the mussel guys restaurant

Yet another lovely, satisfying dinner with great company. Went to the mussel guys restaurant in vivocity as we wanted to catch Angels & Demons before it ends its final run in 2 days' time (ok, I finally went to watch it despite not having finished the book yet, but that's another blog for another day).

I think Jac wasn't that keen to eat here (she's allergic to seafood) but the choices we had weren't great as we decided to keep our selection on level 2 near where golden village cinema was as we are prone to rather long conversations and we do have a movie to catch and thus, a timeline to meet.

We ordered most of the stuff, except mussles, ironically enough, as mentioned earlier, Jac was allergic and I wasn't quite a mussel fan (cockles - yes; oysters definitely my newly acquired 'aphrodisac'). The menu was interesting - it had steak with foie gas. Wonder if they'd be any good.

We had cream of mushrooms, chicken wings and pasta. I had prawns aglio olio and Jac had wild mushroom pasta ala alfredo style. The prawn wasn't super fresh, but it wasn't stale bad. Just your fishy seafoody smell. Reminds me of this saying, "Keep 'em fresh and you keep 'em customers coming back."

Price was alright, as expected, not too overly pricey. Good place overall, and view is nice as it overlooks the habour... I wanted to give it 2 thumbs up but other reviews of the place was bad, so I'd give it 1.5 thumbs up. May return to try the foie gas though... .

I ate prince charming

OK, so the fairytale is you have to kiss the frog and he'd turn into prince charming. Me, I chose to eat it. We had frog leg porridge and my cravings were answered. It was great as ever, and this is proven by the numerous amount of tissue paper I used to wipe my 'satisfaction'. We went to the one at Geylang, Sinma. FYI - they have opened up another branch in New Bridge Road. Hmm, closer to work place and that's a good thing 'coz the next time we have celebration for colleague's birthday, we can choose this venue.

Sure it was spicy but what would the frog leg porridge be without its spiciness to make my nose cry. This time, we didn't order any side dishes, just the frog leg. Next time, we'd be sure to order sides. Two thumbs up.

Tribute to MJ - Man in the mirror

I'm Gonna Make A Change,For Once In My LifeIt's Gonna Feel Real Good,Gonna Make A DifferenceGonna Make It Right . . .As I, Turn Up The Collar On MyFavourite Winter CoatThis Wind Is Blowin' My MindI See The Kids In The Street,With Not Enough To EatWho Am I, To Be Blind?Pretending Not To SeeTheir NeedsA Summer's Disregard,A Broken Bottle TopAnd A One Man's SoulThey Follow Each Other OnThe Wind Ya' Know'Cause They Got NowhereTo GoThat's Why I Want You ToKnowI'm Starting With The Man InThe MirrorI'm Asking Him To ChangeHis WaysAnd No Message Could HaveBeen Any ClearerIf You Wanna Make The WorldA Better Place(If You Wanna Make TheWorld A Better Place)Take A Look At Yourself, AndThen Make A Change(Take A Look At Yourself, AndThen Make A Change)(Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,Na Nah)I've Been A Victim Of A SelfishKind Of LoveIt's Time That I RealizeThat There Are Some With NoHome, Not A Nickel To LoanCould It Be Really Me,Pretending That They're NotAlone?A Willow Deeply Scarred,Somebody's Broken HeartAnd A Washed-Out Dream(Washed-Out Dream)They Follow The Pattern OfThe Wind, Ya' SeeCause They Got No PlaceTo BeThat's Why I'm Starting WithMe(Starting With Me!)I'm Starting With The Man InThe Mirror(Ooh!)I'm Asking Him To ChangeHis Ways(Ooh!)And No Message Could HaveBeen Any ClearerIf You Wanna Make The WorldA Better Place(If You Wanna Make TheWorld A Better Place)Take A Look At Yourself AndThen Make A Change(Take A Look At Yourself AndThen Make A Change)I'm Starting With The Man InThe Mirror(Ooh!)I'm Asking Him To Change HisWays(Change His Ways-Ooh!)And No Message Could'veBeen Any ClearerIf You Wanna Make The WorldA Better Place(If You Wanna Make TheWorld A Better Place)Take A Look At Yourself AndThen Make That . . .(Take A Look At Yourself AndThen Make That . . .)Change!I'm Starting With The Man InThe Mirror,(Man In The Mirror-OhYeah!)I'm Asking Him To ChangeHis Ways(Better Change!)No Message Could HaveBeen Any Clearer(If You Wanna Make TheWorld A Better Place)(Take A Look At Yourself AndThen Make The Change)(You Gotta Get It Right, WhileYou Got The Time)('Cause When You Close YourHeart)You Can't Close Your . . .YourMind!(Then You Close Your . . .Mind!)That Man, That Man, ThatMan, That ManWith That Man In The Mirror(Man In The Mirror, Oh Yeah!)That Man, That Man, That ManI'm Asking Him To ChangeHis Ways(Better Change!)You Know . . .That ManNo Message Could HaveBeen Any ClearerIf You Wanna Make The WorldA Better Place(If You Wanna Make TheWorld A Better Place)Take A Look At Yourself AndThen Make A Change(Take A Look At Yourself AndThen Make A Change)Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,Na Nah(Oh Yeah!)Gonna Feel Real Good Now!Yeah Yeah! Yeah Yeah!Yeah Yeah!Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,Na Nah(Ooooh . . .)Oh No, No No . . .I'm Gonna Make A ChangeIt's Gonna Feel Real Good!Come On!(Change . . .)Just Lift YourselfYou KnowYou've Got To Stop It.Yourself!(Yeah!-Make That Change!)I've Got To Make That Change,Today!Hoo!(Man In The Mirror)You Got ToYou Got To Not Let Yourself . . .Brother . . .Hoo!(Yeah!-Make That Change!)You Know-I've Got To GetThat Man, That Man . . .(Man In The Mirror)You've Got ToYou've Got To Move! ComeOn! Come On!You Got To . . .Stand Up! Stand Up!Stand Up!(Yeah-Make That Change)Stand Up And LiftYourself, Now!(Man In The Mirror)Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!Aaow!(Yeah-Make That Change)Gonna Make That Change . . .Come On!(Man In The Mirror)You Know It!You Know It!You Know It!You Know . . .(Change . . .)Make That Change.

