good morning world

It's 0513. I've been lying in bed for the past 40 minutes, feeling tired and not being able to sleep. It's partly the heat, partly the whining of a mosquito that I just can't catch, and partly the many things running around in my head.

YA fiction

It's been many years since I've wandered the aisles of the 'Young Adult' section in the library. But what gems there are to be unearthed! Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief has a fun plot, great characters, and after I finished it, I just couldn't wait to get started on the next books, The Queen of Attolia and The King of Attolia. But I got sidetracked by Peter S Beagle's The Last Unicorn, which was first published in 1968, and which I only heard about last year when monoceros recommended it. It's a magical tale of a unicorn's search for her kind. I'm no good at writing book reviews, so I'll point you to a couple, and some on The Thief here.

As always, I welcome reading recommendations, YA or otherwise.

Listening: Headlights - Some Racing, Some Stopping

Relish

Cluny Court’s been around for a pretty long time but it’s only in the past year (or less) that it’s been on many people’s radars. I live around the area so I’ve watched as it was built and then left pretty much empty for ages. It’s nice to see it filling up with a variety of shops and cafes. But so far I haven’t been really impressed by what I’ve eaten there. Erm, that is, at Karma Kettle & Rhapsody, where I had a pleasant, if forgettable Lavender Chicken some months back (I enjoyed the rice served with it more).

It was a humid Sunday afternoon when I walked over and went upstairs for the first time to eat at Relish. It’s a lovely space, lots of good light, a high ceiling, a simple, clean design. I like that when I sat down, I got served water straight away, without even having to ask for it. See DSD’s blog for an explanation. There is an interesting variety of burgers on the menu, like the Ram-lee burger, a Mexican burger, a Portobello mushroom burger, but you know what, I like my burgers pretty simple, at the most, add some strips of crispy bacon and cheese. And that’s what I had, the bacon and cheese burger ($19). J had the Wild Rocket burger. And we shared some home made onion rings. Those onion rings were good, thick slices in a nice crispy batter. The burgers were good, the meat was done just right (medium) but the bacon was quite forgettable. The burgers came with chips, which were a little bit too overdone for us. And later, as two ladies at the next table were served their burgers with salad, we realised that maybe we could’ve asked for an alternative to the chips. But no one told us that.

Sunday lunches are meant to be relaxing but at about 1pm, when the place was nearly full, mostly with young families, with kids’ voices echoing around us, it did get a bit too noisy to think. But it was on the whole, a lovely Sunday lunch.

#02-01 Cluny Court
501 Bukit Timah Road

Another list of things I did

In the past couple of weeks, I:

- Saw the Silly Fools in concert. Was waiting for them to sing their Thai songs, but everything was from their new album. In English. They only played one Thai song. Disappointed.

- Had a really sinfully good chocolate mousse cake thingy at B Bakery in Bussorah Street. Chocolate. Heaven.

- Turned up at 645pm (as requested by the coordinator) to help man the reception table at Mel’s wedding on Saturday, only to realise that quite a few guests had already turned up. At 645! A good 45 minutes before it was supposed to start. And a good 1hr 15 min before it actually started. Huge wedding. 61 tables!

- Went to Mt Faber. Saw a lot of construction. Went into a bar/restaurant thing with glass windows and a nice view but a strangely white wedding like table décor. Felt like we were gatecrashing a wedding or something. Decided we’d head over to Sentosa instead. Had drinks at Coastes. Really really hot, despite being in the shade. The fans whirled quite uselessly. Didn’t help that I wasn’t really dressed for the beach. Envied the vacationers. But Sentosa is starting to resemble a theme park. From the station attendants waving when the train thingy pulls up, to all the concrete and development that’s going on. And what’s with the fish with teeth at the Song of the Sea store?

- Ate at Din Tai Fung for dinner and then to the Shimbashi Soba place for Japanese dessert. They do a pretty yuzu konnayku dessert. Were the last to leave, but then we only get to see Em during those few times she heads back to Sg.

- Celebrated the sassy slumbering girl's birthday at Timbre, Substation. That girl wowed the crowd when she went onstage and sang 'Love Me'. Happy birthday! Hope you had a great time!

