Cherry-Tomato?

Honestly, what do pop out of your mind when you see this plant for the very first time? Mine is what a weird chili! Then the label said: Cherry-Tomato. Cherry? Tomato? Gimme a break! It looks like a fat-purple-chili to me. It also is labeled as outdoor plant, needs direct sunlight and be watered everyday. Well, since it looks odd but kinda cute, so we brought it home. I promise to taste it one day to prove that this fat-purple-thing is chili and not cherry nor tomato.

Revenue House

That's my office!

Ala Penang

We have heard that Penang food is one of the most delicious food. It is also considered different than Chinese-Malay food. And my colleague recommended this authentic Penang restaurant in Coronation Rd (well, she is Malaysian, so she can tell which one is authentic). And since today is Friday, so we decided to try this place for lunch.

The restaurant is pretty small, next to it there is a curry restaurant and one hainan chicken rice restaurant -but don't bother, the focus is the Penang Kitchen. One of the recommended menu is Assam Laksa, which the one that I picked. The other recommended menu is Fried Kuey Tiaw. We have also ordered rojak, blacan chicken wings and loh bah as appetizer. Then our assam laksa has arrived. It has noodle, fish, beansprout, pineapple and prawn paste with a red-colored soup. It was delicious! It was hot, a bit sour but it was good.

We ended our lunch with Soga Gula Melaka (left) and Peanut Cream. Soga Gula Melaka is soga (pacar cina) with coconut milk and brown sugar. While Peanut cream is basically rosted peanut sauce, just like the one that is used in Gado-gado Teuku Angkasa, Bandung (still remember that place?). Anyway, it was a very satisfying lunch, a really-really good treat. Will go there again!

Hello Kitty Tea Party!

Unbelieveble! That's the first word that comes to my mind when knowing that National Heritage Board supported a Hello Kitty Tea Party event. Second word is insane. The event is held National History Museum last Sunday. If you heard about this event being held in your city you must be feeling curious as well, right? Tea Party with Hello Kitty and Sanrio's icons, imagine people sitting down sipping tea in pink colored cup, hosted by a-man-sized cute cat with pink ribbon, a pingguin with top hat and tie, kero-keropi, and a blue-eared rabbit. I mean this is a bit sureal! Anyway, we checked it out and it turned out not as glamorous as we thought.

The tea party was not really a party. Only a stall selling pink-colored-cakes in Helloy Kitty boxes. No pink cup involved, and absolutely no cat involved. There was a coloring competition for kids and drawing competition which most of the participants were adult (ladies, like moms or auties). And there were collections of Hello Kitty items from Singapore's loyal fans being exhibited. These collections were amazing, except number of Hello Kitty dolls wearing traditional dresses to wedding gown, we have just found out that there is Hello Kitty wine (see picture on the left). Amazing, right? Never seen this kind of collections before... And I know a friend who will kill himself for opportunity to be in this event!

Lantern Festival

This year is the 30th year Chinese Garden's Lantern Festival, and to celebrate that they want to make a special show. And this event comes to our interest. It was full moon and there will be a karaoke event held in our block, so we decided it is a right night to see the festival. We've arrived at Chinese Garden around 9 pm, it took 40 minutes to get there from our place. The opening time is from 7 pm to 11 pm. We thought that 2 hours will be enough. It turned out to be nearly enough, although closing was extended to 11:30 pm.
There are more than 1000 lanterns spread in 23 themes across the park. From dragons' lair to palace of Chang Erh, dinosours to Noah's Ark. There are also couple of odd themes, such as the hunt of mammoth scene which shows cavemen slaughtered mammoth, complete with blood sprayed on spears, rocks and mammoth itself. The other one is in the african savannah theme, showing lions feasting over a torn-a-part-zebra. Well, it just that we did not expect to see these scenes on this kind of event. Oh yes, the lantern is powered by electricity and was made from fiber. At the end it was a great experience watching this kaleidoscope of colors. And did you know that a pair of dalmation was on board in the Noah's Ark?

