你有吃过湿卤味吗？

这摊位于珍珠坊熟食中心的<湿卤味专家>是老爸常会去光顾的摊位。我估计这摊位已在这儿营业有十几来年或更久了。从我还是学生时，就发现老爸一来到 珍珠坊，一定会吃“卤味”（他常称为Loh Mei）。当时，我真是不太习惯这汤的味道。但不知为什么这几年也开始喜欢上它了。几天前还主动跟老爸提议去吃Loh Mei。

摊名叫〈湿卤味专家〉或〈Loh Mei Specialist〉。特点是在它的汤底-南乳汤底。不时很多人能适应南乳味吧。料有：豆卜，尤鱼，猪肚，鸡翅，嗡菜，猪皮，豆皮等。配着白饭和辣椒，真是没话说。一份汤$4，饭$0.50能吃得我饱饱！要想吃面，它也有旦旦面。汤底是同样的，只不过料比较少。一碗$2.50。

想尝一尝吗？它就在珍珠坊大厦熟食中心#01-1106。去试一试吧。

10.51am

Dad's furry friend

This cat recognises dad and will run from nowhere to this bench when he whistles and curled up beside him. I witnessed this today. It was so cute. Hahahaha....

Scary Lift

I wonder what has happened to cause this glass pane that will splatter any moment. While in the lift, I was so worried that the glass might just decide to fly. God. Is it human, or environment?

This is the normal look of the glass.

8.26pm

Three men in action!

Tin Swan with his super whack!

Kian Peng next on the board

Hubby;s turn...

Dou Dou in action!

Enjoying his meal of sunflower seeds.

Has started to bite cage. Sigh...

Lunch @ Sakura International Buffet

Recently got to know that the famous Sakura International Buffet has an outlet at the Yio Chu Kang stadium. Been trying to find a good time to go and try since I have been hearing about this buffet restaurant. So, today's the day and we've made reservation at about 10am for 8 pax for today's lunch at 12pm (their opening time).

Here's the leaflet I got from them the day before when I went to racky the place.


The Japanese stuff. Salmon sashimi, prawnie sushi, shishamo, etc...

Here's uncle and dad.

Mmmmm....a good start.

Two gals enjoying their food.

Happy eating and chatting away. That should be the 'principle' of a buffet meal. Right?

Yam paste (orh nee). The paste itself is nice but the coconut is a little disappointing.

Durian paste! My god. I haven't had durian for eons. My first mouthful was heavenly. Simply shiok. You can eat it with the waffles too.

The meal continues...the baked prawn with some roe and creamy sauce is really nice!

The restaurant seems a little squeezy. A lack of space feeling.

Yummy, the nice prawns again!

And again...

Fruity time.

The black chicken (with danggui) soup is nice! Gotta try.

Lamp Chop. Forgotten to take a pic of my chicken chop.

A reminder: DO NOT WASTE FOOD. We didn't really though.

Fruit salad, fresh scallop and a second helping of salmon sashimi.

Second serving of durian paste. I can't help but snap it a second time! Really nice!

Don't keep focusing on the scallop. Must give kudos to the shell too! I flipped it over and took a pic.

Dessert time. These were some of what we had taken. There were more.

Finally, my two scoops of choc mint. I added the choc fudge myself. There were many other flavours - ice cream and sorbet.

Looks like limited variety? No, no. There were a lot more of other things which I had not taken a pic of! Too excited with eating. We sat through till about 2pm.

I don't mind going there again!

9.24pm

Christmas mood is building up in places

Christmas deco is sprucing up at many many places. Due to the APEC Meeting a fortnight ago, some places has actually completed the deco much earlier. Was at Tanglin Mall and Suntec Convention over the weekend and got some shots for display.

Happy shopping for your Christmas!

Postcard Laughs

At a recent World Genetics Meet, an American reports, "we crossed chickens with cows. The new breed simultaneously produces milk, meat and eggs."

A Japanese reports, "we succeeded in crossbreeding flues and bees. The hybrid flies over the thrash fields and produces honey."

