Right Tools

The schools of fishes were difficult to catch until B1 caught a few.  He was fast and I learned from him.  Then I bought 16" net which works even better catching more fishes but also losing the fishes most of the time.  The fishes are very fast at evading my net.  This evening, I bought an even bigger net with big mesh.  So the resistance is low and my speed improved dramatically.  So now I caught even more fishes.  I just need big mesh net for bigger fish and fine mesh for ghost shrimp.  To catch the right sea creature, you need the right tools.  It is also a learning experience.  Everytime I improve in figuring out the habits of the fish and then buying the right tools.

Famous Amos

I was reading the news about Amos reposting his video.  This boy has talent.  The video was well done with arguments supported by pictures.  He may be the next the Ho Kwon Ping who was very talent in writing and was jailed for his views.  Now he is part of establishment and a leader.  The difference is Ho come from a wealthy family and he is very good in business.

Angel Fish

I am lucky to catch an angel fish looking fish this evening.  Also caught some small fishes that were different from the regular fishes I caught.  So I can observed them.  It is fun to see the variety.  It was very hard to catch the fishes when the waves are strong.  So I am lucky to get different types today.  It is motivational to have good catch!

Meeting New Colleagues

I met with a new colleague and his Indonesian guy for lunch today.  He has a lot of stories to tell.  He is very vivacious and seem to enjoys talking a lot and asked a lot of questions.  He has two daughters one 25years and the younger 21 years old.  So he does not have the any major financial handcuffs.  This guy lives in Puchong.  I thought Puchong is quite a good place in KL but he did not like LRT being built there.  I am not so familiar with the suburbs of KL, so could not engage with him on the location.

My company keeps buying up other companies to grow.

Taka Day

I have no idea why 10% discount in Takashimaya bring in the crowds.  We go there for lunch due to the Taka day.  There we met our neighbour looking for deals.  We lunch in B2 Yokohama tonkatsu stall and order the SG50 meal for $50.  It has 3 tonkatsu and 3 shrimps with 3 rice and two curry sauce.  B2 and B3 enjoys the meal.  B3 continues to have his Godiva chocolate ice cream cone and followed by two scoops of Hokkaido ice-cream.  He is a consumate sweet tooth as he also bought a pack of gummy from Cold Storage and candy balls from Harrods. 

We had a relaxing day today. 

Tiny Ghost Shrimps

This afternoon at Punggol Beach, B1 and I got lucky and caught ghost shrimps.  I also managed to catch them once.  After that they disappeared and it was hard to look for them again.  B3 was fascinate by the shrimp because he only saw it after a while.  We also brought back an active crab.  It swim about well.  I hope it stay alive for long time.  The hermit crab is doing well.  My goby fish is still around.  The only thing is most of the pistol shrimps seems to have disappeared although I still hear the popping sounds.

Fat Duck

I was walking toward Far East Plaza for Japanese bbq set lunch but was not feeling hungry.  So I thought I will divert to the Maison Kayser bread shop/cafe for coffee and crossiant.  As I was going down the escalator, I saw Fat Duck Cantonese Resturant!  Fat Duck is world's top 50 resturants according to the Internet.  It looked new with all the bouquets there.  I checked with the waitress manning the reservation and she informed me that it is their 2nd day.  I am no. 4 on the queue, so decides to wait since I am not that hungry anyway.

Fat Duck is like the traditional hawker food in Hong Kong.  I had braised beef noodle and the soup is excellent with strong prawn taste.  I also tried their crispy pork belly and it is not as good as Imperial Treasure or Hua Ting.  The crispy bun with duck is very good, a tad too sweet.  Siew mai is so so and their steamed rice flour roll on youtiao is quite unique as it contains prawns.  I like Imperial Treasure's za leung.

Maybe it is an expecation, since I know Fat Duck is a renowned resturant.  I prefers the food in Hua Ting.

Good Day

I have a good day.  When I went to catch the fishes today, the regular Malay guy told me he caught a small container of prawn or pistol shrimp for me.  Unfortunately, I did not go during low tide.  However, I am happy to catch the small fishes and feed them to my arowana.  A boy with cast net gave me a prawn and fish he caught.  It was much bigger but the fish did not survive the trip home.  The prawn did and is now happily in its new home in the aquarium.  I wonder how the crabs are doing especially the big one.  I do not see it swimming about.  The hermit crab is still doing well.