There are many reasons for not updating this blog

1) Blogger screwed up and didn't 'Save Now'.
2) I was reading the millions of other blogs floating around in the blogosphere. Like the very excellent Book by its cover and Bookshelf
3) I was listening to Sons and Daughters, Vampire Weekend, Hafdis Huld,
4) I did an interview at Old School for a project I'm assisting on, then get stuck there when it starts to rain, and with that, the opportunity for a nice long lunch at Recess, where the folks do a pretty yummy black pepper duck sandwich.
5) I've been transcribing and translating, rather painfully, an interview conducted in Mandarin.


4) Checking out La Cantina for a possible venue, then thinking of other venues, then relooking the possiblity of split events. I hope I only get married once, cos all this is not happening again.

Saying goodbye at airports

With long security queues, especially with idiots in front who manage to lug along more than their fair share of bags and pack many questionable items, the need to enter the 'passengers only' section of the airport early is becoming more important. And that cuts down on the goodbye time at the airport. I already hate flying so I'm kinda queasy and uncomfortable at the thought of spending 11+ hours, and another 7+ hours on the plane. And there's the other horrible fact that I have to say goodbye to this amazing man with whom I had a measly three weeks with. I don't want to say goodbye, but I have to. We sit on those tacky plastic seats, I try not to cry, but fail miserably. San Francisco's airport, at least, has space to sit down, unlike Chicago, and is not packed, unlike Heathrow. You'd think I'd be used to all this by now, since in our nearly two-year relationship, we've had too many airport goodbyes. It never gets easier. It's always awful.

Wine country weekend

Sterling, Napa

It was an almost perfect weekend - the skies were blue, the sun was out, the food and accommodations were good, if only we could just get there already. Having become quite reliant on the GPS, we allowed it to navigate us up from South San Francisco to Napa. That was fine. We popped into the Mondavi winery to pick up a bottle of Muscat, and then made a quick dash to Sterling where we had a $5 off coupon for its cable car ride/winery tour/tasting (as long as it's before 1230).


We headed back to the main Napa stretch to chow on some sweet potato fries and fish tacos and root beer float at Taylor's Automatic Refresher (that was easy enough, having driven past it on the way up). And did a quick spot of shopping at the outlets. Then on the way to the B&B in Sonoma County, we hit traffic. We crawled along, I drummed my fingers on the door, conscious of the 730 restaurant reservation, conscious also that we had to check in by 7pm. Would we ever get there?



We finally did, we reached the sleepy town of Cloverdale just in time. The streetlights were on as we drove through the main street, to see, well, not much. But there was the tiny sign of Vintage Towers on the corner, and we stopped, grabbed the bags and rang the doorbell. We were taken up to Mary's Room, a quaint little pink room with a massively high bed and a tiny tiny sink in the bathroom. A fake fireplace/heater sat in the corner, with dials to turn up the fake flames and the heat. A morning room was down the corner, with great brownies and lemon-poppyseed cake for the midnight-hungry.

But we had our reservations to make (which had now been changed to 745). So off we went, only to find that the GPS would not recognise the address in the town of Windsor. A couple of calls to Odyssey sent us in a variety of directions ("school? there's no school around here", "look for the archway", "we're near the pub"). And we finally made it. Service was good, food was excellent, although the wait was quite long - there's only one man in the kitchen.

We shared the pistachio-crusted swordfish involtini, a fabulous sushi-looking starter.
R went for the lamb shank and I had the braised beef short ribs. Very tender, very rich.
And finally, they presented a complimentary apple galette, as an apology for having made us switch tables earlier. It was delicate and crisp, with just the right amount of apple slices.


Breakfast at Vintage Towers is served family-style at 9am sharp. We sat at the long table with three other couples and a family of three, who were on a college tour of California it seemed. Family-style breakfasts with strangers can be pretty awkward but in this case, the company was very welcome as one of the guests was a sommelier in one of the hotels in the county, as well as a wine judge for the San Francisco Chronicle. He provided some pretty interesting anecdotes about Sonoma, having grown up in the area, and had good tips on where to go. Breakfast itself was amazing - starting with vanilla yoghurt with pineapples and museli, then homemade cornbread with honey butter, and a Mexican souffle served with a mango salsa and a tomato salsa. Coffee, however, was typically weak.

