Rare Family Day

Yesterday, all my 3 boys are with us for lunch.  This is extremely rarely nowadays as B2 has rotating shift in Civil Defence and B1 has school projects.  We went to Plaza Singapore and after surveying all the resturants decided on a Japanese on level 4 in the new wing.  The resturan is just opposite Sukiyaki restant.  The food is not bad.  I ordered yakitori and they are poor cousins compared to Far East Plaza.

Cold Storage has food tasting in the atrium.  It was very busy.  Lots of people trying out fresh oysters.  I am not an oyster fan.  So, my boys and I went to the Cold Storage at B2 to see what we can get for dinner.  So of the hams are near expiry and have 50% discount.  Also the preserved or pickled veg like sundried tomatoes and bell peppers fill with feta cheese are on discount as well.  So we decided to get those for dinner.

In the evening, I fry bacon and eggs and heat up the hams.  We had a wonderful meal at home.

Best Traditional Green Bean Dessert

This old lady has been making Green Bean dessert for at least 45 years.  My wife is has discerning taste bud said it is the only Green Bean she like.  She has been featured in Newspapers and Magazine.  I know she has been selling traditional desserts closed to 50 years.  Her husband was the cook and she serve them.  Her husband passed on when I was still quite young and since then she has be a lone ranger cooking and selling without any help.

She make a mean green bean soup.  The mung beans are simmered till they are total like rice gruel.  The coconut milk make it rich and the sago is just right such that it is not too viscous not too watery.  I had been patronising this lady since I was in Primary School. 

Just Google Green Bean Soup Commonwealth she will pop up as she is recommended by many food bloggers.

Air Fryer

After we bought an air fryer, I have not use our toaster oven anymore.  Air fryer is quite convenient.  It also heat more evenly.  So frozen prepared food is so much easier to heat and serve.  Tonight we are too lazy to walk to Seletar Mall.  So I heat up Tay's fried chicken and chicken with beancurd skin together with premium hashbrown.  The food turns out well.  The chicken in beancurd skin is a tad too salty.  Hashbrown is really well done and do not break apart.  In toaster oven, the hashbrown usually breaks as I tried turning it over. 

The other advantage is I need not use aluminium foil.  Recently, there is an article in Straits Times that heating food in aluminium foil contaminated the food with aluminium which when ingest can cause alzheimer's disease.

I do recommend this gadget in every kitchen!

Timeline by Michael Crichton

I had not read a book where I bring it everywhere for a long time.  This is a good read!  I like the wormhole and setting in the 14th century France.  Time travel is like regular science fiction.  I skipped a lot of chapters and also just focus mainly on the historical parts.  The Assistant Professor stayed behind and marry Lady Claire even though he knows she is having affairs with powerful men.  He thinks she is looking for a protector. 

The final ending is the History team that was there found the tomb of the Assistant Professor of History.  He is buried beside his wife Lady Claire.  So history was changed by the time travel.

Incredible Queue for One Star

The Cantonese chicken and char siew stall queue just got longer!  It is quite long usually and after appearing on the news for winning a Michel Star, the queue become longer.  Many in the queue are taking selfies.  They are there to brag to their friends that they have tried the food.

I am glad I tried it before.  There are so many times I gave up.  I am glad I have eaten the Bak Chor Mee with a Star as well.  We actually went to the coffeeshop to try the Western Stall.  B1 was intrigue by the long queue and decided to queue to try.   It is not bad.  I ate there twice.  The serving is really tiny.  I have no problem as I usually like to order for many stalls.  This coffeeshop has only 2 stalls.

Reading is Relaxing

In Jakarta, I was in the hotel room and the tv was on as usual.  A show Timeline came on and it was interesting to me.  Nowadays, it is so easy to research.  Using internet and the search engine.  I found out that the movie was an adaptation from a book by the same title authored by Michael Crichton.  I went to Orchard Library to look for it but it was not there.  Today in AMK, I luck out.  I enjoy reading at the poolside with a slight drizzle.  It is cool and relaxing.  I had hot coffee with milk, vegetable crackers and organic prunes. 

It is heavenly.

Incredible Clean and Neat

My balcony is full of dead plants due to the drought earlier.  Outside belong to me, however I am too lazy to maintain.  Even when I clean, I just sweep the floor.  My wife spent 3 hours cleaning up the balcony and did such a wonderful job.  Now it is so clean and presentable. 

As the Chinese saying goes "It takes a hundred men to make a camp, it takes just a woman to make it a home."

Tea Leaves from Indonesia

I opened a pack of tea leaves which I brought back from Indonesia.  The leaves have lots of twigs and inconsistently cut.  This is why they are cheap.  The smell is strong.  So I know why I like Teh Botol.  It is because the sweetness level is high.  Jasmine tea is drank with rock sugar.  The colour of the tea does not look good either.  It is a cross between green and red and dirty looking.  Unlike tea from Vietnam, China, India or Sri Lanka.  The colour is clear whether red, green or brown.