A Ruusian reports, "we crossed a melon with cockroaches. When you cut the melon, the seeds run away by themselves."

Postcard laugh

Patient to the eye doctor: "Whenever I drink coffee, I have this sharp, excruciating pain in my eye."

"Try to remember to remove the spoon from the cup before drinking," says the specialist.

The most annoying words - Fiona Chan, Sunday Lifestyle

"Anyway, you know, whatever - it is what it is, at the end of the day."


This is the most irritating sentence in the English language, according to a poll in the United States last month.


"Whatever" - or, as it is more commonly said, "What-evvv-urhhhhh" or "wadeva" in Singapore - proved to be the most grating of the five phrases that were thrown up.


While I completely agree that these words and phrases all deserve to be eradicated from everyday speech, I must say I found the poll a bit wanting.


After all, my own mental list of annoying words, compiled over years of totally unplanned research, easily runs into hundreds.


If I had to give a prize to one for the (dis)honour of being the most annoying, it would go to "anything".


Don't get me wrong, it is a perfectly acceptable word when the person who uses it really means "anything". Like, for instance, me, when I say "I don't have anything to wear".


But what some people don't know is that the word "anything" is more commonly used as a trap. Indecisive people say it to lure you into a false sense of agreeability, and then they slowly kill you with frustration.


This is how it goes:


Me: "What do you want to eat for dinner?"


Indecisive Person: "Anything."


Me: "Okay, Thai food?"


Indecisive Person: "Uh...I don't really feel like Thai."


Me: "Japanese then?"


Indecisive Person: "No, I had Japanese for lunch."


Me: "How about French food?"


Indecisive Person. who by now is proving to be irritatingly decisive: "Yuck, I hate French food."


Me, on the verge of death by exasperation: "Then what do you want to eat?"


Indecisive Person: "Oh, anything, up to you."

A friend of mine has developed a foolproof way to deal with this. Once his dinner partner says "anything", he will insist on going to McDonald's and brook no further discussion. He doesn't mind eating the dinner in total frosty silence just to make his point.

Then there are words that are not inherently annoying - except when they are used wrongly, which seems to be every single time they are uttered.

Case in point: "Literally". This word aggravates me so much that whenever someone uses it in my presence I get an ulcer. Not literally.

But seriously, if I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say "literally" when what they actually meant was "really", I would have about $147. Literally.

Another similarly abused word is "whereby", which is a particular favourite with insurance and property agents. In fact, they often use the two words in the same breath.

A property agent once told me: "The nearest station whereby you can take MRT is across the road and 10 minutes' walk to the left. It's literally just next door."

Whenever I complain to people about my words woes, they usually just make it worse.

"Don't stress," they will say - a useless injunction if I ever heard one.

Still, that's better than my personal anti-favourite: "chillaxing", as in "Hey, why are you so tense? Chillaxing, lah."

That's right - it's not just "chill" or "relax" or even "chillax", but "chillaxing". Even if the word made sense, it would be ungrammatical.

Every time I hear this, the only thing I want to chillax is the speaker's head. With an ice-pick.

I even have a most annoying letter of the alphabet: K. Not because I hate koalas, or kangeroos, or karaoke, but because K is a completely unnecessary abbreviation of the already abbreviated "OK".

This is most frequently used after I have typed out a very long and complicated SMS to a friend about exactly where we should meet, at what time, and where the cheapest and nearest parking is available.

His reply: "K". Without a fullstop, because typing any more than one letter is just too much effort.

I really don't understand why a word that originally comprises only four letters ("okay") has to be shrunk to two letters, and then one.

I suspect that in time, people won't even bother to type anything at all. They'll just send an empty SMS to signify consent.

Then again, if that ever happens, I suppose I have the perfect response already: "wadeva".


Fiona Chan
Sunday Lifestyle, Sunday Times (15 Nov 09)

Kayleen's full month

My nephew's gal is celebrating her full month. We got this very beautifully packaged cakes and kuehs which wow-ed me!

Since the camera was on my hand, I couldn't help but snap a few pics to post.

