Leong Kee Bak Kut Teh

The night before, went out for dinner with my family. Sis has found out where my favourite Leong Kee (Klang) Bak Kut Teh has moved to. They used to be in Geylang Lorong 23 but has shifted to Beach Road. I like Bak Kut Teh the Malaysia style because the soup is more herbal rather than just peppery.

The Bak Kut Teh comes in claypots of different sizes and there were 2 types. One was with solely Bak Kut (pork ribs) and the other was a combination of Bak Kut, beancurd skin, intestines, liver, and pork belly. We ordered 5 claypots to share among 7 persons (which was a lot). I can drink alot of soup. They also sell different dishes to go with the Bak Kut Teh as well.

We ordered with a vengeance because we miss this stall so much. I added the you tiao (fried dough fritters), salted vegetables, tau pok, braised pig trotters, with stir fried veggies (xiao bai cai). And all these of course must go with a bowl of white rice.

Leong Kee (Klang) Bak Kut Teh is at the junction of Sultan Gate and Beach Road. I'm sure we'll be back again.

Notice the above photos were quite blur. Well, it was really dark outside where we were sitting in the open (we were so afraid the birds were going to shit on us). Will tell you soon why the old and slim Sony Ericsson could not match up with another old and bulky Nokia.

TGIW!

Thank God It's Weekend!!!! I got up super early for a Saturday at around 6am! I went out to meet someone for breakfast at McDonalds. Finally I was able to have my favourite Sausage McMuffin with Egg and Hash Brown. Also a cuppa Cappucino.

I have not had McDonalds breakfast for a long time, such a delight devouring the McMuffin. I overheard a guy at the next table with his family, casually chiding his maid for adding chilli sauce on her pancakes! I also miss the pancakes and the honey syrup, haha.

After breakfast, I went to do my errands, to the Nokia service center, bank, supermarket as well as Singapore Pools. Mom went Kukup early this morning and has been sms-ing me with numbers to buy for her. Adoi, just because our neighbour just struck second prize last week, winning her $5000, my Mom suddenly has the inspiration for whatever numbers she sees! Well I hope she strikes this weekend, so maybe I can earn some kopi money. Hehehe...

I was still full from breakfast so I thought I had buy some takeaway sushi from the supermarket for tea time later and skip lunch. I saw some donuts as well, which were one of my favourite snacks. Wanted to buy the chocolate coated donuts but they were not ready yet.
Notice the donuts and sushi shots were so crystal clear? All these shots were shot by my old Nokia phone. Don't even need to photoshop them. The earlier mcmuffin shots I was still fiddling with the buttons, hence a bit not sharp enough. Will tell you in a later posting, why this old bulky Nokia is much better than the current beautiful models.

Watch where you point that finger

The world is so small, be careful not to step into someone's tail. Not to worry, I have not step on anyone's tail. Yet. I just find it so amusing that sometimes, stuff or remarks I made at the spur of a moment do come true in the end!

I have many friends and acquaintances who do not like PRCs. Simply because, according to my friends, these foreigners have invaded our small island and they can be found working all across industries. Last time was the infamous 小龙女 (Xiao Long Nu), a local term given to those PRC ladies who came here to dig a rich man/husband or other people's husbands. Recent years, PRCs, men and women have thronged here for (proper) working opportunities.

So my friends were exasperated whenever the topic of "PRC" was brought up. One main grouse against these foreigners was their boorish behaviour, loud and rude, something our locals find so hard to get used to. I often told my anti-PRC friends, c'mon, not all eggs in the basket are rotten. There are some PRCs who are quite nice actually. I have come across many PRCs or worked with them before, and they were nice people underneath their loud facade. I have met a few PRCs who are soft spoken, capable, kind and helpful. And I have met some who were actually in a sorry plight and my heart went out to them.

During one "complaining" session with my buddy, she was telling me about some PRCs she met on the train, at the restaurant, etc.. My buddy is working in a well-known Singapore conglomerate. I told her, "Aiyah no need to lose cool over these people lah. Who knows, what if one day a PRC becomes your big boss?" A few days ago, she emailed me "Your wish come true, now my BIG BOSS is PRC! Haha!!". I had a good laugh. See lah, if you've got one finger pointing at someone else, you've got the rest of them pointing back at you. Do you agree with that statement?