Also I caught some transparent shrimps.  It is very interesting.  The shrimps are impossible to see in the water.

Learning to catch Longkang Fishes at the Seaside

Catching the small fishes under the jetty requires skills, speed and patience.  The fishes are extremely fast and volatile.  They can dart away from my nets easily.  Usually, I caught sand as well in my haste.  My net is fraying very quickly.  The first few nettings are good and after that the fishes become wary and going deeper into the water.  I am glad I managed to catch some of the fishes.  It is rewarding when the elements of skills and luck are required for the activity.

Big Sea Crab

I caught a sea swimming crab that is rather large.  It may be small for eating but big for aquarium.  I took it home to see how long it can survive in my tank.  I find the water in my small tank in the living seems a little toxic to the fishes I caught.  So I change the water almost totally.  It seems the fishes are doing quite well except I do not know how long they will last without food from the sea.  The swimming crab is in the large tank outside and may survive longer as there are quite a few creatures in there including a large hermit crab and many prawns.  Catching live fishes is quite tiring as it requires fast reflexes and a lot of bending down.  It is good for back exercise and core muscles.  I should strengthen back and core so that I do not get so sore after my "catching" session.

Monday!

It is a busy day with conference calls.  Life in a big organisation is meetings, meetings and more meetings.  I am glad to meet customers.  It is not easy in a big company as the top management wants information to the nth degree.  They do not realise the demand is preventing the employees from doing what they are hired to do.  Anyway this is life in a bureaucracy.

Charcoal BBQ!

We had charcoal bbq in UE Square for lunch on Saturday.  It is quite dear and B2 was not with us.  So we walked over to Liang Court and bought Japanese style meats for bbq so that B2 gets to try out as well.  So Saturday night dinner is table top bbq. But we had too much meat and mummy save the leftovers.  So tonight's dinner is table top bbq again.  This time, it is much better as we learned from experience.  I now make sure the charcoal are red hot all the way inside the core.  Also B1 bring out two other tongs.  So we now have 3 tongs instead of one.  Although the cooking area is the same, the cooking is still much faster than last night.  My boys enjoys the dinner.

The only downside is we get bitten by mosquitoes.  So I have to find a way to combat the mosquitoes.

Good to be Home

Travelling give me a chance to enjoy authentic ethnic food like Japanese or Thai or Philippino.  However, nothing like home taste of satay, fishball noodle, wanton mee or bak kut teh.  Teh si or teh halia is not available in other countries or difficult to get even in Malaysia.  I am glad to be home and will not be travelling next week. 

Suntec City is now opened with many shops still not ready.  The shops have all changed.  It is totally confusing as there are extensive realignment changing the flow of human traffic.  At least they have Cold Storage and Giant.  But the carpark charges are so expensive now.  So it is not advisable to stay too long.

We are very lucky that we managed to pick B1 and B3 on our way home.  B1 called when he was on the train and we told him to get off and go to the pick up point.  We circle back and pick him up from Raffles City and we waited at Sophia Road until 7pm and pick B3 after his tuition class.  It is just so amazing luck!

Singapura Resturant Roppongi

I saw this resturant in my last trip or the trip before.  I tried to go there but it was not open for lunch yet.  Yesterday, the clouds were low and I turned back.  This evening, I got lucky that my evening call was postponed to tomorrow morning.  So I went there to taste how Singapore food taste like in Tokyo.  I ordered Katong Laksa and cucumber in garlic sauce.  I must say Singapore food in Tokyo is not so good.  Laksa is ok but the sliced meat is stale.  So after my dinner, I tried to go to my favorite yakitori but it is full.  So I have to go for Tonkatsu to fill up my stomach.  So no need to go back to Singapure Roppongi again.

Enjoyable Walk

I took a long walk in the afternoon around Roppongi.  It is nice weather and the streets are full of people all the time.  Lunch was with my colleague at Bubbly.  Pulled pork sandwich which was ok.  Bubbly is not the best choice but no queue during lunch time.  I was to BIC camera and browse all the gadgets available.  This time I bought a cheap sunglass for cycling.  My current sunglass which I bought from a Golf shop in Takashimaya is discolouring.  So it is fine to have a sunglass which I can use while cycling. 