But there were places to go and wines to sample, so after obtaining a map of the Russian River Valley, we set off for Arista, a new boutique winery with a gorgeous Japanese garden.

We ended up with a bottle of their velvety 2006 Longbow Pinot Noir.

Further down the road, we stopped by Moshin. This winery was nothing to look at, to be honest, but it had some very friendly staff (as did Arista), and free tastings. They also had a very drinkable Gewurtztraminer (at just $12!) and a very fine, sweet 'Moshin Potion #6', which we picked up. The lovely Scottish lady pouring the wines told us about Armstrong Redwood State Park at the nearby Guerneville and another must-see, Bodega Bay.


It was a chilly walk in the woods, as the sun hardly made it to ground-level, so it was a quick one.



We warmed up with a yummy ham and brie sandwich, served with a pasta salad, olives and pickles, and a latte at the very sunny Willow Wood Market Cafe, although once again, the GPS failed us, not knowing where we were - luckily the town of Graton is pretty tiny, and there's no mistaking the cafe.

Our final tasting for the day was at the Martinelli Winery, but wasn't terribly impressed with any wines (or perhaps we were a bit oversaturated). And so we headed out west, to Bodega Bay, where we stumbled around some sand dunes, hearing the waves crash, but not actually being able to walk to the sea, as the damaged boardwalk was closed.


But driving north along the coast, we raced along with the setting sun and found a perfect spot to grab some pictures and have the sun dazzle us with its light show. It was getting late. It was also a Saturday, and judging by yesterday's very full restaurant (ok so it was really tiny, seating at the most 20-odd people), Sonoma was a pretty popular spot for a weekend of eating. But we had had a late lunch, which was a result of the very very big breakfast, so we were in the mood for something simple, nothing too rich like yesterday's dinner. And I remembered reading online about Bovolo, in the town of Healdsburg (about 20 minutes from the B&B), owned by the much-celebrated people from Zazu, who are all about local food, even making their own cured meats - and I was looking forward to a good piece of salami. Bovolo was an easy find - R spotted an empty lot and I looked up from the car to see the Bovolo sign, right there in front of us.

Bovolo is situated at the back of a marketplace-type store, with various little stores that sell candies, chocolates and all that.

We went for the 'Butcher's' antipasti plate, which came with cheeses, grilled vegetables, and of course, that lovely meat. And the wild boar bacon mac and cheese, which was far less cheesy than I expected, with really crunchy bacon bits on top. Not bad, but not as great as the antipasti. Still it was a good meal to end the long day.


The next morning, after playing with the very friendly outdoors cat, we were greeted with a poached pear and candied ginger starter, some homemade cranberry scones and some kind of artichoke frittata, served with potato wedges, amazing as usual.


We popped by the nearby Ferrari-Carano winery for our final winery stop, as various people had commented on how beautiful the grounds are. And they were. Their wines were very drinkable, made for the mass market, as the staff mentioned. And we ended up adding another muscat and a Pinot Noir to our little haul.


And ended off our Sonoma weekend with a drive to Lake Sonoma, relying this time on the map and directions from the B&B.

Hello San Francisco

It's been an amazing first weekend in San Francisco.



I had my first In-N-Out burger - a double-double and those awesome freshly cut fries! We finally have a fast food place we can agree on - mostly cos I don't eat fast food. But In-N-Out is about fresh fast food, so the hamburger doesn't give me that horrible plasticky feeling that the usual suspects provide.



I had a lovely (although very dense) French toast with caramelised apples at the cheery Rose's Cafe on Union Street, where lattes come in bowls you cradle in your palms - perfect for a cold day.



We headed north to Sausalito, where expansive views result in expensive houses (although this one's a restaurant).

What a beautiful Sunday - the rain clouds had disappeared for a while, enough for us to head north across the Golden Gate Bridge for that gorgeous view. On a cliff with no one else around, he got down on his knee and pulled out the ring from his camera bag (how sneaky). Later, we caught sight of two rainbows, one after the other. I'm sure he didn't plan the sky show, but it was a sweet end to an amazing afternoon.

