A Bunch of Roses

Someone from River Vally High School, National Junior College asked me to help me. Under my guidance, he made this...



No prizes for guessing who's that mysterious person...

Chong Qing Steamboat

Happy Birthday Seng!

This post came a week late. Seng treated us to a good meal at Chong Qing Steamboat. The place is very cosy, but it got really hot when more people came to have dinner. This place is definitely better than most of the Marina South steamboat restaurants. They offer good customer service and we were given treats of finger food periodically eg Deep fried mantou, chicken wings, fried sweet potato and ice cream pie. They have a moderate range of food. Their spicy soup base is what appealed to me the most.

Lost in the Chinese New Year crowd in Chinatown. Looking for Chong Qing resturant at Sims Road



Food...



More Food...



Deep fried Man tou



Soup is here, we can finally tuck in!

林志源 and Chinatown Prawn Mee

For the sake of eating the most famous Bah Kwa in Singapore. I queued for a good 2 hours.

I was so far away from the stall. 林志源is located somewhere near the white signboard in the background



1 hour later, I had inched half of the distance. This hideous looking creature caught my eye. A stupid, cow sense design. Look at you know why.



50 mins later I was this close...



In 10 minutes time, the bah kwa will be mine. Haha



Bought 2 kg of 林志源 Bah Kwa for $96. I have yet to test to Bah Kwa, stayed tuned for more updates.

After the long wait, its time for more good food to replenish all the lost energy. I chance upon this prawn noodle stall when strolling around the newly renovated People's Park hawker centre.



Their prawn noodles is fantastic. It taste very similar to my late grandmother's prawn noodles. Eating it brings back fond memories. I didn't exactly eat prawn noodles. I ate pork ribs noodles. Whether is it prawn noodles or pork ribs noodles, they use the same prawn soup base. Thick and sweet soup, with soft and tender pork ribs will make everyone drool. One of the best pork rib noodles I have ever eaten. The downside is, the portions are quite small. (For ME) and each bowl cost $3.00. Highly recommended.

小笼包 at 黑社会

I am not kidding. The restaurant name is really 黑社会. Literally, it means secret society. It is located at the second floor of ViVo City.

This is the first of my series of 笼包传记. However to my disappointment, the Xiao Long Bao here sucks.

The jasmine tea here taste really bland. Does not even smell like jasmine. It tastes more like chinese tea. The snacks here suck. I thought it is a complimentary dish, but I was wrong. To add on to the damage, this thrash costs a bomb.





Here is the 小笼包. Irregular shape. Bad piece of work by the chef.





I dissected the 小笼包 to have a good look at the ingredients. A good 小笼包 will have plenty of soup in it. This 小笼包 is very disappointing. The soup could hardly fill up my spoon. 小笼包 at Crystal Jade and Ding Tai Fung have so much soup that most of the time, they will overflow. The meat itself taste bad. They did not grind the ginger properly. I was literally chewing on ginger bits. Yucks. Don't come here to buy anythng. The Xiao Long Bao cost $8, but in the end everything adds up to $33. Luckily my meal was paid for by someone else. Haha.

4K 万岁

Ok guys, I will not be blogging at 12am anymore. I have got some commitments. From 11 February on wards, it will be the 12pm session.

The lunch buffet outing was a success. We enjoyed a sumptuous meal in a restaurant with a great ambiance. 20 odd 4Kawaiians turn up for the gathering. Hereby, I would like to thank everyone for the overwhelming response.

Full tables!!! Yeah. Well I was afraid that some people might back out at the very last minute. My fears are unfounded.





I was too hungry. Forget to take a good shot of the food. Haha



Since we are at ViVo City, our after meal event was none other than shopping. Watching the girls shop at MNG



Its sad that Frankie could not join us due to work commitments in Esprit ViVo City. We dropped by and gave him a surprise visit.



I am glad the class finally get to meet again. This gathering has set the tune for greater and more exciting things to come for 4K. Next up, we are hoping to arrange a Soccer gathering at the CAGE. Kian Teck and Jun Lin will be the organisers. Hehee. Its been a long time since 4K gathered for soccer. We belong to the class which has the most number of talented soccer players.

The year end gathering is the one everybody is talking about. Its been a long time since we booked a chalet and have an experience as memorable as the Aloha Loyang gathering 4 years ago. The late night card playing, Winning 11 challenge, pool games and watching EXORCIST late in the night. All the fun and laughter that we had, I will never forget.

