death Lunch

It was a death lunch at Bishan.
Just take a good look at these pictures:

Oh glorious sashimi

The all time expensive $18 packet of sticky Jap rice.

Someone will roll, someone will cut. Everyone else will eat.

Whoopido. Shioks.

Death desserts.

I'm not including the corochan and beard papa. It's too much to bear. And yes, I had a good lunch and one that was enjoyable. Since the days of shifting, I have not yet had such a good time of fun. Why did I say it was fun anyway? Perhaps it was the hands-on which made all the difference compared to buffet lunches elsewhere. I would recommend this if price is not a concern.

Phew, not much talking but just looking at the pictures makes me hungry. Time for lunch.

Oh hang on, I was introduced to 'Hanabi' at King's Arcade just last night. For approximately $35/pax, you get Ala Carte buffet over the dinner table! Yummilicious. Had trays following trays of sashimi & tempura, grilled salmon (*fav* & eyes glowing), Agedashi tofu (*another personally fav*) and a new found delight for the palate: Salmon skin. Hope to capture some items the next time I go.

I'm down w a bad throat already, so I should rest... for tp. muahaha... Some one suggested that I go for a Hep A/B jab, is it necessary?

Oh, how can I forget...


Dark Chocs.
Caution: This one is a no-go. Fail.

Happy breakfast & lunch

Let do this step by step. First, it was the fulfilment of a long awaited breakfast. I was totally thrilled at the thought of being able to bring it into actualisation. A casual thought was magnified after looking through the pictures of the Ipoh trip. Slow, relax and enjoyable. I have always imagined myself sipping Teh Tarek by the coffee shop, munching away the crumbs that fall at every bite and mixing soya sauce w half-boiled eggs. That, of course, does not include resting my foot on the same chair that I'm seated on. Whoopido!

All thanks to James & Hsien, who agreed to meet up at the Bendemeer Market. I love the morning crowd albeit some will really tweak your nerves until you want to just bring in a trolley and block the walkways. You get to see how mothers queue up just to get the kids their favourite 'You Tiao' (apparently from this stall called "Eat-Shall-Know"), Carrot cake, simple yet sufficient in amount a $2 bowl of noodles, Soya bean drink and of course the crispy pancake which is part of the package.

This wonderful morning, we had a few death items. Death because the oil they contain will probably remain in you until you vanish from the surface of this earth. It's deadly. Of which, I will show you some pictures of what we had... just a small portion of it.

'You tiao' - mostly flour. Wrong, should be mostly oil. But come on, admit it, it tastes great when it's fresh out of the wok, the deep sea of oil! James was after our lives, he bought 5 of them and we almost couldn't finish them.

"Carrot Cake" - again, we have a wonderful combination of flour, eggs (together with many other ingredients, but we're not talking recipes here) and our all time killer - Oil. Over a huge flame & heat, the tiny pieces of carrot cake will prance and dance on the wok. To my surprise, this order came with prawns! Haha, and it's not any more expensive than the usual prices. 3 hungry men finished it in a short span of time. It's definitely oily, with all honesty, but no one says breakfasts are meant to be all healthy. Wait a minute, oily stuff are not all that unhealthy. I know I can't back myself up for that statement made but I'm still for oily food and along with that, I know there're many supporters. Yummy!

That's one thing we cannot miss - Ji Zhong Fan. This is the SOP, standard plain flavoured. In recent years, as the Hong Kong cuisine gets infused into the various eating cultures of Asia, fillings are introduced. You must try the "Prawn" fillings. Personally, that's my favourite.

Muahaha, Hsien complained abt the coffee which tasted bad. Hence, I shall refrain from posting that picture up. But hey! Take a good look at this, satisfied look:

And This too!

Yummilicious.

That's for breakfast. It was a happy morning.

And as for lunch...stay tuned.

Eclairs from...

Yummy!

What a joy to receive this as a free sample when your parents do pastry. This isn't the first time Swiss Bake gave us samples. I'm got to admit elgin's one of the few who got to try it for free, and of course, gave comments for my Dad to work on. This time, I found them in the refrigerator.