I "anyhow say" also can come true. A few weeks ago, I was casually remarking to someone I should buy (4D) for her number since it was her birthday. I even mentioned the number. The very next day, the exact number came out! And I DID NOT buy !!*&#&^#*%$!!! >_<"

P.S. I also have a vision that Dr Vivian Balakrishnan may become our future Prime Minister ..... hmmm.....

Yummy!

I tried this simple Teochew noodle stall along Sam Leong Road and it was spectacular. I am usually not a big fan of fishball noodles (I prefer Bak Chor Mee) so this caught me by surprise.

I ordered the dry version of kway teow and yellow noodle combination, with a little chilli. I do not like too much chilli added as I do not want the dish to be overshadowed by spicy chilli (unless the food is that bad). I wanted to taste the original flavour. For $2.50 a bowl, they were really really generous with the ingredients - fishballs, pork slices, fishcake, fish dumpling, beansprouts, lettuce, mushrooms, and EVEN slices of fried salted fish!

After mixing the noodles and ingredients, the first taste was heavenly. I am the type who rarely order fishball noodles outside because most of the time it was mediocre. So for me to actually like this one, it was really good. The fishballs were not as crunchy as some stalls, but they were homemade because they were real soft, light and juicy. There were many slices of mushroom and fishcakes. I was so impressed and preoccupied with eating the noodles that I forgot to drink the soup.

This Teochew noodle stall won me over, hands down. No wonder they were rated highly by TV food program as seen in a poster in front of the stall. They are in a corner coffeeshop called Kim San Leng coffeeshop, and the stall name is 阿河 (Ah He) Teochew Noodles. Try them if you are nearby!

Lazy cook's dishes

Haven't been cooking for a few weeks, because was plain lazy, and because the weather was too hot, so I couldn't bring myself to sweat over the stove. Tonight had the chance to cook again. It took me about an hour to cook these.

I have 2 big bunches of Extra Dwarf Pak Choy (or Nai Pak) and some bacon. So I stir fried the bacon and added them to the Nai Pak with chopped garlic. Bacon always make any dish sweeter in taste, and the Nai Pak was further enhanced by the Woh Hup Vegetarian Shiitake Mushroom Sauce I used as flavouring.
I cooked Prawns in Sweet Sour Sauce. I just love the look of fresh big prawns with shells intact. I added chopped garlic and onions before adding the sauce. It tasted ok I guess because my nephew snapped up most of the prawns, he finally learnt how to peel and de-shell a prawn properly. I personally prefer just steamed prawns with chinese wine.

This dish of Szechuan veggies and fried bean curd (tau kwa) and pork is a regular in our meals as it can go with rice or porridge. All the ingredients were sliced thinly into tiny pieces and stir fried with garlic and a little salt as the szechuan veggies are already salty.

Last but not least, Braised Duck Wings. Of course I didn't cook them, haha! Mom bought these as they were her favourite. Braised Duck Wings do not have much meat, as meat is not the unique feature of this Teochew dish. It was the way the wings were specially braised in soya sauce and what-nots, that makes the dish irresistible. The taste of the slightly salty wings and the skin were so tender that it melts in your mouth. Some people like to eat it as-is with beer.

Enjoyable dinner. I bathed 3 times today though.... -_-"

Picture perfect

A year ago, before I shifted to my new house, I had planned what colours I wanted for the walls of each room. In the end I decided for each room, 3 sides of the walls would be pure white - not apple green white, not rose white and not bluish white etc.. but PURE white - and 1 side to be the one different dominant colour.

For my living room, I chose a very nice calming dark green for the wall where my TV was, so that my eyes would not tire while watching TV. I chose another brighter shade of green for the bedrooms. This is because my house faces East and the living room and my bedrooms are at the East and Southeast (both are of the "wood" element). Green belongs to the wood element. All my furniture are also wood, the Zen style, with lots of green plants. I chose the rest of the walls in the house pure white because my house is facing East and sitting on West, my main door at the West. West is metal element and white belongs to the metal element. I wanted the colours to be harmonious and to complement the house. And green is my lucky colour and white my wealth colour!

During renovation and painting time, lo and behold, the painter got the colours of the walls wrong and painted the other wall green instead. I said no, wrong. They repainted and still it was wrong, ended up I have 2 small sides of the walls painted the dark green. They did corrections twice and still got the combination wrong. So, me being soft hearted, said ok, leave the 2 walls green (each at opposite ends) since they looked alright, and I pity the workers to have to repaint the walls again. I thought the different colours could demarcate an invisible line between the living area and dining area (both are together in one big area space).