Carrefour

There is nothing nearby my hotel.  There is no footpath on the road.  The road has heavy traffic and is very dusty and smell of exhaust from trucks and cars.  Luckily there is a Carrefour next door.  But the selection is quite poor.  However, they do have teh botol.  So I bought teh botol and tea leaves.  At least I have something.  There are plenty of cars, so the city has plenty of disposable income and the economy is doing pretty well considering the traffic jams everywhere.

I am glad at least there is a supermarket.

Hotel Santika

I checked in the hotel late last night!  The day start early preparing breakfast for my boy and then getting to the airport.  I land 10 mins early while my colleagues from Malaysia had the flight delayed as usual.  Instead of landing 1010, the scheduled time, it landed 30mins late.  Then we have to wait for another half an hour for my colleague to get his luggage.

We went to his hotel first as our meeting room is there.  Nasi Padang was our first meal.  They just send in a bunch of plates and then we just keep eating.  At the end of the meal, they just count the plates and tally with a record of what we ate.  Any plate not touched is returned to the display and waiting for the next customer. 

We had buffet dinner and then head off to our hotel.  It was another two hours ride.  So we checked in at about 10pm or 11pm Singapore time.  What a long day.

Jakarta

Tomorrow morning, I am going to Jakarta for work.  It has been a long time since I went to Jakarta.  I am looking forward to it.  I remember the traffic jams, dirty canals and best Indonesia food especially bbq fish.  Harum manis was such good price too when in season.  I remember Chinatown and buying bird's nest.  The prices are in 10K or ban in Hokkien.  But when translate to Sin, the price is quite cheap.

Jakarta, here I come!

Library@Orchard

My mrs want to borrow some magazines available in Library@Orchard.  So we go during lunch time.  The seats are plentiful and comfortable.  The books selection are quite good.  I am most impressed by the fact it has the most complete of all the books by David Baldacci.  Ang Mo Kio, Bishan amd Toa Payoh libraries do not have as many.  Maybe less people borrow books at this library.  I borrowed two books that I have not read yet.  I enjoyed reading thrillers.  It can be riveting and hard to put down the book sometimes.  The carpark is fairly reasonable.  I think it is about $4 plus for slightly over an hour in 313 Somerset.

The library is very quiet and there are cafes just at ground level.  So it is a good way to past time in aircond comfort.

Good Value Dinner in AMK Hawker Center

The Teochew Porridge stall in AMK Ave 5 and Ave 10 is quite famous.  I did not know it is famous until I check out the internet.  The queue is always long.  We frequent this stall for lunch or dinner as my wife who is very picky find their food acceptable.  This stall has freshly steamed fish.  Our dinner tonight with steamed fish slice, chai po omelette, braised taukee, braised pork belly, stewed kiamchye and fried hairy cucumber cost only $20.50 for 3 persons.  Even though the queue is long, the service is pretty fast and efficient.  So it is a good choice if you want a balance meal for a reasonable price.

Weight Gain

My night time weight i.e. after dinner is 93.6kg.  It has been climbing as I exercise less due to pain in the abdomen.  I am taking strong painkillers and it seems to work except today after eating laksa.  So my wife suspects spicy food cause the efficacy to drop.  With the painkillers, I feel something in the abdomen, kind of discomfort but no sharp pain.  However, there is side effect of dizziness.  Also the painkillers are expensive - 6 pills cost more than $24 i.e. $4 per day.

I need to reduce my calories intake so that my weight do not gain.  It is a tough fight as I love to eat.  I live to eat!

Arowana Only Survivor

My fish pond is toxic!  No goldfish or red fish survived more than a few days in the pond.  Only my two feet arowana can live in the water.  I wonder if the fortnightly fogging is poisoning the water in my pond.  At first, I thought the fishes from a different source is not good.  But when I go back to my regular supplier, same thing happens.  So it is not the fishes but the water.  I replenish my pond with all the rain water I can get and then I will try to introduce goldfishes again.

Shanmugam in Chong Pang

B2 is on night duty.  So after sending him to his camp, we went to Chong Pang to buy durians.  At the coffeeshop there was a big group of people standing around.  I was wandering why the food stalls suddenly become so popular.  Then I saw Shanmugam.  He is talking to the diners.  He is walking about by himself surrounded at a safe distance by a huge group of minders. 

Seems like he is working hard during non-campaign time.

Effective vs Busy

Monday!  Start of new work week.  I have to figure out all the things I need to do and get ready for meeting in August.  There are always things to do.  I love Peter Drucker's clear differentiation between effective and busy.  Effectiveness is doing the right things.  Busy is doing things right.  Busy give us a sense of accomplishment!  Doing right things take time to figure out and infinitely more difficult to do than doing lots of urgent issues.

