdermabrasion is applicable for almost all types of skin and skin color. Also because the reaction on the surface is purely physical, microdermabrasion does not have any side-effects that chemical treatments are associated with. Painless and quick, for sessions lasting typically around half an hour, no anesthesia is required either.

Take 5!

I didn't know that Old Chang Kee (the franchise outlet which sells fried snacks such as fishballs, sotong balls, carrot cake, crabmeat etc..) has opened dine-in outlets selling set lunches and snacks. The other day went to try the Take 5! outlet in the new condo/shopping mall, The Icon.

I tried the Stewed Chicken rice set while colleague tried the Sambal Fried Fish set. Take any 5 types of its set lunches and it costs only $5 each, with a free drink. Hence the name of the shop - Take 5! The chicken stew with potatoes was not bad, quite peppery but thick gravy. If they had given bigger chunks of solid veggies would be better, instead of the few SLICES of clinical-taste cucumber and carrot. The sambal fish was nice too. The secret lies in the sambal sauce which was generously splattered atop the fish. Next time I must try their Curry Chicken Loaf Bowl which comes serves inside a round bread.

Not bad for a quickie lunch.

Happy birthday!!

Happy birthday, brother! May you enjoy what you do, and may you always be happy and strive for higher success! Do remember to find time to practise Dharma.

Selamat Hari Merdeka ke-50!!

I have a habit of not posting pixs of places I travel to onto this blog immediately after each trip because was too lazy or tired, and by then I totally forgot about them. So now it is, some street pixs I took when I was in KL few months back during one weekend.

Malaysia streets remind me of Singapore streets maybe about 10, 15 years back. It's good to remember those idyllic days. At the same time, KL also has boomed and modernised, especially its highways, shopping malls, the housing flats etc, are almost the same as Singapore now. The only difference is Malaysia's highways have huge billboards all over the place, like Thailand, whereas Singapore is only too small to accomodate these into its skyline. Our huge shopping malls like Vivocity and Ngee Ann City cannot even fight those in Midvalley Shopping Mall, in terms of sheer size.

In KL was staying near Bukit Bintang, the hub of the city, aka Singapore's Orchard Road. So went shopping at Plaza Low Yat, Lot 10, Berjaya Times Square, Sungei Wang, Central Market etc.. But one place which I don't like still is the Puduraya bus station area. The place there remains unchanged for the past 10 years I have been there, I think. The bus interchange there is so crowded at all times, with hawkers in small stall peddling their food, the confusing counters to purchase tickets, and the basement where we supposed to board the coach back to Singapore, it was dark and stuffy and hot. Nonetheless it was a relaxing weekend of makan and shopping in KL!

May Malaysia celebrates its 50 years of Independence with pride and happiness on 31 August!

For others

The source of all misery in the world

Lies in thinking of oneself.

The source of all happiness in the world

Lies in thinking of others.

- Shantideva, Buddhist master

Riccioti Restaurant

Had dinner with my cousin cum godbro, R, tonight. Supposed to give him an early birthday treat but ended up he gave me a treat instead, my belated birthday treat. Went to the Riccioti Italian Restaurant in Upper Circular Road near Central.

Nice little cosy Italian restaurant with lots of wine and damn nice desserts. I ordered the Linguine with Crabmeat which tasted very rich and splendidly sweet and creamy. R ordered the Black Squid-Ink Linguine with Scallops which was quite nice. Both the linguine were well done and filling. We shared a very fantastic fresh ham and tomato pizza. Different from those in Pizza Hut of course. Last but not least, the desserts were what I have been waiting for. The Sofiato is a must try, the warm chocolate with ice cream.

Was chatting with R, I am happy he is doing well in his job. While grousing to him about mine and my mystical low luck, he gave this piece of advise : "That means good luck is on its way. You're now clearing your (karmic) debts. Just let it go with the flow. It will come when the time is right. Positive people attract positive energy. Its either now or later.
Thanks bro, for the reassurance.

Ricciotti Italian Restaurant

The Riverwalk #B1-49/50, 20 Upper Circular Road Singapore 058416

881

Had a special date with 8 ladies last night - Ladies Night - with mom, sis, grandma, grandaunt, aunt shirley, aunt doreen, aunt helen, aunt daphne. We went to watch 881, the Royston Tan's getai (stage songs) movie.

This $1 million musical film is directed by Singaporean Royston Tan (pictured above with the leading ladies - Yeo Yann Yann and Mindee Ong, and actor Qi YuWu). This is timed to be released during this Chinese 7th month, as getai is a popular local activity during this whole month.

