No Off Day

I came across this Ad back in Apr 2007. Yes, it is yet another very overdue entry. It was forgotten along the way until I came across the photo recently.

It is openly advertising "NO OFF DAY" when you hire domestic helpers. At that point, it dawned upon me that this could be a rather inhumane trade. Sometimes they add words like obedient and well-trained. Are we talking about human beings or Labradors?

Now, as an employer of a domestic helper myself, I can comprehend why the need of "No Off Day". But I am glad I am not guilty of "Lowest Pay & Fee". My agency was definitely not one that charges cheapest pay and fee.

I feel, during Off Days, these helpers are exposed to other helpers and other foreign workers, some of whom may not exactly be the best of influence to them.

My conscience is clear because I don't lock my helper at home. She goes out with me every weekend, exploring Singapore's places of interest and enjoying food from restaurants spread across the island.

...the one whose helper is happily eating the Cheesedale cheese and Magnolia fresh milk off the fridge. Would you allow that?

The French Stall

Rating: ***1/2

Add: 544 Serangoon Road, Singapore

Tel: 6299 3544

Hours: 3pm-6pm (Desserts only), 6pm-10pm (Dinner Only)

Note: Closed on Monday

Price: Around S$15/person

Chanced upon this French food outlet whilst driving through Little India. How interesting to have such co-existence of culture. So we visited the place for a try on 1 Apr 2009. Yes, it has been 5 months, no need to remind me :) Allow me to blog it for your reference. Better late than never.

Setting and ambience of the place is quite interesting with cosy decor. I thought the decor looked rather Mexican rather than French. The place is bustling and the waiters n waitresses could hardly catch their breath. As for the verdict of the food, I think it is above average but not good enough for me to drive all the way to Little India again just to eat the food. I would rather go to La Petite anytime, which is just 5 minutes drive from home.

The 'look' of the French Stall

The location of the Resto

The resto has interesting gimmicks like these. Check out what's printed on the servers' T-Shirts

French Onion Soup

Pumpkin Soup I think... it's been 5 months after all

The bread for a French Resto was sadly disappointing. It tastes like those baguette you buy off some provision shops

Pan Fried 'Foie Gras'

...the one who is still too full from her kaya butter toast at breakfast

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Rating: **1/2
Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel
Genre: Action/ Adventure



Watched with Chup and San at Vivo City yesterday (28 Jul 09).

If I disappointed many with my rating, then it's too bad. I really didn't enjoy the movie much.

I shall summarize my view in point forms. This solely represents my personal opinion and should not be taken as the general truth about the movie. It is after all subjective.
1. I can only remember robots that keep on transforming and people that keep on running
2. Transformations occur so fast, I merely see a blur of things
3. You can take short naps throughout the movie and you won't be missing anything too important
4. The action is so continuous, when the movie ends, it felt like a switch that was abruptly turned off

...the one who will be watching Harry Potter this Saturday

Pussycat Dolls - 4th June, 2009 @ Singapore Indoor Stadium



Following my 1st ever concert on 1 Sep 07, I went for the 2nd concert of my life on 4 Jun 09. This time it is to watch the PCD.

What a bang! Loved it. Wished the concert was longer. We only had 4 dolls that night as the 5th has leg injury.

At 14 weeks pregnant, I watched the concert with Chup. A Mother's Day present from him to me. Poni said, when I was 8 months pregnant with Zach, I watched "We Will Rock You" musical on 5 Apr 08. I had a boy a month later. Now that I am watching Pussy Cat Dolls, I could be expecting a baby doll... And she was right indeed. 6 weeks later, the gender was confirmed to be a baby doll indeed :)

...the one who is guilty of not putting up as many entries as before

TAKEN
Rating: ****
Cast: Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen, Maggie Grace
Genre: Thriller

Watched on 8 May 2009 all the way at Tampines Mall. That's crossing half the island of Singapore. The movie has been out for some time and it was fast disappearing. It was worth all the travelling!

It has been 6 months since my last movie which was Quantum of Solace.

Taken's storyline is simple. About how a father would do anything to save his daughter. If you discount the fact that the father killed tens of people (mostly bad if that is of any consolation), crashed countless cars, caused destructions to public properties just to save 1 life, it is a great movie to catch.