Unfortunately, most bosses loved busyness.  They like to see their staff occupied and busy doing lots of work for the business.  When the time is well used or not is secondary.  It also may be the priority to get their own agenda and play politics. 

Fountain of Youth

In the morning, we went to Chinatown Point to pass time and check out on prices of sea cucumbers as this is my wife's latest hobby. 

My mum used to give her sea cucumber but she did not know how to rehydrate.  So she always give them to my 2nd sister.  Lately, she saw pictures of my mum and she looked a lot younger and healthier.  She asked B1 and B3 who were in Canada for a few months and one month respectively.  They informed her grandma eats sea cucumber regularly.  She will buy in bulk and negotiate a good price.  She get special price as she will bring in other customers to the shop.  My boys loved her cooking.  They even ate her sea cucumbers.  I have a hard time swallowing sea cucumbers as they do not taste good to me.

My wife actually has a healthy glow since she get onto the sea cucumber program.  She also feel better and is stronger.  She can twist bottle caps off from the bottles of fish essence.  Before, she will need a tool or I will have to twist open for her.  Now she is even stronger in her twisting than me!

Dried Sea cucumbers are expensive.  In the market, the rehydrated one is only $38/kg.  The dried kinds range from $200 to $1000 per kg.  I must say if you are discipline and eats sea cucumber regularly, the effect is quite startling.

Try it and let your friends or relative who have not seen you a few months and let them asked you what happens or they suspect you went for cosmetic surgery!

Dinner at Tang's

We have to go to Far East Plaza to make a rubber stamp.  Parking is per entry in Lucky Plaza after 5pm.  Make sure you reached carpark gantry after 5:15 to be sure.  I entered at 5:05pm before and have to pay extra two hours or $3.68 as well as the per entry price.  The carpark clock is not so accurate I guess.  It is not worthwhile to enter Lucky Plaza carpark between 4 and 5pm as you still have to pay for the first two hours and then per entry price.

After our errands, I check out all the food outlets in Far East Plaza.  The sushi resturant has fairly good sushi but at quite high price.  I do not like fish and my boys are not with me.  So I decided to skip after checking out the menu.  Then I go to Nanbei Yakitori which I like.  Prices are much higher for dinner. Usually I eat set lunch there and even then I usually pay $20 to $25 per head.  I think dinner will cost more than $40 per head.  So it will be poor value to eat there.

We then walked to Fat Duck but my wife did not like Fat Duck as she thinks the food is not fantastic for the price.  Chinatown hawker center has the same char siew using pork belly for $6 instead of $13.80++ or $14.80++.  So we settle on expensive hawker food in Tangs as there are seats.  Popiah is $3.50, Satay is 80cents per stick and Penang fried kway teow large $8. 

In total dinner at Tangs cost $3.50+$4.80+$3.60+$8 just under $20 for two.  Not bad in aircond comfort but all self service.  Two hot drinks at $1.80 each.  B2 joins us halfway and help us finish the Penang Kway Teow.

After dinner, we walk to Takashimaya as I want to pass time in Kinokuniya.  In front of Wisma Atria, there was a busker, Ken who plays guitar.  It is comfortable to sit on the steps.  Ken's show is a washout.  Two groups gave up watching during the first singing.  We gave up on the 2nd songs.  Ken invited the audience to go to the stage to sing while he strum his guitar.  I think his style and songs are unsuitable for my taste.

At Kino, while browsing at the Philosophy section, a young lesbian couple came by.  It is getting more and more common to see lesbians or lesbian behaviour.  They are pretty open. 

Bank Robbery?

It is like travelling back in time.  First, Little India riots and Bank Robbery!  I feel like a small boy again.  Riots happened when I was 5 or 6 years old.  There was a curfew and the roads were deserted.  All shops closed and only riot police were out and about.

Today, a bank robbery and the suspect is a foreign talent??  We are really living in a cloistered life.  What used to be regular has gone domant and the sleeping crimes are waking up.

Bombings Are Getting Closer

50 dead - Turkey, 200 dead - Baghdad.

Then KL Puchong and now city of Solo in Indonesia.  The bombings are getting closer home.  I wonder why the bombings are rampant.  Dhaka - foreigners killed.  The world is getting unsafe.  If all weapons are banned, then damage will be low.

Cobra on the Sidewalk

My eldest was walking to take bus to his holiday job 30 June and has an encounter with a fairly big black cobra.  He asked for NParks contact when I was in Tokyo.  He tried calling NParks Hotline but nobody pick up.  I gave him the NParks person in charge of our area.  This guy did dispatch the Pest Control but they arrived half an hour later.  By then the cobra was gone.

Pain on the Right Lower Abdomen

It is almost a year since my hernia repair.  Now I am suffering from sharp pains in the right abdomen that prevent me from walking properly.  Now my gait is like a rocking boat.  It is quite scary that I now walk like an old man or handicap.  I need to see my surgeon to see if there is a fix.