I herb you part deux - Soup Restaurant

I wanted to have frog leg porridge today but dear bro decided he was joining us for dinner and since he is a non-froggy person, agenda was changed to Soup Restaurant. We had our staple sam sui chicken (our fav for its splendid ginger sauce), steamed san yu, tofu prawns (our second fav), soup of the day - which was some lotus root broth thing - and since we took the set menu for 4, we had the Steamed Hand chopped Minced Pork with Salted Fish (which from its website, said only 30 servings a day as these were hand chopped). The fried rice was nice as it had tiny bits of the chinese sausage so it added a tint of a sweet tasting flavour to the rice. All in all, it's a two thumbs up.

I herb you

Dinner tonight was at Hong Kong Street Family Restaurant in Balestier. We had herb seafood soup (super deliciously salty... but really good), spinach and my new found favourite pork galore - pai kwok wong.

Definitely 2 thumbs up. Die, die can try. They have other various outlets in Singapore, and probably just as good. We've been (or used to go) to the one in Katong area when we were still staying in the East side last time, and just as good as well.

Addiction and misery

Ok, for no (real) apparent reasons, I suddenly miss New York. I don't really know why actually. Why am I feeling this pang? There's a slight achy feeling overwhelming me all of a sudden while I was reminiscing the lovely pictures of the city that never sleeps in my album (the one that's NOT in FB... ha! bet you didn't think I keep stuff private and under my bed...). Kinda like a mother missing her favourite child who's in a faraway land for studies and won't be back for some years. Wait, how would I know what a mother feels like... Ok, let's try this scenario instead - someone missing the companionship of her childhood friend whom she's not gotten in a touch for a long time. Right, this sounds closer to home for me.

Either I'm feeling this way 'cos I'm feeling the itch to travel (and be on the road) again. Or, I'm just getting old and useless... and bored. Or, I'm addicted to travelling (or in this case, to put it more specifically, looking for another chance to go on another holiday, yet again). Is it New York that I really miss, or is it something else?

Pass me the tv controller, I gotta get my mind off this!

Sawadee

Dad missed the Bangkok trip we had in April, so much so that he wanted to relive parts of it on Father's Day. Off to Rama Thai it was, where we got to once again taste some of the delicious food we had at Heng's.

This time, Rama Thai had the delicious braised goose web which I never managed to find in any local thai teochew cuisine theme restaurants until now, or rather, these days. I would say it tasted as good as the one at Heng's, except it didn't come with those yummy yellow noodles.