The movie touches one of the 2 issues that disturb me a lot: child labour and women trafficking

...the one who hopes to catch more movies more often

My Monday Night Experience



It was in Bangkok.
Me and some friends (boys and girls) visited Phat Phong! (the infamous red light district of Bangkok).

And not just to watch but for some action. We visited the Boy Show.

Somehow it was concluded it is something suitable for boys or girls.
Boys can enjoy some action through the ‘rear’
And girls can enjoy action via the normal method.

The club was designed like a letter T.
Here is a diagram to give you a better visualization of the place.





Now, audience are seated like cinema style, in rows, with their backs facing the entrance.
They can view boys on display on their left and right.
They are just literally standing and just trying to look good and attractive.
One side are boys in nothing but yellow trunks.
The other side are boys dressed like working executives. Long striped dark blue shirts with black trousers.
All these boys have round number tags on them.
Bouncers are standing around to watch the whole ‘bidding’ process.

It was my 1st time and I was observing hard.
Just like an art auction, audience will bid for their choice of boys silently.
Subtle standard hand signs are used.
Bouncers on the look out will then observe the audience’s bid.
When a boy is chosen, bouncer will then remove the numbered tags from the boys,
indicating they are ‘taken’.
The bidding was quite swift.
The cute ones are fast disappearing.
But only the blue shirt boys are taken.
What about those in yellow trunks?
They seem to be the cuter and hunkier bunch.

I quickly approached a girlfriend who has visited the club before.
She confirmed that what I observed is correct.
I asked “How much?”
USD7 for standard action.
With plus plus, usually works out to around USD10.
This will include the use of condom and a pair of silver earrings.
Silver earrings are one of the ‘toys’ I suppose? Or maybe souvenir from the Club.
She added that the yellow boys can only be picked on special arrangement.
Pricing is different too.
As we are talking, the club did one round of clearing.
In fast and orderly manner, audience headed for the boy of their choice and proceeded to the
allocated rooms that are located around the whole circumference of the T shape lounge.

The room is now only left with audience who have yet to pick their choice and boys who are yet to be picked. 2/3 of th e crowd has gone, the yellow trunk boys too.

My questioning must have caused my friend to become one of the ‘remainders’. I feel rather bad for her. No backing up allowed. Remaining audience will have to be paired up with remaining boys, whether you like it or not.

I ended up with this dark, rather stout guy with hairy chest.







Maybe similar to the above look. Not apetizing at all (No offense, just not my type). Friendly and chatty. I have already made up my mind there shall be no action.

We proceeded to one of the corner rooms near one arm of the T room. The room is quite large. One king size bed in the center and 2 super single bed at the 2 sides. I headed to the single bed at the other end of the room. Sat on the edge of the bed and started chatting with him.
He is from Viet. Not Vietnam, just Viet (dunno where the hell that is).

He drives helicopters and writes books.
He said he can send me a copy of his book.

Suddenly a housekeeping lady barged in without knocking. She is delivering bedroom slippers she said. Pink and furry type. Another toy? Then she realized the room is already provided with slippers. She left as abruptly as she has entered.

We were quite shocked by the unwelcomed intrusion.

Then suddenly there was a lot of scrambling going on under the sheets on the same bed I was sitting on. The scrambling and scurrying went on for a while. Another couple in the room?!?
We just watched in horror.

Then from under the sheets, a skinny sleepy girl about 9 years of age crept out. She seems to be the daughter of one of the housekeepers, trying to catch a nap while her mother works. She rubbed her eyes and left the room.

End of story.


And I missed something. I forgot to tell you, the above was a dream I had on Monday night


...the one who felt as if she was really there at Phat Phong that Monday night




photo credit

The Patchwork Boy
(taken @ 11 months, 19 Apr 09)

My Favourite Food

I am compiling photographs of my favourite food which will be added on as and when there are new entries.