During the CNY I pasted one CNY poster on my green wall. And one tiny patch of the green paint would come off if I were to take out the poster afterwards. So unless I buy a painting to cover the patch, or leave the poster hanging there forever or I repaint the wall. I chose the last resort. First I could patch up the ugly hole. Second it would look brighter (eventhough it was not dark in the first place). Third, when we take group photos next time, there would not be a green and white background. Lastly, I could use the extra white paint to patch up any smudges on all my existing white walls. See, kill many birds with one stone. =>

So I bought white paint and brushes and personally painted the green wall to white, all in less than 2 hours. I am like that, when I made up my mind to do something, I would do it immediately and not wait (unless I was undecided, then I would procrastinate a longer time). Here is the final look. Although I like my green wall, I think it is brighter now and at least the entire stretch of wall is in the same colour now.

But anyway, I still have my green wall at my TV corner at the East area of the house, which was the original plan.

“If you paint in your mind a picture of bright and happy expectations, you put yourself into a condition conducive to your goal.” - Norman Vincent Peale

Mysticism on mystic knot

Recently I bought a small pouch to store my mala beads for prayers, because the older pouch was getting worn out. I did not want to just use any other existing pouches because no matter what, the mala beads is a holy object. And holy objects should be treated with respect, it must be pure and clean wherever it is placed. And my mala beads has been blessed by many gurus and high lamas. It is one object that is very precious to me.

This red pouch has a mystic knot on it and the zip behind, tied with a chinese coin and chinese red ribbon. It looks very "cheena" with the red and traditional mystic knot but I like it very much. Love at first sight.

The Mystic Knot is one of the most often used symbols. Being a combination of six times the infinity symbol, this feng shui knot symbolizes a long and happy life full of good fortune. The Mystic knot is sometimes called the endless knot as it is said to "swallow its own tail".

In Buddhism, the mystic knot is one of the 8 magical auspicious objects. It reflects the Buddhist philosophy that existence is one endless round of birth and rebirth. In spiritual tradition, this knot is often regarded as lucky knot.

At a less spiritual level; the knot is the perfect emblem for undying love. It is a symbol suitable for ensuring that the romance in marriage will last. It represents a long life uninterrupted by separation, heartbreak, setback or suffering. A symbol for longevity and endless togetherness and also signifies good health. As a feng shui cure, the mystic knot represents a harmonious flow of auspicious energy uninterrupted by any setbacks, accidents or misfortunes.

It is believed that the presence of the feng shui mystic knot will benefit every aspiration of your life.

Would you be there?

I saw this old couple in a neighbourhood park. The old lady was in a wheelchair and the old man had his arm around her shoulders. I was touched.

"When you love someone, let them know.

You never know what will happen the next minute.

Learn to love each other for who they are, and not what they are."

If you don't mind... it's your mind

Spent a wonderful afternoon attending the Vesak Vesak Vesak Concert organised by the Buddhist Fellowship. Although I am not a member yet, understood from Angie Monksfield, the President of Buddhist Fellowship about the concert, so I reserved tickets from her. Admission was free, open to donations. It was held at Jubilee Hall in Raffles Hotel.

The Soracco choir from the Buddhist Fellowship serenaded us with many upbeat and touching songs and impressed through their vocals. The few lead singers such as Marcelly Suhali, SueAnn Chia and Vivy Suhendra put up a wonderful performance. These kind souls were mostly volunteers involved in BF who gave their precious time for this event. The objective of BF is to strive to propagate the Dharma in new and creative ways whilst promoting fellowship among Buddhists, through contemporary language and form.

The guest performer was one of Singapore’s most respected and sought-after vocalists, Robert Fernando. His voice was full of emotional depth, a great crooner and a live wire, and he kindly did this pro bono, no fees charged.

A spectacular performance that commanded a standing ovation and loud cheers. A very "high" experience. Made me realise the Dharma is not just about serious teachings and meditation. The Dharma can come in different forms hence connecting with different individuals through the medium they can understand and get in touch with. Buddhism is about looking at and thinking about our own lives, and not through blind faith. It shows us how to understand ourselves and how to cope with our daily problems. "Peace come from within. Do not seek it without." - Buddha

Headed to Chin Chin Eating House at Purvis St after the concert, for early dinner. This was one famous traditional shop selling Hainanese chicken rice and pork chops and other dishes. I have been here a few times. My other favourite traditional Hainanese chicken rice shop is in Thomson Road.