It is nice to walk about town and enjoys the sights, smell, people and the busyness of it all.  I planned to go to Singapura Resturant to try out the Singapore food in Japan but I change my mind as the sky was dark and ominous.  So I had ramen beside my office instead in case it rained.  It was not raining when I finished dinner.  I had Starbucks coffee before going back to my room and that is when it rains. 

It is nice inside shelter when the weather is bad outside.  I can hear the rain.  I always enjoys watching snow falls in winter out of the window in my Colchester home in Oakville.

Office

It is lunch break now and I am blogging to pastime and relax.  The weather is pretty cool but not cold.  I had Italian food for lunch, it is ok.  Would have prefer ramen.  Meeting with my new Japanese colleagues is interesting.  We have two new guys.  The junior guy is pretty perceptive and asked a lot of intelligent questions.  He speaks pretty good English.  I think he will go far.

Tokyo!

It is a long way to Tokyo but the flight is pleasant when the IFS is chatty and starts conversation with me.  I have a headache during the flight as the low pressure and lack of sleep last night affects me.  After I land, I walk to Roppongi to the bookshop.  My favorite science kits was at a discount!  So I bought some and even one repeat kit as B3 did not succeed in making it properly.

I had dinner with an ex-colleague whom I have not seen for almost 30 years.  It is just amazing!  He is a grandfather of 4 boys.  His son started family early.  He became a grandfather at the age of 49.  Today, he is 62 years old.  His son is 20 years old or thereabout when he has his first son.   the boy ran his own real estate company and grandpa did not need to help out at all.  A contrast with another ex-colleague of mine whose he says he needed to support his stepdaughter.

We had shabu shabu for dinner.  He like it because it is a buffett.  It is where they bring American visitors as they eat a lot.   

Saturday Night Out

No home cooked dinner tonight.  B2 came back home hungry and looking for dinner.  He ate up the leftovers of lunch we had in Paradise Inn, Seletar Mall.  So we decided to have some light meal out.  B1 suggest Swee Choon dim sum.  We went there at about 8:30pm and there was a long queue of young people waiting.  Cars were plentiful and carpark nil.  So we drop the idea and continue to Raffles City to try the Hong Kong dim sum in the underground mall.  Unfortunately, the last order is 8:30pm and we reach about 8:45pm.  So no joy. 

Raffles City is very crowded and full of people eating at the resturants and cafes.  We stopped by the Hand Burgers and while deciding, we realised we had tried Hand Burgers before when it was new in 303.  I remember it was not good enough for us to go back again.  So we decided to go to Mummy's original choice of Skinny Pizza.  We had two pizzas, truffle fries and chicken soup.  Not bad.  It is nice to have a night out once a while.

Tomorrow is early start to go to Tokyo. 

Water is Clean Today

Punggol water is clean today.  It is a pleasure to have clean water and I collected them to replenish my aquarium.  There are lots of small fishes but impossible to net.  So I must buy a trap to catch them.  Most of the time the water is quite dirty or greenish yellow in colour.  When the water is clear, I can see schools of small fishes.  I need to buy a trap to catch them and put them in my aquarium.  I had a white swimming crab in the tank and it is nice to see it moving about.

Happy

My saltwater aquarium is full of algae.  So visibility is poor.  Why am I happy?  It is because all the shrimps I caught are alive and well after so many days.  They are eating the algae as I clean up the wall of the aquarium.  I used algae killer to clean up the tank.  My pond is turning green too.  So it is time to add the chemical.  I also caught a white crab and there is a large hermit crab wandering about in the tank.  So it is a miniature seaside landscape.

Return of the Condor Heroes

I was in Bishan library and was going have lunch.  Usually, I borrow audio books to download to my phone to listen while cycling.  Instead of eating in silence I decided to borrow comics as they were on display at level 4 which is the same level as the AV section.  I borrowed Iron Man and Return of the Condor Heroes.  Iron Man is a little boring to me now.  I used to love it in Secondary School.  But Return of the Condor Heroes is very interesting.  So I borrowed more today to read.  It is light reading and the pictures are quite interesting. 

The storyline is very enjoyable.