Unfortunately, most of the foods are only available in Indonesia :(

Duck Herbal Bee Hoon (Ak Bihun)

Kalasan Fried Chicken

Tiong Sim Noodle

Fried kway tiau Medan style

Sate Padang

Soto Medan

Bakwa

...the one who would never say no to all of the above

Outram Park Ya Hua Rou Gu Cha
Rating: *****
Add for morning: No 7, Keppel Road #01-05/07, PSA Tanjong Pagar Complex (7am - 3pm)
Add for night: 593, Havelock Rd, #01-01/02, Isetan Office Building
Tel: 6222 9610 (morning), 6235 7716 (night)
Note: Closed on Monday
Price: below S$15/person

I think this is the 1st time I ever accord a 5-star rating for any of my food reviews. But really, apart from "GOOD STUFF!" I really don't have any complaints about this place. Service is fast, food is fantastic, price is very reasonable. What can I say...

We first know about this place when one of Chup's clients treated him for breakfast here. It is very near our residence, in fact we passed the place very frequently. I was convinced this place cannot be that bad, looking at the constant crowdedness of the place.

So Chup brought me there one day to try it. And indeed I was not disappointed!

You will be even more convinced when you see all these endorsements from celebrities, one of which would be super familiar to all of us, the late Lydia Sum. I don't think you would miss her picture :)

From what is left on the table, you can be assured of the quality of the food.

For a detailed description of this marvellous place plus many other recommended eateries in Singapore, read more from here.

Photo credit: Last picture grabbed with 'thanks' from Sanctuary from the Mad World.

Traditional Medical Hall. Disappearing??

This is how a typical Chinese Medical Hall looks like. This particular one located in Hougang (Singapore) is one that I frequent and trust. I have heard horror stories about how some medical halls took their own 'initiative' to exchange ingredients which they do not carry with something else. As a results, the efficacy is completely changed. We as the end users rarely understand a thing about the ingredients in the concoction. All we do is pour the whole content to boil and drink the black bitter liquid that arises from it.

With the wider exposure to TCM, I hope this trade will live on for our future generations to see.

...the one who hates the taste of the concoction but could not deny the magic TCM can do

Teochew Fried Kway Teow @ Commonwealth
Rating: ***1/2
Add: Commonwealth Ave Food Centre. Blk 40A, Commonwealth Ave
Price: S$3 per person

This is a typical queue on a weekday night. So you can imagine how long it could be during weekend! Do note that if I am not wrong, the stall closes on Monday.

This humble stall on the 1st floor of the Food Centre is manned solo by this old uncle. No assistants at all. And he fries every plate individually. I wonder what happens to the queue when uncle has a call of nature.

To me, the kway teow is good but not fantastic. I have eaten from the stall 2x so far. My last visit was back in 2007! I am hence not too sure if the stall is still there. There has been numerous talks that they are going to close this FC soon, but 2 years on, they are still there. Booming in fact. So if you are there and the kway teow stall is closed or on off day, the chicken rice, claypot rice and steamboat (all on the 2nd floor) are famous too!

...the one who had the chicken rice yesterday and intends to try the steamboat soon

Garuda!!!

Garuda is a Padang (a town in West Sumatra) fast-food chain in Indonesia. They serve splendid curry chicken and fried chicken.



I call them a fast-food for a reason. A typical Padang restaurant in Indonesia serves all the dishes instantaneously after you settled yourself on the seat. The dishes are served on small plates and the full range on the menu will be served to you. An experience waiter can carry all these plates (as shown on the picture) with his 2 hands! Customer can then choose whichever dish they fancy. Any untouched dishes would be returned to the kitchen and will not be charged to your bill. Dirty you may think, but that's how it is. Best of all, the Padang food is mostly enjoyed with bare hands. Fork and spoon would have spoilt the taste and total experience.

When I was young, I get a thrill of getting away pinching a small shrimp from a dish without the waiter knowing. The feeling of knowing that the shrimp came free was really satisfying. I assure you I do not commit such acts now.



When I hear that Garuda has opened it's outlets in Singapore, I was overjoyed. But not for long... The quality of the food is not as good as that of Indonesia's. Could it be that the chicken is just different in Singapore? Of course the other factor is the price. In Singapore, it probably would cost around S$15 per pax excluding dessert. This same amount would have been able to cover for 2 to 3 persons in Indonesia.