Dad and mum also had the 'australian' abalone. Not sure how it tasted but can't be all that bad, I think.

But, the best dish of the night, must be the Baked Whole Crab with Vermicelli. Couldn't stop eating once I got started. It was simply divine. The vermicelli was well 'soaked' in the gravy with lots of garlic and spices.

We had the steamed seabass... it was good, but can't beat the steamed fish from Thanying at Amara Hotel. That one, we've decided to go some other day:)

How much would you pay for a C-level event?

So, what's the magic number? USD100 per head? USD500 per head? USD1,000 per head?

Soba indulgence

Finally, today, after a pretty long while, I got to taste soba from Shimbashi Soba, Restaurant @ Paragon. I think I am more of a ramen girl and udon lady than a soba dame (in that specific order) but I must say it is indeed quite worth the wait. It took me this long to try the soba here because the restaurant always had a long queue every time I'm in the area.

Today, with some good company and loads of patience, I took my aching feet and sore toes and waited for about 10mins to get a seat.

I ordered the cold soba with 4 sides - sashimi, tempura, fried chicken and sushi. Oh, with 2 slices of watermelon. Pretty nice although I did find the fried chicken a taint too salty. I think I still prefer cha soba, and the fun of eating that is by dipping it into the sauce. This wheat base soba came with the sauce soaking the noodles already - not how I'd imagine eating it. I'd give it a 1.5 thumbs up - minus 0.5 as the atmosphere was quite bad. The place wasn't designed with some sound proofing, so loads of echos and noises bouncing off walls. Plus, it didn't help that the next table to us were a bunch of squeaky, giggling, loud females.

Not really a good place to sit down and have a good chat with friends. Food taste and presentation were well, but in the service industry, the environment also places an important part of the overall package.

How long would you wait for love?

With a strange title like "Love in the time of cholera", one probably wouldn't be expecting much from the movie but being the queen of coach-potato-ala-TV-addict as I am whose other favourite past time is channel surfing, I just had to watch it.

It is really about a love triangle between one beautiful woman (what else but only the usual cliche) and two men spanning 50 years. It is based on the novel of the same name by Gabriel García Márquez published in 1985 in spanish.

The usual ingredients are used in this romance - boy loves girl but girl rejects boy at first due to naviety and it doesn't help that opposing father of the girl keeps lovebirds apart. Girl grows up then marries another man who is endorsed by her father (as needless to say, is richer than our hero) which then prompted our spurred hero to seek 'solice' by bedding (and literally keeping tabs of) countless women which were as many as over 600, as the story goes. But all's well that ends well - our lovebirds are 'reunited' years later when husband dies.

As they say "Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all".

50 years, five decades, half a lifetime. C'est la vie.

The business of marketing

Can you actually measure demand? Can you forecast leads? If the science of marketing is about metrics, then what will the art of marketing be about?

Not that easy to be Web 2.0

OK, so it is not as easy as I had thought. How hard do you think it is to be on FB, Twitter and Blog all at the same time? You'd think someone had this figured out already. But then again, it maybe user error. I'm not the most intelligent IT user, but I basically can get most gadgets working, most of the time. If someone knows how to be in 3 places at one time, please show me the light so that I can walk the path as well?

Gigantor, humongous strawberries

Ever eaten ones that are as big as golf balls (maybe even bigger)? Not only do they look 'plump', seductively red, deliciously tempting, they actually taste really sweet with the savoury flavour of strawberries. Never seen ones this big and taste better than the normal strawberries. Only from USA do things come in gigantor sizes... :)

Lychee martini cake

Ok, here's a cake that'd appeal to non-alcoholics as well - Lychee martini cake from Pine Garden.
"Layers of lychee cake with martini-soaked lychee fillings, a definite burst of pleasure ." It was super yummy! Light and soft, with pleasant flavour of the lychee. Can't really taste the martini, but it is a special cake and never tried anything like this before.

Vegemite

You either love it or hate it. Ever tried vegemite and cheese on toast? It's definitely something for those who love salty stuff. My version - vegemite and sandwich spread. Sour and salty. Yummy!

Bride & Prejudice

Watching Bride & Prejudice. Love Jane Austen and love this "Indian-ised" version as well. Somehow, seem to relate better to this than the "ang-mo" version. Is it age, language (accent) or prejudice...? haha:)