Happy Full Month, Kayleen and congrats to Gary and Esther!

12.29pm

Breakfast at Mac

Had planned last night to have breakfast at this MacDonalds which is located at the foot of a park. Been there previously but had no chance to dine in.

There is a drive-in booth too. Gosh, the outlet was quite crowded with kids and all. There is a little playground so it's no wonder you see lots of kids. One kid cried after another, one scream after another. So much for a peaceful Mac breakfast. But we too were trying to indulged in our own world.

Two Big Breakfast sets in exchange of 8 monopoly stickers! By the way, I got a free apple pie instant win! Finally I got something edible. The first was Esso discount and the second was a Toys R Us discount. Both did not really rouse my interest.

Yummy Yummy. As I ate I was just wondering what's the difference between a big breakfast and a sausage muffin with egg, except that one is scrambled egg, and the other, a fried egg.

12.18pm

A Fine Lunch @ Soprano

It was a fine noon on 12 Nov 09, Thur when we started off to this Italian restaurant at Portsdown Road. It was a team lunch hosted by our Vice Dean as a year end appreciation meal.

Orders were taken two days before the lunch with the menu floating round. I don't go for italian meals hence the names looked really 'italian' to me! After some 'discussions' with my colleague, I have finally decided on the following:

Appetizer

Carpaccio di Salmone (salmon carpaccio topped with freshly shaved parmesan cheese dressed with extra virgin olive oil, onions, cappers, black pepper, lemon and parsley)

Main

Ravioli Ricotta e Spinaci - Al Fungi di bosco (selection of four varieties of wild wood mushrooms in creamy sauce)

Dessert

I scoop After-Eight Mint Gelato

Soprano Wine & Dine in Style @ 7 Portsdown Road. Not really accessible without a vehicle. There is a private carpark (with limited lots of course) for its patrons.

This was the menu which went round our desks for prior order taking. Anyway, the appetizer was subsequently changed to clams, plus other niceties like bread, cheese, hams, etc.

This was the first 'dish' that was served. Don't worry, not individual portion but to be shared. There were two types of cheese, one was a soft cheese (which was nicer to me) and the other a hard cheese.

A series of other side dishes which I thought was some preserved shallots and mixed mushrooms with er...olive, capsicums? The bread was the best!

Clams which had replaced our original appetizer. I am not fan of shell fish and hardly eat clams. But I surprised myself that I had broken the record of the number of clams I ate that day! Though not a mountain full, but more than what I would normally take (which is almost Nil!).

A total of 13 of us. We had started the appetizer before the host arrived.

We were sitting at the end of the restaurant so this picture, taken from where we sat, showed the general layout of the restaurant. There were seats outside too (non-conditioned).

This was my Ravioli Ricotta e Spinaci. I have always been wanting to try those dumpling like pasta which I see in the supermarket but not sure how it will taste. So I took the opportunity to try it here. The 'dumpling' was filled with spinach (as the name showed) and cheese. All in all, it wasn't bad but after a while, it sure does something funny to your tummy (I mean bloated). Sorry but I didn't manage to finish the whole thing no matter how hard I tried.

My favourite moment! Mint Gelato! There were more options than the menu we had but I still stick to what I had ordered because there is no choc ice-cream and so I settled for what I love too - MINT! It was very very nice.

Took a pic of my colleague's dessert. I forgot to ask if this was lemon gelato or lemon sorbet. the bowl looked empty to me, hahahaha.

A glass of Earl Grey tea - a little too 'strong' for my taste. Not that the tea was strong, but there was sort of a spice flavour in the tea. I would still prefer my normal cup of english tea.

One of my colleagues, Nic. We took the opportunities to take pics while the drivers went out to get their cars amidst the heavy downpour.

Tracy (who had arranged our lunch) and Sing Ee at the door of the restaurant. Because of the rain, I was not able to take a pic of the whole restaurant from outside.

A whole series of wine.

One more shot before we left.

Thanks Prof Yeoh for the wonderful lunch and the company and the gathering.

7.33am (14 Nov 09, Sat)