Hong Kong

I wrote this on Friday in Hong Kong:

It's been an interesting and exhausting week here in Hong Kong. We've been working ever since we landed on Friday afternoon, a week ago. And there's one more day of work left. It's Friday evening and I'm here in my little oasis of calm, ie the hotel room. It's pretty tiny, decent enough for just me, but for two people (it's a double room) it will be a tight squeeze. Thank goodness my colleague and I got individual rooms despite the very low perdiem of just $200 a day (including accommodations). The hotel (Stanford Hotel) is in Mongkok, and the moment you step out of the MTR station, it's madness. Middle-aged women hand out brochures, schoolkids chatter, music blares, lights flicker, it's a never-ending assault on the senses. And of course, battling the crowds is another horror. I've never seen a day when it's not crowded - not Monday, not Tuesday... not any day. Thankfully, this hotel is on the quiet end of Soy Street.

We've eaten at many of the cha chaan tengs around here, and although my colleague is vegetarian, she's managed to get some pretty decent vegetarian dishes.


Fish congee for dinner


Macaroni with luncheon meat, almond milk for brunch

I am quite fond of meat, as you can guess, but I do have my limit, and after a couple of days of noodles with beef, or macaroni with luncheon meat or roast meat rice, it was a bit too much for me, and I have started ordering a plate of veg (you cai) quite regularly. While I am fond of eating as the locals do, I did get cravings for non-local food and we've eaten at California Pizza Kitchen (it's nearby), Dan Ryans (er yeah),


Rice Paper (a Vietnamese restaurant) and Itamae Sushi. And I must say, I enjoyed the change, especially the sushi. It's the conveyor belt sushi chain but the variety of fish available beats Singapore hands down - I had

whelk,

salt saury and

foie gras sushi, as well as some scallop and salmon for just HK$99. There are branches everywhere but I ate at the one at Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong (just one stop after Mongkok East and was less crowded than other malls).

Onto the work bit, we've been doing interviews as part of a research project, talking to all kinds of people in the arts/creative industry and this job in HK has allowed me to see parts of HK I'd never see as a tourist, I guess. Such as heading up to the New Territories (Fotan), Kowloon Tong, Lok Fu. Very residential/industrial areas. I've also hit Wanchai several days in a row, and fond some really good lunch deals at the Hong Kong Arts Centre's Pumpernickel Cafe, where a soup, vegetable lasagne and coffee/tea goes for just $65.

They also do a nice juicy burger with some great potato wedges. The only things is that it gets very crowded at lunch time (especially after 1230) so either go early or make a reservation.

I got a bit fond of the Tai Yau building, as it offered two cafes for a good rest in between interviews at Wanchai. One was Pacific Coffee and the other, the Suzuki Cafe.


We've also hit Hui Lau Shan a couple of times, mostly cos it's convenient. And both times I've had the mango pudding (with mango ice-cream) in mango juice with extra mango. Despite the cold weather, it's a great pick-me-up.


Steamed milk and egg custard at a dessert shop in Jordan (Parkes Street).

(the menu)



On Saturday, we ate at the 'farmhouse style' Japanese restaurant at Miramar shopping centre.

And for our last Hong Kong meal, dimsum for a leisurely Sunday lunch. We checked out at 11 and headed to Miramar again, where we had made a reservation the night before at Hakka Hut.
I had eaten there the last time I was in Hong Kong (a few years ago), and remembered their 'premium siew mai'.

Siew mai


Our seven dishes (including that really good char siew bao) came to just HK$139 (about S$26).


The thing is, it's been such a tiring trip that at the end of the day, all I want to do is eat something nearby, avoid the crowds and hide in my room and watch TV. Don't get me wrong though, I do like Hong Kong. I think I have greater respect for people in HK, especially those I have met. Their passion and interest in the arts is so strong. And while they might hold full-time jobs, they do their art-related work - whether it is organising events, working for arts organisations or creating art - after work or on the weekends. It was definitely an eye-opener.

Off to Hong Kong

I'm off to Hong Kong for work for 10 days, but it's no picnic. Right off the plane tomorrow, we've got an interview at 7pm, then a full day of work during the weekend, which continues all the way till the next Saturday. 3-4 interviews a day and partial attendance at a 3-day conference.

Hopefully there'll be time in before, between and after for a spot of shopping and of course, good eats!

lunch, actually

Having read a friend's recent post about bringing lunch to work, I got to thinking about what I eat at lunch everyday.