The box was already inviting enough...

I took the liberty to open it and, to much pleasure, found in it 4 Eclairs. Let's see....1 for elgin, 1 for elaina, 1 for elden, and maybe 1 for quiche. So my parents, having tried aplenty of such stuff, shall just heard from us.

It all began with flour, eggs & water. A good proportion and mix will give u a decent dough. A properly timed baking length, wrapped with the right temperature almost transforms all types of dough into something so desirable for the palate. This one is no exception. =]

The usual ones found in bakeries often fall short on generousity when it comes to splurging the yummy chocs over the crusts. I can barely taste the chocs on 'em. It becomes eeeeclair instead. The other one, would fall into the category of containing too much fillings. Too much egg content in a 13cm long dessert is a 'no go' for me.

And so, what you are seeing are the Eclairs from Swiss Bake. I decided not to do free publicity by including the address and contact numbers of the shop. It's unfair, unethical and I don't get more food from doing that. I might even get sued for putting up a picture which they might feel I'm undermining the food. Anyway, go get it if you're already salivating. The thick layer of chocs was of course melted over slow fire and generously brushed over the crust. Should I lay my hands on the decoration, surely I'll shorten the length and increase the thickness of the cacao. Oh, did I also mention that the choice of chocs would make almost all the difference? (Oh wait, and here goes the first bite... yummy!) To j.s, it's NICE. shiokanathan.

The first bite sank deep and went right through. As it was left in the refrigerator for quite some time, it felt as though I tasted ice cream. Obviously it's not ice cream. The choc flavoured cream is yummy! Thick enough for a dessert and that made it even more filling. No joke, I normally stuff the entire eclair into the throat. But not this one. I had to take a few bites before reaching the end. Surely it's worth the price. (shHhh...)

Ah, what a treat to the taste buds. Gd nite. Food blog it shall be.

Chocs? Why not... But next up, would be the breakfast at Bendemeer Market tmr morning! Ganbatte!

Dark chocs

I read somewhere that dark chocs have antioxidants which are beneficial to the body, in particular to the heart. "Dark chocolate improves endothelial and platelet function."

If it's all that true and effective, then I think, elgin needs plenty of dark chocs. Somewhere, I also read that it is supposed to improve your 'mood' (don't worry, I dun go for such frills even if it's true.) I woke up this morning feeling lethargic and tired at the same time, as though I had a bad sleep or am pretty exercised in the morning. Ha! It was of course due to last evening's activities w mr. elden teng... age is indeed catching up with me if I still do not catch up with fitness. I can almost foresee the day as I travel to various places. Certainly not the best which I can present or tolerate with. This normally happens only at camps when sleep is so deprived not because I don't want to sleep. Man, I shall treat myself to 'power naps' today. Gan Batte!

Dark chocs bring only temporary comfort to the palatte. But when God withdraws, what is there that can afford any comfort to the soul? Comfort to the soul.

That, is more than anything, if ever, we should seek to satisfy.

Max Brenner Chocs (Dark chocs in particular!)

Haha, read this comment from a reviewer about dark chocs and I found it pretty interesting:

"In the beginning, the Lord created chocolate, and he saw that it was good. Then he separated the light from the dark, and it was better."

And thus, dark chocolates!

Anyway....

Introducing the not so new, but may be new to some, "Max Brenner Chocolate Bar" located along the walkway in Esplanade.

I wouldn't say it's exactly affordable for me since I didn't plunge straight into the menu. It was with much caution that I stepped into that compound. It was someone, like I said I wouldn't want to mention names..., who wanted to try out that chocolate bar. (Disclaimer: It's not a bar per se, it's just the name of the shop.) Well, I reluctantly agreed although I must admit that the chocs they serve are GOOD.