We ordered the usual prominent dishes, their white chicken, and pork chops (which was fried and combined with green peas, potatos and ketchupy gravy). Also added my favourite - a huge plate of kang kong veggies. Hainanese Chicken Rice must go with their delectable chilli, which was piping spicy with ginger and dark soya sauce.

The real McCoy

I did a FB quiz about identifying people from their wax version. Here are some of them. Can you tell which is the real McCoy?

Well, I got 13 out of 14 correct! I only got Nicole Kidman wrong.

We happen to think that my father is a dead ringer for His Holiness Dalai Lama - from the side view, that is. What a dignified privilege. This photo was taken at Madam Tussauds in London.

Ray of light

Took this pix along a road today. I noticed the row of trees on both sides of the entire stretch of the road, and there were no cars. Thought this shot was a nice angle, where the trees "merged" on both sides. It was as if the sky was almost camouflaged by the trees, just showing a ray of light. Can you see the "ray of light"? Anyway, I am babbling nonsense if you don't know what I am talking about. :D

Last week I hurt my little toe. Kicked into something and it was so painful and swollen for the whole week that I couldn't wear proper covered shoes for too long. It hurts. Otherwise I would start to limp when walking. This was the first time a little knock on the little toe hurt so much. So ended I had to wear my slippers if I was going downstair. For important appointments, I had to limp, hehehe. This pix was taken inside my lift.

Feng Shui nightmares!

I have a guest room which no one sleeps in. And we've got 2 still-new King Koil single mattresses and an extra 28-inch TV brought over from the old house. So we stacked both mattresses up into a single size bed and left it and the TV in the guest room. And because no one would be sleeping in the guest room, I just "anyhow" arranged the bed as shown below in the beginning.

But recently my mom began to sleep frequently in the guest room, because 1) father was "imperfectly" snoring too loudly disturbing her, 2) my father caught a throat infection and was coughing away, she didn't want to get infected and 3) she has her private space reading in the guest room. But this got me feeling a little uneasy with the way the furniture was arranged as it was a little "salah" (wrong) in the first place.
I drew this layout to illustrate. First, the bed. From what I learnt, the bed should never face the door directly. This is because of the "shar qi" that is coming from the door when one enters the room. See the poisonous arrows hitting the bed? Do not sleep with your feet facing towards a door, this is known as the 'coffin position'. In feng shui they say that a bed aligned with the door resembles a coffin that is always taken away feet first. When your feet are in line with the door, you lose your energy at night/ your energy gets weaker, as it is not properly contained, so to speak. In feng shui, doors serve as energy connectors between different areas, thus they always have a sort of pulling energy. If the bed is in line with the door, your energy will be constantly pulled at night. So it was definitely a no-no, a most unfortunate position to sleep in!

Next, the big TV screen is also facing the bed. Again more shar qi. The glass TV panel is akin to a mirror which reflects and this should never never face the bed. The basic advice is to avoid positioning them where you can see your own face whilst in bed. They are said to reflect one's negative energy when one is sleeping, thereby causing nightmares. This principle applies to any object that reflects like paintings, computer screens or metal surfaces.

I am no feng shui guru, but I think these are basic rules to observe. So I shifted and rearranged the bed and the TV and ironing board to the below. I covered the TV with a thick green table cloth as there was no where else I could place the TV.

After that, I explained to mom why I had to shift the bed. She immediately looked relieved. She quickly told me, in fact she was having nightmares recently whenever she sleeps in the guest room. She dreamt of her 3rd uncle (my grand uncle) in his old house. He was bedridden for many years due to sickness, and when he passed away, his body was moved out of the door feet first, exactly the "coffin position" in the dream. My mom was petrified because her uncle has passed away for more than 20 years! And it was the first time she dreamt of him, his passing away, his house, his room, exactly where the bed was facing the door!

I told mom she should have told me earlier! Imagine what other unfortunate consequences which could have happened, all because of the silly bed and TV! Hopefully, she would have a more peaceful sleep now and no more nightmares!

Nasi alamak!

Got up real early to meet someone. I couldn't sleep till 3am last night so it was a torture dragging myself out of bed this morning. After the meeting, it was still early, about 9.30am. So I went to look for breakfast. Was actually looking for "char beehoon" (fried beehoon ala Singaporean breakfast style, fried plain beehoon with bean sprouts). But the place I was in were mostly cafes. Ended in Toast Box instead, the most "local" joint I could find.

