Of news and disappointment

I guess... the only thing that could eclipse the disappointment of having to wait another 2 more months for my iMac is the disappointment with the election results. You have to wait another mighty 5 years for that. 5 whole years. I'd say the whole election this year was quite a disappointment. From the campaigns all the way to the results. Nothing much left to say. The winner takes it all. On the Apple side... it's back to waiting for the 4k iMac to be announced. If I'd checked the rumor mill earlier I'd have known that it'll be announced only in Oct, and available for sale in Nov. But I hadn't checked. The rumor mills are exceedingly accurate these days. Apple just can't keep stuff under wraps anymore (as much as they'd like to) because they have to outsource their manufacturing. Either way... it doesn't matter to me. I get my products all the same. iPhone 6s is out. Really I'd get it right away (and it better freaking last 3 years this time) if not for my parents. Still if I were to prioritise... I guess I'd put the iMac before a new phone though. We'll see. Sigh.

Weekend!

So I went out with my family during the weekend... and thought I'd share some photos.
We went to Turf City during the weekend and there’s a hidden corner called the Pasarbella and it’s a really nice place. Doesn’t look like it’s Singapore in there.
Feels more like some market in the western countries… or in Australia.
Loads of food shops… selling all sorts of foods. Spanish, German, Japanese…. Seafood, cheese, cakes, pork…
Of course it’s a little pricey but… the atmosphere is pretty nice eh?
Paella. That’s the biggest pan of paella I’ve ever seen.
There’s this really nice shop (this is the corridor leading to the shop) called The Cheese Ark selling all sorts of otherwise not readily available cheese. The shop décor is really nice and more importantly, the staff is really, extremely, nice and friendly. Introducing you to the cheese and letting you try the cheese… and not talkative in an irritating way too. We were going to be out for quite a while so we didn’t want to buy the cheese right away… though we did ask what time they close. And guess what? We actually returned to that shopping centre for dinner just to buy the cheese. That’s how nice the staff are to make us want to return… of course, the cheese was great too. That’s got to be a must isn’t it? ;)
That’s the name of that… market place.
Really cute toilet signs.
We went around visiting various car show rooms around the island, but we went back to Turf City for dinner. Not in Pasarbella though. It’s a restaurant outside called the Curry Gardenn.
And boy the food was good. I didn’t take much photos though. We just attacked the rest of the dishes when they arrived. They took extremely long with the food. I guess they really put in the care and effort to cook the dish after you order… they don’t re-cook the food… but well… you really have to wait pretty darn long.
Anyway the drinks. The green one there is the butter milk, and no it’s nothing like butter beer or whatever you might expect. There’s green chilli, salt, herbs… yes salt. It’s a freaking salty and a little spicy drink. More like a soup than a drink? Supposed to be cleansing and what not but it’s darn good. The white one is lime juice. It’s good… but amongst the three it’s the least outstanding, the most normal. The last orange thing is mango lassi. Mango with yoghurt. And I just loved that too. The taste of the mango is really strong and good - it’s fresh mango - and the yoghurt provides just the right amount of sourness for balance.
That’s the BBQ chicken. Darn it was so fragrant, so juicy, so delicious. The sauce was fantastic too. It’s really ridiculously well prepared. You can smell and taste the BBQ-ness… the fragrance of the charcoal, but it’s still so juicy and tender. This is also the only dish I took a photo of yay! The rest of the food took really long to come and we were just starving by the time they arrived so… :P
We ordered a few dishes, mutton masala, some cottage cheese dish, nann… and some other dishes that I don’t quite know/remember the name of. They were all really good, very refined and well made. You can say it’s not that authentic or representative of the general food in India because dishes most likely won’t be so refined, but it’s high class and well made and definitely worth having. The prices are very reasonable too.
We went to buy the cheese after dinner… that’s the signboard and list of shops at the entrance of Pasarbelle. Passer means market in Malay by the way… and as far as I can gather belle means fine (amongst other meanings) in French. So Fine Market… and what a fine market it indeed is. That’s the entrance to the place. Up the steps and to the left. Hidden in a small corner, with a small entrance. I really didn’t expect it to be so big inside! There’s a level 2 (or more?) too but we didn’t go upstairs.
So we bought something from The Cheese Ark. They have a really cute paper bag.
What a cute tagline. Turns out there’s a reason for it. They gather rare cheese from traditional cheesemakers that would otherwise possibly close down due to being unable to compete without mass production… and give them business so that they would hopefully not have to close down.
That’s the cheese we bought. Casatica Di Bufala. Cheese made from buffalo milk, and this one is really fresh. Love it!
Personally… I prefer soft cheese to hard cheese. Well at least I’ve not tried a hard cheese that I’ve really liked yet. I love the texture… love it when it’s ripe too… when it starts oozing… that’s really nice too.
Their address… to be honest their FB page kinda sucks. They can do so much more with it but as I can see it… they just have reposts of cheese related articles. So cold and impersonal, and completely unlike my experience when visiting the physical shop.
Alright. That’s all for this entry! Till next time!

Bidding farewell

It’s a rainy, gloomy day as we bid farewell to Mr. Lee Kuan Yew. 

Went to CCK community tribute centre on Friday.