Now, let's get into the items:

This, in particular, and I would suppose, is a must try. It's called Suckao mainly for 2 simple reasons. "Suck", because you will have to suck the content through the metal straw made to be a stirrer as the same time. "Kao" because the content is made up of thick luscious rich kakao! whoopido

The little container is warmed up by a tealight candle planted just beneath it. The warm milk will be poured into it to go with the chocolate bits. It's akin to drinking from a fondue except that the taste is slightly differently. I personally prefer this because of its uniqueness and the kakao taste which 'rawks'.

First up, we have our very own adventure racer who was there. (See, I didn't mention names right?) Here we go!

Step 1: Pour content into warm container. Have it mixed with the milk to desired proportion and thickness.

Step 2: Stir the contents and put a smile to the camera!

Step 3: Pose! & get ready for a thick lusciously rich chocolate drink.

There we have it, the product.

For some reason, I can't get the white balance right and the colours are a little saturated almost to the blending point. I still don't know how to fix this with ps.

Well, all in all, an experience, for $6.

(We happen to have also tried the "Venezula Chocolate drink". That was flavoured 'milk' and thus, does not qualify for this series of posts.) Interestingly, to drink that, you are supposed to 'hug' the cup and drink directly like how you finish the bowl of yong tau foo. It's served in a 'hug mug', as you can guess.

Next up, we also tried the Belgium Waffles.

Simple item, topped with cherries and a single scoop of vanilla. Not much to go with except for the dark choc sauce over it. Not too overpowering, but good enough for a waffle. Somewhat, I can't get the white balance right again. I should just stick to outdoors but that would also be another bag of tricks to learn.

My advice, if you are getting your first pay (say data-entry, marketing executive @AC Nielsen, teacher, intern @mindef, etc etc etc, tuition, you name it..), then you can consider going to this place with chocolate lovers. I'm not excluding people who enjoy milk chocolate because they have it there too!

But, of course, for tight budgeted students (gone in just a few more weeks) like me, I would often think twice before stepping in to indulge in the nicely grown, thick and palatial chocs. It's delectable! but puts a straight hole into the pocket. You can't stop at just one cup, seriously... at least not for me. That was one reason why I refrained from getting any item off the menu that evening.

Seems like the posts on dark chocs have stirred up a slight commotion in the tagboard. I shall cease on talking abt dark chocs for a while, perhaps resume it in the near future. As for now, we'll focus on food. =]

Next destination: HERE.

yum yum! taipei's coming soon, soon.

Ritter Sport, for the sportsmen

Here we go again, yet another one on Dark Chocs.

This is one of my fav. labels: Ritter Sports. With all honesty, I enjoyed the "Rum & Raisin with Hazelnut" most. The colour of those words resembles that of the packaging for this lovely flavour!

Anyway, on the way home via Tangs, "The Cocoa Trees" shop caught my attention. Dark chocs were laying all around the tiny spaced shop. For a moment I felt I should just waste some time in that lil' shop right smacked in the centre of a walkway to the marketplace at the basement.

I went straight for this one:

From Misc

I was taken aback by the price for a while. It's not raised nor exorbitantly priced. In fact, it's cheaper than our supposedly friendly neighbourhood 7-11.

(I must say this, they practice price discrimination! The Ritter Sport sold in the YMCA 7-11 outlet is a disgusting $0.65 more than other outlets... yikes! *Eyes open wide with displeasure*)

Let's see, Ritter Sport has always held itself high in terms of quality branding. One of their branding tagline goes like this "Quality in a Square". With an attention catching tagline coupled with one of the more interesting way of packaging and how to open the pack, I have been bought over since many moons ago. I do have a couple of friends (I wldn't like to name names...ho ho ho...hahaha...) who have the habit of helping me finish the rum & raisin pack each time I purchase it. But hey, good stuff must share!

In every dark chocs, of decent quality, available, you can almost taste the subtle presence and traces of nuts or peanuts. For some reason, it's nice! Of course, the Godiva dark chocs stands out from this because theirs' are somewhat fine and without much traces of nuts as I vividly recall those moments. =] Not to worry! It's an unfair comparison anyway. So take it on your own & make sure you let it melt in your mouth.