Ok, BingWen is going to leave us to study Zoology early next year. We hope that he is able to book the chalet again so that we will have one good time before he flies. This will be an even greater challenge than the CARNIVORE outing. Don't fret, something will happen :P

Chee Cheong Fan

I had my breakfast at Clementi Market today (Opposite Ginza Plaza). Delicious Chee Cheong Fun is sold here.





I love the Chee Cheong Fun here. Thick gravy with a generous spread of sesame seeds. The Chee Cheong Fun is soft and the texture is just right. Their Chee Cheong Fun is definitely fresh because lousy Chee Cheong Fun taste very starchy and sticky. They turn out very flaky as well.

Have a try. It costs $1.40 for 2. I have yet to try his Yam Cake and Peanut porridge. I saw a lot of people buying them this morning. They must be good as well.

Something light and humorous. Be careful of who you talk to on the internet. The person may not be as good as you have thought. Haha.

Kawasaki Rose

Valentine's day coming and Valentine's day gift thread is starting appear on forums. I happen to come across one thread which is asking for help to make the ferrero rocher roses. Well, I think they are really ugly. When it comes to handmade roses, nothing beats the Kawasaki Rose. It is a high level origami rose. Feeling nostalgic, I decided to make one. (I practiced and made close to a 100 of these roses for my band members back in junior college)

See for yourself and decide.

I don't think anybody can beat me to making this. Haha









I present to you, the KAWASAKI ROSE.

Porridge at Clementi Central Hawker Centre

ORD today! Its like a dream. Time really flies. At this very moment when I am writing, I still cannot believe that I am finally out of the army. A new chapter in my life begins. I have got plenty of things in my mind I need to do and achieve. I have taken decision making too lightly. More often than not my decision to do things end up being a preference, nothing concrete came out. When a decision is made, one should not leave any room for excuses. Stick to it, live by it and accomplish it...

Porridge at Clementi Central Hawker Centre



Even during off peak hours, I still need to wait a good 10-15 minutes for my porridge to be ready. Why? The porridge is cooked from scratch. The porridge here is one of the better ones in Clementi, but definitely not the best I have eaten. Well this is not the first time I have eaten at this stall. Today's porridge was slightly off standard. I prefer porridge that is cooked to the extent which I cannot see even a grain of rice. I know it is hard to achieve, but at least make it a 75%. I would grade the porridge (RICE) today at 50%. The texture is not there, but the taste is there. They are generous with the ingredients. There's plenty of chicken. What I loved most is the egg. I always leave it to cook at the bottom of the porridge. When I am about to finish the porridge, I'll have this delicious soft boiled egg waiting for me, literally cooked by the porridge. Yummy



Chunks of Chicken



To make your porridge even better, it is better not to add any You Tiao. Buy the You Tiao from my favourite You Tiao Stall which is just nearby. Crunchy You Tiao, with hot porridge is a god sent delicacy. Haha



After every meal, its good to drink fruit juice. Here's my favourite Cranberry Juice from POLAR. I like it because its sour. Its good for digestion and according to MEN'S HEALTH, drink more cranberry juice to build killer ABS.

L???

Who's the real L???

This...



This...



or this...

香味 Bah Kwa

My aunt knew that I loved Bah Kwa and so she bought me a box of 香味 Bah Kwa. 香味 Bah Kwa is much than 美珍香 Bah Kwa. I subjected 香味 Bah Kwa to the same light test.



Just look at the difference in the quality of meat between 香味 Bah Kwa and 美珍香 Bah Kwa. Under normal light conditions, I can see the bright red meat clearly, whereas for 美珍香 Bah Kwa, I could not see anything even after putting it under my house lamp!

The barbeque meat was quite well done. I could hardly find obvious patches of charred meat. The meat is thin, easy to bite and soft. A lot better than the overrated 美珍香 Bah Kwa. I am looking forward to my 林志源 Bah Kwa which I am going to queue in a few days time.

Popiah and Croquette Session

Happy birthday HONgZ!

Suddenly, I felt like cooking today. It has been a long time since I ate homemade popiah. Thus, I decided to DO IT MYSELF to ease the craving.

Cutting the preserved fish



Frying the beancurd



Shredding the carrot and turnips





Frying all the vegetables



Here you end up with the filling



Wrapping the popiah



Adding eggs, crabsticks and grounded almonds



Final product





Japanese Croquette

Boiling the potatoes and mashing up



Mixing the mash potato with fried onions and crabstick



Form them, dipped them in breadcrumbs, and deep fry them. You get this.



The popiah filling is of a reasonable standard. I think I should have added more turnips or even anchovies to enhance the flavour.

The croquette is a bit plain. I should have added more salt and pepper. My attempt to make cheesy croquettes failed. The cheese did not melt as what I have expected. Anyway, nice try.