881 is the story of The Papaya Sisters, two childhood friends who grew up mesmerised by the glitter and glamour of ‘getai’ (song stage). The musical features glitzy costumes and lavish choreography, with the actors breaking out often into Hokkien and Chinese songs to express their emotions. All the numbers in the film are from the treasure trove of the late Chen Jin Lang, a Singapore ‘getai’ songwriting legend who passed away in August 2006.

Although the storyline is a tad contrived and crappy, the emotions and encounters of the getai singers do reflect the predicament of real life getai singers. Yeo Yann Yann and Mindee Ong put up a reasonable performance. I think Mediacorp should consider signing on Mindee Ong and groom her permanently for Channel 8 viewers. My aunties especially enjoyed the songs which were sang by real life getai singers. I like the elaborate costumes and performance and the splendid acting and singing of real life getai veteran Liu Ling Ling.

Support local production, go watch 881. May you Huat Ah!! (发 - to prosper in hokkien)!!

Indian lunch

For lunch today, went to the Maxwell Masaala Banana Leaf Indian Restaurant, to try out the dishes. We ordered white and yellow rice with Chicken Tikka Masala, Fish Egg, Brinjal, Gobi Aloo (Fried Cauliflower Curry) and Chana (Spicy chickpeas). It was pretty spicy. I like the cauliflower and masala chicken. Didn't really like the dry fish egg (the reddish looking dish) after a few pieces.

Ayam Panggang

In the evening was at Plaza Singapura. Ordered the Ayam Panggang (BBQ Chicken) set from the popular stall at the foodcourt. Added the cuttlefish as well. What made this dish yummy is the sauce. The chicken drum stick and the cuttlefish were first barbacued, and then when they are cooked to juicy state, they are then bathed with the delicious black sauce. The set comprises of this main dish together with fried egg, and soup and rice topped with curry sauce, costs $4.30. Additional veggie is stir fried cabbage which is $0.50. They ran out of veggie today. The dip is the chilli sauce with ikan bilis aka sweet nasi lemak chilli. Yummy.

Suckling pig noodle

Was at Suntec Convention Center this morning, had brunch at the newly opened Food Republic food court because I didn't had breakfast. It has a nice decor theme - library. Its Vivocity branch has the 60s shophouse theme.

I ordered the Suckling Pig Noodle from Jia Le Noodles at $6.50. The noodles are nice although the suckling pig skin should have been crispier. Overall its ok I guess. Miss Piggy told me their wanton charsiew noodle is quite good.

Hong Kong Teahouse in Katong

This makan place will probably be one down memory lane next time. Almost every week the Rich Friend and myself will be at this 24-hour Hong Kong Teahouse in Katong Village (next to Roxy Square) for our Saturday night fix. Usually we will go after 9pm after my prayers. The place in the midst of food haven in Katong has a nice nostalgic feel and the interior is designed with 80s HK popular stars photos everywhere. The lady in this pix is the lady boss, Victoria Li.

Some of our regular recommended favourites:

- Crispy fried lotus root with pork

- Steam green pepper stuffed with meat

- Fried Udon with seafood

- Fried bean curd with prawns

- Stir fried Kang Kong with bean curd

- Bee Hoon with bittergourd and pork ribs

- Siew Mai (you can feel the fresh prawn more than meat)

- Milk Tea

HONG KONG TEA HOUSE

Katong Village, Block A, 86 East Coast Road, 01-09/10

Tel: 6345-1932 Open: 24 hours daily

Bored ducks

Things kids do when they are bored ..... while travelling in the car, niece showed me a doodle of a duck swimming in a pond. Her brother wasted no time being copy cats and within few minutes, shoved me his opened palm too.

Yesteryears Posters!

The Era Gone

My niece and nephew were quite thrilled to visit the Mint Museum of Toys at Seah Street (next to Raffles Hotel). Think I was more excited to see all the familiar characters and toys of the passed era. Because at the end of it, the kids with a slight frown, said disapprovingly "the toys last time not so nice hor?" Think they were more interested at the carpeted Hopscotch.

Hmm.. will they think that me, this antique, should be at this museum too??

Good Samaritan

Was at the Old Airport Market for dinner, caught this lady feeding stray cats. Can't help but feel for the cats and this good samaritan. She had with her 4 or 5 big bags of food, and she spread out the food neatly into a few pieces of newspaper, feeding about 3 or 4 cats. I gather she will go around the neighbourhood to feed other stray cats. I don't know where she got all the leftover food. Don't tell me she collected the food from the diners' leftovers in the hawker center?

When you see this, can't help but think how fortunate and lucky my friends' home pets are, the rabbits and dogs and cats and hamsters, with their indulgent owners. Sigh.