Not fantastically fanciful but it's another recommendation!

Price: Affordable, except for the ridiculously priced 7-** at certain outlets.

Verdict: Pass. A pass would imply a must try, or can try and would not regret buying status. This is unlike the usual 'dark chocs' which watsons or ntuc tried to push sell through cut throat pricing. I was once cheated. That led to a lasting bad impression on them.

Stay tuned for more!

Next up, dark chocs with nuts.

Chocs on the Go!

The subsequence posts will be on Chocs.

Just for the record, Dark Chocs are my fav! Since the discovery of palates for dark chocs, I began experimenting various brands of chocs, of which, all have differing standards and strengths of its own. This time round, a white plastic bag laying innocently on the dining table caught my attention as I carried it from the car all the way to the dining hall on the 10th floor.

In it, contained treasures of various kinds. From nuts, to bitter chocs. According to "Snapper's fun facts", a person's eyes enlarge by abt 45% when he sees something of pleasure. Well, my eyes almost glittered with much surprise and joy when I saw the boxes laying flat in it. Without further delay, the masterhand reached in for the nicely packed black box. Ah ha! Here we go...

Kizami Cacao, 63%, is a real and rich tasting bitter chocolate! (the rest are in jap and I can't read a single bit of it)

Morinaga is pumping in lots of effort to broaden and, of course, retain as much of their customer base as possible by introducing chocs like this one you see here. Well, I fall into their category.

Here's one for your reference:

I shall keep the interior as a suspense until you finally discover it for yourself at the supermarts.

Clue: the pricetag tells me that my mom got it from Takashimaya at an affordable price (of course, anything beyond my means would be above budget... I'm still a budget student afterall.) For all that packaging and content which you will receive, it's worth it! yummy, late into the night and that's what that perks me up. I couldn't much resist it but to have this post quickly loaded.

This one tasted rather different. The nuts are subtle albeit its presence is not lacking as you chew on the cacao filled chocs. It melts pretty quickly in your mouth and before you know it, it's gone. So savour it!

Well of course, my favourite is still the Godiva dark chocs which gives me an overnight invitation to ulcers with all the cacao and pure flavoured bitter chocs. I once had 1 box to myself... after that, I had 4 ulcers for myself too. Man, weight the costs! For me, I'll choose the chocs. Muahaha..

For those who have yet to try the one being mentioned... Happy searching!

For cacao!

Back to TCC and back for MORE!

Alright, I can't resist but to take pictures of this dish. Before any words can describe it, let's take a good look at the savoury yummy dish!

Simply put, it's an item that consists of Tofu (pretty much chinese), Cheese (american) and Beef (done in a japanese style). Priced at something fairly affordable, slightly below the red note.

Place: TCC, SMU.

A closer look:

Here we go, topped with sesame seeds.

Had the opportunity to catch up with friends, DIG into their lives over the last few days and, albeit the shortness of time and tiredness of the body, information was quickly shared across a few conversations and of course, over food. The rainy weather made me almost immobile as I struggled to keep warm in the chilly library, often overcrowded with exchange students and a few inconsiderate yannebudanas. The Al fresco of TCC wasn't much better each time the cold wind blew. Sharing of lame jokes was like some kind of ice breaker. I saw them in my days when I was much younger. As though the world's going to continue spinning for me and nobody's ever going to stop me or deprive me from all the satisfaction that I shall derive from entertaining the flesh, with or without due innocence...

It's during such times that the journal comes in so handy and often, become a reflection in the mirror of our lives. I can't help but have thoughts running through my mind about how I have led this life thus far. Will I continue to look back with much regrets or am I going to give my utmost for the King?

I felt cornered, and then, all of a sudden, it seems, as though I was locked up in the cupboard and was briefly confronted with the truth. There was no running away and I knew I had to hear it from Him. How long more would He have to endure with this stiff necked generation? I am not spared from that category and I knew, I have to give my best in this race. There is no discounting or 'pay by instalments' of any sort, it was payment done up front. Jesus demonstrated that on the Cross. 1 time payment settles it all.