Monday was a simple one of egg salad sandwich (with cucumbers).
Tuesday was 3 mini beef pies (courtesy of my uncle who's visiting from Perth) and a mixed salad dressed with olive oil, lemon juice, freshly cracked black pepper, some olives and feta cheese).
Today, I didn't bring a lunch.

Yes I do work at a place that has really cheap, subsidised food, but I just cannot bring myself to eat canteen food. I've worked here since mid-Oct but I've eaten canteen food probably less than 5 times (not counting fruits).

My lunch menu tends to be composed of cold foods - sandwiches are always a feature (sometimes with deli meats like honey baked ham, other times with egg salad or tuna mayo, or just cheese, but always with some salad leaves like butterhead or sliced cucumbers), I've brought pasta salads (tossed with some salad leaves, cherry tomatoes, fresh herbs like basil and olive oil of course), couscous salad (cherry tomatoes, olives, fresh coriander, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper), potato salads (mayo, some relish, salt and pepper or my warm version which has lemon juice, olive oil, finely chopped canned anchovies, chopped bacon).

What I do pick up at work is coffee. Unfortunately, the nearest outlet is a Coffee Club Xpress, and I must say that their coffee is just not very good. I made the mistake of ordering their mocha once, only to find that it was far too sweet (I think they put some chocolate syrup?) and tasting like filtered/brewed coffee instead of espresso. Their banana muffin was also quite a disappointment, tasting mainly of banana essence than anything else. The canteen does have an Olio which offers far better versions of coffee (although have yet to try their food). But my absolute favourite is the building where my boss' office is, which has a Spinelli's, with a barista who created a leaf design in my latte (I've only been served by him once, and haven't had a designed latte since). Spins also has a good sandwich of goats cheese and fig tapenade. And as a trip to the boss' office is in the agenda for today, that's what I hope to score for lunch later.

not-raves

A friend remarked over dinner that I don't seem to have enthused about food/dining spots recently. And she's right. It's been a while since I've really enjoyed a good meal, well not since a surprisingly good dinner at a very not-me place (more later).

I've had a pretty blah lunch at Le Papillon (kinda long ago and not really worth talking about!), a pretty blah dinner at Cicada (involved a overly-onioned and dressed beef salad, although the rare beef itself was really good, the amount of raw sliced red onions, pickled onions and pickles, combined with too many splashes of a creamy dressing overpowered the meat; the pizza of scallop and melted leek had an odd grainy texture; the brownie/peanut butter slab of dessert was alright but nothing to rave about; however it was a nice setting, like Dempsey used to be before the hordes arrived), a decent but not raveable dinner at Kharma Kettle & Rhapsody (had the lavendar chicken, which was really nice and tender but didn't really hint of lavendar, although the rice that came with it is quite delicious, with some herbs and spices thrown in) followed by sago pudding at the nearby Cellar Door.

However, I did recently delight in a rather yummy dinner at Pasta de Waraku at the very youth-oriented Central. It involved waiting for ages (and entertaining ourselves by looking at the plastic food on display outside, although the staff very nicely offered some soft drinks for those of us waiting) until our queue number was called, and then squeezing into a table for two in the very crowded and noisy restaurant ('Welcome to Waraku' or whatever they shout to every entering customer). We decided that the set would be a good idea, as it would allow us to try a variety of pastas/pizzas (although the waitress pointed out that the choices would be rather limited). Eps had the pasta/pizza set (she chose the carbonara and the only pizza option was a pork salami and tomato pizza, and it was a really nicely thin-crusted sort), and I went for the pasta/baked pasta set. The set comes with a corn soup, a small salad, a soft drink/glass of organic wine (although wines are limited to 'red' or 'white' - ask the waitress what type of red and she points to the menu, which says, yes, 'red' or 'white'. Still it's quite drinkable). And mine was a baked pasta with eggplant (the only option available, although I thought the tomato sauce was a bit too sweet) and a cod roe pasta (far tastier than the version at Satsuma, which was more a garlic-y pasta than anything). The food sure came fast (although probably a bit too fast for us, as the table was quite small) and service was very efficient and friendly. So thumbs up for that. And the set is just $19.80, which is a pretty good deal if you haven't been before and want to have a variety of dishes. Either go early or be prepared for a wait.