...the one who will always miss the Garuda of Indonesia

photo credit

Toa Payoh Rojak @ Old Airport Road Food Centre
Add: Just ask around anyone around Old Airport Road
Rating: ***1/2
Price: Around $3



Besides the Clementi Rojak, you may also want to try the one in Old Airport Road Food Centre. Manned by grandma-grandpa-pair, customers would queue patiently for their plate of Rojak. It caught my eyes so me too decided to join the queue.

The sauce is really thick and rich. After eating this stall, I have downgraded the Clementi Rojak from ***1/2 to *** and shall bestow the ***1/2 to this stall instead. Then again, don't think I will travel all the way east just to eat the Rojak.

Rojak lovers may wanna give it a try.

...the one who only eat pineapple and you tiao in the rojak

Flood at Mac Donalds

This happened quite a loooooong time ago. Back in 2007, when Mc Donalds of Plaza Sing has not moved down to the basement. I have completely forgotten about these photos that have been sitting in my Archive folder for the longest time.

It was quite a funny experience. Couldn't really believe that such thing actually happens in Singapore.


Check out the water rising from behind me



Rising and rising....



Unstoppable by now

...the one who enjoyed the breakfast at the 'floating' Mc Donalds

Melben Toa Payoh

Rating: ***1/2
Add: Blk 211, Lor 8, Toa Payoh, Singapore
Tel: 91469932


You know if you refuse to queue at Melben Ang Mo Kio, why not give Melben Toa Payoh a try? I personally think they are better than the impossibly crowded Melben AMK.

Their MUST TRY is : Chilli Crab

...the one who has to ration crab dinners due to the economic downturn

Comics 2008

Another entry I blogged on at the end of 2007 was the comics I enjoyed during the year. Well, these are taken from pages of comics I enjoyed in 2008... They are, from top left, "fun house" by alison bechdel, "shortcomings" by adrian tomie, alan moore's classic "v for vendetta", darwyn cooke's "the new frontier", tatsumi's "goodbye", alan moore's "the league of extraordinary gentlemen, vols 1 & 2", stories from "creepy" archives, vol. 1, "american born chinese" by gene yang and "iron man" by adi granov. Their art is extraordinary. The last 2 are almost polar opposites; Gene Yang's highly stylised panels versus Adi's naturalistic, painterly art. Judging which was the best would be silly, but for sheer gleeful pleasure; it's the compilation from "creepy".

Chup

postscript: Borders was having 45% discount yesterday (26 Dec) and I went and bought 2 more comics; Darwyn Cooke's revived "The Spirit", Book 1, and Moore/Bolland's "Batman: Killing Joke". Terrific stuff.

Marriage

Today is Christmas Day, and it's the 45th wedding anniversary of my parents' wedding. The photo on the left is the most recent one I took of them, up in the hills of Pahang, in a mock-Alsace resort, just a couple of weeks ago. My mum has decided this year that she would no longer dye her hair, and they are now both compatible again down to the hair colour! They were married in Dec 1963, and I was born in Oct 1964. Pretty quick work, I'd say. Over the years they have become more alike. Perhaps my mum was once a concise person but because my dad can be hard of hearing, as most men are, she has become fond of repeating herself. And if my dad was once less communicative, he has now become more open to tell her everything he does. So they talk a lot to each other and always have topics to discuss. They almost never quarrel. I cannot imagine them without the other.

Yesterday, Lin told me someone was getting a divorce. It was due to "irreconcilable difference". Whatever happened to good old-fashioned adultery, I thought. Shouldn't that be the only justifiable cause of divorce, that a union has been "irrevocably shattered"? Isn't "difference" a given, and there are no truly compatible couples (except very dull ones where each spouse has no individuality?) And then there are couples who expect the other party to change after marriage. Hello? I'm not saying that every marriage should last forever. I'm saying one enters into a marriage with eyes wide open and the grounds of a divorce shouldn't be "irreconcilable difference" because these differences would have been evident before marriage. If you knew there were difference and you knew that people don't change, then why divorce over this?

What does it take to stay together for 45 years? From what I can see; open communication, a sense of humour, good temper, reasonableness, live and let live. I've never heard them say, "I love you" to one another. They didn't need to. Their deeds said it all.