Jang Wang

Went for my weekly puja tonight, the Medicine Buddha Jang Wang powerful purification for the deceased. It's a special session for the deceased whereby the lamas will pray for those who have passed on, and bring and lead their conscienceness (spirit) to the Medicine Buddha's Pureland, so that they do not take rebirth in the lower realms.

My parents and niece attended the puja with me, because we were praying for my paternal grandparents as well as my maternal grandfather and his brother. The 8 lamas there conducted the puja and we brought along photos of my grandparents. At one point the lamas prayed and invited the spirits of the deceased into the place, and then by chanting prayers and burning the photos, they also called upon Medicine Buddha to lead these beings' conscienceness into his Pureland.

It's been about 30 years since my Ah Gong passed on and about 20 years since my Ah Ma passed on. I don't know if they have taken rebirth. But I guess this session at least will help transfer them into Pureland, if they have still not taken rebirth. At the same time for us living beings, it was a great way to purify our negative karma and deeds committed since beginningless time.

不能說的秘密

Two weeks ago, went to the midnight movie with Blur Friend. It was Jay Chou's first directed effort, Secret 不能說的秘密. It was not a bad effort, considering it was his first. It showcased much of his musical talents. The actress Guei Lun Mei, is a relatively new comer who has loads of potential winning-actress flair. She reminded me of Angelica Lee (Li Xin Jie), Sylvia Chang's protege, who starred in The Eye and 20-30-40. Even before Li Xin Jie turned to acting (she is a singer) I knew she would become Best Actress material.

In the Secret, Jay's reel father is Anthony Wong, whose good acting added much comic relief in the otherwise slow romantic movie. I am not a fan of Jay Chou, but he is talented, nonetheless. Good effort.

Oiishi !

Celebrated one of the colleagues' birthday at my favourite Japanese restaurant, Kai Ho, the other day. My all time favourite is the Bento Set which comprises of huge fresh tempura prawns, few slices of raw sashimi, its toufu salad, rice with a piece of california maki, and the Chawanmushi and soup. At $19.50 per set, its really value for money and the quality is fantastically good. You can choose any 2 of the Unagi or Tempura Prawns or Sashimi.

My colleague tried the Sukiyaki Beef set which was good according to her. I don't take beef. The ala carte dish like the stir fried udon is fantastic. The Katsu Don is a huge piece of fried juicy pork. One of my fav is also the potato salad. The tempura prawns are one of the best around town. There are a few other ala carte dishes which I often order but will take the pictures some other time.

Her first time

This young girl just had her virgin hair violated by a splash of colours - her first time. Witnessing this earth shattering moment, I took some artistic shots, to document the evidence in historic splendor her crowning glory. Actually the guy behind her, looks oh-so-nice, macam giving her the kiss of life. What an anti-climax experience. Haha!

Yamantaka Ruel

Last night I attended Drophenling's Yamantaka Ruel Blessing-Recharge Puja. I brought my Yamantaka Ruel for recharge as well. The chinese lunar 7th month is coming on Monday, its the month of the Hungry Ghosts. Drophenling is organising a series of different pujas for supplication to the Buddhas and protectors as well as to pray for our loved ones who have passed away. The Pujas for the deceased purifies the negative actions of those who have passed away and transfers their consciousness to the Buddha’s pure land.

Unforeseen factors influence and affect many individuals’ life at every level in society. Some of these influences do not arise out of natural causes. Their remedies also appear to be beyond human control. A great number of people face these difficulties.

The Yamantaka Ruel and its puja is an effective, reliable antidote to many of these paranormal disturbances in life. The Yamantaka Ruel is considered to be perhaps the most powerful protection against black magic too. Prepared through authentic, prevailing traditions and consecrated by more than 1600 lamas at Gaden Sharste Monastery, the Yamantaka Ruel renders protection against ailments ranging from serious breakdowns to recurrent bouts of failure or quarrels resulting out of paranormal, negative actions of others.

Jamie in Drophenling related some incidents whereby the Yamantaka Ruel has protected many people. Many years ago when many lamas were being chased and gunned down by the Chinese soldiers while they fled Tibet to India, each and every lama is believed to wear a Yamantaka Ruel. Even when the bullets from the gun shots hit these lamas, they were not hurt, there were no wound or injury, only minor scratches.

Another incident was when Jamie and 3 others were driving in a car towards KL. It was stormy and raining heavily and the car skidded and turned many rounds and stopped and hit the expressway railings. Each of them has a Yamantaka Ruel with them and the car there was also a Yamantaka Ruel. They believed it has protected them and prevented them from serious injury or even averted death.