Cicada
7 Portsdown Road
Tel: 6472 2100

Kharma Kettle & Rhapsody
501 Bukit Timah Road
#01-01A & #01-05B Cluny Court
Singapore 259760
Tel: 6314 3483

Cellar Door
619 Bukit Timah Road
Singapore 269720
Tel: 6463 5296 / 6469 7665

Pasta de Waraku
6 Eu Tong Sen Street
#02-82/83 The Central@ Clarke Quay
Singapore 059817
Tel: 6534 8085
Their menu is available online

Read in December 2007

Veronica - Mary Gaitskill
Slightly depressing but oh, the writing is good.

The View from Castle Rock - Alice Munro
Alice Munro is always amazing.

The Nasty Bits - Anthony Bourdain
The Las Vegas episode was showing on Discovery Travel a couple of days after I read the chapter and after that, I couldn't get Bourdain's voice out of my head when I read the rest of the chapters. Always entertaining, although some of his earlier articles were (and he does point this out in his end notes) rather pompous.

The Romantics - Pankaj Mishra
His descriptions of India were such vivid and colourful ones, that makes me want to take a trip there. But the main character lacks, er, character.

Forever a Stranger and Other Stories - Hella Haasse
Forever A Stranger sort of made some of the journal/book articles written by anthropologist Ann Laura Stoler come to life. Didn't read the Other Stories.




Bad Vibes - Alberto Fuguet
Kind of like Catcher in the Rye but based in Chile. Entertaining.

Forever a Stranger and Other Stories - Hella Haasse

It was a good year for reading

104 books, (don't ask how) some of them cookbooks, some technically for school. Some thoroughly enjoyable, others requiring patience. Some made my stomach growl and my fingers twitch, others put me off certain foods (only for a little while). I will always have my favourite re-reads, but I will always look forward to that new find.

Leiths' Gingerbread Cookies

Gingerbread Cookies (from the Leiths Baking Bible)

225g butter, softened
170g light muscovado sugar
1 tbsp molasses
1 egg, beaten
340g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsps ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp salt
½ tsp ground cloves

1. Beat the butter, sugar and molasses in a bowl until fluffy. Gradually add the egg, beating well between each other addition.
2. Sift together all the remaining ingredients, except the icing sugar, into a bowl. Stir into the butter mixture.
3. Press the dough into a flat layer between 2 sheets of greaseproof paper. Chill for about an hour until firm.
4. Heat the oven to 190 deg.
5. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 5mm thick for slightly soft cookies, or thinner for very crisp cookies. Cut out cookie shapes and place on a lightly greased baking sheet, leaving 4 cm between each cookie. Chill until firm.
6. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 8-10 min or until the edges of the cookies are lightly browned. Cool for 1 min, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Firsts

When I get back from the library, with a gleeful new stack of books, it takes me a while to figure out which book to begin with.

I like to open each of them and have a read of their first line or two.
So here they are:

"I would like to write down what happened in my grandmother's house the summer I was eight or nine, but I'm not sure if it really did happen."
Anne Enright, The Gathering

"My name is Robinette Broadhead, in spite of which I am male."
Frederik Pohl, Gateway

"I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975." Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner

"Don't call me a fairy. We don't like to be called fairies anymore."
Keith Donohue, The Stolen Child.

I think I might go with The Stolen Child, which is Keith Donohue's first novel. Scotland on Sunday calls it "sparklingly quirky... wistfully elegiac". Promising.

gingerbread things

I made gingerbread people - a man a woman and a brat. Oh and some trees, a couple of ugly hearts and a blob.

This year I used the recipe from Leiths Baking Bible (which is going on my 'to buy' list), which was a bit harder to roll out than the recipe I used two Christmases ago. But it is also more buttery and a bit more tasty. The old recipe (which my mum had been using for ages) required golden syrup, which tends to result in a crunchy biscuit - I prefer softer, slightly chewy biscuits so this new recipe does it for me. I'll have to figure out how to roll it out better next time though. I'll try to put up a recipe soon. But my cookie cutters are still the same as before so in the meantime, please revisit the suicide family.