I ordered Nasi Lemak, the traditional malay style, fragrant coconut rice wrapped in banana leaf. It only contained ikan bilis peanuts and a small fried fish and chilli. I added the otah. Well, not the most fragrant nasi lemak I had eaten (too dry). I should have gone for McDonalds breakfast instead, as it's been a long time since I had my favourite sausage mcmuffin. Anyhow, I got my fix of Kopi-C to keep me awake for the rest of the day.

Fig & Olive

Met a long-time-no-see friend for late lunch at 3pm for an alliance meeting at Fig & Olive. It is a restaurant serving Mediterranean cuisine with dishes like sweet and savoury soups, cold & hot sandwiches, pastas, fresh salad and ala carte main meals. They supposedly consider their food healthy, nutritious and delicious.
I ordered the Grill Dory Mushroom. The grilled herb dory was fantastic with creamy mushroom, tomato sauce, fresh salad with pasta. My friend ordered the Maghribi Chicken with Olive Rice. The chicken was grilled with herbs with Mediterranean style sauce served with Olive rice and fresh salad. We then shared a big portion of hot brownies with ice cream. I had to have my Cappucino (with macadamia flavour).

At first, the restaurant was empty at that off-peak time. However right after we sat down to eat, people started to stroll in gradually. My friend said he usually brought in customers wherever he goes. And I exclaimed "me too!". You see, wherever shop/restaurant I walk into, usually people would start to stream in as well. So we both brought in quite a number of patrons today at that ungodly hour. Haha!

Any owner wanna pay and engage me to sit in your shop or restaurant as a "tua pek gong" or "zhao cai mao" to bring in the crowds?? :P

Kamsa-hapnida!!!

Final posting on my Korean trip a few years ago. There were many places we went and just too many photos. We went to 2 theme parks but I'm not a fan of theme parks, so just enjoy the snapshots and some recaps....This was in Everland, which looked a little like Disneyland with its colourful shops and rides. In Lotte World, again another filming site for a Korean drama, its posters everywhere. So I dutifully snapped this merry-go-round, which was significant in that show. And I also helped take photos for the fans *roll eyes*.

The clown also came.... Pumpkins were everywhere. We even wore one! It's Halloween! Koreans include pumpkin in many of their dishes. I like to take photos of hawkers and the food though..... Passed by interesting looking shops.
We were even brought to see little provision shops significant to yet another Korean drama. One shop had all the scribbles and signature of the visiting fans on their walls, together with posters and photos of the idols. And more shops. I only wished I had time to drink soju and eat their street food in these little joints. The clear blue waters with the contrasting Jusangjeolli (rock pilars) in Jungmun Daepo Coast, Jeju Island. How I wished I could soak in the sea water there..
I love this shot of the fishing port of Seopjikoji with the blue seas and mountains.
These Gods of Jeju Island, made of stones, governing Seongsan Sunrise Peak.

The dream-like Yongpyong Resort early in the morning 7 o'clock.

Sadly we had not much time to shop throughout the entire trip. We were at Dongdaemun, Itaewon and Namdaemun but given only 30 minutes to shop at each place. How to shop??! Watching Korean people was interesting... I must say the Korean teens and young adults, boys and girls, were mostly above-average good-looking (with or without help from the doc). And they were well dressed.

This pair of kids were so adorable.
The border between North and South Korea has a nice coastline. How nice if I could catch a glimpse of Kim Jong-Il at the other side and get his autograph. Hehe.

A lovely huge Buddha sitting at the feet of the exhilarating Mt Sorak, with the splendor of Autumn.

A special stranger I got to know on the cable car ride to Mt Sorak, and her chubby baby boy, Hyun. I noticed her because she was carrying her precious load behind her back and climbing Mt Sorak alone! Admirable! She even sent me photos of Hyun after I came back from Korea. I too sent my snapshots of her by email.
Passed by this hotel .... reminded me of Europe.

Think this was the sunset, misty and cool.
The river that hath runneth dry, the stone bridge has become a white elephant somehow.

You know who this is, right?..... from the Teddy Bear Musuem in Jeju Island.

My last photo of South Korea .... on the way to the airport... I just like this shot so much. Goes to show we can take nice photos of anything, no matter how insignificant they are.

A beautiful season to visit South Korea, with beautiful memories.

Kamsa-hapnida!!! Even "thank you" in Korean sounds like "kam sia" (thank you in Hokkien).

Only wish I had bumped into Lee Young Ae though....