I have to give to my best all for the sake and glory of Him who rescued me and so deserves it.

Yet another makan place!

No no no... we didn't have them for a meal.

First up, I saw them at Sungei Road. Immediately, Alfredo and I made a run for it. Just in case...


The next best thing: a BB Junior's Cap found in Sungei Road.

Alright, here's what this post is all about!

Chellas! Found at Dunlop Street, along Little India. About 2 streets down from the 7-11 across Tekka Market. Fully vegetarian, no pork! no pork!

Here's what we had....


Nope, we didn't have this for a meal! But it was crunchie & fresh! Different from the packed ones found in supermarts.




Shiok right! A comment was passed on how happy (& cute) you look Alfredo! A good deal for Sizzler Dosa, topped with home made chips @$1.80/100g. I do wonder if this would go well with salt & vinegar..


Cheese Masala Dosa! A Whoopping Dosa with potatoes and mozarella cheese fillings. Seems harmless on the surface, absolutely innocent on the menu... To burn it off, you will need the use of Polar Heartbeat Watches to help u ease off the carbo with the optimum heart rate. Gosh, no joke. I almost couldn't finish it. Relatively affordable and a choice to go for if you're a lover of potatoes and of course, cheeeessee.

For a decently renovated restaurant, it's considered as relatively affordable and comfortable with air-cons blowing at your perspiration soaked tee-shirts. For some reason, this pair of lens seem to produce a 'shadow' effect at the edges which are actually pretty interesting. Can anyone tell me the proper term for this effect?

Ok man, now for some fun... Alfredo wanted to prove to me on how he can make the pigeons fly away by simply:

1. Walking into the midst of the pigeons
2. Lifting up both hands

and here's what we get...

1. His desired outcome of pigeons running away.

2. He, running away too. Not to mention the cheeky and satisfied smile on his face.

It happened all too quickly for me to react but only to laugh and immediately point and shoot. Getting to know another person is no easy task. Spending time together is definitely a plus point but talking things out makes all the difference. Not much relief teaching for me over the last few days and I must admit, apart from the $65 deficit everyday, it has been great resting and putting to thoughts issues which I left untouched for quite sometime due to a busy mind. Well, of course, a busy mind is what I scheduled myself to. However, it is only fair to allocate a decent portion of time to important things in life.

Good Friday is coming, and it's exciting.

In the twinkling of an eye

When the 'Return' key was pressed, it says that "the requested URL was not found on this server. Please visit the Blogger homepage or the Blogger Knowledge Base for further assistance."

A gd piece of setup now at large. Kudos to the authors with such flair in writing and, not to mention, artistic and talented skills in photo editing, notwithstanding the pressure of the possibilities of being found out, or even exposed, during the process of it all.

A brave young soul has stepped up to the occasion! G confessed that the army green mask belongs to him. Further interrogation reveals that there's another accomplice which he chose not to expose.

I must confess that my initial responses to the blog was much positive. I never laughed so much about myself until the appearance of the "Divine" blog. The post abt "Is the king being too obvious" was really funny albeit the poor editing on making me look like I was wearing the mask. Gd effort anyway.

Gambette!

Elgin is not an Egyptian

This post goes out to those who are lurking at the corner of your Flickr, Picasa or any photo holding locations online. They take awesome pleasure to download your pictures and use them in ways more than one so as to create, or even pro-create a pseudo character for you.

To those who's language in writing, evident skills in photo editing and, of course, your availability of time, have in ways more than one given you away, here're my thanks and appreciation to your effort and time despite your busy schedule in and out of school. =]

Oh wo hey yo look, one of your Agents left the mask with me. I don't even know how to wear that mask. It's army green in colour and I have seen one of you guys wear it before. Anyone want to claim that?

For more fun and laughter at someone's expense, here's it.