Next up from Leiths - cinnamon biscuits perhaps?

And in other cooking adventures, I churned out a sangria and a Bill Granger Brownie on Saturday morning, hopped out to Au Petit Salut at Dempsey for a set lunch (snails, salty duck confit, chocolate and hazelnut custard), meandered my way through the puddles back home to cook mussels (For 1.5kg of mussels, use 250ml white wine, chopped garlic, chopped tomatoes and fresh basil, and a bit of pepper. Chuck into a pot, steam till the mussels open), and a chickpea/bacon/spinach warm salad, and a cold salad of butterhead lettuce and cherry tomatoes. My mom made her seafood paella, and when the guests arrived, we poured out the rather strong sangria, offered two types of olives, sliced bread and tada, a Spanish-inspired dinner for a Saturday night.

Listening: Tina Dico - One (from In The Red)

Taking stock 2007

It's been a long year.

It's been a good year. I got my Masters, I bid farewell to my room with a view and to falling asleep to the sound of waves crashing (and to waking up at 3am to the sound of bottles breaking or drunken louts yelling), and I came back to find that so much had changed (was I thinking that the whole world would stand still while I went off to do my thing?). I started a new job that enabled me to use some of what I learnt at school and learn some more, with a nice boss whose only kink is 24/7 Blackberry-ing. It took me a while to get used to that gaping hole at Scotts and the new massive developments all around. It took me a while also to get used to the weather but the constant rain has been pretty welcome. When I came back, I went into recluse mode for a while, because I didn't know what I was doing here (I still don't but I've decided to not let that bother me for now) and I turned down various invitations to things and haven't yet met up with some friends. But recently I've been forcing myself to get out more, although I still cherish my daily loner routine of my favourite sport - reading.

It will be a good year (for travelling at least). I haven't seen R since June, but having used Northwest's (bleh) early bird special to pick up a cheap-ish flight to SF, I'll be there for 3 weeks in Feb - and hopefully see my sister too. And in January, I'll be in Hong Kong for 9 nights for work - but it's starting to sound like a packed schedule with interviews planned for the very day we land. But if anyone has any good eats (or other travel tips) for SF and HK, let me know (and no, I don't really like krispy kreme, and can't really afford the French Laundry right now, but I do have my eye on Chez Panisse).

I hope you've had a good year and may 2008 be a great one. Happy holidays. Happy eating.

so near so good

Thanks to this post by Popaghandi , I had a great time on Friday night at the oddly named Smokinn Frogz at Bukit Timah.
The concept is a modern kopitiam, with a nice bar that does great (and cheap!) beer, a western stall and so far a North Indian stall (no pictures, too dark)

It was confusing at first. We had our drinks (2 pints of Stella Artois for just $14!) and were handed two menus but the waitress wouldn't take our orders as we had to go order at the respective food counters. I ordered a salad with tomato and avocado ($5) and a calamari ($7) at the western stall. And at the Indian stall, a cheese naan and a garlic naan, a meat curry with capsicum, and a chicken tikka, which came to the very low total of $14. Unfortunately they don't do pakoras (although it is listed on the menu) as they don't sell well.
Later, another pint of Stella and one of Hoegaarden came to $15. It looks like they have several bottled beers as well.

The food was good. For a $5 salad I was expecting cheap iceberg but it came with a nice variety of leaves like rocket and butterhead. The calamari was nice and lightly fried and came with a tartar sauce. The naans were not too overpowering with the garlic and the chicken, oh the chicken was great... it was described as a chicken tikka but it tasted more like tandoori, and it was so tender and just really delicious (I felt bad that we weren't able to finish it as we had ordered far too much). The guy who took our orders (never got his name but I presume he's the owner) said sometimes customers pay him more than is owed as they feel that his prices are too cheap. And indeed they are.

Here's a tip, go before 730 on Friday as by that time all the tables were taken up and so were the free carpark lots. Oh and test out the chairs before you plonk yourself on them as some of them are secondhand ones from the Salvation Army. One guy's chair came crashing down - in pieces - just as he sat on it.

Cheap beer, good food, free parking. And all just a five minute drive from my place. Who knew?

Smokinn Frogz (or something to that extent)
879 Cherry Avenue