In yet another instance, Jamie's uncle who was working in a shipyard. One day while at work he accidentally fell into the sea, he was carrying with him a briefcase. When he went down into the bottom of the sea, he could suddenly felt an force pushing him up to the surface of the water, and he was saved eventually. They discovered the Yamantaka Ruel inside the briefcase and his wife had put it there earlier. He believed he escaped death because of the protection from the Yamantaka Ruel.

Tiong Bahru Market

After our half day of lazing around and shopping in Raffles Shopping Mall, sis and bro in law picked us up for dinner. We wanted something simpler, so we headed to the newly reburbished Tiong Bahru Market.

Everytime I was there, I would order the Hokkien Prawn Mee from this stall "Hong Heng Fried Sotong Prawn Mee". Its "wok hei" is quite good, and not too watery like some others' version, fried fragrant noodles with prawns, cuttlefish, bean sprouts and pork lard!

Another must try is the Chwee Kueh, little rice cakes which are laden with warm fried chai por (fried chopped radish). This stall is famous and used to command long queues in the old market in the old days. The difference why they are so good is the taste is very soft and light and the chai por is not too salty, although they look a tad oily.

I tried the fish soup with rice from one stall today. Failed. They used cheap rice (because it was hard and not fragrant) and the soup wasn't tasty, with the veggies cai xin being very hard and also, the fishes slices were only a few. I expected hawker fare fish soup to have very generous ingredients and tasty.

Discovered the dessert stall there is quite good, especially the plain almond and black sesame soup. Standard can fight with HK version. Only the Ah Bor Ling (tang yuan - rice balls) were not hand made but prepacked from the supermart.

Will you still love me tomorrow?

Post National Day, a working friday. I took last minute half day off, to accompany my parents and kids again, because we rarely have the chance to go out together on a weekday. And at my parents' age, isn't this what they like, enjoying twilight years with kids and grandchildren? 享受天伦之乐. A pity sis and bro in law were not there.

Met them in Bugis, we went to V8 restaurant for western lunch. Simple western value-for-money set lunches. Then proceeded to Raffles City Shopping Mall because mom wanted to buy a cream from Robinsons. She bought a handbag and pants from Marks & Spencers instead. The kids were monkeying around as usual. They were happy enough we went to browse toys, hang out eating ice cream, watching the water fountain, looking at comics and books etc... and even went to the National Library to borrow books.

Sometimes I wonder..... I purposely took leave to bring the kids out now, to spend more time with them and trying hard not to spoil them. Rushing to do these stuff before they grow up too quickly. Although I'm not expecting anything.... but will they still remember me when they grow up, their old and possibly wobbly aunt by then? Will they take leave (day off) specially for me? Will anyone take leave specially for me?

Chatterbox, shutterrrrrbox?

On National Day, my parents and I brought the kids to the Mandarin Hotel's Chatterbox restaurant for their very expensive local food. Mom ordered the famous Hainanese Chicken Rice at $23 per set. Father ordered the Curry Chicken Rice at $22 per set. I ordered the Nasi Goreng at $22 per set. The kids had Fish & Chips and Ham & Cheese sandwiches to share. Frankly I don't find any of the dishes that spectacular, even more so the famous Chicken Rice! And why was my Nasi Goreng without any chilli sauce, no sweet chilli nor sambal chilli! Maybe I should have ordered their Lobster Laksa at $29 instead? The add-on Ngoh Hiang was pathetic, I think my Mom's home made Ngoh Hiang was 100 times better with its crunchy water chestnuts and lots ingredients in the meat roll. AND the total bill at Chatterbox was enough to buy 50 packets of my favourite chicken rice from the market!

The kids, of course, were sold, especially after the Strawberry and Vanilla milkshake and Banana Split Ice Cream. My niece sms her mommy "Dear mommy, this hotel is very nice but a bit cold. We went to a restaurant called Chatterbox. The food here is very delicious." To which her mommy replied, "Nice that you are enjoying yourself but don't forget to come back for tuition at 2pm."

@ROLL EYES@

Adoi, Donut Factory

Finally I tasted the donuts from The Donut Factory. Sis discovered the new branch in Suntec and quickly grabbed 2 boxes. The main branch in Raffles Shopping Mall people queue up in throngs and wait for 1 to 5 hours everyday!

I didn't have them on the spot, I only ate them the next day from the fridge. I ate two, and another one the next day. So frankly I still don't know was the real McCoy that fantastic. They came interestingly in 15 flavours. I had the Strawberry White Chocolate, the Double Chocolate and the Peanut Dark Chocolate. I must try it hot from the oven next in order to pass judgement.