Today, Lin gave me a wallet. As I emptied my old one, I found a photo of us taken before we were married. It was taken in one of those photo booths so popular then. You chose the template you want and the photo is printed out in sticker form. Lin chose "Love Forever". That was more than 7 years ago. Our hair was still black, and fuller-bodied. We have a long journey ahead of us....

Chup

Father and Son

Let me be utterly selfish and retrace the 7 months of growing and ageing that has transpired in these photos. We never bought a video camera because Lin keeps saying no need, we'll never watch them and the video mode of the Canon Ixus is good enough. As if in compensation, we shot tons of photos. I'm being selfish here because I'm only doing like 10% of the parenting compared to Lin. And yet, I'm hogging the scene here. She'll forgive me because this is Christmas Day. It's such a guilty pleasure!

Chup

Best of 2008

I've not blogged for over 6 months and I put the reasons to the arrival of Zach, the adoption of facebook, and the change of jobs in Aug. But really, they're excuses because if I really have things to say, it's the blog rather than facebook. As the year ends, I best continue what I did last Dec; sieve through the photos taken this year and select a few that will remind me of something meaningful in 2008 for the years ahead. For a change, these will all be "portrait" format, although I shoot 80% of the time in "landscape" format.

Some notes: the top photo was taken in Dubai, looking out the apartment of a posh condo next to the Burj Dubai, which is still under construction. The whole experience of living in Dubai is a fight against nature, a complete disconnect between the air-con interiors and the sweltering exteriors. My friend's apartment had a balcony like the one shown in the photo. But it isn't used. It's because of the heat in summer but whatever the time, it's the omni-present sand, fine particles that coats everything that hasn't moved for some time... A colleague of mine who had proposed to level a hilly site in the middle east was told by his Arab client he could not do so because, "this is the land that God gave you." When you bring God into an architectural discussion, all convenient ideas end and dogma begins. But if all Arabs are like that client, they shouldn't air-con their buildings and should learn to live with the land as their ancestors did; with ingenuous wind towers, dense walls and shaded, clustered communities. Dubai is today scarred by inhumane highways that caters only to the ever-growing avalanche of cars, fuelled with cheap oil. Motorbikes are virtually non-existent (especially in high summer). Developments are spaced out far from one another and neighbours across a highway have to drive kilometers to visit one another. Nobody walks if they can help it. Bus stops have to be air-conditioned and the metro system is only now under construction. Parks are few and the palms in the city are coated brown from the dust. Coming from another land with abundant rain and vegetation, it is hard to like Dubai. For a while in Sept, we thought about moving to Dubai because of the monetary rewards, but thankfully we didn't, as the financial crisis has pricked Dubai's illusionary allure.

The second photo is St Augustine church in Macau. We walked the place for 3 days and loved it. Other photos that I loved taking were of beast, birds and bugs. Sometimes Zach falls under all 3 categories. But most of the time, he's an angel. The last 4 shots are of houses I visited to write about during the year. Merry Christmas!

Chup

Ironies of Life

This is something I always wonder… We often have many excuses when it comes to visiting our parents or more so, our grandparents. This is especially true for the case of my family. My grandpa has children, grandchildren and relatives almost all over the cities in the world: Jakarta, Takengon, Medan, Singapore, Ipoh, Vancouver, Qingdao, Tokyo and Dubai. Everyone has their own schedules and timetables. And the reasons we give for not being able to pay him a visit is aplenty. Can’t take leave…, Air ticket too expensive…, Work commitment…, Not enough leave…, Gotta take care of schooling children… and the list goes on and on and on.

However, funny enough, when he passed on, suddenly all are able to beat all odds and attend the funeral procession. Why so? To pay last respect? Or is it guilt of not visiting during earlier ocassions? Suddenly now they can take leave from their hectic schedule? Wouldn’t my grandpa be happier to be visited by so many when he was alive and conscious during his birthday for example, rather than on his funeral?

Who is more guilty? Someone who visits the grandparent on his birthday but unable to attend his funeral or vice versa? You tell me...