Clam-Shell

Ha ha ha! This is my new mobile phone. At last it is time for my old T-68i to retire after serving for 2 years plus. I've always wanted a clam shell phone, but no models that really catch my eyes. Most of the flip phones are thick-fat, will bulge in your pocket. Until Razr V3 was introduced. A cool-thin-clam-shelled mobile phone, but my perception on Motorola is not a user friendly phone. After browsing around for quite some time, I think what the heck! It's slim, its buttons are big enough for my thumb, and you will get use to its tricky menus. Anyway I always like StarTAC model and Razr somewhat remains me of StarTAC. And its price is resonable compared to other mobile phones. So... it's in my pocket now. Ha ha ha!

Tomato-Potato

See this picture? Feels familiar with it? Can you guess what that is? Yes, right guess! It's a home made tomato soup with slices of pork sausage, diced potato (yes, the yellow thing on the right floating happily among sausage), plus chicken broth. Yummy! Enjoy your dinner, mate!

Signage

Singapore is famous for its strict-rules. A fine-city. This signage is found in one of the back ally in Katong area. It seems that people in this island also likes to talk loudly over the phone...

Katong/Joo Chiat

Went to Katong today. We walked through Joo Chiat Rd to East Coast Rd, passing old shophouses. These shophouses have basic looks, narrow frontage with depth of at least 2 or 3 times the width. Some of them are well preserved, but some are not. Some are turned into karaoke lounge, spa center or pubs, standing side-by-side with eating houses, bakery and bicycle shops. This area was well known as the melting pot of Peranakan, Malay, Indian and Westerners.
Then we had our lunch: the famous Katong Laksa. A bowl of rice-flour noodles with prawn, fish cake, and mussel drown in a thick coconut milk curry-like soup. It is delicious. The trip is ended by rain, heavy rain. We ended up soaking wet, like a pair of ducks, waiting for the bus.

Paper Bowl Steam Boat

Yes, bowl was made from paper. It somehow didn't leak nor burn. And this steam-boat is one of the Waraku's specialties -a Japanese restaurant in StarHub Building. The sotong side-dish menu is also a killer. Oishii!

Mango Pudding @ Flutes

We have been invited to dinner in Flutes at The Fort. The restaurant is located on Fort Canning Park, on a small hill right behind the Central Fire Station. It is a restored colonial house with a large open-air verandah and it was built in 1908 which was once the residence of the Fire Chief. Dining area is situated in a large open-air verandah, which used to have a hill side scenary but now facing Funan IT Center Building.

Flutes offers a wide range of wines, which the list somehow longer than its food selections. We ordered stuffed-squid for appetizer and it was excellent. The main course was good, quite standard for fine-dining type of restaurant. For dessert we picked Mango Pudding (left). It was a nice experience!

Delicioso!

This week we have decided to check out the famous Holland Village. It is one of the 'Ang Mo' area, packed with cafe and restaurants. Quite similar with Kemang, but with less cars, smaller road, and no metromini. So we took a bus, a double decker, went up to top, sit nicely at the very front row and started enjoying the ride.

One of the famous restaurant in this area is Michaelangelo's. From its name you know that it is an Italian restaurant. There is another Italian restaurant located just next door from Michaelangelo's, called Sistine (Dooh?). But we didn't have our dinner there. First because it was full, you have to make reservation to get a table. Secondly, the place is expensive. So, after browsing around the area, we have decided to end our journey with Mexican food. We went to this restaurant named Cha Cha Cha in Lorong Mambong. Picked the table next to window so we can look around while waiting our order. Across the street there are Libanese and Indian restaurant. We may try them next time.

A small basket of nacho chips with salsa sauce was provided as an appetizer. It was one of the best salsa sauce that I have ever tasted! It was great! Then our order were served: pork stew with tortilla & baked beans (left) and a combo set of beef enchillada and taco (above). Man, I tell you, the food was delicious! Yummy-yummy-yummy! The stew was hot (I think because of pepper and jalapeno), tortilla was just right. Gozamos de la comida! So when ever you're in town and carving for mexican, you know the place to go.