Wonderful Tonight

Love this wonderful old song's wonderful rendition by Michael Buble in his new album, very sexy and in the mood for love. Thanks to Pearlyn for downloading for me. I have written somewhere in this blog that this song reminds me of someone, BearBear.

Here's the lyrics:

It's late in the evening; she's wondering what clothes to wear.

She puts on her make-up and brushes her long blonde hair.

And then she asks me, "Do I look all right?"

And I say, "Yes, you look wonderful tonight."

I feel wonderful tonight

I feel wonderful because I see

The love light in your eyes

And the wonder of it all

Is that you just don't realize how much I love you.
I feel wonderful because I see

The love light in your eyes

And the wonder of it all

Is that you just don't realize how much I love you.
And then I tell her as I turn off the lights

Darling, I say my darling, you look wonderful tonight

I say my darling you were wonderful tonight.

Fun loving kindness

Look at these cheeky monkeys, full of expressions, innocence, playfulness, fun-loving. May they always be happy like this.

Sims Drive Chicken Rice

Today I had ta-bao (take-away) Hainanese chicken rice for lunch. This is from my favourite stall since young. The elderly Hainanese couple knows me, the friendly aunty would always ask me if I would like to add extra liver on my chicken rice. She knows I love that. And she would normally debone the chicken meat for me. This stall used to be in a coffee shop in Sims Drive next to the police post. Now it has shifted to the nearby newly renovated market, and they are charging lesser because the rental is lower!

This picture does not do justice to my favourite chicken rice. The rice is so fragrant I can eat it on its own. The chicken meat is very lean with hardly any fats at all. Even the cucumber is moist and crispy without any bitter taste. Best of all the chilli sauce is first class. When I am having ta-bao chicken rice at home, I normally sprinkled 2 packs of its heavenly chilli sauce on top of the chicken meat and rice.

Please try this stall if you are nearby.

HJ Maimunah

On a hot Saturday, my parents and I went for lunch at the popular HJ Maimunah Restaurant along Jalan Pisang (somewhere near Arab St). It was crowded as many hungry patrons queued up to order their Muslim dishes and then proceeded to pay at the counter before tucking in. It was almost all self service.

We ordered Ikan Bilis with Petai (fried anchovies with stink beans). This is one of my favourite Muslim dish. I like Petai because it is crunchy and the bitter taste contrasted to the sweet spicy taste of ikan bilis. Sometimes my mom cooks petai with sambal prawns which is yummy. Then there is Sambal Fish. The sour spicy gravy always goes appetisingly well with white rice. There is also Achar, a local salad with thin slices of carrot, cucumber, red chilli, pineapple sprinkled with peanut crumbs. Also the popular Tauhu Telor, fried beancurd shaped like a mountain sprinkled with slices of carrot, cucumber, taugeh and black sweet sauce. There is also the fragrant and hot Curry Chicken. The bill came up to only $21.60, including drinks!

My father likes spicy food and had 2 plates of rice! We were too full to order desserts by then. After that we went to Chinatown shopping, my parents' favourite place. To me it was where I get cheaper than normal shampoo, shower foam, accessories and beauty stuff. My mom bought her beads. We discovered another beads shop in Chinatown Point, in addition to Mix & Match in People's Park Center. So we had a nice leisurely afternoon.

Training my mind

Late Friday night, during my long taxi ride to a midnight movie, the taxi driver was very talkative throughout the whole journey. One topic he mentioned was training one's mind. He said many people nowadays are very stressed Why? Because they are very negative. Why? Because to them everything that happens, they view them negatively instead of positively. Why? Because we humans tend to see everything in a negative light. Why? Because we do not know how to train our minds.

A problem is only bad if we view it so. He said we should learn to treat our problems lightly, look at it from another angle, then we may not feel so bad after all. What he talked about was the Buddhist way of thinking, but he didn't mention anything religious about what he said, as I half expected him to.


Yes on hindsight he is right. We should TRAIN OUR MIND, as everything is on our mind, not the external problem. Only our mind can resolve our problems. We humans do not know how to train our minds as compared to Buddha. That is the difference between the Buddha and us. That's why we are not Buddhas yet.

Maybe recently I have been quite negative towards certain issues or work or colleagues. How I felt was exactly because I have made things seemed so negative and hopeless. I should start searching inwards to my mind, before I blame everything on others.


So I guess I should be happy about my brief encounter with the taxi man. Maybe he is a modern day bodhisattva or angel in disguise.

Nose rich

Hmmm, I notice my nose growing bigger and bigger. But when am I gonna be rich???????