...the one who is still wondering

photo credit

Tribute to my Kung Kung

I was typing this entry from my Grandpa’s funeral parlour. He had lived till a ripe old age of 95, passing away peacefully on 6 Dec 2008. He lived a full life I must say. He went through World War II, the Dutch Occupation as well as the Japanese Occupation. He studied English in school and worked with British American Tobacco since he finished school until he was 55. Hence his excellent command of English!

Grandpa had 10 children: 6 sons 4 daughters. He outlived Grandma (who passed away in April 1997) and 2 sons (who passed on in 1998 and Jul 2003 respectively). He had 22 grandchildren (9 grandsons, 13 granddaughters) and 3 great-grandchilden (2 great-granddaughters and 1 great-grandson).

During his school days, he had to help his mother at her tofu stall in Labuhan Batu (a small town in Sumatra, Indonesia). Their home-made tofu was the best in town and noone there had never heard about the famous Loh Family tofu! Grandpa helped with the making of tofu, growing vegetables and chopping wood for cooking. He had also taken up odd jobs such as newspapers delivery, picking up tennis balls and fixing tyres.

Towering over 190cm high, I will always remember my Grandpa as someone very dignified and proud. Apparently, when he sold tofu, customers were not allowed to pick and choose. “Take it or leave it” he would say as he shooed the customers off. Looking at what he had accomplished in his life, I don’t think he was exaggerating. He asked for no favours and would not oblige to any favours unless he deemed appropriate. Ask him to 'curry favour' and he would fail terribly.

He was always full of proverbs to advise his fellow children and grandchildren. “Time and tide waits for no man”, “Don’t wait until tomorrow what you can do today”, “Healthy mind has healthy body”… He had a list of all proverbs, testimonials and education certs which he had been distributing to us all.

As little children, we feared Grandpa a great deal. He talked loudly and was quick tempered. Sometimes accompanied by a quick knock on our heads or a yank of our hair if we happened to get into his way or too slow in carrying out the tasks he assigned to us. Never be noisy or be running about when he was watching his most important programme on TV – The World News. As his eyesight was fast fading, he would need all the concentration to listen attentively.

But we all know, deep inside his heart, he cares and loves in a different way.

Grandpa’s memory had been impeccable till his last days. He loves to tell his life stories of his younger days to us. I am sometimes guilty of feeling bored whenever he wanted to start one of such ‘sessions’. Now when I think back, I would be missing those moments. He would distribute shirts for sons and son-in-laws, bars of soap for his daughters, canned food for the daughter-in-laws, books for his grandchildren etc etc. Frivilous things we would think, but it was his way of showing he cared. He would pass messages and reminders to his certain son in Singapore, or certain granddaughter in Japan or another granddaughter in Dubai.

My son is now 6.5 months old and I had always wanted to have him on his great-grandpa’s lap for at least once. Grandpa told my mother, “Tell Nini to always wash the gaps of her son’s fingers and toes thoroughly. It is between those gaps that germs thrive”. I was a few days too late to let the great-grandpa and great-grandson meet each other…

Grandpa, now that you are gone and free from all life’s miseries and sufferings, we would miss you dearly. You have definitely left a mark in my memory and you would hold an important place in my heart.

Rest in peace, Kung…

On Nuts and Beans...

It is interesting to know that in Bahasa Indonesia, there is actually no distinction between nuts and beans. This only comes to my realization recently. Parents are not advised to feed their babies who are just starting on solid food with any type of nuts. This is done to avoid any allergic reaction to nuts.

Apparently, the later you start them on nuts the better. Best if you only introduce nuts to them after they are 2 years old or older.

Another point is, nuts are difficult to digest. Hence babies who are just starting to develop their digestive system may not be taking it too well.

Here are a few examples:

Nuts Family:

Ground nuts = Kacang Tanah

Cashew nuts = Kacang Monyet/Mente

Beans Family:

Soya beans = Kacang kedelai

Red beans = Kacang merah

Long beans = Kacang panjang

Whilst all beans family are generally safe even nutritious for babies, the nuts family are to be avoided for the time being.

This post probably makes no sense to those who don't speak Indonesian. But just for my record :)

...the one who wonders how then does an Indonesian-speaking mother who cannot speak English know when is a particular kacang safe for her baby...

Photo credits: Nuts, Beans