Food Republic B1 Shaw Center

My guest from Korea was staying in Royal Plaza at the Scotts.  He is hungry for lunch.  He like the Toa Payoh Lorong 7 teochew mee pok.  Then he request for coffee local style not too sweet.  I checked with the girls in the dessert stall and asked if I can buy the drink from Toastbox and bring it over.  They said no problem.  I went to Toastbox but ordered takeaway and chat with the counter girl.  I told her I forgot that Food Republic and Toastbox belong to the same boss. She said the drinks is not allowed to over Food Republic as the cups will be lost forever.  So I realised it is the same as hawker center.  My Malay teh halia stall owner told me before if his cups go over to the Chinese side, they will break his glasses.  This is the ruthless world of competition in the world of hawker centers and food court.  Even thought Food Republic is also own Toastbox, the drink stall must be a tenant and hence feels that the drink should come from Toastbox.  Seems like it is bad blood.

Lucky Evening

It is low tide this evening at about 6pm.  So I went to Punggol Point as usual to catch the ghost shrimps.  At first, could not get any shrimps.  Then I found by accident that I need to "beat the grass to scare the snake".  So after I put my net down, I start to beat the water around the rocks and scare the shrimps into my net.  The timing has the be right.  Many times, the waves come in and wash away all shrimps that are already in the net.  Still overall, I caught many shrimps and my goldfishes and arowana had a feast!  I save a lot of them in my saltwater aquarium.  So nice to have a good harvest!

Fixed Allowance

This evening, I pick B1 and B2 from Serangoon Station and then B3 at Ang Mo Kio.  B3 came in with a Koi drink on his hand.  His eldest brother jumps on the fact I have not given B3 fixed allowance and insisted he will give B3 the $20 and I will reimburse him when we reached home.  It is time for B3 to get fixed allowance so that he can learn to save money and if he like to spend on fancy drinks or snacks, he can save on his daily allowance.  This way he can manage his movies and outing with his senior where they eat expensive meals.  B3 has not really spend much until recently when he go for sport competition.  So we need to put him on fixed allowance so that he spends within his means.  It is something both B1 and B2 insisted on.  I am in total agreement as this and will have to implement this right away.

Long Queue in ICA

It is a super long queue early in the morning at Immigration Authority.  I thought it is best to go early.  It is still the best but my goodness, the queue at 7:45am is 30m or longer.  I actually arrive before 7:30am and thought there were no one waiting at the main entrance.  So went for a cup of tea at the hawker centre across the Rochor Canal.  Actually, the queue starts from behind the building.  Luckily, with appointment, I managed to get my passport fairly quickly.  I am done by 8:45am.

Brunch at Home

I went to the hawker center to buy a new fishing net for catching ghost shrimps.  We decided to buy the kway chap back for breakfast.  But since it is past 11am when we reached home, it is more of a brunch.  I also bought half a soya sauce chicken.  Total meal costs $36.  Expensive for hawker meal but far cheaper than in a resturant.  It is nice to eat at home.  We had good conversation with our boys.  But we all get hungry fast and were snacking the whole afternoon with wafer cream biscuits, chocolate and cashew nuts.

In the evening, Punggol Point was full of holiday makers and many were catching crabs and pistol shrimps.  I am surprised with so many shrimps caught, there are still many around.  The sea is a renewable resource. 

Fukoka

I just browse through my friend and fellow blogger's blog on his trip to Fukoka and then to Yufuin at BT's Food Blog.  This bring back memories of my holiday trip to Fukoka.  It is a nice city and it is also the first time I enjoyed eating sushi although I ate only two pieces.  The price is so reasonable and the seafood so fresh.  The Tokyu Hands bring back memories of my interest in Live Steam Locomotives.  So I bought one recently and it is on display in my home office. 

Fukoka is a small city with reasonable cost of living.  The wonderful thing about a big country is the possibility of changing your cost of living by going to a different city with no change in currency, culture or language.  In Singapore, cost of living in Queenstown is no different from say Toa Payoh.  Only different is property price.

High Tea at my Eldest Sister's

My eldest sister host a high tea session at her home.  We arrived late as we were cutting out the French loaves into thin slices and baking it in the oven.  I was making bread chips for the high tea.  So we arrived a little late.  The kids are in the bedroom while the adults talk.  We did not spend much time as B3 is at home since his exam is near.  My niece is travelling to Hong Kong for work.  She is in a good job although she complains it is not in her job scope.