It’s… disappointing and at the same time hilarious to see how the number of Western media reports on chewing gum. It’s a long bygone issue here. It’s not as if all candies are banned anyway. Chewing gum is a novelty for us when we go overseas… but one that I’m more than happy to do without. Clean drinking water? Great economy? Clean and green garden city? Safe and secure nation? Those are much, much more important to me. Who cares about gum in the light of all these greater things? Will you die without gum? You can die from armed robberies though, or shootings. Or get sick from drinking unclean water. Or get injured in street riots and protest… and have your daily life inconvenienced by strikes. They pick on all the nitty gritty little things because they are ignorant, jealous even, of all the things that we do have, that we enjoy and they don’t. 

It’s… a sad occasion indeed. May you rest in peace Mr. Lee. 

History

It’s crazy.

The queue to pay respects to Mr. Lee Kuan Yew has stretched so long...

An update at 5pm says that the expected waiting time for the queues is 8 hours… so much so that they have advised the public not to join in the queues anymore. 

Tribute centers and the lying in state will be opened 24 hours to the public… because there was just too many people going to pay their respects. 

Trains and buses will run all night today too.

It’s crazy...

But at the same time...

If you just think about it…

Like what Lenin, Stalin was to the Soviet Union… or Mao Zedong was to China...

Lee Kuan Yew is that same legend to Singapore. 

 

I remember watching old footage showing kilometres of people queuing to pay their respects to Lenin. Years from now… people will be looking at footage of the Lying in State now and commemorating the founder of Singapore. 

RIP Mr. Lee Kuan Yew

A nation marks the passing of it's founder.

Mr. Lee was truly a remarkable leader. Building our tiny nation, with no natural resources into the world renown metropolitan city that it is today. From third world, to first world. In just one single generation.

All the things that I enjoy... good education, housing, multi-racial society, good public transport... infrastructure... even the broadband that I'm using to post this entry. It is highly likely, almost certain that all these would not be possible if he hadn't been at the helm of the nation.

He created a nation that fought to survive, and it's people are hardworking and always striving for the best.

I was a little surprised earlier though, when the news went to interview students from my JC because he was an alumnus... not that I didn't know, I did, we all did... but see the RI he attended was the secondary school. Not the JC... but alas now that the JC arm has merged in name with the secondary school segment, I guess it only make it right to say that I am most privileged to have him as my alumni. It's been years since the name change occurred but well... old habits die hard. It's still RJC to me, it was when I studied there, and it probably forever will be.

Singapore will be hard pressed to find another leader who is as insightful, as charismatic.

May you rest in peace.

Excuse me aunty?

During dinner just now i saw a bit of the tv program 'buffet buffet' or 永远吃不肥 in chinese. I just still sitting at the dining table so i watched for a bit... They were introducing this restaurant offering tea time buffet with this large 菲律宾 Lala... the guests on the show were commenting one by one about the lala... than this aunty said something that really made me go wow... it went something like this:

'我没有看过buffet有菲律宾lala所以我很惊讶。这个菲律宾lala很好吃，它的口感很好，一点也不输给oyster'

okok... as i'm typing i realised that i have indeed forgotten a big chunk of the dialogue. Nonetheless, she was saying that the lala is very chewy, and can the texture wont lose out at all to that of oysters. OYSTERS!?!?!? Oi aunty, u got eat oyster before one or not? What kind of oyster u eat? Or you overcook ur oysters one ah? How come ur oysters chewy one ah?

Like seriously...? Oysters are best eaten raw, where the texture is very smooth and soft. Nope, not chewy. Ppl always praise oysters for its sweetness... the fresh taste of the oyster, the saltiness of the sea... sorry, my vocab is kind of private limited lah... but chewy? Even when you eat the 蚝煎 where the oyster is cooked (but not over cooked!), the oyster is also soft and sweet (only sweet if its fresh). And NOT chewy...!

ok... maybe her chinese isnt good enough to express herself properly... oh maybe she isnt that much of a foodie (that why did they get her on the show o.o)

i don't like that show tho. very boring. they save cost and invite random guests to the show each time... yeah, they want to get opinion from ppl from all walks of life, but its really boring when they don't have a very good command of chinese and use very boring expressions to describe the food... and when all the program does is to show comment after comment by the guests, it makes the show really boring. all i can say is that it’s a... very low cost production? no host no nothing... just a commentator filling in the gaps... the rating system of 1-5 is also quite... shallow. generally the scores are ard 3 and 4 only. very helpful indeed... how did it end up like this? there are very few guests rating each time, and scale of 1-5 is too narrow. its unlikely that you will give something full marks since there's ALWAYS room for improvement no matter how good things get. So unless you are very lenient, or got extremely impressed, you most likely wont give a rating of 5. similarly, giving a rating of 1 seems a bit too mean/extreme... so most likely the scores will be 2, 3 and 4. Since someone actually recommended the restaurant, chances are that its not too bad, so the rating would be more like a 3 or a 4.... great... how informative can rankings be when everyone gets a similar/identical rank? totally defeats the purpose of the whole show imo... sighz.come on

guys, i'm sure u can come up with better programs than this right?

speaking of other programs... i really dislike that... love your neighbour or smthing drama... it not only degrades singaporeans, it's also degrading the new immigrants!!! isnt the show supposed to show the difficulties of the new immigrants and get singaporean to accept them? total gov propaganda which i do not approve of but... in no way is the show doing what it was intended to! 1st: you are ridiculing the new immigrants. i'm sure that would make them so happy to be in singapore... than: you portray singaporeans as being stupid, un-understanding, and... pfffftttt. lousy show indeed! making fun of everyone... love your neighbour? the show seems to be promoting otherwise...